Chapter Thirty: The Dark Lord and the Jedi

Kingsley Shacklebolt assumed the role of leader for the assembled aurors who waited just inside the main entrance of the castle.

He had a larger force than either he or Tonks anticipated. Word had spread that Voldemort had lost Malfoy Manor and a hundred of his men, and those aurors and other former Ministry employees that were undecided realized that there would never be a better time. What started out as a force of sixty increased to twice that number.

Added to that were at least fifty members of light families that chose to fight, such as the Weasleys. Twenty students joined as well, though most of those Shacklebolt chose to use as final lines of defense in the Hospital Wing and the Come and Go Room.

Added to that were six aliens with glowing swords. Ben was nowhere to be found.

Arrayed against them was an army of almost five hundred dark wizards, another twenty or so werewolves and a small horde of juvenile acromantulas. All were led, of course, by the most powerful wizard in five generations.

The door started to glow as the final wards tried to hold off blasting charms. "Here they come!" Shacklebolt roared. "Remember, this isn't a police action. If all you do is stun them, they'll be right back up to spell you in the back. Take them down. Anything but the cruciatus and imperius curseis authorized!"

There were nervous looks among the aurors clumped around any available nook and cranny that could give them cover. Suddenly, the door exploded inward under a barrage of blasting curses. The air seemed to grow colder as the first enemies poured in.

Or shambled.

"Inferii!" Shacklbolt cried. "Confrigo!"

The fifty aurors stationed around the entrance responded in kind, and the shambling horrors were met by a wall of spell fire. Fortunately, there were not many left after the Falcon's run. But although a few hundred were better than a few thousand, in the narrow halls of Hogwarts the press of undead bodies was still sufficient to push the defenders back.

They continued back until they passed a black metallic tripod sitting in the middle of the entry hall with a meter long, black tube on it. Behind the device stood Jedi Knight Valin Horn. "Everyone get ready," the young knight said.

The aurors quickly ducked and turned to run to the rear of the device. Valin saw the remaining inferi and with a quick breath and a Jedi meditation pushed down the fear the creatures instinctively raised within him. He flipped the switch, and the e-web portable defense station went online. It began firing immediately, pulling from the extra charge pack hooked to its base.

Inferi fell, shattered and burning. Still, they kept coming, crawling over the bodies of the other fallen. Some still wore relatively good clothes, proof of their recent conversion. It was a magic so dark and dreadful that in the Force it felt as if it were the very antithesis of life.

The wizards resumed their stances, and joined the fire and blasting spells to the power of the blaster rifle, and in moments the last of the inferi died. On their heels came the werewolves, still in their lupine forms with the help of dark enchantments and altered wolfsbane potions. In this case, the e-web was more effective than the wizards. It tracked the movement with mechanical precision. Some werewolves were able to avoid the blasts, but most were not.

The wizards did their best, and several were able to take the werewolves down, but Valin quickly realized the creature's speed made them hard targets. He lit his saber. "Jysella, I'll need some back up."

His sister heard his spoken voice and ran into the central entry way from one of the side halls. She almost ran into a werewolve which turned, reared up on its hind legs, and bunched its considerable muscles to strike.

With a flash of her lightsaber the beast fell bisected to the floor.

"Hold you're fire!" Valin called as he jumped into the fray. He allowed the e-web to continue firing since he could deflect its bolts into enemy agents. His sister joined him. Although neither Jedi had the telekinetic abilities most did, both were effective and powerful duelists, just like their father.

In minutes, the werewolves were dead.

They quickly backed up behind the e-web and looked around. Five aurors had fallen to the dark creatures, and of those at least three were dead.

A red blast of light flashed from the entrance and struck the now silent e-web. Just like with the portable laser cannons, the spell destroyed the e-web as effectively as a blaster bolt. "Okay, that's it," Shacklebolt said when he saw the muggle weapon blow up.

Death Eaters began pouring in. As if to demonstrate his seriousness about using any spell, Shacklebolt stood up, sighted his wand, and called, "Avada Kedavra!"

The sickly green spell struck one of the first death eaters through and the man dropped to the floor, instantly dead. The other aurors reverted to slicing, blasting or burning curses. Only a few of the more senior ones had the stomach to risk the killing curses.

The Death Eaters used similar spells, though there were far more instances of the killing curse.

The unit of Death Eaters soared over the water, almost fifty of them, on brooms. They skimmed just over the surface so close their passage caused ripples. The lake-entrance was familiar to most, since almost all of them remembered traveling on boats to go through the first year's entrance.

With the main army coming in front, they doubted the back entrance would be heavily defended.

Amidst the silent woosh of their brooms, they heard an unfamiliar hum. Several of them sat up on their brooms and looked around in confusion, until one man toward the back of the formation looked over his shoulder.

He saw a strikingly beautiful woman with long brown hair, in her early thirties but as fit as a teen, on a strangely sleek muggle device that skimmed the water just as freely as their brooms. She wore form-fitting dark clothes that were definitely not wizard robes.

She gave the rear Death Eater an alluring smile, which he returned (despite wearing a mask). She then waved goodbye at him as she activated the automated tracking system synced into her speeder bike's laser cannon.

The man in the rear managed a short scream before he and his broom disappeared in a ball of laser-induced flame. Jaina Solo managed to shoot another five down before the other fliers realized their danger and split up.

With forty-four men on brooms and only one enemy, the wizards thought it should have been easy. However, they never fought a Jedi on a speeder bike before. Jaina kicked the accelerator and shot the bike forward at twice the best speed a broom could handle. She then spun about, sighted the largest clumping of brooms, and started firing again. The wizards tried firing back, but she was moving too fast for them to track effective.

When she got too close for laser fire, her violet lightsaber made short work of the wizards as well.

After another ten men fell, the survivors realized they were badly out matched and gave up fighting. Now they fled toward the castle, spread far out, and hoped their numbers would allow at least some of them to survive.

Jaina slowed down and simply picked them off one at a time.

By the time the fliers reached Hogwarts, only fifteen survived. They jumped off their brooms and ran for the First Years entrance only to be met by a tripod and a strange tube. It blinked. The dark wizards heard a strange beeping, and then died as the e-web activated.

Ben and Luna rode the brooms out through the first year's entrance over the bodies of the fallen death eaters. Ben sensed the e-web, but they were already moving at sufficient speed to get out of range before the e-web was able to fire.

Almost immediately he felt a wonderfully familiar Force presence on the other side of him from Luna. "Hey, Jaya!" he said.

Jaina Solo leaned over the console of her bike and stared from Ben to Luna. "Ben, is that…"

"Jaya, this is my wife, Luna. Luna, this is my cousin Jaina Solo."

"Pleased to meet you, I'm sure," Luna said brightly. "You're very pretty."

Jaina stared speechless. Finally, she sputtered a little and said, "Ben, how…?"

"Our bath," Luna said happily. "Never underestimate the recuperative power of a good bath with one you love. It will just wash all your cares away. And with a few phoenix tears, you won't even wrinkle!"

"What…?" Jaina obviously had no idea how to communicate with English witches.

"I'll tell you later," Ben promised. "Please let father know. We're together, and we're whole."

Jaina looked as if she would question further, but finally just nodded. "She's very beautiful, Ben. And I can see she makes you happy. Welcome to the family, Luna."

"Thank you!" Luna cheered. "I can't wait for our children to play together, though sadly it won't be as often as either of us would like."

Jaina blinked. "What does that mean?"

"I guess we'll just have to find out," Ben said. "We're going through the forest. I think Dad's probably going to need you at the castle."

Jaina checked her bike's com and nodded. "Yeah, he does. Are you two going to be all right?"

"Yes," Ben said. "We're together now. Everything is going to be fine."

With a curt nod and the ghost of a smile, Jaina pulled the bike into a steep climb and returned to Hogwarts.

"She has suffered a great deal," Luna said over the wind of their passage. She looked at Ben. "Who is Jagged Fel?"

Ben laughed as the two of them flew toward the Forbidden Forest.

"Remus!" Tonks screamed. She saw the older werewolf fall before a vicious bone-breaking curse. He cried out in pain and clutched his shattered arm.

She jumped from her position, and ignoring the volley of spells that flew through the air, ran toward him. He was in a forward position behind a suit of armor as they were falling back. She realized with a sickening feeling that she would not be able to reach him.

Nearby, a Death Eater knelt down with a twisted smile on his exposed face. Many did not even bother with masks now. She was too far away. "Remus!" she cried again.

Suddenly the wizard began screaming and patting himself as if he were on fire, or being attacked by insects. He desperately started throwing spells about, and even struck two of his fellow Death Eaters, before a figure literally flew over Tonks' head and swiped the Death Eater's head off with a single swipe of a glowing blue sword.

Tonks did not hesitate and continued running until she slid to Remus's side. The Jedi backed up to her as well; using his sword much like a wizard would a shield charm. He moved so fast that his sword blurred.

"How is he?" Jedi Master Corran Horn asked.

"That was a bone-breaking curse," Tonks said.

Corran nodded. "All right, get him to the hospital wing."

Tonks used the levitation charm and quickly pulled him away from the front line. Just then Valin joined his father. "Jaina just got back. Jysella is with her."

"Good. Have we seen the big bad guy yet?"

Across the hall, four aurors and a civilian were crouched for protection while tossing spells at the invaders. The whole wall suddenly shattered as if struck by a thermal detonator. The five fighters were tossed like toys into the column behind them, most shattered beyond recognition.

"I'd guess that's him," Valin said.

Corran Horn watched with interest as Lord Voldemort stepped into view in the center of the hall. He wore long, flowing black robes. His most interesting feature, though, was his serpentine nose. "Didn't think they had non-humans here," Valin said.

"Can't you feel him?" Corran asked. "He was human once. Just not any more."

The other defenders began lobbing gray and dark curses at Voldemort, who deflected them with a sneer. Above him, the air darkened as if under a cloud, and sudden spears of ice shot out like bullets.

Most dodged to safety, some didn't.

Corran stepped into the hall. "Hey, ugly, got an invitation for you."

"You dare!" Voldemort hissed.

"Dare what? You're ugly, and I have an invitation for you," Corran said. "Your death is waiting for you in the Great Hall."

"I am immortal! And you are a mere insect!"

Corran was expecting many things—but pain without apparent cause was not it. The silent cruciatus curse burned through the elder Jedi's body. But where Ben as a teen-age Jedi was finally able to shunt the pain aside, Corran merely shrugged. The pain remained, he simply removed himself from the feeling of it. "That was pretty interesting," he said. "But playing with me doesn't change the invitation. Maybe I'll see you there."

With that, he leapt away just as a powerful curse destroyed the floor.

"Luke's going to have fun with that bugger," Corran yelled. Around them, the rest of the aurors retreated further down the hall. Facing such a numerically superior force, they had no choice but to employ a fall-back approach. They took short stands and killed as many as they could, then ran back to another position.

They were taking losses, though.

"Do you feel it?" Ben asked softly as they drifted through the trees of the forest.

The forest itself was empty—there were no sounds of any animals. No birds, no insects. The passage of Voldemort's army, especially the acromantulas, left the forest cleared of animal life.

Luna nodded in the gloom. "The last Horcrux."

"I was guessing he would keep the last one with him," Ben said. "Hoping, really. But there's no way he would take it into battle."

Through the trees, they caught glimpses of the battleground outside the school. They occasionally heard explosions from the school itself, and could see spells flying atop the battlements. But the field itself held only bodies of giants, trolls, inferii, and a few of dragons.

"It's close," Luna whispered. The two of them set their brooms down, and then came together.

Ben wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled them both into the Force. Hidden from normal vision, they began creeping through the trees until they came upon the Dark Lord's staging area. They paused at the edge of the clearing and searched until they spotted three people. The three stood on the far side of the clearing facing the castle. There was a short, round man with two lean Death Eater guards.

Wrapped around the man was a monstrously huge snake of some kind.

The snake exuded darkness.

"A living horcrux," Luna whispered. "How…strange."

Ben nodded. The snake slid around the man's neck until its head was facing directly at them. It opened its fanged jaws and hissed loudly. The squat wizard turned in alarm. He had one hand made of silver, and the other held a wand. "Who's there!" he called.

Ben looked at his wife, who nodded her understanding. She stepped behind a tree as he rushed forward.

From the perspective of Peter Pettigrew, it seemed as if an azure blade of light appeared out of nowhere, followed a moment later by the boy his master killed at Stonehenge.

Wormtail's two guards leaped into action—both were seasoned Death Eaters and powerful wizards in their own right. The boy, however, moved so fast for a moment Wormtail simply lost sight of him.

A moment later one of his guards fell headless to the ground. The second man spun and cast broad-area spells, but again the attacker was too fast, and once more a body fell apart from its head.

Suddenly Wormtail stood alone with only Nagini to keep him company.

The Death Eater gasped when a ghost stepped from behind a tree and walked toward him with her wand in hand. "You…" he whispered. "You should be dead! Both of you should be dead!"

Ben understood then. He looked back at his wife. "He was there?"

Luna nodded. "He did not rape me. But he used the cruciatus on me."

Wormtail finally understood. He fell to his knees. "Please have mercy!" he said. "The Dark Lord made me do it. I could not disobey." As he begged, Nagini slithered off him and started toward the trees as fast as he could.

Ben reached for it in the Force, but either because of a charm or the sheer darkness of its being, it slid out of his Force grasp. Already it was approaching the tree line. With a glance back at Luna, Ben bound forward with his lightsaber ready.

Suddenly facing only a sixteen-year-old girl, Wormtail raised his wand to strike.

"Avada Kedavra," Luna said in a wistful, sad voice. The way she spoke the spell, it should have had no power behind it at all. And yet the ball of green light that emerged was supercharged nearly as powerful as Voldemort's.

Wormtail tried to jump away, but he was too fat to completely avoid it. The dark green struck his shoulder with sufficient force to send him spinning into the air. He was dead well before he hit.

Near the tree line, Nagini spun to defend itself and struck with poisonous fangs and reptilian speed. Ben responded with Jedi instincts and a lifetime of training. Eight pieces of Nagini fell to the grass of the clearing. The death of the creature released the power of the horcrux, and the resulting magical backlash sent Ben flying back into Luna's waiting arms.

Both of them tumbled to the grass. "I've got you," Luna said.

"I thought that was my line," Ben said.

The two laughed until Ben saw Wormtail's body. "You killed him?"

"It's very odd," Luna said. "I used the killing curse, and I truly did wish him dead, but I was not angry at him. He needed to die so that he could never do to anyone else what he did to me. But I was not angry. I was even sad for him. How very odd."

Ben turned around to face her, leaned forward, and gave his wife a long, lingering kiss. When their lips parted, he said, "It just proves that you will a very good Jedi."

"Your own Space Witch!" she agreed.

He helped her to her feet, and together the two of them walked to the end of the clearing and the castle that rose in the early afternoon sun before them. "It's so strange," he said. "When I arrived, I was convinced it was my job to destroy Voldemort and save your people. Now I stand here with you, and it is my father and friends that are fighting him."

Beside him, Luna squeezed him tight. "Silly boy. You were never brought here to make it all better for everyone else," she said with a giggle. "My magic called you to make everything better for me. And you have."

They remained there for the rest of the battle, watching arm in arm while the future of the magical world hung in the balance.

Lord Voldemort, the most powerful wizard in five generations, raged inside. These aliens and their muggle weapons taunted him openly, while the pathetic followers they led slowly cut away his forces.

Already his acromantulas were gone, as were all his trolls and giants. He just now heard a report that the last of his precious, ensorcelled dragons had died because of that confounded muggle flying machine, and all his inferi and werewolves were obliterated almost before the battle even began.

In addition to that, he had lost more than half his wizards to only a handful of defenders.

It was time to end this now. And with his experiences against the forces of Light, the way to do that was to cut off the head. Somehow they thought they were strong enough to fight Lord Voldemort. That brat Skywalker knew better. Not even the stars themselves could produce anyone strong enough to defeat him.

Leaving his army to finish up the scraps, Voldemort walked alone and untouchable through the halls of his old school toward the great hall, where many decades before he was sorted into his destiny.

He arrived expecting to face an army, one he could easily destroy.

Instead, he found himself facing five people. One stood at the forefront with two flanking him on either side. Two young women, one young man, and older man, and then the obvious leader. All wore strange slacks and tunics, with brown robes over them. Save the elder of the girls, who wore a fetching black jumpsuit.

"This is my death?" Voldemort asked. He did not bother to hide his sarcasm. "Five muggles from the stars?"

"Just one," the leader said as he stepped forward. "I am Luke Skywalker. Ben's father. I have come to put an end to this war of yours."

Voldemort's high-pitched laughter filled the hall. Behind Luke, Corran, his children and Jaina stepped away. They were there in case Voldemort brought too much back up, but just as Luke predicted, the Dark Lord came alone.

"And how pray tell, will you do that?" Voldemort hissed. "I am immortal!"

"You were," Luke told him calmly. "I understand that there were only two of your horcruxes left. One was a cup, yes? We shot it on a torpedo to your house in Little Hagletone. It is thoroughly destroyed. And if I understand what my son is sending through the Force, your pet snake is destroyed as well. You are no more immortal than any of your men."

Voldemort's red eyes narrowed. "You lie!" he hissed.

"How could I even know about your dark secrets?" Luke asked calmly.

Voldemort was beyond the casting of mere spells. His magic was so powerful, so dark, his wand was almost irrelevant. The floor around Luke erupted in flame. From the center of the flame, though, billows shot away as the Jedi Master pushed the fire back and walked unscathed out of the barrage.

Javelins of ice streaked through the air, only to stop at Luke's upraised hand. With a flick of his risk and a push of the force, the javelins shot toward Voldemort, who flicked his wand and reduced the ice to mist.

A dark aura formed around the wizard as he lifted off the ground, hissing out parsletongue spells. Luke stiffened under a cruciatus spell, but shrugged it off just as Corran did. He did not even blink at the psychic attack that followed. Instead, with raised hands, he too floated off the ground as he levitated in the Force.

"You think you can challenge me?" Voldemort roared. The wind howled around him as he launched a barrage of spells at Luke.

The Jedi Master dropped lightly back to the floor and moved away faster than the eye could follow, belaying his age. Voldemort dropped as well, furiously searching with his magical eye. "Your son tried that as well, and it nearly got him killed," he hissed.

He spun around when he heard Luke say, "I'm not hiding in the Force. I'm standing in the White Current. It is the root of much of this world's magic, a place of peace and love. It is a place that you can never reach."

Voldemort raised his hands. A shockwave of dark magic shot out from him in a ring. The other Jedi in the room jumped and ran for cover. Even the White Current was not sufficient to completely protect Luke, and he staggered into sight from the power of the spell.

"You are going to die, and your son too!" Voldemort hissed. "Avada…"

The wall behind Luke exploded. Not a hole, or a mere spot. As the Jedi Master leaped away with power no human should possibly have possessed, the entire thirty foot brick wall of the great hall blew inward, taking parts of the battlements and roof with it.

Voldemort shielded himself against the debris as only a wizard of his power could, and stood untouched as the debris cleared. When it did so, he saw a sight that, even for him, caused a spear of apprehension in his shriveled heart.

The heavily modified Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 stock light freighter hovered just meters off the ground directly behind the wall. It was so close Voldemort could clearly see the woman sitting in the cockpit. Next to the woman, he saw a little girl's face. The girl waved at him before disappearing from view. He could see the quad lasers track onto him, though he had little idea of what they were.

Then he felt a grip like nothing he had ever experienced clasp him to the floor. He managed to turn his head, if nothing else, and see the Jedi holding his side in pain, but with one hand out-stretched.

"You are very powerful," Skywalker said to him. "But as you are about to find out, you are not immortal. You are going to die, Tom Riddle, not from magic, but from science."

The quad lasers opened fire. Voldemort wordlessly summoned his most powerful shield. It absorbed the punishment for less than two seconds before a bolt of red light with sufficient power to destroy objects the size of the Great Hall sheared through his magic and his skull. The shield's collapse allowed for the additional bolts to rip his body into molecules.

Just like that, the Dark Lord was gone.

A moment later, Han Solo walked in with a wounded Sirius Black on one arm. On the other side of Black walked Hermione Granger.

"Was that my wife that just killed the bad guy?" Han asked.

Luke nodded and sighed a little as he shifted his position. The curses the Dark Lord used hurt quite a lot.

"Well hell, I coulda done that!" Han said.

Luke grinned. "Ben's her nephew. She took it personally."

"Stupid Jedi," Han grumbled. "We got the rest of 'em, by the way. Set up a nice little cross-fire of e-webs on the third floor to force 'em into a corner, and dropped a couple of thermal detonators on 'em. After that, the rest kind of surrendered."

Luke nodded. Moments later Akanah stepped into the great hall.

Black was observing the damage. "Minerva's going to hate this."

Han laughed. "Yeah, well, that's what you get for letting a woman drive."

"What?" Hermione said archly.

"Hey," Han grinned. "Results speak for themselves. I'm not the one that just blew your dining room up. Though that reminds me—haven't eaten anything all day. Anywhere else I can go to get some food?"