Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Star Wars movies, books or games. They belong to Disney or their various copyright owners. I don't own any of the Harry Potter books, movies or games,they belongs to their respective copyright owners. This story is not meant for sale nor rent. I make no money from it.

Chapter 15

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Interlude: An Order reborn

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Early 1986

Headmaster's Office

Hogwarts

A small group of people arrived in ones and twos at the entrance of the school grounds so Hagrid could lead them through protections set up just a step below war footing. Soon they all gathered in Albus' office to warm up themselves and picked up cups of hot tea courtesy to Hogwart's Elves. Flames burned merrily in the fireplace, helping various charms to keep the chill of a Scottish winter away.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily at seeing so many old friends gathered in one place, even if the reason left much to be desired.

"Albus, you didn't call us for tea and scones." Moody grunted. The old onerous bastard wasted no time in scanning a chair and a cup of tea anyway before drinking from it with a scowl.

"Unfortunately not." Dumbledore agreed with a tired sigh. "The rumours some of you might have heard are true, there is a new Dark Lord on the rise in Europe. What's worse, he has a powerful and capable apprentice already, who happens to be British as well."

Dumbledore scanned his guests and his heart clenched at their expressions. It was expected, yet that didn't make it any easier. They all had hoped that Tom would be the last Dark Lord any of them would face in their lives, and now this. There was resignation, fear and not a small amount of anger. Yet, there was determination too, which was frankly heartening after the price they all paid in the fight against Tom.

"It is confirmed then?" Alastor grumbled.

"I saw the memories with my own eyes." Dumbledore nodded. "Both of the Master and the Apprentice. They're powerful, dangerous..." Albus grimaced. "Sane." He was sure that it was in no small part due to his insanity that Tom took so long to bring Britain to its knees during the Blood War, that and the general fanaticism and short-sightedness of his Death Eaters. Using blood purity as a rallying cry earned him a lot of resources, the scions and even heads of many important families, yet number wise, they were a relative minority.

This Baras character, no matter his real beliefs, wasn't about to make the same mistake.

While his friends digested his words, Albus used his wand to remove a memory strand from his mind, place it into a vial and cast an obscure spell which projected it on the wall near the fireplace.

Everyone watched his recollection from the memories he experienced concerning the Dark Lord and his apprentice. His friends uttered a lot of quiet curses while watching and more of them obviously struggled with despair. It took Fawkes noticing, ruffing his feathers in irritation at the negative emotions and singing to put an end of it, something Albus was thankful for.

When the spell ended, the only sounds in the room came from the Phoenix who was still quietly singing and the merely burning flames in the fireplace.

"The Apprentice is one of ours, you saw?" Alastor was the first the recover and he growled his question with the typical bluntness he has been known for since his last disastrous encounter with Voldemort.

"Dimitri Veil, he graduated from Drumstrang the previous year." Dumbledore confirmed. "His father was a Hogwarts student, while at this time I'm not sure where his late mother was taught. She was a foreigner." Albus explained.

"Then we can assume that sooner or later he'll return home." Kingsley Shacklebolt said. The dark skinned man was one of the newest member of the Order who joined shortly before the end of the Blood War.

"My thoughts exactly." Albus confirmed gravely. "The Dark Lord might be content to build his power base on the continent and take it over for the foreseeable future – not something that is in anyone's best interest. The Apprentice however? Sooner or later we'll be facing trouble on our shores as well and we must be ready."

"What do you intent to do, Albus?" Alastor demanded.

"Well, first we're going to reform the Order. That's the second reason I called you here for, besides giving you a warning about what is about to descend upon our collective heads." Dumbledore explained. "First, we'll need to gather more information about the Dark Lord, his intentions, allies, resources. Second, we need to be on the lookout about any attempt of him to gain a foothold on our shores. Third, we need to look for anyone here in Britain who might be sympathetic to the Dark Lord's cause and offer shelter, succour and alliance."

"What about the Death Eaters?"

"We will watch them as well. Depending on the Dark Lord's agenda, they could be either a tailor made army for him or an obstacle he'll have to overcome."

"We aren't working with those bastards!" That was the most polite cry that came from Albus' guests.

"Naturally. If it comes to it, it would be merely a case of us watching two enemies tear at each other, while doing our best to contain the collateral damage and take them into custody once they've weakened each other. That however is a talk for another time..."

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Part 1

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September 1991

Hogwarts

Before the weekend, all Harry got from his Master was a few pulsed reassurances that all was all right coming from their bond and another night of nightmares until he could finally get some proper sleep. By the time he was more or less coherent the whole day, the furor in school hadn't really diminished. Every new edition of the Prophet stirred up more and more rumours and speculations, which in turn kept people staring and pointing at him. So much for getting some peace and quiet at Hogwarts in order to study magic in peace… As the week proceeded, Harry became more and more frustrated. Only the mornings were relatively calm. Lunch and dinner basically guaranteed that dozens of people glanced his way either with fear, wonder or both.

At least the news from the muggle worlds received here were few and far between, otherwise Harry was sure that the next week would be even crazier – his Master would be testifying in front of the American Senate then. Even if many of his peers wouldn't care about that one way or another, there were those who would – half bloods and muggleborn like Granger.

Even the Slytherin common room wasn't much of a sanctuary lately, because many of the older students kept openly giving Potter evaluating looks, a few even offered small nods of respect! It was vexing, Harry had done absolutely nothing except keep his head down and try to study like a student was supposed to do! It was beginning to dawn upon him, both intellectually and emotionally, that his Master and cousins were right, no matter what he wanted, being just Harry wouldn't be an option.

He still wasn't completely sure how he felt about it. There was something enticing about all the attention, about people believing that he was valuable enough, that he mattered enough to take him into consideration. On the other hand, there was a part of him that loathed it all and wanted to just sink into the floor! Those were feelings that kept warring within him the past couple of days to his immense frustration.

Fortunately, it wasn't all bad, especially when the classes themselves were concerned, well most of the time. A few were a waste of time, even most Ravenclaws agreed. Others on the other hand, were cool and interesting. Like DADA, which would be the last class for the week. Harry looked up for it with both fear and excitement. When it finished, it would be the weekend and that meant much more free time for everyone to be overbearing busybodies!

The best thing Harry liked about the interesting classes was that once they got inside the classroom, everyone's attention was usually on the teacher, what they were teaching and doing any assignments instead of starring at him muttering some nonsense. Friday's DADA was no different. A quick roll-call to ensure everyone was present and the class began.

"Last time we discussed the nature of the Dark Arts. Today, we'll be talking about their relationship with the law, both in theory and in practice, not just here in Magical Britain but worldwide too, at least in general." Professor Quirrell smirked. "I hope you've done your homework and visited the library?"

Most students nodded, a lot of them eagerly, especially among Harry's Slytherins. The Gryffindors obviously weren't too happy with what they found out in the library.

"I can clearly see the big question on the faces of many of you. Why aren't the Dark Arts outlawed? Why aren't most if not all of them banned outright? Does anyone wish to give us their theory?"

Harry racked his brain for a plausible answer, however considering he was mostly asleep in the library, whatever he read about it, he simply couldn't recall.

"Miss Davis?" Quirrell asked.

"There was no good explanation I saw in the library, merely the fact that very few spells considered part of the Dark Arts are restricted or banned. It raises a lot of questions, however there were no good answers to be found in the library." Tracey said.

"I'm not surprised. Do you happen to have a theory, Miss Davies?"

Tracey shook her head in the negative.

"Anyone else? Do you wish to speculate?"

Silence interrupted only by the odd grumble coming from the Gryffindors was the only answer the Professor received.

"Well, then. I'll have to do my best to explain, won't I?" Quirrell chuckled. "As I understand it, this isn't something that is usually discussed this early in Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, however I do believe that before we begin with the practical portion of the class, we should have a stable grounding in theory, dismiss some pre-conceptions as well, and touch upon some real-would implications of the Dark Arts."

The Professor stood up, walked around his desk and then leaned back on it. "The answer is simple, students. Power." Quirrell raised a hand, twitched his wrist and his wand appeared, so he could twirl it in front of them. "This? We all have wands, we receive them when we are eleven. They're as much a tool as a symbol. I think that this explanation would be easier to grasp for our muggleborn and half-blood students. Their muggle peers don't have magic, they don't receive a wand after their eleventh birthday. What does that mean both for them, for us and our respective societies?"

Thanks to his emphatic senses, Harry could clearly perceive the mood in the room shifting. Practically everyone watched and listened with rapt attention, however the way they felt, that was radically different. There was a hunger for knowledge, for validation, he thought, among many of the Slytherins. The Gryffindors on the other hand, especially the muggleborns, felt confused, some outraged and even betrayed.

"I'm not going to began spouting some blood purist nonsense!" Quirrell apparently noticed the same thing, because his exclamation caught them all off guard. "I'm merely stating a few facts that are the core of many of the differences between magical and muggle societies. It's not that we have magic and they obviously don't! Magic doesn't necessary make us better people than the muggles, there have been monsters and villains both muggle and magical alike all throughout history!"

Well, that certainly made sense, Harry knew painfully well that some muggles were terrible people and the same could arguably be said about some wizards and witches as well, like everyone responsible for him ending up abandoned with his relatives! His peers, well they didn't necessary agree. Now it was the Gryffindors turn to feel vindicated and smug, while a lot of Slytherins experienced less than flattering emotions aimed at their teacher. If this class, and the future ones, contained this much excitement, Harry wasn't sure how well he could handle them. Perhaps he should contact his Master and non only ask again what really happened, but about tips on how to better handle his emphatic sense! Being constantly bombarded by people's emotions was bad enough, though bearable. Having those emotions shift so fast and to this extent, something like that was much harder to handle!

"A wand." Quirrell stressed. "A symbol that we have enough magic to put it to practical use, the primary tool we use to do it. We are all given one once we are eleven years old. It can be used for harmless fun," A swift run, a whispered word Harry couldn't hear and a stream of coloured sparks erupted from the wand's tip to swirl above everyone's heads. "I can use it to heal, to mend broken objects, to break thins as well. A wand is a very useful tool, one that defines us. It is also what the muggles call lethal weapons and for a good reason they wouldn't let children and young adults possess one before they are of age, here in Britain, not even afterwards in most cases. In the muggle world, only their Aurors and Hit Wizard equivalents have weapons. Thus, it is the muggle government that has a monopoly of power in the muggle world. Can you see where I'm going with this?"

Harry thought about his wand, about what his Master and cousins had been teaching him. "Power." He thought and only then he figured out he had said it aloud in the silent classroom.

"Precisely, Mr Potter, take two points for Slytherin. Power." Quirrell nodded. "Magic in general, the Dark Arts in particular, they're power. Those who have studied them, those who know them or at least have the necessary tomes in their personal libraries to become proficient in their use will never accept a widespread ban on the Dark Arts. It would directly take away from their power if they abide by it… and in the magical world, governments seldom have monopoly of power so it is hard to enforce laws and directives that the population in general doesn't wish to follow. It is one thing for the Aurors to go after an individual who has used the Dark Arts to hurt someone, that's simply natural. Its another thing all-together to go after people because they have knowledge that gives them power and are willing to practice it without hurting any one. Trying to take power away from people, that has never gone down well and that's the rub about the Dark Arts. Their primary application is in combat, trying to take them away, would lead to those practicing them to fight back as a matter of course, often to the end. Because, once those wizards and witches have been robbed from one of the best tools used in combat, what else could be taken from them now that they're weaker?"