Chapter 4- Lorelei's Story
"Wow," was all Lorelei could manage to say once Luke and Han had finished their story. "Your father? Amazing."
"Okay, so you heard all about us. Your turn. How are you here?" Han asked.
Lorelei laughed and leaned back against the booth chair.
"I don't know where to begin. I mean, my beginning, or my story as it were, begins so far away from here..."
"What's your home planet called?" Luke asked.
"Earth," she said.
"How far away is that?" Han asked.
Lorelei laughed. "That's not what I meant. I mean, the true reason why I'm here begins back when I was just a little thing."
"Then start there," Luke said, kindly.
Lorelei glanced out into space, and, when she began to speak, she didn't look back at them.
"You have to understand how my planet works. You see, I'm a Witch, and most people on my planet think that Witches don't exist. That we're myths. That's because we live in a secret world. Our homes, our shops, even our schools and governments, are separate from the rest of the planet. Hidden through our powers and commonly referred to as the Wizarding World," she said.
"Why are you so separated?" Luke asked.
"Because Wizards and Witches can cure anything but death. Non-magic people, Muggles as we call them, would begin to want cures to everything, and there's just not enough of us to go around. Anyhow, our world has great Wizards in it. One is the Headmaster of the best Wizarding School. And another…well, he's the darkest Wizard of our time. You know his name. Lord Voldemort. Voldemort, or Tom Riddle as his real name is, is what we call a half-blood. A Wizard that has Muggles somewhere in their lineage, as opposed to pure-bloods, Wizards who have nothing but magical people in their family lines. Because of his childhood, he had a hatred for his father and all Muggles that no one could quell. Because of that, he is one of the most terrible dark lords our kind has ever known. My parents, Lily and James Potter, joined a band of powerful Witches and Wizard to stop him, known as the Order of the Phoenix. Together, they battled Lord Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters. Are you with me so far?"
"Yeah," Han said. "But how do you play into all of this?"
Lorelei, still looking out the window, gave a grim smile. "I'm getting to that. Well, finally, my mother gave birth to me. Two years later, she gave birth to my younger brother, Harry, but let's back up to me. I was little over a year old when one day I was playing out in the rose garden my mother loved so much. I was playing with some of the blooms when I pricked my finger on one of the thorns. What's strange is that I don't remember crying. I remember looking at the blood that was welling up on my finger. I looked over and saw a dying rose whose petals were mostly withered. I loved roses and still do. I could not stand to see one die. I remember holding my finger out over the rose and letting the blood drop over it."
"How is this important?" Han asked.
Lorelei looked at him. "Do you have any scars, Han?" she asked.
"Yeah, plenty, actually. Why?" he asked.
"Any ones that you're not particularly fond of?"
"Yeah, this one, right here on my arm. Reminds me often of the one card game I've ever lost. My opponent still got angry with me for some reason."
"Rough crowd?" Luke asked with a smile.
"Yeah."
"Hold it out," Lorelei said.
Han shook his head, but did as was requested. Lorelei looked down at the table and quickly found a small piece of sharp metal jutting out from a hidden place. She pricked her finger on it, reminded vaguely of the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. This drew strange glances from the men, but she ignored them. She held her finger over the scar and squeezed her finger to urge the blood forth. The little red droplets landed on the ugly scar on Han's upper arm. Luke and Han both gasped as the blood and the scar both disappeared. Lorelei sucked on the finger to aid in the healing of the finger. She sat back down.
"How?" was all Luke asked.
"I have what is known as Blood Magic. It's an old magic and no one alive today is supposed to be able to do it. It's because of that that most believe that Blood Magic is evil, dark magic," Lorelei explained.
"Is it?" Han replied, rather pointedly.
"It depends on how it's used. I don't use it for dark, so, for me, it's not. Anyway, back to the rose story, what I didn't know was that my mother had seen the whole thing. She immediately scooped me up and ran to tell my father what had happened. She asked if they should tell anyone. He said no. He knew that I wasn't evil, but I would be treated as such. They told only their closest circle of friends and the Headmaster I mentioned earlier, Albus Dumbledore. However, the Ministry of Magic, our government, found out anyway. A friend of my parents who would betray them in the future had betrayed my secret. My parents, my mother just having given birth to my brother a month earlier, and I were drawn into court. It was decided by the Minister of Magic that I should be separated from my parents and the Wizarding World until I was old enough to go to Wizard School. That way, I would never learn about my powers. My brother was never to know of me. No one was to know of me. Albus disagreed with this. He said that it would increase my hatred for our kind, if I was hidden from it in such a manner. But the sentence was carried out. I was sent to live with a distance relative on a distance continent. Eleven months later, my parents were killed by Lord Voldemort, the dark lord ripped from his body to only exist in spirit, and my brother was the only survivor of my family."
Lorelei paused for a moment. There was no urge for her to continue. Her audience waited patiently for her. She was grateful. She cleared her throat and continued.
"Albus came to me when it was time for me to go to school and told me of all of this. He said that the Ministry would not allow me into Hogwarts, which is the school I spoke of, until I proved that I could control and contain my powers, for he had also informed me of those as well. In my final year of school, when I was seventeen, I was brought to Hogwarts and introduced to my brother. Lord Voldemort had been given back a body and was a terrible danger. Once I completed school, I joined the newly re-formed Order of the Phoenix. One afternoon, I was called to the school's staff room by Albus. This is going to sound odd, he said to me, but I need you to do something. You see, my planet doesn't have the technology you have. In fact, we don't even think it's possible. Albus told me of the other planets and the technology. I laughed at him but soon came to see that he was dead serious. I asked why our planet didn't have the technology. He told me of the war that you were involved in and that the governments of our world didn't want any part of it, so we rejected all of it."
"What was it that he needed you to do?" Luke asked.
"He said that Voldemort had discovered this and found a way to get to the planets. He said that I was to go and put a stop to anything that he might try to start. I agreed to the mission, despite the protests of my brother. However, I arrived on Tatooine and needed money. I took a one time entertainment gig at a cantina, just for some credits--isn't that what you call it? Anway...some of Babba's men were there and took me captive for his viewing pleasure only. That was a little less than I year ago. I haven't seen any of my friends or family since. So, that's it."
Lorelei shrugged.
"I know that both Babba and Jabba liked to…be with their girls. Did they…?" Han asked.
"No. I told Babba that if we should do anything like that, that I should become so enamored with him that it would distract me from my dancing. All lies of course. But he bought it."
Han laughed. Luke smiled.
"Good one," the Jedi said. "I'd have never thought of that."
Lorelei was about to reply when something suddenly made a loud explosive noise and the ship shook violently.
"That's ship fire!" Han shouted on his way to the cockpit. "Who's firing at us!"
They fired again. Lorelei grabbed the seat for support, and Luke fell against the table. Lorelei's bag, however, fell and spilled open. A bits of clothing and a rolled up piece of parchment landed in the floor. Her eyes widened, and the young witch dove and picked up the parchment.
"What is that? That scroll?" Luke asked.
Before Lorelei could answer, Han shouted for them. She slipped the paper back into her bag and ran after Luke to the cockpit.
"It's a Star Destroyer, Luke! We're nowhere near any remnants of the Empire. Why are they firing on us?" Han asked.
"I thought we were in light speed!" Luke asked.
"I pulled us out for a while, to give the drive a rest. That's not the point, though!"
"Never mind. Get us out of here!" Luke said. Then, he turned calmly toward Lorelei. "This has something to do with you, doesn't it? And that paper?"
"What paper?" Han asked.
They ignored him.
"It's the only resurrection spell known to Wizarding kind. It's very dark magic and Dumbledore wanted me to take it with me to hide it. I don't know what they want with it. Voldemort already has a body," Lorelei explained.
"How do we know that you're telling the truth, girlie?" Han asked as he plotted the points for lightspeed.
"She is," Luke said.
Han sighed and punched the drive into action. They left the Destroyer sitting.
End Notes: Awful long winded, isn't it? Sorry about that. Hope you're liking this. Please R & R! Thanks!