A/N- Thanks for the reviews! Here's the next chapter! Only one more to go!
Chapter 9- Hostage
Lorelei could feel the dark Witch's wand in her back.
"I'm moving, Bellatrix. Can't you tell?" Lorelei hissed at her.
"Not fast enough. I want to see the festivities…and I want to beat your Jedi boy to the punch," she replied with a sick sort of glee in her voice.
She was leading Lorelei right to the place that Luke described in his story about his fight against the Empire. The thin platform that led out to the pipes where Luke first heard the four words that forever changed his life.
I am your father.
Luke's story had been powerful to Lorelei. It was also a bit inspirational. She found that she and Luke both had something in common. That was the fact that they never chose the big changes…they just happened.
But dwelling on this now would not do her any good. They had arrived at the platform that Luke had described. Voldemort and a blond haired man that Lorelei could only assume was Abdul were waiting for her and Bellatrix at the end of said platform.
"Bring Miss Potter to me," Voldemort said.
He gestured to the remaining masked Death Eater to come forward.
"Both of you hold her," Voldemort said. Bellatrix, with one hand, grabbed one of Lorelei's arms. The masked Death Eater grabbed the other. When his hand came out from beneath the robes, she gasped. It was pure silver! She knew this man!
"Wormtail!" Lorelei spat the name from her mouth as if it were the most vile of poisons. "You bastard!"
With his other hand, the man known as Wormtail lowered his hood. He was a small, balding man. The little bit of hair he had left was gray. He was also very rat-like…which hinted at his Animagus.
"Such language, Miss Potter. Why, I remember when you were the sweetest, quietest little girl," Wormtail said.
"Bastard, how dare you speak to me!" Lorelei spat again.
"Quiet! I hear Skywalker approaching! Quickly, bring the girl around behind me," Abdul commanded. However, the Death Eaters did not move until Voldemort nodded his consent.
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As Luke felt the presence of this Sith Lord get stronger, he drew out his lightsaber, ready in a moment's notice to ignite it. He was familiar with this place. It was the way he had taken to the platform he had been on when he had discovered the true identity of his father. It was only fitting that when he found out that his father was still alive that he should be here in Cloud City…being drawn to the same place.
This Abdul was near. Luke found himself on the same familiar pathway to the platform with only one thing different. He could hear people talking. Then, something unexpected happened.
"Luke? I can feel that you are here. Come out and play, won't you? We have something of yours," the Jedi heard an unknown voice call.
And there he was again. He was on that platform. However, the tables had turned. Voldemort, Abdul, and two cloaked followers of Voldemort that hid themselves behind Abdul stood right on the edge of the place that Luke had thrown himself off of to escape Darth Vader.
"You have the scroll I want. Give it to me," Abdul said matter-of-factly.
Luke scoffed. "What makes you think that I'll hand over this item," he waved the scroll at them, "so easily?"
"Because," Voldemort hissed at him. "we have this."
He snapped his fingers and the Death Eaters emerged from behind Abdul. Between them was Lorelei.
"Don't give it to them, Luke," she said calmly.
"But, Lorelei, they'll kill you," Luke said, worry edging into his eyes.
"They can't. Not if they want to use the scroll. My Blood must be given willingly. They know that. They're bluffing," she said. She winced as both the woman and the man in the cloaks jabbed their wands into her back.
"Oh, but we can torture her," Abdul said.
"Been there, done that. Luke, don't give them the scroll," Lorelei said again.
Luke stared at her. How could she be so calm?
"What would you do with the scroll if I were to hand it over?" Luke inquired.
"Bring the Emperor and all his glory back to life," Voldemort answered.
Well, that settled that. Luke couldn't give them the scroll. But then he couldn't allow Lorelei to be hurt. What was he to do?
Suddenly, a soft but powerful voice from behind him shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
A single wand, which Luke recognized to be Lorelei's, flew into the air. Lorelei elbowed her two captors, caught the wand, and shoved her way to Luke's side. In all this confusion, Luke took a moment to look back at the source of this voice.
An elderly man with long white hair and beard in equal length and color dressed all in purple robes strode forth. His wand was raised in front of him and he only stopped when he had come to Lorelei's side.
"Headmaster Dumbledore!" Lorelei said joyously. "What are you doing here?"
"When I hadn't gotten a report from you in such a long time, I began to worry. So I tracked you here. I'm not surprised, I must confess, to find what I have found here," the man said kindly.
"Dumbledore," hissed Voldemort.
"Hello, Tom. Still up to your old habits, even here in the far reaches of space?" Dumbledore said, just as sweetly.
"Apparate!" Voldemort cried in a panic. With three loud pops, he and the two Death Eaters were gone.
"What!" shrieked Abdul. "No! How dare you leave me behind!" he cried into the sky.
Luke ignited his lightsaber and held it out in front of him, just as Lorelei and Dumbledore were doing with their wands.
"It's over, Abdul Palpatine. You will accompany me to the Senate on Coruscant where you will stand trial for crimes against the New Republic," he said.
Lorelei lowered her wand and turned to face Dumbledore.
"Headmaster, I have so much to tell you! And to ask! How's Harry? How is everyone?" she said quickly.
However, Abdul saw an advantage to this moment. With a swift step forward, he ignited his own lightsaber and pulled Lorelei in front of him. She was at the very end of the lightsaber, which glowed red, and could feel the heat coming off of it.
"Don't move, Lorelei," Luke said, his eyes wide.
"Yeah, I know," she replied.
"I believe I'll take my leave, if you don't mind," Abdul said. He lifted his leg and gave Lorelei a hard kick in the back. Then, as he jumped off one side of the platform, Lorelei plummeted over the other.
"Lorelei!" Both the Headmaster and Luke cried, rushing to the side Lorelei had gone over.
To their great relief, they saw below them the smallest of transports, hovering there. Han's head was protruding out of the hatch on the top of it.
"We caught her, Luke. Lorelei's in here with me and your dad. Come on, you next," Han said.
Luke turned to Dumbledore. "Do you need a ride?"
The Headmaster smiled. "No, but only wait for me at your larger ship. I need to speak to Lorelei before you depart."
Luke nodded, then leapt over the side.
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"Do you think Abdul is dead?" Lorelei asked, standing outside the Millennium Falcon with Luke and Dumbledore.
"I doubt it. That Lord Voldemort was probably waiting to catch him somewhere too," Luke said. Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
"How will you get home, Headmaster?" Lorelei asked.
"The same way I got here. But, I wish for you to continue your mission out here, if you don't mind," Dumbledore said, looking over his half-moon spectacles at her.
"Of course, but…what about those back home? Do they miss me?" she asked sadly.
Luke hesitantly put an arm around Lorelei's shoulder. She reached over and held his hand for just a moment, just before she dropped it to clasp her other hand in front of her. Luke, however, didn't remove his arm.
"Of course they miss you," Dumbledore said. "But they also understand that you have a mission out here."
"Wait, I have an idea," Luke said. He ran quickly inside the Falcon and came back with a small screen with buttons surrounding it.
"It's hand-held. It's a communicator of sorts. All you have to do is punch in the code of the particular other screen you want to talk to and wait for the other to answer," Luke explained, handing the machine to Dumbledore. "Give that to her brother. Tell him that the code to her machine is 4703."
"My machine?" Lorelei asked him.
"Yeah, I'll give you the other once we leave," Luke said.
Dumbledore nodded. "I'll have to enchant this to work on the Hogwarts grounds, but this is generous. Thank you, Mr. Skywalker."
Luke bowed his head. With a quick hug to Lorelei, Dumbledore apparated away.
"Let's go, Lorelei," Luke said, turning to go inside the ship.
"But, Luke, where? I mean, I have no place to go or live or credits--as you call them--to live on," Lorelei said, her eyes cast down. "I don't want to be a burden."
"You won't be," came Leia's voice. Lorelei looked up to see Luke's sister standing just outside the Falcon. "You helped saved the life of the President of the New Republic, I'm sure the Republic will come up with a substantial reward for you."
"And if you need any help, we'll provide it," Luke said.
Lorelei smiled. "Thank you."
Luke and Leia nodded. "Now, let's go. Han's ready to get out of here," Leia said, turning to enter the ship. Exchanging quick looks, Lorelei and Luke followed.
End Notes: One more chapter to go! Yay! Okay, if you haven't noticed it yet, I'm going to state it now. I don't use any of the books of the Extended Universe in this fic. I'm sorry, I just haven't read a lot of them. Anyway, I hope you're liking this fic so far. Okay, on to the final chapter and the sequel!