Chapter Two
School Supplies
The next day Uncle Owen got Luke up early.
"Wha for?" Luke sleepily asked his Uncle.
"You know I'm needed on the farm, Luke. I do, however know someone who can take you to school," replied Uncle Owen.
After a hasty breakfast, Luke finished packing while Uncle Owen got out the family landspeeder. The Lars family landspeeder was a low-flying, black painted, rugged vehicle. Its windscreen was not retractable. Owen had it for years and he kept it in a condition that would have amazed mechanics from less hostile enviroments than Tattooine.
Uncle Owen drove Luke to a small, solitary house on the Dune Sea. Luke knew it to be the home of Ben Kenobi, a crazy old hermit. Luke also knew that his uncle was one of the few people in the area friendly to Kenobi.
"Well, Owen, what brings you out this far? And young Luke, too?" Kenobi asked. He was a tall man, with a short, white beard. Kenobi's hair still possesed almost light brown splatches that Luke supposed was his original hair cover.
"Luke's been accepted to an off-world school," Uncle Owen explained. "I'm needed here, so I was wondering if you could take him."
"I think I can fit that into my busy schedule," Ben said and laughed. "Where is this school?"
"A planet called Earth!" Luke piped up.
"Earth," Ben repeated softly to himself, "Earth. That's a name I've not heard in a long time, a long time. I was there once, met a man named Dumbledore."
"That's the Headmaster!" said Luke.
Uncle Owen explained to Ben about Hogwarts and the letter and how they had to get there in about a month. Ben agreed to take Luke. Uncle Owen drove them to Anchorhead, where Ben and Luke got a transport to Mos Eisley.
"Mos Eisley Spaceport," Ben said to Luke as the their transport lowered itself into a docking bay, "you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."
Luke gulped. They hired a more respectable transport to Earth. Ben couldn't very well take an eleven year old into a bar. When they finally had a private moment on the transport they were taking to Earth, Ben began telling Luke about the Force.
"The Force?" Luke prompted.
"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It is an energy field, created by all living things. It surrounds us, it penetrates us, it binds the Galaxy together. At the same time it is unquantifiable, it is the nothingness that creates miracles," Ben explained.
Luke was pretty confused. Over the next several days as they traveled to Earth, Kenobi continued to enlighten Luke about the Force. Ben demonstrated telekineses and some telepathy, and taught Luke the ability to levitate and summon objects. After a week, the ship dropped out of hyperspace near the gravity well of Earth. They landed in secret and somehow managed to find their way to Diagon Alley. By the local calender, it was August first.
Luke and Ben's first stop was Gringotts, the wizard's bank. Controlled by Goblins, the bank was an amazing piece of engineering. Luke opened an account and exchanged the money his uncle had given him for wizard's money. Then it was off to Madam Malkin's for robes. Hogwarts students needed black robes, a pointed black hat, and a black winter cloak. Luke saw Hagrid leaving Madam Malkin's just as Ben and him were approaching. Hagrid looked a bit queasey. Ben went down the street to speak with someone.
Luke was led by Madam Malkin to a fitting room where two other boys were in conversation. One of the boys had a pale, pointed face with grey eyes and very blond hair. The other had jet-black hair, wore black, thick-rimmed glasses, and had emerald green eyes.
"You going to Hogwarts, too?" asked the pale boy.
Luke nodded. Madam Malkin went to work fitting the black haired boy, while other attendents fitted the pale boy and Luke.
"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy in a bored drawl. "Them I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."
Luke was appaled. This boy was obviously wealthy and he treated that status like it gave him special standing. The only rich people Luke knew were the Darklighters and the only thing Biggs wanted to do was to go to the Academy and become a fighter pilot.
"Have either of you got you own brooms?" the boy went on.
"No," said the green-eyed one.
"No," Luke said, "I've got a speeder bike though, that we've managed to keep running for longer than I've been born."
"Play Quidditch at all?"
"No," said the other boy and Luke simultaneously. They exchanged glances. What on Earth is Quidditch?
"I do─Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"
Both the other boy and Luke shook their heads no. Luke was feeling more and more confused.
"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been─imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"
"Mmm," said the black haired boy. Luke said nothing.
"I say, look at that man!" said the pale boy very suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at the dark haired boy and pointing at two large ice creams.
"That's Hagrid," said the black haired boy, looking pleased with himself. "He works at Hogwarts."
"Oh, I've heard of him. He's sort of a servent, isn't he?"
"He's the gamekeeper," chimed in Luke.
"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage ─ lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."
"I think he's brilliant," said the green eyed boy.
"He's not a savage. I've seen real savages from a distance and my Uncle says they raid and steal tirelessly," Luke said.
Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"
"They're dead," said the other boy.
"Oh, sorry," said the pale boy, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"
"They were a witch and a wizard if that's what you mean."
"What about you?" the pale boy asked Luke.
"My uncle says that my father was a navigator on a spice freighter, but Ben said he was a Jedi Knight," Luke said. He had been told about Darth Vader betraying and murdering Anakin Skywalker on the journey to Earth.
The pale boy was just about to say something when Madam Malkin and her attendent said to Luke and the black haired boy, "That's it, you're done dearies."
Luke and the other boy hopped down off their footstools, paid for their robes and left. Luke said hello to Hagrid and surveyed the street for any sign of Ben.
"Hullo, Luke," said Hagrid, warmly. "Harry, have yeh met Luke? No? Well then, Luke Skywalker, meet Harry Potter. Harry Potter, meet Luke Skywalker."
Luke and the green eyed boy shook hands. Hagrid handed Harry an ice cream. Harry consulted his list. Then Hagrid saw Ben walking towards them.
"Obi-wan!" cried Hagrid. Hagrid embraced Ben warmly.
"Hello, Hagrid," Ben said. "How's Albus? Still as mad as a hatter?"
Hagrid introduced Ben to Harry and the four decided to finish their shopping together. Ben was deep in conversation with Hagrid while Harry walked with Luke.
"Harry, are you the boy Hagrid said defeated Vol ─ I mean, You-Know-Who?" Luke asked.
"Yeah," Harry said. He unconsiously rubbed his scar. "Where are your parents?"
"My aunt and uncle are busy with the farm. My parents . . . they're dead too," Luke said.
"Oh no! Did Vol ─I mean, You-Know-Who murder them?"
"I don't know what happened to my mother, but my father was betrayed and murdered by a young Jedi named Darth Vader," Luke said.
Luke helped Harry pick out an owl that Hagrid gave him. At last, Luke and Harry each needed a wand. They went to Ollivander's of course, makers of fine wands since 382 b.c. Mr Ollivander was tall, old, and rather thin. He had a soft voice. He spoke to Luke and Harry (in particular Harry) about wands at great length. The came the testing of the wands. Luke got a wand very quickly, with Ben's help. Luke's wand was twelve and a quarter inches, wormwood and dragon heart string. After finishing their shopping, Luke and Ben stayed in the Leaky Cauldron until September the first.