Author's Note: This chapter is now finally up and ready to view. Let me know of any writing errors that are in it. Also, the next chapter will be seeing Harry FINALLY begin his first year at Hogwarts.
WARNING: Chapter contains depictions of strong semi-graphic violence and some language.
Rated: Fiction M (I've rated this chapter M for very specific reasons, much like before with a previous entry! If you don't like it, don't read it!)
Chapter 6
Assault in the Streets
Year 1 - Leaky Cauldron/Diagon Alley, London - Earth
After several grueling hours of trying out countless different types of wands between each one of them, which in turn produced some rather interesting and often undesirable results, Harry, Ron, and Neville, along with the Weasleys, Frank, and Josh all finally exited Ollivanders wand shop together and headed straight back to the Leaky Cauldron, where they found the Lovegoods (as well as Ginny Weasley) waiting for them there, all the while still chatting with Hagrid (indicating that the Weasleys, Frank, and Josh had all departed the wand shop previously for a short time to take a break from waiting around for Harry, Ron, and Neville to each find their respective wands) who had in fact stopped by the wand shop nearly an hour or so earlier to show Harry an owl which he had gotten for the little boy as a very belated birthday gift, since Potter's birthday officially landed on the date of July 31st and it was already close to the end of the month of August.
Harry had in fact, upon turning to face the store window when Hagrid had lightly tapped on it to get the little boy's attention, recognized the little white-winged creature immediately and ran outside for a minute or two after placing the wand that he was trying out back onto the desk.
"Hedwig!" he exclaimed with sheer delight the moment he saw the owl that was perched in the cage which Hagrid was carrying.
Upon hearing that, everyone aside from Varner within the wand shop (including Hagrid who had heard him from outside) stared at the little boy in confusion for a moment or so before Harry explained that the owl in question was the exact same owl that had delivered his acceptance letter to him all the way from the Hogwarts School on Earth, which in turn was many light-years away from Coruscant and the Jedi Temple; across the vastness of space, thus prompting Harry to surmise that it was actually the Force itself that lead the owl (of whom he had named Hedwig while it was briefly with him) there in the first place. Though, he didn't mention however that Sirius Black had assisted Potter in choosing a name for the animal while it was with the little boy for a large part of the day before setting it free to return back to where it had come from.
Potter had also, as a formal apology for inadvertently turning his friend's hair color to a funny shade of rosy-pink earlier, boughten Ronald his own wand for him from Ollivanders shop.
"Where is Alice at, Hagrid? Is she upstairs?" asked Frank, once the group had returned to the Leaky Cauldron.
"I do believe so, yes," the half-giant answered him, thus prompting Longbottom and the others to all immediately head-up to the second floor of the inn to see just how things were going with Alice and little Hermione, but also to inform his wife that they were all ready to leave too. Although, both the Lovegoods and Ginny Weasley had decided to remain downstairs with Hagrid until it was officially time to go.
"Alice? Alice, dear, it's time to leave," said Frank the moment they entered into the lounge area.
His wife instantly turned her head towards the whole lot of them and slowly put a finger to her lips; instructing everyone to be silent. "Shhh. Keep it down. She's asleep," Alice whispered in a gentle yet firm voice, who in turn was comfortably seated in a rocking chair that was facing directly towards a softly-lit fireplace.
Steadily crossing the room, Harry, Ron, and Neville all casually approached the spot where Mrs. Longbottom sat tenderly swaying back and forth in the rocking chair, all the while cradling little Hermione in her arms. The child in question appeared to be sleeping rather peacefully without a care in the world, like a tiny wingless cherub, as she lay all snuggled-up and warm while sucking on her thumb before Alice then resumed humming a pleasant lullaby to her, of which she had currently been doing until the others walked in.
Looking at his wife while in deep thought for a moment, Frank immediately turned to face both of the Weasleys and quietly asked them something in private, of which they both nodded to him in agreement before he in turn steadily approaching Alice and quietly whispering into her ear.
Alice immediately looked up at her husband and nodded with a warm smile on her face upon hearing what he had to tell her, and Longbottom then proceeded to head downstairs to the bar for a couple minutes, only to return to the lounge area a short time later with something that looked like a small white hanging door sign clutched in his right hand. And from what Josh could fleetingly make out as Frank passed by him, the Jedi Knight noticed the writing on the door sign which read: 'Longbottom, Room 7, For 1 Night', inscribed on it.
Ron instantly looked over at both his mother and father as Alice slowly rose from the rocking chair and casually went into the room that Frank had just now hung the sign from the room's door on with Hermione still cradled in her arms.
"Wait, what's going on?" he asked a bit confused. "I thought that we were all leaving."
"Hermione and the Longbottoms are going to stay here for the night, dear," Molly answered him quietly. "Given that she isn't old enough to Apparate and that she also apparently hates flying due to the way in which we arrived here earlier thanks to Varner, as well as to the fact that she's still asleep. Therefore, Alice and Frank both feel that she shouldn't be woken-up at this time."
"But tomorrow I'll take the car first thing in the morning to come rough to the Leaky Cauldron and pick them up before heading off to work," Arthur immediately added.
Ron nodded in reply before walking over towards the state room that Alice had just gone into with both Harry and Neville a few paces ahead of him. And upon entering the room, Ron noticed a dark brown wooden crib that was situated along one of the corner walls, with little Hermione sound asleep inside it.
After a bit, the Weasleys along with Harry and Josh all said their goodbyes to the Longbottoms before retrieving the Lovegoods as well as Ginny from the barroom downstairs, with Molly explaining to her daughter that Frank, Alice, and Neville were going to spend the night at the Leaky Cauldron since Hermione was currently sleeping and they didn't want to wake her up. And once everyone in the group (including Hagrid) all stepped through hidden entrance to the inn and back out onto the not-so-busy London side-street as the evening sun was beginning to set, they walked for sometime until they soon noticed, and then strode directly towards a back alleyway to avoid being seen by any curious or wandering eyes, as they were all about to depart for the Burrow via the same way that they had arrived. Except for Hagrid, or course, who was just about to leave for his hunt again by way of Sirius' motorbike.
Suddenly, Josh halted in his tracks (as did Harry), and they both spun on their heals right as a number of loud bangs were heard by everyone that were currently roaming the streets, who in turn all ran screaming for their lives as several stray projectiles flew past, barely missing the others in the group as they all instantly turned on a dime; startled by what was happening. Though, a few of them managed to strike Arthur Weasley in the upper right arm, right shoulder, and back just as he was turning around, thus instantly knocking him over flat onto his back in sharp agonizing pain.
"Arthur!" cried Molly in disbelief the moment she saw her husband get hit.
"Daddy!" Ginny yelled in both fright and despair as she promptly broken down in tears upon seeing her father writhing on the ground, covered in blood from his wounds.
Harry and Josh both quickly glanced behind them at what had just happened to Mr. Weasley, before Harry turned back to face the strange man who was pointing a gun towards the others and more importantly at Molly Weasley specifically.
"Who are you!?" Harry demanded sharply. "Why are you doing this!?"
"Where is she!?" the man yelled, clearly ignoring the little boy. "I know you freaks have her! NOW WHERE IS SHE!?"
Josh, having recognized the armed assailant and knew full-well of whom he was talking about, suddenly bolted forward with lightning-speed and slammed the gunman into the brick-wall of a building that was a few feet over to their right and held him up against it off the ground by his throat as the stranger dropped his weapon and began clutching at his throat as well as futilely clawing at Varner's hand and arm to get free.
"FREAKS‼ YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF FREAKS‼" the man gasped with absolute fury as he started laughing quite rather dementedly.
Varner, while fuming with a strongly pimped-up rage, violently yanked the stranger away from the wall and with a tightly clenched fist that was seemingly glowing with Force Lightning, virtually jack-hammered the guy square in the ribs and sent him flying backwards a number of yards.
"That's for Hermione!" shouted Josh angrily as he stomped towards the stranger again, not realizing that he inadvertently kicked the shooter's gun directly towards him, who in turn was now writhing in tremendous pain on ground himself as he tried most frantically to get away however possible. But it was no use, as Varner grabbed him by the scruff of his coat and lifted him off the ground once more, preparing to finish him off.
The stranger looked on with wide eyes, now broken and bleeding, as Josh tightened his fist with Force Lightning building-up to a massive intensity inside his palm. "And this… is for Arthur, you son of a bitch!"
"Josh, stop it! What are you doing!?" Molly yelled at the young Jedi Knight in disbelief.
"It's Granger! Hermione's father - her adoptive father!" Varner answered over his shoulder.
"Leave him be and come help Arthur! Please!" Molly pleaded with upmost desperation. "He's waning fast!"
Knowing full-well that Molly was right, Josh released his grip on the man and started walking back towards the others just as the noise of police cars with their sirens blaring could be heard racing towards the whole lot in response to all the commotion from quite a long ways off.
**BANG! BANG!**
Two more shots promptly rang out moments later as Josh stumbled ever so slightly, more in surprise and shock than in any actual pain, as he felt a red-hot needle-like pricking sensation in the back of his right leg, and he groaned under his breath in frustration upon glancing back at Granger who was now aiming the gun at him.
"Just… give me one second, will you?" Varner requested as he momentarily looked over at Molly and the others.
He moved back towards Granger who continued to fire several more rounds at him, all with little to no effect whatsoever, as the wounds created by the bullets striking Varner simply healed over almost within an instant due to him having learned, practiced, and mastered many telekinetic abilities (both with his superpowers, as well as through the Force) while during his time both within the Grid and outside of it also. The last shot that was heard was immediately followed by a bone-chilling scream as Josh forcefully stomped on the weapon; crushing both it and Granger's hand all in a single move, before the young Jedi yanked Granger up off the ground and held him in the air once more.
"You bastard! You've crushed my bloody hand!" Granger yelled angrily while still in pain. "What are you gonna do? Kill me?"
Josh instantly pulled the man closer to him so that they were practically nose-to-nose; staring eye-to-eye with each other as the young Jedi Knight gave him a rather ominous grin in response.
"Oh, believe me," Varner remarked as his eyes turned to a dim orange glow. "You're gonna wish that's all I did to you."
Suddenly, in the mere blink of an eye, both men vanished into the clouds that stretched across the evening sky and were gone.
Ron, while looking down at his slowly-dying father after witnessing Josh take-off into the clouds and dragging the stranger along with him; effectively leaving the group there all alone, began to slowly tear-up until he also finally broke-down crying himself in total fear of not knowing what exactly they were going to do.
Harry, meanwhile, was using his fairly meager skills with telepathy to try and communicate with Josh through the Force almost immediately after watching him leave while dragging Granger along, who was technically being held captive by the young Jedi Knight, and warned him not to do anything that he either might regret or anything that would potentially lead him towards the Dark Side for that matter. But also for him to come back immediately, since they desperately needed his help to save Arthur Weasley's life.
And while all of that was happening, everyone in the group could plainly hear the sirens of the police cars steadily getting louder in the distance, when suddenly a silvery orb of light quite unexpectedly emerged from within the dark shadows of another much smaller back alley that was located in-between two narrowly-spaced buildings a short distance off, and instantaneously shot upwards into the sky before launching itself in another direction with lightning speed and completely disappearing from view.
Upon turning in the direction of where the light had come from, Harry and the others watched as a tall and rather able-bodied man stepped out from the shadows, only to reveal Josh who was now standing on the other side of the street. And yet, there was something very different about him which everyone in the group could clearly make out; as he was no longer wearing his Jedi robes or tunic, but rather a striped navy blue three-piece suit and tie with dark brown shoes, as well as a navy blue flat cap and full-length overcoat.
"Josh? Is - is that… really you?" asked Harry with a bit of uncertainty, given the young man's appearance.
The individual merely smiled and let his head droop as he exhaled an amusing chuckle in response. "Hey, Harry," he simply replied after raising his head again to look directly at the little boy, thus confirming that it was indeed Josh. "It's been awhile."
Glancing over at Arthur Weasley, who was nearly unconscious due to the loss of blood as well as to the trauma of the assault, Varner immediately walked over to him and rested a hand on his wounded shoulder after shifting his body ever so slightly onto his left side as he crouched down next to him. A moment later, the bullet wounds in Weasley's arm, shoulder, and back instantly and completely healed-up only once the slugs that were still inside of him had recoiled back out the same way they went in, before dropping to the ground.
Molly looked up at Varner with grateful tears in her eyes just as Arthur awoke to groggily find nearly everyone in their small party ether standing or kneeing beside him. "Thank you so much for saving him," she voiced with upmost sincerity and gratitude.
Josh simply smiled and nodded in response, when right at that moment, several robed figures appeared out of the air and immediately walked over to the group to assess the situation.
"Oh, my gracious! Molly, what happened?" asked Professor McGonagall, who was among those who had appeared. "Is Arthur alright?"
"He's been shot," Josh immediately answered upon glancing towards her direction. "But I did manage to get the slugs out, though. You should have him looked over just to be safe. And-"
Just then, the police cars came hurtling down the road as they approached the scene and promptly slowed to a stop, with the officers immediately exiting their vehicles as they looked on in utter confusion as to what exactly was going on. But Josh immediately walked up to them and explained the situation at hand, stating that someone had in fact been shot and that the shooter was now long gone, but that the victim in question was fine due to Varner's assistance; as he was nearby and therefore able to help.
After providing a description of the assailant, as well as in which direction the shooter had "fled" to, Josh and the others then promptly took Arthur Weasley over to a nearby hospital since he had been injured by a "Muggle weapon" and not a Magical one. And while at the hospital, Varner privately told both Harry and the Weasleys (as Hagrid had taken the Lovegoods back to their residence before returning with McGonagall and the other Professors to Hogwarts) that even though he had only been away for a couple of minutes at the very least from their perspective, he was actually absent for several years: a little over twelve years to be precise.
Harry and the Weasleys looked at one another in confusion, until Josh explained that while he was asleep in the middle of the night when he and Harry had stayed over at the Burrow (courtesy of the Weasleys); the same night that the incident concerning Hermione had occurred, Varner had received a disturbing vision of what he now knows to be a major future event that will undoubtedly transpire; something that will not only effect the Wizarding World or even simply Britain in general, but the Earth and all of it's inhabitants as a whole, effectively changing the course of world history forever, as he had been having different versions of the same exact Force Vision time and again for quite a long while now, during the years that he was "growing-up all over again" for the second time.
"What, you mean like… an invasion?" asked Harry uneasily.
Josh simply nodded in reply to the little boy's question. "Though by whom, and more importantly… when - well, that I do not know…yet," he added.
Ron walked up to the young Jedi with a curious expression on his face, but only after Varner had reassured everyone in the group that the events which he had foreseen wouldn't occur for the next several years, due in part because he had glimpsed much older teenage versions of Harry, Ron, Neville, and a girl that he didn't recognize, within a handful of said visions, while merely pointing out that he's completely unclear as to the exact date and time that the invasion will commence.
"You mentioned that you've been gone for the last several years. Where exactly?" the redhead inquired.
"Over in the US of A; just across the pond, as they say here in Britain," remarked Josh. "Qui-Gon came to me and instructed me to travel over to the North American continent as a starting point for me to help prepare the world for what's coming. He also told me to "let the Force guide you" at all times, and that I would know precisely what to do, when and how to do it as the Force had willed. So I initially did as he had requested, and as it so happens, the Force apparently directed me to go back to the year 1996, as it provided the means to do so, and continue from where I left off with my life when I was still ten-years-old and to finish "growing up", quite literally as my ten-year-old self I might add. Although, I didn't go straight back to where I previously had lived with my folks."
"Why not?" Harry questioned almost at once.
Josh sighed under his breath and then proceeded to tell them effectively the same thing that he had previously explained to Padmé Amidala years earlier, adding that it was also apparently not what the Force was advising him to do either. He also told them that while he was out leisurely walking around the streets of the city of San Francisco in the state of California (of which he was originally from), he met and befriended an elderly woman named Penny Halliwell, who as it turns out was a witch herself.
"Did she attend Hogwarts at all, do you know?" asked Ron.
Varner immediately shook his head. "No, she didn't attend Hogwarts, Ron. She's from America, not England. If she did go to a school for learning Magic, or rather the Force as it were, then it most likely would have been the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry all the way over on the opposite side of the country in the state of Massachusetts…as I also did. Although, I highly doubt that she went there at all."
"What?" Molly asked with a stunned look on her face. "What are you talking about?"
Just then, the doctor who had examined Arthur came into the waiting area where Harry, Josh, and the rest of the Weasley family were anxiously waiting to hear news of his current condition.
"How is he?" inquired Varner as he and the others all stood-up from where they each sat.
"He's resting now," the doc answered. "He's very lucky to have made it here when he did, thanks to both you and his family. But he may require a blood transfusion to replace what he lost due to his injuries."
"May we go see him?" Molly beseeched rather greatly. "Please! I just wanna be certain he's okay."
"As I stated, he's resting now, Mrs. Weasley," the doctor tried to reassure her. "He's quite weak from the amount of blood lost, and will most likely need a transfusion in order to fully recover. And he will also most likely have to stay over for a night or two just so that we can be absolutely sure that he's on the mend as well."
"Mum!" a male voice suddenly rang-out clear as crystal. "Where's Dad? Is he okay?"
Bill Weasley promptly came running up to his mother from literally out of nowhere, and the two firmly embraced each other for several long moments, before Bill then firmly hugged the other members of his family in turn.
"I just heard from the Professors at Hogwarts about what had happened. How is he?" the young man asked frantically.
"He's alive… thanks in part to Mr. Varner here," Molly immediately answered her son as she gestured toward the young Jedi Knight.
Josh casually walked up to Bill Weasley as he held out his hand to introduce himself. And after the two young men greeted each other, Molly then explained to her son about what had occurred as well as what the doctor had told her just a few moments ago.
Without even hesitating, Bill immediately offered to use his own blood for the transfusion procedure in order to help get Arthur back-up to a speedy and full recovery as quickly as possible. And when Molly became slightly worried over the medical expenses of their visit, Josh stated at once that he would pay for the full cost personally and that she didn't need to trouble herself with such matters; that the only thing that both she and her family needed to do was be by Arthur's side.
A few minutes later, a nurse came into the waiting area and then lead Bill Weasley into a back room to prep him for the procedure while Molly and the other Weasley members were all allowed a brief check-in on Arthur before leaving for the Burrow. Though, at the last moment, Molly announced that she would stay over at the hospital for the night to be with her husband when he woke-up in the morning.
Varner then decided to take Harry and the rest of the Weasley siblings back to the Burrow to get some much needed shuteye for the night, and that they would all return in the morning soon after picking up both the Longbottoms and Hermione from the Leaky Cauldron in Arthur's place. And after Molly agreed with him on that, the remainders of the group promptly exited the hospital and went straight back to the Burrow.
That night, as everyone was gradually crawling into their own beds, both Ron and Ginny couldn't stop thinking about their father's condition at the hospital, with little Ginny ultimately crying herself to sleep (which in turn kinda got Ron himself going in that direction as well), only to abruptly wake-up screaming and crying but a few hours later after experiencing a horrible nightmare in which she dreamt that Arthur had passed away in the hospital from his injuries.
Harry, meanwhile, had been having a rather pleasant dream about being back on Coruscant at the Jedi Temple with Sirius. But soon, the dream started to shift and warp into something… dreadful. In his mind, the young Padawan Learner felt the ground shake and splinter beneath him. And then, the walls and ceiling of the Temple began crack, crumble, and finally collapse both all around and above him as the colossal structure fell to pieces. Potter clamped his eyes shut, only to reopen them a moment later and find himself now standing in an unfamiliar place with a large stone archway.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Suddenly, a bright green flash of light quite literally came out of nowhere just as Harry was able turn around on his heals in time to see Sirius staring at him with a rather stunned expression on his face as his godfather appeared to fall backwards through some sort of an invisible shade in the center of the archway and subsequently vanish right in front of Potter's eyes.
Bolting upright in his bed, Harry's eyes shot open in the dim evening light. He was breathing heavily and he could feel his heart pounding inside his chest. As he steadied his breathing and heart-rate by using a meditation technique which Yoda had taught him, his vision slowly became more clear within the darkness, as he inwardly started telling himself over and over that it was only just a dream, and nothing but a dream; that Sirius was still alive and there was absolutely nothing to worry about concerning his godfather.
Almost immediately, though, he could hear the terrified screams and cries of little Ginny Weasley in another room of the Burrow, and slowly got up out of bed to go check on her. Yet, as he was slowly making his way to the door of his bedroom to open it, a rather strange noise suddenly arose in his head. At first, he didn't know what to make of it, until the noise gradually became audible sounds that he could clearly recognize as being that of a rather tiny voice; a very small and distressed male voice of what sounded an awful lot like a frightened toddler.
"Hawwy! Heyp me! PEASE! HEYP ME!"
Potter could clearly hear the baby begin to cry as it's fearful and distressed voice gradually faded in his mind.
As all of that was happening, Josh himself was experiencing a strange Force Vision, much like the very first one he'd had (along with several others which were quite similar to it since then), back when he first met the Longbottoms and shook Neville's hand in Ollivanders shop.
In the vision, Varner could see the faint image of what appeared to be a white blanket that was rapidly sinking beneath the violently churning waves of the ocean as a colossal storm raged, with what clearly looked like the distinct outline of a baby that was wrapped inside of it, even as the wind and waves pelted the young Jedi from every angle, much as they had done so whenever he had had the visions both time and again in the past. But this time was slightly different than all of the other previous experiences, as he could all of a sudden clearly hear the quite rather pained and sorrowful feminine voice of someone he didn't recognize at all ringing out across the wide expanse on the ocean as she spoke of the exact name which Josh had heard of in his first vision that he had had upon shaking Neville Longbottom's hand upon their first meeting.
"Corvus… Corvus… Corvus Lestrange is already dead! I killed him!"
