Chapter 6. Dreams of darkness

Harry stood in his room, his trunk packed. Well, rather it had never been unpacked since his return to Privet Drive.

Setting summer sun was basking his room in reddish yellow light and fresh breeze from the outside destroyed the foul smell of Harry's room. It didn't smell bad here literally, though, it was just that the young man hated this place with passion. This was his prison. No, not prison – prisons were built for humans after all. It was his case, for Harry had never felt like he was a human here, more of a tool. He was viewed as a tool here and this was his cover, his case. Air always felt like dust here. Leaving this place was a blessing.

Shaking his head, Harry brought himself out of his recollections and focused on the present. He took out the communication device he received the previous summer and pressed the only button on it.

The small rectangular device floated out of his hand and hovered in front of him. In a couple of seconds a hologram of the droid he saw last summer appeared.

"Greetings." the droid said. Harry vaguely registered that the voice was feminine.

"Hello." Harry replied.

"Have you changed your decision?" the droid asked bluntly.

"I haven't, but I was wondering if you have means for me to leave Earth for a couple of months?" Harry asked.

The droid appeared thoughtful. "Very well, but I have one condition." it said.

"Which is?" Harry asked. He mentally prayed it wasn't something ridiculous or overly binding.

"You will take a squad of droids as your guard." the droid replied. "And you will travel on a light cruiser." it continued. Seeing Harry's raised eyebrow, it elaborated. "I do not want to lose a potential helper. The only one in the Galaxy actually. I have already been waiting for three thousand years; I wish not to wait another millennia."

"Alright." Harry nodded. It never hurt to have some security after all. And if that was the price of having means to travel around the Galaxy, then Harry should make a victory dance. "Where should I meet the vessel with the escorts?"

"I have just transmitted you the coordinates. Be there in 15 hours." came a simple reply. "You will, however, come to my home world in order to make your escort and your ship."

"Very well." Harry nodded again. "I'll be there." the communication ended.

xxx

Harry stood in the middle of a forest clearing not too far away from Privet Drive. The Dursleys were no doubt screaming their heads off about "ungrateful freak ditching his work". He smirked. Petunia must be especially displeased, since she will have to do all the housework herself and not have enough time to spy on her neighbors and gossip.

Hissing sound broke Harry out of his musings; he looked up. Above him an aircraft was hovering in the air. It slowly landed and the tramp lowered. Three droids walked to Harry and scanned him.

"Confirmed: designation "Controller" found." the central droid said. Harry raised an eyebrow. It wasn't every day that he was called controller. "Please, follow us, Controller."

Harry followed the droid who seemed to be in charge of his transportation. The two others followed behind him. That weird droid he contacted was really concerned about his safety. That made Harry wonder about his importance. Something big was certainly going on.

Right now he could not get any answers, however, when he arrives to that droids homeworld, several serious conversations will be made and Harry will receive answers… whether that droid will like it or not.

xxx

Hermione Granger finished her light reading – Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky – for the evening. Some might not agree that the particular book was exactly light, but Hermione would send them to a kindergarten to read books "of their level".

The girl's thoughts turned to her best friend. The third week of the summer holidays was coming to an end, and still no word from Harry. About two weeks ago she was notified by Ron, who in turn was notified by Dumbledore, that Harry went missing. Hermione was very afraid for her friend, so afraid that she didn't know what she wanted to scold him for more: running away or running away alone. Still, she reasoned, Harry was a powerful and capable wizard, who could stand up for himself if needed. Hermione sighed, this was going nowhere, she needed sleep.

Sleep, however, was another issue. From time to time Hermione would see strange dreams, all of them about Harry. He would travel some bizarre places, see some living beings, who Hermione could only describe as aliens and even use magic, though in her dreams it was called the force.

The force was amazing as far as Hermione was concerned. It was wandless magic, powerful and magnificent. Hermione wished desperately to be able to wield it.

Still, she wasn't sure if the dreams were just dreams, after all, they were frequent and always had the same theme if not the same continuous plot. Some part of Hermione wished it was reality.

With another shake of her head, Hermione snapped herself out of her musings and climbed on the bed, under the blanket. Some small part of her wished to see her weird dream about Harry again… to now that her friend was safe.

xxx

Harry walked through busy streets of Corusant. He really did admire the scenery… somewhat. This was the planet and the city he nearly destroyed about three thousand years ago. He briefly caught a glimpse of the Jedi Temple. It was standing as tall and proud as ever. In the past Harry would have taken it as mockery, but now he really pitied the Jedi. Whenever there wasn't a galactic war, they were growing complacent. Even now, on the brink of the civil war, jedi were in their fancy temples, doing nothing, waiting for politicians to talk their way out of trouble. It was really pitiful.

Navigating the streets of a giant city Harry slowly made his way to one of the towers in a less prosperous district of Corusant. Almost immediately he was treated to a sight of five thugs robbing a woman. He was disgusted.

"Common, lady," on the thugs grinned, "we just want to help you carry your bags home." Other thugs laughed. The woman was scared, it was visible, her shoulders were shaking.

"Oh, don't be afraid now," the other thug said in mock-concern, "we're just a group of gentlemen, aren't we boys?" Another round of cruel laughter followed. Harry frowned and walked to the group.

"I think the lady doesn't require your help." Harry said calmly, but loudly enough for the group to hear him.

Thugs turned around to see who was bold enough to interfere with them. When they saw Harry they smiled cruelly.

"And what do you know about it, little whelp?" he asked, squaring his shoulders. Harry, however was unimpressed.

"Do go away peacefully." Harry said with air of slight annoyance around him.

"Well what do you know," the leader, who stood a couple of steps away from Harry, chuckled and clicked his knuckles, "the little shit thinks he can order us around. Let's show him, guys!"

Harry closed his eyes and sighed irritably. Just as the first punch was about to connect with his face, the boy's eyes opened and shone with malicious orange. The thugs were flung away from both Harry and the woman, violently.

The now not so bold group of hooligans was looking at Harry with wide eyes. The leader said with trembling voice: "W-what are you?!" The thugs were swift to run away after this. However, a gasp behind his back was a surprise. Harry turned around and saw the woman he saved, looking at him with terror in her eyes.

"G-go away, s-sith." she stuttered. "Don't harm me, s-s-sith!" Next second Harry was surprised with how fast a woman with two large bags can run. He sighed in annoyance.

"Bloody hypocrites." Harry murmured and went to where his shuttle was hidden. He wanted to get away from this planet.

xxx

Ron woke up with a gasp. He saw one of these dreams again. The weird dreams about Harry travelling through some freaky landscapes and chatting or fighting with some freakish, even by wizards' standards, creatures.

However, these dreams were welcome, they were a good break from the Weasley house routine. Four weeks passed since Harry disappeared without a trace. Dumbledore came one day, a week after the holidays started, and told everyone that Harry ran away from his house.

The Weasley household had different reactions to the news. Ron, Fred and George cheered for Harry. They were glad that he had the guts to run away from his awful relatives and wished him best of luck. Ron was still a tad worried about his best friend, but this was Harry, who slayed a thousand year old basilisk and drove away a hundred dementors at once – he could live alone and care for himself. And if the dreams, that Ron suspected were actually visions, were any indication, Harry was just fine and having time of his life.

Harry was not the only focus of Ron's thoughts though. This power Harry used in his dreams, the force, Ron thought it was awesome. He was awed every time Harry did something with it, wandless magic didn't even come close to it!

Oh well, he had a letter to Hermione to write. They agreed to share each other's dreams about Harry. That was actually another point to the vision theory. Both Ron and Hermione started seeing these dreams about Harry around the same time – their best friend's disappearance – and these dreams all had common plot. They were definitely visions, even if Hermione was adamant that divination was rubbish.

xxx

Harry landed in the middle of a dead plane on a dead planet. The very air here was devoid of life. And more importantly, there was no force at all around here.

He walked determinedly to some ruins not so far ahead. His daughter used to be imprisoned there. Ah, it brought back so many memories. His greatest scheme and greatest failure, all because he underestimated a mind of one man. Harry shook his head, that will not happen again. Slumbering for three thousand years again was out of the question.

At last he reached the ruins. With the force he cleared his path. It didn't take long, after all, he knew exactly where he was going. Finally one hell of a door made of the toughest steel possible blocked his path. Yes, behind it was the vault with the items most precious and dangerous to him.

No normal force user would be able to get past it, however, Vitiate, Valkorion and Harry Potter were… was an exception. The door was slowly lifted.

xxx

Dumbledore's eyes snapped open. His wand was in his hand again, and it was warm. This was happening from time to time since Harry disappeared.

The old headmaster knew these were not your usual dreams however, these were visions. Judging by the fact that the Elder wand was in his hand every time he woke up from such dreams Dumbledore presumed that the Deathly Hallows were somehow involved in this strange connection he had to Harry. What was more peculiar, his occlumency couldn't do a thing to block this connection.

Partially, Dumbledore was grateful for it, this connection allowed him to see worlds beyond his imagination, knowledge beyond his grasp. But mostly this was all very disturbing. Harry was travelling somewhere very far away, he had knowledge and power Dumbledore couldn't even imagine, but it was dark, the aged headmaster knew this for certain. All this knowledge and power was dark, and it was corrupting one of his favorite students.

He had to do something about it. With death eater activity on the rise, the world could not deal with dark Harry.

xxx

His shuttle landed on the planet, where he once led all surviving sith from the Great Hyperspace war. Dromund Kaas. Thousands of years passed, and the dark storms were still raging across its skies. Harry chuckled, his orange eyes surveying the surroundings in anticipation.

Dressed in traditional sith attire, Harry was an intimidating figure. After multiple rituals to make this body better, he got taller and finally was able to see without these pesky glasses.

With brisk pace he started walking towards the Dark Temple. In the distance he could see the peaks of skyscrapers of Kaas City rising above the ground. They were covered in trees and dirt, but were still distinguishable – much to Harry's surprise.

Another surprise were multiple signatures of living beings. That was very unexpected. After not finding the coordinates of the planet in the Republic and Jedi archives Harry was under the impression that this Dromund Kaas was lost and abandoned. Apparently not as abandoned as he believed. And to top it all, these living signatures were in the Temple. Fools.

Harry walked into the Dark Temple. It was still as grand as he remembered and just as hollow. The air was still damp and foul, stinking with deterioration. He stood in the center of the large hall and sighed. It looked like he had to make the first step. Harry smirked and released his presence. He almost moaned, after keeping a tight leash on his dark aura, this was ecstatic. He sighed with content as the surroundings darkened.

"Well come out." he said. To Harry's surprise, the words sounded like a combination of his and Valkorion's voices. It was good, however, Valkorion's voice was nice and suited him just fine.

Multiple figures, around two or three dozen came from around the pillars and surrounded Harry much to his amusement. What could a bunch of amateurs in the force, armed with spear of all things do to him?

"What are you doing here, stranger?" the leader hissed.

"You definitely have got some nerve." Harry spoke calmly, knowing full well that this voice was much more unnerving and terrifying than any shouting. "Threatening me in the very temple, where I personally buried so many enemies of mine. And on the capital planet of my Empire no less."

"What are blabbering about you sick fool?" someone hissed. Harry didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Sush you!" said an elderly voice. "The stranger speaks the truth. There are many powerful sith buried here. And this planet was once a capital of the Sith Empire. As to the rest though…"

"Tell me, old man, do you know the history of this world?" Harry asked with a chuckle. After all, compared to him, they were all toddlers.

"I do." the old man answered in a wizened voice.

"Then tell me what happened here around four thousand years ago." Harry replied, staring the man in the eye. The man flinched from having Harry's full attention.

"A new Sith Empire rose here." was an answer. "Survivors of the Great Hyperspace war hid on this planet from the Republic and built a new home for themselves."

"That is accurate enough." Harry nodded. "But who led them here?"

"Darth Vitiate, the Emperor of the Sith." the old man replied.

"And many rose to challenge him." Harry continued. "But all failed and this very Temple became their final resting place." Dark energy started swirling around Harry as his eyes glowed sinister red, illuminating the space around him. "I buried them here. And now you come to this temple, in search of what – I do not know, neither do I care… But you will turn back now, if you value your petty lives." Dark presence became oppressive, bringing most people around Harry to their knees. "This is darkness you cannot even comprehend, much less actually use for anything."

"B-but," the old man, who was the only one still standing, stepped back, his legs trembling, "Darth Vitiate was killed… He is dead…"

"Have you really just said that to my face?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow. He could not deny, he was very amused. "The face that is staring back at you?" he sighed then. "You are not sith, you are just unruly children who decided to explore knowledge that is way over their little heads… But I will make sith out of you yet." Harry grinned and pointed his hand at the group. His red eyes glowed vibrant violet as multiple bodies all flew into the air. In a second their eyes became the same shade of violet as Harry's, who smiled.

"Good. Feel the darkness and bow to me." he said imperiously.

"Yes, your majesty." the old man intoned. "We will follow you and your power."

xxx

Voldemort in his artificial body woke up with a gasp. What he just saw – it was terrifying. He prayed gods that it was just a dream… Otherwise all his plans were screwed – he wasn't ready to deal with power of that caliber. No, it was a dream… Just a dream…

Replies to your reviews:

woodzrox: That's unlikely... Though there are so many planets out there in the Galaxy... All sorts of things might happen.

Warehouse1: No, it isn't. This chapter pretty much hints at the timeline of the story, but more about this topic in the following chapters.