Chapter 9. Candles in the dark
During the following weeks Hermione and Ron studied under Harry every evening in the Chamber of Secrets. Today, however, he sent his two pupils to practice alone, claiming to have other urgent business. What it was Harry refused to say.
"What should we start with?" Ron asked, as they walked to the main chamber. Hermione sighed.
"Ron, you're a sith." she said. "Are you going to follow everyone's orders?"
"We're still taking orders from Harry though." Ron rolled his eyes. Hermione wanted to retort, but the pair finally entered the chamber and were interrupted.
"Respect for his superiors is a mark of a good sith." Ron and Hermione turned to the source of the elderly voice and saw a holocron floating in the middle of the hall. Above it was a projection of an old man in sith robes. He was looking at the pair with hands clasped behind his back and general air of superiority around him. "I am Darth Thanaton, once a member of the Emperor's Dark Council." When no reaction followed, he sighed and shook his head. "I was ordered by the Emperor to teach you two the history of the sith and our traditions… So, listen carefully, for I see that you have much to learn…"
"Look around you." the holoprojection ordered. Ron and Hermione turned to look at the chamber. It had changed drastically since Harry made it his headquarters. Gone was all the water, dirt and smell of sewers. The chamber was lit by many braziers, burning with red acid flame. Red sith banners hung from the columns, almost reaching the floor. In between the columns stood tall statues of cloaked men, their heads bowed.
Before Slytherin's statue stood a big table with only one throne-like chair behind it. Two stone spikes rose on either side of it, burning with purple flame, illuminating that part of the chamber with dim purple light as opposed to faint crimson, that danced on the rest of the walls, floor and ceiling.
"What do you see?" Thanaton asked.
"Um, the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione asked. "Harry certainly redecorated it though…"
"Foolish riff-raff." Darth sighed. "I have my work cut out for me…" he muttered, shaking his head. "This is a prime example of sith culture. We bow before our betters, before the more powerful, the stronger – before our superiors…"
Hermione looked scandalized. "But… But the "Force shall free me", how about this?"
"I see the Emperor took his time to teach you the Sith Code." Darth Tahnaton said. "However, there is only one truly free individual. All others bow before him one way or another. Three guesses who I am talking about."
"The Emperor." Ron said as realization downed at him.
"Good." Thanaton nodded. "You are learning. Sith order is exactly that – an order." he said as the lecture started. "Order means rules, our rules are our traditions, they are the threads that bind us together. The Emperor is the cornerstone of it all, he is the main guarantee that the traditions are followed. Without a strong ruler sith sink into sea of blood, killing each other faster than any jedi can hope to. Meditate on this, I will return shortly."
The projection disappeared and the holocron floated onto the main table, leaving two thoughtful individuals behind.
"Ron, did this Thanaton-person refer to Harry as emperor?" Hermione asked. Ron's eyes widened.
"He did…" the boy whispered.
xxx
Harry walked the streets of Mandalore. It had changed since the days of the Great Galactic War, not just the planet or buildings – the very population changed. Mandalorians chose to ignore their ancestry, their culture and embrace peace instead. This almost made him laugh. And yet, there was the Death Watch – a promising organization in the right hands, Harry's hands.
Finding the Death Watch was painfully easy, but then again he was a sith and could use the force to do his bidding. It took only an hour to get to the camp of these revolutionaries. Harry chuckled as he walked to the entrance.
"Hold!" one of the guard called. All of them suddenly had their weapons aimed at Harry, who smiled and continued walking. "Hold or we fire!"
"Go on then." Harry smirked. "I am not going to stop, for I need to speak with your leader…"
About a dozen blaster bolts flew at him and impacted a force shield around him, eliciting another chuckle from the sith. A second later all the guards were knocked unconscious and Harry's eyes were glowing golden.
"Do show me to your leader." he told the newly arrived guards. "I have business with him."
"S-sith…" he heard someone whisper with trembling voice.
"You have no idea…" Harry replied with an amused smile, his glowing eyes boring into brown ones of the guard who commented, causing the man to start shivering… And doing this to a mandalorian warrior was a remarkable deed.
xxx
"Sith?" asked Pre Vizsla, looking at Harry intently. "What does a sith need on Mandalore and from us no less?"
"What do you think I need?" Harry asked with an amused smile playing on his lips. It would not be a terrifying gesture under normal circumstances, however, with his dark aura running wild inside of the tent and his crimson eyes with swirling golden glow boring into the commander's blue ones… Pre Vizsla was both glad and sour about his men not present at the meeting. On one hand it spared him the embarrassment of showing slight fear (though he did his best to conceal it), on the other hand though, he was one on one with possibly the most dangerous predator in the whole galaxy. The commander did his best not to let his concerns show on his face though.
"Our support." Vizsla replied, his eyes narrowing.
"Indeed." Harry nodded. He knew that the Mandalorian wanted him to elaborate, but was perfectly content with letting the man stew. Strained silence reigned in the tent.
"What are you willing to give us then?" Pre Vizsla finally asked.
"What do you think?" Harry asked again. "I am willing to give you your planet back naturally."
"How exactly?" Vizlsa asked curiously. Sith were thin ice, he had to tread carefully.
"You see, commander…"
xxx
Korriban, the ancient homeworld of the sith, was a graveyard planet – one big desert littered with tombs of ancient sith lords. It called strongly, like thunder in silence of the night, to all who could hear the dark side. Darth Sidious arrived here on his personal shuttle, that landed not far away from the legendary Valley of the Dark Lords. He was seeking power and knowledge of the ancient sith, buried here, knowledge that his master could not give him.
He walked to the old sith academy, deeming it the easiest target. There should be some holocrons or whatever stored still, even though it had been about 3500 years since it was in use.
The giant pyramidal structure that was the old sith academy still stood proud over the valley, held on the backs of colossal statues. He cautiously walked inside, only to be assaulted by the power of the dark side, that filled the ancient building. Further and further inside he walked, until finally a door was in front of him. Despite being more than three thousand years old, it still opened without a hitch.
Darth Sidious stepped into a large square hall. Twelve thrones stood in it, six on either side. Tall statues of men in cloaks stood by the walls. In the center of the room, on the floor was a symbol, known to all sith – the symbol of the Sith Empire of old. Dark side was especially strong here – that Sidious felt, what he did not know, however, was that someone else could feel him as well.
xxx
On Mandalore Harry chuckled. So the little sith thought he could pry some secrets of his empire. Well…
xxx
Darth Sidious mediated in the center of the large hall, trying to find some clues, to explore the academy through the force. Suddenly all his senses screamed as if overloaded, he jumped with a yelp and ignited his lightsaber. The sith noticed that the room became darker than it already was, sinister presence filled the air, electrifying it.
"What did you hope to find here, little sith?" a deep voice asked from all directions.
"Show yourself!" Darth Sidious commanded, looking around.
"And what difference will this make?" was a reply. "Who are you, little sith?"
"I am Darth Sidious, master of the Order of the sith lords." Palpatine said in the most intimidating manner. The reaction was unexpected to say the least. Booming laughter filled the chamber.
"Oh, in my slumber I saw your "order"," the voice replied, "and it is ridiculous." The voice suddenly had a source. Darth Sidious immediately found it. On one of the thrones sat a figure in the robes of sith of the old. "You perverse our legacy…" came the same voice from another source. Another man was sitting on another throne. "With each new "master" sith ways are more and more forgotten by ignorant apprentices…" said third figure. "Subjugated by jedi nonsense…" came from the fourth man.
"Alchemy almost forgotten…"
"Sorcery completely forgotten…"
"Everything you know pales in comparison to the sith of old…"
"Every "impressive" or "grand" technique is a mere shadow of what it was meant to be…"
"All your apprentices know are jedi parlor tricks, their lightsaber techniques and some lightning…"
"We could envelope planets in perpetual darkness…"
"Create creatures of nightmares…"
"And your "Order" let it all be forgotten…"
Thirteenth man appeared suddenly. He was wearing white armor and generally looked like some noble with his carefully trimmed white beard and grey hair. His yellow eyes, though, were shining with power and unstoppable strength, more potent than forces of nature, seemingly capable of moving stars.
"My empire, empires really, ruled most of the Galaxy once." he said. "They crushed the Republic and dominated many worlds."
"And yet they are gone and forgotten!" Darth Sidious retorted angrily, swinging his lightsaber for emphasis. "As are you!"
First came chuckles – from all thirteen figures – and then booming laughter, laced with maliciousness. The old man, standing in the center of the room, right in front of Sidious, looked sith lord right in the eyes.
"Are you sure?" the old man asked with something akin to cruel amusement, smallest of smiles tugging at his lips, his eyes glowing vibrant magenta. "There is no death, there is only the force… And I am its master…" he laughed again, the sound reverberating from the walls, magnifying with each second, like a tidal wave about to swallow the shore full and devour whole cities in moments. Sidiuos felt like it was too much for him and lashed out with lightning. To his surprise, the oppression and heaviness disappeared before this, as did thirteen mysterious figures.
Korriban was dangerous for a reason, Sidious knew it when he came here… He just didn't expect this, this was not merely dangerous, this was terrifying, any lesser sith would have lost his mind in that chamber… His own heart was still pounding in his ears. No, he would return later, when he was better prepared.
xxx
"Let us continue." Darth Thanaton appeared again, interrupting Ron and Hermione's conversation. "Look at these statues again. What do you see? And more importantly, what do you not see?"
"What…" Ron muttered, but complied nonetheless.
"They're all faceless." Hermione stated.
"No, they have faces." Thanaton objected. "Look closely."
Indeed, when the two aspiring sith looked at the robed men more carefully, they noticed there were indeed faces carved under the hoods, but only mouths, set in perfect hard line on each statue, were visible.
"You cannot see their eyes." the projection said. "You cannot see anything beyond their mouths. And that means, you cannot interpret their faces, their emotions, their thoughts… and plots they make." the projection looked upwards with a thoughtful expression on its face. "All sith are firmly set in the hierarchy, they have to obey traditions and respect their superiors and yet… One man said: "Respect your superiors until you can kill them" – This is the truth of our ways. Sith thrive to become greater, but have to work in a system, where random murder is forbidden, where they have to resort to plots and deception. Sith society is not for fools, there will always be people above you, who you should try to defeat to rise higher… But there will always be others below you, who will plot and plot to take your place: "Beware your master, beware your apprentice"."
"This makes sence…" Ron muttered. Hermione nodded.
"Sith aren't brutes, ruled by hatred." Thanaton shook his head. "Sith are an intricate society of powerful individuals, who strive to become greater and rise higher and higher. We will continue tomorrow if the Emperor wishes it."
xxx
Dumbledore sat in his office, making sure that everything was ready for the tournament. Guests were due to arrive tomorrow after all. Suddenly, the candles all around him dimmed, shadows elongated. The aged headmaster looked up.
In front of him stood two transparent figures – ghosts. They were no ghosts of Hogwarts, however. The two figures looked like they belonged to the worlds Harry travelled in Dumbledore's dreams.
"Greetings, Albus Dumbledore." said a woman. "I am former grandmaster of the Jedi Order of the Republic, Satele Shan."
"I am Darth Marr, former member of the Dark Council of the Sith Empire." a tall man in armor and a mask introduced himself.
"Dark Council?" Dumbledore asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at the man.
"This is of no importance." the woman shook her head. "We are here to warn you."
"Warn me?" Dumbledore asked, confused. What were they going to warn him about? He was, after all, one of the best-informed men in the world.
"Yes." Darth Marr nodded. "Our common enemy," he looked at the woman briefly, "has returned."
"We thought he was finally killed 3500 years ago, but we were mistaken." Satele said.
"The abomination survived." the sith continued.
"What abomination?" Dumbledore asked, now alarmed. If somebody managed to live for so long, then they were an enemy much more frightening than Voldemort… which wasn't really reassuring.
"Sith Emperor." Darth Marr spat. "The most vile creature of our time. He managed to trick death… We thought he was finally defeated after Darth Nox destroyed his essence… We were mistaken."
"The Sith Emperor escaped death yet again." Satele Shan said sadly. "He did not survive his latest defeat without a price though. For 3500 years he was slumbering…"
"Now he has awakened." Darth Marr finished. "This alarmed us. And we came here to warn you."
"I am afraid I do not know anyone with this title." Dumbledore shook his head.
"He had many names, even more faces." Darth Marr replied. "Darth Vitiate, Valkorion… His current identity is Harry Potter."
"What?!" Dumbledore never noticed how he stood from his seat from sheer shock. "But Harry-"
"Never even existed." Darth Marr pressed. "Sith Emperor is old, powerful and manipulative."
"But I saw him in my dreams…"
"You saw only what Sith Emepror wanted you to see." Satele Shan said. "We had our doubts about Harry Potter. We hoped that the killing curse erased his memory of Valkorion forever. We were mistaken."
"You must stop him." Darth Marr said. "At all costs."
"You must indeed." the jedi master nodded. "We will not be able to communicate with you too often. Even we, force ghosts, are not almighty. We see very little of his actions and can appear only so often."
"Heed our warning, Albus Dumbledore, or the whole Galaxy will pay the price." Darth Marr added. The ghosts disappeared, leaving behind a distraught old man. Dumbldore sank back in his chair, his age apparent on his face.