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xXx The Jedi Shadow xXx
xXx Ch. 02: Manifesting Manifestoes xXx

The lives of Harry Potter and Tracey Davis passed more or less as one would expect for a child who had been taken in by the Jedi Order before they understood that their parents had died before they ever knew they had such. Although Harry frequently had nightmares about a blinding green light and high pitched laughter that none of the Jedi Fosterers could explain.

That lasted for about eight years, because on that eighth year a new student arrived at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant… or at least Harry assumed the child was a student. He was the same age as Harry and in the company of Master Qui Gon Jinn.

It would be about a week later that news reached the students that Master Qui Gon Jinn had been killed in battle and that his Padawan had been promoted to Master so that he could train the very same boy that they had witnessed earlier that week.

This news quickly caused Harry to get angry, and he heard his best friend, Tracey Davis say, "Harry release your anger into the force don't let it consume you!"

"She's right, Harry. You need to calm down." the voice of Rina Draste spoke into his mind from wherever it was that she was currently located.

Their words brought him back to himself and he complained, "Why does that boy get preferential treatment?"

Tracey just giggled at that, but Raina had needed to have the situation explained to her before she could offer insight. "The order is likely humoring the final request Master made to the Council before dying a valiant and heroic death. And it seems that no one has informed you of this so I'll go ahead and do so, it is only in dying that we reach a place where everything can be considered fair and equal."

One of the first things Rina had done before returning to her mission as the Order's eyes on the planet Earth, was to purchase a very expensive piece of equipment that had gotten her yelled at for several hours by the Senator in charge of budgeting the Jedi Order. That only ended when Master Yoda entered that room and told the man that he had authorized the purchase as it would prove invaluable on the next phase of her mission. The man would have likely protested further, but one doesn't argue with Jedi Master Yoda when he makes a decision.

Her purchase was of a wrist mounted holoprojector that would allow her to more easily move around on the planet without drawing unwanted attention. With it's assistance Rina was able to find three separate and unique locations in the United Kingdom alone which had such an overwhelming presence within the Force that she had to throw out her initial assumption that the Force Users of this planet were considerably weaker than the average Jedi.

Airol had actually discovered several similar locations elsewhere in the world, but her focus had been on Great Britain as that was where she had felt the shift in the force. While it was possible the alleged Sith was well and truly dead, Rina didn't want to make that assumption unless she had proof of it.

Of the three Force Presences, the one in Scotland felt the oldest and most well defended. It even gave off a feeling similar to the Jedi Temple, as though it were a place of learning and reflection. But the ones in London gave off feelings of commerce and bureaucracy, which meant they would be where she would find the means of answering many of the questions the council no doubt had.

As she entered the bank known as Gringotts, Rina hadd to marvel at the sheer insanity of the architect who designed the structure. That was also true for many of these structures. The only thing that seemed to be keeping the structures habitable is the fact that the Force was stopping them from collapsing in on themselves.

She walked over to the nearest available teller and waited for him to acknowledge her. About five minutes after stopping in front of this teller she heard someone behind her scoff and say "What an idiot."

Sighing she turned to look over her shoulder and found herself locking gazes with a woman just a few years older than herself, "Just because you might lack manners, doesn't mean that the same holds true for the rest of the world."

The woman scowled at her, "Mind your tongue, mudblood."

Turning back to look at the teller, Rina said, "I apologize for interrupting you while performing such very complicated looking computations, but could you explain what it is she just called me?"

"It is pretty self-explanatory," the goblin drawled, "She believes your blood to be filthy in comparison to her own. But it is also a statement that demonstrates how ignorant Lady Malfoy is of just what that thing happens to be…"

The goblin had looked up and was eyeing the lightsaber affixed to her hip with a rather large amount of fear. Rina lifted it off her hip and held it flat against her palm as she asked him, "You know what this is?"

The goblin nodded his head in agreement, "Please follow me."

Most of the Pure-Bloods in the bank, including Narcissa Malfoy, had never seen a Goblin show fear before. Sure they had seen hatred and disdain, but never fear. So naturally that meant they were curious. Narcissa most of all, she stepped in beside the woman, who turned to look at her curiously, "What are you doing?"

"You are quite possibly the most interesting thing to happen in this country in nearly a decade. I want to know why. You have my apologies for calling you what I did."

Rina frowned slightly, before sighing and saying, "Apology accepted."

"How are you not motion sick?" Narcissa demanded as they got out of the cart that the goblin had used to get them to 'Vault No. 1.' She didn't even know such a vault existed, or what it might take to open the vault.

Rina shrugged, "It honestly wasn't that much faster than a Swoop Bike and I love those things. Though I would be quite horrified at the thought of attempting the sorts of turns we just experienced on a legitimate swoop bike."

Turning her attention to the vault door, she saw that the goblin had taken a step back and indicated for her to do whatever it was he thought she might be able to do. So she walked up to the door and assessed it's presence within the Force. It didn't take her long to realize that the door had been created by a Sith or possibly a Dark Jedi, which likely explained why the Goblins feared her.

Turning to the Goblin that had brought them here, she asked, "Who erected this doo-?"

"I did, Jedi." a voice spoke up, causing Rina to groan in frustration.

Turning to look at the Force Apparition, she asked, "And you are?"

"To the inhabitants of this world, I am known as 'Death.' You however, might have come across a reference to me in the Jedi Temple Archives under the name of Nox."

Rina was getting too many conflicting impulses through the Force from this Apparition, it felt quite a lot like the spirit she saw in front of her was one of many possible appearances it could have chosen for itself. Almost as though it were a gestalt of more than one Force Spirit.

"Oh you noticed that did you?" the spirit inquired with a chuckle "I am the Heir of Tulak Hord and Kallig, the Great Dragon God of the Screaming Blade Cult of Nar Shaddaa, and Master of the Dead. I am Darth Nox. And as vile as you will believe that makes me, I am not your enemy."

Narcissa was highly amused at the fact that her new friend was afraid of a ghost, or she was until the ghost turned to look at her and said, "I am not a ghost as you would understand the concept, child."

Rina wanted to leave and never return, but something told her that the contents of this vault would help her or Harry in some manner. "I really shouldn't do this, it is forbidden for me to do this, but…"

"Nothing rewarding is ever safe or easy," the apparition remarked before fading entirely from view.

Stealing her resolve Rina placed her hand on the door, felt a sharp prick as some blood was drawn, and watched as the door soon pulled itself open for her. Turning to Narcissa Rina said, "It might be best if you waited here."

Jedi Master Fay had to pause what she was doing when she felt the panic and fear rising in her protege from clear across the galaxy. Her worry slowly eased as she felt the confusion and then amusement at what her padawan had discovered. She didn't know what Rina had found, as they didn't have the same sort of bond Rina shared with Harry, but the extreme amusement she was feeling meant that it wasn't a bad thing.

Harry had to hit the floor to avoid being struck with a practice saber from behind due to having become highly distracted by a mechanical voice entering his mind from Rina's end of their Force Bond…

"Declaration: Troublemakers beware- the Maker's greatest assassin is coming for you all!"

"Pay attention to your surroundings, not your girlfriend, Potter!" was the declaration from his most regular sparring partner.

"But…" Harry protested, "She just found an Assassin Droid!"

If Tracey's exclamation hadn't drawn attention, his had.

It just so happened that both Aayla Secura and Anakin Skywalker, along with their respective Masters had been in the room at the moment he said that. Anakin scoffed while saying, "You expect us to believe that?"

Aayla had immediately realized what was going on and interjected, "It's possible he has a similar connection with whoever brought him to the temple that I share with Master Quinlan here."

Anakin looked at Obi Wan Kenobi for some form of support that he was right and they weren't, but found his master nodding his head, "Such bonds, though rare, are known to happen with exceptionally gifted Jedi, it is unfortunate that Master Qui Gon did not survive, as if he had it might have allowed you to develop such a bond."

Anakin scowled and stormed out of the room in a snit. Tracey and Harry shared a look, they had both noticed that Anakin seemed to have a very hard time dealing with someone proving themselves to be better than him at something, and he had just encountered two people who had a bond with someone that he could never experience for himself.

They had also noticed that the only Master who seemed to notice his behavior was Fay, and she had only met him once so far. Neither one of them knew why the other Masters were basically ignoring his behavior, the only thing they could assume was that he had done something to impress the High Council so thoroughly as to turn a blind eye to his casual disregard for the Jedi Code.

Harry turned his attention back to the room at large and found he had been so deep in thought he failed to notice Aayla Secura standing right in front of him with a very curious expression on her face. "Um… yes?"

Aayla was a very attractive Rutian Twi'lek, but she was also a full seven years older than Harry, Tracey or Anakin, with the latter three having each just recently turned nine years of age. Her proximity to Harry was rather disconcerting to the young man, especially as he could feel Tracey becoming upset by this girl's behavior, this was something Harry had also noticed was becoming rather common with Tracey. She seemed to consider him interacting with other girls to be some sort of personal insult to her.

Aayla tilted her head to look at Tracey with a bemused expression, it appeared she too had sensed Trcey's anger at her. Seconds later she seemed to understand what was going on and said, "I'm not trying to steal your training partner."

Tracey took several deep cleansing breaths, before indicating that Aayla could continue her inspection of Harry, which she quickly did. Seconds later, she turned to her Master and asked, "Could you perform psychometry on the scar on his forehead. Something about it feels off to me."

That caused both Quinlan and Obi Wan to come over to look at said scar. Kenobi's expression tensed, "This can't be right, how did the Masters miss this…"

Quinlan had placed a finger on Harry's scar and just as quickly had to pull his hand away. "I don't understand…"

"Harry inform Master's Vos and Kenobi that Fay and I already trying to come up with a solution to what they have just become aware of."

"Um… Rina says I should inform you that she and Master Fay are already trying to solve this problem, whatever it is."

Obi Wan seemed relieved to hear that. He was aware of the fact that Fay and her protege had shown many of the characteristics rumored to belong to those referred to as 'Jedi Shadows', a group that his own Master, Qui Gon Jinn, had once indicated really did exist. Qui Gon had admitted the Shadows were the sort of group that would actually attack the High Chancellor of the Galactic Senate if they felt said High Chancellor was a Sith.

The Jedi Shadows seemed to walk a very narrow path between the Dark and Light side of the Force, a path that even one wrong step could send them spiraling out of control into the Dark. But they were also the portion of the Order that had the most thorough knowledge of how to combat the Sith and other similar cultures.

"Regardless, we should still inform the council of what we have discovered," Quinlan attempted to protest.

"Already know, the council does," the voice of Yoda spoke from the entrance to the room, "Very powerful thing, the love of a mother is. Shield one from even the darkest of influences, it can."

That statement had absolutely stunned the room into silence, for all of ten seconds before Tracey exclaimed, "Good grief, Potter, can't you do anything normal?"

"What the hell is that?" Narcissa Malfoy demanded as Rina exited the vault with some sort of humanoid muggle contraption following after her.

"HK, be a dear and explain yourself to my new friend," Rina suggested.

"Manifesto: The Maker created me for the sole function of deleting high-ranking organic troublemakers from the galaxy. These deletions must be conspicuous, and provide an object lesson to other organic troublemakers! All other mission parameters are secondary."

Narcissa's eyes widened, "That sounded remarkably similar to something my sister Bellatrix might have come up with."

"Query: Bellatrix?" the droid asked in a confused tone of voice, which seemed to amuse Rina even more.

"Whoever made this droid was insane! And not because he reminds you of your sister. He has actual emotions." She then turned to the Goblin and said, "You know, introducing me to this thing probably wasn't a very wise idea, but it's too late to stop it from coming out to play now."

The Gobin frowned, "Gringotts is not liable for anything that might happen as a result of someone removing an object from within one of our vaults. We will however do everything in our power to protect ourselves should those same objects be used against Goblinkind, and we refuse to acknowledge anyone else as rightful owner of that which our craftsmen have created with their own blood sweat and tears."

"Those terms are reasonable enough,"

"Wait, what?!" Narcissa demanded in shocked dismay.

"I'm a member of a monastic order, we aren't the sort of people to go out of our way to obtain or horde material wealth, and if such wealth is available to us, we only use what we strictly need rather than flaunting the wealth. That's why my bracelet is the only piece of jewelry you will likely ever see me wear if I have any say in the matter, the bracelet actually has a purpose beyond looking pretty," Rina admitted. She then turned to the Goblin and said, "Now, I'd like to return to the surface without having to be subjected to the cart ride so that my friend here doesn't vomit on my droid like she did on you during the ride down here."

"They… they have the ability to make portkeys, don't they?" Narcissa demanded.

"Oh I was assuming they had an actual service tunnel that the carts went at a less mind wrenching speed on due to any number of reasons."

The goblin smirked, "You might be surprised to learn you are the second person in the entire history of this bank's operation to correctly assume we have such tunnels and carts. The first having been Darth Nox herself."

Narcissa stared at her weird acquaintance and said, "what is your name?"

"Rina Draste," the Jedi Knight introduced herself.

"My name is Narcissa Alya Malfoy, née Black, and I would like to offer you my friendship," Narcissa said while extending her hand to the woman.

"So long as I never hear that insulting word used by you in my presence again, I can live with that," Rina countered.

"I will agree to that, but make no promises that my husband or son will refrain from using the term, they will not believe you to be anything other than what I called you if your new robot follows you around everywhere."

"It's easier for me to ignore idiotic men than it is for me to ignore beautiful but badly behaved women." Rina admitted. Rina was what the people of this world would refer to as a bisexual, though she usually focused her interest on Airol as the two had finally decided to form a relationship a few years ago.

She had also technically found the two large Force signatures in London the first time she had come to the metropolis, but hadn't actually tried to visit one of the locations until she was certain that those looking for Harry had finally given up. That hadn't happened until a month ago. Now that she had a contact in the community she could start performing a more direct analysis of the society and try to find if there was in fact a second opposing prophecy.

xXx Chapter Concluded xXx

Author's Note: There was a bit of a time skip in this chapter, but that was mostly because I'm not good at writing children at THAT young of an age and wanted to get them to the same age Anakin was when he joined the Jedi. Another time skip will occur either in the next chapter or the following one, as the challenge this is based on wanted the depiction of Harry's childhood, but it didn't say how in-depth that depiction had to be.

For those of you who didn't recognize the Manifesto HK delivered, it is lifted from the one used by HK-51 in Star Wars the Old Republic, which makes sense, as this is in fact, HK-51.