A/N- I hope you have been waiting for this chapter because this took me slightly longer to write than I thought it was going to take. As always, I aim to be as consistent as possible and make this story the best it can possibly be. Before the chapter begins, I want to address a couple of points brought up in the current reviews (which stand at 57 to date), especially as I don't address reviews directly often and prefer to let the story do the talking for me.
So one of the reviews didn't seem sure of how old Jaina was. If you were paying attention, particularly in chapter three, then she mentions that she has a brother called Anakin and chapter one mentions that she'd been sleeping in her bed at her family's home on Coruscant. That means that for Jaina, this story takes place before the Yuuzhan Vong war. Likewise, Jacen, who I've not mentioned as far as I can remember, has not become a Sith lord yet.
Another review is of the impression that Harry's magic is seemingly stronger than the force. My personal view is that his magic isn't necessarily stronger than the force but merely different. He isn't hiding himself from the force, deliberately or accidentally. Like I said in the opening chapter, some points would be inspired by What's a Gungan by Mjimeyg and I once again wholeheartedly recommend that people do read it.
Are there more points that I should address? Probably. I don't want to directly address reviews all the time however as I do appreciate all the reviews that I get. This is a pleasure to write and I hope people continue to enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
A/A/N- There are a number of references to various bits of pop culture. Let me know in the reviews if you can spot them. It might be in dialogue or as part of the scenery, that's all I'm saying as a hint.
Chapter Four – In the Desert Resides A Stranger
Harry woke up feeling a great weight holding him down. He rubbed his eyes and realised that someone had removed his glasses whilst he was asleep as he remembered that he'd fallen asleep with them on. He felt around for his glasses until he felt them under his bed. Having found his glasses, he grabbed them and put them on his face. He was seeing much more clearly now and saw that Padmé was sleeping half over him. 'She must've rolled onto me during the night.' Harry thought as he looked at her sleeping form. 'She does look very pretty.' He then pleasantly thought before another thought came to the forefront of his mind, 'I'm going to have to wake her up, aren't I? I'm not looking forward to this.' Harry tried to shake Padmé awake but couldn't get her to wake.
"Mmm, five more minutes." Padmé mumbled in her sleep. She then snuggled closer to Harry, with her head on Harry's chest. "Oh, how I wish I could learn more about you, Harry." She then mumbled, causing Harry to widen his eyes in surprise.
"Padme!" Harry whispered with an exaggerated sense of urgency as he shook her.
"What?!" Padmé asked dozily as she was woken up all of a sudden. "What's the matter, Harry?" she asked, thinking something was wrong.
"I'm sorry to wake you but I think you rolled onto me during the night." Harry said as his eyes flicked down the entirety of the bed.
Padmé looked at how she was positioned and saw that she had indeed hugged into Harry. She felt embarrassed and was very apologetic, "Oh Harry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that when I was asleep."
"It's fine Padmé, really." Harry replied reassuringly. He then rubbed his left cheek in nervousness before deciding to charge forward like a Gryffindor, "To tell you the truth, I uh... I, actually, rather liked it."
Padmé, feeling nervous and emboldened at the same time, hugged into Harry, trying to be as impossibly close to him as possible. "It does feel nice." She admitted nervously. She then conveyed her fears to Harry, holding him tightly as she did so, "Did we do the right thing leaving Naboo? Should we have stayed? I don't know what's going to happen to the people, Harry."
"Padmé, if we had stayed, then no one would've been able to do anything. Not you, not the Queen, not me, not any of our Jedi friends, no one could do anything and the people invading your planet would still be able to do what they wanted. While we're here, whilst we're stranded, while we're not there, we're able to find out who your planet's friends and allies are and we'll be able to ask them for help." Harry said as he held her reassuringly. He looked at the girl in his arms and decided that they needed some time to themselves without anyone else overhearing them. "Why don't we go outside for a bit?"
"What for?" Padmé asked with confusion.
"Because I thought that we could speak to each other without disturbing anyone's sleep." Harry reasoned to the beautiful young woman while awkwardly nodding towards their roommates.
"That makes sense. I think it's still a little dark outside." Padmé said as she took a glimpse out of the window. The pair untangled themselves and got up out of their beds. They quietly walked out of the room and walked up a staircase that led outside before climbing on to the roof. They looked over the gradually waking settlement and watched as the sky began to lighten up.
"I wonder what a twin sunrise is like?" Harry wondered aloud.
"I don't know. I don't think that it would be that much different from a normal sunrise, would it?" Padmé replied, not thinking that the sight of a twin sunrise would be very special.
"I don't know about this galaxy but, to me, a sight like this would be unique. My world would be falling over itself if it ever saw a twin sunrise." Harry explained to the young Handmaiden next to him. Padmé didn't argue with his reasoning as it was an understandable reason. They sat together as they watched the twin suns rise from beyond the horizon. "I wish I had a camera to record this. That way, if I ever get to reunite with my friends back on Earth, they'll know that I've been out into space and been to other planets."
"Harry, do you mind if I ask you about you and your home world?" Padmé asked cautiously.
"I don't mind at all. I just want to point out that there are things that I don't know about my planet or even myself so I might not be able to answer all of your questions."
"That's fine, Harry. I-" Padmé began but she was accidentally cut off by Harry.
"Just a sec." Harry said before taking off his shirt with a huff of annoyance. "I needed to take that off otherwise I would've become very irritated by it." He said, more to himself than to Padmé. Padmé couldn't help but look at his torso. She could see that that he had a thin, lean torso and saw some scarring on Harry's right arm. She could feel her heart palpitating as she looked at him. "Are you alright Padmé?" Harry asked.
Padmé shook her head as she thought back to what they were talking about. "Yeah, I'm alright." She replied as she traced the scars on Harry's right arm.
"You want to know where I got these scars from, don't you?" Harry asked as he looked at her look at his scars.
"As long as you don't mind talking about them." Padmé answered softly as she continued to trace the scars with her fingers.
"I don't mind talking about them with you at all." He told Padmé as he grabbed her hand and directed her to a slightly blotchy area of skin. "I got this one fighting a giant poisonous snake towards the end of my second year at school. The school where I learnt magic anyway."
"Why were you fighting a giant snake in a school?" Padmé asked incredulously.
"The wizard who tried to kill me when I was a baby... kind of. Bare with me as I explain. Back when this wizard was just a teenage boy going to the same school I was at just a few days ago, he made a diary that contained part of, I don't know... his memory? His spirit? It doesn't matter right now but this diary of his ended up in the possession of my best friend's sisters and, for almost the entirety of the school year, he used her to launch attacks on the school using this giant snake." Harry reminisced with what he realised was bitterness.
"Why would your teachers, or anyone for that matter, allow the attacks to happen for so long?" Padmé asked, amazed at how seemingly incompetent a group of responsible adults could be.
"Well, aside from the fact that one of the teachers was a fraud, one is a ghost that only has awareness and can only teach about one subject, one teacher hates my guts because of my father and the rest seem reluctant to do their jobs to the fullest extent, I think it's because no one could figure out how the Basilisk was getting around the castle." Harry said, still not realising how bitter he was sounding.
"But why didn't they take any sort of action in the first place?" Padmé pressed.
"I think because they didn't want to cause a panic or have a scandal. And when they did do something, it wasn't because they knew who did it. They did something because they needed to be seen to be doing something." Harry told her. He remembered what had happened and knew that Hagrid got a pretty bad deal because of Voldemort. "They needn't have worried because I eventually dealt with the problem myself." Harry looked at Padmé straight in the eyes, his gaze piercing into her very soul. "I killed the Basilisk but I was caught by one of its fangs. It should've killed me but I was saved and I then dealt with the shade of the wizard that tried to kill me as a baby."
"Did anyone die?" Padmé asked, fearing what had happened based on Harry's tale.
"Not when I was there. There was a death almost fifty years before then but that was the last attack until my best friend's sister started attending." Harry told her. "She almost died but I managed to save her."
"Was everyone okay afterwards? No one was traumatized, were they?" Padmé asked, her need to see if people were alright shining through in their conversation.
"At the time, I thought everyone was okay. Now though... I'm not so sure." Harry admitted. "Things like that can leave scars that can't be seen."
"Maybe you should ask them when you're able to get back home." The pretty Handmaiden suggested.
"You're right, I should." Harry replied in agreement. "Do you want to know about this scar?" He then asked Padmé, directing her hand to a thin scar below the slightly blotchy area skin. Padmé could only nod as she stared into Harry's eyes. "That scar came about when the wizard who tried to kill me as baby used my blood to restore his body. He's been hiding himself ever since as he doesn't want to reveal himself too prematurely."
"Why do you think that this wizard wants to kill you so badly? It makes no sense for anyone to try and kill a baby?" Padmé asked, trying to work out the motives.
"The wizard, his name's Voldemort. It's hard to figure out what his motivations are but I think the main one's are power, family problems and obsession. I think especially power and obsession as I recently found out about a prophecy that it seems he was obsessed with." Harry replied in an attempt to explain Voldemort's motivations.
"Prophecies aren't real, are they?" Padmé asked sceptically. She was already moving her hand to the scarred writing on his hand.
"I'm not entirely convinced by prophecies and I'm sure that that most are a bunch of bull-. I will say this though. If prophecies are real and destiny exists, then me and Voldemort are heading for a big showdown that's going to get either one of us killed. He seems obsessed with me anyway." Harry told Padmé as he contemplated the thought of another duel with Voldemort. He then noticed Padmé tracing the scarred writing on his right hand with her fingers, "You want to talk about those scars now, don't you?"
"I think while we're on the subject..." Padmé said, trailing off as she didn't need to say the rest of the sentence.
"It's kind of unique as that's the only bit of scarring that's not directly linked to Voldemort. I got that from a teacher trying to prevent the truth about the return of Voldemort from being known." Harry said as he explained the scarring on his hand. "I must not tell lies." He then muttered bitterly and derisively. "It certainly didn't help that she's also a part of the wizarding government in my country."
"It might be a premature assumption on my part, but I have to agree with Leia and say that some of your people would fit right in with the worst of the worst in our galaxy." Padmé remarked, astounded that she said that about the galaxy she lived in and about a place she'd never been to before. Harry wasn't going to disagree with her, given how little he knew of this part of the universe. Padmé stopped touching Harry's hand and brought her hands back to herself.
The pair sat quietly for a few minutes, just watching the settlement come to life before either one of them spoke again. "If you weren't a Handmaiden, what would you like to do?" Harry asked her.
Padmé didn't even need a second to think about the question. "I think I'd want to help the people around the galaxy by trying to make their lives better."
"That's a good goal. How would you go about doing that though?"
"I think that I'd want to become a Senator or a activist or lobbyist of some kind. I think those are the main ways people can achieve something on a galaxy wide scale." Padmé said, almost dramatically. She then turned her attention to what Harry wanted to do, "What would you like to do Harry?"
"I thought I wanted to be an Auror but-" Harry replied before being interrupted by a question from Padmé.
"What's an Auror?"
"An Auror is a dark wizard catcher. But as I was saying, I thought I wanted to be one but I'm not so sure now, not since I arrived in this part of the universe." Harry replied wistfully.
"Maybe I could help you find what you want to do?" Padmé asked softly before grabbing hold of Harry's hands and holding them in hers.
"Yeah, maybe." Harry replied equally as softly. They gazed into each others eyes and both felt like they were gazing into each others souls. Without realising it, Harry and Padmé raised a hand to each others cheeks, gently touching them. They leaned towards each other and closed their eyes, both anticipating a kiss... which never came. They jumped in surprise and broke apart when they heard Jaina call to them from the ground.
"Oi, lovebirds, not sure about you two but some of us need to get going." Jaina called out cuttingly to them before beginning to walk off towards the end of the street. Jaina then halted and turned around and looked at Harry, almost hungrily. "You can keep the shirt off if you want to Harry. I certainly don't mind looking!" Jaina said cheekily. She then resumed walking off towards the end of the street.
Harry and Padmé, now left alone again, were suddenly looking at each other awkwardly. They were unsure of what to say to each other. They were both blushing as red as tomatoes as they thought about what they'd been about to do. "Should we go and join the others?" They asked each other at the same time, speaking very quickly. They stared at each other intensely for a moment before laughing, breaking whatever tension they were feeling. "I think we should get going." They both said simultaneously, causing them to laugh again before they stood up. They jumped down to the balcony below, holding hands as they did so, with Harry holding his shirt in his free hand.
"Harry, couldn't you clean your shirt like you cleaned Artoo?" Padmé asked Harry inquisitively and reluctantly as they walked down some stairs leading to the ground, having noticed that he was still topless and that she was still looking at him, admiring what she was seeing.
"I should. Not sure what the result is going to be like though as this shirt is quite old now." Harry replied to Padmé before getting his wand out and pointing it at his shirt. He muttered "Scourgify" and the shirt was suddenly covered in bubbles. Harry then muttered "Aguamenti" and a small jet of water doused the shirt. Without bothering to dry it, he put his shirt back on.
"Are you going to be okay wearing that with it all soaked?" Padmé asked bemusedly.
"Are we on a planet that's nothing but desert?" Harry asked jokingly, giving Padmé his answer that way. Padmé laughed as she understood his answer.
Padmé shook her head as she remembered something else that she wanted to ask Harry. "There was something else I meant to ask you about Harry."
"Yeah."
"Who or what was that little green man from last night and who are Sirius and Ginny?" Padmé asked. Harry's expressions ranged from disdain and fearful to melancholic as soon as he heard the question and Padmé began to wonder if he was okay. "Harry?"
"I'm fine." Harry said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. "Do you remember I was telling you a short while ago about the little sister of my best friend and the fight I had with the giant snake?" he asked.
Padmé nodded. "She was the one who was being used by this... spectre, wasn't she?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Harry nodded, knowing that she'd already figured out the answer. "And who's this Sirius person?" Padmé then followed up, asking him about the other person that the nasty little green man mentioned.
"Sirius, he's my godfather. He fell through this... this." Harry clicked his fingers as he was trying to think of the right words. "I'm not sure how to describe it. A portal maybe? It's called the Veil in our society. Anyway, he fell through it and I followed after him and the next thing I know, I'm falling through the sky and land on your world with Sirius nowhere in sight." Harry explained to Padmé.
"So you're trying to find him?" Padmé asked understandingly.
"Yes." Harry replied simply.
"What about the little green man? That Jurzacka seemed to know a lot about you and your friends and family." Padmé asked, remembering what he said.
"I've never seen anyone like him before in my life. Only a race known as Goblins on my world are superficially similar to that thing but the appearance seems all wrong for some reason." Harry explained to the pretty Handmaiden next to him. "In any case, he freaks me out and scares me as he seems to know about all of us. We didn't introduce ourselves to him and yet he knew all of us just by looking at all of us once." He then added with a frightful shiver.
"He scares me too. I wonder what that says about his boss?" Padmé commented and Harry could only contemplate what she said. Padmé continued to talk after a brief moment of silence, "Still, if we can get whatever help we can, the sooner we can both do what we need to do. This boss person, whoever they are, might have the answers you require." Harry looked doubtful and Padmé spoke softly into his ear, "We've got to have hope Harry." Harry smiled and squeezed her hand in appreciation.
They caught up to the others, who were a few streets away from the Skywalker house and Jaina was the first to greet them. "I was wondering when you two lovebirds would catch up to us." She said cheekily.
"What?" Rey and Leia asked in surprise. Up ahead, Qui-Gon and Jar Jar seemed either unaware of the conversation behind them or were ignoring it and were unbothered by it.
"Yeah, I found them on the roof and they looked like they were about to kiss." Jaina said teasingly.
"Really?" Leia asked, her expression masking what she was truly thinking and feeling. Rey said nothing, focusing her attention on Jaina, sensing her heightened emotional state despite appearances.
"We didn't do anything." Harry nervously replied. Padmé meanwhile gave Jaina an icy glare.
"I think I interrupted them before they did though." Jaina said rather happily, completely missing the look Padmé was giving her.
Leia glanced at Padmé quickly before turning to Jaina. "I'm very sure you did. I think Padmé pretty much hates you at the moment." She said to the younger girl slowly and warily.
"How can you tell?" Jaina asked Leia, still oblivious to the glare she was getting from Padmé.
"Because she's giving you a glare that looks like she wants to murder you." Leia said to the younger girl and the pair turned their heads towards Padmé, who continued to glare at Jaina. Eventually, Padmé got tired of constantly glaring at Jaina and walked silently and quickly past her, Leia and Rey. "I think that she definitely hates you right now." Leia said to Jaina, causing Jaina to become concerned about the young Handmaiden.
A few streets later and Padmé was walking a few steps behind Qui-Gon and Harry caught up to her, with Rey walking on the other side of her. Rey gave Harry a questioning look, clearly wanting to know if Jaina was telling the truth or was just reading too much into a friendly chat. To both her annoyance and her admiration, Harry said nothing at that time about what he and Padmé had done earlier. It was clear to Rey that there'd have to be a talk between them, Jaina and Leia at some point but she was okay with Harry and Padmé keeping their privacy for now, even though she felt an uncomfortable knot in her stomach when she thought that.
As they approached the shop of the junkyard trader Watto, Padmé began to air her apprehension about Qui-Gon's plan. "Are we sure that we should be entrusting our fate to a boy we've only known for less than a day? The Queen would not approve-" Padmé said moodily before being interrupted by the Jedi master.
"The Queen doesn't need to know." Qui-Gon replied before he turned to head into the shop.
"Well I don't approve." Padmé said, her eyes narrowed at the Jedi master as she sat down on a random object near the entrance to the shop. He turned around and gave her a dismissive look before heading into the shop.
"I guess we're not getting a 'see you later' or 'good luck' from him then." Harry said aloud to no one in particular. "Padmé, Jar Jar and Artoo, we'll see you later at some point."
"So long Harry boyo and Rey, Leia and Jaina boyos. Weesa weel be looking out for yousas." Jar Jar said with a wave and a smile. Artoo let out some cheerful yet worried beeps, whistles and chirps to indicate that he said more or less the same thing as Jar Jar.
"See you three later." Padmé said to Leia, Rey and Jaina politely although she still glared at Jaina because of what happened a short while earlier. She then focused on Harry, "Make sure that you come back safely." She began to tremble and found herself hugging Harry tightly. Harry, surprised by the sudden hug, hesitantly returned the hug. Padmé sensed Harry was about to say something and pre-empted him, whispering into his ear, "You should start getting used to it, Harry."
Harry smiled and gave a little retort as he whispered into her ear, "Just because you say it, doesn't mean I will get used to it." He then brought up another topic that had somewhat amused him, "When you spoke to Qui-Gon a few moments ago, I just wanted to know, are you supposed to speak on behalf of the Queen?"
Padmé blushed. "I've got a very good idea of what she's thinking." She replied confidently to the young wizard.
Harry raised an eyebrow in curiosity but deduced that it was because of her job, "I'm guessing that's because you're one of her Handmaidens?"
"Right." Padmé simply replied. Neither one of them moved for about a minute, unable to stop looking at one another.
"Harry, we have to go now." Rey said quietly to the young man. Harry acknowledged Rey with a nod and turned his head towards the opposite side of the street where a speeder was located. In the speeder was an odd looking droid and, more importantly, the cloaked figure of Jurzacka.
"Let's get this over with, shall we?" Harry asked loudly enough for Leia and Jaina to hear as well. He began to walk towards the speeder, followed by Leia, Rey and Jaina. As he walked towards the speeder, he turned to see Padmé waving at him. He waved back to Padmé and then turned back around, both dreading and wondering about the coming meeting.
"I hope you have not eaten anything yet. My boss said he was going to prepare a large meal for you four." Jurzacka told Harry, Rey, Leia and Jaina.
"We haven't." Rey said affirmatively as she pointed to herself, Leia and Jaina. "I'm not sure about him though." She then added, nodding towards Harry.
"I haven't." Harry confirmed. "I'm starving actually."
"Get in the speeder then. More will be revealed when we get our destination." Jurzacka told them, sounding like he was very bored.
As Harry, Rey, Leia and Jaina got into the speeder, Rey asked the nasty little green creature a question, "How do you, and for that matter, your boss, know so much about us?" She sounded somewhere between frightened and angry.
"I'm not allowed to divulge any knowledge I might possess about you four at this time other than what you know that I've already spoken about with you last night." Jurzacka said, shutting the question down before anymore questions could be asked. The droid drove them through the streets of Mos Espa and soon they were going through the desert, leaving a cloud of sand in their wake.
As they drove through the desert, the twin suns blared down on them. Harry, Rey, Leia and Jaina were becoming rather thirsty and the only drink available was in a metal bottle held by Jurzacka. "Would it be possible to have a drink?" Leia reluctantly but politely asked the little green man.
"I wish I had something to give you but I only have this. It's a special made by my kind and would practically kill you pinkskins." Jurzacka replied as he realised that they were interested in his drink.
"That sounds like complete sithspit." Jaina said before making an attempt to grab Jurzacka's metal bottle. Jurzacka was able to move it out of the way lightning quick and raised a finger, waving it condescendingly at Jaina.
"I'm not joking girl. If this drink of mine doesn't melt your guts, then it would turn you insane." Jurzacka said warningly, his eyes narrowing at the young girl. "Trust me when I say this, my people have interrogated and experimented on people using this concoction and da results are very vivid, regardless of the outcomes." Leia, Rey and Jaina were left imagining what someone drinking Jurzacka's drink would look like.
A few minutes passed before anyone spoke again. "Where exactly are we going to?" Harry asked as they sped across the seemingly never ending desert. Leia, Rey and Jaina were also curious as to where they were going.
"We're going to da outskirts of Mos Eisley. Just beyond them in fact. My boss has a residence built into da cliffs overlooking the town. I believe you would appreciate it when you see it." Jurzacka told them, giving them a smirk although it came off as looking quite sinister.
After spending what seemed like an eternity being driven through the desert, Harry, Leia, Rey and Jaina saw the outlines of a large building carved into a cliff. 'This is definitely something!' Harry thought as he saw a number of barely visible balconies and windows. They were covered in shade and Harry sensed something unusual about the construction of the place. "I sense something about this place, something familiar." Harry muttered to himself.
"How can this place be familiar to you? You've never been to this planet, have you?" Rey asked Harry questioningly, having overheard Harry muttering to himself.
"I haven't. Something about its construction feels familiar to me though. Like the answer is right in front of me and yet I can't see it." Harry explained as his eyes narrowed, looking at the building with curiosity and suspicion.
"All that you need to know will be revealed soon enough 'umie." Jurzacka said cryptically, only giving enough information to tell Harry that they would get at least some answers.
The droid driving the speeder they were in parked the vehicle at the bottom of the cliff. Outside the building, several green skinned men, larger and taller than Jurzacka, stood outside or were doing menial tasks such as cleaning various bits of equipment including sensors and vehicle parts. Others walked in pairs, walking a short distance into the desert before turning back and returning to the building. Most were armed with guns that were unfamiliar to Rey, Jaina and Leia but they also left Harry perplexed as he saw what kinds of guns the green skinned men were armed with. Jurzacka got out of the speeder and gestured for Harry, Rey, Jaina and Leia to get out. He then gestured for the four of them to go through a door, "Go in. Da boss will be somewhere inside." Hesitantly, the four of them entered the building, unsure of what they would find on the inside.
"Huh?" Harry said in mild confusion and surprise as they looked around the room they had entered. Superficially, it looked like a room that one might find anywhere on Earth. There were also some glass cabinets with more guns inside them.
"What is this stuff?" Rey asked confusedly. Harry turned and saw she was currently examining what appeared to be a TV, except that the TV appeared to be more advanced than any he was familiar with.
"And what are these guns? They're not models I'm familiar with." Leia asked aloud. Harry then turned towards her and saw that she was looking at some guns he recognised as being from Earth although they were from various periods throughout Earth history.
"All this stuff is from my homeworld. Some of it seems too advanced though." Harry said to them, even as some items befuddled him. Their attention was then taken by Jaina calling out from another room.
"What the hell is this?" Harry, Rey and Leia joined Jaina and saw what she was looking at. It was a poster of an alien creature with an elongated head and incredibly dark, if not black skin. Harry recognised the image back from his homeworld.
"Don't worry; it's a made up creature made for movies on my world. It doesn't really exist." Harry reassured her.
"Are you sure it doesn't exist?" Jaina asked uncertainly, having been utterly freaked out when she first saw it.
"I'm very sure. It is a disturbing fictional creature though." Harry replied, admitting that the creature did have many disturbing characteristics. Harry then looked around the room and came across a bookcase with many books. Harry picked up a thin book and looked at the cover, "The Kuban Nineteen Forty-three. Seems like an interesting read." Harry looked in the book and barely a page or two into the book found a shocking discovery, "What the Hell?!"
"What is it?" Rey asked in concern. Even though she couldn't sense him in the force, she could plainly see that he was shocked and concerned.
"This book... I don't know how but... it's from the future." Harry said, before showing Rey the small piece of text that concerned him greatly. Rey looked at the writing but had to shake her head in defeat.
"I'm sorry but I can't read this." Rey said apologetically. She looked at Harry and saw him looking at her incredulously.
"How can you not understand English? You're speaking it right now." Harry asked sharply as he found it hard to fathom how she could not read English.
"We're speaking Galactic Basic. Our writing is done in Galactic Basic." Rey told Harry, wondering what he was talking about. Likewise, Harry was trying to figure out what Rey was talking about.
Jaina, listening carefully, figured out what the problem was. "You remember our conversation about chameleons?"
Harry and Rey looked at each other before looking at Jaina. "Yeah. What about that conversation?"
"I'm thinking this is another case of parallel evolution." Jaina theorised as looked at the two of them.
"Or it might be a case of convergent evolution?" A male voice suggested to them. Harry, Rey, Leia and Jaina looked around the room until they saw a hand gesturing for them to come into yet another room. They hesitated and the hand disappeared from view. Silently, they looked at each other and readied their lightsabres, blasters and wands in case they were in a trap before slowly following the hand into the next room. They found a young man in his early twenties sitting on top of a table. He had Ash-white hair and he wore a long red jacket with green piping, black trousers and a loose white t-shirt. Harry, Rey, Leia and Jaina looked at each other, mentally trying to figure out who he was. "Hello folks. I see Jurzacka managed to get you here, good boy." He said cheerfully.
"Who are you?" Rey asked cautiously. Her hand was ready to ignite her lightsabre incase she sensed a threat as was Jaina.
"I've been known as many things. A soldier. An Emperor. A liberator. A conqueror. A monster. A seducer. A trickster." He said to them as though he was remembering things that had been said to him. He then paused for a moment before continuing to talk, "For now, you may call me Mr X. Now, should we have some breakfast?"
"I guess we should." Harry said cautiously. He put his wand away and cautiously approached the stranger. "Where are you from?"
"I'm from Earth." Harry was about to ask a follow up question but the stranger, the so-called Mr X, asked the four of them a question first, "What do you sense about this place?" The four of them narrowed their eyes in confusion. "Just concentrate." That was all Mr X said as a hint.
Annoyed by the way the man seemed to be playing games but curious at the same time, the four of them did as Mr X said and tried to figure out what they could sense about this place. Harry was the first to have an answer for the strange man. "You built this place using magic, didn't you?" Harry asked him, seeking confirmation that he was correct.
"When you don't have Miss Granger or Ronald Weasley around, your intelligence truly shines." Mr X said with a smile. "You're correct, I did build this place out of magic. Now, let's see what your companions have figured out."
Leia shook her head in defeat and whilst Jaina could sense something in the force, she too was forced to concede defeat in the small challenge set for them. Rey, meanwhile, had far more success in being able to answer Mr X's question. "I sense a couple of things." She said aloud, earning a look of approval from the strange man.
"Go on." Mr X said, prompting Rey to say what she sensed.
"I sense a force user in this building. I also sense that another force user was here recently, someone... very familiar to me." Rey answered after a moment of concentration.
"I'll ask you to concentrate on the second force user again later but I'll explain the first one over breakfast." Mr X said as he jumped off the table he was sitting on. "Please follow me upstairs. I have breakfast waiting for us." Mr X gestured for them to follow him. Then, as they began climbing the stairs, Mr X briefly looked at Harry and spoke to him specifically, "I think that you'll have a particular appreciation for what you four are about to eat. It wasn't easy procuring the food I've got for you."
A few minutes later, they'd climbed the stairs up a few floors and before them laid a veritable buffet of breakfast foods. "What is all this food?" Leia asked, unable to recognise any of the food on the large table in front of them. Rey and Jaina likewise failed to recognise any of the food stuffs in front of them.
"How on earth were you able to get this stuff?" Harry asked in amazement as he recognised the food on the table in front of him.
Mr X looked at him with a smile, "I have an agent who's able to get to Earth easily. He doesn't waste his time but he can jump back a bit if he needs to."
Harry listened to Mr X carefully but he eventually realised what Mr X was implying, "Your agent is a time traveller, isn't he?" As soon as Harry finished speaking, Rey, Leia and Jaina looked at each other, feeling completely startled by the revelation and worried about what was going to happen.
"He is. Thankfully, he doesn't need to jump in time for some of the errands I've got him doing for me. He can just teleport himself between here and Earth." Mr X said, confirming Harry's thoughts. He then closed his eyes briefly and smelled all the food in front of him. "Come, let's eat."
Sometime later, Harry, Rey, Leia and Jaina found themselves sitting at the dining table, feeling bloated after consuming a bit too large breakfast. Mr X on the other hand had almost been insatiable, unable to stop eating until his self control kicked in. Leia, bored of not knowing what Mr X wanted them there for, decided to ask him herself. "What did you want to speak to us about?"
"Ah, down to business. I like that." Mr X said proudly before getting down to business. "I know how you got here and I know that you're ship is without a functional hyperdrive. I can help you four get lots of money so you're not relying on a boy who's not even ten years old yet."
"How do you know so much about us and our situation?" Harry asked, the question having been on everyone's minds.
"When you asked me where I came from and I replied Earth, I also should've mentioned that I'm not from your Earth, Harry." Mr X replied, causing Harry to narrow his eyes and tilt his head to the right.
"What?" Harry asked in confusion.
"I'm from another universe. I've met many versions of all of you." Mr X said neutrally. "That includes everyone you've ever met or haven't met." He then added nonchalantly.
"Why are you here then if you can go to different universes?" Rey asked, suspicious of the man's motivations.
"Because I was investigating a potential threat to my universe and the origin point is somewhere in your universe. I believe the responsible party comes from mine though. Once myself, two of my wives and my few dozen agents arrived here, in a matter of speaking, became stranded in this universe." Mr X explained, his expression becoming increasingly serious. "Our communications have been blocked so we can't summon assistance from our home universe."
"Why do you need us though?" Leia pressed. The four of them worried about what Mr X wanted.
Mr X gave a slight laugh before responding. "I need you to save a life to draw out the threat to my universe." Harry, Rey, Leia and Jaina looked at each other in confusion before looking back at Mr X, perplexed by what he said. "Tell me, what do you know about the legend of Darth Vader?" Rey, Jaina and especially Leia stiffened in their chairs as soon as Darth Vader was mentioned.
Harry still looked confused by the question but saw the reactions of Rey, Jaina and Leia and realised that, whoever this Darth Vader was, this person was significant. "I take it this... Darth Vader is important?" Harry quietly asked. Leia, Rey and Jaina nodded wordlessly, with Leia thinking back to the Death Star and Rey and Jaina struggling to reconcile the young Anakin and the monstrous cyborg he would become.
Mr X noticed the three young women becoming very uncomfortable and gave them a little leeway. "Harry, before you learn about Darth Vader, I'd recommend that you read up on the Sith. Go two floors upstairs and then go through two rooms to the left; I took the liberty of preparing some reading materials for you."
Harry looked at the three young women who'd arrived with him and saw that their mood was frosty at best. "Okay, I'll see you shortly." He said to his three companions before doing as Mr X instructed, climbing the stairs until his footsteps could not be heard.
Mr X waited until he was confident that Harry could not overhear him or the three young women before saying anything else. "Right, so... before we continue, I should ask you if you have any more questions for me."
"Why did you send Harry out of the room?" Rey asked cautiously, the man in front of being a complete enigma to her.
"Did you want Harry to find out that you're all from the future?" Mr X replied by asking a question. That shut down any further talk from the three young women for the moment. "I assume that you three know that you aren't supposed to be here?"
"Yeah." Rey replied slowly.
"We're trying to figure out how and why we ended up here in this time." Jaina added. "I was sleeping in my room at my parents house. Next thing I know, I've woken up on Naboo during the Droid invasion."
"Ah yes, it's pretty much double jeopardy, maybe triple, for you Jaina." Me X said, amused by the situation she particularly found herself in. He then became more serious again, "How do you think Vader started?"
"I heard he was a Jedi who betrayed his fellow Jedi and helped the Emperor destroy the Jedi. I hear that he killed Anakin Skywalker." Leia recounted angrily. She missed the looks on Rey and Jaina's faces but Mr X didn't.
"A half truth at best." Mr X replied simply. "I've got a riddle for you Leia. A conundrum, if you will."
"Why all the games?" Leia asked angrily. Mr X ignored her anger and continued to speak.
"What if someone from the future came up to you and pointed out a child to you. If they pointed out that child would grow up to become an evil dictator who'd destroy billions of lives, could you then kill that child?" Mr X asked, directing his question at Leia but also to give Rey and Jaina food for thought. His tone was sincere and he was curious as to the answers he would receive.
"I couldn't." Jaina admitted after a short time of thinking about the question.
"I also couldn't. I'd be thinking of all the good that would come as a result of the grown up monster." Rey also admitted, thinking of all the people in her life who'd she met as a result of the actions of Darth Vader and her Grandfather.
"I could." Leia said honestly, shocking both Jaina and Rey. "If it meant saving billions of people from a dark fate, then I would. Especially if it was Vader."
"You couldn't! And you very much shouldn't!" Jaina protested, vehemently opposing Leia's point of view. The young woman in front of her definitely wasn't the person who would become her mother.
"Why not?" Leia snapped back, causing Jaina to reel back in surprise. Rey likewise looked like she'd just experienced whiplash. Mr X watched on with a burning curiosity, almost like he was observing a lab experiment.
"If we're talking about Vader, killing him would impact your past and your future." Jaina said, stubbornly refusing to let Leia think her line of thinking was right. She then slammed a fist on to the table as she realised that she'd said too much.
Leia narrowed her eyes as she glared at Jaina, almost like she'd seen a much needed puzzle piece. "You know something about me, about my past and about my future, don't you?" She asked Jaina accusingly. It was a question that Jaina didn't deny. "What do you know?" Leia asked, stubbornly pressing the matter.
"I'm not saying anything; I've already said too much." Jaina replied, refusing to give her future mother any information that she didn't need to know.
"Does Vader kill me in future? Do I kill him? Does he do something to me?" Leia asked Jaina relentlessly, unable to let the question go. She was desperate for any clue as to her future.
"Leia, that's enough!" Rey snapped. "There are some things that you really shouldn't know about. And trust me, you'd much rather not know about some things." She then said insistently before adding, "Like Jaina, I've now said too much already myself."
Leia opened her mouth to say something else but was cut off by Mr X, "They're right Leia. Think about what you're asking for before you ask for it." Mr X said warningly. He then said something that would baffle and surprise the three of them, especially Rey and Jaina. "Besides, what they know about you might be completely different from each other."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rey asked, unsure of what else she could ask or say.
"I'll let you three figure out the answer for yourselves." Mr X replied cryptically, annoying Rey, Leia and Jaina once more. "That's all I will say for now."
Rey's thoughts drifted towards Harry. She wondered how and when she came from as he'd already spoken about his homeworld but not the year. "Is Harry supposed to be here?" she asked softly, her concern for him showing, "Does he come from any of our times? Or does he come from a past we don't know about?"
Mr X regarded Rey and, for a split second, a look of ambivalence flashed across his face before he gave her a response. "He's from this time period but he's in the wrong place." He said as though he was experiencing a massive headache.
"What does that mean?" Rey asked, concern for the younger man growing in her mind.
Jaina realised what Mr X meant almost immediately, "He means Harry was never meant to leave his planet."
"Correct." Mr X said, his tone showing that he was impressed by Jaina's deductive skills. "I can only guess at this point but I reckon that something that was supposed to happen hasn't happened. What that something is, I've got an idea what it is but I'm not certain of." Rey, Leia and Jaina looked at each other, all three of them thinking about the young man that they met on Naboo. Before the three of them could dwell too long on Harry, Mr X stood up from the table and indicated for them to follow him. "Come on. Rey here sensed at least one force user in my not quite humble abode so I'm taking you to meet this person."
Leia, Rey and Jaina quickly got up out of their chairs and followed Mr X after hesitating to follow his initial prompt. "Who is this person? Are they male, female...?" Rey asked rapidly before Mr X held up a hand, gesturing for silence.
"They're a female human." Mr X replied simply. He refused to give any other hunts. They soon went into another room and found themselves under a hatch with a piece of string hanging from it. Mr X gave the piece of string a tug and the hatch swung open, revealing a ladder extending in a descending motion until it reached the floor. Mr X paused for a moment and gave the trio a warning they wouldn't be able to forget, "Rewinding a little bit, I should add that Harry will figure out that you three are from the future. It doesn't matter how he will figure it out; sooner or later, he will know." Rey, Leia and Jaina looked at each other with a sense of terrified nervousness. Mr X led the way up the ladder and Leia, Rey and Jaina hesitantly followed him up it.
The three young women found themselves standing behind Mr X as he stood in front of what seemed like a partially open casket or coffin. There were several tubes and cables either attached to the outside of the casket or connected to the person they presumed was lying inside of it. Mr X suddenly spoke up, "I found her in the middle of Mos Eisley roaming the streets, saying only one thing. She was saying it like it was the last thing she heard from her boss. It was almost like a mantra." Jaina, Rey and Leia walked slowly towards the casket until they were more or less lined up alongside Mr X. He removed the top panel before removing most of the side panels, revealing the woman who was lying within.
Jaina let out a shocked gasp as she recognised the person in the now largely dismantled casket. "Aunt Mara?!" she asked softly, feeling shell shocked at the sight. "How could she have ended up here?" she asked as she turned to Mr X. Rey moved to hold her in case she needed comforting. "I remember that she was with my uncle on Yavin before I ended up on Naboo. We'd all been to Mon Calamari a few weeks ago." She said before adding, "For me anyway."
"This isn't your aunt as you know her, Jaina. This is the person she was before she became your aunt and well before she became your master." Mr X said, his voice low and powerful. "The Mara you see before you hasn't even met your uncle yet although they've been in the same building once and, as it so happened, on this planet. But anyway, I assume she received Emperor Palpatine's last telepathic command wherever she was as she experienced his death on the Second Death Star-"
Mr X's explanation of how Mara Jade ended up on Tatooine was interrupted by Leia speaking up in surprise and asking questions in rapid succession, "What? There's a second Death Star? Palpatine gets killed?"
"Oh fuck, you were on the first Death Star when you ended up on Naboo, weren't you?" Leia nodded slowly but with a slight smirk. "Crap!" Mr X turned to Jaina and Rey. "Do me a favour. Don't become proper time travellers. It gets complicated when you're trying not to give too much information away." Rey and Jaina looked at him like they wanted to throttle him with their bare hands. "I'll get on with it, shall I?" Mr X asked with barely concealed nervousness. When he received no response other than continued hostile glares from Rey, Jaina now looking back at the red-gold haired, apparently comatose woman, he took it as permission to continue speaking. "So instead of events playing out as they should've, she ended up here in this time period. The experience of experiencing Palpatine's death along with being flung through time and space has driven her temporarily insane." Mr X then began disconnecting the tubes and cables that had been attached to Mara and the largely dismantled casket she was in. "You'll see why she's hooked up in a moment." Mr X eventually disconnected all the tubes and cables and the reason why Mara was hooked up to cables and tubes became evident as Rey, Leia and Jaina were all seized by agonising pain.
Mara Jade's force powers were running haywire as, in her comatose state, her mind relived the moment of Palpatine's death on a never ending loop. "I WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!" Mara screamed out in anger, pain and hatred, yet was unaware of herself doing so. A destructive outburst of force powers caused the green skinned men outside to stop everything that they were doing and Rey, Leia and Jaina almost collapsed as a torturous pain ran through their bodies. Mr X was not immune from the destructive loss of control either as he almost buckled at the knees and he was forced to hastily pick up a syringe from a nearby table and inject Mara Jade with more of the drugs keeping her powers suppressed and in a comatose state. With the injection administered by Mr X, Mara Jade's powers calmed down. "I must kill him! I MUST!" She said loudly in her comatose state as the drugs from the injection calmed her down her powers and her dreams and nightmares.
"Instead of her force powers fading, her powers have grown out of control. Her powers are now like a bomb that will destroy anything in its path." Mr X informed the three of them warningly.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Rey asked as she held Jaina, who was staring at Mara.
"At worst, if she lost control of her powers, she'd be capable of cracking either Death Star in half. At best, in the event of Mara losing control, well... you've experienced it but she could cause grievous bodily harm." A moment of silence reigned.
"What the bloody hell just happened?!!" Mr X, Leia, Rey and Jaina turned around to see Harry standing in the doorway. He looked very bloodied and he was breathing heavily.
"Harry, you're hurt!" Jaina said in concern. She removed Rey from herself and silently directed her to check on Harry.
Rey quickly walked the very short distance to Harry and gave him a bone crushing hug. She then pulled away and looked at him with worry. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm sure that I can heal myself up." Harry replied reassuringly as he got his wand out. The wand was briefly seized by Mr X though. "What the hell are you doing?!" Harry asked in indignation as he attempted to grab his wand back.
"You may be on your way to becoming a great wizard Harry. But you cannot be expected to be able to heal yourself completely." Mr X said.
"I managed to heal Jaina after she got shot." Harry retorted.
"It's true, he did heal me up." Jaina confirmed, gaining a look of appreciation from Harry. "He also managed to heal himself up."
"He may have healed you up and I'm sure that he can heal himself. My concern is that Harry might miss the true injury, if there is one. Not all injuries are visible after all." Mr X replied, not quite dismissively but close to. "I will summon Jurzacka so he can give you the all clear. Afterwards, you can get cleaned up and changed." Harry opened his mouth to say something but Mr X pressed on. "I'm sure that you can clean your own clothes and repair them if you needed to but surely you can't tell me that you're not bored of what you're wearing." Harry said nothing as he realised that Mr X knew what he was thinking.
"Do you think that you have anything that I can change into?" Rey asked as she gestured towards her Jedi robe. There was blood smeared over them from where she hugged Harry.
"I'm so sorry, Rey." Harry said apologetically as he saw what had happened.
Rey waved him off. "Don't worry about it Harry. I'm sure it was bound to happen sooner or later." She then turned back to Mr X , "Well, is there anything that you can find for me?"
Mr X smiled with a mix of humour and lust, "I'm sure that I can find a few things that will fit you. Let me get Jurzacka up here quickly." He walked into another room and his shouting could be heard more than clearly. "OI, JURZACKA! GET UP HERE! I NEED A HAND QUICKLY!" Mr X returned to the room a moment later. "He'll be up here in just a few moments." He commented, sounding somewhat condescending.
A few minutes passed and Jurzacka came into the room, breathing heavily and slightly choking on the food he'd been eating. "What do ya need boss?" he asked after taking a moment to recover.
"I need you to give Harry a check-up quickly. The hot bomb redhead had another outburst." Mr X replied, completely missing the look that Jaina gave him as described Mara as a 'hot redhead bomb.' She was not impressed or happy with the description of her future aunt.
Jurzacka glanced at Harry and noticed all the blood covering him. "I'm surprised you got away with that. Some low life thug lost his head in Mos Eisley a few nights ago and, therefore, last night we had to move her here so she couldn't harm anyone." Jurzacka then began to walk out of the room, "Come with me, Harry." Harry followed him and Jurzacka spoke loudly, "You come too, Jedi Rey."
"Why do I need to come?" Rey asked questioningly, surprised that Jurzacka told her to come too.
"Don't ask questions. Just move." Jurzacka ordered firmly and Rey followed him and Harry in bewilderment.
"Why did he take Rey with him? He only needed to take Harry." Leia asked in confusion.
"I assume it was because of the blood on Rey's dress." Mr X responded in an offhanded manner.
"You're a complete and total nerfherder. You could've told him that she was uninjured." Leia remarked in annoyance.
"You could've told him too." Mr X retorted.
A short while later, Harry and Rey were stood next to each other in what they could only assume to be Mr X's bedroom and they were poking their heads into another room. It appeared to be a bathroom and the two of them realised that they were expected to share it. "Erm, how do we want to do this?" Harry asked nervously.
Rey examined the shower and knew that she had no clue as to how much water was available. It probably would be embarrassing for Harry and herself but she could only see one solution. "I think that we just need to take the plunge and go in there together."
"A-are y-you sure about that, Rey?" Harry asked nervously.
"Not really but neither of us knows how much water there is or when we'll get a chance to have another one, do we?" Rey reasoned. Harry couldn't argue with her logic and began looking around for a laundry hamper or anything that could be construed as one.
He searched around until he found a hatch in the middle of a wall. Opening the hatch, he found a basket attached to a rudimentary lift system. "Rey, I think that I found the laundry hamper."
"That's good, I guess." Rey said with some hesitation. Neither of them moved, both of them hesitant about what they were about to do. "I guess we should get on with it." Rey said very quickly and nervously.
"I guess we should." Harry replied. "Gryffindors charge forward after all." He then said to himself aloud. He screwed up his courage, turned around and removed his bloodied clothing from his body. He glanced around for a towel, unable to see one inside the room. He then froze like a deer in headlights as he came face to face with Rey, who, like him, was completely nude. He was completely unsure of where to look but he couldn't help but stare at her.
"I'm not sure about you and where you're from, but we do have mixed sex sports and I know for a fact that they shower together." Rey said in an attempt to put Harry at ease.
"We have mixed sex sports on my world too. Hell, I was part of one. We didn't exactly shower together though. Instead, we had separate showers for the boys and girls." Harry replied. He was still nervous as he spoke to Rey.
"I guess that this will be an experience for the both of us then, won't it?" It wasn't obvious but Rey was as nervous about sharing a shower as he was. Rey poked her round the doorway into the shower room before withdrawing her head from the shower room. "I think that I see some towels in the shower room. I assume that was what you were looking for a few moments ago?" Harry nodded. "Let's get on with it, shall we?" Rey went into the bathroom and Harry followed her. "Where's the shower head?... Or heads?" Rey asked as she found the shower taps.
Harry looked at the ceiling above them and saw a single showerhead above Rey's head. "There's one above you." Harry pointed out. He then looked around and saw that there was only the one showerhead. "It looks like we'll be in very close proximity while we shower. There's only that one showerhead."
Rey looked above herself and saw that Harry was right. "How do we do this?" she asked, unsure of how to handle the situation.
Harry saw that there was a single bottle of shower gel and a single bottle of shampoo, both of which Harry recognised as being from Earth, that were on a shower stand. "I think we're either going to be facing the same direction or we're going to get good eyefuls of each other because of where the shampoo and shower gel is. I don't think that back to back is going be exactly practical for us here."
"Let's get on with this shower, Harry. We both need to freshen up anyway." Rey said as she turned the taps to let the water flow. She then grabbed the shower gel and turned to face Harry. She poured some of the shower gel into her free hand before offering the bottle to Harry. Harry silently but gratefully took the proffered bottle of shower gel and he too poured some into his free hand. Having finished with the bottle for the moment, Harry reached over Rey's shoulder to return the shower gel on to the shower stand, unaware that his chest collided with Rey's breasts as he did so. Rey was very much aware of the contact but did not call him out on it, feeling a pleasurable fire in her chest from the contact. They rubbed their arms and chests thoroughly slathering soapy gel over them.
"Do you mind if I ask you where you're from Rey?" Harry asked as he reached for the shower gel as he had need of it again.
"Sure." She replied as Harry poured some more shower gel into his free hand. "I come from a world that's quite like this one called Jakku. At least, I think so anyway." She took the bottle of shower gel from Harry as she finished her answer.
"You're not sure?" Harry asked as he scrubbed his stomach, legs and private parts.
"Not really. I know I was there from a young age but I don't know if I was born there." Rey replied, her emotions feeling like they're all over the place.
"Do you think that anyone would be able to tell you, if you asked around?" Harry asked softly.
"I don't think so. My parents were murdered and, in any case, I think that any records would be wiped from existence." Rey said forlornly. She didn't notice a single tear run down her face because of the shower. Harry did though.
"You miss them, don't you?" He wiped away the solitary tear.
"It's stupid, isn't it? I'm a Jedi and I hardly remember my parents and yet I miss them." Rey asked with a disbelieving laugh.
"I don't know how being a Jedi comes into it but I do know what it's like to miss people you can hardly remember." Harry said with total sincerity. "As I said back on the ship, my parents died to protect me when I was a baby. As I grew up, I sometimes got nightmares of my parents deaths and my attempted murder. I never understood what the nightmares meant, I'd just see a flash of green light. It wasn't until I found out that I was a wizard that started to get true answers to the reason behind my nightmares. I don't think that I even have all the answers I want or need yet."
"I get what you mean. I know I was on Jakku for a long time, waiting with hopeless expectation that my parents would one day come back for me. Sometimes, before and after I left Jakku, I'd get... I dunno... visions? Dreams? I'd get flashbacks of the day they left. I was told that they were nobodies who'd abandoned me but I later found out that they'd left to protect me from my grandfather. I later came across the weapon that killed them." Rey washed her stomach, private parts and legs before continuing to talk to Harry. "I killed my grandfather, partly out of revenge but also because of he threatened to do terrible things to billions of people. I renounced his family name but I wonder if that's disrespectful to my mother and father. I hadn't even realised what it was until he came after me after I became a Jedi. Before I found out, I was just..." Rey took a deep breath, "...me!"
"They opposed your grandfather; I think they'd understand your decision if they did or didn't come to that conclusion themselves." Harry then considered his next words for a few moments. "As far as I'm concerned, you'll always just be Rey to me. That's how you've said you've known yourself for all your life and that's how I know you. Blood and names don't make the person." Rey watched as Harry pointed a finger at her chest, pointing to her heart, "What's in here," and then he pointed at the top of her head, "and in here define the kind of person you are."
Rey smiled appreciatively. "You speak like a person many times your age Harry."
"Age is no guarantee of wisdom. I think it's because I've experienced a lot already."
"I think it shows in some ways." Rey said with a wan smile before she turned around to face away from him. "Do you mind giving me a hand with my hair and back?" Her hair was soaked by the water pouring on to them.
Harry gave her a nervous smile, "S-sure." He leaned over Rey's shoulder and grabbed the shampoo. He poured some into one hand and put the bottle back down on the shower stand. Splitting the shampoo between his hands, he gently massaged it into Rey's scalp and hair. The pouring water washed the soap down her face and body. Harry then got some shower gel and applied it to Rey's back. He then began rubbing it up and down Rey's back.
"You've done this before, haven't you? With a girlfriend, I mean." Rey asked as she experienced feelings she'd never felt or only vaguely felt before; not even when she had the dyad with Ben Solo. She was acutely aware that this was a different experience entirely.
"I haven't done this with a girl at all, let alone a girlfriend. You're the first girl I've spent time in a shower naked with." Harry replied with some nervousness and hesitation. "I did learn massage therapy techniques with my Quidditch teammates and we would make sure that none of us were feeling stress before a game. I rarely got the chance to practice them myself."
"First off, I guess I should feel honoured that I'm the first woman that you're doing this with. Secondly, what's Quidditch?" She bit back a moan as Harry washed and rubbed her back, subconsciously applying the massage therapy techniques he'd learnt at the same time.
"It's a sport in wizarding society played on broomsticks. I'm not sure what the equivalent or equivalents would be in this part of the universe." Harry explained as he continued to wash her back.
"You know that I really appreciate you doing this, Harry?" Harry didn't respond and instead continued to apply the shower gel thoroughly. Her eyes widened as she felt the fire in her chest get hotter and spread throughout her body. 'Bloody hell! I don't think that he realises what he's doing to me!' she thought to herself. She knew that she'd only known him for a matter of days but she was of the opinion that he would be able to make any girl he chose to be with very happy. Rey then wondered if that's why Padmé had been glaring at Jaina earlier. 'I reckon that Jaina interrupted something between Harry and Padmé. I'm going to really need to ask Jaina what happened because this has the potential to end up getting very messy.' Rey closed her eyes as she felt Harry continue to scrub her back.
He paused all of a sudden and Rey opened her eyes. "Are you okay, Rey? You suddenly started moaning quite loudly and I grew concerned."
Rey turned her head to look at Harry and saw that he had a look of worry on his face. She hadn't even realised that she'd been moaning. 'He definitely doesn't realise what he does to me... or to anyone else for that matter.' She thought to herself. "I'm fine Harry. I think it's just where you're doing a really good job."
"Okay..." Harry said hesitantly. He wasn't sure if that was the truth or not but he could see that Rey was fine and let any doubts slip away for the time being.
"You wanna turn around? I'll wash your back now, if you want?"
Harry and Rey left the shower over several minutes later, now feeling very refreshed. They were wrapped up in towels, no longer as nude as when they went into the bathroom. Now in the bedroom were a few clothes rails filled with clothing for both men and women as well as different functions. There was also a note for them and Harry read it aloud for the writing was in English, "Feel free to try on what you want. The clothes you'd been wearing, I'm having washed for you. I will have them dropped off at the Skywalker house later tonight. Also feel free to take some spares so you're not wearing the same thing constantly." Harry looked at Rey and saw that she was examining a rail of clothing with fascination. "Something on that rail grabbing your interest?"
Rey didn't look up when she replied. "Yeah, all of this stuff is." She then looked up at Harry with a questioning look on her face. "Are all these from your world?"
Harry walked over to where Rey was standing and examined the clothes she was eyeing up. "They're all definitely from Earth." Harry replied without a shadow of doubt in his voice. He then examined the labels of them and was reminded of the guns and books on the ground floor, "Not all of them come from my time. Like the books and guns, some, if not most, of these come from years, maybe a few decades into my future."
"How can you tell?"
"Some of the labels indicate that they were made in twenty-twenty two. I'm not sure about the dating system in this part of the universe but, as far as I'm concerned, the year is nineteen ninety five."
Rey thought hard about what he said and then about what Mr X had said earlier. "What if... what if time progresses differently in different universes? Neither of us knows much about this subject but say there's two universes. One of those universes could be at a more advanced point than the other."
"Like being on the fast lane of a m Kind of." Harry said as he thought he got Rey's point. Rey didn't understand the analogy but thought that Harry understood what she was trying to say. They went back to selecting some clothing to wear and to keep. Harry eventually selected a crimson red t-shirt, black trousers with a dark green belt and a black leather biker-type jacket. He also found a pair of white trainers that he liked and wore them too. Knowing that he was allowed to pick some spare clothing to take as well, he selected a few red, green, blue and white t-shirts, some black joggers and blue jeans, a long brown trench coat and a grey hoodie jacket. He also found a unique sleeveless jacket that had the words 'Never Be Game Over ' written on the back. He took a liking to it and placed it with the rest of the spare clothing. He then looked at Rey and saw what she clothing she had selected. To say that he was stunned by her selection was an understatement.
"What do you think?" Rey asked Harry as she showed off her new clothes. She wore a white lace corset top, ripped black jeans and black boots. She'd styled her hair so it was longer than it was when he first met her and yet he got the feeling that it could be longer than what it was now.
"It's... it's... you look stunning." Harry managed to stammer out nervously. He already thought that she was as attractive as Leia and Jaina and especially Padmé and Harry couldn't help but shoot her an appreciative look.
"Thank you Harry. It means a lot to me." Rey replied, giving him an appreciative smile.
"If I hadn't known you were a Jedi before, based on what you're wearing now, I would've said that you look nothing like a Jedi."
Rey found a large mirror to look at herself. "I think that you're right on that. No one would expect me to be one, would they?"
Harry didn't respond to the question and instead looked at their piles of clothes. Harry saw that Rey had picked out some white, black and blue tops of various kinds, namely t-shirts and vest tops although Harry noticed that she'd also picked out another lace corset top, this one in black. She'd also picked up a few trousers and shorts, which were black and blue. "Should we head back to Leia and Jaina?" he asked her.
"It sounds like a good idea." They both walked out of the bedroom and found Leia, Jaina and Mr X waiting for them.
"All good?" Mr X asked Harry and Rey.
"Yeah, we're good." Harry replied. He frowned as he realised that he wanted to ask a couple of questions. "I want to know a couple of things."
"Ask away."
"How do you know about Sirius?" Harry asked, concerned that his friends could be in danger because of an information leak.
Mr X gave Harry an amused smile, "Remember what I said earlier about where I come from? Think about everything I said regarding my homeworld and then you can answer your own question."
Harry thought hard for a moment. His eyes widened in realisation and then he scrunched his face up as he realised what Mr X meant. "You don't know my Sirius. You've met other versions of him."
"Thousands of him and even more of you." Mr X had a sip of a drink before he asked Harry to ask anymore questions he had. "What else did you want to know?"
"Is Sirius, my Sirius, still alive?" Harry instantly asked, desperate for information on his godfather, one way or another.
"It's going to sound like I'm a total dick but that's one question I won't answer." Mr X replied as he saw a range of emotions run across Harry's face, namely frustration and disappointment. "I will give you one hint though. Your path will lead to the answer you seek, one way or another." The hint gave Harry a glimmer of hope regarding Sirius's survival even though he got no new information about his godfather. Harry wasn't allowed to dwell on his thoughts for too long as Mr X then moved the discussion forward. He gave Harry a paper folder. "While you're here, I've got jobs for the f-four of you to do. I've already gone through them with Leia and Jaina."
"I really don't like the sound of the job you arranged for me." Leia said angrily.
"Why don't you like it? You haven't done it yet." Rey asked in confusion.
"I don't exactly want to be a dancer for dozens, if not hundreds of men to ogle." Leia whined in annoyance.
"Being a dancer doesn't exactly sound bad." Harry said, not knowing what Leia's problem with the job was.
"It's probably of where I arranged for her to be a dancer that's the problem." Mr X said with a shrug of his shoulders. Then, like an overexcited kid, he made Leia virtually furious with what he said next. "She hasn't seen the outfit that she's got to wear yet." Mr X opened a hidden loft and retrieved a sort of large box. He opened it up and took out a golden bikini, stunning Rey and Jaina, who were both familiar with it. It also shocked Harry and brewed up an incandescent rage in Leia. Before Leia had a chance to unleash her rage, he addressed Rey, "Rey, you and Jaina will be going with Jurzacka, meet up with my wives and you'll be starting a series of heists. My wives will have all the details." Rey looked uncomfortable with what she was being asked to do but silently concluded it would be better than what Leia was being asked to do. Mr X then turned his attention to Harry once more, "Harry, you've got two jobs actually."
"Do you want to explain that?" Harry asked as he wondered why he had two jobs.
"Certainly." Mr X had a bit more drink before explaining to Harry what he had to do. "Your first job is to be Leia's bodyguard, which means that you need to keep her safe. Think Kevin Costner in the movie, The Bodyguard. Your second job is to be a professional gambler. So really, you need to be both Kevin Costner and James Bond."
"How's that going to work? I'd hope for Leia's sake that the two jobs are in the same place." Harry asked questioningly.
"Don't worry; They are in the exact same building. Now, I've got gear for the four of you and you need to learn how to use them fast. You don't exactly have a lot of time as it stands."
"You mean until the Podrace?" Harry asked.
"No. I mean your enemies have found you. They know you're on this planet." Mr X said, his tone was graver than it was a moment ago.
Rey and Jaina looked at each other and mouthed to each other, "Sith?!" They then looked at Mr X, who almost imperceptibly nodded.
Mr X began heading out of the room, "Jaina, Leia; pick out some spare clothes from the rails in my room quickly and meet us on the ground floor in five minutes. I've only got about fifteen minutes to show you how this gear works." He then turned around and returned Harry's wand by throwing it to him, "Here's your wand back Harry. Next time you're not sure if something's going to work, try it anyway and see what happens. So next time a hyperdrive breaks down, at least make an attempt at trying to fix it. When you get back to your ship, just go ahead and bloody fix it." Harry stared at him in surprise, realising that he was telling him that he could repair the hyperdrive of the Naboo cruiser. Mr X then turned to Leia, "Leia, seeing as you're going to select some spare clothes, take the gold bikini with you and change into it."
Leia finally snapped and argued back, "I'll go and do this dancing job but there's no way in hell that I'm wearing that!"
"Yes, my dear, you will." Mr X replied smugly as he refused to budge on the subject.
"No, I won't !"
Mr X laughed, "Yes, you will."
"No, I will not!"
"Yes. You. Will."
"NO. I. WON'T!"
Will Leia get into the gold bikini? Find out in the next chapter.
A/N- I hope you have enjoyed reading this chapter and please review. This chapter was honestly probably even more challenging to write than chapter three.
A/A/N- Be on the lookout for a one-shot tie in. I can't say when I will get round to publishing it but know that whenever I'm not working on this, that will be one of two other things that I'm working on.