Author's Note:

Not sure if any of you have read my other story, "The Purple Assassin" yet but I did just upload a new chapter to that story earlier today, and noted in another Author's Note there that I am BACK everyone!

These past three years have been filled with a LOT in my life. Married life and becoming pregnant and being a mother for the first time and not having my mother around anymore to lean on for new parenting advice have drastically altered my life to where it had become difficult to do regular writing and updates.

BUT! I have now finally found a new balance for my new lifestyle and can now happily say that I will be making more of an effort to write and post more updates on a monthly basis. I WILL do my best to finish this story! I made myself a promise to finish it for my Mom's sake because she enjoyed listening to me read this out loud to her and was a bit fan of it. So I owe it to her to finish and I also owe it to all of you who have on numerous occasions stated that you love reading this and couldn't wait for the next update!

Here is Chapter 26 finally. I will admit that I had difficulty finding a good stopping point for the end of this chapter, but I hope that you all enjoy what I have written

~ McKMaster25

Chapter 26: Chaotic Aftermath

(With Anakin after the conversation with Masters Obi-wan and Adi)

Anakin stared dumbfounded at his holocom as Master Adi and Master Obi-wan abruptly ended the conversation. Captain Rex couldn't help but chuckle in amusement at the look on his General's face. It wasn't everyday that the infamous Anakin Skywalker could be left speechless.

Clearing his throat politely, Rex asked, "Uh sir? Didn't you say we would gather a force as quickly as possible?" That did the trick, making Anakin whirl around to glare at Rex, "She can't go to a dance with a boy!" Finding his General's reaction highly amusing, Rex couldn't help but ask, "And why not sir?" Throwing his hands in the air, Anakin began ranting, "She's too young! Not to mention she's a Jedi and should know better. Ugh! Now I'm not only going to have to save my old Master from Dooku, but I also have to save my Padawan from horny teenagers." At that, Rex couldn't contain his amusement any longer and burst out laughing as the two began walking to grab their squadron to head out.

Sending Rex a look of indignation, Anakin grumbled, "And just what do you find so amusing about this situation Captain Rex?" Giving a cough to bring his laughing under control, Rex wiped a tear from his eye and replied, "Sorry sir, but the way you were just acting right now, one would think you are her older brother instead of her Master." Turning away from Rex to stare straight ahead, Anakin softly asked, "What is so wrong with that?" Confused, Rex paused in his walking to stare at his General. Noticing that Rex had stopped walking, Anakin also paused to turn back to him, "What?" Anakin asked with a raised eyebrow as Rex continued to look at him in confusion.

Furrowing his brows, Rex asked, "Forgive me sir, but don't you Jedi have some sort of rule about attachments? So wouldn't the thought of a sibling relationship be forbidden just like the thought of a romantic relationship?"

Anakin's eyes widened at Rex's questioning, then his own brows furrowed as he began thinking more deeply about the question. Then closing his eyes and giving a deep sigh, Anakin looked back to Rex with somber eyes and stated, "I am not sure how to answer Rex. To tell you the truth, for the past couple years I have begun to question the true meaning of the Jedi Code. Because in my line of thinking, if not for relationships, like Master and Padawan, that can develop into almost a family bond, then where would we as Jedi truly gain our compassion to help the Galaxy?"

The two then began walking again in silence as they both thought on Anakin's words. Finally, Rex asked, "Have you brought this up with General Kenobi?" Anakin gave a bitter laugh and replied, "Just like how he wasn't open with me about having broken the Code he apparently holds in such high regard? Yeah right. I'll wait for him to talk to me about it before I open up to him."

Before Rex responded to that, the two arrived at the hangar where the smaller ships were being kept, and Anakin immediately straightened his shoulders and went into General Skywalker mode, as he began selecting clones to go with the two of them to stop Count Dooku.

(Present Time)

Back in the Hogwarts Great Hall on Earth, an intense fight was still happening. Count Dooku and Obi-wan Kenobi were locked in a deadly dance. Parry, dodge, SLASH, evade. Jump, Force Push, evade, jump, CLASH!

While the sound of whirring and clashing lightsabers took up most of the sound of the Great Hall, the Padawan's had all hurried over to a fallen Master Gallia. Naomi had her Master's head cradled in her lap and was quickly checking to see if she was still alive. To all three's relief, the Master was still alive, she was just unconscious and probably sporting a pretty good concussion from that hit to the wall she took.

Knowing that Master Gallia would be alright, Analie sighed and quickly surveyed the room. Having seen what had happened to Master Gallia, Analie turned to Garen and stated, "We need to get everyone else out of the Great Hall. No telling what dirty trick Dooku will try to use to distract Obi-wan and harm someone else at the same time."

Garen nodded and hurried over to Professor Dumbledore to tell him to get all the other wizards remaining out of the Great Hall. While he did that, Analie turned back to Naomi and asked gently, "How is she?" Looking up from administering to her Master, Naomi gave a weak smile and stated, "She's thankfully stable, now that I have helped her to enter a healing trance. We need to somehow move her to the Hospital Wing though, so that she has a safer place to recover."

Nodding in agreement, Analie took out her wand and transfigured a nearby table into a cot, then as gently as she could, she levitated Master Gallia's prone form onto the cot. Then she levitated the cot and told Naomi to watch their back as she began to sneak around the edges of the Great Hall to avoid the intense fight. Doing her best to focus on getting care for Master Gallia, instead of worrying about her Father.

But that focus was nearly lost when she suddenly heard her Father grunt in surprise as an unexpected Force Push hit him, as he was attempting to dodge a slash at his legs! Thankfully, Madam Pomfrey saw what the two Padawan's were trying to do and she rushed over to take over levitating the cot. Giving the woman a grateful smile, Analie quickly turned her attention back towards the fight.

Thankfully Obi-wan made an amazing recovery by also using the Force to quickly roll out of the way of another swing of the red lightsaber, and nimbly flipping back onto his feet, he once again began swinging his lightsaber in an intricate pattern, forcing Dooku to actually go on the Defensive for once.

Before Analie could ignite her lightsaber to help her Father, Garen came running back into the Great Hall and straight to her with a look of almost panic on his face. "Analie! You have to come quick! Something has happened to George!" Seeing how worried Garen looked, Analie immediately went to follow her friend, but then suddenly found that she couldn't move!

She watched as Garen's eyes widened in fear as he realized that he also couldn't move, as Dooku's deep baritone voice called out, "Now where do you young ones think you're going?" Analie gasped as it felt like she was being pulled back by an invisible rope from behind. She saw Garen's eyes widened in fear as he helplessly watched her be pulled towards the Count.

She finally stopped moving, when she was right in between both her Father and Count Dooku. As Dooku used her Force bound limbs to turn her towards him, she couldn't help but to glare defiantly at him as he began to chuckle with great amusement.

"My Apprentice mentioned something about the oh so mighty Kenobi having broken his most sacred Code. But I did not believe her. Now that I am seeing her for myself though, it is quite obvious. My, my Obi-wan, I thought Qui-Gon taught you better with his own example?"

Obi-wan grit his teeth and clenched his hand tighter around his lightsaber as he deactivated it. He did not like the fact that Dooku now knew about Analie. He knew that nothing good would happen with the Sith having this knowledge.

Count Dooku smirked as he continued to hold his hand up that held Analie captive with the Force. "Have you nothing to say for yourself Obi-wan? Very well." Then he turned his attention to his captive. Seeing her glare at him, Dooku smirked and stated, "Good to see you have strong emotions girl, they will be very useful serving the Dark Side." Continuing to glare at her captor with contempt, Analie retorted, "I will never join you."

Narrowing his eyes at the teen, Count Dooku replied, "Like Father, like Daughter I see, but that was the wrong answer child…" Before he could do or say anything more, a voice unexpectedly cried out, "EXPELLIARMUS!"

In an instant, Analie felt herself become free from Dooku's Force hold and she quickly jumped away to her Father's side, as Dooku was too shocked and infuriated to watch his lightsaber deactivate unwillingly on its own and go flying away from him… and come to a rolling stop next to the feet of none other than a determined Harry Potter!

Taking the opportunity given to him by the young wizard, Obi-wan quickly reactivated his blue lightsaber and pointing it directly under the Count's chin, he stated, "Surrender Dooku." And as he said these words, Analie was surprised when a squad of Clone Troopers entered behind Harry and aimed their blasters at the Count.

Knowing that he was outnumbered, Count Dooku reluctantly raised his arms in surrender, but looking to Obi-wan he stated solemnly, "This is not the end, my friend." Deactivating his lightsaber as the Troopers began cuffing the Count, Obi-wan replied charismatically, "Oh I agree, you Separatists never give up so easily. But I'll take what I can get for the time being."

Analie smiled and rolled her eyes at her Father's attitude. But before she could do much more than open her mouth to make a snarky remark, she gasped in surprise as she was suddenly engulfed into a tight hug. "Analie! Thank Merlin you are ok!" Analie blinked and realized that she was being squeezed by Harry, as he had his arms wrapped around her in a tight hug and eyes closed tight with relief that she was ok.

Awkwardly patting his back, Analie replied, "Um, Harry? Thank you for your concern. But, uh, could you perhaps let me go now? It's getting hard to breathe." At that, Harry's eyes snapped open, and he quickly stepped back and released her. Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, and blushing slightly, he replied, "Right, sorry." Analie simply gave him a warm smile in return.

Their cute moment was ruined, however, when one of the Clone Troopers came rushing in and shouting, "General Kenobi! We need your assistance immediately!" Obi-wan's gaze snapped to the worried Trooper and he quickly ordered, "What happened?" Garen, who had stood silently by for the last few minutes, suddenly snapped to attention and answered for the Trooper, "Master, George Weasley is suffering from a Muscle Maggot in his leg!"

At that, Obi-wan's face drastically paled, while Analie's eyes widened in worry. Together with Harry, they followed both Garen and the Trooper out. Trusting the remaining Troopers, and an infuriated Dumbledore that passed them on their way out, to handle the subdued Sith Lord.

As they ran, Analie asked Garen, "Where is Ahsoka? Wasn't she with George?" Garen nodded his head and replied, "According to the other five students we found captive in Force Restraining Cuffs near him, the two of them were stopped by Ventress who insisted on fighting Ahsoka. So Ahsoka took her on in a lightsaber fight and lured her away from the captives so that George could free them. His brother said that he tried burning away the foul creatures, but it seems like he unfortunately missed one."

Obi-wan then looked to the Trooper and asked, "Where are General Skywalker and Captain Rex?" They nodded in acknowledgement and replied as they ran, "The General went after Ventress and the Commander once the kids pointed to where the two disappeared to. The Captain is trying his best to help the poor kid who has the vermin in his leg." The four burst through the Entrance doors to the Castle and Garen and the Trooper lead the way to the entrance of the courtyard labyrinth.

Once they arrived, They found Professor McGonagall checking over Draco, Fleur, and Robert, while Angelia was trying her best to restrain Fred as he kept trying to frantically break from her grip to reach his twin. George was writhing on the ground a few feet away from them with Rex and Cody trying their best to calm him and hold him down at the same time. Face setting into a grim expression, Obi-wan went straight towards George to help him, while Analie went over to Fred and placing a reassuring hand on his arm she stated softly, "Fred calm down, my Father has faced these vile creatures before. He knows just what to do to help your brother."

Fred finally seemed to calm down slightly and instead sought comfort by hugging Angelina tightly to him as he trembled from the stress of the past couple hours. She didn't complain, she merely wrapped her arms just as tightly around him to help stabilize her own trembling body. Seeing that Fred was ok for the moment, Analie left the two of them to approach her Father and Master. As she reached them, Obi-wan stood up and looked to Analie and said, "I have stopped the maggots' progression, thankfully it did not have time to burrow too deeply due to its previous injuries from the fire that Mr. Weasley cast." As he spoke, Professor McGonagall approached them to hear about the condition of her student. Seeing her, Obi-wan gave a tired smile and asked, "Ah Minerva, could you call Madam Pomfrey down here? I will need her help to extract the vermin from Mr. Weasley's leg to avoid further damage."

Professor McGonagall nodded and immediately cast her Patronus to summon Madam Pomfrey. As they waited for the Healer, Obi-wan's comlink suddenly started beeping. Having a feeling of who it is, Obi-wan gave a tired sigh and grabbing it he held it up to his mouth and said, "Kenobi here," immediately Analie could hear Anakin's stern voice come out from the other end, "Obi-wan! Glad I got through to you. I need a medic stat! Ahsoka is injured."

Frowning, Obi-wan asked, "What about Ventress?" Analie thought she could hear Anakin say a few muffled swear words before he clearly stated, "Unfortunately Master, she escaped. Coward. She took one look at me and hightailed it out of the Maze through a shortcut that she created herself with her lightsabers. I wanted to pursue her but… I can't leave Ahsoka alone until she gets medical attention, she got stabbed in the arm and it looks pretty nasty."

Obi-wan and Analie exchanged concerned glances and Obi-wan replied, "Understood. Unfortunately there is a current medical crisis here as well. I'm sending Analie and one of the school Professors your way to help stabilize Ahsoka so you can bring her here for more in depth medical attention. Kenobi out." After signing off, Obi-wan looked at Analie again and she simply nodded in understanding. Turning to Professor McGonagall, Obi-wan then said, "I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but could you go and help Analie and my old Padawan with Ahsoka?"

Professor McGonagall simply nodded her head as well and made to follow Analie, but before she could take a step, Draco immediately stepped forward and said desperately, "Wait! Professor, I want to help as well!" Professor McGonagall shot a discreet look towards Analie, silently asking for her opinion. When she saw the girl subtly shake her head in the negative, Professor McGonagall gave a tired sigh and frowning, she looked to the young Slitheryn and stated in her no nonsense tone, "Mr. Malfoy, it has been a long night for everyone here, yourself included. So I suggest that you go and head to your House Common Room for some much deserved rest." Frowning Draco argued, "But Professor! Three wizards would be better suited to helping Ahsoka out than just two right? Please! I… I need to make sure she is alright."

Analie gave the blonde boy a long, contemplative look, while Professor McGonagall sternly stated, "Mr. Malfoy, there is no need for you to accompany us. Now return to your House Common Room before I begin assigning detentions." Seeing that he was going to get nowhere with the Professor, Malfoy looked to Analie with a desperate look on his face. Staring right back at him, Analie couldn't help but demand, "Why do you care so much?"

Taking a step back in surprise from the underlying accusation in her question, Malfoy took a moment to consider his answer carefully. Finally looking back into Analie's eyes he replied, "Because she showed me compassion when no one else would. I want to repay her somehow." Analie scoffed and stated sarcastically, "By randomly kissing her out of nowhere?"

Her patience already barely holding on by a thread from all the stress of the past couple hours, Analie marched straight up to Malfoy and grabbed him by the front of his shirt in a death grip, she tugged his face close to hers and snarled at him, "Listen and listen well you snake. You are an immature, childish git. Stop trying to force yourself onto my friend, or so help me, I will beat you till you literally see stars." She then shoved the immature teenage boy away from her and marched away calling over her shoulder, "Professor McGonagall, please make sure he does not find a way to follow us. I will meet you there."

Once she was far enough away from everyone else. Analie took a deep, steadying breath. In the back of her mind she knew she should not have blown up at the Slytherin boy. But at the same time, seeing his concern mostly stemming from his horny teenage mind, she just couldn't take it. It was times like this that made her realize that she, Ahsoka, the other Padawans, Force, even Harry! Were all FAR more mature than their other year mates could ever hope to be, because of all the life and death situations they each had to face on a constant basis.

Speaking of Harry, Analie completely forgot that he had followed her all the way out of the Great Hall to here! She was jolted out of her thoughts as he awkwardly cleared his throat and asked, "Um, does the immature git comment apply to me as well? Cause I kind of hope I have proved myself better than that other immature git." Harry's comment, even though it had an underlying hint of seriousness to it, was so out of the blue that Analie could not help but start laughing.

Slightly confused on why she was laughing, but glad he got her to relax for a moment, Harry patiently waited for Analie's laughter to calm down before asking again, "In all seriousness Analie, Do you not want me to come with you to find Ahsoka?" Taking one final calming breath, Analie looked to her Partner for the Yule Ball earlier that evening and giving Harry a small smile she replied, "You Harry, are by far one of the most mature boys I have met at this Wizards school. So don't go comparing yourself to that slimy git." Then moving onto a more serious note, she frowned and stated, "And yeah, I would appreciate it if it's just me and Professor McGonagall who go to help Master Skywalker." Seeing the hesitancy in her friend's eyes, she suddenly got a brilliant idea and asked, "While we do that, could you do me a favor?"

Perking up at the thought of helping his friend, Harry nodded and replied, "Of course!" Once again smiling, Analie asked, "Could you please go back to the Gryffindor Common Room and update Hermione, and the younger Padawans, about what has happened so far? They all need to know what is going on and you would be the best one to tell them so that they can stay in the loop. Plus I have a feeling the younger Padawans will ask you to bring them here so that would be helping as well." Analie knew Petro and Katooni would immediately jump at the chance to come and help once they knew what was going on. Again Harry hesitated, but seeing the sincerity in her expression at her request, Harry sighed and replied, "Sure, I can make sure to do that." So with that the two bade farewell and headed off on their separate ways. Harry to inform the rest of their group on what had transpired, and Analie to go wait by the entrance to the maze for Professor McGonagall.

Once the Professor arrived at her side, Analie brought out her comlink and called out, "Anakin, we are in the hedge maze. Send us your coordinates so we can reach you faster." Immediately the GPS on her comm showed her the coordinates of their location and mentally calculating, Analie ran in the direction that she estimated the two to be at.

Before they arrived at the coordinates, Analie glanced at Professor McGonagall and stated, "I don't recall if we have mentioned this to you or Professor Dumbledore yet, but Ahsoka is not human. So if we haven't mentioned it before, please try not to freak out when you see her."

Professor McGonagall's lips simply thinned into a tight line and she silently nodded. She too, was feeling the stress that the chaotic events of the evening were causing and did not wish to snap at who she deemed as one of her strong lion students.

A moment later they rounded a bend in the Maze and came upon the sight of an abnormally pale Ahsoka for her species standards, and Anakin who was frantically trying to wrap his Padawan's arm with medical tape that he had on hand. Hearing their hurried footsteps, and most likely hearing Professor McGonagall's slight gasp of shock, Anakin's head whipped towards their direction and demanded, "Hurry! We need to disinfect this injury quickly and get her back to a med bay stat!" Analie, who was a trainee in field medicine back at the Temple, rushed towards her best friend and knelt down to assess the damage.

Speaking her thoughts out loud so that Anakin wouldn't snap in his already irritated state, she stated, "Thank the Force the bleeding seems to have come to a stop. You did good to wrap the injury to keep it contained from other elements, but you are right, we need to get her seen by a doctor or med droid quickly or this injury will become infected." As she quickly rushed her thought process, she turned her head to look at her friend's face.

Sensing what she was wanting to know, Anakin automatically replied, "The moment I arrived on scene of the battle, Ahsoka passed out from both exhaustion and relief. I Force Pushed Ventress back away from her so she could not attempt a sneak attack, and that is when the sithspit turned tail and used her sabers to cut through the hedge and run off." Analie turned to briefly look where Anakin was glaring at an uneven and smoking hole in the hedge maze wall on the other side of the clearing.

Clearing her throat, Analie gently chided, "Master Skywalker please calm yourself," Then turning to the still quietly on-looking Hogwarts Professor, she continued, "And Professor McGonagall, please pull yourself together and help me conjure a medical cot so that we can get Ahsoka out of here."

Both adults jolted slightly at the sight of a teenager gently reprimanding them, but thankfully listened to her and pulled themselves together. Anakin closed his eyes and took deep breaths to calm down and recenter himself in the Force. While Professor McGonagall expertly transfigured one of the stone benches in the clearing into a medical cot. Then together, the three of them carefully maneuvered the unconscious Togruta onto the cot. Right as they were preparing to leave the clearing though, Professor McGonagall stopped them and stated, "We need to do something to hide her appearance. I have no doubt that there are still lingering students who did not listen to return to the Common Rooms and we don't want even more ill rumors soaring around the school."

Analie silently cursed under her breath as she realized the underlying warning her Professor was trying to convey. That she was most likely unsuccessful in getting rid of Malfoy completely. So turning tiredly to her friend's Master she asked, "Master, would you be willing to help me with something?" Raising an eyebrow in an eerily similar fashion to her Father, Anakin replied, "Depends what you have in mind squirt."

Resisting the strong urge to roll her eyes at the annoying nickname, Analie as calmly as she could explained, "I want to see if, with our combined effort, we can utilize the Force to conceal Ahsoka's appearance." "Why not just use a spell dear?" Professor McGonagall asked, slightly curious to the young Padawan's idea. Analie shook her head at that and replied, "Magic is more easily detected by the Wizards and anyone observing us will know something is off. With using the Force, any Wizard with ill intentions won't be able to tell that something is off because they cannot sense the Force." So turning back to look at Anakin, she asked again, "Do you think it could work?"

Anakin took a quick moment to think deeper on the concept that Analie was proposing. Finally he replied, "It's risky. I have not heard of any other Jedi attempting Force Camouflage on another person before. But, if we both do it together, we should be able to at least hold a temporary shield till we have her safely in a Med ship that we brought with us."

Analie nodded in understanding, knowing that they were about to attempt something risky, but at the same time, there weren't very many alternatives they could turn to without looking highly suspicious to people not in the know of Ahsoka's true origins. Taking a deep breath, Analie stated, "Ok, Professor McGonagall, you levitate Ahsoka's cot and walk in front, Master Skywalker and I will push the cot from behind. That way we can both have a hand on Ahsoka to help with focusing our concentration."

Once again, both adults were slightly stunned at the maturity, and authority, exuded by this young teenager. But they did not question it, both knowing that she had the right idea for their next course of action.

Professor McGonagall took up her position at the front of their mini procession and began carefully lifting the medical cot with a levitation spell. Once the cot was waist high, both Analie and Anakin put a hand on each of Ahsoka's shoulders, and closed their eyes momentarily to concentrate on the Force. Once both felt the Force flowing around them, they began focusing the Force to wrap around Ahsoka and cover her in the image of her human counterpart that she has been posing as for the last few months.

Finally feeling confident enough to open their eyes when they felt the Force flow stabilizing, they smiled in accomplishment to see that their efforts were working and Ahsoka once again looked human. Unable to speak because of the immense concentration keeping the disguise was doing, Analie and Anakin simply nodded for McGonagall to begin leading them out of the Maze.

The walk back was a lot slower than the initial walk into the Maze. And as the minutes ticked by, both Anakin, and especially Analie, could feel the strain of keeping the Force camouflage going taking a toll, as they slowly both began to sweat profusely and Analie's breathing began to become a little more labored.

Finally they made it to the exit of the Hedge Maze and thankfully it seems that Captain Rex was waiting for them. Seeing the state of their party, the Captain merely nodded his head and stated to the Professor, "This way mam," And quickly guided the three towards one of the three small ships that their platoon had brought on planet. Once inside the safety of the ship, and definitely away from any prying Wizard's eyes, both Jedi released the Force camouflage on Ahsoka. Anakin staggered a bit but easily caught his footing, while Analie was not so lucky and simply collapsed to her hands and knees, nearly passing out, but her sheer determination to see the night through kept her from succumbing to the dark edges of her vision.

"O-okay…" Anakin wheezed as he leaned heavily against the side of the ship and watched the Med Clone Troopers quickly take Ahsoka off to one of their infirmary rooms at Captain Rex's barked orders, "Okay that is something I don't feel like wanting to do… EVER again…" Analie could only nod in agreement, still not able to speak or stand just yet. Who knew using the Force to disguise someone else would be so… Excruciatingly exhausting?

Before Professor McGonagall could make a comment, or ask why the two Jedi were so exhausted looking, a majestic blue Phoenix Patronus came gliding down to hover in front of her. The Jedi, and a couple nearby Clone Troopers, watched with interest as the bird's beak opened and out came the Headmaster's deep voice. Analie couldn't help but wince as she could just FEEL the man's displeasure of tonight's events, even though his voice sounded pretty composed.

"Minerva, please inform any Jedi that you are currently with, most especially Master Kenobi if he is near, that they are to report to my office as soon as feasibly possible. The Minister of Magic would like a word. Thank you." With that, the Patronus faded away like a glittery blue mist.

Silence reigned for a few minutes after the message was heard, no one quite sure what to say. Finally, Analie carefully pushed herself to her feet and leaning heavily on the wall in exhaustion, she wearily stated, "Well can't keep them waiting forever now can we?"