Chapter 7: The Price and Gift of The Sith

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

Chapter 7: The Price and Gift of The Sith

A/N At this moment I'm trying to make a grey harry fic. I cannot say there won't be more 'dark' chapters..but as I've only just finished handwriting chapter 8 I can't be sure. A warning that most of the why he does these things, most of his motivations, won't resolve till next chapter or the chapter after.

I say this because I got a stupid review about how I'm making Harry too dark and am an awful writer...my response to her was simple as this reviewer had previously verbally attacked me for things later resolved (not even asking if they would be resolved) only to then demand I write more.. so I will repeat a form of my reply here for impatient insulting reviewers such as her (All cool people should ignore the next bit especially as constructive criticism helps me and...well...praise keeps the motor running!).

If you cannot wait for a plot to be resolved don't blame me just go read something else as I have no patience for you.

794BBY - 789 BBY

2,859 ATC - 2,864 BBY

Ossyk/ Wider Galaxy

First Year

Harry sat in a meditative pose, eyes closed, breathing deeply. Around him, in seemingly almost haphazard patterns, were sith runes. The runes were glowing balefully with the depth of dark side power that almost thrummed through them like the heartbeat of some wild caged beast.

This was good, Harry thought, the Ritual was going exactly to plan.

Harry was meditating, as he had been for the last two days, on the nature of hatred and passion and on desire and power. While he was doing this he had also been constantly chanting in Sithese while his irises glowed a vivid yellow. His face was twisted in an almost permanent snarl, the air both shimmered and was incredibly hot as if it was part of an unforgiving desert.

The area in which he was chanting was so saturated in the dark side of the Force the shadows themselves seemed to hunger with an insatiable need and whisper insanities to weed out the weak minded. This place was a vergence in the dark side and was an important memorial, of sorts, to his master's order.

The reason that this deserted cave on Ossyk was important was that this was the place where Darth Corrious defeated his own master and usurped the title of Dark Lord Of The Sith. The anger and fear involved in that conflict had soaked into the ground and saturated the stones that made up the cave itself. The primal roar of victory that had left his masters mouth at the point of victory seemed to echo around Harry as he continued to chant channeling the echos of countless men and women, they almost seemed to float before him like phantoms, all of his masters pain and passion and his master's masters all the way back to Darth bane himself.

This, he thought, would prove that he was worthy of instruction. This would allow him to prove to his master that he should become the apprentice and eventually gain all the power of a true Sith Lord. Rather than just a simple acolyte. That would hopefully gain him a true edge when he could return home and both enable him to defeat Voldemort and live in peace uncontrolled by anyone but himself afterward. All of his focus then was on the ritual and the small piece of engraved metal that was in front of him.

Suddenly and very harshly Harry stopped speaking and all of that hatred, anger, desperation, primal exaltation and most strongly fear coalesced into a dark mist that twisted and turned into a whirlwind with the funnels end sinking into the rough triangular metal. It was then slowly and surely dragged down into the amulet shrinking as it went leaving the cave suddenly empty.

His Amulet was complete.

A few minutes later Harry had attached the newly made amulet to a chain around his neck. Without trying Harry knew that it was a complete success, he could feel his connection with it thrum with power.

Using Sith Alchemy, he had taken all of the dark emotions from the cave, from the moment that his master had become Dark Lord and drained them fully into the amulet. He had even been able to add residual echoes of the Order of the Sith Lords previous conflicts to empower the amulet. In essence the amulet artificially repaired and reinforced his connection to the dark side and was also an test to see how well Harry could follow Corrious's instructions as the ritual had been refined by him.

There were many reasons why he had done it this way rather than simply wait for a new clone with Revan's D.N.A. to mature but there were only two of great importance. The first was that, unless forced by extreme circumstance, he would never share knowledge of the clones with anyone (least of all his new master) or the the knowledge of other things like the Holocron's still stashed away in his home. He would have to give knowledge of the first if he turned up in a brand new body with a full connection to the Force and probably the latter as well and both of these things would allow too much information about him to pass beyond his direct control.

The second reason was simply that he could not afford to turn away any learning at the moment. When he (hopefully) returned home he would still be the prime target of Voldemort and though snake face was a complete tosspot Harry would still be lacking an extreme amount of magical education and the only reply he had to that current deficit was knowledge of the Force.

After all, he mused, every little helps.

This amulet would not magically give him mastery over Force powers and he knew that due to the artificial nature of the amulet, as well as the capricious nature of the dark side, some powers would always be denied to him.

For the first time since waking in this body though, he felt the Force truly behind him, or at least the dark side, and he was going to revel in it for now learning as much as he could along the way.

Later that afternoon Siverere Mannesh visited his acolyte to check on his progress and see if he needed any 'encouragement' though, if one were to observe him carefully, you would almost be able to see the frustration wafting off him like heavy cloying smoke.

In all fairness, Harry thought, his frustration was completely understandable even if it was highly amusing that the reason his master was annoyed was due to Bane's grand plan.

Darth Corrious, Dark Lord of the Sith, was a very powerful individual, not only a killer, a superb orator and reasonably skilled at finance but also quite strong in the dark side of the Force. It hung around hm like a tempestuous thundercloud.

Due to the simple fact that Bane's plan of long revenge involved them staying in the shadows for now this powerful Sith, this Dark Lord, was stuck in a day job as one of the upper management in Industrial Automaton (oddly enough one of Potter Industries many rivals) and as such he was forced to answer to lesser beings and he hated it.

That hatred did make him unpredictable at times.

It also fed his power.

Anything could be borne for long periods of time if it increased your power.

Take the amulet that Harry had just finished crafting, this wasn't the work of moments but instead it was the work of several gruelling months. First he had been shown a Holocron (Sith of course) that his master had in the fortress like mansion. Then he had spent the next five weeks learning at the feet of the gatekeeper and his master had added a few final improvements. To speed up the learning process he had made full use of his occlumency abilities though Corrious had taught Harry several mental cantrips that both the Jedi and Sith used for learning at almost the same rate.

In combining the two his rate of retention and also his absorption rate of knowledge was prodigious to say the least.

In the first few days Harry had made the decision that if he was to learn effectively and, more importantly, quickly he would have to throw himself into his dark side lessons. So while he was learning the runes and chants necessary for the creation of his amulet he had suffered.

Willingly suffered.

He had ruminated on the Sith Code while being starved and beaten for days at a time.

He no longer slept but meditated instead, first for what his master called a wasteful six hours, now after more pain and hardship he finally meditated for just three to be fully rested.

He had taken the beatings from his master, the degradation and humiliation as well as copious amounts of Force Lightning. He had done this for the power that was offered and, as he was taught, he used the hatred, the pain and the anger to fuel his formerly lackluster powers. Despite the fact that his pupils were now almost always a burnt yellow it had worked with surprising ease.

The phoenix tears in his blood had managed to stave off the most debilitating of Harry's injuries. His master of course was intrigued about it and though Harry shared nothing with him he wouldn't have been surprised to find that his master had taken a sample of his blood somewhere along the way.

After he had finally learned enough runes and phrases for the ritual that he needed the gatekeeper had required him to find a place of dark power with which to forge the amulet.

That was when he learnt the truth of the Sith.

"Use where I murdered my former master" Darth Corrious had responded dismissively.

"You killed your master?" Harry gasped.

"No" He had responded "I murdered him, in vicious combat yes but, if I could have done it I would have stabbed him while he slept". He glared at his acolyte "It is something I would expect any apprentice of mine to do when I was of no further use".

Harry remembered being disturbed at this at first but then he rationalised that he had killed many people for money or to further his own cause. This he decided, after a few days of contemplation, seemed little different.

All of which led him, new amulet around his neck, to his master despite Darth Corrious's temperamental mood.

"Master! I've done it" His joy was palatable. In contrast the Sith Lightning when it came was agonizingly painful.

Annoyingly, Harry thought, I'm the only one who can honestly say that Sith Lightning hurt more than the Cruciatus Curse.

"You simpleton" His master snarled "Do you think I am some Jedi idiot that would reward your every simple accomplishment?" The lightning doubled in intensity "You absolute fool!".

"You want my forgiveness? You need to earn it!".

Harry screamed and something reacted. Not even Harry would have been able to say if it was magic or the Force but a pulse left his body at that moment, knocking his master into a wall. Then he fell exhausted to the floor.

His master meanwhile had risen from the floor, completely unharmed, with a vicious smile on his face. "Now that was impressive". He paused "Now you are ready to truly learn and perhaps, one day, become my apprentice".

Darth Corrious scrutinised his acolyte for a long moment. It was almost like he was examining Harry's every single atom and judging his worth. In the end he seemed to pass "There are two more things that you must learn before you will be able to be of use to me. One is a technique called Force Clouding and will enable you to bury your Force presence in the background feel of the universe. The foolish Jedi will never realise there is a darksider in their midst".

"Master" said Harry rising from the floor and standing tall as his body was already recovering "How do they not already know? I've been here almost a year and I know that there has been at least one Jedi since I've started training that has been through the system".

"Because I have protected you" came the scornful reply.

Harry took the verbal jab without complaint, instead letting the anger fuel his power as he had been taught, though his yellow eyes did glow as he took a second to viciously glare at his 'Master'. He had caught himself, once or twice, imagining throwing Darth Corrious into a wall and it seemed to be becoming a much more common daydream lately.

"What is the second thing" then almost as an afterthought he spat "Master"

"I think it is time for you to make your very own lightsaber".

Harry's smile was nothing short of predatory.

Darth Corrious made Harry assemble the required pressure forge for his lightsaber crystal by hand and when Harry asked why, Corrious explained that to make a synthetic crystal was a very personal rite and so the more of the process that was done by him the easier it would be, in theory, to create his crystal.

After he had created the forge and assembled his saturated solution he started to grow his seed crystals.

For the first day he simply used the Force to gently layer his will into the solution to cause the seed crystals to begin to form. At this early stage he added no thoughts of himself or anything at all except for the simple request to grow. For nineteen hours he repeated and infused that command into the solution until the seed crystals had fully formed.

He then placed the small seed crystals, along with more saturated solution into the pressure forge and the true creation of his unique synthetic crystal began. To truly make the synthetic crystal not only suitable for a lightsaber but attuned to him (as it made a more powerful blade) Harry had to give the crystal more. He had to give the crystal himself, he had to give the blade his memories and emotions as that would not only connect him intimately to the blade but would also give the crystal its colour.

First he poured into it every moment of abuse that he had ever suffered at the hands of the Dursleys. He remembered the first true beatings at the age of three, the fear of it, the confusion and the pain. He followed that with the realisation of being completely alone as he recovered, of being unable to rely on anyone but himself.

Then came the names and the hatred that they inspired not just the obvious one of freak but also others like Dudley's favourite of shithead or Vernon's slightly more imaginative walking abortion. He topped that off with every bruise since, every beating and then the memories of the broken bones and several whippings that only his instinctual magic haphazardly healed.

Finally he added the idea of what he would one day do to the Dursleys, how he would return the so called kindness with some of his own. As instructed he allowed the darkest thoughts to surface and those ideas that were caged at the back of his mind were finally loosed.

He imagined ripping Dudley apart, piece by fat piece, until all that was left were his organs suspended by the Force with only his head and spinal cord attached. Then when he was truly aware not only of Harry's anger at him but the utter certainty of his own death Harry would revel in Dudley's hopelessness until he grew bored. Once that happened, like a macabre jenga tower, everything would fall.

Vernon he would Force choke, bringing him to the point of death and back again, day after day and month after month until all Vernon knew were moments of agonising life and the sweet darkness of oblivion. He would continue until his mind was shattered and all he was became simply a mewling bag of flesh. Finally he would rip out Vernon's tongue and make him choke on it until he died.

Petunia he would simply and slowly Force Lightning to death. He would only do that after she had watched what had happened to her beloved family, utterly unable to help them, and in sure knowledge that he was merely returning the 'love' that they had given him. Then and only then, with her world shattered around her, would he use his lightning and slowly increase the intensity until her very bones glowed with the strength of it and her brain cooked from the boiling of her blood.

The last thing that he fed the crystal was his gut wrenching need to go home, to go back to the only people who had shown him any real kindness. He also fed it his carnal desires for Luna, his dreams, his fantasies of her. He fed it his hunger, barely expressed, for every inch of her.

After three full days of pouring his memories into the forge he smiled in success because, right in front of him, was a perfectly shaped blood red crystal.

He took his new crystal to a workbench in the corner of the hot room where a focusing lens, emitter matrix, power cell and hilt lay ready to be assembled. Using the force he did just that and as each individual piece connected to the next the dark side thrummed in ever increasing waves.

Finally he examined his creation. It was almost the standard one handed lightsaber design with the notable exception that the hilt was slightly longer than average so that if he wished it would be slightly easier to use two handed without sacrificing its ability to function as a one handed weapon. The other changes that he made were to remove the power adjustor, place a hidden beacon call function in the hilt and make the hilt meld with the emitter shroud flowing like water. He also painted it completely black.

It was a beautiful weapon of death.

Second Year

The first half of his second year of training took on a repetitive monotony. In that he would practice his Clouding ability under his masters painful tutelage until he could hold it without even thinking even while under attack. Harry didn't like using Force Clouding even if he understood the necessity of it as, at first, it felt like trying to catch water with a fork while holding said fork only with your tongue.

In the mornings in the second half of the year Harry practiced his force powers and that was where his amulet was both a great help and a hindrance. He could only truly utilize the power of the amulet when he gave into his darker emotions. Although the amulet seemed to somehow keep stoking those emotions at first it was very difficult to not give into his rage and completely lose control of himself.

It did however allow him to access more of the dark side and therefore learn more force powers. He was able to use Force Lightning, for example, with exceptional ease as the emotional fuel was always close to the surface.

He was also able to construct a rudimentary Force Shield (also called Force Resistance and, if exceptionally advanced, Force Immunity) against Force attacks. It was only basic because the amulet channeled energies best used for destruction not preservation. His favourite power at this moment was Force Choke and every time his master sent him on an (infrequent) errand a growing part of him was itching to practice it. When people attacked him that itching turned to a hunger that grew over time. It was almost like a siren's song calling him, enticing him further in, the more he used it.

In the afternoons over the entirety of that year he studied lightsaber combat until he would collapse exhausted in the early hours of the morning only to start the cycle all over again. He studied form VII, also called Juyo, almost exclusively mainly due to the idea that if his defences against the Force were weaker than normal then it would be best to kill his enemies quickly before they could bring it to bear.

That coupled with the amulets tendency to stoke his rage to new heights and the combative and unpredictable nature of the aptly named Ferocity Form made him a very successful killing machine.

Then at the end of his second year came his masters nod.

Finally he would be free of this stifling training cycle and out from under the watchful eye of his master, he thought. He would keep up his lightsaber training and become a Juyo expert but, more than that, he vowed that he would not only prove himself to be the rightful apprentice but eventually destroy his 'Master' as well.

Third Year

The Homeward Bound burst into orbit around the planet Galacos. The marine world was almost completely uninhabited save only one small single landmass just underneath its northern pole. This little world would be completely uninteresting if it wasn't for the almost completely forgotten secret academy that was built in the middle of the landmass.

As a basic history lesson Darth Corrious had taught Harry about the struggles between the Sith and the Jedi. Throughout the history of both orders each had tried, and failed, to destroy each other on numerous occasions. The Jedi had created contingencies, just in case they were ever truly threatened, by creating certain hidden academies and enclaves throughout the known (and as in this case) sometimes the unknown regions as bulwarks against destruction.

In one of the many periods that the Jedi believed the Sith to be vanquished (this just happened to be the latest stretch of time, not the first) this academy called the Spirit Academy had been forgotten, as had all its treasures.

It would have remained that way until he and Darth Corrious had found it, thought Harry, if it wasn't for the great irony of life, of the Galaxy. The Jedi might have called it the will of the Force. Harry just thought it was darkly funny.

One thousand five hundred years before the Homeward Bound entered orbit, long after the Jedi had abandoned and forgotten about the Spirit Academy, a small splinter group of Jedi had found it and put it to good use.

Originally there were fifty two of the splintered Jedi and Harry found it deeply amusing because leaving the Jedi to form a splinter group in a form of exile was how the Sith were supposed to have begun (though in their case the exile was mandatory).

It was a shame, he mused, that not every exile embraced the dark side.

These particular exiles were in fact stubbornly clinging to weak light side teachings having left the main order on trivial philosophical grounds as far as Darth Corrious reported to Harry. They had left because of the then recent twin surges of opinion (and later bans) against Jedi marrying, having families or having multiple padawans at any one time.

Indeed in the modern day multiple padawans were strictly forbidden and marriage was only allowed with the most unique of exceptions (these exceptions hadn't been asked for, let alone used, in over one hundred years).

These exiles called themselves the First Jedi in deference to the fact that they were trying to follow (as they saw it) the original path that the Jedi were meant to walk. They were not the first to break away, nor would they be the last, however they would die today.

Darth Corrious commanded it, that and all of their treasures.

He would get his wish, Harry thought, mostly anyway. He was after all sending a dark side practitioner and, as a rule, we do secret away as much power as we can manage.

He brought the Homeward Bound into land using the scanners aboard his ship to find that there were currently forty five lifesigns on the surface of the world. The Spirit Academy was clearly modeled on the temple in Coruscant but instead of the distinctive four towers there was only a single spire and also (given the rather small landmass) instead of a grand entrance like the Processional Way there was only a landing pad connected to two massive durasteel doors.

Doors which were open.

Harry smiled viciously as he strode down the exit ramp, the adrenaline already beginning to sing in the Juyo masters blood, as he drew his unlit lightsaber followed only by two ball droids and four Jedi Killers (often just shortened to Killers). Essentially these new droids were improved copies of the training droid that he had given the Jedi Council but with the safety's removed.

Harry strode towards the open doors, lightsaber held loosely and easily in his left hand, scanning for approaching Jedi. He found himself oddly disappointed that there were only two of them moving forwards to intercept him. Clearly they were Master and Padawan.

"So you are the reason that our communications failed" The master, a duros, stated in a bland tone. The human padawan merely looked puzzled.

"Actually" Harry smoothly disagreed "That would be the jamming system currently stored in my ships garage". He paused "Are you here to delay me from my goal?".

"Actually" the duros Jedi said amicably "I am here to ascertain your purpose".

"Oh" replied Harry almost jovially "forgive me. It's become second nature for me to keep this up now". Harry closed his eyes and let his force aura, which had been restrained by the Clouding, free and the hungry, angry and seductive need of the dark side swept through the two Jedi.

"Dark Jedi" whispered the Padawan. The idiotic boy couldn't be more than thirteen, Harry mused, it's time he had a lesson in the unfairness of life.

"Technically no" He responded cheekily " I was, after all, never a Jedi". With that his eyes finally opened and the lurid yellow of the dark side almost shone mercilessly from his eyes. "Shall we begin?".

With that his lightsaber hummed to life, the red blade hungry for death, Harry's face amused.

With a snarl Harry threw himself at the Jedi Master who, in turn, fell back on a clumsy Soresu. Within a few passes of their blades Harry knew that he had him and so, with a vicious feint towards the legs, Harry twisted the blade up and gently, almost lovingly, put the tip of his lightsaber through the Jedi Masters throat.

This entire exchange had only taken around ten seconds. The Jedi Master's yellow blade shut off and fell to the earth with a quiet thump.

The Padawan had frozen in fear as his master fought for his life and now, after he had died, looking at Harry's smiling face, the padawan ran.

Harry could taste the boys fear and panic wafting on the breeze and he allowed himself to revel in it for a moment. After a moment his mouth twisted and before the boy got too far he acted.

"Coward" he spat and with a negligent gesture the unfortunate padawan was lifted off his feet, grasping his throat as he couldn't breathe, only to then be flung violently into one of the open durasteel doors head first.

Though the boy's body hitting the durasteel door had made a clang it was the unmistakeable sound of his neck snapping that ended his life.

Harry turned to his droids "Killers you're with me. Ball Droids hunt out all of the padawans and deal with them". Each ball droid had five dart shooters each one was loaded with ten darts per shooter and could rapidly fire them at around three darts per second.

The ball droids moved off uncontested as no one inside knew of the deadly Basilisk venom tipped darts that each carried.

Ten more Jedi came rushing out and Harry's grin widened "Fun". He whispered even as the multitude of blue, yellow and green blades coming towards him caused his adrenaline and excitement to spike as he wondered how long this would take him.

Both Harry and his Killers moved in to attack while Harry Force Jumped into the middle of his enemies.

Ducking and weaving between the mass of Jedi Harry used the fact they were close together to cut down three before they could react. Lightsaber combat was often decided in a matter of heartbeats, one simple slip and a heartbeat later that person would be either dead or victorious. His droids engaged four of the remaining Jedi in the first heartbeat but Harry, in turn, was forced on the defensive.

Only the incredibly unpredictable nature of Juyo, the Jedi's own numbers hindering their force powers and Harry's own force pushes kept him alive in the next ten heartbeats. Still Harry was able to laugh as he saw one of his droids cut down a Jedi who was too busy gaping over the fact that their lightsaber didn't shear through, but was rather stopped by, one of the twin Phrik blades that each droid carried.

One Jedi threw a rock at him with the Force, which was the size of his fist, while another tried to take out his legs with a rare purple lightsaber. Harry contemptuously cut through the rock while, at the same time, leaping into the air to avoid the leg slash (thankful that the third Jedi who had been about to attack him had turned at the death of his fellow to fight the droids). He managed to land behind and facing away from the rock throwing Jedi. He then thrust his saber backwards and slightly up impaling the unfortunate soul through the heart.

Harry then quickly demolished his final opponent, giving into his simmering rage, in a short and dirty fight that was less combat and more of a clubbing, feeling the dark side pulse with his every movement.

Between Harry and the droids the other Jedi stood for barely a minute before falling.

Harry turned, flanked by the droids and checked his enemies were dead before heading deeper inside the Spirit Academy with the sounds of padawans dying all around them as they began their true hunt.

Twenty five minutes later torn and bloody with one ball droid destroyed and two of his Jedi Killers in pieces there was finally only one Jedi left alive. He or she waited for them at the top of the tower.

Harry's breath came in sharp gasps while he was bleeding from a dozen minor wounds. As he was trained he took the pain and fed it back into the Force, stoking his rage and keeping him empowered, as every sting inspired more anger and every drop of blood more hatred.

Pushing open the door he found a tastefully decorated room with three chairs from where the Triad (seemingly their version of the High Council) ruled. On the middle seat was a middle aged female Miraluka who was also the last First Jedi master.

"What, couldn't see this coming?" Harry said snarkily

"Of course I did" replied the Miraluka "but this was always going to happen Harry James Potter". he gaped at her in true surprise as she continued "All of the alternatives were worse. At least this way it was quick".

"Worse than the Sith destroying this academy utterly?"

"You are not Sith" she was still calm even as Harry's face twisted in rage.

"Really? Could have fooled me" came the sarcastic response.

"You are his tool that is all". Came the biting reply "Do you even remember why you agreed to serve him?"

"For the power to do what I want" He almost shouted, suddenly unreasonably angry, the amulet burning and yet cold on his chest while the Sith runes glowed softly red.

"And what do you want to do? Can you even think that far back? Or have you become so lost in the addictive and seductive nature of the dark side that you can't even remember anymore?".

"My service was the price of the Sith" Harry was screaming now, the amulet was burning colder and colder on his chest and his rage was growing by the second.

"If you believe that then you truly are a fool. Look at what they have done to you Harry, you were a hero of sorts and a good man, a young one maybe, but a good man nonetheless. Look how they have twisted that, look how they have corrupted that. All you care for now is power and bloodshed." Her face softened "Can you not see that they want nothing less than your complete obedience and eventual destruction when you are no longer of use. Just like any tool".

"What else have you seen?" he spat intrigue despite himself.

"I have seen that you will never become the master, not truly, not in the way you would want as they will never let you. If you turn away from this path you have a chance to improve lives" she added softly seemingly focusing on the amulet hanging from his neck "and you will weep for me". She continued in a stronger voice "I have seen that if you continue on this path all you will find is death. True death".

"You lie".

"You know I do not, you can sense it.. Even if I could why would I? After all at the moment you are a Sith weapon and I am therefore going to die. Death is the only true gift of the Sith. Everything leads to death…"

"Then let me give you that gift". Suddenly and violently he decapitated the unknown woman and she fell dead, almost soundlessly, at his feet.

You are a tool she had said.

He would find the truth and damn the consequences.

His last year under Sith tutelage had begun.