Chapter 8 :Betrayal, Revenge and Realisations
Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover
Chapter 8 :Betrayal, Revenge and Realisations
789 BBY
2,864 ATC
Brentaal System/Coruscant
Harry needed the truth and that is what led him back to his private home in the dead of night, but like everything else in his life, this carried significant risk. If his master caught him skulking outside of his private chambers then the best that Harry could hope for was a quick death and, surrounded by Holocrons (some of which he had collected himself), Harry admitted to himself that his master's Force senses were acute. Harry doubted that his almost completely artificial connection would be in any way compete.
To limit the risk to himself no aspect of the Force would be employed, not against Darth Corrious's prodigious ability, nor would he enter the room with the intent to harm his master as that too would alert him.
He had to know the truth, thankfully he had a skill that would suit his needs that he had managed to keep carefully hidden from Darth Corrious. Magic.
"Alohomora" he whispered while waving his hand at his master's door and quietly moved inside as the door slowly opened.
Harry's eyes quickly took note of everything that he could see, mostly out of habit, (with Darth Corrious as a master he always checked a room he entered for threats) being a dark side user of any sort was dangerous in the extreme. There was also an element of curiosity in his gaze however as Harry had been in this room before.
Darth Corrious's personal chamber was decorated opulently with beautiful Sith tapestries on the wall emphasising the Sith order's supposed dominance and victories over their most hated of foes the Jedi. The soft plush and expensive carpet made no noise when it connected with Harry's sturdy boots as he moved slowly towards his master
Even sleeping Darth Corrious looked every inch the hateful and embittered man that he was. Corrious's brow was furrowed with whatever slight that he was dreaming about and his body slowly moving back and forth on the bed, as if to avoid blows from an imaginary foe, with his mouth set in a grimace. These were not the sleeping habits of a happy or peaceful man.
Hate it seemed, thought Harry amused, can empower but it will never leave you even in your sleep.
"Somnum Penitus" whispered Harry, pointing the ring at his master's forehead.
After the disaster that was the Triwizard tournament Harry had learned a few sleeping spells thinking that they might enable him to catch a few prisoners when the inevitable conflict broke out between him and Voldemort.
"Legilimens" Harry said softly feeling his mind move, like treacle slowly dripping down a spoon, seeping into Darth care not to go too fast, just in case that man had any mental defences, Harry began to slowly look through Darth Corrious's mind.
It wasn't an easy task to study some else's mind. Unlike surface thoughts people did not project their inner most desires like a wailing baby. They were also not generally organised like something easy to peruse some great system of filing cabinets for example (occlumency being one of the rare exceptions to that rule). Instead memories tended to be connected by, what could be considered to be, one of the most personal games of word association ever. There were however no hard and fast rules and all of that made his task exceptionally difficult.
The traps that Darth Corrious had inside his mind were ingenious and unlike anything that he had ever seen before. If his occlumency was a slow river invading and probing Corrious's mind then the defences the vile man created were like bear traps made of black lightning. Painful and dangerous but, not designed for magic, his legilimency flowed around them easily.
Six and a half hours later his self imposed occlumency barriers on his emotions were straining against his towing anger (not at all helped by the fact that he was still wearing his amulet). Part of the reason that he was angry came from the fact that he got no headway at all until he had tried for any association to the word idiot.
The rest of his anger came from what he found.
Harry was assaulted by things, by knowledge, that was frankly appalling even to him. In his darkest moments he knew that he had fallen far but Corrious's mind was an abattoir of such vileness and such twisted hatred that it made Harry seem like a saint. There was very little, if anything, human left in that twisted shell. Amongst everything else there were countless rapes, tortures, murders and experiments on anything that the man thought lesser than himself (which of course meant everything).
Harry had been betrayed. If he were honest with himself Harry expected that but, what he didn't expect was the level of manipulation that Corrious had gone through, not just once or twice but, systematically and from at least their first meeting.
Exactly much further beyond that, if at all, Harry was unable to discern but he was certain that some form of dark side compulsion had been used from the very first moment that they had met in person. He had made so many and so often that Harry was unsure how many of his decisions were his own, to the point that even his decision to learn from the Sith was in question.
Though given his master's penchant for plans within plans and manipulation Harry could hazard a guess.
It only got worse when he created the amulet as, though it was designed to augment his connection to the Force in a limited (dark side only) fashion, Corrious had altered the ritual significantly to consistently add to and reinforce the compulsions anytime he used it to access the dark side as well as increase its seductive and addictive nature. It made sense then that Harry was not given a full, or even a true, instruction in Sith runes even though he had asked for one. He had simply dutifully learnt only what he was told.
It also increased his personal loyalty Corrious, or as much the dark side ever could, by twisting his desire to go home into a desire to serve. It was both sickening and ingenious, not to mention brutally effective.
None of that of course affected the guilt that he was feeling however, as further proof of it's effectiveness, the amulet was already trying to turn his guilt into a blinding rage which in turn would encourage him to access the dark side through the amulet and start the cycle all over again.
Now that Harry thought about it he couldn't even take the damn thing off. It, unlike most Force related topics, was resistant to magic (though whether by accident or design Harry couldn't say). He couldn't even kill himself, he thought with revulsion, as that would run the risk of the amulet being used again on someone else.
Frankly he had enough guilt he thought
How Harry wanted to kill Darth Corrious at that moment, his hands itched to do something even as his mouth filled with spells unspoken. He knew that if he tried though it would mean an all out fight with his master and he was unsure if he could win.
Worse, if the fight did happen and he won Harry knew he could not do that without using everything in his arsenal including the amulet and the dark side. If he did that, he knew he would truly be lost and eventually be destroyed by his own inner darkness.
More than that, Corrious was almost done with his pathetic attack dog (as he thought of Harry), having already begun training a true apprentice. He even had an idea that Harry himself would be the final test for his favourite student, a Bith, and a stepping stone towards his students rise. He even had a contingency plan in place in the form of explosives secreted in the shuttle that Harry sometimes used and, not so coincidentally, was a gift from Corrious.
This all meant that even if Harry was able to kill his master there was still the unknown threat of the student and any plans that they might have made against Harry. Harry was not completely foolish, he knew that even in his current state of dark side rage he would be hard pressed to kill one let alone two. He didn't want to think of his chances without the amulet but couldn't afford to act with it..
In the end though, in a sense none of that mattered, it didn't change anything as no matter the plans, no matter the manipulation or the circumstances the blood was still on his hands.
More than that the dark side still called to him from a primal part of himself and he supposed that, now that he was attuned to it, it always would.
He needed to leave, to think and plan, that much Harry knew. More than anything else though in that moment Harry needed to get rid of that amulet.
Coruscant
"Harry!" Shouted Varlya Tarvam, the fifteen year old padawan, rushing into the diner and hugging the (seemingly) twenty seven year old man. "Where have you been? Your messages have gone from weekly to one every four months or so and then to once a year. What happened to you? Are you okay?"
Chuckling was heard behind her as her master, the Jedi Knight Orion Lanham, followed her into Nindo's diner in the Senate district of Coruscant.
"Hello little one" Harry said warmly, smiling at the fact that even if he wanted to answer he could not, she had asked her questions so fast and without pausing for breath. "Is she still always like this?" He continued turning to her master.
"I am afraid so Magister Potter" responded Knight Lanham with false solemnity " we did try to train her out of it but, alas, the lesson never seemed to take".
"Hey!" came her her predictably indignant voice.
"Easy little one" replied Harry affectionately "I have missed you too".
After that sat in the fashionable restaurant on chairs made of expensive Greel wood and behind a table seemingly carved from a single block, Harry cleared his throat to begin. He looked at the two frankly for a very long moment.
"You want to know where I have been and what I have been up to?" He looked at the younger padawan in silent apology, both for what he had done and for what he was about to do. "I have been to many places and left my mostly still thriving business in the hands of droids because I have been looking into the death of Master Sekel".
Varlya's knuckles clenched with emotion as she remembered her first master's death and, for a moment, she was back there again feeling the dart in her neck. She was abruptly brought out of it by her masters hand on her arm, a gentle reminder that he was there, and Harry's compassionate and understanding green eyes
"The Senate and the Jedi both launched separate investigations into his death and House Husk. It all came to nothing in the end". Came the calm voice of Orion "Unless you know something that we don't?".
"With all due respect to the Jedi Order you are not what you once were" ignoring both of his friends frowns he continued "besides Orion no matter your beliefs you are right that people will talk to me who would never speak to a Jedi. As for the Republic" Here he snorted "that bunch of political whores couldn't find their own arses without a map and they are so corrupt that they would charge you for the privilege...most of them anyway". Orion's laughter and Varlya's tisk at his (however accurate description) of the Senate and the arrival of the waitress to take their orders, red brick tea all round, broke up Harry's explanation and gave them all time to collect their thoughts.
"Why not take your suspicions to the High Council?" quired Varlya.
"Did you know that Master Yoda was appointed to the High Council as a junior member last month?".
"Ahhh" said Knight Lanham knowingly " I can see why that might be a problem".
"Well I don't" Valya said in confusion "What has Master Yoda got to do with anything? Do you two not get along?".
"That's an understatement... though I do respect his power and, sometimes, his opinion" came Harry's response as he slowly sipped his tea and enjoyed the rich, dark and soothing flavour. "As for Yoda he knows, or should I say suspects, that I've stumbled across old Jedi or even Sith records that I have not turned over to the Jedi. This is technically a crime in the Republic. The fact that if I had any and I'm not saying that I do mind you, but if I did, they would be stored out of Republic space and therefore not Yoda's concern seems to matter not at all".
"Should they not belong to the Jedi?" she asked.
"No" said Harry sternly even as he continued " though your master would disagree, as we have had this argument many times, I say that the people who wrote them are dead and, in most cases, not Jedi".
"But only the Jedi can truly understand them" interrupted Knight Lanham.
"There speaks the arrogance of the Jedi" Harry chided his friend softly "what of the traditions other than the Sith or the Jedi? When did the Jedi way become the only way? Especially when you can't even agree on the correct interpretation of your own code?". He winked at Varlya "That's another reason that I'm not his biggest fan. He's what's politely known as a progressive and follows the easier emotionally stunting 'new' code, unlike your master here".
"I follow the new code!" she said with an edge to her voice.
"You try" responded Harry "but I happen to believe it's unnatural. As for you? You are young, one day, hopefully you will learn".
Varlya muttered something very un-Jedi like at that and her master raised an eyebrow.
"Yoda also thinks that as Harry is head of Potter Industries and Potter Industries benefits from certain corrupt Senators that he too is likely corrupt".
"Just because I benefit from the system doesn't mean I agree with it. The Republics corruption cannot be laid at my feet". Harry interrupted while frowning.
"I know my friend, truly I do. There is also your family's history of genetic manipulation to consider. A lot of Jedi find it unnatural".
"They are fine ones to talk about children and the natural order…" Harry responded, the sarcasm palatable.
"Be nice" was the simple reply from Orion.
"How is that our business anyway?" asked Varlya " are you all evil clones or something?".
"You cannot clone a Force Sensitive " said Knight Lanham " but you can purify their D.N.A to remove any genetic abnormalities or diseases. That is what our friends family has done for a long time. They find it slightly disturbing that the Potter family has no traditional family unit".
"Hypocrites" Harry said. Both Jedi dutifully ignored him.
"No mothers?" Varlya's natural curiosity made her ask.
"No little one" came Harry's response " such a process would involve a donated egg, an artificial womb and my D.N.A. As part of the process all Potters keep this height and face but no Potter created by that process would be a clone, there would still be a level of genetic diversity from the donated egg".
"You make it sound like there are more Potters than just you?" She asked.
"There are" he lied "I have, through family tradition, allowed my son to be born and his name is William David Potter".
"Tell me about him" she said excited.
"I will do but it will have to wait until I have met him". She, very maturely, pouted.
Suddenly Varlya's brows knitted in thought and brought the discussion back on point.
"Why would the council be testing your D.N.A.?" Her lips quirked "Jedi arrogance?" Harry laughed while Orion tried, and failed, to look disapprovingly at the pair.
"Stop corrupting my padawan" Orion joked while studying Harry intently "Varlya could you go and pay the waitress please?" he added giving her a handful of credits. "How far has your investigation gotten?" he asked as soon as she was out of earshot.
"I don't think that we will ever know who pulled the trigger" he lied again "but I have figured out who paid them".
"How?".
"Heavily encrypted bank transfers and company plans to take advantage of the attack before it actually happened".
"It was a company? Who? And why haven't you shown this evidence to anyone?".
"Industrial Automation of course and I don't have the evidence in my hands yet". He lied one final time "Do you really think that anyone would believe me when I said that one of my competitors had killed a Jedi but that I didn't have the evidence yet?".
"How will you get it? Do you have a mole in the company?".
"Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies" came the flippant response. Harry looked at his friend "Getting the information might take up to six months. Can you try and get me a direct line to the High Council for when I do?".
"I can try" responded Orion "but I can tell there is something else my friend...what is it?".
"This will be very dangerous for me...If anything happens… could you tell Varlya it was quick and painless even if it wasn't?".
"You want a Jedi to lie?".
"It's a good lie my friend" came Harry's response along with a soft sad smile.
Later that day Knight Lanham was walking in the Temple hallways with Jedi Masters Yoda and Tuspin Myec. The quiet presence of the Falleen and the tapping of Yoda's walking stick were of great comfort to the troubled man.
"Do you believe him?" came the calculating voice of the Falleen master, his question coming smoothly from his, currently green, mouth.
"Yes. I truly believe my friend is likely to die" he replied sorrowfully.
"Do you think he would accept our help?" continued Myec.
"No. I know him, he is a good man, he won't put the few Jedi he likes at risk and given how some have treated him in the past he wouldn't trust the average Jedi anyway". This last part was said with a glare towards Yoda.
"We, sense his mind, cannot. This, leads to trust, does not" came the voice of Yoda.
"Many species are resistant to our mental arts" came the disgusted response.
"Though not other humans" interjected Myec while holding up his hand to forestall an argument. "Besides if he does indeed come through with this information he will have earned our trust".
Yoda nodded to this in silent agreement. Orion Lanham in contrast to the others radiated his anger as he left with the parting shot.
"I did not know that it was necessary for people's minds to be read before we could trust them! I'm sure that, if my friend lives, he will be delighted to know you now trust him despite that fact."
Morri
Harry was in life threatening danger though unlike last time it wasn't to gain information (that he had) but rather to get rid of the anchor around his neck. To do this he was headed to a place which for him was very dangerous. He was heading to a place that was lost and yet almost glowing in the light side of the Force.
Morri an empty world of rolling plains and, more importantly, one of the first graveyards of the proto-Jedi after they left Tython.
Though, Harry thought, graveyard wasn't quite accurate, more like an ash planet, as this was where they used to burn their dead. Like with many things the Jedi Order had evolved a little and moved on. Eventually the quiet world of Morri was forgotten, a remnant and a memory of a time long lost.
Morri wasn't always so empty. Once just like Coruscant it was a thriving city world but, unlike the capital of the Republic, it never became one single city but was instead several hundred metropolis's spread apart and dotting the landscape like grey twinkling stars. This allowed for beautiful natural plains to be seen between the massive cities.
Why this place was ever abandoned Harry did not know. What he did know was that it was lost to both Jedi and Sith. One of his exploration droids had found this planet around six months before he began his Sith training though, around a year into his training, he had sent an encrypted message to Cadi to stop producing them.
That should have been a warning sign, thought Harry, but I was so sure of the strength of my occlumency barriers that I never considered Force based compulsions. I would never have given up the search for my home and switched droid production if I was in my right mind. I am a fool and, no matter how diminished my capacity, a murderer.
What tortured Harry the most was not that he'd stopped searching or his home, he had fixed that quickly enough by issuing new orders, nor was it the HP-21 solider droids that he had produced almost two million of instead of the explorer droids in a now nonexistent attempt to overthrow the Republic. The HP-21 droids was the standard solider model and was a slightly slower, bulkier, quadrium plated and blaster wielding cousin of Harry's Jedi Killers. Any problems with the droids being left unattended so long were easily fixed and storage space was found, just in case, for the soldiers.
No, what tormented Harry the most was the uncertainty of it all. He had, after all, killed Master Sekel and become a bounty hunter and assassin without the amulet's overwhelming influence.
So how much, Harry pondered, was the compulsions (including any placed on him before the amulet for who knows how long and situations designed to leave him with no better options)? How much was him? Was all of it? Was any of it?.
With a shake of his head Harry brought his ship into land. His destination was the Necropolis, more specifically the landing pad that jutted out from it, and he would need his mind completely on task.
He couldn't remove the amulet because the dark side protected it and any use by Harry of the darkside would simply empower it more. Added to that it could have protections and functions that Harry knew nothing about and considering the designer if not the maker it was more than likely.
That only left the light side then and he couldn't very well go to the Jedi raving (in their view) about the resurgent Sith whom they believed to be destroyed especially as inevitably it would come out that Harry had killed one of their most beloved Jedi Masters.
So that left the Harry Potter special, Harry thought, stupid, dangerous and insane.
After a full day of searching the deserted and eerie streets he found what he was looking for. He found himself in what must have once been a mortuary of some sort but now, due to time and the elements, it was just three walls that were more rubble than anything else. There was no roof nor art to be found in the building though there was evidence that there used to be (going by the scratches and tell tale gouges in the wall). Now it was just derelict.
With no better ideas Harry knelt to meditate and for the first time in his life consciously reached out to try and connect with the light side of the Force.
Harry opened his eyes quickly deeply frustrated that nothing seemed to be happening. When he opened his eyes however it was not the ruins that greeted his gaze, instead of crumbling stone, he saw nothing. It was almost like standing in the void of space yet, instead of everything being black, there was just witness all around.
To say that Harry was unnerved would be an understatement.
"What do you want" came many voices from all around, all at once and from a distance, like a chorus singing from out of a deep well.
"Help" came Harry's voice.
"Why should we help you?" the tone of the chorus was now accusatory "Because you were tricked? Because you were a foolish child?".
"Because without help I will never be free and never get home…".
"HAVE YOU LEARNT NOTHING!" The voices were so loud that Harry dropped to his knees cradling his head, ears bleeding and eyes closed. After a moment the voices continued in a much softer tone "Look at us".
Harry opened his eyes and saw Luna...or at least it looked like her except her eyes, like everything else in this strange place, were completely white. "The problem with people Harry" it continued "Is that they cannot reconcile the duality which is us and yet they end up equally unable to survive the extremes of us without being fundamentally changed". It looked at him quizzically for a moment as if he was some great puzzle to solve.
"You don't understand why we are telling you this do you?" Harry shook his head "Nevermind. If you leave her you will understand eventually...or you won't. Linear time is such an odd and tricky thing".
"What are you?" he whispered. Oddly enough the musical laugh that burst forth from the being's mouth did nothing to soothe him.
"What makes you think that we are anything?" It paused, cocking its head to one side, before continuing " You are familiar with gatekeepers of holocrons yes? I suppose that I am the mostly light gatekeeper for this planet for lack of a better term. Now answer my question properly. Why should I help you?".
"Because many will die if I do not attempt to stop Corrious" came the swift reply.
"That is not a good enough reason. People die all the time it is, after all, in your nature". The entity stood there patiently as if waiting for Harry to try again.
"How can I be truly judged, truly a hero or a villain if this amulet always clouds my thoughts and is eternally influencing my choices?" he finally said unsure of himself "After all that's part of life too, no? To truly choose who you become? It's funny" he said looking into the entity's pure white eyes "How the choices you make can change who you become".
Harry stood tall and finished with "I'm afraid I must withdraw my request. This is my problem and because of my stupidity I have become a killer, I know deep in my bones how easy it is to do it, and that is something no one should ever know. We don't live in a perfect universe however...I am afraid my mistakes are my own and I don't deserve your help".
"And that is why I will help you Harry Potter. The universe is not fair but some will always try and make it so." The Gatekeeper looked down at the amulet and it disappeared, without a sound, as if it never was. "Do not think that you are forgiven as you are as bound by your past as any other".
She then eyed him critically "Here is a taste of the future that you have started to move away from and what you will become if you fall again". With that heartening statement Harry was treated to scenes of mass destruction, desolation and pure hatred. He saw himself kill his master and his master's apprentice. He saw himself lead the butchery of the Jedi and install himself as overlord of all.
Worse he saw himself, having somehow found a way home, inviting his friends to serve at his feet and their inevitable refusal. He slowly killed them all. The screams of Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and even his Luna. The message was clear, if Harry fell again there would be death, the death of everything he cared about and needed. He would truly become an empty vessel of power and hate.
"One final warning, in memory of the sweet soul you once were, do not allow your former master a hint of the Forge or of your magic in combat. His death is by no means certain at this point in time and if he survived he would use both and a version worse than you just saw would come to pass. You are lucky that he is absorbed in training his new apprentice or he would already be questioning you".
Then he was back in the dilapidated mortuary and he wept. He wept for all he had done, for everyone he had done it too and he wept all the harder because he believed that if he went home tomorrow all of his friends, all those he loved, would hate him.
He couldn't blame them though as, in this moment, they couldn't have hated him as much as he hated himself. After a time he stopped crying. Things were in motion now, plans were all coming to a head, his showdown with his master was coming and he had little time to prepare.
Only when he had finished that could he try and make amends for what he had done.
His plan took four more weeks and two 'serving droids' for Darth Corrious.
Ossyk
"Master" Harry said as he knelt before Darth Corrious, in the latter's garden, carefully keeping his face blank and his clouding of his auror active. Though, mused Harry while he waited for his 'master' to speak, that is about all that I can do with this body's natural abilities. The late evening darkness added an almost surreal note to the meeting.
Darth Corrious glanced down at the amulet hanging from Harry's neck and his body seemed to relax (at least slightly).
"Acolyte" came the expected and cool response. "What do you have for me?" Harry presented another ornate amulet in his fist.
"An amulet of Darth Bane my master" Corrious gently took the amulet, noticing the symbol of The Army of Darkness, feeling the amulets great age. However one did not become a Dark Lord of the Sith without also becoming a paranoid bastard.
Darth Corrious leant into the Force studying the amulet for a moment, looking for any hint of a trap, and what he found surprised him utterly. He found nothing, no sith poison, no Force based compulsions and no attempt on his life at all.
It appears, Corrious thought while putting on the amulet, that my worthless acolyte has actually done something right for once. Of course, he added, doing that without gaining anything for oneself first was one of the many reasons that he would die and soon at that.
Harry's smirk (unnoticed by Corrious) briefly fluttered on the young man's mouth before it was dragged, very quickly, behind Harry's Occlumency barriers.
"I must commend you my acolyte. Your new cleaning droids are superb and they have been a great help this past month" said Corrious with a smirk. Harry, with his emotions free from the effects of the amulet that Corrious had helped him create, bared the barb with equanimity. The thing hanging around Harry's neck was nothing more than powerless transfigured rock.
The amulet around Corrious's neck however, while also a work of magic, was much less benign. Taking the Morri Gatekeepers warning to heart he had added no dangerous runes, as they might have been construed as an attack and detected, but he had added several others.
First and foremost he had added the most powerful compulsion runes that he could find, not to harm, merely so that Corrious (and hopefully) any future Sith Lord would wear the amulet.
That was why, Harry thought, I made up the story about Darth Bane. The Sith should be arrogant enough and prideful enough that every generation would wear the thing. The runes just ensured that.
He had also, mindful of not giving away magic entirely and certain that he could not outright win this battle, engraved not only a runic tracer but also a powerful concealment cluster over the entire thing.
In short he had made a Sith Lord tracker that, coincedently, was connected to a runic bracelet currently on Cadi (it would warm in the immediate presence of the amulet and glow briefly if they were on the same planet).
In the same vein all of his droids (as of five minutes previously) had left the planet, destroying every digital record of him and about him that they could find as they went, they also replaced as many artifacts and Holocrons from here with fakes over the past month as they could. He had also found and destroyed all of his blood samples and darts from his gun.
However right here and now Harry's almost peaceful demeanor caused his former master to be suspicious as, not only was Harry calm, he was also suppressing the dark miasma of the amulet (something he had never done in Corrious's presence) or not using it.
Corrious knew that shouldn't be possible, he pondered the problem for a moment, and then it came to eyes widened as he realised that it wouldn't be possible unless… Corrious reached for his lightsaber.
As Corrious's eyes widened Harry knew the game was up and sprang into action, lightsaber flaring to life in his left hand and blaster in his right, even before Corrious's hand could touch his own.
Harry surged upwards from a kneeling position taking Corrious's right arm off at the shoulder in a flash of blood red light and a sizzle of cauterising heat. The cut would have cleaved the Sith Lord cleanly in two if he had not already been moving away.
Before Harry could move in to rectify that oversight however several things went wrong and, as is the nature of the universe, all seemed to happen at almost exactly the same time.
First Harry was telekinetically thrown thrown far across the room by Darth Corrious giving Harry, at the very least, a significant concussion. One thing that the Dursley's had taught Harry was how to work around that, but the fact remained, that without using the amulet he had very few defences to force powers. This meant that he would have to rely on his lightsaber (which was not the most ideal of long distance weapons) and his blaster which had shots that could be skillfully returned to him.
Second, and possibly most perilous to Harry at that moment, a Bith entered the garden from the main residence.
It had a lightsaber and oozed with the dark side like a fetid bog.
"Fan-fucking-tastic" said Harry even as the Bith moved in to deal with Harry, in the Sith manner, which of course meant vicious and bloody.
That actually led directly into the final problem. As Harry moved into Juyo's cadences, his style faltered, without his anger to power it he found that it was no longer the fluid aggression that he was used to.
Worse in his recently addicted state Harry knew that he could do better if he just gave in and a part of him wanted to. Harry also knew that if he did he would be lost beyond all saving. He would never be free and would become the thing that killed his friends and everyone he loved.
Blocking a precise slash from the Form II favouring Bith he quickly made a decision that he knew he might later regret if only for the pain that it would most likely cause him. He also had no other ideas to avoid dark side use against a well trained and certainly more powerful opponent.
He resisted the urge to call on the dark side. Though there maybe a time when I can use it thought Harry, at least a little, today was certainly not that day.
Quickly he purposefully locked blades with the Bith and, holding his lightsaber in one hand, said in a bored tone
"I must confess that I find myself disappointed" Harry said conversationally, as if he had all the time in the world and this battle was nothing to him, causing the Bith to growl and begin to use both hands to push their locked blades towards Harry's face.
Even as Harry felt his hair beginning to burn under the heat of the blades he grinned viciously and continued "After all, even in my controlled state, I would have realised by now that there was a reason I was winning so easily.." he lowered his voice so the Bith leaned in even closer "Like the fact that you seem to have forgotten that I have a blaster in my other hand!".
The Bith's eyes widened, panic mingling with the scorn and hatred usually found there, but not for very long as three blaster shots rang out. One hit Harry's enemy in each lung and the third hit him in the throat so that, gurgling, the Bith fell to the floor already dying.
"Here's a hint" Harry called out to his injured former master sarcasm laced in his voice "If you're going to teach someone all the nasty, dirty and effective ways to kill don't piss them off!" As he felt Darth Corrious's chosen apprentice breathe his last he continued "Oh no...it looks like you're going to need another butt monkey. This ones going off". Breathing hard and sweating Harry's eyes searched the relative darkness for any sign of Darth Corrious.
Taunting an angry Sith was not without its perils as Harry learnt to his detriment when Corrious's lightsaber flew out of the darkness and lopped Harry's forearm at the elbow. "Fuck" Harry screamed, falling to his knees in shock from the sudden amputation even as Corrious began to advance.
Corrious moved forward with agonizing slowness, blasting Harry with Sith Lightning as he went, eyes yellow and hungry with a mouth spitting hated words so fast that Harry was unable to make them out. Harry, without his lightsaber, had no defence and was blasted back and down to the floor.
As Corrious kept moving forward and intensifying the lightning that was being unleashed on Harry, Harry himself, could only think two things through the torture that was lighting his blood vessels a neon like red and seemingly cooking his bones.
First was that the rune on his chest was beginning to activate and, if he wanted magic to be kept a secret, that could not be allowed to happen.
The second and final thing was just as important, through his pain filled gaze and panic at the rune breaking down, Harry noticed that Corrious had drawn level with his lightsaber.
With all of his meager ability and in desperation Harry focused as much of his will as he could on the saber and it responded violently. The blade flew directly towards Corrious's head (which stopped the lightning) and although Corrious did manage to move most of his head out of the way it did cost the madman a chunk of his lower jaw.
Not waiting around to see what happened to his 'master', and with effects of the Sith Lightning having taken their toll, Harry shakily activated the grappling spike to launch himself away from the garden. As quickly as he could manage in his highly injured state he made his way to his shuttle pulling up his hood to hide horrendous scars.
As the shuttle took off Harry realised that Darth Corrious was alive as the timer on the hidden explosives activated. Not having much time at all he quickly contacted the Jedi with the provided emergency code.
"Report, Mr Potter, you have hmmm?" Great, thought Harry, the sanctimonious holier-than-thou green rat.
"I have found the evidence" he replied even as he pressed a button sending pre-prepared files (that though true copies were selected for both their ties to Industrial Automaton and lack of such ties to him). Harry was thankful that this holo emitter only showed his covered head as he did not want awkward questions about his missing arm or all the other wounds he was suffering from.
"The evidence shows that the assassin, whoever he was, was hired by Siverere Mannesh…"
And with that the shuttle exploded and Harry Potter died.
Harry gasped as he awoke in the hidden chamber of the Homeward Bound on Brentaal disconnected from the Force and in a new body for the first time in years.
He swiftly set course for the Cadi System and left orders for a new blood bag to be prepared and stored, inwardly thankful that something like Transfer Essence was not needed, and wondering how happy his old master would be on the run.
By the time the Jedi arrived Harry was sure that Corrious would be long gone and, after a few years could even probably stop running but until then he would flee for fear of discovery by the Jedi. He also wondered how angry Corrious would be when he found that over 80% of his Holocrons and Artifacts were replaced with excellent, but useless, forgeries by the cleaning droids Harry had given him. He wondered how damaged and weak the future order would become now that all that knowledge was lost to them (hidden safely away in Cadi).
Two months and three days later William David Potter was given over to the Jedi, by way of droid carer and courier, for training at the tender biological age of one.
Unlike his 'father' he was both young enough to interest the Jedi and, more importantly, his force strength was prodigious even as a baby. By the time he reached his teens it would rival, if not surpass, that of Master Yoda.
So began his training as a Jedi.