Chapter Sixteen: Like A Dark Lightning

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

A/N: Chap 15 review responses are in my forums like normal.

Fidelius Charm-there is a story out there, a very good one which unfortunately I cannot remember because I'm old and my brain is leaking more information than most kids under 20 have ever known, that postulated the Fidelius charm's limit was based not on the size of the object to be hidden, but by how many people knew about the item to be hidden. It was an excellent story, detailing incompetence of the Ministry. While I can remember neither the author nor title of the story, I believe that it inspired my discussion of the Fidelius here because it just made sense to me.

Chapter Sixteen: Like A Dark Lightning

The boy refused to look up when Teddy led him into the cramped, unfurnished administrator's office of the barracks. Fleur had already been in it, marking out where she would be placing furniture they had yet to build or conjure. Though Harry was not happy about losing her and Bill from his crew, he could not think of a better couple to be the head of the facility. And given the fact she was pregnant, he was glad not to have his former sister in law in the line of fire.

As both the eldest child of a huge family, and a father himself, Bill had a presence about him that younger boys simply respected. The cool scars didn't hurt. And as a Veela, Fleur carried about her a beauty that could enthrall anyone. But more than that, she was one of the kindest, most loving souls Harry had ever known. They would make sure the other den parents toed the line, and would give the kids the love and direction they needed so desperately.

Like most of the semi-feral kids, the boy smelled of stale sweat and the stench that came from being an unwashed boy. His hair, once blonde, was now a matted mess of brown. He wore the tattered remnants of Australian school robes. His cheeks, like most of the others, were sunken from recent hunger.

"What's your name?" Harry asked in a cool voice.

The boy mumbled something unintelligible. Harry, leaning over, grabbed his chin and jerked his face up. "Look at me, and say your name!"

Instantly the boy began to sob. Huge, wracking quakes of tears erupted from his chest. "Toby Guerin, sir!" he coughed out between sobs.

Harry did not hesitate a moment to slip into his mind. He saw memories of terror, nights spent alone, crying over the loss of his parents and two younger sisters. Of hunger and anger at the snooty Brazilian students who had more food and better places to live. And that girl sneering at him like he was trash, all of them treating him like trash. He'd show her; he'd show her she wasn't any better than he was.

Harry broke off the connection and let the sobbing boy's head drop.

"It's him," Harry said to Teddy. He took a deep breath, and then shook his head. "If I deal with it, we're setting a bad precedent. Military should not have jurisprudence over local crime."

"I understand. We don't have a judiciary yet, though."

"Then make one," Harry said with a shrug. "He's fifteen. It was a crime motivated by racism and fear. Think about it—there's not a single living Australian or American adult. And so from his perspective, everyone has power but him. And he's too young and too stupid to realize it has nothing to do with race or origin, and everything to do with who actually survived."

He shook his head and stared down at the boy. "She wasn't sneering at you, Toby Guerin. Her name was Rosaria. She lost her mum just like you lost your parents. She was scared of you and your gang—that wasn't sneering, that was fear ... Congratulation, big man. You really showed her, didn't you?"

Toby sobbed harder. Harry walked out of the office in disgust.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

The first criminal trial of Avalon was tried by the Muggleborn son of an English barrister who read law before the attacks. The jury was comprised of two wizards and four witches. Since there was no question of guilt, the trial had no prosecutor nor defense. Nor did it even have a framework of law, since with the establishment of the Wizenmeet there was a question of what legal code to use.

The jury heard Juan Delgado speak of his daughter's shame and pain from the assault, and how terrified and hurt she was. They then allowed Toby Guerin to make a shame-faced apology. Harry, attending as a witness only, could tell the boy was sincere enough, though he could not tell if he was sorry for raping the girl, or getting caught.

The jury and judge sat in deliberation for almost two hours before they arrived at a verdict. The judge stood and said in a grave tone, "Toby Guerin, you stand guilty of the crime of rape. While discussing potential punishments, we could not help but take into consideration your circumstances, your age, and other mitigating factors. And yet neither can we merely dismiss the severity of this crime. This presents us with a difficult situation. The punishment we have arrived at is imperfect, but so are the circumstances we find ourselves in.

"Toby Guerin, for your crimes, it is the decision of this body that you are to serve no less than fifteen years in service to the colony. This service will include time spent in service between attending classes. You will be fitted with additional tracking charms that will identify you as a rapist for the next fifteen years, and you will only be given access to your wand for your education, or if your labour requires it. You will not be permitted the ownership of land or personal items beyond the bare essentials for existence. You will be on the strictest of probation. And if, at the end of your fifteen years, you can come before a jury and convince them that you have learned your lesson and changed your ways, your sentence will end and you will be a free man. If not, your sentence will continue. If you violate the terms of this sentence, or in any way do harm to another person, we will not be nearly as merciful. Do you understand the sentence passed on you?"

Mumbling, Toby said he did.

The judge nodded. "You are remanded to the custody of the Auror Department which is charged with applying the appropriate tracking charms. You will report to the Auror Department every day after school for your assignments. If you do not abide by the terms of this sentence, we will explore more stringent options. This court stands adjourned."

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

It took two more days before Harry found the time to connect with the Alliance. When he did so, the call routed directly to General Vernan. His opening statement was to congratulate Harry. "The destruction of the station and theft of an Immobilizer has made big waves. I'm not entirely sure how you managed to destroy the planetary garrison, but since it was uninhabited except by Imperial personnel it is not a political issue we need to tackle. I take it you have a new ship, then?"

"The Phoenix was beyond reasonable repair," Harry said. "At least with the resources we had."

"I agree," the General said. "Any injuries?"

"One of my command staff lost her arm," Harry said. "I need you to send me files on the Inquisitorius and Vader, or anyone like them I might run into. We ran into one and he was good. He had powers like Vader did and came damned close to ruining the whole mission."

"I'll send what we have," Vernan agreed. "I'll also include potential targets taking into account your new ship's capabilities."

"Thank you."

"Oh, and there is someone who wanted to speak to you. I'll transfer your signal now."

Harry held his breath until she appeared in the holographic display. Even in the display, she looked different. Her long hair was now wrapped in a tight, coiled braid at the base of her skull. She wore loose-fitting slacks and a blouse that hugged her body without restricting movement.

The smile when she saw him, though, was unchanged. "Hello, Harry."

"Hello, Short stuff."

She laughed, and the two settled in for a nice, long talk about Leia's training as a Jedi under Master Kenobi.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

Vernan did not just send Harry files; he sent him digital recordings of Jedi in action over the centuries, and more impressive still, ancient archive recordings from the Great Sith War from centuries past. While a skeleton crew of Wookiees, their drafted conscripts and a few magicals kept the ship in orbit, Harry occupied his time by studying the enemy. Watching the Sith and Jedi in action, he felt the hair slowly begin to stand up on the back of his neck while in his chest a low fire of panic began to grow.

The Brits managed to save a Pensieve from Hogwarts and were more than willing to let Harry borrow it. He pulled his memories not just of fighting the Inquisitor, but of his brief encounter with Vader.

While Harry was not the most knowledgeable wizard in the world (Lady Sofia knew loads more about magic than Harry likely ever would), he was without any false modesty likely the most puissant dueling wizard alive. Even not taking into account his native power, the Deathly Hallows elevated his magical power to a level beyond that of ordinary witches and wizards. He knew, through harsh experience, that he was the best weapon his people possessed against the threats of the greater galaxy.

For all his power and magic, he had serious doubts he would survive a prolonged encounter with an armed Jedi or Sith, much less two or more. They did not have magic, but this Force energy of theirs provided them a weapon possibly more powerful than anything Harry possessed—battle precognition. The Force-wielders did not just deflect blaster bolts through speed, but because the Force informed and directed their swords to be where the blaster-bolts would hit. It explained how the Inquisitor was able to deflect Harry's curses so easily. As fast as he was, a blaster rifle was still faster. He was willing to bet enough blasters would get through a Jedi or Sith's defences, but one-on-one he wouldn't want to bet on it. And if a blaster couldn't get through a Jedi's guard, magic wouldn't either.

Between the space wizards themselves, their duels looked like well-rehearsed, choreographed dances- not because of intent, but because they each to an extent knew what their opponent was going to do. The art of the duel was not just in predicting your opponent's next action, but somehow turning it to your advantage or changing the choreography in a way not even the Force could predict.

He'd defeated the Inquisitor in the end by manipulating his environment in a way outside of the Inquisitor's knowledge base, but if he'd not been in space, that option would not have been available. He temporarily defeated Vader with Fiendfyre, but that was quite literally a weapon of mass destruction that would eliminate friends as well as foes. The fact they were within mere inches of losing their new ship to his Fiendfyre was frightening proof of that.

If he had to face a Force-user in an open field of battle, or inside a ship or confined space, he did not think he had much defence against those laser swords of theirs other than to flee. The fact that they had an astonishingly casual grasp of what Harry considered wandless magic made them even more formidable. But most frightening of all was that they could predict his location and attacks, while he could not with any accuracy predict theirs.

The panic turned into cold certainty when he realized it was this very ability that allowed the Galactic Emperor to stop his plan at Despayre. Somehow, the old wizard was able to not only predict Harry's moves, but to negate them with contemptible ease.

When he next opened the channel and was eventually passed to Vernan, he said, "Your intelligence says that the Inquisitorius has potentially hundreds of Dark Side Force users. How much confidence do you have in that data?"

"We have high confidence," Vernan said with a straight face. "We have files on many of them already. Most are either fallen Jedi captured after the purges, or Padawans who finished their training in the Dark Side in order to survive. Technically there are only two true Sith—the Emperor and his Apprentice, Darth Vader. However, in reality the Inquisitorius are almost all Sith-trained and deadly."

Harry nodded before he looked down at his notes. "General, I need an answer to this. Is our colony in danger of being discovered by the Emperor through the Force?"

The other man's mask broke slightly when he widened his eyes. "Colonel, I honestly do not know. I will ask General Kenobi's opinion on the matter and either get back with you, or have him contact you on this channel."

"Thank you, General."

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

The conscripts looked nervous when Harry walked into the room. It was early the next morning shipboard and he still had not heard from Kenobi, so he decided to work off his nervousness by dealing with the issue of the conscripted Imperials.

He recognized Attan Friddell sitting at the front row of the thirty young people, as well as a few of the others that either he or his command staff vetted. They stood when he entered at military attention, having had at least that much drilled into them.

"At ease," Harry said. "Have a seat."

The conscripts all sat at once with one rush of chairs shifting against the floor. Harry sat himself and looked over the kids. The oldest was twenty-one. The youngest was actually Attan herself at seventeen. All of them sat stiffly and struggled with varying levels of success to control the fear they obviously felt.

"You've all met your end of the bargain we made when we took this ship," Harry said. "None of you are in danger. I wanted to talk to you now about what you want to do next. My people have no interest in keeping you here against your will, and now that we have freed the Wookiees I have a committed, volunteer crew. So, that means you can either stay here, join the Rebel Alliance and probably serve elsewhere, or go home. If you stay, we'll ensure you have food and other essentials. If we ever figure out the pay side, we'll make sure your pay is backdated to your original start date, but I don't want to make promises on when that will happen. If you want to go home, we'll get you to the Alliance who will then assist you making your way home. But if you want to fight, the Alliance will take you on."

"So you aren't going to kill us?" one young man with an unfortunate acne problem asked.

Harry looked at the man carefully, then at the others, until finally he settled on Attan. "I may look young, but I had a daughter your age, Miss Friddell. I had two sons who were older; she was my youngest. My world did not have spaceflight, and in our ignorance we believed we were alone in the universe. But Grand Moff Tarkin burned through his labor pool too fast building the Death Star, and so sent star destroyers to plunder my world. I was a slave for almost a year with thousands of my fellows. I escaped, and when I returned to my world I found it bombarded. Almost seven billion people died because of the Empire, including my wife and children."

The young audience stared at him, wide-eyed.

"If I killed you, I wouldn't be any better than the monsters that murdered my children," Harry finished. "You served this ship, and as far as I'm concerned you've earned the right to decide your own fate. Think it over and let me know tomorrow what your preference is. Dismissed."

They started to file out in silence, save for Friddell, who lingered. "Er, sir?"

Harry looked, surprised to see her still there. "Yes, Miss Friddell?"

"How come you look so young, if you had kids my age? I mean, you don't look any older than me."

"Because the last time I died, Miss Friddell, death was so scared of me she vowed never to come for me again." Harry said it with a straight face.

"Er, right. Thank you, sir." She turned and fled the room, leaving Harry to chuckle at her confused expression. He made his way casually back to his personal quarters, liberated from the now deceased Captain Antrose, and saw a pending com signal light blinking at him.

Moving quickly, he activated the holocom and immediately a hologram of the venerable Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared. "Colonel Potter, it has been some time since we spoke. I trust you are well?"

"General Jedi Master Sir, it's been a while indeed," Harry said with a wry smile. "Did General Vernan pass along my question?"

"He did," the old Jedi said. Unfortunately to Harry, he did not sound particularly hopeful. "Harry, when the Jedi Order fell, those of us left alive had to not only flee into seclusion, but we also had to very carefully mask our Force presence because the Emperor was powerful enough to detect us in the Force from across the galaxy. For instance, I am training our young siblings in a world so rich with Force energy that our presence is masked."

"And?" Harry prompted.

"Colonel, I can feel your people from where I am," Kenobi said bluntly. "Even at the height of the Jedi Order, we had no more than ten thousand knights. Every one of your people shine like a Jedi in the Force, and such a collection has undoubtedly already come to the Emperor's attention. If he has failed to act, it is because he is planning something other than just your simple destruction. I shudder to think what an army of your people trained in the Dark Side of the Force could do. Whatever precautions your magic gives you, you must use them soon."

That cold knot of fear had returned to the center of Harry's chest. "Alright, I have some ideas we can pursue. Now I have another question. You told me once I had the potential to learn the Force. I'm not sure I need all of it, but I do need to learn that precognition trick of yours. I…" Harry admitted having to admit this. "I need a Force teacher. Can you help me?"

The fact Obi-wan appeared to have expected that very question not only irritated Harry to no end, but also confirmed his own arguments about his need to learn the Force. "I might have an idea or two, myself. I will get back to you. In the meantime, if you have a means of protecting your world, you should do so immediately."

Twenty minutes later found Harry striding urgently through the narrow halls of the Civic Center, where the Wizenmeet members had established small work spaces for themselves. Jorge was there, writing something with Bartleby. The others were absent.

"General Potter," the old Brazilian said with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Do you know anything about Fidelius Charms?"

"Why do you ask?"

As soon as Harry told him, the two older wizards paled. Moments later they were marching determinedly toward the temporary school. They found Lady Sofia in her office with a Brazilian professor Harry did not know, and looked up in surprise at Harry's unannounced visit. The surprise turned to irritation. "Jorge? And Potter. Did they not teach knocking at Hogwarts?"

"They did. Ten years as mage general of the ICW pretty much erased that," Harry said. "I became accustomed to entering a room and having everyone stand. Lady Sofia, have you ever heard of the Fidelius charm?"

"Of course," Lady Sofia sniffed. "Albus consulted with me and Samantha Wade at Salem's when he first developed it in the seventies. Why?"

"Because we need to put the whole planet under Fidelius or the Empire will attack us again." Harry explained about the powers of the Sith and Jedi, and how the Emperor was a terribly powerful wizard with an army of hundreds of millions at his beck and call. As he spoke, the headmistress looked more and more alarmed, until she looked as pale and shaken as Jorge and Bartleby.

"Can we do it?" Jorge asked.

"Nothing so large has ever been done before," Lady Sofia said. "The Arithmantic equation has no upper limit in terms of size—but the practical limit involves the number of those the secret would have to be removed from and the power available to create the charm. If the whole galaxy knows of this world, we cannot possibly hide it no matter how many wizards and witches we have."

"Garden worlds like this are more precious than anything," Harry said. "Leia told me the Alliance located this world on its own as a potential base, which means it's unknown otherwise. Lady Sofia, I can't stress this enough. We must act now. The Emperor already knows where we are."

The old witch nodded and stood up. "Yes, yes, Mr. Potter, I agree with you. We will need to coordinate this carefully, however. We will need a witch or wizard to cast the charm at cardinal points all over the planet. Professor Cunha, please gather the staff and begin making inquiries in the population. We need witches and wizards with a strong propensity for charms."

She then turned her dark eyes on Harry. "Given who and what you are, Mestre da Morte, perhaps it would be best to house the secret in your soul. Assuming you have one."

Her casual insult was so perfectly suited to the personality Harry had come to know that he did not even react. "Let's hope I do, otherwise we're all going to die."

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

One hundred witches and wizards, including Teddy Lupin and the Weasleys, Apparated to various points around the planet. Harry, as the recipient of the secret, had to remain outside the affected area even if he was part of the casting. So, from the bridge of the ship with Wookiees and a few of his crew members watching, Harry used the ship's scanning suite to ensure everyone was where they needed to be.

When he felt his credit chit begin to vibrate with the signal to begin, he began the spell at the same time as everyone else.

It was unlike any magic Harry had ever felt before. Group casting like this was not a matter of everyone casting the same spell at once. Instead, it was a joining of magic into one unified intent that made each one of them a part of a much greater whole. The power of the magic filled Harry's soul in a way he never thought possible, and he had to fight an urge to shout with joy at the joining.

Suddenly, like a fork of black lightning, an alien presence intruded into their casting. The joy of the joining began to splinter before a mental attack, one mind against many, with devastating power. The mind seemed to cackle with delight at the pain it caused. Harry knew then, with absolute certainty, that the Emperor had ships coming. His attack was meant to delay and disrupt their defenses. If he succeeded, they were all lost.

No! Harry's raging defiance rang across the gestalt magic, taking on tsunami-like power itself as it reverberated through the minds of his fellow magicals. This is our world! This is our home!

He lashed out not just with his mind, but the collected magic and intent of one hundred of his fellow witches and wizards in a bolt of mass mind magic that smashed into the Emperor's stabbing attack and blasted it back. They then, as one, finished the greatest Fidelius charm ever executed.

The connection broke. Harry stumbled back and would have fallen if not for Akallaah the Wookiee, who was chosen by the Elder to speak for the other Wookiees who volunteered to serve on the ship. Others cried out in alarm or awe as before them, the entire planet began to fade from view.

Harry, though, could still see it. He felt the secret sinking into his very magic, and it burned as it did so. Still, it was a small price to pay for safeguarding his people. He forced himself to stand with thanks to his newest officer. "Everybody listen. The magi race lives on the planet Avalon."

The timing was good, because Booker shouted, "Captain, in-bound hyperspace waves. We have incoming."

"Take us into the atmosphere," Harry ordered. "Don't land us, just take us in."

Though the Phoenix Redux was huge by Earth measures, when the Imperial task force of five Imperial II-class star destroyers appeared in high orbit over the world, Harry felt suddenly vulnerable. At 600 meters, his impressive-enough ship was barely a third the length of just one of the behemoths floating over them.

"Talk to me, Booker," Harry said.

"Active, aggressive scans," the old wizard said. "But no action. Sir, I think the charm is working. I don't think they can see us."

Harry nodded, but did not move or even breathe. They floated in the upper atmosphere of Avalon for five hours, waiting nervously as the task force aggressively scanned not just Avalon, but every world in the system. Finally, the ships began firing their massive, city-destroying turbolasers.

The huge bolts of destructive energy, from Harry's perspective, disappeared on the outer edge of the exo-base of the atmosphere, and instantaneously reappeared on the opposite side of the planet to continue travelling through space. He knew from the Imperial's perspective they were simply shooting at empty space. That was the true indicator that the Fidelius charm had worked, for it truly was a pocket dimension.

Finally the Imperial ships left, and only then did Harry allow himself to relax.

"Land the ship," he said. "We won't be able to keep her in orbit any more. Maybe the Wookiees can figure out a long-term landing platform. For now, I need a rest."

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Author's Note: Once again I just wish to stress just how much I appreciate Teufel1987, JR and Miles for beta reading yet another of my stories. As always, they make everything better.