Revenge of the Wizard (HP x Star Wars)42.50%

Chapter Seventeen: Great Warriors, and other Oxymorons

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reminded me that it the Fidelius being dependent on the number of people who knew the object to be hidden was Muggle Summer, Winter's Fall by Canoncansodoff. Review responses are in my forums like normal.

Chapter Seventeen: Great Warriors, and other Oxymorons

For all the titles, magical expertise and personality traits she once shared in common with Dumbledore, one thing the Lady Sofia Maria Consuego Ramirez did not have in common with the former Hogwarts headmaster was brute magical power.

Though her technical knowledge and expertise was essential in casting the Fidelius Charm, and made her the obvious choice as the lead caster, the effort was already exhausting her before the Emperor attacked. Once the Emperor struck, though, the effort to repel him and finish the charm brought her to the brink of death. Her followers (since the woman had a cult of personality on par to Dumbledore's) carried her back to her office in the school, which also served as her permanent home. The small affair was littered with what personal effects she was able to take with her from her homeland. Given the workings of magic, that was far more than might otherwise have been available.

Given their unpleasant exchanges since their very first meeting, Harry was loath to visit her. But given all that she very obviously sacrificed to save their people, he felt he had no choice. And so as Harry walked through the crowded halls of the make-shift school, he was intimately aware of every pair of eyes that watched his steps. Few of them felt openly hostile. In fact, quite a few were frightened; a few looked at him with awe. It reminded him a little of that long, terrifying walk to the sorting hat when he was eleven.

"Mr. Potter," the old witch said when he entered.

She lay propped up in her bed with a glass of coffee in her shaking hands. The difference in her appearance even after just a few hours startled him. The spell had visibly aged her, just like Neville and Luna but fortunately to a lesser extent. "I am afraid I owe you an apology."

The admission made Harry paused in surprise. "An apology, Lady Sofia? For what?"

"For misjudging you," she said. "Come sit, I'm too tired to look up."

Harry conjured a chair by her bed. One of her granddaughters lingered in the room at a respectful distance. "You see, I have always thought poorly of you, since Albus died," the old witch said weakly. "He hung the moon and stars on your name, boy. But when he died, I assumed it was your fault."

"I was sixteen and didn't know anything," Harry pointed out. "He was already dying of a curse from Riddle and ordered Snape to kill him as a way of securing Snape's position as a spy within Voldemort's organization."

"So it's been written," Lady Sofia said. "And yet my prejudice remained. He spoke so highly of you, Mr. Potter, that I did not believe it could be true. For how could any mere mortal be as good as Albus made you out to be? Today, you showed me."

"If I were that good, the thousands of people I failed to save on Despayre would still be alive."

She studied his face intently, failing to acknowledge his bitter tone. "The Light does not always win, Mr. Potter," she said softly. "In fact, quite often it loses spectacularly. But what makes the Light better is that it never truly gives up. So long as any one of us has hope, the Light lives on. When that…monster attacked us during the charm, I gave up. We all did. I've never encountered an evil as profound as the mind that touched us. But you did not give up. Giving up never even occurred to you. Your hope surged through the whole world, and gave us the strength we needed to overcome him. You truly are as good as Albus said. And for ever doubting you, you have my profoundest apologies."

A younger Harry would have argued or tried to deflect the apology. But after twenty-odd years as a husband, father, politician and soldier, Harry Potter knew the apology was as much for her pride as his own. This old witch was a profoundly proud woman, and though he personally did not like her, he recognized that for all she had done for the remainder of his people she deserved his acknowledgment. So he carefully took her hand, and said, "Thank you, Lady Sofia. I accept your apology, and I thank you for all you've done for our people. You've laid the seeds for a great society ahead of us. I got wizard kind here, but you've helped make them into a community."

For all her pride, he noticed how her eyes moistened just a touch as she shook his hand. "So tell me, Mestre da Morte, what will you do next?"

"I will fight our enemies to make us safe," he said simply.

~~Revenge~~

It seemed odd to look over a command staff that had no red hair. All the Weasleys were gone—Charlie as the Wookiee Liaison because of his linguistic abilities and his genuine love for the creatures, and Bill and Fleur as the lead administrators of the orphanage.

There were other changes as well. His volunteers, who through an act of the Wizenmeet were now members in the Avalon navy, sported uniforms and official rankings befitting their various duties and stations. In truth, the uniforms were the standard Imperial uniforms in the ship's stores permanently charmed to a wine-coloured crimson rather than grey (wizards loved their colours). The mages on staff took a great deal of pleasure in fashioning bandoleers of the same colour for the Wookiees, complete with their own ranks.

Akallaah accepted his with a delighted snort and rubbed a furry thumb over the lieutenant-commander insignia in surprise.

Maria De La Rosa returned, and given her own experience and the fact that she backed him up against her own people on Avalon, Harry named her his commander and second officer. And though it amazed him to do so, he named Madam Malkin as his second lieutenant commander, and Booker his communications chief. He never thought in a million years he would command the woman who made his school robes as an officer on a spaceship.

Though not fully crewed, he had enough people to keep the ship running optimally, and command staff to make sure everything was in order. "Commander, take us up," Harry said.

Maria smirked and said, "Con, take us up."

"Aye, Aye, young lady," Booker said.

"That's 'Commander', Booker."

"Aye, Aye, Young Lady Commander," Booker said with a wink. The ship rose majestically over the circle of a colony that now had green, growing crops and newly built housing. Harry hoped to Merlin it would still be there when and if he got back.

As soon as they broke orbit, Harry began scanning the tactical display for any ships or satellites in orbit. They immediately found three satellites, but they were in a solar orbit parallel with Avalon, rather than around Avalon itself.

"Destroy them," Harry ordered.

The ship's heavy laser cannons made short work of the surveillance satellites, and shortly after that they left the system on a short jump two systems away. Only then did Harry bother to initiate a holo transmission with Obi-Wan, which Harry took in his quarters.

"Our intelligence suggests you were successful in protecting your new world," the old Jedi said.

"What did you sense?"

"A great flare of power in the Force, first of the Light, then of the Dark, and then a void filled only with whispers we could not locate."

Harry filled the old Jedi in with what happened, and Obi-Wan nodded at the end. "That is truly remarkable, what you can do. The Alliance would benefit greatly from magic like that."

"I doubt anyone would be interested in doing that again," Harry said. "It almost killed several people involved. And truthfully my people are still not very trusting. They were about to tear each other apart when I arrived. The only reason they accepted the Wookiees was because it turns out Wookiees have latent magic. That makes them similar to a magical species on Earth, and thus familiar."

"I understand. Lest I forget, I have been pondering your other request, and I believe I may have found a teacher for you. Perhaps the greatest of the Jedi in the Order survived the purge and went into hiding until the right time. That time may be now. I'm going to transmit coordinates to you, but it will be up to you to find him. He is rather set in his ways."

"Will he teach me?"

"You'll have to convince him, I'm afraid. In truth, he was likely waiting for Luke. But somehow I survived. I would offer myself as your teacher, but I find myself suddenly with two talented, promising students. I cannot take on a third. Go to Dagobah, and find Yoda. He is the teacher you need."

Harry saw the coordinates coming in. "I will. Thank you."

"And now, lest I have one of my students chastise me, there is someone else who wishes to speak to you."

He disappeared, and a moment later was replaced by Leia. "Guess what I did today?" she said with a mischievous glint in her eye and a happy smile on her lips.

"You beat Luke at sparring?" Harry guessed. It had been a subject of their last call.

Her face lit up. "Yes! First time, too!"

They talked for another hour, and at the end of it Harry sat back with a contented smile. The smile slowly turned into a frown though as he thought of the beautiful woman, and her three doomed children, in the statue on Avalon.

"I love you, Ginny," he said softly to the air.

And I love you, something whispered back with her voice. It's okay to love her too. I promise.

~~Revenge~~

Dagobah was possibly the greenest world Harry had ever seen. Although there were no major oceans, there were large lakes spread all over the surface of the world, save for the ice caps at the poles. There was absolutely no sign of civilization, however, nor any means of tracing a lone Jedi Master.

Akallaah considered Harry's mission foolish. Maria said, "I'm not going to tell you it's stupid, because we all know that'll just make you more determined to do it. Just keep your Portkey handy."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said with a grin. He grabbed his broom, and a reserve Portkey to return him to the ship, and Portkeyed down to the surface.

Naturally he landed in a bog and sank down to his hips in the midst of a thick, oppressive jungle. He poured magic into the broom and used it to lift him free, and in minutes was flying over the dense, unbroken canopy of trees. Fog hung over the surface as thick as London's worst and made it impossible to see.

"Point me Yoda," Harry whispered. Though he did not have a wand any more, the magic created a line he could follow. Leaning over the broom, he sped forward at over two hundred klicks an hour; fast enough to avoid the swarms of insects and predatory birds that otherwise dominated the tops of the trees.

When the line dipped for the first time under the canopy, Harry slowed and looked for a safe place to penetrate under the trees. The flight was very slow from there, until he finally reached a small clearing with a rounded hut in the middle of it barely large enough for Flitwick to fit inside. He brought the broom down, shrank and stored it in the pocket of his slacks, and looked around the clearing.

"Master Yoda, are you here?"

The old Jedi shambled out of his hut, and Harry's first thought was: "You're an elf!"

As payment for blurting that out loud, he found himself levitating upside down. "Elf I am not," the ancient, elf-like creature said with blatant irritation. "And Jedi you are not, Harry Potter."

"Right." Harry tried Apparating out of the invisible grip, and yet for all his own power he could not. It was an interesting experience being jinxed without magic. "Er, are you going to hold me up here all day?"

"Considering it, I am," the odd green not-elf said. He shambled over to a log with his small walking stick, and sat down to consider Harry carefully. "Sent you, Obi-Wan did, eh?"

"Yeah. He's already got two students."

"Two?" The not-elf seemed surprised.

"Yeah, the Skywalker twins. You know, the ones you two forcibly separated without authority to do so, and then lied to for nineteen years."

"Know nothing of this, you do. For the greater good, it was."

Harry couldn't help his derisive snort, and with a surge of all his magic finally broke through the hold the not-elf had him in and magically righted himself. "I know a lot more than you may think. I was born of prophecy as well, and I also had a meddling old wizard place me in an abusive home and lie to me, all for the greater good. The problem with always following the greater good is that it allows a lot of lesser evils; like separating twins who deserved to grow up knowing each other. Alderaan is dead because you allowed Leia to be raised there. Your Greater Good led to the death of a whole world."

Harry felt a spike of irritation that the little not-elf did not react at all to his breaking through the telekinetic grip. He did, however, appear to be considering his words. "You think to judge me, do you? Nine hundred years, have I taught and led Jedi!"

"Age does not equal wisdom, it just means you're old," Harry countered.

"And wise, you think you are?"

With a self-denigrating snort, Harry said, "Hell no. I'm an idiot. But I have a responsibility to my people that is more important than my pride. So, despite all I might have done, I realize there is more I have to do that I can't get done as I am. These Sith and Dark Jedi have skills that I don't know how to counter. The Emperor has already handed my ass to me once, and a lot of good, innocent people died. My Greater Good didn't do much better than yours."

"Why are you here, then?"

With a tired sigh, Harry walked right up to the aged Jedi master, and then sank down into the mud. "I'm here to ask for help," he said, the defeat in his voice obvious. "I survived Vader by using a dark weapon I can't use around others, and I beat an Inquisitor by guile and cheating. But in a straight up fight I don't think I could beat them, and if I can't beat them I can't defend the people who are counting on me. So, I'm here to ask you to help me learn."

"You are no Jedi," Yoda said.

"No, I'm a wizard. I'm the most powerful wizard my people have ever produced. I can do a lot of things, but I do not have this precognitive sense your people do. And without it, all the magic in the universe won't do me much good."

"Insult me you do, and then ask for help? Not wise of you, eh?"

"Like I said before, I'm an idiot."

The Jedi narrowed his eyes. "Return tomorrow, an answer then will I have."

"Right. Thank you for at least considering it." Harry activated his Portkey to return to his ship.

~~Revenge~~

"General Potter, we need your ship," General Vernan said the evening after Harry's first audience with Yoda. It was interesting that he accepted Harry's Avalon-designated ranking so easily. "We've received intelligence of an Imperial supply convoy that could provide much-needed goods, medical supplies and material for the Alliance, but we need an interdictor to get them. I'm transmitting rendezvous coordinates to you know."

Harry didn't bother hiding his irritation. "That's bad timing, Vernan. I'm courting an obstinate Jedi right now."

Vernan raised one brow. "Be that as it may, General, you did accept your post and the responsibilities that came with it. Semi-autonomous, but not completely independent. You have an asset the Alliance desperately needs."

"Right. Will we be responsible for any boarding actions?"

"No, I don't believe so. The convoy is guarded only by a pair of light cruisers and we have our own capital ships to take them. That's why having an interdictor is so important to the plan. The Empire guards junction points in the hyperspace lanes to consolidate their ships. If we can yank them into normal space outside those junctions, we vastly increase our odds of success."

"Fine. I'll hand the ship over to my second officer, Maria De La Rosa. She'll get the ship where it needs to go."

"That's acceptable, General. Good luck with your courting."

"Yeah, good luck with your mission. Try not to get my ship blown up."

Vernan snorted and disconnected. In the silence of his quarters, Harry muttered, "Bugger me."

~~Revenge~~

Fortunately they had a few wizard tents available. It was an ungodly mix or purple and lime-green stripes that only a teenaged Brazilian witch on charmed mushrooms could like, but it was fully functional. Grabbing a week's worth of the MREs in the ship's stores and the shrunken trunk he always carried, Harry Apparated to the clearing.

Yoda was waiting for him on the very same log, and showed not a hint of surprise when he appeared with a loud pop because of the different barometric pressures of the ship and planet.

"Going, your friends are?" Yoda said.

"We're with the Alliance," Harry said. "They needed the ship."

The Jedi's not elf-like ears rose slightly at that. "On your ship, do you not belong?"

Harry sighed and sat back down in the mud. "No, Master General Not-Elf Yoda. I belong here."

"Hit you with my stick, I will," the Jedi threatened.

Harry grinned. "Is that a threat or a promise?"

The ancient being shook his head. "Regret this, I certainly will. Nonetheless, train you in the Force I will."

~~Revenge~~

Harry did not particularly care for running, but was not wholly unaccustomed to it. Most purebloods were dismayed to realize that physical conditioning was a required component of both Auror training and ICW enforcer training. In fact, the ICW contracted with the Swiss army and went through the same basic training as Swiss conscripts. It was not as intense as Special Forces training, but far more strenuous than any Auror training in the world.

Of course, all that was gone. But what was important was that when Yoda ordered Harry to jog through the forest with the not-elf strapped to his back in a make-shift not-elf baby carriage, Harry didn't blink an eye. He knew just from the way the Inquisitor moved that Jedi and Sith both trained physically.

Harry also knew that magic had an instinctive strengthening effect that allowed magicals to endure far more than Muggles. And when he passed that point and thought he was about to die, Yoda allowed him to stop. He just managed to put the elder Jedi master down before his knees buckled and he collapsed to the muddy ground.

"Touched the Force before, you have," Yoda said. "Feel it in you. Remember, do you?"

Harry's mind, addled with the utter, soul-sapping physical exhaustion of a twenty mile run, took a moment to recall. "Er, yeah, I think so. It was after we escaped the Death Star. I'd tapped my magic out and Obi-Wan helped me restore my core using the Force."

"Do so now," Yoda ordered.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to recall the feeling he had when he pulled magic from the air itself and poured it into his magical centre. Unfortunately, just like his last attempt, after thirty minutes of trying he finally said, "I'm sorry, Master Yoda, but I don't seem to be doing it right. Obi-Wan didn't show me how to start it; he only said I was doing it on my own after he started the process."

"Know everything you do not, then, yes?"

"Master, I know just enough to realize how much I don't know."

Yoda chuckled and walked around to face Harry. It had been just one day, and already the two had fallen into a routine of ribbing and not-very-respectful verbal jousts.

"Open yourself. Those mind-shields of yours; drop them you must. Feel the Force you cannot if nothing you can feel at all."

That surprised Harry. With conscious effort, Harry let his Occlumency shields drop. Instantly he felt the little not-elf's mind in his. Unlike the dark lightning-strike of the Emperor, this touch was powerful, strong and almost crystalline. It was light, yes, but a cold and brittle light. With that firm guidance, Harry could feel what the not-elf did. It felt as if his magical core was being tipped like a cup in a stream, and suddenly he felt a new, foreign energy spill into him.

Suddenly it stopped. Harry blinked and came back to himself. "Yourself, do it now," Yoda said.

With a nod, Harry closed his eyes and tried to duplicate the feeling. It was such a foreign idea—manipulating his own magical core to open it to outside influences—that it took almost an hour of intense effort. But when at last he opened it, the Force began to flow into him again. It filled every muscle of his body, washing away the physical exhaustion and healing the minor injuries such running inevitably created.

"Wow," he whispered.

"Now ready to learn you are," Yoda declared.

~~Revenge~~

The Phoenix Redux returned a week later. Harry did not need the charmed Imperial credit chit to know this. He felt them. The ship was filled with a constellation of bright spots in the Force that Yoda told him were his people. He realized then just how easy it must have been for Palpatine to find Avalon before the Fidelius charm, and how easy it would be for him to sense Harry's crew now. Harry wondered just what Palpatine must have been doing for those weeks the planet sat unprotected.

It also meant the Emperor would know where the ship had been. This now included Yoda's refuge.

"Dagobah has been compromised," Harry said aloud from his meditation spot in the middle of the clearing.

"Know this I do," Yoda said with a grunt. "Go with you, I must."

"I'm sorry."

"Why? Love this place, I do not."

"I thought Jedi didn't hate."

"Not hate I said. Just no love." Yoda chuckled. "Pack my things, Wizardling."

With a twirl of his fingers, all of Yoda's belongings poured out of his hut into a conjured bag Harry could carry easily without any charms. "Take me up, you must."

Harry gathered Yoda in his arms like a baby, and then Apparated directly to the ship's bridge.

Akallaa roared in surprise, but Maria just raised an eyebrow. "Hello, Potter. Who's the elf?"

For this, she found herself levitating upside down. "Elf I am not," Yoda declared firmly.

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.

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