Chapter Twenty-Nine: Family Reunion

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

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Chapter Twenty-Nine: Family Reunion

It should have hurt more. The thought kept pounding its way through Harry Potter's mind as he stared at the cauterized stumps that were his legs and left arm. He felt a deep throbbing, but the pain came from his knees, calves and elbow, and that just didn't make sense at all.

Just a dozen feet away, three Jedi were engaged in a life-or-death struggle against Darth Vader, but all Harry could think of was why it didn't hurt as badly to be dismembered as he thought it would, and why the pain he felt was for limbs that weren't there.

Gradually, though, Occlumency and training began to break through the shock. Though he had never lost a limb in duty before, his friend Ron had. And Harry watched as the medic in their unit deftly reattached it, since it was lost not through dark magic, but due to a conjured blade.

Accio arm. Being one of the first pieces of advanced magic he learned outside of the Patronus, Harry normally didn't even have to think about the incantation. However, he recognized the signs of shock within himself and so did everything he could to simplify matters.

His severed arm came flying over the edge of the ragged peak, torn and bloodied from its fall but otherwise intact. He slowed its approach with simple levitation until, with his remaining arm, he grabbed it. He had to shiver—the dead flesh felt cool already, cool and rubbery. Blood was beginning to seep from the cauterized end, just as it was from his stub.

Realizing what he was about to do would hurt, Harry conjured a mouth piece, put it in and bit down, and then shoved the severed limb against the stub. He had only a second to cast the knitting charm before his sight narrowed to a small pinpoint of light surrounded by darkness.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), he did not entirely pass out. The pinpoint expanded back into his full field of vision, albeit one tinted red and blurry at the edges with involuntary tears. He looked and saw the charm already working—the first time he felt something directly from the reattached arm he bent over gasping in agony.

And he had to do it two more times.

On the ridge nearby, Obi-Wan was down and Leia was wielding his saber, pairing with Luke with perfect timing as only twins could accomplish. It was enough to at least hold the individually superior Vader at bay.

"Accio legs," Harry gasped aloud.

They came—two legs with tattered, severed pant legs attached to each. Before he began the procedure, he jammed a forefinger into the stub of his right leg just inches from his groin and cast his most powerful numbing charm. He did the same for the other stub, and only then attached each leg. He made damned sure he was placing the right leg on his right thigh and left on his left—he did not want to have to do this again.

When the knitting charms were cast, he removed the numbing charm, since only by doing so would the knitting charm actually work. This time, when his vision dimmed, not even a pinpoint was left.

And yet, oblivion was once again brief. Harry blinked back awake just moments later, gasping in agony from the reattachment of his limbs, to see Vader tossing Leia to one side as if she were a doll while simultaneously holding Luke at bay with his saber and Force-blasting Obi-Wan in the face. Through the haze of his own pain, Harry felt certain that if he had not caught Vader by surprise and had his disapparition available, the Dark Lord would have killed him on the Death Star.

As powerful as Luke was in the Force, Vader was a hurricane of rage and power. It did not take a genius to see how this fight was going to end. Despite it all, Kenobi kept his mouth shut, because he wouldn't want to give any secrets away.

A surge of disgust warred momentarily with the pain, and when Harry could breathe again, he called out, "Anakin Skywalker! Meet your son."

His call was just in time. The blade which was about to cleave Luke's head from his shoulders shifted a fraction of an inch and instead took the boy's hand off at the wrist. Luke screamed in pain and backed away as his hand and now inactive saber fell.

Vader spun to Harry, blade at the ready. "What foolishness is this?!"

"Look at them, you idiot!" Harry shouted.

Behind them, Obi-Wan shouted, "Harry, no!"

"Shut up, you self-righteous hypocrite!" Harry shouted right back. To the rock-still Vader, Harry said, "You had her just inches from your face, torturing her every day. Didn't you recognize her, Anakin? Didn't you see any of her mother in the colour of her eyes, or her hair? I've seen pictures—they could have been sisters, instead of mother and daughter. Did turning evil make you stupid and blind as well, not to recognize your own daughter? Doesn't the Force tell you it was your own son you just mutilated?"

Vader took a step toward Harry, his blade poised to strike. "What poison is this?"

"Your emperor lied to you, Vader," Harry said, having to fight not to gasp from the pain of his own limbs. "She was still alive, with your unborn twins inside. It's all there, in R2-D2's holographic memory banks. But you don't need that—look at her. Look at Luke! Open yourself to the Force and you will know they are your children."

"You have gone too far, Harry Potter!" Obi-Wan rose to his full height, his anger burning in his eyes. "You profess to love Leia, but you have betrayed her! You've betrayed us all!"

Vader moved so fast that, if at that moment he had struck at Harry, the wizard would have died instantly. He pivoted on his heel and with a roar sent his saber flying like a pinwheel through the air so fast all Harry could perceive as a flash of light and the Doppler-hum of the sword through the air.

It did not imbed itself clean through the older Jedi. It sliced his torso open in a two-foot long gash from his right shoulder into his chest. The saber continued behind him, looping on its own in a parabolic arc until it returned to Vader's grip.

"Ben!" Luke screamed in anguish. Nearby, a stunned Leia drunkenly tried to climb to her feet, but Harry could see a bruise the size of Vader's fist on her temple. Any other person would have died from the blow; even with the Force and the beginnings of magic, she could only stumble weakly to Harry's side.

Vader, saber still in hand, walked to Obi-Wan, who somehow was still on his knees and staring in shock. "Is it true, old man?" Vader snarled. "Are they my children?"

"Her last words were that there was good in you," Obi-Wan gasped, before he toppled over dead to the ground.

Leia collapsed to Harry's side. "Why did you tell him?" she whispered weakly. "Oh Harry, why did you tell him?"

There were too many thoughts for Harry to articulate as a virtual flood of Stormtroopers arrived at the peak, weapons at the ready. With frightening casualness, Vader summoned both Luke's and Obi-Wans swords and hooked them to his belt. "Bind the boy's wounds and take him to the shuttle," Vader ordered. "He is a Jedi—be on guard."

"Yes, m'lord," one of the troopers said. Luke, stunned as much by the turn of events as his wound, made no effort to resist as the troopers carried him off. Harry, though, silently summoned the boy's hand.

Vader, showing power and instincts of a true warrior, snatched the flying hand out of the air. "No," he said. He tossed the hand over the edge of the cliff again. "Some lessons must be remembered."

Harry sighed in disappointment. "Believe me, I'm going to remember this. You have no idea how much it hurts to put limbs on again."

"So, you are not as quick-tongued as before," Vader said dangerously.

"Yeah, well, in my defence I didn't know I was insulting Leia's grandmother, did I?"

Leia, fighting not to pass out, said, "If you hurt him, I will kill you. With the Force as my witness, I will kill you."

"He's not going to kill me, Leia," Harry assured her as he rested a hand on her back and fed magic into her. He could feel the ward keys healing her just like they did him. "He didn't even know about you and Luke—he was here for me. Right, Vader?"

More troopers surrounded them. "Stand up," Vader ordered.

Harry, though, shook his head with a disgusted laugh. "You just cut off both my legs, and she's concussed. You've won—I'm not trying to resist. I just really can't stand up right now."

"You've reattached them," Vader noted coldly.

"And in an hour or two, I'll even be able to use them," Harry said. "Maybe. But not right now." He sighed and held Leia closely.

"What are you to my daughter?"

"He's my fiancé," Leia hissed. "But after this stunt, I'm not sure any more."

"That is for the best," Vader said.

Harry never saw the blue stun bolts, only Leia's alarmed cry and then darkness.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

Harry woke to the mind-numbing mechanical hiss of Darth Vader's respirator. With awareness came pain from his legs, though it was heartening in the sense that the pain now came from his feet, and his left hand, rather than the joining points. That meant his magic was bringing the severed limbs back to life.

He tried wiggling his toes, but the impulse didn't make it past his ankles. "So," Harry said in a dry, parched throat. "Is it too late to apologize for the jokes about your mum?"

"Still flippant?" Vader asked without a trace of amusement.

"It's a coping mechanism," Harry said with a shrug. He could feel the gravitons in the air and knew magical transport was out. He blinked back tears of pain and examined the room—it looked almost identical to the Death Star brig cells. Sighing bitterly, Harry said, "I hate this place. No offense."

"None taken," Vader said, dark amusement audible. Because of course how else would a Dark Lord be amused, but darkly?

"So, I know fathers have dreamed for years of getting their daughter's boyfriends in their clutches. I know I did when my daughter first started dating. So what will we have today? More torture? Dis-membership? Mind-rape? I can tell you, the last was real popular with your daughter."

Vader said nothing as he walked around the table where Harry was tied down. He made a point of reaching out and touching the thick scar where his leg was re-joined. "At the height of the Jedi Order, healers could never reattach limbs with the Force alone. Always additional surgery was required, and only then if the reattachment was done within twenty-four hours."

"Healing magic is more powerful and versatile than the Force," Harry said. "We could probably heal you, for that matter."

"If I remove your head, would you grow another?"

"No, I'm fairly sure that would kill me," Harry said. He swallowed without moisture. "I'm not un-killable, Vader. I came after you because Tarkin slaughtered my family and destroyed my world. Seven billion humans were murdered because he had bad human resource policies. I deserved my revenge."

"As did I."

Obi-Wan. The name hung in the air like an awkward, pregnant pause. With a sigh, Harry said, "I'm not going to defend what Obi-Wan did to you—any more than you could defend what you did to your children. He'd just condemned my entire people as Dark Siders and wrote Leia off because of me. I wasn't a fan. But there is a question you need to ask yourself—would they have been better off with you? As servants to the Emperor, raised to destroy and replace you when they were of age, would they be what you and your wife hoped they would be? Isn't that the Sith rule—only one master, and one apprentice? Would you have had to kill the weaker of the two?"

Vader continued walking slowly around the table, examining Harry as he did so. "If that was their destiny." It sounded like a hollow, rote answer. "Perhaps you can ask the Emperor himself when you see him. We should arrive at Coruscant in two days' time. He is most interested in meeting with you."

"If I may, can I ask how you found us?"

"Every Force-sensitive in the Galaxy felt you drain the Force from Adega," Vader said. "The Emperor foretold that you would seek crystals, and so I had fleets at both Adega and Ilium. But I suspected my old master would bring you to Adega."

Somehow, Harry wasn't surprised. He was just angry at himself for not setting any wards at the mouth of the cavern. "Vader—please. Do what you want with me, but please let them go. I won't resist, I won't try to escape, but please let them go. I'm begging you, please let your children live."

Harry was expecting scoffing or dismissal. Instead, the armoured dark lord lowered his head. "You cannot imagine the power of the Dark Side. I must obey my master. But you will understand soon enough, Harry Potter."

With that, Vader left. Harry leaned back and waited for the torture droids to come. Instead, he was shocked when a perfectly ordinary-looking man in the white robe of an imperial surgeon stepped into the room. "Good morning," the man said, as if Harry were not tied down naked to an exam room. "My name is Captain Kornell Divini. I'm senior ship's surgeon and have been assigned to examine you. Please note that any action against me will be met with severe repercussions, both to yourself and your friends. We are being monitored and anything outside of the ordinary will result in…"

Something in the wall pinged, and a voice from a hidden speaker said: "We're clear, Divini."

The surgeon sighed. "Will result in me getting killed."

Harry stared, admittedly confused, as the surgeon unlocked his arms and legs. "What's going on here?"

The door opened, and Harry stared at a face he thought he would not ever see again. "Maria?

Maria De la Rosa smirked as she straightened the lapels of an Imperial colonel's uniform. "In the flesh, Potter. Speaking of, very nice."

Harry didn't have the energy to blush at her seeing him naked. "I try not to brag. How did you get aboard?"

"I've been aboard for nine months," Divini said. "The commander here boarded yesterday when I let the Alliance know they had you. I'm not sure how, yet."

"They've managed to create mobile graviton generators," Dela Rosa said. "They don't keep the entire ship bathed in it, or they wouldn't be able to go to hyperspace. We used Divini's signal to get me close enough to Portkey when the ship stopped at a scheduled rendezvous point. Can you walk?"

Harry cursed, even as he conjured clothes for himself. "No. Vader cut off my legs and arm, and the knitting charm isn't done yet."

"Least you got them back," Maria said.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Point is I can't walk."

"That complicates things," Divini said. "We can't try to ship him out as a body—all bodies are scanned for life signs, and then incinerated. It's a closed process, no chance of escape."

"Trust me, Doc, it's okay," Maria said. She removed a glass vial from her uniform pocket.

Harry, having a decades-long familiarity with the potion, stared in shock. "How in the hell did you get a hold of Polyjuice Potion?"

"Booker had a potion kit," she said. "We have enough for three doses, and Malkin used one to get us in here."

"What's she Polyjuiced as?"

"Some big-busted blonde floozy. That old witch is loco, Potter. She's flashed her tits half the marines in the prison brig. For all I know, she's having an orgy right now."

"She's a hundred-year-old witch in a young body, what would you do?" Harry said. He took the vial without question and downed the disgusting potion in one gulp.

His body instantly changed to that of an unremarkable marine with solid, working legs.

Divini just stared. "That was impossible."

"Welcome to magic, Doc," Maria said. "Potter, we have a Portkey that will take us to a shuttle waiting at the next coordination point. Dr Divini will be coming with us."

"I will?" the surgeon asked.

"General Vernan's orders—you've been in long enough. There have been a few ISB inquiries on where you were between your escape from the Death Star and your return to duty. No point in taking unnecessary risks."

Harry, though, snapped his fingers. "Divini! You treated Leia too, didn't you? On the Death Star. Memah Roothes mentioned you."

"And she mentioned you to me," the surgeon said. "She managed to get off the station, with a few others of us. She talked about you, and the Princess."

"Where are they?" Harry asked. "Luke and Leia, I mean?"

"We have them," DelaRosa assured him. "They aren't happy with you, Potter. I mean, they really aren't happy with you."

"Yeah, I know."

Harry conjured a replica of himself on the table and animated it just enough to make it look as if it were sleeping. After that, they left the cell together, with Harry Polyjuiced as an Imperial marine complete with a conjured uniform and helmet. In the brig, the two lone marines were engaged in patently unprofessional behaviour with a flushed, giggling young blonde woman with a ridiculously large chest.

"Captain!" she gasped with wide, alarmed eyes.

The two guards disengaged, desperately fighting to right their uniforms. Behind them, the Polyjuiced Malkin flashed her huge, borrowed breasts at Harry with a wink before righting the warrant officer's uniform she wore.

"Are we done, Gentlemen?" Divini asked archly.

"Yes, sir," one of the blushing guards said.

"Right. I'm done in cell 22-456A. Per Lord Vader's orders, make sure the graviton generator remains on at all times. The rest of you, come on. We have more patients to see."

The marines remained at attention as Divini, Maria, Harry and the mercilessly grinning Madam Malkin left the room. "I like this body," Malkin whispered gaily. "Your little princess is quite put out with you, Harry. Consider blondes for a change?"

"Madam Malkin, I can honestly say you are too much woman for me to handle." Harry shrugged to Malkin's utter delight and laughter.

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

They went not to a store room or a hangar. No, the four of them walked right into the nearest command mode of the Imperial Security Bureau. The ISB acted much like the Muggle Secret police in communist countries on Earth, ensuring the appearance of morale and loyalty was maintained. And at that moment, Booker and five other witches and wizards from the Phoenix Redux had the whole ISB staff under the Imperius.

"Whose idea was this?" Harry asked.

"Mine," Maria said proudly. "Vernan told us that nobody liked the ISB, and so where better to hole up than someplace nobody ever visits?"

"Malkin, you lovely lass, how are you?" Booker said with an appreciative glance at Malkin's oversized bust.

"Would you like to see, Tom?" the lusty old witch said, a second before she flashed him.

"Ye gods, woman, put those things away before you blind me!" Book shouted with all due dramatics.

As much as Harry enjoyed looking at breasts, he was much more interested in the six-foot high cylindrical object in the far corner of the command area. "Maria, what's that?"

"A proton torpedo," she said. "We're going to set it off about a second after we leave. That should slow Vader and the ship down."

Harry shook his head before grinning. "Vernan again?"

"Well, we mentioned a need to get on board, and he seemed to think it was a target of opportunity. We wanted to bring something really big, that could vape the whole ship, but there was a worry that Portkeying a nuke would set it off."

"Yeah, I could see that being a problem," Harry admitted. He then pulled the startled woman into a hug. "It's good to see you again, Maria. What happened after Hoth?"

They parted and settled down as Maria told him about her adventures with the merry old band of witches and wizards that survived the Phoenix Redux. The youngest of them joined Fleet Intelligence as a Special Forces unit. "We've managed to take out an Imperial garrison," she finished proudly. "What about you?"

"Went home, talked, ate, went to Adega, talked to dead people, found possible planet-saving ward stones from our ancestors, got my arm and legs cut off, and I think Leia broke up with me."

Maria looked over his shoulder at the stony-faced Princess, who heard every word. "I don't know, Potter, she might be worth fighting for."

"Yeah, I didn't say I broke up with her. We're going to have a talk when and if we get back to Avalon, but it's not going to be pretty."

Around them, space itself seemed to shift forward just on the edge of their perception. "We've dropped out of hyperspace," Booker reported. "And there's our signal. All right, people, let's get out the Portkey."

The Portkey was a length of rope almost identical to what they used in rescuing the Wookiees from the shipyard. Though they were not happy, Luke and Leia each grabbed a length. "Okay, this is really going to suck," Maria warned them. "Everyone, you need to take a deep breath and hold it on my mark."

She turned and flicked her wand—the torpedo began to blink. "Three, two, one, hold your breath!" And with that, she activated the Portkey.

Ten seconds later, the torpedo exploded.

When they arrived at their waiting shuttle, every one of them was coated in ice and shivering from the magical passage through space. Harry rushed forward and looked out the cockpit where the explosion was at that very moment bisecting the aft starboard quarter of the ship.

"Commander De La Rosa, you are brilliant," Harry said through chattering teeth. "Now, let's go back to Adega."

"Vernan wants you with the fleet."

"Bugger him," Harry said. "There are seven-thousand-year-old blood ward stones on Adega that could save Avalon. We go there first. Then we join up with the Alliance."

"General," Leia began, referring Harry to his official Avalon rank coldly. "Our orders are clear."

Maria, though, shrugged. "Sorry, princess. Look around—we're Potter's people first. Don't worry, though, we'll get you back in no time."

Leia glared, arms crossed over her chest. Luke did not openly glare, but Harry could feel animosity from the young Jedi.

They'd just have to live with it.

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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.