Chapter Seven: Secrets

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

A/N: Chap 6 review responses are in my forums. I didn't get them all, sorry. This story is the first where we can slow down and take a breather. As one reviewer noted, the pacing has been crazy.

Chapter Seven: Secrets

"Harry, may I come in?"

With an act of will comparable to throwing off an Imperius curse, Harry opened his eyes and said, "Yeah."

The narrow door slid open with a mechanical whine to reveal the princess. She still wore her white senatorial gown, though she'd changed her hair from the buns to a single braid that ran down to the small of her back. She looked very fragile standing in the passage.

"Did I wake you?"

Harry grunted as he pushed himself into a sitting position on the bunk Captain Solo lent him. "It's alright, probably time to wake up anyway. Did you get any sleep?"

"A few hours, I guess." She stepped into the cramped guest quarters of the Millennium Falcon. "Are you okay?"

"Tired, but I'll be fine."

She stood just inside the door, arms crossed, staring at a point just beside Harry's head. Her expression was carefully blank, and he suspected she'd fought hard to make it so. With a sigh, he patted the bench beside him. "Have a seat, Leia."

"I…" She started to protest, but then thought better of it and sat down beside him. A moment later, she leaned against him. "I can't go home again."

"Neither can I."

He didn't even realize she was crying until he felt her tears soak through the fabric of his borrowed shirt. "I don't know what to do," she finally whispered.

He held her for the longest time while he closed his eyes and tried not to think of his own losses. It was impossible, though, even after all the many months he'd spent in space. Finally, he said, "For three days, they tortured you every day, and you remained strong. Even after they broke a part of you, you still fought. I can honestly say I've not known many people strong enough to do that. I can't tell you what you'll do next, but I do know whatever it is, it'll be what you believe is right. And you'll do it well."

An arm wrapped around his waist, just like on the Death Star, and she squeezed. "Luke makes me nervous."

"Oh?"

"He stares at me all the time."

Harry shrugged. "Can you blame him? He's a simple farm boy and you're the beautiful space princess. He's going to stare."

"So you think I'm pretty?"

"I think you're so hideous it's a miracle you haven't turned us all to stone."

Leia snorted, but did not move from his side. "We're going to a rebel base. Artoo has the plans for the battle station—we need to figure out a way to destroy it."

"I agree."

Finally she did sit up so she could look into his eyes. "Will you help us, Harry? Fight with us? With your powers, you'd be a real asset."

"I need to go back to Earth somehow. I need to see what's left, and what I could do."

Leia nodded, her lips set with disappointment. "I understand."

Harry couldn't help himself. He reached up and gently ran his thumb over her lips. "If you can help me do that, then yes, I'll fight with you. I might even be able to get some help. I'm unique perhaps in the strength of my abilities, but not in having them. If any wizards survived the assault, I would be able to convince some of them to help you. Merlin knows we have reason to hate the Empire now."

"Of course we'll help you, in any way we can," Leia said. Looking into her eyes, Harry knew for a fact that she meant it, and not only because he'd promised to fight with her, but because it was the right thing to do.

Captain Solo's voice burped out over the intercom. "Coming up on Yavin."

Leia stood, then turned and with a smirk offered Harry a hand. He returned her smirk and accepted the offer. Together they walked out into the open area of the freighter where Luke and Obi-Wan were earnestly discussing the Force. Almost immediately Luke lost all track of the lesson and started staring obsessively at the Princess. With his blue eyes so wide and open, Harry couldn't help but take a glance into the young man's mind.

He was beyond shocked not to feel lust in Luke. Any other young man would be feeling nothing but. Instead, Harry encountered an overwhelming sense of curiosity, and driving it was a strange sense of familiarity. The young man was absolutely certain he should know who Leia was, but could not remember why.

Harry shifted his gaze to Obi-Wan and almost missed a beat. The old Jedi was watching him, and Harry was equally certain he knew something about both Luke and Leia that was important.

"Hey, Luke," Harry said, "hasn't anyone every told you staring is rude?"

True to his upbringing, Luke's eyes widened in horror as his cheeks flared and he started stammering apologies. "Kid, it's okay, just don't stare," Harry said. "The trick to women is to respect them as people. That means you look into their eyes when you speak to them, and actually listen to what they say."

"A remarkable piece of wisdom for such a young face," Obi-Wan said.

"Don't let the face fool you, I'm older than I look. So, are you going to be joining this little rebellion?"

"You bet!" Luke enthused. "I'm a great pilot. In my T-16 back home, I could bulls-eye a wamprat at full thrust!"

"Good for you!" Harry said. "What about you, old man?"

"I've been a part of the rebellion since before the alliance was even formed," the Jedi said. "I was there with you when you were born, Leia. I had to go into hiding, but the time for hiding has past. Now it is time to prepare and fight."

"That's good news, General Kenobi," Leia said, smiling brilliantly at him.

"Absolutely!" Han Solo declared as he walked into the room flexing the arm he currently wore in a sling. "Can't wait to unload you bunch. You owe me another fifteen thousand when we get to wherever we're going."

Leia turned and stared. "Fifteen thousand credits? For a ride on this rust bucket?"

"Watch it, sister. This is the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, and I got them to Alderaan just like we agreed. Didn't count on getting shot trying to rescue a girl that wasn't there!"

Leia looked at Obi-Wan, who shrugged without looking the least bit apologetic. "Fine, Captain Solo. You'll get your fee."

"And a reward!" Han said. "We rescued you!"

"As you pointed out, Solo, she wasn't there," Harry said. "I rescued you. So maybe you should pay a reward to me for saving you."

"I got shot!"

"Duck next time," Harry suggested.

With an angry snarl, Solo turned and stalked back to the cockpit. Leia, though, looked at Kenobi. "General, I'm not sure we have that many credits at the base. That's enough to buy a ship!"

"Your request seemed rather urgent, Highness," Kenobi said. "And for all his faults many of his fellow smugglers agreed Solo was the best. We managed to escape the blockade around Tatooine, for example."

Harry, though, left the discussion and walked to the cockpit. Beyond was a massive gas giant star tinged red, with a blue-green moon coming into view that looked remarkably like Earth. "So, you're a smuggler, Solo?"

Solo turned and sneered. "What's it to ya? And why're you here anyway?"

"I wanted to make a deal with you, Solo. Service for a service. According to Kenobi, you already got two thousand so far. Cut the rest down to just five, and I'll let you keep the Fidelius Charm on your ship."

"The what?"

Harry sat down in one of the spare seats. "Captain, right now the only person in the galaxy who could even see your ship from the outside is me. It's not just invisible, it's folded away in a pocket dimension that only the secret keeper, or those the secret keeper chooses, can see. Do you understand what that means, Solo? Your ship is undetectable by anything. Just imagine the smuggling possibilities."

In the co-pilot's seat, Chewbacca growled an affirmation of the value.

"I've got debts," Solo said. "Seven thousand total isn't enough."

"Play your cards right, and it will be," Harry said. "Because that's my price. Otherwise, I break the charm when I leave."

Ahead, the moon of Yavin now filled the cockpit screen. For a moon that had a rebel base, even Solo had to admit it was odd that no one was challenging his approach yet. "His offer is more than fair," Chewbacca growled. "We could make the Kessel Run next and make more than enough to pay Jabba off."

Han shook his head and stared out at the surface of the moon, which now had resolved into individual features of mountains, lakes and an ocean just over the horizon. "Fine," he said at last. "Five thousand. I want my money and you people off my ship for good."

"Fine. Now sit still, I'm going to transfer the secret to you."

Despite what Purebloods thought, Muggles did have souls. And so Solo's soul could house the secret of the Falcon. When the secret was transferred, Harry said, "Done. Now, to share your secret, just write down that you live on the Millennium Falcon. Show that note to whoever you wish to see the ship, and it will appear to them. Even then, they themselves cannot share the secret unless you leave the slip of paper with them."

With that, Harry walked back out and said to the others, "Captain Solo and I renegotiated his rate. He's willing to accept five thousand credits over what you've already paid him."

Leia beamed while Kenobi raised one elegant brow. "Well done then, Mr Potter."

The trip into the atmosphere was amazingly smooth considering the plumes of plasma that flared all around them as they punched through. The coordinates Leia provided to Solo seemed to be enough, since they headed directly to a huge ziggurat that rose from the thick forest canopy. As they flew around it, they could see a broad paved plaza lined in small star fighters and an occasional shuttle transport.

Still, no one challenged the Falcon as it came to a landing almost directly in front of the ziggurat. "Remember, no one can see or hear the ship," Harry said. "Will they shoot us when we appear out of nowhere?"

For the first time, Leia looked worried. "I don't think so. They know who I am."

"Then let's go."

Harry's worries were unfounded. Everyone at the base was so busy no one even noticed as the six of them stepped out onto the platform from what seemed thin air. So, Leia took the lead and started marching toward the ziggurat. They were almost to the main entrance when a trio of people came walking out, arguing with each other angrily. The eldest of the three pulled up short and stared with jaws agape at the small party walking toward them.

"Leia?" he said. "Princess Leia? Is that you?"

"Hello, General Dodonna," Leia said as she diverted her course to meet him. "Yes, it's me."

"But…but…you were on the Death Star!"

"I managed to escape, with the help of my companions."

The old man saw Obi-Wan and paled. "Master Kenobi!"

"Hello, Jan. It's been many years, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah, everyone's happy to see each other," Solo said acidly as he scratched as his wounded shoulder. "Where's my money? I need to get moving."

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

Within five hours of arriving at the base, Solo cleaned out half the liquid assets the Rebels had and was already gone for who knows where. Luke was firmly ensconced in a simulator based on the enthusiastic recommendation of one Biggs Darklighter, whom he knew, and Leia was into her second hour meeting with the general staff of the base.

Harry was far too mature and experienced to feel jealous of the tow-headed youth. He was a pretty fair flyer on Earth, and knew enough from Holdig's stolen memories to think those same instincts might serve him well as a pilot. However, he found out that the Alliance had more pilots than starfighters, and so were only selecting those who did well in the simulator. Harry, having no experience at all, didn't even rate simulator time. Nor was he a soldier. In fact, the leadership of the Alliance noticed how close Leia seemed to be with him and eyed him with an open glare of distrust.

They even assigned him a keeper, who followed a discreet distance behind as Harry walked along the perimeter shields that kept out the local wildlife. Evening was already falling, throwing the sky into a myriad haze of colour between the setting sun, and the rising gas giant that dominated the sky.

He did not know for sure how long he walked, but at some point he had company. "Nice night," he said casually.

"It is," Obi-Wan said. "After nearly twenty years on a desert world, I forgot what evening could bring on a planet filled with such life. The sound alone is mesmerizing."

Harry nodded and looked up. "So ... General ... Jedi Master... You were pretty important in the old regime. And then you became an old hermit in a desert world, within a stone's throw of Luke Skywalker. I heard one of the pilots talk about his dad being a famous Jedi too. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Obi-Wan's shrug was eloquent in its simplicity.

"And Leia… When you look at those two, you see something the others don't. You know something about them I doubt even they know."

Again, the Jedi did not bother denying anything. Instead, he said, "You have feelings for the Princess."

"I'm twice her age. I had children older than she is."

Obi-Wan looked at him with that damned wry smile of his. "And yet you have the face of a boy her age."

"Younger. I haven't aged since before I turned eighteen. I'll look this way in a hundred years, too."

"I see. So, of course you must remain alone, since anyone you form an attachment to will age, wither and die before your eyes."

The Jedi said it as such a simple truth, and yet it felt like a body blow to Harry. In just a few words the Jedi summarized everything he'd feared about his marriage with Ginny. He had watched her age while his own face remained unchanged. He never stopped loving her, but he'd seen the doubt in her eyes occasionally whenever she saw him without his aging glamour. Sometimes, there was even resentment.

"Of course," the old man continued, "all relationships are fleeting. The Jedi Code specifically forbade attachments because they always came to an end one way or the other, and those Jedi who were not completely selfless could be pulled into the Dark Side through the pain of their loss. And yet, I have often wondered if this were not a mistake. After all, the Jedi did still make attachments. Perhaps not romantic ones, but there was still love. I loved Luke's father as if he were my brother. And when that relationship ended, as all do, it felt as if he had shattered my heart. And yet, even for all the pain and misery it has caused, I will forever cherish those few brief, brilliant moments I had with him."

"So you're saying I should go shag Leia?"

"Shag?"

"Have sex."

Obi-Wan had the decency to blush. "No! Well, not right away, or in such a crass manner, anyway. She is after all a princess of the Royal House of Organa, and the hereditary Viceroy to the surviving Alderaanian people. While her world is gone, Alderaan had a strong tradition of civil service, which has led to many of her people being abroad."

"And she's related to this Luke, right?"

He was staring right at Obi-Wan and saw the start of the man at the suggestion. "What makes you say that?"

"Your reaction, just now. What are they, cousins? I can see a slight semblance in their faces. Neither of them is tall or heavily built."

Obi-Wan looked up at the red planet. "You must understand, my friend, how desperate things were at the end. Their mother died right after they were born, and their father…their father had fallen to the Dark Side. If he discovered they lived, he would have delivered them to the Emperor, and they would either have been destroyed, or made to serve evil."

Harry closed his eyes and stopped walking as he processed just what Kenobi was saying. Finally, he said, "That's all sorts of wrong. You're telling me that…it's Vader, isn't it? That former pupil of yours."

"Yes. Originally, his name was Anakin Skywalker."

Harry looked over Kenobi's shoulder at the base in the distance. It was lit only at the base of the ziggurat, with the upper steps cast in shadowed silhouette against the red giant in the sky. "Are you going to tell them?"

"I don't know."

The admission surprised Harry. He looked at the Jedi and was surprised to see real pain there. "It's not your secret to keep. It's their lives."

"If I told Luke, I'm afraid he would run off to confront Vader. If he did that, he would most assuredly fail."

"Maybe... Or maybe he'd learn from his father's mistakes and not fall at all. Regardless, it's not your right to keep that from them. And for Leia—she's just lost everything, Kenobi. Maybe discovering she has a little family left will give her something to fight for."

"Perhaps you're right," the Jedi allowed. "And you, Harry. What do you fight for?"

"Revenge," he said simply. "And justice."

"The one is not the same as the other," Obi-Wan warned. "Revenge could lead to the Dark Side of the Force."

"Yeah, well, if I were a Jedi, that might be a problem. But I'm not. I'm a wizard."

"You could be a Jedi, though. You can touch the Force."

"I can also teleport and change inanimate objects into animals, and people into inanimate objects. I have my own power, I don't need yours. What I do need is a way to get back to Earth."

"Something else the Force could assist you with," Obi-Wan said wisely. "In the meantime, it is getting chilly with the night. Let us go in—I have learned there is a commissary here which sells beverages. I'll get you a drink."

"Sure, why not?"

~~Revenge~~

~~Revenge~~

Harry was assigned a guest room that had a folded cot with a thin mattress and a portable vanity and sink that had its own water condenser that allowed Harry to wash his face, brush his teeth or just get a drink without the need to connect to any plumbing. His section of rooms had a communal shower and bathroom, but it was relatively clean.

It was not so dissimilar to his cell on the Death Star, except he could see, and there was a window. Even so, he was exhausted enough to fall into a deep sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Unfortunately, the sleep was not to last long. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and a hesitant voice say, "Harry?"

He opened his eyes and saw Leia sitting on the edge of the cot. For the first time since he met her she wore her hair loose about her narrow shoulders. Gone was the white gown, replaced instead by a tan blouse and forest green slacks. In the red light of Yavin shining through his window, he saw moisture on her cheeks.

"He told you," Harry guessed.

Mutely she nodded. "He told me my father was the worst traitor in the history of the Jedi, and a monster. He…he tortured me, Harry. For days, he stood and watched them torture me, his own daughter."

"He never knew."

"That doesn't make it right!"

"No, it doesn't."

Then he scooted over and lifted the cover. Leia stared down at him for the longest time before she whispered, "I've never … never slept with a man before."

"It's just sleep. I don't even snore."

She snorted. "You're just saying that. My aunts told me what all men want."

"Right now isn't about what I want, it's about what you need," Harry said. "And you need a good night's sleep." With a subtle charm, he widened and softened the cot.

She looked away a moment, and then with sudden decision she stood, lifted off her blouse and shimmied out of her slacks, exposing her plain white undergarments and a thin, lithe figure. She then climbed onto the bed, scooting up until her back was against his bare chest. Harry snaked his left arm under the pillow and her head, and with his right pulled the covers over them both.

"Sleep, Leia," he whispered. "I'll protect you. I promise."

"Even from my father?"

"For tonight, at least, I'll protect you even from yourself."

He felt a tremor run through her small body, from a sob or fear he never knew. It soon passed, though, and within minutes, her breath slowed and deepened with desperately needed sleep.

Harry found himself staring at her long hair, which under the light of the gas giant above looked red, and he thought of Ginny. "What am I doing, Ginny?" he whispered.

As always, he never knew if it was his imagination or her soul who answered. Only that there was an answer. You're protecting the innocent, and living your life.

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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.