Chapter 29: The Past Bites

Star Wars + Harry Potter Crossover

Chapter 29: The Past Bites

A/N: To those many reviewers that have commented about my chapters not being regularly updated… My family have been told we are at risk of a hereditary liver disease...we found out because my aunt need a new liver by christmas or she will not make it. It took months of tests (for various reasons) and I am clear but my brother is not. Luckily they caught it early before damage has been done and at the moment he is healthy.

In short real life is currently more important but I will keep writing and updating.

752 BBY

2,901 ATC

Nar Shaddaa/Almania

After a year of searching Harry had to admit that Set Harth was, quite annoyingly, very good. The wily bastard had so many false data trails and sometimes literal dead ends that it was beginning to drive Harry to distraction.

It was hardly surprising though given that the man had been at this a long time and had even managed to successfully evade the Jedi even when they were at their best. Harry had learned more about concealing himself and his clones from his hunt than he could have ever imagined possible.

The hunt which leads me, Harry thought, to this utterly shit hole in the wall called the Last Sip. I do wonder if it's called that because if you drink anything from here you might die.

In all fairness he was sitting in the dingest bar that he had ever been in and drinking a watery concoction that was laughingly called tea given to him by the bartender who had also given him an odd look when he hadn't ordered something much stronger.

The main reason he hadn't was that he didn't want to drink anything that was probably made in someone's very used, not to mention filth encrusted, bath.

He had followed yet another false trail nearby and had been on his feet for almost two full days straight in horrid weather. When he had seen this place he had entered because (no matter the dubious nature of the drinks and the rough and ready customers) it was the nearest place that was warm, out of the rain and had seats to rest his weary body.

With the cowl of his robe pulled up and in a shadowing corner Harry was taking some much needed rest. He stretched his legs and felt the muscles almost literally groan and then loosen as he moved them.

That was when he noticed her.

She was a reasonably tall and dusky skinned woman dressed in the same rags that the other staff laughingly called a uniform who was arguing with an ever more angry Rodian. What was most striking about her however was her mesmerizing eyes which were a deep inscrutable violet.

She also had a small to middling amount of Force potential in her untrained of course (but in Nar Shaddaa this was hardly uncommon as far as those things went). If this were the Republic she would have made a fine Jedi he was sure and maybe even famed for her wisdom and courage as the better ones were.

This however was not the Republic and the Hutt Cartel had no use for Force trained slaves (which they were whether by being outright owned or merely subjugated to such by systematic and crippling exploitation) as they found them very difficult to control and not so secretly feared them learning anything of use that could be turned against their masters.

The Rodian that she was arguing with then reached out and grabbed her. In a place like this such things were not uncommon nor sadly was the fact that the woman clearly didn't like it one bit.

What was more out of the norm was that he wasn't trying to proposition her (or at least not in the traditional sense) as he was instead trying to trade her death sticks for some less than savory services.

When she refused, quite vehemently, he tried to force her and so Harry acted.

Moving swiftly and with the fluid grace of someone who had been both extensively trained and seen more than his fair share of combat the former Jedi was next to them before either fully realised what was happening.

Then he firmly but gently removed the waitress from the Rodian's hold, with a gentle smile for her and a deep frown for him, and was pleasantly surprised that she looked happy for the interruption as much as the man did not.

You never could tell in situations like these after all.

"What " began Harry "is going on here?"

"N-nothing Sir" the waitress stuttered. Grateful she may have been but she was also clearly terrified of losing her job as the homeless didn't fare well on Nar Shaddaa especially the striking ones.

The Rodian clearly had an entirely different take on the situation if his lecherous look at the waitress that was swiftly followed by one that clearly meant Harry was nothing more than shit on his boot was anything to go by.

"Negotiations" the man spat "this whore was just playing hard to get is all". Harry noticed the way that the waitress flinched at the insult and then seemed to shrink into herself as if trying to avoid the label without hurting her chances of keeping her job.

"She doesn't seem that interested to me" Harry disagreed while arching an eyebrow. Inside however a small spark of anger had bloomed at seeing this formerly animated woman almost literally wilt as if she wanted to sink into the wall.

"She will agree eventually….they always do" the Rodian seemed completely unconcerned that he was now receiving a look from Harry that was very similar to the one he was giving only a moment ago.

"Do you wish to continue the conversation you were having?" Harry asked the woman as he turned to look at her fully.

"No sir" she, quite bravely he thought considering the situation she found herself in, answered.

"Bah!" the Rodian spat dismissively "She'll learn to haggle or lose her job" and just like that the bravery that Harry had seen sank back into a shell of meekness once again.

Turning to the waitress (and now ignoring Harry) the Rodian continued "the owner wouldn't be happy that you've upset such a long standing and valued customer such as myself and you wouldn't want that now would you?"

Harry watched as the horror of what that accusation would do to her life slowly unfolded in her mind. She reminded him of a puppy that had been kicked clear across a room as her shoulders sagged in defeat clearly terrified of the future that the Rodian painted for her.

The situation as it stood was clear to Harry. The woman clearly didn't want to but if he left she would go along with the suggestion (which was as good as rape as far as he was concerned) because she feared dying on the streets after being used in any number of horrifying ways.

So making a snap decision Harry waved his hand while staring intently at the Rodian before him.

"You don't want to do this"

"I don't want to do this" repeated the Rodian in a hollow and zombie like voice.

"You want to take a long walk and rethink your profession and your views on women" continued Harry.

"I want to take a long walk and rethink my profession and views on women"

"Good" finished Harry as his target snapped out of his trance like state and then his voice turn cold and hard. "Go".

With that the drug dealer left without a word spoken. He was clearly already lost in thought regarding both his job and his dubious morals while the waitress looked at Harry with a mixture of gratitude and a not so small amount of fear.

To her credit she didn't run away though.

"How did you do that?" She asked when she could finally speak.

"Magic" he responded with an open smile and a wink while lying through his teeth as it simply had been a rather strong Mind Trick even as the waitress shook her head slowly and began to move off.

Harry then sat back down slowly and began to quietly drink the rest of his now lukewarm tea and enjoying the new silence that permeated the bar since the drug dealer had left.

At length he was standing and getting ready to leave when the woman came back and gave him an on the house refill of his tea. Harry smiled in thanks even though he didn't feel it (the tea was particularly awful) and drank it with apparent relish while thanking her politely.

Much to his surprise, after he had done so, she didn't move away instead studying him in what she probably thought was a subtle manner looking at him as if she could see all he was and ever could be.

To her he was a puzzle that she was slowly trying to solve and the task was made all the more difficult to her as not only did he not speak but she had never met a person like him before.

She took a seat next to him as she did so both resting her own tired body and, eventually, trying to summon up the nerve to ask him something. Harry being a polite person, when it suited him, simply gave her the time to do so.

"You know I never did say thank you" she said and Harry noted (as he had been rather busy with the unnamed Rodian before) that her voice had a soft, lilting and almost musical edge to it.

"You are welcome" replied Harry.

"I know you are not a magician" she stated with complete certainty.

"No?" he asked amused.

"No" she said firmly "you are a Jedi"

"I'm not a Jedi...and you are too old to be accepted as one anyway" he replied.

"Like I want to live under their rules and restrictions" she retorted.

"It would be better than here" he pointed out

"A golden cage is still a cage. I'll take true freedom….if I can ever earn it". She looked at him again "A Jedi...yet not a Jedi…..are you William Potter?"

"Am I really that famous?" he question genuinely curious.

"Yes" was the blunt reply "even the street beggars have heard of you. That happens when your image was blasted all over the Holonet during that not so little rebellion a few years ago".

"Well I guess my secrets out" Harry said and despite himself he had a note of bitterness in his voice as his memories of being a Jedi all seemed tainted with the death of his friend and though the woman across from him heard it clearly she chose not to comment.

Bitterness was common in the people that passed through after all.

Instead she decided then and there to take the man across from her as he was and not as the Holonet portrayed him to be or assuming what people said about him was true. It helped, in her mind, that he had helped her without asking for anything in return, appeared to be about her age and had beautiful green eyes

"Can I ask a question?" She said.

"Isn't that a question?" Harry teased smiling briefly.

"What is a Jedi, even a former Jedi, doing here?"

"I thought that would be obvious...I'm relaxing after a very long day" he replied.

"Seriously?" Her voice was incredulous.

"Seriously". He rubbed first his leg and then his face, still tired and aching, and tried to wake himself up and refocus on the conversation with the woman before him. "Though honestly I'm looking for someone".

"Oh really?" She teased and batted her eyes at him.

"Not like that that" he responded in no mood for the joke. "I'm looking for a man that has hurt many people".

"A bad man?"

"A very bad man" Harry agreed "who caused the death of my friend".

"I'm sorry" she said and her hand flittered out like a nervous bird briefly touching his before moving away. "Forgive me for saying so but this seems like quite a long way to go for a friend".

"I don't have many" he whispered softly while his mind was drawn back towards his boyhood (relatively speaking) friend who had fallen so very far.

"You do know" she said snapping him out of his painful memories "that everyone ends up coming though Nar Shaddaa eventually and bar staff are worse than elderly women for gossip. I could tell you what I hear...it might help".

"Your price?" Though an average Jedi might have expected that she would help him for free he was much more pragmatic than that and this was not a pampered world of the Core by any stretch of the imagination nor was anyone here liable to do anything for free.

"Like almost everyone that lives here I am bound under a contract that I inherited from my parents and they from their grandparents… probably even further than that for all I know. They don't call it slavery but it is and there is no way that I can pay it off in my lifetime and every generation adds interest so my children, if I ever have any, will be worse off".

"I am aware of the practice...I don't agree with it but I'm aware of it" stated Harry.

"I want you to pay me money to help you and, if my information leads you to the man you seek, give me a nice fat bonus as well as paying off the remainder of my contract".

"What makes you think I have money anywhere near that amount?" Harry asked.

"Please… Potter Industries does….it might even be the highest grossing company in the entire Republic for all I know. To them my contract wouldn't even register".

"Potter Industries has...but not me" Harry said.

"But you are the heir and, by all accounts, your brother likes you so it should be easy for you to help me" she replied bluntly.

"Fair enough" Harry grudgingly admitted while extending his hand. "Miss?"

"Selene" said the woman while shaking his hand "just Selene".

Over the next year their business relationship turned into friendship, with unspoken undertones of more, and Harry gained more than enough leads from the arrangement with her to justify the expense.

It was so successful in fact that not only did he form similar relationships (business not personal) throughout the galaxy but parts of it would eventually go on to become the nucleus from which Nic would build the Commonwealth's spy network.

The practice was still in use by the Commonwealth's ever expanding network (and just one of many tools in their arsenal) by the time that Luna was captured.

747 BBY

2,906 ATC

The Ruby Towers were two skyscrapers as well as Almania's answer to the 500 Republica of Coruscant and, given the general depression that the Republic was going through at this time, was far more prosperous not that the Core Worlds would ever admit it.

Elegant and spacious the apartments were the fashion and even without the interiors the space that even the cheapest had was immense. The furnishings provided (for a very large extra fee) were tasteful and understated pieces of beauty.

There was, as a general rule, paintings and sculptures created by several masters of their own arts from across the known galaxy. Wooden furnishings from Morribar and Kashyyyk, wool from Dantooine and along with a smattering of industrial grade goods (for example light fixtures and refrigeration units) from Coruscant though they produced most themselves.

Harry owned the penthouse as Potter Industries had footed the bill for the initial construction and then gifted almost the entire building to the Democratic State of Almania. In return the penthouse was his and his families for so long as the building stood.

Selene lived there too.

The relatively new government was more than happy with the arrangement as they actually sold very few of the units and instead rented them and, more often than not, the furnishings out for a yearly fee. This not only brought in a great deal of wealth but kept taxes lower which helped the Government in many ways.

Not least it drew more rich people to transfer their businesses to the planet and then live in the Towers. It was a lovely cycle for the planet and it had already developed a reputation, not only as a tax haven but as a good place to run your business as well.

The planet was now a far cry from the backwater it was once considered to be.

In the intervening years since their first meeting and now Selene had moved far beyond the simple waitress that she once was. She had taken the money that her information had given her and enrolled in many Holonet education programs (some of which were very expensive and well respected) and had done so in relative secrecy.

She had, more importantly for her immediate needs, also managed to buy herself free.

After she had done so she had found herself liking both the business and personal relationship that she was developing with Harry so much that she had transitioned from asset to defacto spymistress for him on his hunt for Set Harth.

For a girl that for years barely had a small pallet on a dirty floor and at the end of the bar to call home it was nothing short of a meteoric rise. She had at first been star struck by the size of her new home but had eventually settled in and even added a few small personal touches here and there to make the place her own.

Aside from her office there was a living room that was, in and of itself, almost three times the size of the Last Sip and her bed was not the rough canvas sack that she had been accustomed to but rather a King size four poster slice of elegance that, to her, was simply heaven. Topping that off with a shower that could comfortably fit five people it was easy to see why she adored her new home.

The only thing that she hadn't expected was to fall in love. She liked William at first certainly and found him very attractive but slowly over time that affection had morphed into something deeper and they had begun a life together as well as hunting for Set Harth.

For all that there were two rooms in the place where she, by mutual consent, could not enter. The first was William's meditation chamber and the second was his library and (at first) the fact that both of those places were off limits hadn't bothered her in the slightest.

William had done so much for her at the beginning that it had seemed unfair to quibble over such a trivial thing. He had helped her out of virtual slavery, valued her for her skills and helped to improve them and, above all, treated her like a person rather than a disposable object.

Things had changed though and over time the closed off areas were beginning to nag at here or rather one was. She had no desire to see the meditation chamber as even though he had taught her a few things to defend herself (little more than tricks really) she had no inclination to learn more and he didn't want to teach.

The library was a different matter however primarily because though it was called that it was more accurately an archive. She knew that the majority of the room (even though she hadn't seen it) was covered, wall to wall, in some very interesting books. She had only been able to get that much from William after a night of heavy drinking on both or their parts and when sober he would simply not discuss it.

He had told her that it helped him to organise his thoughts if he wrote them down in his journals and that the tactile sensation of writing with pen, paper and ink helped the process more than a datapad ever could.

She had 'caught' him more than once with a small plain and brown book. Unbeknownst to her though occlumency and Jedi cantrips could do just as much he had found that the cathartic release that he was looking for was both easier and stronger if he did it that way.

When their relationship had progressed to a physical level and the feelings between them had grown was the time that it had begun to really nag at her. She thought about how little she actually knew about him, aside from the fact that she loved him and he seemed to care deeply or maybe even love her, and what hints about him those books might contain.

The secrets they held tempted her, tormented her, and they had even begun to enter her dreams whispering at her as William slept peacefully beside her. It was somehow worse because she had been told by him that he would tell her everything in his own time.

They lived together, worked together and made love together why was now not the right time? That thought haunted her waking hours as the mystery of the man deepened almost like a growing black hole in her mind.

Still he wouldn't discuss his past.

Even worse she had tried to be okay with it and share her life, hoping against hope, that he would return the favour and yet here they were now in a situation where he knew almost everything about her and she knew so little about him.

No amount of rationalisation would make the need to go away and neither would his repeated denials to discuss it and, after doing a discreet search on the Holonet and finding nothing that she did not already know, she had decided to act.

She knew it was wrong and she knew that it was an intense invasion of privacy but she really couldn't help herself. She had learned quite a lot from her time in Nar Shaddaa as well as her job working with William and she knew that if she could only find the barest crumbs of his life on the Holonet it was because he had removed them.

The closed door beckoned to her and she, with all the skill that she had gathered through her life, had only one obstacle which happened to be a very expensive lock that was both very secure and expensive. The need to see behind that mechanism had consumed her however and she applied herself diligently to the task.

When she had finally decided to open the door she first made sure that William was away on one of his many hunts for Set Harth (and as he returned only sporadically and was often away for weeks at a time finding an opening was easy enough) she had expected to find, despite his tipsy claim, a small room with five to six books in it.

Instead what she found was one tall and grand bookcase that took up one full wall filled with his actual journals (they were noticeably smaller than the other books and well worn) and then three or four more bookcases full of other books.

After a moment's perusal she realised that these books were either collections of other peoples work on the Force or his own unique musings on the same subject. There was also notes on his own personal history in relation to the wider galaxy (maps of his journey's mostly), a place called Earth and even something called magic.

Looking at all the information these books contained she was never more grateful that she had learned Jedi cantrips for memory retention as there was so much information there and her fingers were itching to get at those pages.

Shaking herself to gather all that she was together and prioritise to her immediate needs she headed first to the actual journals and picked up the first one.

Caressing its leather cover and then opening the first page she was confused for a moment. The name on the page was not that of William Potter but rather of Harry.

Why, she wondered, would William keep a diary of his fathers? Sentimentality, a family trait or tradition? Was he supposed to keep them to learn from his father's errors?

Shrugging she sat down to read starting quite logically with the first one. She would read many over time and often cross reference with the books on the Force, philosophy and the maps to mark, reference and understand the incredible story that she had stumbled upon.

-LAFA-

Harry stepped through the door of his home and dropped the shoulder bag that he was carrying by the door. Then he detached his lightsabers, put them on a nearby table,and removed his outer robe placing it on a hook in the wall.

All he wanted at that point was a shower, a warm meal and then a long sleep before thinking about anything else that he had to do.

He was a little concerned that he couldn't see Selene in the main rooms or that she hadn't left a note (as she usually did when she went out) but internally shrugged.

Thinking about Selene led him to think about his relationship with her. It was, as far as he was concerned, good and over time he had grown to care for her quite deeply but he wasn't sure if he loved her.

He was quite happy to see if the relationship progressed to that however and tried to keep his past in his past. He had learned from Hakk's example the dangers of focusing solely on one person excluding all others.

After everything that he had been through having someone who cared for him as a person, rather than a saviour or a Jedi, that he could come home to was more than a little nice.

In short, as much as he still thought about Luna every now and again, he was making a concerted attempt to move on with his life and above all live in the present. Though a bit paradoxical given his continuing hunt for Set Harth he was still a work in progress and hoped that no matter what happened between him and Selene in the end they would, at the worst, remember each other with fondness.

As he moved deeper into his home the heel of his heavy boots made soft thunking noises on the wooden floor and it might have been this that alerted Selene to his presence. He heard, soon enough, a crush from deeper in his home and he quickly moved towards it.

What he saw made him angry. Selene didn't pay for anything in the apartment and was still paid (by Potter Industries) a very healthy wage for her work and all he had ever asked of her in return was the freedom to share things in his own time without being either forced or rushed into anything.

He hadn't escalated their relationship into its current physical form. Not that he was complaining that it had it was simply more that, though he was trying to move on and recover from his recent past, he wanted to be as fair as he could be to her

That was why the meditation chamber and library were off limits. They were the things that were either remnants of or inexplicably connected to his past and he simply wasn't ready to share them yet.

She had said that she understood, that she would be patient, yet he felt himself becoming furious as he found the source of the noise and struggled for a sense of calm.

In the absolute center of his room sat Selene.

Selene who had said she would wait and that she understood. Selene who said that it didn't matter to her as long as she had him. Selene who had lied to him. Selene who had betrayed him.

She didn't notice him standing there at first. She was too engrossed with the latest journal in her hands and the myriad of reference books on his travels and the Force that were laying haphazardly around her.

In her defence in the many years that Harry had been alive he had not only written a lot but had become a fine artist and had sketched many parts of his journey, and the people and places that were important to him, either on their own pages or in the margins of the small books.

"What" Harry said coldly "are you doing?"

Startled Selene jumped up and for the first time in her life saw the Jedi Lord in all of his fury.

His very being seemed to radiate his anger. His eyes that were once so beautiful to her had turned such a dark green as to be almost black and his face was marred by the hurt and betrayal that was etched upon each millimeter of skin.

For the briefest moment she truly looked guilty only for that look to be replaced with her own fury and sense of betrayal. Clearly from her shifting expressions she had many different questions running through her head but she did eventually settle on one.

"Who are you!?" She half screeched.

"I am the same person I was when I met you" he said softly but with an edge of danger in his voice. "The question is...who have you become?"

"You have killed so many" she countered.

"Yes" he admitted simply with no excuses or equivocations.

Though he would never forget nor would he ever be comfortable with it (and worse never be truly sure how many of his actions were directly influenced let alone outright controlled by the Sith) he knew exactly who and what he was.

The guilt was there and it would always be but, when he thought about it, he used it to be better...to never allow that small twisted part of himself to control or conquer again. "Is that what gives you the right to violate my privacy?"

"You've been keeping secrets from me" she accused.

"You knew that" Harry responded harshly his voice almost slapping her in the face. "Oh don't be such a naive child. Everyone has secrets and relationships should be about slowly feeling safe enough to open up and willingly share them with another person. The good, the bad, the beautiful and the truly horrific."

"And you couldn't do that with me?" Selene half asked and half accused.

"It's a matter of trust and like a spoiled child you simply couldn't wait". Harry looked around the almost completely ransacked room. "Clearly I was right not to trust you if this is how you act".

"I wouldn't have done this if you hadn't kept things from me" she said with acid dripping from her tone as her own anger rose to match his. "By the Hutts you didn't even tell me your real name".

"Are names really what are important? I was honest with you about everything that I shared and even told you straight out that I wouldn't, couldn't, share everything except to my own timetable and you agreed to that".

"I didn't know what I agreed to" she yelled.

"And I don't care" his voice wasn't devoid of anger but it was...dead...for lack of a better term. "Any trust that I had in you has been destroyed by your own actions. If you were truly unhappy you could have forced an actual conversation rather than try and hint at it and weedle as much information as you could out of little conversations. That was one of the reasons I didn't talk about it. I do not like games or manipulations".

"And what about you William? What about my faith and trust in you? Selene said in a small and bitter voice.

"Clearly" said Harry looking around the room once again "that is in tatters. You were important to me but after this? Our relationship is over and what you think and feel means less than nothing to me".

His voice had become remarkably distant during the course of his reply as if was already distancing himself from her and separating their lives. It was as if she was being consigned to a bottomless pit almost as if what they had once shared never existed.

"And what about her?" Selene argued throwing a loose page at his feet rather violently.

Looking down he saw one of his many drawings. It was of Luna mid laugh and lounging with her feet propped against a low piece of Hogwarts stone work from back when they had met and talked so often.

He honestly couldn't remember the joke that he had told to get that reaction but it was the first time that he had heard her so happy and carefree and he treasured the moment and it was a very fond memory of his.

A memory of simpler times and safety which, to him, she had now tarnished.

"She is someone I trust" Harry responded his voice firm and unyielding.

"But I loved you!" she said as if that would explain and excuse everything that she had done.

"No. You needed me and wanted me, all of me, that's not the same".

With a wave of his hand all of his journals and books turned to piles of grey ash before her eyes and he summoned everything that he needed from the home to his hand and into the expanded shoulder bag that had landed at his feet softly.

Then without another word and amidst her screams and growing rants, left her life for many many years.

She on the other hand took the skills that she had learned and went down a different path.

She had read enough knowledge and memorised enough titles of books only mentioned in the ones that she had seen to change her life forever.

51 BBY

Bespin

Harry had expected that the mansion that once belonged to Set Harth would end up being demolished, abandoned or have another apartment complex built in its place. He should have seen some change, maybe even a new factory or shopping center but it still stood almost the same as it once was.

It had been repaired and reinforced however and then restructured into as much of a fortress as you could make it while still keeping it recognisably similar.

Harry couldn't help but wonder why someone had gone to such great pains to keep it that way until he realised that whoever did so wanted him to remember the last time he was here with every step he took.

It was also crawling with armed men and women almost like a furious steel ant hill. Harry recognised some of the logos on their equipment from his old bounty hunter days. They were a private army made up of a mishmash of the best that the criminal underworld had to offer.

He had seen hard eyes like that before many many times.

These people had been broken by their lives and by their choices to the point where if they were desperate enough for meat they would easily chop up their neighbour or, if they were required to do so, would have no compunction in breaking a baby's head against a tree.

Added to the actual guards there were also several laser turrets with multiple guns on each emplacement (all were manned of course). There were snipers on every decent in crows nests that could be found or made and none were out of sight of the others long enough for Harry to take action without being seen.

It appeared that, unlike Hogwarts, the person that had designed this had a long time to prepare for a Jedi incursion as well as Harry personally. He couldn't even wait for a unit of droids as it had an impressive killing ground and, if he attacked directly, Harry had no doubt that they would kill Luna before he could break through and find her.

Direct apparition inside was also out of the question as, if this was who he was beginning to suspect, they would have doubtless prepared for him to do that very thing. Whether it would be hidden alarms, traps or just spontaneous ray shields or something he couldn't think of he wasn't going to try it.

Hopefully he had something that they wouldn't be prepared for though.

He turned to Chime who was watching him silently from a tree in the well maintained park that he was using as cover.

"Go" Harry said meeting the bird's eyes. "Save her if you can….if not" even thinking about it hurt Harry but it had to be said "stay with her for me? I'll be along as soon as I can".

Chime thrilled her agreement and then was off within a flash of fire.

-LAFA-

Luna was laying in her cell still unable to connect to her magic and hating the shackles as well as the band on her head that stopped her connecting to the Force. She was also cursing her own stupidity of going out only in her shuttle and vowing never to be that stupid again.

Sometimes, like Harry, she felt weighed down by her position and simply wanted a moment of freedom, a moment where she could enjoy the peace of simply being Luna, and paid the price for her lax guard by being kidnapped.

She was also amazed that after everything she had been through she had managed to lie about her mothers name while being tortured but, then again, Harry always had said that she was stronger than she ever realised.

Small rebellion aside she still wished that she could enter a healing trance to recover from her multitude of wounds. The most damaging were poorly healed by Selene herself as it wouldn't have served her sadistic pleasures if Luna had died right then but they still hurt her with every single involuntary twitch of movement.

She had noticed, in those so few and fleeting moments where she felt clear headed, that her captor seemed more than a little scatterbrained with five or six different plans seemingly running through her head.

Selene would mutter to herself almost every third or forth second and tilt her head in an odd way while she did so. It was almost like the woman was having conversations with someone, or several someones that weren't really there.

In short Luna was frightened because her captor was, by any measure, bat shit crazy.

All in all the situation for Luna couldn't have gotten much worse and all she could do was internally keep repeating the old adage of where there is life there is hope. It really didn't help all that much and, though she had no idea of how long she had been here, the words had become almost completely hollow and empty to her.

She was sinking into despair despite her best efforts to stop it.

Then Chime appeared in a fiery ball of music that began to banish the dark cloud that had begun to settle on her shoulders and in her bones. The bird then landed and began to quickly cry softly on her wounds.

Though the concoction in Luna's system kept her magic from helping there was enough latent power in the tears to heal her wounds and she unsteadily rose to her feet and smiled gratefully at her husband's familiar.

"Thanks Chime" she said softly even as the bird continued to sing softly. Leaning against the wall as she felt her strength return she continued " Can you get me out of here?"

Sadly and with great reluctance Chime shook her head in denial with a sad noise escaping her body even as her beak, sharpened with her natural magic, broke both the chains and the band blocking her connection to the Force.

They fell to the floor with a dull thud and Luna spared them a single disdainful glance as they shattered on impact. She felt the Force once again flow throughout her body and almost sighed in relief.

The reason that the phoenix couldn't simply flame her away had to do with the fundamental differences between the fire by which the birds travelled and travel by apparition.

When a wizard moved themselves from one place to another their magic expanded out and enveloped them and the surrounding space like a cocoon. They directed their travel with a set of coordinates or a mental picture until they arrived at their destination. It was also why some arrived with a louder pop than others as the larger amount air in the cocoon made a louder noise for those that were either sloppy or new to the practice.

It also meant that taking someone with them, while more draining, was simply a matter of being intentionally sloppy and wasn't really that difficult.

Phoenixes however travelled very differently. As creatures more primal than wizards (though no less intelligent and often more so) no one was quite certain how they travelled when they were alone but, as they were often passengers, they did have a basic understanding of what was required for them to take people with them.

Unlike the wizarding method they instinctively connected with the magic or the person they were carrying (which was also why they couldn't transport muggles though wizards could) and somehow took them as part of their natural fire.

Inorganics or basically anything dead could be carried without this problem though magical theorists had no idea why and all phoenixes that wizardkind had ever met opposed (often violently) any study of themselves.

It was a goal in life for the darkest of theorist to do so anyway as they did realise that the phoenixes way of travel required less energy and, at least as far as the majority knew anyway, there were no wards to stop their travel.

It was also one of many reasons that there were very few phoenixes bonded to wizards.

In the present situation this meant that, as much as Chime may want to, she was unable to take Luna anywhere as though she could sense Luna the same concoction that blocked Luna from her magic also impeded Chime. To Chime's senses it was like running into a thick brick wall.

Thankfully with the Force back and singing in Luna's veins and glorying in being free it cleared her mind even further and, frankly, she was very grateful for the company.

She did make a mental note to make sure that all of her future clones, like her husbands, should have phoenix tears added as part of their makeup. Harry, thanks to his trip into the chamber, had after all accidently discovered how to keep them in your system. All it required was a sufficiently powerful venom and during the growing process both were now added only for the poison to be removed shortly after.

Apparently no wizard had ever been foolish enough or brave enough to have both basilisk venom and phoenix tears in their system before. Apparently after such a virulent attack the phoenix tears altered, sort of like an immune response, the D.N.A of a subject so they were constantly produced in low levels.

The health benefits of even such a low level of those tears were more than obvious.

What Harry had achieved through Rataka technology could be reproduced naturally as well. This was especially useful as the Geo Forge was needed for things other than producing clones of them both.

As she and Chime left her cell in search of her weapons and a place to get safely out of the madwoman's abode she couldn't help her thoughts as they began to drift to her beloved hoping that he was safe.

-LAFA-

As night fell Harry was thinking through what he could do while keeping himself hidden as much as he could.

The thing about frontal assaults, Harry thought, was that they were loud and very flashy things...as were lightsabers and magic more often than not.

That made one, under his current circumstances, suicidal to pull off and meant that Harry would have to dust off his thinking (metaphorically at least) from his old bounty hunter days.

Aside from the twelve patrollers that would go out on speeder bikes there were also nine snipers that covered the open ground as well as the seven man team on foot patrolling the interior.

The only bonus for Harry was that in their rush to hurt him the person that had reinforced the place had, by necessity, not changed the overall architecture that much. Before he had attacked the place the first time Harry had gained (and then memorised) the plans along with the most likely weak points during his hunt.

Thankfully, from what he had observed he didn't have long until the speeders would come in to be relieved and he briefly thought of taking out one and then assuming the dead mercenaries identity under a glamour before discarding it.

It was far too risky and, if discovered, he would be dead in seconds or worse Luna would be killed or moved before he (in a fresh body) could find her and free her.

So he turned his attention, once again, to the snipers. The farthest and highest was far up on the roof of one wing of the house and was half laying, half crouched while scanning his field of fire in a lazy pattern. From this position this one was clearly the most likely to raise an alarm as he could easily spot anyone coming towards the house first.

Knowing that having a vague idea of where certain things were could prove useful in the house as well as taking into account his own limited equipment he had begun to gather a fair few ideas that coalesced soon enough in his mind into a fully formed plan.

With the quietest pop he could manage he moved from his concealed position to just behind the sniper on the roof. Blind apparition was always dangerous but, given the short distance and his years of practice he thought it was an acceptable risk.

Thankfully he was quiet enough about it that the sniper didn't hear him and, from a small legilimency probe, learned what he needed.

He slowly withdrew the often unused and concealed combat knife. With the smallest and most delicate movements that he could manage he waited until the other snipers that overlapped the line of sight were scanning different terrain and then struck.

Covering the man's mouth with one hand (still silver though covered by a dark glove) and doing his best to keep his targets struggles to a minimum he stabbed the man several times in the kidneys.

He idly wondered, in that moment, if the reason that the Jedi could be so self righteous so easily was because a lightsaber cauterized as it killed. It was much harder to be sure of your goodness if you had blood on your hands after all.

As soon as he felt the man shudder one final time before dying he quickly positioned the man back where he once was but, not before searching the body as quickly as he could.

He found some explosives, a blaster, a few credit chips, a com unit in the corpses ear and a small medkit. He took the explosives and popped the com unit in his ear, trading it for a non functional conjured one, Just in time too as with a small vibration in his ear it activated.

"Tango clear" stated the voice.

"Echo clear" he responded gruffly having plucked the callsign from his victims head and ducking back down before he was noticed. When a few minutes passed and no shots came his way or alarms blared and with no sign of increased activity at all he breathed a sigh of relief.

He then moved onto sniper after sniper improving both his knowledge of the rejuvenated complex and his supplies as he went and dealt with them the same way as he had the first.

When he got to the last one however he staggered and made a distinctive thud as he appeared next to the man. It wasn't really his fault as, though he did have large magical reserves (which at this point exceeded either Dumbledore or Voldemort at the height of their powers), apparition was not designed to be used so frequently without rest and rejuvenation in between.

Nor was the human body for that matter. The constant toing and froing had made his lungs burn and his skin feel like it had been given a very rough once over with sandpaper. His eyeballs felt like they had been pressed through a sieve, his tongue was thick and heavy almost as if it was stuck to the bottom of his mouth and his hands trembled from being squeezed through a tube too many times.

Still he managed, if barely, to get the jump on the last man.

What followed was not a great fight or surgical precision but rather a rough and dirty tumble more reminiscent of bar room brawls than trained professionals which ended with a knife through the nose and up into the brain for his enemy.

Soon he had taken what he could from this one as well. He now had many explosives and, as added insurance, a brace of knives from the last man as well.

Using magic he reinforced the charms that would help muffle his movements (he dare not use any stronger ones) and wearily disillusioned himself before jumping over the side of the building and landing near what once was (and from the dead mercenaries thoughts what was again) the main power center of the house.

He would have used that magic earlier but he wasn't sure how long it would have held up as he was popping himself from place to place and the last thing that he needed was some lucky sniper seeing him raise himself up like a quail for a lucky headshot.

Waiting quietly for the most opportune moment he eventually snuck his way into the former garage turned power center. Thankfully the explosives that he had 'requisitioned' were not only military grade but came with a handy timed detonator and switch.

He moved slowly and carefully with them, not because they weren't stable but because he wanted to get it right, and shaped just over half of the malleable explosives around the main power battery. He then placed a switch detonator in the center of the lump like a tiny cherry on top of an explosive sundae.

Then he hid once again waiting for the next rider to be called in.

Thankfully for his own sanity (every moment he waited Luna was being kept and very likely tortured if not killed) it was only minutes later that the next speeder rider came in to take a break.

No matter how well trained people needed to sleep after all and it was nearly the time when all of those people, both the snipers and the speeders, would be relieved. It was a delicate balancing act as soon enough the snipers would be discovered but he needed as many advantages as possible if he was going to rescue Luna.

He then, quickly and yet still trying not to rush, moulded the remaining explosive underneath the first bike that came in. He was just in time too as, barely seconds after he was finished and had hidden himself once again, another rider came in and took off on the altered bike.

Once he was sure that the rider was clear (as well as not being able to wait any longer) he hoped that the new rider was deep enough into his route for his plan to work and pressed the button.

The resulting explosion was massive and drew the other patrollers, as well as everyone else, towards the heat and sound of it.

As orders were barked and cries of alarm were heard he opened a side window and swiftly jumped out while setting off his second explosion killing almost all power to the complex.

Backup power came online within a second but Harry was already moving, as fast as the Force would allow, and the brief gap allowed Harry to get inside while the majority of the security measures designed to stop or contain him were offline.

Now he just had to find Luna.

-LAFA-

Luna had spent the last few hours hiding while trying to force the anti magic concoction from her system. Sadly for her it was both very well designed and stubborn as it resisted her attempts to do so even when she called on the Force to aid her.

While she would have had better luck entering a healing trance and purging it from her system that way she did not have the luxury to take the time needed for that method to work.

She was being hunted and it was taking all of her skill with the Force to stay one step ahead of her pursuers. It seemed like the majority of this places security forces were hunting her and she was never more happy to have Chime with her as the bird often flamed away to distract or mislead their hunters.

She couldn't seem to shake them however and realised the crux of her problem fairly early on. Though she had the Force so did the person directing the people hunting for her and while she had Chime they had more manpower, time and frankly were in a better condition to fight than she was.

It was a miracle that she had lasted this long but she knew that her time was running out and soon enough they would catch her and all that would take was a single misstep on her part.

She had managed to recover both her circlet (and the armour that it contained) and her lightsaber at least.

The rest of her things were lost leading her to the conclusion that not only had others divvied up her remaining possessions but that the circle and lightsaber were either going to be used by the mad woman or kept as some sort of obscene trophy.

Regardless the hunt could not last forever as, despite Chime's unique abilities, they were still outnumbered and on enemy ground. With both sides calling on the Force she new that it would be of limited help at best.

After all (outside of its own idea of balance) the Force seemed to rarely take sides when it came to two different sects fighting. If it did then the almost continuous conflict between the Jedi and the Sith would have ended long ago.

Not that it wouldn't help her...it was more like it would be just as likely to help her foe just as much and she couldn't then rely on it alone to save her from a grizzly and dark fate.

All she could hope was that Harry helped her or the potion wore off enough so that Chime could help her get out before they found her but, as time went on with no significant change in her circumstances, it was looking less and less likely.

She tried her best to resign herself to the fact that she would probably die here as, even with her body recovering, she was far away from being able to defeat those that came for her.

-LAFA-

Harry was, at this moment, hardly at his best either.

It had been a long time since he had relied on magic so extensively and it showed in his slightly weary movements.

His version of stealth, as it turned out, had been a good idea as he hadn't been caught yet as the mercenaries were divided on which explosion to deal with first and he used that confusion to his advantage.

It didn't mean that everything was fine in his world however. He still hadn't found Luna and was finding it harder and harder to focus through his rage, fear and weariness to do so. Even if he had the time to truly rest he doubted that he would have been able to until his wife was safe once again.

He had found that he really missed using his lightsaber as, subtly aside, over the years it had become a part of him and really was a very effective weapon. Though the knives and the silenced blaster that he was currently using drew less attention they did make things harder.

Case in point though he had encountered much less resistance (the elements of surprise and distraction were wonderful things) and there were no alarms, though whether that was by design or the temporary loss of power he couldn't be sure, there were still contingencies in place.

He was forcefully reminded of this inconvenient fact very painfully as he moved a dart from the side of his neck and felt his magical senses deaden as if they were utterly submerged in a bottomless sea.

The man that had managed to shoot that into him was dead for his trouble though, the knife that was embedded in his chest had taken a shade too long and allowed the now cooling body to get a sort of revenge.

Harry found the effect of the concoction more than a little disturbing and somewhat reminiscent of a man that suddenly lost his sight.

Added to all of that his enemy was being particularly elusive and trying to hide their presence but, from this distance, even the best obfuscation would begin to lose its effectiveness unless they were truly a master and so it wasn't exactly a surprise that he could feel them somewhere ahead.

It was difficult to tell although that was less due to his opponents skill and more to do with the fact that the Dark Side seemed to coat everything in a thick and fetid oil. It was almost like the entire place was dripping in so much of it that, when he left, he would never get clean.

Putting away his 'subtle' weapons he drew his saber as, without magic, he was more vulnerable now than he had been in centuries and not just because of the poison now seeping through his bloodstream.

If he failed here he could end up losing everything that was important to him.

As much as understood that the balance between light and dark was necessary he was both disgusted and attracted to the dark. A small part of him wanted it and, in this place, it was growing like an itch beneath his skin.

It was hardly surprising in a way. The Jedi Temple was such a beacon of the light in part because it had housed the Jedi for so long and also because they had attuned the Scared Spire beneath it to the light side of the Force (the Spire and Jedi also served to effectively neutralize an ancient sith shrine deep underground there but that was beside the point).

In a similar fashion this place had been used for the Dark Side for centuries uncounted and with all of that hatred, fear, death and violence it had become a nexus of the dark. Set Harth was, unbeknownst to Harry, not the first nor was he clearly the last to use the place for such things.

Given the fact that Luna had been kidnapped along with the absence of Chime, his growing exhaustion as well as his fear for her he found his control slipping. It was tenuous at best before this but with every step his senses were becoming more clouded and more welcoming to the dark.

With his control rapidly failing his eyes were turning more and more from their customary green to a burnt amber hue. The hunger for violence was rising in him and the walls began to whisper to him things that he couldn't quite hear.

He held it in check, if barely, with one simple idea. He had to find Luna and make sure that she was safe. As he tried to keep that in the forefront of his mind the whispers increased in pressure, clawing at his skull, offering wealth and power...endless dominion if only he would give in completely.

Harry was not aware but this was all part of Selene's plan (one of them anyway) to wear him down as, if she couldn't capture him directly, she intended the power of this place and the occasional fight to corrupt him and help make him hers.

Eventually he did find Luna but when he did two things were absolutely clear.

First and foremost the Dark Side almost had him completely as Chime would not have ever, under normal circumstances, hissed at him. There was not a single speck of green in the shocked amber eyes that looked at his familiar and saw the look of shocked horror mirrored in his wife's face.

Second and perhaps most important given their present circumstances Selene had found Luna less than a second after she had locked eyes with Harry.

Selene's shout, half of longing and half of rage, was enough to forestall any conversation between the married couple as well as any attempt that Harry might possibly have at finding his balance once again.

"Selene" said Harry his voice loaded with quiet malice even as every cell in his body sang joyously at the idea of annihilating his foe. He turned to meet this new threat and the Dark Side in him hungered for her pain and the end to her existence.

Images flew past in his mind's eye. It would be so easy to convert the Commonwealth into a new Empire and crush the bloated Republic and their sanctimonious Jedi. He could see himself ruling with an iron fist and no one would ever threaten those he loved again.

Luna could be made to fall in line, he thought, he was sure of it.

"You remember me?" Selene said with the twin notes of hate and longing clear in her voice even as Luna, despite herself, felt a surge of jealousy that was no doubt at least partially inspired by the power shifting restlessly beneath her feet.

"I remember who you were...not the twisted thing that you have become" spat Harry.

"Twisted?" Selene screamed before talking to herself as if no one else was there. "Twisted? He doesn't understand does he? No...he can't understand….just like the rest he is too afraid….Kill him? Yes…no.. I love him...I need him".

As she began her rant Harry and Luna began to worry, truly worry, about what might be going on in Selene's head. Luna took this moment to slip her small hand, all unnoticed by the ranting woman, into Harry's and for a moment the burnt orange of his eyes seemed to dim slightly.

In the background Chime began to softly sing.

"How are you alive?" Luna asked having only the vaugest recollection of Harry's time with Selene though it was no more than fragments really after all of this time and if she was honest with herself she hadn't really wanted to remember it anyway.

"I was brave!" She hissed in reply with true and unrelenting hatred for the person standing in her way. "Yes...I was far braver than you, more worthy than you and much smarter than the Sith of old".

Something in those last few bitter words jogged Harry's memory as he thought of some of his early research on extending life. He had done it simply hoping that there was a better way to go about it than blood bags and clones.

A particular one popped into his head, one that he had dismissed, and his face blanched in horror as he looked at Selene.

"You didn't?" Harry gasped in disgust.

"What" said Luna turning to Harry only to pale herself first at the look on his face and then further at his answer.

"The Ritual of Restoration" stated Harry with a healthy dose of reproach and more than a little fear in his voice.

Luna gasped as her mind flittered to the details of the ritual and it's large side effects. The couple had after all come into possession of more Force related material than was in the entire Jedi Temple with the Great library being at least one hundred times larger than it and they had taken a large percentage of what was there.

They were therefore part of a very small group who understood not only what she had done but also how dangerous and twisted it actually was.

The details of how to perform the Ritual were less important than what it did. The Ancient Sith had designed it (and others like it) thousands and thousands of years ago and it was so long in fact that no one knew who actually made it.

Its upsides were very simple. At the cost of a certain number of sacrifices it would rejuvenate and restore any body to perfect health and add years to your life. As an added bonus, if you used Force Sensitives, you could add a portion of their own gift to your own.

It was also actually a very simple ceremony at that being able to be performed in less than an hour with very little equipment or pomp and ceremony.

And yet the Sith had banned it.

The reason that they had done so was quite simple. Like flash training someone could lead to psychosis (without occlumency to protect the mind) this ritual pretty much guaranteed it.

For every single mind that was drained pieces of their lives and their minds would be added to yours as a byproduct and when you took into account the fact that you would need multiple victims it was infinitely worse.

And that was even without adding the naturally corrupting effects of the Dark Side.

It had fallen out of favour as opposed to other methods mainly due to the fact that although the Sith respected power above almost all else the drawback quickly became debilitating.

Some insanity was useful to their cause but, for the ritual to provide centuries of life, it had to be used at least two dozen times.

Two dozen fragments of minds endlessly wailing their pain even as they imparted their knowledge and vitality would be enough to send even the most stable of people insane and the Sith were not particularly known for stability.

Added to that, if you didn't use Force Sensitives, you would not only get no power boost but have to do it even more. Many of the greatest Sith of the Ancient Empire had either turned to raving beasts or died in the search of more and more powerful sacrifices.

So the ritual had been banned and had languished, given up as a bad job even by the Sith Lords, until first Harry and through him Selene had found reference to it. She either thought in her pride that she knew better or simply that she was powerful enough to overcome the devastating side effects.

It could also have been that she simply couldn't get or afford the equipment needed for any other methods, didn't know of them or was simply too desperate to take the consequences of her actions into account.

Harry and Luna shared a look both wondering how much of the original Selene remained after all of this time and who knew how many rituals to survive.

Without warning a red lightsaber flew to Selene's hand as she jumped to the attack, performing skillful (if stilted) Juyo obviously seeking to kill Luna quickly and perhaps to enrage Harry beyond all reason.

Luna, for her part, could only stare sluggishly in her exhausted state as the blade came flying towards her only to be blocked just as swiftly by Harry's blue one. The crackled together like wood on a fire and as she stared at him in twisted longing he stared back at her in hatred.

Then the fight began in earnest.

Given that, of the two, Luna was the more worn out (as well as being the prime target) she was relegated to the role of spectator even though her lightsaber was lit and ready for action.

Chime, without being asked, hovered over Luna's head protectively with her wings outstretched almost as if Luna was her own hatchling and hissed angrily at Selene.

The madwoman for her part didn't even seem to notice.

Because of this Luna was witness to one of the finest and most furious lightsaber battles that she had ever seen.

Selene, using her form, was able to perform lightning fast and unpredictable attacks being further empowered by her centuries long fury and the darkness of this place to previously untouched skill levels.

It was as if she was a miniature cyclone of dark energy and power full of envy, hatred, anger and madness. Her features, when they could be seen, alternated between longing and lust even as her body would bend and twist away from the most vicious of blows.

Harry in contrast was almost the complete opposite, despite his eyes turning more and more amber once again, a solid wall of precision with an economy of motion that could only be achieved using Form II.

Where she expended energy he saved his. Where she attacked with fury he deflected or respond with surgical strikes. He became a wall of strength that the tornado could only smash itself against again and again.

His footwork was unhurried and perfect against her utter fury. More often all of his maneuvers, both defence and attack, were orchestrated by well timed twists and flicks of his wrist.

His footwork stopped her from ever managing to get a good shot at attacking Luna, as did Chime, and she was expending much more energy than he was.

Both combatants were firmly committed to the battle and though Harry was exhausted and had gone through several close calls he was uninjured for the moment. Selene for her part was cross crossed with light burns but they were only, for the moment at least, superficial.

Everything seemed to be going well for the couple until Luna realised that this was exactly Selene's plan. She wanted him to draw more and more on the reservoir of the Dark Side beneath his feet.

Fact one, Luna thought, trying to use logic to understand what Selene's endgame was, she knows enough about Harry to know that William Potter, Harry Potter and the Silver Prince are all the same person.

Fact two, her thoughts continued, it is logical to assume that given the information and the time that Selene had she had worked out what he had done with the Sith and (more importantly) what they had done to Harry.

Fact three she had an empty clone of Luna waiting and ready to go (or very nearly so) and she had chosen to confront him here in a place where he had confronted someone who had caused him so much pain with dark power begging to be used beneath them.

All of these conclusions painted a very worrying picture for Luna.

Prince Harry of the Silver Commonwealth was a stable pillar of his society, a valued teacher and wise leader, loving husband and (under most circumstances) almost completely devoted to putting both her and the well being of others first.

In contrast the Harry Potter that had been manipulated by the Sith had historically been very open to coercion and very very malleable at least in theory and handled correctly. Selene obviously intended to coax out and take advantage of this perceived darkness.

She knew her husband better than anyone alive and so, with a mounting fear that was not helped at all by being in this place, she knew that even if done incorrectly it could work.

A dark future painted itself in her mind's eye. The Commonwealth restructured under a Dark Emperor who was feared and beloved. Her home would become a warlike mockery of what it once was starting with the mas execution of any resistance to the change over.

The Geo Forge, rather than helping in every aspect of life, would become purely a weapons factory arming a ravenous tide of Dark Jedi loyal only to the former Commonwealth and magically bound to their Dark Emperor and his Empress.

An Empress that wore Luna's face and directed the war to crush the Republic and expand their new Empire to all corners of the Galaxy.

Selene would use a copy of Luna's body to further corrupt and manipulate her husband using hatred and obsession instead of love turning him into a twisted, bitter and vicious parody of himself.

Just as Selene herself had become.

Morality aside she had to admit that it was an audacious and ambitious plan that if done correctly (and using Harry's grief over Luna's death) could work for a while.

They of course would end up trying to kill each other in the end but, no matter who won, by that point everything she ever loved about her life and her husband would be long gone….lost to a true monster.

As she watched the almost hypnotic battle, which was only enhanced by clash of the two lightsabers, she realised that she had to stop this before Harry (in his emotional and vulnerable state) called upon more of the darkness and fell to it before her very eyes.

It would be a tragedy of epic proportions if, even if he won, with her death Selene created the very monster she was hoping for.

Desperately hoping that enough of the toxin had left her system she gathered her courage and prepared to do something that, in her shoes, Harry wouldn't hesitate to do to try to save her.

Which was another way of saying doing something monumentally stupid and dangerous.

In the next lull of battle she spoke a Word of Power. These words were remnants of a language that was lost long before Atlantis had reached its height (they may have even been used to craft the island from the ocean).

Even at its height they were rarely used as magic always required a balance.

With Lupin's increased power it required the willing and evil act of basically turning living beings into tortured batteries and consigning them to a living death. In Voldemort's willing murder and the destruction of any afterlife and in Dumbledore's the binding of a creature of light.

Nothing was free and the Words hadn't been uttered in combat since the island fell. She feared the consequence of using this word more than she feared almost anything else as it was messing with the very fabric of the universe on an unknown scale.

There was no way that she could predict the full ramifications of what she was about to do or what that, in turn, would mean for the universe and the course of peoples lives when she was done.

Ordinarily she would never do such a thing simply for fear of that let alone the possibility of her own death. She did however fear losing her husband more than any of that.

All the Words were an abject lesson, aside from being powerful, that just because you can do something it doesn't mean that you should and today she was ignoring it for the man she loved.

As she spoke the Word it came out of her mouth like a harsh croak as if the universe itself was objecting to its existence.

All three felt their bones rattle with the strength of the power that was released and the fight paused as the two turned to stare at Luna incredulously.

There was a high whistling sound that appeared to come from everywhere and nowhere and the pain that all three felt as they dropped their weapons seemed to be enough to shake Harry free of the dark hold this place had on him for now.

Above her Chime screamed in fear even as Harry's wide eyes locked with Luna's fearful ones and she somehow managed to smile a bittersweet and loving grin at him even as they waited for the world to change.

Then, in an instant, it did.

In a blinding flash of light that stung the married couples eyes Selene, who had been mad and planned so carefully despite all that, turned into a tree before their eyes with her topmost branches scraping the high ceiling.

Luna half staggered and half fell into Harry's waiting arms already succumbing to exhaustion but, hopefully, not death.

"That Word" asked Harry desperately "...what was the price?"

"So sleepy" murmured Luna even as Harry summoned their weapons with the Force and picked her up bridal style.

"What was the price?" he repeated urgently.

"Tree...human….human...tree" she managed to mumble out even as she fell unconscious.

"A tree somewhere on this planet is human?" Harry asked Luna before realising that he would get no response.

Despite the gravity of the situation that he found himself in Harry couldn't help but laugh at the absurd image of some poor grower being scared beyond measure as some tree somewhere on the planet suddenly turned human before their very eyes.

Having plucked the knowledge of its existence from the temporarily vulnerable (and very sleepy) Luna's head Harry asked Chime to destroy the clone in the building which she did with a flash of fire before returning to her bonded side.

"Come on Chime" stated Harry even as the bird began to sing once again "let's go home".

Strangely enough the remaining mercenaries (those that were in the compound anyway) had no desire to deal with the Silver Prince, a pissed of bird made of flame, or anything else for that matter when they realised their employer was dead.

They were too busy looting the place as soon as it was clear Harry Potter wouldn't stand in their way.

With that the faithful companion led her bonded and his mate out, first to a hospital in Bespin proper and then eventually home.

A/N2 : Someone gets a digital cookie and hypothetical milk if they can tell me where I got the idea (read stole!) for both the Words of Power and the tree from.