The Long Road

Last time we visited Hogwarts, Hermione had just harnessed a little power that she didn't know about. The boys were tossing a Frisbee around. Dinner was eaten and beds were filled.

Everyone's favorite class rolled around again and the students were awaiting Professor Jade to arrive. The room was open and they had taken their seats and had nothing but a quill sitting in front of them. Idle but quiet chat filled the silence until Messina Jade arrived.

"Welcome back, class. I trust that most if not all of you continued the lesson after we broke yesterday, correct?" Many heads nodded in unison, including Hermione's. "I figured as much." Messina began pacing across the front of the room. "How many of you who had no luck in class were able to do it later on in the day?" About half the hands in the class raised.

"Again, as I expected. And, as I felt." Quite a few students looked at her funny. She stopped her pacing and took a seat on the front of the desk, facing them all. "I see by your faces that you don't understand what I mean. Allow me to explain." She adjusted her robes and started.

"Each time you call upon the Force you create a ripple in it. For small things such as lifting a quill the ripple is very small but still noticeable to someone looking for it. I felt many such ripples yesterday," she said as she looked around the room. Her gaze held on Hermione for a moment before moving on. "As I said I felt many ripples, one of which caused me a bit of concern. Hermione, you raised your quill last night, correct?"

"Yes, Professor Jade, I did."

"Would you tell the class how you accomplished this?"

"Of course. I was trying to do it for probably an hour or so before I got very irritated by the fact I couldn't do it and then I got mad. After I did that the quill jumped off the desk."

"Thank you Hermione. That is as I thought it happened. Hermione, what you did was tap into another facet of the Force, the Dark Side." The class went completely silent and there wasn't even the sound of a breath being drawn. "I should have said this from the beginning but I thought I could wait a little longer." Messina Jade again rose from the desk and walked around.

"You all must promise me that you will never use the Force when you are anything but calm at heart. If you call upon it when you are not, and Hermione, I am by no means upset with you in the least, you risk starting down the dark path." Hermione's face took an ashen shade to it and she shrank a little in her seat.

"I'm sorry, Professor."

"As I said, I'm not upset with you. It is my fault. I should tell you a little about that side of the Force. The Dark Side has always been around and it always will be. It lures people in by promising them quick and easy power but it exacts a high price. Your body and soul begin to darken and become tainted. Slowly you become evil, a little at first, but it picks up speed."

"The Dark Side is not stronger than the Light, only quicker. I hope those words are impressed on you from this moment on. Now, I don't want to dwell on this fact now but I will later. Today we shall try a different exercise."

"I wonder how long Draco has been in the Dark Side?" Ron whispered to Harry.

"Oh, probably since the day he was born," Harry whispered back. Hermione's evil eye stopped any further whispering.

"Now, I want you all to close your eyes and try to feel everything around you. It might sound odd, but try it." All eyes shut and Messina closed hers as well.

Harry had shut his eyes and was feeling as hard as he could and getting nothing. He cleared his mind and tried again as he had when he was trying to lift the quill. Out of nowhere he felt everything. Everything at once, actually. His eyes shot open and he found himself looking right into Jade's eyes.

"Very good Harry. Sort of disturbing, huh?"

"Yes. Everything was like a bunch of paints all tossed together, nothing coherent."

"Right. Try again and this time focus on Ron. The same goes for all of you. Pick someone in class and try to feel them."

Harry tried again and the mess of colors slowly faded into what he only guessed could be called shapes. He felt Ron clearly as if he were looking at him. He felt like he was slightly anxious, Harry thought.

Jade let the exercise go on for ten minutes before calling for their attention again. "Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe that everyone succeeded, right?" every head nodded affirmatively. "Good. Sensing the Force is one of the three basic abilities and in my opinion the simplest to master. You aren't manipulating anything or making something do something else, only feeling."

"Professor, when I felt Ron for the first time, I got the feeling he was anxious or upset. Is that normal? Could I really tell something like that?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry, you can. I felt it on Ron as well. He was nervous that he wouldn't be able to do this, right Ron?"

"Yeah, that was about how I was feeling."

"That was the second of the three base skills, and I will show the third, control before you leave today." Messina Jade showed them the third (which I really don't feel like writing out because I want to get into the story already.)

By the time the class was over for the day the entire class was mentally exhausted. This was far beyond the first day, by a factor of ten at least. The class filed out quietly and returned to their houses. Even Draco didn't have enough left in him to throw one snide comment at the Gryffindors as they passed.

Two months have now passed and the students are well on their way to learning the ways of the Force. Some have advanced much slower than others, but all have made progress. During the last class before a Hogsmeade weekend, Messina Jade had them all practicing different skills. She sat in the front of the room and one by one studied them in the Force. You could call what she was doing 'sounding', testing the depths, for lack of a better term. Not too surprisingly she found Harry to have a seemingly bottomless reserve of power. Draco, Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville also seemed to have large reserves. Also not surprising was the shallowness of Hermione's. Hermione gave her utmost effort every day but was struggling at what had become simple to the others. Jade dismissed the class and went on her way for the afternoon. She had little to do until her next morning's breakfast with the Headmaster.

"Good morning, Messina," Dumbledore said as she was walking up to the teacher's table.

"And to you, Headmaster."

"So, how has the experiment gone so far?" He asked her, eyes glittering.

"It is going much better than I'd ever expected to be quite honest. Many of the students are racing through lessons and exercises almost as fast as I did."

"See, and you were worried that you'd lost your teaching edge."

"It's been many years, Headmaster, since I last had a student. A single student, I might add, not close to fifty."

"You are doing an admirable job in any case Messina. Tell me about the students if you would."

"Of course. I'll start with the obvious. Just as you said he might, Harry Potter might well have the strength of the old Masters with enough time. His potential nearly floored me when I felt it yesterday. It was incredible."

"I thought he would. I sensed a little of it when he first came here and I can only imagine what it must be now that he's had even the most basic training."

"He is an incredibly fast learner as well. I'd bet my robe that he will be at my level inside of a year, maybe not even six months."

"You underestimate yourself, Messina."

"On the contrary, I think you're underestimating Potter."

"Very well. Go on."

"The student that has surprised me the most as of yet is Neville Longbottom. From everything that I've heard about him nearly being a Squib, he also has great potential."

Dumbledore chuckled at that. "I'm not surprised. Neville always has a way of surprising everyone."

"Well, he is nearly at the same level as Harry, but not progressing as quickly. Seamus and Ron are also in the same category, as well as Dean."

"Are all the proficient students in Gryffindor?" Dumbledore asked her.

"Not all, but a large percentage of the fifth years seem to be. Of the Slytherin fifth years, only Draco Malfoy and Aeric Arnot are showing real potential. The rest are succeeding but at a slow pace."

"And the other two houses?"

"Most of their talent seems to be in the fourth years. The Ware twins, Eli and Valin, show the most potential from Ravenclaw. From Hufflepuff it looks like Codi Wolf is the most promising."

"Good. The only problem is that we might not be around here long enough for them to get higher training," Dumbledore said.

"I'm glad you brought that point up, Headmaster. It saves me the trouble. What I would like to do is twofold. One is to meet more often. I can't push them much harder in the time we have now or they will pass out, but there is so much that I need to teach them and not enough time." Dumbledore pondered that for a moment.

"And your second point?"

"I would like to start the training of the lower years. I feel it will be vitally important to whatever is on the horizon."

"I agree with you on both counts, Messina. I do have reservations however. What becomes of the younger students who will only just now begin their training if..."

"I see your point, Headmaster, but my instincts tell me that we must do it. I know that you mean what will happen to a student that doesn't finish enough training to know how to control his new powers and know the right ways to use them."

"Exactly. Remember what happened the last time a student didn't complete his training, Messina?"

"He is hardly an example, Headmaster."

"Ah, but he is. He may have only had rudimentary training, much as I see the younger students getting, but it was enough to start him down the road to evil."

"I did not come here to speak of my past failure, Headmaster," Messina said, showing a little agitation for the first time since she'd arrived in Hogwarts, "but of potential successes."

"Very well. I didn't mean to start down that road, but I felt I needed to in order to.."

"I understand. You are right, but I still feel it is necessary."

"As I said, I agree with you. So, it will happen. Starting Monday we will expand to the third and second years. I won't condone anyone younger because they have enough to deal with already."

"I concur."

"What about the older students, Messina?"

"I've studied most of them already. They are too ingrained in their current path. Any deviation to the Force might hamper both studies for them. Basically they are too old."

"I see. I'll trust your judgment. Now, tell me how the training goes for young master Creevey?".........

Alright. Finally I'm where I want to be in the story. I just couldn't bare to go through 'class' anymore going over the basics. I was putting myself to sleep doing it. So, I jumped ahead a few months to where it is starting to get good. In the near future, Harry and company will gain their lightsabres. Hooray! To me, that is an integral part of star wars. Look for the actual story to emerge in the next couple of chapters. Now, who was Jade's old pupil? Was it You-Know-Who? Well, I guess you just have to wait and see, huh?

Hope you've enjoyed this so far, tell me in a review. Hell, tell me if you hated it as long as you tell me how to change it.