The Long Road

The weekend passed and the new school week was looming on the horizon. Harry and the other Gryffindors were sitting in the common room talking about what Professor Jade had mentioned the previous week.

"She said she'd show us the true weapon of, of, what did she call them? Jerkies?" Seamus asked the group while unwrapping a Chocolate Frog.

"No, she called them Jedi, Seamus," a voice called from just outside their little circle of chairs. Heads turned to see the small face of Colin Creevey looking at them from one of the many couches. Ron rolled his eyes. Hermione gave Ron the eye.

"Jedi, that's right. So what do you think that their weapon would be?" No one had an definitive answer for Seamus but their were more than a few guesses.

"I bet is has something to do with our wands," Colin said as he moved to a chair a bit closer to the conversation.

"How would that work, Colin?" Ron asked him a bit harshly, causing Colin to sink back into his seat. It also caused Hermione to stomp on Ron's toes as hard as she could. "Ow!! What was that for?" "What do you think it was for?" Hermione and Ron exchanged icy glances for a few seconds before Ron bent down and removed his shoe and massaged his toes. "I think that Colin might be on to something. I don't know exactly how it would work, but I agree with him."

"I guess we'll all just have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to find out won't we?" Neville asked after they'd all fallen silent for a moment. He was agreed with and the group turned in shortly thereafter.

The next morning's classes went by quite slowly. If it were possible for Professor Binns lectures to be any more boring than normal, they were. Even Charms, a class that Harry genuinely liked, seemed to drag by. Finally, after lunch, they got to the class they had all been waiting for.

The group hurried into the classroom and took their seats, waiting for Professor Jade to appear. She joined them in a few moments, looking a bit harried and a lot anxious. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged interested glances.

"Students, I'm sorry to have kept you, but I had a small amount of business to attend to before I arrived here." She started walking around the front of the room for a few moments while she collected her thoughts. "What I'm about to show you is the cornerstone of the Jedi way. Now, if I can have Mr. Longbottom's assistance with my demonstration, we'll begin. Bring your wand, Neville."

A hush fell over the classroom and Neville nearly fell over his own feet on his way to the front of the classroom. "I will not faint, I will not faint," Neville told himself as he stood at Jade's feet. He knew that he had the skills to do whatever she asked, but his stage fright was not letting his mind realize that fact. He was squeezing his wand so tightly that you could easily see his white knuckles from Harry's table halfway back.

"Neville is so nervous," Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione, "he thinks he might faint."

"We know he can do it and he should too," Hermione told them both and silently cheered him on.

Harry cheered as well, but in a slightly different way. He reached inside himself and sent warm feelings shooting toward Neville, encouraging him. Professor Jade looked his way and gave Harry a large but quick smile. Neville seemed to almost instantly pick his self confidence off the floor. His posture improved and he released the death grip on his wand.

"Now, Neville, I want you to focus on your wand, focus hard. Reach down deep inside it, feel the power that the wand possesses. Do you feel it?"

"Ye-yes, yes I can. It feels incredible, like ah, I don't know, something immense."

"Exactly. Now, hold the wand out in front of you, like this," she said as she repositioned Neville's stance. He now had both hands on the wand, holding it similar to a baseball bat , but straight out in front of him. "What I want you to do is draw the power inside the wand out through the tip." Jade took a few steps back and watched.

Neville looked thoughtfully at his wand for a moment before he screwed his eyes up in concentration. A small hum began to fill the classroom and the other students edged forward in their chairs. In a split second a beam of green light extended three feet from the tip of Neville's wand. He nearly dropped it in surprise, barely hanging on.

Murmurs shot through the students like a flu virus. "What?" "How?" "No way!" Even Draco, who had seemed less than impressed through most of the lessons so far this term, joined the buzz.

"What Neville has just produced for us is the weapon of a true Jedi, a lightsabre. This blade is extremely dangerous, just as lethal as the Unforgivable Curses, but much easier to wield. May I see your blade for a moment, Neville?" Neville nodded and carefully handed his wand to her.

Slowly waving around the lightsabre, the blade making that eerie sound again. "This blade can cut through nearly anything given enough time." Without giving the students time to breathe after her words, Professor Jade quickly turned on her heels and sliced her wooden desk in half in less than a heartbeat. Open mouths filled the seats when she turned around.

"Now, listen to my next words very, very carefully," Jade spoke very slowly now, "I will aid you all in your attempts to activate your wands, but you must not, and I mean never, do so outside of this classroom. I don't care if Professor McGonagall says 'Hermione, would you show me your blade please'. The only exception to this rule will be if Headmaster Dumbledore agrees to tutor some of you. If I find that you have broken this rule I can assure you that you'll be expelled quicker than you can blink an eye."

Professor Jade surveyed the class. "Is anyone in disagreement with what I've just said?" Silence answered her. "Very good. Now, let's begin."

The class carried on way too quickly for everyone. Once they'd learned to activate and deactivate their wands quickly and easily it was already time to go. Small talk filled the room as the students became familiar with the procedure.

"Professor Jade," Hermione asked just before the class was to be dismissed, "why are our blades different colors? It shouldn't be the components, since both Harry and Neville has the same type of wand, but Neville's blade was green and Harry's was orange."

"That is an interesting question, Hermione. I honestly don't have an answer for you. In old times, these weapons were made with crystals that determined the color, but now it just happens how it happens."

"Thank you, Professor."

"Not a problem, Hermione. Now, unless there are any other questions, class dismissed. Oh, Harry, could you stay after just a moment?" Harry nodded and waited behind as the other students filed out. Harry motioned for Hermione and Ron to go along and came up to part of Jade's desk.

"What can I do for you, Professor?" Harry asked once the door had closed behind the last student.

"Harry, I wanted to ask you about what you did while Neville was preparing to demonstrate for us."

"Oh, uh, did I do something wrong?" Harry asked quite nervously.

"No, no, nothing of the sort. I would just like to know if this was something that you've done before. You felt him cheer up, didn't you?"

"Yes I did. It was like he was hit with a Cheering Charm."

"Exactly. What you did is something that I believe is called tele-empathy," she saw and felt Harry's confusion. "Tele-empathy is the ability to affect someone's mind and is a very difficult technique to master."

"I...really?"

"Yes. It is one of the last things that a student would learn. What you did was a very basic form of it, but it was tele-empathy nonetheless."

"Why is it such a difficult thing, Professor? It seemed pretty simple. I just wanted him to be less nervous and it worked."

"The skill you performed is a combination of all three of the building blocks of the Force, Harry. Sense, Control, and Alter. You sensed Neville's nervousness, controlled your own Force, and altered Neville's state of mind. It is a very complex procedure, something that I myself aren't all that good at." Harry looked dumbstruck. He was better than a teacher at something? That seemed as farfetched as Harry being better than Snape at Potions.

"Wow," was all that Harry could say. He felt a bit embarrassed for some reason.

"Don't be ashamed of what you can do, Harry. The Force is very strong in some people. Also, some people excel in certain aspects of it more than others. I can hardly do what you do, but I can move things like there is no tomorrow. I am also not too shabby of a duelist, if I may say so." Harry grinned at her, his embarrassment forgotten.

"There is one more thing I would like to ask you before you go, Harry." She looked at him but he had absolutely no intention of refusing her. "I am considering an extra session a week for those students who seem to be above the class average. Would you be interested?"

"Of course I would!" Harry said with a little more gusto than he intended. "Who else would be there? If you can tell me, that is."

"I can surely tell you. Ron, Seamus, the older Creevey brother. I can never remember which one he is."

"Colin," Harry told her.

"Right, Colin. Anyway, he, Dean, Draco Malfoy, and a few others. Oh, and Neville. A half dozen or so students from each house"

Harry was wondering if she'd forgotten about Neville. Neville and he seemed to be on about the same level skill-wise. He wasn't really surprised at her not mentioning Hermione. This seemed like Divination all over again. She put out the effort but got minimal results. She did activate her blade though.

"Harry? Harry?" Professor jade said as she waved a hand in front of his face. He jumped back to reality.

"Sorry, Professor."

"It's no problem. You can go. I'm off to meet with the Headmaster." Harry and the Professor both left the room, Harry heading in one direction and Jade in the other.

Back in Gryffindor Tower, Harry met back up with his group. "What did Professor Jade want to talk to you about, Harry?" Ron asked him the moment he'd settled in a chair.

"She wanted to talk to me about what I'd done to Neville earlier in class."

"That was you?" Neville asked, a bit amazed. "It was really neat. It was like I had someone with me, urging me on. It was almost like someone was holding my hand while I was up there." Harry got a few puzzled looks so he explained what he had done and what Jade had told him afterward. He left out the part of the extra classes though. They continued talking about class for the better part of an hour before they finally broke for dinner.

"Sugar quill," Jade said as she made her way to the Headmaster's office. She found Albus sitting in his chair, waiting for her.

"I trust the lessons are still going well, Messina?"

"Better than well, Headmaster. The majority of the students are picking it up much more quickly than I'd ever imagined. Much quicker than myself as well. And," already knowing Dumbledore's next question, "almost as quickly as him."

"I see. I guess that is a blessing then."

"The Force tells me it is."

"So what can I do for you, Messina?" Dumbledore asked her, sure that she wasn't here just for a cup of tea.

"I would like your permission to tutor some of the more adept students outside of class in some of the more difficult aspects of the Force."

"I think that would be an acceptable idea. You have a group of students in mind, I suppose?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. I think you should start as soon as you are ready, for I think we are quickly running out of time," Dumbledore told her.

"I believe you are right, Headmaster. The storm is quick approaching. I have seen it.