Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 2.

It was completely dark.

It was also very hot.

Harry was lying on his back, head leaning against a hard wall that felt like metal. His legs were pushing something soft, and something like a body was lying across his stomach on top of him. He was still holding the broomstick in one hand. He let it go. It made no noise when it fell, but it did produce a response.

"Ow!" said Ron. "What was that?"

"Sorry, Ron. Where are we?"

"What are you two doing here?" asked Hermione, getting off Harry.

"We came after you," said Ron. "You just vanished into thin air."

"How long have you been here?" Harry asked, thinking.

"Thirty seconds, no more... unless I was unconscious."

"That's strange. It was at least ten minutes before we went after you."

"Let's take a look around," Ron said. "Lumos!"

Ron's wand lighted up. The three were in a room that was roughly cubical, seven feet on each side. On one side, there appeared to be a door, although there was no knob of any sort, just an indentation and a wall of different color. From the opposite wall there extended a gray metal slab, probably meant to be a couch, although there were no pillows or anything else to make it comfortable. It was the most un-magical place one could imagine.

Harry took off his winter cloak and folded it. "Ugh," he said. "Wherever we are, it is not winter here." The rest followed suit. "Wait a second," said Hermione. She took Harry and Ron's cloaks, put them on the couch, and then picked up the two broomsticks (fortunately, neither had broken) and put them next to the cloaks. She then wrapped everything in her own cloak, and got out her wand.

"Reducio!" she said, and the package shrunk to about three inches long. Hermione put it in her pocket.

"Now," Ron spoke up, but before he could finish, the lights came on, bright enough to hurt the eyes.

"Something is happening." Ron sounded worried.

"We're in a prison cell." Hermione looked at Harry.

"Quick! Get under my cloak!" he said. They covered themselves with the invisibility cloak, huddled against a wall and made their breathing quiet. They barely did it in time, but they had. Practice, Harry smiled. They had lots of that. Then the smile vanished from his face. Have we been noticed? he thought. Are they coming for us?

The door opened unlike any magic or Muggle door Harry had ever seen: by retracting into the ceiling. The opening took less than a second. A young woman dressed in white stood in the doorway. Her dark brown hair was made into buns at the sides of her heard. She appeared to be only a few years older than Harry and his friends, but her eyes revealed many troubling experiences. Her face barely moved, and Harry realized she was in shock. The look was similar to the way Mrs. Weasley looked two years ago, when a boggart appeared to her in the form of dead bodies of her children. Something happened just now, Harry thought. Something bad.

Behind the woman stood two human-shaped figures in shiny white armor plates, black underclothes, and skull-like helmets. They held short, odd-looking, black guns. That was all Harry had time to notice, since the armored figures shoved the woman into the cell and shut the door. It closed even faster than it opened.

"Let's show ourselves," whispered Hermione. She was very quiet, but the woman heard and stared into the spot where the three young wizards stood.

"Hello," Harry said, taking off the invisibility cloak and folding it. The woman opened her mouth in surprise. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"We're students at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," said Hermione. "I'm Hermione Granger, this," she pointed to Ron, "is Ron Weasley, --"

"Hi," said Ron.

"--and this is--"

"Harry Potter," said Harry. The woman nodded, and Harry was pleased that for once, his name was not instantly recognized.

"--and we can't be doing anything here," continued Hermione, "Since we don't know where we are. We simply appeared in this cell. Just minutes ago, in fact."

"You poor kids," said the woman, her voice dripping sadness. "My name is Leia Organa, and I am--" she choked, "--was the princess of the planet Alderaan until the Galactic Empire destroyed it."

"Destroyed a planet?" Harry gasped. "How? When? Why?"

"With this station we're on right now. It's called the Death Star. That's what it's been built for. They did it less than ten minutes ago. I saw it with my own eyes. And as to why, well, first, the Alderaanians' beliefs in freedom, justice, and peace were anathema to the Empire. And second, they told me they wouldn't destroy it if I told them the location of the secret base of the Rebel Alliance."

"The Rebel Alliance?" Harry asked.

"Yes. The Empire is only twenty years old, you know. Before, the galaxy was ruled by the Republic. We want to restore the old freedoms."

"And the Empire destroyed Alderaan because you refused to tell them the location of the base?" Hermione trembled as she asked the question.

"I wish. No, I told them. I lied, however. I gave them a location of the former base, one that has already been deserted. But they couldn't know it at the time, and they destroyed Alderaan anyway. I think they did it just to show they could."

"I understand," said Harry. "Where we come from, we've been fighting a dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, for many years. He killed hundreds personally, including my parents and he had many followers who enjoyed killing as well. This," he pointed to the scar on his forehead, "is from when he tried to kill me when I was a baby. I'm famous because I somehow survived. He's been trying to finish the job ever since. But a whole planet...then again, Voldemort didn't do that because he didn't have the power, not because he felt any compassion."

"What will the Empire do when they find out you lied?" Ron asked.

"I don't know. Kill me, probably." Leia sounded as if she accepted it.

"Not if we have anything to do with it," Harry declared.

"You're kids. What can you do against the Empire?"

"We'll see. Since he gave me this scar, I met Voldemort five times. I'm still here. My friends and I have done a bit of fighting.

"First," said Hermione, "we'll try to get out of here." She got out her wand and pointed at the door. "Alohomora!"

Nothing happened.

"What's the matter?" asked Ron, sounding worried.

"I don't know. This door couldn't have been protected by magic. I guess the spell just doesn't work on electronic locks."

"Electronic?" Ron asked, having no idea what she was talking about.

"It means it's controlled by computers. Computers certainly can be influenced by magic, but the only influence I've heard of was them not working properly in places like Hogwarts and Diagon Alley, with all the magic in the air. I don't think a spell exists to program them by magic. Probably nobody ever bothered to design one."

"So what do we do?" asked Leia.

"We wait," said Harry.