Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 13.

"Lumos!" Harry said, lighting the tip of his wand. "Light yours, too," he told his companions. "That way, we won't have to look for each other."

They did so, but even with three wands glowing at their brightest, it wasn't possible to see clearly beyond five feet. They had to rely on portable scanners, and much more importantly, their inner senses to decide on direction.

They talked little as they rode, realizing that heat was lost with every word one said. They rode close together, since even with wand lights, it was easy to disappear from view.

"There, look!" yelled Ron, pointing to their right where suddenly, a bright blue-white glow was seen. With this visibility, it was impossible to judge the distance, but the same poor visibility indicated it couldn't be far.

The glow vanished, but the trio already turned towards it. They soon saw a body of a tauntaun, a human body lying prostrate next to it, and another human leaning against the animal.

"...bad on the outside!" the conscious human said in Han Solo's voice.

"Han!" Ron leaped down and ran towards the smuggler.

Han turned around and looked at them. "Help me set up shelter!" he yelled. "Luke's still alive!"

"Dagobah... Yoda..." Luke moaned. Then sad sounding grunts suddenly filled the air. The three tauntauns the wizards arrived on collapsed from the cold.

"Oh, no..." Hermione muttered. She liked the animals.

"Lift his head a little," Harry told Han before drawing his wand and murmuring an incantation. He reached out to the front of Luke's face. "Good," he said.

"What did you do?" Han asked.

"The bubble-head charm," Harry replied. "Keeps air near the head isolated. We use it to go underwater, but it should keep out the cold air as well."

"Move him a little," said Hermione. "Now, for some warmth. Incendio!" she cast the fire-lighting spell. A blue fire appeared in front of them.

They warmed their hands a little and resumed setting up a tent. Every few minutes, one of the wizards checked on Luke. The bubble-head charm had to be periodically broken, so whoever was inside wouldn't suffocate. They made sure to do that next to the fire, where the air was warm. Like this, they spent the night, perpetually worried whether Luke was unconscious or just asleep.

In the morning, Han ordered them to set up their comlinks to receive any frequency used by the base. Sure enough, only minutes after sunrise, they picked up a transmission.

"Commander Skywalker, do you copy? This is Rogue Two. This is Rogue Two. Captain Solo, do you copy? Lieutenant Granger, do you copy? This is Rogue Two."

"Good morning," Hans spoke into his comlink. "Nice of you guys to drop by!"

"Echo base," they heard the voice in the comlink speaker, "this is Rogue Two. I found them, repeat, I found them." Zev Senesca, who found them, picked up the still unconscious Luke and Han. Two more speeders arrived to take the wizards in half an hour. Hermione was pleased at the sight of the pilot who arrived in the second speeder.

"Hi, Wedge," she said.

Wedge Antilles opened the back of his cockpit, letting Hermione in.

"Welcome aboard." The second-in-command of Rogue Squadron beamed at her. "Please hold on to you baggage..."

"Oh, shut up," she dismissed the joke. "Remember where your misplaced sense of humor got you on Eriadu?"

"You'll never let me live that down, will you?" Wedge asked as he lifted the speeder and turned towards the base.

"Why should I?" Hermione shook her head. "I had to come rescue you then. And don't you dare say we're even. Nobody's been shooting at you here."

Wedge made a sigh. "You can outfly a woman," he muttered to himself, "but you can't outargue her."

XXX

Back at the base, Luke was swimming in a solution of healing fluid called bacta. Fortunately, Han and the wizards go to him before anything more serious than heavy frostbite occurred. The damage was healed, and soon, the base's medical droid declared Luke fit.

"Master Luke, it's so good to see you fully functional again," the protocol droid See Threepio congratulated him. The astromech droid Artoo Detoo beeped in agreement.

"You look strong enough to pull the ears of a gundark," Han offered.

"Thanks to you," he said, looking around the room. "To all of you."

Han was about to say something when Leia walked in. Seeing Luke, she smiled, and turned to Han.

"Well, your Highness,"--the Corellian grinned-- "looks like you managed to keep me around for a little while longer."

"I had nothing to do with it," Leia contested. "General Rieekan thinks it's too dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we've activated the energy shield."

"Is that so? Well I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight."

Harry sensed trouble coming and excused himself. Both his friends followed, although Hermione stayed behind at the door. When they got out of her hearing range, Ron was the first to speak.

"What was that about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Harry retorted. "Han and Luke both like Leia, so although they're friends, they're also jealous of each other. I remember how it was between me, Cedric Diggory, and Cho Chang, in our fourth year. Unless they start going at each other with blasters, it's best if we avoid involving ourselves."

"You know what I'm thinking?" asked Ron.

"No, what?"

"Well, I've been thinking this for quite a while," Ron explained. "At first, this world appeared to be very different from our home. And on the surface, it is. But deep down..."

"Yeah," Harry said. "It's so similar that it's scary."