Rating:
PG-13
House:
The Dark Arts
Ships:
Ginny Weasley/Harry Potter
Characters:
Harry and Hermione and Ron
Genres:
Crossover Alternate Universe
Era:
The Harry Potter at Hogwarts Years
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Phoenix Half-Blood Prince
Stats:
Published: 05/24/2006
Updated: 06/04/2007
Words: 91,458
Chapters: 67
Hits: 75,013

Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

LunaIsCool

Story Summary:
On Christmas morning in their seventh year, a flying accident causes the Trio to vanish. They reappear in a galaxy far, far away... where a war against the Galactic Empire rages.

Chapter 31

Posted:
11/22/2006
Hits:
980


Chapter 31.

Ron reached his goal. "Hermione," he whispered.

"Ron!"

"Yeah. Just be quiet. Alohomora!" The locks on her wrists snapped open.

"Ron," she said, "we've got to help Harry."

"Accio!" he cried, calling the wand he saw Harry drop to him. Looking at it, he smiled and handed it to Hermione. "It's yours."

"Thanks," she said.

"Let's go."

Harry glanced off to the side and saw Hermione freed. That cost him. The woman, standing on the very edge of the platform, leaped over him, and even before she landed, kicked him in the back. Harry was sent flying forward. He let go of his lightsaber, which fell into the clouds below. Grabbing onto a pipe under the walkway, he hung on for his life.

The woman's blade swung twice, severing the pipe. Harry, still clutching the piece of metal, dropped.

"No!" Ron yelled, not caring that his voice would give him away, despite the invisibility cloak. The woman turned, saw Hermione, and reactivated her lightsaber.

Then, instead of attacking them, she jumped down. Hermione and Ron ran to the edge and saw her ship flying away below.

In the next instant, stormtroopers ran out onto the platform, shooting at them. "Protego!" Ron shouted, stopping the bolts that came close. But there were too many of them. Soon, they would be surrounded.

A battered looking freighter approached the platform and stopped at the edge. A brown-haired bearded man jumped out and opened up on the Imperials with a rapid fire blaster rifle. The stormtroopers scattered.

"Come on!" the man shouted. Ron and Hermione were already running towards him. As soon as they jumped onto the ramp, the ship flew off.

"Hermione! Are you okay?"

"Jan!" Hermione ran into the cockpit. "Thanks. You saved our lives."

"It's nothing. This is Kyle Katarn, by the way," she introduced the man.

"We have to go after that ship," Hermione declared. "Harry's there."

Ron looked at her. "He's alive," she said. "I can feel it."

"All right. Kyle and Ron," Jan said, "you two better take the guns." The two left the cockpit.

"You take the port side, I'll handle the starboard," Kyle ordered. Ron nodded.

"TIE fighters coming in," Hermione said over the ship's intercom. "Looks like a full squadron."

"Not good," said Jan.

"Do we have any missiles?" Hermione asked. "Or proton torpedoes?"

"No... We had no time to resupply."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Kyle commented.

"Hang on!" Jan yelled, throwing the ship into a twist.

The TIEs rushed by, firing green bolts at them. Ron and Kyle shot back.

"One!" Kyle shouted as an imperial ship exploded under his gun turret.

"Two!" Ron echoed, having destroyed another TIE.

"Guys, we lost half our shields in that one pass," Hermione informed them.

"Roger," Kyle said grimly. "Damn."

"Here they come!"

Jan took the ship into a steep dive. The TIEs followed, firing all the time. Kyle and Ron managed to get three of them.

"Only seven left," Ron called out.

"Bad news," Hermione called. "Shields barely holding. Maybe we can sustain one more hit."

"They're coming around," Jan announced.

"Any ideas?" Ron asked.

"No..." Hermione looked out the viewport at the approaching fighters.

And gasped as all seven turned into fireballs under deadly accurate laser fire. Then five X-wings dropped out of the sky right next to them.

"Rogue Squadron to Moldy Crow," Wedge called out. "You asked for help?"

"Wedge!" Hermione yelled.

"What took you so long?" Kyle demanded.

"Well," Wedge said, "we had to wait for Janson to sober up."

"Hey, I resent that!" Wes protested, and the intercom filled with laughs from the rest of the Rogues.

"That's her ship," Hermione pointed at the scanner display.

"We'll never catch up to it in time," Jan said. "Not in this ship."

"We won't... but... Wedge, you see that ship - going into orbit, about seventy degrees east?"

"Yeah," the pilot replied. "It's hea-- It just jumped into hyperspace."

"Damn!" Hermione slammed her fist into the console. Then she saw something else...

"Moldy Crow to Millennium Falcon," she spoke into the comm system.

"Hermione?" Leia's voice filled with surprise.

"I'm okay. Ron and I are both here... but Harry was captured."

The reply was silence for a moment. "I'm sorry," Leia said. "We've got Luke, but Vader gave Han to a bounty hunter."

"Three TIEs chasing the Falcon," Wedge said. "Hobbie, Tycho, get them."

"Acknowledged, Rogue Lead," Tycho's voice replied, and the two X-wings broke off.

The Crow rose into orbit. "Star Destroyer," Hermione said.

"It's the Executor," Wedge told them. "Falcon, are you in trouble?"

"... It's not my fault! They told me they fixed it!" a muffled voice came out of the speakers.

"Something is wrong with our hyperdrive," came Leia's explanation. "Go! There's nothing you can do!"

"TIEs approaching," Wes announced. "Boss, they're all heading for us... none for the Falcon."

"They want them alive," Hermione said.

The Falcon and the two X-wings escorting it skimmed the surface of the Executor. The other three Rogues moved to engage the Imperial fighters.

"Hermione," Jan asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't like sitting here..." She pointed to the viewport. "I should be with them."

"Boss," Hobbie's excited voice came over the intercom, "the Falcon just jumped. We're going before they can snag us with a tractor beam."

"Acknowledged, Rogue Six," Wedge replied. "Well, do we leave this party?"

"Good idea," Hermione said. "Jan?"

"Coordinates set," the other woman answered. Hermione pulled the lever, and the Crow vanished into hyperspace.

XXX

At the fleet rendezvous, their ship docked with the medical frigate. Wedge and Leia were there to greet them.

"Welcome back," Leia smiled.

"Wedge!" Hermione ran up and kissed him. The kiss lasted until it dawned on Hermione that they were not alone. She broke off and glared back.

"What?" she demanded.

"Nothing," Ron muttered.

Feeling awkward, Hermione changed the subject. "Where's Luke?"

Leia stirred. "In surgery. Vader cut off his hand."

Ron stirred. "And Lando?"

"He and Chewie are prepping the Falcon to try to intercept the bounty hunter before he reaches Jabba the Hutt." Hermione saw how difficult it was for her to say this.

"What happened to Harry?" Wedge asked.

"That woman captured him," Ron said. "She had a ship waiting below the platform. And--"

"It's my fault," three voices blurted out at once. Hermione turned, looking for the other two.

"I shouldn't have sent you on that mission to Suran in the first place," Jan spoke up.

"Somehow, they knew, and set the trap."

"And I shouldn't have told you to stay in the forest," Wedge added.

"But..." Hermione began.

"Among us," Wedge countered, "It's your fault the least. Nor does it matter. We're going to rescue Harry. Whatever it takes."

"Thank you," Hermione stammered. "I just... need time to think." She walked off.

XXX

Several hours later, she was staring out the viewport of the frigate at the expanse of stars.

That view calmed her down... a little. She heard someone walk in and turn around.

"Wedge," she said.

"Hermione, I'm sorry..."

"Will everyone please stop apologizing to me? There's nothing to be sorry for!"

"You lost one of your two best friends... I shouldn't take advantage of it."

She approached him. "Don't think of it that way. Harry was one of my three best friends."

"All right," he said. "Hermione... I came to tell you you can rely on me. Harry was my friend as well - not as close as he was to you, I'm sorry to say, but still... I was afraid for you... afraid you would sink into yourself... and I want to tell you don't have to."

"Wedge... that's sweet of you. I... I love you, Wedge. I don't know when it--"

"Shh. It makes no difference when or where or how - I don't know either. When we were attacked on Suran what scared me most wasn't that I might die... or even that you might die... but that either of these things would happen without you knowing my feelings. I love you, Hermione." With that, he took her head in his hands, pulled her towards him, and placed a kiss on her lips. She kissed him back, and then pulled herself closer.

"I'm not letting you go, you know," she whispered.

"I don't want you to." They resumed the kiss.

When they finally broke the kiss, Hermione smiled at Wedge. "So what will you be doing now?" he asked.

"Looking for Harry, of course... but don't worry, I won't run off. I will need help from you. Got a new X-wing?"

"You're coming back to the squadron?"

"Haven't I just said that?" She winked at him. "Someone has to watch your back. And n the past few days, I learned about the loyalty Rogues show their own. This is my best chance."

Wedge grinned at her. "Welcome back, Rogue Eight." He kissed her again.

"HERMIONE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"What?" She jumped back from Wedge to see a furious Ron enter the room.

"I would think that Harry's capture means more to you than that!"

"More than what?"

"DON'T TRY TO PULL THAT ON ME! YOU DON'T KNOW, DO YOU? HARRY CAME HALFWAY ACROSS THE GALAXY TO RESCUE YOU, AND YOU... YOU DON'T CARE AT ALL!"

"Of course I care, w--"

"DOESN'T LOOK LIKE IT!" Ron stomped out.

"Now wait one moment," Wedge protested, but Hermione cut him off and headed after

Ron.

"Ron, wait!"

He turned around. "What? Not having enough fun with your new boyfriend?"

"Ron, you don't--"

"I understand everything. How can I consider you my friend when I know that... that THIS is what you'll do if I need help? I'm better off not counting on you in the first place."

"Now just one second!" she yelled at him. "Where do those stupid ideas you get come from? Do you think that Wedge doesn't care what happened to Harry as well? Do you think he won't help? Do you think the rest of the Rogues will be worthless in a rescue attempt? DO YOU THINK YOU STAND A BETTER CHANCE ALONE? Is this about pride, Ron?"

Ron glared at her. "You believe that if you want." He turned away.

"Where are you going?"

"None of your business." He didn't give a single glance behind.

XXX

Ron hadn't planned this, but his anger made him determined to get away. And so, he was sitting next to Chewie and Lando in the Millennium Falcon, preparing to leave.

"Luke," Lando said, "we're ready for takeoff."

"Good luck, Lando." Luke said.

"When we find Jabba the Hutt and that bounty hunter, we'll contact you." Chewie seconded that with a growl. Ron didn't know whether he would stay with them or head off on a search of his own, but at least he'd be doing something... Unlike Hermione.

"I'll meet you at the rendezvous point on Tatooine," Luke said.

"Princess, we'll find Han. I promise."

"Chewie," Luke said, "I'll be waiting for your signal. May the Force be with you." Lando took the Falcon away from the medical frigate and headed towards the galaxy.

Ron quietly sat, watching. "What's wrong?" Lando asked him.

"Nothing," he lied. Everything felt wrong. But he couldn't go back now. What was done was done.

XXX

When Hermione got to her quarters, she found two things lying on her bed, both unexpected. The first was Harry's invisibility cloak. Why would Ron give me this, after what happened? The second item was a note from Ron.

-Maybe this'll help you remember Harry, although I doubt it. Chewbacca is a more reliable friend than you will ever be, so I'm going to stick with him.

That night, she cried.