Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 41 ¾ .

Stupid me, Harry cursed himself for falling into such a simple trap. He was hanging on to a broken end of the walkway, catching his breath. His lightsaber was dropped in the explosion and was probably still falling. Stupid me, he cursed again.

Every part of his body was in pain. Every breath brought more pain. His ears were ringing, unable to process his own words--if he was saying any. His vision was blurred, and there was a tinge of red to everything he saw he realized had to be blood.

Still, he held on.

He saw a blurry dark figure ahead. Voldemort, his mind told him, but his mouth wouldn't make out the words. You cheated, he wanted to say.

"Young, brave, naive, and foolish," Voldemort said. "Power is a much better protector than love. I had realized that before I was your age. That's how I got great. You could have had the same. But instead..."

"You..." Harry managed.

"I'm really doing you a favor, you know. You--"

"No..."

"Avada Kedavra!"

Chapter 42.

"Well, there it is," she said. "See that small house?"

"Right." Kyle landed the Moldy Crow next to what used to be Obi-Wan's hut, where Hermione had left her X-wing. It was still here. A brown and white R5 unit greeted here with a happy chirp.

"Hi, CueSeven," she said. "You ready for some flying?"

The droid acknowledged and beeped a question. "Oh, that," she smiled. Getting out her wand, she pointed it at the droid. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she said, lifting the droid up and lowering it into its socket on the fighter. "There we go. Start her up."

"That's a neat trick," Kyle said.

"Not a trick, just a spell. Thanks for the lift Kyle. Good luck in your search."

"Good luck to you too." Kyle headed back to his ship.

"Kyle?" she called out.

"What?" he asked.

"May the Force be with you."

Kyle nodded, and entered the ship. A minute later, the Crow took off.

Hermione went into the hut, put on her flight suit, and got into her X-wing. "Ready, CueSeven?"

The droid printed out a reply on the comm screen. "Good. Well, we better hurry." She closed the cockpit and took off, heading up into orbit. "CueSeven, begin hyperspace calculations." To herself, she muttered, "I miss Wedge."

XXX

"It's a lightsaber," Ron said. Jan nodded.

"Look!" She pointed forward. "Someone's falling!"

Ron glanced out the viewport, and acted without thinking. He popped open the top hatch, grabbed the broomstick, and flew off. "Wait!" Jan shouted, but he ignored it. He was diving towards the falling person, trying to coax the maximum speed out of the Firebolt.

His world consisted of himself, the broomstick and the falling person. Jan, the ship, the planet, the Empire--all was gone from his mind as he drove down. It was a race between himself and the ground as to who would get to the person first.

He won. Reaching out, he grabbed the falling person's hand, pulled up, and got him onto the broomstick before breaking to slow down the fall and head back up. Only then did he look at the person he rescued. The shock was such that he nearly dropped him again.

"Harry? Harry! You're alive... are you?" Harry didn't respond.

"No... you can't be dead... you can't be..." Ron muttered to himself. Holding on to Harry, he flew up towards the ship. He landed on top, put Harry through the hatch, then climbed in himself.

"Ron, what were you thinking?"

"I was saving Harry, who happens to be my best friend."

"You couldn't have known who it was."

"I didn't, but--"

"Never mind," Jan said. "I probably would have done the same. But," she said, "that doesn't mean we aren't in trouble."

"Right." Ron didn't really listen. You can't be dead, Harry. You can't be.

"Remember I told you how they look at suspicious vessels more closely--well, this made us suspicious, that's for sure."

"Right." Ron got back into the pilot's seat.

"Private vessel Padfoot," a new voice came through the intercom. "This is Imperial Center Control. Change your course to orbital corridor Delta-H-Five."

"Affirmative," Jan said. "Change our course."

Ron did so. They already were almost at the designated lift point, where they had to take the craft out. Ron wasn't looking where he was going. Harry...

"Ron, wake up!"

"Huh?"

Jan pointed at the sensor screen. "In case you haven't noticed, that path they directed us at will take us between two Imperial Star Destroyers. You think it's a coincidence?"

"No."

"Neither do I. Any ideas?"

"No--wait." At that moment, he did get an idea. But that's crazy! his mind protested. So?

The crazy side won--as it always did.

"I'm going to start calculations for hyperspace, so we can jump the moment we clear the planet."

"We won't before those Star Destroyers are onto us."

"I know. Just hang on."

As the ship rose, two massive gray wedges hovered ahead. "They'll try to get us with a tractor beam," Jan whispered.

"They won't get the chance," Ron declared, punching in something on the control panel. He hoped he remembered that sabacc game with Tycho Celchu accurately. If he didn't, he'd never know.

"What're you doing?"

"Altering the fuel mixture," Ron told her.

"But, Ron, the mixture you set--that's explosive!"

"Not always. Under the right conditions," he said as the Star Destroyers got ever closer, "it can--" He banked the craft to the right, which immediately prompted the Imperial warships to open fire. He didn't finish speaking, instead flipping the switch throwing the new mixture into the engines.

The acceleration pushed him and Jan into their seats and slammed Harry, who wasn't strapped in, into the back panel. Ron, concentrating on the flying, took the Padfoot skimming the surface of the Star Destroyer, and went within meters of the bridge tower, open space ahead of him.

Ron flipped another switch, and the acceleration stopped.

"What did you do?" Jan managed.

"Jettisoned the engines."

"What! Now that they launched TIE fighters?"

"Look." He pointed to the sensor screen. An enormous explosion formed behind them. "This should confuse their sensors for a moment."

"A moment. And then what?"

A blue light flashed on the console. Ron looked at it and smiled.

"And then," he said, pulling on the hyperdrive lever, "we're out of here."

Stars turned into starlines and vanished. Ron wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"What just happened?"

"Later. Harry," he called out to his friend. "Harry, are you all right?"

There was no reply.

"Oh, no..."

"Ron..."

"Don't! Don't tell me it wasn't my fault!" He sulked. "We made it... but it was too late for him. If I ever get my hands on..."

"Ron!"

"Don't," he said. "I can't believe..." he looked at Harry's lifeless body. He tried to detect a pulse. He failed. He lifted Harry's eyelids. There was no spark in the dull green eyes.

No... I can't believe it... I don't believe it... I won't believe it! He's NOT DEAD! HE IS NOT DEAD! This is a dream... a bad dream, and when I wake up, I'll be safe at Hogwarts and...

And then, he broke down and sobbed, not caring where they were heading, not caring what Jan was thinking, not caring about anything at all.

Harry is dead.