Worlds Apart

1. An Unexpected Arrival.

Harry looked up from the parchment on which he was writing his NEWT Potions practice test. Something was whistling in his ear, so he stuck his finger in it and waggled it round furiously.

"What are you doing, Potter?" Snape was Harry's least favourite teacher.

"Nothing, professor," replied Harry. "It's just I have a whining noise in my ear."

"The only whining I can hear is from you," spat Snape. "Get on with your test!"

There was a strange whining, and other students in the class were beginning to hear it now.

"I can hear something," Hermione whispered to Harry. "Sounds like something in pain."

"The only pain you will feel, Miss Granger, will be fifty points from Gryffindor." Snape always felt good taking points from them, especially if it was Hermione's fault.

"There is something, sir." Draco Malfoy was Snape's idea of the perfect pupil, and it was only when Malfoy said something that Snape responded more positively.

"Get back to your test." Snape was getting annoyed now, but his expression gave away the possibility he could hear the whining too.

He walked to the side of the classroom and threw open a window. The whining noise got a little louder and it seemed to be going up and down in intensity, as though it was being blown around in the breeze. Several of the students looked round, trying to peer through the windows.

"WHAT HAVE I SAID? GET ON WITH YOUR WORK!" The veins on Snape's temple stuck out, throbbing.

As he looked out of the window across the Forbidden Forest, nothing strange was really apparent. Some birds flew lazily back to their nests, and an animal was seen moving just within the trees. All seemed normal. Snape squinted against the bright blue sky and saw a shape, hanging in the air, way off in the distance. From what he could see, it was nothing more than a speck with a dark cloud surrounding it.

"If I hear anyone talking, moving, or anything else other than the scratching of quills, you will be making wart-enlarging potions for a month!" He turned and briskly walked from the room, slamming the door behind him.

"What do you think he saw?" asked Ron.

"I don't know," replied Harry. "It seems to have him rattled though."

"Sshhh, you two," Hermione piped up. "I don't fancy that potions punishment. I don't have any warts, but I'm sure Snape would find one."

The door crashed open, and Snape was followed by Dumbledore, Professor McGonnagal, and Professor Flitwick. They went straight over to the windows and opened one each. Taking the telescopes they were holding, they peered through them at the approaching object. By now, the whining had increased and Harry could see that the speck in the sky had increased in size. What the teachers saw made them all gasp.

"What in Merlin's beard is it?" Snape asked.

"I have no idea, Severus," replied Dumbledore. "It is definitely not something I have ever seen."

"Maybe it's something to do with Muggles," McGonnagal said.

"Yes, I have read something about hairy-plans, or something like that," Flitwick exclaimed.

"Its aero-planes," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "But what is one doing near Hogwarts?"

"Shut up, Granger. Fifty more points from Gryffindor!" Snape sounded pleased with himself.

Malfoy grinned at the back of Hermione's head and flicked a rolled up piece of paper at her. Hermione got back to her test, her eyes glistening with tears. Harry threw Malfoy a nasty look.

"Severus, the girl is right," Dumbledore said quietly. "I have seen aero-planes before, but this is not like the ones I have seen."

In the sky, the speck was becoming more defined. It had grown to give the appearance of an X, with a bulge in the middle, and it was emitting large plumes of smoke, giving it the appearance of having a halo.

"I think we should have the students back into their dormitories." Dumbledore sounded a little concerned. He turned to face the class. "Okay everyone, listen very carefully, all of you. We shall re-sit this test at a later date. Please take all your belongings and proceed back to your dormitories."

The class started to mutter to each other as they all got up and started to put their equipment away.

"I'm glad of that, I was getting really stuck," said Ron, picking up his quill and putting it into his bag.

"It must have got the teachers rattled," Harry whispered. "Snape would rather have his eyes gouged out before letting us drop a test like that."

"Aww, I had finished already," moaned Hermione.

"Come on, come on," Snape said as he urged them through the door. "We don't have all day. Come on Potter, what are you hanging around for?"

Harry was looking out of the window and he could see the shape now, as it had grown a little larger. Hermione and Ron were standing by the door beckoning for Harry to hurry up.

"What was it?" Ron asked as Harry approached them.

"It looked like a little X-shape in the sky," Harry replied as he reached his friends, "and it was chucking out great chunks of smoke."

"Maybe it's a dragon, or something," Hermione added. "That's why it's whining. The poor things in pain. I hope the professors can help it."

"But why evacuate the classroom?" Harry went on. "If it is just a dragon, then Hagrid could have dealt with it. Anyway, I don't think there are any dragons with four wings."

"Maybe it's not a dragon at all then," Ron said. "Or if it is, perhaps it's going to attack the school, that's why they want us back in our rooms."

They broke into a run to catch up with the other students.

*

In the cockpit of his X-Wing fighter, Luke Skywalker struggled to maintain the height of his stricken ship.

"I need more power, R2," he yelled into his helmet pick-up.

The Astrotech droid, sitting in its socket behind the cockpit, responded with a series of indignant beeps and whistles, while on-board computers translated this into words and displayed in on the console in front of the pilot.

"I know you are damaged as well, but if we don't pick the nose up a little, we are going to hit that structure up ahead," Luke explained.

Luke could see in the distance there was a ruined castle. Its roof missing, and its walls propped up with large tree-trunks. The lawns were overgrown with thick bushes and trees waved gently in the breeze. On the ship, the damaged engine gave another shudder and emitted gouts of flame from the rear. The little droid did his best to keep the flames from spreading.

"I want to set down on the other side, its much flatter, so can you do something to boost the lower engines?" Luke tried to sound hopeful, but the guidance computer was telling him a different story, that they were going to crash straight into the castle.

Luke had been on an escort mission to protect a royal family en-route to a special meeting at a massive moveable battle-station, which was the headquarters of the Trade Federation of Systems. The meeting was to discuss the rising attacks on convoys from small groups of fighters from the defeated Empire. Half a dozen Imperial Tie-Fighters had jumped the royal convoy when they left hyperspace, but even though all six Ties had been destroyed, the escorting Jedi Knights had lost one fighter, and Luke had been hit several times. One plasma bolt had penetrated his rear shield, punching a hole in one of his upper engines, and one hitting R2D2, damaging the top of the droid. Instead of going to the battle station and risking damaging it should his reactor go nova, Luke decided to make a forced landing on the third planet out from a local star. The planet was radiating radio signals, which is the usual indication of possible intelligence.

Hanging onto the inside of his socket, R2 lifted slightly and extended a thin arm, which was inserted into the side of the other working upper engine. From here the droid was able to shut the wings together to give the craft more stability in the atmosphere.

"Transfer all power to the lower engines," Luke ordered, and at that moment, the control panel lit up with a series of warning lights. Buzzers yelled for attention.

"That's not good." Luke was sweating even more now.

*

Down in the classroom, the teachers saw the wings close and it was more than obvious that whatever the thing was, it was not an animal and it was going to hit the school, and it was coming in fast.

"We should evacuate," Flitwick said, "and try to get as far away as possible."

"There is no time," Dumbledore exclaimed. "Whatever it is, is going to hit us in a few seconds. He looked thoughtfully at Flitwick. "Maybe we can do something to lift it over the school," he said.

"What can we do?" Snape asked, sounding a little panicky and was getting ready to run.

"The Levitation Charm, of course," said McGonnagal.

"Well we had better do something, and quick." Snape was looking very worried now.

"On my command, then," Dumbledore said calmly, taking out his own wand.

The ship was now fully visible and was on a direct collision course with the school. Sunlight glinted off the cockpit windscreen and the flames from the damaged engine gave it the appearance of having a bright-orange tail. The sound of the roaring engines was getting louder.

"Three, two, one, Wingardium Leviosa!" All four teachers yelled at the top of their lungs. Four strands of light came from the wands to connect with the hull of the incoming craft.

*

As the building came closer and closer, Luke pulled back hard on the control column to try and lift the ship just a fraction. Suddenly, he saw something that took his breath away: instead of a derelict building, the castle was now immaculate. Gleaming windows had faces behind them, tall trees grew from green flat lawns, the roof was intact, and there were children - dozens of them running from the path of the incoming fighter.

"What the ..." Luke was shocked, and yelled even louder. "GET THIS THING INTO THE AIR, NOW!"

R2 made one last change to the power systems by using some of his own internal power and the lower engines roared even louder. Even though the front of the ship started to lift, in front of them a tall tower loomed just off to their left side. The edge of the craft's left wingtip caught the top of the tower, sending tiles, blocks, and timber crashing to the ground, making a large hole in the tower's roof. But the turn was enough and the ship cleared the top of the school to head for the open field, leaving behind a large cloud of acrid smelling smoke.

*

In the Gryffindor common room, Hermione sat curled up in a tight ball crying madly while Harry and Ron had wrapped themselves protectively around her.

"Please don't let us die," she whimpered.

All the students in the room panicked as the roar of the engines got louder and louder. They heard the crash as the fighter hit the Astronomy Tower and the room shook as the ship passed overhead. Then suddenly, silence. Ron shut his eyes tightly while Harry stared goggle-eyed at the ceiling, waiting for whatever it was to crash through it.

*

"That was bloody close," Snape spluttered as he collapsed to the floor.

From behind them came the sound of something heavy ploughing into the ground. The other teachers sprinted out of the classroom, leaving Snape behind to gather his strength before following his colleagues to the rear of the school grounds.

As soon as the fighter had cleared the wall surrounding the school, R2 killed the main drive engines and the ship hit the ground hard. Luke's restraining straps broke and he smashed his head on the console, rendering him unconscious. Almost as soon as the ship hit the ground it bounced up again, then hit the ground once more before sliding along the grass, gouging a deep trail behind it. A small cabin on the edge of the forest was in the path of the speeding ship, and Hagrid came out to see what all the noise was about. He froze to the spot with fear, as the slowing ship got ever closer.

"By? What? Eh?" He was getting ready to run as the fighter slid along the ground towards him, but the craft slid to a halt, just metres from his home.

But something had followed Luke down. Near the village of Hogsmead, retro-rockets fired, burning the grass beneath them, and three large rectangular indentations appeared in the soil as the noise decreased. Seemingly in mid-air, a door opened and a ladder descended. A tall man dressed completely in black from head to foot stepped down the ladder from the inside of his cloaked Tie-Fighter. The ladder retracted and the door closed, totally hiding the ship. The man looked up at the castle where Luke had come down, and set off in the direction of the school.