Worlds Apart

Chapter 2. Muggle Technology Does Not Work At Hogwarts

Hagrid stood completely petrified looking at the machine in front of him. The craft hissed quietly with the occasional pop from exploding electronics and small flames were coming from the exhaust of the damaged engine. R2D2 whistled with disbelief as he surveyed the surroundings and shut down the ship's main systems. They had landed more or less intact as far as the droid could see, and Luke was unconscious but alive. After doing a few more checks, R2 activated the lifting mechanism at the bottom of his socket and opened the top of the cockpit.

"Hello there, little fellow," Hagrid said after plucking up the courage to speak.

R2 swivelled his head and fell off the top of the ship into a pile of earth that had been scraped up by the wings.

"Oops, hold on there, I'll give yer a hand," Hagrid said as he ran round the ship and watched R2 right himself.

The droid panicked and opened a little hatch on his top. From just inside, Hagrid could see the end of a small tube.

"Wots this then?" Hagrid began to ask.

R2 made a warning sound like a fire alarm: aarrooooogah, aarrooooogah.

"Sorry," he said. "Wots up then," and he took a step towards the robot.

aarroogah, aarroogah. A bit quicker this time.

"I don't know what you trying to say."

Two plasma bolts shot from the blaster, which hit Hagrid hard in his thigh.

"Oooo, what'd do that for," he cried as he rolled around on the floor. "I was going to help yer."

The droid suddenly realised he had done the wrong thing, so he looked at Hagrid and whistled mournfully.

Hagrid took this as some sort of apology. "Alright, I forgive you," Hagrid muttered and wrapped his handkerchief round his bleeding leg. "Lets see what's up with yer mate then."

Being so tall, Hagrid only had to stand on tiptoes look over the edge of the cockpit to see inside.

"Blimey, he's 'urt pretty bad. Never mind, Madam Pomphrey will get 'im back on 'is feet in no time."

He lifted Luke out of his seat and turned round to see what seemed to be the whole school coming to meet them. Draco Malfoy was at the front of the crowd, his wand drawn.

"What have you got there than Hagrid?" he sneered. "Another one of your pets?"

"Oh shut yer gob you irritating little toad. This chap is hurt and we need to get him to the hospital wing."

R2 gave an enquiring whistle.

"Ha, ha, ha! What in the name of crying out loud is that then?" Malfoy was laughing and pointing his wand at R2.

aarrooooogah, aarrooooogah.

"Yer better step back, Malfoy."

"I'm not frightened of a walking dustbin."

aarroogah, aarroogah. Two blasts came from the droid and hit Malfoy square in the leg, making him roll around the floor.

"Aarrgh, what was that? Arrgh, ooh, it hurts, arrgh, I'll get your for that, arrgh."

The whole crowd laughed.

"Will someone pick up Miss Malfoy and take her to the Hospital Wing," chuckled McGonnagal.

Snape arrived, conjured up a stretcher and lifted the crying Malfoy onto it.

"Oh stop being such a cry-baby," Harry said, trying hard to stifle a giggle.

"Shut your mouth Potter! I might have known you'd have something to do with this! Arrgh, stop it, oooh!" Malfoy sounded really annoyed now.

Dumbledore arrived and conjured up another stretcher, but this one was quite ornate with gold tassels hanging round it.

"Place our visitor on this stretcher, Hagrid," Dumbledore said, "and allow me to help you too." With a flick of his wand, he made a sofa appear, covered in a dark red and black tartan. "Severus, could you escort these people to the Hospital Wing, please."

"Thanks, Headmaster," said Hagrid and he dropped on to the sofa making it creak. "Oooer, 'ang on, I 'aint on yet," Hagrid mumbled as the sofa rolled in the direction of the school, followed by the crying Malfoy and the lifeless body of Luke. Snape followed behind holding his wand out in front of him to guide the three stretchers.

"Now, what should we do with this," said Dumbledore pointing in the direction of the now wiggling robot.

"So, what's your story then?" Harry said, squatting down so he was the same height as the robot.

R2 replied with a couple of squeaks and blups before unfolding his front leg and extending his wheels, which allowed him to roll towards Harry.

"He seems to like you Harry," Hermione giggled. "Oh, look at the hole in the top of him." She pointed at where the plasma bolt from the Tie-Fighter had hit him.

"Maybe we could repair him?" Ron said.

Harry looked in the hole and little sparks could be seen jumping around inside.

"Somehow, I doubt it," he replied.

"Ah, but don't forget, Muggle technology does not work at Hogwarts." Hermione was on her favourite subject about the way the school was protected.

"If that's the case, Hermione," Harry interrupted, "how come this airplane kept its engines running when it knocked a hole in the Astronomy Tower?"

Hermione thought for a moment, then her eyes became very wide. "Perhaps this is not a Muggle airplane."

Dumbledore looked at the ship. From first impressions, it didn't look too badly damaged. There was a large hole in the top of one of the engines where wisps of smoke were coming out, and there was a lot of earth stuck in the front of the engines. He went over to the side of the ship and touched its hull. It was still warm from its plunge through the atmosphere and running along the ground.

"Another Levitation Charm is in order, I do believe," Dumbledore explained. "But I will need everyone's help. Could you all get your wands out please."

The crowd pulled their wands out and pointed them at the ship.

"On my command." Dumbledore waited for the crowd to hush. "Three, two, one, WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!"

With the combined efforts of all the students and teachers, the ship rose up into the air a couple of metres. It looked much larger now as they started to walk back to the school grounds, the fighter hanging in mid-air. A Knarl was caught up in the charm and was kicking wildly, its stubbly legs waving around frantically trying to find something to hang on to.

As they passed through the gate at the rear of the school, the flashing light on the bottom of the hull Harry was watching stopped flashing.

"Headmaster, this has to be a Muggle airplane. The light on the bottom has stopped flashing," Harry noted.

Dumbledore turned to look at the light over his half-moon spectacles. The sound of the warning buzzers from the cockpit ceased.

"You're right. Lets get it into the Great Hall and discuss this later."

Behind them, R2D2 rolled through the gate and stopped. All his lights went out as though someone had pulled the power source from him and hit it with a big hammer.

"There you go," Hermione pointed out. "Even this little robot has stopped working."

Harry and Ron went back to try to pick R2 up, but he proved heavier than they expected. They decided on the Levitation Charm once more and followed the crowd towards the school. However, when they approached the side of the Great Hall, it was evident that they were not going to get it through any of the doors.

"How are we going to get it in there?" Harry asked.

"Honestly, Harry." Hermione was off on one again. "How many times have I told you to read Hogwarts: A History?"

Dumbledore waved his wand, and the side of the castle opened up like curtains parting, and the ship was guided through it. Once inside, the students moved all the tables and chairs to make room for the craft, which was moved into the middle of the hall, hovering a metre or so off the floor. The Knarl dropped to the floor and Dumbledore waited until it ran out onto the lawn before he waved his wand and the wall sealed itself once more.

"Well done everybody. Give yourselves a round of applause," Dumbledore shouted, and the crowd cheered.

Inside the hall, Filch entered and looked at the ship. Smoke emitted from the damaged engine, making the hall smell like rotting cabbage.

"More mess for me to clean up I suppose." Filch was always a moaning old toad at the best of times.

A drop of fluid fell onto the floor from the damaged engine, melting the stone slightly. Dumbledore ushered everyone out of the hall and closed the door.

"Please ensure no one can get in and touch anything," Dumbledore asked Filch.

In the hospital wing, Madam Pomphrey had made Luke as comfortable as she could, and now he lay naked in a bed in the far corner of the room, covered with a sheet. Malfoy was making a right noise as she tried to tie a bandage on his leg.

"Ow! Gerroff, THAT HURTS, STOPPIT," he went on.

"Oh pack it in, now!" Madam Pomphrey was getting fed up of his baby antics.

Once she had finished with Malfoy, she tended to a first-year girl who had a badly broken leg from the accident in the Astronomy Tower. Luke's utility belt containing his blaster and light-sabre lay on a trolley at the foot of his bed. Snape picked up the blaster and looked at it.

"What is it?" asked McGonnagal.

"It looks like some sort of a gun," explained Snape as he handled the weapon. "I have seen something similar before. Now, lets see. Put your hand round here, and put your finger in here, and ..."

He pointed the gun at a portrait hanging on the wall next to the door leading to the corridor. The person in the portrait started shouting at Snape to point it somewhere else and tried to hide behind a large chair.

"Don't wave that thing around in here," Madame Pomphrey said as she tended to the six students who were injured in the Astronomy Tower accident. "Don't you think I have enough to do without trying to stitch arms and legs back on?"

"Don't forget, Poppy," Dumbledore said calmly. "Muggle technology doesn't work at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore was right. No matter what they did with the weapon, it would not, or could not fire. Snape put the gun down and picked up the light-sabre.

"Some sort of a wand?" he asked Dumbledore.

"If it is, it is one I have never seen in my life," Dumbledore replied.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione came into the ward.

"How's he doing?" asked Hermione.

"Not too bad," Madam Pomphrey explained. "He has a good temperature, he is breathing well, but there is something about his heart I don't like."

"What do you mean?" enquired Harry.

"Well, it's on the wrong side for one," replied a puzzled Madam Pomphrey. "Anyway, shouldn't you lot be in lessons now?"

Hermione looked at Luke and thought him quite cute.

"Oh, yes, of course," Hermione answered. "Come on Harry. Hurry up Ron. You've got Divination, and you all know how much you love that."

"Aww, can't we come in Arithmancy with you instead," Ron whined as they left the room.

Madam Pomphrey looked Luke over again and shook her head.

*

A couple of hours later, Ron and Harry met up with Hermione on the first floor landing as they made their way to the Great Hall for supper. Hermione was not in a good mood.

"Stupid," she muttered. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Wots up then?" Ron asked and gave a big yawn. "Ooo, sorry. I wish Trelawny wouldn't put that stuff on her fire. It stinks up there."

"Maybe it's to get rid of the smell of Goyle's feet," Harry answered as he rubbed his eyes. "Anyway, what's the matter Hermione?"

"Arrgh, I just could not get into Arithmancy today," she replied in a rather irritable way. "All the questions didn't make any sense."

"Got something, or someone on your mind?" Ron asked, grinning a little.

"I don't know what you mean," Hermione replied as she blushed slightly.

"Don't worry about it," Ron said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I'm sure you'll come through okay. Why are there so many people here?"

The Entrance Hall was packed. Dumbledore came over and looked at his pocket watch.

"Sorry about that everybody," he shouted as he reached the doors to the dining room. "Supper will be a few minutes late while we clear the room."

Harry realised that the ship was still hanging in the middle of the Great Hall. Dumbledore opened the doors to the hall and the crowd made noises of disgust as the smell of burning cabbage reached their noses. Dumbledore selected a few volunteers and they disappeared inside. A few minutes later, Dumbledore came back out.

"Everybody can now come through," he announced.

The students filed into the Great Hall, and when Harry went through the door, he could see that the ship had been moved outside (it was still hovering off the ground) and the tables and candles had all be replaced. Hermione dropped into her usual seat, with Harry and Ron sitting opposite her.

"So, where do you think he comes from," Hermione asked as she helped herself to a baked potato.

"I dunno," Ron muttered and dropped a big piece of beef onto his plate.

"I have done a lot of reading on aircraft when I was a kid," Harry stated, "but I have never seen anything like this before."

Harry looked at the fighter through the window and wondered what the four long tubes were for that were mounted on the wingtips. The three of them spent the rest of the meal in relative silence, until Hermione had an idea.

"Perhaps we could speak to him later, if he is awake that is."

Ron started to choke on his blackberry pie and Harry had to slap his back.

"Don't tell me you want to get involved, Hermione?" Ron spluttered.

"Why not," she replied in an indignant tone. "Why not find out about what it is we have in our back yard and lying in our hospital. Aren't you a little inquisitive about him?"

"We'll get into serious trouble," Harry responded.

"Since when was that a problem for you, Harry," Hermione giggled.

The three of them sat in silence again. Eventually, Harry piped up.

"Okay, then," he said to Hermione. "We'll find out what's going on here. But I warn you, if he turns out to be some sort of dark wizard, I'll get you and make it look like an accident!"

After supper, they volunteered to bring the ship back into the Great Hall, and with the help of ten other students, the fighter was once more back in the Great Hall, and dripping more fluid over the floor. Once Dumbledore was happy that all was secure, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way up to the Hospital Wing. Luke was still unconscious and Madam Pomphrey was in a bit of a flap.

"Too many to look after," she said as Hermione approached her.

"Maybe we can help?" Hermione asked.

"Help in what way?" said Madam Pomphrey.

"I could stay with the visitor, and you can look after the other patients."

"That would be nice. Maybe you could do shifts."

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron. Ron glanced at Harry.

"Okay, okay," Ron said in a resigned sort of way. "But I want to take the first shift. We have double Potions tomorrow and Snape will do his nut if I fall asleep again."

Ron took the first shift and went to wake up Harry at midnight. Harry spent the next four hours trying to stay awake by performing Transfiguration Charms on various things around the room. All the time, Luke lay unconscious. At four in the morning, Hermione came down to relieve Harry. She found him asleep in the armchair.

"Come on, Harry," she whispered. "Time for bed."

Harry awoke and stretched.

"Thanks, Mione," and he gave a big yawn. "There's no change."

He got up and Hermione sat in his place. She had bought a large book on Arithmancy, and settled down to read it.

*

In the entrance hall, all was quiet. The front door slowly creaked open and a shadowy figure stepped through it. He moved stealthily round the edge of the hall and came to the doors to the Great Hall. The door was slightly ajar and he looked into the room. In the middle was Luke's fighter, suspended apparently from nothing, hovering off the ground. The silent form of R2D2 sat patiently beside it. A noise from the stairway made the man turn to look and he melted into the shadows as Filch descended the stairs and walked over to the Great Hall doors.

"Bloody kids," he muttered. "Told them to keep these doors SHUT! Bloody thing is stinking the castle out. I wish he would hurry up and wake up, taking up a bed in the Hospital Wing and all. They are for residents, not visitors!"

He slammed the doors and locked it with a large key.

"That should keep them out," he said as he stomped off back up the stairs.

The figure followed Filch as he made his way up the stairs, ducking behind statues, dropping into darken corners each time Filch turned round. However, Filch was not on his way to the Hospital Wing, he was on his way to the toilet, but the shadowy figure still continued to follow him, hoping at some point he would get to where Luke was hiding.

In the Hospital Wing, Hermione sat in the chair reading up on some complex Arithmancy, but realised that she had read the same sentence four times. She yawned widely and put the book down.

"Still breathing then," she whispered as she looked at Luke.

She reached out and placed her hand on the right side of his chest. It was true that his heart was on the wrong side, and it was beating very, very slowly. His muscles felt so powerful, his skin very soft and warm. She dropped back into her chair.

"I will not g-go to s-sleep," she whispered and yawned. "Okay, just a minute then," and she shut her eyes.

A few minutes later, the door to the ward opened and a shadow flitted though it. He looked around the room, and could see various children, but it was the bed at the other end of the room that caught his eye. The man made his way slowly down the room, making sure no one could see him. He got to where Luke was lying and stood at the end of his bed. He glanced at the sleeping girl, pulled out a blaster with a long barrel and pointed it at Luke's head. He pulled the trigger to activate the laser-targeting beam, but nothing happened. He continued to pull the trigger to fire the weapon, but once again, nothing happened apart from the blaster making a slight click. The noise made Hermione wake up with a start. She took one look at the man pointing a gun at Luke and screamed. The man panicked and pointed the gun at Hermione. He pulled the trigger and all he got was another click. Hermione was quick. She pulled her wand out and pointed it at the man.

"EXPELLIARMUS," she yelled and the blaster was ripped from the man's hand to skittle under a bed.

He turned and ran out of the room straight into Snape. Hermione was bringing her wand round again and sent a leg-locker curse at the fleeing man. But the curse hit Snape instead who dropped to the floor, his legs well and truly glued together.

Madam Pomphrey came out of her office to see Snape lying on the floor, struggling to get up with his legs locked together.

"Oh, I am so sorry," Hermione said as Snape managed to get to his feet.

Hermione issued the curse reversal spell and he got the use of his legs back. She explained to them about the strange man and the gun. She bent down, retrieved the gun from under the bed and walked back to the end of Luke's bed. Dumbledore came in and went up to where Hermione was standing. He took the gun from her and looked at it. By now, the other patients were waking, and Malfoy stared the gun Dumbledore was looking at.

"That's what he was holding," she said to Dumbledore, "and he had the nerve to point it at me! It looks like the anti-Muggle technology spell saved my life because the gun didn't fire."

Luke groaned and put his hand on his forehead. His head hurt, but he was coming round. As his eyes opened, he could make out dark figures. But as his eyes focused, he could see Dumbledore holding the gun.

"YEEEARGH," he shouted and tried to climb up the headboard of the bed.

"It's okay," Dumbledore said. "You're safe and nothing is going to hurt you."

"B-but, why have you got that?" Luke pointed to the gun Dumbledore was holding.

"What's wrong with it?" Hermione asked. "I managed to get it away from a man dressed in black who pointed it at me after trying to shoot you with it."

Luke blinked and looked again at Dumbledore. "You're a bit old to be a Sith Assassin, aren't you?"

Dumbledore looked at Luke and frowned.

"What's a Sith Assassin?" he asked.

"You've never heard of the most feared of the Jedi?" Luke replied sounding puzzled.

"Erm, no," Hermione said.

Luke turned to the girl and saw that now his eyes had become focused again, she was quite pretty. He also realised that these people had probably never flow into space, well not these personally anyway.

"Sorry," he said. "Erm, where am I?"

Dumbledore looked at the young man and his gaze turned to a large lump on Luke's forehead.

"You have a head injury, my boy," he said, "and you are confused. You are in a castle in Scotland called Hogwarts. We teach witchcraft and wizardry here. Hermione Granger here is our most brilliant pupil. She is in her final year here and I will be sorry to see her leave."

Hermione went bright red.

"What's witchcraft and wizardry? Earth?" Luke asked.

Dumbledore was getting a little worried.

"How many fingers am I holding up," he said, holding up three fingers.

"Three," Luke replied.

"Well at least he can count," commented Snape who kept glaring at Hermione for putting the leg-locker curse on him.

Luke looked at the people around him. They looked like him, and spoke the same language, but he was confused as to why they had not heard of the Sith.

"Maybe some introductions are in order," Dumbledore said. "I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. Miss Granger has already been introduced, and this is our Potions Master, Severus Snape. Oh, and not forgetting Madam Pomphrey, our most excellent medical attendant."

Luke looked at the people gathered round his bed, and wondered where to start.

"Right. My name is Luke Skywalker. I command a small group of Jedi Knights who provide special protection to high-ranking officials. I was on an escort mission when my ship was damaged in an attack, so I thought I had better land here instead of at the battle-station."

The other people looked at him with looks of complete surprise.

"Battle-station?" Dumbledore said. "We have no military installations round here. Where is this battle-station?"

"It's about two thousand clicks from this system," Luke replied. "I found this planet by homing in on the radio signals."

It suddenly dawned on the three of them that this person was a visitor from another world. Dumbledore got very excited.

"You're not from this planet, are you?" he asked.

"No. My birthplace is a planet called Tatooine. It's a dump of a planet about as far away from the Central Belt as you can get. Oh, by the way, where is my fighter?"

"It's in the Great Hall," Dumbledore replied. "We can take you to it, as long as Madam Pomphrey is okay with letting you go?"

"Yes, yes," said Madam Pomphrey. "Here are his clothes," and she pointed to a pile of clothes on the bed next to him.

Dumbledore, Snape, and Hermione (with a bit of persuasion) left Luke to get dressed. He joined them in the corridor a couple of minutes later.

"Luke," Hermione asked as they made their way to the Great Hall. "How long have you been flying in space, and what's it like?"

"Since I was a kid really," Luke replied. "We don't think of it as a big deal. It's just a way of getting around."

Luke explained more about himself as they made their way through the school. They soon arrived at the Great Hall and Dumbledore unlocked the door with a flick of his wand. Hermione screwed her face up at the smell that rushed out. They walked up to the side of the fighter and Luke took out a small device from his utility belt. He pressed a control on it, but nothing happened.

"You cannot use your technology here, I'm afraid," Dumbledore stated as he waved his wand to light the floating candles and the room grew a little brighter.

"That explains why R2 isn't working then," Luke said, looking at the droid.

Luke looked at his damaged ship then looked at Hermione. He saw her big brown eyes looking at him and he felt a strange attraction to her. Something a Jedi should never do is fall in love, but at this moment, he could have given everything up for her. She had saved his life after all, and it was for that reason he was very grateful. She returned the gaze, and she had butterflies fluttering round in her stomach. At seventeen, she had been in love before, but Luke held some other attraction that none of her previous boyfriends had and she couldn't figure out what it was.

After a couple of minutes, Dumbledore ushered the people out of the hall to leave Luke on his own to check his ship over. The damage was extensive and was going to take more than a little magic to put it right. He looked at the silent form of R2 as the sun started to shine through the windows.

"Right, then R2," he whispered. "Where do we start?"

*

A little while later, Dumbledore returned and with the help of some students, he moved the fighter out of the hall. Breakfast was served and Luke was asked to join them. He was introduced to the assembled students, who all gaped at him with open mouths. Luke tried the different items of food on offer before deciding porridge with chopped sausage seemed to taste quite nice. While he eats, he looked round the hall from the teacher's table for Hermione. She was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Hermione?" he asked Dumbledore.

Dumbledore looked over to where she usually sits and he furrowed his brow. Harry and Ron were also missing.

"I have no idea," he whispered. "It's not like her as she believes a good breakfast is the key to good learning."

At that moment, Harry and Ron burst into the hall and ran up to the teacher's table.

"Hermione's missing," Ron panted.

"We've looked everywhere," Harry added, holding his side where a nasty stitch had gotten hold of him. "We've ran round every part of this castle, and we can't find her."

"Lavender said she didn't come back this morning," Ron gasped and fell to the floor.

"This is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," Dumbledore said, pointing at the two panting boys. "They are Hermione's closet friends."

Luke looked at Ron, whose face had gone as red as his hair from all the running around.

"Maybe I can help," Luke said. "I will need somewhere quiet and-"

At that moment, a voice boomed across the crowd. The man in black was back and he was standing in the doorway of the hall as he threw the limp body of Filch into the hall. Hagrid ran towards the man, who simply raised his hand and Hagrid fell to the floor, out cold. The students closest to the door moved away in a panic.

"Luke Skywalker," the man shouted. "You have been charged with crimes against the Empire and have been found guilty. It is my duty to execute you immediately. You will accompany me, unarmed, to my ship where your execution will take place. Failure to comply will result in the death of the girl."

The man turned and walked from the door.

"He's got Hermione!" Harry yelled and went to run after the man, his wand drawn.

Luke grabbed his arm. "No, it's me he wants. He's a Sith Assassin. They are very dangerous. One of their entry requirements is to have killed their own parents. I recognise this one. He is a real killer. He did it with his bare hands."

Harry looked at Luke and Luke could see the panic in Harry's eyes.

"Okay, what can we do?" Harry asked.