Worlds Apart

Chapter 3. The Sith Assassin

Luke thought for a moment, while looking from Ron to Harry. The students all looked at Luke as though it was him who had kidnapped Hermione.

"I will have to go to him unarmed," he said, "but I don't fancy having my head chopped off with a light-sabre. What I need is a way of getting to him unarmed, but having my light-sabre given to me somehow. I did it a couple of years ago when someone tried to put me in a Sarlac, but I had R2 to help me then."

"What's a light-sabre?" Ron asked.

"It's the preferred weapon of the Jedi," Luke replied, holding out the light-sabre so Ron could see it better. "When you press this control, an energy blade is lit, and you can cut through anything with it. I shall show you later, but we have something to do first."

Harry had an idea. "I know! I think I have just the way I can be with you and not be seen. Give me your light-sabre and gun. If you can start to follow him, I will catch up with you. Ron, could you wait by the front door. I shall be a couple of minutes."

Ron looked at Luke and shrugged as Harry raced from the hall. Luke made his way to the entrance hall and saw the man standing in the front door, who turned and walked down the front steps. A few seconds later, something ran into Luke, winding him slightly. Harry pulled his invisibility cloak from his head, making Luke jump a little.

"That's brilliant," Ron exclaimed.

"You follow the assassin, Luke," Harry said. "I shall follow you and hand you your light-sabre when you want it."

"Before we go," Luke said, "we need to find out where Hermione is."

He sat down on the floor, crossed his legs and closed his eyes. Ron looked at him with a look of disbelief on his face.

"This isn't time for sleeping," Ron said.

Luke ignored him. He was concentrating on Hermione and he locked onto her thoughts. He could see her panicking, hands and feet tied up, and hanging from the end of a rope down some sort of shaft.

"Hermione," he whispered.

"LUKE! LUKE! IS THAT YOU?" she cried in his mind.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Where are you?"

"I'M IN THE DISUSED WELL," she said. "HURRY! THE WATERS RISING! I CAN'T HOLD ON MUCH LONGER!"

"Stay calm," he whispered. "Ron will come for you."

His eyes snapped open and he looked at Ron.

"Do you know where the disused well is?" he asked.

Ron looked at Harry.

"I don't know," Ron replied. "How did you find that out?

"I used the Force," Luke said. "It's what makes us Jedi special. I shall tell you more later, but now, you need to rescue Hermione."

Dumbledore came over and Ron asked him about the well.

"Yes, yes," replied Dumbledore. "It's in the far end of the castle grounds. It has not been used for many years, as the waters have turned bad. Why? What's the matter?"

"The assassin has put Hermione down it," Luke replied.

"Well, lets go and get her immediately," Dumbledore said.

Ron and Dumbledore ran back into the castle, while Harry put his cloak back over his head. Luke stepped out into the morning sunshine and could see by the gate, the assassin, who turned to walk towards Hogsmead. Luke followed him and gave Harry some instructions.

"I will have to kneel before him with both my hands behind my back," he said to Harry. "When he raises his light-sabre, I want you to hand me mine."

"So you are just going to give in to him?" Harry asked, sounding a little bemused.

"I will have to make him think he has won at this stage," Luke replied. "If I try and fight him, the chances are he could have put an explosive on her, and detonate it before we have a chance to save her."

"But, Dumbledore told you that your technology doesn't work here. The well is on the school grounds, so he cant blow her up."

"That's a good point," Luke said sounding a little more confident.

Shortly afterwards, Dumbledore had picked up Snape and the three of them arrived at the top of the disused well. Covering the well was a large slab, which looked as though it had recently been moved.

"HERMIONE!" Ron yelled and he could hear her splashing around in the water beneath the slab.

"RON! RON!" Hermione yelled back. "HELP ME! THE WATERS RISING!"

She coughed as some of the foul water got into her mouth.

"DON'T WORRY," Ron shouted. "WE'LL GET YOU OUT OF THERE IN A MINUTE!"

*

Luke followed the assassin to where his ship was. He had uncloaked it and they could see the Tie-Fighter in all its squat glory.

"Not like yours, is it," Harry whispered.

"No, it's not," Luke replied. "But I could use some of the engine parts to repair my ship. Most of our technology is the same so most parts are interchangeable."

Luke walked towards the ship with both hands in the air.

"At last," the assassin said. "The famous Luke Skywalker. I will take great pleasure in having your head part company with your body. You murdered a great number of good people and it will give me great satisfaction in getting rid of you."

Harry felt like finishing the man off himself and held the light-sabre tighter. Luke got to his knees, put both hands behind his back, and bowed his head.

"Will you promise to release the girl?" Luke asked.

Harry got closer behind him and got ready to hand Luke the weapon. The assassin lit the blade of his light-sabre and held it above Luke's neck.

"Possibly," the assassin replied.

When the assassin raised his humming blade, Harry thrust the light-sabre into Luke's open hand and shoved himself backwards. Immediately, Luke rolled away and lit his own blade, stopping the descending blade of the assassin.

"But, but, you were unarmed!" the assassin said sounding very surprised.

"There is more to me than you can possibly imagine," Luke said as he got to his feet, keeping his light-sabre blade fixed to the other one.

"If you kill me," the assassin said, "you will not find out where the girl is."

"Oh, won't I," Luke said as he bought his blade round to attack the other man.

Harry had moved away a little, and bought out his wand. With Luke standing between him and the assassin, it was not possible to have a go with a Stunner, but as Luke seemed to have things under control, he decided to wait. Luke bought his blade round again, and the assassin parried his blow, causing Luke to spin round. But Luke was back on him again, and their blades crackled and flashed as they locked. Luke kicked the assassin in his stomach and he fell over. Harry raised his wand, ready to fire a wand-arrow, but Luke jumped in front of him again.

*

"HERMIONE," Ron yelled. "LOOK DOWN! WE ARE GOING TO BLOW THE TOP OFF THIS THING!"

Snape, Dumbledore, and Ron all pointed their wands at the middle of the slab. They had tried to levitate the slab earlier, but it was too firmly fixed to the top of the well. Silver arrows flashed from their wands to the slab, and the middle of it shattered and fell in small lumps to the bottom of the well. Hermione was hit with several lumps of stone, some of them cutting her head.

"HERMIONE! ARE YOU OKAY!" Ron shouted through the hole. All he got was loud coughing and a gargling noise.

He put his wand into the hole and lit the tip.

"LUMOS!" he cried and the light from the wand illuminated the bottom of the well.

Hermione had water up above her mouth and she was struggling to keep her nose above the water. Her frightened eyes were turned to look up towards Ron. Dumbledore saw that the rope she was hanging from was tied to a footrest sticking out the side of the well wall. He and Snape grabbed it and pulled, but it was obvious that the other end of the rope was tied to something at the bottom of the well.

"You will have to go down and cut the rope beneath the girl," Dumbledore said to Ron.

Ron looked down the well, and put his wand between his teeth to start to climb down using the metal rungs set in the wall.

*

The battle was intense, but Luke had managed to cut the assassin several times. Harry watched from a safe distance and raised his wand to try and help Luke as best he could. The assassin dropped to the floor, and Harry sent a silver arrow from his wand, which missed the man by a whisker, but it did catch part of one of the solar panels on the side of the ship. The panel exploded as a large hole appeared and the ship dropped slightly on one side. The assassin looked at the hole in his ship and Luke seized his chance. However, before Luke could attack, the man had sprung to his feet and parried Luke's blow.

The assassin spun round, bringing all his strength round with the blade and Luke had to jump to avoid being hit. Luke put his light-sabre behind his back as the assassin bought his blade up from behind him. The blow was pushed away, but Luke lost his footing and dropped to the floor. The assassin jumped at Luke, his cloak billowing out behind him, and his light-sabre clasped in both hands. Luke rolled to one side to push the descending blade away, and Luke's blade caught a conduit on the side of the ship. Steam bellowed from the severed pipe, and Luke pushed the end of the pipe in the other man's face. The assassin's mask heated up very quickly, and he grabbed at it with his free hand.

Harry fired again, and this time the arrow dug a small crater in the ground behind the assassin. Luke bought his blade round and it locked to the assassin's blade. He pushed the assassin backwards and the man tripped on the hole Harry had made. Harry could hear the man's ankle snap as he fell backwards, his light-sabre rolling away. Luke moved closer to him and put his light-sabre blade close to the assassin's throat.

"Now," Luke said through his gritted teeth, "say goodnight!"

Harry turned his head away as he saw Luke's light-sabre blade slicing through the air.

Over in the well, Ron had reached the bottom and dropped into the stinking water. When he did, the level rose and it covered Hermione's nose and she panicked. She was going to drown and this is not how she wanted to go. Ron came back up to the surface and took another deep breath. He disappeared under the water again and could see by the light of his wand that the other end of the rope was tied to a metal loop in the wall. He got back to the surface and extinguished his light. In the pitch dark, he took another deep breath and went beneath the water again. He groped around for the rope and upon finding it he yelled the Severing Charm through the water, but even though it didn't exactly hit the rope where he wanted, Hermione was free. He got to the surface again.

"PULL HER UP, QUICKLY!" he yelled and coughed the dirty water from his mouth.

Dumbledore and Snape pulled hard on the rope and Hermione's limp form was dragged to the top of the well. Ron started to climb the side of the well, and slipped, knocking his knee on the metal rung as he did. He tried again, and grimacing against the pain, he slowly made his way back to the top of the well.

As soon as Hermione was out of the well, Dumbledore covered her with his cloak, and used his wand to cut the rope from her. She was not breathing, and was very cold. Luke arrived with Harry as Ron emerged from the well. He dropped down beside her and grabbed her cold hand.

"Is she okay," he asked Dumbledore, shivering from the cold and shock.

"She is not breathing," replied the Headmaster.

Luke looked at Hermione and knelt down beside her. He laid her on her back and pumped her chest. Water oozed from her mouth and suddenly she coughed. More water came out and she threw up over Ron.

"W-what happened," she stuttered.

"You're okay now, Hermione," Ron said as he brushed her sick off his lap.

Harry dropped down on the grass.

"Luke has killed the assassin," Harry announced.

"What have you done with he body?" Dumbledore asked.

"I have put it in the other ship and cloaked it," Luke replied.

"Lets get back to the castle and get you all checked over," Dumbledore said, and conjured up a wheel chair.

Snape placed Hermione into the chair and raising his wand, guided it back towards the castle. Luke looked at Harry as they all walked behind Dumbledore.

"You did well back there," Luke said.

"Thanks," Harry replied.

Ron was holding Hermione's hand as they walked towards the front door, where a load of students came running out to congratulate them. It took them no time to reach the Hospital Wing and Madam Pomphrey checked Hermione over. Hermione was pleased to hear that she had no lasting damage, but was told to drink some foul smelling green liquid before she was allowed to go and get changed. Ron drank his, but coughed very loudly when it went down.

"I think we had better find somewhere for you to stay, Luke," Dumbledore said. "We have a spare room in the teacher's dormitory if you like."

"Okay," Luke answered. "It will take me a while to repair my ship anyway. Thank you."

"Severus will show you to the room, while these young people go and get changed."

Luke followed Snape to the teacher's dormitory, while Harry followed a squelching Ron and Hermione back to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione's thoughts were on someone else: Luke. Harry said the password and crawled through the hole. Hermione went next, followed by Ron. When they got into the common room, the students in the room all commented on the stench from the pair of them. Ron and Hermione exchanged nervous looks and went up into their separate dormitories. Very soon, they had bathed and dressed. Ron was still limping on his injured knee, but Hermione was glad to see that he was okay.

"Thanks for getting me out of there, Ron," she said.

"Think nothing of it," he replied with a laugh. "What was it like when you heard Luke's voice?"

Hermione gazed out of the window to the horizon.

"It was like he was standing next to me," she said quietly. "I said the words out loud, but he must be able to read minds before you speak."

Ron looked at her, and looking at her he smiled. She returned the smile, which made his heart race.

Over in the teacher's dormitory, Luke had been shown a room with a four-poster bed, a small table, and a wardrobe. The window had a good view of the rear of the castle, where his fighter stood awaiting repair.

What if I can't get it working, he asked himself. Ah, well. There are better places to be marooned. I could be on the moon of Atros with nothing more than Sarlacs for company. He decided to go down to the ship and continue to strip parts out of the engine. On his way down, he bumped into Harry and Hermione on their way to their lessons.

"How are you feeling, Hermione?" Luke asked.

She blushed a deep shade of crimson. She wished he wouldn't look at her in that way.

"I feel a lot better, thank you," she whispered back.

"I'm going to collect the parts I need from the other ship later. Would you two, oh, and Ron of course, like to give me a hand?"

"Yes, thanks," Harry replied. "We have some free periods this afternoon, so it will be more fun than trying to do History of Magic homework."

Luke put his hand on Hermione's shoulder and squeezed it. It made her felt so weak.

"Luke," Hermione asked, "do you have girls on your planet?"

Harry coughed, and grabbed her arm.

"Come on, you," he said. "Lessons. NOW!"

Harry dragged her away from Luke, who stared at the back of Hermione's head, watching the bushy hair bounce as they disappeared round a corner. He shook his head and walked out into the sunshine to go back to his fighter. He climbed onto the wing and looked into the damaged engine. He had pulled some of the damaged parts out earlier, and there was still an awful lot of work to do. Putting his arm into the side of the engine, he yanked out another burnt cable. His attention was suddenly pulled towards the school and he looked up to a particular window of a classroom. From behind the glass, he could see students moving around, taking their places at their desks.

Luke turned back to the job in hand. It took him a while to strip out the rest of the damaged parts, and now they lay in a heap on the grass. He had stemmed the flow of coolant that had burnt holes in the ground, and managed to clean out the main energy flux tubes and engine intakes. He had also managed to manually extend the ladder from the side of the ship to make it easier to get into the cockpit. Now he needed some help to bring the parts he needed from the Tie-Fighter.

Hermione came running up to the fighter and noticed that he wasn't around.

"Luke," she called and he stuck his head over the edge of the wing, making her jump.

"I thought you had lessons?" he asked.

"Its lunchtime. Harry and Ron are already seated and I thought I'd better come and see if you want anything."

"Thanks," Luke replied and jumped down off the wing.

As they walked back up to the castle, Hermione's hand brushed against Luke's

"Sorry," she stuttered.

Luke remained silent and moved his hand towards hers. When they brushed again, he said nothing. When they reached the castle door, she stopped and turned to him.

"Luke, sorry about touching your hand a minute ago," she whispered and blushed.

"I didn't mind," Luke replied. "It was kinda nice." It was Luke's turn to go red in the face.

They stood looking at each other for a few more seconds before turning and going into the Great Hall. Luke sat with the teachers once more, and Hermione joined Harry and Ron. Hermione kept gazing at Luke and ended up dropping a pickled onion down Ron's shirt.

"Are we going to help him repair his ship?" Ron asked as he rubbed the vinegar off his shirt with a napkin.

"Yes," Hermione replied.

"Do you know much about astro-physics, then?" Harry said.

"Yes," Hermione replied.

"Do you want me to give you a beetroot for a nose?" Ron asked.

"Yes," Hermione replied.

Ron took his wand out.

"Don't you bloody dare," Harry whispered.

"But she wanted me to," Ron replied and looked at Hermione as she put another pickled onion in her mouth. She was staring at Luke again.

"That's the fifth one she's eaten," Harry said. "She doesn't even like pickled onions."

After lunch, they returned to the ship and Luke made a note of a piece of parchment Harry had given him of what he needed. It took a bit of practice with the quill, but with a little help from Harry, he now had a list of what he needed. Hermione had gone back into the castle and came back out with a large tray, which she was making hover above the ground with her wand. They made their way over to where the Tie-Fighter was but couldn't see anything. Luke took a small device from his belt and pressed the stud on the top, which deactivated the cloak. He climbed into the cockpit and after a few seconds a door opened at the back of the ship. Harry peered into the open engine bay and saw it was very similar to the inside of Luke's engine. Luke came round the back of the ship with a set of tools.

Very soon, they had stripped out what he needed and had placed them on the tray. Luke told Ron and Harry to go back to his fighter and he will be along in a minute. Hermione stayed behind and was pulling out another piece of circuitry from the engine. Luke came up behind her to help. The part was small, but it was jammed in tight, so Luke put his hands around Hermione's to help pull it out. She turned to look straight at his face. It was so close to hers. She felt herself go weak. He looked into her eyes. They were so big and dark. He wanted her to kiss him. She wanted him to kiss her. They both stood motionless until Luke had a shock from an exposed power conduit. That snapped them back to reality.

"S-sorry, again," Luke stuttered as he shook his numb hand.

Hermione took his hand and rubbed it gently. He was starting to feel this attraction to her again and it was not right.

"Come on," he said. "Lets get back to my ship. Ron and Harry will start to talk about us."

"Not that there is anything to talk about, is there?" she asked, hoping.

"No. Yes, I mean, no. Maybe," was Luke's reply.

So it was true, she thought. He feels the same about me as I do about him. But what can I do about it?

Luke reached up and twisted the part from the engine: the hum from the inside of the ship subsided, the lights within the engine bay went out. They made their way in silence back to the X-Wing fighter while Luke turned the small part over in his hand. Harry was sitting on the grass, while Ron had guided the tray onto the wing where he now sat.

"You took your time," Ron quipped.

Hermione blushed again and Harry grinned at her. Luke jumped onto the wing and started to insert the parts into the engine with help from Harry and Ron. Hermione felt a little like a spare part, so she climbed the ladder to the cockpit and jumped in. The fighter dipped a little as she landed on the hard seat. Looking at the console, she tried to make out what all the controls and readouts did and wondered how Luke ever learned to fly such a machine. She placed her hands on the control column and moved it around a little. She had also noticed how dead the console was, and made a suggestion.

"We should move this out of the school grounds," she said. "Otherwise, how are going to know if it works or not."

Luke fitted a part into an opening in the wing and snapped the cover shut.

"That's a good point," Luke replied. "Can you do it on your own?"

"We can try," Harry said and jumped off the wing.

Ron slid off the back of the wing and fell over. Harry laughed as he helped him up. Hermione got out of the cockpit and gracefully slid down the ladder, smiling at them in a sort of that's-how-you-do-it way. They got out their wands and even though it was quite an effort, they managed to move the fighter down to the main gate. As soon as they moved out of the school grounds, the console lit up, and warning buzzers sounded then went silent.

"So far so good," Luke muttered.

He climbed into the cockpit and touched a control. Doors opened on the bottom of the hull and the landing gear extended to touch the ground. Harry removed the Levitation Charm, and the full weight of the fighter stood on its feet.

"It doesn't look as good with the feet down, does it?" Ron noted.

Hermione watched Luke climb out of the cockpit and realised something else was missing.

"Your robot!" she exclaimed.

Ron and Harry ran back to where the fighter had been standing, and levitated R2D2 to the gate. As with the fighter, the minute they crossed the threshold, R2 came to life, kicking and bleeping. They carefully placed him on the ground.

"It's okay, R2," Luke said to the droid. "Harry, could you levitate R2 up to the top of the ship please?"

Harry took his wand and used it to place the droid on top of his socket platform. Once on top of the fighter, the droid activated the lift, and he slotted neatly into the hull behind the cockpit. Once he was plugged in, he started to run checks on the ship and the new parts. Luke stood on the ladder and peered into the cockpit at the readout in the console. Words flashed across it and he was able to say when he was leaving.

"I will be able to leave just after dark, as long as everything tests okay," he announced.

"Well, that gives us time to sort out some homework," Ron commented.

Hermione was not happy about the homework, but it needed doing, and she agreed. She wanted to spend some time alone with Luke, but she knew that her schooling must come first. Reluctantly, she followed the two boys back to the Gryffindor common room, leaving Luke to test his ship. Luke watched them head back towards the school when a buzzer sounded from inside the cockpit indicating that there was an incoming message for him.