Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling. Star Wars is owned by Disney. I am neither a British woman nor an animated mouse. Thus I do not own nor do I claim ownership of either Harry Potter or Star Wars and I am not profiting in any way through the writing and publication of this story.

Holocron

I

Saturday, August 15, 1987

"Keep up, boy!" Vernon Dursley growled as he roughly grabbed a hold of seven-year-old Harry Potter's arm and began to drag him forward. "I'll not waste my time searching about for you if you get lost."

"Leave the freak alone, Vernon," Petunia said. "Don't put a damper on Duddy's fun by shouting at the little miscreant. We'll discipline him later."

Vernon shot one last glare at his nephew before releasing his vice-like grip.

"Might do us well if he'd wander off anyways," the large man grumbled to himself, "no longer need to house the freak…"

Harry tried to rub some feeling back into his arm as he continued to glance around the dimly lit cavern they were passing through. Dudley had recently watched some movie and decided that he wanted to be an adventurer and archeologist. He thought he would be exploring deep, forgotten caves for undiscovered treasures. And so it was that Uncle Vernon had packed up the car to take his wife and son on a weekend trip for a guided tour of one of the largest cave formations in the British Isles.

Mrs. Figg was unfortunately out of town, so they were reluctantly forced to bring Harry along with them as well.

Harry stopped and looked up at the stalactites that seemed to hang off the ceiling like pointed teeth. Tiny mineral deposits in the stone all around them sparkled like stars in the reflected light from the helmet-mounted torches that each member of the group was wearing.

There was something strange about the caves, Harry thought. The air felt different somehow. Heavier. And there was also the sense that there was someone waiting for him just out of sight.

Harry shook himself out of his wandering thoughts and ran to catch up with the tour group before they got too far ahead and he was left alone in the dark.

"Over there," the guide said gesturing off to his right, "is Saul's Labyrinth. It's a huge complex of twisting tunnels—"

"Are there any bottomless pits?" Dudley interrupted the guide.

The young man paused to look at the portly boy.

"I'm afraid not."

"What kind of cave is this then?!" Dudley demanded, "I want to throw my cousin into a bottomless pit!"

"It's okay, Dudders," Vernon tried to placate the child, "we'll find something exciting soon."

"This place is boring!" the boy started to rant. "There's no monsters or dragons or anything good! Why'd you bring me here if I can't even throw the freak down a pit?!"

The tour guide was silent for a long moment before he started again.

"Ummm… Like I was saying, Saul's Labyrinth is a huge complex of twisting tunnels. It's never been fully mapped or explored, but our best estimate is that there's over fifty miles of caverns in that one section alone."

"Boring!"

Harry slid as far away from Dudley as possible. When his cousin was bored it usually meant that he was soon going to start tormenting him. And Harry did not like the idea of being thrown into a bottomless pit.

He stopped next to the dark opening that the guide had described. The air in the Labyrinth felt even stranger than the rest of the caves. Harry reached out a hand toward it, and then shuddered as an icy chill ran down his spine. There was something in there. Something he'd never felt before, and yet… familiar.

The tour guide's voice began to fade as the group started to move ahead to their next station. Harry reluctantly turned away from the opening only to immediately stop in his tracks. Dudley was standing just a few feet in front of him with a cruel smile fixed on his face.

"So, freak," the large boy said. "This place sucks. I'm bored. And you know what that means…"

Harry swallowed nervously as he felt his heart speed up. A well-known fear began to take hold in the pit of his stomach.

"Harry hunting!"

Dudley sprang forward, his hands already clenched into fists, as he sought his victim.

Harry leapt backwards, spun around, and sprinted into the opening of the Labyrinth.

"Get back here, freak!" Dudley shouted.

Harry tried to put his cousin's taunting out of his mind as he ran into the darkness. The helmet's light bounced and reflected off the narrow walls of the passageways as Harry ran around corners and blindly jumped over fissures in the ground. His cousin's voice grew faint, but still he kept running, resolved that Dudley wouldn't catch him this time.

Eventually he had to stop. Harry bent over with his hands on his knees as he sucked in great gulps of air. Little by little his breathing slowed. He closed his eyes and strained his hearing, listening for any sound of Dudley's pursuit. He couldn't make out even the slightest sound from his cousin. Harry sighed in relief. But then he realized that not only could he not hear Dudley, but he couldn't hear anything at all.

Harry found himself alone in cold, dead silence.

His heart began to speed up again as a new terror started to take hold, a primeval fear of the dark, a fear of things that could not be seen. He quickly spun around, using the feeble light on his helmet to try and find the path back to where he came from. But he hadn't been paying any attention as he ran from his cousin, and there were several narrow passageways leading away from where he was standing.

"Hello?" he squeaked out.

His voice seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness, not even the merest echo surviving.

"HELLO?!" he screamed.

No response came.

Harry franticly tried to think. The guide had said something about what to do if you got lost… what was it? He growled in frustration because he hadn't been listening. At the time he had been more worried about staying out of Dudley's reach than listening to the safety instructions.

Someone would have to come find him, right? They would notice he was missing. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would see that he wasn't with the group and say something, right?

Or would they just be happy that he had gotten lost? They'd be singing and dancing at the fact that they'd never have to see him again.

Harry was now close to hyperventilating. He was lost, alone, and no one was going to come find him. He backed up against the wall, slid down to the floor, pulled his knees up to his chest, and let his terror devolve into tears.

OoOoO

OoOoO

Some unimaginably long time later, Harry lay curled up on the cold, stone floor. His tears had eventually run out, leaving salty tracks down his face. But as his whimpers slowed, so did his breathing, and he was once again aware of the silence of the labyrinthine cave system. However, it was now somehow less terrifying. Nothing had come for him yet. Maybe nothing would. Besides, Harry had never been afraid of the dark before, why should he be scared now?

He pushed himself to his feet and turned to one of the passageways.

"Hello?" he called out.

He closed his eyes and strained his hearing for any hint of a sound. He pushed out his senses, desperate to hear something, anything that might lead him out of that place. All he heard was deafening silence.

But he did feel something.

It was odd. It wasn't something that he could see, touch, taste, hear, or smell, but he could definitely feel it. A presence. A gentle stirring. So faint that he was afraid that it would disappear at any moment.

He opened his eyes and looked around for whatever it was, but saw nothing but the oppressive darkness of the caves. Yet the feeling remained. Calling to him. Inviting him. Beckoning him to follow wherever it might lead him.

Harry closed his eyes and sighed once more. No one was going to come look for him. This feeling, whatever it was, might be his only chance. He drew up as much courage as he could find and slowly stepped into one of the narrow crevices, following the invitation of the gentle presence.

OoOoO

OoOoO

Time held little meaning in the silence and darkness.

Harry had no idea how long he'd been walking, following the feeling that steadily beckoned him forward. It could have been minutes or hours or even days. He was definitely starting to feel rather hungry. But there was no end in sight, only more darkness.

Yet the presence that was leading him was as persistent was it was gentle. A few times his mind had started to wander, and he realized with a spike of fear that he had lost it. But with a few calming breaths and a moment of straining his senses, he was able to find it again.

He was starting to grow tired. Not only was he hungry, but his legs were starting to ache. Yet there was nothing for it, he could either lay down in the darkness or continue on to find whatever was calling to him. He chose to keep walking.

Suddenly he saw something up ahead. Harry strained his eyes and nudged his glasses, trying to make it out. It seemed to be a faint, blue blur.

He cautiously crept ahead. Soon he could see that the wall was reflecting a soft, blue light. Harry continued around the corner and came into a small, dead-end chamber that was illuminated with the same cerulean hue. Tiny minerals sparkled in its glow in the stone all around him amidst the shadows cast by the stalactites and stalagmites.

The feeling was stronger here, yet softer as well. Harry's eyes were drawn to the far corner that seemed to hold the origin of the strange azure light. He slowly crept over and bent down to see a small, blue cube that was partly lodged and half buried in a crevice in the floor.

It was intricately carved from some sort of otherworldly crystal; the patterns and designs on its surface were finer and more detailed than any of the expensive lace or china that his aunt so often pined over. And the cube was glowing, steadily emitting the soft, cerulean light that gently filled the chamber.

Harry swallowed and gathered his courage. He reached out a hesitant hand and carefully pried the cube out of the floor. It looked extremely fragile, and he was afraid that he might accidentally break it, or crack it against the stone, but it came away from the crevice without so much as a scratch.

It was a tiny little thing, probably less than two inches on each side. Harry let it rest on the palm of his hand as he stared intently into the depths of the blue light that seemed to emanate from deep within. He felt himself being drawn again, his senses teased and beckoned by the mysterious object. He focused all his attention upon it and strained to feel whatever was calling to him.

Suddenly the light in the chamber contracted, pulling back close to the cube. And yet, the object itself seemed to shine brighter, its inner light gleaming with a new burning intensity. A faint blue mist began to coalesce and gently swirl around it.

And then a tiny blue figure winked into existence, floating in the air just above the cube.

Harry gasped in fright and almost dropped the cube, but barely managed to catch himself.

The figure vaguely resembled a man, but instead of hair, he had two long tails growing out of the back of his head that hung down his back. He was wearing strange clothes that looked more like uncle Vernon's bathrobe than anything else Harry knew. The figure seemed to be made out of the eerie blue light, a semi-transparent image that was gazing back at Harry with tiny, but intense eyes.

The figure's mouth opened, and it spoke in a language that Harry was absolutely certain he had never heard before.

And yet, the words reverberated in his mind and flowed into meaning.

Youngling, where is your master?

"What?" Harry asked aloud.

Where is your master?

"What master? Do you mean my uncle Vernon?"

Are you not a youngling of the Jedi? The Force is strong with you.

"Umm… I don't know what that means."

The figure seemed to think for a moment.

How is it that you came to find and activate this Holocron if you are not of the Jedi?

"I don't know what that means. I got lost in the caves here. I just had this… kind of… feeling… and I followed it here and I found you."

I see. Only one who is strong in the Force should be able to access the data held within this Holocron. I have no doubt that it was the Force that led you here.

"The Force?"

Doubtlessly it was the feeling that brought you to this place, that beckoned you to find this Holocron.

"What's a Holocron?"

For thousands of years, Holocrons were crafted by the greatest of the Jedi to be repositories of their wisdom, knowledge, and arts. Imbued with the power of the Force, they were handed down from generation to generation that each might benefit from the wisdom and experience of the past.

That explanation made little sense to Harry.

"How'd you end up in a cave?"

I do not know. I was last referenced by Jedi Master Bar-kun Motu, who was searching for a means to flee the galaxy.

Every question that Harry asked just seemed to make him more and more confused.

"When was that?"

By my counting, that was 24,867 years, 257 days, thirteen hours, and twelve seconds ago, accounting for the rotation cycle of this planet and the time needed to complete a circumnavigation of its sun.

"Twenty four thousand years?!"

If you are rounding, it is closer to twenty five.

"What's rounding?"

Rounding is the process of replacing a number by another number of approximately the same value but having fewer significant digits.

"Right." This line of questioning wasn't really getting him anywhere. It seemed like the little figure had enough patience to simply stand there and answer his questions all day long, even if the answers didn't make any sense.

There was of course, one question that was probably a bit more pressing that anything else.

"Do you know how to get out of here?"

I do not understand your question. Please elaborate.

"Umm… I got lost in these caves," Harry gestured to the stone walls around him, "and then that feeling, err… the Force brought me to you. Do you know how to get out of here and back to my relatives?"

If it was the will of the Force that brought you here, the obvious method for returning to your point of origin would be to follow the Force back out again.

"I don't know what that means."

You do not know how to embrace the Force? The little figure's voice almost sounded surprised.

"Err… no?"

And yet you managed to find and activate this Holocron?

"I guess? Can you teach me to do it?"

Of course. My purpose is to hand on the wisdom and knowledge of the Jedi. Instruction in the basics of the Jedi Arts is well within my capabilities. Be seated.

Harry did as he was told and sat down with his legs crossed on the stone floor.

Place the Holocron on the floor in front of you.

"You won't disappear, will you?"

My holographic image shall remain displayed until you will it otherwise.

"Okay." Harry gently placed the Holocron on the ground.

Now close your eyes… and breathe. Just… breathe…

He did as he was instructed. Letting the darkness and silence fill him. Allowing his slow breaths to calm his agitation. Time slowly passed by.

Now, reach out with your senses.

Harry strained once more as he had earlier when he was desperately listening for someone, anyone that might have been trying to find him. He stretched out with something that wasn't his eyes or his ears, something that was a part of him but had never known was there before.

What do you feel?

"I… Err… I don't know…"

Gently. Surrender to your senses.

"It's… like a soft summer breeze. But not…" Harry scrunched up his face as he tried to explain it.

It is the Force that you feel. It flows through you, here in this cave, binding you, connecting you to the rock, to the air, and even to the darkness. Now ask the Force to lead you out of this place.

"How do I do that?"

Ask it.

"Okay… Err… Can you take me out of here, please?"

No. Not aloud. The Force does not have ears to hear you. You must stretch out with your feelings and ask it through your will.

"Err… right."

Harry focused again and tried to do as he was instructed. He concentrated on the question he had in mind.

Do not impose yourself so strongly upon the Force. Let the Force flow through you and around you. Let it take up the question when and if it so wills.

Harry tried to relax, but still kept his senses stretched out while the question was held in his mind.

And then he felt it.

The same stirring, the same gentle presence that had led him to the cavern with the Holocron had returned. But now it was beckoning him back down the narrow passage.

"I feel it!" Harry shouted as he leapt to his feet, only to sigh as the stirring slipped through his fingers.

Calm yourself, youngling, or you will not maintain your place within the flow of the Force.

Harry settled himself down and reached out again. The feeling came more quickly this time, and he fought against the urge to celebrate.

"It wants me to go back that way."

Then you must follow as the Force beckons.

"Can I take you with me?"

You may do so if you so choose.

Harry reached down to pick up the tiny Holocron. He spent one last moment looking at the strange figure before moving to put the cube in his pocket. As soon as he did so, the holographic figure winked out of existence and the blue light faded to all but the faintest speck within the very heart of the cube.

A brief moment of panic rose within his chest, and he once against lost his connection to the Force.

He sighed and closed his eyes. He said he would go away when I willed it, Harry thought to himself. I guess he'll come back the same way.

He decided against testing his theory for the moment, and instead concentrated on seeking out the Force and its path out of the Labyrinth. It came still easier as he reached out for it once again, and he gently took hold of the faint tendril of warmth that seemed to dance in his mind, inviting him to follow it.

He slipped the Holocron into his pocket and started off along the pathway.

The pale light from his helmet's flashlight was a poor substitute for the light of the Holocron, but he used it to guide his eyes while his attention was on another sense that directed his steps back toward his relatives.

AN: So starts Holocron, my new Harry Potter/Star Wars crossover. In case you didn't pick up on the subtext, the idea is that a Jedi Master took the Holocron with him as he made a desperate gamble and left the galaxy far far away for deep space in order to escape the Jedi Purge. Somehow, it ended up in a cave on earth, where it was lost for millennia until Harry stumbled upon it.

I know that I said that I learned a lesson with Harry Potter and the Knight of the Radiant Heart, and that I wouldn't publish a new story until I had a complete rough draft, but I decided to ignore the lessons that I should have learned. Besides, I thought that this might benefit from some feedback, and maybe a few reviews might help motivate me to write some more.

A note on what I consider to be canon(ish): Canon is defined as: the seven Harry Potter novels, 3 of the Star Wars movies (Episodes IV, V, and VI), and perhaps a few cherry-picked elements from the other Episodes. That's it. HOWEVER, the whole point of fanfiction is to play around with what's been given to us. So you can assume that anything *essential* to the worlds from the sources mentioned above remains in effect. Anything else is out the window. I'm not interested in Fantastic Beasts or Pottermore or Cursed Children with Broken Plot Devices. And I'm probably never going to read them. So please don't come crying to me about Obscurials or the fact that Harry's grandfather was named Fleamont (Fleamont? Really? Who came up with that?) Because I. Don't. Care. Also, the word "Midichlorians" is strictly forbidden! Utter it upon pain of me rolling my eyes at you!

No promises on an update schedule, I'll post chapters as I find time to write them. I do have a few more drafted already. Those will go up relatively soon - I just need to find time to polish them.

I know that I promised a sequel to HP & KoRH, but the plot hasn't really gotten the traction that I think it needs in my mind. And then I thought of this. So we'll see where it goes instead.

I'd like to partially dedicate this story to Darth Marrs, the author of many good (and completed!) HP/SW stories here on ffn. My personal favorite is The Katarn Side (check it out!) Several of his works have been sources of enjoyment for me over the years, so this is, in part, a thank you.

This note is getting long…

Finally, what did you think? Let me know in a review on your way out.

Thanks for reading!