A/N: So... I've been busy. I am living my dream of working as a teacher in a school now. I love it!

Also, over the past year trying to get a grasp on 3D programs like Blender and MMD so I can make these stories into 3D comics. i would really love to make these stories I write into 3D comics or even small animations, but I just don't have the time or focus to fully devote myself to it. That is why I haven't been releasing most if any of the chapters I've been writing. Because I want to backpedal and make the ones I've released so far into 3D comics on DeviantArt or another website for displaying it. Maybe Tumblr. I don't know. This is for ALL of my stories. Every... Single... One... Especially one like this one.

Anyways, that's why I've been "away". If you have any advice or want to help me with this project, please feel free to message me, PM me, or leave it in a REVIEW.

Hope everyone enjoys the chapter!

Now enough of this crap! On with the show!

Chapter 16: The Larger Galaxy

"…and that is everything I know about the world of Felucia."

"Blimey… never thought there'd be a whole world out there with killer living plants…"

"Those natives sound aggressive, though. Better avoid them if we ever pop over for a visit."

Hermione couldn't even speak as they sat before Obi-Wan and Yoda. Ever since yesterday she had pestered the two Jedi Masters about their otherworldly crusades, and they had replied to her in stride until finally deciding it would simply be best to forget training and make the day about educating their students on the galaxy at large.

So far Obi-Wan had lectured them on the history of Coruscant, a world that over the course of thousands of years had been transformed into one enormous city with hundreds of levels below the surface. Next was the planet of Ryloth, which was home to a species of sentients known as the Twi'lek. Then there came the worlds of Naboo, Christophsis, Teth, Glee Anselm, Geonosis, Mygeeto, Mon Cala, Utapau, Kashyyyk, and Felucia. And of course, while he spoke, Master Kenobi made passing mention of other worlds out there among the stars.

That was precisely when the waterfall of realization caught Hermione by surprise. In the middle of the night she suddenly understood that the Jedi had not been based on Earth, but an entirely different planet. That they had guarded the galaxy against evil for thousands of generations. That the Republic had been a galactic-wide government which sought to unify worlds under one banner where all their voices and problems could be heard before being solved together. The Jedi had to have been in the thousands if not millions to keep peace in the universe.

It was all too much for young Hermione, who was greatly overwhelmed with the information she was receiving. Not only were there planets beyond their solar system, but also more life than Hermione could have ever imagined. Not to mention the sheer amazement of the difference in the planets across their enormous galaxy. Snow and ice planets. City-encompassing worlds. Forested moons. Worlds flooded entirely with water as cities lay at the bottom of oceans still surviving and thriving. Barren earths that were stripped of all their natural resources to the point where nothing was left but dust and dirt and sand.

And people lived on these numerous globes! People that she would have to term as aliens. Even the humans who existed out in the universe like Obi-Wan Kenobi himself were aliens to Earth. It was maddening! Hermione could hardly breathe as the thoughts flittered across her mind. Aliens were real, and they could appear and sound just as much like a normal Brit as her!

And they flew around in space-faring vessels. Space ships were real and according to Master Kenobi they were very commonplace throughout the galaxy!

Her brain was caught up in a whirlwind!

"And the Empire just took over?" Harry was asking with skepticism clear in his voice. He was looking at Yoda, and seemed to have never heard about the full scale of this conflict. "Like, everything? The way you told it before, I thought they had taken over a small country or island— not an entire galaxy. How could that even happen? Why would that even happen? I'm sure the people outmatch the Empire by a million to one. Why don't they fight back?"

Yoda was nodding a little along with Harry's words, but his eyes were closed. "Turned the people were to praise the Empire instead. As Obi-Wan has said before, diseased was the Republic. Corruption, arrogance, self-serving interests. Too small were the views of the Republic, yet grand was the dark vision of the Emperor. Saw the disease for what it was, Emperor did. Twisted it to his advantage. Rose in power he did with all the applause of the very people he was hurting. All because too blind they were… to blind we all were…"

"So the Jedi were part of the problem, too?" Ron asked, his arms and legs crossed as they sat under the gloomy grey skies.

Obi-Wan answered this time before Yoda could speak. "We were the solution. The Jedi acted as the guardians for peace and prosperity within the Republic for generations. What they allowed to play out in their politics was nothing short of incompetence on their own part. We did not take sides in that realm. The Jedi dealt with tangible issues across the galaxy ranging from border disputes to full-scale conflict."

Ron blinked in confusion at the sharpness of Obi-Wan's voice in his defense of the Jedi, but Harry spoke up.

"Well, it sounds to me like your galaxy's problems couldn't be stopped in a border dispute or full-scale conflict. You needed to make people see that they were working against themselves. We have corruption in government here, too, but we try to correct it from what I hear my uncle bark at the television. Though given he's one of the people in favor of corruption doesn't really say much for his moral compass…"

"Making people admit they were wrong about anything is hard. Making a politician admit it publicly is nearly impossible." Obi-Wan sighed, a hand running down his face as though he were somewhere else entirely. "They have such a ridiculous level of pride. One can only hope you never have the misfortune of seeing it first-hand."

"Knowing how the Ministry takes a shine to his life." Ron jabbed a thumb to Harry next to him. "I think he's already seen it and will just get another helping sooner or later."

Harry turned to Ron with a look. "What do you mean?"

Ron scoffed with his arms folded once again. "Don't you remember? Blimey, Harry, we were just at school with a hundred dementors because the Ministry thought Sirius Black was out for your head. I mean, they were wrong, and Sirius is innocent, but even if we handed them Peter Pettigrew all tied up on a silver platter, they'd likely throw us in Azkaban before admit they flubbed the whole mess in the first place."

Now it was Hermione's turn to goggle at Ron, and she was not the only one as Harry and Luna followed suit.

"Ronald… that was scarily astute of you…" Hermione said as Ron scoffed again.

"I see things… I just don't always know how to say it. Been puzzling that one out for the better part of this entire summer in the back of my head."

Harry sized Ron up with an appraising look. "What else have you been thinking about?"

Ron shrugged with his shoulders a little, keeping his arms crossed. "A few other things. Mostly details that don't really add up, especially after everything we went through at the Quidditch World Cup."

"Give us an example." Luna said, entering the conversation.

Obi-Wan appeared lost on how they went from talking about the Jedi to whatever the teens were referring to now. Yoda seemed to take it all in stride as he looked peaceful, eyes closed and hands neatly atop one another on the head of his walking stick.

"Okay, yeah. Pretty much, I was thinking about this the other day in the middle of our training session. If the Ministry can see the last spell cast by a wand, or even other ways of detecting who cast what magic, then how did they come up with Sirius Black blowing up that street full of muggles? Wouldn't they have known that the spell came from Peter Pettigrew's wand instead of Black's one? And the severed finger. Not blown off by the explosion, but cut off afterward. Shouldn't the Aurors or DMLE be able to tell the difference. I mean the finger would have been burned at least if in the explosion, right? Not perfectly cut off by Pettigrew."

Ron continued as he made himself comfortable in the reflective silence of the others around him. "And what about the Chamber of Secrets? Did the Ministry even bother to check that out? Lockhart got his memory wiped by himself down there, not to mention the whole Basilisk thing that occurred. Did they send anyone from the Ministry to make sure nothing else was hiding down there? If they needed your help to get down there, they could have asked. I know you wouldn't have said no."

Harry was rubbing his chin in thought. "I have to agree. I gave Professor Dumbledore the diary and everything, but I don't think he made it known that Tom Riddle became Voldemort, or that Riddle had been sneakily trying to kill students while a student himself at the school. Who knows what other secrets or vile things he left in the castle," Harry plainly ignored to wince Ron and Hermione gave at Voldemort's name.

"Have you asked your father about any of this, Ron?" Hermione suggested, because now her mind was racing for a completely different reason than it had been minutes before.

The grand scale of things had narrowed so suddenly and unexpectedly. From the vastness of space to a simple little xenophobic culture of wizards.

Hermione felt undeniably tiny in the scheme of everything.

"Yeah, but all he does is just avoids the conversation like he does most stuff the Ministry doesn't like him talking about." Ron waved it aside. "I don't know, but it had me thinking how previous stuff at Hogwarts stacks against what we went through at the World Cup. And now we're getting a history lesson on the fall of a galaxy-wide Ministry that got taken over by some kind of Dark Lord that used the space-Ministry's own laziness and greed against itself. It just makes me wonder… will we have to go through the same thing here on Earth in our lifetime?"

"That is quite the question," Obi-Wan began as he turned to face Master Yoda, "But despite my only barely being able to follow your conversation with context clues, I suspect you've little to fear. So long as citizens recognize the pitfalls of greed and arrogance, they can do much to safeguard themselves against such. As for your Ministry… well, I am not familiar enough with your local government or your culture here to make a proper observation or conclusion. However, so long as you trust in the Force and do your part to defend the basic principles of democracy and decency, then no one can say you failed."

Master Yoda opened his eyes and stared directly into Obi-Wan's eyes. "Believe those words, you do, Master Kenobi? Then take them to heart, you must."

"I don't follow, Master Yoda." Obi-Wan said as he frowned a little.

"Not in your personal failures is the fall of the Republic. An equal hand, had I as Grandmaster. And Master Windu. And Anakin Skywalker. As well as all Jedi. All the Senators. All the people. All the planets. All the galaxy. Come to accept this, I have. Even the Force, a part it played in the rise of the Emperor."

"You would say the Force?" Obi-Wan echoed in shock as Yoda nodded.

"Yes, even the Force… out of balance it was, and allowed that balance to fall away we of the Jedi Order did. In our own arrogance, thought we did to grow complacent. In our stand to hold the line against the darkness, we did not realize that it had receded purposely. To grow and adapt beyond our sight. In our own corruption, the Jedi pruned away many teachings that we felt no longer needed in our fight against the darkness. No longer was our enemy the Sith, a breed of hated-filled warmongers that sought only destruction and death. Adapted and changed they did to become manipulators of the mind. Of morals. Of our own integrity. While strengthen our minds with wisdom and refined our teachings with ways to detain the modern criminal, lost we did our ways of detecting the Sith and their methods. And yet, when return the Sith did, dug up those old methods to fight the new Sith we did. Arrogant and blind of us, it was."

"Were we not meant to grow and adapt ourselves?" Obi-Wan asked, his hand cutting across the air. "We believed the Sith Order to be extinct and so our Order acted according with that knowledge."

"That assumption, we made." Yoda argued, but Obi-Wan kept going.

"There were other issues plaguing the galaxy. Pirates. Slavers. Drug lords. Criminal cartels. Corrupt industries that were encroaching on entire worlds. Warlords who were burning villages to make their points. Mad scientists who were either creating deadly viruses or making abominations of flesh and machine to manufacture Jedi-killers to the highest sellers!" Obi-Wan sounded as if he would start pulling out his hair soon.

"It sounds to me like the Jedi could not be in all the places, all the time." Luna said in a dreamy tone. Her lips were perched in a thoughtful manner. "It was not wrong for you to adapt, but to believe that the dark side of those who could tap into the Force was all gone was… foolhardy. Surely you had rogue Jedi who fell to the dark side."

"That we did," Obi-Wan confessed, a hand combing through his hair. "However, they were never so powerful or well connected as the Sith. Jedi that fell to the dark side were normally dealt with within a couple years or less time. In fact, in recent memory the longest a dark Jedi has ever been active under our knowledge was three years after our discovery of them. If they went any longer than that, we either thought them dead or redeemed."

"So the Emperor is a member of this Sith Order you were taking about?" Hermione asked, her throat going dry as Obi-Wan nodded.

"And very powerful, he is." Yoda spoke into the silence that had consumed them for a minute. "The culmination of all Sith before him, Emperor Sidious. His apprentice, Darth Vader. Always two there are among the Sith… a Master and an Apprentice…"

"The same can be said for our Orders here on Earth." Luna stretched her arms out. "Every Je'daii that has a connection with the Force is trained whether by their parent who has experience as a Je'daii, or they find their way to a Je'daii Master through the Force. Many are not trained, and subconsciously they lose that power with age and the misguided use of magic. They train only one, and as I remember from our history against the Sith they have come to do the same where they had once trained entire schools of warriors at a time."

"Wait, how does magic make you lose the Force?" Hermione asked, curious to this new development.

"Well, it doesn't really make you lose the Force." Luna corrected herself. "Your connection with it is still there, as it is in all living things. However, you become less and less aware of it, inside and out. Magic makes you limit yourself to what is before you. It frays at the edges of your consciousness to the world around you. In place of universal enlightenment, you gain quick fixes to your problems."

"So… they replace each other?" Ron asked, looking slightly bewildered, but Luna shook her head.

"No, no. That's not it at all. Magic makes you less aware of the Force, and as the years wear on you are completely stunted in the Force by your use of magic. However, if you can train yourself to feel the Force and use it before it is too late, then there is time to save your connection to the universal energy. If only a little."

They all leaned carefully to Luna's words. "Each passing year closes down those perceptions to the Force. The use of magic causes one's consciousness to be drawn back down to their physical form, and if one uses purely magic when they have a potential in the Force, then after the age of maturity they lose their potential to connect to the Force as the Jedi do. It is… maddening. There are some accounts passed down about the decaying process. A man well into his maturity trying to connect to the Force. He described it as close to the Dementors effects without being anywhere near them. The feeling of being trapped in your own skull until you can barely feel the contours of your own body…"

"Sounds like the Dementors, alright. Just without reliving your worst memories." Harry sighed, settling back while Hermione looked away. Harry was the only person among them who could give an all too real account of those creatures' black power over others.

"So, what does it all mean?" Ron asked, and was faced with silence for a while as no one had an easy answer for him.

Hermione turned to Obi-Wan, then to Harry as she prepared to summarize everything they had discussed. "It sounds to me… that the Jedi fought and defeated the Sith a long time ago."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Well, that is partly correctly. You see, we believed the Sith Order had destroyed itself in their greed for power. History tells us there was one, who we now know as Darth Bane. He was a Dark Lord of the Sith who lived during what was termed the Dark Age of the Republic, a thousand years before present days. In his time, the Sith were often fueled by their own individual lusts for power, with Sith turning against their own. The infighting led to the defeat of their dark side order, as the Jedi Order was able to all but destroy the weakened Sith. Bane was the sole survivor of the Jedi–Sith war."

Yoda took up explanation after that as he placed both hands atop his walking stick. "A devious mind, Darth Bane possessed. Recognizing he did that it was infighting which destroyed the Sith, Bane created a new Sith philosophy. This one, called it the Rule of Two, he did, in which there could be only two Sith at a given time: a Master to embody power and an apprentice to crave it. Bane took on an apprentice of his own and began passing on his knowledge, all while establishing the new Sith way of pursuing power and revenge against the Jedi through manipulation and subterfuge. Learned we did, during my lifetime, of Bane's new philosophy. And while defeated Bane himself, we did, falsely we believed that destroyed the Sith forever during that time. So wrong we were… Bane's plans continued through his apprentice whose name is still unknown to us… Whose face is still unknown to us…"

"But you thought they were gone? The Sith, right?" Hermione asked, and Yoda nodded somberly. "So, for a thousand years, there was peace. Meanwhile here on Earth, Merlin and the Hogwarts Founders created the Ministry and Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry in order to standardize magical education and give governance to the magical populace of England."

"And yet they still put it is Scotland…" Ron grumbled with his arms across. Hermione smacked him in the back of the head.

Hermione continued. "The Jedi grew to fight the more modern threats plaguing the Republic, but didn't know that the Sith were still out there watching and waiting for their time to strike. They were growing more powerful and cunning while the Jedi were preoccupied trying to solve tangible issues that faced them every day instead of chasing ghosts of the past."

Obi-Wan turned to Yoda with a grim smile. "I like the way she puts it."

"When the Sith did return, you fought and defeated the apprentice. He was… Darth Feral?"

Obi-Wan shook his head, and could still perfectly remember his Dathomir nemesis. "No, my child… Darth Maul… I cut him in half, but he returned. Twice. And I fear he may still be out there somewhere plotting further revenge…"

"You cut him in half?" Ron asked, eyes wide. "Why'd you leave out that? Bloody hell, that's brilliant mate!"

Harry seemed to understand the pain in Obi-Wan's eyes. "He took someone from you, didn't he? You look like I felt when Peter Pettigrew escaped us months ago at Hogwarts."

"He took much from me… and the galaxy. We'll leave it at that." Obi-Wan took a deep breath and gave a stiff upper lip. "Please, Hermione, continue with your summary of events."

"Right," Hermione now looked vaguely uncomfortable. "So, the apprentice was defeated, but not the Master. Then the war happened between the Republic and the Separatists. However, just as the Republic claimed decisive victory over the Separatists, this was when the Emperor revealed his true colors. He turned your soldiers against you and branded the Jedi traitors to the Republic. Then made his empire out of hate. By that time, it was too late for anyone to stop him as he had already been handed too much power by the very people the Jedi were trying to protect."

"Yes. A good summary if ever there was one. And even though there are many numerous details and avenues of information that would further shed light, they are too many and complex to go into right now." Obi-Wan folded his arms neatly inside his robe sleeves.

"But here on Earth, we were dealing with the protection of the Philosopher's Stone from a possessed Professor Quirrell. Then there was the opening of the Chamber of Secrets which would have unleashed a beast that could kill any who gazed directly into its eyes, and petrified all who gazed indirectly at it… including me…"

Ron rubbed her back as she shivered from the memory.

"Then there was months ago where we found out that the crazed mass-murder Sirius Black who we all thought was out to kill Harry in service to the Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named… well, turned out he was actually innocent of murder and betrayal. It was actually the sniveling coward Peter Pettigrew who betrayed—" Hermione cast a quick glance at Harry, who looked surprised when she suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He saw that she was looking at him, and nervously biting her lip.

Oh right. It was his life they were directly referring to now in conversation.

"Oh, yeah, no. Go on with it. I'm alright, Hermione." Harry gestured for her to continue.

"Right… Peter Pettigrew betrayed Harry's parents, James and Lily Potter. He was their Secret-Keeper, meaning he was the only one who knew their exact location while they were in hiding with baby Harry at the time. He sold them out to the Dark Lord, who wanted to kill the Potters for one reason or another. Some books say it was because the Potters had defied him three times already in their fight against his madness. Others speculate that it was actually Harry he was after because Harry is destined to defeat him and put an end to the age of Dark Lords."

Obi-Wan grew a bittersweet smile on his bearded face. "It sounds to me like there is much on your shoulders, young one. And that your parents were every bit as great as the Jedi Knights who I served with to protect the Republic until the bitter end."

"Thank you, Obi-Wan, but I don't believe in any of that destiny nonsense." Even as his mind remembered the prophecy of Trelawny that came true about Wormtail's escape and return to Voldemort. It sent a cold shiver down his spine. "I have to make my own destiny. If I let others dictate my life for me, then I'd still be under the stairs in my relatives' cupboard."

Hermione and Ron's faces took on very angry looks.

"Ugh, I always forget about those wankers…"

"We seriously need to report those vile people to the proper authorities. Who knows what they might do next to keep you away from magic. Never mind how they might react to the Force and your becoming a Jedi."

"Let's not forget," Harry said loudly to get them back on track, "That Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort's spirit. That the Chamber of Secrets was opened by, again, Voldemort's spirit with some help from Lucius Malfoy. That Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail, served Voldemort as a spy for years in secret before betraying my family in the ultimate way."

Harry ignored the way that Ron and even Hermione flinched at the mention of the Dark Lord's chosen name. "And I had a very strange, yet specific dream this summer about an elderly man learning about Voldemort and Wormtail plotting to capture me some way, somehow in order to use me in something that he's been scheming for the past thirteen years. I remember writing a note about it all the night I first met Master Yoda."

"Hmm, yes," Yoda nodded his head to Harry, "Remember, I do. Spoke of this dream we did. Concluded that only a dream it was, but perhaps wrong I was to give finality to the realm of possibilities. A very real threat, lurking, could be. Cautious you must be, my young apprentice."

"I will." Harry said with a small smile at Yoda's concern for him.

Hermione and Ron, however, looked shocked to hear about any of this.

"When were you going to tell us about that dream?" Ron blurted out as Harry blinked.

"I did… didn't I?" Harry tried to remember, but could not recall it.

"No, Harry, you never told us that you saw You-Know-Who in your dreams this summer." Hermione shook her head, and quickly she with Ron were standing very close to Harry. He pushed the two back a little with a small laugh.

Luna tilted her head to the side while Obi-Wan exchanged looks with Yoda. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were a trio all to themselves sometimes, and even they forgot that others were around them.

As Harry went on to tell his two best friends and fellow Jedi about the dream and the pain in his scar, Ron and Hermione's reactions were almost exactly as Harry had imagined them back in his bedroom on Privet Drive. Hermione gasped and started making suggestions at once, mentioning numerous reference books, and everybody from Albus Dumbledore to Madam Pomfrey, the Hogwarts nurse. Ron simply looked critical, though still very close to dumbstruck as he crossed his arms tightly to hide his discomfort with the topic of Voldemort.

"But he wasn't there, was he? You-Know-Who? I mean, last time your scar kept hurting, he was at Hogwarts, wasn't he?"

"I'm sure he wasn't on Privet Drive," Harry smiled. "Or else Yoda would have sensed him, and then we would have met under completely different circumstances… In fact, I still don't know what that light was…"

"Perhaps, never you will know. Heh, heh, heh." Yoda laughed, and Harry got the feeling he was being pranked by the little green elf.

"Anyways, I can't remember all of it, but it was definitely him and Wormtail. They were plotting to kill me. But, I suspect its nothing new in their book." Hermione look horrified at the thought.

"If this had been any time before all this Jedi training stuff, I'd say it was only a dream." Ron said bracingly before giving a sigh and looking dreadful. "But its not, is it? He's coming for you again."

"What can we do if he really does have a plot to kill you, Harry?" Hermione turned away from everyone to look out at the sky. "Our Jedi training is nowhere near complete by the timeline I've been keeping. Our magical education is only approaching its fourth year with three more to go afterward. We're wholly inept to deal with a Dark Lord hellbent on your destruction."

"Help you will have, whenever you need it." Yoda made his presence known once again as he spoke, chin held high as he stood next to Obi-Wan Kenobi with Luna a meter off to their side. "And an ally you already have. The Force will be with you, always. Never forget this. Listen to the Force, and steer you wrong it will not."

"Then the time has come…" a voice on the wind spoke softly to all of them, "for you to discover the path of your guiding stars for yourselves. To find answers for yourselves. Now is the time. Into the fold, you young learners are welcomed. Into the circle, you are now entrusted."

"What the—?" Ron leapt to his feet while Hermione began looking around. "Who said that?"

"The Force speaks to us with many voices," Yoda said, his eyes closed as he stood in front of the students. Only Harry and Luna did not appear surprised by the disembodied voice, "He is one. He is Qui-Gon Jinn. And he lives on through the Force, he does."

That seemed to calm Ron and Hermione, though it calmed Ron more than her. "So, he's a ghost? Where is he?"

Ron looked this way and that, but Qui-Gon Jinn was nowhere in sight.

"I am not with you in person, young Ronald, but I will always be with you through the Force." Qui-Gon revealed as there were subtle shifts in the way the Force flowed around them, so all the students could more easily identify his presence among them.

"Too old I was," Yoda voiced again, his head bowed in humility and some sorrow. "Too rigid when the Republic stood. Too arrogant to see truth. Real truth. Truth that the old way of the Jedi, the only way it was not. Grew the galaxy did while I remained unchanged. Changed the Sith did, but I did not. Of a different time I was, but no more. Begun to change I have in training Harry. Following through on that change by accepting you all, I am. Continue to grow and adapt, we all must. To achieve victory. If not for ourselves, then for all time."

"The Force is an infinite mystery, young ones." Obi-Wan turned toward where the Burrow stood in the distance, but spoke in a grateful tone. "We all still have much to learn. I will humble myself to you, and whatever lessons you have to teach, I hope only to prove myself worthy enough to learn."

"Hmm, yes… Much to learn there still is."

"And you have already begun learning." The voice of Qui-Gon Jinn sounded around the group, through them, and inside the intimacy of their very minds. "There is a vergence on the horizon. One which will split your paths very soon. In your time apart, you will see the truth of your lessons. The growth you have all made in your strides to follow the will of the Force."

"This power that Qui-Gon possess, the ultimate goal of the Sith, it is. Yet never achieve it, they will."

"Why do you say that?" Ron asked with a furrowed brow, still glancing around for what he believed was Qui-Gon's ghost in hiding behind a tree or rock.

"Such power could only come by the release of self, not the acclamation of self." Obi-Wan answered with confidence. "It comes through compassion, not greed. Love is the only answer to the darkness. A lust for power bars the Sith from learning this ability. It is the first test, and one I can say that I've had the privilege of passing."

"And the next leg of your journey in learning is soon to take place, Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon's voice, the mouthpiece that the Force wished to speak to them through, held a note of wisdom beyond their comprehension of the word, "It is yours to pursue, if you wish it."

"I can only believe that I am ready," Obi-Wan bowed before Qui-Gon's voice, "It is for the Force to show if I am truly ready. I will do what I must to the best of my abilities."

"A good answer for the ever-studious Obi-Wan Kenobi." Qui-Gon's voice sounded all around them, and Ron chuckled as he could feel the amusement in the Force.

"Oi!" Fred's voice called from down by the Burrow, "Mum says to get your rears in gear for munchies! Last one in has to wash dishes!"

When Harry and the others looked toward Master Yoda and Obi-Wan in order to say they would continue their talks later, the two Jedi Masters were already halfway across the fields walking at a steady pace to the Weasley family home. Luna was not far behind them.

"I suggest you children catch up. Master Yoda has not done dishes in centuries. It would be an amusing sight for all of us who reside in the Force." Qui-Gon's voice laughed as the three used the Force to propel themselves behind the three Jedi.

A race soon took place to not be last into the house. Yoda, apparently, was not above petty tricks as he used the Force to untie Harry's shoes and trip him up before climbing onto Ron's back for a ride into the house.

Rarely did Obi-Wan allow himself to actually think of the past. He wallowed in it every day, yes, but never did he truly live in it as he did now.

It was agonizing.

Harry's acceptance of his past and outlook on the future had given the bearded Jedi Master a moment of clarity. He had never truly accepted the past. The war. The Sith. The heartache and pain of days since gone.

Now inside his room within the Lovegood's humble home, Obi-Wan mediated to relive his past and try for some measure of acceptance.

It was heartbreak.

He was a warrior turned into an old man overnight by sorrow and grief. Was there anything inside him anymore? He wondered this, lying on the bed provided to him by Master Lovegood at night, staring at the rough stone ceiling. How could a being be numb and full of pain at the same time?

There had been so many that he cared about.

And now just about everyone he'd loved was dead…

The names and faces would begin in his mind, crippling him with every visage.

Qui-Gon. Siri. Tyro Caladian. Satine. Mace Windu.

The apprentices… Darra Thel-Tanis. Tru Veld.

Their Masters… Ry-Gaul. Soara Antana.

And the Jedi slaughtered in the purge. For it had been just that — a slaughter, shocking, devastating, quick… but not quick enough for the victims…

His dearest friends, Bant and Garen. The imperious Jocasta Nu. The gentle Ali Alann and Kovar Vebb. The warriors… Shaak Ti, Kit Fisto, Luminara Unduli.

And the great Jedi Masters… Ki-Adi-Mundi, Adi Gallia, Plo Koon.

Gone… The word would toll in his head. Gone.

Jedi he'd fought alongside, studied with, laughed with… a roll call of the dead that thumped out a drumbeat of pain with every heartbeat.

And then, as dawn would bring a blush of light to his ceiling, he turned in sweating agony to the last, worst thing.

The thing he could not avoid looking at, the thing that gave him the most awful pain.

The boy he'd raised and loved like a son had become a traitor.

A killer. A monster.

A convert to the dark side, a testament to Obi-Wan's failure to guide, to protect.

The boy, Anakin Skywalker, had died at the hands of the Emperor, and the Sith Lord Darth Vader had been born in his place.

At first, Obi-Wan had thought that Anakin had died in the flames on Mustafar. It was months later that he'd realized what had happened, that the Emperor had kept him alive, or, at least, the part he wanted to remain — the hate and the power.

Obi-Wan had seen Darth Vader's image on a data-recorder he'd found in an alley of Mos Eisley. It contained a HoloNet report, and he had known at once, with a sense of shock so profound it had made him ill, that Lord Darth Vader had once been Anakin Skywalker.

The only being in the galaxy who could understand the depths of his grief was the one telling him it was not his fault. But Yoda knew the pain he felt, and Yoda blamed himself just as much as Obi-Wan did. That was why he was here in exile as well, living so hidden that not even the Empire would venture to this backwater little planet of magic and illusion.

And the spirit who could help him, who had promised to help him — Qui-Gon — could not appear to him. Instead, he had only heard his voice.

Some days, it was hard not to feel impatience, even anger against Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan struggled with this emotion daily. It was his Master who had charged him to take Anakin on as his apprentice. And now it was Qui-Gon who was holding the knowledge he'd learned from the Ancient Order of the Whills, a training that could bring Obi-Wan some measure of peace. He could learn to be one with the Force but retain his consciousness.

Would that mean he could lose this pain, this grief? Obi-Wan wondered.

That is only for you to determine. The training cannot aid you in curing what you allow to fester.

Obi-Wan turned his mind away from all the pain and anguish. He instead looked to the present, and for a time allowed the past to leave his mind.

He thought of Owen and Beru Lars. They knew he had left for a time.

Were they expecting him back?

Would they even want him back?

Their friendship with him was an uneasy one; they knew he had saved Luke, but Luke's aunt and uncle also knew the threat that he'd brought with him to Tatooine. They were aware that he came by to observe the boy, but it was agreed that they would ignore him, so Luke would learn to ignore him, too. He was grateful for their vigilance, for it meant that they were vigilant against strangers as well.

And who could blame them, Obi-Wan thought. Luke had been born in a time of violence and misery. Naturally they would want to protect him. They would not want him to end up in the hands of the Empire, or the Sand People.

If he was correct, then around this time on the desert planet of Tatooine, it would be late. The shadows would be long, the suns slipping behind the hill and Owen would surely be patrolling the perimeter of their moisture farm against Sand People and scavenger Jawas. Beru was always sure to be inside the below-ground compound by dusk and Owen quick to follow after his check of the grounds.

He smiled as he thought on the boy with hair full of sunlight. The way it would glint, even in the dusky light. Young little Luke would surely be laughing as he chased after a ball that Beru bounced away from him.

Obi-Wan opened himself to the Force and his mental vision became as clear as crystal. Beru rocking backward from her perch on the door-stop, laughing. Usually, she had something cooking about now, and she would disappear inside for a few seconds to check on it. Luke would crawl to the doorway and watch her. He seemed to feel a need to keep her in sight.

Obi-Wan heard Beru's laughter from across the galaxy, saw Luke tumbling and laughing with her. He allowed himself to smile. Seeing Luke gave him satisfaction, and through Qui-Gon's connection to them both and the Force, satisfaction was enough for him now.

Leave them be for now, Obi-Wan.

He did. He let go of the image and the Force as he dropped his smile as well. For the first few years, he thought he had left smiles and laughter behind as a part of another life. But the children— Harry, Hermione, Ronald, and Luna— had shown him that he could not let darkness rob him of what little joy was left to him. If he let the Emperor and the dark side take that, then it was just another battle he had allowed them to win. And win without a fight.

Never again would that happen.

He had promised Padme that her children would be safe, and he had made it so. Leia was growing up on Alderaan, the adopted daughter of Bail Organa, the kindest and noblest man Obi-Wan knew, and his wife, the Queen. He wished Padme could know that her children were more than well-cared for — they were loved.

But Padme… fierce, sad, beautiful Padme… was in a sleep so close to death that she might never awaken to see her beautiful children again in life.

Obi-Wan's eyes opened even before the knock came to his bedroom door. It was sweet young Luna, who bowed to him before entering. He got up and returned the bow on unsteady legs.

"It's time for breakfast, Master Kenobi." Luna told him, and Obi-Wan followed after her. "You're sweating. Another fretful night?"

"Not exactly." He answered. "In fact, I'm not entirely sure what to call it. There was much pain, but there is always joy. I've no clue what to make of it."

Luna turned to him with a dreamy little smile. "I would call that life, Master Kenobi. One that you've lived. Survived, more like it. But a life that is not finished yet. Not finished by a long margin."

Obi-Wan stroked his beard, amazed by her insight and wisdom. "Yes… Yes, I believe you are right…"

A/N: So, there ends the filler arc of training and emotions and getting all caught up on events between both universes.

Now next chapter will see all those events have consequences and for new as well as old characters to play a part in the shaping of their own destinies.