Author's Note:

Happy Chinese New Year! Sorry for the late reply. Was out of town, what with the holiday and all and did I mention that my internet connection sucks? Only for the last umpteenth time, I'm sure. To compensate for the delayed update, I'm practically updating with two chapters at once - this one, which is the last in this particular fic, and the first chapter of the next story in the series. Happy Reading.

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Offsprings

Tom found himself unable to look away at the trainwreck of a scene in front of him. He had just seen Darth Vader torture a young senator who was actually his long-separated and hidden daughter, with injections of potions (drugs, he corrected, might as well get used to the proper names). It was certainly a cleaner method than to manually harm and bleed someone, and the clear upside of it is the very quick recovery rate. Yet to say that it was better was akin to saying Crucio is an improvement on thumbscrews.

It wasn't.

He knew that for sure—he did a comparison once. It was part of a body of knowledge he was filing away in a drawer at the back of his mind and would be careful not to mention to anyone else to avoid misunderstandings. He will not hesitate to utilise them again if they were useful—knowledge was neutral. It's their use and purposes that isn't.

Anakin was wearing a path down behind the bench, restlessly pacing instead of going along with Tom who was watching it, because the Jedi couldn't see this part of his life again. The wizard didn't blame him. For one who had never before considered having a family, he saw how Leia Organa's rashness, bullheadedness and several other character traits echo Anakin's so closely in ways that was probably poignant for the other man. Even Tom had wondered how much more interesting she would've grown up to be if the Jedi had raised her himself. An odd question had raised itself at the back of his mind.

What would you do if you had a child of your own?

He would raise the child became the greatest wizard or witch the world has ever seen, Tom thought. The decision was unexpectedly firm for one that he had only contemplated the moment before, but was it so surprising? He was one of the greatest wizards in the last century or two, he was sure that any offspring of his would not be any less stellar. So why would he want other people to raise them, and possibly do something wrong in the process?

Hmm. What would he do if he was in Anakin's place?

I would quickly become very upset with the Emperor. How Darth Vader toed the line with him for so long was something he didn't understand, but the last time he wondered out loud about Anakin's increasingly desperate attempts to corrupt Luke, the taller man countered it by asking why in the galaxy did he have to go through the motions of the Triwizard Tournament just to kidnap one boy? The fact that it came through was a testament to his sheer luck than the plan's merit, as the plan relied on too many events happening just right and at the same time.

Unwilling to be pulled into another game of you're-stupider-than-me or does-being-a-dark-lord-meant-sacrificing-your-brain?, since it had them rowing rather spectacularly more than once before, Tom held back. (And wasn't he glad that neither Harry nor the Lady Magic saw them then to have second thoughts about giving them another life?). He decided to just chalk it up as another example of how the Dark Side (or Dark Arts, in his own case) perverts judgment.

At this point, the list was getting embarrassingly long.

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Author's Note:

Any feedback would be much appreciated.