Chapter 8 – Year 1 Summer Holiday

"So, who's driving?" Andrew asked as they got to the entrance of King's Cross. Jarod tossed the keys to Andrew and he got the idea. "Awesome, hey Harry!" Andrew called, tossing his friend his Holo-com. "Keep in touch okay?"

"How does it work?" Harry asked, Jarod sighed and took the device back.

"I'll have one posted to you with an instruction manual," the Jedi Master said gently, "this one is programmed in our systems with Andrew's name."

The Dursley's were almost ready to go, Vernon scowling at Harry to hurry up. Mel levitated Andrew's trunk into the boot of the car while everyone else got in and quickly joined the Masters in the back seat as Andrew started the engine.

Harry's Uncle nearly hit them as he pulled out and into the road, but Andrew managed to avoid an accident by shifting into flight mode. The look of shock on Dudley's face when he saw the car transform into a shuttle was priceless, Andrew gave one final wave to Harry and took to the sky.

When they got back to the temple Andrew and Mel unpacked his things, he had been worried about that, he wanted to know where everything was without other Padawans seeing titles like "A Beginners Guide To Transfiguration" or "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi". It turned out that Jarod had considered that and had assembled a cabinet in Andrew's room.

Once all of his school things were put away, and the doors shut and locked, Andrew and Mel went and had a sparring match, which Andrew won. After that Jarod wanted to know what had happened involving the Stone, Dumbledore had sent a letter explaining, but the details were sketchy at best. So Andrew told him everything, about finding Fluffy asleep, about the Devil's Snare, the flying keys, the chess game, the potions puzzle and finally the torment of hearing Harry being threatened by Quirrell and Andrew forcing himself through the black fire to assist Harry.

By the time Andrew had finished the blow-by-blow details of his fight with the shadows and how Harry and Andrew had worked together to kill Quirrell, leading to Voldemort's spirit fleeing once again, it was time for dinner, which turned out to be a party of sorts to welcome home the missed prankster.

The next morning Andrew and Mel were told they had the day to themselves, so they went for a walk around London. It was a beautifully sunny day and Andrew loved every minute of it. Birds were singing, kids were playing in the park, Andrew and Mel joined in a friendly game of football with some muggle kids to pass the time and then went to Dominoes for lunch.

"Mmm, I miss junk food sometimes," Mel sighed as she swallowed a mouthful of pepperoni pizza.

"Yeah, needing to stay in great shape can be a drag at times," Andrew agreed, clinking glasses with Mel.

On the way back though something went wrong. As they were walking past the Bank of England, there were police cars everywhere and gunshots came from inside.

"I knew today was going too perfectly," Andrew said as he started making his way towards the officer in charge, "is there anything we can do to help, Officer?" he asked when he got there.

"Yeah, you can stay the hell out of the way kid!" he yelled.

"Forgive me, Officer, but we're Jedi, we've been trained for situations like this." Mel responded, all of them ducking as a shot rang out and pierced a tyre, bursting it loudly.

"Jedi huh?" he asked. "Ever dealt with hostage situations?"

"Yeah, always passed with flying colours, only difference here is there's no test dummies, but we always got them through in one piece," Mel answered, the officer looked convinced.

"We've got sixteen people in there, six workers and ten customers, four of which are children and all of which have a live grenade in their hands." He explained.

"How many gunmen?" Andrew asked, not really caring that a news crew was catching every word.

"Seven, two with pistols, three with sub-machine rifles, one with a flame-thrower and one with…" a bullet ricocheted off the bonnet of his car and the police officers ducked down "… a sniper rifle." He finished.

Mel smirked and ignited her lightsabers. "This is where the fun begins," she said and they both charged forward. The sniper sent off another shot, which she deflected and fire spewed out of another window, aimed at Andrew, he simply held it at bay with the Force while Mel dealt with the sniper, cutting his weapon to pieces and throwing him through the window and down the steps.

The police cuffed him and pushed him into a car.

The flame-thrower turned on Mel. Andrew took the chance and hurled his lightsaber, it nicked the gas tank on the criminal's back, all of his fuel spilled out and caused the stream of flame to die out. Realising that he was defenceless, the pyromaniac lifted his hands into the air and gave up. Mel lifted two fingers from her right hand blade and gently lifted him out of the window, depositing him in the pavement where he was cuffed.

"(Two down, five to go,)" Andrew thought.

The two Padawans made their way inside, keeping to the shadows, they could clearly see the five guys, one of them talking into his radio.

"Laposky," he growled. "Daniels. One of you answer me, what the frack are you doing out there!"

"It's gone quiet outside," another one commented, looking like he was getting nervous. "You think they got arrested? Are the cops gonna storm the place?!"

"Cool it, Pitch!" a dark skinned man shouted, clearly sporting an itchy trigger finger.

"We gotta surrender before we all get killed!" Screamed Pitch, only for the man in charge to step out and shoot him in the back. The hostages all screamed into the tape covering their mouths.

"Anyone else wanna suggest surrender?" nobody answered him. "I didn't think so, they won't risk any of the hostages, they'll call soon with a negotiator any minute, and we bargain hostages for our freedom. Of course if they refuse, we'll start shooting our distinguished guests." he leered at one of the children, who got his meaning and started to cry.

"Enough of this," Andrew muttered quietly to Mel. "I go this way, you go that way?" he asked, motioning with his head, Mel nodded and they sprang forward, a hail of bullets greeting them. People were screaming, the gunmen were shouting, Andrew had two of them and Mel had three.

Taking them down was dead easy, the machine guns were cut in half to make them useless, bullets from the handguns were melted on contact with the lightsabers and within minutes all five gunmen were unconscious, having either been thrown into a wall or had a desk chair thrown into them. That plus a few of them had minor lightsaber wounds.

"Well, that's everyone; I'll get the police to take care of the grenades," Andrew said as he took of running. He trotted down the stairs and told the head officer that it was all clear inside.

Inside the bank, Mel was busy easing the tape off the hostages mouths. "Take it easy, bomb disposal will be here soon and they'll take care of those grenades, I promise you'll be safe soon."

"Thank you so much!" one mother cried as Mel gently took the tape off her daughter's mouth and dabbed at the little girl's tear streaked face.

After about an hour going from one explosive to the next, all of the hostages were safe, outside, wrapped in a blanket and speaking to a therapist.

"Think they'll be okay?" Mel asked, brushing off her jacket.

"The kids will be having nightmares for a few months, London's therapists will be kept busy for years I suspect." Andrew sighed. "But they say that time heals all wounds, even psychological ones."

Mel nodded and stepped into the street, her eyes glued to a mother trying desperately to comfort her two children as one screamed and the other cried in terror and relief.

There was the sudden sound of a horn blaring out, a screech of tyres and Andrew crying out to Mel, but it was too late, a taxi drove right into her and her body broke through the windscreen, several shards of glass ripping through her clothes and breaking her skin open.

"MEL!" Andrew screamed as he ran to her. "Why weren't you watching the road!" he roared at the cab driver.

"She just came outta nowhere!" he screamed back, having no idea what to do he just sat frozen in shock. Andrew drew his lightsaber and started cutting his fellow Padawan out of what was left of the window.

"Does the engine still work!" the Jedi demanded. The driver tried his engine and it rattled to life. "Get us to the Jedi temple!" he ordered.

"No charge!" the driver answered, Andrew glared at him for implying he might have even thought of charging them when he was the reason they needed a ride.

One of the police cars escorted them, using the siren to move traffic out of the way.

Andrew dived out of the car and up the stairs to the temple to scream for help while the police officer booked the taxi driver for driving without due care and attention. Two Jedi Masters came down the stairs to gently carry Mel out of the taxi to carry her to the halls of healing.

Andrew was left pacing frantically outside the halls as his and Mel's Masters walk calmly to him.

"What happened?" Jarod asked, Dela was keeping her cool but there was no hiding the worry in her eyes.

Andrew kept pacing as he explained the bank robbery, how the two Padawans had dealt with it easily enough, and finally how Mel had stepped out into traffic, her eyes focused on the traumatised children, to be hit by a passing taxi.

"The idiot's been booked for speeding too!" Dela snapped, her nerves at their breaking point. Just then Zan Axfow stepped out, not looking happy.

"How is she Zan?" Jarod asked, placing a hand on Dela's shoulder and patting Andrew's.

"She lost a lot of blood as soon as the glass pierced her body, more still on the drive here." Axfow answered. "You did the right thing bringing her here, Andrew, you'd have taken longer trying to get to a hospital."

"I sense a 'but'" Andrew answered.

"You're right, we're not as well stocked as a proper surgical operating theatre, and between that and the recent nationwide blood shortage, we've run out of Melanie's blood type." Zan sighed. "I need you and Dela to round up some blood donors of her type, here's a list of potential candidates."

"Take me!" Andrew almost snapped. "I know the database like the back of my hand, and me and Mel share the same blood-type!"

"That's a very noble gesture Andrew, but we need to consider.." Jarod started.

"Screw that, Master!" Andrew shouted. "Every second we spend debating it, brings Mel one second closer to death! Now hook me up!"

Jarod, Dela and Zan frowned a little at the Padawan's outburst. "Very well, Jarod, Dela, go and look for more donors while I cross-match Andrew to be safe," Zan ordered, Andrew was about to argue, "we may need more blood than you can give safely, Andrew, and I am not going to kill one Padawan just to save another!"

Andrew let out a sigh and nodded, following the healing arts master into the halls.

He was laid on a bed next to Mel, she had clamps all over her, keeping her blood vessels from allowing any more blood to leave her system, Andrew himself winces as Master Axfow took a sample of his blood to cross-match with Mel. After a minute or two, he nodded and his Padawan was quick to push a needle into one of Andrew's arteries, pushing a needle on the other end of the tube into Mel's Vein.

Andrew watched from his bed, seeing as his and Mel's Masters came back and stood on the other side of a window to oversee Mel's surgery. Slowly and surely, the first of five shards of glass was removed from her left breast, it had punctured her lung and that had to be sutured closed, drained of a little internal bleeding and then inflated to restore its correct shape.

"That's one," commented one of the on-staff surgeons.

"We'll leave that one in her armpit until last, X-Rays showed that that one is superficial and it missed all the blood vessels." Zan answered.

Andrew tried to crane his neck but his head was pushed back down. "She's shirtless, Andrew," said the Padawan who was monitoring his condition, "please respect her modesty."

Andrew sighed and nodded, looking up at the ceiling. "How's she doing?" he asked.

"So far so good, we've gotten the main troublemaker and repaired her lung, now we're going after a shard near the liver." answered the surgeon, not taking her eyes off her work.

"How much danger is she in there?" Andrew asked.

"Not as much as you're thinking so relax, we don't need your heart rate getting high." Zan said calmly as he applied a Bacta patch over Mel's sutures to help them heal.

"Alright, retract that for me," the doctor asked her nurse, referring to Mel's liver, "and put a clamp on that tube, we've got enough blood for now." Andrew felt a slight tug on his arm as a clamp was closed on the tube coming from his arm and was then allowed to just hang from it.

There was a clink of glass as the second piece was removed. "Just muscular damage there, suture that for me nurse, I'll go after another piece."

"Yes doctor, P.G.A?" the nurse asked.

"No, PDS will do just fine, it's not all that serious." the doctor answered, moving to a shard in Mel's belly.

"Where exactly is that shard Doctor?" Dela's voice came over the intercom.

"Smack bang in the middle of her womb." Zan answered, causing Mel's Master to grow concerned.

"How severe is it?" Dela asked.

"It's not very deep, if you're concerned, she'll still be able to bare young," the doctor said, keeping a business-like tone.

"She'll be pleased to hear that," Dela sighed, causing Andrew to turn and look to her, "she's told me many times that she looks forward to being a mother some day."

Andrew nodded in understanding before his head was gently pushed back down again. "That's three done. I was mistaken, the tip was poking her womb but didn't pierce it, it's probably the shallowest piece in there."

A couple of the clamps on Mel's blood vessels were removed and she started bleeding from a few leaks, Andrew's clamp was removed to make up for the blood loss and he started to feel light-headed. Knowing exactly what Master Axfow would do if he said anything, he kept his mouth shut.

Once the forth shard was removed and Mel's kidney repaired, Zan decided to check on Andrew. "How are you feeling Andrew?" the boy's answer came back a little slurred. "Say that again?" he said, growing concerned and stepping away from Mel's table.

"I shed, I'm phine Mash-terr!" Andrew called out.

"Dammit! We've taken more than we should!" Zan cursed. "JAROD! Where are those donors!"

"The bottles are just coming in," Jarod answered over the intercom.

"Good, I want one hooked up to Melanie and one to Andrew, STAT!"

"Yes, Master," his Padawan answered with a nod, rushing around to do as he was told.

Shortly after that, Andrew blacked out, the next thing he knew he was drifting back to consciousness and it was dark outside.

"Gave me a scare there, my young Padawan," came the voice of his Master, Andrew groaned as he looked to his right to see Jarod with a slight frown on his head.

"Sorry, Master," Andrew said, almost out of reflex.

"You really should have said something when you started to feel light-headed," Jarod scolded, "Zan told you that he didn't want to risk killing you, just for the sake of saving Melanie."

"I didn't know if we had any more blood or not," Andrew mumbled, still feeling a little groggy. Jarod only deepened his frown and Andrew apologised again. "How is she?"

"She's expected to make a full recovery, and you should be fine by now, you gave three units of blood and received two in return, but Master Axfow wants to keep you both in over night on IV's" Jarod explained.

"Yes, Master, do you mind if I get some more sleep?" Andrew asked, Jarod nodded and watched over his student as he closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep. The Jedi Master then looked over Mel's chart, before he could try and decipher what any of it meant, Zan walked in.

"I'm expecting her to wake up in the morning," he said with a smile. "Has he woken up yet?" he asked, pointing to Andrew.

"Yes, and gone back to sleep," Jarod answered. "Don't worry, I've already told him off."

"Spoilsport!" Zan huffed. "I just don't understand what the hell he was thinking!"

"Shhhh!" Dela hissed, holding Mel's hand while she slept. "You'll wake one of them!"

"Let's all leave them to sleep, shall we?" Jarod suggested, gently prying Dela's hands from Mel's.

The next morning, Andrew woke up before Mel. He eased himself off the bed and placed his hand against her forehead. She felt just a little warm, but her heart rate monitor sounded normal, so he moved to get himself a glass of water and forgot that he himself was also hooked up to an IV drip. He hissed in pain as the needle was pulled inside his arm and the bottle stand rolled along the floor and crashed into Mel's bed with a loud clang.

She woke up with a start, looking around and wondering both where she was and how she got there. "Sorry about that," Andrew apologised, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"Andrew, what happened?" Mel asked, looking around. "How did we get into the halls of healing?"

"You don't remember the bank?" Andrew pressed.

"Yes, we broke up a robbery, saved a bunch of hostages," Mel answered slowly. "Then I was watching a mother and her two children … I don't remember anything after that."

"So that's why you didn't notice the taxi," Andrew said thoughtfully. "A speeding taxi hit you, you demolished the windscreen and ended up needing surgery."

Mel winced. "So that's why everything hurts!" she whined.

"You're lucky you didn't break any bones!" Dela scolded as she came in, hearing Mel complain. "How many times have I told you little one, you can't let the suffering of others take up all of your attention!"

"Yes, Master," Mel answered, lowering her head as memories flowed into her head and tears flowed from her eyes. Dela saw this and stepped over to sit on the edge of her bed, rubbing her back.

"I know that this is hard for you, and you know I will always be here to help you move passed it, but I'm also afraid, that one day the way you focus on suffering children is going to get you killed." she said, pulling her student tightly into her arms. "You're the nearest thing I have to a daughter Melanie, it would kill me if I lost you."

Mel was openly crying now. "You're the nearest thing I have to a mother, Master!" she cried, clinging to Dela's tunic.

Andrew took the time to pull the IV from his arm and leave the ladies to their tender moment. As soon as he stepped out of the room, he walked right into Master Axfow. "And who exactly said you could get out of bed?"

"Uhh," Andrew started, "Mel and Master Bailo are um, having a moment." he finished, pointing his thumb over his shoulder to the slowly closing door.

Zan shook his head and marched Andrew back into the room so that he could examine both the Padawans, once he was satisfied that they were both in good health, he discharged them.

Andrew asked Mel what she wanted to do and she suggested a sparring match to take her mind off her personal screw-up, Andrew agreed and they went to the exercise wing of the temple to square off against each other.

Mel struck first, with her reverse-grip right hand, Andrew blocked and ducked as she swiped with her forward-grip left hand. Andrew then back-flipped onto his hand and sprung back to create some distance, but Mel charged after him, keeping the pressure on Andrew as he kept backing up, then he dropped, spun and swept Mel's feet out from under her.

She Force pushed into the ground and sent herself flying across the room to land gracefully on her feet. "I swear Mel, you're part cat!" Andrew complained as he straightened up. He spun anti-clockwise and released his grip on his weapon, hurling his blade at Mel, she flipped her reverse-grip into a forward-grip and held both her weapons in an X to block the flying lightsaber. After it bounced off, Andrew called it back to his hand.

He dashed forward, using the Force to increase his speed, Mel tried to swing at him as he got close, but he parried both her blades, one after the other, then slammed his right hand into the floor, creating a Force push that sent Mel a foot into the air. Andrew straightened up and finished his combo with a swift spinning heel kick that sent Mel twelve feet across the room, she dropped her right hand blade as she tried to use that hand to break her fall and steady herself.

While she stayed crouched on one knee, she reached out her right hand to retrieve her weapon, but instead of it flying into her outstretched hand, it reignited and shot right at Andrew, attacking him mercilessly. He was managing to fend off the weapon but it was fighting a lot more skill-fully than he could handle.

"Very impressive, Mel, but I think I should point out that we didn't lower our weapon settings and I'm starting to struggle here!" he cried out in alarm.

"That's not me!" Mel answered. "I was calling it to me!"

Andrew suddenly realised that Mel was using Magic and didn't even realise it. He quickly looked around to confirm that they were alone and, straining to hold the rogue lightsaber back with one hand, released the catch holding his wand inside his own weapon. He caught his wand in his right hand, pointed the tip at Mel's lightsaber and screamed out, "FINITE!" the blade froze in mid-air and clattered to the ground.

Panting, Andrew deactivated his lightsaber and dropped to his knees. "I … am … going … to be … in so much … trouble for that!" he wheezed.

"Why?" Mel asked, running over to retrieve her weapon.

"I'm not supposed to use magic outside of school," Andrew told her.

"Not ever to keep your head where it belongs?" she demanded. "I just wish I knew what the hell caused that!"

"That'll be my fault too," Andrew admitted, getting to his feet. "Master Cooper tried to warn me about it before I insisted on giving you my blood."

"You think you've made me a witch?" Mel asked, Andrew nodded.

"It's possible, I guess we'll find out soon enough."

The next morning, Jarod was going about his daily routine when Dumbledore appeared out of nowhere right in front of him. "Again, Albus? This is becoming a habit for you, my friend." Jarod complained.

"My apologies, Jarod, but I need to see Dela about young Melanie." Dumbledore answered.

"Follow me," Jarod said, turning and leading the way to his office. He pulled his Holo-com from his pocket and called Dela to meet them as soon as she could.

Once all three of them were sat in Jarod's office, Dumbledore began to explain. "The Ministry contacted me yesterday afternoon, asking me to investigate both a potential new muggle-born, and a confirmed case of underage magic." he told them.

"Andrew broke the law of the wizarding world?" Jarod demanded, amazed that his Padawan would do anything illegal.

"Yes and no, although the law states that students under the age of seventeen are not permitted to use magic outside of school, there are exceptions in life threatening circumstances." Dumbledore told them.

At this, the two Masters both pulled out their Holo-com devices and called their respective students to the office. In under a minute there was a knock on the door. "Come in you two." Jarod called out.

Andrew and Mel stepped in, looking worried, more so when they saw Dumbledore sat at Jarod's desk. "Okay, I know I'm in trouble, just tell me how much." Andrew sighed.

"Not to worry Andrew, this is just a polite warning visit for you, I'm mostly here for Miss Jacobs." Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Even though I used magic outside of school?" Andrew asked.

"To keep a rogue lightsaber from decapitating you? Absolutely!" Dumbledore chuckled lightly.

"I think I would like to hear an explanation of the facts, Andrew." Jarod said, sounding concerned, more so when Dumbledore mentioned the lightsaber.

"Well, I think it started when I offered my blood for Mel's operation," Andrew said, slumping down onto the sofa that Jarod used for late nights of work.

"Nothing serious I hope," Dumbledore said, this being the first he'd heard about it.

"I got hit by a car, long story," Mel answered.

"Well, me and Mel were sparring the next morning, I'd disarmed her of one of her blades and then it flew at me and started fighting for itself, soon enough we realised that Mel wasn't in control of the blade and I guessed it was magic. So I did the one thing I could think of, a counter-spell." Andrew explained.

Dumbledore nodded. "Which brings me to why I am here," he pulled an envelope from his robes and passed it to Master Bailo, it was a Hogwarts acceptance letter. "Given her age, I feel that Melanie should be in her second year, so I intend to come here everyday throughout the summer holiday, in order to get her caught up on her first year of lessons."

"So, um, I'm not in any trouble at all?" Andrew asked, raising his hand.

"No, the Ministry simply asked me to make you aware that you should try to avoid situations which place you in mortal danger." Dumbledore answered kindly.

"Uh, Professor, you do realise what I do for a living, right?" Andrew said, barely containing his laughter.

"Yes, but it hopefully won't be everyday that you find yourself needing to use counter-spells to protect yourself." Dumbledore chuckled.

"So, um," Mel started, all eyes turning to her. "When do we start, Professor?"