Chapter Thirty: The Jedi of Hogwarts

"What do we do now?"

It was a question that hung over not just Hogwarts, but across all of magical England. The Dark Lord was gone. But much of the Ministry of Magic was gone as well. There was no minister of magic. There was no Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The Wizengamot remained, but many of its members had died in the final battle.

This fact alone cast a shadow of doubt over the whole body, since those dead members were most certainly not defending Hogwarts.

In the complete absence of anyone else, Kingsley Shacklebolt found himself in the unenviable position of running the magical kingdom. He did not want the job; quite the contrary, he tried refusing it twice.

It was Sirius Black, still recovering from the battle, who convinced Shacklebolt to take the job. "If you don't do it," Black said, "then I will!"

Kingsley was sworn in as interim Minister of Magic the very next day.

Luke, Han, Leia, Jaina, Akanah and the Horns stayed at Hogwarts. The Jedi had a demonstration first hand of just what wonders could be accomplished with magic. The wall of the castle was repaired in a single day by, of all things, a Reparo charm. Granted, it was a charm performed by the entire faculty of the school at one time in one synchronized voice, but nonetheless it was a basic spell most students learned as first years.

However, Luke and his Jedi watched in open amazements as the shattered bricks of the wall climbed over themselves and slowly took their places until an unbroken, solid wall remained. When they were done, Luke shook his head with a smile. "Remarkable," he said.

He failed to discuss the time he used the Force to completely rebuild his father's castle on Coruscant. However, when he looked at Akanah, she too was smiling, having been one of the few to know about Luke's early abuses of the Force.

For Ben and Luna, none of it mattered. The two of them retreated back to their rooms in a bid to further destroy the shadow of memory that still haunted Luna. It did not have power over her, but still it remained until they could replace it with brighter memories.

In Luna's own words, whispered into Ben's ears as she eased him out of his robes, "It will take many sessions of therapy to help me recover."

The Prime Minister of England was having a sip of tea with the Home Secretary and the Minister of Defense when, without warning, the fireplace erupted in green flame.

"Bloody hell!" the Home Secretary cried out as a black man in an outlandish leopard-skin robe stepped from the flame. The three men stood entranced while two other people emerged from the fireplace—an older man with bright blue eyes, and a woman with graying hair but a slim, athletic figure.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Defense Minister snapped. "Where are our guards?"

"I'm afraid they can't hear you, Prime Minister," the man in the leopard skin said. "I've placed silencing charms around your office. I apologize for dropping in unannounced, but much has happened and I felt you should be appraised of the situation."

The Home Secretary and Prime Minister stared at the newcomer with narrowed, shrewd eyes. "You're not our usual contact," the Prime Minister finally said.

The Defense Minister sputtered a moment, but then sat back in silence when he realized that the Prime Minister and Home Secretary were aware of what was happening.

"The chances are good that your regular contact is dead. My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt. I am the newly appointed minister for magic."

"Magic?" the Defense minister said with a choking sputter.

"Is this related to what's been happening? All the unexplained deaths and other odd events? What was it?" The Prime Minister pulled a very large file from his desk. "The member of Parliament who stripped and started dancing in full view of the House of Commons. Or the car that came to life and began chasing people around Piccadilly? Or all the dead, decapitated and burned bodies we found in a park in central London?"

"Those are ancillary effects of recent turmoil," Shacklebolt said. "The perpetrators of those incidents have been caught and are currently surviving time in a prison much worse than any you muggles have, or they are dead. No, the chaos happened because not too many days ago, a Dark Wizard of great power overthrew the Ministry of Magic. With the help of our friends here, we were able to finally defeat him, but only at great cost. The collapse of our government allowed some less responsible members of our community to commit pranks against your citizens. We've taken those pranks seriously enough to include prison time."

"And the murders?" the Home Secretary demanded.

"The work of the Dark Wizard or his followers, or in the case of the beheadings, the victims were themselves dark wizards defeated in battle."

"What about the explosion at Little Hagleton?" the Minister of Defense suddenly said. "We almost had an international crises!"

"That was our fault, I'm afraid," the other man said.

The Minister of Magic looked long and hard at him. "And who are you?"

"I am Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, of the Galactic Alliance. It was my son whose ship your people tracked and captured two and a half months ago. And it is our fault that your world has been receiving so many signals recently."

"Can you explain that?" The Prime Minister said.

"Not well," Luke admitted with a smile. "Rest assured, we will be correcting that issue shortly. Much like your own world, there are corporate interests that would like nothing more than to rape your planet of every natural resource you have, and they could do so without you having much chance to defend yourselves. Previously your world had a measure of protection. We will be reinstating that protection in the near future. However, there will be one exception."

"What's that?"

The three officials stiffened when Luke reached into his robes and removed a small, black cube. He stepped across and placed the cube on the Prime Minister's desk. "This is nothing more than a communication device. If you attempt to take it apart for study, the interior will melt into slag. However, if in the future your planet finds itself facing a global natural disaster, such as an asteroid or a solar flare of sufficient magnitude, push the center button. It will put you in contact with the Jedi Order. If we are able, we will assist."

"So you're saying you're from another world?" the Prime Minister said.

"I am," Luke said. "I understand that in retrieving some of his equipment my son was forced to destroy one of your facilities. I cannot barter with technology, but I understand that items such as gold and platinum are valuable here. If you give me an approximate valuation in gold or platinum for the losses to your facilities, we will be glad to compensate your people."

"That won't be necessary," the Prime Minister said. "I would be interested in learning more of this Alliance of yours."

Luke smiled. "Yours is a remarkable world, Prime Minister. I have no doubt that in the fullness of time you may even be a member of the galactic community. But you are not ready at this time. Perhaps your great grandchildren will see that day, however."

"In the mean time," Shacklebolt said, "please rest assured that I will make it a point of the new Ministry of Magic to ensure that our two worlds co-exist peacefully, and that communication improves significantly."

"I would expect so," the Prime Minister said.

With a curt, respectful nod, Shacklebolt popped away. Luke turned to the older woman, and said, "Are you ready?"

She nodded, and together the two disapparated away.

"Considering I had only four days of training, I would say I did quite well," Luke said at Hogwarts after their meeting with the Prime Minister.

"You splinched your artificial hand," Leia said. "And you almost turned me inside out!"

The great Jedi master shrugged, then grinned. "I'm getting better. The first time I splinched my whole arm."

Leia rolled her eyes. "It's like you've discovered a whole new toy."

"I have," Luke said. They were in the Headmistresses office, waiting with McGonagall.

Just then, the door to the office opened and Ben and Luna stepped in. The two were not dressed as Jedi, but instead wore their Slytherin robes. "Good morning, Professor McGonagall," Luna said.

She then walked to the chair holding Luke and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Hello, Father." Next came Leia. "Hello, Aunt Leia."

Ben was sitting by the time she finished her greetings, and so she walked over and plopped down into his lap without a hint of embarrassment.

Leia had the slightly lost look people sometimes had around Luna, but Luke merely smiled with affection. "Good morning, Luna. How were your classes?"

"Oh, quite nice, thank you," she said. "I've discovered that when I use the Force in spell casting, I can get the most remarkable results."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," McGonagall said.

"She accidently transfigured Professor Flitwick into a crumple-horned snorkack."

"There is no such animal," McGonagall said.

A low, bumbling growl could be heard from the halls below. "There is now," Ben said with a grin.

"I'm sure Madame Pomphrey has it under control," Luke said.

The headmistress sighed tiredly. "Well, on to business, I suppose. Mr. and Mrs. Skywalker, we asked you up here to discuss your futures," McGonagall said.

Ben's face became serious, though Luna seemed much more interested in his hair. "Of course, Professor."

"I would like you to consider staying here," she said. "To finish your educations. During the short time you were here, Ben, I can say that you had a remarkable influence on Slytherin house. You are a natural leader, and arrived at a time when the students of this school, and most especially that house, desperately needed one. And you, Mrs. Skywalker, have shown all your classmates just what a talented and powerful witch you are. I would consider it both a favor, and an honor, if you would consider staying."

"There's also one more reason you might consider staying," Luke added.

Lune twisted around in Ben's lap until she stared at him with a happy smile. "Daddy Luke, are you going to stay as well?"

Luke nodded. "I am. Akanah is going to be staying as well. After she re-established the White Current charm on the planet, she was able to modify it for a special beacon. RD-D2 is bringing the Jade's Fire in, so that we have a ride when we need it. Akanah is going to be meeting with the Fleming Family to research how the Fallanassi fared here, and the influence the White Current has had on magic."

"And you're going to be studying magic here?" Ben said.

Luke nodded. "It really is like a dream. A whole new field of power, different and yet connected. Professor McGonagall has been gracious enough to let me study here."

"Well, of course I would like to get my NEWTS," Luna said. "I did quite too well on my OWLS not to."

"And you, Ben?"

Ben smiled. "Where Luna is is home. I'll stay if she wants to stay. Besides, I'm the captain of the quidditch team."

"A very good answer," Leia said. "You'll make a good husband."

"He does indeed," Luna agreed whole-heartedly. She grinned back up at Luke. "So, when do I get to build my own lightsaber?"

McGonagall blinked. "Light saber?"

"Well, yes," Luna said. "I can't very well be a Jedi without one, can I?"

"A Jedi?" Leia looked from her brother's face, to Ben's and Luna's, and back to Luke. "She's going to be a Jedi?"

"Oh yes," Luke said with a happy grin as he eyed his daughter in law. "And a most powerful space witch she will be."

The End

Author's Final Notes: All chapters were edited 12/28/2010 to remove author review responses. Thank you for reading.