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

XVIII

Friday, October 25, 1996

Harry strode through the corridors of Hogwarts with his eyes closed, but that didn't mean he couldn't see. His senses were extended through the Force, and that allowed him to see far more than his mere eyes ever could. He followed the path laid out for him by the Energy that bound all life together, even the wretched life of a broken man like Tom Riddle.

He could feel the reassuring presence of the Headmaster just a step behind him. The old wizard seemed confident in Harry's ability to lead the way and find the shard of Voldemort's soul that was hidden somewhere within the castle. They climbed several staircases, moving ever higher, until they reached the seventh floor.

Eventually Harry stopped and opened his eyes. Before him was nothing but a bare stretch of stone wall. He glanced to either side, but there was nothing noticeable about the hallway. Behind him was an odd tapestry depicting a wizard and several tutu-wearing trolls, but it too seemed to be of little importance.

"Err…" he began as he started to flush from embarrassment. "I'm… not sure what went wrong… The Force seems sure that this is… well…"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at him.

"I think I can solve this mystery, Harry. We are standing at the hidden entrance to the Room of Requirement. A marvelous work of wizardry, a room that can take the shape of whatever is needed by the summoner. To find the door, one must simply pass by this tapestry of our friend Barnabas the Barmy and his dancing trolls three times while holding the object of one's greatest need in mind."

"How…?"

"Just part of the Things One Must Know to be Headmaster of Hogwarts," Dumbledore replied as the twinkle grew brighter.

Harry had no idea how to respond to that.

"Go on," the old wizard said after a moment. "You're the one leading this parade."

Right then.

Harry held the thought of Voldemort's hidden Horcrux in the forefront of his mind along with the beckoning of the Force that had brought him there, and then he paced up and down the stretch of corridor three times.

On the third pass the sound of grinding stone and the groaning of wood echoed through the hallway.

He turned and saw a door where only a moment before had just been a bare stretch of wall.

"Huh."

"If you don't mind, Harry," Dumbledore said, "I think it might be best if I went first."

The Headmaster then stepped forward, grasped the doorknob, and with a firm yank, entered the room. Harry followed, but had to stop only a few paces in as the Headmaster was standing completely still, blocking the way forward.

"Sir?" he asked before peering around the old man to get his first look at the room. "Oh."

To say the Room of Requirement was huge would be something of an understatement. It stretched off into the distance, so far that Harry couldn't see the back wall. The ceiling was at least a hundred feet above his head and was supported by thick, stone columns that reached up into the air like ancient, towering trees.

And nearly each and every nook and cranny of the room was filled with… stuff.

It was piled high against the walls and around the columns in great heaps that rose up halfway to the ceiling. Everything was stacked haphazardly, and the mountains of random objects looked like they might topple over at the slightest disturbance. Narrow, winding pathways weaved this way and that through the immense collection.

Harry gazed around in wonder at the assortment of things that had somehow found their way into the room. There was a great pile of what looked like empty wine bottles, a huge mound of broken and splintered furniture, and old, forgotten school trunks along with racks of moth-eaten robes. Nearby, Harry spotted what looked like an oversized battle axe, still stained with dried, brownish blood. A little ways ahead there was an upside-down car resting on top of a gigantic plush teddy bear. He could even see what he guessed to be the complete skeleton of a fully-grown dragon.

And that was just what he saw in the first few seconds.

"I don't suppose that the Force might help us narrow down the search?" Dumbledore asked.

"Er… What?" Harry asked, quickly turning his attention away from a shelf that was holding a collection of wizarding photographs depicting scantily-clad witches who were moving in very interesting ways. "Oh, right."

He focused again, stretching out with his feelings, and asked the Force to lead him to the Horcrux.

They wandered among the piles of books and taxidermied animals and old cauldrons and—was that a World War I biplane?—and so much else, careful to stay on the path and not disturb anything. They had no idea of what might be hidden in the mess. After meandering around for quite some time and traveling deep into the room, Harry came to a halt in front of an old, wooden cabinet with a marble bust of a bearded wizard on top. Upon the wizard's brow rested a sparkling, jewel-encrusted diadem. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

And Harry could feel the familiar taint of Voldemort's presence wafting off of it in waves.

"That's it," he said. "The diadem."

"Oh, Tom," Dumbledore muttered to himself as he swished his wand and the diadem floated down to him, "what have you done now?" He spent a few long moments just staring at the jewels before speaking again. "I'm afraid that you are indeed correct, Harry. Come, let us return to my office and deal with this abomination. I have protections in place there that will shield us from any backlash."

Together, they carefully made their way back out of the Room of Requirement and into the school proper. As they walked, Harry couldn't help but wonder at what else might yet be hidden in the all those piles of forgotten things.

He also made a mental note that the Room, perhaps summoned with a different need in mind, might be a very convenient place to practice some sparring.

Soon, they were back in the Headmaster's office with the diadem still charmed to float in midair by the old wizard.

"Perhaps you would like to do the honors? I can think of no better way to dispose of this thing than with your lightsaber."

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay."

He summoned the hilt to his hand and with a snap-hiss ignited the sapphire blade.

The foul presence within the diadem lashed out at him, seemingly desperate to defend itself from its approaching doom.

But Harry called upon the Force for protection and easily deflected the mental attack. His energy-blade thrummed as it swung through the air and sliced through the diadem, sending out a shower of bright green sparks.

There was a piercing wail and a rush of power, but both were redirected by the charms in the office and the energy was sent up and through the ceiling, away from anything that might be harmed. Harry felt a heaviness leave the room as the foul presence melted away.

Another Horcrux was destroyed.

"It's a sad thing really," Dumbledore said as he gently lowered the smoldering remains of the circlet to his desk. "To lose such a precious artifact as Rowena's Diadem to Tom's madness…"

Harry deactivated his saber and hid it beneath his robes while the Headmaster just seemed to stare at the ruined heap of jewels in pensive silence.

"You said earlier that you knew where the other Horcruxes were," he began at last. "What can you tell me of their locations?"

"Err… Well, I'm pretty sure that Voldemort has the snake with him, I felt that pretty clearly. The other two are somewhere in London… Give me a moment, let me see if I can get a better sense of things…"

He closed his eyes and reached out again into the Force, ready to send his awareness into to the distance to the south. But he paused in confusion. They'd just destroyed the Horcrux that had been hidden in Hogwarts, so why did it feel like it was still there? It was gone, he was sure of it. He'd felt the Horcrux die when he'd struck it with his saber. How could it still be there?

He begged the Force to show him what he was missing, to lead him to the Horcrux that was somehow still present. The Energy of Life led him into its embrace, and Harry sank into its fullness. He dove deeper and deeper into the Force – and deep into himself. The Horcrux was…

No.

It couldn't be.

It wasn't possible.

But then again, that dark presence had felt strangely familiar…

He opened his eyes and looked at Dumbledore. The old wizard was standing there in his garish robes and half-moon spectacles. He seemed almost cheerful, happy that they were one step closer to defeating their foe.

"What haven't you told me?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore looked almost puzzled, something Harry had never seen before.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I can still feel a Horcrux, here, in this room. What haven't you told me, sir?"

The Headmaster's whole demeanor shifted. He slumped as if a great weight had suddenly pressed down upon his shoulders. Guilt and sadness rolled off of him like waves in the Force as he looked down to the floor in shame.

"You know, then."

"Sir…"

"I was never certain. I had my suspicions… that was all…"

"Sir, I need you to say it."

"I am so sorry, Harry. But you're right it seems. The night… The night Tom came after you and your family, the night he gave you that scar… No one really knows what happened, but… I presume he intended to use your death to make his final Horcrux, but something obviously went wrong, and…" He went silent, seemingly unable to say anything more.

"And made me into a Horcrux instead."

Dumbledore looked up at him then. Harry could clearly see tears in the old man's eyes.

Anger reared up within his chest. How could the bastard keep this from him? You don't just leave someone in the dark when they've got a piece of the bloody Dark Lord's soul inside their head!

But he took a deep breath and called upon the Force to cleanse him of his anger. This wasn't the Headmaster's doing. Albus Dumbledore wasn't the one that had murdered his parents and turned him into an abomination. He was just trying to play with the cards he'd been dealt, to make the best of a terrible situation.

The Force came as called for and brought with it quiet and calm, peace and tranquility.

There is no emotion, there is peace, the Energy of Life seemed to recite within his mind. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.

"I am so, so sorry," Dumbledore almost whimpered.

Harry's mouth curled in a sad hint of a smile.

"It's not your fault, sir. You're not the one responsible for this. He is."

"Harry…"

"It's okay, sir. My life will be as the Force wills it."

Dumbledore merely breathed out a defeated sigh.

"Is there any way to…?"

Dumbledore slowly shook his head.

"None that I know of. If I had more time, perhaps I could find something. But…" he gestured to his gloved right hand.

"I guess we'll both soon be embarking on the next great adventure then."

"Do not despair, Harry. Even in the darkest of times, there is still room for hope. We must let our hopes shape our futures, not our fears, even now."

Harry smiled at that.

"You know, the Jedi used to say, 'Where there is life, there is the Force. And where there is the Force, there is always hope."

Dumbledore smiled back.

"It sounds like the Jedi were very wise. I dare say we could do with more of their wisdom."

"Yeah…"

And then Harry jerked upright as a thought struck him.

"Yeah! Yeah, we could! I'll be right back! Don't go anywhere!" He tore off, racing out the door, down the stairs, and through the castle, leaving Dumbledore behind in confusion.

He sprinted through the halls, propelled by both the Force and the new hope that was welling up within him. He shouted out the password and dove through the portrait hole, barely giving the Fat Lady enough time to swing out of the way.

"Harry!" Hermione called out as she leapt to her feet as he tore through the common room. "What's wrong?!"

"Nothing!" he shouted back as he sped up the stairs to his dorm. "Just gotta show Dumbledore something!"

"Harry!" she cried again a moment later as he raced back through the common room once again.

But he was already gone, out in the corridors, and well on his way back to the Headmaster's office.

He arrived only a few minutes later, clutching a small, blue cube in his hands.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir!" Harry managed to say between heaving breaths. He'd sprinted the entire way to his dorm and back, and even with the aid of the Force, going up fourteen flights of stairs to the top of Gryffindor Tower and back down again took a lot out of you.

"Good heavens, Harry! Slow down!"

But he didn't have time to slow down.

"You're right! Maybe the wisdom of the Jedi can help us with this problem. They used to deal with dark lords all the time! And we can ask one, too!"

Dumbledore stared in amazement as Harry levitated the Holocron out into the center of the room. It pulsed with blue light that reflected off the many odd contraptions in the Headmaster's office as ethereal mist began to swirl around it. Eventually the tiny, holographic image of Master Isu winked into existence as a slow vortex made up of the Headmaster's belongings began to swirl around them.

Young Harry, the Holocron's words echoed in his mind.

"Headmaster, might I introduce Jedi Master Isu Sotr, my instructor in the Jedi Arts?"

I do not understand what you are referencing, Harry.

"What is it saying?" Dumbledore asked. "I've never heard a language like that before."

"Err… You can't hear him?"

I'm afraid I do not understand. Please elaborate.

"I can indeed hear it, but I cannot understand such words."

"Oh… er… crap…" Harry thought furiously before speaking again, this time to the Holocron. "Master Isu, this is Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of my school. Is there some way that you can mentally communicate with him like you're doing with me?"

Harry, I have told you before that this Holocron lacks the functional capacity to maintain more than one instructional relationship at a time. While we are engaged with your training, I cannot commune with another through means of the Force without clearing my emotional/relational memory capacitors and deleting all stored progress. In order for me to speak with this other person, I would need to erase nearly all of the data I have stored about you. Would you like me to do so now?

"What?! No! Don't do that!"

"Harry, what's going on?" Dumbledore asked.

"Err… something of a complication has come up… Hold on a second." He turned back to the Holocron again. "You can't even hear what he's saying?"

I am able to detect the sound patterns of human speech nearby, but I am not programed with knowledge of the language in question.

"But we've been speaking English to each other for years!"

Young Harry, we have been 'speaking' through a mental Force connection. We are communing directly through ideas. Your mind merely processes them as speech in your native language.

"Oh. Err... This might take a little longer then…"

By now Dumbledore seemed to be quite amused – the twinkle was starting to come back into his eyes.

"Oh? And just what, pray tell, might take a little longer then?" he asked.

"Okay," Harry began explaining, "So, err… This is my Jedi Holocron. It's what's been teaching me about the Force and the Jedi and whatnot for all these years. But it apparently can't understand you and you can't understand it. I've apparently been communicating with it mentally, and it can only do that with one person at a time. Which is why the two of you have no idea what you're saying to each other."

"I see."

"I thought that Master Isu might be able to think of a solution to my… err… our Horcrux problem," he tapped himself on the forehead, "and he might. But we'll just have to take a little a little longer explaining things since you can't speak directly to the Holocron. So I'll be the go-between, I guess, and maybe the three of us can figure out a way to get this little piece of Voldemort out of my head."

"Well, I don't see why we can't give it a try…"

"Great! So, Master Isu…"

Yes, Young Harry?

"Have you ever heard of a Horcrux…?"

AN: Ummm… has it really been over a year since my last update? Sorry about that. But you know… life. No promises on when the next one will be coming along.

Thoughts about the chapter?

A short one, I know. But c'est la vie.

Thanks for your reviews, and thanks for reading!