Emperor of Slytherin 10

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews! It means a lot to me.

"He … he destroyed all of them?" Lucius stuttered, shocked. His silver snake-headed cane clattered to the ground and the wealthy Pureblood didn't even notice. He had known Palpatine was evil, yes, but he had never imagined such a thing. It was sheer genocide! And how could he have killed all of the wizards? Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't easy to kill a wizard. "How could that be possible?"

"With Order Sixty-Six built into the clone army…" Vader replied without really paying any attention to the blonde wizard. With most of his attention focused inward, Vader concentrated on helping the potions cure his injuries. The faster he was healed, the better. It had been far too long since he had been a mere shell of his former self and he eagerly anticipated being at full power again. What had once been utter pain in his chest was now reduced to a mere ache. Carefully he took a deep breath and was overwhelmed to actually feel his lungs once again expand with air! Reaching up, Lord Vader removed the mask for what he hoped would be the last time…

Laying the metal mask on the bed next to him, he breathed in and out on his own for the first time in two decades. It was sheer bliss! He felt his scalp start to tingle and he reached upward with an inquisitive hand only to discover he was growing hair. Hair! A bright ray of hope bloomed in his heart for a brief moment and some of the darkness parted, but only for a brief moment. He was a Sith and would never go back to being a weak-minded Jedi fool. The brownish locks of soft hair quickly lengthened and tangled waves formed, the locks just brushing his shoulders. Soon he would be complete and far more dangerous than ever. An evil grin spread across his lips and his red gaze flickered to the wizard who sat gawking at him. "Well?"

"But I don't understand," Lucius admitted, confused. "He's a wizard. Why would he kill all the others?"

Vader focused his blood red eyes on the wizard and smoothly slid his legs out of the bed so his feet rested on the floor. For a dark wizard, the man was incredibly naïve. With a flick of his wrist, the Sith Lord carelessly tossed one of his mechanical arms across the room, keeping only his trademark black glove. It was clear the potions must have somehow taken care of the mechanical attachments as well as growing him new limbs. Exactly how was a mystery but at the moment he didn't have time to investigate it. Almost as soon as the fake arm was removed a new flesh-and-blood one replaced it. Vader held his new hand up before his eyes and stared at it for a long moment as he flexed his fingers.

Lucius stared open-mouthed at the arm that had literally grown right before his eyes. "But … but … it's too soon! It's supposed to take all night!"

"The Force is my ally and a powerful ally it is. I have simply used my own powers to speed up the healing process." Vader replied as he quoted Master Yoda. Although Yoda may have been a Jedi and Vader was now a Sith, the words still rang true. Both Jedi and Sith relied on the Force for their power. All living things created the Force and those who possessed Medi-clorians could use it. Medi-clorians were microscopic life forms that lived within the cells of a Jedi, Sith or wizard. They were symbiants, two life forms living together for mutual benefit and without them magic would be impossible. And Lord Vader, having the distinguished honor of being the Jedi with the highest Medi-clorian count ever, was thus the most powerful wizard ever born. But it never had been easy for him to control those powers as a boy. He had constantly tried to outrun his destiny of bring the Chosen One, the person who was prophesied to bring balance to the Force. What a bunch of nonsense that had been! He had been the one who had helped Palpatine destroy the Jedi! Throwing his other mechanical arm across the room, Vader was pleased to see he now sported two flesh-and-blood arms. All he had to do now were his legs…

"You want to know why Palpatine destroyed all the Jedi?" Vader asked, his blood red eyes focused on the cold gray ones before him. "I'll tell you why. Because there can only be two Sith. It's the rule. A Master and an Apprentice. If you have more than that then the others will always be seen as a threat. So he eliminated them."

Vader grew quite for a moment as he thought of Luke. Where was the boy now? He had come so close to catching him on Bespin but he had managed to escape with his friends anyway.

/If I ever catch him, I'll bring him here so he can grow a new hand./

It was the most practical thing to do. Luke would function better with a real hand instead of a mechanical droid construct that blocked the Force. That way he would prove to be a much better apprentice. No, he wasn't being sentimental or kind-hearted in the least. Nor was it wrong for him to want the best medical treatment for his only child.

"It is why he wishes to kill my son."

"He would kill your own son?" Lucius asked, his face paling. If that were true, then what would Palpatine do to the school and the wizarding world? Perhaps the situation was far worst than he had feared! Had the Emperor really come to Hogwarts to mercilessly wipe out all of the wizards? But if that were so than why in Merlin was he attending classes? The whole thing made no sense!

And Voldemort? What of him? Would he also follow this only two rule? Did he plan on wiping out all of his Death Eaters once they had given him what he desired and he had no further use for them? The Dark Lord certainly had no problem eliminating those Death Eaters who had failed him in the past. He also tended to use them as an example for his other followers to help keep them in line. Of course, he was gone for the moment. Even Lucius wasn't too sure of Voldemort's true fate. Had the man really been killed when the Death Curse had bounced off young Potter only to leave him with a red scar in the shape of a lightning bolt? Or was Voldemort still out there somewhere? Lucius wasn't sure but he had to admit he sort of liked it with him gone. He had grown up during the span of passing years and now held a respectable job of School Governor. He also had the ear of the Ministry of Magic. Truth be told, he possessed quite a lot of power by himself and didn't really need to run around hiding behind a mask to feel powerful. In had been in his rebellious youth that he had joined the group, the thrill of it all attracting him. Yes, he was still concerned about the plight of the Purebloods, but what could Voldemort really do about that? Killing Muggle-borns wouldn't increase the number of Pureblood families and they could only inbred so much. Why hadn't he seen that before?

Perhaps he had been a fool for joining Voldemort in the first place, especially now that he had some idea of how truly evil wizards really operated. More than likely, the Dark Lord only cared for himself. He was a true Slytherin trough and trough. The idea of tossing away his followers like a used tissue when the war was over… it was distasteful to say the least. And Draco! If Palpatine were willing to kill Vader's son, then would Voldemort want to kill his? The two seemed to be on par with each other after all. He couldn't allow anything to happen to Draco! The boy was his only heir! And no matter what others thought, he wasn't a brutal father. He cared for his son and his well-being. And if anyone dare harm his son, that person would pay.

Snapping out of his reverie, Lucius returned his gaze to the Sith Lord only to witness the fake legs being removed. The sight was certainly unnerving; the droid parts extremely distasteful. Soon real feet with wiggling toes appeared from the bottom of the armor and leather pant legs. The red-eyed man pulled his boots back on and then his gloves. He watched as Vader stared down at the mask and helmet that had been part of him for so long, hesitating. The wizard was sure they would be left behind now that he was healed but he was proven wrong again. Lord Vader picked both items up carefully and cradled them in his arms.

"You will not say a word of this healing to Palpatine." Vader ordered, the promise of a painful death dancing in his frightening eyes. For now, it would be best if the Emperor did not suspect the truth. Sith Apprentices did not always stay apprentices but moved up in rank by killing their Masters. "Serve me well and you will be greatly rewarded."

Lucius nodded. Truthfully, he was just relieved the healing potions had done their job or he may have been lying there dead!

"And now we must go. I sense a disturbance in the Force and our presence is required elsewhere." Vader informed him matter-of-factly. With that, Vader reached out and called the snake-headed cane to his hand. Handing it back to the wizard, Vader than pulled the other to his feet with a tight grip to the wrist. With that, space twisted and the Sith Lord easily apparated the both of them to just outside the Hogwarts grounds.

Up in Gryffindor Tower, Harry nervously paced the floor of the almost empty Common Room. It was growing late and Hermoine still hadn't returned from serving detention with Professor McGonagall. Normally this wouldn't bother him all that much, but Malfoy had to serve with her. And if there was a single person in the school that he didn't trust it was Malfoy. Well, Snape was worst, of course, but then Snape was a teacher. Nor was Snape involved in this particular detention.

"I'm sure Hermoine will be back any minute…" Ron said from where he lazed in a big stuffed chair in front of the fireplace, open books scattered on the table before him. The redhead had finished most of his homework but had now run out of steam. Besides, homework was really quite boring and tedious. He eyed his scroll of messy penmanship and he could almost imagine Hermoine shaking her head sadly at the messy work.

"It's nearly fully dark out. She should have been back by now…" Harry worriedly glanced out the nearby window, seeing nothing but his own reflection. He leaned closer to the cold glass and shoved his nose right up against it. Outside it was pitch black or so it seemed to the Boy That Lived. Not a light burned in the distant window of Hagrid's hut, which he also thought of as a bit odd. Surely by now Hagrid would be there, as supper had been over for quite a long time, long enough for him to finish his homework anyway. Yet the grounds appeared dark and deserted. "I don't see any lights in Hagrid's hut…"

"So?" Ron said as he started to open a chocolate frog. "He's probably asleep already."

"Something doesn't feel right." Harry admitted nervously as he backed away from the window that was now fogged with his breath. His intense green eyes flickered towards the portrait hole. He hoped that any minute it would swing open and Hermoine's bushy brown head would appear, her heavy bag of books in tow. Yet for some odd reason he knew that wasn't going to happen. Could he be having a real premonition? After the tea-leave reading fiasco in Divinations he doubted it. It was far more likely that his mind was running away with itself and thinking up worst-case scenarios. He had gotten so used to the idea that bad stuff would happen to him that he now expected it.

"But she's with McGonagall!" Ron pointed out as he happily bit the head off his frog. "Remember?"

"And Malfoy!" Harry reminded, a frown on his face. "I think we should go looking for her. Who knows what that bloody git might have done?"

"Yeah. All right." Ron rose from his chair and stretched, then moved towards the portrait hole. Pausing, he turned to look at his dark haired friend. "Are you going to bring the cloak?"

"I better. It's getting late and almost curfew." Harry dashed up the stairs to his dormitory and retrieved the cloak from his trunk. Once he had it, he hurried back down the stone steps and rejoined Ron at the exit. Flipping the invisibility cloak over the two of them, they pushed the door open and snuck out into the deserted hallway. It took a matter of minutes to follow the various staircases down until they reached the Transfiguration classroom only to discover it empty as well. "There're not here."

Ron's eyes grew wide in worry as he shifted to look at Harry. "So where is she then? Surly you don't think Malfoy did something to her, do you?"

"I don't know." Harry admitted as he paused to think. He suspected that Malfoy by himself was a coward and Hermoine could probably handle him, but if his two goons were lying in wait… His mind made up, Harry started to stalk down the corridor towards the entrance to the Dungeons. "We'll check out the Slytherins…"

"But we don't know the password…" Ron pointed out as he was forced to keep up with Harry's faster pace.

"We'll think of something, I'm sure." Harry wasn't going to rest until he had found Hermoine. He just hoped that wherever she was that she was OK. "If Malfoy did anything to her, I swear I'll kill that git!"

They had almost reached the entrance to the Dungeons when a terrible sound reached their ears.

Ron's terrified eyes opened as wide as possible and his bottom lip started to tremble. "W-what w-was t-t-that?"

Harry paused, head tilted as he listened. The high-pitch sound repeated again and his eyes flickered to the nearby doors that led outside to the courtyard. "It's coming from outside…"

"It is? Well, let's stay inside then, all right?" Ron said hopefully as he shot a frightened glance at the doors. "I mean, she's probably down in the Dungeons with Malfoy. No need to go outside…"

"Hermoine might need our help!" Harry replied as he shot a glare at his friend. "It occurred to me she might have been serving detention with Hagrid tonight. Remember First Year? And didn't Hagrid get that big crate today? I bet she's out there, Ron! This is no time to be hiding in the castle!"

"But…." Ron protested weakly. He remembered all too well the hollow with all the spiders. "What if it tries to eat us?"

"If that were you out there, you'd want help, wouldn't you?" Harry asked, an intense look in his green eyes.

Ron nodded.

"Then let's go!" Harry whipped the cloak off and ran forward. It wasn't important now who saw him, not if one of his friends were in danger. Heck, he'd do the same thing to save anyone from the school. Harry realized that most of the student body wasn't capable of such heroic actions and through means he didn't understand all that clearly, the job of Hero had fallen squarely on his shoulders. He didn't exactly like it, but he did it. What other choice did he have? If he didn't, innocent people would die. He just hoped he wasn't too late. No, he pushed the thought from his mind and wouldn't even consider the possibility. He would get there on time. There was no other choice. The doors were pushed open and he ran outside, Ron hot on his heels. Pausing for a moment for their eyes to adjust to the darkness, both boys pulled out their wands.

"Keep your guard up." Harry warned as he inched forward, his eyes scanning the darkness. "It could be anywhere and judging by the size of that crate, it's probably large as well."

Ron whimpered but stuck to Harry's side. "You … you don't think its another giant spider, do you?"

"I don't know." Harry admitted honestly. The thought of what the thing in the crate was did worry him. If the talk flying around the school was correct about the odd flying craft being a space ship, then the thing inside may have been a real alien. It could be anything, he supposed. Who knew what an alien animal would look like or how it might move? And more importantly, how would he stop it? The darkness around them was hampering and he frowned. "We need light. Lumos Maxima! There. That's better."

A bright white light sprung out from Harry's wand immediately and moments later a second, weaker light from Ron's joined it. The two glanced around, Ron more nervously then Harry. In silent agreement they headed towards Hagrid's hut and when they reached the top of the steep hill they both stopped, shocked.

"L-l-look!" Ron pointed with a trembling finger. Down below they could see the crate stood open next to the ruins of their big friend's house. The roof had collapsed and large sections of it could be seen among the pile of rubble and broken fieldstone. Hagrid's house had always been so warm and inviting, so stable and strong. What in the world could have just knocked it down like that?

"Hagrid!" Harry screamed and started to run down the steep hill toward the house, but Ron clutched his arm tightly and dug his heels into the grass.

"No, Harry! That thing could be anywhere!"

"Let go of me, Ron! Hagrid could be trapped down there! Hermoine as well! I have to help them!" Harry struggled to pull free of the redhead's grip and after a moment, finally did. He didn't want to think of what kind of creature could have done something like this. It must rival the basilisk in size to do that sort of damage…

Just then a pale light appeared from the edge of the Dark Forest.

"Look!" Ron pointed towards the bobbing light.

"Someone's using the lumos spell…" Harry guessed as he too saw the light. He hoped that it was Hermoine and that Hagrid was with her. Heck, he even hoped the stupid git was all right. As much as he disliked Malfoy, he had to secretly admit life would be pretty boring without him. Who would challenge him in Quidditch? No one, that's who. All the other team's Seekers didn't stand a chance.

"Harry!" Hermoine's voice called.

"It's Hermoine!" Harry shouted joyfully as he glanced happily at Ron. "She's OK! Hermoine, up here!"

"Harry!" Hermoine shouted up to him from where she stood at the edge of the Dark Forest, Draco next to her. The two were just on the edge of the tree line and dared go no further. "Watch out for the Acklay! It could be anywhere! Do you see it?"

Harry glanced around quickly, but his light only went so far. In fact, there were more patches of deep dark shadows out there than light and that made him nervous. The thing could be anywhere. And the more he thought about it, the loud shouting was probably attracting it. Not good, not good at all!

"I don't like this, Harry!" Ron whined next to him, the arm holding his wand shaking. "That thing must be huge to knock down Hagrid's house!"

"We have to do something!" Harry decisively told the other boy. His stomach was tying itself into a knot, as he knew he was facing instant death again. But the clock was ticking and moments were being wasted. "We have to get them back to the castle! We'll use the invisibility cloak and maybe it won't see us…"

"But Harry!" Ron pointed out. "Four people won't fit under the cloak! We barely fit under there the way it is now!"

"It's all we have…" Harry pointed out and he started down the hill towards them at a run.

Meanwhile, Lord Vader and Lucius had appeared at the very edge of the Hogwarts ground. Vader, being a noted risk taker from years ago when he had gone by the name of Anakin Skywalker, had cut the apparition very close to the boundaries. He used to live for the thrill of podracing, of freefalling from thousands feet up in rushing Coruscant traffic, the deadly whirl of a fast lightsaber battle. These days the only thrill he ever got was in the dogfights within the cockpit of his special Tie-Fighter. But facing off against non-Force users wasn't a real challenge. Blowing the tiny X-wings or Y-Wings to blazing bits of rubbish was all too easy. It never taxed him or challenged his skills. But with his body full and complete once again, the Force sang throughout him as it had in the old days. He had forgotten how it had felt, the sensation burned away as the lava had burned away his flesh. Still, the Force called to him now and he responded. "Come!"

With that simple command, Vader Force-jumped over the huge gate that bordered the edge of Hogwarts property. And the way he did it, why, one would think he were flying on a broom or hopping over a simple knee-high obstacle! Yet in reality the gate was twice as tall as a person! Doing a flip in mid-air, Lord Vader landed on the other side as soft as a feather and took off up the path towards the castle.

Lucius stood there for a moment, gawking. Being a Pureblood from an old and well-respected family, he had thought himself well educated in all things magical. Yet he had never seen or heard about anyone so easily leaping over such a tall obstacle. Closing his mouth firmly, he used his wand to unlock the decorative wrought iron gate and entered the more traditional way. Once it was secure behind him, he hurried up towards the castle in Vader's footsteps. Although he considered himself in good condition, it became painfully obvious that he was not, for the Sith Lord was nowhere to be seen. Feeling that speed was off the essence, he ran on. Soon the castle itself came into sight as well as an unexplained light off in the general direction of the groundskeeper's miserable excuse for a house. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, he realized that he heard shouting. And since the shouting was coming from the vicinity of Hagrid's house, he dashed off in that direction.

A weak light was soon visible and as he came closer it turned into the youngest Weasley boy, Ronald. The boy's hand was vibrating so badly that the wand almost fell from his grip. As far as he could tell, the redhead was standing alone on top of the steep hill that overlooked the half-giant's house. Lucius approached him quickly from behind. "What are you doing out at this hour?"

"AAAhhhhh!" Ron shrieked, terrified. He clutched at his chest with a free hand, his eyes as wide as saucers. "Don't do that! I thought you were that thing!"

"What thing?" Lucius asked, unsure what the Weasley boy was referring to.

"That giant thing that wrecked Hagrid's house! That thing!"

A shrill scream broke the air and made the hairs on the back of Lucius' neck stand up. Looking down the hill, he spotted Potter racing towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The boy's wand was brightly lit and there, at the edge of the tree line, another lit wand. The situation became clear within seconds. A dangerous creature was loose on the school grounds and students were in danger. And that shock of pale hair down there; surely that wasn't his son, was it? A grim expression on his face, Lucius pulled his wand from inside his cane and started down the hill after Potter.

Ron hesitated for a moment, undecided if he should stay where he was or follow the Death Eater towards the others. Remembering how easy it had been for Lucius to sneak up on him in the dark, Ron raced after him. If nothing else, Ron figured the older man knew the Death Curse…But would even the Death Curse work on something so huge? Hopefully they'd never have to find out.

Harry had finally reached Hermoine and Draco. "Come on, we have to get out of here!"

"Oh, Harry! I'm so glad to see you!" Hermoine cried in relief as she threw herself at her friend and wrapped her arms around his neck. "That thing got loose and it almost killed us! It's some giant mutant crab!"

The loud bellow was repeated and the ground started to shake violently under their feet.

"Run!" Harry shouted as he gave both Draco and Hermoine a rough shove towards the hill. His lit wand was still in one hand while the other clung tightly to his invisibility cloak. By the scream he had just heard, the crab monster must be extremely close. The Boy Who Lived started to run after the other two teens and he felt slightly relieved at the sight of Draco's father racing down the hill towards them. Never in his life would he have thought he'd be actually glad to see the man. Yet he un -doubtfully was. Not that Harry trusted adults, but he wasn't going to be so picky in this dangerous situation.

"Father!" Draco cried as he ran up to the older version of himself and clung to his waist. Hermoine and Harry joined the two Malfoys on the side of the hill. A moment after that Ron joined them as well.

Just then the Acklay appeared from behind the rubble of Hagrid's hut, the pounding footsteps having attracted it. Bellowing an angry cry, it attempted to race towards them. Unknown to the crab-like creature, there wasn't enough clearance space between the wreck of the house and the edge of the forest. Part of its giant shell hit a tree…

"Maybe … maybe it'll get stuck there…" Ron said wistfully, but his tone of voice said he didn't believe it for a moment.

CRACK!

The towering tree the Acklay had hit began to sway and then it toppled. Within seconds it became clear to Harry just where the upper branches of the tree would land: right on them! "Move!"

Lord Vader appeared out of the darkness, his red energy blade humming. His long black cloak flapped in a breeze, as did his wavy brown hair. Unlike the wizards and witch, the sight of the terrifying beast didn't seem to bother him at all. He simply held out an arm towards the falling tree and the tree paused in mid-fall. Next Vader made a waving motion and the entire tree sailed through the air to crash to the ground far away from the small group of people.

Ron's mouth dropped open in utter shock. "Did you see that? How the bloody heck did he do that? I didn't know you could levitate objects that big! That tree must weigh a ton!"

The Acklay screamed its rage and raced at Lord Vader. The Sith calmly waited, his red lightsaber in his hand. When the creature was close, he Force-jumped up into the air and did several summersaults. When he landed a few seconds later it was on the beast's hard shell. From there it was a simple matter to lope its head off with his sword. The monster crashed to the ground and lay unmoving as black blood pumped out of its horrendous neck wound. His job finished, Vader leaped down from the creature's back and marched towards the others.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron exclaimed as he stared up at the man in the black suit of body armor. "How did you levitate that tree like it was a mere feather?"

Vader paused near the teenager for a moment, his red eyes glaring in the light from the lit wands. "Size doesn't matter."

With that, he disappeared into the night.

To be continued…

Well, hope that was interesting. I tried to make the end exciting but I'm not very good at writing action…