Dark Destiny

Edelweiss woke with a pained whine. She coughed, flinched from the white-hot shock of pain from her ribs, and then coughed again. Harder. She opened herself up to the Force and sensed that her ritual had been a success. Yet the pain and weakness she suffered now were not according to plan. Either the Sith Lords had made an error, or Voldemort had been naughty with his essence. Naga Sadow and Lord Salazar had assumed five parts—her, three vessels, and Voldemort—due to some of her arithmancy readings. She had thought it would be seven, which was "within a suitable range of uncertainty".

They had underestimated Voldemort, and so she suffered the burden.

The price of victory, Edelweiss thought in a moment of delirium. She then tried to sit up, grimacing as the muscles through her torso contracted. Her eyes opened to find the sterile white of the Hospital Wing around her. The ever-present specter of Madam Pomfrey descended upon her before she could rise more than a couple inches from the bed.

"Down, you fool girl! Down!" The nurse huffed before waving her wand over Edelweiss. It flashed several colors in swift succession. "What madness possessed you to fill that basin with enough basilisk venom to drown yourself in?" Edelweiss's mouth opened to respond, but Madam Pomfrey continued berating her. "Don't justify yourself, fool girl! You should consider yourself lucky you failed to kill yourself!"

"I'm too… too power…ful to die… so," Edelweiss growled, hating how weak she sounded. This should be a moment of glory and triumph for her. For in one swift stroke, she had rendered Voldemort permanently mortal. She opened herself to the dark side and rejoiced as its burning might filled her bones with renewed strength.

"Bah!" Madam Pomfrey shook her head before muttering, "Power? You fool girl! It's a shame seeing what you did to yourself. You're going to have a difficult time once everyone sees those strange tattoos on your face."

"Oh, so those worked as well?" she murmured with awe. Her Sith masters had been uncertain what, if any, permanent effects the markings would have. She tried to sit up again. Her limbs felt weak, filled with jelly. Edelweiss slumped back onto the bed, staring up at the nurse. "Could you fetch me a mirror so that I can see myself? And some pillows as well."

Several long, uncomfortable seconds passed before Madam Pomfrey sighed and bustled away. She returned shortly after and handed over a large handheld mirror. Edelweiss turned its polished surface toward her face and nearly gasped.

Edelweiss had felt the paste on her face before initiating the ritual, but she had only glimpsed those on her body. She had gone into a trance, fueled by the dark side, as she applied them. Now, however, she could make out every black marking that distinguished her face. Across her forehead were five triangular bands that started thick at her hairline and streaked down, thinning to needle points around her brow; the central one followed the slope of her nose and ended with a black bead that dotted the tip. Black bars ran from her temples to her eyes. The skin around the sockets was black as well. There was a pair of stripes like those on her forehead across each cheek, streaking up from her jawline to her high cheeks, along with black filling the narrow strip between septum and lip. Her lips were mostly black, with the top completely covered and the bottom split by a thick stripe down the center. Her chin now bore two triangular blocks that rose from the darkness swirling around her neck.

"Oh," she breathed, enthralled by her new markings. All that was missing were the sickly yellow eyes of a Sith Lord. "They look better than I hoped."

Madam Pomfrey sighed loudly. "That was a very foolish thing to do, Miss Potter. Is there a reason you risked your life for this vanity?"

Edelweiss glanced around the Hospital Wing. Neither her eyes nor the Force revealed any others present. Her housemates would be sleeping off the euphoria of yesterday's game, dulled as it was by the Twins being banned and Ron's poor showing. The absence of Headmaster Dumbledore surprised her some, though she had learned well enough that the man was capable of moving invisibly through the castle when it suited his needs.

Best she err on the side of caution.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you the full of what has come to pass. And no, you cannot compel me," Edelweiss added as Madam Pomfrey flushed with outrage. "All you need to know is that I accomplished what I set out to do, and nothing more."

Madam Pomfrey glowered, unimpressed by the answer. Edelweiss briefly wondered if the nurse would disregard her warning and attempt to coerce an answer. There were magical means to steal the truth from a guarded mind, as she had learned the previous June. She had been present when Dumbledore had Barty Crouch Junior dosed with that truth serum Snape scrounged up. Could that overcome the power of the Force? She did not think so, nor did she wish to discover whether or not it could.

"Though, I guess I can confide in you what I set out to do. I have put into motion his defeat," admitted Edelweiss with a whisper. When the nurse frowned, she added, "Voldemort."

It took all her strength to not cackle when the nurse recoiled. Madam Pomfrey then scurried off so she might report to Dumbledore what had been said. Edelweiss knew that by giving up part of her plot, she could mask the rest. The Headmaster would certainly seek to investigate what had occurred regardless. Now, though, Edelweiss would have the power to guide and dictate the manner of that investigation, and thus allow Dumbledore to reach the conclusion she desired.

Then again, she had gotten lucky. Had she lacked the power and will to ensure the ritual could expand and amplify its power in reaction to the extra sources of Voldemort's essence away from his body, she would have been compelled to venture out and hunt them down. She could not fathom how wasteful and tedious that process would be. Worse, she suspected that Dumbledore would be integral to that hunt.

He had known Tom Riddle, after all.

Madam Pomfrey returned minutes later, escorting Dumbledore, Snape, Umbridge, and Professor McGonagall. She frowned as she considered her four visitors. Edelweiss had expected Dumbledore and did not find McGonagall's presence surprising. But what reason led Snape and Umbridge to make themselves present as well?

"It is good to see you are awake, dear girl," said Dumbledore, as if nothing had changed since last June. "You gave us a terrible fright."

Edelweiss peered out the nearest window. Golden sunlight poked through the heavy grey clouds of the late Scottish autumn. Something about that sight felt like an omen. But for what? The Force told her nothing. Perhaps she desired to see an omen where there was none. She had achieved a great feat; one worthy of praise and adoration, were others to know of all she wrought.

"Miss Potter!" shrieked Umbridge. Edelweiss slowly turned back to those gathered around her bed. She nearly smirked at their annoyance and discomfort. "What were you thinking! Experimenting with unknown runes! Engaging in blood rituals! Why, were it not for the Headmaster, I would have summoned aurors to arrest you and take you to Azkaban!"

"Without a trial? I had not realized I slew a dozen muggles and a wizard last night."

Umbridge glowered as if sucking upon a prune. McGonagall, surprisingly, looked on the verge of laughing. Snape looked away, clearly wishing he could be anywhere else. Dumbledore maintained a cordial look.

"Why you—!"

"Apologies if this sounds forward," interrupted Edelweiss, "but is there a reason the four of you are present? I understand the presence of two, but not all four."

"It's because all of us got pulled into your foolishness, girl!" snarled Snape, managing to surprise her with his restraint. "Professor Umbridge happened to be the one who found you. I do not know when she set it up, but she established a monitoring ward around some of the less frequented sections of the castle. It detected your ritual because somehow you slipped past it."

Edelweiss glanced at Umbridge, hating the flicker of respect she suddenly felt for the foul witch. She had missed whatever wards Umbridge had established in the portion of the castle she had chosen for the ritual. Now that she considered the matter, she should have planned for how to retrieve her body from the basin once the ritual concluded and secret her away to Ziost Hangar for recovery. It would have been immensely embarrassing to drown while cleansing herself of the Dark Lord's essence. Though death because of arrogance was fitting for a Sith apprentice. To think she could survive the most deadly dark lord in centuries several times only to perish in her attempt to end his immortality and ensure he would perish by her hand.

I guess I should thank Umbridge before her end for ensuring my ongoing survival.

"I assume the ward drew you to the room I repurposed?"

"Indeed," Umbridge said. She then smiled widely, and it was most certainly not because Edelweiss had completely recovered from her ritual. "I nearly summoned aurors and Unspeakables to the castle after coming upon what you had done to yourself. It was bad enough, having to levitate you out of the depths of your arrogance."

Edelweiss clenched her jaw. She was caught between amusement and frustration over how Umbridge reflected Edelweiss's thoughts with her words.

"Instead of acting on my conscious, I summoned the Headmaster and Professor Snape. Once they said it was fine to move you, we brought you here," continued Umbridge as if Edelweiss were an inconvenience. "They were almost as quick to respond as myself. Only Professor McGonagall had to be summoned to the Hospital Wing and be informed of the foolishness you engaged in."

Edelweiss glanced at the woman in question and raised a curious eyebrow.

"You know why I was summoned, Miss Potter. You should have been asleep in Gryffindor Tower, not halfway across the castle doing Merlin knows what!"

She hummed as she scanned the four arrayed around her. All possessed a mix of concern and frustration on their faces. Snape and Umbridge shared something malicious as if they would have shed no tears had she perished in the night. Professor McGonagall almost had something akin to a terrible fear etched on her face, despite the feeling of being weak in the Force. The Headmaster, for his part, regarded her like a mystifying puzzle he could not make sense of.

"What I wish to know," said Dumbledore, drawing attention to him, "is why you told Madam Pomfrey what you have done will help defeat Voldemort."

Edelweiss amused herself with the various reactions to Dumbledore's daring to utter Voldemort's assumed name. Professor McGonagall, like most, swore and flinched. Snape paled, revealing faint veins across his face. Professor Umbridge, as usual, appeared ready to burn the castle to cinders. Then again, she was firmly in Minister Fudge's "He cannot be back!" camp.

"That is what I said. Tell me, Dumbledore: Did you know that some of his essence was bound to mine? Or were you in the dark about the events that transpired on that fateful night?"

Dumbledore sighed as the professors shot him disturbed looks. Umbridge appeared to be arguing with herself over whether or not she should report the conversation to the Minister. Edelweiss sensed that Umbridge leaned toward saying nothing, and so she decided she would not bother with interfering. Only if something that could derail her future ascension would she act.

"I had my suspicions, Miss Potter, but nothing else to work off. Not until you gave me that diary at the end of your second year."

She breathed out slowly. "So you understand why I took that risk last night."

"I do," said Dumbledore. He appeared to age thirty years in a heartbeat. "But to see you so weak? So close to death for the fourth time?" He sighed and shook his head, beard wobbling. "I have seen too much death in my many, many years, Miss Potter. I do not desire to see your name added to that list."

Edelweiss wanted to question his words, yet they were said with such sincerity she struggled to not automatically believe him. It pissed her off how he still inspired emotions beyond fury and hatred within her. She wanted to only feel those two with Dumbledore. And yet at the same time, she struggled to name all four incidents the Headmaster referred to. The fourth was her ritual, regardless of the danger she was actually in. The first, she assumed, had followed her encounter with Voldemort at the end of her first year. The second was probably from her third year when she was laid low by the dementors during that infamous Quidditch game. But the third incident?

"What were they?" she asked, wanting to know. Needing to know. "The ritual. Quirrell. The dementors on the pitch. What is the last one?"

Dumbledore stared at her for a long while with those solemn blue eyes of his. Eventually, he murmured, "The night you first cheated death, Miss Potter. When you got your scar."

Her mouth went dry. Suddenly, she no longer wanted this confrontation. She wanted an escape, no matter how cowardly. Edelweiss knew the easiest way out. She leaned back, closed her eyes, and fell back asleep.

Edelweiss woke once more to find the afternoon had already arrived. She yawned as she sat up and raised her arms in a high stretch. She then rubbed her crusted eyes and found a plethora of flowers, candies, and cards at her bedside. She blinked at the sight; after several months of slander in the papers, she had assumed few students would dare show any kind of support for her. More so, she was surprised by how quickly this mass of goodwill tokens had been gathered. She did not recall if any had been present when she awoke earlier. And then she remembered the piles she found beside her bed following her encounter with Quirrell. She had been unconscious for three days on that particular occasion. Somehow, a similar quantity had been gathered in a handful of hours.

A moment later, she noticed the blonde-haired girl sitting by her bed, barefoot and reading from a glossy, upside-down magazine. Edelweiss frowned as she tried to read the title. All she could make out was that the title began with a Q. She knew not of any wizarding publication that started so.

"Hello, Lady Gladiolus," the girl said without looking up from her magazine. Edelweiss tensed. "Worry not. I won't tell anyone that name… though I doubt they would believe me." She looked up and revealed soft, blank blue eyes. "I'm Luna Lovegood, though most people call me 'Loony' Lovegood."

"Loony," repeated Edelweiss. "You."

Luna nodded.

Edelweiss snorted. She nearly shook her head, though she failed to stop the smile, which graced her face. Of course, the first who might learn her secret was a kook. "Best you say nothing of my other name, for nobody would believe you if you told them."

"Indeed. It's better than the alternative."

Visions of the girl engulfed in Force lightning flashed in Edelweiss's mind. It was a pleasant sight, and one she realized would be completely unnecessary.

"Still, I wish to know how you discovered the name 'Gladiolus'."

Luna tilted her head. It reminded Edelweiss of a cat considering potential prey. "There's something that floats around you. They grow stronger whenever you're angry or embroiled in… passion? It's so odd. I don't know what they are, though they whispered to me that soon you'll be Lady Gladiolus."

"Lord Gladiolus," she corrected softly, befuddled by Luna Lovegood. How could this strange girl see so much when even her friends were blind to the truth? "There are no Sith Ladies," she continued carefully at Luna's bewildered frown. "Only Sith Lords."

"How strange," said Luna, who was as easily strange. "Why would there not be Ladies as well as Lords?"

Edelweiss pursed her lips. How had she allowed this girl to draw so much from her so easily? Was it that she already had one foot in the door? She could very well be Force-sensitive. It would explain how she learned the truth of Edelweiss's future. But would she be perfect for molding into a Sith apprentice?

Then again, Luna Lovegood came across as unaffected by the Sith markings upon Edelweiss's face. "It's a tradition. That is all I can tell you."

Luna nodded as if that explained everything. "Okay. I wanted to ask you a question, though. Could I join your group?"

"What group?"

"The defense one." Luna glanced around the Hospital Wing before leaning forward to softly whisper, "I've noticed people coming and going at strange hours. It's the only thing that makes sense. Your heliopath told me. You must be very powerful, to have one at your beck and call before your majority."

"My… heliopath?"

"Oh, yes. They're spirits of fire. Powerful ones. Most can't see them, though if you know where to look, they're brighter than the sun and move obvious than dawn."

"Was it my 'heliopath' that revealed my future name to you? Or was it something else?"

Luna shook her head firmly. "They're different. Trust me."

"I… will. But I'd like you—"

Before Edelweiss could finish making her demand on Luna Lovegood, the Hospital Wing doors slammed open. Hermione and Ron swept across the threshold, found where Edelweiss lay, and hurried her way. About halfway across the room, they froze and gawked at her face. She stared back. They flinched as though she had said "Voldemort". She sighed and shook her head. None of the professors had warned them about her new appearance. That was all she could assume from how they stood and stared.

And as the winter snows would descend upon Hogwarts, their shock broke. They stormed forward, horror in their eyes. Fear and confusion radiated off them in thick, heady waves. Edelweiss had to resist the temptation to close her eyes and sink into the dark side of the Force's seductive strength.

Hermione reached her bedside first, a befuddled Ron trailing behind her. Luna took their approach as her signal to leave, though she winked at Edelweiss before slipping out and silently closing the doors behind her.

"What were you thinking?" demanded Hermione. "Performing strange rituals on your own? Risking your life—"

"To achieve a greater purpose," said Edelweiss, scowling. Her new markings emphasized the darkness of her expression, causing her friends to skitter back. Ron was the steadier of the two, retreating less from her dark gaze. "I did what I must. Anything else risks defeat, and defeat means death. Our enemy relies upon the frail morality of his foes to be victorious." She scoffed and shook her head. "The two of you need not worry about me. If you are unwilling to fight—to kill, to put down the demented and deranged, those who cannot belong in society—then step back. Leave me to what I must do. I… I understand that you would rather hold on to your precious childhoods than face the harsh world beyond these castle walls."

Edelweiss tried to not be disappointed as she felt their shock, horror, and disgust. They knew she had come to the conclusion she would need to kill her enemies long ago. Destroying Quirrell, for as horrifying as it had been at the time, had not scarred her as Dumbledore assumed. She had struggled to process it then, but that was because of his foolish morality polluting her mind. She would act, as she must. Her Sith training confirmed her beliefs, solidifying them to the point she viewed those completely unwilling to shed blood in wartime as fools and cowards who deserved their wretched fate under an oppressive boot.

"You're speaking mad," said Ron, his face so pale she could count every freckle on his face. "Edie, you can't be serious about… about killing people! That isn't done!"

"Well maybe it should be," she said, voice thick with her bitterness. "How many lives could have been saved if only the Order had been willing to permanently stop Death Eaters? How many families would still be intact if those crazed monsters had been put down like the deranged beasts they are? I take no pleasure from the thought of killing." A lie, but they need not know. "I will do it because it must be done. My decision has been stripped from me because of Dumbledore's moral cowardice and the failures of those who followed him during the first war."

Hermione scowled and crossed her arms. "Your parents—"

"Are. Dead!" Edelweiss felt the dark side swell within her. That burning power begged to be channeled and used. She bound it tightly within her. Let it be her strength while she told her friends the truths they had been sheltered from. "My parents are dead because they trusted a coward during a time of war. They fought for the losing side not because it was the wrong side to fight for, but because they were unwilling to do what had to be done. Had either of them the strength or courage to end the rotten creatures under those skull-white masks, perhaps Pettigrew would have remained true instead of betraying them to Voldemort. I could have been raised in a loving family instead of with the Dursleys!"

Edelweiss was left panting at the end of her outburst. Her anger had escaped her, poured into words previously unsaid. The dark side remained with her. But its influence had waned. She slowly drew in deep breaths, allowing the Force to fill her. It renewed her, restoring her with purpose and strength. She glanced between her friends, waiting for their response.

Hermione and Ron exchanged a look that sent fury racing through Edelweiss. She could taste their worry and confusion.

"You know that killing people isn't right," began Ron, sounding unusually nervous. Edelweiss nearly rolled her eyes. "We're worried about you, Edie. This talk about killing people, fighting a war…this"—he gestured toward her face. She briefly wondered how they would react, seeing the markings that extended across her limbs and body. Not even her hands and feet were free of them—"whatever it is you've done to yourself," he continued, starting to ramble. Ron could be a good friend most of the time, but he would never be a good speaker. "We… We just want you to know we'll always be there for you."

"Even when I plan to face my enemies, intent on leaving corpses in my wake?" she asked, purposeful with each word. "You know how events come to pass with my life. Come June, I shall face Voldemort and his Death Eaters once more.

"Death shall visit them, and steal away their wasted potential."

Their faces barely masked hints of green by the time Edelweiss uttered that final word. She sighed through her nose, already exhausted by their moralizing. After several seconds of pained silence, she muttered, "Leave me. I have no patience to argue about my methods. Whether you know it or not, we have fought this war many times before."

They departed shortly after, their mutters drifting to her even after the door slammed close behind them. Edelweiss sighed and shook her head. They thought time would lead her around to their opinion. She had hoped for understanding from them. Instead, all she received were two stony walls unable to consider her position.

Edelweiss flopped back onto the bed, raising a hand marked with crossing swirls that ended with truncated points around her middle knuckle.

They would regret their choices one day. They would regret that they did not side with Darth Gladiolus from the start.

Two days passed before Madam Pomfrey finally relented and released Edelweiss from the Hospital Wing. She left early that morning, granting her time to return to Gryffindor Tower before breakfast. She reached the common room without issue and snuck up to the fifth-year girl's dorm. Hermione appeared to have already left. She had always been the early bird among them. The others were still abed, though Fay Dunbar's choking snorts suggested she would wake soon. Edelweiss passed through like a breeze, snatching up clothes for the day, and went to shower.

While she stood under the steaming hot waters, Edelweiss admired her body handiwork. Swirling lines interspaced with jagged barbs coated most of her form. They flowed across her arms and legs, ending at flame-like points on the back of her hand and on the tops of her feet. The lines along her body were fewer: a handful swooped downward, starting beneath her breasts and flowing around her ribs as water navigates a crisscrossing channel; there they met with several knife-like lines that pointed to her naval. Her groin was free of markings, though she had a diamond over each ovary.

She viewed herself as intimidating. Perhaps edging on monstrous. Yes, few would see most of these lines. But that was not what mattered. What mattered was that she knew they were there. It was power for her sake. A reminder of the pain she suffered to bring Voldemort closer to death. She had risked her death, courting it as a lover might, and emerged stronger and greater.

Edelweiss had achieved her first great goal.

"Through strength, I gain victory," she whispered in the Sith tongue, lathering her hair. "The Force shall free me."

Edelweiss finished and dried herself as the others trickled into the shared bathroom. They had risen from their beads, yawning and stretching. They froze upon encountering her. Lavender Brown squeaked when she spotted the black lines and swirls across Edelweiss's exposed form.

"They—they released you already?" asked Parvati. Her face was paled, drained of her usually warm complexion.

"Barely an hour ago. I had grown tired of lying in a bed all day, and I think Madam Pomfrey finally regretted keeping me longer than necessary. There was never anything wrong with me."

The other girls stared at Edelweiss's face, boggle-eyed, before exchanging knowing looks. When she felt their pity, she glowered. They suddenly flinched back as though she had named Voldemort in their company. She wished she could outright read their minds, for their emotions became too mixed for her to completely understand.

"Now, if you three could stop staring, I wish to get ready for the day."

They did as she asked, though Lavender added a belated, "Everyone's been gossiping about your face! You know they're going to stare!"

Edelweiss rolled her eyes as she stepped past them. She wanted the gossip. These markings represented her power writ large. She now bore a masked proclamation of the station she would ascend to when her time arrived. June, she continued to suspect. It would be in June, as always. She had told her friends so. It was always then when she came face to face with the Dark Lord's might.

This time, he would falter and fall to the might of Darth Gladiolus.

Her sweeping entrance into the Great Hall sparked a flurry of furious whispers among the few present so early. Edelweiss's skin crawled as she approached the center of the Gryffindor table. Few seats were occupied. One, near the end, was where Hermione had chosen to sit with a dozen books set haphazardly around her. She was attempting to read from whichever tome she had propped open while shoveling porridge into her mouth. Edelweiss continued past the center of the table before claiming the best seat to stare at Hermione. She then filled her plate and waited to be noticed.

Edelweiss nearly finished her plate when Hermione finally glanced over. She paused; her gaze returned to whichever tome she was reading, and then she looked up and over again. They stared at each other for a while—and then Hermione suddenly squeaked. She swallowed suddenly, coughed several times, and had to chug down several gulps of water before rasping out, "When did Madam Pomfrey release you?"

"An hour ago. Maybe a little more." Edelweiss snatched up a slice of treacle tart. Given there was only a single slice, she assumed it was Dobby's doing. The elf wanted the best socks for Christmas. That or he had just been that worried for her. "You were busy, reading and eating. I didn't have the heart to interrupt you."

"But still," began Hermione with a frown. "I would have preferred you tell me you just arrived. Or maybe a warning you were being released from the Hospital Wing."

"You haven't come to visit since when I woke up, Hermione. Anyways, I didn't have a chance to warn anyone before being released."

Hermione pursed her lips as the shadow of doubt crossed her face. Her brandy-brown eyes lingered on the markings Edelweiss bore upon her face. Hermione's emotions changed, second by second. They fluttered and flittered about, a mess of contradictions that leaked confusion and horror most strongly into the Force. Her emotions were so loud Edelweiss suspected that odd Luna Lovegood girl would notice, were she present.

And then Hermione's emotions became fear. It sparked anger low in Edelweiss's gut. She had known her friends would not understand, but to be afraid of her? She had assumed they were stronger than that. Yes, she enjoyed the fear she would inspire in others. Edelweiss was training to become a Sith Lord. Fear was part of the bargain. But she had not expected that fear from her friends. Perhaps they were finally reaching the moment when that friendship would be irrevocably broken.

"I don't know how to handle the person you're becoming, Edie," admitted Hermione. "When you speak about killing as though it were some foregone conclusion… It scared me. I'm terrified by what you're becoming. I want to help you."

"Then accept who I am becoming, for it was thrust upon me. I did not choose this path because I desired it. I chose it out of need."

Hermione's expression lightened, though she did not appear relieved. Her inner turmoil was unchanged. "Why not ask for our help, instead? What about Dumbledor—"

"He is half the reason I must approach the war as I must," Edelweiss hissed, leaning across the table. "Half the reason I must kill is because of his failures." Hermione drew back as if bitten. "I… I will not speak of my childhood here. However, the plainest terms I can use to describe it would be abusive. I understand why he put me with the Dursleys, but it was a grave mistake on his part. Whatever magical defenses it granted me was not worth the price inflicted upon my psyche."

Something akin to pity bloomed in Hermione. Edelweiss sensed the depth of that emotion, stained with regret that she had failed to notice that which was now obvious. She felt a twinge of pride at the fact she had hidden the worst of the hell she suffered as a girl. Perhaps that was why it had been so easy for her to embrace the ways of the Sith. Edelweiss had witnessed the cruel heart of men and knew what was required to face it without showing weakness.

"I don't want your pity, Hermione."

"But you shouldn't have gone through that!" she said with the passion that usually accompanied her studies or odd little interest. "Somebody should have noticed something!"

"They probably did. And then accepted what the Dursleys said about me." Edelweiss clamped her jaw shut. She had said too much, and Hermione appeared to notice, for she leaned forward as well. "It matters no longer, Hermione. That is all in the past. I can only affect my present and thus influence the future."

"Edie… There's still something that could be done. You don't have to shoulder all of your burdens yourself."

Edelweiss sighed and shook her head. "If you won't listen to what I say, then I should go. I have long made it clear what you must understand."

With that, she stuffed the remnant of her treacle tart into her mouth. She stood and stormed out of the Great Hall, chewing and swallowing as she went. Hermione shouted after her; Edelweiss ignored those calls. She was too irate to deal with her friend.

Thankfully, there was a perfect way to clear her mind.

Edelweiss growled as a blaster bolt stung her left hip. She wore a blast helmet that blocked her vision entirely. She could hear the thrum of the training saber she held, along with the light hiss of the training droid that floated around her head. Her feet repositioned as the droid tried to get behind her. She made certain to keep the blade of her weapon away from her skin. It might not slice through her limbs as a proper lightsaber was supposed to, but it was still a weapon—and thus deserving of her respect. Plus, bad habits now could mean a premature death or injury in the future.

"The Force, you stupid girl!" her trainer shouted. She had sorted through Lord Salazar's holocrons and chose one at random from the group labeled "for lightsaber training". "Use the Force to know where the blasts will be!"

With teeth gritted, Edelweiss did as commanded. She found the droid swiftly. Instead of waiting for it to fire upon her, she ripped it from the sky with the Force and tossed it to the ground. It bounced once, twice, and then came to a roll. She was dearly tempted to kick the remote or crush it. But this droid was the sole one in Lord Salazar's stores. Without it, she'd have to risk being shot at by a real blaster and not the droid's programmed bolts. The thought of being fried hard enough to have her nerves shot and seared was enough to hold her back from lashing out.

"You do not appear to appreciate my lesson."

Edelweiss growled as she ripped the helmet from her head. "I do not understand what you want from me in this scenario! Blasters do not exist on Earth! The closest we have is the magic of my realm, and neither of us knows if spells and blaster bolts react the same to a lightsaber! Maybe I can deflect spells. Maybe I can't. But there is no way to test."

The long-dead Sith made a rough scoff in the back of his throat. "You will not remain on this backwater forever. We both know you will leave one day." He then rubbed his pointed jaw with lithe fingers. "Have you considered bringing another into the fold? No Sith works in complete isolation. The Jedi, for all the humanity they sacrifice, do not work in solitude. They take on students, slowly growing their order like a plague. We are meant to cull them. That task cannot be done alone."

"I cannot trust anyone with this secret," Edelweiss muttered, pushing damp hair away from her eyes. "Two cannot keep a secret."

"Yet someone knows. I can feel it."

Edelweiss recalled that strange girl—Luna Lovegood, Loony Lovegood, estranged within her own house—who had called her "Lady Gladiolus". She still fumed at the error in title and remained frustrated someone had learned of that name. The how remained unknown, but then Edelweiss had yet to hunt down Lovegood and question her completely. From what she had picked up between departing the Great Hall and coming down to Ziost Hangar, the girl was either half-mad or particularly Force-sensitive. That explained the strange creatures the girl claimed to see better than any theory Ravenclaws proposed before concluding that their callous dismissal of her apparent delusions was the appropriate course to take.

House of wisdom indeed.

"I cannot say if she is trustworthy, for I do not know her. All I know is that I have only made it this far in my training because it has been kept secret."

Her lightsaber tutor hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps that was the wise course of action to begin. But you are swiftly approaching the point where you can no longer work alone. Another must be brought into the fold or your growth shall be stunted."

Edelweiss huffed, a doubtful scowl upon her face. She vaguely understood the man's logic. She liked it naught and feared what fate might befall her, should she follow his advice and choose poorly. It was a troubling thought—and one she could not escape.

And yet, she could not find fault in his point. Another Sith apprentice—and one beneath her—could boost her acquisition of power. The fact any knew the name Gladiolus and could connect it to Edelweiss Potter sent a tremor of paranoia through her. She should hunt down the Lovegood girl and subvert the girl to her cause. She might even discover a potential apprentice in the loony girl. Edelweiss did not think herself truly prepared to take on a student, but one day she would. That was the way of the Sith; to take on an apprentice and train them to be powerful. She did not approve of slaying one's master, though. Perhaps the Sith of Lady Bastila's age was a barbaric lot. Or perhaps there was a reason Lord Salazar had fled to Earth, for a Sith in his era might have threatened his life.

"I shall take your advice under consideration," she said. Edelweiss tried to clear her mind of unnecessary thoughts as she drew the helmet back on. She had to achieve mastery over the first form if she was to convince Lord Malgus to train her. Part of that mastery came with being able to deflect bolts. As far as her trainer was concerned, it was a skill of vital necessity. She did not agree, but then Earth was "a fallow backwater that somehow supports human life" in their merciful opinion.

She had to build up her power now. Her true trials waited in the future. Edelweiss needed to gain any advantage she could grasp before her fateful hour of ascension. If that meant she considered accepting an apprentice earlier than expected or learning how to deflect the weapons of a civilization halfway across the cosmos, then so be it. She would face the future head-on.

She would ascend, her head high, and become Darth Gladiolus. She would destroy all who stood in her way.