Sith Apprentices [I]
Tracey Davis clenched her wand as she tightly grasped the doorknob. She had assumed her home, tucked away in the rolling hills of the English countryside, would always be a sanctuary from the troubles of magical Britain. But something lingered behind this door, threatening the world that had been raised around Tracey. Her heart raced away, yet she breathed steadily. Neither of her parents had been at King's Cross to greet her as usual. Once, she would have thought nothing of their absence. After all, her father worked unusual hours for Gringotts while her mother served Britain as an on-call hit wizard.
But that had been her mindset before that fateful trip north on the Hogwarts Express.
She now lived in a world ruled by her lord, the merciful and powerful Gladiolus. And though Tracey admired her lord, she knew that their word was one where people sometimes vanished, though for good reason.
"Come on in!" her mother called before Tracey could force the door open. She hesitated. Her grasp around her wand tightened. Something sounded wrong in her mother's voice. "Tracey, we know you're out there!"
She nearly cast a revealing charm, for a sudden feeling washed over her. It mingled with the fear she felt coming to the door, uncertain and hurt by her parent's absence, revealing to her that the danger she had sensed was not directed her way. After all, her lord had no cause to harm her.
Lord Gladiolus.
Tracey twisted the knob, pushed the door open, and then froze after taking a single step into her home. She had no cause to linger on the threshold. She was home, safe from the turbulent times of her age. It should be natural for her to cross the entry while calling out that she was home. A hand should be on her shrunken trunk, ready to remove and restore it.
She forced herself to enter the entry, a plain room with a dark, tiled floor. A few shoes cast about haphazardly rested a few feet before her. The wall to her right was unadorned, while the one on her left bore a single moving portrait of the Davis family commissioned back in her third year.
A dark figure swept into view. Burning sulfuric eyes peered out from beneath a heavy cowl. Lips, only pink in two spots, twitched into an amused smirk.
"Come join us," drawled Lord Gladiolus. "I have come on an errand concerning you, Tracey. Your parents have demanded your presence. I had not intended to involve them beyond a simple explanation of my intentions. But they were less than pleased by my intentions—and by my curiosity concerning your home life.
"I do not think they approve of my wish, regardless of how appropriate you would be."
Tracey's mouth dried. She tried to swallow so she could wet her tongue and chapped lips. But not even a drop emerged.
Lord Gladiolus smiled. It almost looked fond, and that worried Tracey.
Could this relate to what she wanted before the rebellion? Tracey thought errantly.
"Come," her lord repeated, sounding a touch annoyed. "Your parents wish to speak with you on the matter I have proposed before they'll agree to anything." Her gaze drifted and her lips fell. "They think you are a child who still requires their guidance and permission."
"I… I'm surprised to hear that," Tracey muttered. Frustration welled within her. She had managed, thanks to her stellar OWL performance, to convince them to allow her to follow the auror track through her NEWT years at Hogwarts. For them to be unwilling to agree to something on her behalf meant that they did not approve of whatever her lord would offer—which if Tracey's memory of that night before the Janus Rebellion remained true meant an apprenticeship offer.
"Are you truly? Or is there something else I am unaware of? A particular career choice, perhaps?"
"I had another plan, my lord. Another way to serve you. But I believe that path is no longer necessary."
Tracey held back the words: "For I will be under your aegis directly."
In the two years since she first came under Lord Gladiolus's aegis—back when the Witch-Queen still used the name Edelweiss Potter—Tracey had learned to emerge from her shell. She had retreated into that shell as a result of her early years in Slytherin. Though it had not completely enclosed her by the time of her fifth year, she knew three years unchanged would have solidified the hardness required in non-purebloods to survive and even thrive in the house of cunning.
She owed Lord Gladiolus too much. She nodded and followed her lord to where her parents waited. They passed the turn to the bedrooms, continuing down the main corridor until they reached the greeting room. They entered the spacious area, with its trio of long couches around a large, cluttered table. A wide stone fireplace dominated one wall. The walls beside it bore a trio of paintings, while the fourth had two wide windows allowing great beams of light to pour in.
Tracey's parents rose to their feet as Lord Gladiolus glided into the greeting room. Tracey met her parents' watching gazes with a slight smile. They smiled back, weak and uncertain. She wondered what they had been told—and why they did not appear to take it seriously. Tracey knew their lord well enough to suspect that whatever had been proposed earlier had been spoken of with the utmost seriousness.
Once all were sat and the family elf, Bixy, had served tea and biscuits, Lord Gladiolus finally lowered her hood. Her face had matured in the two years since their last shared year at Hogwarts. yet the black markings Gladiolus acquired in November of that year remained unchanged. Her hair, however, had been changed. Once where it had hung limply, grown long enough to not be a burden, she now wore it in a set of braids so intricate Tracey doubted she'd be able to accurately count them with magic.
"Now, Lord Gladiolus," Tracey's father began, slightly nervous. "Why have you actually come to speak with us? You cannot think we would believe your claim that our Tracey can learn whatever aberrant powers that drive you."
Tracey glanced between her parents and Lord Gladiolus as events from earlier came together. Her lord had interrupted the family tradition of meeting Tracey at King's Cross to put her parents on edge—and force their hand regardless of what Tracey would decide. Yes, her heart was set, but did her lord truly need to intimidate her parents so?
"I am speaking with you now about this particular matter," Lord Gladiolus began softly, her sulfuric eyes almost glowing in their sockets. "The Janus Rebellion proved I require another with my powers. One I can trust. So as I informed you, I have decided to accept an apprentice. One with the capacity to learn the powers I have come to embrace and, should the worse ever come to pass, possess the strength of will to inherit my title and ensure my work persists into future generations."
"An apprentice? Our daughter?" Tracey's mother asked, raising a hand to cover her mouth. "Why her? Certainly, there are others with the same potential."
Tracey felt her cheeks flush with shame, embarrassment, and a touch of wonder. Her? Lord Gladiolus's apprentice? It was an unfathomable idea, and yet it was being offered to her so willingly. The mere prospect of learning the strange, magnificent powers her lord knew was tantalizing. The offer had been presented to her before the Janus Rebellion. She remembered that much. But to speak of it with her parents implied that her lord valued their opinion, despite her words to the contrary.
That or she wants to prevent them from acting out with honey instead of vinegar.
"She is among the rare few who possess the potential to wield the special powers I possess. I cannot be so picky as to deny any with that potential who are willing to faithfully serve me as your daughter has. Were it not for her, I would have not even suspected the Janus Rebellion, to my great frustration."
Tracey's parents nodded automatically while shooting proud glances at their daughter.
She frowned while staring at her lord. Tracey had heard plenty of speculation about exactly how Lord Gladiolus's power worked. They knew she called it 'the Force', thanks to a particularly crafty and secretive Ministry staffer who went missing shortly after the term entered the public consciousness. But for her to have this potential?
A feeling swirled in her gut. She met her lord's eye and knew that Gladiolus had sensed that feeling—and recognized it as the same power she possessed.
"I am seeking a proper apprentice from among their number. I do not doubt Tracey's ability or her loyalty. But there is more I desire in an apprentice than those simple traits. With them, I could recruit dozens to serve me.
"But that is not what I desire. I desire a proper pupil, one who I can pour the wealth of knowledge and wisdom I have acquired over these past few years. One day, events will compel me to venture into the stars beyond our world. I must have one loyal and competent to handle affairs on this world while I am away. To ensure all I have put into motion and all that I will put into motion will not be disrupted."
Before either of her parents could respond, Tracey told them, "I want to accept Lord Gladiolus's offer of apprenticeship."
They exchanged a glance. Seconds passed before her father sighed and said, "What happened to wishing to join the auror corps? We were proud when we heard—"
"Lord Gladiolus works closely with the aurors," began Tracey, "but this is an opportunity for more. As her apprentice, I can make real change in the world." She turned to her mother. "You've always lamented how you being a mug—a newblood set me behind in Slytherin. I cannot allow other children like me to face such stigma. Not when I can help them as Lord Gladiolus's apprentice."
Her parents exchanged another look. A longer one, as though they were hesitant to say yes, yet could not articulate the cause behind their dismissal. Her father eventually turned to Lord Gladiolus and inquired, "Can you guarantee Tracey's safety?"
"I cannot. Nor could the aurors, since you were open to that path. Your daughter wishes to improve the lot of magical Britain. Who are you to stand in her way?"
"We're her parents!" Tracey's mother shouted. "I don't see why we should hand her over to you! As wonderful as the changes you've made to our society are, Lord Gladiolus, you are still an unknown. Barely two years have passed since you've acquired your power. And what have we seen? An assault on the Ministry and mass executions!"
"You don't want your daughter involved in that, despite her wishes to the contrary." Lord Gladiolus sighed and rose to her feet. "Know that our meeting today was merely a formality. Tracey is a legal adult. She has already expressed a wish to be my apprentice. I will accept her, and there is nothing the two of you can do." She then leaned forward and smirked. "Remember that you were all too happy to hand her over to my auror corps before lamenting what may happen to her as my apprentice."
Tracey watched her lord sweep from the room, her black cloak rippling behind her. She hesitated only a second before muttering a weak apology to her parents and raced after Lord Gladiolus.
Her heart had been decided before her lord stepped inside. Tracey would learn all Lord Gladiolus had to teach her. She would be the ideal apprentice. And one day, she would be a master like her lord. And then she could train an apprentice, just like her lord.
"I will not hear it!" shouted Xenophilius Lovegood, waving his arms like the madman many believed him to be. "You foul demon! Out of my house! Now! Now!"
Lord Gladiolus sat unflinching before the man's patriarchal rage. She had known from the start that recruiting Luna Lovegood as an apprentice would likely be a wash. Tracey Davis, who had quickly sent word accepting her new role, had said as much. And yet she had to try, for Lovegood's strength in the Force still troubled her. She needed to be trained in the proper fashion: dedicated to the ways of the Sith and not the Jedi.
"I have not even—"
"Oh, I already know what you desire!" Xenophilius snarled, jabbing a finger in Gladiolus's face. Were he any other man and she there for any other reason, she would have lopped off the hand daring to come so near. But because of who he was and what she wanted, she bitterly suppressed her righteous fury. "You want to take away my sweet moondrop. To mold her into a monster like yourself! I… I cannot believe I ever supported you. Why, Dumbledore must be rolling in his grave."
"Good! Let him roll in his grave. He deserves no peace, even in death," Gladiolus confessed. She grinned when Xenophilius came up short, eyes bulging wide. "I still appreciate that you published my tale back in '95. But the world of then and the world of now are different. We have left one era and entered a new one. Either you adapt, or you will be swept from your feet and forgotten once the histories of our time are written."
Xenophilius snorted. "My publication will ensure my legacy. Everyone will know a hundred years from now just the breed of monster you are."
Gladiolus chuckled, high and mirthful enough to almost be a giggle. "You are quite the amusing man, Xenophilius." Her mirth fell away and her sulfuric eyes blazed in her skull. "Now, where is your daughter? She is an adult, and thus can make her own choices separate from you."
For several long, tense seconds, Gladiolus thought Xenophilius would persist in his resistance. And then a door opened behind them. She turned and found a startled Luna Lovegood, pale eyes wide and blonde hair long, standing in the doorway. She reeked of terror.
"Ah. Just the woman I had come in search of." Gladiolus turned back to Xenophilius. "Thank you for your time. You're dismissed."
His face blazed bright red, just like Ron's when embarrassed. Something almost resembling a pang of regret flashed through her. But it was gone as soon as it came, and she was left with naught but resentment that the Weasleys dared betray her.
At least they had the dignity to do so quietly, and to prevent any from their number from actively joining that rebellion. Ron, Ginny, and the Twins all had the sense to stay out of it, even if the latter allowed their goods to be used by the foe.
And so they persist at the edge of society instead of being celebrated, all because of their "principles".
The thought faded as she moved toward Luna Lovegood. That spooked the girl out of her shock. She did not flee. The sense of terror amplified, augmented by panic over why Gladiolus was present Where Tracey Davis had all but leaped at the opportunity to be Darth Gladiolus's Sith apprentice, Luna did not suspect it yet—and she would likely fear the offer. She feared the power of the dark side of the Force. Her reaction to Gladiolus's presence had the same emotional tone as a family returning home after a long vacation to find it infested with cockroaches.
"I…"
"Will you hear me out?" offered Gladiolus. "I do not require an answer from you immediately. But I want you to hear my proposal before you dare reject what I offer."
Luna stiffened. Uncertainty dominated the girl's mind as she grappled with her options. Both she and her father had been present for the executions in Diagon Alley. And of all the publications in Britain, only theirs had questioned the justice of that day. They had not questioned the punishments, but the nature of how justice was enacted. Theirs was a justice of courts and lawyers, one that required a great deal of time and gold better spent elsewhere. What fools they were to hold onto that long-dead system.
"I…"
"Moondrop," Luna's father said. Unsurprisingly, he had not obeyed her command. Gladiolus decided, regardless of whatever final decision Luna Lovegood reached, that Xenophilius would be carted away and locked up long enough to be sorry he ever dared oppose her. "You do not need to entertain her evil. She has been polluted by dark magics so deadly and dangerous not even You-Know-Who dared meddle with them."
Gladiolus rolled her eyes as she turned back to Xenophilius. "He knew them not. Had he known them, he would have certainly learned them. And with that, he would have easily yoked Britain to his will. And know this: my power is not 'dark magic'. It goes beyond magic—and your daughter possesses a natural affinity that has long made me… interested in offering her an apprenticeship."
She sensed confusion within Luna. It was a weak feeling, but it was present enough that Gladiolus believed she could twist it to her aims. She turned to her second potential apprentice and said, "We should step out and speak, Luna."
Luna Lovegood tried to not act like a prisoner on parole as she followed Darth Gladiolus toward the small babbling creek beneath the hill her family home sat on. She had been playing in its waters when her mother perished in a magical accident. She glanced at the fiend wearing Edelweiss Potter's skin. She had returned home early after a terrible feeling suddenly struck her. It had convinced Luna that her father was in danger and that the only way she could save him was to hurry home. Her employer was less than happy about the swift departure. Though given the lack of customers, Luna did not think she would be missed too much.
"I know you have no reason to trust me," Darth Gladiolus began, "but I was genuine in my offer to train you. Your potential… I have long considered you a possible candidate for an apprentice, even when I doubted whether or not your nature would align with the lessons I would teach you."
Luna did not believe for a moment her nature aligned with whatever Darth Gladiolus sought to teach her. Perhaps Edelweiss Potter could have been an excellent teacher for her, but that girl was gone. Luna was not foolish enough to believe the woman beside her could ever be redeemed. She had given herself to evil and would end her days as evil.
"But now, after the recent rebellion that our nation managed to weather, I have realized I must find a proper apprentice. Someone capable of stepping up and assuming any responsibilities I might place on their shoulders—or require them to take up."
Luna felt sick. She had a feeling about what she would hear next. "You think I could fill that role?"
"I know you have more potential than the other candidates I will recruit. One has already agreed. Her loyalty is assured, though I do not know if she has the strength necessary to follow the path I have established for her to follow. So she must have someone to challenge her. A rival, one more gifted by less certain."
"You have the wrong person. I share my father's opinion concerning how you control our society."
Darth Gladiolus nodded, though there was a twist to her lips that suggested she wished to sneer. Luna had gotten better at understanding people ever since Hermione foolishly accepted Draco Malfoy into Dumbledore's Army. She had parted ways with the group after that year, already sensing the tragic, destructive course they would follow into their graves. Given what became of them after their 'Janus Rebellion', Luna felt justified in her choice. However, she did regret her failure to rescue more than from the growing ranks of Hermione and Malfoy's ill-fated rebellion.
"I can tell that you knew about the rebellion against myself. Yet you did not report anything about the events which transpired in January."
Luna glanced away. She could not say anything that might make Gladiolus suspicious of her. "The heliopaths have grown more and more desperate to escape you."
"…so you agreed with their aim. Then why not aid them?"
"Malfoy could not be trusted," Luna admitted. "And Hermione thought using his methods would not lead her into trouble." She glanced at Darth Gladiolus. Sulfuric eyes from her nightmares burned in blackened sockets. Luna now understood what it meant to be a Sith Lord. To be a Sith Lord meant to burn away everything for a singular goal. Edelweiss Potter desired power to destroy Dumbledore and Voldemort.
Darth Gladiolus was all that remained.
"How fascinating that some who object to my ways and methods possess a shred of sense." The Sith Lord smiled slyly. Luna's gut plunged to her toes, leaving her filled with sickly dread. "Should you become one of my apprentices, I will need to purge you of your arrogant opposition to my ways."
"…arrogant?" Luna accidentally screeched like a regular girl confronted with some misdeed she wished forgotten. She flushed and muttered, "I cannot believe you would use that in reference to me, Edelweiss."
"I do not know that name," Lord Gladiolus said. "Do remember who I am, else I will be forced to remind you." She tilted her head slightly, masking the harshness of her sulfuric eyes. "I may not be above using corporal punishment where necessary, but it would be poor form to employ it earlier than necessary."
Luna nodded swiftly. She stopped and allowed Lord Gladiolus to continue to the creek that marked the boundary between the Lovegood's property and their wealthier neighbors. She was surprised the Sith Lord continued walking. Gladiolus had to know Luna stopped in her tracks.
When the evil woman turned, her yellow eyes burned with amusement. Her lips twisted into a cruel smirk before settling as something politer. "I await your inevitable decision, Luna," said Gladiolus. "I have peered into your soul. You may reject all I stand for now. But before the end, you will understand the necessity that drove Edelweiss Potter to shed her old identity like a snake skin."
Before Luna could respond, the Sith Lord vanished like smoke in the wind. She gaped, for neither had crossed the boundary line. They had remained within the wards around the Lovegood property—which prevented apparition and portkeys in or out.
A jealousy unbecoming of a Lovegood twisted within Luna, low and sickened. Powers of that magnitude should not belong to monsters. They should be given to good people, freely willing to sacrifice all they had for the betterment of society. People like Hermione Granger. People like the girl Luna Lovegood thought Edelweiss Potter once was. She turned back to the familiar sight of home and strode up the hill. Her father would be furious with her decision, but it had to be made.
Hermione's sacrifice could not be in vain. Somehow, Luna would see to that.
Gladiolus entered Neville Longbottom's large, illuminated office. Plants, familiar and not, lined the walls, interspaced with family portraits and groaning bookcases. When he had sent a politely worded note inviting her to discuss her vaguely offered proposal, she had been pleasantly surprised that he possessed any willingness to accept. Neville had been smart enough to remain clear of the Janus Rebellion. But his grandmother had not. The old harridan had given up the last of her time and strength to lead an annoyingly effective assault on the Floo System Office. Had it not been for the intervention of aurors freed from assaults elsewhere within the Ministry, Gladiolus would have been forced to put down that particular part of the rebellion herself. And while she wished she could have fought Augusta Longbottom that day, she understood that their duel could have lost her this opportunity.
That he's agreed to a meeting could mean he's planning something, just like Augusta. I was pleasantly surprised to sense him reach back while searching the land for potential apprentices.
Him
Tracey.
Luna.
Were it not for the Force, I would almost think these three coincidental.
She sat in the offered chair, oak and straight-backed. The seat had no padding, though with the Force she could offset that issue.
"Welcome to Longbottom Manor," Neville said. He looked older than his seventeen years. The baby fat that had clung jealously to his cheeks had vanished. Gladiolus tried to not be surprised by the old, weathered cast to his face. "I wish I could have invited you before everything that's happened these past couple years."
"It would have been nice," Gladiolus confessed. "Though I am afraid I have come on business."
Neville frowned. "Business?"
"Yes. You happen to be one of a select few who are Force-sensitive."
"The Force is your power, yes?"
Gladiolus pursed her lips. She had learned that the name had slipped into the public consciousness, though she was uncertain who the leak was. She would find that person soon and learn how they found out.
"It is. I have come to offer you an apprenticeship."
"So you think I can learn your strange powers," Neville said slowly as if she might think him a fool. "I'm surprised you would offer me the chance to learn them after what happened with my gran."
"I would be amiss as a ruler to allow any with the potential to wield power as I to languish in their futility." She set a hand on his desk. His eyes dipped to her hand before jumping to meet her sulfuric gaze straight on. "While you are not my first choice for an apprentice, I believe those with potential should be permitted an opportunity to seize hope and power for themselves. One does not control their fate without them, after all."
Neville frowned. "Hope and power? I thought you had forgotten that first one, Gladiolus. Everyone knows you're obsessed with the latter."
She clicked her tongue. It had been a small slip. One meant not for a potential apprentice, but for speeches given to the masses. Even Fudge bought into her messages about hope. But not Amelia Bones. She was too perceptive to be fooled and too wise to become a liability.
"I have not forgotten the power of hope. I know all too well its power—in fact, it is a power of its own."
"You almost sounded like Dumbledore there," Neville remarked with a faint smile.
"…I had not realized you learned how to joke, Neville." Gladiolus leaned back in the seat she occupied. "Still, it was hope that first led me to the way of the Sith Lords. From there, I learned to embrace the power they offered. It helped that they promised what I desired above all else. The thing Dumbledore oh so conveniently kept from me: freedom."
Gladiolus spoke that word with a longing that almost made her feel like the foolish, dead girl she once was. But almosts were almosts—not reality.
"Would this power offer me freedom as well?" he asked almost jokingly. Her eyebrows twitched, nearly drawing into a disproving scowl. "I cannot say you are free, old friend. You're yoked to Ministry and all the mechanisms within that have restrained the Minister and the old Wizengamot for centuries."
"Freedom and power are linked by the ways of the Sith. 'Through power, I gain victory.' That victory, in my case, came in the form of the destruction of my enemies. Without them controlling my destiny, I have become free to decide it as I wish." Gladiolus leaned forward, one hand on the desk while the elbow of her other arm provided a convenient perch for her chin. "The freedom I offer is that of power—the power to ascend over the trivialities that bind the common man to their mundane troubles, Neville. Think. You could reshape the course of this nation's destiny with me. You only need to reach out and seize this opportunity."
Neville's gaze fell to his hands, hidden from her view. Gladiolus suspected his knuckles were red, edged with white. Doubt filled him like wine in a chalice, threatening to spill over if too much filled him. And while she was tempted to fill him with more doubt, it could ruin her attempt to lure him into her service as an apprentice. He might fully reject her. He could even follow the misguided path his gran chose.
But if it worked, then he could match or even surpass the other two. One apprentice had begun to study the Sith Code, though it would be some time before she was entrusted with a holocron. Davis was not ready for that yet. Lovegood had yet to agree or reject the offer, but already Gladiolus knew which way the odd girl would eventually go. Soon enough, she too would begin her training as a Sith.
The last piece of her delicate puzzle rested with Neville Longbottom. She had found several others, all Force-sensitive and granted the same task as Davis. But none possessed the same potential as the three she had personally visited. These three were worthy of her attention. They were the ones who had the potential to be worthy of her title and power.
"I wish you had come to me before that rebellion," Neville suddenly admitted. "I would have had reservations even then. But now? After what you did to my gran?"
"You know why I punished her so. She played a vital role in that rebellion, leading the seizure of the Floo Control Office as she did."
Neville sighed. "I understand, but…"
"I have also spoken to Luna Lovegood," Gladiolus continued. "She has not confirmed that she shall become an apprentice of mine, but I have no cause to doubt her inevitable agreement."
"How can you be so certain?"
Gladiolus grinned widely, for Neville's feelings made clear to her that he did not doubt her claim. He only wondered where her certainty came from and how she could so easily declare one opposed to her ways would become her student.
"The Force grants me the power to peer through the haze of the future and discover that which may come to pass, and that which will come to pass."
"Sounds like prophecy."
She scoffed. "Prophecy is all poetry and guesswork. One can hear a prophecy foretelling their destruction and act in a manner that guarantees that which they fear will come to pass. My powers in the Force allow me to know what may happen, and thus allow me to act in accordance with what I desire."
"…you sound mad, Gladiolus."
"I would suggest you grow accustomed to calling me 'master', Neville."
He scowled. "I won't call you master. But I am willing to call you friend once more."
"What about 'my lord'?"
"That sounds like Voldemort speaking, not the ghost of Edelweiss Potter."
Gladiolus came up short. Impulse demanded she punish him for the verbal slight. But if she was to guarantee Neville became one of her Sith apprentices, she needed to retain enough goodwill between them to head off any willfulness against the Sith way. The young man she had trained at Hogwarts possessed a strong sense of justice and a fierce loyalty that, were it not for his latent courage, would have made him more appropriate for Hufflepuff than Gryffindor. And if she was going to tempt a man of his caliber to the dark side, then she needed to work carefully as she guided Neville around to her perspective. Tracey's loyalty would secure her, and Luna's peculiarity could be twisted into a Sith's perspective.
Only Neville would prove troublesome, she believed. Removed from their parents, Davis and Lovegood were putty in her hands.
"That's a daring accusation."
"To the uninitiated, that's how it appears."
Her jaw shifted from side to side as she considered Neville's words. Annoyingly, she found little fault in his words. Yes, Gladiolus did not think herself the same as Voldemort. But they had both claimed the title of 'Dark Lord'. Her title merely came from a different practice. A different tradition.
"I guess I can see how you'd come to that faulty conclusion." She rose to her feet. "I would suggest you think over my offer. Know that it will not last forever. My patience has its limits. And this offer may be all that preserves your life and liberty… old friend."
Neville stared at her consideringly for several long seconds. "I'll think the offer over," he eventually said. "It… It was almost nice speaking with you again, old friend."
Gladiolus left with harsh, hurried steps, chased out by the haunting ghost of the brittle friendship between the boy Neville Longbottom once was and the girl she had been.