The Three Fates of Darth Gladiolus

Edelweiss departed Lord Salazar's office after a few minutes to speak with both the Sith Lord and Lady Bastila, who had teasingly called her "apprentice". Each had expectations of her. For Lord Salazar, she was required to grow strong and wise in the dark side. There would be no time to return to Ziost Hangar before the end of the term, so they would put off their meeting until September. As for Lady Bastila, there was some discussion about when they would have their first lesson. They had agreed upon once Edelweiss was back with the Dursleys. She did not like that plan, but it was safer secrecy-wise than activating the holocron within Hogwarts's ever-watching walls.

She returned to the Chamber the way she had come, crossing thresholds of metal and stone alike. Lady Bastila's holocron sat heavy in her pocket, the pyramidal structure awkward where it sat. Edelweiss allowed her hand to slip into her pocket and caress the crystal and metal structure. It sang to her, oddly alive thanks to the power they called the Force. Or perhaps what she felt was the dark side, for they sounded to be related, yet distinct.

A feral grin slid onto her face. Edelweiss felt glee when she thought of the lessons before her. If what she sensed from that crystal and the holocrons was a hint of what the Force and the dark side promised, then she would be more powerful than any who walked Britain since Merlin and Morgane.

I shall overcome Voldemort with this power. And perhaps Dumbledore, too.

Edelweiss decided it was about time to return to Gryffindor Tower before she would need to make an appearance in the Great Hall for dinner. She wished that she could go and commune with Lady Bastila once more, to pose questions about what it meant to be a Sith Lord, but they had reached an agreement. More so, the holocron now in her possession and her newfound Force powers had to be kept secret. None could know of what she had discovered. Not the Weasleys, whom she cared about like family. Not Hermione, about as close to a sister as he might ever have.

She could not even tell her godfather, Sirius Black.

And definitely not Dumbledore, Edelweiss thought with bitter frustration. Rancid anger, restless and years old, bubbled in her veins whenever she thought of the Headmaster. Despite what the public might think and others within Hogwarts might claim, Edelweiss held no love for Albus Dumbledore. And it was for a single reason: It was only because of his insistence did she continue to return to the Dursley household where she was unwanted.

But before she went, she gazed upon the crimson crystal again. It glowered fiercely the longer she stared at it. Edelweiss closed her eyes and reached out with the Force. She wondered what she would feel now that she understood her new power a little better. Wrath and fury washed over her at first. But the longer Edelweiss held her grasp on the crystal through the Force, the more she was able to parse apart and understand each emotion, each fragment of passion, she felt.

So this is the power that shall be mine, she thought with a grin. This… This is the power of the dark side of the Force. The power of a Sith Lord. The power which shall remake me in its image.

A sudden, daring idea sprung to mind. Edelweiss approached the crystal. She scaled the stone pyramid it was set in. Her hand drew close to the crystal. It thrummed with burning power. Her heartbeat beat hard, seeking to match the crystal's thrumming. Edelweiss felt as though she were in sync with this power before her. Just as the Force had drawn her to Lord Salazar's final secret and the holocrons he brought from worlds beyond, it now drew her to this crystal.

Yet when she reached out to pluck the crystal from its stone mount, Edelweiss hesitated. A feeling of wrongness filled her. She swore that now was not the right time to claim this crystal. The Force was telling her so Edelweiss withdrew, more and more certain of her decision. A sense of rightness fell over her.

The crystal was not hers to claim on this day. One day, that would change. On that fateful future day, the crystal would beckon to her and she would claim it for some great purpose.

Until then, Edelweiss would leave the crystal be. Lady Bastila's holocron was her great prize for discovering Lord Salazar's hidden legacy. She just had to be content with that.

Edelweiss returned to the castle above by the first route she discovered down to the Chamber of Secrets. She sealed the main chamber behind her before following the cavernous paths to the base of the slide down from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She hissed, commanding the slide to become stairs with her parselmouth ability. Once the stairs finished shifting into position, as slick as the slide, Edelweiss began up and up.

As she climbed, Edelweiss considered whether she should expend energy to improve this particular route between Hogwarts and the Chamber. Of the other routes down to the Chamber of Secrets, only this and two others brought her to the second floor or higher. Most, annoyingly, deposited her in the dungeons. It made sense since the Chamber had been Lord Salazar's, but could it not have pained him to make more entries higher in Hogwarts?

Perhaps one of the many descendants of Salazar Slytherin had reshaped the castle so. Edelweiss recalled Hermione once telling her that Hogwarts, A History included passages about the many, many refurbishments, restorations, and reconstructions imposed upon the castle throughout the centuries. The passages she used most have been caught up in one of them—or that one was used to fully mask the presence of Lord Salazar's secret chamber.

A glimmer of light shined down, alerting Edelweiss she was near the top. She paused to hiss, §"Open!"§ The large sink complex of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom groaned as it shifted open before her. Edelweiss smirked and finished her ascent. She emerged and stepped out into the cold, white bathroom. She drew her wand, waved it toward the sinks, and watched as the stairway was sealed behind her. Soon it would return to being a slide.

A familiar face, topped with bushy hair, stepped out of a nearby stall with crossed arms. Edelweiss sighed as Hermione Granger took three strides so she could stand between Edelweiss and the bathroom's exit, a mulish frown all but demanding answers about where she had been.

They stared at each other for several long seconds. Hermione eventually huffed and accused, "You've been going down into the Chamber."

"Yes, I have." Edelweiss resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. After a few seconds, she offered up, "I have been heading down there since our third year. You were too busy time-traveling to notice."

Edelweiss stepped forward so she could try and push her way past Hermione. Her friend decided to stride forward. They paused when there was about a foot between them. Hermione then placed an unwanted hand on Edelweiss's shoulder. "You don't need to isolate yourself from Ron and me, Edie. After what happened with Cedric—"

"I don't wish to talk about him!" Edelweiss hissed. The sudden flow of anger through her veins dragged up those strange Force powers at the edge of her awareness. She took a moment to breathe and cool her head before she continued. "I have woken from enough nightmares about his death to know I am in no mood to talk about what happened that night. I understand you want me to talk about it to you. But there are some things I will not burden you with, Hermione." She paused, drew in a deep breath, and released it slowly. "Let it be, Hermione. I have made my decision. Respect it."

Hermione huffed, her bushy hair almost wild. For a moment, Edelweiss thought the issue would be pressed further—to a breaking point from which they might never recover. But Hermione surprised her when she sighed and deflated.

Edelweiss only hoped that her friend would leave the matter alone. But that was unlikely. Very, very unlikely.

"This summer," Hermione suddenly said quite strongly and fiercely. "This summer we'll talk about what happened. And I will not give you a choice."

Edelweiss sighed and muttered, "…if you must insist so."

She did not intend to go through with what Hermione demanded, though. Edelweiss was perfectly content to keep her secrets. Especially as they began to pile up. The topic of Cedric Diggory and the recent events in the graveyard had become a sticking point between them. Hermione wanted her to open up. To discuss what happened that night. It did not help that over the past few nights, Edelweiss had woken screaming and sweating. She did not recall her dreams.

All she knew was that Hermione believed Edelweiss to be haunted by the death that occurred that night. The death she had been powerless to stop. A death that, had she followed her impulse in the moment, would have never come to pass.

And soon I will have power aplenty, Edelweiss thought, a hand brushing over the pocket holding Lady Bastila's holocron. Enough power to destroy Voldemort and prevent him from ever taking another life again. Maybe even enough…

She allowed that last thought to drift away into the back of her mind. Edelweiss brushed past Hermione and stepped out of the bathroom.

They headed to Gryffindor Tower, one before the other. Only a few feet separated them, yet it could have been the whole of Hogwarts. Edelweiss could feel Hermione's gaze on the back of her neck, somehow peering through her long thick hair. They went to the nearest entrance into Staircase Hall. Dozens of shifting stairs swiveled and swung about the massive chamber, guiding students from landings from the ground floor up to the seventh floor. Nearly all of the castle, including the Great Hall and the dungeons complex, could be accessed through the many, many landings throughout the hall. Edelweiss had learned the hard way that the wrong swing would lead to one of many abandoned sections of the castle, where ambient magic played havoc on the materials left behind.

Edelweiss gave the Fat Lady, guardian portrait of the Gryffindor common room and dormitories, the password and stormed through the threshold. She passed across the common room, a sea of reds and plush chairs, and started up the left-hand stairs to her dormitory. Her jaw set as she realized Hermione could follow her up to the dormitory, and there trouble her further.

She reached out with her feelings and grasped awkwardly to the power of the Force. As if summoned by want, a girl in the year above them came down the stairs. The girl glanced at Edelweiss as they came into each other's sight. A discomforted frown marred her fine face.

I wonder… I know magic can compel someone, but can the Force?

She met the older girl's gaze. She had a feeling she should be careful, but her anger drove her to act. To create space. With tremendous focus, Edelweiss slammed what she wanted through her eyes and into the other girl. The suggestion appeared to take hold, for the girl's eyes went glassy. A moment passed as she stood on two steps before mumbling, "I should speak with Granger about her OWLs."

It was only when Edelweiss reached her dormitory, thankfully empty, that she realized her cheeks were aching from a sudden grim. She lowered a hand to Lady Bastila's holocron and grasped it. She fought back a sudden, powerful impulse to awaken the woman and boast of what she had done. After all, she had used the Force to influence another. She had twisted someone to her will.

She thought of Voldemort and shivered. Part of her wanted to reject Lady Bastila and Lord Salazar and the dark side, but its power proved too much for Edelweiss to so brazenly toss aside. She knew so little of the Force and the Sith that it would be foolish to surrender this opportunity.

A moment passed before Edelweiss made her choice. She went to her trunk, opened it, and put the holocron, that strange pyramid of crystal and metal and ancient knowledge, in a spot where she could easily retrieve it before she reached the Dursleys.

Edelweiss would speak with her new master—teacher—when the time came.

The Leaving Feast was held the day before their morning departure for London. The student body of Hogwarts was gathered at their four long tables, sat silently with the remaining visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang among the Ravenclaws and Slytherins they had been sitting with since their arrival. A thousand candles hung in the air above the tables, unlit this eve.

Edelweiss gazed over the crowd, her eyes skimming over the obvious gap left at the Hufflepuff table. Her gut twisted, wishing once against that she had stunned Cedric Diggory instead of allowing her foolish, Gryffindor sense of fairness to distract from her gut instinct. She tried to suppress any thought of what could have come to pass, had she found those holocrons earlier. But they came through regardless. She could have prevented Cedric's death. She could have stopped Wormtail. She could have prevented Voldemort's return.

But none of that had happened. Cedric was dead, and her immortal foe had returned.

Her gaze drifted past the candles to the pitch-black banners hung from the rafters, stretching down from the magical sky like birds of prey above carrion. They set a mood that slunk into Edelweiss's bones, all the way down to the marrow. She more played with her food that ate, and that which she ate tasted ashen or tasteless. The richness she had always associated with the feasts at Hogwarts was gone. She glared at the golden plates as if they offended her.

All around her were reminders of her failure. Cedric Diggory was dead because of her failure. The mood of mourning was her fault. She had been too weak to fight back the specter of death.

But that would soon change.

When September arrived, Edelweiss would be more powerful. She swore so on her blood and the magic channeled there. The holocron sitting in her trunk, nestled among her clothes and books, would ensure her ascendancy. She already had a faint grasp on how to manipulate the Force: how it allowed her to move heavy objects with only her will and deceive those she wished. It was a magnificent power, perfect for augmenting her magical knowledge. As the feast stretched on, she allowed her thoughts to dwell not on the mood around her, but on the powers she would develop. Lady Bastila waited with new knowledge. And that would guide Edelweiss to new heights of power and understanding.

The more she considered the Force and its potential, the more Edelweiss came to suspect it could be something greater than magic. It had been brought to this world from another. Thanks to all she learned beneath the Chamber of Secrets, Salazar Slytherin had not been born on Earth. He had come from another planet. A distant world invisible to the naked eye. And yet he had found a reason to land in Britain. Perhaps it was fate… or perhaps it was the Force. She already desired and coveted her future lessons with Lady Bastila.

Thinking of Lord Salazar reminded Edelweiss of the strange black ship she found in Ziost Hangar. It did not have the appearance of a muggle craft, designed for flight in atmosphere. It had to be the ship that ferried Lord Salazar across the cold expanse of space. Yet it did not look like a spaceship, all black and sleek and deadly.

Movement at the Head Table caught her gaze. Dumbledore had risen from his tall golden throne. It was hard to not sneer at the ostentatious sight behind him, though she could not help but respect the implicit power his gaudy seat projected. Despite her feelings about the man, she could not deny her respect for how he twisted and bent power to his will. She hated him for sending her to the Dursleys year after year for the summer. Yet living there had saved her life—once. Now, however, she had no reason to believe the blood wards that supposedly saved her so long ago worked as they once had.

A shame he did not see it that way, but she doubted he had listened to her reason why she doubted their power.

Not like he had ever listened to her.

"Another year gone. Another year passed," the Headmaster began, his voice kept low despite how everyone stared at him. It was almost hypnotic, how he spoke. "Bonds of friendship were built, both here within Hogwarts and with our respected foreign guests. Later today, they will return to their homelands, hopefully with those bonds of friendship built strong enough to last across the distance that will separate us all soon. For every bond forged this year that lasts, the brighter the world—and our shared future—will be.

"However, there is one matter that I must speak about before we all part ways. On the night of the Third Task, we lost one of the best and brightest Hogwarts has known in many a year: Cedric Diggory. He was a friend and a prefect, a beloved member of this body, and a respected Quidditch player. He embodied every value of his House, Hufflepuff, and the values of the other three. He was courageous like a Gryffindor and wise as a Ravenclaw. He had his own brand of Slytherin cunning, channeled through the loyal and hard-working nature of Hufflepuff."

Dumbledore paused then, his gaze swiveling across the Great Hall. Those blue eyes lingered on Edelweiss for a moment. Fury bubbled in her got.

"On that night when we lost him, he was not killed by accident or tragedy. He was murdered by Lord Voldemort."

A huge gasp followed Dumbledore's proclamation. Air withdrew from the Great Hall. Edelweiss felt shock and fear emanate from nearly everyone following Dumbledore naming Voldemort publicly. She was pleasantly surprised by how their fear and shock seeped into her. She focused on the Force—and felt their fear and shock turn into power.

A grin came to her face. Edelweiss would tell Lady Bastila of this moment and all she gathered from it.

"Do not be mistaken: he has returned. Outside of these walls, voices scared and small alike will reject the truth. These voices are not malicious. They only believe that if they ignore the evil released upon our society, it will not exist. I, however, cannot in good faith send you home to your families without warning you of the coming danger. Some of you will be swayed by the arguments of his followers. But their words are false promises. Lord Voldemort cares not for the bloodline of his victims. He killed as many purebloods as he did muggleborns. For him, it is those who would not bow and scrape before him that are a threat. But only when they are separated from each other, for his enemies are always strongest together.

"Fear not! For as deep as the darkness may be, it will always be overcome by light. Family and love are things he cannot understand, and upon them the strength of Hogwarts is built. When you leave tomorrow morning, I know you will take them with you into the world outside these walls."

As the Great Hall was filled with awkward clapping, Edelweiss fumed in her seat. When she had been eleven, newly scarred by her second encounter with Voldemort, Dumbledore refused to tell her why her family had been targeted. It had been safe then to assume it was because they opposed him. Yet something in her bones told her it was a lie. That something deeper, more fundamental drove him that night. Even now, Dumbledore would not speak the truth. He could somehow speak honestly to the entire student body about Voldemort's nature and war. But he refused to tell her why that madman targeted her family to begin with.

But what could it be? wondered Edelweiss as she stabbed the remnants of her meal. What drove you, Voldemort? Desire for power? A fear of death? Pure madness?

The obvious way to reach an answer would be to question Voldemort, but she was not ready to face him again. Edelweiss had been disabused of any certainty she could stand up to him only too recently. Only once she was powerful enough to destroy him without question would she tear the truth from his mind.

And once that was done, she would ensure Voldemort could never return from death or destruction.

The train to London traveled swiftly as if it were aware enough to know those aboard sought separation from the dreadful events that concluded their most recent year at Hogwarts. Edelweiss gave those who came and went from the compartment she occupied courtesy, but little else. Her mind focused on the future when she would finally be able to extract Lady Bastila's holocron from where it awaited her.

Present around her were Ron and Hermione, as usual, along with Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, and Neville Longbottom. They shared the compartment in the most perfunctory manner possible. The four around her occupied seats and talked, but they were separate. Hermione tried repeatedly to involve Edelweiss in their conversations, yet when she listened in, she found herself incapable of following along or even caring about their childish conversations.

She wondered if her induction into the Sith Order—ignoring that she knew next to nothing of their ways—was what separated her from her friends. Even a week ago, she would have cared about their conversation. But all she cared for now was the holocron in her trunk and that which Lady Bastila would teach her.

About an hour out from King's Cross, the compartment door opened and the Weasley Twins entered. Edelweiss glanced at them before drowning out their droll conversation as they spoke with the rest. And then they turned their gazes to her, mischief shimmering in their eyes. She straightened and focused her attention on the present.

"And what has you troubled—" began one.

"—O Queen of Gryffindor, Exalted Champion?" the other concluded.

"I would rather remain at Hogwarts than return to London. You know how I am about the summer hols." Edelweiss glanced between them as she carefully reached out for the Force. She kept her hands where they were and tried to not strain as her new power came to her slowly. Yet she suspected that with the Force, she might one day know the difference between Fred and George. "Did Bagman cough up the gold?"

They glanced at each other pensively before the one on the left—Fred, she thought—admitted, "He ran."

"Debts with goblins he can't pay."

"Doubt we'll ever get our gold back."

Edelweiss stared at them for several seconds as she reached a decision. "I have gold I do not need," she said, rising to her feet. Edelweiss stepped up onto the bench, ignoring Hermione's outraged squawk, and dug into her trunk. Her hand passed over Lady Bastila's holocron three times before she found a bag of coins. Minister Fudge begrudgingly gave her a thousand galleons after the Third Task—her winnings. Her attempt to give half to Cedric's father had been denied, annoying her.

She tossed the bag at them, closed her trunk, and sat back down. "Consider this an investment, boys. Now get out."

They shared a final glance between themselves, before bowing their heads to her, and departed. Edelweiss tried to not preen at their respect. Ron and Ginny stared at her, gaping, while Hermione frowned.

"That was rather rude of you," Neville pointed out.

Edelweiss huffed and leaned back into her seat. "I'm only tired, Neville. No need to worry about me."

She then leaned back and closed her eyes, granting credence to her claim of being tired. She slowed her breathing and inched toward a meditative state. Her anger simmered and bubbled. Under normal meditative conditions, her emotions would slip away as she went deeper and deeper into that meditative state. Edelweiss went against her usual meditative pattern, instead focusing on all she felt when she discovered Ziost Hangar. She grasped her anger and held on to it, milking every trace of power the potent emotion possessed. She could feel her power rise. Sense how her anger supported and upheld the power of the Force she had accidentally discovered, down in the Chamber of Secrets.

When they reached London, Edelweiss said her farewells on the train, trunk in hand. She made certain to let the Weasleys know to give her best to Mrs. Weasley, no doubt somewhere on the platform. Hedwig, her trusted snowy owl, was somewhere in the wilds, commanded to remain away from her until Edelweiss required an owl. The cage had been left behind in her dormitory, for she deemed it unnecessary this summer. What was necessary was the holocron in her trunk. Thoughts of it filled her mind. She wished she could touch it, hold it, learn its secrets. But she had to wait until she returned to Privet Drive.

Edelweiss luckily snuck past Mrs. Weasley, who was busy pestering her children about where "that poor dearie" went. She passed through the barrier and returned to the muggle world. Nobody gave her a second glance as she dragged her luggage through the hordes churning through the muggle part of King's Cross. She eventually stepped out of the train station and found Uncle Vernon waiting for her.

He kept silent as she approached with trunk in tow. He just lumbered back to his oversized car. Edelweiss followed in his wake, slightly amused by the curious glances that drifted between her, petite and unusual, and Uncle Vernon, oversized yet common. Maybe they thought it bizarre that she was forced to lug the suitcase instead of the massive man taking it upon himself to assist her.

The drive out of London and back to Little Whinging was disturbingly quiet. Not even the radio was on. Edelweiss had noticed in the past that when Uncle Vernon picked her up, he made a point of listening to BBC reports about pedestrian, muggle things. Like politics or football or some foreign nonsense he used to rile himself up. Curiously, she found herself almost missing that version of Uncle Vernon. His anger made him predictable, and predictability had kept her safe in the past.

Eventually, they pulled up to Number Four, plain and bland as always. Uncle Vernon watched her carefully as she removed her trunk from the back seat. As they approached the front door, he grumbled, "Put that thing up in your room and then come back down. You're cooking dinner tonight. After that, you will clean the kitchen and dining room, girl."

Edelweiss suspected the Weasleys coming through the fireplace had spooked the Dursleys. It was clearly enough for them to allow her to retain her trunk, despite having been gone for eleven months. Whatever Arthur Weasley said had gotten through their thick, dense skulls. For once, she could work on her summer homework before escaping their wretched muggle hovel. She did as ordered, swallowing her pride and anger so that she would be safe while amongst milquetoast enemies.

One day, she would wield her anger and new powers against the Dursleys. Until then, she would grow in secret and embrace the lessons of Lady Bastila's holocron.