Fanfic / Empire

Empire by ImmortalBeloved is a cracky Harry Potter AU Fan Fiction in which Harry sees from the beginning that something is not quite right about the world around him and decides to do something about it. Unlikely allies, and unexpected inheritances abound. Please note that this is incomplete and has not been updated since 2017.

---

Empire provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: "Relatives" in the case of the Dursleys, just like in canon. Despite knowing their treatment of Harry, Dumbledore still made Harry live with them and obliviates anyone who discovers the abuse, not wanting his plans for Harry to be ruined. They're eventually arrested by Aurors led by Kingsley Shacklebolt, with a long List of Transgressions against them.
• Alternate Universe Fic
• Authority in Name Only: Representatives of the IWEAC (International Wizarding Educational Accreditation Council) inspecting Hogwarts note a lot of problems with it - it's horribly understaffed; the House system is horribly outdated and used as an excuse to form rivalries and grudges against students of different Houses; Snape's canon behavior towards his students makes him unsuitable for teaching (even though most of it is part of a facade)...
• Big Bad: Dumbledore.
• Big "NO!": Dumbledore, after being given a bag of "Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans But Lemon Drop."
• Blue Blood: The Malfoys, obviously.
  • Sirius' family, the Blacks also count; they see themselves as true nobility and refuse to bow to anyone save the Emperors themselves, and hate Sirius for rebelling against them. But they were also proud of him for doing so, because his act of rebellion reflected their family motto - they bow to no one.
• The Caligula: Lucius relates that Voldemort kind of lost it at the end—that he'd become crazy and paranoid and he'd frequently mistake Lucius for his father, Abraxas.
• Chekhov's Gift: The Potters bequeath to Lucius Malfoy a mysterious glowing box that will probably be important later.
• The Chessmaster: Dumbledore, Snape, Lucius.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: To Dumbledore, James and Lily bequeath a bag of "Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans But Lemon Drop."
• Crack Fic
• The Don: Lucius Malfoy.
• Escalating War: Sirius and Remus tell Harry tales of the Marauder days and that their rivalry with Severus was nothing compared to the prank war that ensued between Severus and his best friend Lucius—at one point Lucius dosed Severus with a love potion so he was serenading the giant squid for about a week. Severus later retaliated by turning Lucius into a girl but since he seemed to enjoy it too much Severus decided to trample on Lucius's overinflated ego by turning him into a troll.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even Lucius Malfoy is disgusted by child abusers, likely because he has a son of his own that he loves dearly.
• Evil Gloating: Dumbledore engages in this, allowing Snape to learn his plans directly.
• For Want Of A Nail: Harry is in Hufflepuff, his abuse at the hands of the Dursleys comes to light, and Snape is his staunchest ally.
• Groin Attack: The appropriate greeting when meeting a harpy is to leap around on one leg so that they'll laugh and forget to castrate the male wizard greeting them.
• Heroic Lineage: Harry is implied to be the descendant of King Arthur himself.
• I Did What I Had to Do: How Dumbledore tries to justify his actions in Chapter 16. The people he tells this to almost believe him... if not for Lucius, who sees through his mask and busts Dumbledore wide open.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: Sirius gets a nice set of dragonhide leather robes and gets Harry a matching outfit.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Snape gives himself a few shots after directly learning of Dumbledore's plans during an Evil Gloating moment. He does it again when Dumbledore gives him an order to kill Sirius so he can get his hands on Harry.
• Insult Backfire: The Bonavere family was renamed "Malifide" (later Malfoy) by the rebels for not helping their coup against the Emperor, staining their reputation of trustworthiness. The Bonavere family instead took their renaming as a badge of honor, a sign that they were truly loyal to the Emperor.
• It's All About Me: Snape believes Dumbledore wants to turn Harry into his pawn out of fear the boy's future political fame and power will dwarf his own reputation of being the defeater of Grindelwald.
• King Incognito: Harry is a descendant of the missing Emperor and of royal blood, evidenced by a laurel-shaped birthmark on one of his hips.
• Knight Templar: Dumbledore believes he's helping the wizarding world, at the expense of Harry.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Dumbledore keeps people obilviated whenever someone finds out about Harry's abuse so they won't intervene with his plans of using Harry as a controllable weapon against Voldemort. When Harry's Hufflepuff classmates, Sprout, Pomfrey, and the Aurors are alerted to Harry's abuse, Dumbledore has Snape obliviate the adults while he does the rest. Except Snape pulls a Memory Gambit by ensuring the restoration of their erased memories via a Trigger Phrase.
• List of Transgressions: Mentioned at the Dursley family's arrest:
  Kingsley Shacklebolt: These are Harry Potter's Muggle relatives. I am bringing them in on three thousand six hundred and fifty counts of child abuse—one for every day that poor boy had to spend in their house.
• Literal-Minded: Harry assumes that the names of his Hogwarts classes (Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, etc.) teach exactly what their names mean, but in Muggle terms (how to flirt with people, changing genders, etc.).
• Locked Out of the Loop: Harry is purposely kept from learning certain things such as the fact that he's royalty and a descendant of the missing Emperor so he won't end up going evil. Unfortunately, Harry is smarter than he looks and quickly catches on to the deceptions.
• Long List: Harry begins making a list of things that are wrong with the world he hopes to fix.
• Lost Will and Testament: Dumbledore hid the Potters' will among some ancient documents on the Goblin Rebellions. It backfires; once the Goblins find out, they confiscate Dumbledore's Gringotts bank account and leave him almost destitute.
• Lotus Position: Snape breaks out some yoga mats to help Harry learn Occlumency.
• Magnetic Hero: Harry.
• Male Restroom Etiquette: To Lucius's annoyance, one of his spies meets with him in the men's room.
• Man, I Feel Like a Woman: According to Sirius and Remus, Snape turned Lucius into a girl as payback for being dosed with a love potion, but then Lucius started liking the change. Snape instead decided to turn him into a troll.
• Manipulative Bastard: Dumbledore. He engineered the prophecy that got Harry's parents killed, switched their secret keepers, and wrongfully framed Sirius. Then he hid the Potters' will among some ancient documents on the Goblin Rebellions. All that just to take control and mold Harry into his willing pawn. Anyone who got wise to Dumbledore's plans are obliviated of their memories.
• Meaningful Name:
  • The Malfoy family name, meaning “bad faith” which as it turns out is an Ironic Name.
  • The Italian wizard Della di Firo has a fierce temper.
• Meaningful Rename: The Malfoys were originally named "Bonavere", and were the Emperor's closest allies. But they were renamed "Malifide" by rebels executing The Coup against the Emperor, seeing them as untrustworthy enemies for refusing to reveal the Emperor's location or give up his treasures they hid. It became both an Insult Backfire and an Ironic Name, as the Malfoys treated their renaming as a sign of their true loyalties.
• Memory Gambit: Snape obliviated everyone who learned of Harry's abuse on Dumbledore's orders but added an additional enchantment so that those obliviated will regain those memories if a Trigger Phrase is uttered.
• Mercy Kill: Lucius believes the night of the Potters' deaths was this for Voldemort - he had been so deep in insanity by that point, that his would-be victim Harry "gave him a mercy" by rebounding his own Killing Curse onto him.
• Misery Builds Character: Snape muses in Chapter 8 that his life would've gone better if certain things hadn't happened, before realizing if he hadn't experienced so much tragedy and pain, he wouldn't become who he is now.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: The Malfoy family's code of honor. Their family magic determines which "Lord" to serve; any oaths made contrary to whom their magic picks will be immediately dissolved. This includes marriage bonds. As it turns out, Lucius' true "Lord" is Harry Potter, who is a descendant of the Emperor Lucius' family once served. His family magic erased the oath he made with Voldemort.
  • In Chapter 11, the Malfoy family, then named "Bonavere", was one of the Emperor's closest allies. When a coup was made against him, many Bonaveres died protecting the Emperor, and the survivors refused to give the rebels information about his location or his treasures. This caused the Bonaveres to be seen as an untrustworthy family and renamed "Malifide", but they instead saw their renaming as a badge of honor and a sign of their true loyalties.
• Motive Rant: Snape learns that Sirius Black is innocent when Dumbledore is gloating about how he had him framed.
• Noble Demon: Lucius Malfoy. He may be a Death Eater and a power-hungry noble and politician, but he hates child abusers, and has been taking steps to get rid of Dumbledore's machinations.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Sirius and Remus made it their oath to always protect Harry that anything and/or that will harm him. Including Dumbledore.
  • When Lucius discovers that Hogwarts' wards were very subpar due to Dumbledore's negligence, he is enraged, knowing his son Draco is a student there.
• The Power of Friendship: Hufflepuff!Harry gains this advantage.
• Pragmatic Villainy: When Lucius learns that Snape used his reputation to help the Boy-Who-Lived, he gives his actual support because it’s a politically smart move.
• Royal Inbreeding: The Blacks engaged in this for generations, like in canon, to keep their line "pure". As a result, later generations, such as Sirius, are born infertile.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Once Sirius gets out of Azkaban, he's not sure where to go from there with his life, but he knows he wants to get vengeance on those that wronged him.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Averted. Snape quickly realizes early on that Harry is not his father, who bullied and tormented Snape in their school days, and becomes Harry's ally. He only keeps up a facade towards him in public so Dumbledore wouldn't get suspicious.
• Sissy Villain: Draco faints when he discovers he has a pimple.
• The Spymaster: Lucius has his own spymaster. "(Yes, he was that damn cool.)"
• The Starscream: Snape to Dumbledore. After meeting Harry and realizing/learning a large number of things involving Harry that have been very wrong, he set about to covertly aiding Harry, and stopping Dumbledore's plans.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: Since no one bothers to explain to Harry what his classes are Harry assumes that Transfiguration is about transgenders and Defense Against the Dark Arts is an art class.
• Sword Cane: Lucius' snake cane hides a very sharp blade within.
• True Companions: All the Hufflepuffs are this.
• Underestimating Badassery: The Sorting Hat puts Harry in Hufflepuff so that he can have the advantage of everyone underestimating him.
• The Unfavorite: The Blacks hated and resented Sirius for turning his back on them and everything they stood for, thus bringing shame upon his family. But they were also proud of Sirius for standing up for himself because it followed the family motto - they bow to no one. The true Unfavorite would be Sirius' brother, Regulus, who was censured for following a person lesser than the Emperor (Voldemort).
• Unwitting Pawn: Voldemort to Dumbledore. The reason why Voldemort became so violent as was in canon, was because Dumbledore magically drove him to insanity.
• Villainous Friendship: Snape and Lucius's relationship is a Type I, though they are also Vitriolic Best Buds.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Lucius and Snape. While they are best friends, their prank war in their school days dwarfed that of the Marauders and Snape's. And as adults, the vitriol never seemed to go away.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: After getting out of Azkaban, Sirius reconciles with his mother.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Discussed in the very first chapter. The Sorting Hat tells Harry that he has many paths in life to choose from, but there are people who wish to limit his choices (likely referring to Dumbledore). It then places Harry in Hufflepuff, believing his greatest potential will be in there.

---