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1''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/489127/chapters/853398 Empire]]'' by [[http://archiveofourown.org/users/ImmortalBeloved/pseuds/ImmortalBeloved ImmortalBeloved]] is a [[CrackFic cracky]] ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' [[AlternateUniverseFic AU]] FanFiction 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.
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4!!''Empire'' provides examples of:
5* AbusiveParents: "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'' ListOfTransgressions against them.
6* AlternateUniverseFic
7* AuthorityInNameOnly: Representatives of the IWEAC ('''I'''nternational '''W'''izarding '''E'''ducational '''A'''ccreditation '''C'''ouncil) inspecting Hogwarts note a lot of problems with it - it's horribly understaffed; the House system is horribly outdated and used as an excuse to form rivalries and grudges against students of different Houses; Snape's canon behavior towards his students makes him unsuitable for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)...
8* BigBad: Dumbledore.
9* BigNo: Dumbledore, after being given a bag [[spoiler: of "Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans But Lemon Drop."]]
10* BlueBlood: The Malfoys, obviously.
11** Sirius' family, the Blacks also count; they see themselves as true nobility and refuse to bow to anyone save the Emperors themselves, and [[TheUnfavorite hate Sirius for rebelling against them]]. [[spoiler:But they were also proud of him for doing so, because his act of rebellion reflected their family motto - they bow to no one.]]
12* TheCaligula: Lucius relates that Voldemort [[SanitySlippage kind of lost it at the end]]--that he'd become crazy and paranoid and [[ThoroughlyMistakenIdentity he'd frequently mistake Lucius for his father,]] [[AccidentalMisnaming Abraxas.]]
13* ChekhovsGift: The Potters bequeath to Lucius Malfoy a mysterious [[PowerGlows glowing]] box that will probably be important later.
14* TheChessmaster: Dumbledore, Snape, Lucius.
15* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: To Dumbledore, James and Lily bequeath a bag [[spoiler: of "Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans But Lemon Drop."]]
16* CrackFic
17* TheDon: Lucius Malfoy.
18* EscalatingWar: 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 [[VitriolicBestBuds 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 [[AttackBackfire but since he seemed to enjoy it too much]] Severus decided to trample on Lucius's overinflated ego by turning him into a troll.
19* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even Lucius Malfoy is disgusted by child abusers, likely because he has a son of his own that he loves dearly.
20* EvilGloating: Dumbledore engages in this, allowing Snape to learn his plans directly.
21* ForWantOfANail: Harry is in Hufflepuff, his abuse at the hands of the Dursleys comes to light, and Snape is his staunchest ally.
22* GroinAttack: 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.
23* HeroicLineage: [[spoiler:Harry is implied to be the descendant of King Arthur himself.]]
24* IDidWhatIHadToDo: 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.
25* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Sirius gets a nice set of dragonhide leather robes and gets Harry a matching outfit.
26* INeedAFreakingDrink: Snape gives himself a few shots after directly learning of Dumbledore's plans during an EvilGloating moment. He does it again when [[spoiler:Dumbledore gives him an order to kill Sirius so he can get his hands on Harry.]]
27* InsultBackfire: [[spoiler: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.]]
28* ItsAllAboutMe: 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.
29* KingIncognito: [[spoiler:Harry is a descendant of the missing Emperor and of royal blood, evidenced by a laurel-shaped birthmark on one of his hips.]]
30* KnightTemplar: Dumbledore believes he's helping the wizarding world, [[TheNeedsOfTheMany at the expense of Harry]].
31* LaserGuidedAmnesia: 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. [[spoiler:Except Snape pulls a MemoryGambit by ensuring the restoration of their erased memories via a TriggerPhrase.]]
32* ListOfTransgressions: Mentioned at the Dursley family's arrest:
33-->'''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.
34* LiteralMinded: 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.).
35* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Harry is purposely kept from learning certain things [[spoiler: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.
36* LongList: Harry begins making a list of things that are wrong with the world he hopes to fix.
37* LostWillAndTestament: 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.
38* LotusPosition: Snape breaks out some yoga mats to help Harry learn Occlumency.
39* MagneticHero: Harry.
40* MaleRestroomEtiquette: To Lucius's annoyance, one of his spies meets with him in the men's room.
41* ManIFeelLikeAWoman: According to Sirius and Remus, Snape [[GenderBender 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.
42* ManipulativeBastard: Dumbledore. [[spoiler:He engineered the prophecy that got Harry's parents killed, switched their secret keepers, and wrongfully framed Sirius. Then he [[LostWillAndTestament 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.]]
43* MeaningfulName:
44** The Malfoy family name, meaning “bad faith” which as it turns out is an IronicName.
45** The Italian wizard Della di Firo has a fierce temper.
46* MeaningfulRename: [[spoiler:The Malfoys were originally named "Bonavere", and were the Emperor's closest allies. But they were renamed "Malifide" by rebels executing TheCoup 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 InsultBackfire and an IronicName, as the Malfoys treated their renaming as a sign of their true loyalties.]]
47* MemoryGambit: 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 TriggerPhrase is uttered.
48* MercyKill: 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.
49* MiseryBuildsCharacter: 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.
50* MyMasterRightOrWrong: 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. [[spoiler: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.]]
51** [[spoiler: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.]]
52* MotiveRant: Snape learns that Sirius Black is innocent when Dumbledore is gloating about how he had him framed.
53* NobleDemon: 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.
54* PapaWolf:
55** Sirius and Remus made it their oath to always protect Harry that anything and/or that will harm him. Including Dumbledore.
56** [[spoiler: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.]]
57* ThePowerOfFriendship: Hufflepuff!Harry gains this advantage.
58* PragmaticVillainy: 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.
59* RoyalInbreeding: 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.
60* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: 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.
61* SinsOfOurFathers: 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.
62* SissyVillain: Draco faints when he discovers he has a pimple.
63* TheSpymaster: Lucius has his own spymaster. "([[LampshadeHanging Yes,]] he was that damn cool.)"
64* TheStarscream: [[spoiler: 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.]]
65* SustainedMisunderstanding: 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.
66* SwordCane: Lucius' snake cane hides a very sharp blade within.
67* TrueCompanions: All the Hufflepuffs are this.
68* UnderestimatingBadassery: The Sorting Hat puts Harry in Hufflepuff so that he can have the advantage of everyone underestimating him.
69* TheUnfavorite: The Blacks hated and resented Sirius for turning his back on them and everything they stood for, thus bringing shame upon his family. [[spoiler: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).]]
70* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Voldemort to Dumbledore. The reason why Voldemort became so violent as was in canon, was because Dumbledore magically drove him to insanity.]]
71* VillainousFriendship: Snape and Lucius's relationship is a Type I, though they are also VitriolicBestBuds.
72* VitriolicBestBuds: Lucius and Snape. While they are best friends, their [[EscalatingWar prank war]] in their school days dwarfed that of the Marauders and Snape's. And as adults, the vitriol never seemed to go away.
73* WellDoneSonGuy: After getting out of Azkaban, Sirius reconciles with his mother.
74* YouCantFightFate: 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.

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