Empire
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Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! If you've read the previous version of Empire, you'd have seen my re-posting announcement on the story a few days ago. If you're new to this story and have just stumbled in, welcome!
I have been working on and developing this story for nearly a year and wrote a chunk of it for Nanowrimo 2022 (which I won, by the way, for the first time ever!), so this is sort of my baby. I am determined to finish this, no matter how long it takes!
That said, I'd like to direct you all to the tags. Please look through them carefully as they serve as trigger warnings. I will be adding more as the story progresses and will be informing you all beforehand of new warnings. Just know that this story is rated Mature for a reason and this is probably not a story for the faint of heart.
Oh and one more thing! This story was previously tagged as an eventual Harmony but it's really Hermione-centric, so I didn't put in any pairings just yet because they're all still kids here. While I do plan to include romance down the line (and it's really further down the line), it's not the primary focus.
So without further ado, I bid you enjoy!
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BOOK ONE
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Prologue
An Excerpt from the True History of Modern Magic, Chapter 1
By Bathilda Bagshot
The Rise of the Great Empire
In the beginning, the world lived in harmony. Nature existed as it was and Magic was Nature itself. It was a time of peace and prosperity, when man and wizard lived freely alongside each other without reservation. Over time, however, muggles, those without the gift of magic, began to fear and persecute the very sorcerers they once sought. They condemned the existence of magic itself. As a result, magicalkind withdrew into the shadows.
For centuries, wizarding nations across the world lived in secrecy. Hidden and unseen, the wizarding world isolated itelf from all things mundane. Each world became independent and separate from one another. In time, muggles began to forget about magicalfolk and dismissed the very existence of magic altogether.
That had all changed the day Grindelwald won the war.
One fateful day in the year 1945, Gellert Grindelwald emerged victorious from a battle with Albus Dumbledore in a ferocious clash for supremacy the likes of which no one had ever seen before or since. Ultimately, Grindelwald's triumph over the great wizard heralded a new era that shook the world, both wizarding and mundane alike, to its very core. With the fall of his greatest opposition, the only wizard who could have ever brought the Great Warlock to his knees, Grindelwald crushed what remained of those who resisted his rule. He conquered over many wizarding nations with expert precision, each one falling like helpless chess pieces one after the other.
In the wake of his war for dominance, Grindelwald became both revered and reviled by many. He arose from the rubble a conqueror. And like many great conquerors, he set his sights upon what was beyond the magical horizon, towards the very world magicalkind had been forced to hide from. The Fall of the Mundane World had been Grindelwald's primary objective. It's subjugation was swift and brutal. With both magicalfolks and muggles lying prostrate at his feet, a New World Order took shape from the debris of blood and violence, Grindelwald standing supreme over them all. From the ashes of two separate worlds, the Great Empire was founded.
Built upon Grindelwald's vision of an elite wizarding society, the worlds of mundane and magic became one once again. But this time, it was the magicalfolk who stood superior over those without the grace of magic, no longer the victims of persecution, but now the persecutors.
Under the Great Warlock's reign, muggles were quick to learn that their place in Grindelwald's empire, a position far below anything magical. Indeed, they were deemed even lower than house-elves, whose willing servitude to wizards and witches nourished their magic.
In Grindelwald's Great Empire, the magicalfolk ruled.
And rule they did.
The Empire became a society that dedicated itself to the betterment of all magicalkind. All its endeavours, present and future, was done For the Good of the Great Empire, magic's ultimate utopia.
According to the Great Emperor, it was Magic's Golden Age.
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An Excerpt from the Lost History of Modern Magic, Chapter 7
By Bathilda Bagshot
The Freelands
Though Grindelwald conquered many great nations, his domain extending further than that of even the Ancient Roman Empire, there were others who opposed his rule – muggles and magicalfolk who had escaped his absolute rule. They called themselves the Freemen.
The Freemen lived in small secret settlements, hidden and out of sight within the Emperor's territory – the Freelands. To protect themselves from the Empire, Muggle Freemen cloistered themselves within magically concealed territories with the help of their magical sympathisers. Similarly, Magical Freemen ensconced themselves within protective barriers using the most ancient magic. To attempt to penetrate these fierce barriers was to incinerate oneself on the spot.
As such, the Muggle and Magical Freemen lived in harmony yet separate. United yet apart. Neither one could enter the other's walls. The cost of one small betrayal was too great. Muggles had their weapons and wizards had their magic. Both were dangerous in their own right.
There was, after all, a reason why both worlds had been separated for centuries.