Author's Note: Well fanfiction. It's been quite a long time since we've been together as an author and host. This has been a based on my dying role play that has had very ambitious plots, but for the most part has only be alluded to and never fully fleshed out and this is just the bits and pieces of story that tell the drama of the rise and fall of a wizarding empire formed by two young mind that manipulated the world. I don't care if you don't enjoy it. This is mostly for my pleasure and enjoyment.
Dismal grey clouds cover the enchanted ceilings. Perhaps it was echoing the sentiment felt among the remaining muggles and their magical sympathisers, or maybe it was just reflecting the transition to the light hearted past to the dark future. Students were brought into the Great Hall in neat rows of two by two, led by their remaining prefects. Many prefects that had been in on the plot. Many students that remained alive of less then the purest blood were terrified within inches of their lives. Houses quickly dissolved into the great hoards of followers that formed a crowd.
Noah slipped into the rear of the Gryffindor delegation as Wesley thundered from the podium,"These witch and wizard murderers left me orphaned, left me emotionally scared, but they could not scar my integrity! They could not destroy my resolve! The remaining muggles will be hunted down, rooted out wherever they may hide, and brought to justice, dead or alive! All collaborators will suffer the same fate. Those who protect the enemy are the enemy! Now is the time! Now we will strike back! Now we will destroy the destroyers! Death to the enemies of the true rulers of the world!"
The crowd roared.
Rachel didn't even glance at Noah as he found his way beside her. On the opposite side, Sam Evans nodded at him, but said nothing, blinking solemnly. Noah frowned; if even the eternally bright Sam Evans was worried, this looked to be even worse than he'd expected. And he had expected it to be very bad.
He touched Rachel's arm softly. "It's all a bad trip. You know that, don't you?"
She stared frozenly towards the podium. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "I don't know what I know. Not anymore. Where have you been? I thought you were dead!"
"I was ... held up." As she once had told him, somethings were better left unsaid.
"He's been at this... this monstrosity for the last ten minuets," she said in a flat, affectless monotone. "Not just the failed assassination attempt I saw. Finn's dead, Noah. Dead!"
"It's a bad trip," He said again.
In the front of the hall where the staff table had previously been, Wesley leaned upon the ornate podium as though he drew strength from the base of it. When the reality of the matter was he was taking swift glances down at enchanted note cards. "This has been the most trying of times, but we have passed the test. The war is over!"
The crowd roared.
"The Great Purge was our final test - it was the last gasp of the forces of darkness! Now we have left that darkness behind us forever, and a new day has begun! It is morning in the Wizarding World!"
The crowd roared.
Rachel starred without blinking. "Here it comes," she said numbly.
Noah shook his head. "Here comes what?"
"You'll see."
"Never again will we be divided! Never again will nation turn against nation, race against race, sibling against sibling! We are one world, indivisible!"
The crowd roared.
"To ensure that we will always stand together, that we will always speak with a single voice and act with a single hand, the world must change. We must evolve. We must grow. We have become an empire in fact; let us become an Empire in name as well! We are the first Wizarding Empire!"
The crowd went wild.
"What is he doing? Why are they-!?" Noah said. "Do they understand what they're cheering for?"
Rachel shook her head.
"We are an Empire," Wesley went on,"that will continue to be ruled by the august body that you have come to know! We are an Empire that will never return to the political maneuvering and corruption that have wounded so many independent governments so deeply; we are an Empire that will be directed by a single sovereign, chosen for life!"
The crowd went wilder.
"We are an Empire ruled by the majority! An Empired ruled by a new Constitution! An Empire of laws, not politicians! An Empire devoted to the preservation of a just society. Of a safe and secure society! Of a society that believes in the education of their youth! We are an Empire that will stand for ten thousand years!"
The roar of the crowd took on a continuous boiling roll like the inside of a permanent thunderstorm.
"We will celebrate the anniversary of this day as Empire Day. For the sake of our children. For our children's children! For the next ten thousand years! Safety! Security! Education! Justice and Peace!"
The crowd went berserk.
"Say it with me! Safety! Security! Education! Justice and Peace! Safety! Security! Education! Justice and Peace!"
The crowd took up the chant, louder and louder until it seemed the whole planet roared along.
Noah couldn't hear Rachel over the din, but he could make out the words on her lips.
So this is how liberty dies, she was saying to herself. With thunderous applause.
"We can't let this happen!" Noah lurched forward on his feet, bumping into a few enthusiastic people in front of him. People who turned to glare at him as they cheered. "We can still stop-"
"No," Her hand seized his arm with astonishing strength, and for the first time since he'd arrived, she looked straight into his eyes. "No, Noah, you can't. Finn has already been shot dead and I heard whispers that Mr. Shue was among the bodies here. You were off that kill list for some by god; don't add your name by what you do today to get on his radar."
"How can you just stand there. I can't just stand by and watch -"
"You're right. You can't just watch. You have to lie to yourself and play pretend."
"What?"
"It's the only way. It's the only hope we have of getting out of here and away from his ever present sight to even have the slightest chance at doing anything good. Be a good little Muggleborn. Mind your manners and keep your head down. And keep doing ... all those things we can't talk about. Promise me, Noah."
"Rachel, what you're talking about - what we're not talking about - I thought it was just you having one of your crazy arse moments. It could take twenty years!"
"Then we'll have to make sure we live that long," she said distantly
"We move forward as one people: the Imperial citizens of the first world empire. We will prevail. Ten thousand years of peace begins today!" finished the newly self-styled leader of the world empire. Giving a confident smile towards the cameras from the various press reporters and the roaring crowd, before he turned his head to look back at his partner completely unaware of the eyes of the spark of the rebels. Kurt gave a reaffirming nod and a smile, knowing that everything they had pushed into place began now. Sebastian just grinned and shook his head in disbelief in the rapture of the crowd. Touching his skin as the silent spell returned his voice to a normal speaking level as he turned curly and began to take leave with his small entourage to the empty chamber off the side of the Great Hall.
As soon as the last of the group filed into the plush chamber, there was a collective sigh of relief. Wesley had dramatically collapsed on a couch with his full body, while Kurt sat comparatively cramped in the remaining space. His hand resting in the nest of raven locks beside him. It was silent in the chamber.
"You actually followed the cards..." Kurt murmured stroking the head that had scooted on top of his lap.
A soft laugh spilled out as the head tilted upwards. A quiet smile presented itself as he spoke,"You know me. I love to keep you on your feet."
"Magnificent, regardless..."
"Of course I was. You wrote the speech after all. I'm just your pretty mouth piece,"
"It is quite the mouth and I know it loves a good workout."
The simple pleased grin on Kurt's face barely had time to adjust for the brusque motion of Wesley leaning up pressing a kiss on the lips of his beloved. For most of the people in the room, there was an uncomfortable silence as the kissing became more passionate. Sebastian simply smiled as he glanced away from the intimate moment of mouthed 'thank you's and 'I love you's as he looked over at his own love; Blaine could only seem physically unnerved and shaken that this was the grim reality of the world that somehow he had gotten on to the side that he considered morally wrong.