Harry Potter - Imperial Rule
NOTE: I intend for this story to be rather dark at times and I shall not shy away from gore or the like. I have no desire to hurt people or remind people of things that have happened to them, so I shall leave this here as a warning- If you are squeamish, this probably isn't the fanfiction for you.
On another note, my other fanfiction - Rise Of An Empire - has not been abandoned YET, however I am unhappy with my first attempt at writing and have written myself into a corner with it. I may yet return to it however for the time being it is on hiatus. This will be very similar and yet very different. I hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the original characters.
Chapter One - Escape
Five year old Harry James Potter was in his cupboard, panicking and trying to make himself as small as possible as his Uncle Vernon reached in to drag him back out. It had been a fine day up until now, or as fine as a day staying with the Dursleys could be. Yet Dudley had tripped Harry up in the hallway, causing him to fall flat on his face. In a fit of rage, Harry had somehow caused his cupboard door to swing open without a touch, slamming into Dudley's face and breaking his nose. Unfortunately for him the Dursleys had seen the entire scenario play out, and if there was one thing the Dursleys hated more than anything, it was Harry causing freakish things to happen.
Harry had ducked into his cupboard immediately upon hearing Vernon roar "Boy!" knowing full well what was to come, but he knew he would not escape. Having curled up and made himself as small as possible, Vernon simply reached into the cupboard and dragged Harry out roughly by his foot, causing Harry to smash his head into the door frame along the way, disorientating him.
"I will no longer tolerate this… this freakishness boy! I will teach you a lesson you shall never forget!" Vernon shouted into his face, causing his ears to ring. He was roughly turned over on to his back before his eyes widened, seeing Vernon remove his belt and straighten it with a sharp crack.
Vernon for his part, grinned evilly down at him before whipping Harry across his thigh, causing the young boy to scream out in agony. On and on it went, strike after strike whilst Harry screamed and begged for it to stop. "You think we're done boy?! When I'm through with you, you won't be able to walk for a long time!"
Harry squeezed his eyes shut, wishing harder than he ever had before that he was somewhere, anywhere else, trying in vain to brace himself for the strikes to come. As the belt came down once more Harry let out a primal scream, his eyes flying open in sheer agony and panic. He squeezed his eyes shut once more, putting all of his willpower into his wish to be away… and like that, the boy-who-lived vanished on the spot whilst Vernons belt came down and hit the floor where Harry had been but seconds before. Harry Potter had vanished right before their eyes.
- Scene Break -
In orbit close to Earth, a strange ship sat quietly & undetected in space monitoring the satellite activity. The crew were under orders from Imperial High Command to monitor the planet as part of a long and ongoing scouting mission ready for either a military occupation or a diplomatic solution, in which an Imperial envoy would arrive and greet the human population of Earth, introducing them to the Galactic community and integrating the planet into the Galactic Empire.
The mission, led by one Imperial Captain Cornelius Corvin, was a boring one. The systems aboard the ship was more than enough to monitor whatever was needed with little human interference, so the crew for the most part spent their time either training or using what meagre facilities they had to entertain themselves. It was during such a time that Captain Corvin was making his way through the small vessel towards the canteen when he heard what sounded like someone sniffling in one of the rooms just off the corridor. 'Someone missing their family and home, no doubt. It has been a long deployment…' He thought to himself. Yet as he listened closely, it sounded nothing like an adult, if anything it sounded like a young child! Confused, he crept slowly along the corridor, listening at the doors to hear what it was coming from, eventually standing in front of the door that led to the storage bay.
With just a moment of hesitation, he slid his code cylinder for the door to open only to come upon a tiny young boy curled up against one of the storage crates, his arms crossed across his knees and head bowed on top, crying as quietly as he could. It took several moments for Cornelius to knock himself out of his bemused stupor, wondering how in the Emperor's name the child was even there. 'Stowaway' He thought with a grimace. Fortunately for the lad, Cornelius Corvin believed himself a man of honour and a good person to boot.
"Ahem, hello there little one." The Captain cringed at his own words as the young boy looked up at the sound of his voice, looking absolutely petrified. "I mean you no harm, I swear it. Come, you must be cold down there." Cornelius shot the young boy with what he hoped would be a friendly smile, but the smile fell from his face as the boy returned to curling up, closing himself off. As he took in the boy's appearance, he took note of the lightning bolt scar on his forehead, the rags the young stowaway wore and his tiny frame, covered in welts. At spotting the injuries, his blood ran cold.
"Lieutenant Lann, make your way to the medical bay immediately." He spoke into his comlink, trying to keep his voice level. Turning to the young boy, he sighed and spoke once more, softly. "I'm sorry son, but I need to get you to the med bay. I'm going to pick you up and we will get you cleaned up, how does that sound?" His only reply was more crying. He sighed once more to himself before approaching the castaway. This was not how he expected the day to go.
- Scene Break -
The boy had not spoken for three days. The crew of the surveyor vessel had decided they had retrieved enough data from the scouting mission and had made for their home base, the Corulus System. It was the day before their arrival back home that after much kind coercion from the Captain, the young lad began to speak. He refused to speak around the rest of the crew, however one on one with Cornelius, he spoke. Some of the things that the young Captain heard horrified him and whilst he had heard plenty of stories of child abuse, to hear it from the victim himself really struck a chord with him. He learned that the boy's name was Harry Potter, however his so-called 'family' preferred to call him 'boy' or 'freak'. He also learned that the boy was from Earth, however he could not fathom how he had ended up in his ship's cargo bay.
Cornelius spent the rest of the return journey sitting with Harry and talking about anything and everything, even managing to coax an excited smile from the lad when he guided him to a view port, seeing space properly for the first time. The Captain was actually enjoying the time with young Harry, and wondered to himself if this was what it was like to be a father, something that he had thought of often, once he retired from Imperial service. And that was not something he had even thought about, as he considered himself a career soldier and wanted to progress through the ranks of the Imperial Navy.
Eventually however they arrived in the Corulus System and he knew that it was almost time to say goodbye to young Harry. He knew that the right thing to do would be to escort him to the proper authorities for him to be taken care of, and yet he hesitated. The days he had spent with the boy had left their mark on him, and he had spent quite a bit of that time smiling fondly at the more and more frequent excited smiles on Harry's face every time he showed him either some technology or told him about the galaxy at large.
Cornelius watched as the customs station came into view, and his apprehension grew. Turning to his side to look at Harry who had taken to holding his hand, he felt even worse than before. He began to think hard for a different way to look after the boy when it came to him.
"Ahem… Harry?" The boy looked up at him, his expression meek yet hopeful.
"Well… I've been thinking, and whilst I am sure the authorities would do a proper job of taking care of you… over the last few days I have come to feel that you are now my responsibility and well… I suppose what I am saying is that I'd like to take you home, and perhaps look after you myself…?" He gave an internal sigh, internally cursing himself at his poor way with words when it came to the boy.
Harry's eyes widened in shock "Really? I can stay with you?!" He exclaimed, a wide smile growing on his features.
Cornelius, seeing the smile returned it with a beaming grin. "Indeed. I will not be there all the time, however when I am on leave I stay at my parents estate anyway. They would love to have you, and believe me when I say that I was treated like a prince as I grew up. I am certain you would receive the same treatment as I, that is just the way my parents are."
Harry for his part, simply beamed. He was finally going to have a home where he was wanted, where he wouldn't be beaten and starved! For the first time in his memory, Harry Potter was happy!
And so it was that upon disembarkation, Captain Cornelius Corvin took young Harry Potter by the hand and led him off the ship and through customs, down to the planet of Corulag and to his parents estate, somewhere he could call home.
AUTHOR NOTES: Well, there's the first chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I will be writing a lot of original characters into this story, including an OFC for the main pairing. Chapter 2 will be quite a time jump, all the way to the Triwizard Tournament- however Harry will be quite older than canon by that time- something I will explain in the chapter itself when It is written.
There will be some bashing, however I am hoping to keep characters realistic- well, as realistic as possible in a Sci-fi / Fantasy setting at least.
On a final note, Harry will of course, be Imperial. There will be no redemption arc, or "seeing the error of his ways" and joining the Wizards or Rebellion. He will remain Imperial, and whilst I do not plan for him to be Evil as such, I have not yet decided whether or not to write him up as a Sith in later chapters.
His loyalty will be to his adopted family and to the Empire, and it will show- hopefully in an entertaining way.
The story of his upbringing will come up through flashbacks, I will not go into too much detail but if this story is successful then I may even contemplate writing a story on his upbringing.
I will say this. I will ignore any review that is simply negative and unconstructive. Those sorts of comments do not help or motivate me in any way, and have previously put me off writing completely, so please- if you have nothing nice or constructive to say, say nothing at all. Anyway enough from me, I look forward to posting the next chapter- till then folks!
