[Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise and all the associated characters are property of JKR, and I make no profit of using them.]

GentCrowCruisin' proudly presents the Harry Potter FanFiction:

Harry Potter and the Art of Neutrality

Book I.

Prologue

..th of July, 1995.'

'A radical is a person with both feet firmly planted in the air.'

Harry smirked at the words of his mentor, the Heir of Slytherin, and immediately after, he frowned as he remembered the old man's recent and untimely end. And now, he was the one with the responsibility to try and end the civil war that was tearing apart Wizarding Britain. It wasn't exactly a dream job with several absolute madmen on both sides of the fence, and so much resentment between them that would've been enough to fuel ongoing hostilities for a century. Harry himself put the entire blame for the situation – where a less-than-fifteen-year-old boy was put in charge of a whole operation aiming to maintain Wizarding Britain's political balance – on the ridiculous utter incompetence of the British wizarding political system, that was perfectly incapable of handling literally anything with the slightest resemblance of common sense.

Not that he didn't enjoy the game he was playing in this system very much, mind you. No, from the first time Harry Potter entered the Wizarding World four years ago after a long and mostly lonely childhood in the Muggle world (courtesy of some arguably stupid decisions his family made), he was desperately trying to deceive both sides of this senseless conflict into thinking that he knew a) exactly what he was doing (which he mostly was, to be fair, being a Slytherin and planning ahead) and b) which side he was on (his thoughts on which were ambivalent on the best days). Of course, with Hogwarts students, this was pretty easy, he just needed to avoid conflicts and to fly under the radar. But recently he had to start bringing his act to the next level, and pit his cunning against the most powerful people in Wizarding Britain. That was, after all, the purpose of the position he was claiming tonight.

The position, that it seemed like he was fated to claim. He felt like every single moment in his life so far had been guiding him to this exact point. His parents abandoning him to the cold and comfortless childhood with literally one single individual he could confide in, the lectures of his aunt, the comments of his uncle, and even Dudley's idiotic echoing of anything he heard in the television and liked the sound of. It all taught him to read between the lines, act as expected, and always, always follow his own path. His past shaped him. The friendships he cultivated, with people of different perspectives and backgrounds. The various teachers and mentors, who all taught him things he needed to know. And the endless digging through the Hogwarts Library's Daily Prophet records to search for the meaning of this absurd conflict, only to find that it was in fact all artificial. And, most importantly, his – former – father.

Yes, James Potter's actions were more than crucial in order to forge Harry into the person he was today. Strangely, the man's treatment of his other son was almost as important to him as that of his own. Charlie was forced to become the champion of James' personal agenda, and it wore off on the boy. Harry sometimes wondered if his brother's childhood was worse than his, being literally raised to become a weapon. Idly, he smiled, trying to guess what the man's reaction would be, should he learn Harry's involvement with certain individuals and movements. Then he mentally waved the thought away. He probably couldn't surprise James anymore after the business of summer '93 and the various events of the last two years, where Harry's sheer presence was an offense to him. Plus, James finding out about the organization was one of the greatest disasters imaginable.

Harry looked at the four people around the table – three men and a woman. One, who was his oldest friend, one, who was one of his favorite Hogwarts instructors, and one, who helped him even against… well, the fourth: Lucius Malfoy. The only one from the group, who never explicitly lied about his intentions with Harry all along. That didn't improve Harry's opinion of the man at all, but still, it was refreshing. Four people, all of whom played a significant part in grooming him for the seat. Four people, who – rather uncharacteristically if anyone ever asked what Harry thought – put their faith into a child. Harry was not about to let them down, despite all the deception and lies surrounding their relationships. Not after what kinds of Hell they'd all been put through the last year.

The clock struck midnight. Hadrian Francis Black took his seat. And the game began.

Hello and welcome to the Art of Neutrality!

First of all, I'd like to add a disclaimer, that English is not my native language, and thus some incorrect language use might be abound.

Second, I'll have to mention that I have zero idea how to write 11 year old kids talking. Though admittedly, I also don't think that how 11-year-olds talk isn't very entertaining so your choice if you bear with me or not.

I work with the concept of Ancient and Noble Houses in the Wizengamot, for which I didn't find a separate tag for some reason.

There will be no pairings prior to 4th year, and even then I have no idea if there will be any beyond background relationships.

I like stealing stuff from other works. Especially quotes. I'll try to give credit. If I fail or forget and you know the source, do notify me.

Finally, I'll have to give a shoutout to TheSinisterMan, whose 'Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin' served as a huge inspiration for this fic. It's no carbon copy though, and neither is it a POS-fic.

One other additional note: it will be some time before I actually start posting the story, since my intention is to write the first volume fully, and then share it. Thus if I continue to update, you can be sure that at least an entire book will be added to the story.

Enjoy!

Tags: WBWL, No Bashing, Slytherin!Harry, Ancient and Noble Houses, Wizarding Politics, Sane!Voldemort, Intelligent!Voldemort, Grey!Harry