Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or the characters from the Harry Potter franchise. This will not be repeated, and applies to all further chapters.

An aside: Do not review asking about Grimm. It is not forgotten. I need a very specific frame of mind to work on that body, and frankly, I've not been in it. I'm estimating I'll get my mental rewiring set around christmas.

Spoilers may follow, with the clarifications. Proceed with caution. Beyond this point, there is nothing vital.

Important Preface Notes: I am not a good public writer. For someone to have that title, by definition, one must write for the public. I do not. I do not write to please my reader. I do not write to cater to fandoms, trends, fads, or public opinion.

This means I may very well ignore a very common trend in Harry Potter fanfiction. Hero aggrandizement, and displacement.

People want a hero. People want a hero, who is heroic. Harry is not. He is lucky, biased at times, childish, simple, and uninformed. He reacts, when pushed, and that pressure makes him stronger. Most often, he is not the catalyst that moves the primary nodes of his own story forward. He does the right thing, often by accident, and with a lot of help. Harry is not the force behind the machine that drives his existence, therefore, he is not responsible. He is the striking surface of the siege engine.

Of course, the first thing people want to do with Harry, is make him powerful. Make him worthy of being a hero. He does qualify for the title, by classical definition, but modern expectations do not acknowledge the subtleties therein. Heroes now must be bigger than life; not just bigger than the life they live in.

In this story, you will not find a powerful Harry, who suddenly decides after his years of mistreatments and conditioning to deal with it, to grow a backbone and throw off his oppressors. He does not suddenly inherit special powers, a ton of money, some powerful relic, or any other deus ex machina. House elves will not be the unwinding point to all securities. Goblins do no decide that his token politeness makes him some sort of treasured ally and potential proxy savior or representative. His friends do no decide to suddenly help him, by taking over his life and cheering for him to win. No soul bonds. You will not see Fanon Harry here.

Harry in time will grow, learn, and become powerful in his own right, in his own direction. Read that carefully. Remember it. What happens today, tomorrow we may decide to ignore.

Is my rendition of Harry completely accurate? Of course not. Canon accuracy requires the scope of canon. Fanfiction by definition defeats this. Will I make an attempt to portray him accurately? Yes, as long as it furthers the goals I have for the project. I am god here - my rule is above all others. That is the joy of being an author.

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Two things to remember about this story, in a mechanical sense: It will be in first person, from Harry's point of view. That in mind, keep these two ideas close to heart.

Just because I'm telling a lie, doesn't mean I'll tell you I am.

Always remember! Harry is an imperfect window here!

Snakecharmer will be a political story, and hopefully, a more sensible one at that. I've read too many stories where Harry gains some lordship or title, yet the reason those were given or the responsibilities behind them are never mentioned. I hope to do a little groundbreaking on this story, or at least, pay the idea a bit more realistic homage. That means having the title is work, and not all big keeps, big vaults, and enough political clout to choke a whale.

Those positions and honors once and still do carry a very heavy burden, something Harry already bears (so far, unknowingly in the story) thanks to the prophecy. This is not a story where unfounded or unearned bashing occurs. Honesty isn't bashing – everyone has faults, and it is in how we see them, that turn them into positives or negatives.

Now, for some assumption squashing. Dumbledore is not a manipulative prick here. It may look like it, but he's human, and humans make mistakes. That is all, preemptively, to clear the air. I appreciate a good mastermind fic now and then, and this will have hints, but he isn't the villain. He's just focused, on what he feels is most important.

As for the romance, don't expect leaps and bounds anytime soon. Daphne may not be the typical Slytherin here, but she is one, and is not part of the HPFanclub. It will be rocky. Slow. But it will happen.

For those of you who need your genre's put in neat little boxes: gray!Harry, political!Harry. Beyond that, things will evolve in time.