"Harry? .... Er, James I mean... are you ok?" Ron scuffed his shoe on the ancient tile floor of the boy's toilet outside Gryffindor common room as Harry wretched again inside the stall at the far end. He had been there for the past ten minutes waiting for his friend to be done being sick.

After a few more long moments Harry emerged, looking pale, red and gold tie undone and hanging loosely around his neck, and hair messier than ever. "Yeah, fine," Harry said, appreciating that his friend cared enough to stand there and listen to him barfing for so long.

"Are you sick?"

Harry shook his head as he ducked down to have a drink of water from the sink so he could rinse his mouth off. "No."

"Oh." By now Ron knew better than to ask again or for more information if Harry gave a short answer like that.

"How was detention last night with Snape?"

"I scrubbed the dungeon hall floors with a toothbrush," Harry said. "I have to do that again tonight... and every night for a month."

"Yuck," Ron said, pulling a face. "Even Fred and George never had that one... but then again Snape never had to drag them up to see McGonagall."

Harry shrugged. "Oh well. Got nothing better to do than shine his floors. I'll be shining his shoes next. I am just a house elf after all," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ron shook his head. He wished he knew what was bothering his friend so that he could help and have his old Harry back. He much rather liked Harry instead of James whatever that was about.

In Potions that day Harry dropped his essay on the professor's desk with a smile, and was happy to receive a sneer in return. From across the room Draco watched this curiously, and wondered what in the hell had gotten the Gryffindor all riled up and snarky all of a sudden. It wasn't like he was expected to join the ranks of the dark lord or anything afterall.

Thinking that he already had detention for a month, Harry considered leaving class again, but knew his grades would drop if he didn't have a potion to hand in at the end of the class, so he rushed through it, instructions already memorized from the night before, and was the first one to hand his potion in. To Snape's surprise it was the right color, and done in record time. He would indeed have reveled in giving the brat a D, but decided he'd have to manage that with the boy's essay. Unfortunately for Harry, he was already out of the classroom and missed the look Severus gave upon seeing his new name on top of the parchment. Ron told him about it later to Harry's satisfaction, although his friend wasn't sure why the man had made such a face after Harry had left the room.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Hermione asked at lunch later that day.

Harry shrugged. "I ate after I left Potion's," he lied. "I had an apple in my bag from breakfast." Hermione frowned, not remembering seeing him take an apple from the table earlier, but let it drop, not wanting to draw one of Harry's new favorite icy glares. Ron had suggested earlier in jest that perhaps Harry had been secretly taking glaring lessons from Snape during his detentions as extra punishment, but Hermione had not found it amusing at all.

Harry appeared late once again that evening for detention, and scrubbed the floors until ten PM, trying to remember all of the two Charms chapters he had read during dinner, but faltering when he couldn't get past the first one. Suddenly he was remembering things that he didn't want to and felt his stomach burning up once again.

Trying to force his feelings down Harry scrubbed harder and harder until the toothbrush snapped clean in half.

"Great," he muttered. It was going to be impossible to clean the floor with a little stub for a brush, and he had been instructed not to use magic or else he'd be cleaning the floor with his tongue. He would have liked to believe that the man had been joking, but knew him better, and definitely did not want to become the man's dog, licking the floor for a month.

Harry got to his feet, trying to ignore his aching knees and back, and walked down the hall to Snape's open office door where a fifth year Slytherin sat inside spewing off random things about his oh so troubled life. Suddenly Harry despised the boy, but was confused as to why.

"What Potter?" Snape said, sounding exasperated. Harry held up the brush with a sneer, and Severus rolled his eyes.

"Here, get back to work," he half spat, pulling a toothbrush from a desk drawer and handing it to the Slytherin boy who then handed it over to Harry. Harry snatched the brush up and turned quickly, not wanting either one of them to see his face turning red.

What the hell was wrong with him all the sudden? There was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach there along with the burning and he didn't know what exactly it was. It almost felt like jealousy, but he didn't know why in the hell he would feel jealous of a stupid little Slytherin spilling his guts there.

Suddenly unable to stand it anymore Harry threw the toothbrush down at the end of the hallway and stalked off down a hall that lead deeper into the dungeons. He didn't have to take this crap! Who was Snape to think he could treat Harry like this? Feeling himself ready to burst Harry once again fell back on his new habit of punching an unsuspecting wall as he imagined it as a face. He had been imagining hitting Snape's face for the past two months, but tonight he imagined it as the fifth year Slytherin's face, and hated himself for not knowing why.

He continued to storm down the hall, losing pace as he descended deeper under the school. He had never been down in this part of the dungeons before, and wondered what this part of the castle had been used for, if anything. After a while he heard a snigger and a girly giggle, and suddenly found himself face to face with a couple making out as he rounded a corner.

"Ugh," Harry said, pulling a face and trying to cover his eyes. The couple split and the girl gave a high shriek.

"Get out, get out!" she shouted.

"Yeah, whatever," Harry said, turning quickly. It was Draco and a sixth year Slytherin girl he didn't know the name of, but he thought it started with an A. Draco watched him go with a frown, wondering what the Gryffindor was doing so far down in the dungeons, but was forced to forget about it for a while as Alexandra pulled him back in for another long kiss.

Not wanting to walk up on anymore Slytherin sex scenes, Harry decided to just head back to his common room, and started to make his way back towards the upper castle. He wished he had something other than books to take his mind off his troubles, and off the disturbing scene he had just witnessed, but could think of nothing, and ended up just going to bed, falling into a fitful, restless sleep where he was the one sitting in Snape's office joking and telling him all of his troubles.

Harry woke in the middle of the night, suddenly needing to be free of the contents of his stomach once again, and spent the rest of the night on the bathroom floor. Just another glorious day, he thought to himself. Another glorious day in the life of Harry bloody Potter.