Cauldron's bubbled. Potions simmered. And Snape was yelling at Neville again. Just another ordinary day in Potions Harry thought as he looked up to see the vile man scowling down at Neville and making him cower over his cauldron.

"Pretty rotten if you ask me," Ron muttered under his breath, giving the man the same evil look he was currently giving to Neville. Harry nodded. He was about to say something else when Hermione feverishly shushed them for the fifth time that afternoon.

"Will both of you hush! I can't concentrate! This potion is hard enough as it is! He's going to be testing us you know and class ends in a few-" she was cut short by a long shadow falling over their table however. Three sets of Gryffindor eyes rose to meet those of the glower belonging to the castle's most hated professor.

"Cheating are we Potter? Well, we'd better test your potion now then before you add any of the last minute ingredients Miss Granger was whispering to you."

Hermione paled and sat back. Any other teacher would have trusted her word, but it was no good trying to tell Snape that he was wrong.

"Fine," Harry said blandly. "I was done anyway." If the man thought he was going to add sir to the end of that he had another thing coming, Harry thought bitterly.

With a wave of his wand Snape waved the fire down under all of the cauldrons in the room, signaling the end of brewing time, and glared nastily at Harry. "Stick your finger in the cauldron Potter."

Harry did as he was told and placed his finger in the clear blue liquid. It was surprisingly cool for having brewed over an open flame for the last two hours. He pulled his pointer finger out of the potion and waited, staring at Snape knowing that he had brewed the potion right and he would see James and Lily's names appear in the potion, as that is what the paternis sentimentis did, reveal one's parents. Instead, he heard Ron snort and say, "Wow, you really bunged that one up mate."

Snape and Harry looked down into the potion at the same time, and a frown came over Harry's face. Ron was right, he had royally screwed the potion up somehow. White letters floating on the water's surface read: ‘Lily Evans,' and ‘Severus Snape.' He glanced up to see Snape sneer.

"Very funny Mr. Potter. Whatever you added to your potion has just earned you a zero for the week. Place your finger in Mr. Weasley's cauldron."

Harry did as he was told, and as soon as the white letters appeared bearing the same false witness as the first cauldron, Snape wrenched Harry's hand painfully out of Ron's cauldron and gave him a deadly glare. Curious now, others had come over to their table and were gawking into Harry's cauldron.

"It appears Mr. Weasley has also earned a zero for Potter's foolish play for attention." He pointed into Hermione's cauldron which Harry had faith held a perfectly brewed potion, and was bitterly disappointed to see the same two names floating on it's surface once his finger had gone into it.

Startled, Harry suddenly found himself being dragged across the isle to Draco's cauldron and having his hand plunged deep into the cool potion. He wasn't sure what was going on, but Snape was starting to loose his cool now, and his grip on Harry's wrist was growing painfully tight. He was sure he'd have a bruise by dinner. Draco's potion was no different than the others.

"OUT! YOU ALL RECEIVE ZEROS!" When people remained frozen to the spot, Snape shouted even louder, "OUT! OUT! OUT!" pointing to the door. There was a flurry of movement as books and bags were grabbed hastily and quills and parchment lay forgotten on desks as students rushed for the door. Harry saw Ron and Hermione giving a fearful glance as they exited, and the door magically slammed closed behind them, actually hitting Ron on the way out.

Harry had no time to think because in the next second Snape was dragging him from cauldron to cauldron, seething as he plunged Harry's hand into each one, and then onto the next as they each exhibited the same results. Finally Snape spun Harry around, and inches from his face bit out through gritted teeth, "I don't know what you've done to these potions Potter, but I will find out, and when I do you will be serving detention until the end of your seventh year and then some, am I understood?" Holding tight to the back of Harry's robes, he waved the door to the corridor open with his wand and shoved Harry out and into the opposite wall, the door slamming hard again with a resounding thud.

The hall was quiet, and Harry was breathing hard. What had just happened? Just a few moments ago his normal day had turned into... something else. Was he dreaming? Had Draco bewitched all of the cauldrons?

Confused, Harry rubbed his wrist where Snape had gripped him so hard and indeed left fingerprints, much as Uncle Vernon usually did, as he walked up to the Entrance Hall. Ron and Hermione weren't the only ones lingering and waiting to see if Snape had let Harry out of the room alive or not.

"What did he do?" Ron asked quietly, still rubbing his back where the door had slammed into him. The hall was quiet, and empty except for the dismissed potion's class.

"He shoved my hand into every cauldron."

"And?" Hermione bit her lip, already knowing the answer. There was no way that many students could mess up the potion, especially not her.

"They were the same," Harry said quietly, aware that the rest of the class was still gathered there around them listening.

There was quiet for a moment and Harry realized that he was not the only one thinking on the gravity of this situation. Suddenly Ron broke the silence by turning to Draco and spitting out, "What did you do to the potions? I saw you messing with Neville's earlier!"

"Don't look at me!" Draco shouted. "I don't know how to make them all lie!"

The hall hushed again as they watched Harry mull over the new information. Lily Evans and Severus Snape. Lily Evans and Severus Snape. Lily Evans and Severus Snape. The images of the same names flashed before his mind a dozen more times as they had done in the room below.

"I think I'm gonna skip dinner," Harry said quietly, and people parted to let him pass. When he was out of sight, Slytherins and Gryffindors alike gave each other a worried look. What did this mean? How did the son of the Slytherin Head of House end up in Gryffindor?

* * *

Harry lay in bed that night more awake than he wanted to be. Life wasn't fair, was it? No, of course it wasn't. It wasn't meant to be. His mother had died and he'd been stuck with the Dursley's for sixteen years. And now there were revelations that didn't make any sense at all. Snape was his father? It didn't seem that he knew beforehand, so Harry knew he hadn't let Harry go to the Dursleys willingly. And yet, he didn't seem to like the idea of being Harry's father anyway.

Biting his lip until it hurt, Harry felt the confusion bubble in him, and squirmed in discomfort. Here was the thing he had always desired: a parent, a father. Here was the thing that had escaped him with Vernon, Remus, Sirius... and even Dumbledore. The bruise on his wrist told him that it wasn't a dream, and he was confused because he didn't know if he wanted it to be or not. Past experience told him that Snape would never accept him, and yet, here was hope dangling on a string, like the slow spinning redemption he'd always wanted. He wanted to be somebody's son. He wanted somebody to be proud of him, to love and cherish him. He wanted somebody to claim him as their own.

You're being selfish Harry, he told himself. And as he drifted off to sleep he told himself, I know. I want to be.