He'd known this would happen. That was one of the reasons he hadn't told. Now he was serving detention scrubbing floors under Snape's malicious stare. He was certain the man would burn lazer holes in his back if he could. It made Harry anxious as he scrubbed every square inch of the larger dungeon classroom floor. Even Aunt Petunia would have been proud of how that floor shined. Snape of course, wasn't. He didn't say a word to Harry when he entered and pointed to the cleaning supplies, and he didn't say a word when he finished. He only glared, lips set in a thin, unhappy line. Just imagine if he had been raised by this man. He didn't know much about him, but he did know how he acted towards him. Harry might have turned out that way too. He didn't want to think about that as he made his way out of detention and back to the Slytherin dorm room.

The notion that he could have been raised by his father nagged at him though. Surely his potential upbringing might not have been so bad? He might have gotten birthday gifts. Maybe he might have turned out spoiled rotten like Draco Malfoy and would have had hordes of gold coins and wizarding candy. At present Harry knew Draco had one of the largest Chocolate Frog card collections in school, and had bags and bags of Every Flavor Beans separated out by flavor at the bottom of his trunk. He had Crabbe and Goyle sort them and as payment he gave them the flavors he didn't like.

Being spoiled might not be so bad. He didn't care much for having tons of candy, but having clothes that fit him would be nice, and a pair of shoes without holes in the sides where rocks always got in. Maybe he would even have had a poster to decorate his room. And he would have been in Slytherin if he'd been raised by Snape. The hat had wanted to put him there in the first place, and even now, not having been raised by the man, here he was under his control. He tried to snap out of it as he opened the door to the second year dorm. Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Teddy, and Blaise were all there, each on their own beds staring at him.

Harry made eye contact with Goyle and then Draco and then went to his bed, sat down. He didn't close the curtains. He was tired of hiding from them. Hiding had done no good at all. Now that people knew who at least one of his assailants was, and he'd already gotten in trouble for starting fights he hadn't really started, he might as well do as Qunicy had said and do something about it, make a stand. Draco and Goyle were still looking at him as he pulled his Potion's text from his night stand and started to read.

Harry didn't know why he expected someone to say something. They made it a point not to talk to him unless they were insulting him or telling him he didn't belong. He did expect something though. Some acknowledgment that he hadn't ratted them out, that he had saved their precious Slytherin house points. He waited for a full thirty seconds before focusing his eyes on the page and reading a few sentences of the text. He couldn't concentrate though. He kept remembering his father carrying him up the stairs and the look of worry that had flashed across his face after Harry had opened his eyes when he was still lying on the floor in the common room. If he blocked out everything else, he could almost pretend that his father... cared.

He read another sentence, several times, and stopped again. He didn't want him to pretend. What was it Quincy had said? His father was like that too? And the only way he got him to take notice was to do something grand like being Head Boy. Harry couldn't be Head boy as a second year, or even a Prefect. Getting good grades wouldn't matter either, because Snape didn't care about that unless he was getting bad grades and losing points. Wait, what was he thinking about? It didn't matter what he did, he was Harry James Potter, and the man would never care for him. It was nice to pretend though, to live in a fantasy if even only for a moment.

"You didn't tell."

Harry let his eyes wander up from his book to Draco. Draco was clearly the leader here, at least to the other Slytherins seated around the room, Harry not included.

"No."

He went back to his book and worked industriously hard to pretend like he was trying to study and had been bothered by the inquiry. Draco and the others didn't bother him again that night and he hoped he wouldn't get beat again or else he'd have to plan to do something about it. He didn't want another detention.

Despite pretending to make headway on his Potion's studying, and turning pages every few minutes, Harry hadn't really taken anything in in the hour he had the book open staring at it. His father and Quincy's words kept invading his mind. What could he do... just to entertain the thought that he could somehow win his father's affection and live in that fantasy life where he was spoiled with enough food and clothes that fit well, and a father that praised him and hugged him instead of berated him and looked on him with disdain? What could he possibly do to earn that? He was used to earning his keep at the Dursleys. He supposed that if all he'd done at the Dursleys could not earn their affection for him because they hated him, that he could do nothing to earn his father's affection either, but still, he could make believe couldn't he?

From the desk where Draco sat eating candy with Blaise, Harry heard them whisper about the house cup and beating out the other houses and Harry paused his thoughts to listen briefly. Thomas said if he earned 50 points by Christmas that Snape would buy him a gift. Harry wondered if it was a standard gift for anyone that earned it, or if it was special for each person. He imagined his father buying him flying goggles or a giant chocolate bar or something else for pure entertainment and then had to work not to laugh out loud. Maybe he would give him a pair of his old dirty socks. That's what the Dursley's had sent him last year. But still, if he earned it, whatever his father would give him, he would have to put thought into, whether it be for the good or the bad. It would put Harry on his mind in some way, wouldn't it?

Ron would have a fit if Harry started earning points though. Maybe he could scheme with him, give Ron answers ahead of time for classes so he could earn the same ammount of points and keep them even. He'd never earn 50 points just by answering questions in class though. Thomas did say that when someone did earn that many points, it was rare. He'd have to think outside the box.

* * *

"Hermione, could I ask you something?"

Hermione turned in the corridor where she'd been waiting outside a professor's office.

"Hi Harry! Sure."

"Theoretically, if someone wanted to earn a lot of house points what would they do?"

"Well, you always earn a lot when you play Quidditch. And when you answer questions in class you sometimes earn points. I earn a few per day."

"More than just answering questions though, what could someone do?"

She gave him a strange look that he couldn't decipher. "You would have to go above and beyond I guess. Like when we beat the troll. But Harry, you aren't going to go after any trolls are you?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't even know where to find them if they weren't in the girls loo." He gave her a grin but the smile she returned seemed forced.

"But- you're in Slytherin. You're not going to earn points there are you?" She was worried, he could tell. After living with the Dursleys for so many years, Harry had a knack for picking up on what other people were feeling. It could be dangerous if he didn't have that ability.

"I thought you were ok with me being there."

"I am, I just-"

"What?"

"Nothing, it's nothing Harry." She gave him another forced smile.

"It was just hypothetical anyway," he said, feeling strained in his lie to her. The door to the office opened then and the astronomy professor came out so Harry left Hermione to speak to her.

If he was going to do this, hypothetically, he had to come up with a plan. There were seven weeks until Christmas holiday. That was 35 school days, and if he managed to earn 1 point per day answering questions that would be 35 points. He'd already earned about five for Slytherin so that would take him to 40. Earning points by answering questions wasn't a given though. The teachers generally tried to keep things even between the houses and so tended not to give points to students from the same house in the same class if they'd already handed out one or two. Teddy was smart, almost the second year Slytherin equivalent of Hermione, and he usually earned the points for second years in Slytherin. Occasionally Draco got one or two and sometimes Pansy or Blaise. Harry would have to step up his game to get in the lead there. No, points wouldn't be enough, he'd have to do something else.

Ron would considder him playing Quidditch a complete betrayal, so that was out too. What could he do? Not certain, Harry decided to do his best studying and trying to answer questions to see how that worked out, and headed back to his room to study.

As the days wore on, Harry grew more bold and ventured out of the dorm more and into the common room. No one had any interest in sitting with him, so he took his books and sat in a corner by the window into the lake to study. Sometimes people stared (even he felt like he was still intruding), but they left him alone. By Monday he was ready to put his plan into action. It started in Potions.

Snape had only lectured for two minutes when he asked the first question. "What are the five classes of healing potion?"

Harry's hand shot into the air next to Hermione's, and he gained a dirty look from Ron and a questioning one from Hermione. Teddy's hand was also in the air across the aisle though so Snape ignored him and called on Teddy. He earned a point for his correct answer. A few minutes later Snape asked another question and Harry raised his hand again. Again he was ignored, this time in favor of Hermione, who answered the question right and got no points. Three more times he raised his hand and three more times was ignored. By the end of class Teddy had earned three points. Teddy three, Harry zero.

"What are you doing Harry?" Ron asked as they left the room.

"Trying to get a good grade," Harry said.

"But you're going to earn them points."

"Maybe you can answer questions and get points too," Harry tried, but Ron scoffed.

"Right, since when do I earn points?"

"Study Ron," Hermione said.

"Maybe McGonagall will be so shocked to see your hand," Harry said, "that she'll award you a bunch in one go."

Ron laughed again. "We'll see."

Later Hermione recounted to Harry how Ron had raised his hand and answered a question wrong in Transfiguration only to turn beet red in embarrassment and proclaim that he wouldn't be answering any more questions. Harry's heart sank. If Ron couldn't keep up, he'd be handing the cup to Slytherin if he ever managed to make that fifty points.

"Are you going to stop trying to get points?" Ron asked him at dinner. Harry fidgeted and didn't answer.

"Harry?"

He looked over. "I just want to do well in classes."

"It's never been a priority before, but now suddenly you're in Slytherin and it is?"

Hermione nudged Ron but he didn't seem to notice.

"I just want to- you know. Get his attention."

"Whose?"

"You know. Him." Harry gave half a nod sideways towards the head table but Ron only frowned.

"Since when? He hates you. Winning Slytheirn the cup won't do anything."

"I'm not trying to win them the cup."

"I know what you asked Hermione Harry. I know you asked her how to earn loads of points. The only reason you'd ask that is to win the cup."

"Or maybe I want something from Snape," Harry whispered, hoping Ron would keep his voice down.

"Right, because some git who has never given one whit about you, is way more important than your own house. Unless you're throwing your lot in with them now."

Harry frowned and didn't answer. He swallowed hard. He wasn't a Slytherin. He was still a Gryffindor.

Hermione stared into her plate and Harry noted that his fellow Gryffindor second years were listening intently, even if they weren't looking at them.

"Come on Harry, you're one of us."

"I have to."

Ron slammed his fork down on the wooden table. "You earn more points for them and you can start sitting over there too. I'm not going to be friends with someone who's against me."

"I'm not against you," Harry pleaded. "You're my best mate."

He picked his fork back up. "No more points Harry, I mean it. I get you not losing points because you don't want detention, but that doesn't mean you have to earn them for them. They're a different team."

Harry didn't feel like eating any more and sat there quietly. Ron and Hermione were quiet for the rest of the meal too.

* * *

Harry was upset. He couldn't believe Ron was calling him a Slytherin after all they'd been through. Harry couldn't imagine himself flying a car to school with Draco, going after Quirril with Pansy, or doing any of the things he'd done with his friends with any of the Slytherins. Ron and Hermoine were the first, and only friends he had. He would be lost without them. He thought about the warmth of his father's arms though, and felt lost without that knowing it was there for him to have, but that he couldn't have it. Ron didn't understand, he had parents who loved him. He had parents to go home to.

"Harry?"

He turned and found Hermione behind him. He was in the library studying. He'd earned two poitns that day answering questions in class and was glad they had been in classes his friends weren't in with him.

"Hi Hermione."

"Can I sit here?"

"Of course."

She sat down but looked nervous like she had something unpleasant to say. Harry waited.

"You would really help them win the cup after what they did to you? I heard Madam Pomfrey talking to Professor Dumbledore about your stay in the Hospital Wing over the weekend."

"It's not for them Hermione," Harry said, feeling tired and a little exasperated.

"So- it's true then, what Ron said. It's for you?"

He hung his head a little. She made it sound so shameful to do anything for himself. All he'd ever done was for other people. He'd worked hard for the Dursleys, worked to keep Dumbledore's stone safe from Quirril, stuck up for Ron and Hermione countless times in the halls...

"You make it sound so wrong."

"Isn't it though?"

"Ron got to you, didn't he? You're here to tell me you won't be my friend if I try to get my father's attention. I don't get it Hermione. You have friends in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. You don't get mad at them for earning house points for their houses."

"They're not Gryffindors Harry," she said then. Her voice wavered and he wondered if she'd cry.

Anger bubbled in him. It wasn't fair to give him this ultamatum. "Yeah, well maybe I never was. The hat tried to put me in Slytherin in first year, but I told it not to." Her eyes teared up then and he felt even angrier.

"Do what you want Hermione. Do what you have to. You know this isn't fair, you know I didn't ask for this or anything else. It's not fair for me to be stuck there and not be able to participate in anything ever again." And then he walked away. He could hear her crying behind him.

He felt sick to his stomach and angry at the same time as he descended down through the castle. If they felt that way about him then they weren't his real friends. Real friends didn't give you ultamatums and tell you to not do what was in your best interest. Harry faltered then as he made the entrance to the Dungeons and bumped into Snape who glared down at him and then moved past. It was in his best interest to do this, wasn't it? Having Snape for a father would be better than no father at all, right? Harry wasn't so sure anymore. The man was strict, wouldn't he be a strict parent too? But he remembered being carried again and imagined agian that he hadn't been carried, but hugged instead. No, he had to do this. Maybe Ron and Hermione would cool down about it after a few days.

* * *

Harry knew he was wrong about Ron and Hermione the very next day. They had Potions together again and Harry raised his hand to every question even though he was never called on. Ron glared at him each time he did so and Hermione looked sad. They also had Herbology that morning and Harry earned three points when he mentioned a potion the plant they were harvesting was used in as an ingredient. They split after Herbology for Ron and Hermione to go to Charms while Harry went to Transfiguration, but when they came back together for lunch, it was clear that Harry wasn't welcome to sit with them. Ron and Hermione wedged themselves in between other students and there was no room for Harry. Harry went down to their usual spot and none of the other students talked to him. It was the same at dinner. Harry was sad and thought about sitting at the Slytherin table, where he saw the second year Slytherins laughing and joking with each other, but knew that wasn't his place either. I'll give it another day, he thought. Maybe they'll come around tomorrow.

They didn't though. There was no room for him to sit with them and in Defense Harry was left no choice but to sit on the Slytherin side. By being quiet, by making no room for him at Gryffindor table and on the Gryffindor side in classes, they were telling him they no longer recognized him as Gryffindor. His heart broke. Was it too late to take it all back? Could he still get his friends back? But the thought of his father stopped him. He was stuck in the middle. Permanently lose his good friends, who maybe weren't so good afterall, or potentially gain a father, who might not be so good either. What should he do?

The professor asked a question and Harry's hand went up into the air, though he didn't look up form his desk.

"Yes Mr. Potter."

"Vampire. The answer is vampire."

"Well done Mr. Potter. One point to Slytherin." His decision was made. He looked up and across the aisle at his friends. They were all looking at him. Hermione had tears in her eyes again, and Ron's mouth was hanging open. This had the potential to turn out very bad, but he had no choice but to see it through now, whatever the consequences would be.