Harry was in a mood. There was no other way to say it, and his friends didn't know if they even wanted to try. It was the second week of term, and everybody had noticed by now that Harry Potter was no longer friendly and sociable. Ron and Hermione had spent long hours discussing Harry and what was going on, and had come to the conclusion that something had happened over the summer, but he would never tell them.

So far Ron had had to hold Harry back three times from fighting with Draco, who was also in a "mood", (although that was a different story altogether), had seen Harry kick over two trash cans, and had heard that Harry had exploded at a third year Hufflepuff for no reason at all, sending the boy away in a fit of tears. Hermione had also seen Harry kicking things at random, and had even spied him punch a wall in an empty corridor when he thought nobody was around. To say the least, Ron and Hermione were at a loss for what to do for their friend. He had gone away on summer holiday Harry James Potter, and had come back James Harry Potter, or something like that... they still weren't exactly sure. Harry had been quiet on the train ride to the castle except to tell Ron that he wanted to be called James and he didn't want any questions about it. Ron had tried to ask him about it later, only to be given a glare that even Snape himself would have been proud of.

Students were not the only ones to notice Harry's change in mood, although none of the staff seemed too keen on questioning it seeing as how Harry was a seventeen-year-old, hormone filled boy with a death prophecy hanging over his head. Only Severus Snape seemed to be growing tired of the boy's fits of rage and outbursts in the halls. Even by the boy's handwriting on the assignments he turned in he could tell he was angry about something, but God only knew what the spoiled brat was up in arms about now. He too might have been willing to let it slide only because he had been instructed to go easy on the boy before the start of term by the Headmaster himself, but after Harry stormed out in the middle of his lecture one day without a word, he decided to take action, fed up with the cheek and audacity the little whelp had been displaying.

"Potter!" He was storming out into the hall after him, although why he bothered to waste his time he couldn't figure out himself. The brat kept walking and he was tempted to hex him senseless for ignoring him.

"Harry bloody Potter! Get back here this instant!"

Harry froze at being addressed as such. His fists were clenched at his sides, and the Potion's Master just willed the boy to do something stupid so that he could sentence him to a month long detention.

"Here, now," Severus ground out through gritted teeth, pointing to a spot on the floor in front of him.

Harry suddenly spun on his heel and marched back to his angry professor, standing in exactly the spot he was told to, and glaring him down. Severus was surprised because he had never been treated thusly by anyone, let alone a student.

"What?" Harry spat.

Severus narrowed his eyes. "You do not storm out of my class unless I dismiss you Potter. And you can just schedule yourself in for detention for the rest of the week for the disrespectful tone you've taken of late."

"Pst," Harry scoffed and cocked a grin as if he thought it was funny. "Yeah, whatever."

Severus raised both his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "You heard me."

Taking a deep breath to calm the rage within him, Severus wondered that the boy was still standing in front of him and had not already be splayed out on the ground by his fist. It was a testament to the inner will he had built up over the years of serving two masters that the boy was even still alive.

"Oh, I heard, and you can schedule yourself in for another detention your highness."

Harry shook his head with another twisted grin on his face. "Yeah, I'll do that. And what time would that be? I'd like to know so I can make a fashionably late entrance... you know how us Potter's are... being royalty and whatnot."

Unable to control himself any longer Snape grabbed Harry by the collar of his robes immediately and tried to drag him down the hall, surprised by the force with which he was forced to use. While Harry was easily the smallest boy in his year, he seemed to have gained some muscle over the summer and was putting up a good fight. Neither of them saw the astonished students standing outside the classroom door watching as Snape haphazardly dragged Harry down the hallway and out of sight. Even Draco's mouth was hanging open in shock.

"He's brave," Neville whispered.

Draco shook his head. "He's stupid," he corrected him. He himself had once disobeyed his head of house and had become a little too cocky for the man's liking. He had spent weeks cleaning dungeon floors and old potion's jars until the wee hours of the morning, and had since learned not to cross the man.

"Get off! Get off!" Harry half shouted as he struggled with the man all the way up out of the dungeons and then up a flight of stairs to the first floor. Harry thought he would be dragged all the way to the Headmaster's office, but apparently he was struggling too hard and Snape could only make McGonagall's office. He kicked the door open to Minerva's surprise and dragged Harry in, throwing him into the room. Harry knocked hard into a desk and almost fell over backwards, but managed to catch himself, looking livid and giving an icy glare to Snape, the bane of his existence.

"What on earth is going on Severus?" Minerva asked, standing from behind her desk.

Severus pointed a finger at Harry. "You had better get your brats under control Minerva," he half spat, meaning no disrespect for her, but being so angry at Harry that he couldn't help it. "He's been assigned two weeks of detention with me but I'm adding another two because I had to drag the whelp all the way up here with him kicking and fighting. He's lucky I don't have him thrown out on his scrawny ass."

Her eyes were wide, wondering what on earth had happened to get Severus in such a state. She had seen him angry before, but even in the most dire situation he had been one to keep his cool and never lose composure.

Before she could ask anything else about the incident Snape had disappeared out the door, leaving Harry to explain himself to his head of house.

Harry slumped down into the student desk in front of hers and ran a hand through his messy hair. "M'sorry," he said, trying to calm himself.

"Well you had better be Mr. Potter. That kind of disrespect will not be tolerated, not against any student or staff member, let me assure you. Your behavior in the past two weeks has not gone unnoted. I have no idea what has gotten into you but I suggest you figure it out before Severus insists that you be expelled."

Harry ran his hand through his hair again. "I'm sorry, really. I didn't mean to get in trouble like that."

McGonagall sighed. "Well you have a months worth of detention to be sorry about it Mr. Potter. I suggest you temper your emotions before you earn yourself any more trouble. You may return to your common room. When you're not in detention or class, or meals, I expect you to be in your common room, am I understood?"

Harry nodded, not wanting to disrespect her in any way. She had never done anything unkind to him after all... had never treated him like a worthless piece of trash, left to be picked up by the garbage men and taken to the dump...

In the empty Gryffindor common room Harry sat in the best chair by the fire with one leg over the arm of the chair, waiting for his friends to get back from classes. He had no intention of going to Charms or Herbology that afternoon after he had been made a fool of by the worthless Slytherin Potion's Master. There had been no need to drag him up through the castle like that... he would have gone of his own volition if he'd been given the chance.

Ron and Hermione found him after Charms during their brief break between classes and asked what had happened, but Harry was not in the mood to talk about it. He muttered something about homework and Hermione gave him her notes and the assignments so that he could get started. After she had left a twisted idea caught Harry as funny and he decided to start his Potion's essay first. He knew he would be pissing his professor off royally, but that was what he was going for. At the top of his page instead of his name he put: James Potter. Of course he had wanted the man to hear his friends calling him that, but that had not seemed to have happened yet, and this was a more direct way of getting the point across to him that he was just like James, and always would be, because James was the only real father he knew, even if he didn't know him because they had never truly met.

After his name had been put down he scrawled his essay quickly, unable to keep his hand from shaking in anger. Of course he made sure he was writing down an O worthy paper because that would piss off the man even more that Harry had done well and he would not be able to give him a bad grade after all that Harry had now done.

Harry skipped dinner as well, not feeling hungry. His backside hurt from where he had been thrown into the desk in McGonagall's office and he preferred to get a nap in before he had to spend all night doing disgusting chores for Snape as detention.

At seven sharp, the time Snape always instructed students to appear for detention, Harry left the common room, planning on showing up late as promised. He stewed inside as he descended through the castle... he hated that Snape thought he had grown up being treated like royalty. If the man had any idea the kind of life he had lead at the hands of his aunt and uncle he would shudder and lose as much sleep as Harry often did. But no, he would never see who Harry really was... he would never know the truth and would always choose to remain ignorant. Ignorance by choice made Harry even angrier than being called a prince or being dragged halfway through the castle.

Somewhere deep down, Harry wished Snape would learn the truth, because somehow that would take the burden off of Harry's shoulders, but it burned him up inside every day to know that the truth would never come out, and he would always be weighted down by this awful feeling inside the pit of his stomach. Even now as he strolled into the Potion Master's office five minutes late, he could feel heartburn setting in for the night as the anger burned hotter than ever.

"I'm here," Harry said casually, crossing his arms and leaning on the doorframe to the man's office.

Snape glared at Harry and crossed his own arms. "Do you want to spend the entire year in detention Potter? Because I'm sure I can find enough toilets for you to scrub and rat brains for you to pickle."

The mention of rat brains made Harry want to barf, but he swallowed hard and tried to think of something else. Near every little thing made him nauseous nowadays, and he had a hard time keeping food down at all.

"Well?" Snape asked impatiently.

"Thinking about it," Harry said, pretending that he was interested in spending every night doing detention with the man for an entire year. The statement had the desired effect in fueling his professor's anger.

"Get to work then," Snape said, motioning for the door. Harry turned to see the door across the hall open to reveal a toothbrush and pail of water. "You can start by scrubbing every inch of the dungeon hall floors. If you miss even one spot I will make you start anew, now get out."

Disgusted with himself for getting such an awful detention that would take him the better part of a week or more, Harry had to force a smile upon his face. He wanted to smile because he wanted to anger the man sitting behind the desk even more. It was almost becoming a game to him now, to see just what he could do to piss him off. He reveled in the look on the man's face as he moved off and to the end of the corridor where he dropped to his knees and began scrubbing.

16 years of scrubbing floors at the Dursley's had allowed Harry to train his mind to think about other things while he worked to make the work less mundane and less of a punishment. Currently he was going over the chapters he had memorized earlier in the day so that he was sure to get good grades later on. He knew they couldn't kick him out for his attitude so long as his grades were outstanding, and that was what he had worked hard for all summer. He had used his school books to keep his mind off of things ever since his aunt had let her little secret slip. Granted it didn't work when he was very upset or angry, but during chores it worked better because he had trained himself to think of other things during this time. After two hours he had only moved a few feet down the hall, and Severus stepped out to see that he was still working and not just sitting there.

"Really Potter, is that all you've managed to accomplish in two hours? You've missed a spot there in the corner anyway, and you can start over tomorrow night." It seemed that Snape too had picked up on Harry's little game and was now playing it himself, trying to get Harry riled up.

"I have not," Harry said, frowning and looking to where Snape had pointed to.

"If you feel like arguing then you can stay an extra hour tonight Potter." Snape turned and went back to his office, satisfied with the irritated muttering that followed him as he went.