A/N: No Reviews so far? That doesn't mean I will stop this! At least for now I won't. But you know, every author NEEDS reviews to survive, alright? ;))

Couldn't you write at least a few remarks, well even a few will do!

This is the beta'ed version. Thanks to Tabitha78!

Chapter 2 - To fulfill everyone's expectations

Almost three weeks had gone by and Harry ran up to Transfigurations. He had spent most of his free time in the library as he had much extra work to do.

"Oh, Mister McGraw has arrived? Have a seat so we can begin with the lesson."

Harry took his seat on an empty table in the last row.

He scribbled down notes on a piece of parchment and tried to concentrate on a spell at the same time. When McGonagall came around to test him she looked annoyed at the result.

"Your rat still has a parrot's feathers. This will mean extra homework for you. Seventeen inches of parchment on how the spell should have worked, why it would have worked, and why you obviously failed to do it the right way."

"With all respect, Professor!" he complained, his voice still neutral. "I failed because I already have so much extra homework to do that I almost have no time to sleep. I just have no time to do more extra homework." It was rather a remark, than a complaint.

"I have a very good solution how you can get some time to do this essay. Detention, tonight, right after dinner."

"I'm sorry, I already have detentions tonight."

McGonagall looked at him with interest. "With whom?"

"Professor Snape. I dared to do a potion correctly."

"So we will go for tomorrow evening instead." Yeah, detentions on a Friday evening! Harry thought sarcastically. "And seventeen inches of parchment on your spell."

Harry knew it would be better to keep his mouth shut so he worked on silently.

xXxXx

It was almost eight o'clock and Harry ran down to the dungeons to his detention with Snape.

Obviously, both teachers were angry when they had discovered that 'Sheldon' was a smart and intelligent boy and that they had lost him. They put as much extra homework on him as they thought would still be tolerated.

"You are actually early. There are some ingredients on that table, a parchment with the instructions next to them. Begin with the potion, you have an hour."

Snape settled on the chair behind his desk and began to read a book. Harry started with the potion and was finished after only half an hour.

Snape looked even angrier than he had the last time when Harry managed to do a potion correctly. And he wasn't even Harry Potter at the moment.

"Bottle it up and bring it to my desk." Harry did as he was told.

"Am I allowed to leave?"

"You may go. I will receive an essay of at least seven paragraphs on the Potion you made tomorrow."

Harry clenched his teeth. That sneering, filthy..."Yes... Sir." He walked out of the dungeons and back into the library to start his homework for this day and the potions essay.

He worked uninterrupted until the librarian told him that there were only five minutes until curfew. Harry thanked her and took some books to his rooms. He placed them on top of his desk, already covered with several books and loads of parchment. Then he continued with the essays he had to write.

xXxXx

When Harry woke it was already breakfast time, but he considered that he would not have any time to eat, since he still had work to do. He almost showed up late to Care for Magical Creatures and still had not finished his potions essay. After transfigurations, he didn't go to lunch so he could write the last paragraph.

When the professor commented, "I never thought that you really could do it in time," Harry bit on his tongue to not to comment. He would have earned himself another essay and had almost earned another detention for the next evening as well, if Neville hadn't blown up his cauldron the very moment Harry was about to say something. Since he wasn't in any house, and so was immune against taking points from him, detentions and extra homework seemed to be the cure-all for every slightly annoying thing he did. Including correctly done potions.

He highly considered in his mind leaving off dinner in order to finish some of his homework before detention with Professor McGonagall. He was running to the library to have more time left to do his work. After writing for some time he stood up to fetch a book and fainted.

xXxXxXx

"I assure you, I am capable to leave the hospital wing. I still have work to do! I can't forget about my detention tonight!"

"I cancelled your detention with Minerva and I asked her and Severus not to give you more work then you can handle." Madame Pomfrey said sharply. He looked at the nurse with anger.

"I can handle the work!"

Madame Pomfrey asked Harry..."You skipped your meals because you had no time to eat, right?" He refused to answer in any kind.

"Ah, Mr. McGraw. You are more or less alright?" Dumbledore entered the hospital wing.

"Less, Headmaster, he is clearly less alright then he wants to make us believe."

"Sheldon?" the Headmaster asked with the usual twinkle in his eyes.

"I have work to do, headmaster! I also have detention tonight with Professor McGonagall and..."

"And he is clearly not capable to go on like this. He had very little to eat yesterday refused to eat today completely in order to finish his work." Madame Pomfrey complained.

"I will have a word with Minerva and Severus. They were supposed to work together, but obviously failed." Dumbledore looked at Harry. "I will expect to see young Sheldon at breakfast tomorrow morning in the Great Hall."

Harry nodded and Poppy snorted. He gave Harry some pyjamas and told him he was to stay in the hospital wing for the night.

xXxXxXx

The next morning, Harry hurried down to the Great Hall and walked by the long house tables up to the Head Table to take a seat at the right end. He buttered a toast and shovelled scrambled eggs with bacon onto his plate.

"I'm happy to see you in such a good mood today." the Headmaster commented to Harry.

"Thank you, Sir!" Harry replied.

"I hope you will have a rest today?"

"I will, Headmaster." Harry nodded at him again, but was sure he would have to do some work in order to catch up with homework. After breakfast Harry returned to his rooms and found a neat envelope lying on the mess on his desk.

It summoned him to the Headmasters office at half past eleven o'clock this morning. Harry groaned at the mere thought of it. In the meantime he decided to clean up his desk.

Under all the books and rolls of parchment, he found his mothers letter. He checked if he had time to reread it, and decided that the letter had to wait. Sheldon McGraw was expected to be in the headmaster's office in seven minutes.

xXx

Harry knocked on the heavy door and it opened by itself. Inside Snape and McGonagall were already waiting.

"Hello Sheldon, please come in and have a seat." Dumbledore pointed at the armchair between Snape's and McGonagall's. Harry nodded and did as he was 'kindly advised.'

"We are here for a serious matter. I already informed your two tutors how exhausted you were yesterday, and that they had missed their first priority as tutors: They missed looking after your physical and emotional wealth." Dumbledore paused. "I also told them that I had chosen the both of them as they both could have become your Head of house. Any remarks on this so far?"

No one dared to say anything.

"I will hope you will change your attitude towards our new student and your attitude towards being not the only tutor the boy has. Neither one of you has lost him from their house. Hogwarts won a student, a smart student who fortunately has a very complex mind. That's nothing he has to be ashamed of, and that's nothing he should be punished for."

Dumbledore cast a dark glance at both of the teachers. "I'm not going to tolerate your conduct once again. So, if I find out that you're treating young Mr. McGraw as harsh as you already did once more, I personally will assure that both of you will have a hard time to find a new job. Not to mention that it would take a long time for the both of you to regain my trust." Harry began to feel uncomfortable. Dumbledore was telling off both teachers in front of him. He didn't like to see someone being told off, even if it was deserved. Malfoy being told off by Snape would be some kind of exception, but before that would happen, Voldemort would tell the world that all they needed was love, Harry thought grimly.

"The BOTH of you acted in a selfish way! You never even spend a single thought that the boy already emotionally distressed, did you? Did you ever wonder how it would feel to be an independent student? Not to belong to one house you could gain points for, to have friends among your housemates, not to be able to compete with anyone else at Quidditch matches or grades? You two feel sorry for yourselves having lost a quite smart student?" Dumbledore roared at the two teachers and Harry felt like he would burst into tears. He never had realised that 'independent' didn't mean he was something special. It seemed to only have disadvantages. "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves! It was YOUR duty to comfort the boy at least a little bit."
Finally Dumbledore dropped himself in the chair behind his desk. Silence filled the room.

"If you two were students, I would give you detention until graduation for acting like this. Be glad you're teachers. But I will take fifty points from each of your houses and I will watch over every point you give to one of your students."

"You cannot do this, Albus!" McGonagall threw in. She had sat there in silence, waiting for her chance to jump. "You cannot punish our students for our faults!"

"She is right!" Snape looked over to Harry and then addressed the Headmaster again. "Why do you punish our students for this?"

"I do not punish the students. It's mostly the Head of House who is the proudest when their house won the House Cup. And I recognized that the greatest competition is between Slytherin and Gryffindor. You two feel free to explain the loss of points to your students. I am sure they are quite capable to understand my reasons. Don't you think so, Sheldon?"

Harry looked up. He had tried to block out the conversation but actually he remembered everything except of the last question. "I am sorry, Professor. I did not listen to your question carefully."

"I asked you, whether you think that the Slytherin and Gryffindor students will understand and accept the reason I took points from their houses to punish their Head of House? Fortunately I can ask you to answer for both." Dumbledore smiled at Harry, trying to make him feel more comfortable.

"I suppose they will understand and I think that most of the Gryffindors would accept it, while most of the Slytherins would feel mistreated. I think... they don't think it's fair to punish all for the fault of one. But I only guess by what I've heard about the different houses and what I've seen during lessons."

Dumbledore looked rather interested. "Tell us, what did you witness?"

"Mostly the Gryffindors accept the fact that points are taken from them if someone is acting wrong or has no clue what to answer to the teacher. Slytherins seem to be more pleased if someone's given detentions. I am not saying I prefer any of this."

Dumbledore lifted an eyebrow at the sudden change in Harry's voice.

"I think if someone's trying to get his house into trouble, his housemates should get them back to normal. When they fail it's fair to take points from them. But if someone's too stupid to learn they should be capable to face detentions." Dumbledore's eyes filled with worry. This was far beyond everything Harry would have said, and how he had said it made him even worry more. This cold voice didn't seem to belong to Harry.

McGonagall and Snape raised an eyebrow as well on the answer of the student. Both of them detected traits of their house in him.

"I think Mr. McGraw made his opinion clear to us." Snape interjected.

"Indeed, he did, Severus. You and Minerva may leave now. I want to have a little chat with Mr. McGraw." The two teachers left and Harry found himself hold by Dumbledore's glare. "Your answer surprised my, Harry."

"I was surprised myself. I... don't know why it sounded so harsh. Actually I intended to say something rather diplomatic."

"You did. But it seemed to be Slytherin diplomatic, though."

"I am sorry, Sir." Harry covered his face with his hands. "I just don't know what to think and to say right now. Actually I never did in the past days. I was rather surprised I wasn't sorted, but I wasn't shocked. Not as much as I think I should have been, though."

"You don't have to be ashamed of that."

"It all came smashing down at me, when you mentioned my situation today. I have no identity, no friends; I've nothing left but... well... you." Harry paused for a while then looked up at the headmaster. "Do you think that the spell my mother cast on me affected my mind as well? I feel like I have changed not only physically."

"I think that some of your traits may have been suppressed by the charm, yes."

"Who am I? I... I'm certainly not Sheldon McGraw, but I can't return to being Harry Potter, too." Harry looked puzzled. "No, there is no Sheldon McGraw; it's just a name on a plate attached to my robes, literally. I don't know who I am, I don't know who I will be and I'm not certain who I was the past years."

Dumbledore replied kindly. "One is for sure: You have been Harry Potter and no one can take that from you. I still don't know who you are becoming now, but we will figure this out. After we figure out who you are now, we also will figure out who you will be some day."

"Am I still Voldemort's most hatred?"

Dumbledore laughed. "Pardon me for laughing. I'm certain you are still the number one on his to-do-list. He will be looking after you, especially when he receives the report that you vanished from school before it even really started."

"Will I still have a connection to him?" Harry looked anxious.

"Harry, your looks may have changed and some of your traits were uncovered, but still Voldemort tried to kill you when you were only a baby, and still your mother's love has rescued you. That scar on your forehead wasn't an illusion. It still is real and still there is a connection between you and Voldemort."

"I'm not sure if I care about Voldemort anymore, you know? I just... asked. I feel so silly. I feel like I actually don't know anything about myself anymore!"

"This apparently isn't true, Harry. You still know much about yourself, you are only insecure if you can trust the facts you came to know about yourself during the past sixteen years. No one will blame you for this, as your appearance is nothing like what it was only three weeks ago." Harry looked at his hands. He still was fascinated by his now long and elegant fingers. They looked fragile but actually had much strength within them. He also had discovered that the charm had prevented his appearance to show any improve of his muscles. With his true appearance he clearly could see it. Oh, how he missed flying!

"Professor? I was wondering if you could ...arrange something?"

"Ask me for anything you wish. I will see if I can fulfil it."

"I wanted to ask you if I could be a referee in some of the Quidditch matches now and then." Harry could feel the look Dumbledore gave him, he felt sorry for the boy.

"You don't need to feel sorry for me not having the chance to play Quidditch myself."

Dumbledore's expression changed. "I would be pleased if I could fulfil this wish. Anything else, Harry?"

"Just one other request, Sir. Could you please stop calling me 'Harry'? It doesn't feel right anymore, you know?"

"Should I call you 'Sheldon' then?"

"Maybe... I think this will do it for now... well at least until I hopefully find my father. But I guess I have to find him to know if I really wanted to find him."

"Good. I think you should prepare for lunch then. You have about fifteen minutes left."

"Thank you, Sir!" Harry smiled.

"You are welcome." Dumbledore finished their conversation.

Harry, or now Sheldon, left the office and headed towards his room.

"Professor!" A tiny voice called out from somewhere behind him. "Professor!" Suddenly a first year was at his side. "Professor, I have a question on... pardon me. I think I sort of mixed you up with someone else." Harry stopped and looked down at the little Gryffindor. She looked at him, her eyes suddenly resting on the left of his robes where a little embroidery of Hogwarts banner was attached where normally the embroidery of the house banner was.

"You are the new independent student, aren't you? Some sixth years were talking 'bout you, you know? They kind of wonder who you are and why you showed up. Some accuse you of being a spy, you know. Some think you are an auror. But almost all of them are frightened because they noticed you look an awful like Sn... Professor Snape... sometimes." Harry was about to say something, but the little girl already had disappeared.

"She is right. Perhaps you should cut your hair or bind it to a ponytail." Hermione hissed when she rushed past him. He looked after her. Once he had called her a friend and now she didn't even recognize him. No, there definitely was no time to pity himself.

Harry walked on without any other interference and was happy when he was able to close the door behind him and leave the world outside. Now he had time to deal with the lost letter on his desk. He pulled out the sheet of parchment and reread the first paragraphs. Still it was telling him that he wasn't the son of James Potter. Then he began to read last paragraph.

Dear son, I don't know if you ever got to know him, but your true father is a fine man, too. I met him as school, just as I met James there. He was a nice boy even if he was like every other boy and played the strong man when he was along with others. Harry, I hope you will meet your true father some day and I hope you will be at least as proud of him as you are proud of James. Harry, your father is Severus Snape.

Harry stopped and laughed about the joke. Then he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror and stopped. He looked at himself. But after almost a minute he sighed with relief. Maybe the girl on the corridor was right and Hermione was right, too. But any boy would look like Snape if he just had long black hair and was wearing black robes. And besides Snape was no 'fine man.' He had been a bloody Death Eater, and now he was a bloody spy. No, this was a bad joke.

Harry realized that he should be going to lunch now and stuffed the parchment into his pocket rather roughly. He could deal with this... prank (as he had decided that it was one, and a rather poor one, indeed!) later.

Please! You know what I'm pleading for, do you? kneeling down So, get moving and write something for me, will you? ;)