All Or Nothing

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Glee' or 'Harry Potter'. All recognisable characters, content or locations belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter Two:

"Would you be interested in joining Glee Club?"

Harry arched a skeptical eyebrow, arms crossed over his chest, as Finn Hudson fidgeted awkwardly in front of him. They were stood by the doors to the library because Harry had needed to look up some reference materials for his English report and Hudson had followed him there like a tenacious bull terrier, but now as he eyed the former quarterback, Harry asked himself if he should have just given his taller classmate the slip while he'd still had the chance.

"What made you think that?" He queried.

"I heard you in the showers last Friday," Finn explained, "You were singing 'Sweet Child of Mine'. It was good."

Harry grimaced, shook his head and replied, "Sorry, dude, but I have other priorities."

He sidestepped the former football player, entered the library, and proceeded to follow through with his search. A number of his fellow classmates, Rachel Berry, Quinn Fabray, and Mike Chang, among others, were already between the stacks, but because their teacher had assigned them each different novels to avoid collaborations and what have you, Harry wasn't particularly concerned about the resources available to him.

"Hey Quinn," Harry greeted as he passed her by, "How goes things?"

"Not bad," she answered, glimpsed at the novel in his hand, and grimaced her sympathy. "Better than you, I'd say."

Harry shrugged, thumbed through the pages of Mary Shelly's 'Frankenstein', and answered, "It's not too bad, I guess. At the very least, it's not 'Catcher in the Rye'."

"You think it's a waste of paper, too?" Quinn looked surprised. "Everyone I know whose read it thought it was amazing."

Harry grimaced mildly. "It's not the best thing I've read."

He sought out his last reference book, straightened up, and gave the blonde a shrug. "I'll catch you later, Quinn."

In truth, Harry had been 'friends' with Quinn Fabray since their freshman year. He'd shared advanced classes with the same people for three years, and it was essentially inevitable to get to know most of them in that time. He generally avoided Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel, who were way too pre-madonna for him to tolerate for extended periods of time, but he was more or less friendly with the others, among them Quinn, Mike Chang and matt Rutherford, who'd transferred schools, but whom Harry spoke to often enough anyway.

In his AP English classroom, where their substitute teacher had promised a class of independent study, Harry withdrew his laptop from his bag, opened up his assignment file and set to work, unfazed when his classmates filed in and took their own seats around the room. It was quiet, most everyone had their headphones plugged in as they worked, but as Harry did just that, he was disturbed by the substitute teacher, singing to herself at the teacher's desk as she clacked away at her laptop's keyboard.

Two seats to his right, Helena Granger huffed to herself, flipped a page in her novel, and wrote away in her notebook in her familiar, loopy hand. They'd been close once, but after Robert, they'd both been changed, they'd drifted, and only their memories remained the same.

harry turned back to his work, but his mind wandered again, to Finn Hudson, to Glee Club, and he wondered what it would be like to join them. Then he shook himself, because joining the New Directions was out of the question, and it wasn't as though he didn't have enough commitments as was. All the same, the curiosity lingered as he returned to his work, and even afterwards, as he maintained idle conversation with the classmates who passed him by, with the friends and teammates and his alleged 'admirers', who left his company with their cheeks stained red and smiles on their faces, the thought persisted, and without really intending to, Harry walked to the auditorium during lunch, approached the baby grand piano, and trailed a finger along the ivory keys. They were soft beneath his fingers, cool and familiar despite the fact that he'd never touched this particular piano in his life, and he smiled to himself at the sensation.

With a cursory glance to ensure he was alone, Harry settled himself on the piano stool, deposited his bag beside it, and began the familiar piano introduction to the Fray's 'How To Save A Life'. He'd learned it for Robert, his best friend who'd died a year ago, but certain he was alone, and inspired by the sound of the piano as it echoed through the performance hall, Harry began to sing the familiar lyrics, already lost in the memory of his friend.

"Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life…"

As his impromptu, private performance came to an end, Harry gathered up his bag, retreated up the auditorium staircase, and made his way into the music corridor. It didn't take him long to make his way to the cafeteria, and once he'd purchased himself some of the Coach Hooper approved options available, Harry joined his team at their usual table, joined in the discussion concerning Coach Hooper's mandatory weekend workshops, and tried not to think about how much he'd enjoyed performing, even if only to an empty auditorium.

"What did you do this weekend, anyway?" Sean queried, "You weren't at Dean's party."

"Nothing as exciting as getting wasted, nor as riveting as the hangover the morning after," Harry answered flippantly.

"One day, we'll get you to party with us," Dean vowed.

"Whatever," Harry acknowledged, took a bite out of his apple, and cast his gaze around the cafeteria.

Victoria was seated with a gaggle of her fellow freshmen, though they were Cheerios, but his younger sister looked bored out of her skull, and Harry supposed that her new acquaintances combined, carried all of the IQ of a paper bag, if not less. They looked vapid enough, and harry was honestly surprised that Vick hadn't just deserted them already. She'd never been able to stand for stupidity, and her patience tended to err on the nonexistent side, but then again, she'd always just wanted to fit in more than anything else.

He couldn't blame her, really, but he gave his sister a week until she started to spend time with her field hockey team instead.

"Do you know what we're doing in today's training session?" Frankie asked, expectant gaze on Harry.

the question garnered everyone else's attention, because they'd all learned a week into their first season on Coach Hooper's team that forewarned meant forearmed, and it would never do them any good to go in unprepared, physically or psychologically speaking.

They were a close and talented team, like a well-oiled machine, with the knowledge of each other's skills to balance out their respective weaknesses. The seniors this year would each mentor at least one freshman, and the team's fluidity would continue on, changed but unbroken.

That didn't make them any less lazy though. Committed, yes, but that didn't mean they'd not be willing to skive if ever the opportunity arose, though Harry doubted it ever would. Not under Coach Hooper's questionable mercy, at any rate.

"An hour of callisthenics, an hour of team drills," harry answered, "And a mandatory gym session tomorrow morning."

They sounded their protest, Harry shrugged helplessly, and drained the last of his water bottle. He absently chewed and swallowed his orange slices, listened as his team talked about other things, like classes, homework, girls and video games, and was wrenched mercilessly from his observations by the bell. He cleared away his tray without protest though, followed his friends out of the cafeteria, and made his way to his American Government class with a few minutes to spare.

As the soccer captain took his usual seat in the third row, he was approached by Rachel Berry, who settled herself at the desk beside him, turned to face him side on, and gave him a smile so wide it couldn't be genuine.

"Can I help you, Rachel?" harry queried politely, more occupied with the task of proofreading his homework.

"No, I'm well, thank you. I was rather hoping I could help you, actually."

"Oh?"

"You see, I had the rather fortuitous opportunity to overhear you perform 'How To Save A Life' in the auditorium during lunch today, and I thought it best to inform you that the Glee Club could use talent like yours. We're always in need of more strong male vocals, and it would look remarkable on your college applications."

"I've already been asked," Harry replied, "By Hudson, actually. Did you two collaborate, or something? By the way, my answer's still no."

"No, actually," Rachel answered, "But in saying that, Finn is my boyfriend, so it stands to reason that we think on the same wavelength, don't you agree?

"Um, no? There's this thing called coincidence, Rachel. You might have heard of it. Why are you guys so persistent, anyway?"

"Because we need twelve members to qualify for sectionals, and with Matthew no longer a student, the New Directions is now one member short of fulfilling that quota."

Harry nodded his understanding, her eyes lit up with hope, and Harry burst her bubble with only a smidgen of guilt. "My answer is still no. I have other commitments that take precedent and quite frankly, I'd rather avoid slushie facials if I can help it."

A slushie facial was the intimidation and humiliation method favoured by the hockey neanderthals Harry called classmates, but after Coach Hooper had unapologetically banned the soccer team from partaking in any form of bullying, they'd been relieved from the distasteful expectation to join their fellow athletes in 'putting the losers in their place'.

Coach Hooper's no bullying policy ensured that they'd be kicked off the team if there was any indication that his ban had been broken, but thus far, no one had felt inclined to test the veracity behind his threat, and Harry doubted that they ever would. Roland Hooper was an intimidating bastard, and the entire team was more inclined to remain in his good graces if they could help it.

Rachel looked deflated, but she asked, "Would you at least consider it?"

He sighed, but relented, not quite able to say no to her admittedly impressive puppy eyes. "I make no promises though. As I said, I have other commitments to think about."

Rachel's responding smile lit up her whole face, he'd never seen her appear so happy, but as their teacher shuffled in, Harry sighed, and ask himself what he'd just done. Surely, Glee Club was still out of the question, wasn't it?