Harry Potter: The Adopted Boy Who Lived.

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit off of anything Harry Potter. It is owned by J. K. Rowling.

A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, and I'm just figuring out how to use ... please be patient...

All Harry ever wanted was a normal life, like everyone else at school. But, of course, that wasn't to be allowed for him. He would always have to duck whispers and glances of sympathy, even from his supposed best friends. It was almost too much for one person to handle. 'At least some things never change', he thought to himself, as yet again, Snape, the greasy git that he was, awarded him detention and 50 points from Gryffindor, for hexing Malfoy. Of course Malfoy deserved it, seeing as he was the one who snuck up on Harry and tried to curse him first.

Harry had been training his mind over the summer to recognize any sort of measure that may be taken against him, by Malfoy or by 'Others' to be unnamed. He was sick of everyone thinking that he was weak, or stupid, just because he never thought out his actions before-hand, causing others to be injured or even killed. 'Like I got Sirius killed', Harry thought glumly to himself. If only he had listened to Snape when he was teaching him occulmancy, he thought sourly. Then Sirius would still be alive and Harry could live with him, not with his stupid aunt and the rest.

They were three of the people that he hated the most... But still not as much as he hated Voldemort. It was all because of him that Harry didn't have a normal life. And the irony was that everything he stood for, like purity of wizard blood and such, he was the opposite. Harry quietly contemplated how many people would still follow him if they knew the truth, while Ron rambled on about how much more Snape was being an arse than usual. Probably not that many.

"He didn't really need to let that prat, Malfoy, off with hardly more than a detention with Filch! We all know that Malfoy won't have to lift a finger all night, while Snape subjects Harry to who knows what nasty task! It's just not fair, Hermione!" Ron finally came to the end of a breath and before he could start up again, Hermione interjected, "Ron, you do realize that Malfoy's dad is a Death-Eater, right?"

Ron looked at her stupidly and was opening his mouth to speak again, when Hermione continued, "also, Malfoy could whine to his dad, where his dad could then make Professor Snape's life hell by saying something to you-know-who, who could then cause professor Snape harm. So do you see why he has to be nice to Malfoy, and mean to Harry, Ron?" She finally finished, in her logical, Hermione sort of way that leaves no room for argument.

Ron thought quietly to himself, as did Harry, pondering her words of insight into the life of one, Severus Snape. "What do you think, Harry?" Ron asked him tentatively, like he was afraid that Harry was a fragile piece of glass that could break any moment. That was it! Harry had had enough! He stormed off, leaving Ron and Hermione standing and looking at his retreating back surprised at his sudden outburst. At least to them it was better than his latest bought of silence and self-pity/loathing.

They knew how guilty he was feeling about Sirius, but they couldn't fully understand, because he wouldn't ever speak to anyone about his feelings. And Harry was getting sick of them assuming that he only felt like they thought he did all the time.

'Damn-it!' He thought to himself. 'Why can't I have one person in my life who really understands me! Why does everyone important keep disappearing from my life!'

Harry didn't realize it, but in his frustration, he had run down into the dungeons, trying to get away from everyone who might try to pity him. He panicked. He didn't recognize this part of the dungeon, and he'd been pretty much all over the castle. He heard some voices coming up behind him so he ducked in behind a suit of armor, hoping he wasn't caught. Especially since he didn't know weather he was actually allowed to be in these parts of the dungeons, and he didn't want to find out the hard way, seeing as he could now hear that one of the people coming up to where he was hiding was Snape.

'Good grief,' Harry thought to himself, 'why do I always seem to end up hiding from this git? I'm always dodging or ducking him. It's really not that fair that he hates me as much as he does, just because James is my dad and he used to torment Snape all the time. It's not like I am. He's just an arse to me, and I'm pretty sure he overly enjoys it just a tad too much for any normal, sane person.'

Maybe after the war was over, Harry could convince Dumbledore to send Snape off to St. Mugdo's for psychological testing. Harry couldn't help but snicker at that, and then all of a sudden he was snatched from behind the suit of armor. 'O crap.' was all Harry thought to himself.

" Mr. Potter, I fail to see any need for you to be in the dungeons, especially in my personal labs." Snape said sourly. "Now, you have another week's worth of detentions, as well as another 100 points from Gryffindor for whatever you were planning this time."

'For crying out loud,' Harry thought to himself, 'I wasn't even up to anything!' For once, his conscious whispered treacherously back at him. He sighed heavily. 'Well, the day could have been worse,' he thought to himself, 'at least I didn't get anyone killed or even hurt today... Just a lot of grief from my house-mates for all the points lost.'

Snape had been waiting a day or two for the first detention to take place, bit after this, he told Harry to show up at 8 sharp or there would be even more detentions and lost points for every second he was late. He then kicked Harry out, and swung the door shut, and it wasn't until Harry stood there for a moment, that he realized he hadn't even looked at the person that Snape was talking to before Harry had interrupted him so ungracefully. Oh well... If it really were important, Harry would have noticed at some point. Harry didn't want to drag himself through dinner at the table, so he snuck to the kitchens and grabbed an armload of snacks and headed upstairs to wait for his torture session (aka detention) with Snape to begin. He even manged to get most of his homework for the weekend done. 'Great,' he thought to himself, 'I'm turning into a regular Hermione Granger.'

End of epilogue.

A/N: I know it was a short chapter, but I couldn't even keep my eye's open, so I figured I'd make the first chapter into a basis to show just how Harry feels about the people around him, and then continue with the actual story...