"You are not Joshua," he finally proclaimed.

Joshua's brows furrowed. "What do you mean I'm not Joshua? I finally remember who I am and you go telling me I'm not him either?

"In spirit perhaps, but in reality you are Harry James Potter, bloody boy who lives to make my life miserable."

"I don't know what you're going on about. I told you already, before this week I'd never even heard of Harry Potter."

"He is James Potter's son."

Joshua scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. James is only a sixth year! And I'm a sixth year too... he can't have had a son when he wasn't a year old yet!"

"No, but he had a son sixteen years ago, when he was 21. And then he was killed a year later by the Dark Lord."

"So... somehow I ended up in the future? In somebody else's body? But last thing I remember I was on the pitch playing a game against Hufflepuff. How can I have traveled in time? C'mon Sev, just listen to yourself, my broom's not that fast," he gave a little chuckle.

"Listen to yourself Joshua. What happened on the pitch that day? It was windy and raining and there was lightening. Did you ever catch the Snitch?"

Joshua bit his lip, the one nervous trait he and Potter seemed to share. "I was flying, and Lucius smacked a Bludger at O'Conner to free the path for me to the Snitch, and I was just reaching out for it when... when..." he looked up, confusion in his eyes. "I can't remember. I woke up here."

"You were just reaching for the Snitch when lightning struck you and you died."

Eyes wide, Joshua sat up straighter. "No I didn't. I'm here aren't I?"

"Three weeks ago Harry Potter fell a hundred feet in the pitch and died, and when we brought him back to life, you somehow came back instead. Do you remember any of this?"

Joshua felt as if Severus had struck him all of a sudden. He sat back in the chair and slouched down a little. Who wouldn't be disheartened to find out that they were really dead?

"So... 21 years have passed? What ever happened with you and Lily? Is the Dark Lord still around or did you beat him? Where are Lucius and the others?"

"Two weeks after you died I called Lily a mudblood. She never forgave me and married James Potter. Harry, the boy you are inhabiting is her son. When Harry was one year old, the Dark Lord attacked him, killing both parents and then himself as his magic rebounded off of the boy. He has been trying to regain corporeal form and power since. You met Lucius' son, Draco, when he was trying to remove you from the common room. Lucius entered into the service of the Dark Lord before you died, unbeknownst to anyone but Narcissa, now his wife.

"And the others?"

"Some of them have children here, but most are in Azkaban for services rendered to the Dark Lord."

Joshua sighed. "Guess the world didn't turn out the way we wanted it to then huh?"

"No." Severus rubbed his temple. It was odd to feel the teacher explaining something to a student, and yet to feel at ease with him as if it was only yesterday that he himself was 16, and throwing paper airplanes at his friend across the common room.

"What now? I mean, you brought me back from the dead and Harry is dead now. Can we bring him back?"

"You can't mean that you want to die again?" Severus sat forward, suddenly alarmed. It had nearly killed him when Joshua had died, and he didn't want to lose the miraculous recovery of him now.

"Well it isn't fair to Harry then is it? I don't belong in this world Severus. I belong back at the Hogwarts where the Hospital Wing walls were still wood and Slughorn was head of Slyhterin house, and when we had plans of defeating Voldemort when we were older. Back when Lucius was still our hero and you were falling over your own feet whenever Lily walked by you. How am I supposed to just steal somebody else's life?"

Severus sighed heavily. He was right of course, but how could he let his friend go in favor of returning the Potter brat? And then again, how could he not? True, Harry should have died, but this was Harry's body and life, not Joshua's.

"There is one chance, but you would have to die again. And there is no guarantee that we could bring either of you back, or that we would not bring back yet another consciousness."

Joshua bit his lip as he thought. "The pitch is fairly empty I think," he said plainly, as if that made the matter simple and clear.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't know. I have this memory of an empty pitch. Dark and quiet, but still lit up with lights. And there's other people there, but not many... they're all students like me. And there's a door, but I've never been through it. Every once in a while one of them goes through it and never comes back."

"A door?"

"There was a girl... she said she was ready and she went through it... said she heard someone calling her name. And there was a boy, and he swore he'd never go through the door, and he disappeared."

"Are you sure you're remembering correctly?"

He nodded. "It's so clear now. It's as if there's no time there, just moments. And I've heard them calling my name beyond the door, but I never go through. I don't want to die you know." He looked up into Severus' dark eyes and the man saw the sparkling eyes of his friend once again rather than the eyes of Harry Potter.

"The boy... have you seen him? He had blond hair and glasses, and he was a Beater."

"There is a ghost of that description that frequents the Quidditch Pitch during practices and games. He lives in the Ravenclaw locker rooms the rest of the year."

"So that's where he went," Joshua smiled. There was such a calmness in his voice that hadn't been there before. Acceptance even.

There was silence for long moments, and then Severus said, "Do you truly wish to return Potter's body back to him?"

"Yes. I think I can make sure he's the one who returns."

And what of you? Are you to become a ghost as well?"

"No," he smiled sheepishly. "I think I'm done waiting. It's time to go home."

* * *

They were all watching him as he made his way to the hospital bed. His old professors were there, smiling at him and looking on in wonder. He had been given some time alone with some of them, like McGonagall, who always had liked him. And he had sat for long, silent moments with Severus, not talking, not reminiscing, just being, and taking comfort in the fact that his friend had made it through turbulent times, even if he had done it without him.

"Ready Joshua?"

He nodded at the medi-witch, and then turned to Severus, who was looking rather pale.

He put a hand up on his friend's shoulder and said, "Take heart Severus. We'll meet again someday. Go through the door when you're ready." He gave him a warm smile, and Severus returned it.

"Farewell old friend."

Joshua sat down on the bed and waited. When a potion was handed to him he uncorked it and said, "If he has not yet gone through the door, I will send him back to you." And then with a single swig of the black liquid, he lay down and was gone.

Silence filled the room as the six Professor's and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny looked on at the lifeless body, wondering what would happen next.

"Has it been enough time?" Minerva asked after a few moments.

"He said there is no time there. We should resuscitate him before Potter's body begins to decay," Severus said, his words sounding as lifeless as the body on the bed.

Together he and Dumbledore moved to opposite sides of the bed and began the long incantation that had once brought back sixteen year old Joshua Illatoby Ignotious. It was long, drawn out moments before the spell was finished, and they waited patiently to see what would happen. Finally, there was a deep breath, as if gasping for air, and then his chest was rising and falling rhythmically.

"Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore intoned quietly. "Harry?"

The boy stirred and weakly opened his eyes. "Where's Snape?"

Excitement flitted through Severus for a moment before he realized that Joshua would never have called him ‘Snape'.

"Here Potter." He moved closer so the boy could see.

"Joshua says hello sir. He went home to be with God and his family."

Severus sat back in the chair he'd been occupying next to Harry's bed and felt as much relief as he saw spread on the faces of the others gathered there.

Hermione and Ron stepped forward tentatively and then asked, "Harry? Is it really you?"

"My memory's kind of foggy... except what Joshua told me. But he said you'd be waiting here... and something about me keeping his hair cut trimmed."

Ron laughed along with McGonagall and a few other staff members.

Severus rose and left the room. He didn't think he could bare to sit there and listen to Harry joke with his friends, alive and well, knowing Joshua was once again gone.

* * *

"Sir?"

Severus looked up at the knock on his open office door. It was Potter, but he expected to see Joshua, there to tell him he had somehow managed to return again.

"What is it Potter?" He tried to inject some annoyance, but was too tired to manage the tone.

Harry came in and stood in front of his desk. It had taken a couple of weeks of lemon drops for him to regain his memory, as Joshua had done, but since then he seemed back to his normal self, aside from one thing.

"Sir, I just wanted to say thank you, for helping me I mean."

"Those are rare words coming from your lips."

Harry bit his lip and scratched at his newly re-grown hair, unruly once again, but still tidier than it had always been. "Well Joshua told me some things sir. Things about you I mean, and my mum." Severus had set his quill down now and was looking a little pale, staring just beyond Harry. "What I mean to say is, I understand some things now that I didn't before."

"Fine Potter, you can leave now."

Harry gripped the strap of his backpack tighter, as if it might have suddenly grown too heavy hanging there on his shoulder.

"I just wanted to say that I don't mean to be the bloody boy who lived to make your life miserable sir."

Severus' head snapped up. So Joshua had told him quite a bit about his time there had he?

He breathed deeply for a few moments, and then said, "Fine Potter. Return to your classes or you will be late."

Harry looked a little sad as he left, but Severus didn't know if he cared to care or not. It didn't matter that weeks had passed, he was still emotionally burnt from gaining and then losing his friend once more. Why should he go and put his emotions on the line again like that caring about the Potter brat? And yet he found himself relieved all the same that Potter seemed different somehow... more contrite and respectful. And perhaps a little less headstrong and foolhardy he admitted.

* * *

Harry sat in Potions the next day next to Ron and Hermione. It had been a while now, and people were still giving him odd looks, especially the Slytherins, now that the school knew he had been inhabited by a dead Slytherin who was once friends with Professor Snape.

He didn't know how to explain it, but he felt tired and calm. Before the accident he was angry and upset, and unhappy with his life. Now he was just normal. It was almost as if he had been on a rollercoaster and had finally come to a decision to get off. What use was it being so angry all the time when life was so short and fragile to begin with? He had even tried to make amends with Professor Snape, even though the man had been the one to start the feud in the first place. It didn't seem to work, but Harry just couldn't get himself worked up about it.

Ron and Hermione chatted happily beside him as the Potion's Master walked in and tapped the blackboard with his wand. The class quieted and started to work.

It wasn't long before Professor Snape was standing over his shoulder, ready to criticize Harry's work, as was their routine. Harry brewed, Snape criticized, Harry seethed, class ended. That was normal. But not this time. Harry couldn't get angry and Snape was just standing there, no foul insults being thrown Harry's way.

"Acceptable Potter," were the words that left the Professor's mouth as he looked down into the purple solution. Time seemed to stop as the class froze, some mid stir, to watch Snape cautiously. He had never praised Harry's work before.

"You have perhaps added too much bezoar. Put in another Guffer pod to counteract it and you will receive full marks."

Snape moved back towards the front of the room, and Harry stared after him, along with the rest of the class.

"Thank you sir," Harry said quietly, and Snape gave one nod, not turning back to him.

"D'you reckon somebody else has inhabited his body?" Ron asked quietly, although Snape's sharp ears were still listening.

Harry thought on it for a moment, and then said, "Joshua maybe. I know he's still here with me."

Ron and Hermione looked alarmed for a moment, but Harry waved their looks away and Severus turned just in time to see Harry tap his chest above his heart.

"Can't share a death without leaving something behind," Harry said quietly as he dropped another Guffer pod into his potion.

"Or a friend," Severus whispered quietly at the front of the room. But nobody heard, and he sat down at his desk to contemplate his life once more.