"Lily?"

Whatever Harry had been planning to say caught in his throat and he made an odd gagging noise. Recovering he raised a brow and cocked his head. "Er, professor?" he squeaked.

"Potter!"

Harry watched as a myriad of emotions played themselves across his usually stoic professor's face.

"That's the general assumption, sir."

The potion master quickly composed himself and crossed his arms, glaring menacingly. "What are you doing here, Potter? You're supposed to be in the Hospital Wing!"

"I came down here. To talk to you." Harry stated evenly his voice several octaves higher than they had been before. What was going on?

"I supposed you haven't looked in a mirror lately have you?"

"No. I have a decent idea as to what I look like. Unlike Lockhart I don't need to check my appearance every time I move seven feet!"

"As much as I agree with you, I think you should be aware of what you look like." Snape left the room and Harry could hear him muttering the shrinking spell, a moment later returning with a small mirror. The pallid man handed it to him and Harry glanced at his image, sure that the wizard had finally snapped.

CRASH

The mirror shattered on the stone floor, and Snape watched amused as the boy-who-refused-to-die turned pale and took several steps away from the incriminating broken piece of matter.

"Tch tch tch, Potter, really."

"What happened to me?!" Harry gasped out, looking at his hands and feeling his face. On impulse he grabbed at his hair and brought it before his eyes looking in horror at it's red curls. "I look like…like…a…"

"Girl? You're mother to be precise. I told you when the bloodstones are activated in your system they erased all my influence from your genetic DNA. You looked exactly like your mother for a few moments before she injected you with James' blood.

"Now that we have emptied your system of most of the bloodstones which is mixed with James' blood, the process is being reversed. Madam Pomfrey took my blood earlier this afternoon, if you had stayed where you belonged she might had injected it within you already. But I see now, that she has not. She was probably trying to separate the components of Jame's blood from the bloodstones when you made your foolish escape.

"Come on then. Let's get you back before you catch something deadly. It is exhausting for your immune system to do this. It won't be able to fight the most basic of colds, or allergies let alone something like pneumonia. Then there is always the fact that when the bloodstones left your system it disrupted your entire person. I wouldn't be surprised if your blood tried to reverse its' course within the hour."

Harry followed the scowling man as far as the first staircase, his mind was reeling with the image of his mother's face looking back at him from the mirror. She looked about his age, with bouncing red girls and a splash of freckles on her nose. His nose. This was so confusing! His legs were burning with a vengeance and he was starting to break a sweat. Brushing away a lock of brilliant red hair the Potter child bit his lip as he looked at the staircase skeptically.

Halfway up the second case he collapsed, causing the potion master to paused mid stride and look back. Seeing the disheveled replica of Lily he resisted the urge to roll his eyes, opting instead for his wand.

"Wingardium Leviosa," he muttered, ushering the unconscious form in front of him, careful not to bump his head on any railings.

Finally reaching the infirmary he spelled Harry over to a hospital cot and retrieved several necessary medical utensils. He grimaced slightly when picking out several syringes. As many things a wand could do, one still had to manually insert and extract fluids.

Finding Poppy in her office they both took full advantage of Harry's unconscious state. The mediwitch inserted several needles into Harry's arm, spelling them in place. Leaving the room she came back with several items. One was a clear plastic bag filled the metallic bloodstones. A second bag was filled with Severus' scarlet blood. And a third, much smaller bag was filled with his spinal fluid.

As Severus took a seat on the next cot, Poppy immediately set about attaching certain bags to certain needles. Checking his pulse, respiratory tract and liver she stepped back and watched at the potion masters' side.

"Remarkable isn't it?"

"How, after as many years as he's spent in here, he still manages to walk out?" Snape questioned snidely, watching Harry's still erratic breathing with a hint of concern.

"How much he looks like Lily."

Snape narrowed his eyes and didn't reply. Upon entering his quarters under the impression there was an impostor in his rooms as Salazar had warned him, the boy was the last person he would have expected.

In fact, from the description given him, he was very sure it would be a messenger from Voldermorte. Lucius even, possibly under the effects of Polyjuice.

Seeing the image of an adolescent Lily had nearly made him lose his mask. For a moment his heart had stopped and he was sure he had been killed and was now living in a heaven of sorts. He snorted. A wizard in heaven, the very idea.

Standing up he looked doubtfully at the image of a youthful Lily and left the room at a quick pace.

Inside the confines of his dungeon once more Severus reclined in a chair, pulling out a book and turned to a specific page. The words swam for a moment, a pair of vibrant green eyes looking up at him. The face was next to come and the lips were forming words he couldn't hear. Blinking he shook his head and stared at the lifeless book.

The clock read well past midnight and the flames in the hearth were beginning to die down. Shivering at the sudden realization of how cold it was the potion master retired to his rooms. Laying on his bed, staring at his ceiling he recalled how strange it had been to see Lily again. She had been so young, so beautiful, and so perfect.

Harry was like her in so many ways. His spirit, his courage, his wit, his temper, and most notably his determination. Closing his obsidian eyes he pinched the bridge of his nose, willing his headache away. Irritated he entered his laboratory and uncorked a vial of Pepper-up. Sipping it he replaced the half filled bottle and sat at his desk.

~Reviews

Thank you so much to everyone who figured out what the fic I was looking for was called! IN case anyone was wondering it was, "The Darker Shades of Grey" by Angelic Vampire. Wonderful piece of work by the way I encourage you all to check it out.

Tamsyn: Thank you so much, things are getting hectic around here but I've finally managed another chappy wee!

Kateri1: umm…thanks…I think/hope * grin *

Blue Clover: Yes it was, thank you ^_^

Athenakitty: yes yes…yes!

Rhysel Ash: No, but I did check that one out two. Candidis by Okamiko. I liked it was well.

Mistik-elf13: lol. Cookies! Whee!

Mikee: Well I didn't really describe his appearance much but you get the idea. This chapter was fun. * wicked grin * Yes, a gobsmacked Severus is always an amusing sight. * evil cackle *

Hecate DeMort: You're one of those silent types, aren't you? * shifty look *

Agnei Smith: lol, yes it's getting late here as well. Ugh. ~_~

Hermione Green: Word war. Awesome term. ^_^ Thank you for the review!

Ady: Thank you for reviewing to tell me the name of the fic. I was so desperate! LoL.