A few days more

by evil minded

"A few days more" is the sequel to "Twenty-one days" – read this first or you wouldn't understand all that happens in this story. The fourth year Slytherins and Gryffindor have survived their imprisonment in the potions classroom in the dungeons. How will they go on in all-day life after their survival? How will they manage to reintegrate into the castle's routine and classes?

31. Chapter 31 - preview to the sequel

Title:
The boy that forgot to die

Author:
evil minded

Concerning AI:
This story is not AI generated but was written by myself – so, only I am to be blamed for what is written within ...

Date:
November, 31st 2011

Timeframe:
Second year at Hogwarts

Summary:
AU / Harry Potter comes back for his second year at Hogwarts, but something is not the way it should be, and Severus Snape seems the only one able to help the boy that forgot to die … will he manage to really help the Gryffindor before it is too late?

Disclaimer:
I don't really care about Lockhart, Quirrel or Umbridge, nor about most of the other characters in HP … I, however, would like to own one particular Severus Snape – regrettably I do not, Rowling does … but well – I'm borrowing him for a while … just to torture him a bit … I am evil minded after all …

Rating:
M – Not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16

Author's Notes:
Uhm … alright … I have to admit … English is not my language by birth … so … please do not kill me while reading … neither for the – perhaps – sad language, nor for the subject of my writing …
Also, this is a story written for NaNo, a story written within thirty days only and even though I go over the chapters before uploading them – I do apologize if it might not have the same quality at one point or another than those stories of mine you are used to by now … thank you …

Warning:
Story contains bad language and swearing.
Don't ever use such, it's neither good manners nor proper use of language and never mind how 'cool' it might sound, it surely isn't a sign of intelligence. It won't get you anywhere and people will think less of you if you are unable articulating properly.
Story contains references to child neglect.
Child neglect is a really, really serious thing, and there are a lot of children in our world that are neglected, children that lack food, clothing, often love, and perhaps even a roof over their head – and closing our eyes, and pretending it does not exist – is no solution …
Story contains references to child abuse.
Child abuse is one of the most evil things, and there are a lot of children in our world that really would need help but have to live without hope – and again, closing our eyes and pretending it does not exist – is no solution … instead show sympathy, and understanding … and handle people, children as well as adults, which are showing any signs – whichever – of once having been abused … with understanding and with help …
What does not mean I am not as evil as I pretend to be … ^.~ … believe me – I am …

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

Previously in "The boy that forgot to die"
"Please do." The child said, looking up at him with startled green eyes, and it was clear that he hadn't thought that he would do such a thing, the small face nearly hopeful.

"Please do." Came Jamie's voice from the doorway, and he groaned, turning towards the door to look at the ghost child standing there, unsurely, and with just as large eyes as Harry had.

"So be it then." He said, knowing that this would surely not be the last and only moment where the two boys were clearly acting like twins, and he was left to wonder now, if it would become less with time, when the difference in age between the two would get larger – but well, that would be in years to come. "We will do so first thing tomorrow morning, Misters Snape. Are you both now finally ready to have a few hours of sleep, at least until sunrise, or do you intend on staying up all night?"

"Sorry, sir." Harry said, looking at the blanket.

"Sorry, sir." Jamie echoed, looking at the floor.

"Do come here, Jamie." He sighed, waving the boy over and lifting Harry's blanket so the child could slip into his brother's bed. "I wonder if I not simply have one of these two rooms being your bedroom and the other one being your playroom, as apparently you are not to be separated for even a few hours each day anyway, lest you stay awake all night long for the remainder of your days."

The two children grinning at each other while Jamie slipped into Harry's bed, causing him to sigh again.

The Snape-twins, indeed.

The boy that forgot to die
Chapter thirty-one
Epilogue
or: the end – for now

The next few days had really been anything than easy sometimes, had put the Potions Master to a severe test, but well, he had known that from the beginning on, that it would be as difficult as it had been with Jamie in the beginning.

There had been moments when Harry had been alright, and he and Jamie were even playing together, wizarding chess or Gobstones, or one or another card game, sometimes his quarters being filled with the children's laugher of his two sons, soft laugher, but laugher nonetheless, while sometimes his quarters being quiet with both children silently reading one book or another – or just sitting there, thinking.

But then there were moments where Jamie seemed to even lack the strength of leaving his bed in the morning, or moments during which Harry seemed to be withdrawn so deeply into himself that he didn't notice anything going on around him, sitting in his wheelchair, rocking, sometimes even giving away a strange humming sound that worried him more than anything else, that scared Jamie out of his wits each time, until that boy, too, was – sitting on the armchair, or chair, or sofa, wherever he was sitting in the first place, rocking back and forth, too, unable to keep the emotional pain of all this under control for any longer.

During those times he actually cursed his situation, and the fact that he didn't know which child he should look after first, unable to keep himself from thinking of how fruitless and aimless all of this was, them taking one step forwards just to take at least two steps backwards – and the only thing he had soon discovered that helped, was to just take both children and sit down with them on the sofa until their distress lessened, whether it was because of them getting tired, or of them actually getting calmer.

On other moments Harry had been so very restless while weak at the same time, and he didn't know how he could calm the child, sure that the boy would pace if he could, but as he was unable to, he just somehow moved whatever he could move, tapping with his fingers over the armrest of his wheel-chair or tapping his fingers at the table, moving his head or jerking, waving his arms, hands, he couldn't really name it, but it was a clear sign of restlessness that couldn't be expressed, and he knew that he had to find something for the child, a possibility to move at least his upper body while at the same time he needed something to help the child regaining and saving his strength.

And well, then again there had been moments where Harry seemed to be in pain, in physical pain, laying in his bed, curled into a tight ball, trembling and shivering, bathed in perspiration, and softly crying, while trying to hide his tears until he supplied the boy with a pain reliever after he either noticed himself that the child was in pain, or Jamie came to get him.

But nothing seemed to really work, and – well, he could give the boy more pain relievers, but he had already given him more potions than he should have given him to begin with, and he would only manage to poison him, if he followed that line.

He had soon realized that it wasn't real physical pain that had caused Harry those pain attacks in his back, but the memory of the pain, the mental pain that was so horrifying that the child couldn't control it anymore, that the child felt it physically.

Of course, the pain reliever never had worked the way it should have, and immediately he had brewed a mixture of a nerve suppressing potion, a system stabilizing draught and a calming potion. The nerve repressing potion would not deactivate, but to a limit restrain the boy's nerves from feeling any phantom pains his brain suggested while being caught in a memory, the system stabilizing draught would – simply do that, stabilizing Harry's system while being in a panic attack, and the calming potion would help him to – well, calm down quickly and effectively before he got so deep into the attack that he would lose reality.

Of course, he'd known that this wouldn't be the end of the story, that Harry still would be scared of him at some moments, that sometimes he would shrink back from him, that sometimes he would try to retreat as deeply into the sofa or his bed as possible, or sometimes that he would try to hide to begin with. Jamie after all still had such moments, and Jamie was living with him for nearly two months now.

But it had become better after that, it had become really noticeably better, and that had been all he had asked for, he knew that he would be able dealing with this now.

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

It was, actually, nearly two weeks later than they had planned it, but now, on this very Monday morning, they were finally on their way to the great hall. They had tried a few times during the past two weeks, to visit the great hall, and perhaps going to one lesson or another after that, Jamie had visited lessons after all during the first few weeks back at Hogwarts, but Harry had nearly had a panic attack when leaving their quarters and they had gone back home, next when leaving the dungeons corridors, and again they had gone back home. The third time they had managed ascending the stairs to the entrance hall before Harry had been unable to keep his panic down.

It had never become as bad as it had been in the beginning, but it had been there, the panic attack, and the Potions Master had decided to not try anything with his son.

But he had told Harry that they would have to go through with it soon, Harry and Jamie had to go back to classes, and he, Severus, he had to go back to teaching, they had to partake in the life around them, and he had insisted that this time they really went through with it while at the same time he had promised Harry that – he would be there. Nothing more, but nothing less, he would be there.

He had given the boy a cent coin, muggle money, so that he couldn't spend it accidentally, and the small coin would get him home and onto the sofa in their living quarters whenever he enclosed it in his fist and thought of home. That, at least, had helped, and the child had been more confident during breakfast this morning.

And so, right now, he was pushing the wheelchair along the dungeons corridors, and waving his wand, a door appeared near the staircase, through which he pushed the wheelchair, entering a small room – a lift the castle had installed just last night and he smirked at the wide eyed twins. It really was a good thing that the castle always knew what they needed, and just this morning he had been informed by Hogwarts herself about a few elevators having been installed throughout the castle floors.

He just took it as a good sign to start this particular day.

They exited the lift when they arrived at the entrance hall and he pushed the wheelchair through the large hall that led to many different places within the castle, to many different corridors and stairways that led upstairs and downstairs, and all the while Jamie to his right kept his pace, and Harry in his wheelchair was clearly nervous about being unable to walk that way by himself, most likely worrying over how his classmates would react.

At the door to the great hall Jamie stopped and the boy looked over at him, uncertainly and scared, causing Harry to do the same, to halfway turn in his wheelchair and looking up at him, just as unsure and just as scared. He placed his right hand on the neck of his ghost son while he at the same time placed his left hand on the forehead of his physical son, looking down at both forms for a moment until he felt them relaxing.

"Thanks, dad." Jamie whispered, giving Severus a small smile while Harry only nodded at him, trying to give a smile as well but failing for a moment – until he lifted his eyebrow at the boy.

He didn't know what it was with these two, but since they were – twins, his sons – they seemed to find his lifted eyebrow amusing somehow and now he earned himself a small smile from the boy that was so much graver than the other still, a small smile for his eyebrow turning upwards.

Breåk· … ·~†~*~*~*~*~*~†~· … ·Łine

It wasn't as if he went there for the first time, but he felt like it nevertheless, as if walking – or rather entering, being brought, whatever, anything but walking because he wasn't – into the hall for the first time, and he knew that Jamie felt the same. Of course, he knew that Jamie had come here a few times during the past few weeks, but he also knew that he felt the same, like walking in there for the first time as a ghost form, for the first time being Jamie Snape.

Of course, it wasn't exactly like back then, like last year when he'd been here for the very first time, because everything had been different back then. Now, he and Jamie and Severus were a family, and the man's quarters had become their home after all, the first real home they had ever had. And now he had a brother, a twin brother even, one that was a ghost, and now he couldn't walk anymore, and now he was scared of what the others would say, or do.

Jamie had told him about what had happened in the Gryffindor tower and their dormitory, what Ron had done, and Dean and Seamus, and he knew that, surely, it wouldn't be easy, going back to Gryffindor. But still, again, he just had to try, because he also had heard that some of them had apologized, that some of them were on his side, like Neville, and Hermione. Even Dean and Seamus had apologized.

And still, again, Harry found himself wishing that school didn't have to end, feeling reluctant to return to the Dursleys when summer came.

And he knew – and so did his twin, Jamie – they both knew – that after the fiasco of last the summer holidays, Uncle Vernon would be furiously mad and he would do all to get rid of him, of them, and he would stop nowhere to achieve that goal. Not to mention that he wouldn't even be able defending himself against his uncle, wouldn't be able running away even, that he'd be helpless without the ability of using his legs when he'd be back at the Dursleys.

But then – they were two now, and maybe they would stand a chance against Uncle Vernon then?

But no – even in pairs, they'd die, and they'd have to watch each other die. Would that really be better than dying alone? So – no, he didn't want school to end, not ever, now less than ever before, and never mind how much Jamie reassured him that he'd be always there, never mind how much Severus reassured both of them that they would never go back to the Dursleys, ever – he knew that it wasn't true.

Summer would come, school would end – and with it a dream.

Summer would come, but there would be no sunshine, nothing but pain and fear and horror, and in the end death.

The man's hand on his forehead got him out of his scary thoughts and he looked up at the dark Potions Master, into black eyes that seemed so much warmer than what he was used to, from the man's display in public.

"Thanks, dad." Jamie said and he tried to smile. He only succeeded however when the man lifted his eyebrow, that very eyebrow that had him nearly covering with fear last year, that had so many students retreating from the man – but now he didn't understand how that eyebrow could cause so much fear, it was just a raised eyebrow, it made the man looking less emotionless even, and it – it wasn't a dangerous weapon, honestly!

break … ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ … line

A sudden whisper swept through the Great Hall as all eyes turned to the three figures at the doorway, the dour Potions Master, his hands placed on – two Harry Potters who – smiled at the dark Potions Master!

Severus glanced up and smirked.

As much as he had dreaded this very moment, entering the great hall with the two scared children on his coattails, knowing that they would make an emotional fool out of him in public, in front of the student body even, this very moment was worth the days he would need to work on his reputation.

"You are welcome, sons, both of you." He said, ruffling both boy's already messy hair, and first Jamie and then Harry batted his hand away playfully, their smile stretching into a grin, and there was, actually, a collective intake of breath coming from the great hall before Jamie gave away a "'till later, Harry" and then turned to approach the Slytherin table, while Harry looked up at him, Severus, unsurely, as if waiting for a nod of approval before he himself could accept the situation and everything that would happen from now on in his – new life, before he could jump into this adventure that awaited him at the Gryffindor table.

Giving away that nod the child was waiting for, he pushed the wheelchair over to the Gryffindor table, ignoring the gasps and the nearly three hundreds of pairs of wide eyes watching them, following their ever movement, while the hall was silent – except for a few whispers here and there, his shoes meeting the floor, and the soft sound the wheels of Harry's wheelchair made on the stony floor.

Of course, he knew that Harry could have pushed his wheelchair himself – they had practiced it after all.

Jamie had even made a game out of it, hiding somewhere in the dungeons together with Draco, while Harry and Theodore had been looking for them. But he also knew how uncomfortable the child already was, not knowing where he would be welcomed, how he would get there, exactly, what would happen outside their safe quarters, outside the safety of their dungeons corridors, and in front of the eyes of all of the students, and so he had decided to help his son on this, at least for now, for this morning.

For a moment he gritted his teeth at the fact that he hadn't thought of where exactly to place Harry at the Gryffindor table as there were no chairs but benches to each side of the table, not to mention that he wasn't sure where the boy would like to sit or who of them would be comfortable enough to not pull away from him, but then Longbottom waved them over, and a moment later Granger who sat beside Longbottom waved, too.

Well, so at least the question of who would not shy away from Harry's presence was solved and he approached them.

A moment later he waved his wand at the bench between Granger and Longbottom and there appeared a break in the furniture, a break that slowly grew until there was enough space for the wheelchair to fit in and he pushed it into its place.

"I expect you to keep this sitting arrangement as long as either of you is comfortable with it, as I have no intention of cutting this furniture into pieces until nothing of it is left." He said to the three, trying to find a way of sounding as mean and uncaring as possible for Granger and Longbottom, while as caring as possible for Harry at the same time. He waited for a sign of his son that told him that he was comfortable, and at the nod the boy gave away while looking up at him with his still too large green eyes, he nodded back in return before turning.

He made a short stop at Weasley's seat though.

"And for you, Mr. Weasley, if I ever hear of you bullying either of my sons, then you better prepare for six years of painful, horrible and long detentions, daily detentions, Mr. Weasley." He softly said, his voice a threatening whisper, before he turned and approached the head table.

break … ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ … line

Merlin's sweet pants! Was that really Severus? And where did this second child come from?

Minerva had been a bit confused when Severus had sent her a short message with the words that she was to await his son, Harry Snape, back in her house by Monday morning, but that he would not sleep in the Gryffindor tower but in his, Severus', quarters for the time being, not understanding why the child would come back into her house.

And then, this very morning, there had been a message from the castle, informing her, a head of house and the deputy headmistress, that Hogwarts had installed a few elevators all around the castle floors. She hadn't understood why the castle would do such a thing, and for a moment she hadn't even been sure that she had understood the castle correctly. It wasn't after all that the castle left a written note on her desk – it was more a feeling the castle instilled in the headmaster and the four heads of houses if she chose to inform them about one thing or another.

And now Severus had entered the great hall with two children! With the ghost child, and with a child in a wheelchair that looked so very much alike the ghost child – but that couldn't be, could it?

"Severus?" She asked when the man took his usual seat beside her.

"Yes, Minerva?" The man asked back as if he couldn't understand her confusion!

"What is the meaning of this, Severus?" She asked, still feeling confused.

"Did I not inform you of Harry coming back to your house?" He asked, playing dumb. "I thought it would be clear that he'd sit at the Gryffindor table."

"Yes but –" The woman shook her head. "How are there two children now, and both looking the same?"

"You do realize, Minerva, that Harry wouldn't be alive anymore by now, do you?" Severus asked back, and frowning Minerva nodded her head. Yes, she had been there when Poppy had told them that there were only a few days left, and now weeks had past even, but she hadn't paid much attention to those nearly three weeks. As long as the child lived, she didn't care if any prediction Poppy made really happened.

"We just found a way to keep him alive, a feat that wasn't so easy actually, but as you can see, we have succeeded." Severus then added and she shook her head, not really understanding.

"That means … that means, these two children are … they are both Harry Snape?" She asked, trying to somehow comprehend the situation.

"Of course, not, you daft woman!" The Potions Master huffed. "Actually, they are Harry and Jamie Snape." Severus then explained, his eyebrow lifted, while he poured himself a cup of coffee, as if nothing had happened and surely not the man appearing here with two children of his, where he should have one only, and not even of this child had they known until a few weeks ago!

"So … so they are – brothers?" She asked slowly, very slowly, but surely calming down from her initial shock.

"Actually, they are twins, Minerva." The blasted man calmly said while serving himself some of the scrambled eggs and a toast which he buttered, and she was nearly shocked again. It was a first, really, a first, that the man actually partook in breakfast other than just drinking his cup of coffee each morning.

"And who is who, Severus?" Filius asked, the small teacher clearly excited like he so often was. "Just so that we know."

"Well, the ghost-child who recently has entered my house, is Jamie Snape." Severus answered. "While, to you, Minerva, I present to you Harry Snape. And you, headmaster, do not even try to patronize either of them. They are both my sons, and you will have to go through me with anything, even if it is just signing their school reports. You will not look at them, and you will not speak to them or about them without my presence. Whatever dealings you might have with my sons, you will contact me first. And I do mean that quite seriously, headmaster. You will get an official note from the board of governors later today, informing you, that you are banned from dealing with my sons."

So that was it, the reason as to why she had Harry Potter in her house, still, a child that was sitting in a wheelchair now, while Harry Potter had changed houses and had entered the Slytherin house – what a strange situation.

Flashback

She had felt betrayed at first, by not only Severus, but by Harry, too. She had never done anything to hurt the child!

But then, well, she never had done anything to help the child either, and she had known that the Dursleys were the worst sort of muggles possible, unfit for raising a wizarding child. So, if Harry felt safer and more comfortable in his father's house – well, then be it – who was she to question that child that had been through enough? That had died, actually?

"You have heard my son." Severus said when Albus wanted to say something, and even she could see that the child was growing restless and uneasy.

"Very well." Albus sighed and got off his armchair to approach the shelf on which the sorting hat was sitting for centuries, and she could sense that there was more than just the old wizard's reluctance of agreeing to the re-sorting. While a re-sorting was nothing too uncommon, could happen once a century at least, Albus seemed to be against it, but she didn't see why the headmaster should, not in this case as it seemed Harry's wish, and Harry had reasonably explained his interests.

"Getting the chance of leaving this board twice a year now?" The hat asked even before Albus had approached it, and she had the impression that the hat had clearly listened to their earlier conversation.

"My apology for disturbing you, but …" Albus began, but the hat seemed to shake itself, as if its wearer would have shaken his head, as if Godric Gryffindor were still alive, wearing that piece of old cloth, and she always got goose bumps when it did this.

"I have already told you that – the boy is as much a Slytherin as he is a Gryffindor. And if it were up to me, then he would have been in the house of the snakes since his first day, as I have sorted him into Slytherin. I have only re-sorted him because it has been his wish." The hat said and she gasped.

Harry had been sorted into Slytherin before he had been sorted – or rather re-sorted – into Gryffindor? Harry would have been Severus' originally instead of hers? How so? And how …

"But then it is clear!" Albus smiled at them all. "Harry does not wish to …"

"Only because of misguided information, Dumbledore." The hat growled, cutting Albus off. "And I only allowed him because I knew that in the end he would land himself in Slytherin sooner or later anyway."

"In other words – there is no re-sorting necessary because Harry already always has been a Slytherin as well as a Gryffindor?" The Potions Master asked, his eyes narrowed at Albus' who had, apparently, known about that, and she herself frowned at the two.

Harry and the re-sorting aside, she always had known that Albus and Severus had gotten along very well. Albus was one of the few people Severus considered as a friend, beside her, Filius, Arthur – and Malfoy – and she also knew that Albus had considered the young man as a friend – as a son even – too, that he trusted Severus like he barely trusted anyone else. So – what was wrong between the two of them?

Exactly, Snape." The hat agreed, and then Severus did something that really startled her, placed his hand onto the boy's shoulder in a calming way while he looked down at the boy with his always so cold and hard black eyes – only that right now they were not cold or hard but warm and soft, comforting, black eyes that seemed to search the child's pale and ghostlike face, and for a moment she was sure that the man was close to even pulling the child closer and to protect him from whatever there was to protect him from, she could nearly picture the child hiding his pale face in Severus' robes!

A moment later however the magic between Severus and Harry was gone and - "Just to have all misunderstandings cleared – Harry might be a Gryffindor and he might always be one, but at the same time he actually is already a Slytherin, and I can take him into my house to live in the Slytherin common room if he so wishes?"

"Exactly, Severus." The hat again agreed, sounding satisfied.

End flashback

Well, that had been that, and that had been a really startling experience, nearly as startling as this here, having two Harries here suddenly, having a ghost and a disabled twin, one of them in Slytherin and one of them in Gryffindor, in her house, Severus having twin sons, and one of them being a lion – yes, it had been nearly as startling as this here, nearly.

break … ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ … line

Severus started his breakfast, ignoring Albus' gasp and then his hurt looks while he watched both of his sons, one sitting at the Slytherin table and one sitting at the Gryffindor table. He knew that the man was already planning, scheming about how to use two Harries now, but he would not allow that, and he would fight the headmaster all the way to hell and back if he had to.

But well, there would come the trial in foreseeable future anyway, and he would manage fighting the man until then.

Jamie was sitting between Draco and Theodore who both smirked at him, surely already planning on pranks they now could play with a twin ghost in their midst. They both had visited Jamie and Harry a few times since they were living with him, and they had actually become more than just alleys, more than just classmates or house mates, they had become friends even, his snakes not caring that Harry still remained in Gryffindor. They had actually thought that some kind of fun, and he nearly groaned at the thought of how the next six years would turn out, until they had graduated and left Hogwarts.

Harry was sitting between Longbottom and Granger, and even though it had been that blasted know-it-all who had read Harry's – or Jamie's – private thoughts, she had apologized, and she really tried to make up for her mistake. That boy was not so confident as Jamie was, understandably, and he, actually, had to cast a strict glance at the boy until he served himself some scrambled eggs, a sausage, and a piece of toast, before the child looked over at the head table and at him again, as if asking him if he had done alright, and he gave a small nod – while everyone stared at him open-mouthed, still, or again, he didn't know – but he didn't care either.

"So …" Harry began, softly, while he cut up a piece of his sausage. "How's life been?"

A moment later Longbottom, Granger and the Weasley twins that had come over with wide eyes and open mouths, that had seated themselves opposite Harry and Longbottom, shoving Ronald Weasley and Dean Thomas aside in the attempt, burst into laughter – and he groaned at the thought of how many hints they would give his sons, concerning being twins and in desperate need of advice from long year twins like Frederic and George Weasley.

Well, all in all – he was satisfied with both boys' decisions, with Jamie's decision to stay in Slytherin, and with Harry's decision to stay in Gryffindor, and he smirked at Minerva who looked at him with her mouth open.

"I expect you to have an eye on this particular lion, my dear Minerva." He said while re-filling his cup with coffee, knowing that he would need the hot brewage for some next time. "If I ever hear that you have not, then be assured you will have a very angry parent on your neck."

"As long as you keep your sons under control, my dear Severus." The woman answered. "You know, having the Weasley twins at Hogwarts is one thing, but now the Snape twins, too? I fear that they all will be a handful."

break … ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ … line

the end

To be continued in "The boy that forgot to live"

Preview to "The boy that forgot to live"

He watched Harry sitting between Hermione and Neville, watched – the other Harry sitting between Nott and Malfoy, and his confusion grew. He'd been startled at first, not only at the fact that there had been two boys, suddenly, two Harries, two Potters, Snapes, whatever they now were, but he had also been startled about one of them sitting in a wheelchair, whatever reason for. Also, he was startled about the familiarity between Snape and the boys, and he didn't even know who those boys were, two of them!

And now Harry was sitting between Hermione and Neville – and he didn't really know what to make of it!

"So … how's life been?" Harry asked, and he couldn't help snort at the thought of how Harry-like that question was. He'd died, hadn't he? Otherwise, there wouldn't be a ghost … and now he asked how life had been.

"Harry?" He asked, unsurely, not knowing how to handle this particular situation – not knowing if the other boy was even Harry, and not knowing if … if it was Harry … if he even wanted to talk to him.

"Hmm?" Harry asked, looking over at him, questioningly. So, maybe this Harry didn't know what he'd done? Maybe the other Harry hadn't told this Harry about the wet bed?

"If you're Harry," he asked, softly, "Then who's the other boy?"

"He's my ghost, actually." Harry answered, looking at him, and he couldn't help shuddering. "And now he's my brother, my twin brother, Ronald, and his name is Jamie. I have heard what you've done to him, and I expect you to apologize, and to leave him alone if you value what is left of our friendship."

So – there was still something like friendship left?

Taking a deep breath Ron nodded his head.

"I will." He then said, because – maybe not all was lost? Maybe not all was … maybe they could still be friends? "I'm sorry." He added. "Really, I am. I … I've been scared, and I hadn't understood …"

"And you think Jamie hadn't been scared, also?" Harry asked, scowling at the red head, and for a moment he looked like a mini Snape. "He's been just as scared as you've been, perhaps even more than you. He would have needed a friend, someone who stood beside him, someone he could talk to, but you've let him down. And you've hurt him horribly. Do it again, and you'll have the Snape-twins in your neck."

"Well spoken, Harry!" George said, and he scowled at his brother.

"The Weasley-twins will back you up, if our brother hurt you or your brother again." Fred added and he sighed.

Maybe everything could go back to normal.

And maybe he hadn't lost his best friend.

Maybe he should make it up to the other Harry, to Jamie.

And maybe, just maybe, everything would turn out well.

To be continued

Next time in "The boy that forgot to die"
how Harry and Jamie settle in their new life

Added author's note
thank you for reading - and yes, I would appreciate it if you took the time to review this chapter too … thank you …

House Cup:
At the present time it looks like this:

Slytherin 81
Gryffindor 39
Ravenclaw 27
Hufflepuff 13

Hogwarts 21

Durmstrang 03