Looks like Severus is finally seeing the light with regards Alissa, but has he left his run too late?

Aww Livvy, you made him cry!  Lovely chapter. :)

Wow!  Talk about stand by your man!

I'm sure she was mean to the love struck boys, they were not her Severus after all.

She is so strong, just what he needs, pity he can't see that yet!

They stood stock still until he bent down and whispered, “This is the part where you run before I hex you all so badly your mothers won’t even recognize your pathetic hides!” - Has someone been watching too many Shrek movies?

Wow, your Alissa is a wonderful character, tough, passionate, desperate!

As I felt with DH and like Alissa, I don't really care who dies as long as Snape survives. Let me qualify that, I want Alissa to survive too and them to have a life together after the war. She was hidden and was unseen by 'He Who I Always Found Most Tedious and Tiresome', if I had been her I would have thrown some kind of disabling spell on 'HW', killed the f---ing snake once she realized what would happen, and then guarded him to be sure the disabling spell stayed in effect. There would be no need to search for Potter, he was in the tunnel watching. When Harry AKed 'HW' the spell would rebound back to the scar and kill the Horcrux as it emerged from the scar.A real megalomaniac would be as paranoid as Moody and would have always been watching his back. But throughout the books 'HW' never really watched his back, he just watched the people in front of him. With all that opportunity, I wonder why no one ever made a sneak attack from behind him. I found him to be rather one dimensional. Bellatrix was fully fleshed out and inspired me to hate her but 'HW' only onspired my name for him: 'He Who I Always Found Most Tedious And Tiresome'.

This is very good I hope you're not finished I hope to read more I am quite into the story and would be horribly disappointed if you don't continued. Good Job!

Oh, wow. So sad, and so tense, and the Final Battle ahead....

Wonderful chapter.

I looked up the exact definition of Bildungsroman and whether or not JKR will admit it the whole series is a slow Bildungsroman about Severus Snape. The whole plot hinged on whether he was good or bad, not whether Harry defeated Voldemort; we all knew that was going to happen anyway. Dumbledore and Harry and 'He Who I Found Most Tedious and Tiresome' were all secondary characters in the end. Her id wrote it that way, but her ego doesn't see it. Her ego saw Snape as a repulsive, nasty, and unheroic character, yet her id created a romantic Byronic character equal to Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester who was more courageous and had a more moral character than either of them.I've said it before and I'll say it again, he was the only truly moral character in the books. He was the only one who saw his sins, confessed them, repented them all, and spent the rest of his days trying to atone. Nobody else on the side of the light had to prove that they were good, it was a given. Even for Sirius it was a given, but I think Sirius was just as evil as a Gryffindor as he would have been had he been a Slytherin and he never repented what he had done as a student. None of the others admitted to or repented any of their sins, but there were plenty to go around.Only Snape was held accountable. Dumbledore played with evil in his relationship with Grindewald, and later he played with people's lives to achieve his own ends, but rather than being held accountable his Machiavellianism was thought to be the mark of a genius. Sorry Joanne, but in my opinion Dumbledore was a bad guy and Snape was the good guy, and the real hero of the story.

This is so intense--I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but you keep building the tension!  Looking forward to the next chapter!

Oooh, this is intriguing! I like it...I must read more! :) Great job, so far!!

I'm so sorry for the rift in their relationship. Will they have the opportunity to mend it before all is finished?

I'm still anti-Lily, she was far from perfect. She was the one who ended the friendship and abandoned Severus. He would have lashed out in anger at anyone who came near and he didn't mean what he said, but she refused to listen to him or accept his apology. I see her as an unforgiving person and not much better than the Marauders, and they were nasty bullies. Gryffindor is no better than Slytherin and the Slytherins are at least honest about what they are. Lily's biggest virtue was her maternal instinct.Alissa is much worthier of his love and devotion than Lily ever was.

I love the way you ended this chapter..... it makes a person just have to beg for more. Cant wait to read the next chapter as always.

I was waiting for this story yesterday and today. I'm so glad that it's finally up. :)

Just like Severus, I'm curious to know what Karkaroff meant by "They ar too damn mean."It sounded like he cared a lot more than he would admit or even realized when he stromed into Albus's office after he found that Alissa had left for Durmstrang. I'm looking forward to his reunion with her.

Alissa had a plan, then. Their reunion should be interesting.

The love scene was very interesting.  I like how you showed how "imperfections" can actually be endearing.  Now, why did she leave after Christmas break?