A lovely bit of complete and total deep understanding of a moment usually only taken at face-value. Most of us only see the fact of Lily's dismissal of Severus as callous unforgiveness.  That if she really was friends with him, she should have been able to move past that. Hermione is able to view the situation from a different viewpoint: the one of Light (good) versus Dark (evil) and sees that that singular act of chosing to join the Death Eaters, spurned on by Severus' vengance, would have completely obliterated more than just Lily and Severus' friendship.

Good deep thinking, there.

ouch

Yes, if the evil *was* out in the open. It's not clear that it was, when he joined. The massacre explosion seems to have come at the very end of VW1, and all but one of the named canon VW1 victims can be positively identified as Ministry/Order member (ie military targets) or family thereof (and thus possibly "collateral damage" or even "friendly fire"). 
Real-life terrorist groups routinely lie to potential recruits about aims and methods, and/or draw them in by offering belonging to the disaffected and friendship to the friendless. If you put any store in interview canon (I don't, but it does show her intent), JK said that Snape joined because he thought it would impress Lily, and it's hard to reconcile that with him *knowing* that the group threatened her. Regulus, who had DE cousins, still believed when he joined (*after* Snape) that Voldemort's purpose was to *rule* Muggle-borns and Muggles, not to kill them.So there's room to suppose that Snape didn't know he was joining evil. Especially since the Ministry was also evil, and in his own experience the leading lights of the Order had connived at attempted murder/covering up attempted murder (his). 
Nevertheless, a very strong and moving piece.

Such meaning in so few words. Impressively brilliant.

Is this part of the Care of Magical Creatures universe? It has that feel to it. Good job. ^_^

Beautiful! It feels absolutely right when you differentiate between what he said and what he did. And still the question remains if he would have done what he did when he had been forgiven what he said. 

Lovely.  And it highlights the difference between Hermione and Lily.

Wow.  What a fascinating, rare admission that it isn't hers to forgive what happened all of those years ago.  I don't know if I've ever read Hermione at once sympathising with her Gryffindor forerunner and also rising above it in such a solid way.  His hope is in reaction to her strength--what a powerful foundation for the future.

Now that was one beautiful, powerfully written piece.

Nicely written.  Nice to see your handling of the reality of the past handled realistically AND the ability to see past it instead of how many just dismiss the past as "oh, its okay BECAUSE I love you."

Each of us, at some point in our lives, have received a gut-punch-of-reality that threatened to bring us to our emotional knees.  Those of us who are fortunate do so in the presence of someone who loves us regardless of our deeds "and then, we move on" because their love is also our hope.This is a very powerful reminder of the healing quality of love.  Very well done.Beth

Lovely.  They handled that beautifully.  Thank you for sharing!

You are more than a single moment....  A perfect summation of an incredibly complex man. 

*tears*Beautiful, darling.  And you know how I feel about That Incident.  But Hermione makes a good point, and I nod my head in understanding.

I *heart* you! :D

Very good point.  It was wrong, but it was in the past. :)

My heart is in my mouth. What a profoundly touching moment.

So sweet. This could really turn into a good multi chap fic. Amazing job.

What a nice story.  It looks at something from canon, but delves deeper, right into the heart of the matter, which is something we really didn't get to see before.  This seems a necessary conversation, but one they can have, and then move on.

"But you are more than a single moment."

I love that line, because it is so true.  If only everyone could see things the way Hermione does.

You've written this beautifully, as always.  Thanks for sharing!

I'm not sure if I can add anything to the comments already left, but I want you to know how deeply this moved me. It is equisite!

lovely.  thanks

This was so well done with so few words - and I think the greatest gift that Snape could be given, (or give himself) would be hope.

I would love to know exactly what he did.  Regardless, I am so happy this little fic ended on the note that even though she couldn't forgive him, him knew she still loved and and they would move on together.  So sweet - he needs that.