Ahhh, I had forgotten Aberforth came to the wedding. He was cute ... his awkward self.

*snip*

They stood looking at one another across the table for a few moments, then he said, "Will you forgive me?"

"Of course."

"I never meant to—"

She put a hand up to stop him. "Let's not say any more about it. You asked, I responded. That's all."

*snip*

I so love people who are not passive aggressive. This is perfect.

*snip*

In truth, he had avoided the topic as well. Before Minerva, it hadn't been anything to think about, an idea with no connection to himself. And after she had re-entered his life, she had rapidly become as essential to him as air; the thought of anything that might divide them—his past or a future in which competing desires might drive a wedge between them—was nearly intolerable.

*snip*

A brilliant explanation of passionate love.

*snip*

She was suddenly Medea confronting Jason. "No, Albus Dumbledore, you will not do this to me again! You say 'only for a little while', then you'll find another reason to push me away. There will always be a reason it isn't safe for us to be together. Your obsessive belief that you're the victim of some kind of curse-by-proxy is just a convenient excuse to keep your fears locked away rather than having to face them down. Well, this time, I think I'd prefer to leave you to them rather than wait for you to abandon me."

*snip*

Perfection.

*snip*

As it was, Borgin was willing to risk his life for a few bottles of cheap liquor. If he lived through this, Albus thought, he'd pay for the best private Healer he could find to help the boy with his dipsomania. Until then, Albus the Great and Good would continue to exploit his weakness.

*snip*

This troubles me. Whose point of view is this coming from, the author's, Albus' or Borgin's?

*snip*

The three boys looked at one another, obviously confused.

"Marmion," Minerva informed them, "is a poem about the Battle of Flodden by Sir Walter Scott. Muggle."

"You're giving us lines from some poem about a Muggle battle?" asked Umbridge.

"I am," she said, giving him her stoniest stare. "Have you any other pointless questions?"

*snip*

Ahahahahaha, and there is our classic Transfiguration Mistress, right there!

The only thing that is missing, really, is sideways rain in your ears when you're walking along a beach in a storm. I always get rain in my ears during such weather.

*winks*

*snip*

Albus said with a mischievous wink at his opponent, who practiced her annoyed glare on him.

*snip*

Hahahahahhaaha

*snip*

"You're thinking of the time I Transfigured the entire 'Medieval Potions' section of the library into blank sheets of parchment, aren't you?" she asked. "Have you added Legilimency to your roster of accomplishments?" he asked, and she thought momentarily of their long-ago conversation on the topic. She wondered if he remembered it too.

*snip*

Hahahahahaha

*snip*

Gryffindors never could pass up the chance at some facile heroics.

*snip*

Lots of truth in that. Can be quite a curse.

*snip*

She had an unobstructed view, however, of the woman seated next to him. She was blonde and tall, and looked to be in her mid-forties, although Minerva couldn't be certain without a closer inspection. The woman smiled and applauded at all the right moments.

Minerva hated her.

*snip*

I barked laughing so hard at that, I woke my son. Ahahaha, this dance was so funny - I feel bad for Minerva, but hells her anger can be amusing.

*snip*

 "Both of you were recently reborn out of the ashes. You should have a great deal to talk about . . ."

*snip*

Wow .... just wow.

*snip*

Now, the Ministry was insisting on this bloody awards ceremony and worse, a celebratory ball in his honour. All Albus wanted to do was go back to Hogwarts and get on with the business of forgetting things.

*snip*

That actually amuses me ... poor Albus, wallowing in self pity.

Damn Squibby. I just ... have no words to fit how this feels ... its so raw, so real and so very intense.

Dayam I love it.

The blowing up the dishes sticks in my mind still, these three years later ... I still remember that sometimes when I'm upset and knocking things over.

I have just one question, and its a mechanical one, but why couldn't the port key be used on both Gellert and Albus ... was it because it would be difficult to get Gellert over to Albus in time before everything caved in?

*snip*

Ježek moved quickly to Grindelwald, and Albus saw him remove the stopwatch from his pocket. He watched as the young man, his eye still glued to Albus’s, grabbed hold of the Petrified wizard, then depressed the button to activate the Portkey. Five seconds later, they were gone.

*snip*

I have broken ribs and crushed discs, though not vertebrates, and Minerva's pain was very real. Thankfully, I never peirced a lung - poor Minerva!

*snip*

and two smashed vertebrae

*snip*

Ouch!

*snip*

 She had tried to close her eyes again, but that made him shout. She decided to try to keep them open . . . anything to keep him from shouting and slapping her.

*snip*

I find this funny. Ironically I also know how it feels.

*snip*

 It had been all too easy, Dumbledore recalled ruefully, for Gellert to convince him of the rightness of his dreams of wizard supremacy. Albus’s anger had finally found a focus, albeit one he would not have admitted, even to himself. Those Muggle boys . . . if not for their stupidity—their bestiality—Ariana would have been whole, his mother and father would have been alive, and Aberforth would not have been the quiet, seething mass of dependence he had become. And Albus would have been free to pursue his brilliant destiny. If not for those Muggles . . .

*snip*

Brilliant

This is a very emotional chapter and very, very invading. I think this line stung me the most, as I know this feeling, all too well.

*snip*

He hadn't thought it would hurt this much.

*snip*

*snip*

abdabs

*snip*

I am strangly facinated by this word. I do love how your writing forces me to use my dictionary or wikipedia so often.

*snip*

As she turned to go, he said, "Try not to be too hard on yourself. Sometimes death is unavoidable. It isn't your fault."

*snip*

This sounds so foreshadowing.

A very good addition, the Ravenclaw muggle born student, to help Minerva get a real understanding of what is at stake. Nobody mentioned her compassion, but it was obvious in this chapter.

*snip*

 Dumbledore had taken her virginity as easily as Tom himself had stolen trinkets from his dorm-mates at the orphanage. The old fool hadn't even bothered to collect her blood, as Tom would have done, the blood from that particular source having magical properties of which even ancient Muggle cultures were aware, however foolish their attempts to channel them. What Tom could have done with it! There were any number of Dark or Dark-ish charms and potions that called for the blood of a deflowered virgin, spells and potions enumerated in the books he had procured from both the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library and from his clandestine trips to Knockturn Alley. He could procure such a substance from any number of willing—or truthfully, unwilling—witches, but he suspected that the potency of the virgin-blood's magic would correlate with the magical strength of the witch from whom it came. In that respect, Minerva was nearly irreplaceable.

*snip*

*shudder* He is so very disturbed.

I absolutely LOVE their bantering here. I can not say it enough ... its hysterical and heart warming.

And the fore shadowing here is haunting.