Thank you for the review. I've always thought him a man both haunted and comforted by his memories.

Thank you for the review. What a lovely and exquisite response! Yes, I can imagine him savouring his dark coffee and recalling all that he’d lost, seeing it swirling in the black liquid. I had written this as a hopeful peace, a means of learning to find perfection within the bitterness, perhaps learning to love the sting of it. I read your review and had the rug pulled from under my feet: I had inadvertently created a situation which would dig a knife deeper with every sip. Again, many thanks for your beautiful review.

In a way, I can find aspects of your original intention in this. But the text equally supports my opinion. It's beautiful that there can be different ways of reading this.

Thank you for the review. Yes, it's always nice to get your own back.  I wonder if Lily ended the spell before anyone saw James.

Thank you for the review. He went looking for something to add a little perfection to his life, only to realise that it wasn't the beans, it was a memory. I would like to think the knowledge that Lily looked and longed for him would provide a sweetener to his coffee.

Thank you for the review.  Yes, it took a lot out of him to return to the coffee shop, but he loved that coffee *grin* 

Thank you for the review. Hopefully, this moment will be more sweet than bitter and will be so for every future cup of perfect coffee. 

Thank you for the review. Maybe they both wanted to stop and talk, but knew they couldn't.  I wonder if Lily went and had a coffee after rescuing James, recalling her own perfect cups or realised that her cups just never tasted... right.

Thank you for the review. Life is bittersweet... and we sometimes struggle to have more sweet than bitter. Hopefully, now even his bitterest moments will be all the sweeter for knowing that while James dangled, she had searched and wanted him.

Thank you for the review. They must have squabbled... and it's nice to use that as a way for Snape to have a little revenge on his tormentor.  I wonder if Lily ended the spell before the neighbours came out. *big grin*  Either way, I think Snape found her longing for him a soothing realisation.

Thank you for the review.  No, she didn't.  I shall type no more, otherwise I'll enter full rant mode.  I hope she realises now, and her memory takes some of the bitterness from Snape's  moments oif pleasure.

Thank you for the review. They both tried, I think, but time and their situations prevented them. Perhaps over coffee, however far apart, they could share a perfect moment again.

Thank you for the review. I associate quite a few emotions and memories with food and drink.  I felt he could do with knowing what had made his coffee truly pefect, if it only meant his coffee now was less bitter. 

Thank you for the review. If life can only give you bittersweet, then I suppose we must take it and savour it as gloriously as if we'd had honey. Of course, I think he'd find coffee a bit sweeter for knowing that James had dangled helplessly and Lily had looked for him before helping James.