Great! Glad you're on board and I hope you enjoy the story. If you like battles, there will be several battle scenes in the story line.

I am gratified that you thought the story was compelling enough to keep reading.  Thanks for taking the time to read and review!

He thinks he is just gaining her trust--he can't see that he is being drawn in at the same time...

He, he!  Snape NEVER tells anyone all the info he knows...  He enjoys the power of having something someone else lacks.

I have an idea for a sequel about the two of them, but little time to write it...  I will work on it as I find the time.Thanks for reading this long story--my own version of book seven! I also appreciate that you took the time to leave a review. Cheers and best wishes!

Glad you liked my Horcrux theory -- however, I doubt JKR will go there...Krum is a bit of an enigma in this story, but by the end you will know where he stands.Thanks for reading and reviewing!

I am glad that makes you happy!  Cheers and thanks for the review.

Thanks for your comments (and affirmations),

.  I especialy appreciate your observation that the ending was appropriate for the plot and characterization.As to the sequel, it will be short in comparison to Shades.  It will also be formatted differently.  Rather than a continuous timeline, it will consist of a series of vignettes.  Thanks for all your thoughtful, insightful reviews and support during the time it took me to complete this story.  Cheers and all the best,Orm Irian

I am definately planning to do a sequel. It will be a little while, though -- RL calls and I HAVE to answer!  I cannot answer your questions about future events without spoiling things for the sequel.  I guess you will just have to wait and see what happens.Thanks for reading and taking the time to leave a reveiw!

Wow!  Thank you for your extravagant praise!  I am deeply gratified that you found the story well-thought out and executed, as I put a considerable time and effort into it.  I feel as if I have created something worthwhile when readers show appreciation!Thanks too, for all your reviews and support.

I appreciate (and anticipated) that some readers would not be completely happy with the ending.  After all, we read this stuff for recreation/relaxation and want to be happy at the end.  In addition, many of us are 'Severus fans.'  I also am aware that I led the reader to see Snape sympathetically to a certain degree--but that does not really mitigate the things he did wrong.  He was/is a seriously flawed hero in this story.  He has many issues to work on if he wants to function normally within his own society.  In any case, 'the lesson' as you put it, was not meant to be so cynical.  I intended to convey my thoughts on the mutable nature of good and evil (i.e. it's not black and white but comes in many "shades" of grey), the nature of love, and what maturity means to different people.  I am optimistic that you and others will see the hope contained in the ending I chose for this story.  I honestly felt that to force a fluffy, sugary happy ending would be false to the tone of this piece.  Thanks for giving me your honest opinion.  I am grateful for all comments and I appreciate that you took the time to leave a review.  All the best, Orm Irian.

Thanks for your very gracious reply.? I felt guilty after I was done sulking since I didn't want you to think I was criticizing you as an author. ?[Especially since I've been too much of a wuss to put my own stuff out in public.]? I really did enjoy the story a great deal.? I'd had yet another horrid day at work and was craving a happy ending fix.? Actually, an escaped Snape with a Hermione miserable because she had betrayed him would have worked just fine with me; I'm not a total sugar junkie!? I actually worried when I got the alert that you had responded -- I thought you were going to basically tell me, too bad, it's your story and I could just quit being such a whinybutt (as a colleague of mine says).? Anyway, I'll definitely be looking forward to the sequel. Thanks again!

I am glad that you see the 'rightness' of Hermione's choice.  She has to retain her values or she risks losing part of herself.

Thank you for your very kind review. I'm truely happy that you enjoyed the story and found the storytelling compelling.  I think all fanfiction has a heavy dependence on fantasy, so you are definately right about the victim scenario.  Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts. 

Ooh, picked up on Scrimgeour's hypocrosy, did you?  Yes, I brought Stan back for a last curtain call.  As to Percy, he is really in his element here: he gets to brownnose with his boss, revel in his 'precious rules' and look good to his family all at the same time!!  I had fun with that one!   I could not include all the details, but Krum was exonerated by Harry and company for his role as a spy against Voldie.  I also let the Impenetrable Potion slide too--as I could not wrap up every detail--but I got a lot of them. Hopefully all the main themes are played out and clear to the readers.I'm glad you liked the story and I hope to be able to keep my commitment on the sequel. RL is about to get more intense.  I'm bracing for it.  Thanks for all your reviews, comments and support during the time it took to write this story.

I'm glad writing this was fun for you! Certainly more fun than grading your students' papers. I hope to see the Impenetrable Potion in the sequel. It seems to have been in half the chapters in this story, motivated Hermione to change her view on Severus and escape, and helped the trio in the final battle - not just a little detail. I can imagine Severus wanting its protection in the next ten years when he's dealing with the icky dark objects and curses the Aurors will be throwing his way. Yikes! I hope he doesn't lose an eye and leg like Mad-Eye Moody. Okay, please tell your students to be smarter this semester so you have time to write the sequel...

Thanks for the kind words.  That is an interesting idea, unfortunately I can't follow it, as the story is completely written.  Thanks for taking the time to read and review!

Glad you are enjoying the story.  I know what you mean about the suddenness.  I have been thinking that maybe it needs a little revision...Thanks for your review.

Yes, the total memory destruction charm is just another version of capital punishment--without the body.  Very nasty!  I can't tie up every loose end you mentioned, but I will get to most of them.  Hold on--the conclusion is in the queue.

I have no clue how this happened... Must be the gremlins again!

Don't be too concerned; Hermione is definately thinking about Severus.  In the next chapter you will see how she handles her confilcts over friends vs. Severus.  It is time for the Trio to take those irrevocalbe steps into adulthood--although each of them will arrive via a different route...Thanks for your reviews.  I really enjoy knowing what readers think about the story and I like to have the chance to dialogue with you all.

What we think about the story? We think: EEPS!!!!! We bite our fingernails worrying about the characters and what you're going to do with them. We grow gray hairs waiting for the next chapter and then curse the cliffhanger. I curse myself for not being patient enough to read this as a "completed" work instead of torturing myself with a WIP. My only consolation is that you are not a teenage fangurl with a record of abandoning stories. Have I told you yet that I like your story? Now write Sevvy that next chapter, please!

The next TWO chapters are already in the queue!  They complete the story and so, you won't have to bite your nails anymore!

Of course they didn't 'rescue' Severus... Harry tied him up on the presumption that he is a DE.  Hermione can't release him-- he would, most likely, try to prevent her from going to the Ministry to fight Voldie, something she feels very strongly that she has to do.You are right about the love/hate contradition in Harry's characterization.  But in my defense, I am trying to base it on canon.  JKR has showed both these extremes in her young hero's personality.  Two examples that come to mind are:  at the end of OotP, Voldemort can't possess Harry and Dumbledore claims it is because he has love in his heart; also I recall more than one incident in canon where Harry's actually thinks about how much he hates Snape.  So, the dichotomy in Harry's personality is well-established in canon--I am just using it for my own plot.In any case, I hope you liked the action and Voldemort's death scene.  I had fun writing it!Cheers and thanks for reviewing.

I'm happy you are enjoying the story.  I will be uploading another chapter today.

You got that right--just wait and see what develops next...Thanks for the review.  I will post the next chapter as soon as I can.

Glad you are enjoying the story.  Patience... I will upload the next chapter as soon as I can.

Wow! Thanks!

Actually, if they catch Wormtail, they won't be interrogating him.  The Order will get a voew of Hermione soon... and the boys won't be pleased.