Oh, this is exquisitely done! Clever, original, poignant, gripping, believable... And the ending... I'm so glad I stumbled across this piece!

That was amazing. Wonderful insight into Snape's mind. Bravo!

i appreciated reading your version of these events from severus's point of view.  at first i thought - now there's a way to allow him to have "lived" through that awful death-by-snakebite - but a horcrux is a pretty yicky option.  so i was glad that you allowed him to have the spiritual wherewithal to resist that temptation, and even the temptation of lily's doe, and make the difficult but more ethical choices that hopefully will lead to some sort of redemption in the afterlife.  for me i guess that is what my severus obsession is about - the need to believe that whatever mistakes he made in his youth, in later years he did enough to redeem himself.  this story suggests that is so, and i appreciate that.

So sad, but so wonderfully written! And in the end, his choice made sense - as did the original choice to create a Horcrux. I am just hoping the path he chose will bring him some satisfaction and happiness in the afterlife.

~Kribu 

Brilliant mesh of JKR and you!  But how sad.  and yet, his soul has its own journey to make.  Brilliant tale.  A gem, really.

I'm glad Sev decided to not use the horcrux.  It was a beautiful story.

First time I've read of this concept in a fic and it was interesting that you chose the ending you did. Whilst sad, it is more believable than the route that others would have taken with this idea.

So sad, but wonderful to see him finally free.Wonderful.  Thank you.

Excellent..excellent! Sad enough to make you cry, skillfull enough to help SS fulfill his destiny, and logically justifying at the end.  You Really write well..Thank you.