You give them hope.  What more can a person ask for?  Moving story, lovely and poignent ending.  Well done.

Absolutely wonderful.  This story has been an amazing and compelling read.  I love the things you've explained and changed about canon and I love that you've given them this hopeful ending.

wow!!!!! perfect ending to a brilliant story....... looking forward to your next.

“Thank you for staying,” Harry said, and he held the hilt of the sword out to Griphook...Another thing that desperately needed canon-fixing.  Excellent!

Everything Severus has done since the end of his trial has been done with the one thought of making all things better for Hermione... even though he could not give voice to his thoughts.And everything Hermione has done since the end of his trial was done with his wellbeing in mind... even when she feared he was losing his resolve in their relationship.Neither should have worried.  Their silent concerns for each other remind me of the poor but loving couple in O'Henry's Gift of the Magi.  Having very little in the way of material goods or monetary fortunes, for Christmas that year the wife cut her hair and sold it to buy him a fob chain for the for the watch handed down to him from grandfather to father, and father to son.  And he had sold the watch to buy tortoise shell combs for her beautiful hair.As O'Henry wrote: "The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi."Second Life will always be right there, on the bookshelf in my mind, beside O'Henry's "Gift of the Magi.""The shadows on the walls changed and morphed, soft reds and greens and golds. Snape could feel Hermione’s shuddering breaths against his chest. He stroked a hand over her hair, and she tipped her head back to look at him. His eyes closed as he exhaled the last of his resistance and lowered his mouth to hers. For her, for this, he would try."This was the perfect ending for this most beautiful story.  It has brought me to tears of joy because "For her, for this, he would try."Thank you for your wonderful gift.I remain your faithful servant,Beth

What a beautiful moment! Thank you sooo much for this!

I am so very grateful for your splendid reinterpretation of a very deceiving canon book, and for gifting us with so well rounded characters. You have brought them to life, just like that, and I'm in wonder in front of such an accomplishment.Sorry for not reviewing before, and please forgive my bad English. This is my first review, ever, and I'd want so much to be able to convey all that your story has meant to me.It was an incredible travel, it was strong and clever and funny - the canon revision I mean -, and I never felt deceived in the least, not even in the smallest details. I can't begin to imagine how much effort it took and how draining it must have been for you.From time to time I will ask myself how your Hermione and Severus are coping, and I'll want to call them, as well as your Headmaster Black, and Minerva, and Harry and Ron and Kingsley and all the Weasleys. Thanks to you I'll be able to figure out answers by myself, and when I won't, I'll just go back and re-read this beloved story with no fear that it might be lost in the mists of time and the web, since it IS already a classic.

I have no words but to say great story. Thank you so much for sharing it.

Just letting you know -- I've been following this story since the beginning, and I -- well, I love it. (I am terrible at reviews/comments/etc.) The book would have been better if it had gone this way.

Now that this is complete, I've been barrelling through without reviewing each chapter. I had to stop for this one, though, and say thank you for taking the time to make some sense out of the ridiculous continuity error of Hermione reprogramming her parents and then two chapters later "only knowing the theory" behind the Obliviate. I love what you've done with the scene surrounding that bit of canon-fixing as well, as it develops both Hermione's and Severus' characters wonderfully. But what really struck me was the amazing sense of relief at having that bit of nonsense suddenly explained in a way that makes sense. So, again, thank you! *scurries along to keep reading*

I've been a little disconnected lately so when I saw how much you had advanced with the story it felt like Christmas coming early!! xDReally, both the development of the story and the feelings are amazingly explayed. I love your version of characters such as Severus, Hermione or even Minerva and I've been positively surprised by your vision of Kingsley -as 'a colourful bird', wasn't it? :)- and his balance between his loyalty to the order and his public image as minister.Thanks again for your wonderful fic!!

:) I don't even know what to say. Breath-taking. ... Excellent. ... Wonderful. I love the final visual of them by the tree; a new life, a Second Life ;) beginning in that moment. And I can see it, and feel the feeling you get at Christmas of hope and joy, and a new year, but for this, a whole new life.And I'm really just rambling because I'm actually kind of speechless. lol So, I'll stop wasting your time and just say that I loved it. :)

Loved this story.

I love this story , and it has became my favorite . I am wery sorry that is come to end , but it has to end sometime. You end it beautifle , and I deeply hope that their life will be good and foull of happynes . I will miss the story so You better start new one , good as this.  Thank you .

Ah, this is the end – and if it really is, you make some interesting storytelling choices, as always. You very consciously leave some important bits of unfinished business, like that trip to Australia, and how Snape’s presence in the Wizarding World will evolve over time. And I wonder how their relationship will continue to develop under more ordinary sorts of stress (i.e., whose job is higher-profile, how comfortable would he ever be with her friends, etc.). Not to mention whether children would ever come into discussion. But then, it’s a measure of how real you made your constructs of Severus and Hermione seem, that I’m nattering over their prospects as if I could call up a mutual friend and ask what they’ve heard of them lately! So thanks for sharing such a rich imagination with us. I certainly got my seven-stars' worth.

And his wall came tumbling down.Isn't it amazing how much the past shapes our future even when we try to run from it, it has a way of catching up to us, and only when we accept it will it leave us alone allowing us to grow and move forward.Thank you Lariope, I will miss looking daily for this story, but then there are always the ones you will write in the future.

My dear, it's beautiful. Amazing. The most wonderful and right ending to this amazing journey. I'm torn up, between this feeling of ending, that it's over, and now i need to find something else to look forward to, to the feeling that this is right, just perfect, and i don't know whether to cry or not.The ending paragraph, the whole chapter actually, is fantastically fitting in this brilliant story.I love it. Just love.Thank you

Thank you for this powerful story. I'm sorry to see it come to an end, but this feels right -- they're poised now to really have a second life, a new life, free of the chains of the old.

This is an absolutely beautiful ending. Not the always sappy things (even if I like them very much). It's just full of hope and sweetness. He just accepted once and for all her love and is willing to give his heart. Not that it's easy but he's just doing it anyway. You are an incredible person and author and I hope you will write many many fic in the furture that I always enthousiastically will read. Have a lovely sunday.

You write so beautifully. This moved me so much.

It's over!! What a story!!But they do live happily ever after don't they? Don't be to long in writting another epic lol please! x

Lovely finish to a brilliant story! :)

He had not known that it was possible to ache for someone else who stood right in front of you, who belonged to you, who was going nowhere.And I ache for the ending of this exquisitely beautiful story.This has been an utterly remarkable journey, my dear.  I can barely believe that the title page now shows that this is, indeed complete.  They have come home.  You have brought them here, and their future is possible and in their hands now.I am moved and touched and melancholy and hopeful.  I hate that it is over, but I thank you for ending it in just the right place.  Perhaps they will find her parents, but it is more important to know that they will try to go on, having made their way through.  Together.This has been an astonishing accomplishment.  Well done, L.  Very well done.

uuuaaahhh - the last chapter.How much I love this story!!!!Thank you for giving us such an "reaslistic" and touching ending.Have to reread this story again and again and again.Hope you will come back with a new story very soon.Thank you so much, you are a great writer.

Lariope, you wonderful creature, you! I absolutely adore this ending paragraph. Is't just perfect, perfect perfect, and the way you tied in the invitation thing... just yey!I love you. This is great. *applauds*