Teeheehee.  Snape the secret hero.  You paint a wonderful picture here.  :)  This update made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even if it  wasn't supposed to -- it did.  Thank you!

Again, a great chapter. The dark influence of the Horcrux becomes so much more believable with your addition to the book parts!

Author's Response: Thank you!

Meddling old codger! Some more points to my personal I-start-to-disklike-Dumbledore-scale. DOES he have to put his fingers into everything? *sigh* ;o)
Great chapter, and I love the way how you do the fine details...

Author's Response: He IS a meddling old codger! And so self righteous, too! Infuriating. :) Thank you so much for reviewing.

Another brilliant update!!! Your manipulative Dumbledort is so well written I just long to be able to jump into your story and give him a piece of my mind!I am so glad you had Severus figure out just what the task Hermione and Harry (I refuse to mention Ron...) is out on. Not only do I find it incredible stupid of Dumbledort to keep such vital information secret from those who can help, you also gave Severus credit for being a smart man (as we know he is):-)) Yup, a great, great chapter. I absolutely loooooove it!!!

Excellent.  And bravo for this, which reverses so much that was wrong with DH: "For once, in his entire, pitiable existence, he knew the whole plan and could see it from each angle. He knew exactly who he belonged to and why. He was almost dizzy with thoughts; they stabbed at him from all directions, but he could see now, see it all, and he felt like someone who had been set free. He could choose."A Snape with no choices, as I have said other places, cannot possibly be said to be brave.  I hope this changes the shape of story as you're telling it, because it's such a crucial theme, and because it was so mis-handled in the original.As always, well done.

This story continues to be seriously wonderful and exciting.  Very well done!

Oh, YES! I am so so SO happy that Severus is outwitting Dumbledore here. It is absolutely true that Dumbledore does not take into account the act of free will and human nature when he makes his plans. It shows he isn't a squeaky clean Grandfather, after all.

Another wonderful chapter which ended much too soon of course. But I can't tell you how much I appreciate you're continuous updates of quite lengthy chapters. I loved this one as much as I did the last ones.Great work!gab

Severus was always under valued by people.  I suspect J.K.R. never realized what a gem of a character she had in him.

I was always confused as to why no one but Harry and his friends were the only ones who were told about the Horcruxes. If he trusted Snape enough to protect Harry even if it lead to his own death, no to mention that he trusted him enough to kill him instead of Draco, why could he not trust Snape with more info on what Harry and Co were up to in the fores??!! Love your chapter much more!

A good day is a day when I find that you have updated this story ;-)

The world had changed. [...] For once, in his entire, pitiable existence, he knew the whole plan and could see it from each angle. He knew exactly who he belonged to and why. He was almost dizzy with thoughts; they stabbed at him from all directions, but he could see now, see it all, and he felt like someone who had been set free. He could choose. [...]This paragraph made me truly happy. I've always disliked Dumbledore for keeping the others in the dark. Good for Snape that he's now a bit freer.Apart from that, I enjoyed the entire chapter very much, not just that one paragraph. :)

As always you keep us guessing?  How will he come?  Well done my dear.  Irish

Dumbledore sent Hermione with Harry to slow him down?  Well, I never!  ::huff::Another excellent chapter!

I am in awe of your ability to make so much more of this than is offered in DH. This is a wonderful, wonderful read.

What a wonderful way to start the morning!  It's wonderful how you are able to take canon (and the interminable camping scenes) and give them so much more depth.  I love how Snape and the Headmasters (sounds like a band doesn't it?) are both sniping at each other yet still working together.  Dumbledore needs his ass kicked - period.  Even on canvas, he's still a manipulative bastard.

brilliant, now Severus knows the plan he can help them out

I love when Severus puts Dumbledore in his place!

Really well done, this chapter! You intertwine your tale perfectly with the events in the book. The Snape-as-Headmaster-part I enjoyed most, it's the first time I read it so real and well done, showing all the difficulties with this scenes so nicely.

Author's Response: Thank you so much! I loved writing that scene (even though I hated it for poor Snape) so I'm very pleased that you enjoyed it too. Thank you for reviewing!

WoW!!Excellent!I look forward to reading the chapters to come.

Yet another wonderful chapter. I found it fascinating how her musings slowly turned from rational and curious to irrational and frantic as the horcrux pushed its influence on them. Your descriptions of how the horcrux affects them is definitely more frightening than JKR's was. I just hope that Hermione doesn't really believe that Snape doesn't care for her at all. And, I do hope Ron gets fed up soon and abandons them, because he really is getting on my last nerve! As always, I can't wait for more!

Yet another wonderful chapter.  How do you do it my dear?  irish

Well I am all caught up now, and hope the next chapter is in que soon. I can't wait until they get rid of that locket.

I get the feeling dumbledore wanted hermione to be faithful to snape so that she would save him in the end. That could just be wishful thinking, but I like the idea anway.

Ron, on his own, can be a real git. Ron with the horcrux is a true asshole!! I cant wait to see your take on why he behaved like that.