As the tide slowly begins to turn in the courtroom, it makes a massive shift in the private confines of the marriage.  You have done a magnificent job here of delineating the heart of their conflict, as each struggles to find a way through.  This is powerful, painful stuff, and they are both fighting for their very lives, but it feels as though an extraordinarily important hurdle has been passed here as a result of their efforts. 

As the tide slowly begins to turn in the courtroom, it makes a massive shift in the private confines of the marriage.  You have dne an absolutely magnificent job here of delineating the heart of their conflict, as each struggles to find a way through.  This is powerful, painful stuff, and they are both fighting for their very lives, but it feels as though an extraordinarily important hurdle has been passed here as a result of their efforts.  Magnificently done.

Her courage is amazing, especially in the face of such a fierce stone wall. 

It is fascinating (and maddening!) to hear his story as it must appear to outsiders.  His reaction is, I suppose, better than righteous indignation.

The tiniest details here, the smallest gestures, are incredibly magnified and astonishingly moving. 

Progress is sometimes just the tiniest step.

But there is still such a long way for both of them to go.  And so many people think they knew Albus Dumbledore and find it so hard to think badly of him.  They could use your account of him to come to resent and distrust him as much as these two do, bastard that he was where they were concerned.

Everybody is still under a lot of pressure.  Some of them are handling it better than others.

Dear Hermione just hasn't been able to think things through, has she?  Even Harry seems to have had a clearer head (though thank heaven for that!).  And while Kingsley has a whole lot on his plate, he may be thinking a little too much about public perception and not quite enough about the individual people under his care.  (Though he does redeem himself eventually.)

And Rita Skeeter just needs to be shot.  As always.

Arthur once again proves himself to be amazing.

And though the battle is far from over, she has found her way home.

*sigh*

Though of course, he will wake up....

A fascinating revision of the final battle.  I am curious about why you let Hermione kill Nagini (though the vengeance for Severus is especially comforting).  And I wonder if that killing blow that finished off Bella came from Snape, also avenging his spouse.

In general, I loved seeing the battle mostly from their perspectives--it gave it all a kind of distanced finality that was a really rich counterpoint to the original.

I can barely see the keyboard for weeping.

As Harry (and Ron) ran after her, not understanding her connection to Snape but trusting her anyway, I found myself achingly proud of the strength of their love.  Harry's words to her, “You have never given me any reason--any reason--to doubt you.  And I won’t start now,” could not have been more beautiful.

To watch him die all over again but through her eyes now, that was pure agony--and then to see him return but beyond himself with grief and fury and despair...that was nearly unbearable.  I know he will come through this, but what a bitter journey he still has ahead of him.

They both do.


Hand me some more Kleenex, will you please?

This simply rushes forward at breakneck speed, and you have infused it all with such a sense of inevitable motion.  The passage when Snape flies out past Hogwarts, drinking it all in for the last time, still gets me right there.

I am again fascinated by the scene in which Voldemort teaches him to fly, when he isn't quite sure if he's about the die right there but has to step forward anyway.

AND THE SCENE IN WHICH HE TELLS DUMBLEDORE WHERE TO STICK IT IS SO SATISFYING!!!  Who knew he could shut the old man up at last?  Yahoo!!!!

A beautiful story. So emotional. The best!

You are a very gifted author.  Your book is so well written and well thought out.  It is a joy to read your beautiful words.  I'm delighted to be finally caught up with the rest of the people waiting, longing, for your next installment.

really really love this story so far and I can't wait for the next installment.  This is probably the best 'Hermione/Snape' viewpoint on HPB and DH that I have read so far!

Loved the chapter and the slight modifications of canon, and the sea...It's been a wonderful journey, and I'll wait for the next chapter.You did say that potion was for grave wounds, right?  right???

“I just took him back out now. When he came in, he looked as if he’d fallen into a nest of Acromantulas. I guess that’s what love looks like when you’re afraid.”I love your Luna.

I'm speechless...

Wow, love the intertwining of the conversations about the Elder Wand.

Great reinterpretation of the Horcrux scene and your conversation between Harry and Hermione explaining it—particularly the part about them both having something to live for after the war and Ron feeling excluded by that.Painful irony, though, given what Hermione knows about Harry at this point, and what Harry would say if he knew who Hermione's "something to live for" was.

So much more interesting than the way I vaguely remember things happening in canon.  And her Patronus has changed!  What does this new form mean, and will the boys figure it out?  (Of course they are certain to think that, when she asked the portrait to contact the Headmaster, she was talking about the previous one, not the current resident.)

Exciting stuff!

This is yet another amazing chapter.  That final image, as the two of them sit "looking at infinity" together, not speaking or needing to, is breathtaking.

And i love that he sees the memories he has gathered as his gift to her, as well, and that he blends in what she has done with the knowledge he will give to Harry.

Simply exquisite.

Clever how all this explains what JKR did not, isn't it?  Not quite in the way she had in mind, anyway.  I mean, how did Hermione heal from the awful damage done to her if not for her husband's ministrations?

And Dobby's death still makes me weep--including having Severus see the grave and know this is why Dobby did not come back to him.  He was indeed a very brave elf.

And Luna, dear Luna, she sees so much!  "I guess that’s what love looks like when you’re afraid."  I probably quoted that line the first time around, too--it's absolutely brilliant, and it's so much in character.

Dear, idiotic, impetuous Harry is very lucky there are people around him trying to save him, because he's going to get himself killed otherwise!

And Severus has to have been there to help, else what could explain everything that happened?

Oh, god, you make me weep for him.  And you make me want to let Hermione loose on Dumbledore--it he were only alive so she could show him how like his rival he has become.

Severus can never atone for what he has done, because Albus will never grant him absolution.  He wouldn't know how.

Bless Dobby for seeing what was needed and for bringing her to him.  It is not enough, it cannot be enough, but I hope it is enough for now.

This is another one of the truly amazing chapters--wrenching and powerful and agonizing and real.  Woman, you write like nobody's business!

That fear he has is a very good sign, I think.  For one who has been resigned to death for just about all his adult life, now to fear it is hopeful.

I will always love Luna.  She is a good, brave, smart soul, and very much her own woman.

And bless Dobby for his perception.  I wasn't a huge fan of his in canon until the end.  His death made me cry, and this all suggests his true measure. 

"It felt like being Snivellus again."Wow, again, your insight into Snape's thoughts during the year that he was most hidden in canon is flawless.That line made me tear up a little because of the loneliness.

I've been reading through Second Life and just kept going to the next chapter, but I realized I should stop at some point and leave you a review, because this fic deserves it.You've written wonderful, heartbreaking characterizations and worked it in between the lines of canon very skillfully (kind of reminds us of someone else who likes to write in the margins...)  In particular, you have rendered a Severus who does not wish to be saved, who has a secret hope to die in the Second War, very beautifully, and his weary thoughts as you interpret them when killing Dumbledore ring true.I guess I have this image in my head of the Snape I've "known" for years, and while he's not exactly incompatible with the Snape in canon, JKR's interviews post-DH made it quite clear that she saw him differently.  And when I read your writing, it's as though you've captured him perfectly.  It's like a proof that he really exists, at least in the imaginations of some.The only thing that's disconcerted me is that a lot of the things Hermione does are credited to Snape (the expanding bag, the idea to take the portrait along, altering her parents' memories).  This makes it less believable that she will prove his equal intellectually as a companion and wife should he survive the war.