I wonder what Severus is going to do about the students hiding in the room of requirement. Is he going to somehow help them, or pretend that he doesn't know where they are? Hopefully he can prevent more students from being injured, but not them leaving the school to help in the war. I am glad that Severus wanted to spend some time alone with Hermione, even if they weren't having sex. Hopefully nobody notices that she is missing. Perhaps Bill or Fleur could keep the secret, but Ron or Harry would probably go berzerk.

I am sitting on the egde here, I can see we are heading towards the end, and I both look forward for it, and dread it. I know though that when you have submitted the last chapter, I will read the whole story all over again. So far I have denied myself the joy of reading the previous chapters over again, the waiting holds a certain joy:-)Thank you for another brilliant chapter, I am still, and I bet I will continue to be, totally devoted and grateful for being able to read a wonderful story like this one!!!

Beautiful.

I nearly cried for Snape while he was going through his memories. You did not fall into the trap of making him better than he was. He is still perfectly  Snape… and yet he is so easy to sympathize with. Easy to love.

Once again, I am in awe.

And I loved the line, To the sea, their wars and struggles were but a single moment in the endless procession of time.

love

Heartbreakingly wonderful and sombre. Poor Severus - he believes he will die, and how could he, really, believe otherwise, after everything? Preparing the train of memories for Harry well in advance certainly makes sense - I rather doubt he could have issued such a coherent string of memories just like that in the Shack, while on the verge of death. Your version seems considerably more plausible to me!

Oh my heavens, this was an amazing chapter. I'm getting so sad, though -- I'm absolutely dreading what's to come. I have to say that your language is beautiful, and the way you described his affection for Lily was amazing. It's so hard to "unlove" and "unwant". I'm so sad for them both, especially after reading this last scene. I want the two of them to have a happily-ever-after so badly, but Severus has resigned himself to the fact that it's not for him...Aagh!Anyway, this was amazing. I bow down to you and your greatness!

just thought i'd say that i love this story oh so much.

OMG, so much in one short chapter. Pain, despair, hope, love, memory and resignation. I am truly awed by this story. Thank you so much.

This chapter was great! I can't wait for the next one. I think you are doing a wonderful job.On a more dismal note, I think I can safely say that you are the reason for the 'Ungradable' I'm probably going to get on tomorrow's exam. I can't stop thinking about the story!!

Beautifully written. Heart warming, gut wrenching. Brilliant.

*sniff* I've tears in my eyes from this chapter. Just beautiful.

You're tearing me up, Lariope!  I just can't get this out of my head, or lose the gut-wrenching grief all these past chapters have been saturated with.  You're making me love Snape all over again, and he's preparing to die, and you're kiling me with him! And poor Hermione, loving someone slated to die. What is going to become of her?There were several lines I loved in this chapter, but I wanted to point out a few that I thought were significant:"He had lost her before he had even known how to fight for her." "It was too late to unlove her. He had known her friendship, known her good and simple heart, and it was too late to unwant what he could never have had in the first place.""his beautiful, war-beaten wife"And the statement that he had "been on trial for seventeen years..." killing me, I say!

I love how you intertwine the stories. It is excellent. Another great chapter. keep the updates coming.

That was sad and heart-wrenching (particularly this sentence It was the only goodbye he knew how to give her.). I comfort myself with the fact that it says AU on top of the page.

Wow!I have only recently become a HG/SS shipper.  It has been this story and 5 others that have cemented a feeling in me that they truely BELONG together.  I am in awe of how you tie this story to Cannon but expand upon it into extremely believeable paths.Keep it up!I most eagerly await each installment, and ravage the sites every day for updates!

Awww. How terribly sad watching Severus sift through those memories. I did like the end of it when he came to sit with her. Lovely. :)

Im so glad you update today, I will be off line for this week. I like  lot the way you solve the torture and punishment of the children, I was wondering how would you were going to deal with that. It make sense. A usuall, this was a lovely chapter. This is my favorite fic.

This was heartbreaking and beautiful.  I'm clinging, desperately now, to your promises of "EWE"?

What a touching chapter.  You brought tears to my eyes!I really do adore this story and how you weave Snape's story around DH...and do it so well.  The moment with the pensieve was brilliant! Snape and Dumbledore's argument made me angry.I guess Dumbledore's getting a bit jelous that Snape spends time in other places that his office.  Great wonderful, brilliant, chapter!

Severus is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and it is an on-coming train.  This is so hard to read, because we know where canon took this.  It is such a pleasure to read, because you give us hope that there can be another outcome.I hope it is possible to bitch slap a portrait, because Dumbledore so deserves it.

This was a good-bye chapter, especially on Severus's part. He not only said good-bye to Hermione, but to his own life.

That was such a perfect ending for such an emotional episode for him to go through. Who better to comfort him than his wife that he loves, despite his best efoorts to the contrary. It is almost as if he is trying to say goodbye without actually saying the words.

very good, heartbreaking

I find it amazing that they held things together as long as they did.  I also am enjoying how the story is pulling away from canon.

Wow, this is soooo beautiful! I'm amazed by your writing and I'm so excited that we're getting closer to that point of no return, that part of the book where you can't stop reading, no matter how hungry or tired you are. And I'm terrified of having to ait for new chapters for days once we'll get there. But I love reading this story, it's updates just make my day!Great work!!gab

One of your most beautiful.

Some details stuck out at me, like your perfect description of Snape's posture, his movements: "a mixture of apology and arrogance." That is dead-on perfection.

But you give him a thought that I have long wondered myself, while he is looking in the Pensieve. Did he join the DE to punish Lily? Those dreadful, desperate, pathetic thoughts -- yes, teenagers (and some immature grown-ups) think like that. "You could have saved me..." So many point to him joining as an act to gain power, which it also was, I believe. He thought if Voldemort won, he could take Lily, show her how powerful he was, and she would be awed by him. But wasn't it this also? Deeper, under the surface: See what you did to me! See what you forced me to do!

Your writing of his emotions is so nuanced and perfect. This isn't spilled onto the page, willy-nilly, this is just crafted and gorgeous and I cannot imagine how you do anything else, the intense involvement you must have with these characters...

I am coming. You cannot do this to me. I lost it there. But instead of something cliche (passionate kisses or more) you take us to the edge of the ocean and force us to contemplate along with them. You gorgeous, sublime author.

Thank you, also, for showing us his imperfection, how he does not have perfect control. Letting the Carrows run rampant? Students hiding, like victims of war? How did he come to owe so much to so many?

Indeed. But it's been a choice all along. Ah, there were so many things I adored in this chapter. Even his shedding tears only over his memory of Hermione. The line about his body and the Giant Squid... They have come so far, and you've done it well, if poignantly. Which, I suppose, is how it has to be.

Author's Response: Lulabelle.

I wish it were next month and I could just throw my arms around you. I'm so... pleased isn't strong enough of a word... that we share an image of Snape.

I'm glad that the scene remained moving despite his admission of pettiness and yes, desperate, pathetic thoughts. I hope there's been evidence of the growth in him since then.

Though, yes, he is still human, still a man, and he has been distracted and interior, and missed things that he shouldn't have.

Thank you so much.