I enjoy ambiguity, and I don't need all my questions answered. This gives enough for an emotional feel for the characters, and lets the reader's imagination take over in spots. The only thing I would've liked explained is why Severus let his son go after he seemed so adamant about keeping him. Perhaps a line or two of dialogue would've given us more of a hint-- just a hint. It seemed to jar with the rest of the story.

I liked this a lot. You took a risk, and that's highly commendable in the world of fanfic.

Author's Response: Thank you so much - it didn't feel like a risk when I was writing it, but now that I'm reading the reviews, apparently it was! :)

I agree with your comment about the explanation as to why Severus let his son go - I need to think on that . . .

Thanks again!

Aww that is sweet :)

interesting.... but confusing....  didn't go into how sev lost his son to hermione...etc..

What a sweet and sad story, I liked it very much!!!

Interesting!  But I have to say I think it wasn't in character for Hermione to keep Severus away from his child.  Even if he wasn't around much, even if he'd nbeen a bastard, she would have sent him pictures and letters, to let him know how the boy was doing.  At least that's my opinion.  Because of an incident in my extended family, I feel very strongly about people who take the kid and run away, denying any contact.  So I found myself having a strong, rather negative reaction to this fic.  It is well written, for all that.  you've packed a lot into a small story.  And different from what I expected, that's for sure.  Thank you for sharing this.

Very nice twist on the usual MLC trope.  Sad, but with our characters still IC.  I like the bit of hope at the end for their future -- for all three of them.

Oh this is so heart breaking but has a light at the end of the tunnel in the end.You have captured both Snape and Hermione perfectly. I love Hermione's determination to keep her son and Severus' determination too.I love how it starts and ends with Michael being tucked in bed, and how in the end, whether he knows it or not, Mum and Dad are tucking him and his favourite centaur into bed. Here's hoping it all works out for all of them in the end.Beautifully written, Savine x

I am glad that they rediscovered each other.

So much heartbreak, hope, and tenderness in so few words! Very well done.

oh. I really, really like this.  I think it has the potential to be expanded into a much larger fic (with all of the usual romance-fic attatchments and appellations, whether low or high rated)  but it certainly stands well on its own too.  there is so much emotion here, held in check, expressed...I mean, for instance, I'd like to know why snape calls him alexander and hermione calls him michael.  I'd like to know why they got married (aside from the marriage law).  I'd like to see when they knew it wasn't going to work out.  but as I said it stands on its own well, too.  thank you!

Awesome - sorry it's a one-shot, but all things are really covered in it. Shows a hopeful ending, and as long as the child wins in the end, that's what matters.  :-)

This is a lovely story. So much is shown with an economy of words. There is passion and pain and humour and heartache. There is regret ... and hope.This is a wonderful interpretation of the prompt.Nicely done.

It's sad when two parents fight over a child, and Hermione and Severus are both inteligent and educated enough to know the kind of harm that is inflicted to a child in that situation.  It's nice that they are doing better now, but a three year old needs both mommy and daddy.  Older kids need both parents too, but they have a better understanding when it simply can't be so.

wow how bittersweet

so sad! i don't understand why he wouldn't have seen the child for so many years, even if he and hermione didn't stay together, but i suppose that people can be unreasonable sometimes. it's nice that their chance encounter rekindled his relationship with his son at least.

Awe it's sad. Michael/Alexander seems real cute. Too bad it took Severus eleven years to come around.

Poor kid. Poor Severus and Hermione. I like this!

A very sad tale - two people who never loved. I'm not exactly sure why Severus doesn't see Michael but I"m guessing that he and Hermione had a huge blow out during the divorce and for some reason he wasn't allowed to see the boy? or maybe decided to wash his hands of both of them? (although that seems less likely to me since he was so adament about keeping him prior to the divorce). This was definitely a heart-wrencher.

Very nicely done. You captured Michael absolutely perfectly.

I'm an MLC fan, so I was happy when I saw this prompt. :) Thanks for posting something with it. Glad they can finally talk over things.

Very sweet story.  Thanks for sharing!

*sniff*

Bittersweet, but hopeful in the end.

I enjoyed this very much. Thank you for sharing. /M

Very, very interesting. I wonder how they came to their decision to have Michael stay with Hermione, without knowing Severus. Why didn't they just share?  Great job!

WAH! The poor boy, they were even fighting about his name! Although I must say that it was kind of cold-hearted of Hermione to take him away from Severus so completely that he didn't get to see him until he had to teach him. And that Michael didn't even know it was his dad.