Oh, well done -- well-written and well-paced. A nicely-canonical Minerva, but so much deeper and more complex. So glad she apologized. Severus, as you say, is no innocent. But James and Sirius were just thugs.

Wow, I never read anything that seemed so unbiased as your piece; you don't take sides at all, as I see it. That is quite exceptional - I love Minerva so much, that the first part of it would sound different, had I written it, but that would be "having favorites", what you manage to avoid here.

Very good last line!

This was beautifully constructed, with so many hurting paragraphs and lines and words. I drank it all like hot chocolate with a dollop of cream, strong introspection layered with emotion. :) Delicious.

Merits a Favorites. Two, in fact.

This was BEAUTIFUL! What a talent you have!

A perfect little piece.

*Ouch* That hurts! Great characterisation of Minerva - the feeling of guilt and betrayal comes across so strongly. Poor Sev... Really well done. Thanks. :-)

Oh, I *like* this! It's really good, and very accurate. I like that you have Minerva realising that she, too, is guilty of bias and prejudice. You've done a really good job in your portrayal of her.

One quibble: "but I guess I didn’t" (first paragraph) - I really cannot see Minerva saying "I guess"; it's too slangy and so it doesn't fit in. Something like "but apparently I did not".

Having read this, I think you'd really like my fic "Damage Done"; it's along a similar theme to this.

I've just realized I didn't review your story, although it's on my favorite's list...
It's one of those stories where every word is exactly at the right place. I especially liked how McGonnagall is torn between the "facts", her trust in Dumbledore and her perceived guilt in what has become of Snape.

Very good portrait of McGonagall. How can she ever understand what happend in the astronomy tower? Or forgive herself for it?

Nice look at Minerva - she's so inherently decent, but she must have had a huge blind spot for her star Quidditch player, her star Transfiguration student.

Lovely and sad

Nice!
"Albus was just an old fool who loved too hard and trusted too easily. And that is where my brain hiccups and chokes, because, you see, he wasn’t. I can’t believe that." I can't, either. He would have to have been completely senile to fall for such a flimsy pretense. No, he knew exactly why he could trust Snape implicitly. And I am still sure that he was not wrong in his trust!

quite beautiful.
perhaps a sequel when they find that he really is still working for them after all?

Yes, I like how you wrote this. You did a good job with it. Well done! :D