This was lovely! Severus never had much of a chance to mature, to grow up - and it is wonderful to see him get the chance to finally start a normal life and progress into a much more satisfying existence.

Yes, he deserved to be young, and to have his love returned. Such simple things to ask, and so harshly denied.

Very nice!

Your writing always evokes a very visceral reaction for me. In this piece I feel like I'm climbing a mountain and by reaching the top (the truth) I'm cheating the Gods. It feels very mythological.

Good job Whitehound for not over editing.

Loved it,
indianpipe

Very interesting, and cool chapter. Keep smiling. :-)

Yes. Of course Lily and the Marauders and Tonks were also all very young to die, but except for Sirius they weren't as institutionalised as Severus - they'd had more of a crack at living - and from what we see, he hadn't even had much of a life as a child. Even Sirius had at least had a few years of enjoyment, from when he left home to when he was arrested, whereas Severus never had much except guilt and duty.

You have caught the essence of the immaturity of his character. He went through those years until almost his last days, facing Voldemort, like he had lived frozen in his adolescent youth, with the same pure passions, hatred and love unfaded, blind faith and certainties of his goals, without developing a capacity to understand the real essence of persons and their own motives.
It is good to think that someone caring (Hermione and all the authors like you) could have started a process of awakening and reeducation and that he could have a chance to mature and to get old because once in a while, Life has repaid its debts.
Thank you for your insight.

Yes, so young, so wounded, so betrayed. How we wish we could have healed his sorrows and given him a happy ending like this, renewed him like the phoenix to grow into himself and the man he could have been. He was old in sorrow, but young as yesterday's babe in being loved.