as much as i like happy endings harry and snape's end of their relationship seemed to be the only possible outcome in your story.

How unfair of an ending for Snape, desperately unfair. But only too realistic. Because yes, it's the people who put meaning to our lives, and if one has had absolutely no one but a distant memory of a friend, then he must be empty indeed. This is a very strange and seldom seen in fandom Snape, truly dulled and wearied, not so much desperate as hollow, aged, out-of-tune with the new world (that belongs to McGonagall, Potter, and the Weasleys). Somehow, he is all the more human for it.

There is something to this story that compels me to come back again... I know I've missed something, preoccupied with my crying as I've been. And the aura of the whole thing, thick with regret and reminiscence and resignation, is oddly alluring.

This is amazing, I love
It fantasticly written

*sqwaks* N-no! It can't end that way ;_;
It was heart-wrenching and beautiful and utterly awesome, but I still itch for an epilogue...perhaps some closure, I dunno. It was wonderful, nonetheless. And I love your opening quotes, those are brilliant :D

I don't know what to say. It was so sad from the beginning. I thought you'll fix it somehow and make a happy ending... But you end it in unexpected time. What happened with Severus?
This story is sad. But I like it anyway.

Well that was bleak. Still it was a good story, just sad. Poor Sev, so busy missing Lilly, he can't see that if he lets her go he won't have nothing, he'd have Harry. Not that Harry isn't being a twit himself, too.

Well...not trying to heal a wound makes sure it'll stay too deep, doesn't it? Harry won't do half of what Severus did for him, of course. He's much too good for that, just as Lily was much too good for the Geek Loser.

I think Snape is going to die for real, soon. Perhaps then he'll finally find someone who actually does love him. Because if Harry really loved him, he would try to heal those wounds. But instead he echoes Albus about wounds too deep for healing--because it's easier to say that than to try, isn't it?

A very bleak ending. But Harry will get over whatever happens, now that Snape has spent so much time re-establishing his soul. But as I said, being Gryffindor means never having to say you're sorry. Dumbledore taught them all too well.

12 owls _is_ begging. And as ever, a Gryffindor knows everything without even having to ask or listen to an explanation. He should be proud of himself--he _is_ just like his mother.

Of course Snape thinks it's his fault. He always does. And everyone else tells him the same thing.

What else is new? And this time, as he did for Lily, he's willing to crawl yet again. One hopes it works out better than it did the last time--but then, being Gryffindor means never having to say you're sorry.

Yes. Severus is so lonely that even a half-hearted friendship is better than nothing--and he used to be guarded against any feelings because they were so often used against him. Yet, Harry isn't faking--Snape is someone he can trust to be on his side even if he isn't pleasant about it, and by now he's run into scores of flatterers who want something. Plus, he should have realized by now just how many times Snape has saved his life. (and on a deeper level, he could let himself by cossetted by scores of Weasleys, but he was raised by Dursleys, and on a deep level he may think he deserves Dursleys).

It is nice that in this universe Albus deigned to let the Order know the truth . As for Lily, loving for an instant--that's short rations for an entire lifetime. Snape deserves more. Even Harry was allowed more than that, and still has a large number of friends (I've noticed that nobody's come to visit Snape, not even Minerva).

Then again, is Luna coming to visit Harry or Snape?

Dear, sweet Albus. He doesn't care that Harry nearly killed Draco; it's all about his wonderful Gryffindor, isn't it?

And when does anyone watch over Snape? Yeah, we know that answer, don't we? Draco's just another Slytherin, but young enough that he shouldn't have his soul torn. But being damned in the afterlife is good enough for Snape, of course.

Bow until he broke--that's a good phrase for it. He's never known anything else--he's never known a relationship where someone actually gave to _him_ (Lily took until she found a richer, handsomer pureblood to give to her some more, but Snape never really realized that. James threatened to hex her, but when a rich athlete does it, it's still preferable to one bad word from a geek loser).

When, if ever, does anyone actually give to Snape?

One suspects there were a _few_ moments where Harry gave something to Snape, too, in this relationship--and Severus is just now realizing it. Besides, he's used to carrying a huge load--all of Slytherin, being a spy, being Dumbledore's handpuppet, and now Harry's life-support.

He really has never known what it's like to _be_ free. Ever.

This is so heart-crushingly sad I'm crying even now. I think Severus and Harry deserved each other very much, if only Sev had let go of Lily.

Unbelievably good story.