Very interesting a solid, unflinching look into Snape as a young, complete and utter bastard who yet cannot complete what he has started when faced with the innocence of children and the trust of Dumbledore. Well-written and engaging. Bravo!

Just want to say that this is a great Snape fic. It's very hard to find one that deals with him in the manner that JKR potrayes him in the books. I do hope that you create a second story to this one.
By the way Lily's name is Evans not Spencer, Ms. Rowling's has stated so in a few interviews done by AOL, and the group is called the Order of the Phoenix.
EJ.

Excellent piece of work! Not many fics can interpret Snape's personality correctly but you REALLY can! It's VERY touching! Thanks for ur GREAT work and Ive added it to my favourites!

omigosh this is the best snape fic i've ever read!

Reread GOF yesterday (my middle daughter is finally reading Harry Potter!), and got fascinated by the relationship between Snape and Dumbledore. Why did he trust him? So I went looking for fanfic which might explore the question,and yours was the first one I found. Very interesting.

I gather there is a lot of fanfic dealing with the olden days of You-Know-Who's reign of terror, but this is the first HP fanfic I've ever read. Thanks so much for writing and sharing your stories and ideas.

This is truly a lovely story. It is the first I've seen that concentrates on Snape and makes his actions realistic and within the realm of his character. I have lots of opinions on Snape, and in the end of the series, I believe he will be "on the side o' the angels".
I think this is so well-written; it really is amazingly well-crafted. There are very, very few grammatical errors and the style is wonderfully flowing. The only parts I found choppy were the few concerning the three Gryffindors becoming Aurors. That was rather extraneous and clunky, as well as took us out of the established point of view (the scene with Dumbledore and McGonagall was necessary, however, to establish their motives).
If you intend to do a sequel (PLEASE!), or a separate story, I ask you to do a flash forward. Snape's current motives are interesting, and I find it doubly so that he's a teacher. His views toward "children" in your text are really engaging and it would be interesting to see how that appears in his thoughts, as well as views on Malfoy. Also, it almost lends itself to the fact that he could very much see himself as almost protecting Dumbledore with his distrust versus Dumbledore's excessive trustfulness.
I really enjoyed this. I was afraid at first that Hippolyte would become a love interest, and was relieved at her relatively small involvement. I also loved Snape's almost always inferior view of others, even those he worked with. I liked the way the piece lent itself to the future of Snape, and played quietly with how he deals with things emotionally. But I think what I liked the best was how his realization of everything came not as a huge epiphany, but rather as something that was always there. It was a "growing up" kind of moment, where eventually he was forced to realize that imagining someone dead (as everyone does) is a lot different than actually killing them. You made him very believeable in that aspect, adn I respect that a thousand times over.

There are so few fanfics out there that really do such a great job with detail and everything, and I'm so glad you chose to write this one. Please continue to write, and I'll continue to read! (even though I'm a year belated on reviewing.
I'm sorry I had nothing more to offer on constructive criticism for revising, but there's really nothing to revise here. You've done a great job with this piece, no matter what anyone says, and I think it's the best "Snape Work" there is. Good luck in future literary endeavors!-CornerDemon

I think that
I'm going to put you on my favorites.

You really have talent! Okay now I wish I didn't tell others that I didn't find a really really good writer at . Keep it up. I swear, you're going to become a professional writer some day.

Hi,

I really like the story so far but i would just like to say that there are a problems. One is that Professor McGonagall wouldn't be teaching because they went to school together. Therefore, she cannot teach snape.

Keep on writing,

I loved this. Nice twosided view of Snape. I'm glad that you didn't make him unnecesserily nice or anything. Really good characterisation.

i think its the best story i have ever read i would make it in to a book if i was J.

I sooo loved this thing! I adore Snape fics! And you write him sooo goodly! (I know that isn't a word but you know...) Anyway great grammar and spelling, great plot, great characters, I loved the way you did Dumbledore... keep up the fantabulous work!

This was GREAT! It's going on my favorites...I was never really a Snape fan, and I'm still not, but this gives me a glimpse of what Snape did and why. So I don't think he's too bad anymore.

I havent read it,but I wanted to add it to favourites,so I can read it tomorrow

oooo Neat story _ I must say there are not enough Snape stories...yes I'll admit it I do like prof. Snape...Ha there :OP...anyway this was really good...