What a satisfying conclusion, thank you for writing this

I loved every chapter, but this final one was something special

The ending was perfect and hit all the right emotions

A very emotional ending

You wrapped everything up so beautifully

Probably one of the longest epics I have read in a long time

Every word felt earned, what a ride

Nice conclusion, though a part of me didn't want it to end... thank you for the journey

This was absolutely incredible from start to finish

Nice conclusion

Frankly, just when one thought that Lily being the kind of person willing to befriend, or even date, her best friends' (past? Present?) abusers (and would be killers, and Sirius in this chapter was helpful enough to make his attitude perfectly clear... makes sense, everyone involved understood the obvious consequence of someone ending up in an enclosed location with a fully transformed werewolf, and it's not like Sirius had taken any steps to ensure Snape would be terrorized and traumatized -which in and of itself would have still been utterly sociopathic on his part-, rather than mauled and eaten alive, the guy's choice was basically to run up the tunnel and hope the Whomping Willow would still let him pass) would be the low point, she starts digging, and arrives to suggest Snape should actually forgive them. Frankly, it's not as if I don't see the connection between the latter and the former. She wants to make herself feel better about being that kind of person. When neither Snape nor basically any other character would even remotely consider doing that to a friend.

Frankly, more than the Lake incident, in and of itself appalling, I would say that the werewolf incident was the true "banger". And let's be honest, if Lily had been stripped naked in front of a jeering mob by James and Sirius (and whether the latter had previously almost gotten her killed or not), she would not be forgiving them, and rightly so... nor, I suspect, there would be any forgiveness if they had targeted in that manner her mother, sister or father, rather than her supposed best friend: when they go after him, it's apparently not a turn off or a deal breaker, and she feels perfectly comfortable befriending her best friend's abusers -whether they were past or present, to be clear doesn't make, nor should it make, any difference-.

I mean, does Lily seriously considers Sirius' attitude more of a problem than the abuse they had subjected Snape to for more than half a decade? Because James was the ringleader and instigator of, say, the attack by the Lake, fully knowing that Sirius had previously almost gotten Snape killed. Frankly, I would say that Sirius' attitude is the least hypocritical of the whole bunch. Sociopathic and deranged, mind you -obviously, if they tormented the guy for more than half a decade, they have no leg to stand on and complain when he defend himself or even attempts to get back at them, that's just ludicrous and delusional-. But still, overall less hypocritical than James' repulsive attitude that *now* he doesn't deserve to be mauled and eaten alive because of his new behavior. As if them not assaulting and publicly humiliating him, him not almost getting killed as a result of Sirius' plotting and them not piling on further abuse, was something he ought to have "earned" by "convincing them with his good behavior", rather than his basic right as a human being.

I mean, I get that Snape feels guilty about his role in inadvertently making Voldemort go after Lily, but the situation is really incomparable to his torment at the hands of the Marauders.

He and Lily were childhood friends, and best friends for more than half a decade. He had delivered the prophecy not knowing that Voldemort would go after Lily's family. When he learned that he would, despite her having ended their friendship half a decade prior to that point, he still put his life on the line to beg Voldemort to spare her life, then betrayed him and went to Dumbledore, ultimately telling him that he would give him anything as long as he kept Lily and her family, including his worst enemy, safe. And it is true that he treated Harry, James' progeny, horribly when he was a teacher (not that he was not horrible to the other students and to people in general, mind you). But he never tried to feed him to a werewolf and after that stripped him naked in front of a jeering mob, just to make an example of a small fraction of what the Marauders did to him. On the contrary, he spent 7 years putting his life on the line in order to allow him to stay alive, all because he was Lily's son.

By contrast, the Marauders had never been his friends, they had been his tormentors since the first day they met. They abused him for more than half a decade, in a manner that became extreme and almost lethal. They continued even after he almost died. He was almost mauled and eaten alive, and after that they did stuff to him like chocking him with soap, dropping him head first into the ground, paralising him and hanging him up in the air, and stripping him naked in front of a jeering mob. The last time around, they didn't show any contrition, let alone attempted to apologize or make amends. So they thought doing something like that to him was okay, if he was not explicitly trying to deradicalize Death Eaters, etc.? James' response to Sirius' assertion that he deserved to get mauled and eaten alive, "not anymore", is horrifying, and also seems to suggest exactly that. Frankly, they don't seem particularly apologetic about the damage they had done even now (some more than others, none nearly enough... in canon even Remus tended to minimize the events, and talk about them with euphemistic language that invalidated his experience, in a manner that was fundamentally unserious and in no way constituted taking responsibility for his actions or lack thereof). Not that an apology after all that would automatically entitle them to his forgiveness. His forgiveness is his and his alone to give as he sees fit, and what others choose to forgive or not forgive has absolutely zero to do with it. Not that he was the most forgiving persona around, and that was okay. Not that many people that went through such torturous experience, before and after risking dying a most gruesome death, would be inclined to. I mean, Lily forgave Snape for something that happened in another timeline, that never happened in this one: in this timeline she is very much alive, has not been victimized, and her hypothetical son is just as real as Snape's hypothetical son by Narcissa Malfoy in another timeline. Plus, all the different circumstances mentioned above that make that situation incomparable to the one Snape faces with the Marauders. But it's clear to me that Lily would never have forgiven the Marauders, say, assaulting her by the lake and stripping her naked in front of a jeering mob, after previously almost getting her killed. Nor should her forgive them. Nor would Snape have forgiven them for that. Nor would she have forgiven them for that had the victim been her mother, sister or father, or frankly, even her pet, despite Snape being a person and the latter an animal. That if Snape is the victim she finds it all to not be a turn off (I mean, she was practically jumping at the chance to befriend James, mere months before the latter stripped her naked in front of a jeering mob someone that he had tormented for more than half a decade, and that had previously almost died, and that had supposedly been her best friend), nor a deal breaker. And that is not even counting all the other abuse Snape had been put through. Frankly, this abuse contributing to pushing him towards the Death Eaters is something both obvious, and not necessary for him or Lily to consider (or for the latter to even know) to understand that they don't deserve his forgiveness, and that he has literally no reason to forgive them.

Regarding James' reaction, let's recall that this was thee very same person that not long ago assaulted someone together with Sirius (indeed, having instigated Sirius to attack with him because Sirius was bored), that had previously almost died as a result of Sirius' plotting, and stripped someone naked in front of a jeering mob because of his mere existence. In that occasion, he also threatened Lily to get her to go out with him, telling her to date him, and he would stop assaulting her best friend. He also threatened to assault her with hexes when she tried to stop the attack. And continued pestering her for years, not taking no for an answer, unwilling to get it through his head that no means no, not respecting her very clear refusal. In contrast, after Lily ended their friendship, Snape stopped contacting her, respecting her decision. James also let Lily believe that he had stopped hexing people when they started dating in 7th year, while continuing to hex Snape behind her back, despite being Head Boy, and therefore in a position of institutional power that self evidently did not necessitate stooping to trading hexes with anyone. So, let's add that bit of deception and lack of sincerity to the mix, his willingness to hide stuff from her and let her believe things that were not true (aka lying... if the guy had an affair and she didn't ask him directly if he was unfaithful, he would continue while knowing that she though him loyal?). That is all to say, I think that if anything, his and James' words regarding Lily, etc. in this chapter should have been uttered by the other's mouth, on account to the above description of what James' behavior and level of maturity was at this point in time and even later, in 7th year (I mean, if him merely stopping assaulting or fighting with people was treated as this big concession... not that he even did that completely, mind you, and if you still smoke a cigarette a day, you are still a smoker).

Nice ending, it didn't cut any corners.