What a great finale. This is probably my favorite chapter of the entire fic. I loved everything - from the unicorn trial to the elemental binding and the healing of Hogwarts.

Another standout chapter for me was when Snape was transfiguring objects into symbols for those he loved most.

The next story should be interesting with Malachite and her Manticore back in the picture. Wouldn't mind seeing Poppy and Klaus, too. Now I'm up to speed again.

Thanks so much for posting this. So many words, but all were important. Amazed at how you kept all the character dynamics straight. I look forward to the sequel.

Really loved the scene with Snape and Narcissa after the trial. Wonderfully poignant. Heartbreaking, bittersweet, and believable.

I think the Ravenclaw animal is an eagle. It says "raven" here. Small quibble, but thought it worth mentioning.

Also, there's a section in the story where Snape's talking to Sprout but the text says she's the Charms professor. Unfortunately, I can't remember which chapter that's in or what the conversation was about. But Sprout gave Snape a plant that went to his office.

Just thought I should call attention to these things because they did break my immersion slightly. Otherwise, I've really been enjoying this fic. Read it once before and it's been riveting to go through it again.

I like the penance ritual with the ghosts. Neat idea.

Enjoyed this healing ritual, as well as the gift of the apprentices in the previous chapter.

The talk between boy Snape and Dumbledore was just heartbreaking. I swear I was tearing. My eyes were actually wet. That's awesome. Especially Snape's lines about still working for the Order even if he'd known he was hated, and his plaintive cry for the truth. Wonderful. And then his sad resignation about Slytherins knowing when to give up. Great work.

This is a good beginning. I look forward to more of this story. Thanks for writing. pms

This is one of my favorite chapters. I absolutely love the concept of House patrons and Slytherin's direct relationship with Snape. Snape under Slytherin's protection is just such an evocative and beautiful dynamic.

Really liked Blaise and Draco's relationships with Snape, too. Blaise asking if Snape's proud of him really touched me.

The House pillars are a cool and creative idea, too.

Thank you for such a thoughtful story. So much plausible characterisation, and such an interesting take on Molly and Snape. No one is implausibly perfect or so evil as to lack nuance. I like the nods to TP amongst others. I look forward to reading your other works.

Fantastic, really glad I picked this up. I imagine at this point t it's unlikely you'll continue but I think this is perhaps the more interesting half of the story anyways. I love the characterizations in this most of all. The Snape and Dumbledore relationship in particular strikes me as particularly apt. That said, I think you could definitely condense a lot of the story beats for a more reasonable length; in particular multiple perspectives are great but when it happens this often it can feel redundant.

Wow I would totally love this

I don't usually review a story on the very first chapter. It's either when I finish reading the story or when I can't stand it anymore and have to stop at some point and give 2-5 pages of criticism about what's good, what's bad and how you can improve on it. Good thing that it's not that. :) No, I'm rather impressed with your depiction of Dumbledore. So much so that I felt that you deserved to be praised from the get go. Too often fanfiction authors depict Dumbledore as either a naive man or a manipulator, when it came to the knowledge of Harry's abuse. I'm guilty of that, too, I'm afraid. After all, it's hard for any of us to understand how such a great man could NOT see abuse, especially when he's not only a headmaster, but also a professor in his earlier days. As a teacher-in-training, I especially don't get it as I was warned about abuse cases time and time again, and had to keep my eye out for it. I've already this year encountered a few possible abuse cases, though I had to hand them over to my supervisors so that they can deal with them. The reasons that you gave him was neither of the two, though it leaned a bit towards the naive category. Just a tiny bit. But Dumbledore is a good, kind man that believes in second chances. Due to his nature, it's believable that he put trust in Petunia and Snape with the way that they treated Harry and that he hoped to see improvements from the adults and for them to ACT like adults. You even made him out to be a wise man, by making him admit that he made mistakes and put his foot down when enough is enough. Not only that, but he's going the extra mile to fix his mistakes. Also, too often time, he is depicted for someone that sees only the bigger picture. But in this, you've made him the same, but also made him realize that the small things, like his students and people around him, also needs his full attention. This is why I said that you didn't put him in neither category but leaned only a tiny bit to the naive side. You made him out to be a human being, and for that, I appreciate the way that you began this story. I can't wait to read the rest of this story.

Despite the age of this story, it is like a fine wine and only seems better compared next to the multitudes of HP fics I've read. The style isn't what I normally care for, too much like Charles Dickens when I prefer Kipling but the mastery of language, the talent in merging the extrapolation of characters, the imagination displayed in the story is very impressive and I enjoyed the entire book.
Thanks so much for writing it and sharing with us all.

Boopsie is from the Doonesbury comic strip, and Hunk-Ra was the warrior she channeled. Has been a long time favorite of mine, I never used to miss it!

nightmares? for a moment I said "heh having seen Harry's memories in Occlumency now is tormenting him because in how the Durselys and Malfoy treated the boy the old Don't-Contradict-Me-Please professor is seeing himself" but heh, Snape did everything by himself all his life, never asking for help, he didn't even tell Lily "I am so confused, both you and I hate Marauders, you understand me, but with Death Eaters I feel strong, what should I do?" why could he ask for help now, when nobody is in life danger (he just went once to Dumbledore to protect the Potters?

No owls gone to the Dursleys for what? Harry's conditions? or what else? if to know in which ind of family Harry lives, as Snape always said "it needs to be done" heh! it should finally be done, so that Snape opens his eyes on Harry and Dumbledore can scold the Dursleys as they deserve -.-
Comparison with the marauders... HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH! mmm professor it took you 4 years to reflect about it, I could say "the important thing is that you understood it" but it would be hypocritical, the time you needed counts too, considering that it forged Harry's trust in both him and Dumbledore: not listening to Sirius' version of fact, making Lupin go away, mocking all his students so much, believing blindly all the lies that people said about Harry and the Tournament, tomenting Harry as if he was James for a mere fact of appearance or genetics... Dumbledore too had to do something more, such as telling Harry everything about the prophecy, now that Voldemort was chasing him, his "wait-and-see" policy makes him lose so many points, I honestly agree with Margot's review

wow awesome fic really well written