Ok, somehow, I did NOT see that one coming. Seriously. Severus and Luna? Phew. I kinda always got these sibling vibes from Harry and Luna and just considered Snape their dad. But now they're married?! Kinda threw me off. I feel like I need to process this.
Otherwise though, I loved this story very much! I really enjoyed the character development. Thank you so much for uploading!

This story is beautiful, I have read it twice now, and I love the way you have built the characters and changed their relationships in a way that seems so natural. Thank you for bringing this story to live so thoughtfully, please carry on writing!

ive read this at least 4 times, and each time i am blown away just as much as i was the first. i love how you string your words together and create such vivid images and profound statements (particularly love the one about how “the magic of ceremony lies in the nature of time...”, and in general the entire last chapter, but the entire work (as well as the guiltless) were stellar and made me so satisfied. such good fanfiction is hard to find but i know i will always be able to come back to this. thank you for sharing your writing xx

Yay! Wonderful wonderful WONDERFUL! I did not see the Luna/Severus pairing coming at all! I thought he'd take her in as a daughter type deal and Harry and Luna would end up together... I don't love it but I also don't hate it. But overall, loved the story so much and the feelings of everyone and the dearness of that conversation on Christmas day... my heart! All the feels! Anyway, big kudos on a story well written!

What an exceptional story I love love love it. Thanks for sharing it with us .

What an awesome story! I loved all of it. Great job!

Best Story EVER! Thank you so much for sharing :) I will be rereading this many many times!

Oh wow, a story all the way to the end!

Loved the story!

Brilliantly done. You should be very proud of your work.

You hurt me.
That hurt
This hurts
I am hurting.
Aaaaahhhhhhhhh-hhhhaaaaaa

WOW I really loved this. I didn’t expect the Snape/Luna pairing and would not normally be a fan, I don’t think, but the way you wrote it... how could it have ended any other way? I really appreciate that you made the extra effort to reconcile this story with canon, with only a few deliberate changes. I’ve been on a mentor-Severus fanfiction binge, and I’ve read many that have touched my heart, but I think this one will stay with me for a very long time.

Snape and Luna? Erm... thanks but no thanks! It was perfect up to that point. Couldn't he have just adopted her instead of this shit?

excellent story

This is the best fanfic I have read, ever. The few things that have bothered me about it are, upon further consideration, easily dismissed. I do not remember Lily as being quite so saintly. She loved Harry enough to die for him, of course, but was quite unforgiving of Severus. However...this is his story and Harry's, and for Harry to think of her with anything but fondness, or for Severus to develop any resentful feelings towards her, as he does in so many fanfics, would feel out of place here.

It seems to me that the one thing people who have been critical do not like is the pairing of Severus and Luna. The usual reason given is that they wanted to see her with Harry, that they are disappointed at not getting a happy father/daughter relationship, or that Luna is simply too young.

I think these people are missing the point. I get a very strong feeling that this story was written, not to reinvent the wheel, but to add a few new spokes, and a nicer ultimate destination for a few of the characters. As such, there is no need to split up Harry and Ginny. Like it or not, they were in love in the original story, and there's no reason to dispute that to further this one. As to the parenting angle, Luna HAD a father, flawed as he was, and she loved him very much. She was not seeking a replacement.

As to Luna's age and innocent, yes, she is young, and yes, she is innocent, but I have always had the impression that she is far more mature, emotionally, than most of her peers and many of the adults she encounters. Furthermore, her innocence is not that of the naive, in spite of some of her more whimsical moments. Her innocence is of a deeper and more lasting kind: she is truly pure of heart, able to see people for what they are and accept them (and usually forgive them), anyway. She is, in some ways, the most clear-eyed realist in the Potterverse, at least on an emotional level. She's able to accept love and kindness without suspecting those who offer it of ulterior motives, and to deal with being teased and even abused without either a strong desire for revenge or any apparent damage to her sense of self. I can imagine this as being very attractive to Severus. She is the antithesis of all he has been made to endure in his life. As to what attracts her, well...that should be clear: she actually sees him. HIM, not just the snarling professor or the spy or the Death Eater, but just...him, for himself. As we have seen, once you get past all of that, there's quite a lot there to like.

I've read quite a few fanfics that pair Snape with other characters, but this is the only one that felt deeply and truly right to me. Most of them seem to be either a battle of wits as foreplay (the last thing I can imagine him wanting), or just a matter of how fast the writer can get to those juicy lemons.