Loved it. Set everything else aside to finish it. Thank you for the journey.

very nice story, thanks!

I have to say I'm happy you didn't kill off Tonks - or any of the kids.
Yet.
I noticed you let psychobitch survive, I can only shudder with dread at what you've got planned with her :(

Father/son... well, you did a pretty solid job delving deeply into the psyches of both characters. I've seen badly done attempts, usually because they didn't really address the deep seated problems within each of the characters, let alone those between them.

Thanks for sharing your time and your talent, this has been an enjoyable tale and I'm looking forward to where you go with your world :)

Excellent, great pacing, edge of the seat stuff!

Why would Harry groan at winning? Paper covers rock...

*pukes* dammit, why did you have to remind us that, successfully potioning Hermione aside, ron is still a vulgar waste of magic?

dafuq?

The hits keep coming! Well, Snape has had his 'awakening', and now he's having his subsequent 'aha!' moments... it remains to be seen what he does with all of this information.
I wouldn't pretend to trust him at this point, but it does look like he might be less harmful than helpful for the first time in his adult life.

I have a hard time not outright hating dumbles. I get your version of his perspective, it's pretty easy to understand his near Tom Riddle level of narcissistic self-reliance, not to mention their similarly casual disregard for anyone's free will.
dumbles' tombstone should read:
"Everyone is a pawn, and I am the King AND Queen..."
the only difference is tom will never have a tombstone, which of course, would be the way he would want it, just not for the reason he thinks lol

BIG Problem here. Harry KNOWS that Kreacher Purposefully misled Sirius, Directly leading to the death of his Master. This is Not a House Elf, this is a Demon. It should be exorcised with Fire, Silver and Holy Water - but not in that order :D

As much as I'm against lying in general, I'm really on the fence about Snape telling Harry about Eli.
Although it was at Dumble's behest, the deception could not be seen for anything more than what it was... and I really don't see how that could turn out positive for Harry.

Can I just point out that this is the second time you've had RON in HERMIONE's Lap?
Ron, who is tall, gangly (from experience, this means lots of hard, sharp angles - hips, elbows, shoulders - pretty much everything was a bony protrusion) and Hermione was described as small for her age - and she was almost a year older than her classmates!
Point: She'd be squished and he'd have no way to avoid jabbing, crushing and generally causing her discomfort, if not outright pain.

While I was a bit miffed that Eli stole the show - and the whole point of their meeting - it does fit Snape's character to rise to any challenge made regarding potions :)
I do wonder if Snape took note of how much stained and over-sized cast-offs that Harry STILL has...
I'm also wondering about a certain locket...

Stunning.
At first I had hoped that he'd end up curled into a miserable ball of blubbering remorse... but your finish was freaking epic.

Ahh, Dumbledore, you manipulative old bastard. *shakes head*

Well, I kind of expected services behavior to be due to PTSD of one form or another...and he might finally be getting therapy, of a sorts.
Thinking about his past, abused childhood, major conflicts of personality, loss of his only childhood friend, the involvement in the murder rape and torture of innocents so that he could be branded like the rest of Tom's cattle, the death of his best friend directly related to his own desire to kiss the feet of a psychotic murderer, over a decade of being simultaneously looked upon as a death eater and wallowing in his own hatred of most everything in his life, including himself... If anyone needs therapy, it's Severus Snape!

Well, Snape continues to fight the idea of joining the human race tooth and nail lol
I like your concept of him fading out on conversations, thus not having any real interaction with people. He's done it for years at the staff meetings and probably every other interpersonal interaction thus leaving him isolated and unable to really function as a "normal person".
This is a very common response pattern for people with PTSD, were you aware of this? I'm assuming if you were that you included these behaviors on purpose, otherwise it is a rather fortuitous coinkydink :-)

That was quite literally brilliant of Minerva! That said, there are still some holes. Where would Floridian Eli have heard about these hurtful details?

It is very difficult to take into account snapes recognition that what he had done was wrong... My initial response is to want to flay him alive, as he has deserved to no doubt since he participated in the horrific rituals necessary to become branded like the rest of Tom's cattle.
Forgiveness of snape is no easier for me than it is for lucy or any of the other death eaters. Murder, torture and rape are all required to wear the cattle brand of the psycho Tom Riddle. Add the fact that I have yet to ever see Snape or any other death muncher express genuine remorse for their actions. Even your snape has been entirely motivated by the fact that if he doesn't keep on albus's good side, he'll end up in jail.
It is this last fact, more than anything else in your story, that makes me so impressed with how you are developing these characters. You are not taking the easy route. You are not causing Severus Snape to have some road to Damascus experience that changes who he is on a fundamental level.
No, he's still the same taciturn, psychotically self-involved, inherently malicious twat that he was in canon. Having a few days to be separate from the routine in which he has been comfortably hiding, nursing his malice and self-loathing for the last dozen plus years has done him a little good. This event may finally push him to take Minerva's advice and try to do some self-examination. I've already mentioned how much good I think that that has potential for... Assuming Snape is capable of being honest with himself, that is.

Snape is definitely a climatizing, I don't think I would have ever expected to see him using the word awesome!? Lol
There is quite a bit going on, and I look forward to seeing how Snape finally pulls his prodigious head out of his arse.
I've been thinking about the Occlumency comment that Dumbledore made, I think I'll try to find a way to use that. It's a brilliant piece of plot device that could totally change not only the character interaction, but even make a significant impact on Harry's life, depending on snakes response to his self-reflection. I'll give you credit, assuming I ever managed to publish something using the concept.

"
He pulled his thoughts to his more recent action and ruminated over the fact that he had just. Given Potter some of his balm.
"
Odd break in the sentence: just. Given

I know you're trying to show Hermione is genuinely interested in Ron romantically - vomits - however, could you at least do so with the consideration that she wouldn't abandon her entire personality... oh, yeah. Potions. Nevermind.

Severus seems to be... relaxing? Ok, it will take a while before gets quite that far, but he is getting along quite a lot better already.