Thank you for this story. I enjoyed reading it!

Very nice! And well ended, I think. The title may very well be one of the most apt for the story I can remember.

*grins*
I'm not keen on the drastic emotional swings you presented, especially the depths you plumbed before climbing so very high in such a short time. That said, it was quite gratifying to see Harry logic through things, even if he is very much an emotionally charged person (which is fine, it's just who he is).
Quite the emotional rollercoaster!

I forgot to look up Jacana bird last time, that's quite the concept! Jesus bird or, even more interestingly, Lily walker...
This was a rather wonderful chapter.
Strangely, after all of the chapters with clear abuse content, this one had the add regarding "Learn the warning signs of teenage substance misuse".
Not specifically relevant, but a bit ironic as I've never seen that ad before.

That went really well!
I'm a bit shocked that you didn't use Bella in some act of confrontation, but that would have been contrived - short of her showing up at Spinners End, which she certainly could have found out about. In any case, while anti-climactic, it is welcome news.

Harry seems a lot more reasonable - but then again, you aren't delving into the morass that has been his thoughts for so very long.

Wow, talk about a complete reversal of perception. I guess I don't understand Harry's drastic change in thoughts. Is this his 'way too trusting' thing? I thought that, once you betrayed him, you were pretty much forked?

I wish Snape would go legillimize sp? the dursleys and get a real understanding of their crimes...

Little jumble:
"
Instead of yelling at Harry, Snape had attempted to dismiss him from the came to the conclusion that it was as though Snape had thought Harry'd lingered just to obtain permission to leave.
"

It's hard to get excited to review with Harry so utterly negative and defeated. His darkness and expectations of darkness are hard to read. I know that you are setting him up for positive later, but that doesn't make his current wallowing in self-hatred any easier to read.

I freaking love that Snape lied about the wards - Go Slytherin Cunning! Suck that Greater Good!

Snape looks to have some decent instincts, now that he isn't making assumptions. I stand by my assertion that Harry needs counselling, but given how broken, self-loathing and passive Harry is, maybe he'll accept some help under the 'I better, or else' misconception.
At least he never took the "they'd be better off without me" route, he'd be dead in seconds! Regardless, it's not like he took one word that Sirius said at any value :(

It is very reassuring that Snape can be open with Minerva. The portrait nailed it on the head last book when she noted that Snape had nobody that he trusted - or at least, nobody that he listened to. It only makes sense that, if he wasn't listening, he wasn't talking, either.

I published Ch. 3 prematurely, having not finished the chapter.
They have to fill out forms stating where they would be going when leaving the castle. I sincerely doubt that Harry would lie, but if either of them actually cared about the boy, they would take the time to check.
Bellatrix is a genuine threat to Harry, so I'd hope they would take that into consideration.

That was pretty good stuff. Harry is one helluva-kicked-puppy, and Snape has zero real clue as to how bad it really is, even with all the clues he thinks he has.

I honestly don't know how you are going to pull Harry back up after beating him so far down - way beyond what he was in canon and even most other darkfics I've read. Harry's mind is so thoroughly broken that he's looking for ways to make sure he knows he's going to suffer, and then accepting it as a matter of course. The idea that even consistent kindness can overcome that is laughable.
This kid need therapy, and years of it, away from any stressors like Snape, a school full of kids who whisper behind his back - some of which are children of the DE's that Harry will be blamed for killing and/or imprisoning - and the daily vomit.

Why wouldn't he just take the Knight Bus? It would save the irritation of the dursleys... for that matter, he's already stayed in the wizarding world once... anyways.

Yeah. He just had to hope that he'd get enough food to survive. Sorry, but this is going too far. He's voluntarily accepting that he might starve to death? What the fuck? That's past stupid, he has so many other options - Grimmauld place, for instance? Dobby and Kreacher, for instance? You are portraying Harry as not only basically completely uncaring for his own welfare, but also so stupid as to be not really worth caring for as readers. You aren't PUTTING HIM into a bad situation, HE IS GOING WILLINGLY. Nobody roots for a mindless lump.
This can't continue, or I won't bother you with more complaints about potioned Hermione.

I mean, I get why PTSD Harry is sucking that guilt hose like it's his life-line, but how does he equate not being at the Weasley's with protecting them from psychobitch? Unless he's gone out of his way to announce his intentions, nobody is going to know, but lots of people would Assume...
Anyways, I'm sad that Ginny cannot break through and be as close to Harry as she was last book.
I'm bewildered by the idea that nobody would spend 5 seconds out to take Harry aside after everything... oh, wait, this is JKR's world, and nobody gives fuck-all about children's mental health. *sneers*
That's an aspect of her world that I don't see a reason to let stand, but it serves the 'abandoned Harry' trope well enough so, sad but dealing.
The fact that Snape supposedly cared enough to stop Harry from returning to hell has apparently fallen face-first as well.
Last question/observation: ferret? dead? That's not exactly hopeful, btw. He was a child raised by a DE (lucy) and groomed by a DE (snape) so his sickness isn't as damnable as the branded one's themselves. I just wondered because, well, you do enjoy your tortured Harry, and nobody quite enjoyed torturing Harry as much as ferret, dudders and snape, and you've removed one of them from the game.

"
But that meant Severus had needed to begin the search for a new Transfiguration Professor.
"
Uhm, why would Severus have anything to do with the job that you just said Minerva was given as Headmistress?
Ok, I see it later. This chapter is really disjointed, hoping around in the 'when' of your stated past-tense without much - if any - indication of when that pov shift has occurred.

I had thought that hiding 'Eli' would be advisable at first, but that was before the idea of a Mentor!Snape became a bit more clear, and way before I had a clue of Father!Snape. I'm really boggled by that idea, but as I said in my final review of Chosen/Half-blood, I am looking forward to your characters growing towards something that is healthy for Harry.
Could you, I dunno, maybe... OOC ron some, make him less like ron, and more like a human? Someone remotely likely that Hermione wouldn't be repulsed by (like she was for five books) instead of the 'magical' way she found him to be more fascinating than her grades, studying, reading, personal hygiene, healthy sleep, appropriate behavior and, I dunno, acting at all like herself not on potions?
In return for your consideration (insert rolled eyes here, don't hurt yourself :D) I'll promptly give up on the idea that you care... I mean, that this is an area that we will do more than agree to disagree :D

why would Minnie even mention it

it's not her at all especially knowing of the abuse

have you ever picked up shards of glass from a cup?