I really think you captured her perfecty . :)

Ooh... Great stuff.
Fudge, you flippin' dimwit; Minerva, reflective; Severus, awesome.

Excellant job as always! I always enjoy reading your stories, you put a lot of work into them to make the characters sound cannon and so you see things from their point of veiw perfectly, you can really feal and understand the character's emotions and thoughts. You even wrote Voldemort incredibly well, and he wasn't even a main character in your story. Amazing work! I will continue to enjoy your stories whenever I run into one.

I love the way Snape thinks, it's very characteristic.

I love Minerva, she has such passion and faith.

Great look through Fudge's perspective!

Wow, this chapter does so many things, explains so much, and it is quite frankly terrifying in places, but never desensitised.

So much changed between books four and five, the more I think about it, the more the end of book four just ripped everyone up. Everything changed, but because you'r only on harrys radar you don't really get it (well i didn't...)

Poor fudge. But he deserves it. Almost. Not quite, but almost.

How do you do it? You write a story full of despicable people saying nasty things and thinking terrible thoughts and then I end up feeling sorry for them all.

I could almost hear Fudges voice whining on in my head, especially the beginning bit. All the budgets and money and worries.

Economics is evil and should be shot :)

Interesting to see Snape's part in the events the night Voldemort came back. I enjoyed the image of him and Lucius - beaten and bleading, crawling home to the manor to lick their wounds and worry.

Voldemort's interest in the dementors was boding. I wonder if he got the idea to use them from what they did to Barty Crouch.

Now, for once, you didn't really follow the same events with your three perspectives. Fudge and Minerva show us what happend in the castle, and Snape what happend afterwards. But it work - and I think Snape's perspective was better spent on the graveyard than on Hogwarts.

"because the Headmaster is so bloody soft-hearted he probably would’ve given Karkaroff the Defence job next year" -

Definately, very probable. Seeing that he hadn't any candidate for next year, perhaps that actually was what Dumbledore was planning. And how wonderfully insulted Snape would have been.

"But he hadn’t dared, because Lucius is like those exiled French kings, he’s learned nothing and forgotten nothing in the last thirteen years."

- How different things could have been if he had dared, if he had given Lucius the choice of salvation. Admitedly - and sadly enough - the difference would probably have been that Snape would have been killed, but its sad that the friends don't trust each other more than that.

"How many more of the dead are going to get out of their graves and start walking around? "

- A valid question indeed. Voldemort himself counts among them, of course.

"and then Lucius had suggested a little friendly duelling practice - and an overhaul of the Manor's stocks of useful potions. That had been a very sensible suggestion, so they’d spent the afternoon going through a few basic drills, while poor frightened Narcissa consoled herself with a little retail therapy in Diagon Alley."

- A very human look on how the deatheaters reacted to the forboding of their master's return.

"The Dark Lord had used Sectumsempra, for enemies - there was a message there".

- cruel little detail, just in Voldemort's taste.

In the middle of the crisis, Minerva stands firm and loyal. She sees Fudge for what he is, and it scares her. I like your take on her. She is strong, but also scared for what the times will bring.

"And she'd been utterly ashamed that she'd ever, ever wondered why Neville Longbottom had been Sorted into Gryffindor, because while Neville struggles in every one of his classes except Herbology there's no doubting his courage. He'd had the courage to stand up even to his friends, earned Gryffindor the deciding ten points in his first year - and she'd been very pleased to hear of his mastery of the Riddikulus spell."

- Good to see that Minerva gives Neville the credit he is due.

"she's wondering - how well did I know my students?"

- Quite a few of the deatheaters have studied under Minerva. And Albus of course. Must break a teacher's heart.

"she was a pretty fair lip reader, one of the little tricks that helps to keep a class in order"

- Not as good as Legimancy, but the spirit of it is the same.

"what he was saying, not Gryffindor"

- Really fine paralell to Harry.

"Fudge is a Ravenclaw, he’s supposed to be clever, but there are none so blind as those who will not see!"

- Well spotted by Minerva

Very good portrait. This is a hardworking, worried man with too many people trying to influence him. I love the glimpses we catch of what goes through his mind. Goblins, budget, bulgarians, his career... He is far from ready to face the return of Voldemort.

The piece about IRA was very clever. Of course the ministry blamed them.

"how easy it must be for the Muggle Prime Minister - he can always print up some more of that funny Muggle paper money if he runs short"

And meanwhile, the muggle primister thinks longingly of "the other minister" who can just wave a wand if wants any money... Fun and well described muggle-wizard differences.

"And there’d been casualties, too, because the Muggles had some nasty weapons, ones that could make quite a hole in a flying carpet ..."

Oh yes - those muggles are dangerous.

"Perhaps Dolores was right, he needed to take more of a personal interest in Hogwarts, particularly since Lucius isn’t on the Board of Governors any longer."

Of course, Dolores and Lucius were well started with their working on Fudge already at this time.

"permitting Hogwarts to enter two champions in the Tournament had been an absolutely fabulous way to antagonise half of Europe!"

- Ah, the troubles that seem to arise around Harry all the time.

"Percy Weasley had said, flatly, that he’d never witnessed one, and he’d had Potter in his home as a house guest."

- Sucking up to the minister as he is, Percy isn't helping Rita in her smeer campaing. That speaks to his credit.

"please, can’t Dumbledore just let things go back to the way they were?"

- The core of Cornelius Fudge. Weak and frightend, and wishing Dumbledore could stop say so scary things.

Lovely story. I liked the start with Fudge worrying over the budget. And his reasoning: Harrys "fits" must be getting worse, because Percy Weasley tells he has never seen him have any. Hillarious!

And poor Snape, with his frigth and his jealousy of Moody. Very good.

Oh my heck I loved the McGonagall chapter. Not enough people write about her, in my opinion. Also enjoyed the Snape'e eye view of his return to the fold. Chilling.

I liked how Snape earlier in the chapter was remembering longingly how much *simpler* forgiveness is with Voldemort than Dumbledore - and then of course in the second half we get to see how much simpler. Well structured chapter, this.

The game of "show me yours and I'll show you mine" made me burst into prolonged laughter. Was it meant to?

"while poor frightened Narcissa consoled herself with a little retail therapy in Diagon Alley."

*snickers* Well.

I'm sorry to digress, but this reminds me of Abraham Lincoln's wife, who racked up a whole lot of debt without her husband knowing during a war. Of course she also thought their poor dead child kept visiting her each evening in bed for a good-night kiss...

Always picking up after hurt Malfoys with dittany, isn't he, Snape? Great line: "to be frank, he’s got a lot more expertise in inflicting pain than in treating it."

But it's especially good how all the blood, gore, and busted guts was balanced by the angles of the prophecy and especially of the diary. I love the note it ended on. Looking forward, looking ahead - sometimes I suspect that your Snape has an optimist somewhere in his psyche, gagged but at the controls!

Oh! I can't believe I did not review this sooner!

There are so many outstanding parts in this one, I'll have to comment before giving you an overall appreciation, because, after all, as the Gestalt Theory says, things are better described as more than the sum of their parts.

"Not that he, Severus Snape, had encouraged Karkaroff to stay -because the Headmaster is so bloody soft-hearted he probably would’ve given Karkaroff the Defence job next year."

I laughed and I cringed when I read that: I recognized Snape's insecurities about others that may receive attention from the Headmaster and may make him loose his *favourite* status. But it raises also the question: what does qualify one as a DADA teacher? Dumbledore has chosen very bad teachers in the last years (of course the rumour say that's bound to happen, the position being doomed) - well, he did not have the choice with Umbridge as he was loosing his political power. To think of it, it *was* a choice, you know, as in "keep your friends close but your enemies closer".

"What could the Dark Lord have offered Lucius that he didn’t already have?"

Absolutely! Incredulity from Snape! What would he have done if he had all of those things? This is a question I thought a lot about, when I read your previous Lucius POV - and I read it a few times, it is still chilling as the first time. It is interesting to see how Snape sees the Malefoy-Voldemort *relationship* as a gain-gain one - you're being very Kholberg-moral judgement here : ) What more this man could want? Prove himself? Appartenance? The only way he could give power to his disturbing ideas about the Wizarding world by leaning on the strenght of the group?

"But he hadn’t dared, because Lucius is like those exiled French kings, he’s learned nothing and forgotten nothing in the last thirteen years."

Oh yeah ; ) History always find a way to repeat itself and nothing seems to stick to some people. Very, very good. : )

"Sirius Black and James Potter, what a pair of fuckwits – did they think they were still at school, did they think the Dark Lord was to be played with?"

I briefly thought about this, but you phrased it much better! I think it is the arrogance of youth that is represented by their choice.

"Dumbledore hadn't been angry with him, although in some ways he would have preferred a beating - with the Dark Lord at least you knew where you stood, it might be crucio until you spat blood, but afterwards you knew that the slate had been wiped clean and all had been forgiven, so far as the Dark Lord was capable of forgiving ..."

This is such a powerful part: you are picturing an abused man here. As if the pain could be the only redemption, the only expiation of *mistakes*. The idea of Snape not knowing how to react to Dumbledore's leniency - I'm not sure it is the perfect word here - is very interesting. He's always waiting for the beating. Well, he takes care of this by himself, insn't he?

"That had been a very sensible suggestion, so they’d spent the afternoon going through a few basic drills, while poor frightened Narcissa consoled herself with a little retail therapy in Diagon Alley"

All allusions to Narcissa in Snape's POV are entertaining. This one got me to choke from laughter because of the stark contrast - men trying to summon their courage, reassuring themselves by a spell drill, and Narcissa shopping. Different ways of not accepting to be afraid.

"to be frank, he’s got a lot more expertise in inflicting pain than in treating it."

I loved that, his opinion of his capacities and the opening that is carried in that sentence: he has more expertise in inflicting pain, yes, but in that absolutely great scene where Snape asks himself if he should appease Malefoy, he is showing pity and compassion for the suffering of one who cannot feel those things.

I pat myself on the shoulder for having anticipate, when I read McGonagall's POV, that this three parter was one of your best. Your portrayal of Snape here is rich in its contrasts: his bitterness, his unpleasance, his fear, his obedience but also his survival skills and, yes, his compassion.

All power to you, Possum!

-MysticScribe-