That was brilliant! And utterly plausible. It was sad and yet kinda hopeful, to know at least a few people saw what he was really doing. He deserves that much, at least; the recognition (and perhaps appreciation?).

"Remember that you hate me, Minerva. I am a traitor, a liar, a murderer."

I can feel the pain that lingers with his words towards her. To protect them, he played the role of Judas. I don't blame Minerva for asking him to obliviate her. It's like her way to protect him when no one else will do it. Kudos to you by the way!

She should not have been obliviated.

I was really enjoying this story - I love missing moments that fit seamlessly into canon like this. I especially loved Snape teaching Ginny duelling tricks in the guise of a cruel provocation, including the veiled invitation to be late next time, and Luna (who else!) turning the excursion into the Forest literally into a picnic, plus Ginny demonstrating her newly-honed combat skills against the spider.

But then came the last scene, and regular enjoyment turned into absolute awe at the sheer brilliance of the plot twist that I totally hadn‘t seen coming.

"The fifth," he answered, and there was the tiniest hint of a smirk, an acknowledgement of irony, a sliver of respect for her.

It literally knocked me flat. So, so clever. OF COURSE Minerva would eventually notice the strange discrepancy between Snape’s official new order and how he doesn’t really enforce it. And OF COURSE she would go and confront him. And OF COURSE this is how it would end. And I love that this isn‘t a singular occurrence either. This is just marvellous storytelling.

And this broke my heart:

“Is there hope, Severus? Is there a plan?"
"With our fate in Potter's hands? Surely you jest, Minerva. We are most certainly doomed."

Because it’s this one rare moment of unguarded solidarity that we all longed to see in DH but never got, and yet it comes in this incredibly IC form of Snape’s trademark sarcasm and bitterness that makes me want to smile and cry at the same time.

Thank you for sharing this absolute gem of a story. It well deserves the popularity it enjoys, and I will re-read it with the greatest pleasure. :) At least five times. ;)

Ooooooooh! This was fantastic! Fan-freaking-tactic! Everyone was so in character!

Definitely one of the best docs I have read in a while!

Beautiful

excellent

Great, seriously! "Is this the first time we have this conversation?" - The fifth"... Great writing, great situations, great suggestions... Thank you for writing and sharing!

An amazing fic. I loved the first moment and the one with Ginny, but the last one. The last one was HARD, my god. Thank you sincerely for writing it and sharing!

I love how it's Minerva's fifth time not only coming to the conclusion but coming to Severus about it. Minerva knows what's up.
Also Snape giving Ginny basically her own copy of a defense book by Dumbledore, and respecting Neville. So good.

Oh my god I love this so much. You are such a good writer.

ohh this is incredible :) poor Snape the ending is just perfectly angsty :)

Thank you for a nice story.

I like the idea that some of the people at Hogwarts for shorter or longer periods of time suspected that Snape was in fact on the right side of the war. I mean there were many intelligent people in the school, so I don't think it is a far fetched idea.

Snape could of course not give them proof of this, or allow them to, like Mcgonagall, have well supported theories. Oblivation (or other memory charms) would be the only solution if they got too close to the truth.

Ahhh I really enjoyed this! I usually only ever read SS romance fanfics (only the good stuff mind you!) but sometimes I want something more than that, and this was it. Thank you!

I cannot rightly express how much I love this. I was redirected here, from some other da virino, ages ago. I can't rememebet the name, but I am glad I was.