Hello! Very good story, I fell in love with it! I just found the end uncertain. Well you could do a follow up, right ?
Congratulations on the wonderful Fanfic!

I like the way that this is awful and at the same time, Snape makes it clear that is SO much better than what could have happened to her.

I find Snape's mixture - of dark and light and of strength and weakness - to be extremely interesting. It wouldn't surprise me if half of Snape hated the fact that he had to rape a respected colleague, even as half of him loved the fact that he had the head Gryffindor at his mercy.

Terrible things happen in war, and what things do warriors have to do to keep even WORSE things from happening? In a war, no one's hands are clean, and those of us who are NOT warriors have the luxury of sitting back and judging. Thanks for helping to bring home to us just how hard the choices can be.

I appreciate the fact you made Severus repeat his words of listen to me and take care of yourself, sharing the fact he truly cared about her well-being, even if she couldn't see it.

Lost O'Fallon Girl

Awwe; Poor Minerva!

Terrifying-and things like that happen in war all the time. It certainly explains why she tried to murder him later on.

But then, she has never been truly threatened before; she has a hard time believing in a world where Dumbledore isn't in charge (or her, either). Her first introduction into Snape's world, where threats lurk everywhere, was undoubtedly a shock.

This is begging for a sequel. So very in-character and not over the top on the whole rape situation. Very well done.

Very intense and in character. It brings me back to the question of how could Minerva, who is a very intelligent woman and who knew Snape very well, not see through his cover. Even here, where he is trying very hard to make her hate him (which is extremely painful), what comes across is that he loves her, or at least cares about her very much.

I don't agree with what Daily Prophet Editor says, in that I think Snape really had no choice. He had to do this to protect Minerva, Wilhelmina and the students from a worse fate.

I believe he did as much as he could to protect her : being gentle, hiding Wilhelmina's identity from Voldemort and suggesting he should rape her instead of a gang of Death Eaters. Doing more would have been downright dangerous. It is very consistent with Snape's history of having no choice, but to do horrendous things. This is why your use of two very

meaningful quotes from DH, "Severus,please..." and "Look at me." are extremely effective.

/It all ended up being rather over-the-top/ No, it didn't, to my mind. It ended up extreme. But what with some of the deeds of Voldemort and his DE's (the Longbottoms spring to mind, and Charity Burbage) it's arguable that Voldemort would find a gang-rape an 'amusing' way of teaching a lesson. Especially if he sees Minerva as a dried-up virgin - and he's just the person who would.

And of course Severus will come out of this with scars of his own. One hesitates to use 'as much scars' in such a contest; it's not a competition after all.

/The Dark Lord wishes you to be reminded who's on top. Literally/

/This is your only fucking chance./ I can see him use sarcasm as a weapon to distance himself from what he has to do; to make it bearable.

And the way he relentlessly breaks her, because ultimately that's the only way of saving her (and Wilhelmina) shows exactly what you wanted to show: that /war can force even the strongest people into situations that offer no exit, no way to keep their humanity fully intact./

Chilling, but believable and thought-provoking.

Oh yes, definitely a grim and dark fic.

Ok. Let'see... this'll be a honest review. There's several things I really like and a few I don't like.

What I do like is the dark and angsty athmosphere, you really did a great job creating that mood. I like Minerva's helplessness, and how she still manages to hold on to dignity in that situation.

I think my favorite part was how Minerva had figured out that Snape is NO Death Eater; and while she knows that he must have had some kind of agreement with Dumbledore, she still does not approve of it. Snape's reaction also was very good, I like how he never actually confirmed waht she said, but just went on in a manner of "ah ok, I see now we can talk business."

Now as for the rape part. Let me say first that I don't mind rape fics in general. I've read only very few that I liked, but when well-written any kind of sexual abuse can be a valuable element in a story.

I also believe that Voldemort might issue orders like that. Like Snape said, rape is not about sex, it's about demonstrating power.

I do not quite believe that Snape could, or rather would, actually do this. Maybe - likely - he COULD (let's face it, just about any man COULD), but for several reasons I don't think he would actually do it.

True, he has sworn that he would do "anything" in order to help Harry - and in order to help Harry, he has to act his part as Evil Headmaster. Yet I do believe that he would, in a case like this, try to find some means to make it easier for Minerva. He might secretly give her a potion to ease the pain, or obliviate her afterwards so that she does not have to suffer the trauma. Or he might even have tried to explain it to her, rather than just tell her the facts, so that she can play along. Possibly he would have just acted as-if, and tried to create a false memory to show to Voldemort.

Snape is not a good person. There is a dark side to him, and while he might be willing to carry out (very) evil tasks - like killing Dumbledore, or not helping Charity, I think there is only so much he can take just because he is not entirely evil.

Raping a woman he respects is a different matter than killing an old friend who has basically ordered him to do so, as a kind of mercy killing.

This fic reminds me of cocoa-snapes "In Memory's Wake"; I don't know if you've read it. There is a scene where Snape has to choose between raping a Muggle boy or exposing himself as Dumbledore's loyal spy. He decides to go through with it and rapes the kid, and as a result suffers a major mental breakdown.

As I believe your fic is meant to be a missing moment in DH, I don't think it works out that way. This rape would have caused too much of a (mental) trauma for both of them.

Hope you understand what I mean. I don't mind the rape scene in general, I don't mind the violence and the darkness, I just don't think that canon Snape could actually bring himself to do it that way. Or, if he did do it, he would later on suffer so much because of his own deeds that he could just not go on the way he does in DH.

That being said, I still think this fic is, as all your stories, well-written and very intersting to read.

I really hope this review makes it through the profanity filter here on ff dot net - well, if there's half the words written I think you'll be able to guess my meaning.

Horribly grim - but horribly necessary in some dreadful sense. As Real Snape indicated in her recent story, the dirtiest jobs were always his - accomplished with as much dignity as he could salvage in the face of such terrible circumstances. One wonders if this incident did not become his worst memory...

wwo. well written. keep it up, update if u feel u can expand. i think u can.

Dark stories like this one usually take their subjects way out of character. I am pleased that yours did not. It seemed very in-canon. Impressive.

Wow, this fic is really something. It is a really good one even if the situation isn't light and so enjoyable. It is really dark , I like the fact that it shows the horror of war.

I wonder how the fic would have been if it had been from Severus's point of view, anyway, good work !