As always, you display a knack of saying what needs to be said and stay silent on things that warrant no words.

On the whole, it is slightly disconcerting how your stories (and in fact this whole AU you have created) always leave me feeling distinctly warm and fuzzy, but unbearably sad. It constantly has me on the verge of emotions, caught between frustration, disgust, admiration, and amazement.

In fact, the whole series is a perfect mixture of feeling and realism, and every time I reread it I marvel at the skill with which you construct it around and implement it into the canon. In your series, it really BECOMES canon..

And, of course, your characters - amazing: human, fallible, and absolutely not perfect; none are idealised, none are entirely condemned. Also, kudos on the manner in which you stayed true to Albus and Severus by letting them die instead of romanticising it into a happily ever after.

Sadly, the Epithalamium series probably concludes with Severus’ death. But I do hope that you will continue to post one shots or short stories which take place somewhere in between the beginning and the end of your epic!
As always, thank you so much for allowing us to share in your sublime writing :)

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST STORIES I'VE READ!

It has been a long time for me since I've got to read something GOLDEN! And this one was the most enticing of it all! You're such a great writer and I just love SSMM . I hope you continue to write more about them, this story is a great masterpiece! Amazing, really. And I also love the way your writing flows smoothly and all I meant ALL.. every word, every thoughts, every actions of the characters specially Minerva fits every possible hidden corner that J.K left unraveled, you gave us your own creative possible details of what could've happen within those.. you've got me there. This is just bloody brilliant and your just AMAZING! Thanks for this..

This goes right into the feels, but at the same time everything seems muted and numb. I can hardly believe it. It made me cry so many times, especially the little dialog between Minerva and portrait Albus on Christmas Eve (!). My heart shattered for Minerva.

Your writing is amazing. I forgot all the vocabulary necessary to describe everything that makes it so wonderful a long time ago (the review beneath this one says it all anyway!). The whole series of Epithalamium is smooth and flows naturally between dialog, thoughts, flashbacks and different point of views.
The insight you offer into various characters is on spot and rich in emotion. You take these already amazing characters and make them entirely your own. Best of all is that you fill the blind corners of the original story almost perfectly and give us the opportunity to learn a lot about especially privat characters. This feels like secret canon. Moreover you engage so many details about (scottish) culture, art, history, medical details, poetry and music. It makes this magical universe that is entangled with the Muggle world so much richer.

Amazing work. To me, one of the best and well written (MMAD) fics. Thank you to much for sharing. I think I would enjoy an entirely original story from you. Keep it up, best x

So, last night, I finished Joyce Carol Oates' Because It is Bitter, and Because It is My Heart, and was looking up reviews, analysis, etc. Your fan-fic came up, so I clicked on it, amused but pleased that a fan-fic had managed to squeeze itself in on a Google search of lit criticism. I didn't intend to read the fic though, just to peek.

But I had to immediately abandon that silly notion the moment I started reading. And then kept reading. And then stayed up past my bedtime to finish reading because goshdarnit I needed to know what would happen and I needed to know now, and of course I *knew* what must happen seeing as this story fit into canon almost perfectly, knew that everything would come to a wretched end, and yet I still needed to keep going . . .

Do you know what a gem you've created here? You don't seem to be aware of your own brilliance (which is part of what makes this story so great, actually); this story is so unselfconscious and natural, and it so embodied, to me, what makes a perfect fan-fic: it breathes and co-exists so naturally with canon while still being a world unto itself. And it's been a little while since I had the blessing to find a fic like that.

You did a lot of things with this fic that, honestly, I normally don't stomach. The rape-turned-to-love is an all-too-familiar, and all too sickening, trope. But you defied the trope in several clever ways, first by the idea that Severus saved McGonagall from some much more brutal gang-rape. And neither did you shy away from the trauma of sexual assault, exploring how it seeped into Minerva's work, personal relationships, and of course her own soul. Some treat rape as a mere plot device. You neatly avoided that throughout the fic, for which you have my deepest respect. And you also circumvented the trope by not having the characters so much "in love" as "in need." Minerva didn't fall prey to Stockholm syndrome; she fell prey to having someone she could be herself with more so than she ever had (or, at least, had allowed herself) in some time.

I'm also not a fan of Minerva/Albus. While I'm not normally squicked by age differences, the fact that they're seventyish years apart weirds me out. I also just don't like Dumbledore's manipulation skills, and the fact that his manipulation is so often falsely praised, and his conceit, and his hypocrisy, etc, and think that MM could do better. But you pretty much immediately got me to buy into their relationship. I guess I enjoyed the notion of this secret marriage between the pair, secretly running Hogwarts while being lovers. And I liked that neither you nor Minerva shied away from DD's faults; the fact that his wife was one of the few people to not glorify DD made the love immediately seem more plausible. Then the scene where she yells at his portrait about not trusting her with Severus having to kill him broke my heart, and how Minerva knew the portrait could only echo what she wanted to hear / what DD might say, rather than be any genuine expression.

I've always felt like the Death Eaters, and not just Greyback, do sexually abuse some of their victims, but I rarely see this done well in fic (i.e. it becomes a porn without plot, which should never happen with rape). But again you didn't let us forget the victims, not even that poor Muggle girl whom Severus was aggrieved that he could not save her life even though he had spared her sexual torture. And the idea of Voldemort needing his Death Eaters as vouyers was . . . well, freaky as all get out [and led me to some strange post-bedtime-musings re: if Voldemort has any use of his genitals, if he still needs to use the toilet, if he could reproduce, etc . . . but I don't want to think about it much even though you now got me thinking on it. xD]. But it also made incredible sense. Because Voldemort in a way gets to exercise a double power, first over the subjugated, and then over the person he's forcing to commit the subjugation. And, whether or not he has physical use of his genitalia, it seems as though sex, even as an act of domination, would still be too intimate for him.

You've got some lovely prose in this piece, too. FF-Net apparently doesn't allow readers to copy and paste passages of fics anymore, which I guess makes sense but is also just dumb because now I can't quote you all of my favorite parts. Alas. But anyhow. Seriously, right from chapter one when you compared Voldemort tasting others' pain to sipping wine, I was like, damn, I must sit up and pay attention, because I am reading someone who knows her stuff. I can't recall your other figurative language just now, but I remember liking it. I also enjoyed your dialogue; I loved the fluctuating, natural dynamic you established between Severus and Minerva especially . . . the banter was great fun, but also their growing ability to confide in each other. You also had some fantastic insights into the characters' inner workings; the part near the end about Minerva needing to be reserved for others' sakes broke my already-shattered heart completely. And of course the sex chapter. Wow. From the escalation of the argument, to the recognition of mutual need . . . just stunning.

I could go on, but I'm running out of ways to praise you, and this has gone on for quite a while as it is. Thank you for sharing this fic with us. It really is a beauty, even if several years old. I'm definitely going to have to dig through the rest of your fics in the near future.

This is the tenderest sex scene I have ever read (Chapter 16). You fit a narrative of Minerva's life into a description of her body which is amazing. I love how Minerva and Severus interact- especially when he needs to make sure that she's not fantasizing about Dumbledore even though her relationship with Albus informs her experiences regarding sex. They are getting their needs met physically, but they still crave the emotional closeness on some level in the midst of such horrific times. It's just so incredibly tragic and beautiful!

I have read this story more times than any other, and I get emotional every time I read it. It's my absolute favorite fanfiction ever, and this poem has become my favorite poem because of this story. The characterization, the plot, the everything is perfection. This story has become my absolute favorite piece of writing. You have amazing talent, and I thank you for sharing it.

Read this first on sycophanthex and found it a creative and many-layered story, the sort I very much enjoy. Glad to see it posted here for others to enjoy. :)

Of course it is useless to try to rehabilitate Snape's reputation; at least that what Harry tells himself. It's so much easier that way, isn't it?

And any honor given to Snape is done on the sly. Convenient, that.

Naturally McGonagall is either a victim or a heroine. Gryffindors never do anything wrong, after all.

How convenient to reap all the glory while Snape takes all the blame. Of course it would too much effort to make any fuss to change that...

Nicely done, but you can see how history is going to be rewritten. Did Sluggy and his green pajamas ever get into the history books? Or does Slytherin even exist now?

All for the glory of Gryffindor. It's nice that Minerva offered up her own Order.

Pity that Harry will be the only one to see it.

Of course they want her memories, if only so they can drool over them. One can easily imagine the headlines that will likely soon appear in the Prophet.

But she's still alive, Acting Headmistress, and has had someone who loved her for nearly all of her life.

It's even odds if someone ever really loved Snape. I'm sure Minerva felt a certain amount of affection, but you could tell at the beginning of the chapter that she didn't think her efforts would make any difference.

Quite likely they did not. History is always written by the winners. And I'm sure by the time of the Epilogue, Snape will be a nonperson to the extent that Albus Severus won't know where his middle name came from.

But she did sacrifice her reputation in that courtroom.

What a pity that Snape had to sacrifice everything. One hopes they'll get around to burying him someday...

Very good chapter.

Of course she uses an Unforgivable to stay in partnership with Harry Potter-after all, she will have to deal with him in future, and she would lose all influence over him if she dared to tell him he was wrong.

After all, nobody tells Harry that he is wrong about anything.

Except Snape, of course. But that part's over. Now nobody is going to, especially with Harry being the wonderful hero.

And Snape? Oh, well, sucks to be him.

And sucks to be a Slytherin, whether they were driven out to Hogsmeade (even the firsties) or exiled to the dungeons. With tons of rubble over them.

But then, Slytherins aren't really part of the school. Albus made that clear from the very beginning.

Good chapter.

Minerva may feel untethered, but judging by the bedroom's decor, it's Severus who wants to disappear.

Very good scene of love-making, even though neither partner wanted to call it that; the fact that Minerva stayed for subsequent rounds after that first (well written and yummy) encounter, meant there was feeling there and not just lust.

And of course Minerva doesn't want to know where all Snape's scars came from; no doubt a few of them came from her favorite Marauders.

Excellent chapter.

She had insisted on honesty between them, but she discovered she was not willing to travel too far down this particular path with Severus.

-Of course not. He must reveal all or face her wrath, but her secrets are her own.

But of course Albus doesn't want to leave any helpful clues (or anything to exonerate Snape later on, either; surprised that Minerva was let in on the secret, really).

And does Minerva really think Snape could have stopped the Dark Lord from doing anything Tom wanted to at this point?

Plus, how many memories of Tom does she have?

Anyway, I'm glad she finally sees Severus as a man, and not just Dumbledore's hand puppet.

Another sacrifice made on the altar of the Greater Good, she thought bitterly. She wondered how many it would take before she could consider her account with Albus settled.

-Never. Not until Snape pays it in full. After all, she can chat with friends and allow them to believe that Snape is just as evil as the Carrows; and once he's gone she will never have to say a word in his defense if she doesn't want to-in fact, if she does, nobody will believe her.

Albus should be *so* happy.

Very good chapter, love her tantrum over the chess game.

Well, it's nice that Minerva was able to forgive Albus for the way he screwed over Snape. {sarcasm}

At least she didn't ask Snape to forgive him. After all, why should Snape tell any teacher about his home life when they let the Marauders turn him into a chew toy? He probably thought any teacher would just try to give points to his dad for beating up on him.

I wonder if she would also forgive Albus for knowing the Dursleys were abusing Harry?

(I suspect not)