*Squees gleefully* Thank you, this was wonderful! For all that it was really painful all-around it was wonderful and with such a hopeful ending. So many questions on backstory too, so intriguing!
-So...I'm supposing that Antonin's father was an (early) DE and this was problematic (socially? legally?). -Why does the Russian Ministry give a damn about a British civil war, hmmmm? -Very interesting bits about Igor and Ivan and makes me wonder what happened. Was it that Ivan was a "liberal" and the rest of the school turned on him? (But then it doesn't make sense why the Russian Ministry , whose politics were opposing, was allowed to blackmail Antonin on the premises. Or did they not know?) -What is the betrayal that Antonin keeps attributing to himself? The fact that he was a spy in general or did he do something to betray the Ministry that we don't see?
-I love Narcissa's characterization and how she never requited Antonin's love but seemed to trust him nonetheless. -Antonin's animosity toward Snape made me smile - my Antonin and Snape don't get along well during the 2nd war too. I love how Antonin sees that Snape is, at the least, a liability and not trustworthy. -Antonin's backstory here is so heartbreaking. That whole idea of a kid who gets stuck in a life that they can't get out of later and he doesn't even care for the Dark Lord and his cause but it never even occurs to him to get out. For all his strength and practicality, he's never had enough agency to consider that he might have enough to get out. (But then again, maybe he just sees that getting out at this point means going over to Dumbledore and to Antonin that's probably the same thing - service to the plots of a master.) -I just LOVE the whole thing with Draco. The protector/protectee relationship that develops out of the blue and the slight implication that Draco MIGHT have some sort of feelings for Antonin. Maybe they don't mean much, after all he's married, has a son, but they're enough for Draco to be all political and manipulative with foreign governments which is actually quite a lot of hassle, I'm sure :) -And, of course, I love the hope at the end. A hopeful ending for Antonin is not something I've ever considered and now it's just going to tease me all the time.