I am so glad I came back to HP_beholder one more time to check that I had read them all, because I had missed this one and it's terrific. I love the way you place Ivo, Snape and McGonagall in a real place, recognizable from our own troubled Muggle world, and describe the feel and rhythm of it so convincingly. They are convincing lovers as well, each, as you say, with his own darkness and his own doubts. When they leave, we are sure it is not to a fairy tale of happy-ever-after, but to further struggle and difficulty. This is what I would have wished for Snape and McGonagall, and I am so glad you gave it to them.