The Chronos Factor
Awwww. *blushes and squees* Thanks so much, dear. I'm thrilled that it touched you so powerfully.
I read the whole series in high school, and I, too, was blown away by the intrinsic sadness of the Chronos character living backwards. When brainstorming ideas as to why Harry had to bathe at sunset, I remembered that second book and thought "what if sunset is the beginning of Harry's day, because he's living backwards?" and, thus, the fic was born. I was originally going to write it as a tender romance, but the more I dwelt on their situation, the more melancholy it became. Severus was clearly very bitter about it at the end of his days, whereas Harry settled into loneliness and deep yearning.
Oh, and the conversations were a pain in the arse to write, constantly examining them backwards and forwards to make sure they were understandable from both characters' POVs, which is why most of them were short. When the mods asked me to add in another scene to make the whole thing more understandable, I knew it would have to be more dialogue and just cringed. But, it all turned out very well in the end. :)