I read it. Then re-iterated a rec for it, then read it again, and now I think I'm ready to comment. Oh, yes, the "reading again" takes me to one o'clock in the morning, and I work tomorrow. So if I'm dead at work, it's partially your fault.
And a great bit of it is mine for being so completely and utterly enthralled with the characterizations in this story. It's been a long time since something has affected me in this way. Not one of those fics that gives you jolts of squee or excitement. No, this one is subtle and soft and just so finely crafted and honed, that you want to savor it.
The second time through was far, far better than the first time reading it, and the first time I read, I was completely taken in. To me, it read like a German symphony. Slowly drawing us in with a smooth and beautiful melody, and then building as it takes us on a fantastic flight through a relationship that addresses the pain, the regret, the guilt, and this underlying harmony of utterly desperate hope.
Finally, there's a crescendo during which we are posed with two men - one of them willing to give up his own chance at personal redemption for a true redemption.
He has an opportunity to make things right with Severus, and he's willing to sacrifice his own chance at that opportunity to give it to him? Wow! What a paradox.
So, if I haven't said it yet, I thank you for this fantastic, entertaining, and completely and utterly enthralling fic!!
Of course, it also has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a rare pair whore, and I just love the older generation.
Not at all. Seriously, it's absolutely incredible.