Gut-wrenching. Utterly gut-wrenching. What a dark, twisted tale. Harry with his ghosts and his guilt was cruel and unforgiving. Snape – poor, poor Snape – suffered so much and so terribly again and again. Everything was bleak and grim. Yet it was also riveting, in a macabre way.
Now he’s shunted away - this is about Professor Snape, I take it? Trapped like a basilisk by the Ministry of Magic, for," her head jerked, and a dazzle of rainbow flamed her cheek, "the crime of unexpected heroism. Had the gall to pull their bleedin’ stones out of the fire still sporting Voldemort’s Mark, the stupid git."
Very well said! I loved Senior Class Warden Odile Lalique. She was a wonderful original character full of vim and vigor, contrasting nicely with the somber atmosphere of the story. It was good to see at least one person who actually cared about Snape in his solitary prison.
It was frustrating to read about Harry and Snape’s encounters. Harry was such a git, with his need to blame Snape for all that was wrong in his life. And poor Snape, having abuse after abuse heaped on him and compelled constantly to explain things to dunderhead!Harry. Yet he somehow maintained a semblance of sanity through it all, which attests to his strength of character.
"I'm not surprised that you can’t change it. But if you," Snape took a breath, "if you can’t, no one can. No one alive." The sun struggled through the overcast sky, and in a rush of pale gold and glimmered blue and the jewel-like clarity of broken edges the window suddenly sparkled. Snape scanned the walls with drugged-looking eyes. His next words were so soft that Harry felt it was more like lip-reading than actual sound: "So it’s up to me. I can’t do this for much longer."
The ending was exciting, heart-stopping, and mesmerizing. I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, wondering fearfully how it would all turn out. So much happened so quickly: Snape’s revelations, Harry’s loss of control, Spinner’s End in flames, no escape for Snape, almost-dead Snape, their entwined powers consuming the fire, the hawt aftermath, "Redde mihi sanguinibus," "Redde mihi peccatis tuas," Harry finally releasing Snape, and last, but not least, Snape’s "Then find me".
::whew!::
It was an intense, mind-blowing conclusion.
The Severus roses, the Warding, and the collar were all such novel concepts, very well-conceived.