One of the things I love most about this fic is how firmly it's set in the HP world. I realised that there are certain fics that make me forget I'm not reading canon. And that's what I want. I want to be submerged in the same world of the books, and you've done that in an entirely convincing way. I absolutely believe that this is what Dawlish, Crouch and Scrimgeour went through while Harry was off having his own adventures. It makes complete sense.
And the way you wrote John--his views of two very different but equally powerful men--shed so much light on canon events and ideas. Harry's loyalty to Dumbledore mirrored by John's loyalty to Crouch and then Scrimgeour and ultimately to the Ministry, no matter who was actually in charge. In the end, when Scrimgeour was killed, it was like John's personality disintegrated. He didn't know what to do with himself, where to focus that fervent loyalty. He broke my heart. And what became of him ground it into dust, lol. God. That one detail--John continually searching for Scrimgeour's glasses in the fountain--that will haunt me for a long time.
This is a beautiful fic, so well conceived and executed. I suspect I could read any HP pairing written by you and love it no matter what. ♥