Oh, this was just beautiful; I'm all weepy here and I'm not sure I could even quite say why, but it has something to do with the dreamlike quality of the tale, the wonder that Snape feels at the end, and that promise of... something at the other end of the magic. It's an incredibly original premise, and you see it through so exquisitely. I love both Harry and Snape here - how lost they are in the world they've secured for everyone else (that parting thought of Harry's from LoTR fits perfectly here), and how they really are the only two left who know what it was like in a visceral sense - a knowledge that, for all their work and sacrifices - Ron and Hermione would never understand in the same way. This is just amazing and a story I'll be coming back to again.
John_and_Mary - there have been some amazing pairings of fic and art in this fest, but I think this may be the most perfectly matched. Your art has such a wonderful dreamlike quality, and your incredible attention to the smallest details brings everything alive. Really exquisite work.