Whoever you are, I love you, you made my day, and there is no better word for this gift than plain old 'beautiful'. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Slughorn is fantastic -not the vaguely ineffectual and comical figure he's often made out to be, but a clever realist who's been around long enough to know when not to go out of his way to do something because the end result just won't match the effort. His voice is pitch perfect here. The writing is excellent and very enjoyable overall, and I could list at least two dozen memorable sentences or turns of phrase that made me smile. Slughorn's reminiscing about various small incidents -Goyle, the Christmas Hunt- is incredibly poignant.
Though not as much as the ending. I love, love this kind of understated angst. What a beautiful, Slytherin goodbye. I can't put into words exactly what was there between them, but it was something that bloody well hurt to put an end to. Poor Snape, who had to walk away, and poor Slughorn, who had to let go of someone he so clearly didn't want to lose. That scene was superbly done.
A cheer for every single one of the teachers who gradually got involved in the big plan, for awesome meddling while making the kids think they were running the show. And two hundred extra internet points to kind-to-animals Snape, for being believable and weirdly hilarious at the same time. He did put a lot of thought into the fate of those beasties, didn't he?
I just dragged myself home after the most exhausting day in an utterly exhausting week, and this was waiting. Thank you so much. I curled up in bed with the laptop and the nearest thing to mead in the vicinity to do Horace justice ;) A lovely, snapely Christmas to you as well!