this was so unbelievably excellent, i don't think i'm really capable of enumerating the many things i loved about it, but here's a partial list nonetheless. that first time harry thinks i love you and then immediately burying it. snape and his sacrifices, and the final one which allows harry to free him, utterly beautiful. the scenes which you painted in the mind's eye which stick with the reader -- specifically, i refer to harry and snape both clasping the wand as the house burns down around them, and both of them looking at the house covered with roses. snape leaving, but still, there is hope that harry will get up in the morning and follow the string to its end, to wherever snape is.
there's more. the more peripheral characters were well portrayed. i particularly felt the tragedy of ron's situation. spinner's end almost took on a personality of its own, because of eileen prince's roses and the stairs and all those details without which the atmosphere could not have been created.
really, again, an excellent job, and not a fic i will be forgetting soon.