I'm enjoying this story. I like how you get deep into Severus' thoughts and feelings, which seem pretty accurate. I'm curious to see where he will go from here.

Wow, a Quidditch match and a good one, too. I'm impressed. It was exciting, and I was sort of on the edge of my seat to see what would happen. Well done. I also like how Severus and Lily experience all these emotions and go through some slow' gradual changes. The story keeps getting better.

Not a bad read, but no, I don't support this ship either.

Author's Response: Hahaha!

Apparently Hufflepuffs have to be brave, too.

Aww. I'm a bit disappointed in the ending, which was more of a tune in next time. Voldemort's death was rather uneventful, too. It was like nobody even noticed that he was gone. But it was an interesting story overall, sort of an alternative to DH. I also liked that Ginny was more involved.

So, no happy ending for Draco. He seems the same as before-- as in canon, I mean--, not much more mature and no wiser. He pretty much got what he deserved, though I found myself hoping he would learn something, be enlightened a little about life and people, and about himself. I would have liked to know more about Astoria, too. Not sure why she has all the power in this relationship. Doesn't her family need the Malfoys as much as Draco's family needs them?
One detail I really liked was the tradition of the bride and groom entering from opposite sides of the room and meeting together in the middle. I've always thought weddings should be that way-- symbolically, it makes more sense. These days, women are independent and free to marry whomever they choose. They aren't handed over from their fathers to their new husbands. That's so archaic.

Author's Response:

I think, of everything in this fic, I angsted the most over the wedding ceremonies. I knew they would have to be different from Muggle weddings, but not unrecognisably so (both had to have similar roots, so they should at least be derivatives of one another). The idea for that I ended up scrapping was that the bride and groom had to pass through a people!tunnel of the other's kin and friends, so if any of them felt the bride or groom was unworthy, they could stop them physically. Then I realised that I got the idea from a Klingon rite of passage from an episode of Star Trek and went a less obscure route.

I will defend my characterisation of Draco because of his age. In this, he's 22. By now, he would have had the chance to be more complacent about his family's place after the war but still understanding that marrying into a respected family was still something he had to do, whether he wanted to or not. It isn't so much an arranged marriage more than the accepted inevitability of one he might not have chosen for himself under different circumstances. And after all, once a git, always a git. Draco couldn't lose all that in a few short years, no matter what happened to him. Plus, it's a humour story, so if it didn't have levity at the expense of someone who has deserved comeuppance on several occasions, then I wouldn't be doing it right.

As for Astoria, my head canon is that the Greengrasses are a well-connected family, but they have difficulty finding a good match for Astoria because she is a wilful wild child. Fortunately for the, the Malfoys are desperate and the Greengrasses can look past some unfortunate past alliances (their words, not mine) to hopefully settle down their rambunctious youngest daughter. However, as this story is more about Draco and the ridiculousness he faced during the wedding preparations, that backstory didn't have much place in the story and would've felt extraneous. The ending is as it is because Draco doesn't know her that well and was a bit gobsmacked at how forceful she is, plus the fact that he knows that if she divorces him, it will look very bad for his family. But, as I said...humour fic. Not very happy trimmings for this particular cake.

Anyway, thanks for reading. :)

~Jess

Gabe is an interesting character.

Author's Response: I was so excited to see your reviews. It seems I get a lot of readers but not many reviews. Gabe is mdeled after my son--with some extraordinary talents added. I'm trying to write how I think he'd react to these many situations. I hope I'm not too far off the mark:D

Tom sure sounds like a Nazi.

Author's Response: I guess I've always seen the Death Eaters as Nazis. I couldn't resist making the comparison. At this point Tom is a handsome young man and he's charismatic. He's trying to bring people into his cause and the purebloods are flocking to him, buying all of his propaganda. I think that's what Hitler did. He didn't start out well known and wealthy. He had to sell his ideas. Some people need someone or something to blame their problems on; for Hitler it was the Jews and for Tom it was non-purebloods.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Fynnsmom. Hope things are better now. I'm curious about what will happen next in the story, but now I have to wait for the next chapter.

Author's Response: One thing I've discovered over time is that whenever you lose hope, something wonderful will always happen to bring that hope back. I really shouldn't complain about things because it all adds to my life experiences. Anyway, I have the next chapter written but it needs editing by me and then my beta friend. I hope to get that chapter up shortly after Thanksgiving. After that crazy, exciting things start to happen in the story. It's time to bring the story to its high point and then watch it crash. Finally, we will have a last flash of hope in the epilogue.

This was some long and complex story. Well done, especially for taking on the challenge of showing us the thoughts and feeling of Tom/LV. For me, you could have left out the song lyrics you so painstakingly included. I didn't bother trying to read them, and anyway, Lydia explained what they meant. Perhaps if you more fully described how the song sounded, that would have done more for me. Your characterization of Tom was good, I thought. Quite appropriate that he was so arrogant and self centered that he just assumed that Lydia would wait for him, and would be glad to be his queen, though he never discussed his plans with her. To me it seemed wrong, though, that he whispered "I love you" to her dead body. I don't believe he would have done that. Lydia was a good character, and I understood why she fell for him. Unfortunately, I don't recall who Hestia Prince was, so I'll have to look through the books again to figure out the significance of her. Anyway, good job. Write more.