I’ve been reading so many chessmaster!Dumbledore stories that I’d forgotten what it felt like to sympathize with Dumbledore. You reminded me of my sympathy with that first paragraph in the line, “Normally the sweets were proffered to others by the elderly wizard as a gesture of comfort, a reminder of childhood, innocence and safety.” What a burden it must be to carry the weight of the wizarding world on your shoulders. I pity him here and, while (and after) reading your story, I can picture him sitting alone in his room full of clocks agonizing over each loss and feeling that it was his own personal failure. Your DD is the fatherly figure I came to love while reading the books.

And Snape: I am impressed by how well you capture the relationship between the two of them, with DD realizing how trapped Snape must feel, how alone. It helps us to understand as well. I love how you show us the vulnerable side of Snape—the one searching for absolution, but never even coming close to finding it…no matter what he sacrifices of himself in the process. A lovely story!