I suppose I'm of two minds with this story. On one hand, there is your beautifully tragic story of a 'thing' that was stupid and ill-advised. They loved in a time when 'til death do us part' wasn't such an impossiblity, which added to its sadness.
And on the other, the lack of any traces of Lily sort of bothers me. I know this story isn't about her and Severus, but it's almost unreal to expect his next relationship to not be coloured by how his relationship with Lily had ended. I won't say I don't believe in Severus/Marlene, because I adore the melancholy of it all, but it seemed like it needed at least some mention of Lily.
That's really all the crit I have. It was a lovely story. Off I go!
~Jess
Author's Response: The lack of Lily was quite deliberate in that everything I write about Severus ends up coloured by his love for Lily and for once I just wanted to write something utterly different, and also I think that there is an element of Severus not wanting to equate Marlene and Lily in anyway because Marlene wasn't supposed to mean anything (I think had she not fallen pregnant, he would have always passed it off to himself as a meaningless fling even if there was more to it than he's willing to admit to himself), whereas Lily means everything so to him any mental link between them acts to cheapen what he feels for Lily, if that makes sense. I think at some point I may go back and expand on that a little more in the story as you've got me thinking now. Thanks for yet another lovely review, dear.
A very interesting idea. Both Snape's and Marlene's characters were created nicely, but I would have liked to have heard a bit more about the child and what actually became of the child personally. But the story still worked really well.
Author's Response: I'm glad you enjoyed. I'm not really sure what became of the child - it was more of a device than anything really. I guess my focus was more on Severus and the effect on him.
