Quote from Heatherlly on March 5, 2025, 5:06 am

This is one of the loveliest reviews I've ever received. <3

Natasha Lovemore (Guest) left the following comment on Obscura Nox Animae:
Wow. I absolutely adored your story.

First of all, as a side note, it think it's important to mention - it's truly amazing that fanfiction authors put so much time and dedication into their stories, for no monetary gain. The fact that those stories are out there for free, makes me so grateful. Let alone, high quality stories that should really be published properly, like this one. It goes to show that, us, human beings are capable of true greatness when we're driven by passion, rather than greed/ constant hustling/ always trying to optimize. I really love seeing that.

The notes on the story - having read a number of Snilys, this one is a total winner for me. I was initially apprehensive when I saw how long it was, I didn't think I had it in me to consume such a monster - it's definitely a slow burn and it takes its time to develop, but you do it with such skill, finesse and so much effort going into all the details - to say it was a joy to read is an understatement.

I admire your inventiveness - how you thought up Lily's survival and coming back, how Snape was able to fool the people that needed to be fooled into thinking he was a cruel bully. Elements of humour and drama, but not drama for its own sake. For example, I liked how relatively chilled out and easy you wrote Harry when he found out that his long thought dead mother was shagging his arch-enemy. I was expecting long bouts of angst and squabbling, but no - he was so mature and understanding - and totally believable. He's gone through so much and I guess that puts things into perspective.

Humour-wise, Lily/spider watching Severus in the shower has got to be one of the funniest moments I have read in a long while. The sex scenes felt very refreshing and never cringy, which is not easy to achieve, especially with the sheer amount of them. Also, going back to early stages of the story I am (and was) very much pro Severus being a sexually active adult enjoying an occasional fling instead of the sickeningly unrealistic forever-virgin crippled by guilt nonsense that some people like him to believe to be. So, thank you - that was needed 🙂

As for Snape, countless of others have said it, I'll say as well - you got him so. perfectly. characterized. Not a saint, just a human being who is a mixture of good and bad, and in his case - with a whole lot of backbone, dedication, selflessness and razor sharp wit and intelligence. The best Snape I have ever read, no doubt. I was elated in the scene when Minerva reveals to him that she knows and she's his ally as well as a number of others. I just felt his weight shifting off his shoulders. So deserved.

Last little point, as a mother myself, I shuddered when heavily pregnant Lily thrust herself into the midst of a battle. I totally get why she did it though, I was just "nooooo! You've got a vulnerable baby right there, protected only by a layer of skin, you can't..!" But yeah, the alternative of sitting on your own and waiting for bad news about your loved ones... It was hardly an alternative.

Again. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure and I will definitely read your other stories. Much love, x

Quote from The Gestalt Prince on March 30, 2025, 8:24 pm

Going over comments from the AO3 version of Gestaltation, there's two really long and detailed ones that I've found (I noticed one of them a bit late, and the other was made today).

The older one:

Ace1225 on Chapter 30Fri27Sep2024 08:40AMPDT

At some point I’ll read this again, going back to leave a proper review or comment on each chapter. But I just finished binging this after 5 days and I have to say it’s one of the most complex, well orchestrated Snape/Lily stories that I’ve ever come across. Fantastic job. You’ve taken many characters who we really only know by name in canon and fleshed them out as well as any writer could.

While I’ve seen many comments criticizing Lily she is probably my favorite character (if not second favorite, because obviously Mary is perfect here). So many things she did frustrated me. Every single time she blew Severus off when they had a meeting to have their “talk” I literally smacked my forehead and asked “Ma’am, WHAT are you doing? WHERE are your priorities?” It’s been a long journey, but the payoff in this section of the story has been magnificent. You’ve portrayed Lily in a way that many people don’t like, but which I find to be realistic. She’s a teenager. She’s self absorbed. She’s self righteous. She can be downright hypocritical toward the person she claims is her friend. And Parts 1 and 2 put this on full display. In most cases it isn’t just one person who causes a relationship to fail. It’s both parties, and in this you did a great job showing that. Lily admitted (to herself) that even before the Black Lake she had basically written Severus off. The word “mudblood” was damaging, but it’s really just the straw that broke the camels back. In reality she should’ve had the “talk” with Severus months, if not at least a year, beforehand (though had she done so I doubt it would’ve worked out as well, because both of them would be less mature and on her end she would still be convinced she was perfectly in the right). By not doing so she was basically engaging in a fake friendship. Furthermore, I like that you’ve used the little we know of her in canon to poke holes in her perfect image. If your friends are complaining to you about another friend why are you letting them? Why are you not introducing them to that other friend why they don’t really know him? Why are you defending James to Severus when James BULLIES Severus? Why are you TALKING to James and his groupies while they are ATTACKING Severus? All of these are thugs we know from canon that don’t really paint a “nice” image of Lily and you’ve delved into why she’s like that, with Severus being rightfully critical. I appreciate that because so many other stories just put everything on Severus and leave Lily with no responsibility, which honestly makes her less interesting overall.

You James Potter might be the best version I’ve ever seen. He’s got those same traits that seem “charming” on the surface, but which can be twisted into a negative. Severus gets accused of being possessive, which he was. But James is outright stalking Lily. James is manipulating Lily to think he’s become a better person, making him a liar. James is bullying Severus even when Severus has stopped retaliating (of course bullying would still be wrong, this just makes it even sicker imo). James “saved” Severus from Lupin, but was more than likely still involved in Severus being near Lupin at all. It’s a really great deconstruction of the popular jock character and I hope to see more of it as this story continues.

*don’t wanna delve too much into it, but man does Remus Lupin annoy me. He takes very little responsibility for his part in Severus getting bullied, but similar to Marlene will actively criticize Severus. Dude, you are partially responsible forgot who Severus is. Even if he was never the nicest kid, bullying him and then standing by while he’s bullied won’t make him any nicer. It makes him worse, and I love how Severus mentions this as a reason he began leaning toward the Death Eaters. Would he have done it anyway? I’m sure he would have, but that didn’t help.

Harry Potter, Severus Snape, and Tom Riddle are canonically connected as the lost boys of Hogwarts. 3 half bloods who found a home there, but had different experiences. I like how with time being changed it’s Severus who has basically becomes Riddles arch enemy. Not James or Remus or Dumbledore. Severus, who Tom would still have a connection to through similar backgrounds. It’s handled very well. The Diary story in this is actually better than it was in canon due to you giving us multiple points of view, and more conversations with a younger Tom Riddle manipulating Lily. And you aren’t afraid to showcase Severus’ flaws, as either a teenager or an adult. The commentary on anger and fighting is especially good, because anger can be dangerous. It’s understandable for Lily to be afraid when he lashes out, but it’s also understandable why he’d engage in fighting at all when (as far as we know) he spent YEARS being attacked by 4 other boys on a regular basis. It’s basically a cornered animal scenario but that’s his daily life. Details like his father sexually abusing him or his mother and the Prince family line actually not being anything special, are also appreciated.

And just something I noticed is that Lily constantly found issues with how Severus basically wasn’t engaging in arguments with her. He wasn’t fighting back so to speak. If he started to lose his temper he’d walk away. And this annoyed her. She takes it as a kind of “I don’t know you anymore” thing. But in my opinion it’s actually a very good sign that for most of the story she subconsciously didnt WANT to forgive Severus or repair their friendship. If Severus doesn’t change, if he keeps arguing with her, he’d just lose his temper again. That gives her the justification to say “you know what? You’re not listening to me. I’m done. Have a nice life, Snape.” But because he does change, while it might be sudden at times, it nails the point home that much of her old criticisms of him don’t hold up anymore. Like if he doesn’t want to be a death eater you can’t get on him for that or for his dangerous friends. If he’s befriending Mary, tutoring her, AND helping you with parties that he doesn’t even enjoy you can’t really say he’s not trying to be better. And this is placed alongside James who pretends to be better, who Lily constantly defends, and who she fancies. You can’t really refuse to forgive Severus when he’s changing while just giving James a pass. And again it all adds to the complexity of this relationships.

Finally, the entire Vampire subplot? Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. I do admit that I kept thinking “why not get some garlic from the kitchens and sneak it into his food or even throw it at him to confirm things?” But beyond that it was a really funny addition, which surprisingly ends up being very serious when Severus is sent to Azkaban. Hope to see more from this story in the future!

The newer one:

Nonameforthisguy on Chapter 30Sun 30 Mar 2025 02:15PM PDT

Hey Gestalt Prince! This is my 3rd time revisiting this fic and I just want to say how happy I am to read it. I am a huge Snily fan and it's a little rare to find stories which explore the nuances, good and bad, of both Severus and Lily. Since the books essentially left Lily as a blank slate it can be difficult for creatives to come up with a personality, backstory, and motivations for her that don't seem "OOC" even though we truly don't know anything about her character! You are one of the few authors, BoxyP and Kellyodfc come to mind, that has managed to create one that is just awesome!

While she got on my nerves for the first 80% of the story, it made sense how ass backwards she was. The distrust, the control, and unfortunately the attraction to James. I agree with you, in canon it had to have started earlier than 6th year - otherwise truly, what kind of despicable person dates their oldest friends tormentor? What kind of person dates a bully at all? But you laid it out in a way that showed she was a flawed person yes, but not a bad person. She's also young and a teenager, and yes in my opinion on this does mean more gullible and self righteous. Add in the Diary which makes her act out more and be more vulnerable and you got someone I came close to hating. But I didn't, and it wasn't because I knew it was Snily endgame, it was because I saw what was happening.

Don't even get me started on Severus. I think he is your emerald gem! He frustrates me to no end at times as well, but the idea of having the professor and student in one body is such a difficult thing to execute. I think you've done a fantastic job at it! And it is much better than the simple Sev travels back in time fics, because it always creeped me out that a 38 year old man was going to pine after a 16 year old- it's pedophilic. This makes sense though, you have the deep and true love from the professor with the student's version of it and physical attraction. It's a smart device to do it this way. Like I said Severus frustrates me at times too, especially when he just bent over backwards for Lily, but in the end it made sense and that chapter 24 payoff was legitimately one of the best chapters I have ever read of anything period! I keep thinking about how does the end result of the "gestaltion" look? Do the minds eventually merged together like it was sort of implied? And in the end there's no longer two people in one body but just one body? I also am thinking about the war endgame. It has sort of taken a small backseat in the midst of Severus trying to form something with Lily, and has ramped up in the past 10 or so chapters. The balance between the love story, the war, the story of recovery, and the story of new friendships has been really good!

I can't even put into words how much I love Mary. Just awesome, again so awesome. She is such a good friend and her development is probably the best in this entire story! Severus definitely needed her and without her I think he would have gone into the darkness of himself. I kind of wish he starts to trust Dumbledore more and allow himself to realize that Albus may actually care and love for him. All in due time though I hope.

The marauders are portrayed well, especially the bad and trying to hide the bad. Just the way everything came together has a true joy for me to read. I really love this story, and as a Snily fan these long and great ones are a little more rare. I mentioned BoxyP and kellyodfc earlier with how good you're writing is because it's not often you have something that delivers on quality AND quantity. This could truly be its own book lol. And I lovee the stories the other two wrote, I feel like all Snily fans have come across them at some point or another.

I know you wrote at the beginning of Act III that you have a lot going on in your personal life right now. I hope that you are doing well and that you can overcome the hurdles you may face. Health and state of mind for yourself of course comes first. I just wanted to show my appreciation for a story that has really touched my heart. There's a lot I want to express that I don't know how to. But these characters are dear to me and this story is one that look forward to each time I re-read, each time I hit next chapter. I love it a lot! And I can't wait for it to continue!