Very interesting AU. I loved how you evolved the characters' personalities, keeping their key traits but allowing them to develop with events. Having Severus as Fawkes was an inspired idea, especially for the delicious irony (i.e. best potioneer in England can create the world's most powerful healing potion/antivenom not through his skill but merely by crying lol!)
The beginning was wonderful: I didn't realise it was AU until Harry referred to Severus as Dad: you skillfully revealed the situation by slight references in their conversation, giving the whole chapter a great flow. I also loved how you echoed canon events at the end. Well done.
When I started reading this... well, the moment Snape called Harry by the first name, I was a bit like: "Woah! Woah! What's happened? Where am I? What's that giant purple marshmallow doing behind the window?" Well, not really, but it certainly was a bit of a shock, to put it mildly. Guess the AU warning isn't there for nothing, is it?
The one thing I didn't understand was why Harry was calling Snape 'dad', and how he had ended up with him in the first place. But hey, I'm willing to take that for granted - it's too sweet to fuss about it. :)
Though I do not like - to put it mildly, again - a victimized Snape that's put up on a pedestal for everyone to admire while Sirius is trodden in the mud, I did sort of warm up to this universe, especially the friendship between James and Severus and a 'good' Aunt Petunia. I also enjoyed the flashbacks; though I understand they were there simply to explain the background of this universe, a story within a story always makes for a more interesting read. :)
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