THank you! In retrospect this is probably one of the chapter I should have cut off, but I felt like I was putting a lot of things into it at the time. I'm glad you liked it :-)

As for James' wand, don't worry, you'll find out!

ahh well, there would be ways, yes, but I love the angst so much! :-)

if my (borrowed) characters were real, they would probably resent me very much! I don't think that the ghosts know about Harry and Slytherin, but they certainly know now about Snape and the sword! That certainly gave them a good laugh!

next chapter in a few minutes ;-)

Yes, I am considering one. 

Severus I see as being Catholic, because his robes and outfit remind me of a priest.  That white stuck up collar and all.  Some people got offended when I made him that way, they said it was inappropriate because of the witch hunts and all, but those things happened long ago and both Catholica and Protestants were invovlved in them.  Even so, it's unfair to paint everyone of a certain religion with the same brush.  And JKR did say that her wizards believed in God, and since this is my story, I made him a Catholic. 

Yes, I do love snow leopards and I wanted a powerful, proud, and yet beautiful animal for their Animagus forms.  I think the snow leopard fits, because it has both light and dark coloring, which is symbolic of the light and dark in all of us.

You may use that Animagus form if you'd like, just credit me with the inspiration.  Thanks for reading! If you like Animagus stories, I have another series--Broken Wings with Harry and Severus as hawks and Moon Fire--with Severus as a mystical black stallion and Harry gains an Animagus form too later on.