I'm glad you enjoyed Part One! Yeah, it was a struggle for him to write the thank-you letters, but he's trying to turn over a new leaf, and he thought that might be a place to begin!Side-effect, not specifically any magical one . . .Enjoy the rest! And don't forget little Suzie Sefton and her Sorting! I think you'll like that fic. Thanks for the review!TTFN!

You're right about Severus: he has never really understood where that sense of disgust came from that moved him to drop the wards and let Gertrude go. And that he had to Occlude to keep himself from feeling revolted by the "after party" when he took the Dark Mark also shows that he was not completely merciless or without empathy.I'm glad you like Helena. I "knew her" (as a RaMverse character) almost as soon as I conceived of the DD sequel, so I brought her into the story there, and then she burst in, just about fully formed, complete with her Animagus form, all ready to eventually make the acquaintance of our Potions master!Thank you for the review -- I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. Next one will probably be up sometime next week.

He is beginning to be more comfortable with others, and learning to trust a bit, as well -- though with some apprehension.I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for the review!

A bacon butty is just a bacon sandwich. (I eat them using veggie bacon, but they still taste sinful! LOL!)I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter & the interaction with Albus. It will all eventually work itself out, in fits and starts, though!

I thought that's what they were.  I like them too.  Instead of butter I use Miricle Whip and toast the bread.  That's what I'm having for lunch tomorrow since this chapter made me hungry for bacon.  * Evil grins and *

When I was a kid, I used to like peanut butter and bacon sandwiches. They're especially tasty on rye bread, I thought!

Yes, Severus definitely had a hard childhood -- I've alluded to it a few times before in AAoL and DD, but it was good to be able to introduce more of it here, and with a different sort of p-o-v than I could have gotten simply by having him tell someone about it -- or even by having his conscious, adult mind replay memories of it. I'm glad that the little interjections Severus made amused you! Thanks for the review!

Yep, a little wizarding ER drama going on there! I'm glad you liked it! And that you liked the "Albus is such a Victorian" giggles!Thanks for the review!

It was certainly a good thing that Minerva had Twiskett follow Severus around, isn't it?I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter! Hope the next few are enjoyable, too, as we see what happens with Severus's health!Thanks for the review.

"Perhaps he unconsciously on purpose sabotaged things with Hermione to get himself off the hook?"Have you been using those psychic powers of yours to take a peek at Gareth's conversation with Severus again? LOL! I don't think that was completely what was going on, but there may have been some element of it. And, of course, if he were really intent on having things work out between them, he could have jumped on the "take things slowly" angle rather than latching onto the less promising and more insulting aspects of what Hermione said.Yep, they were not exactly in sync with each other that night, were they? I think they each had unrealistic expectations. At least they're still talking to each other . . .Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're looking forward to Part Seven. Chapter 68 -- that's "Bad Timing," right? It'll also be good timing, in a way . . .

Yep, me and Gareth, we're simpatico!

Somehow, I submitted that without writing anything! Ooops! No idea how I did that!Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter -- if you like Suzie Sefton and want to see it all from her point-of-view, once you've finished Part One of LVS, you might like to read her little story, "The Sorting of Suzie Sefton." She certainly did start off her Hogwarts career in a memorable way! "Oh, yeah, she's the one who threw up on Snape and lived to tell the tale." LOL!Thanks for the review!

It was good for him to feel he could confide in Hermione. He is worried about his position with the school, so he didn't want to confide in Minerva, Poppy's already had to see him moaning after taking his potions, which is (in his mind at this point) already embarrassing, and you've seen how uneasy he still is with Albus -- and the silly wizard doesn't think he has any other friends on the staff who would listen to him in confidence and give him some friendly moral support. So it was a real relief for him to have Hermione drop by just then and be able to talk to her about it.Thanks for the review! Glad you're enjoying it!

I'm glad you're looking forward to the next chapter!Severus is, indeed, confused. But maybe things will become a little clearer to him once he has some time.Thanks for the review!

Yes, but that is Severus, isn't it -- assumptions and habits kicking in, particularly when he's feeling wounded or angry?Yep, neither of them were at the top of their form, certainly not in sensing and acting on what the other was feeling, and it didn't end as well as it could have -- but not as badly, either. Severus at least tried to leave her after saying something nice, trying to salvage something from the evening and leave their friendship intact.Thanks for the review!

And yet, Severus thought that Albus was overanalyzing when he talked about doing the right things for the right reasons, or doing the right things for the wrong reasons. Sometimes, our reasons do have an impact on the way we carry something out! I think Severus was more than a little confused about his motivations here, and Hermione, she was certainly confused, both about Severus and about her own feelings. Poor folks! But they'll survive! ;)Thanks for the review!

Yes, Severus did put Hermione in a special little category, and he did idealize her and their relationship -- though he does genuinely like her and care about her, as well.As to liking him . . . Minerva once tells Gareth in Death's Dominion that she doesn't always like Severus, even then, but that she does love him. I don't intend for Severus always to make the correct choices for the right reasons -- or even the correct decisions for the wrong reasons! And sometimes, he may make the correct decision but completely mess up how he carries it out. But he'll nonetheless feel his way forward in his life and get better at such things.I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for the review!

Filius is certainly a better friend and colleague to Severus than Severus really appreciates at this point. He's a good little guy.It will definitely be good for Severus to see someone who he knows is a friend and to spend time with her. He certainly needs some respite!Thanks for the review! Glad you liked it!

If she were the only person who truly cared about him in the RaMverse, he would have been dead before the end of An Act of Love, and if Minerva had closed her eyes and thought of the Order of the Phoenix and he'd survived through An Act of Love, he would have been dead during the period of Death's Dominion. He has a lot of people in the RaMverse who care about him, in contrast to canon, which was one of the things I was pleased to change.I don't think he thinks that love and sex are the same thing -- in fact, I think he thought that they really didn't have much to do with each other until recently. I think he does think that displaying romantic physical affection has to be more sexualized than Hermione was ready for at that point -- she certainly had a point when she said that they'd gone from friends, to sweet kisses, back to friends, and now he's gone all physical on her. Still, she wasn't precisely kind to his male ego there, either, and was a bit on the . . . impatient side. Neither of them were at their best in that chapter.Thanks for the review. It must have seemed odd to read this chapter so completely out of context, though, not having any clue what Severus has been doing or thinking or what other problems he may be facing.

But I do know what you mean...What I meant was that I think she loves him really....not only cares for him...and wants him too, sexually I think....But she's not ready to give hersellf to him yet...out of respect fot their friendship I guess, respectful of her own feelings for him, and his for her (I don't think he realizes how much she likes and respects him)....and yes, it's out of context but I know a little of what has happened since my last review...although I skipped most of the sex scenes...He's being followed, his doubts, his newfound love for Poppy....his attraction to Helena....his close...close friendship to Gareth...So I'm still following the story but not as closely as I used to....

I think that neither of them handled the situation particularly well, really, though they each certainly have good reasons for their feelings and reactions. And I think that each of them had somewhat unrealistic ideas about the other person, though they are, no doubt, friends and they truly do care for and about each other. I'm glad the titles of the chapters have you intrigued. I may send you the first couple to preview and let me know if they're bizarre and twisted -- sorry! Little joke there. Very little. But I appreciated the betaing (or alphaing, one might call it) of some of the earlier chapters, and I'm glad you're still enjoying the progress of the story. There are a number of elements introduced in Part Six that will pop up again in Part Seven and be developed further. We'll see how that all goes . . . Don't know when I'll begin posting Part Seven, but keep an eye out for it.Thanks for the review!

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.Yes, Severus does feel that he needs to prove himself anew in peacetime, that he needs to be a specific sort of Deputy to Minerva, and that he can't let her down or he might not have any role left in life. We'll see if he can manage to rest up and ask for help, or whether he'll take on too much, or some combination thereof!I'm glad you like the interaction with Poppy. He does feel a lot more comfortable with her, though not completely, and he does recognize that she has been a friend to him. Whether he can actually let her into his life . . . we'll see! ;-)Severus and Albus have a complicated relationship, and it will take a while before all the necessary conversations can take place between them and they can each feel comfortable with the other.I'm glad you liked the portrait idea! Severus did, too. Thanks for the review! I hope that you continue to enjoy the fic.

That certainly was some block of text. It was simply begging not to be read. I wish I hadn't. I feel ill. But then, I suppose that was the response you wanted to provoke or you would not have bothered spewing. I am particularly convinced of that since your profile indicates that you have been a member of the Petulant Poetess since 25 January 2010, which is coincidentally today’s date, and yet you claim not only to have read all of LVS up to this point, but other fics of mine, as well, which would not be possible for a nonmember, as one must be a member in order to read M- and MA-rated fics. So you must have either created a brand-new membership for the sole purpose of this review or you are lying about having read the stories as you claim. Either way, I should just presume you are a provocateur/troll and not bother responding, but I will, anyway – someone else may be interested in my response even though it’s doubtful you’ll ever bother reading it. (I checked the profile out of curiosity about how many reviews the reviewer had actually left, since she claimed to rarely review.) I did NOT change the direction of this fic at all. Not in response to reviews nor for any other reason, other than to polish it and get it into the shape that I wanted it to be in before posting – I had the story over 75% written before posting it anywhere, and I had others read drafts before posting it here on TPP.

Had I changed the story in response to reviews, I would have had to rewrite the entire thing and discard my entire premise for the fic and changed it from what it now is – and for your information, since you seem to have missed it when I have stated it in several places elsewhere, I BEGAN writing the story with Parts 3 and 4. If you actually were reading the reviews and review responses, as well as author's notes, you would be aware of this. I also began writing it WHILE I was posting Death's Dominion back in May or June of 2008, and I started writing with the premise of exploring his postwar relationships with Gareth and Poppy.

As for Severus and Poppy, Severus has been becoming closer to Poppy since AAoL, and she's been intrigued by him since then. (And no, she’s not a "doctor" of any kind, and she’s not Severus’s doctor or Healer; if any member of staff becomes ill, she is the first person to see them, of course, as the school matron, but her treatment of Severus was unique and relatively confined to a particular and unusual set of circumstances, given his activities among the Death Eaters during the war.) I never had SSHG in a romantic relationship in the RaMverse, and you know what? Just because someone thinks that certain characters are “perfect for each other” in a story – or in real life – doesn't mean they're going to end up together. I actually DON'T think they're “perfect for each other” in the RaMverse, though I do think that they can be a plausible 'ship in other contexts, and they are clearly friends in the RaMverse and will remain that way. And if certain things had been different for Severus and Hermione in LVS, particularly their timing, they might have worked out okay together as a ’ship in the RaMverse – if I had written a different sort of story. But I didn’t and wouldn’t want to. I have gotten a ton of flack from SSHG readers – which you must be aware of, since you supposedly are basing your statements about the “begging” for SSPP on the reviews you read – so if I HAD changed the story, it would have been to acquiesce to the people who for some peculiar reason decided on their own that this was going to be an SSHG romance. But I wouldn't have changed the story in response to them, since it's almost completely written. I would have simply ceased posting it. FF/PS? Where is that? Must be in another fic, since although they are background characters who are together in the RaMverse and Severus has a relationship with each of them in LVS (all three of them are Heads of Houses), there have been no FF/PS-specific chapters. I also find it puzzling that you should find FF/PS so offensive that you should mention them and their relationship more than once.

There has been only ONE chapter so far in LVS in which Severus did not appear. That was in a chapter about Poppy and was completely relevant to the development of the Snape story line and her relationship with him. As for the ADMM chapter, sorry if you didn't like it, but it was also there for purposes of the story – aside from which, ADMM started out as the primary pairing in this series of stories and I enjoyed revisiting the roots of this fanfictional universe and writing a chapter about them. There were relevant warnings at the beginning of the chapter and you can easily (I presume) skim or skip any lemons you do not wish to read. I am aware that sexually explicit scenes, whether there for erotic purposes or not, are not something that everyone cares to read, and I respect that completely, hence the warnings. In addition, there are still MANY T-rated chapters being posted, many more than in previous sections – why weren't you up in arms about the sexual content during Parts 3, 4, and 5, which contained the bulk of the lemony chapters? Part 6 had very few lemons in it by comparison. In addition, in the initial summary, I very clearly say that the ratings will rise and to watch the chapter summaries for ratings and warnings. I don't see how you could have possibly been taken by surprise.

As for your interpretations of Severus and Hermione here, I find them bizarre. But I also find it bizarre that some people think that because an author has a main character say and do certain things, the author is necessarily endorsing that speech or behavior. On the other hand, when we speak for ourselves, as you did in your comment, a great deal is revealed about a person's character.

“What a cad and a horrible, horrible man,” you say. Have you forgotten that this is Severus Snape? The man who joined the Death Eaters? The Death Eaters were not a knitting circle, and he knew that when he joined them. And then he inadvertently betrays Lily Potter, someone on whom he had an obsessive adolescent crush, and that was his reason for switching sides. Not out of unhappiness with joining a megalomaniacal psychopathic murdering tyrant, or out of any fine and noble feelings, but because of a personal regret because someone he cared about was going to be targeted. I’d say that this Severus Snape is doing pretty well, considering where he started, both in canon and in the RaMverse – as far worse than a cad: as a murderer. I’d say that this over-reaction to Severus’s confused attempt at being fair to Hermione (wrong-headed, foolish, and insensitive though he may have been) points to some personal issues that require resolving in RL, not in fanfiction. It’s odd to pop up out of nowhere and rant, er, “review,” but I hope you got something out of your system by it and saved yourself some therapy bills. Yeah, I can't take a “reviewer” seriously who pops up out of the blue just once only in order to rant and rave when they are over 60 chapters into the story, they claim to have read other fics, and yet they have never bothered to say anything before. You feel entitled to keep coming back for more and more of a fanfic, entitled to have authors write stories the way you want to have them proceed, and then to rant when they don’t go the way you think they should, and yet you never have one word of gratitude, interest, or encouragement over the course of several stories and many chapters? And obviously, not just for me, but for any other authors and their stories? You know what, lakelady? If this IS your idea of a “review,” then I suggest, for the sake of other authors, that you keep to your practice of NOT reviewing. True ladies are not gratuitously nasty, neither to people they know, nor out-of-the-blue to complete strangers.

Hmmm...didn't realize that I had to be a member for an extended period before I could review.  It is not like that on other sites.  I will remember that in future and not bother again.  As it matters, I usually read on my sister's account because I don't see the point of us both havnig an acct when she reads on this site a lot more than I do.  I am choosy about what I read and most of the stuff I like here has been posted on sites I am already invloved in.  This really has been the only thing I was reading and i spent several hours catching up from where I left off the last time I read.  That is why I haven't reviewed before...dont see the point of doing a chapter by chapter review especially if I am liking the story in general.  Well, she wouldn't let me review this particular story under her name, which i completely agree with, because she never read any of it and she does review other stories quite often, therefore, I became a member.  I have accounts on other sites that I interact with a lot, which includes stories that are posted here also.  I just catch them elsewhere.   I stand by everything I said...you went from a well written plot laden story to smut (not that it wasnt't well wrotten itself).    I don't have a problem with lemons or limes and whatever else they are called in a story, I do have a problem with being absorbed into a story and then gratuitous sex being flung out.  And, as Severus is supposed to grow as a person I saw what he did as a major regression and as I said before what he did was exactly like what Lily did to him.  Maybe I am the only one, but that is how I feel this latter half of your story has become...all it is is Severus with various people and all within a two week time period.   pardon if i came across as overly harsh the flip side is I can be awesomely gushy too.  I am quite passionate about the things I am interested in good or bad.  But by the same token, perhaps you could temper yourself...you come across as quite rude and dismissive to anyone who doesn't agree with you.  That is your perogative, but dont be offended if it is returned.  Perhaps neither if us intends to come across that way, but I was always told to watch my tone...it is a bit harder in writing and something can be misconstrued as ugly when that was not the intent.  It is not hard to become defensive in that instance and there were several reviews that I read that I agreed with where your answer came off as a dismissal.   And one other thing...I tend to commit to things I read because I don't do it all the time...I usually take several hours a couple days a week to read as i am rather busy otherwise.  i dont read something as it is posted.  I read quite a few chapters in one sitting.  Possibly tht is why I have been so disappointed.  It feels like I wasted time when i could have been reading other things.     

Yep, a diamond in the rough, for sure!Thanks for reviewing!

It's a confuzzling kind of time for him, certainly!Thanks for the review!

I think Poppy's not so much confused about her own feelings as she is confused about Severus's -- and perhaps not correct in her evaluation of what she should do, what the best thing for Severus would be. It did take her a while to admit things to herself, though, didn't it!Thanks for the review! Glad you're enjoying the story and looking forward to seeing where the characters end up!

Yep, the side-effects for Severus are making him feel worse than he did before he knew he was ill and in such danger of getting so much sicker! Poor guy!Hagrid has a big heart, and Severus did feel cheered by him keeping him company for a while.Thanks for the review!

I think that Poppy sometimes thinks that, too, but she tries not to dwell on the past and what she could have done differently.I'm glad you enjoyed catching up with Quin and seeing him again! He's not changed in any essential way over the years, though he doesn't become as angry or impatient with people as quickly as he did when he was younger -- not that we've had any chance to see that here!Thank you for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Yep, Brennan is still a good guy (we met him back in RaM, but this is the first occasion he's had in one of the later fics to show up, except in the background), and I'm glad you like him!You're right that Lucius is still wrapped up in himself, though he is also concerned about his family. He is on the road to recovery, physically, but he still hasn't grasped the nature of the wrong in the choices he made, so he's still stuck. But he's got time to think about things! Thanks for the review!