Not as much fun as when he's on Draught of Peace.

Not to give any of my *own* secrets away, but I understand that some women, even after lengthier "activity," find a cup of strong coffee with lots of half and half and some high protein breakfast to be quite restorative. And maybe a little something sweet, as well! Yes, Poppy and Minerva have been friends too long to let something like that fester. If they hadn't fixed things between them before Minerva left, it would have given hurt feelings on one side and guilty feelings on the other side time to grow. That would not have been good! So it's nice that they ended on a good note!Thanks for the review!

Fortunately, he had retracted that request, or he'd be even more bothered by the fact, himself -- it doesn't escape his notice that he'd said that and then had sex afterward! LOL! Poor Severus! Even when his life is beginning to go right, he can't help but make missteps!Thanks for the review!

I'm sure Severus would object to the word "cute," but I'm glad you used it! LOL! I think so, too. And I think you're right -- Poppy probably has seen that childlike side of him more than most people -- probably more than just about anyone but Minerva.Thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks, Hogwarts Duo! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.Severus still has a ways to go before he understands his feelings fully, but if he listened to Minerva, it might be easier for him. She does have a way with him, that's for sure! I'm glad you find her a hoot! Thanks very much for the review!

Well, I'm glad you're on the edge of your seat!There's more going on with Severus than he completely realizes yet. His logical mind isn't gone, but he's trying to apply logic to emotional and relationship problems and he doesn't have the experiential basis to apply the logic very well yet -- and he doesn't completely trust his feelings to be able to "go with his gut" in these kinds of situations. In fact, part of the problem is that he is using logic rather than emotion -- both are important. He is so used to thinking of emotional responses getting him into trouble (because he usually was acting out of emotions like anger, bitterness, jealousy, envy, self-loathing, etc.) that he doesn't do well with the more positive emotions. Severus won't always make the right decision or say/do the right thing even when he tries, and sometimes he'll be completely clueless as to what he said or did wrong. Sometimes, it will just be a Mars/Venus kind of thing! lol!At least Severus isn't hurling potions jars at his students any longer . . . at least not that we know of! He's been emotionally maturing slowly over the course of the last few fics, but this area is one that is new to him. He would be wise to listen to Minerva -- she has more of a clue than he thinks she does!I'm glad you like the interactions between Severus and Gareth! Their friendship will continue, so you'll see more conversations between them.Thanks for the review! I'll likely put the next chapter up either tonight or tomorrow, so the "edge of the seat" should be relieved for a short time, anyway!

Typical male!!  LOL!  I am afraid the edge of my sest will stay that way for a couple days...I am headed out of town and won't get to read anything before sunday night.  Perhaps there might be TWO chapters waiting for me?  Again, I am enjoying the story, but it is so like a soap opera...you just want to yell at the people to see what is right in front of them!!! 

Thanks,

! I'm glad you enjoyed it!Isn't Severus dramatic, though? Makes him fun to write -- it's hard to imagine him being dull! lol!Thanks for the review!

I'm glad you liked that little aside about the dinner. It is nice to imagine them enjoying an evening together!Yes, Severus did do the brave thing and break it off with Hermione rather than let it go along while he figures things out, perhaps hurting them both more later.I started out in HP fanfic reading some really good SSHG fics, so I know what you mean. :-)Thanks for the review!

Thanks for mentioning the conference! No, no -- you definitely don't want to be reading smutty fiction on your work laptop!!! LOLI am sure that Hermione was disappointed and rather put out. On the other hand, she does know he's kinda sorta messed up in some ways, so she can console herself with the thought that she doesn't have to get involved with that -- although she does love to go in and help people and fix things and tell people how things should be done, so that might have been appealing! LOL! (Ron & Lavender & Hermione was canon, though I haven't read that bit in quite a while -- I did do a sort of little riff on the RW LB HG thing in "Lovesick." Hermione was not displeased when Won-Won was embarrassed! haha!)I'm sure that Minerva is quite used to Mr Crabby Thundercloud making an appearance, but she took it as a sign that he might need to talk. Even if he didn't really want to. But she's better at that with him than Albus, who always manages to annoy Severus when he's in that sort of mood. Thanks much for the review! I hope the conference is interesting. :-)

She will do just fine -- she'll definitely go for nice, cute, and intelligent. :-)

I very much doubt that. A dunderhead isn't merely ignorant -- she or he is either a non-thinking, mentally lazy person, or someone who's willfully ignorant. The latter type often proceeds on their own assumptions whether the facts fly in their face or not. Then of course, there are the people who aren't particularly bright . . . But other than when Severus did things like willingly join a mob of murderous villains run by a sadistic, tyrannical megalomaniac (which has to be one of the most dunderheaded things someone could do, and which Severus himself thinks of as dunderheaded), he isn't a dunderhead. Ignorant of certain things, but a fast and determined learner, certainly no dunderhead! LOL!

One does wonder, doesn't one? :DOf course, since he's straight, thinking of a woman would be more arousing for him, too . . . it is an interesting phenomenon to note, however, that it is Poppy he thinks of . . .Thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed it!

LOL! Bet you can, too!Thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Oh, yes! Hurry up and gather up those clothes! Yikes! LOL!Glad you liked the cliffie! ;-)I'm very glad you enjoy my writing. I have always done a lot of writing in my work, both expository and argumentative, but fiction writing was new to me when I started writing fanfic a few years back. Well, that's not entirely true -- many years ago, when I was in my twenties, I used to do some fiction writing, but then I became convinced I was crap at it and quit without ever showing it to anyone but a couple family members. Anyway, everything else I write in life has to be pretty serious, so it's fun to write fanfic and let go -- a mental vacation, as you say!Yeah, I'm not sure when I'll update, either, and I know that at some point, there will be a short break, a little breather!Thanks very much for the review! (And I encourage you to write anything you feel moved to write -- it's fun, and you'll get better as you do it. :-))

Thanks for the encouragement.  I've written research papers and a masters thesis that was a lot of fun but haven't written much fiction.  A little fiction in one college course, I believe.  I have tons of little ideas that I think would make good stories but can't seem to get started.  I'm sure I'll write more eventually.  Maybe during the summer when I'm not constantly slogging away making my kids do homework.  Of course this is when I need mental vacations (brain holidays?!  LOL) the most but this is when I read for my brain holidays.  And listen to books on CD.

I wasn't expecting to update tonight, either. It was kind of a whim -- the chapter was ready, so I figured why not? :-)I think you're right -- he's undergone different rebirths at different times -- or perhaps just the one when he lived and had expected to die, but now he's able to take advantage of his new life. He certainly is disovering a rich new world of affection and human warmth that he had only ever seen as an outsider during his adult life, and really during his teens, too. And then his childhood was not exactly a happy one, either. So having two people like Gareth and Poppy in his life at this moment is something of a boon to him.We'll see where his new realizations take him! Thanks very much for the review! I'm glad you're still enjoying the fic and happy that Severus is being given the opportunity to grow beyond the wizard who threw temper tantrums -- and potions jars! -- and was locked so into his past and the consequences of his youthful actions. 

I'm glad you're enjoying the series of fics!

Severus's thought processes vary, of course, depending upon the subject. Right now, he's analyzing his thoughts, feelings, and experiences with regard to friendship, affection, and sexuality, all of which he's had little experience with -- and most of the experiences he's had in the past, socially and/or sexually, have not been satisfying, to put it mildly, let alone normal, and although he knows intellectually about friendship, mutuality, giving and receiving, etc., his nature has been pretty miserable so far and not conducive to developing relationships. Add to that the fact that he was a DE/spy for all of his adult life and had an abnormal existence, and he hasn't a clue, really, about friendship, love, and so forth. He does know he wants it, though, and he's been willing to take risks to try to have that kind of life -- and willing to try to change behaviors that he knows are counterproductive, even if they're long-engrained in him.

Too long a response, but I'm glad you're still enjoying the series and that you reviewed! Thanks!

That's it as a spy he is quite adept and can think in more complex ways in that venue but in terms of friendships and normal relationships he's just starting to really think about it and to have time and the capacity to work on it.  He is very vulnerable and it's good there are so many trustworthy people he can consult.  He had to just cut off normal feelings about friends and relationships for a very long time and probably wouldn't have been ready for a long time even without Lily's death and without voldemort's influence.  He didn't have any good role-models for relationships, either, thanks to his parents.I don't mind long responses.  :)  I tend to go on a bit.

I'm biding my time reading other stories and wondering why I'm reading them.  LOL.  I'm quite spoilt.

Well, I may just have to update quite soon, then! Wouldn't want you toooo bored! Or too spoiled, either, but there will be another slight break coming up, so maybe it's okay to spoil you a little bit. Especially since you're still enjoying it so much! :-)BTW, have you read either the shorter RaMverse fics (like the ones in what I call "Set Two" -- "Now is Perfect" and the "Cheering Charms" -- or the ones like "The Unsentimental Arithmancer" and "A Christmas for Aberforth" in Set One) or some of my non-RaMverse fics, like "Falling for Pomona" or "Minerva in Hogsmeade"? They may or may not be to your taste, but you could try them out.

Hermione's in the fic for a few pages in the next chappie.

Thanks for the review! Glad you're enjoying the explorations.

Whoops -- it's not the *next* chapter that Hermione shows up for a while, it's the one after that, the final one in Part Four.

Most of his insecurities and behaviors are internal ones -- not immediately obvious to others -- and others he's displaying because he feels comfortable enough with Poppy and Gareth and Minerva to express himself openly, something he's never experienced before.

Since this is Snape's story, it follows his days, not Hermione's -- which at this point are fairly boring, filled with Arithmantic equations and *genuine* teenage behavior, as opposed to Severus's kind of lop-sided exploratory teenage-like behavior. He's the primary character in the fic, with a few others being close-to-primary, depending on where we are in the fic (for example, Poppy, Gareth, Minerva, and sometimes Albus).

I'm glad you're enjoying the experience of being taken slightly out of your comfort zone! Brava to *you*!!!

I'm sure that Poppy does need reassurance and validation, and that she's going through a number of mixed emotions at this point.

It will be a bit rocky, but we'll see how it all goes . . .

Thanks for the review! I appreciate it!

Thanks! There have been moments when I thought I should just not bother with it any longer, so it's nice to hear you're enjoying the fic still -- and that you are enjoying seeing Severus and Poppy together.Severus's relationship and intimacy with Poppy is certainly very different from his early experiences, after which he essentially dropped out of life, aside from his spying and his snarling at students, and so forth. I think he's finally beginning to enter a more mature relationship stage, though he's not aware of it yet.I'm glad you saw both the fun and the warmth between the two. I hoped that it would come across that way.Thanks for the review! I appreciate it.  :-)

Yes, Minerva didn't confirm Poppy's suppositions -- though of course she hadn't forgotten what Severus had told her -- since it's Severus's business to share with people he chooses to share it with. It does partially explain why he had such narrow views of sexuality before this -- aside from his having to remain aloof, etc., as a DE/DE-spy.

It no doubt made it easier for Severus to tell Poppy about it that he had told Gareth about it just the previous day, though it was still harder for him to admit to her than it had been to tell Gareth -- and you no doubt remember Gareth's reaction. It helped Severus to have had that reaction from him, rather than have him freak out.

I'm glad you liked it -- and that you're looking forward to the coming chapters!Thanks very much for your review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

I'm glad you liked it. :-) I've worked on smoothing it and polishing it, so I'm glad it works for you!Yes, the fact that Gareth is who he is and the fact that he suffered personally from the result of Severus's actions and those of other DEs, means that his acceptance and warmth mean even more to Severus. Their friendship will continue to grow, and it will help Severus to open up to new, more open -- and warmer -- relationships with other people in his life. I think you'll like the polish to the upcoming chapters and how Severus's life progresses from there.Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate them!

Yes, she wanted it to feel different from their previous friendly outings. ;)Glad you liked it!