It's so funny -- part way through your review, I was thinking how it read like German, but in English, then a couple sentences later, you said you were trying to describe your German thought -- aber keine Sorge! Ich habe es schon verstanden! :-) I'm glad that you like Snape's in-character-ness. It was actually kind of a struggle for him not to be less civil than he was, even though a part of him was glad to have Gareth's apology and so forth, but he also realized that he should give some kind of reciprocating appreciative gesture, so he managed a single little pat on the arm. He also didn't like being hugged by him in front of Poppy -- yeah, awkward! LOL!Having Poppy remind Severus of that has been sitting around waiting for a time to enter the story, and this seemed like a good opportunity, and kinda amusing, I hoped!I have the next chapter written, but it's not polished, and I want to work on Charming a Scottish Garden this weekend, if I can, but hopefully I'll get an update for one or both of those stories up in the next few days. (It's a holiday weekend here, so Monday is a big holiday -- and since I live in "the federal city," businesses are all closed, except touristy ones, for the most part.)Thanks very much for the review! I appreciate it!

I'm glad it's still as tasty! It's polished up quite a bit, too, of course. Adjusted the seasoning, so to speak. Twiskett is fun to write, so I'm happy you like him, too.Thanks for the review!

Huh, didn't know that about D&D lore! Interesting to learn that! Dragons are cool! I do think you'll enjoy the fic, even if you occasionally want to toss a bread roll at Severus (or maybe a water balloon -- your choice! LOL!). It really is different, I think, from any of the other three long fics (RaM, AAoL, and DD), that you've read of mine (or maybe I'm mistaken or deluding myself! LOL!), but the pace, topics, themes, focus . . . Anyway, I do hope you enjoy it! No need to "swallow it whole," either, especially since I'm still writing & posting!It seemed fitting to have the memorials appear in the prologue here, tying it in with the past and giving it a foundation there.Thanks!

The memorials are stunning... beautiful.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and the hotness of Severus & Poppy together. ;-)I hope you won't have to wait too long for an update, but you know how RL can be -- it interferes with fanfic writing! haha!Thank you for all your reviews -- they're very encouraging, especially when RL is kinda difficult and it would be easier to veg out in front of the television than to gather the energy to write! So thank you very much! :-)

I know RL can be a bit too REAL sometimes, but that's why writing or drawing in my case it's so good, it's an escape, a way to forget about RL if only for a little while, so none of the veg out in front of the televion stuff!! You are a brilliant writer. I'll be waiting, not so patiently, for the next update!Sam

Thank you,

! It should be a long, leisurely, but hopefully very enjoyable, journey of discovery with Severus. Thanks for reviewing!

I hope you enjoy it! I think it's a fun little trip with Severus! ;-)Thanks!

Thanks, Writer Merrin! I'm glad you liked the conversation between Severus & Hermione. It was one they needed to have -- and Hermione needed some advice from an older-sister figure in order to help her sort out some of her confusion. She'll appear again!Thanks for the review! :-)

It's a broad field! Glad you're intrigued! :-) Thanks!

I'm glad you like the peeks into Severus's thoughts. He is feeling less under siege these days, despite the vigilante, and feeling both more like a member of a community and as though he has genuine friends and a kind of ersatz family. That gives him the peace to be able to reflect and not merely react.Thanks very much for your review!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Poppy almost pointed out Eoghan to Severus back at the Merlins award dinner, but got cut off just as she was about to say something. LOL! So he's been waiting a while to be introduced! :-) Thanks for the review!

LOL! Yep, Gertrude -- motive, opportunity, and about the right build to match the blurry figure. It doesn't sound sensible to any of her family or friends, but for someone who's doing the investigating, they've gotta look at someone like that.Yes, not Prunella! haha! Thanks for the review -- glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Thanks! Yes, I think that even though he isn't finding the logistics exactly easy, he's having an easier time than he'd thought he would. Give him the opportunity, and he shines!Thanks for the review!

Haha -- glad you enjoyed the "stupid juice" line. :-)Well, not exactly arrested, but they're getting anxious to find the person, so they're going to look at even the less likely people if they have motive and opportunity, and Gertrude had both, as far as they could tell.Glad you like the ongoing name-game. :-)Thanks for reviewing!

Minerva does occasionally speak without thinking through the impact she might have, but fortunately, not often! Yes, Moody has had a hard life, and he's not exactly a nice person, but there are a lot of factors that went into making him the man he is. He may seem lacking in compassion in some respects, but he does have some. It helps him cope with his own traumas when he puts the notion of "psychological trauma" at a distance. He toughs it out, and that affects how he views others.The sound of Apparition simply indicates how good the person is at Apparating -- people have different strengths. Like some people are weight lifters, some are swimmers, some sprint, some run marathons. So Although someone with a lot of magical power and ability is more likely to be able to Disapparate less noisily and be able to Apparate long distances, a wizard could be really magically strong at other things, but still not be particularly good at Apparition. Someone who can Disapparate quietly and Apparate long distances will be fairly powerful, but the opposite isn't necessarily so.Glad you liked ending with Poppy and Severus. :-)Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the apparation explanation. It's helpful to know you you see it. Also, enjoy reading more of your take on Moody. I think that's how I felt about him without ever thinking it in exactly those terms. Makes perfect sense.

Thanks for the apparation explanation. It's helpful to know you you see it. Also, enjoy reading more of your take on Moody. I think that's how I felt about him without ever thinking it in exactly those terms. Makes perfect sense.

There's quite a bit of story left, threads that were begun earlier that continue, but I'm wondering whether the natural lifespan of the fic has been reached before its conclusion. I'm glad to hear that you're not tired of it and are interested still in where it's going!Yes, Poppy does take care of everyone and makes sure they're well and well-cared for.Gertrude has been eliminated as a suspect, and we can wait and see where the investigation goes from there!Yes, the dinner party will be interesting with all the various characters -- a different textured chapter than this one and some of the other recent ones, certainly!Thanks very much for reviewing! I'm glad you're enjoying it! :-)

Glad you liked the oceany storm and the cozy shell cottage. (The shell cottage first appears in Charming a Scottish Garden, and Siofre tells Johannes more about it. There's also more description of it, but I didn't want to get too repetitive.)It is different writing (or reading) the different Snapes! I enjoy writing snarky, nasty, insecure, hair-trigger-temper Snape, too, but it's also enjoyable to imagine how he would have changed in some ways and yet what core qualities would remain that still make him Severus Snape. Of course, with Poppy, he's at his most relaxed, so he'll be different with her than he would be with others even at this point -- although he allows himself to relax and be vulnerable with Minerva and Gareth, each in different ways, too.What with Malcolm being dead, Poppy never having dated him, and him being Gertrude's late husband, Severus has less incentive for jealousy, so it's easier for him just to listen to her talk about him as a friend from her past. Of course, the implication there was that Malcolm would sometimes accompany her and Murdoch on their walks, but not specifically only the two of them.I enjoy writing Minerva & Poppy's friendship, too. It's funny, but when I read bits of RaM with the two of them, bits of AAoL, DD, and now this story, there's a consistency in the relationship that I hadn't planned when I was first writing RaM & AAoL. That's a good thing, of course! But I'm surprised at how naturally the friendship and their interactions appear consistent in the writing, if you know what I mean.Thanks for reviewing -- I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Doh! Of course, I got Malcolm and Murdoch confused. Silly me!

Thank you,

! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope it won't be so long between updates next time, too. :-)

Thanks! The next chapter is more "plotty," but I thought they deserved some time just to relax!

Yes, under other circumstances, Severus could probably develop something of a crush on Aine, but he has something far stronger with Poppy, as you noted.Aine has a certain kind of ethics, too, about what she will say about what she sees. She often will see far more than she will report, but she feels that too much knowledge about the future isn't a good thing for most people -- they should have a bit of forewarning, but no specifics, or they might make even worse decisions based on what they think they know. Even in this "superficial" reading, she saw more than she will tell Severus -- she's also very aware that she can only see glimpses, parts of the future or strands of possible futures, so she believes that the more she says of what she sees, the more her audience will trust those details and not understand that she's only seeing a part of the future or a possible future.I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! You're very welcome for it. I hope to write another one this week. We'll see how that goes!Thanks very much for your reviews! :-)

Yes, you are right, it was beautifully subtly written, how Aine very carefully told what she told and clearly also kept things to herself and then later, with more privacy, told Snape just that little bit more to convince him. It was very enjoyable to be somehow involved in the process and see the working of their minds (a bit, of course). Great to know that the next chapter should be flowing from your pen so very soon. I wish you a lot of enjoyment and success writing it!

Thanks!

There are a lot of people who might raise suspicions, aren't there?Yes, Poppy will stick by him -- and Severus will try not to keep things from her, learning from Albus's keeping things fom Minerva that that's not such a good idea. Have fun exerting that control! (I always tell myself that about that one more piece of pizza! LOL!)

I'll do my best not to leave you frustrated for too long -- but then again, as soon as you've read the next chapter, you'll be back to having that craving again! I'm glad that you are enjoying the brief appearances by Albus and Minerva. I do enjoy writing them, too, and I especially enjoy writing Minerva in her friendship with Severus. Their interactions are good to write.Yep, I think that Auror Plummer & her assistant will be glad that they at least didn't bring Gertrude to a cell for questioning! Having those three looking at you expecting explanation would not be fun! They're getting a bit desperate to find the person who's doing this.Yep, we'll have a little Hermione next chapter. :-)Thanks for the review!

"Okay, Snape needs to look at more "girl" names that begin with "P." He's not doing so well with his choices. I mean ... Poppy Prunella? What mother in her right mind would put those two names together??? eeeep"LOL! He's thinking they probably went with a floral name or a semi-religious/pious name, since her sister's name is "Violet Mary," but he certainly does need to think outside the box here! Haha!I'm glad you were on the edge of your seat. I thought about breaking the chapter earlier and leaving more of a cliffie, but then I thought I couldn't do that to you all -- you'd be picturing poor Gertrude in chains or stocks or something, and worrying that she'd be a suspect for a long time -- until the person struck again, anyway, which is occurring with greater frequency now.Yes, I'm sure that when Minerva and Siofre heard the news, both of them were outraged! And then when Albus finally gets there, well, they'll be glad they gave Gertie a cup of tea and a biscuit and didn't put her in a nasty cell for questioning! Thanks very much for the review -- I hope to update at least by next weekend, sooner if I can.

When I was writing this chapter, I thought of you, and I thought, oh, no, Sam's not gonna like this at all! But you don't need to worry -- Gertrude's being treated okay, and, well, don't worry! Yes, Severus is thinking that Poppy's parents either went with another floral-type name (like "Posy" or "Prunella" -- LOL!), since her sister's name is "Violet Mary," or maybe something old-fashioned and quasi-pious, and he's not doing very well so far. Nope, I don't believe that her middle name has been mentioned elsewhere, just the different versions of Severus's middle name.Thanks much for the review!

I'm glad she's being treated okay then, I was a bit worried about that, and you are right I didn't like it at all!, but it does make some sense to suspect her, she's powerful enough and has a great motive, but I don't think she'd be so sloppy in her job as to be seen at all, and she'll never miss her target, even with just one arm!. Thanks for telling me that she's fine. Great, brilliant chapter!! Sam

What they actually thought was that it was either a witch, of any age, or a relatively young man, not an older wizard. That was their impression, anyway! Yep, Hermione would not be likely to attack little old ladies -- and she'd be better at it! LOL!Yeah, some days, I feel like someone must have slipped me some stupid juice, too! haha! And Severus was somewhat more patient with them than in earlier times, or trying to be, but anyone's patience would be taxed by his morning of stupid-juiced dunderheads! ;PThanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed the chapter. :-)

I'm glad that you're enjoying the story still! There are a number of possibilities at this point, aren't there?I hope to update within the next seven days or so!Thanks very much for the review! I appreciate it.