Indeed. I think that Severus has mellowed a bit, and now that his two masters are gone, he is not constantly under pressure. It's amazing he managed to be as controlled as he was during the war given the way he was pulled to and fro by Dumbledore and Riddle.

Yes. I think so too :) Thank you so much for leaving a review. I do appreciate it.

Thank you so much. I do appreciate you taking the time to leave a review as well as raise some very interesting questions/suggestions.Ginny I think assumes that she can get Harry to marry her. I mean, at this point, all she wants is to be the wife of the Boy-who-lived and have a free ride. She knows he's got money, and to be a socialite, you don't really need to be very clever. She's got her OWLs after all.Yes, I do like the idea of a dueling competition - pity I didn't think of it myself while I was writing the story. Do you mind if I make a note of this, it might turn up at some point in some story or another.

Please feel free to use the idea!  I have been reading SS/HG stories for so many years that I'm sure if I ever have the courage to publish a story I won't be able to remember if I got an idea from one of the probably hundreds of stories I've read or if it is cannon or an original thought. I have opionions that I think are my own then I read a story and an author had the same thought. Maybe those of us who love Severus and Hermione as a couple think a lot alike.

Hello again,Yes, it is possible that many of us who do adore Hermione and Severus do feel and think the same way. I guess there is a reason so many of us, scattered around the world find in them so much to enjoy, appreciate and discuss.You should try your hand at writing. I read fanfiction for years, never having the courage to try until one day, I just thought, fuck this, some of these stories are horrid, I can do better and just sat down to write :)

Hello my dear,Thank you for the reviews and the lovely stars. I'm so glad you liked the story.I'm currently working on Dark Veela - it's more of a slow burn romance :)xxx

Coming from an author I adore, that means a lot. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review.xxx

Thank you so much for the review and for staying with me until the end. I'm so pleased you enjoyed the ending. xxx

Thank you so much for the review. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. xxx

Thank you so much for reading till the end and for the reviews and lovely stars. xxx

Thank you so much for your review and the pretty stars. Thank you also for reading the entire story and staying with it until the end. I couldn't not give them a happy ending. I love the characters too much to make them suffer unto eternity.

Thank you for a lovely review and the pretty stars. I'm so glad you enjoyed the story and its culmination. I always did think that it was Neville's skill at Herbology that grounded him so much. xxx

Thank you for your continuing support and the lovely stars.I'm so glad you enjoyed the story and stayed till its culmination.xxx

Thank you so much for the lovely review and the pretty stars. I'm so glad you're enjoying the storyline.

No, of course it is not the end. It would be an extremely abrupt way to end surely?

sometimes stories get abandoned ... when the muse fails or people dont tell you how good it is!!

Ah, I see. No, I've never really abandoned something. So no worries there. Hope you continue to enjoy the story.

Thank you for the review and the stars. I guess, where Harry goes, Ron and Ginny will try and follow. And although Ron's attempt was out of line he did mean well. So there is hope. xxx

Indeed, cake always helps.

Thank you for the review. Glad you liked it.

Thank you so much. You're reading of their motivations were spot on. Yes, the next chapter is going to be interesting - I'm having trouble getting the men to talk about their feelings though.

Mm.... thank you so much. I think Harry's words to Hermione are going to be a lot different to what he says to Severus. You know what men are like, they speak a different lingo when they have to discuss feelings to each other.

I hear you.  It's hard to have a meaninful yet distant and terse conversation.  At that's how I see men who dislike each other addressing their feelings to one-another.

Definitely. I think also that while Harry can tell Hermione of the guilt, the sense of disquiet he feels when he thinks of Sirius, his father and mother, that to speak of those feelings to Severus is something completely different.

Thank you :)

Mmm... that's proving to be hard to write actually - the boys don't want to be seen as vulnerable in front of each other.

Thank you. Yes, I do think Hermione is a lucky woman, but then, so is Severus. Finally he can be who he's always been. He has no need to hide, to distort who he really is.

Thank you for the review. I'm glad you've enjoyed it thus far.

Thank you. I'm glad you are enjoying the story. I'm working on the next chapter now - so hopefully something should be posted fairly soon.

Thank you. I'm so pleased you're still with the story.

Hello. Thank you. I don't know where you could go for food like that but, if you're interested and like cooking may I recommend a book called Ceylon Cookery by Chandra Dissanayake. I use it for a lot of my Sri Lankan dishes. It's easy to use and a good introductory text. I'm added on the amazon ulr.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ceylon-Cookery-Chandra-Dissanayake/dp/9558733067/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269643917&sr=1-1