Ooooh! Update Update!!!!

oh!  i am so intrigued, and ever so excited!  in this installment, i adored the scene with the portraits playing cards and gossiping.  and the conversation as the bloody baron led them to the secret passage was most amusing.  i can't wait to find out what happens next!

haha the portaits taking wagers!! Ohh is it who im thinking?!? I'l be so proud if i'm right! And Severus taking her over the desk.. tutut.. hehehe.Update soon pretty please! x

You know how much I love this story. I can't say it often enough. Wonderful ideas.

Great chapter! And what a cool idea - Slytherin Tower!
BTW, I simply adore this line: "The boys struggling with raging hormones, hair sprouting in peculiar places and voices they could no longer trust, wrestled with the mystery that was girls and yet had no inkling that the dour professor with the bad hair and the beaky nose was suffering comparable agonies."

Author's Response: Thank you - on both counts

Aw, this story is so wonderful! So sweet, especially when Severus asked to hold her. I wonder what Betty remembered...

The portraits taking bets on Hermione & Severus’ relationship cracks me up. What did Betty suddenly remember? Ouuuuuu Slytherin tower now revealed because why? The hat is going to get the sack? Severus was tempted to take Hermione over her desk? So many questions you are not going to answer. I guess I will just have to patiently await the next chapter. ((pouts))

Yay, Slytherins got a tower! :-)

i agree with Betty that their courtship is sweet.  Severus' way of asking to hold her was heartbreakingly beautiful.  That moment of vulnerability spoke volumes.

Makes complete sense to me; why should Slytherins live in the dungeons in stead of a tower? It is much more logical that they have a tower, and most likely the highest one of all....:-))Thank you for the update, I look forward to read more.

Hmmm. So there's Betty, Burbage, the little courtyard, and now Slytherin tower. They must all fit together some way or another...Very interesting. Oh, and the portrait card game was brilliant!!

The Bloody Baron is a gossip? Who knew? I adore nagging Minerva. I like how she tries to keep Hermione & Severus’ focus where she things it ought to be. That Prof Burbage has me worried. There is something about him…Thanks for the update!!

This is currently one of my favorite stories.  I really enjoy the character development between Hermione and Severus, and, of course I'd like to take turpentine to Albus's portrait.  I"m also glad that someone else's liver occasionally shouts out in protest as well.  :P  Thanks for a great story, I look forward to future installments.

Author's Response: Thank you, glad you're enjoying. It's funny though that there is a wide difference of opinion on my portryal of Albus - some are in the turpentine camp - others think i'm way off as he was such a benevolent, good wizard who thought the world of Severus. Anyway, it's quite fun that such a small series of drabbles has attracted so much attention

rdholmantx's response:

I was actually trying to articulate why I like this so much in my first review, and couldnt come up with anything other than what i came up with (as you can see, not much).  Is more real a proper phrase?  Probably not.  But that's what's appealing.  I think that because it's set enough away from the war so we can see the actual human problems that these people have instead of the garrish, larger than life problems a Death Eater and a member of the Golden Trio would have.  As a Death Eater, let's say Severus murdered 18 people (even if he didn't, he got to watch, or whatever).  And he's free.  Great.  But can any of us related to that?  Not really - to either thing.  But I CAN relate to sometimes falling asleep with a bottle of scotch in my hand.  Hermione helped a Messiah-type boy defeated the most powerful dark wizard of all time.  I can't related to that, but I CAN relate to really liking someone but overthinking it to the point that I screw it all up and sounding like a dumb ass in conversation (take my last conversation with Alan Rickman, for example - sigh). 

As for Dumbledore, I think he was a head of state in war time.  Which meant that he did whatever it took to win, including using the illusion of affection to get people to do what he wanted.   And while he might have had some remorse about using people in such a calculated way, I think he felt it in a detached sense.  I'm a big fan of the Dragonlance series, and the Head of the Conclave of Wizards does something similar:  he sees the dark times coming and he selects a young man as a weapon.  Unfortunately, he doesnt tell the young man.  The young man is brutalized throughout his life, and the Head of the Conclave just views it as his weapon being tempered.  The difference here being that ParSalian was up in his tower, not so cozy with the people he was manipulating.  And he didnt expect to be liked.  Honestly.  For me it's not so much the asking Severus to kill him, it's the using Severus all those years knowing full well that Harry would have to die.

Anyway, this is far longer than it should be, and I'm not sure I said anything of value.  I'll just wander back into my cave and write some more silly Hooligans.

rdholmantx's response: And how come everytime I respond to something it LOOKS right and I preview it and preview it and then when I finally click submit I re-read it and the tenses are all messed up???  ARGH!


Author's Response: Thank you for that, it was most interesting.
I agree with you about Dumbldore and that he had to act like he did once riddle was rising to power. however, unless he was also a seer, he didn't know that james and lily would marry and produce a child that would be messiah-like, as you say, nor did he know the future of Severus. The way he treated him when he was under his care was appalling as was his blatant favouritism towards his bully-boy Gryffindors. (As head boy/girl are usually chosen because they are popular amongst the rest of the pupils, choosing James Potter would have been a smack in the face for all Slytherins - his prejudice was all too evident). Most of all though, I see him as a ruthless person, not the benevolent twinkly-eyed grandfather figure some people still maintain he was.

rdholmantx's response: Yes, I think it's most telling when Harry sees how Dumbledore looks at Severus (scathing contempt) when Severus is on his knees in front of him.  Hypocrite, as if he'd never done anything horrible (oh, I don't know killed his sister?  seduced by grindelwald?).  Whenever I re-read canon now it's always colored by my knowledge that Dumbledore is a total d-bag.

the idea of severus feeling "delicate" amuses me to no end. i admire hermione's strength of will to resist getting involved with him for the moment. i look forward to learning what sorts of gossip and innuendo the bloody baron spreads, and also what burbage is getting up to. :)

that's a sad commentary on burbage...being elbow deep in beetle goo is preferable to his company!  lovely update.  thanks so much

Oh Hermione! Why ruin the moment!!!???!!!??I look forward to your next chapter!

...dreaming of knot-gardens, rosebuds and a man with the biggest trowel she'd ever seen. Now that is one nice dream :-)Brave of Hermione to ask about the Patronus. She might just have gotten hexed for that.And who thought that Severus Snape can't hold his liquor. Thehe!Thanks for yet another lovely chapter. /M

That should give him something to think about. And I'm surprised about Severus' last comment. I didn't think the Bloody baron as a gossiper.

Gather ye rosebuds indeed!  *snickers @ trowel joke*Smart of Hermione to be cautious, but she should have known Severus wouldn't react well to such a direct question.  *sighs*

Yay! It was a good one, in so many respects. I did get a little stomach-clench when she dared to ask about his Patronus, but that's all right. Had to be said.

And the bed that Snape used to sleep in... Yes, I hadn't thought of it that way before. That would give one pleasant dreams.

Now, she needs to tie him up to that bed and do wicked things with his trowel until that Patronus does change.

Author's Response: She needs to give him a few happy memories in that bed, ceertainly. :)
Glad you liked it.

Dang, your chapters aren't long enough.  Throughly enjoying this story...more please

This is heartbreaking.  Lovely, but heartbreaking.

Minerva is the cat's whiskers!  I'm glad she is there for Severus and Hermione.  Sometimes two people need a loving and supportive friend like Minerva to help the conversation along... someone who has both their interests at heart.=====Unperturbed, Hermione stepped towards him. 'So you know, I care about you. Very much.' She placed her palm on Severus' chest. 'If you ever find room for me in here, talk to me. I'm not going anywhere.' She stood up on tip-toe and kissed his cheek.The Bloody Baron chose that moment to float through the wall. Glancing at the scene, he moved quickly across the room and disappeared up the chimney. 'Has he mentioned the key?''No,' Severus replied, touching his cheek. 'But I expect news of our... liaison will be all around the castle by morning.' This was a good start on building that solid foundation for their relationship.  Good for you!!!  Something tells me that as soon as Severus and Hermione are a little further along the path to true love, The Bloody Baron will tell them where the door is that the mystery key will unlock.=====Finally Hermione knows that something is just not right about Burbage, and eventually she (and we) will find out what it is that he is up to.Great chapter, and I can't wait to see what happens next.Beth

goodbye, Burbage! (I hope)  when was the last time Severus cast a Patronus charm? he might not even know what form his Patronus is!  thank you for letting Minerva be there for both of them.

Thank you for the update, I liked it! I liked that Hermione finally are having some long overdue doubts about Gary and what goes around in the Slytherin house. I loved that Hermione told Severus that she does care about him, and that she would wait for him, but at the same time making it clear that she would not settle for being seccond best.