I have a smile stuck on my face from this chapter :)

'If she were ever inclined to do so.  Which she wasn't.' 
Mmmhmmm..... lol

Hmmm... my first thought was Lily, but he said 'at last' and I am assuming that Severus has earned this kind of reward before because he was not surprised, and I also assume that he would have pictured Lily at that time... So I'm going to guess Hermione :) lol great chapter!

'made of sex'  lmao awesome.  I am enjoying this story a lot :)

This story was awesome and I hope there is a sequal.

I thought I'd reviewed this already!  I guess I forgot because, after reading this, I was understandably a bit...distracted.Now, if you don't want "distracted" to change to "driven to distraction", please feed my addiction by updating this immediately!I, too, wonder how much longer Hermione can go on putting forth the facade of the logical and self-contained model student, while all this is going on!  And how much longer will Severus wait, as well?Write, woman, write!!!  :-)

OMG, getting caught being "busy" by Lavender would be the worst, Lavender is such a gossip. Very funny chapter.

I love Severus' determination to keep this girl of his dreams who loves him, too.  I'm looking forward to the "secrecy, intelligence gathering, disinformation, and damage control."  Yes!  "He’d be damned if he’d give her up now that he knew what he knew."   But what happens when she returns from the bathroom?  He sits in a chair he doesn't even like instead of on the sofa with her. While Hermione is huddling in a corner of the sofa feeling unsure of herself, Severus isn't saying a word.  Well, he's not saying a word out loud, but he is thinking very loudly in his mind:  "And fucking tea. What a joke: An Italian, a Russian, and an Englishman are each alone in a room with the girl they want to shag. What does each one do to seal the deal?"  So when he decides to speak, the first thing he tells her is "That book is rubbish, of course."

Gods, I wanted to reach into the page and push them toward each other.  But then Severus found his way to the sofa, on his knees between her knees, and the soft kisses began— soft, lingering kisses that make the world go away, that channeled his magic to the places were their skin touched.  Guh!  She said "you know," and with those two little words he felt "a thick, hot haze of animal desire and questing magic filled his chest."  Double guh!  And with that he admitted to her that he had realized earlier that he had "strong feelings for her."  Then he said the magic words, "feelings of desire."  I liked it when Severus used his voice to make her understand that he wanted her with him, found her intoxicating, and then she gave him the sign he needed to be able to claim the next kiss.  Woo hoo, baby!

I imagined that the first question he asked her was along the lines of "have you taken a contraceptive potion?"   And the second on was "have you ever had sex before?"  That gave me a good chuckle, but when he remarked on her vivid fantasies and she replied "I do read quite a bit," I had to laugh out loud right along with Severus.  This was priceless.  Obviously this called for Severus' own trip to the bathroom to collect his thoughts.  I heard it referred to by a lot of different terms, but I believe "thought collecting" was a first.  LOL!

When he returned they had the obvious talk about the need for circumspection, and I'm glad he told her that if she needed him she should send an owl.  He will think of a better way to communicate by tomorrow afternoon when they had their regular meeting.  *sigh*  Such a wonderful chapter... *sighs again*  I can't wait for your next update!!!Beth

I enjoy seeing what Severus is up to, when he is not teaching.

<<He modulated his voice. He’d had some experience of the effect it could have on women, and he used it now to coax his girl, his little wild bird, in from the windowsill where she was poised. >>There.  THAT part.  The part where you use the flighty bird imagery.  I loved that!  Excellent!

Great chapter, I love naughty Hermione.

You are so mean. Why can't you just quit everything else you are doing and spend every minute of your day and night cranking out more chapters for me to read?? I swear, this story is worse than a drug addiction!!

Yeah, I expected that. He's just a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor. :-/

This is definitely a good place to end this story, and an ending that is brilliant in its tragedy, drama, and angst. Very well done!

But I have to admit it sucked all the joy I felt for the story out of me like a Dementor. I feared you were working toward that ending, but ... I was hoping against hope that love would prevail. Had I known about this ending (that will teach me never again to deviate from my routine of always readingg the ending first!), I would never have touched the story. And to be honest, right now I deeply regret reading it. Why make things even worse than canon? :-/

Good luck with the sequel, I hope it will be a little less bleak!

:-S I am not sure I want to know what Dumbledore is up to.

Loved the scene with Poppy: "to a day when children may be simply children and not pawns in a fight" Word on that. *shivers*

Saw that coming from miles. In a way I'm relieved it finally happened. And Lav-Lav could have chosen a worse method of going about it ...

I think they both have a point. But a Gryffindor myself, I'm inclined to side with Hermione and say FUCK ALL, if we're found out, we're found out, and stay the hell away from my memories.

*sigh* Poor them. *huggles them* You do write the romancey angst and angsty romance really well. XD

*sigh* The greater context, of course ... darkness drawing nigh all around ... if only it was "just" loss of his position and a huge scandal the two of them had to fear. *sniffle*

Still waiting for everything to go horribly wrong while holding out for a happy ending ...

Those letters to Jill, while I understand Hermione's need for a confidant, are a really, really, really, really, really bad idea. One of those ideas, in fact, that make me cringe because I'd never in my life do it if so much depended on secrecy! It's like opening the door to the forbidden attic where ALL OF US KNOW the monster is lurking.
*wibble*

The roses around the galleon are such a cute touch!

Ohhhh, thank you. That was so lovely. Emotional, tender, hot, but never over the top. And just ... beautiful. Even if the moment of the Mark had to happen ...

*full of sympathy for the lovers' plight*

I hope you let them have a good time before things inevitably must take a turn for the worse before you (as I fully hope and expect) grant us a happy ending.

*laughs* They are BOTH naughty! I can't help fearing that all this time, Lavender is seeing right through the glamour and is going to do something that will nearly kill them both. *wibble*

Oh, my. I don't know what else to say. *happy, blissful sigh*

Snape was being civil to her. What disaster could this portend? -- BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Laughed out loud at that. So funny.

And Hermione's glamour is really, really clever. Way to go. Urgh, though, that Severus anticipates everything to be over in three to four weeks. What a time to fall in love!

I think it's very much in character for Hermione to still be a virgin at 17. And oh my, poor Severus when confronted with female sexual fantasies and the actual virginal state of the same woman. That on top of everything else must have rocked his world badly. Hmm... I hope the boat bumping along there doesn't mean someone saw something they shouldn't have. And I'm more afraid of Lavender now than ever ...
The repercussions of it all, hmm, lots of things for both of them to deal with. Can't wait to see what happens next!