And very generous toward friends and family, as we've seen, too. So Flatiron & Flint (the alliteration was wholly unintentional! haha! They both originated in RaM, quite separately!), those two would have been much better off being friends, or at least, not getting on his bad side! ;PThanks for your review!

I doubt Severus would get on Quin's bad side.  He's not a bad guy, he wouldn't be so slimey and his death eater days were over a long while ago.  I doubt Quin would begrudge him a bit of jealousy over Poppy.  LOL.

Someone has to do something to actively hurt him or someone he loves. Severus . . . well, I doubt that jealousy or rudeness would be a sufficient cause!

I am certain that no one but me remembers that Kyle Flatiron was the proprietor of the Three Broomsticks back in RaM -- he actually wrote Minerva a little note when Quin left that hamper of sweets at the Broomsticks, if you remember that. Then the Flatiron story was going to be part of the RaM-sequel that never got written. Maybe it still will be someday!I'm glad you enjoyed the stories w/in the story, so to speak. I figured that the last chapter gave us some of the Snape family past -- and what he sees as his family tradition of unhappiness -- so it would be an interesting contrast to see a couple other families and their "traditions," so to speak (as well as providing some good background to the various players here and some insight into their characters). So I'm glad that you enjoyed it!Yes, Gertrude has a tough decision, and she's the one who has to make it and then carry it out, whatever she decides. We'll see how that ends up!Thanks for the review! :-) (And a Happy Easter to you!)

LOL!And that was sufficient!(And you made me both laugh and blush!)Thanks! :-)

Hey there! Thanks! I'm glad to see you jumping up and down! I'm relieved to be writing again, too, I'll tell you! I hope it lasts!!!Yeah, I think that Filius's idea of a fun challenge for getting through his front door might not appeal to everyone! haha!I'm not sure I'd want to be in Poppy's position, myself, having my new love interest drop in on an old memory of mine -- seems kinda potentially hazardous! haha!Thanks very much for the review! I appreciate all your comments. It's always fun to read what people have noticed or enjoyed in a chapter.

Hi! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! ("A Spree" was one of my favorite chapters in RaM, too.)You'll see Gertrude and a number of other "old friends" in the next chapter, too, so I do think you'll probably enjoy it.It's been a very long and difficult winter! But with some bright spots in it, so it's not been all bad. I hope to have more time and inspiration to write again soon!Thanks very much for your review!

Exactly -- his lack of normal socialization and the bizarre and unhealthy conditions of most of his adult life up to that point have left him looking for cues on how to behave, and having to expend thought on things that other adults around him just do naturally and take for granted. Now that he's out of the straitjacket that being a spy and double-agent put him in, he's having to learn how to be himself and how to be with others.Coming up with the medical magic in my fics has been some of the most fun bits of playing with magic for me, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.Thanks!

Exactly -- his lack of normal socialization and the bizarre and unhealthy conditions of most of his adult life up to that point have left him looking for cues on how to behave, and having to expend thought on things that other adults around him just do naturally and take for granted. Now that he's out of the straitjacket that being a spy and double-agent put him in, he's having to learn how to be himself and how to be with others.Coming up with the medical magic in my fics has been some of the most fun bits of playing with magic for me, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.Thanks!

There's a stats page for hits, but hitcount can be misleading, since people often go back to a chapter, or after they review, they can return to it, or whatever. Personally, I found it odd when the hitcount became visible over at SH, but then at least it was comforting to realize that other people had stories that got lots of hits but no one bothered to review. Anyway, I don't go by hitcount, but by reviews -- there's one chapter toward the end of DD that has literally more than twice the hits than the surrounding chapters. This puzzled me, especially as the hitcount for that chapter kept rising -- it was a good chapter, but not "key" and not one with lots of nail-biting action (like the one in which Severus is bitten by Nagini, or the Hogwarts battle chapter) -- then I realized that in the summary (not the author's notes), I had indicated that the chapter was rated mature because of an instance of vulgar language, or something to that effect. I moved the warning to my author's note, and the hitcount for that chapter stopped climbing more rapidly than any other chapters. Can you imagine clicking on a single chapter in a long fic you're not reading and combing through it for the one instance of offensive language??? But that was the only explanation for it I could find. (It was the "other" c-word, which I know many people find pretty offensive, so wanted to forewarn them.) It was bizarre. Anyway, there are many reasons for a chapter to get hits, and so I don't take hitcount as equivalent to reader-appreciation! LOL!There would be plenty of Malcolm & Gertrude in a sequel. :-)I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and liked Minerva's ideas! Thank you for reviewing! :-)

I had to go back and look at the chapter, since my memory of it has Severus trying not to hurt Hermione's feelings at the same time as he is telling her it's not right for them to date. And he was sensitive to the fact that she wasn't happy about it. I don't know, but I don't see him as yanking her around in this particular chapter -- not that he doesn't in the fic (which is why I went back and glanced over the chapter again, to make sure I wasn't misremembering), but it seems that he has three/four options: break off his fling with Poppy and continue to "date" Hermione even though he's conflicted about it; tell Hermione they shouldn't date (and then either continue to see Poppy or not); or continue to date Hermione while still seeing Poppy. I think that the first and last options are the "yanking around" options.I suppose that he might have been better off just coming straight out and telling her they shouldn't date and not trying to "break it to her gently," if that's the jerking around you see. Like he said, their first date came as a surprise to him. Maybe I should have had him behave differently in this situation, but it seemed to come out of where he was -- in fact, I remember when I was revising it for posting thinking I'd made him a bit too sensitive in the chapter, but I left it alone, since I figured that with Hermione, he'd put forth more effort to be gentle and explain things to her. (And he did it in person, not by post! LOL!)Or, of course, maybe he should have just dated Hermione and still have continued his fling with Poppy -- that might be more of the bastardly Snape he so often is -- trying to have his cake and eat it too, while putting off any difficult decisions. Anyway, this brings Severus to a place where he can go forward. And Garerth was right that it's easier on her now than it would be if they had dated a while and discovered that his feelings for her weren't what he'd thought they were. I'm glad you're getting into the fic! I think you'll like the next section of the story, since you seem to be enjoying the Severus-Poppy stuff. :-)Thanks for the reviews!

I'm really sorry. I think 'yanked around' was a poor choice of words. I'm not sure now why I chose it and I apologize. I think maybe I was putting on it what Hermione might have been feeling not what Severus' intentions were.

That's okay -- when writing reviews, I'm not always in my most eloquent mode, myself! lol! I was trying to figure out how you might have meant it and respond to it, since it seemed that Severus's options were relatively limited. :-) I did get the idea that you liked the chapter, though! :D

He is a very confused puppy, for sure. He got it into his head that he should be in love with Hermione, and he's thinking of his thing with Poppy as a fling. But he'll get it sorted out. He is very keen on not hurting Hermione, though, which is a good thing, and thinking about someone else's feelings before his own is not something he has a lot of practice doing!Thanks for the review!

Nope, neither of them want to examine it at this point.Yes, Severus is trying. :-)

Glad you enjoyed the lemon!Yes, Filius has some interesting facets to his character . . . lol!I'm glad you're loving PPS. :-) Poppy is falling, isn't she, despite herself!Thanks!

He's trying to sort out his feelings, but given his former habitual ways of dealing with his feelings (and having relatively few positive ones), he's having a confusing time of it. I'm glad you enjoyed Severus & Gareth's conversation! lol

Probably herself, I think! After all, as Minerva said, she doesn't hop into bed with just any wizard who happens to flirt with her! lol!Glad you enjoy their inability to restrain themselves. ;pYes, Minerva has given it some thought, and she's coming around. She still doesn't want either of them hurt, but she has been considering various factors and not only does she think it is Poppy's & Severus's business what they do, but that there may be a chance that it might be very good for both of them.Thanks for the review!

Thanks! :-)

:-) Glad you like the lemons! Hot is good!Minerva could have bit her tongue when she realized how she was sounding. It does get her into a bit of trouble occasionally! Fortunately, Poppy did come right back at her, and they've been friends for so long, things were mended relatively easily.Once Minerva has time to adjust to the idea, her attitude does change. She's a bit pedantic at times, but she's always open to changing her mind!Thanks for the review! And I see I have several more waiting, so I would guess you're catching up! lol

Thanks,

! I'm very glad you enjoyed the chapter!It is fun to revisit some of those earlier moments, isn't it?Thank you for reviewing! :-)

I'm glad you loved the chapter & Severus & Minerva's conversation. He is coming to be able to trust the love and concern, but even more importantly, to trust himself in it -- to allow himself to feel and to react emotionally, but without simply raising his hackles, etc. It was good for him, too, as you say, to be able to see that love may make sacrifices, but still be rich, perhaps even richer, for them. Whether he completely grasps it yet, and its implications, is unlikely, but he's getting there.I'm glad you like Minerva's plans for Hogwarts. She's got that tenacious, stubborn streak to her, so I think she'll get the Board of Governors sorted out if any of them are resistent to change!  Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you enjoyed the catching up.

Remember Quin from RaM? Remember his reading he did for Minerva and then later what he did w/ Albus? So he's using some of that here. It's more on the order of what he did when he met Slughorn and shook his hand, though -- that was back in the chapter where Minerva gives him a tour of Hogwarts. You may remember, though, that he couldn't get a fix on Malcolm after meeting him, hence part of his concern about the guy's intentions! haha! It's a part of those skills.Yep, Poppy isn't doing very well at remembering she's about to go on a date w/ another man, is she? Whatever Quin's obvious merits, they don't seem to compare to what Poppy sees in Severus! ;-)

Oh dear. I never finished RAM. I got so frustrated with Minerva and Albus misunderstanding each other's feelings that I wanted to shake them both. At the end of most chapters, I was just like, arrrgh! I've been meaning to go back and finish, though. I probably will when you've finished this story and I'm jonesing for more.

Oh, you should read the Quin and Malcolm stuff! Just forget the ADMM romance part (shhhhhh! I didn't say that!), and remember that Albus and Minerva do get together, since you've seen them in these later fics, be patient with the two of them and their complicated dance, and then enjoy the rest of the story. (That's why I describe RaM as "more than a romance" -- I'm not sure whether the romance is a vehicle for the rest of the story or vice versa, but there's a lot of good stuff in there that will make you say, "Ah!!!" now that you've read DD & LVS. You have to at least read the Malcolm duel chapter. Maybe a couple just before and just after it, too -- umm, chapters . . . 129, 135, and 136 -- that's "A Mercurial McGonagall," "A Spree," and "Apres Spree." Since you've not read RaM, anyway, and plan to do so someday, but have already read DD & LVS, I think it'd be okay to read them a bit out of sequence. You might enjoy Gareth even more! LOL! But "A Spree" is one of my faves, aside from that.)Hmm, I think that long parenthetical is a sure sign the Merlot was writing, and not I, so I think I'm absolved of any ADMM heresy! LOL!Good night!

Yay! for completing the essay! I hope this was sufficient reward for your hard work!Yep, the moulting/burning symbolism has multiple references and layers to it -- and Albus's reaction to it, as well, compared with Severus's. Glad you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for the review! (And I will try to start the RaM sequel very soon! There are references to RaM-sequel events in many of the chapters here -- for example, Porry Wode, who helped Alroy & Caspar charm the sow, first appears in the as-yet-unwritten RaM sequel, with a story of how he & Alroy became friends. So the references are peppered all over the place! It's got big chunks of it written, they're just all still locked in my wee brain and haven't made it to paper/hard drive yet!)