This was a gift for an SSHG Bingo winner last year, and she requested Hermione and Viktor.  The story kept wanting to be much, much longer.  I toy with the idea of expanding it from time-to-time.I'm delighted you enjoyed it.  Thanks for taking the time to leave a review.

This was a gift for an SSHG Bingo winner last year, and she requested Hermione and Viktor.  The story kept wanting to be much, much longer.  I toy with the idea of expanding it from time-to-time.I'm delighted you enjoyed it.  Thanks for taking the time to leave a review.

Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed it.

I absolutely adored The Three Rs as well. Both stories have been a joy to read again and again.

Now you've made my entire week.  Thank you so much!!

Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed it.

I absolutely adored The Three Rs as well. Both stories have been a joy to read again and again.

Now you've made my entire week.  Thank you so much!!

In all honesty, I had a monstrously difficult time curtailing the story at all.  It wants to be novel length.  It wants to delve into Anna and Viktor's family life.  It wants to see if there is a smoldering cinder of Viktor and Hermione's earlier romantic relationship.  It wants to see how Hermione grows with a different support structure.It was only supposed to be a 100-500 word drabble.  You can see how successful I was at that!I'm absolutely thrilled you were willing to take a chance on a one-shot and let me know what you think.  If you ever decide to venture out on a new adventure, you can be sure I'll be reading!

In all honesty, I had a monstrously difficult time curtailing the story at all.  It wants to be novel length.  It wants to delve into Anna and Viktor's family life.  It wants to see if there is a smoldering cinder of Viktor and Hermione's earlier romantic relationship.  It wants to see how Hermione grows with a different support structure.It was only supposed to be a 100-500 word drabble.  You can see how successful I was at that!I'm absolutely thrilled you were willing to take a chance on a one-shot and let me know what you think.  If you ever decide to venture out on a new adventure, you can be sure I'll be reading!

I'm feeling rather proud of myself for coaxing you into looking at this pairing in a little more depth.  I don't read them often, but if you ever run across a VK/HG by ThimbleKiss, read it immediately.  She has a beautiful touch with these two, and she's the reason I attempted them at all.I think VK and HG are excellent friends, and while he may want more, he's also willing to be only her friend because he truly cares for her.  At least that's my reading of him.Thank you for letting me know you were willing to give it a try!

I'm feeling rather proud of myself for coaxing you into looking at this pairing in a little more depth.  I don't read them often, but if you ever run across a VK/HG by ThimbleKiss, read it immediately.  She has a beautiful touch with these two, and she's the reason I attempted them at all.I think VK and HG are excellent friends, and while he may want more, he's also willing to be only her friend because he truly cares for her.  At least that's my reading of him.Thank you for letting me know you were willing to give it a try!

Whew!  I'm so pleased you enjoyed the piece.  I was a little concerned -- I mean, I liked it, but I'm never sure if it'll work for my recipient.I hadn't originally considered Anna as a healer, but then I thought it might be something a devoted younger sister would do when her brother was a professional Quidditch player.  And it eases her into a new, potentially long-lasting role as a member of a new triad.::nods:: Viktor is loyal, honorable, and fierce; characteristics I wanted to make sure you could 'see' in this piece.  And the fact that Hermione considered him a close friend/correspondent (offscreen) for years belies the whole 'all the cute girls are taken' comment JKR so conveniently puts in his mouth in book seven.I really am delighted you enjoyed it, and thank you so much for letting me know!

Whew!  I'm so pleased you enjoyed the piece.  I was a little concerned -- I mean, I liked it, but I'm never sure if it'll work for my recipient.I hadn't originally considered Anna as a healer, but then I thought it might be something a devoted younger sister would do when her brother was a professional Quidditch player.  And it eases her into a new, potentially long-lasting role as a member of a new triad.::nods:: Viktor is loyal, honorable, and fierce; characteristics I wanted to make sure you could 'see' in this piece.  And the fact that Hermione considered him a close friend/correspondent (offscreen) for years belies the whole 'all the cute girls are taken' comment JKR so conveniently puts in his mouth in book seven.I really am delighted you enjoyed it, and thank you so much for letting me know!

You're always so kind to read my work, and thank you for the comment.  I had a ton of fun playing with this little scenario.

You're always so kind to read my work, and thank you for the comment.  I had a ton of fun playing with this little scenario.

It was one of the things I liked about him originally.  He was fierce and loyal and honorable.  I was rather pleased to have a chance to sort out the mess JKR made of him at Bill and Fleur's wedding!Thanks for reading and letting me know you enjoyed the piece.

It was one of the things I liked about him originally.  He was fierce and loyal and honorable.  I was rather pleased to have a chance to sort out the mess JKR made of him at Bill and Fleur's wedding!Thanks for reading and letting me know you enjoyed the piece.

It's just rife with potential, and I'm delighted you're intrigued enough to ask.  There is a chance, but it will be after I complete 'Saving a Death Eater' which has been in it's penultimate chapter for a long long time.Thank you for reading and enjoying.

You know what they say, some things are better when left to stew.  I'll keep an eye out in case the plot bunny holds you down and tortures you into compliance (once you finsih your other piece)(even if it's just for more glorified Ron bashing)(not that I'm anti-Ron, it just seems so fun)(I like fun).

It's just rife with potential, and I'm delighted you're intrigued enough to ask.  There is a chance, but it will be after I complete 'Saving a Death Eater' which has been in it's penultimate chapter for a long long time.Thank you for reading and enjoying.

You know what they say, some things are better when left to stew.  I'll keep an eye out in case the plot bunny holds you down and tortures you into compliance (once you finsih your other piece)(even if it's just for more glorified Ron bashing)(not that I'm anti-Ron, it just seems so fun)(I like fun).

Awww, GG, you are always so very nice.  I'm ecstatic you enjoyed it.  I have several other things to write before I can explore more of this, but I really like the possibilities with this little tangent.

Awww, GG, you are always so very nice.  I'm ecstatic you enjoyed it.  I have several other things to write before I can explore more of this, but I really like the possibilities with this little tangent.

You're very kind, and thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment.SS/HG has been my OTP for a long time, but on occasion I like to explore a little.  In this case, Drinkingcocoa asked for VK/HG, knowing I've written one other piece for the pairing.  I really enjoyed re-acquainting myself with their dynamic, and adding a little to it as well.

You're very kind, and thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment.SS/HG has been my OTP for a long time, but on occasion I like to explore a little.  In this case, Drinkingcocoa asked for VK/HG, knowing I've written one other piece for the pairing.  I really enjoyed re-acquainting myself with their dynamic, and adding a little to it as well.

What a lovely thing to say; thank you.  This story really wants there to be more, but I'm holding back because I have so many other pieces to finish first.  Perhaps after SDE.I completely agree with your comments about Viktor and Ron, and how book canon treated them both.  She set their characters up initially and then in the last book she broke them to suit her convenience and a pre-determined epilogue.  ::shakes head:: 

It is rather sad. I've found that when the story deviates from your original plans, there's generally a good reason for it. The characters often decide to speak for themselves.

What a lovely thing to say; thank you.  This story really wants there to be more, but I'm holding back because I have so many other pieces to finish first.  Perhaps after SDE.I completely agree with your comments about Viktor and Ron, and how book canon treated them both.  She set their characters up initially and then in the last book she broke them to suit her convenience and a pre-determined epilogue.  ::shakes head:: 

It is rather sad. I've found that when the story deviates from your original plans, there's generally a good reason for it. The characters often decide to speak for themselves.

I ended up cutting about fifteen hundred words from the piece so it didn't end up novel-length; it just naturally wants to go there!  I'm so delighted you've enjoyed it.::nods::  Ron isn't difficult to understand, or even like.  He's as fallible as any of us; he's just not a good mix with Hermione.  With that being said, Viktor has a great deal of potential.  I was particularly upset with what JKR did with him in book seven.  Yes, people change as they grow up, but someone who could value Hermione at fifteen wouldn't be that shallow two years later.  Sigh.In my canon recollections, the only time we see people actively taking Portkeys (and why didn't they use Portkeys when moving Harry from the Dursleys in book seven?) they're outdoors, which is the reason I had her step outside and land in an open air courtyard. Thanks, as always, for your thought-provoking comments.

Your point about "why didn't they ..." is one I often have.  Why didn't they (esp. Albus) chuck the horcruxes through the veil?  Why didn't they kill Voldemort first and then hunt the horcruxes (it seemed to take him years to reassemble himself)?  Why did a werewolf who had been taking a necessary potion for years suddenly forget to do so while he is in a position surrounded by vulnerable children?  And similarly, why did Sirius always growl at Harry if he liked him?I know the plot was designed to heighten tension, but you have to admit that the characters don't seem to think through the ramifications of their actions.  It is like they all have impulse control problems -- even the "wise" ones.  Perhaps having magic course through your body leaves you with mental/emotional deficiencies, like no impulse control (like meth addicts).  Or perhaps it is a survival skill gone wrong.  You need to have quick impulses in order not to get killed (ie, be quick on the trigger), and they have no way to mitigate that.

Part of the storytelling process is discovering the story as you write (at least, in my experience), and it's this aspect which seems to land authors of book series in trouble in the third act of the overall arc.  World-building congruity is vital and many authors seem to stumble over these things in the latter half of their own series.  Orson Scott Card had a brilliant strategy -- a core group of fans read his WIPs for canon errors -- there were simply too many details to keep track of for him to write ahead and remember the past.  I suspect JKR didn't have that luxury.  I've never really been a JKR apologist before, because I think she did a really sloppy job on her last book, but....With that being said, if a reader can say 'why didn't they....' too often, then the author has fallen down on his/her job.  In this case, there are too many instances where realistic repercussions were ignored entirely, i.e., Ginny's long-term reaction to having been possessed by TR, or Harry's possibly having a touch issue after his own touch disintegrated Quirrel, making an 11yo boy a killer (and this after the complete lack of nurture in his home environment).Er ... I think we're on the same page here, so I should probably stop preaching to the choir!

I suppose I can hear the whingers saying "geez, it is just a story." but I understand your point.  It is a mark of this story not being true that it lacks internal consistency.  We expect truth to be cohesive, and even though lies can sometimes be cohesive, what is not cohesive is not true.I think it is a sign of an imaginative author that she has written something so compelling that we might wish it were true or at least behaved as if it were true.  Perhaps that is why the lack of cohesion is so disappointing.  We see the strands of the web fall and wish we could suspend our disbelief, but we can't with any intellectual honesty.But she did give us an enormous toybox of distinctive characters, new rules of physics, new social mores, and a quite debatable new definition of right and wrong.  Fanfiction can pick what concepts it wants out of the toybox without needing to create cohesion.That's what you did so well in this story.  You borrowed from the toybox and created something cohesive and believeable with those elements.  Your characters were believeable and functioned as expected within the parameters of the universe.  Even the events where the cause was in question -- like what happened with the portkey -- is treated as a case where the cause is unknown,  not that it was uncaused.  So thanks for making the untrue feel real.

I ended up cutting about fifteen hundred words from the piece so it didn't end up novel-length; it just naturally wants to go there!  I'm so delighted you've enjoyed it.::nods::  Ron isn't difficult to understand, or even like.  He's as fallible as any of us; he's just not a good mix with Hermione.  With that being said, Viktor has a great deal of potential.  I was particularly upset with what JKR did with him in book seven.  Yes, people change as they grow up, but someone who could value Hermione at fifteen wouldn't be that shallow two years later.  Sigh.In my canon recollections, the only time we see people actively taking Portkeys (and why didn't they use Portkeys when moving Harry from the Dursleys in book seven?) they're outdoors, which is the reason I had her step outside and land in an open air courtyard. Thanks, as always, for your thought-provoking comments.

Your point about "why didn't they ..." is one I often have.  Why didn't they (esp. Albus) chuck the horcruxes through the veil?  Why didn't they kill Voldemort first and then hunt the horcruxes (it seemed to take him years to reassemble himself)?  Why did a werewolf who had been taking a necessary potion for years suddenly forget to do so while he is in a position surrounded by vulnerable children?  And similarly, why did Sirius always growl at Harry if he liked him?I know the plot was designed to heighten tension, but you have to admit that the characters don't seem to think through the ramifications of their actions.  It is like they all have impulse control problems -- even the "wise" ones.  Perhaps having magic course through your body leaves you with mental/emotional deficiencies, like no impulse control (like meth addicts).  Or perhaps it is a survival skill gone wrong.  You need to have quick impulses in order not to get killed (ie, be quick on the trigger), and they have no way to mitigate that.

Part of the storytelling process is discovering the story as you write (at least, in my experience), and it's this aspect which seems to land authors of book series in trouble in the third act of the overall arc.  World-building congruity is vital and many authors seem to stumble over these things in the latter half of their own series.  Orson Scott Card had a brilliant strategy -- a core group of fans read his WIPs for canon errors -- there were simply too many details to keep track of for him to write ahead and remember the past.  I suspect JKR didn't have that luxury.  I've never really been a JKR apologist before, because I think she did a really sloppy job on her last book, but....With that being said, if a reader can say 'why didn't they....' too often, then the author has fallen down on his/her job.  In this case, there are too many instances where realistic repercussions were ignored entirely, i.e., Ginny's long-term reaction to having been possessed by TR, or Harry's possibly having a touch issue after his own touch disintegrated Quirrel, making an 11yo boy a killer (and this after the complete lack of nurture in his home environment).Er ... I think we're on the same page here, so I should probably stop preaching to the choir!

I suppose I can hear the whingers saying "geez, it is just a story." but I understand your point.  It is a mark of this story not being true that it lacks internal consistency.  We expect truth to be cohesive, and even though lies can sometimes be cohesive, what is not cohesive is not true.I think it is a sign of an imaginative author that she has written something so compelling that we might wish it were true or at least behaved as if it were true.  Perhaps that is why the lack of cohesion is so disappointing.  We see the strands of the web fall and wish we could suspend our disbelief, but we can't with any intellectual honesty.But she did give us an enormous toybox of distinctive characters, new rules of physics, new social mores, and a quite debatable new definition of right and wrong.  Fanfiction can pick what concepts it wants out of the toybox without needing to create cohesion.That's what you did so well in this story.  You borrowed from the toybox and created something cohesive and believeable with those elements.  Your characters were believeable and functioned as expected within the parameters of the universe.  Even the events where the cause was in question -- like what happened with the portkey -- is treated as a case where the cause is unknown,  not that it was uncaused.  So thanks for making the untrue feel real.

Why thank you so much for the encouragement.  I'm afraid I'll have to put this onto the way-back burner, because, as you know, there are a couple other pieces just begging to be worked on!::smooch::

Why thank you so much for the encouragement.  I'm afraid I'll have to put this onto the way-back burner, because, as you know, there are a couple other pieces just begging to be worked on!::smooch::

Thank you so much.  I'm delighted you enjoyed this little one-shot.  LIke you, I also called my little brother a brat; I didn't mean it affectionately at the time either!

Thank you so much.  I'm delighted you enjoyed this little one-shot.  LIke you, I also called my little brother a brat; I didn't mean it affectionately at the time either!

What a lovely comment; thank you.I had a great deal of trouble holding onto the reins of this piece.  It naturally wants to be an epic adventure, but I had only a finite amount of time to work on it.  Perhaps someday I might write a second part ... something 'down under'.Thank you again.

What a lovely comment; thank you.I had a great deal of trouble holding onto the reins of this piece.  It naturally wants to be an epic adventure, but I had only a finite amount of time to work on it.  Perhaps someday I might write a second part ... something 'down under'.Thank you again.