Your writing lets me feel the 'kick in the gut' that Severus is feeling at the end of the chapter. The flat, emotionless delivery of his last comment is so heartwrenching to this reader. It's a hard, as well as perfect place to end the chapter. I wonder how Hermione will explain. Btw, I'm in on the group hug.

Oh my. Timing and honesty are both such critical elements. Excellent chapter!

The penalty we pay when we will not listen or seek to understand.

Aww. I love that the storytelling continues to be top-notch - no peaking or hurrying towards the end. Severus is heartbreaking with his delivery of that final line.
While I wait for the rest of the readers to join the group hug, let me just thank you for the perfect pacing and length of this fic - for not dragging it on any longer than necessary.

oooh!  Very nice!  :)

very good.  I feel a bit sad Hermione took the potion, but I love the conversation.  I can't wait to read the next chapter.

So, Severus is gone for a week, and Hernione doesn't notice?  Well, it isn't as if they have a real marriage, but still,
I can imagine she feels a bit off that she didn't notice.  Was it really just because of the girls  extended sleep over? 

And poor Severus.  He continues to have his heart broken by his wife, and then because of it, his true loyalty is in question.  And despite the fact that he was physically abused, all I could think about was his mental/emotional well being.  Imagine how much time he had on his hands in those dungeons with nothing to think about but his current predicament, and how things were left between he and Hermione.

All I will say for Umbridge is how very satisfying it is when she gets what she has coming to her.

The Death Eaters in the dungeons is nothing like what I had expected (although I hadn't really speculated because I am never right,lol), but I really loved it.  The action, and the situation, and the emotion, and everything, really was so intense.  It doesn't matter that we know that Hermione lives ... it is still terrifying.  And when her husband scooped her up and raced to the infirmary, clutching her to his chest, calling her little tempest ... I don't even know how to qualify my feelings about it, but suffice it to say it was wonderful. 

But now, I am back to not knowing where we go from here. In the current timeline, the girls at the house make a comment at one point about the Death Eaters in the dungeons incident in reference to Severus, so everyone must know what happened.  Especially Hermione.  Surely something must change between them, or things must be said between them at least, right?  Or do they just go back to business as usual?  They certainly don't seem to have made much headway in their situation by the time Dumbledore whisks them off to the safe house.  On the other hand, if Hermione's memories are beginning to come back in dream form because she is falling in love with him, then it stands to reason that they must make some progress along the way.  Or maybe that isn't the reason for the dreams at all.  Wait, didn't I say I wasn't speculating?  :) 

I can't wait until you return, and I hope you had a lovely time on your holiday.

Excellent chapter! I loved the depiction of Severus's misery the morning after they returned from their wedding weekend/honeymoon... and his jealousy... and her seeming to start to break through the Lethe elixir.

This is so cruel, for both Hermione and Severus. The memories are not gone, just buried, Severus said there was a way for Hermione to remember and she does, she thinks they are dreams but hopefully she will realise soon.     

No wonder he doesn't want to dance with her... brings it all back and breaks his heart all over again. I just hope she can convince him to let her view his memories in the penseive. What would be the harm? Especially since they are getting along so well now.

Beautifully written chapter. Your descriptions conjure such heart-felt images.

Personally, I'm dreading the part when she wakes up and he's left all alone. Finding out about Salem is going to be a horribly cruel echo of that.

This is beautiful writing. Thank you so much for sharing.

So beautiful and heartwrenching. I love this story for so many reasons, and the newest is because this moment is going to stick with me a while... As far as completely coincidental early birthday presents go, it was lovely. Off to go dry my eyes, blow my nose, and wash my face. I hope to see the next chapter soon!

The more I read your Snape, the more I find him to be in character. Especially his distrust of everyone, his insane need for controlling something in his life, and even his derogatory way of calling himself Snivellus.

That said I'm looking forward to the now-Hermione acting more like the wedding-night(s) Hermione. She needs to stop wishing to just please him and - to some extent at least - set herself aside in the belief that this is just a fling. She needs to be true to herself - but that would mean confronting her own wishes of going to Salem versus finding out what her husband means to her. And I suppose that is quite something to ask of a teenager.

She'll find out soon enough, I suppose. But I do have the feeling it will be something of an explosive/painful realisation, and not as pleasant as the one in the cottage.

I am looking so very much forward to next week!

Evil woman! You said it was the chapter we'd been waiting for so I read fully expecting the 'old wives' tale' about dreams and so on to be explained at last. Only noooooo!
That said, it was a beautiful chapter, tender, sensual and sweet.

I wonder how long it will be before she realises her dreams are based on reality.  And does that mean the potion is not as irreversible as they believed? :)

I just can't help but feel bad for Severus and Hermione. She begged him to help her put the memories in a Pensieve, but he felt that doing so would break his word. I feel like there's so much time wasting, even though they are slowly finding a way back to each other. But I still think Hermione wouldn't leave for Salem if she knew what happened between them. Right now, she doesn't feel she would be leaving him, since they're not that close in her mind. I can understand that, but I still think she needs to say something to him.

Oh my.  I don't even know how to leave a coherent review, so don't be surprised when my thoughts come out as mush.

I am not sure what to think of these two, but I do know that my heart breaks for them.  It would be very unlike you to withhold their happy ending, yet I feel like we are so far away from it that I can't even see it in the distance.

January, once again, was both lovely and painful.  It amazes me how quickly they became intimate, and not just in a sexual way, but they did, and if felt as if it was always meant to be.  I'm glad that they were able to enjoy their day rather than spend the whole thing fretting about what was to come.  Although there was that touchy moment about whether or not she should drink the potion.

And the end of the chapter, in her room back at the castle was so dreadful.  I can't understand Severus here at all.  Let me give the disclaimer that I am not doubting your character.  I feel like you, of all people, have been inside his head and understand exactly how the wheels are turning.  And this is textbook Severus Snape, so know that I am not criticizing, I am just trying to work this out in my head, and consequently, you are getting the transcript.

Hermione came to him before the wedding in an upset state of mind, and confessed that she was concerned about how they would be able to carry on after the consummation.  At this point in time, he cares for her only as much as a teacher does his student (as far as we know).  And yet, he brews her a presumably illegal potion, just to put her at ease.  He is a man of honor, and he intends to hold up on the bargain that he made her.  But she is not the same girl who married him, nor is he the man he was.  This idyll has changed them in ways such that they can never go back.  And why would they want to?  So, when she is pleading with him, a picture of pure desperation, why does he not relent?  He may not be able to undo the potion, but she could have put the memories in a pensieve.  Or helped her record them in some way.  But he doesn't.  He goes to so much trouble for her happiness when she means little to him, and once he loves her (well he did mention the L word) he won't compromise despite her absolute despair.  He had nothing to lose by doing so, as far as I can see.

And, I am wondering if there is some significance to this line, or if he is just talking random reassurances:

'I don't want to leave you,' she whispered brokenly, yet she lay down upon her pillow all the same, pulling him down with her.

'You never will,' he promised her, covering them both with the bedclothes.

I also wonder, in current time, why he won't open up to her.  I can understand his fight or flight inclination, but I would think that now that they have breeched their complete indifference toward one another, and their real feelings have come out in the bedroom, that there could be some talking or something.  Is he worried that he will start to get even more attached than he already is, and her future doens't include him?  Because on their wedding night, she would have sworn to spend the rest of her life with him, and not because of a forced marriage.  Because she is responding so well to sex again, you'd think he venture a chance of returning to other aspects of their former, albeit brief relationship.  I just want to shake him.

But I should quit obsessing.  There are still Death Eaters and a marked memory book, and secret school plans, and Dumbledore's secret hideaway for no apparent reason thus far,  and probably so much more that has yet to be uncovered.

I hope this was a two chapters' worth review, lol.  I'm not going to read back through it, but I have this fear of sounding critical.  If it did, know it wasn't meant that way.  If it was rambly and I came off as way too over-the-top invested in this story, well, that is classic me.

This is going to be a long week ... sigh.

 

They both need to be just a bit braver! Of course, if they worked everything out earlier, the story would be over and that would be a loss ;) I always love the way you write Severus and Hermione.

Oh, how sad.....

Remember the day
'Cause this is what dreams should always be
I just want to stay
I just want to keep this dream in me
You're losing your memory now ...
Just remember who I am in the morning

I love your writing, but I just don't know how I'm going to face the coming train wreck when he finds out she is leaving him for school - because she keeps putting off the discussion. Oh, this is going to be dreadful!  Poor Severus.

Thank you for updating!

Oh, how sad.....

Remember the day
'Cause this is what dreams should always be
I just want to stay
I just want to keep this dream in me
You're losing your memory now ...
Just remember who I am in the morning

I love your writing, but I just don't know how I'm going to face the coming train wreck when he finds out she is leaving him for school - because she keeps putting off the discussion. Oh, this is going to be dreadful!  Poor Severus.

Thank you for updating!

Oh man! Her begging him to help her extract the memories and saying she didnt want to leave him was heartbreaking! Well done! And then... the way he fled from her post-coitally... hmmm... I love the emotions you're able to evoke! 

This is the time I've been dreading.  The song's lyrics are so perfect for what has happened.  I wish that Severus could allow himself to be now like he had been on their wedding night and the next day... like he was before Hermione drank the phial of Dreamless Sleep and forgot nearly everything.  Except she didn't forgot, she just hasn't realized yet that her dreams are very real.

Wake up, it's time, little girl, wake up
All the best of what we've done is yet to come
Wake up, it's time, little girl, wake up
Just remember who I am in the morning

Please Severus, give up your need to act out this "fight or flight" response.  If he is this bad with it now, what will it be like when he finds out about her plans to go to Salem? 

I can't figure out what Dumbledore's purpose was for sending all these people into hiding in this secret kept location, but I'll bet you dollars to donuts that it has something to do with Severus and Hermione.  Does Dumbles know of Hermione's plans for Salem? 

If it's all the same to you, I'll just take one of those handkerchiefs now and console myself that it might have been the one Severus used to dry Hermione's tears just before he gave her the Dreamless Sleep.  Thank you for sharing this totally awesome story.  I feel it in every fiber of my being.

Beth

Oh my goodness, you've really out done yourself with this chapter. I've never read anything so soulfully touching. I feel like the word "Amen" should be placed at the end of this. 

How sad.  I''m glad you let us know that they rediscover each other later although I'm not sure they have rediscovered the tenderness and love yet.  Thank you.  I think this story is beautifully done.

This story is quite a roller coaster of emotions! Thanks for sharing it with us.