I really am curious how the ritual needs to be performed.. but let's hope Harry has a kind of natural sense for rituals and understands that connecting to someone in a ritual takes place in another part of reality than the all day world in which personal grudges play a role. And if he doesn't understand that,  this still might be a good way just to experience it :-)

excellent. Can't wait to see Harry's reaction to what they have planned for him.Truly

That is such an intriguing plan! Very fascinating story, I really want to know more about this Southern Magic.

Geat chapter, I love how the romance is oh so slowly building between Hermione and Severus.

Eeep! I need to know what happens next!

maybe now harry will work with snape to save ginny.nice story, nice long chapters. 

Oh my the intensity is increasing, isn't it!  I am enjoying your story immensly.  The "southern magic" elements are very interesting to decipher -- and sometimes a little frustrating when I can't follow it, but it all comes together eventually.  Keep up the good work.  I look forward to finding out about Hermione's "him" and to getting Severus back on track with her.  (I also hope that Ginny gets rescued.) Thanks for posting, JoAnne

Wow, what a chapter I love the way you described why Harry hates Severus so much.

Oooo evil cliffie! but I agree, this might be the only thing to persuade Harry to perform this ritual with Snape. Please don't let us wait too long for the next installment..

Not Ginny. No. Great update. Please post again soon.Truly

The plot is really leaping forward now, and I'm presuming the capture of Ginny will be the thing to send Harry to Hermione and Snape. 

Really enjoying this, especially the subtle way you weave canon into your description of the Southern ways.

I've just read this from the beginning and am so impressed. I love the powerful Hermione as opposed to the suddenly strong Hermione. The way you have written her reeks of many years of study and I adore the unseen side of Snape you have written. Harry is a prat, BTW, but I still sense an underlying loveable/tormented Harry. This is very well done and I can't wait for more. Live long and prosper,

What a thoroughly interesting chapter!

I really cannot wait to see what will happen next. And I hope that at least one more of the Professors will talk to Hermione.

Thank you for the update. It's been very intriguing seeing this concept of the different magical worlds develop. In this chapter the parallel between Hermione's and Snape's isolation at Hogwarts was especially poignant.

The explanation for the vision is very well found. But how did you come to chose water as Slytherin's element ? I totally agree for Griffindor and fire and Ravenclaw and air. But snake are more from earth than water, no ?I also want to thank you for that particular line :"She really did feel like a mini Snape when she walked down the corridors with her cloak flapping and people moving sharply out of her way."I love it and I wonder if that is a sign for future events.

You've really played on Hermione's sense of isolation. I'm not surprised she cornered Snape.

The hostility against Snape from other colleagues at Hogwarts boggles the mind. These same colleagues, with some exceptions, are also avoiding Hermione. What reason could they have to treat her this way?  Do they fear her, dislike her, just think she is different therefore must be bad?  Didn't these people teach her not so many years ago and think she was an excellent student? Hogwarts has become a strange place.  Harry has been isolated too long.  I can see now that the visions have been interpreted where you seem to be headed with him.  As far as Snape and Hermione are concerned, Snape must have strong feelings for Hermione if he is willing to cook enough fresh food for her to eat three meals a day.  That is true dedication. At least he has moved from "teacher" to "friend." I hate to see that he will keep himself from her, although I am intrigued about this Nine Nights celebration you mentioned.

Aaaaahhhhh. another brilliant chapter!

Poor Hermione.  Alienation is a terrible thing to deal with.  I'm excited to see what her course of action will be now that she has figured out her visions.  Great job.

hmmmm just a tiny, tiny hint of lemon there.  This could easily become romantic by the end.

Poor Hermione.  And Harry needs to get over himself. 

I'm so very intruiged with this story.  I love the connections you made via Hermione's visions - esp the interpretation of the second vision!Look forward to reading more.

Hahaha. When he kissed her cheeks at first I was like, "what the heck? already pulling the moves on her?"I'm so glad to find out why Hermione is so repulsive to McGonagall. Thanks for the update!

Their relationship feels like an old fashioned courtship. 

Well, what a suspenseful situation we have now!  I know you won’t respond in specific to my musings because you don’t want to give the story away, but I’m feeling chatty and I love the mystery in your story.

 

Nice twist in having Voldemort know about and be able to employ southern magic (I didn’t see that coming!).  I’m guessing Snape told Voldemort about southern magic way back when he first joined, which is why he didn't look Hermione in the eye when he talked about Voldemort’s knowledge.  I do hope you’ll explain why Snape joined him in the first place; it seems so unlikely to me that your Snape, having been raised in that near-idyllic world and having so much respect for southern magic, would have found a brutal, power-mad dictator like Voldemort appealing and would have spilled the beans about this powerful, closely-guarded magic that his family was so deeply involved in. 

 

I think another poster was correct that Hermione’s son was conceived in a fertility ritual in which the man and Initiate did not see or speak to each other (e.g., they were either masked or in a completely darkened room and didn't speak at all).  Hermione muses about her son but never mentions the boy’s father even though Minerva’s sister and the Prologue boatman are clearly in nuclear families (husband, wife, and children).  So I’m thinking it’s only the few Initiates like Hermione who bear children to unknown fathers (leading to the Weasley’s mischaracterization of loose women in the South).  Snape said it had been many years since he had spoken the Ancient Language as an adult, but that doesn’t mean he hadn’t gone back for a ritual a few years back and hadn’t been allowed to speak for the duration of his visit for the Initiate’s fertility ritual.  I’ve wondered if there was any clue on Hermione’s arm tattoo that would have confirmed she was involved in this type of ritual (Snape saw the tattoo).  And, if this theory is true, does this mean Voldemort will now suspect Hermione has a child and will try to find and capture the boy to trap her now that it’s clear to him that she’s a member of the very powerful and exclusive Inner Circle?  How much does Voldemort know about the specifics of the Inner Circle and their practices? 

 

And is Snape himself a product of one of those ritualistic unions?  If that’s the case, then maybe Snape resented being the issue of a ritual engineered by powerful witches in a female-controlled society (rather than a love child raising in a nuclear family) and that’s the reason why Snape found Voldemort’s male-dominated group appealing and why Snape was willing to disclose to Voldemort what he knew about southern magic and the Inner Circle.  So won’t it be horrible for Snape, who has now come to his senses about Voldemort, to realize that his past actions will put his own son in jeopardy if that's the case?  I can’t wait to find out if that’s where you’re going.

 

I still think Harry is the Order's unwitting information leak via his scar’s mental connection with Voldemort.  That would explain how the Death Eaters were able to ambush Ron since Ginny, who was going to meet Ron in London, would have told Harry about the specifics of the meeting.  And if Ron and Ginny were the Order’s strategists and Ginny keeps Harry informed of everything, then Voldemort will never be caught unawares by anything the Order is planning. 

Which brings me to the attack on Snape and Hermione.  My guess is that only one of the 10 went after Hermione that day because they figured she was a coward who had run away after her parents were killed and wouldn’t be much of a challenge for one Death Eater whereas the other nine stayed back because they were not trying to kill Snape but rather capture him and bring him back to Voldemort for punishment and interrogation (after all, even Severus Snape wouldn’t have lived long if nine Death Eaters were throwing unblockable killing curses at him when he couldn’t Apparate away).  His ability to hold his own against nine of them for roughly 30 minutes only makes sense if they were trying to capture him alive and unharmed and the fact that most of them were either unknowns or newly-recruited Death Eaters (and hence were not prepared to face the powerful and very skilled Snape). 

 Nevertheless, it was odd that, after Snape had faced almost certain capture or death in the lane in order to give Hermione a chance to get away, had been the only one able to understand and heal her injuries, and had ordered special clothes to protect her position in the Inner Circle, Hermione still wondered if Snape was going to report her movements to Voldemort.  Surely she didn’t think Snape had killed those Death Eaters for show just in case she managed to overcome her pursuer and decided against his orders to return to help him.  Is the answer merely that Hermione is a bit dim in this story?  Your Hermione isn’t quite the insightful, connect-the-dots, puzzle-solving Hermione of canon although I see that you intend her to be that way in her dream interpretation and (I assume) in the way she will ultimately figure out a way to help Harry defeat Voldemort.  I suppose my only quibble with the story is that Hermione does come off as somewhat obtuse and her cluelessness is jarring and hard to fathom given that she's supposed to be brilliant.Anyway, minor griping aside, I love the story and hope the next chapter will be up soon!