I was gone from the internet for about three weeks and you have to go and have an updating frenzy!  I am sorry that I didn't get to review your other chapters, but let me just say that they were wonderful.  In fact your whole fic is still absolutely amazing me.  I love how things keep getting more complicated and more mysterious.  Well done on another perfect chapter.

Dude, she beat a death eater in the head with a blunt stick to his death. That is AWESOME.

Heheh. Good old Snape always knows best. Lousy magical food.

Muah. I can see Snape being her "guard." This will be much fun.

Awesome. I don't know what exactly got into my head, but after Harry's little tirade about Southern, erm, infidelity and Snape's little offering of foliage for a "service rendered" made me think he was acting like she was a prostitute and he wanted some of her services. Oh boy, am I odd. My brain works in strange ways.

Aw, poor Hermione can't help it if she's just too darn good. :D

That was really fascinating.  I take it Hermione cannot stay at Hogwarts, really.  

I love how you created the Southern culture so well. I'm anxious to see what role it has in the story.

Nice job of creating a mental picture of the island - I think it's an island. It will be very interesting having this background for Hermione later, yes? Looking forward to reading the rest!

Great chapter.  Very interesting.

The clashing of magic is so interesting that it causes such a negative reaction to Professor McGonagall. Does that mean that everyone around Hermione feels ill, except Severus or only when her magic is active? I'm glad Harry is helping her out.  He certainly feels comfortable doing things the muggle way and is not afraid of hard work. Hopefully the surgery will do the trick as Hermione has suffered long enough and has not eaten for a long time, at least food that she was able to keep down.

boy without Ellyn's  review id still be lost thank you

I am finding this really interesting - and well-written - keep up the good work!

Poor Hermione, and Severus is as charming as ever *grins*, of course he is probably correct.

This is a really interesting story. In terms of all the magic that's happening, I have absolutely no clue what's going on - but it really doesn't matter since I'm sure it will come to light (?) and the plot more than makes up for it.

At first, I was a little iffy on your choosing Southern magic as a basis for Hermione's new powers, but it's slowly growing on me. What made you choose to take this unique approach toward magic?

Wow!  Well that was interesting.  I can't wait to understand who "he" is and where the relationship between Snape and Hermione is headed.

Wow!  That was awesome!  So were the men death eaters? And why do they want Hermione? 

Exciting, Severus saves the day, but I'm glad the Hermione fended off her attacker.  I am so tired as women being portrayed as weak and helpless in fiction.  I'm happy you chose to make a woman physically be able to care for herself.  In my opinian if more women knew how to fight off a man attacking them, there would be alot less rape.

Hermione must really be regretting leaving her home. 

I realized that I'd jumped to the conclusion that these were death eaters, without them having been identified as such.  I want more soonest.

Excellent installment! I can't wait for the next part.

I loved that Hermione stayed to work with snape to kill the death eaters.  She showed both toughness and awesome power.  I eagerly await Voldemort's reaction to finding out how (the actual method) Hermione killed some of his people. 

Also, while Snape has knowledge of Hermione's position, and likely some knowledge about her abilities, I do want to hear his reaction to her weapon of choice.

Well that as a shocking and intense chapter. Great battle scene!  I can't wait to find out who those men were.  Well done.

How did they know she would be there? Since Snape is the "man of spring water" Hermione can be assured he is a confirmed good guy. This masculine force that assisted her, is he some Gaia-like being, a god, a spirit guide, a spirit, a demon . . . ?

I'm guessing she merged with her Protector, the animal being that we see her contacting through the ritual in an earlier chapter, no? Very exciting chapter, looking forward to the next. I'm interested in the elemental magic aspect of all this, I think fire is connected to the south, but really I have no idea where this is going.

So, she merged with Snape?  But it sounds more like an animal...  This was somewhat confusing.  I'm also not sure about all the elemental stuff...

I thought the action and the fight scenes were done very well, though, particularly the part where she ends up making the wrong choice.  Very tense and exciting!