Halfway
Chapter 9 of 17
OlethrosSome surprising discoveries and revelations in Snape’s laboratory at Spinner’s End. Harry and Snape meet face-to-face.
A/N: In this chapter, I ignore Rowling's DH theories of wand ownership and etiquette.
Sorry for a bit longer time in between chapters. I've just moved across the country and am setting up in my new and gorgeous apartment. After a few drafts, I'm still not entirely happy with this chapter. I think there's too much dialogue and not enough action, but all the dialogue is quite important. And the eagle-eyed readers will realize that a very important mystery is elucidated here. So hopefully you'll bear with me until the action returns full force next chapter, hehe.
And it's been awhile since I've thanked my awesome betas, so all hail sshg316 and Southern_Witch_69!
Chapter 9
Halfway
--9:009:30am, June 29, 1998--
They stood in the cramped sitting room in Snape's house at Spinner's End. There was barely room enough to walk between the sparse furniture and the shelves overflowing with books.
"That," said Snape, pointing at the space between Hogwarts: A History and a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets, "leads to my living quarters. And that," he pointed between Paradise Lost and an enormous leather-bound copy of The Divine Comedy, "leads upstairs to the laboratory. That is the only entrance that you will ever need to use, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," Hermione said, feeling slightly put out. As if she would poke around in his private space!
"Then come," he said. Snape walked to the shelf and stroked one finger down the spine of Milton and then up the spine of Dante. Hermione found that she couldn't tear her eyes away from his hands.
The shelf seemed to shimmer and then wobble as a doorway squeezed its way into existence. Snape opened the door, revealing a flight of stairs going up, and beckoned Hermione to follow him.
"Watch your step, the stairs can be unsteady. Normally, the wards on my laboratory are set to recognize only myself, but I have altered them to allow you access as well."
"Your laboratory... it's upstairs?"
"Indeed. Despite rumors to the contrary, the dungeons are not an ideal place for a potions lab. The fumes and heat that are created escape better from the top floor. You have already been here... although you may have been too preoccupied to notice at the time."
Hermione took an educated guess at the memory she did not recall. "Yesterday, I presume?"
Snape stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to look at her, his eyes calculating. "Very good," he said.
Was she imagining things, or had Snape just paid her a compliment?
He opened the door and light flooded the dark stairway. "This way. Touch nothing unless I give you permission, and do refrain from injuring yourself irreparably."
Hermione snorted silently. She had definitely been imagining things. She walked into the lab and stopped in her tracks, her mouth falling open.
"Oh..."
She wasn't surprised to see the several long tables composed of several different surfaces from metal to stone to various species of wood. Nor was she surprised at the racks of ingredients in flasks and bottles of assorted sizes and shapes that covered nearly every inch of wall space. She noted the corner piled with impeccably clean cauldrons with familiar approval.
What she had not expected to see was the large metal Muggle refrigerator in one corner or the adjustable Bunsen burners evenly spaced along the long tables. Microscopes and magnifying glasses were stacked against the same wall as mortars and pestles.
From its perch next to a high window near the ceiling, a jet-black raven cawed at her.
"You appear surprised," Snape said blandly.
Hermione swallowed. "You could say that. I certainly didn't expect to see so much Muggle equipment in a potions lab. And especially not your potions lab."
"Because I am a bigoted, evil Slytherin, I suppose. You needn't bother protesting, Miss Granger," he said when she opened her mouth to do just that. "I expect no one to think otherwise. Here within my own home, however, I can freely admit that I have always found some Muggle methods to be far more efficient than magical. The refrigerator, for example, eliminates the need to expend energy maintaining extended Freezing Charms."
Hermione nodded slowly, her eyes still roving hungrily over every inch of the magnificent room. "It's beautiful."
Snape scowled. "Thank you," he managed.
--7:007:30pm, July 6, 1998--
Hermione was going to kill Severus Snape.
She had returned to herself, disoriented, to discover that she was standing in Market Square with no memory of where she had come from. She felt the tingling remnants of Apparition about her body, and she knew that she must have returned from Snape's house.
She looked at her Muggle wristwatch that she had picked up from a Cambridge street peddler. It was exactly 7pm, the time when he usually sent her home.
They had been working together for a week now, although they had not performed any actual brewing yet. Instead they had thrust themselves neck-deep into the equations and calculations needed for the initial potion base. Arithmancy was Hermione's strong suit, not Snape's, and he had shocked her when he had let her all but take charge without protest.
But they had hit a roadblock early on, so intimidating that it threatened the entire project. The simple fact was that there was no restorative powerful enough to bring a person back from death. The idea had been to create a potion that would take effect immediately before the Killing Curse struck, so that the soul could be restored to its pre-death state. Unfortunately there was nothing in the Wizarding World with such time-sensitive or predictive properties.
After hours of teeth-grinding frustration and at least one shouting match that both of them had been surprised to walk away from un-maimed, they had decided to focus upon the restorative aspects of the potion. A solution, they figured, would hopefully come to them in the process.
Needless to say, it was a thoroughly discouraging start. One week later, Hermione could still feel the tendrils of frustration remaining with her even as the past half hour of memories had disappeared.
But that wasn't why she was going to kill Snape.
No, the reason was because even after this week, after she had agreed to risk discovery by both friends and enemies alike, after she had become the only person, apparently, that Snape could talk to without fear of discovery...
After all this, Snape still would not divulge the location of his home.
Instead they met each day at 8:55am in a little alley off Market Square a flat, cobble-stoned space that was the closest thing that Cambridge had to a town square. Hermione would shuffle uncomfortably as Snape perused his watch she recognized it as one of those plastic Muggle contraptions that doubled as a stopwatch and had to hold back a smirk each time.
Then, about thirty seconds before 9am, he would take her arm for Side-Along Apparition. By the time she arrived in front of Spinner's End and they made their way up to the lab, she had forgotten what the outside of the house looked like. Similarly, he kept his anti-Apparition wards up until he let her go home each day a few seconds before 7pm.
Although she loathed his mistrust, she also knew that if anyone had an excuse for being paranoid as hell, it was Snape.
However, that did not explain how Snape knew that she lost her memories every half hour. Technically, he should know absolutely nothing about her situation. He could not have watched her at Hogwarts; the castle and its grounds had been charmed to sound an alarm in Minerva's office if they ever detected his presence, Polyjuiced or otherwise.
He could have spied on her easily enough in her Cambridge flat. Yet Harry and Ron, in the times they had visited, had assured her that her behavior was polished enough by now that it would have been impossible to guess the nature of her condition.
And then there was the issue of Snape spying on her at all.
Hermione huffed as she made her way up the path to her flat. It occurred to her just how little she knew truly about Severus Snape other than what Dumbledore's "ghost" had told her. She had not even considered was trying not to think about the other possible explanation for Snape knowing all about her condition.
Namely, that perhaps Snape had been there the night the Death Eaters had captured her and therefore knew exactly what had happened.
The door to her flat shook in its frame as she slammed it with a frightening amount of force. With a sweep of her wand, she removed the Glamour and became Hermione Granger again.
She did not believe it. But she would ask him and demand an answer. She would ask him and pay attention to every subtle expression in his face when he answered. Living on borrowed time had greatly improved her attention to detail.
--6:307:00pm, July 7, 1998--
"Severus Snape. Were you present the night the Death Eaters attacked my home?"
His silver knife veered off-course and mangled the gingerroot he had been slicing. He set the blade down on the cutting board, bracing himself with his hands over the table, elbows locked. When he finally lifted his eyes to meet hers, Hermione was stunned by the clarity and lack of guile in his gaze.
"I'll admit that I have been wondering when you would finally ask me." He kept his eyes locked with hers as he spoke, as if he knew that she was testing him. "No, Miss Granger. I was not there."
She looked at him. And looked. Then she nodded slightly and allowed herself to relax.
"You are wondering, though," Snape continued, "how I could otherwise know of your... condition, am I correct?"
Hermione nodded again.
"Death Eaters like to boast, Miss Granger. Especially when they think their deeds will impress someone who could help them advance."
She flinched nearly imperceptibly. "Is it true then? Your place in Vol..."
"Do not speak that name!"
Hermione scowled and continued, "... in, er, You-Know-Who's ranks is now fully secure?"
He paused, as if debating how much to tell her. "I am reasonably confident that there is no one else that the Dark Lord trusts more. Other than himself."
"I'm sure that Malfoy isn't too happy about that."
"No." His eyes narrowed. "No, he is not."
Drawn in by Snape's uncharacteristic display of honesty, Hermione blurted out her next words before she could help herself. "Then why didn't you come back to us?"
He looked as surprised as she that she had asked him so bluntly. Fortunately, he did not seem to be angry. "I do not feel there is a place any longer for me with the Order," he said at last.
"How can you think that? We have been blind without you."
She knew she was barging forward artlessly; this was confirmed as Snape scowled and retreated behind his familiar sneer. "Please don't mistake me for a moral and compassionate being, Miss Granger. Even assuming that I could show my face at Hogwarts without getting hexed in a thousand horrific ways, after Dumbledore..." He hesitated. "After the Astronomy Tower, I vowed never to serve another master again never again to obey orders without question, no matter how ridiculous, or cruel, or painful."
Hermione was working up her fair share of anger as well. "So I suppose you just tell Voldemort to shove off now whenever he asks you to do his bidding."
"Do not speak that name, Miss Granger." The sneer was back, having disappeared for a split second. "And that is precisely why I sought out your assistance."
"I don't follow. This potion is meant to be protection for us, not..."
"For all of your brilliant and exhaustive research, you've managed to overlook a glaringly obvious application of your proposed potion. Its purpose is to restore a person's natural state of being after being subject to the Killing Curse. You would be hard pressed to find a more unnatural state of being than the Dark Lord. If the potion is administered to him, and he is then hit with the Killing Curse..."
Hermione shook her head. "Even assuming that the most paranoid creature in history could be slipped the potion, he's protected himself against the curse in unimaginable ways. Most importantly his soul..."
"Is in pieces," Snape said, "stored within items that you have little or no chance of finding, not to mention the challenge of destroying them. As destroying the ring nearly killed Dumbledore, I shudder to think what would happen if one of the Golden Trio was idiotic enough to try destroying another Horcrux. But if the Dark Lord took your potion, it would activate when the Killing Curse hit him, and his soul will be restored... to its natural state."
"To its whole state," Hermione said, breathless. "Leaving him vulnerable."
"Leaving your precious Potter free to finish him off with the nasty hex of his choice. If his body is destroyed in the process, so much the better. The prophecy will be fulfilled, and everyone is satisfied."
Hermione frowned. "Then why do you need me? Why risk your position by seeking me out? Why not just help me indirectly and then wait until I completed the potion to steal some for yourself? You know I wouldn't remember it."
"That is positively Slytherin thinking from you," Snape said with something resembling a smile. "But I want the Dark Lord gone as much as you do. And as we are outside the walls of Hogwarts, I can freely admit that our work will proceed much faster with your valuable assistance. In addition, we would have needed to meet in person for me to deliver a key ingredient. Even though it's something you haven't yet realized that you need."
"And what would that be?"
"Unicorn blood, Miss Granger. Something the Dark Lord continues to consume in great quantities. Something that only his most-trusted Death Eater would have a chance to acquire."
"I can't possibly use unicorn blood in my potion. It's..."
"Wrong? Evil? It returns a being from the brink of death; it is exactly what you need. You should know by now that things are never so neat as good and evil."
"How funny that you should say that. For all of your redemptive aspirations, you continue to call him 'the Dark Lord.'"
"Old habits die hard, Miss Granger," he replied with a nasty smile.
"I believe that," she said, glaring at him so viciously that his smile began to fade. "I'll be watching you, Snape."
Just then her bracelet twinged against her skin, and she flinched in surprise.
Snape's eyes looked down to the silver encircling her wrist. Hermione shifted uncomfortably under his calculating gaze as she wrote in the air. Surely this had been one of the most enlightening half hours of her life.
When she was finished, he lifted his wand. "I will tell you the moment when you can Apparate back home."
Sometime during the past half hour, they had pulled down the wall of enforced civility that always existed between people who didn't know each other well enough to invite confrontation. So Hermione felt free to ask him outright, "Why don't you trust me enough to let me know where you live?"
Snape appeared just shy of irritated. "It is not an issue of trust, Miss Granger. If something should befall you, it is best that you honestly cannot lead them to me."
"Bullshit," she snapped back. "I've been in danger ever since I chose to sit in Harry's compartment that first day on the Hogwarts Express. This is no different."
"Miss Granger..."
"Besides, based on the amount of boasting that the Death Eaters did about me, I suspect they've already thrown their worst at me."
Snape pressed his lips together so tightly that they became one line. "Go home, Miss Granger," he said tightly. He waved his wand in a complicated pattern. "Watch your step on the stairs."
Hermione glared for another second before Apparating from the lab.
--7:007:30pm, July 7, 1998...
She arrived in Market Square five seconds after 7pm. This time she would perform the spell that she had not had a chance to finish on June 28th. Her wand was out in a split second, twisting and weaving in a complex incantation, sweeping up the tendrils of magic left behind from the Apparition.
She gave her wand one final flick.
A succession of ghostly images appeared out of the tip of her wand: the hulking shadow of a steel mill and its single tall, thin chimney, a labyrinth of twisting streets in its shadow, boarded and broken windows in a row of brick houses, and finally a cul-de-sac and the last house with a small path of beaten dirt leading to its front door...
She smiled.
--12:301:00pm, October 13, 1998--
"No freaking way, Camilla. Abso-fucking-lutely not."
Hermione sighed. She had definitely had this conversation already today.
"What if I told you that Se-Snape would also be unarmed?"
"I wouldn't believe a word that he said," Harry snapped.
"Then believe me," she replied. She lifted a wand out of her bag and held it out for him to see.
Harry nearly sent his chair skidding across her kitchen floor with the force of his recoil. He stood up. "Are you telling me that's...?"
"I am. And it is. This is Severus Snape's wand. He gave it to me as a gesture of good faith when I requested that the meeting would take place without violence. Now will you trust me?"
"I... I just... give me a minute, Cami." Harry fell back into his chair limply like a rag doll, looking shell-shocked.
She could understand his reaction. Although both of them had known they were wizards for a mere eight years, the relationship of a witch or wizard to their wand had been drummed into them from an early date. From the time he received it, a wizard's wand basically became an extension of himself. The only time a wand ever voluntarily changed hands was when a wizard bequeathed his old wand, and then usually only to a close relative. Ron had once told her that touching another boy's wand was more offensive than grabbing his bollocks.
Hermione felt an annoying blush creep into her cheeks and was glad that Harry could not possibly know the reason.
"I..." Harry still seemed to be having trouble believing what he was seeing. "Yes, I'll do it. Tell Snape that I agree to meet him unarmed."
He drew his wand from his sleeve and set it on the table, as far away from Snape's wand as possible.
Hermione let out a sigh of relief. Gently, she placed both wands in her bag and shut it. "Good. I'll let him know. We should go meet him in about five minutes."
Waving her wand, she cast a Patronus, whispering to it before sending it away. Both of them watched the silver otter paddle and float its way out of the room. When it was out of sight, Harry turned to Hermione again.
"So where exactly did you arrange for this meeting to take place?"
Hermione told him. Harry sputtered. "Are you joking?"
"Not at all. We required a non-threatening, neutral location."
"Well, neutral it certainly is, but how on earth are you ever going to convince Snape to set foot in there?"
"He's already there."
Harry whistled in admiration. "I guess I was wrong, Cami. I should be wondering what sort of spell you have him under."
Hermione smirked, but her heart felt strangely warm. "I'd certainly never tell."
They both stood up.
"Ready?" Hermione asked as she replaced the Glamour and became Camilla Elliot once more. Harry nodded. They Disapparated.
--1:001:30pm, October 13, 1998--
When they arrived, Severus Snape was already seated in a booth, resembling a gigantic inkblot against the red vinyl seat.
Harry and Snape both noticed each other at the same time and stiffened as if they had been Petrified. Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed Harry's hand, dragging him over.
Snape glared daggers at them as they approached, weaving their way between running children and packed tables. It might have been her imagination, but it seemed as though most of Snape's glare was directed at their joined hands rather than at Harry himself.
They reached their table, and she released Harry's hand. She motioned that he should sit down. Harry slowly slid into the side of the booth opposite Snape. Then both men turned as one to look at her, awaiting her decision.
Hermione hesitated, and then she slid into the seat next to Severus. Harry grimaced. Snape smirked. Underneath the table, she felt Severus' knee lightly touch hers.
Having gained one small victory already, Snape conceded to speak first. "Potter," he said.
"Snape," Harry grunted after a beat.
"Excellent, we have demonstrated that we know each other's names," Hermione said. "I think that before we say anything further, we should ward ourselves against other ears."
Snape frowned. "I thought that no magic could be performed in this location."
"No magic with registered signatures," Hermione replied, and then she flicked her wand, whispering, "Muffliato."
"And where exactly did you get your unregistered wand?" Harry asked after getting over his surprise.
Hermione hesitated and then said, "Professor Dumbledore."
Snape's face drew very tight at the mention of the name, and he closed his eyes. Harry sneered and opened his mouth to speak.
"Harry," Hermione said in a dangerous whisper. She had a pretty good idea of what he had been about to say to Snape. "If you finish that thought, I swear I will never speak to you again."
Harry looked stunned. Then he seemed to realize that she was deadly serious.
"You didn't tell me that you had one of Dumbledore's unregistered wands," he said instead.
Now it was Hermione's turn to look surprised. "I didn't think you knew about them... and that if you did, you might be angry."
"Because he didn't give me one? I was angry at first when I found out. I didn't understand, still don't... but Dumbledore absolutely insisted that when the final confrontation came, wands would be useless."
"And he was absolutely right," Snape said. "Even if your wands were not brothers, you could never hope to out-duel Voldemort. He is faster and smarter than anyone."
"Including you?" Harry sneered.
"Including me," Snape replied without missing a beat. "Don't look so shocked, Potter. Slytherins were never the ones who were too proud for their own good. Now before this turns into another round of insults that will do neither of us any good, do me the courtesy of hearing me out. You can go back to hating me afterwards."
Harry scowled, but he nodded. Hermione, who had been recording ever since she had cast Muffliato, nearly dropped her quill. She had been expecting at least a few more minutes of bickering.
"There are two reasons why any wand will be useless against the Dark Lord. First, as I have mentioned, he is a better duelist than anyone in the wizarding world. The only wizard who could possibly have bested him is... was Albus Dumbledore. Although you may never believe me, the Headmaster's death was a sacrifice that I never wished to accept, Potter." Snape glared at him for a moment. When it seemed that Harry was not about to offer a response, he continued. "The second reason that your wand will be useless is simply the fact that you will only be attacking one piece of the Dark Lord's soul. Every single member of the Order could throw the Killing Curse at him, and in the end, there would still be four more nasty pieces of soul remaining alive. And as there is no chance of you finding the rest of the Horcruxes..."
"We can and we will," Harry stated.
"Is that so?" Snape asked. "What do you think the Death Eaters have been doing for nearly a year's time when they could have been attacking you? They have collected every single remaining Horcrux, except for the locket that Miss Granger has, and the Dark Lord has locked them away somewhere that even I do not know. But I can assure you that they are now impossible to find."
"Nice to know you're so optimistic about our chances," Harry snapped.
"If I were not, I would hardly have spent the better part of three months working non-stop with Miss Granger on this project, the results of which we would like to present to you, as long as you will kindly stop interrupting."
Harry rolled his eyes in a way so similar to Severus that Hermione nearly laughed out loud.
"As I was saying," Snape said, "the reason Voldemort has been impossible to kill thus far is because his soul has been split into pieces. Fortunately for us, this state of being for a soul is very unnatural, and we have been able to develop a potion that will restore Voldemort's soul to its original, unbroken state, without needing to destroy or even find his remaining Horcruxes."
Both of them smiled as Harry audibly gasped. "Is that true? Camilla?"
She was about to speak, but Snape interrupted. "I should think," he said to Harry, "that there is no reason to use Miss Granger's false name here. We are perfectly safe from prying ears."
Harry opened his mouth to retort, then seemed to realize there was nothing to protest against. "Sorry, Cam-Hermione. I didn't think. I'd just gotten used to it, I suppose."
"I suppose that you believed Miss Granger had 'gotten used to it' as well? And perhaps you also thought that she enjoyed her role so much that there was no possible way that she could be someone else underneath the role she was forced to play." The sarcasm in Snape's voice could have peeled the vinyl from their booth.
"Stop it," Hermione said wearily. "Harry, it's alright, but yes... I do prefer being called Hermione when it's safe. It feels more... right. Now as I was about to say about the potion..."
She paused, suddenly realizing that she knew absolutely nothing about the potion. She blushed as Snape removed a thick-bound stack of parchment from his robes and set it before her. She turned to the last page, her eyes flying over the words. "Harry, do you remember the project that I was going to work on after I left Hogwarts?"
"Yeah... this is that project?"
"Yes. We discovered an alternative use for the resulting potion. When a person is restored after the Killing Curse, they are restored to their natural state. We didn't manage to keep the subject's body alive, but lab tests revealed a perfect record of preserving the subject's soul. Now, before you freak out, the lab subjects were, ah, rabbits."
Harry blinked. "You used the Killing Curse on bunnies?"
Snape winced. "If you simply must put it that way, Mr. Potter."
"Now," Hermione continued, flipping back and forth in the parchments as she spoke. "I won't bore you with the details, but we were able to confirm that the potion restores the untouched, natural version of the soul even in the case of contamination or manipulation. Once the potion is administered to Voldemort and he is struck with the Killing Curse, his soul will be restored to its original, whole state. Then you'll be able to finish him off with the nasty hex of your choosing. If his body is destroyed in the process, so much the better." Hermione laughed, "Those are your words, aren't they, Sev-Snape?"
Her heart hammered in her chest as she beheld Snape's stricken look and realized just how close she had come to calling him by the wrong name. Harry, fortunately, didn't seem to notice, preoccupied as he was by something else.
"Do you mean to say," he asked in a testy voice, "that everything about the project is written in that stack of parchment? That both of you write in it? And that it is kept separate from your regular notes, Hermione?"
"Yes," she said. "We thought that was the way we would work most efficiently together."
"Not really smart, though, is it? If anything happens to those notes or if they happen to get altered in any way, she would have no idea. She might forget everything about the project."
Hermione went slightly pale. Snape sneered. "You don't have much faith in your friend, do you, Potter?"
"That's not what I meant, and you know it! I just want to make this clear, Snape. I don't trust you, and I don't think I ever will... not completely. I'm willing to believe that you'll do everything in your power to help us kill Voldemort. I'll even admit that I might have been wrong to hate you for so many years when your actions, if not your words, seemed constantly directed towards protecting us. But the way everyone, including me, will always see you, no matter what else you do, is that Dumbledore's death is and will always be your fault."
Snape's jaw tightened the tiniest fraction. Hermione knew that was all that Harry would see.
Her eyes, however, had become attuned to the smallest, restrained responses that expressed Severus Snape's entire range of emotions. They remembered even when her memories did not. Her eyes saw the pain in his visage and the way his hands folded together to disguise the trembling in his fingers.
"There is no need to apologize for hating me, Potter," he said in a perfectly controlled drawl.
That had obviously not been the response that Harry had been expecting. He was silent for several long moments.
"Potter," Snape said. "We needn't belabor the fact that the two of us will never get along. But I also refuse to see my and Miss Granger's work go to waste. All I ask is that you ensure that I won't be attacked from both sides when the final battle occurs."
"And afterwards...?"
The question hung in the air like a lead weight.
"Let's worry about that when the time comes," Snape said lightly.
"You tell us how to put your potion to use, Snape, and we'll do it. You do everything in your power to help us and swear that Hermione will come to no harm, and I'll meet you halfway."
Snape gazed at him and then glanced quickly over to her. He nodded. "Agreed."
"In that case," Harry said. "I think it's time the Order met once again."
Next chapter: Hermione turns the tables on Snape and invites him to dinner. Hermione comes clean with Harry, and just where did Hermione manage to convince Snape to go for this meeting? Also, remember that catnip from chapter 8.
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Latest 25 Reviews for Memento Amori
114 Reviews | 3.13/10 Average
I think this ending is most apt and very powerful! I know it's a happy ending and I feel the continuation of their story is a cure.
I can't thank you enough for putting the time and effort into creating such a complicated masterpiece. I enjoyed every minute of every read through I've attempted to piece it all together. This tale was very satisfying.
You've managed to infuse lovely humor and saracasm and believabilty into their relationship and their characterizations. All with a convoluted mystery that needed solving and truly does make sense in the end. Chris Nolan eat your heart out.
Only thing I didn't "get" was the Harry becoming enamored of Cami/Hermione. That was awkward and she avoided that well.
Haha although Cicero "died" this is another great and funny chapter. And thank you for the notes, it's really coming together now.
Love love this chapter! Lots of great one liners and little scenes that I adore.
"... she shivered at the butterfly-wing feeling..."
Oh my that was very sensual.
Omg they really did it. She should be ecstatic! The best in his life, indeed.
A very intense and engaging battle scene you've written here. Loved it!
Wow you really know how to twist things up! I'm ready to settle down for a long drawn out read.
Swoon swoon swoon. Romantic!Snape to the rescue.
My gosh I wish she could remember all these little humorous things that happen between them! I love how she's getting to know him but upset that she won't recall.
Someone really needs to draw a fan art of Snape AK-ing some daisies!!
Wow! I finally finished reading it for the second time. I had to print it out and read it straight forward chronologically the second time. That was a great story. I do wish there could have been an epilogue but I know in my imagination they live happily ever after. My hat is off to you for being able to pull something like that off. Truly amazing. Thank you for a wonderful read.
Response from Olethros (Author of Memento Amori)
I hope that not too many trees had to give their lives for this noble cause 
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Response from Olethros (Author of Memento Amori)
I hope that not too many trees had to give their lives for this noble cause Thank you so much for your kind words!
“Excellent, we have demonstrated that we know each other’s names,” Hermione said. One of the funniest lines I've ever read. Maybe I shouldn't have done, but I found this chapter was very funny. I was also chuckling at performing the Killing Curse on bunnies.Good meeting between the three of them, nicely written, things are becoming clearer. There has been a few warnings about the dodgy stairs now, could there be a simple explanation for Hermione's injuries? I am intrigued, so I'd better get on with the story.
Response from Olethros (Author of Memento Amori)
Glad you enjoy my dark humor... most of this chapter was definitely intended to be funny.Also, not going to answer about Hermione and the injuries but the stairs... ah yes, the stairs will indeed make a repeat appearance. Good eye!
I haven't reviewed every chapter because this is the first time I have paused. You weave your story beautifully, the non chronological time makes me really sympathetic with Hermione's position. I am pleased that you haven't spent the majority of these early chapters wading through too much of Hermione's emotional state. It would have been very easy to get bogged down in the sadness and loss of most of her memory. Still, you have clearly shown her reation, and I particularly admired the way you had Ron and Harry react. You have done a good job of keeping everyone in character, Hermione's practicality, Harry's moving forward to do what he must, and Ron's affection. It's nice to see a Ron in an HG/SS fic that isn't belittled and killed off at the first opportunity.You certainly have a flair for dramatic writing. Your scenes are well constructed to give the reader a lot of information in relatively few words. This really adds to the fast pacing, giving us a lot of action as well as explanations, meaning that readers like me are thoroughly swept along with Hermione.I look forward to reading the rest.
Response from Olethros (Author of Memento Amori)
Possibly one of the most flattering reviews I've ever gotten, thank you so so much!! I am glad that you are enjoying my work; it's the best reward that a writer can get. I'm especially glad that you thought my writing to be in character - that is always what I strive for first and foremost.Hope that the rest of the story lives up to your expectations!
*is stunned*
After reading chapter sixteen, my intention was to go back and read the whole thing backwards, but that last chapter was so exhausting, I think I need to step away for a while. Maybe some day I'll leave you a real review, but all I can say for now is that you have written an amazing story; I'm just not sure how I feel about it.
Oh this chapter is dark. Exquist imiagry of torture and pain. Very conflicting too, given the crying Snape before he chucks her down the stairs. Never ever read anything like this. It must have been challenging for you, I could never see me writing something like this.
Did they meet at McDonald's?
I am enjoying this fic, but I'm having trouble keeping the time lines straight.
I've just discovered it is possible (for me, at least) to squee in delight, cry, laugh, sniff and moan at the same time. You are absolutely right, no epilogue is needed. Let us imagine, each one, what life will be like to Severus and Hermione. What an amazing way to complete the story! Bravo!
I don't know if you'd intended it to be tricky, but I was thinking it was a sunset until I read this chapter; maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention to the dates and confused myself. Goodness, the dates are getting closer together now...
I had really hoped it was something like that. Wow!
The next chapter sounds exciting. And I don't have to wait. Very compelling story so far.
*applauds with a yawn* If I could keep my eyes open, I would. I haven't mentioned before, but I like the way you write everyone. Ron and Harry are often shortchanged in SSHG fics, but you've done a good job with them.
I like how there is something that ties the halves of the chapter together, like the wand in the previous chapter. I am so intrigued by the bracelet thing; I already want to go back and reread the first four chapters, but then I know I'd never get any sleep.
Oh, I told myself that I wasn't going to leave a review for every single chapter, but so far, I've had something to say.
I'm really interested in Hermione's research; I've already got a few ideas. Your recaps-as-forshadowing are brilliant!
Hmm, she remembered to call him "Severus." That has possibilities. Writing this story backwards and forwards must have been hard; it's amazing.
Okay, I know I said at one point that I wasn't going to read this because I was working on something similar, but I've pretty much given up on '50 First Kisses' and I can't ignore the siren call of a completed fic. I only hope I don't stay up too late reading this tonight, because right now I want to read the whole thing. You really gave us somehting to mull over.