Lots of secrets. Will Rose find out?

Hi,I can't say how much I've enjoyed this. I've really loved this. Thanks very much. All the way through I was hoping that they'd end up back together. It seems that Hermione got all she wanted out of her life because she embraced it from the beiginning, but Severus had to realise for himself.Any have loved every word - Thanks

Really thought with the last chapter the story was finally getting started. I'm sad to see it end with so little of what happened between Severus and Hermione actually written. I did thourghally enjoy it though. Your writting was excellent. Wonderful job for your first Novel.

Jean

I've really enjoyed reading your story.  I was relieved and happy when Hermione got the letter from Severus.  I also thought it was very realistic for them to take the time to get to know each other again.I love your writing and hope you write another story soon.

Oh what a lovely way to end this story.  I have loved it from the beginng and jump when I see a notification of its completion.  It is hard to believe we've come to the end.  Well written and well....just plain phenomenal.  I look forward to reading more from you.  You are gifted with imagery.  I always felt like I was "right there" with Hermione and Severus.  :) 

You cannot know how happy I was to see the letter Severus had sent Hermione.  And he wanted to see her the next evening!!!  When Hermione arrived at the Crystalline, she was a woman ignited. She hadn’t felt this alive in months. She was nervously looking for him, and when she saw him she went to him and he kissed her hand.  Speaking of his work and all the time it had taken, Severus told her “I lost the love of my life,” he said frankly, looking straight into her eyes. “To say that some people are now more comfortable just doesn’t seem a sufficient counterweight.”Their initial moments were spent in tentative and awkward conversation, but they soon found a rhythm and to speak of more intimate things.  She confessed that she had told Rose about her life with Severus.  “Yes. There, I said it. I still thought of you." “What do we do now?” she asked.“I’d like to be friends,” he said.“We’ve never been good at being ‘just friends,’” she pointed out.“We can try,” he said. “I am willing to partake of whatever you are willing to share.”When they had agreed to get to know one another again, and were getting ready to leave, Severus calledl out to her, "Hermione, I love you."And one year later, Rose wwas visiting her mother and Severus in Italy.  All was well.More or less, Rose thought, smiling to herself, which is as much as any of us could ask for. She followed her mum and Severus into the next room, watching as they walked hand in hand. Hugo will come around sooner or later.I am so happy for this ending for my two most favorite charactetts in all the world.  Thank you for making this happen.  Thank you, lady_rhian, for giving me one of the best reads of my life.   A Thousands Points to your House!BethCrystal by Stevie Nix

Do you always trust your first initial feelingSpecial knowledge holds truth bears believing

I turned aroundAnd the water was closing all aroundLike a gloveLike the love that had finally, finally found meAnd I knewIn the crystalline knowledge of youDrove me thru the mountainsThru the crystal-like clear water fountainDrove me like a magnetTo the seaHow the faces of love have changed turningthe pagesAnd I have changed oh, but you...you remainagelessI turned aroundAnd water, was closing around me Like a gloveLike the love that had finally, finally found meAnd I knewIn the crystalline knowledge of youDrove me thru the mountainsThru the crystal-like clear water fountainDrove me like a magnetTo the sea

This was a marvelous journey and you have provided a very satisfying ending to it all. I think you have amazing talent and a toast to you dear for a job well done!Can't wait for another story!

brilliant! you had me hooked from chapter one and i loved every bit of this story.

I loved that Severus tried to make up for past faults by expressing his love for Hermione from the get go.  One can only imagine what their 'slow' process of getting to know each other was like. I enjoy that Snape can have romantic emotion while still holding the edge that is Severus Snape.  To pick an argument over the love that she held for her husband only a few months after his death, might be a dangerous topic. ;)Wonderful chapter to end off a real and brilliant story. 

I have loved this story from start to finish!  It is so brilliantly put together, and it has a wonderful story line.  However, I do hate to see things end, and so I think that you should write a sequel about Hermione and Severus in happily ever after, or maybe one about Rose and Scorpius?  :D  Or better yet, both!  You are a fantastic writer, and I'm sure whatever you do next will be equally as brilliant.  I guess the best part of this story, was the fact that it was real.  It had the conflict that all good stories need, but it also had the happily ever after :D

When I read that Hermione's meeting in France had been postponed because of the magical illness of two of the researchers, I just knew one of them had to be Severus!  She had immediately Flooed a message to Severus asking him if he was alright.  And then three weeks later (and apparently Hermione had still heard nothing from Severus) Rose met Claire and we find out that one of Claire's uncles has been sick...  My heart fell to my feet.  The first thing I thought is "Severus is dying and Hermione doesn't know."  But surely she would have followed up on her note to Severus, and would have know what his condition was...Oh, my breaking heart!James' return was very sweet, and Rose's delight at seeing him was heart warming. After her talk with her mother in December, she had gained a new appreciation for the need people sometimes felt to get away.I loved the way you wrote of the first meeting between Rose and Claire.  It was beautifully written, and they took to each other like they had known one another all their lives.  Small World!Hermione's reunion with Claire was warm and welcoming, and it was obvious that they loved each other.Everyone seemed to have a great time at Mundy's, enjoying the music and each other.One thing that stood out to me was when Rose remarked to her mother that she looked tired, and Hermione had responded, "It's been a long day."  I wondered then if she had received news of Severus.  Then when I read she had not slept that night because she had found a letter waiting for her when she got home... well, you know me, I feared the worst.Again, this is a marvelously written chapter!  My had is off to you for such wonderful work!!!Beth

I was happy to hear Hermione tell Rose that her marriage to Rose's father had been a happy and fulfilling one.  It's good to know that after so many years of unhappiness in her tumultuous relationship with Severus, she had known contentment.  Just as I believe there is more than one person with whom someone can have a good marriage, I believe there are many different kinds of love, and each can offer happiness and contentment to those who share that love – which ever kind of love it is.  I was not surprised to find that Severus had kept in touch with Hermione all those years even though there had been ten years when there was no communication, because she had told him to stop.  Now she would be seeing him again, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.  You see, I like happy endings, and I don't know if that is possible for Hermione and Severus in this story.How ever this story ends, it has been a great read, and I have experienced great joy and gut-wrenching sadness along the way.  Now I go to what I had originally believed to be the final chapter, but I know that there is at least one more chapter in the queue.Wonderful!  Wonderful!  Wonderful!Beth

Trying to maintain a relationship that is so full of uncertainty wears people out, and Hermione was beyond exhausted.  Severus' long absences with little communication had taken their toll on her. With Ron's letter and Molly's death, the final death knell of Severus Snape and Hermione Granger was sounded.  It breaks my heart, but I'm not sure I wouldn't have made the same decision that Hermione did.This is great writing!!!Beth

This entire chapter was hard to read because the inevitable sadness was palpable.  When Hermione had told that she loved him, Severus could only say that he “...cannot return the sentiment... Don’t expect me to say it.”  It felt like a fist had closed around my heart and was choking the breath out of me.Everything is beginning to fall apart faster and faster.  That she was suffering from depression was a very bad sign.  This entire chapter was heartbreaking for me.Beth

This chapter was so bittersweet.  Their argument stemming from the number and duration of Severus' business trips led each of them say things I'm sure both later regretted.  But once spoken, words cannot be taken back.Severus went to bed without her and even refused to reply to her entreaties from the other side of the bedroom door.Her letter to Ginny clearly shows that her needs have changed, and she wants marriage.  As I read the chapter for a second time, I listened to "Heavenly Day" while I read the scene of their dance, and that's what pushed me over the edge, and I cried like a baby, because I know what is coming...Their interactions at Pierre's birthday party were observed by others, and Pierre even told her he could see that her relationship with Severus was sucking the life out of her.  Severus and Hermione are just not on the same wavelength.  His fear of allowing anyone to know he loves them whittles away at their love for each other.  I know in my heart of hearts that she loves him and he loves her.  But he cannot tell her, and she can no longer live with the uncertainty she feels.After they returned to the cottage, they had argued again, and he eventually told her, “I am not the marrying kind... “Take it or leave it.”  That sounds like a death knell to me, and makes me so sad.Ginny's letter only serves to increase Hermione's worries about the lack of commitment in her own relationship, and it is only a matter of time before they suffer a break that may never be mended.This is fabulous narrative and gripping dialogue.  Some of the best I've read.Beth

At the beginning of this chapter, Hermione stumbles upon Severus' list of potions that he admits he is researching.  She considers them to be illegal and/or immoral.  The way they parted really gave me a chilling feeling, a sense of the unraveling of their relationship.When Hermione begin to think that Severus did not hold their relationship on as high a level as she did, I felt the foundations begin to crack.Hermione's description to Rose of the ending of her relationship with Severus seemed to originate with the differences they had over what constituted immoral or illegal potions:  "It didn’t die. It failed to grow. The secrecy, the inability to compromise, our combined hard-headedness and lack of patience, the lack of communication –"  I don't mean to say that was the only cause of their problems, but it did seem to be the straw that began the camel's fall.Several times throughout the story you have alluded to Henri's pursuit of his "semi-illegal research."  I've wondered more than once if Severus' many absences because of work had anything to do with Henri's work.  Early on you wrote of a conference that Hermione is to go to (along with Kingsley and another Ministry official) to study a new variation on the Veritaserum potion to provide more security for restricted places or informtion... and this sounds like something Henri would have been working on... and Hermione was virtually certain that Severus would have been a member of the group of private researchers that developed the new variant.  In the meantime, Hermione attended Ginny and Harry's wedding unobserved by any save the bride and groom.Then she and Severus spent their first Christmas together, and there seemed to be moments of "uncomfortableness" between them.  And now I need to read on to find out about “An engagement.”Your story is so intriguing and beautifully written that I stand in awe!Beth

The John Donne poem about Death was a particularly good way to set the tone for Hermione's recollection of their talk the night before.  Her reply to his questioning why she had returned for his body pushed him to tell her, “I deserved to die, Hermione. I expected to. I wanted to – "Then when she had struck out and screamed and yelled, he demanded “Why do you care?” he asked icily. “Why do you honestly care how I… felt… when it was beyond your control? When you weren’t in the picture?”I thought those comments said more about the legacy he carried from his childhood than anything else you could have written.  It was the definitive statement of a man who had been an ill-treated child, and who had been treated no better by his masters, both of them.And she told him that she loved him, she made him acknowledge her words, and then They had slept curled against each other, limbs wound – the same bed, the same breath. The book of fairy tales she found in the attic reminded me of her Nana's book.  Is there some significance there?  When Hermione talked about wanting to go to Ginny and Harry's wedding, but not wanting to have to talk to anyone, Severus had misunderstood her meaning, and that led to a "discussion" that they would have needed to have sooner or later.  I thought her response was spot on, and it reiterated how much she had hated all the hero worship she'd had to put up with in Britain.Now I'm wondering why Severus is going to have to be away so much for the rest of the year.  This has been one of the busiest chapters yet.  So much happening in so short a time, or maybe it just seems like it to me.  There was a lot of hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and ultimately conciliation.Well done!Beth

Your lovely description of Capois in the winter made it sound like a scene from a fairytale.  What wizard or witch wouldn't want to live there?When Severus came into the kitchen, "half-naked and looking a bit worse for the wear, given last night," I had to smile.  But when Hermione congratulated herself for marking him with her scratches, I laughed out loud!  Never mind that she'd had to hide a few love bites on her neck courtesy of Severus.I must admit that I was not surprised that Severus declined to go to Australia with Hermione for a Christmas visit to her parent's home.  That is just not who Severus Snape is.  But I find myself wondering at the fact that Hermione has stated several times that she didn't love him, when it clearly seemed that she did.  In the kitchen she had thought "How on earth could she ever want someone else?"  But when her mother asked her if she loved him, she responded that she did not.  Then on the heels of that she thought to herself, "What?"  I have the feeling that she is so afraid of losing him that she is trying to build up some kind of protection against the day that might happen.  Poor Hermione.The welcome she received from Severus when she arrived back at his cottage was as loving as could be.  They had both thought they had been too long without the other.

Their love making had been passionate yet tender, and Hermione had given "herself up to him, thoughts of deeper feeling lingering on the edge of consciousness." This is a lovely and poignant story.  I wonder how it will end... so I'd better move on to the next chapter else I'll never know.Beth

So much exquisite beauty and indescribable sadness together in one chapter!Severus' painful recollection of the anniversary of Lily's death could be expected, but his striking out against Hermione was so hurtful that I was surprised that she didn't Apparate back to Paris.Your description of Severus' tear stained face, and his apology to Hermione for the things he had said to her was heart wrenching.  His confession that he cared about her, too, was unexpected.

That he made "love to her slowly, exquisitely" had been a long time in the making.  Why did it leave me with a fearful feeling in my heart?It was very loving of Rose to assure her mother that she wasn't going to ask her about what had happened after she had gone back to make up with Severus.  Sometimes the need not to know is greater than the need to know – and it is more merciful not to ask.

I can't tell you how good I think this story is.  It encompasses every emotion to which humanity is susceptible.Beth

Severus could be the world's best manipulator.  Putting his leg against Hermione's during their date to keep her from leaving was perfect Snape, and I loved it.  I was pleased that this time it was he who followed her, and their kissing in the rain was so romantic.  Rose's acceptance of the things her mother was telling her was a mark of grace and an indication of her love for her mother – helped along by copious amounts of good wine, no doubt.Hermione's mimicing of Severus (“Miss Granger,” she mimicked, dropping her voice and smirking, “I do believe we are involved.”) was brilliant.  I clearly saw the scene in my mind.I thought Hermione's discription of her relationship with Severus as "Two people desperate to forget yet clinging to the only visible wreckage" was so bittersweet.  There is so much evidence of the joy they took in each other, and yet much sadness, too:  "We were together for a long time – for a very long, trying, difficult, yet immensely pleasurable and satisfying time.” I am so glad to finally be reading this story!  Well done!BethPS- I forgot to tell you how much I liked the scene in the last chapter where you described Severus with "his reading spectacles firmly situated on his nose."

Rose's reaction to Severus' having left her mother to pay the bill at the bistro was completely believable.  Hermione's reply that Rose's mistake was in thinking Severus should have been a gentleman was very quick and funny.The interchange between Hermione and Severus immediately after Henri's presentation in Amsterdam was hilarious, and I had to laugh out loud.  That man can be maddening!And the dinner at Severus' home... it couldn't have been any better.  She really noticed him and he her.  So now they have a date for coffee next week.  And he kissed her!  Alright, it was only a kiss on the forehead, but, geez, it was still a kiss.A lovely ending to this chapter!  But I keep having this creeping fear that something truly heartbreaking is going to happen... why else would she have returned to Britain and married Ron?  I know the sadness will have to come sooner or later and that knowledge threatens to break my heart.This story of yours is wonderful.Beth

What a lovely chapter!  I'm glad that Pierre and Cosette already knew Severus.  It meant Hermione didn't have to waste a lot of energy pretending she didn't know why she fainted.  They already like him, and he's a supplier to Bureau d’Enquêtes et de Recherches.It was a stroke of brilliance for Severus to leave the bistro without paying the check.  What better way to keep himself in her thoughts, interested in seeing him again.  AND he had told her he was sure they would meet again.He bent, picked up her hand, and kissed it. “Au revoir. I am sure we will meet again.” Severus is still the master of all situations – he deftly guided Hermione's questioning of him, making certain that the questions that were the most intriguing for her, went unasked.  I'm lovin' it!Beth

I was thrilled when I read that "a shock of black" had fixed his gaze on Hermione with an animal-like intensity.  Then later after Henri's presentation at the Symposium, she had literally fallen into Severus' arms.“Miss Granger, you’ve completely lost your senses,” he declared in an annoyingly sensible tone. “Not that you had any before. This is an… unexpected surprise,” he said, sneer now firmly in place. “Stopped by my cottage lately?”The poor dear passed out cold!  What will happen next?  I'm glad that she has finally come face-to-face with the object of her obsession, and now I have to read the next chapter!!!Again, this is a great story!Beth

So much happened in this chapter.  Not the least of which was Hermione's finding Severus' home... “That’s the Prince cottage. They’re an old wizarding family – British, actually – all but died out. No one’s lived there for years. It’s quaint, though. Shame it’s abandoned.” I was amazed to find that Hermione had given up her search for Severus after finding his cottage.  And then amazed once more to find that, because of Cosette, she had finally met him.Was it just coincidence that the watercolors in her Nana's Nana's storybook looked just like the view of Capois? One unexpected twist in the road after another!  Great writing, BTW.Beth

Working herself to distraction (and illness) sounds just like the Hermione we all know and love.When Pierre asked her if she had ever considered Occlumency, I had to laugh.  He sounds like a good boss.  And Cosette sounds like she would be someone good to have as a friend.When Cosette told Hermione that she was taking her to lunch in Capois, I nearly fell off my chair!  What great good fortune!  Now Hermione will know where to look for Severus.  Perhaps she will spot him while they are eating! 

This is so much fun I'm surprised it isn't against the law!

Beth