I'm glad.

Thank you -- more is on the way!

Thank you for understanding Severus's reaction to being slapped, and his request re: their children.  I wrote more abouth that in my response to a previous comment if you want to look for it, but suffice it to say that this was an important moment to me.

Thank you!  Your review means so much to me!

Poor Hermione!  Poor Severus!  Things will get worse before they get better.

Thanks for mentioning Snape's asking her to promise not to strike the children. When I was writing the previous chapter, his insistance "No is an acceptable response, hitting is not," repeated again and again, struck me as meaning an awful lot. We also know he's never hit a woman. It just seemed to me unfair (after I'd written it and enjoyed writing it) that Hermione could get away with slapping him, without understanding what that would truly mean to him.

Thanks!  The dysfunctional duo will be interacting with a lot of people in upcoming chapters, and it will be "interesting!"

Funny I never saw them as dysfunctional until you pointed that out, but I guess they are now that I think about it.  Well dysfunctional or not they are fun.  Thanks.

That's what my beta calls them.  Maybe because (so far) they haven't even managed a good shag without it going south.  In most fanfics i do think they manage to get that part right, at least!

Well, snuggles and lemons will reappear, promise!

Thank you for the response!  What are the odds that they can actually keep Voldy from developing a further interest in Hermione, hmm?

Considering it's Hermione, who can't help but be interesting, I'm not putting too much hope in that! ;-)

Thank you for all the comments!

I'm not sure why my fic would be different from other MLCs from the standpoint of age, since the age is the same, but I do know that Severus suffers a lot of angst about it.

My Hermione has refused to be mature-beyond-her-years Hermione, which doesn't help with the age-difference between them.  Yet at her core she's immensely strong and fierce and determined, and has a huge heart, and so I'm truly loving the dance between the two of them.

As for work -- I can't begin to tell you how much creative joy I'm getting out of this.  

I also appreciate ALL the reviews, because they do make it easier to keep going.

So thank you, for everything, and especially for your detailed responses.

I think Snape is a mix of a coldly calculating wizard who can handle damn near anything, and a man who never in his entire life expected to wake up with a wife, much less in a situation so domestic as to involve said wife and a lapfull of menstrual blood.  I do love to torture him so.

Oh, I like the "E" section!  Thank you!

Thank you!

As for the smoking -- I haven't made it clear and I'm not sure if it will ever be spelled out, but this is something he takes on as part of his Death Eater persona.  The only time we've seen him smoke is with Draco, and now with the Dark Lord.  I'm not sure where that came from, other than the fact that I liked the idea that seventh-year Slyterins had their own smoking salon, heh.

Much about Hermione will be understood, but it's not necessarily new backstory.  Much of my Hermione is based on the way she appears to me in canon.

I do like your characterisations - they are very 'in character' but we get a much more indepth look at them than canon would ever allow.  Looking forward to reading more!

Thank you!

Thank you so much for your response to this chapter.  I have been so deep in writing the next (which is now up) that I let my responses slide, but believe me, I do read and love every one.

Thank you so much for your response to this chapter.  I have been so deep in writing the next (which is now up) that I let my responses slide, but believe me, I do read and love every one.

Thank you!

Thank you!  You should have seen my bliss when I (at the very last moment before posting) thought of that chapter title!

Gather ye rosebuds, indeed! 

Thank you.  That IS smooth!

Thank you! (Of course one reason the legilimency is different is because Severus is so relaxed and willing.)

I know Hermione's reactions have confused people from the beginning.  As we move forward in the story, much will be revealed about those confusing reactions and their source.  Even Hermione will be stunned.  In fact, I've already broken with my traditional naming strategies and (at least tentatively) have titled that chapter, Miss Granger, What Have You Done?

As for half-truths and disinformation, well, yes.  He is Snape, is he not?  

Thank you!

There are things about this Voldemort that surprised me, and will be revealed.  As for his relationship with Snape, well, Snape is simply one of if not his favorite.  And it startled me to see that Snape seems possibly more comfortable with Voldemort than with Dumbledore.  The plot thickens...

do you know how many chapters you gonna have?because the way your goin its gonna be thicker than all of JKRs put together! hahayou should have been a co-writer

I have no idea how many chapters.  I think I'm probably 1/2 way through, or close to it, but I'm not positive.

When I wrote the first chapter this was going to be a humorous/smutty little MLC w/o much substance.

I clearly have no control of this universe nor of these creatures.

I am putty in their hands.

Sigh.

the characetrs have come alive so much that they can control you!! wow

You're right about the guilt, of course.  But I think more will be revealed in coming chapters about what she's feeling and why she's feeling it.

As for being "abused," I think it's a more a matter of being "used."  In this instance, she knew what happened between them would be one-sided, and it distressed her (she wasn't sure what she thought about it) but she was willing to be used in that way, because of what she perceived that he might have gone through.  Does that make sense?

It makes sense, yes. I was just thinking in general, really, not just about this chapter but the way she has been accepting his treatment of her from the beginning (e.g. the way she casually accepted the quite brutal wedding night and the quite real physical harm she was caused).

It makes sense if she never expected anything else/better from him (which she likely wouldn't have), and especially as the whole thing was her idea, but on the other hand, it's a little odd to think about an 18 year old girl accepting such treatment so easily, no matter what she might have theoretically prepared herself for, and so readily offering more of herself - if that makes sense?

I'm not saying I can't accept it, I'm just finding it curious and an intriguing (if slightly disturbing) way of portraying her - and quite looking forward to seeing any future revelations about her reasons and feelings!

Oh, then, yes you're exactly on track about the big picture.  Guilt, combined with never expecting anything better from Snape (of all people) to a sense of something similart to duty -- I think Hermione is very pragmatic about things that can't be changed.  She'll battle windmills for house-elves but I also saw how willing she was to lose her friends when she was positive that Harry's new firebolt must be jinxed.  She is VERY determined and willing to sacrifice her own happiness when she's trying to protect people she cares for, and I think that shapes a lot of her reactions.  And then, of course, there's the other thing I've been hinting at. 

Too bad she didn't kill the old geezer.LOL!Thank you!

Too bad she didn't kill the old geezer.LOL!Thank you!