Let go of the Cindarela syndrom and you'll be a happy woman who can appreciate companion ship and love deeper than romance. It's the being the other half of another person so that two of you are an family and that goes deeper than romance. It doesn't preclude romance, but exceeds it. It's knowing you two are a unit for ever. It will always be you and him against the world. Stop disrespecting his right to and need for privacy. Embrace that as part of the man you love and he wouldn't be the man you love if that wasn't part of him. He owes you no obligation to share his personal life with your friends. The fact that he shares his secrets with you is a speacial gift he can only grant you if he can be certain you will keep his secrets. They are not yours to share. They are for safe keeping.  He may need to be cordial with your friends, but men like Severus Snape doen't need to tell all of his confidences to be a happy individual. It makes him unhappy.  Give him this. There are going to be accomodations you are going to want from him. I must go to bed now!

Facinating chapter!!!!

I really hope Severus & Hermione get together soon. I know they will be great together.

Aww... At first I thought Ron was being all mature and understanding about it and I was all proud of him for not being a prat for once. And then it turned out he was just out to take advantage of the situation. Although might one assume that he'd had a bit to drink as well and therefore not at the fulluse of his senses. That perhaps if they were both sober e might still be angry and disappointed but smart enough to try something like that.

It's probably a good thing that Severus didn't see it although I was pretty worried when he went to the shop.

I'm concerned about that beetle. If that's not a certain R. Skeeter then the Apocalypse is surely imminent.

OK. Now Hermione was being rude. No mature civil adult would tell another civil adult that had politely asked them to go do something with them, "I can't I'm busy today" without even looking up. Her mother must have taught her better. She sounded like the sullen teenager she is. As a mother of two helpless, lazy, selfish, adult women, far older than Hermione, who act like they are still angsty little teens who fight and bicker, want me to do everything for them and give them everything, but give nothing back and still speak rudely to me like an angry teenager when I have an opinion, I am well and truly sorry for Severus Snape.  I've been married 33 years. I don't think I would bother to train another husband and I would absolutely hate the drama of having to train a girl up into a wife. I got married at Hermione's age and I want to kill myself thinking about what it must have been like to live with me, now that I am a weary old woman. OMG! Just kill me now! Poor Severus Snape! Here we have two people just waiting to take offense at each other. One is snarky, paranoid, bastard and the other one is an immature, self entitled little brat.  It makes me want to stick a fucking fire poker in my damned ear! Please make them stop! I only like Narssisa and Kreacher right now. All the rest can go to hell. If I knew then what I know now I would have jumped off a bridge with a rock around my neck the first time I got pregnant with a girl child. I'd better go to bed. If I keep on I'm libal to go out and start beating the hell out of my daughters in their sleep. One has taken over my living room and the other the spare room, with their respective offspring. I can't even get to the @%##^ washer and dryer. Some one is always using it or taking a shower. And God forbid--GOD FORBID I say anything about it! We won't even go into them using my car. I might do myself a harm. Please help these two work this out like adults before it becomes too much like real life to bear. I must force myself to go to bed right this very minute!

Severus still needs to have better manners. He is nicer to house elves than is to Hermione unless he wants sex. He is rude and harsh and then thinks she will have sex with him when he changes on a dime and starts kissing her. I know men often don't associate the refusal to have sex with "You don't want to be intimate with me because I treated you like trash this morning", but the trained ones do.  I understand that Hermione needs to let Severus know she cannot have the bonding annulled. It's his fault for telling her several times in prision that she should sign annulltment papers. Not having the bonding annulled includes, "working it out" not "submission". That is a 2 sided effort. So far, Severus is acting like a total git. He is going to have to get over this crap about, "you already knew I was a bastard when we bonded." Hermione is being naive' about hanging with her old friends. Married women don't hang out with old boyfriends. I don't know how to get her to see that without maturity. Going back to school and staying in the 7th year dorms is absolutely ridiculous at this point.  She cannot go back as just another student. She should have her own rooms and be there as an adult assistant to Minerva while she finishes her studies.  Unfortunately that boat sailed when she bonded herself to the Head Master. Whether it was her intension or not, it is now a fact.  It is silly to keep the other adults in the 7th year dorms but not beyond the pale.  I do think it was very nice of Lucius to loan her his books, but he and Severus need to understand that legilimency and abduction for a good cause is not acceptable behavior in free society where men and women should be equals. 

Why can't he try to see even the tinyest little thing her way? He isn't willing to bend at all.  He's not her dad. He wants her to be a possession and his personal sex slave. He wants her to give in to any demand or mistreatment. She doesn't derserve the least kindness since it's her fault they are bonded. He is too abusive and bossy to be with. This is just the way I am and I can't change" is really, "I won't even try to change. Get over it!" She may be bonded to him for the rest of her life, but she doesn't have to put up with his abuse. I've been pulling for Severus for the first 21 chapters, but his believing Rita Skeeter of all people is bullshit and insulting. He is just being a total ass hole and I hope Hermione doesn't cave to this behavior. He didn't take her on dates to be kind. He did it to get his way.  

Argh! I know Hermione is stalling, but come on the man was a virtual blabber mouth, for hime anyway, and she is still holding back.  She is crushing him with her reservations.  Each stall or delaying tactic is like a knife to his soul.  The man has always seen himself as unlovable and she is only reinforcing it.

It's time for Kingsley to sack that gossipy old biddy, Maggie.  I wonder who else Skeeter has as hangers on that thinks she's famous and act as informants just for the privilage of being associated with the bitch.  There are a lot of stupid people in the muggle and the wizarding world.  I wonder how much trouble this is going to stir up for Hermione.  I know that she and Severus haven't decided what to do, but for the sake of propriety, Hermione needs to be acting like an adult woman, a married woman until she has this annuled. She should not be acting in public in any way that would lead to embarrassment for Severus or make it appear he is being cockhold.  He's only a man.  His pride can 't take that. It's just common decency and has nothing to do with her relationship with Ron.  One would never see Severus hanging all over and talking with heads close together and subtle touches in a restraunt with Narcissa Malfoy. Hermione needs to be more mature and more aware regarding less touching of other men even in friendship in public.  She says Ron and Harry are brothers, but not everyone else understands or believes that. What I would expect Hermione's conduct in public to be is respectful toward Severus, to not do things that start gossip that could lead to his embarassment. He is fragile. Even if I expect him to work on his controling nature, Hermione needs to work on behaving like she is not free to touch and behave in too familiar way in public with other men. The part about Prince House is intriguing. I look forward to more.

I love the way he studies her face before he kisses her. You must have been watching some seriously romantic movies and studying what makes a kiss hot. The one that comes to mind came out in 1982. It is the Scarlet Pimpernel with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour. 

that SO counts as opening up! I enjoyed the chapter!

I actually reviewed earlier but my 'puter went berzerk and I see it never posted. *grumbles* I still feel bad for Sev - can't help it. I feel like their relationship has gotten kind of stagnant. It seemed like, if Hermione would have stayed the night with Sev, for the first time he might have been more attentive to her needs. He seemed genuinely interested in her, more than just sexually this time. For Severus' character, I feel like he actually wants this even though he has a hard time showing it. For Hermione, as of now, I get no interest from her at all. Aside from her brief desire we saw at the end of the chapter - which is purely sexual rather than intimate - I just am not feeling any emotion from her other than wanting out. I do hope she comes around and we see her feelings for Sev growing a little. I know you said she wanted to get to the library but I just don't see the leap between reading a book and feeling true emotions for another person. I think it'd be nice to see Hermione have a little 'want' for Severus as he so obviously does for a relationship with her (underneath it all).I'm looking forward to seeing her 'library discovery' and how you may transition that from her seeming lack of interest into love (if that's the end plan in this fic - I guess I am really assuming on that, aren't I? LOL).  

Hermione seems to have no clue how it appears to be a married woman seen in public alone with men not her husband. The Malfoys are expecting too much from her, I believe. I assume Hermione was not taught class society etiquette. Hermione does seem to be too immature for Severus. You reminded me before she is a teenager. True. She behaves like one. I have now come full circle. I think Severus should dump her. At the beginning of the story my sympathies were for Hermione. Not anymore.

I know she's too young to understand that he hasn't allowed himself to get his hopes up. Just like she doesn't know what to do next, he doesn't either. They are both in the same spot. I believe that Severus does want Hermione. I hope she gives him time to sort it out before she annuls the bond. I think they can be happy together. He just never let himself become attached to anyone. He couldn't. If she can put her feelings of rejection aside and reason this out, think about what he said in Kingsley's office, I think she'll see he hasn't actually rejected her. I don't blame her for having a good cry. She'll feel better once she gets it out.

I am sorry for Ron, but he is being a git. Maybe he and Angelia would make a good match. I do hope Hermione and Severus start fall in love. I'm addicted. I hope I don't get ahead of the updates. Thank you for this lovely long story. 

She is still an unregisterd animagus? Why doesn't Harry turn her in? Hermione or Harry need to say something to Kingsley. Why haven't they thought about that? I know they ingore her as a gossip and don't give her the pleasure of knowing they waste any time actually thinking about her.  But if Kingsley tells them about the information she has, one of them will surely make the connection. If all of the wizards and witches she gossips about knew about her animagus form they would be fumigating their houses and work places and would be stepping on every bug they see before they open their mouths to take a breath. Severus and Hermione's emotional relationship is very realistic.  It would be unrealistic for her to start saying she loved him and for him to start telling her the same. What does he really want to hear from her, though. She says she wants to make a go of it. I suppose he can't believe it. He doesn't want to be her charity case. She would get further with him if she would tell him she is getting something out of this, even if she has to make something up.  She could say she gets a husband who is a geinus, is powerful and she would have access to a first class potions lab for research. She could say he has knowlege she wants. And...she could tell him she likes the sex. She wants him for that at least. Those aren't far from the truth, but don't tell him you are doing this because you are a Gryffindore and make him feel like a charity case. He would rather rot in Azkaban than be Hermione's project like the elvles. I can't expect a young girl to understand a man's pride. I wish someone who is on Snape's side would give her a hint of what wouldn't make a man want to cooperate.  Maybe if she could get the courage to ask to speak with the Malfoys Lucius could tell her how to get him to cooperate. She knows they are his best friends. It would make sense to go to them for advice on how to help him. I know she is afraid, but if she really cares about him she would do it.

this is a major rocky road (and no marshmallows) for those two.  wonderful update.  thanks so much

Seems odd that she would accept a job without even talking it over with him.  It makes him look like a man who can't support his wife.  Did she even think of that or was she just trying to find a distraction from her circumstances?After cleaning his house, she offered no word of praise or thanks or anything beyond the basic observation.  It makes her seem high maintenance and hard to please.She also seems to be running hot and cold.  So hot to not annul during the days in prison, so cold now.  I understand that she wants to know what he wants, if he really wants her or is only going to emotionally abuse her for the next 100 years.  But she needs to figure out what she wants apart from what he wants and she is avoiding doing just that.I think if her goal has been to payback Severus for his cruelty in their initial time together, then she has succeeded.  She is acting like a self-righteous, thoughtless, self-centered, immature, callous twit.  In other words, a teenager.  I wonder if she realizes how truly unattractive she is when she behaves so badly.  Probably not.  She is quite self-absorbed.  I wonder if anyone has the balls to tell her.... 

Argh!  Can I kick him?  Seriously, that man needs a course in dealing with women.  OMG what an arse.  I totally understand Hermione's quandry and how she dealt with his invite back to Spinners End.  I mean just because he was "sorta nice" on one day doesn't mean that she can just hop back in bed with him.  What an awesome display of inner strength.  But seriously he needs to do some self examination and realize that he can't keep making demands on her or throwing a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way.  Omg, Stupid Stupid man.  Please update soon!  Much Love ~ Brena

I absolutely LOVED this chapter!! I like how Hermione and Severus were able to talk civilly in this chapter...very nice. I can't wait to read about the coming weekend they spend together. Keep up the amazing work! ~Jen*Oh, and I started posting my second story (if you're interested).

Hooray for Minerva!  She's willing to give them a chance.  I hope Narcissa's planning some meddling, too.  I love your expressions: deal with the dragon after he egg hatches, a two-headed newt, making a dragon from a salamander!  inventive and charming.It's a pity they didn't say what they thought!  Hermione thinks, 'trust me; open up to me" but doesn't say it, doesn't demand it.  and he needs to tell her he wants to make it work.  but I imagine he's afraid to show anything like affection or real interest, lest he get snubbed.The sillies!  But one thing I have learned (and learned again) in my life is never to underestimate the power of human stupidity.  Looking forward to more.  thanks for the update.

Great update! I wish Hermione would make up her mind though. She is giving him a complex.

I just realized I forgot to review this chapter...whoops! Anyways, I loved how Severus handled the meeting with the governors. He was so calm and matter of fact, I guess that's just his way but it was still great to see. Also I think the story line with his great-grandfather is an interesting side story. I do hope that Severus and Hermione stop talking "at" eachother and start talking "to" eachother soon. Relationships really only work when there's compromise and neither of them are trying real hard. Well that's just me. I'm off to see what happens next. Much Love ~ Brena

 Your killing me lol and making them suffer, how cruel lmao. i'm enjoying the story very much but no more suffering please !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

First off, I love this story. I can't wait to see where their relationship goes. Unfortunately, this chapter really bugged me. I'm from Atlanta, where Coca-Cola's hq is, so when you said she was drinking a Pepsi at a Burger King, I had to cringe. Burger King doesn't serve Pepsi, especially when it serves Hi-C, a Coke product. I know it's a minor detail, but as a staunch Coke drinker, I found it very bothersome. But again, let me express that your story is one of the ones I look forward to being updated. Good job with that.