Yes, the plot is thickening, and it will be stirred!As for Crouch, though you may not like him, remember we see him mostly from Severus's POV here. Don't forget that in the books, for most of the series, Harry believed that Severus was working against him and a lot of readers thought that he was really on Voldy's side. Appearances can be deceiving, as Hermione said to Severus at the end of An Act of Love!Thanks for reviewing! Hope you continue to enjoy the story.

If you want Severus to have a chance for something better, keep reading! ;-)This could be described as a Severus-redemption story. He goes through a lot, but . . . well, I'll let you read the story and find out!Thanks for the review!

I hope you enjoy this story. It's different from An Act of Love -- Act of Love covered the space of a few days and followed events closely and chronologically. This story doesn't. It is, however, about 3/4 a Severus Snape story, so hopefully you'll like that aspect of it.I recommend reading the little summary blurbs for the chapters if you ever leave the story for a while and are confused about the date of the chapter -- the first nine or so chapters are essentially chronological, though, not counting the prologue.Yep, Harry doesn't look too good here in the Prologue, does he? But he was generally pretty miserable about/around Snape during the first several books. But he's not essentially rotten; he's just behaving very badly. There's time for him to grow up and grow out of it . . .Thanks for the review.

Thank you! I'm very happy to hear that you enjoyed the story so much and that it provided you with hours of reading pleasure! I'm very glad you like the characterisations.Thanks so much for reviewing!

Back when I ate meat, practically the only way I would eat beef, esp cold, was with horseradish -- best stuff! (Did ya notice that he ate it in AAoL, too? Albus gave it to him. It really is the archetypal Severus Snape sandwich in my mind! Glad you agree on that! LOL!)I haven't (and won't -- stubborn ol'me!) reread DH since my first (adjective omitted) reading of it last July, but I'm having a lot of fun playing with the bits that I remember! Teehee! I am glad you appreciate it!Thanks much for the review! Hope you have a great week!

I'm not sure what you meant by "venues," but thanks. :)

They are in differenet roles in this instance.

Adrenaline can lead to all kinds of heightened feelings, can't it?Severus does need to move forward emotionally, in both large and small ways. Tough to do for him, for a variety of reasons.Glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Oh, and I also really liked that the Harry-as-Horcrux thing is not a total secret, and that Albus confided a lot of stuff in Minerva, who is in turn confiding as much as seems necessary in others.  Much better than JKR's version.  I can see why in canon SS had to be kept out of certain loops, in case Voldy did manage to break him despite his most valiant self-defense, but others could have been told things, and should have been.But OTOH it is a big burden on HG to know that Albus thought HP to be a horcrux.  She is clearly capable of keeping big secrets, but that's a huge one, esp. for someone her age!  Good thing that she has Severus to lean on, and Minerva too if needed.   It must be a very hard year for her--all her friends gone, balancing NEWT prep with Order/Trio work, and having no one her age that she's close to to really let off steam w/--or even study with!  And watching Ron and Luna from a distance.  Of course she, like MM at her age, gets on well w/ older folks, so it's especially good the adults are treating her as a colleague. Hopefully if she needs some special TLC SS  will pick up on it, even though TLC isn't exactly his specialty!

That's one thing he is . . . :)

Interesting question.

Severus does have that problem, doesn't he? Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you. I appreciate your comments! I hope the story continues to be thought-provoking for you.

Ta.

We all have those, "well, duh!" moments! LOL! Glad I could clear it up for you!I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review!

There is only limited "action" in this story, and it's more about relationships and perceptions, as you may have gathered from this chapter, in which we saw quite a bit of Hermione & Severus together, but we never saw them do very much -- like check the artifacts for curses, which we only heard about after the fact.I never thought they would end up together in JKR's world, but I thought they were a really good pair. Certainly better than RWHG -- recipe for a divorce there! LOLThanks for the review!

I'm fine with only limited action - there certainly is a plethora of other stories with loads of SSHG action!  I don't know why I always assumed Severus and Hermione would end up together when I was reading the HP books - I also always thought that Luna would end up with either Harry or Ron, and Ginny would end up with Neville.  And, of course, I am a total ADMM shipper - but JKR had to sink that ship.  Oh, well.  I definitely agree, though, that RWHG is a recipe for divorce!

By "action," I meant like high-speed broom chases, attacks by angry goblins, descriptions of curse-breaking, Horcrux-destroying, and the like. There will be interpersonal action, though! I never thought it mattered what the ships were in the books for fanfiction, so the concept of a "sunken ship" really doesn't hold any meaning for me. Look at all the different pairings there are in fanfic that have no or limited basis in canon. I also consider canon to be only the seven books. To my mind, this is the first "AU" story I have written; RaM is not compliant with DH, but it was begun well before DH came out, and I tried to keep it compliant w/ the first six books, in the sense that it didn't out-and-out contradict anything in those six books (well, I did deliberately take a bit of a liberty with Abraxax Malfoy's death date, which is implied in HBP, though not set in stone). SSHG would never have been "canon" even if he hadn't been killed off. She just wouldn't have done that, particularly as the books only go through the seven school years -- although if he'd lived, she could have made the epilogue less atrocious! (IM-not-so-HO!)

Oh....oops.  Guess you can see where my mind is LOL.

Thank you! The story is a bit different from my others in a few ways, I think, but I'm glad you are still enjoying the characterizations!I'm glad you like the SSHG interactions. She is important to Snape for more than one reason, and I hope that you continue to enjoy their growing relationship.Thanks for the review!

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it -- and that Crouch intrigues you!

I can see we're feeling very mature this morning: "poopy-head"! LOL! That gave me a good laugh on a rainy Sunday morning!I know you haven't the emotional range of a teaspoon -- good thing, too, to appreciate the stuff going on here.Tru & Malcolm were together a bit more than 20 years before he was killed, then a couple years later, she was attacked. At least SS wasn't the one w/ Malcolm -- I don't think he could have dealt with that, esp w/ his feelings toward Minerva.Minerva & Albus had about 40 years, plus their previous years of friendship. (I'm NOT revealing how long they were married, though! Trying not to "spoil" any future RaM sequels! *grin*)As far as Severus goes, as I mention in another response somewhere, we so often love to see the redeemed/reformed Snape, sometimes w/ some edge to him still, but we don't as often think about what he may have done that he was repenting, other than the obvious w/ Lily & her family & the prophecy. He was a Death Eater, a genuine one at one time, with all that went along with that.I don't make as much use of Luna as I could, but I am not focussing on HP, RW, & LL. The story is also more about the relationships and the psychological drama than the actual action/adventure side of things.I'm glad you're catching up! I know you've been "otherwise occupied" for a while, and all for the benefit of someone you don't even know. You're a gem! Proud o' ya, l'il sister! Glad I "adopted" you!

I was so amused by "poopy-head" that I forgot to remind yo that Robert's mother was a Gamp, and his Crouch father was a Gryffindor, so no poopy-heads in that branch of the family! teehee!

It was from Riddle's ring (and I'm not sure why that wouldn't fit with this story -- it simply has nothing to do with the DH, which are fictional here but which readers even knew existed until Book 7, and we still all assumed that there was a connection between the ring, the cursed hand, etc.), and obviously Minerva knew it was from the ring, as did a few others, though most people hadn't any idea why he suddenly had a shriveled hand; but beyond that, I'm afraid that you will simply have to wait for more of the story to be told. You won't have to wait very long, though, as some of this is discussed in the next chapter.Anyway, hope that was a somewhat clear response, as I'm half asleep!Thanks!

You know -- I misread your question! I thought you said DH, not Horcrux -- as I say, I was quite tired when I responded.It's not Horcruxes that are fairy tales! The Horcruxes are quite real! I htink if you reread the chappie in which the DH are discussed, you will see that it's the DH that are the fairy tales! Why would Albus send Voldy off on a search for Horcruxes, after all? That's chapter five. If you read the chapter w/ Severus and Hermione -- chapter six -- that confirms that the Horcruxes are real and the DH are the fairy tale. (I'm not sure why or if you thought the Horcruxes were a fairy tale, too, or if that was a typo.)

Here's the big part from chapter five:“Trail of bread crumbs, indeed! The Hallows of Death! A fairy tale!” Severus shook his head in disbelief. “And you say that the Dark Lord has already been bamboozled by some of this? Do you have any idea what he will do if he discovers prematurely that this is all just a stalling technique to distract him from Potter?"And from chapter six, where Hermione is talking to Harry:“A few things . . . but I have to say, this entire quest of yours seems like a wild goose chase – or Snidget chase,” she said, looking at Ron, whose hand was now holding Luna’s. “Look, I think you’re getting distracted from the main purpose. You have to find the Horcruxes. You have to destroy them, or killing Voldemort will do nothing except prolong the war for another generation. And who knows if he even can be killed normally now. He’s stronger than he was, Harry. We should be researching the ritual he performed to give himself a new body; we should be trying to figure out what the other Horcruxes are and where they’re located and how each one may be destroyed. We have four more left. It is January already. Time is not on our side.”“We are looking for the Horcruxes,” Harry replied. “But this is important, too. I know it is. Dumbledore said it was.”. . . The four talked a bit longer, Harry finally thanking her for her hard work, done despite the fact that she was sceptical about the existence of the Deathly Hallows. They promised to be careful, and Hermione hugged each of them before they left, even Luna, who gave her a vague smile, then she cast a Disillusionment Spell on a grumbling Ron. Hermione just rolled her eyes and shooed them out of the house.Then later with Severus:Hermione took a breath and told him about the Deathly Hallows and Harry’s obsession with them. “The thing is, sir, I think that it’s all just a story. And not simply because I’m a sceptic. I think there’s a . . . a hoax going on. I think that someone is trying to lead Harry from his mission to . . . to do what he’s supposed to be doing. I actually don’t know why it is that Harry believes so strongly, except that apparently in one of the last conversations that Professor Dumbledore had with him, the Headmaster said something specific, and now Harry has interpreted that to mean that he has to find these . . . these fabled items, and that finding them is just as important as finding and destroying – ” Hermione stopped herself just in time. She felt very comfortable with Professor Snape, but there were some confidences she couldn’t share, for her own peace of mind and sense of integrity, not from lack of trust in him.

Thanks for all of your responses!  I meant DHallows in my question, but wrote Horcruxes.  I was also tired when I wrote this, argh.  Thanks for the detail of your response! 

You're welcome!And the first time I read it, I read, "Hallows," and not "Horcruxes," assuming that was what you meant (and being tired), but then I was thinking about your question and went back to reread it. We were both tired, I guess!

Is he?  Not terribly often as far as we saw in AAoL, and there isn't much to say one way or the other in this story yet. Seems that he is actually pretty emotionally stunted and rather a bad judge of people in personal relationships, at the very least -- not to mention his emotional involvement and confused feelings (and immaturity) when it comes to anything to do with Minerva. (You probably remember Snape's inability to judge what was going on in AAoL with what he saw in the mirror -- he was under the foggying influence of the spell at the time, of course.) He is perfectly competent in certain areas, but I'm surprised to see such a broad generalization from that. This does require some detachment and careful reasoning to understand -- and more information than Snape has been presented with at the moment.

That's an interesting interpretation. We will see Alroy fairly soon, and we'll also learn a bit about Quin.Thank you very much for your review!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed that bit between Robbie and Severus.Suffering from something migraine-like at the moment, or I'd certainly think of something better to say.Thanks for reviewing!

So sorry about the migraine.  Severus probably has one too about now. <g>  Maybe you can bum some headache potion off him.This really is an exceptional chapter, IMO...Minerva, Severus and Robbie are all so much in character, and so much which needed to be said between Minerva and Severus is said.  She was so patient with him, and he did a good job, for Severus, of walking the line he needed to, w/o going so far over it he got hexed or destroyed his friendship w/ Minerva.  (A friendship he was sure he had destroyed beyond repair but now realizes still exists on some level, so that's a big unexpected gift to him from Minerva.)  And it can't hurt for MInerva to know what others are thinking about her and Robbie--even if SS is the most emotionally invested and biased, he's surely not the only one speculating and questioning--nor is constantly vigilant Mad-Eye. <g>.... It would be interesting to be a portrait on the wall in the Headmistress's sitting room and bedroom after Robbie arrives...both to hear them debrief their respective conversations w/ Severus, and to see what comes next. Aside...poor Gertie.  She not only lost an arm and her freedom but apparently had her face messed up too.  I do hope that her exile has still allowed her some ways to be in touch w/ those closest to her, and do her research or whatever else she hoped to do in her retirement.  She has in many ways lost the most of anyone in this story, figuring things cumulatively from the '30s onwards....

Gertrude has lost a huge amount in this story. But she did have a lot of good years with Malcolm in between times, not that that helps a whole lot during the bad years, but at least she did have those years. (Her face is disfigured on one side, and they were able to fix it up some, but not completely.)BTW, Robbie really will tell Minerva that he's pleased with how protective he is of Minerva. But that's it for the "portrair-on-the-wall" sneak peek!I'm glad you liked the chapter and the character interactions and dialogue.Thanks!

You can trust that Robbie brewed very good potions for Albus. Glad you liked the chapter! I hope to post the next one this weekend, but I want to finish HwtH this week, too, and then pick back up with RaM. And then there's RL, too -- pesky thing! LOL!Thanks for the review!

Well, I would say that Snape's response is more understandable than Minerva thinks it is, given that she doesn't know that he has seen, ahem, but her response to him was fairly patient, given that she is the one in the relationship with Robbie and knows him and what is between them, which Severus, despite what he saw, only has an inkling of. (Also, someone else viewing the same scene between Minerva and Robbie might have seen something quite different, in terms of interpretaion, although the essential actions they observed would have been the same.)As for Robbie, he is both amused and pleased, and he knows quite well what Snape is capable of -- after all, he is aware that it was Snape who cut off his mother's wand arm. Next up, we will see more of Snape (of course!), but this time, with Hermione.Thanks for the review!

I do try to keep ahead of my story so that I can post regularly without lengthy periods between updates. Don't always manage it, but I try. The next chapter is written, but still needs a bit of polish, and as I'll be prepping the next -- and last -- chapter of HwtH for posting, it will likely be Sunday before the next update of DD. You are right about Minerva -- she couldn't be manipulated into a relationship or coerced into a sexual encounter she didn't want -- persuaded, perhaps, but not forced. And other than when she saved Snape's life, she wouldn't do it out of any sense of obligation, either -- and even there, she tried to create some meaning beyond that.Robbie certainly didn't let Severus get to him, which bothered Snape even more!Thanks very much for the review! I'm glad you're still enjoying the story!