Lovely chapter.  I'm glad he realized who it was that made the promise.  I'll bet it will be a long while before accepts even tenderness from Hermione.

wow hermione is gonna get it serveus is gonna be pissy i cant wait to see what happens next 

This is wonderful!  I'm looking forward to the rest.

Sev's definately feeling the pressure pushing down on him at the moment. Question is, what's he going to do with this new information?

I liked this! While I can respect and envy the kind of love Severus carried for Lily, I much more prefer a Severus who realise that Lily is gone and that though they were friends, Lily never had the same feelings for him as he for her. That Lily wasn't perfect, and though they were friends at some point, she wasn't friend enough to forgive him for making a mistake, and that she not only got married someone else, but his worst enemy. And, the sooner he sees that Hermione has all the qualities he for so long have lulled him self to believe were in his relationship with Lily, the faster he can find something real to hope for, live for and find comfort in. Update again soon!!! 

Fantastic chapter - I am glad that he found out that it was Hermione that had helped him in his time of need. He needs something to make him whole and something to pull him away from his obession for a love that never was or never will be... Hermione might be the ticket.

Eeep!  I can't wait to see what happens next!

Severus and Harry have so much in common, rotten childhoods, lack of self belief, guilt,  a desire for acceptance etc etc , Harry as a child, looks into the mirror and sees what might have been with his parents, Severus is older and looks for what might have been with Lily.

I think you've really got something here, it's very well thought out, carefully written and your characterizations are spot on.  Can't wait for more!

Aha, not as straightforward as it appears!  Very good chapter.  Hope you have more on the way soon.

wow.  i had read this previously and thought it was lovely, but i don't see a review from me - i think my computer must have eaten it.  it does that some times.  in any case, i'm really glad you decided to continue with it.  this second part was beautifully written.  i loved the parallel between him and harry both spending that year staring into the mirror.  and when he realizes it was hermione, not lily.  i eagerly await what happens next!

god im loving this story! i need more!!

I'm looking forward to a confrontation between Severus and Hermione, especially since she will most likely begin to appear in the mirror. I'm really enjoying this, and I hope you continue, even though it also works as a one shot, or short piece.

I hope there will be a rest. If not, nevermind, it's perfect the way it is! :))))))))

Wow, that was emotional, but really well written. Good job, I can't wait to read some more of your stuff!

I loved the interactions within this.  Severus' thoughts and words were quite the eye opener to the real him.

Oh, how I love this story!

I particularly love the perfection of your title.  I keep unconsciously hearing it, like a haunting refrain, in the back of my mind as I read....so many here are "on the edge of the night"---Harry, with the Dark Lord inhabiting part of his soul;  Lucius, locked away in Azakaban;  Draco, navigating the quicksand of the Dark Lord's treacheorus "charge" he must carry out;  Dumbledore, now injured and dying but still trying to direct the fight, soon even from beyond his grave; Hermione, seeing from her heart the good in Severus' heart, and the evil that still tries to tear him in two; and (I can't help saying it--Poor) Severus, who is barely bearing up under the strain of living in three worlds, with three pitilessly cruel masters--Voldemort, Dumbledore, and his own inflexible sense of duty and rightness and self-condemnation and self-flagellation.

Yet he "does" bear up under it--or did--until he began to be undone by the silent, insidious, sweet corrosion of his armor by means of the utterly unconditional acceptance, caring, compassion....love...of a teenage girl.

Which he now fears to lose.

I CANNOT WAIT for the next---for his wonder and awe and shock as the "night" begins to fade into a dawn for him that he never expected, as he learns that this gift is not so ephemeral as he seems to judge it to be.

Waiting with mad impatience for more...

terrific story.  thanks so much

Holy crap! Soooo exciting, please continue writing.

sending some love in the form of a review.  Please update soon!  Excellent story.  I love the way Hermione sees through so many things, perceives what is really going on with Snape.  He deserves that much.

I don't know how I somehow missed finding your story until today!  But once I did, I had to sit down, negelct my work, sleep, phone calls, etc. until I'd read it all.  So good!  I am loving your fic so terribly much!

I really enjoy the voices of your characters and the dialogue is sehr phantastisch!  It all seems so believable.  You've weaved your story in so well with canon to make it seamless and causes me to think that this is actually how events transpired (haha, there I go again talking about HP as if it were real).  SO much beautiful angst and such a myriad of emotions that all feel so relatable and plausible!  Great job!

Just a side note:  in this chapter, Hermione suspects that Snape casts a Muffliato and then he confirms it; in the books, she doesn't even know this spell exists until Harry starts using it after he reads about it in the HBP's potions book--which would still be a school year away in your fic.

Just thought that I'd mention that.  Anyways. . . Great writing!  I love it all and I can hardly wait for more!  Now to catch up with the RL that I've been neglecting  *sigh*. . .  I wish I could just melt into your fic.

beautiful.  I hate Snape having to go back to that horrible creature.  Sometimes I avoid stories in which Voldemort has not yet been defeated but this one is so good.  I'm glad Hermione is there to care.

loving this alternative POV of the story.  Thanks for updating....and waiting with bated breath for the next installment.

Poor Hermione, Poor Snape!  I hope they kill off that rotten Moldywart in a hurry!

Letting Hermione see Lily and James together gave some insight into Severus' character and what his frame of mind has been. She began a deeper sympathy not only for where he is now, but what he must have gone through by losing Lily all those years ago.  When you love someone, the more you understand them; the more you understand them, the deeper you may fall.  She's seeing Severus almost entirely now, and with Dumbledore's demise and his subsequent plans for Severus and Hermione's partnership in action, Hermione is going to fully see the span of the darkness in Severus. She's going to have to understand every aspect of him if she wants to be in his life long-term.  But I don't think Severus is going to make easy work of this intended partnership that Dumbledore is requesting.  And now that Dumble's implied that Hermione is in love with Severus, Severus is going to have an even more complicated task of sorting both of their feelings out, trying to keep her safe and trying to keep things plausible and/or hidden from the Dark Lord. It's going to be a long, hard road ahead for everyone.