Yes! So glad he isn't impotent and now he is angry and I'm shivering with antici-

Mmmmm! Such an action-packed chapter with surprisingly little action--just a nice dance. You are the master of suspense.

I did not foresee the mid-dance tumescence test coming. That was brilliant :) (And an assessment I'll have to make use of in the future.)

inimitable--Tasty addition for my word notebook. 

Snape wasn’t impotent. Far from it.--Bahahaha! Crisis averted.

I’m looking forward to hearing the story behind this,” Luna murmured in her ear as she placed her hand on Hermione’s shoulder. “If you manage to make it out of here alive, that is.”--Oh, good! Luna's joined the party :) And she's as wonderfully blithe as ever. More Luna please :)

All she saw were his eyes . . . and the murderous fury within them. With a terrified gasp she turned. And ran.--Oh fuck, this is such a great description. And such a delicious cliffy. :P*** (<---Me drooling for more.)

Nooo, you're too good at these cliff hangers, I'm shouting at my laptop like someone demented.  Loving, loving, loving this story.  Can't wait for the next chapter xx

I'm loving this, can't believe you've left it where  you have.  So looking forward to the next chapter, xxx

Hmmm this has defiantly left me waiting for the next chapter!!

Gah! The chapter just gets good and I can't put down my tablet, and then it's over, and I wanna throw my tablet across the desk at work in frustration! Hahaha! I'm sure a whiny one huh? Can't help it though, I absolutely love your stories. 

Waiting impatiently for the next installment.

Xoxoxo

Errr! You leave us hanging and warn us it could be awhile .... pure evil. But I love it anyway. *Rubs hands together with an evil laugh* I cannot wait to see what she has up her sleeve....or lack there of. Brilliant, as always. xLissaD

Thanks for the comma splice, I’m not even sure I knew it was called that (did I just do one then?)--Yes! Quit that, you naughty thing!

(and was almost half way through her usual circuit--halfway is one word)

He wasn’t going to like it, in fact there was a chance it would drive him to punish her more severely than ever before--I'm glad she's admitting the true outcome to herself now. 

thanks to Snape, she no longer even possessed short and curlies to be gotten by?--Bahahahahaha! 

“How does revenge sound?”--Ooooo, Hermione. What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. I foresee a calamitous ball in her future.

Now I'm dying to see what happens. Will Snape respond to her provocations, or will he see through her act and call her out on it? (And then punish her appropriately. My vote is for the latter even though I want him to admit how he really feels.) More more more!

"How does revenge sound?"

It sounds glorious, Miss Granger.

*evil anticipatory laugh*

I'm not a Snermione fan but I kept seeing this popping up. It's very interesting. I like that Snape is forcing Hermione to deal with her guilt/regret/bitterness from what happened during the war (even if he's doing it in his own twisted way), and maybe he's getting some closure along the way too. SP

wowzer!!

That was one intense chapter, with a lot going on! Firstly, yay I'm so glad Hermione finally had that release, of all that pent up grief and emotion she hasn't allowed herself to feel. Hopefully this will allow her to finally move on from the war, and become her own person again. 

Secondly, wow that was a lot of emotional Snape we don't usually get to see. Small things are so significant in regards to this Snape and his character. For example, the fact that he was ignoring Hermione in potions, shows how much the previous encounter actually effected him, instead of just addressing her with his usual approach, dark and brooding. 

As the reader, I also appreciated the insight into the return of Snape to Hogwarts, postwar. I think this gave one a bit more insight into, what in  Hermione's opinion, occurred around his return. 

Finally the ending, yes Hermione got the release she needed, both sexually and emotionally, but I couldn't stop myself from mentally high-5ing her for her outburst. Part of me hopes she goes a bit Maggie Gllynhall in 'the secretary' and just hangs out on Snapes chair until he returns. I also hope you make it so that he was just lurking in the shadows and heard her outburst, and then fled.

Very much looking forward to the next chapter!!

Mmm! I loved this. So much intrigue. And anal stimulation. What more can a girl ask for? I loved Hermione's musings on Snape's possible reasoning and erection situation. It makes me wonder what's really going on. What doesn't she see yet?

"the physical reminders of his  attempts to make a carafe out of her nether regions were enough to bring her smartly back to the topic at hand . . . Snape’s cock."--Bahahaha! The carafe line killed me. But I have to give props to cock-centric train of thought.

"However, the notion of an exceedingly scrupulous Snape in the current context wasn’t particularly credible."-- Mmmmmm, unscrupulous. And also *snort*. So true.

"permanently smudged by the alcohol."-- Loved smudged.

(in his own fucked up way if felt like he was trying--if/it)

"making her feel like she was wading through life . . . constantly kicking through the detritus of the past, the remains of those she had left behind."--Ah-ha! So she does have some insight into her own issues.  

"He had come back with only the worst of his original traits and seemed to be hell bent upon stamping his overbearing authority on the place . . . as though he was trying to make a point, channelling his hyper-vigilance into something that no longer required it."--*Mental growling and frustrated head scratching* I love this glimpse into what's been going on since the war, but it's not enough for me to come to any conclusions. He could be acting this way for any number of reasons. And the whole thing might be skewed by Hermione's perceptions, which means we're only getting a tiny pinch of the real story. Bah!

(war was over but he didn’t let them, his presence alone--This comma should be a period or else it's a comma splice.)

"And perhaps he was holding so tightly to it because he was just as afraid of losing it, of drifting away, as she was."--I like this idea. It sounds good (but I can't help wondering if there's more going on than she sees.)

"She’d seen upon his face a fleeting glimpse of that man in the Shrieking Shack. The confusion and doubt, the vulnerability"--Love this. She's thrown him into the unknown, and he doesn't know how to react.

"his gaze drilling into her."--Drilling is so perfect :)

"but what I’m taking from you subverts all of that, renders the trivial understandings of your overzealous mind obsolete."--This is great. He's coming at her with the basest of truths.

"I’ll occupy . . . the other,"--Unh! This is where I had to start copying and pasting with one hand.

"to make impossible choices . . . unconscionable decisions. And sometimes the internal rupture becomes too great . . . too vast to reconcile . . .”--Loving the dual revelations about both her life and his.

"Especially when one refuses to acknowledge the past.” His fingers tracked down further, skimming over her labia. “Sometimes it must be forced—the deliverance."--More similarities but also that line about deliverance. I know he's speaking of her journey, but it just makes me wonder how she will force his deliverance . . . and is he asking her to (subconsciously or purposefully).

"his thumb trailing softly over her mouth, soothing the crushing ache"--Oh fuck me! That was good. :)

"it may be those that rend you in the end . . . that encourage you to spill, to reveal against your wishes . . . opening you up before it is time."--Just like Hermione's kiss did to you, Snape?

"The sensation at her back passage had abruptly changed. His finger was gone. Replaced by something slick and firm, sinuously probing inside her.Beware of the honeyed tongue."--Fuck! This was such a great reveal. I thought for sure he was going to fuck her ass, proving that he was, in fact, not impotent. But this was so much hotter :P

"laving, tasting, knowing her in a way that no one else did."--Yeeeeees!

"Then she fell off the world.The ropes were gone.She was in his arms."--Love this shift. It's suddenly just them and what's going on between them.

"But you can’t keep stripping me down, leaving me like this, and acting like you’re merely an observer . . . some self-appointed fucking therapist. I didn’t ask for this!” she shrieked into the silence."--I love her angry honesty here. But once again, she's claiming she didn't ask for it. Tsk Tsk, Hermione. You've been begging for it since chapter one.

"He was gone."--WFT? Where'd he go? Is there a back stair? Trapdoor? And he just ran away? Mmmmmmm, shame shame shame, you know your name.

Of course I need more (because I always need more DS drugs--i.e. chapters). Give me my fix, woman!

  - Snape was impotent. - nooo! You can't do that to him, you just can't. Just no! Ok, ok, I know it is her pow - she isn't the most perceptive when it doesn't suit her. 

Basically, she had thought of nothing and no one else. - somebody is falling in looooveeeee 3:)

moral or ethical objection to introducing his cock into the equation. - erm, I'm not into math per se, but there is an X that I'd need help solving - will we see his cock in this story? *blink, blink with puppy eyes*

But what if it wasn’t? What if he couldn’t get it up? - is she that much vane? Her ego can't overcome his behaviour so she has to diminish him somehow, demasculinise...tsk, tsk...

“Say it!” he demanded - I just love how he behaves, how he forces her to be honest with herself, such a Slytherin trait, honesty if not to others than to themselves.

that would have been enough to do it—more than enough. - for once I agree with her :D

he started the stumpy rod jiggling about, vibrating feverishly in his palm. - hahaha, I love this, the wizarding equivalent of the vibrator :D

Not . . . even . . . close. - uhh and lines after that, ok now tell me, where can I get him and who do I have to kill?

they were both lost.  -  epiphany at last!

seismic quakes through her entire pelvis - great visual

But had he ever really accepted it himself? - good question, I don't think so. maybe he thinks he is beyond help or most probably he thinks he doesn't deserve it.

beware of the man who entices you with his honeyed . . . tongue. - that man is a glutton for self-torture, he is S-M all in one package, what's worse he doesn't need the others, or if he has them they are just a tool, an implement for self-torture :'(

 He wasn’t irresistible after all . . . he wasn’t . . . he couldn’t be - hahahaha....nah

“Don’t,” he growled.  - grrrr, you making me hot and then pour a bucket of iced water over my head :'(

I love this chapter, my brain will have to process it once more when it has more than 2h of sleep, sadly that won't be so soon. Thank you for posting today, I needed this (even if I'm brain-dead). 

Sorry to hear that your RL if giving you a grief, please take care :*

Until the next chapter :*

Love& Kisses&Hugs xx

Absolutely loving this.  I was away from fanfic for a while only to come back and discover with horror my old haunt (restrictedsection) was lost to the void.  So glad to see wicked stories still being spun here.  Your characterization of Snape is fantastic--honey tongue indeed.  Nothing better than a Snape who is both eloquent and evocative. Bravo. 

RE: Chapter 8

O-ho! The plot thickens conSIDerably.^_^