Synopsis: After moving in next door to her cantankerous former childhood professor, an overworked, newly single Hermione Granger is forced to leave her only child, Hugo, under the troublesome wizard’s care. The complicated interactions that ensue bring with them a hodgepodge of angst, humour, drama, and much needed re-connection for all. Based loosely on St. Vincent. AU, Post-war.
All of a sudden, Hermione found herself staring into the face of hallowed brokenness where once angry, edgy defences had long resided. Unapologetic defeat returned her examination, its wraith-like residency gripping and pungent. It momentarily left her bereft of air, for Hermione had looked into those terrible eyes only once before: years ago in the Shrieking Shack, where Severus Snape had lay dying before hers, Ron’s, and Harry’s feet, his life bleeding out at a rapid rate.
It had been an excruciating exercise to relay his memories that would, ultimately, help her best mate defeat the Dark Lord, for he had been choking on his own blood all the while, and yet, somehow, in what was then thought to be his final moments, Severus Snape had miraculously managed the impossible, sharing the best, most hidden depths of his soul with a young man whom he had, for years, openly despised. Then he had seemingly taken his last breath upon the creaky floorboards, his blood seeping into the cracks and veins of the wood and leaving their everlasting mark, and gone still.
To this day, Hermione had been haunted by that cold moment; at her inability to intervene, to help, to aid. She had witnessed the fright in his eyes as he breathed his supposed last and she had stood by, in a wild daze, and let him ‘die’. The fact that Severus had gone on to survive the harrowing ordeal left Hermione feeling all the worse when she looked at him, horridly aware of how little she and her friends had ultimately done for him after he had selflessly saved their hides time and time again.
Hermione reached up from the pit of her stomach, through the ball knotting and warping at the back of her throat, and spoke to him as she hoped one might speak to her were the roles with one of her patients reversed; or if she had been in Severus’s place during that traumatic, life-altering moment in the Shrieking Shack.
“Don’t feel hopeless, Severus. This is not a resigned situation. There are options.” She patted his thigh, soft, dainty digits stretching, spreading, and infiltrating his skin like the first dose of Pepperup Potion intended to combat a bad cold. “You’re going to get well, I promise. I’m going to look after you and make sure of it, all right?”
He didn’t bestow a reaction at first and while Hermione didn’t expect him to give her much, the gift of his despondency felt no less heart-breaking. She forced a pained smile, brushed a piece of loose black hair away from his watchful, solemn eyes—she was surprised at how straggly the texture was—and grasped his hand.
“You rest now,” she counselled as she, at last, inched away from the bed. “I’ll be back shortly to issue more tests. They won’t hurt. In fact, you can sleep through them if you wish.”
The heaviness in Severus’s returning stare gave a slight shift, though Hermione was already half-turned away from him and overlooked its glimmer; but she didn’t miss the abrupt mighty tug on her hand. In the next instant, she had been yanked back to Severus’s bedside, her nose nearly colliding with his. She let forth a tight gasp, stricken by such physical strength, particularly for someone who had been found hours earlier drenched in a pool of his own sweat by none other than a supposed pregnant prostitute…if what Hermione had been told by the Healers-in-training was correct.
“I…know…you,” he declared a second time through a peculiar, impactful guttural confidence.
Hermione nodded. “Yes, Severus. I’m Her—”
He vehemently shook his head, spared a moment for breath, and, with a lengthy cadence, stated the same phrase again, though it struck her differently this time, “I…know…you…Herm…i…on…e.”
Hermione stilled. It was the first time he had willing addressed her by her name. She bowed her head, affected, and murmured, her eyes fastened to his, “And I…I think I’m starting to know you, too, Severus.”
I know a lot of writers that work very hard on their fics and only get a handful of reviews. It’s disheartening to have thousands of people reading and keeping up with every chapter, only to have about fifteen people review.
We don’t write for you, but sometimes our motivation runs thin and comments do help us get inspired to write more. So if someone stops updating a story, it could be because it didn’t get the amount of attention it deserved. (Btw, people are allowed to stop updating for whatever reason but that’s besides the point.)
The truth is, there is no good reason why you should not review.
1.) If you don’t have an account, FF.net allows you to review as a guest.
2.) If you are shy, there is that guest option again, as we can’t message you when you are a guest and we won’t even know who you are.
3.) Don’t know what to say? “Great chapter!” always goes a long way. I promise you it means just as much. It can be as simple as that.
4.) Too busy? No you aren’t. Writers spend hours on their chapters, reviewing takes a minute. You aren’t too busy. If you can take the time to read the chapter, you can spare a minute to review.
5.) I see a lot of people saying they don’t review because they write too much and let me tell you, most writers do not care about the length. Just reviewing at all is great. And I, personally, like reading through the long reviews because they usually tell me what people liked or didn’t. .
Sorry if I come off rude or pushy, it’s just really annoying to have a story that has over a thousand readers and less than fifteen reviews each chapter. But then when I miss an update, someone that’s never even reviewed the story before will message me asking when I’m going to update or rushing me.
Anyways, in conclusion, REVIEW EVERY CHAPTER YOU READ.
As a fan creator, you are your own “boss” and therefore you decide on your own workload. However, if you are enthusiastic about the fandom or if you’re one of a small set of creators or if you’re trying to “keep up” with other writers, you might take on more work than you can reasonably handle.
A lot of fan creators feel a strong sense of responsibility attached to their posting schedule, for example, or feel guilt associated with not writing on a particular day. Self-imposed deadlines can become hard and fast rules rather than personal goals, and there is stress and anxiety related to not meeting those deadlines. Missing a posting date or taking too long of a break from uploading content can feel like a risk, like your audience will be disappointed and might even disappear.
Workload becomes a problem when you feel overwhelmed by what you need to do. This might be because you have accepted prompts from others, because you’ve started several works in progress but not completed them yet, or because you’ve signed up to participate in fandom events.
If you find yourself overloaded and stressed out by your to do list, it’s time to prioritize and deselect.
What fics are you most interested in writing? Put those at the top of your list. What are you not at all interested in doing? Remove those from the list. If that means that you won’t fill a prompt, let the requester know that you won’t be able to write it for them. Generally speaking, people are understanding. Telling them also means that they are free to give that prompt to another author.
Fandom event organizers would also rather you let them know early that you’ll be pulling out. The more time you can give them to find a replacement for you, the better. Most organizers have “back up” writers available who will take on unclaimed prompts for people who are unable to complete the challenge or event.
Be open and honest with yourself and with others about what you can really do. It will be better for everyone involved. A sustainable workload is necessary for you to be able to continue creating long-term.
Because of the amount of time and energy being devoted to fic and the exhaustion that results from overwork, authors who are experience burnout are more likely to need more rewards from the community in order to feel like their effort is worthwhile. If the reward they are receiving feels too small for too long, these authors might complain about a lack of comments or kudos, insist on more interaction from their communities, or maybe even stop writing altogether.
Unfortunately, no amount of reward will help them restore their depleted energy.
It’s important to note that you can feel burnt out, even when you’re doing something you love. Becauseit’s something you love doing, you are more likely to push yourself to do it even when you’re tired or otherwise need to rest. This is even more true when fic writing is something you’ve done in the past to help you relax from other life stresses.
If you are feeling stressed out or overwhelmed or like you have too much on your plate take a step back. Give yourself some time off. Remember that writing is your hobby and ultimately the only person you are responsible to is yourself.
Rest, recharge, and let go of the things that aren’t working right now. Take care of yourself first and you’ll be better able to take care of others later.
So if we extrapolate from this one-off line in episode fifteen, as well as this tweet by the creator and the answers given at this comic con panel from 2014, we can infer that this character’s relationship with salad is more complex than it first appears …
*pulls down sunglasses and points a flamethrower at the source material* Death of the author, baby.
Real human lives matter more than fictional characters. Even characters and stories that mean a lot to you. People matter more than fandoms. If you bully and harass people because of their ships or headcanons, you need to stop and reevaluate things
Warning!The link is to Unquestionable Love, the Prequel, but this story is the second in the series and contains spoilers to the first. If you haven’t read them, read Unquestionable Love FIRST.
If you haven’t read these, I HIGHLY recommend, they are great!
Snamione doesn’t make any sense. There, I said it. And I’m not the only one who thinks that. They never even had. a. single. conversation. And judging by the fact that he calls her a insufferable-know-it-all you can tell he’s annoyed by her personality and overall way of being. There is literally nothing to support this ship. It exists only because female fans see themselves in Hermione.
Nah, OP. It’s the best ship. It *does* makes sense…if you bothered to read even one or two of the many incredible fics out there that illustrate why it’s just.that.good.
Synopsis: After moving in next door to her cantankerous former childhood professor, an overworked, newly single Hermione Granger is forced to leave her only child, Hugo, under the troublesome wizard’s care. The complicated interactions that ensue bring with them a hodgepodge of angst, humour, drama, and much needed re-connection for all. Based loosely on St. Vincent. AU, Post-war.
Hermione reared back. “You’re heartless, you know that?” Her voice was slight, a fractured whisper in the dark.
Severus rounded on her, inching so close that they were nearly brushing nose to nose. “You’ve known that about me your entire goddamn life.” His black eyes shimmered like Horcruxes. “So, why’d you move right next door to me, then?”
Hermione rattled. “I… I didn’t… What?”
“Why’d you come here?” Hermione’s stumped silence served to his advantage; or, so, Severus believed. His ‘gotcha’ glare magnified tenfold. “There are plenty of options that were within your price point, I’m sure, so answer my bleedin’ question, Miss Granger: why did you move here?”
Hermione opened and closed her mouth countless times, her words breathless and disjointed. “I… I… You… It’s Hermione, damn it!”
“Ahem,” interrupted someone else whom neither of them anticipated.
In a flash, Severus and Hermione whirled around and extracted their wands at the same time, each ready to hurl an unfriendly spell at whomever they anticipated as being a like-minded—and similarly matched—castor. Their unified pre-emptive strike proved unnecessary, however. The culprit in question threw up his hands before any nasty hexes could be cast, indicating peace, and removed the hood of his sweeping, velvet cloak to reveal a smooth, elegant face from sinister times gone by.
Hermione held her battle stance. Severus relinquished his.
“Lucius,” Severus addressed his uninvited guest, with bite and visibly disenchanted.
Lucius warily eyed Hermione’s still drawn wand and, with heightened uneasiness, cleared his throat and commented, “Erm, yes… Long time, no see. Might I have a word with you?” He gestured towards Severus, as well as an unlit Spinner’s End at their back, and looked quite relieved when his old friend grumbled an agreement and stowed his wand into one of his jeans’ back pockets. At Hermione, who wouldn’t ease up on her wand or her fighting pose, he proposed, “No need to fret, Mrs Weasley. I—”
Hermione slammed him with a harsh retort of, “I’m divorced, actually. It’s Miss Granger now.”
“Oh, is it?” Stunned, and with an awkward noise, Lucius bent at the waist and murmured, “My condolences to you.”
“For what? My ex isn’t dead.” She snorted, lips barely moving, “Well, not yet, he isn’t.”
Lucius veered a pair of bewildered, steel grey irises towards Severus, pleading wordlessly to be removed of this most fiddly encounter. Severus swept past Hermione and balked at her as he went, “Not every Slytherin’s out to pick a fight with your lot, Miss Granger. Stand down.”
Suddenly realising that she was, indeed, still crouched in a duel stance, Hermione blushed and reverted to normal posture, though she shot daggers at the back of Severus’s head which, conveniently, went unnoticed. “Just what’s thatsupposed to mean, huh?” she goaded after him. “And it’s Hermione, remember?”
Unsurprisingly, her efforts went ignored. Hermione missed Lucius’s apologetic expression as he, too, backed away and trailed after Severus towards his house.
“Sorry for interrupting your, erm, lovers quarrel, Miss Granger. Have a pleasant evening.”
Hermione’s heart thumped to the quick. “WE’RE NOTLOVERS!” she exclaimed, but Lucius had hastily moved onto other perplexing matters outside of Severus’s home that were, at present, blocking his path.
“Blimey,” she heard him chuckle, head bobbing about Severus’s cracked sidewalk and the enormous splintered branch on the ground; he was forced to hop over them, “what happened here?”
“Askher,” Severus hissed, tossing his head in Hermione’s general direction but refusing to make eye contact. He stalked up the front steps, swung the door open, and disappeared within, leaving his fuddled guest to close the door after them.
Hermione let out a strangled groan and, after gathering herself on her side of the sidewalk, marched indoors to cool off.
