I’ve been thinking about some of the characters of this story since the last chapter. If you take each one of them individually and look at how their surroundings affected them, their horrid behavior can be almost excused or at least understood. Take the Weasley children: somehow Molly seriously messed up. We saw evidence with Ginny/Draco/Harry. We saw what facts she hid from Hermione. We can only guess what she did to her other daughters’ in law if they had to resort to pretending they were pregnant. But as horrible as Molly has been, there is something that motivates her to behave in such a way. I guess everybody thinks they are good people and their actions are excused in their perspective but not when examined in an objective manner. Is Molly just the possessive mother-in-law from hell or is there more to her? I’m not sure how much earlier the rest of the Weasley sons married but the war must have been the catalyst to most unions. Has Molly’s fear of losing her family prompted her to push them to wed, procreate and be happy? However, at this point in the story I cannot forgive her actions and get the feeling that she is behind at least three failed marriages.

On the subject of Ron and Hermione’s marriage: some external factor has to sneak in to bring them to admit they are unhappy with each other. It is clear they are merely tolerating each other. And Hermione is fooling herself if she thinks she will feel anything more for Ron in two weeks time. Her feelings are for Severus. Mask or not (she must see it now) he is the man she is in love with. And my heart cannot take any more of this sparkling intensity between them. Can’t wait till their next meeting though (I must really like to torture myself…)

Thanks for making my day Betz! Till the next chapter!

Author's Response: Wow...gee! What a review! (Blushes) Thanks! Thrilled that you enjoyed this chapter so much. It was fun to write it, so I'm glad you grooved on the UST. Yeah, those flowers were a nice little touch from Severus. Yes, you are right, I try to give each character their own little backstory so they are not just cardboad cutouts of prop up characters to the story. In real life, people kind of come in and out of our lives, and I tried to capture that. My take on Molly is that she does the thngs she does out of love for her children and her belief that she knows what's best for her children, even if they don't know it. So she has to guide them to what's best. There is a lot of the war behind her desire to see her children married. During the war, whole family lines have been wiped out. But for Bill, Charlie, Percy and the twins, they married their wives with no interference from their mother.

Yes, Hermione and Ron seem to be tolerating each other. Hermione had made a promise to try and save her marriage, and Ron's initial statement spurred Hermione to thinking he would try. Hermione does love Severus, but that doesn't stop her from realizing that if she just abandon's Ron without after one last try that she will feel guilty, and Hermione does not want to live with any more regrets than she already has. Glad to make your day.