10/19/10 Update: I've gotten some concerned reviews and although most might not check my profile, I just wanted to reiterate that I promise I have not abandoned Second Chances. I'm so sorry the updates are about 2 months apart but the next chapter is almost finished. Unfortunately there is a lot of dialogue I want to get just right and it is taking me a lot longer to write this chapter. But I promise it's coming and I thank each and every reviewer for the encouraging words!

7/27/10 Update: If anyone bothers to check this I just wanted readers of Second Chances to know I'm still here and I'm still writing and I apologize profusely for the huge wait for this next chapter. Sorry!!! Thank you all for the reviews I get even still. They are so encouraging when I'm struggling to find time to write.

5/5/10 Update: For some bizarre reason fanfiction deleted all my scene breaks. :( It's quite annoying because now I have to spend time going back into each chapter and changing the type of scene break I used and then re-uploading the file and then switching it out with the right chapter. And I have no idea how long ago this happened which makes me very frustrated as well because it just does! Haha So anyway, I'll still be working on ch. 43 as well.

3/13/10 Update: I haven't abandoned Second Chances for anyone who is concerned and may be checking my profile. Just wanted to let you all know it's been a crazy couple weeks with a ridiculous snow storm that knocked my power out for a whole week. So hopefully the chapter will be finished in the next week. -Mara

So I've been on this site long enough and figured it was about time I fill something out here. I'm 25, from NY, and in between my bachelors degree and masters... just trying to put off that, going to school again, thing for as long as possible haha. But umm, yeah, hopefully I will have a real art teaching job soon. Unfortunately, it seems like everyone is looking for one of those.

Anyways, I'm in love with the Harry Potter books and that's the reason I found this site. I was bored after the books ended and wanted to read more about the characters and have found some fabulous fanfics on here. My personal favorite genre has become Severus adopts Harry and no matter how many there are, or how similar they are, or even how much my own story is like so many out there, I just can't get enough of them.

Even though I particularly prefer JKR's traditional pairings, I am open to other ones once in a while. And I hate flames. I understand everyone has pet peeves but if someone wants to write a fanfic, they should be entitled to do so without harassing comments. If I don't like something I just don't read it, rather than insult the author. I'm all about positive reinforcement. :)

I especially like happy endings. That's not to say you can't write a fabulous fanfic with a sad ending. I just like my fairy tale endings.

I've only written one story and it's in progress. Second Chances is a story that starts at the beginning of the summer after Goblet of Fire in which Harry is being abused by the Dursleys and Snape finds out. They are forced to live together for the summer so Snape can teach Harry and it becomes a long road to them understanding each other better. The title is Second Chances because I think Snape deserved a better life than he got stuck with in the Canon Books and Harry deserved a real family. So it's a relationship they could both use. I update almost once a week because I'm having so much fun writing it and I know how annoying it is waiting for a story to update when you are so interested in reading it. I've had great feedback so far which also encourages me to write faster. I didn't really plan much of the story out ahead of time and sort of just jumped into it. Now I realize how difficult it is to write out a coherent story, so props to all those fabulous writers out there.

-Mara