that was Hott!

Just finished reading this amazing saga! Can’t believe I haven’t read it before - probably bc most of my reading is on AO3. I desperately needed this distraction, so thank you. Your dialogue (both internal and external) was so believable, and your snarky wit so delightful - I just got really wrapped up in your version of the HP universe.
And now I just have to resist the temptation to look for everything else you’ve written until I have days on end to sit and read!

I just finished this and I have no words. This story was amazing. The character development an analyzation of Severus Snape was amazing. This is so my head canon Snape now. The journey he went through. Thank you for sharing this amazing story with is and this will live for ever in my head.

This story really has consumed me. Really lost for words and really so many people that have love this story probably have said it better than I have at this point. Now I know why this story is so beloved.

Thank you and can't wait to dive more into your other stories.

I've just come across this story and I've read it in a few days, using every spare time I had. It is so gripping and intense, I was overwhelmed by your work. I loved the intelligent deconstruction of JKR's plot, the wit, the skillful writing, the sophisticated style, the quotes.
Above all, that you are able to touch one's heart, one's emotions, so deeply... _You_ are the magician, Loten.
Even if you don't write for the moment, thank you that you shared so much with your readers. And please, please, always let this novel somewhere on the internet, because I wish to read it ten times again before I die.

(I'm not used to writing in English, I hope I've managed to convey what I felt.)

This is bound to go so well... not.

For someone who doesn't want to expose Hermione so suddenly to so much dark stuff, she sure does her worst to keep her away from the truth...

You and me both. Personally, I prefer the idea that Severus just loved Lily as a close friend and hated the idea that his friend was being "taken" from him by Potter, his enemy, among other things. Still, he could be demisexual...

Also, given you're in a school of teenagers, I'm pretty sure rape, or at least molestation/sexual assault, is not exactly unlikely for Hermione to encounter if she keeps helping Poppy. They're only just learning of consent and relationships if they have any sex education and so are at a great risk of being taken advantage of, even by a fellow student. Sometimes even unknowingly... for both sides... especially if communication is poor.

Honestly, all things considered, it would be a LOT more worrying if his core temperature dropped and he didn't feel cold. Good ole' hypothermia. Once you stop feeling the cold when you're still in the cold, that is when you absolutely should not close your eyes otherwise you're likely not to open them again.

Well, now you know he's not gonna expel you for knowing what as a healer is good to know, Hermione. You might as well tell him you know about that too now, before he finds out on his own... sure he'll hate you for a bit, but I'm pretty sure he'll learn to tolerate you. Not like he has a choice.

Wait... isn't Ginny a Slytherin? Couldn't you talk to her? Granted, her opinion could be a little biased being a Weasley, but seriously, it's better than nothing.

... Really? Hermione? The least Gryffindorish? She's part of the Golden Trio, she can be quite reckless if she wants to be and obviously she has bucketfuls of courage given her constant hand waving and insistence on helping this and that creature whether it's the right thing to do or not. She punched Malfoy in the face, she'll curse a girl for being a snitch... she is basically Gryffindor... mixed with a Ravenclaw and maybe a smidgen of Hufflepuff and a load of Slytherin ambition.

Honesty was what I'd JUST recommended not so long ago... but for Snape.

I wouldn't say he is incapable of betrayal, but he definitely wouldn't forgive it. Pretty sure he's the embodiment of a grudge. Technically, using a slur against your friend could be seen as a betrayal... or by taking a side that wants her kind dead... I'm not as hateful of Snape for that as some, he was a teenager, he was in a vulnerable position and spouted something stupid in the heat of the moment. But he also did surround himself with people who wanted her dead, and while technically they were his classmates so there wasn't much to do about that... it probably didn't help leaning into it.

Welp, Phineas is clearly an upstanding, friendly fella. XD

Oh, my goodness. But then again, most people don't really keep track of it and don't want to know - not even other women, often enough.

Welp, if anything happens between Hermione and Severus from here on out I blame it all on Poppy. I mean, she did /encourage/ their friendship... XD

Considering Poppy tends to be the one to help alleviate his pain and not one to cause them with, say, needles, or anything like that... I find that pretty weird how he would do that. Personally, I'll stick to the idea that Snape is a tsundere so intentionally or not he pushes away those he cares about. Yeah I think Hermione's magical aura or something seems to be speaking to him since he hasn't done something like holding someone's hand in ages... well, it feels a bit forced, but hey, I've read worse.

But those were HIS confidential records! He'd be right to be raging if it got shared behind his back with ANYONE without his permission! Especially an amateur healer who also happens to be his student... but it's better that he knows than that he finds out... it tends to piss people off for much longer and more strongly when you keep it from them. And the fact that he's willing to try and get her expelled is just cementing that this is in fact a bad idea, not a good one. If Poppy can vouch for her that it was her idea and technically her doing, the most Hermione would probably have to do would be swear an oath not to tell anyone about Snape's records and there's the possibility Snape might refuse to teach her himself, but then he'll get pushed by Minerva and Dumbledore to teach her since she's "the brightest witch of her age". Besides, if he has Hermione expelled, it means the golden trio is down a member, and one of the two saner members at that, and he's forcing himself to teach a class full of dunderheads without a single promising student. I'm just saying I'm pretty sure there is no reason why Snape would go that far for someone trying to help him. It's more likely he'd have Harry be threatened with memory erasure and expulsion for finding out Draco is a Death Eater later on to, er... set the record straight but also as petty revenge against a Potter.

Also, people can get second hand trauma. The fact that Poppy is pushing a teenager to read through someone's record of trauma basically might as well be doing the same thing to Hermione in some way and that can be harmful. I mean, she's a teenager. She feels plenty of intense and confusing things that she can't quite control on her own already... and now this.

Goddammit Poppy. The best thing for his friendship making is finding someone who he can trust and who will tell him if they know something about him. This "I know your secrets but I'm not telling you which ones" is among the worst possible ways to befriend someone...

He stays sane now and then spirals later when he finds out the truth. And since it'll feel even worse that they've kept from him goodness knows what he'll do then. Yeah, no, just don't. So he'll get a bit pissy, as long as they don't discuss and rehash Severus' past at length as a spy he really should know how to compartmentalize so he'll probably be as relatively fine as Snape can be... (maybe he'll dock more Gryffindor points but that's about all I can think of).

Uhuh. Snape, not a doctor or a healer, knows what he's doing with medication that a healer doesn't agree with... -_-''

Well, isn't Snape all of a sudden all chummy...

I'm sorry Severus, but if you're gonna act like someone is an idiot to join the wrong side of things, you really should look in a mirror... He's an impressionable youth desperate to prove himself and sadly this is the direction he's taking.

Well, that is quite ingenius, really. But with Snape, the class will be a lot more conflicted, no? They may hate Umbridge but they don't like Snape very much either for the most part...

Oh, yes, definitely. The houses should have been united without all the segregation and discrimination from the beginning, but that's clearly not how it ended up, because otherwise nothing would be as seemingly clear cut as it was in the original series.

Ah, so the cat is not amused. Which leaves the snake very amused.

Dang, RIP Cedric Diggory.

Nup, those numbskulls are gonna numbskull. That's just how the numbskull do - besides, it's not her job to mother them. Severus can sort that out with the - oh, wait, never mind, he can't. XD Well, good luck, Severus, don't kill those two dunderheads.

Really? Is she going to be a toad to all of them? I thought between Granger and Snape there'd be a lot more room for creativity in terms of names, but I guess not.

Well, yes, when it comes to the worst, we normally can't wish that even on our enemies. It's part of having a conscience, so congratulations, Hermione, you're not a psychopath. Besides, that sounds painful as heck, so it's easy to see why someone wouldn't be able to hold their grudge through seeing something like that. This is a good opportunity for the her to learn to empathise with Snape despite of his transgressions - and hopefully he'll learn to do the same, but no promises.

Dang he's really tried a whole cocktail of drugs, hasn't he.

It's not surprising that Voldemort is unreasonable though - I mean, Bellatrix is by his side, that should give anyone a hint.

Yeaaaaah I don't think a... teenager is that skilled a spy. Not ever Hermione Granger.

Although um... I question the accuracy and reliability of muggle medical dramas as a basis for medical knowledge used in wizarding society.

Pfffft. Ron is still the funny guy. And yeah, I feel bad for Snape but he can be such a git.

Damn. We're clearly in one of Salvador Dahli's works given the surrealness of Snape's attempt at gratitude... but maybe later he could level up and stop bullying Neville? Well, we can only hope.

And so Lily Evans appears in the record. Dun dun daaaaan.

Also, love Crooks.

"'Is this a good time?'" - No, Dumbledore, it is never a good time for Snape. He's rather proudly a solitary creature by nature, apparently and "Does Not Play Well With Others".

I get the general vibes from fanon!Severus that he's kind of like an overgrown teenager. But then again, maybe that's partly the result of trauma and partly due to him stubbornly refusing to move on from the past? It would make sense, even if it is frustrating at times, in my opinion.

"'A dumpy woman with a face like a toad.'" You know, in another world, I think maybe Snape and Weasley could have been friends, even... sadly, we will likely not see such a reality here anymore than we are likely to see Neville overcome his fear of his Potions teacher. 'Tis a shame.

"'Please try to remember that you are not my mother.'" Not only that, Snape is clearly a tsundere. Fortunately - or perhaps unfortunately - for him though, male tsunderes tend to be some of my favourite characters.

And yeah, Ron, big spiders really are no fun. Honestly, I'd put them up there with the Basilisk in terms of how much I think they shouldn't have been introduced into Hogwarts. They may be cool beasties but they clearly belong into the wilderness somewhere far out there, away from careless students.

Much as it makes sense for Hermione to be the more sensible of the Golden Trio, I do hope that she has some irresponsible moments - she is a teenager still after all and certainly isn't flawless. But given her softer side that fights for the rights of magical beings I do completely understand why she might be interested in being a healer. That said... I'm not sure that just because the Dark Lord is forcing them to be involved in a war they shouldn't be, it means she automatically should have chance at being a healer. It's not like we know her theoretical knowledge and potential when it comes to healing, so I feel that aspect of it could have been better set up... but even so.

Also, I totally feel your awkwardness, Hermione, about that attempt to approach Snape. He does love to make things more awkward than they already are, by the looks of it.

And damn, I can't wait to see Minerva go off the rails on Umbridge in this fic. She along with Severus and Draco have to be my favourite characters in this universe.

"/The little bastards will eat her alive/" was so close to making me spit out my fruit smoothie. Something about that is both so accurate and so hilarious. Well, maybe not on a literal level, but they will gnaw away at her sanity ultimately... not that it isn't deserved... she's a special brand of Just Plain Nasty that goes beyond all of Snape's worst attempts somehow.

Also, the description involving tissues being stuffed up sleeves is the single more realistic thing for a school teacher I swear. I'm not even sure why they fancy doing that considering it just sounds like a method of getting snot on your arms... but some absolutely do do it.

"Sarcasm reflexes" - Pffft. Snape's dead corpse would still have those functioning just fine and dandy.

I kind of miss the fanon Snape here that revelled a little in dark humour or something of the sorts... I feel like this could use something to balance his despair out just a little bit.

Otherwise, the dialogue feels very natural and normal. I can't necessarily say that it's in-character for everyone because I'm going off the movie, the wiki and the few excerpts from the books that I've forced myself to read - somehow I prefer HP fanfictions over the real deal - but I think most of the major characters in this are fairly in-character.

Honestly, I'm torn on the alcoholic Snape stuff, but as long as it's not glamourised with, say, Hermione, then I can see Snape's alcoholism as being a solid cautionary tale. Still, I'm kind of sick of all the alcohol in everything, to be honest... but we'll see how this goes.

I will say this first chapter is promising. You have both a short and sweet starting sentence and ending sentence and both hook you in. I can't see any glaring mistakes and this seems to have been thought out well enough, so here's hoping it'll remain a fun ride.

Good story. It has a strong start and is believable. The grammar is solid, the text is a bit bloated, especially toward the end. Still, a very good fic.

I’m rereading this in 2022 and Severus’s comment on not paying for The Prophet if there were a worldwide shortage of toilet paper and laughing at how that line aged

Talk about slow burn. Very lovely. I hope you Krupp writing.

Alright. I have to sayI've read this story like five or six times already at least. I know its Czech translation which I've always loved, but this is the first time I dared to read the original. Thank you for writing this. It's genuinely my most favourite Snamione of all I've ever read. Your Severus gave me so much insight on the character and your stories (PTL as well) with the way you portraied their relationship gave me the motivation needed to write Snamione myself. I also very much appreciate your implicit mockery of some not really clever stuff JKR's done throughout the story (like the way you dealt with the final battle and many other things), because there's really not enough writers doing this. I'll keep going back to this story, because every time I read it, it gives me something knew and I look at it in slightly different way. Thank you, Loten.

I read this years ago. I loved it. (I sure hope past me left a review to back that up.) But I was just looking at A Christmas Carol on my shelf and remembering that I only kept the copy of it because of how much this chapter of Chasing the Sun made me laugh back when I read it years and years ago. That memory compelled me to google "severus hermione humbug" and indeed, this chapter of this story appeared as the first result (and thank goddness because I couldn't remember which fic featured this scene). I reread it, and it made me smile again and while I haven't read any severus/hermione fic in what feels like years, I'm more than half tempted to reread Chasing the Sun because I remember how much I loved this story. All this to say, I'm glad that it's still up here, I'm glad that you wrote it, and I hope that you know I still have fond memories of this fic more than a decade after it was finished!

Wonderful story. Loved the angst. xoxo