Notes: Chapter Five

Again, there are no major changes to this chapter. The only additions are those concerning Snape's better looks. Hermione notices them for the first time.

His hair is cleaner, no longer looking greasy. Of course, I don't know what Snape's hair, sans grease, would really look like, so I took an educated guess. I used to have oily hair when I was younger (thankfully, it's not anymore), so it wasn't too hard. I know when my hair was oily, it looked heavier and, obviously, greasy. But when it was freshly washed, it looked soft and wispy, and not at all heavy. Because Snape's hair is so greasy, I took the liberty of assuming it is very fine. So I made his hair appear soft and wispy and fine. And, of course, very clean.

I made his face less oily as well. And I made him lose the sickly yellow tint. I figured Snape, pre-Voldemort's demise, wouldn't have very many opportunities to take care of his health. Nor the inclination. Not that he was necessarily sick, but he was certainly unhealthy. Did he care? No, he always figured he would die either way. But now that he hasn't died, he cares. Not a lot, of course. He's certainly no Lucius, or even Draco. But he cares.

Hermione notices that Snape looks healthy. Pale, yes, of course. He lives in a dungeon, of course he's pale. But only now that he looks healthy, does Hermione realize how truly sickly he looked before. She also assesses his looks. It's a little hint that, should I choose to make this a romance, I can go back and build on.

The next change is Hermione's realization of his Legilimancy. I started this fic, for those of you who don't know, before Order of the Phoenix was out. So there was no legilimancy originally. But I figured that, once I changed the canon compliancy of this fic from post-GOF to post-OotP, that I needed to address the legilimancy some time. So I went back and added this bit. It doesn't completely take care of the legilimancy aspect, but it's the best I can do, at that point in the fic. Besides, I'll be honest. I'm still not fully certain how, exactly, legilimancy works. And since I don't fully understand it, I don't feel comfortable writing it.

Snape says the following: A skilled Legilimens I may be, but even I am not so skilled as to enter one’s mind without them being aware. I honestly have no idea if this is true or not, in the books. I somewhat think it is, just because it seemed like Harry was fully aware of what was happening, and it wasn't taking him by surprise. Of course, in HBP, Snape knows what Harry will cast before he casts it. Whether Harry can feel this intrusion or not remains to be seen. But I took a chance, and decided that, for this fic, Snape can purposely delve into the mind with the specific intent to find memories, but he cannot do so without being noticed. The victim will also 'see' the memories, much as Harry did in OotP. They can feel the intrusion. As I said, I don't know if that's exactly how it works. But that's how it works in this fic.

Hermione also shows a bit of defiance. I like this aspect of her character. She won't let him scare her into submission, even though, truth be told, he does somewhat scare her. And Snape, of course, shows derision and scorn, though also a bit of surprise. And, because this is Snape, veiled threat as well.

And that's it. Like I said, nothing major, but things that needed to be said and done.