GIFT: What Men Call Love (PG-13), for zephre

[snuna_xchng_mod]

Title: What Men Call Love
Author: lordhellebore
Beta Readers: kabal42, brissygirl, and moonystone
Recipient: zephre
Rating: PG-13
(Highlight to View) Warning(s): None.
Recipient's Prompt: Gentle, traditional courtship with painfully withdrawn, post-war traumatized Snape using the structure to give himself courage. How does Luna help him gain a renewed sense of wonder and hope, and enjoy

Comments

[pokeystar]

Brava!

Thank you for a wonderful story.

:-)

[lordhellebore]

:) and thank you for commenting.

[dreamy_dragon73]

This is beautiful, sweet and tender!

[lordhellebore]

Aw, I hoped it would be. Thank you.

[gelsey]

A very good plot. I love the healing process and the Crystal Angels. Narcissa's worry for him is quite sweet. And the way he goes through the courting process is great, sometimes feeling like a fool (who doesn't when dating at some point?) but preferring the process to more unknown possible humiliations.

Great job, mystery author!

[lordhellebore]

I agree, Narcissa's worry is sweet, but I suppose she was overdoing it in his opinion.

sometimes feeling like a fool but preferring the process to more unknown possible humiliations.

That's precisely it. At least then he knows what can happen.

Thank you! :)

[roseofthewest]

That's a gentle, delicate tale. Just as delicate as the path she leads him down from illness to true health of body and mind.

[lordhellebore]

Thank you :)

[leni_jess]

I enjoyed this story, with Severus's friends anxious for his well-being, persisting until they found an effective healer for him; with Luna's gentle, understanding firmness, taking care for his mental balance as well as his physical needs; and with his growing trust and confidence and affection. This is a gentler Severus, but he is showing the anxieties and doubt and lack of expectations for himself that the wartime spy must have felt and suppressed. I like it that Luna has been ready to care for him from the beginning, willing him to heal, and at last learning how she might do it.

zephre's prompt was a lovely idea, and you've made it real in a most delightful way.

[lordhellebore]

This is a gentler Severus, but he is showing the anxieties and doubt and lack of expectations for himself that the wartime spy must have felt and suppressed.

Yes, I think this side could only show once the whole pressure from the war, where there was no place and time for such things, had gone away. I'm happy that you like the story :)