AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I've had several reviews criticize this story, and my response to that is as follows. I apologize in advance to anyone who is offended by what I have to say, but keeping my thoughts to myself seems kind of stupid at this point:
I have been raped. Twice, by two different men. First, when I was all of ten and had no idea what was happening. Second, when I was drugged and taken advantage of. I also spent, in my late teens, a year being sexually harassed by a man who had known me since I was seven years old, who I though I could trust. He eventually did attempt to physically assault me, but in that case, I got lucky and got away. Point being: I am no stranger to being a victim of sexual assault.
For those of you who believe that I'm not being true to the situation, that Minerva and/or Hermione should be more of a mess than they seem to be, I want you to know that I'm writing from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. When I was raped at ten, I knew I didn't like it, but was also embarrassed and told no one. By the time I was raped the second time, I was in a relationship with a man whom I believed would kill the man who assaulted me, and I didn't want my boyfriend to go to jail. Again, I said NOTHING.
It was years later before I opened up about my experiences. No one knew. Everyone perceived me as fine, and I felt fine myself. To me, it was something unpleasant that happened, which I had no desire to think about, nor talk about. It did not turn me into a puddle of emotional mess. I'm not saying it didn't effect me - it did. It made me slow to trust, particularly when it came to men. It made me very hard on men... any man I've ever dated will tell you it was like pulling teeth to earn my trust, and that I am often "mean" to them. If something a man does bothers me, I will tell them quite harshly how I feel.
It was YEARS later before I sought therapy and actually processed the emotions. THAT, right there, is what I wanted this story to be about - about how the world doesn't stop turning when a woman is raped, and sometimes, like me, that woman can go on like it never happened for a long time before shit hits the fan, before she deals with it.
Regarding my lack of "Rape Trigger" warning - The summary says "Rated M for sensitive material." In fanfic, this usually means one of two things: either it deals with child abuse, or rape. As this is not marked 'family', I did sort of expect that common sense would allow you all to narrow down the options. I will not change it. Quite frankly, you've been raped, and this sort of story bothers you, AND "M for sensitive material" does not give you enough of a clue...then don't read my stories. It sucks that I feel it's come tot hat, but I write 'real life' into my fic, and if you can't face reality...I encourage you to see a councilor.