The Plunge

***3 October, 1976, 9:27 a.m. ***

The past month had been a busy one for Severus. All of his term projects were underway and his assistantship was proceeding well. He had finally received a reply from his mother concerning said assistantship, and to Severus' surprise, it had been a very coherent one. In nearly seventeen years, Severus had never had either of his parents express a sense of pride in him, no matter how hard Severus had worked to earn it. The letter from his mum had revealed a lot to Severus—mostly that she was more aware of the happenings of his life than he ever realised. He did not think his mum had noticed the increase in owls from his housemates and the obvious lack of owls from Lily…or that Severus had remained to himself all summer instead of visiting with the 'Evans girl'.

Severus's heart had swelled so much by the time he had finished reading his mother's letter, he thought there was no more room left in his chest for his lungs. Eileen had indicated how proud and relieved that he had earned an assistantship with a Potions Master as prestigious and well-respected as Dr O'Conner. She had been afraid that with the increased correspondences from Avery, Mulciber, Black, and Malfoy, that Severus might be tempted to join the Death Eaters when he came of age, and that she didn't think she would survive the heartbreak if her only child had chosen a path of indentured servitude.

Severus wondered how his mother knew so much about the Lord Voldemort. Severus knew that Avery and Mulciber's fathers had been contemporaries of the Dark Lord, but they had been a couple of years ahead of Severus' mother at school. He guessed that she had been in her Second or Third year when the enigmatic Tom Riddle left Hogwarts. Severus wondered what the Dark Lord had to have been like as a school boy for his mother to remain leery of him after all these years.

It wasn't only who had sent owls to Severus, but who had not, that had earned his mother's attention. She wrote that she was aware that something must have happened between Severus and Lily, but she didn't think it was her place to pry. If it had been anyone else, Severus would have been grateful. But he wished his mother had stuck her nose in his business long before this. At least he would have known that she cared.

Severus' cynical side had always been a huge part of who he was, and his inner cynic yearned to say that his mother's sudden interest in his life was too little, too late. But recently, Severus had found optimism inside that he thought had died in him long ago. He loved his mum—he always had, and now he was sure that his mum loved him in return. Her one letter had acted as a plaster on his damaged heart. It was a small step in his healing.

It was obvious that she had taken notice of the changes in Severus' life. He wondered if he should have mentioned Lucy to her in his letter, but then his mum might start making assumptions when there was nothing to assume.

There was little said of his father, only that he was the same. Severus supposed that was a good thing. Although it meant that Tobias was still going out and spending most of his meagre earnings on the punter and ale, at least he was still keeping his hands off Severus' mum. Severus noticed over the summer that there were many nights that his dad hadn't return home. He couldn't help but wonder on those nights if Tobias was passed out in a flop house or a whore house, not that it mattered. Tobias Snape could rot in jail as far as Severus was concerned.

Severus was already dressed with the exception of his shoes and socks. Instead of attending services with her family, Lucy was studying for an upcoming exam. They would meet by their usual log by the lake when she was done.

Usually they spent the time going over the progress of their class projects or talking pretty much about nothing, but it was better than spending the day alone. Every now and then, they might find themselves joined by their fellow Slytherins, especially Regulus. Severus could never understand why he wanted to join in their study sessions. They weren't even in the same year.

Severus sat on the edge of his bed, bent over and reached for one of his dragon hide boots. He looked inside and wrinkled his nose as he caught a whiff of an overly-ripe sock.

"I thought you'd be down at the lake with O'Conner by now."

Severus looked up to find Rosier returning from the showers wrapped in his dressing gown and rubbing his hair dry with a fresh towel.

"I probably will this afternoon," Severus said dismissively, not wanting to sound eager. "She's usually at church with her parents right now, but I think she's with a study group in the library studying for an exam on Tuesday. She mentioned that today was the only time her entire study group could get together before the exam."

Severus turned his back on his dorm mate, having the courtesy to afford Rosier some privacy as he pulled on his pants.

"Are you taking her to Hogsmeade next weekend?" Rosier asked.

"I'm not taking her anywhere," Severus replied as he tugged a clean sock over his foot, "but she's more than welcome to accompany me if she wants to."

"Are you bent, or just thick?"

"What?" Severus twisted to face Rosier. His blond dorm mate stood there with his hands on his hips, bare-chested wearing only his black trousers.

Rosier grabbed his long-sleeved green shirt from his bed and began to slip it on. "Well, what should people think, Snape? I can't think of a single bloke who spends so much time with a girl without trying to get at least a good snog out of her. Admit it, Snape. You would have dived right into her minge if that Evans girl had put out."

Severus snatched the dirty sock out of his boot and launched it at Rosier, who managed to easily sidestep it. "Will you stop being so crass? Some of us think that girls have more to offer than tits and pu…" Severus stopped. He had a bad habit of letting his language degrade to that of a drunken hooligan when he was pissed off enough. From years of conditioning, he still couldn't let anyone disparage Lily, even though he had only spoken to her once in the past five months…and he definitely wasn't going to let anyone compare Lucy to a common whore.

"And just because I'm not trying to get into every girl's knickers, doesn't mean I'm trying to get into Lockhart's. Besides," he said scathingly, "Evans is old news and O'Conner is a decent girl. Is it so wrong that she is treated decently?"

Severus felt his heart break slightly at the way he dismissed Lily so easily, but it was true—he and Lily were old news. In addition, Lucy really was a decent girl. Sure, Severus wasn't blind to the fact that the girl was pretty, or that she was one of the few people he knew that he did not have to explain the difference between an elixir and a tincture to. But just because he thought Lucy had a certain attraction and lately he spent almost all of his free time with her, didn't mean Severus was about to run out and make her is girlfriend.

Rosier shrugged as he buttoned his shirt, "Who you decide to date or to not to date, is totally up to you, I just thought you should be aware that someone else has their eyes on O'Conner. I didn't think you'd appreciate it very much if you ended up being a third wheel. I'd lose all respect for you because I'd feel sorry for you. And I simply cannot respect anyone I feel sorry for."

Third wheel?

Who was it that had their eyes on Lucy? More importantly, why did Severus suddenly feel his heart race in panic?

"Someone else…," Severus paused and swallowed hard, "I mean, someone has his cap set on Lu…O'Conner? Who is it?

Rosier grinned as he slipped on his outer robe. "Well, since you have no interest in keeping, Lucy…I mean, O'Conner," he emphasised teasingly, "for yourself, I think I'll leave that mystery for you to figure out, old chap."

Severus could only sit in stunned silence as he tried to figure out who might have an interest in Lucy. He never noticed Rosier pick off the wadded up dirty sock from off his bed. And Severus certainly didn't feel it bounce off his head as Rosier tossed it at him when he headed out the door.

Severus' mind raced along with his feet as he tried to keep himself from running down the dungeon corridor. Several candidates for Lucy's affections flashed across his brain and only one name came to mind over and over again—Regulus Black. It was fortunate for Regulus that he was at Quidditch practice.

With the exceptions of lessons and Quidditch practice, Regulus had taken to spending as much free time as he could with Severus and Lucy.

It had to be Regulus. After all, he did mention that he thought Lucy was pretty on the carriage ride that first night back.

Severus was already up the stairs and on the ground floor when he realised that he had passed up the potions lab. It had just occurred to him that his feet were taking him to the library where Lucy was with her study group.

Severus was angry and he did not know why. He was beginning to feel a burning hatred towards Regulus when Reg hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't Severus' business if Lucy decided to go out with Regulus Black. She certainly wasn't Severus' girlfriend. But why was he so determined to prevent Regulus from asking out Lucy at all costs?

Although he could think of no legitimate reason to go to the library at this time, Severus went anyway, not sure about what he was going to say to Lucy when and if he found her there. Lucy was already aware that he had all of his research materials for his class projects. She had helped him pick them out. Lucy had even taken Severus to her family's quarters and convinced her father into letting Severus borrow books from the doctor's private collection. Severus' papers were already outlined and his rough drafts were well underway, so hunting for research material was out.

Severus supposed he could feign as if he were going to study, but most professors did not bother with middle of the term examinations. Most professors just had weekly quizzes. He and Lucy had already made a date (Was it really a date?) to study for Flitwick's upcoming Charms exam, but he figured he could say that he wanted to look up some material for Herbology or Defence. Lucy wasn't in either of those courses.

Severus stepped into the library and realised that finding Lucy was going to be harder than he anticipated. The term was in full swing and with examinations coming around in some courses, the library was unusually full for a late Sunday morning. It was eerie to see so many students congregated together in one place, and yet so deathly quiet. Severus felt like some sort of voyeur.

He quietly walked past the long rows of study tables. On occasion, a student would look up and give him a hard glare as he craned his head, searching for Lucy's familiar dark blonde braids amongst the rows of heads. Severus never found Lucy at the tables, but he did spy someone else. Lily was studying with not only her friend Mary, but the Marauder's too. Severus surmised that McGonagall had set an exam too. It would be just like the old cat.

Severus wished that there had been time in his schedule to include a NEWT course for Transfiguration. He actually enjoyed most of McGonagall's lessons, even if she had an annoying habit of favouring her pet lions. But Charms was more practical for a career in potions work. Transfiguring ingredients had the tendency of making a potion unstable, but Charm magic was practically a requirement for brewing. That is why Muggles and Squibs could not brew potions.

Severus did notice one omission from the Gryffindor group. Lupin wasn't there. It was true that over the course of the term, that Lupin seemed to spend less and less time with his beloved Marauders. In fact, he seemed to spend more time with Lily and her friends, but they were with the Marauders now. It was only five days until the full moon. If his suspicions about Lupin were correct, perhaps he was sick. But Severus didn't think that made too much sense. He had memorised every word about werewolves from Third Year DADA. Werewolves didn't start feeling the effects of the cycle until about two days before the full moon.

There were only a few more places in the library that Lucy could be and Severus' thoughts went from sick werewolves to finding Lucy again. Behind the stacks and along the back walls were some old study rooms. Most early evenings, they were used as private getaways for snogging sessions, but on occasion, they were actually used for studying.

There were five doors lined up along the back wall, each with a modern door and large glass windows which were glaringly out of place with the dominant gothic architecture of the library. Just as he expected, and much to his annoyance, the first two rooms he peered into each contained a couple, limbs akimbo and lips locked. Severus couldn't even tell their gender, and frankly, he did not care. At least they had managed to keep the majority of their clothing on.

It was in the third room that he finally her. Lucy was there with her study group. She was the only Slytherin in the group of Gryffindor's and Ravenclaws because she was the only Slytherin taking a NEWT in Muggle Studies. Severus thought that fact was a bit of an embarrassment to Slytherin House. Not because a Slytherin was taking Muggle Studies, but due to the fact that the course was lectured by Professor Myers, Slytherin's own Head of House, and only one of his Snakes had opted to attempt a NEWT in his subject.

The group was small, all of them sitting around a circular table. Along with Lucy, there was Alice Blishwick and Lupin from Gryffindor. That, of course, had solved the mystery of where Lupin had disappeared to. Severus hadn't even noticed Blishwick's absence from the Gryffindor group. Quirinus Quirrell was there from Ravenclaw. There were also two Severus didn't know. They were in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, respectively.

Severus was dismayed to notice that Lupin was sitting directly to Lucy's right. His skin crawled when he noticed Lupin lean in close to Lucy when he tried to get a better look at her notes. It was then that Severus decided to screw trying to come up with a lame excuse for disturbing Lucy's study session. He boldly knocked the glass and everyone in the room looked up to see who had interrupted them. Only Lucy gave him a smile. The rest looked as if they wanted to flush him down the toilet in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

He couldn't help but feel smug as Lucy turned and seemingly excused herself from the table. There were definite looks of confusion on everyone's faces as Lucy silently closed the door behind her.

"Hey, Severus. What's up?" she asked cheerfully.

No, "What are you doing here," or "Couldn't this wait until later?"

Severus almost didn't know what to say. Actually, he didn't know what to say. He had been certain that whatever he was going to have to say to Lucy would be a defence of why he had disturbed her studying.

"I…uh…I was just wondering how much longer you were going to be." Severus cringed and scratched a non-existent itch on the back of his head. Why did he say that? It sounded so desperate.

All studying had ceased in the room behind Lucy and they were being watched. Lucy hadn't noticed because her back was to the room. When she did look back, all eyes suddenly found the dry text interesting again. Lucy had noticed that, and when she turned back to Severus, there was laughter in her eyes.

"We're working on the last bit of the study guide now. It shouldn't be too much longer. Are you heading down to the lake early?"

"No, I'm going down to the lab and prep some ingredients for a new potion I have in mind. You're welcome to join me when you're done." Severus looked over her shoulder and eyed the group in the private room suspiciously—especially Lupin.

Lucy followed Severus' gaze and looked behind her. She turned to Severus and said, "I know what you're thinking."

Severus snapped out of his not-so-charitable thoughts about Lupin and said, "What?"

Lucy looked back at the group again and then craned her neck to have a look into the stacks behind Severus. Severus was taken aback when she grabbed his hand, pulled him into the next empty study room and closed the door.

"There's nothing to worry about, Severus," she said reassuringly as she reached up and straightened Severus' collar. "He's not dangerous unless there's a full moon."

"Excuse me!" he exclaimed and needlessly looked around to make sure no one else was in earshot. "Do you know for sure? Did he tell you?"

Lucy nodded and crossed her arms. "I don't know why, but he sent me an Owl a couple of nights ago. He mentioned that you had a habit of following Potter and Black around during the full moon and he was afraid that you would drag me along with you."

"And he doesn't want to see you hurt," Severus said, finishing the unsaid thought.

Lucy frowned and shrugged. "I don't know. I had a talk with Uncle Albus about it. He assured me that every precaution has been taken with Remus, though he did not know that Potter, Black and Pettigrew knew where he is being hidden every month. He promised me he would look into it. If they're following him every month, they're putting themselves in danger."

It did not go past Severus' notice that Lucy had just called Lupin by his given name. "Why are you telling me this," he said, chewing on the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping at her. "I'm sure he told you this in confidence."

"Your safety is more important than his confidence," Lucy said seriously. She took his hands into hers and kept her eyes downcast. "Please, promise me you won't go following Potter and his gang around looking for trouble. Let Uncle Albus handle it."

"There's nothing to worry about," Severus assured her, but Lucy's words were still swimming in his head, "I haven't followed the Marauders around in ages. In fact, I should think you would find it more than obvious that the opposite is true." Severus really was telling the truth. He hadn't followed the Marauders around at night in ages. Between studying for NEWTs and his assistantship, he simply did not have the time.

Lucy looked up and was about to say something else, but Severus stopped her. "And I promise not to say a word of this to another soul…living or dead," he added with a small, cheeky smirk.

Lucy's smile slowly returned to her face. When Lucy rose up on her toes and pecked him on the cheek, Severus almost felt as if he were hit by a rogue Bludger. He began to rub his cheek to assure himself that the sensation was real.

"Thank you, Severus. You really are the best."

Severus didn't know what he was the best at, but it felt really good to know that Lucy thought he was the best at something.

Lucy sighed and her smile fell a little, "Well, I suppose I better get back before they send out a search party for me."

Severus hadn't been aware that Lucy had still been holding one of his hands until his arm was outstretched as she began to walk away.

"Erm…Lucy, where did you want to meet later?" He had no clue as to why he felt so awkward. He and Lucy met all the time. It didn't mean anything.

"Really, I don't see us being more than a half-hour or forty-five minutes here. Just go ahead down to Daddy's lab and I'll see you when we're finished up."

Lucy dropped his hand and left Severus alone in the private room. He was awash in a mix of feelings, some he recognised and others he did not and Severus was at a loss for what to think.

***11:39 a.m.***

Severus was alone in the lab, taking down the ingredients he wanted from his private store cabinet that the doctor had given him and placing his mise en plas neatly on his work table. It was one of the few chances he had to work for himself and he was grateful for the quiet time to think. He didn't want to believe that he was feeling jealous of Regulus possibly fancying Lucy, or Lupin confiding his darkest secret to her, but he was beginning to wonder. Besides, Severus would be taking a huge risk with his career plans if he suddenly went up to Dr O'Conner and asked to take his youngest daughter out on a date. Severus didn't want to come across as openly manipulative.

Severus wasn't an idiot. He knew that there was more than one rumour going around that the only reason he was befriending Lucy was so that he could get into the Potion Master's good graces. In fact, Severus and questioned his own motives more than once over the past month, but had always came to the same conclusion—he liked Lucy for being Lucy.

He had his back to the door, shuffling through phials and boxes, desperately looking for the extra bezoars that Dr O'Conner had given him the other week.

"Hello, Sev."

The familiar, soft voice had caught Severus off-guard and his hand swept across the self, knocking precious phials of ingredients, along with the missing bezoars to the floor. Just as when he was tripped up by the Marauders, the bezoars scattered across the ground. Thankfully he had foresight enough to pay extra for phials with an Unbreakable Charm on them.

"What do you want," Severus turned and snapped. He would like to think that he hadn't meant to greet Lily so harshly, but that would have been a lie. If he had been brewing, sneaking up on him like that could have been a deadly mistake.

"I'm sorry. Here…let me help."

Lily silently summoned the bezoars back into their tin box as Severus spelled the phials onto the table to be sorted out.

"Thank you…I think," Severus said tersely as he began to arrange bottles in alphabetical order. "You still haven't told me why you are here."

"I just stopped by to say hello to an old friend," Lily said matter-of-factly as she absently inspected a bottle filled with translucent green liquid. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

It was a good thing the fragile looking bottles did have a charm on them, otherwise with the force that Severus had set down the phial, he would have had hellebore syrup and glass shards all over his face.

"As I recall, it was you who announced in no uncertain terms that our friendship was over."

Lily put the bottle back on the table. "I'm sorry about that, Sev," she said sadly. "I didn't handle that very well."

Severus turned away from her and began placing bottles back into the shelf. "No, you didn't," he said bluntly. "I tried to explain, but you wouldn't listen. I may have made some mistakes, but one would think after all of these years, I had at least earned that small courtesy from you."

Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "Jeeze, Sev. I said I was sorry. What more do you want?"

"I seem to remember asking the same of you, Lily."

There was an unmistakable flash of regret in Lily's eyes. Severus couldn't be certain what it was for. Did she regret tossing Severus aside like an old shoe, or did she regret being caught in her own hypocrisy?

Lily leaned her back against his work table. Severus could tell she was trying to rein in her emotions. She slowly opened her left hand and looked at it. Lily turned abruptly and said, "Do you remember when we did that, Sev?"

Lily stuck out her left hand. If Severus hadn't known what she was talking about, he would never have seen it. Lily was referring to the small scar that cut across her heart line, just below her ring and little fingers. Severus knew what she was referring to, because he had a scar just like it on his left hand. He resisted the urge to look at his scar. It would hurt too much. The happiness of that long ago day was gone forever and those two innocent children no longer existed.

Severus closed a tight fist around his scar and pushed Lily's hand away with his free one. She was the first to break the promises made that day…not him.

"Some things are best left in the past," he said bitterly. "You told me to find my own life. Now that I have, why do you feel the need to barge in?"

"I've been thinking about this for a while now, Sev, but I can no longer deny that I still care for you," she confessed, though Severus could tell, reluctantly. "I… want to know that you're okay. I just haven't had a chance to speak to you alone before now."

Severus narrowed his gaze because he knew she was only speaking a half truth. Lily always favoured her lower lip when she had something to hide.

"Tell me, Lily," Severus said silkily, "Do your friends know you're in the dungeon conversing with a Dirty Snake."

"What's that supposed to mean, Severus Snape?"

"It means that you have had plenty of chances to speak with me alone, Lily Evans. I think you don't want your friends to know you've come to me."

"That's not true and you know it!" Lily practically bellowed. "Every time I see you, you're with her."

"Funny…every time I see you, you're with them. You could have asked to speak to me in front of Lucy at any time and she would have understood. Can you say the same about your friends?"

"Oh, so it's 'Lucy' I see," she said snidely.

"And what does it matter to you what I call my friends?"

"I thought as much. She is one of them, isn't she? Mary suspected as much. She's tried to warn Alice and Remus, but they just won't listen. Just like I wouldn't listen about you until it was almost too late!"

Never in his life had Severus wanted to strike Lily Evans, but it was taking every ounce of his self-control not to knock her across the lab like a man.

"So this is why you've come here? To see what my relationship with Lucy is?"

"Don't be so full of yourself, Snape. You're looks haven't changed that much for the better."

Severus just stood there in silence and stared at Lily. She was still as beautiful as ever, at least physically. Her auburn hair was feathered around her face in the latest fashion, but her beauty seemed to have acquired a hard edge.

When had he stopped loving her? Severus had to admit that he still cared for Lily Evans, but he didn't love her. If he had, this argument would be affecting him more acutely than it was. He wasn't hurt by her words anymore…at least not those directed at him…but he just wanted Lily to go away.

Severus was so incensed over her accusation about Lucy, Severus uttered two words he thought he would ever say in the same phrase. "Lily…leave."

Lily's almond shaped eyes turned round with disbelief. "What did you say?"

"I said, leave," he emphasised even more strongly. "As in go away…you aren't welcome here anymore."

Normally, Severus would have been amazed at the sudden hurt looks in Lily's eyes and taken pity on her, but after her remark inferring that Lucy was a future Death Eater, Lily had hardened Severus' heart to her.

"Okay," Lily said, sounding as if she had choked on her words. She turned and bumped into a stool in her attempt at a hasty exit.

As Lily exited the door, she nearly ran down Lucy, who was trying to enter.

The two girls stood silently for a moment as if assessing one another. Lucy was the first to speak. "Hi, Evans." To most, Lucy's greeting might sound cordial enough, but Severus noticed a harsh underlying tone that was not normally in her nature.

Lily looked down her nose at the shorter girl and said stiffly, "O'Conner."

As Lily stormed off, Lily raised a single eyebrow and shrugged off the taller girl's cold shoulder.

"What was that all about?" Lucy asked as she hitched her thumb in the direction Lily had run off.

"Just someone sticking her nose where it doesn't belong…I suppose you know that was Lily."

Severus wasn't afraid to admit it anymore. He trusted Lucy enough to know that she would not pass judgment.

"I know…I've known for a while now. Unless of course, everyone has been talking about that first year, Lily Mackie," Lucy teased.

Severus smiled, almost as brightly as Lucy. She had a way of bringing fresh air into a room and sweeping away the heavy dankness.

"Here," Severus said as he tossed Lucy the box of recovered bezoars. "If you help by crushing these we can get out of here that much sooner."

Lucy managed to snatch the box in mid-air. She must have noticed the impressed look on Severus' face. "Don't look so shocked. I do have three brothers, you know."

For the next hour, Severus and Lucy worked diligently together, she crushing bezoars with a mortar and pestle, and he squeezing the pus out of bubotubers. Lucy had pinned up her braids in strange loops that reminded Severus of Bavarian barmaids he had seen in Muggle advertisements.

He had been thinking hard about what Rosier had said earlier that morning. Why hadn't he asked Lucy out on a proper date? The more he ruminated over that question, the more he realised why he had never asked Lucy out. Severus had thought that he was still in love with Lily, but he knew that was no longer the case. He could not place a date on when we had stopped loving her, but it didn't make it any less true.

Severus had never thought that not being in love could be so liberating. His feelings had been unrequited for so long, it was hard to understand why he had held on for as long as he had. But the weight of the world was now off his shoulders…or at least the weight of Lily Evans, and Severus was free to see other girls without fear that her ghost would come to haunt his relationship.

The more he looked at Lucy, grinding bezoars with the intensity of a Wagnerian opera singer, the more he was determined to follow through with it. Severus wasn't in love with her, but it was only one date…not a marriage proposal. He doubted it would lead to anything more.

Rosier had mentioned the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend. That Saturday also happened to be the first Quidditch match of the term between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Severus couldn't think of a better way to spend the afternoon than a heated game of Quidditch followed by a relaxing walk through the markets in the village and maybe supper at the Three Broomsticks. It was no offence to Lucy's great grandfather, but going to the Hog's Head would seem too much like being babysat.

Severus took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge before he talked himself out of it.

"Lucy?"

Lucy looked up and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the dorsal of her had while she continued to hold on to her pestle. "Yeah?"

"Do you like Quidditch?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First…I need to give a big hug and thank you to my friend and beta, Tambrathegreat, who managed to get this to me quickly despite her cold.

Second…I know that many of you are probably aware that in my last update of Along Came a Family, I announced that I would no longer be updating on FFNet. Well, I am now happy to announce that circumstances have somewhat changed and I will continue to post on FFNet.

Myself, Tambra, and a couple of friends have decided to do something, even if only a small something, to help folks from having their stories targeted for deletion. We have started a writer's help forum called The Order of The Jabberwocky ( forum/The_Order_of_the_Jabberwocky/114571/).

For anyone who asks, we help with proofreading, we've opened an easy thread for people to offer and find beta services, and offer advice for how to make stories compliant without fear of being reported. The forum as only been open for a week and it is small, but we are willing to help. So come check us out, whether you are looking for help or would like to offer some, we will be happy to hear from you.

TTFN
~Missyann