Name: Felpata_Lupin (Signed) · Date: 25 Jun 2023 10:49 AM · For: Freshly mown grass, new parchment, and...

Hello, Melanie! Here for some tag! (Hope you don't mind me jumping in and picking this story, since I'm already caught up with all your main novels... :P)

I adored this! Really! Your Romione is always so much fun and delightful and I loved everything about this episode you shared with us here! You killed me with the Mad-Eye bit, lol! :D  "Just hordes of girls after Mad-Eye. Constant vigilance!" It's wonderful! Have I ever told you how much I love your humour? ;)

I just absolutely loved the whole progression of this one-shot! Hermione's side-thoughts during that first potion lesson... then the scene in the common room, Harry and Ron sound asleep and the way she woke Ron up to rescue her bag... :P And then the realization hitting her! :O Logically, she assured herself, it couldn't just mean... attraction. Not in that way. After all, she wasn't romantically attracted to grass or parchment. She simply liked how they smelled. How they made her feel. / All this meant was that Ron smelled nice. Perhaps he just used lovely soap. Yeah, yeah, sure... you tell yourself that... :P

(Side note: Ron kicking to try to get him up and go to bed, while he was still lying there with no intention to get up either... that whole scene was so 100% golden trio and I just loved it so much! They have such a brilliant dynamic, all three of them! :P)

And then when Ron comes back, and gives her a taste of her own medicine, lol! :P Absolutely adored their banter! All of it! The Sleeping Beauty thing, and the Mad-Eye thing, and everything else... Ron's analysis of Sleeping Beauty was genius! Absolutely brilliant! And it was really lovely to see them laughing together about it all! It's obvious that they are at ease with each other, they are oblivious, but they are so sweet... <3

And of course I loved the talk about Harry's Potions book... Ron can be extremely mature and perceptive when he needs to be, and I love that you showed that here... and it's obvious that that's part of what Hermione finds attractive in him... he's safe and reliable and... familiar. What matters more? I just love the portrayal of him you give here! <3

I'm sure I'm missing something foundamental to comment on, as usual... but just know that this was delightful and perfect and brilliantly satisfying, just as your writing always is! Thank you so much for sharing with us this lovely episode! <3

Big snowball hug,

Chiara

Name: Predictable Chaos (Signed) · Date: 19 Feb 2023 12:37 PM · For: Freshly mown grass, new parchment, and...

Melanie,

I’m here for the FFT Review Fest

I love these types of stories. When someone takes one or two lines from the HP Universe and world builds from there. It was a nice moment when Ron and Hermione are actually nice to each other and you see a glimpse of why they lasted (at least by canon.) I love the little scene with him sleeping on her bag and she holds his nose to get him to wake up. I’m not sure if there is another way to get Ron Weasley to wake up except perhaps a bucket of water.

Over all, a nice little one-shot to enjoy.

Name: Goatspeed (Signed) · Date: 02 Jan 2023 04:16 AM · For: Freshly mown grass, new parchment, and...

I don't know if I can do more than echo the previous reviewers' comments, but I'll give it a try.  You have such a dab hand with dialogue between these two - I've had the good fortune to have a couple of friends over the years whose conversations could last deep into the night, and this one sounds very muich like many of those.  I also loved Ron's take on the Sleeping Beauty plot and the prince's lack of foresight.  Moody's pervy eye caused snorting that, thankfully, was not witnessed by anyone sentient - my dog had a pretty confused look on his face, though.  This was such fun to read. and it felt fresh while not straying far from canon at all.  Thanks.

Name: quill2parchment (Signed) · Date: 29 Dec 2022 04:57 PM · For: Freshly mown grass, new parchment, and...

Hiii Melanie! Happy holidays <3

I love the way Ron comes down to check on her. And, of course, he starts teasing her about her snoring, and that distracters her from the very obvious fact that he's already quite smitten with her. Also, the way she calls him "sleeping beauty" in passing while he's half asleep but he remembers to ask her about it later because he's actually always paying close attention to everything she says. Just such sweet, subtle ways of showing how much he really cares about her. 

The Sleeping Beauty conversating had been loling when you shared it as a sneek peak and it was even funnier with context and the rest of their conversating about it. Ron saying he would want to make sure she wasn't a looney before he married her was such a him thing to say lol!

"You know, I always thought that eye of his was a bit pervy." 

I was literally laughing out loud at this! I loved that whole conversation down to the "Why are we even talking about this?" It just gives such late-at-night-conversations-with-friends vibes.

And, really, one of the things I loved the most about this piece is that while there's loads of hints that the both of them both feel something a bit more than friendship, their friendship in itself is still a big part of their dynamics and how they treat each other. It's not overshadowed by the romantic tension between them but rather highlighted by it. 

Honestly, every single bit of this whole story was brllliant. The humor. The characterization. Everything. Thank you for sharing <3

Name: Cassius (Signed) · Date: 28 Dec 2022 09:14 PM · For: Freshly mown grass, new parchment, and...

Hello there!

 

Excited to review this new story!

 

I'm a Romione loyalist so I think I'm going to like where this is going...

 

One can definetely understand where Hermione is coming from with her annoyance at the HBP book. She achieved great academic success by playing by the rules and doing everything by the book. Seeing Harry have this instant success by going outside the lines must have grated her. Always an uncomfortable situation when the person annoying you like that is also a good friend. 

I really enjoyed the bants between Ron and Hermione here, the way it seems to go beyond just a friendly banter into a "maybe there's more here" kind of thing, but they aren't quite ready to make that leap just yet. 

The part about Moody was particularly funny. Out of curiosity I looked up pics of Brendan Gleeson when he was younger and he kind of always did look like Moody but he also kind of looked like Wayne Rooney. Also, I feel really dumb for just realizing now that he's Domnhall Gleeson's dad. Crazy!

And then there's Hermione slowly coming to the realization with the Amortentia and the smells. Oh girl, you know what this means. Don't chase after Draco Malfoy like in those other stories, follow your heart to your true ship!

Thanks for a fun read!

James

Author's Response:

Hi James! 

 

For me, the best part of Romione is the foundation of friendship. I know the bickering is part of the allure, but to me that's always been a side effect of the dynamic, not the dynamic itself. There's a lot of potential awkwardness with Romione to play with, but so much comfort and ease as well! And the best thing about a friendship like that is being able to do things like talk about completely inane topics until 3 AM because you've lost track of time or you just enjoy one another so much. And I like Hermione getting this inescapable confirmation that the place she loves to be the most is wherever he is. :)

 

Thanks for the review!

 

Melanie

Name: Pixileanin (Signed) · Date: 28 Dec 2022 12:47 PM · For: Freshly mown grass, new parchment, and...

 

Hello, and happy chilly season!

 

I was so surprised to see this one-shot pop up, but also so delighted that it's about Hermione and potions, and that one time where she smelled something compelling, and yes, I want to read all about that!!!

 

I always admire the way you get right into a character's head, and as you know, I'm still working on that, but it's just always breathtaking when a character jumps right off the page like that. Such a beautiful thing! 

 

Addictive is the RIGHT word for this. I love the way Hermione's brain isn't keeping up with, or rather is on a completely different path with the correct words for the things coming out of her mouth, not even caring that if she slowed down just a bit, it would all come together a little more refined, but then if she did that, we wouldn't have this delicious moment of: 

 

"What the hell IS that??"

 

Indeed. People smell like things, but then people also just simply smell like people. And sometimes that's just enough to get a person's attention, and because we don't generally have a name for it, it very often catches us off guard... unless one is accustomed to sniffing the natural scent of other people like our pets do... but then that's definitely not Hermione or we wouldn't have this moment of discovery, along with the embarrassing giveaway she just handed to the entire class about grass and parchment. Which is awkward and funny and awesome to read about!

 

I love that the entire episode was largely overrun by her innate need to concentrate on other ‘more important things' than the jarring revelation she'd just had, like school and assignments, and more school, and is it weird that I find all of this completely relatable?

 

Also, bravo to you for including that everything is the boys' fault, including making their sleepiness contagious. LOL! Poor Hermione is always in such a state that she doesn't have the capacity to face what is going on at face value... all she can do is face the fact that something is happening that she can't really put a finger on. But you make it very clear exactly what is going on. The poor girl... potions books aren't very helpful right now.

 

"All this meant was that Ron smelled nice. Perhaps he just used lovely soap.

 

Well, bully for him."

 

Ah, hahaha! Yes. It's the soap. That's the only logical explanation. 

 

I had no idea what you had planned when Ron came down to wake her up later. But it was perfect. They aren't in a place where they're ready to admit feelings, but the easy conversation and obvious care they have for each other, and the telltale sign that no one wants to leave yet. All wonderfully fuzzy things. And he compliments her on her most recent insecurity. That's got to count for a lot.

And the whole Sleeping Beauty thing was hilarious, especially Ron's recap, which of course is entirely accurate, all the way up to the modern lens he sees it through. 

 

And then you bring it back around to the underlying issue Hermione has had in canon, and they debate the point, and Ron's trying to make her feel better about herself, and it's just so cute, their amicable connection over things and the whole thing with Mad Eye Moody and love potions was crazy funny.

 

I am so happy that you wrote this scene, even if the broader fic you planned never got off the ground. It was a sweet, sweet missing moment for Hermione that I needed in my life.

 

Thank you!

 

Pix