Thanks. Snape wanted to tell, but he had promised Dumbledore to keep silent.

Wise judgment ... It is a rather quiet beginning.

My dear Prisca,

So many good questions! Thank you so much for the care you take with your reading. I feel rewarded twice-over for writing (the first reward, of course, being the writing itself).

I usually post on the Sugar Quill first. The problem is that the SQ would not accept "The Werewolf's Bride" because the nastiness of the Veleta situation was too explicitly spelled out. But, yes, I am going to update here. The only change you would have noticed in these early chapters is how I have renamed the Macmillans. The four sisters were originally named Grace, Prudence, Felicity and Mercy. I later realised that this was exactly the reverse of the correct order, since the first sister becomes a Healer, the second is always happy, the third is an ambitious businesswoman, and the fourth is spiritually sensitive. But I didn't know when I first wrote this that they had separate personalities!

And you may have guessed that I love Lupin too! Who else would inspire me to write so much? I can't say I "love" Snape, but he is certainly one of the most interesting characters. As for my own inner Severus, well, I think my natural tendency is to hate and despise people who annoy me and to wish I could hurt them as skillfuly as Severus does. Unlike Severus, I hope I am working at improving myself!

I think Snape has a subconscious affection for the MacDougal family, simply because they have treated him normally, neither opposing him nor using him. He knows that Ariadne is "good", and therefore has something of a protective instinct towards her (and she of course knows it). But naturally Snape never admits that he loves anyone.

I am so glad you understood the party. I am not always confident that I portray unspoken social relationships well. It was meant to be, as you say, an unremarkable extended-family get-together, with the food as the most exciting part of the event. But in fact it was an attempt to deny that anybody in the MacDougals' circle had ever hurt anybody else, and to insist that people trust one another whether they had reason to or not.

I love that you find Ariadne irresistible. So do I! She was the inspiration who kept me writing, even more than Remus himself. He did find her appearance "forgettable" at first, because she is no beauty; it's her personality that is memorable, and he needed time to find that out.

I agree that we don't know Tonks very well in canon. She is a very likeable girl, but it takes writers like FernWithy to bring her to three-dimensional life. I gave far more words to Ariadne than JKR gave to Tonks, so that is probably why you feel you know her better. I have to say that I was surprised that JKR gave Remus a lover with pink hair and a Cockney accent; I had assumed that his tastes were more conservative. I knew about Ariadne before HBP, so I had to rethink how they could BOTH be the right woman for Remus.

Thanks for explaining your user-name. I suppose the "ancient" idea is connected with wisdom and the "knot" with complexity. "Oldened" is not a word; I think I would say "archaised", but I don't think that's a word either!!

Thank you so much for all your support,

GhV

Dear Prisca,

Thank you for putting the time into yet another amazing review. Are you Italian? I wouldn't have guessed. How did you come up with a user-name like "Knott" or "McKnott"? Is "Prisca" after the tentmaker in the Bible?

About the tetrology: originally the story was a trilogy, but in the end the back-story for Ariadne's childhood refused to be compressed into a mere 3-4000 words, so I had to expand it into a whole novel, supplemented by a mirror-image story about Remus's childhood. But there always was going to be one story for the courtship, one about the discovery of Wolfsbane Potion, and one about the consequences of trying to change society.

Regarding the name "Ariadne": it took me by surprise, but it kept pushing its way into my mind when every Celtic name in the dictionary seemed wrong. I agree, her parents are the types who would have chosen a Celtic name; but I suppose they are also quite widely-read and would know the Classics. Only after I had begun posting the story did I discover the one Celtic name that might have worked: "Feiltiarna", which means "lady of wolves". But it was too late to change then, so I gave this name to a minor character. In a revised edition, I will make it Ariadne's middle name.

About that first chapter: I think the point is that Ariadne is always right about people. She likes Remus very much because she recognises him for who he is. She wouldn't analyse or verbalise her feelings, so she has no consciousness that he is her soulmate, and she doesn't spend much time thinking about him until they meet properly the following summer. But of course all the dynamics are already there.

About Ariadne's speech patterns: I was trying to imitate the kind of English spoken in Scotland. However, I was not necessarily accurate - no doubt some irate Highlander will correct me there.

I am glad you liked that opening scene! Unfortunately, I am not artistic, but I think several scenes were designed to be painted! That's how Ariadne floated into my head: a Celtic girl stirring her cauldron. I made her a Pictish/Gaelic cross to emphasise that she is from a very ancient magical family: both these groups were living in the British Isles long before the Anglo-Saxons came. Most modern Britons are a mixture of Saxons, Vikings and the three Celtic groups, but there are some people (in parts of Scotland and Ireland, in most of Wales and Cornwall, and in East Anglia) who can identify with only one or two of these groups.

About Ariadne's family: that's a large part of what made her who she is. In a different family, you could imagine an honest person like her growing up to be very outspoken, perhaps even a little rude; the discipline of growing up a MacDougal is what gives her her soft edges.

Regarding finding the time: my husband thinks it took me too long! But I have to write. I'm very unhappy if I can't use words creatively. That might be why I like teaching. I can be the person who stands in front of the captive audience and do all the talking!

Regarding future writing: Well, since teaching became full-time, I haven't done as much, but I have done some. I have nearly finished a challenge to retell one of the traditional fairy tales in a Hogwarts setting, so that will probably be what I post next. I also wrote 2/3 of a story about the two "missing" Gryffindor girls, but that had to be shelved after DH was published. I still think it might be worth finishing one day, but with extensive revisions. I also have an idea for a shorter story about Tracey Davies (a Slytherin whom we know only from the classlist).

And am I revising "Moon-Cursers"? You have guessed correctly - I am! I have nearly finished doing this, so you might be one of the last people ever to read the old version. You are right, I've made a few changes to Snape, but not many; it's not so much his actions as some of the timing that needs to be finalised. And we now know that Hannah is a pure-blood, so I've had to cut her out of the plot and replace her with Terry Boot. Since he is a very different person, that made some very interesting changes to the classroom dynamics.

Thank you very much for all your encouragement,

GhV