Omgggg please update asap

Getting back to it, will read it from the start again :)

this story has enraptured me from start to finish. is it possible to see hermione’s pov? i hope you finish, but no stress. i just love the concepts you’ve shared in your story. thank you!

I just discovered this story and I have to say, that it‘s absolutely captivating!
Your writing style really fits the setting. I like how you go into detail in some scenes but also leave out some parts, so that the reader can discover them through the views of another character or a different medium. (Or another timeline :))
Your approach on the different timelines was (in my opinion) the best, that I have read so far (including canon x)). I don‘t get all the science, but you explained it really well and it was interesting so see the consequences when messing with the timeline.

The development of the characters is very natural and believable. I especially loved the chapters with „young“ Bella.

All in all one of the best fanfics, I‘ve read for this pair.
Please keep updating! It is much appreciated :)

Absolutely awesome story! You are really a darn good writer, I really enjoy the story adventure

You know I have to say, this was a goddamn delight. this story is so riveting, your writing so compelling and it was SO WORTH IT to wait for this next chapter.
The characterization of both Bella and Hermione is fucking flawless and I live for their interactions.
Thank you SO MUCH for writing this story. Can’t wait to read how it develops!

Great story!

What a nice surprise! I had actually forgotten about this story, but I'm glad you haven't. I had to flip back a few chapters to refresh my memory as to which story this one was! Thank you for the update. I loved it. A bit sad with the ending, but these things sometimes happen before anything fluffy comes of it.

HDAKKSJDLAJ I CHOKED ON MY OWN SPIT WHEN I REALIZED THERE WAS AN UPDATE. At first it was a solid half minute of confusion; I was looking at my favorited stories and I saw Just Say When and I was like, I remember saving it a bit further back? What? I could not, did not expect this blessing thank u shesus holy FUCK! Holy hell holy fucking shit holy FUCKING SHIT!

Just a few things on this massive chapter that I loved and also now I have questions about:

Fenrir. He is supposed to be a massive brute but I don’t remember if explicitly he’s like, legit stupid? WHAT DOES IT MEAN oh my god is Voldemort getting manipulated as Hermione was considering or is he part of it all as well? But then what does he have to gain from it? Scrimgeour IS killed at the beginning of book 7 so... I mean you seem to be more or less following canon, just filling in the gaps. So if he does die in about a year as he did in the books, does that mean that will be part of the shenanigans in your story? If so or if not, I wonder how that’s related to Voldemort, if it was part of his plan.. I mean there is obviously some deeper darker secret at play here with Crouch and Umbridge and Scrimgeour and Fenrir and possibly Evelyn? I wonder if she is part of the OG plan or was affected by it, or just wormed her way into the mess.

The earring. Uh.. I honestly don’t remember, and I don’t want to reread the entire thing before leaving this review because that means I will never leave the review. Did you ever explicitly mention Evelyn and Hermione at Heaven’s Gate? I thought they broke up and also usually had their trysts at Evelyn’s place? Does that mean Evelyn already came over and told Hermione to kill Bella? or did she go over and do some manipulating to put Hermione in a situation that would trap Bella? Going to the Prophet was Bellatrix’s idea so surely it wasn’t that...? Maybe Hermione left to think, during the fight at the Prophet, because of Evelyn telling her already to hand over Bellatrix at the next opportunity and she was conflicted? And then she went and saved her, but then would Evelyn know she had the opportunity and didn’t do it? What Will It Mean omg.

You know another thing I love about your stories is that I have so many theories and questions and somehow you manage to magically kind of soothe them at the perfect moment. When I got to reading the part at the beginning of the break-in when Hermione mentions imagining Bellatrix doing a crossword, and then obv we all imagined them living together and having mornings together, I suddenly wondered if/how Bella would react to finding out about Evelyn. And then, bam! Later on you had her find that earring! And now I’m all buzzing with anticipation for the inevitable confrontation about it. What exactly does she think the earring means? That Hermione is pursuing other women the way she is pursuing her? That Hermione’s pursuit of her is just some sort of political thing, a notch or a power play? It would be so interesting to see a Bella/Evelyn confrontation because Evelyn knows everything about Hermione’s obsession with Bella but Bella doesn’t at all, and if she somehow knows who Evelyn is in relation to Lucius.. idk? I just don’t know but there are so many possibilities and I’m sure whatever you have planned, whether or not I am on base of far off from it, it will be amazing.

Ha! That Fidelius charm thing at the end was such a great touch! Hermione must not have done it at the beginning, since obviously Bellatrix met her at Heaven’s Gate. But did she do it in the moment after Bella stormed off? Or, at the Prophet, when she left and got away, did she turn back time and do it then? Did she actually turn back time or just take a little moment to herself to think? From what you wrote it seems like she left and went back in time, then possibly looked up some way to help Bellatrix and found out about the bird or just went back in time enough to experiment on the bird, and then waited for the right moment. ... or is it possible that she already reversed the Fidelius charm, and just spitefully kicked Bellatrix out right after the mudblood thing? Much to think about.

Also the Mumblemumps. Did you make that up?! I almost cried it’s so fucking funny. And the image of Bellatrix growing polyester hair all over from the Skeeter Polyjuice.

The moment when Hermione is putting the salve on Bellatrix: “The potion cooled and numbed as it worked it's magic, while the fingertips tracing across her skin seemed to burn her nerve endings raw.” That was like another moment stretched into infinity. THEIR CONNECTION. The way you write it. Fuck! Have you read Fractures? I had a flashback to that moment when Bellatrix is rubbing salve onto Hermione after the first task and she has a full ass gay panic attack because who wouldn’t? I had a full ass gay panic attack reading that moment from all the eye contact and how THEY BOTH FEEL THE MOMENT THAT WAS SO GAY!

The way you describe things. Fuck. I just watched Portrait of a Lady on Fire and like, all the moments when Bellatrix is noticing things about Hermione. How close they were when she was transfiguring her face. The way you have her note the movement of her hands and the shape of her mouth and the directions her eyes look. I know she’s using her Auror training too or whatever but. A woman looking at another woman in That Way and Hermione being on the receiving end of it after the disaster that was Cho and also Tonks just ahh my heart. My heart! I want to cry it feels so good to see these tender human feelings in a story, in this way, between two women and it’s so fkin beautiful.

I would gladly have waited a decade more between updates and been just as pleased. But this was such a gift at such a good time, I have been in a funk in the lockdown the past week or so and this genuinely cheered me up a bunch. Thank you so so so much. I cannot begin to return to favor of how much delight your story brings to me but I just want you to know that I love it so much.

I love it this fic is so well written that I can't look away is enchanting thank you for the chapter and I can't wait for the next one.

Glad to see you're still kicking with this one.

I have so many things to say. Oh god. I started having too many thoughts to remember so I wrote a list and then honestly it’s been maybe a couple weeks since I finished your story and like a total coward I didn’t review immediately.

First: I read a lot of fanfic. I binge in phases and I’m currently back into Bellamione after about a, oh, 5 year gap? But I can inhale a 200k fic in literally less than a day and at that rate, I read a LOT of fic. At this point, I like to think that I have a good gasp of the general breadth and depth of the varieties of Bellamione.

So I want you to know that I don’t say this lightly: by far and wide, Just Say When is the most masterful exploration of time travel I’ve seen in Bellamione, AND the most unique (refreshing; real; not that others aren’t but yours stands out) portrayal of Hermione-as-a-lesbian AND you have my favorite Bellatrix as well. There are some amazing greats out there, but your story... whew. Wow. If I had to pick, this is the one I’d marry.

I used to be a philosophy major and took a class on philosophy of time travel and like, that shit can get really really convoluted. Yet you managed to incorporate elements of it without make it ridiculous and esoteric and I love it so much! For example: the causal loops! So many! Hermione going back in time to cause the car crash. Evelyn eyeing up Hermione as Lucius at the ministry. Hermione meeting Agatha in the past which then caused her to interact with Hermione in the future in a way that would make Hermione reach out to her for help in the past. And so many causal loops within causal loops it’s like a candy shop of them but it’s not confusing at all when you write them! In fact as a reader I get so much delight at the Aha! moment when I can make a connection and something finally makes sense.

I am so excited to see what you did with the two-Hermione problem. She basically stayed the whole summer at Heaven’s Gate right? So that means other-Hermione could have also existed at the same time, in their parents’ home. But then supposedly it is only Hermione, back at Hogwarts and at Hogsmeade when Bella slips her the note. I’m assuming Bella can tell the difference between Time Traveller Hermione and the other one. But also sometimes Hermione starts to fade away, so maybe she faded right into her other body? Have you ever heard of the Cheshire Cat problem of time travel? This reminds me of that (even though it’s not quite the same) and I ugh I love how you incorporate the themes of paradox into your time travel.

(God I haven’t even gotten started with my notes of my favorite moments yet. I might save it for a PM if you’re actually interested? It’s rather long and I’m honestly afraid I’ll bore you with my rambling, because I really CAN go on and on about this fic.)

This. Bellatrix. ! So many things! This might be the only fic (as far as I can recall easily) that has several things that I like so much: Bella isn’t insanely smart in the same way Hermione is. Honestly, I never got the impression in canon that she was supposedly to be That Kind of smart, you know? I love how you made her have just okay grades, but she is fierce and a fighter and that’s what makes her strong! Yes! Thank you! I love that so much. And post-Azkaban, she doesn’t really recover her mental strength so easily (or possibly at all, we’ll see I guess? It’s likely to be a long journey with this Bella to fully recover if I had to guess.) like when she couldn’t recognize the younger Scrimgeour and Greyback in that photo. It was so sad but so real oh my god? Like when I’m super depressed my brain goes all bleh even when I clench really hard and try to make it go faster. Also! The fact that she doesn’t have great fashion sense! I love that and I think it suits her very well. Obviously going to Azkaban will change priorities but also I had a personal headcanon that Bellatrix is naturally beautiful and thus was never that vain about her looks because she never worried too much. Not that I don’t find it amusing every time a Bellamione fic manages to creatively or not address The Teeth problem. Also I love how you wrote her Auror training as a character-revealing arc and the fact that she left her home and would rather be independent than marry and so many things about this! So good! Not enough words in any language I know to express my love for your characterization of her! The fact that she herself recognizes the hypocrisy in being attracted to a much much younger girl and the way you handle that as well- *chef’s kiss* It’s really not addressed that much in most Bellamione. I don’t mind because honestly Hermione is the one I’m projecting onto so *I* am not worrying about any morality here but I really like how you made Bellatrix entranced, then recoil at the age realization, and I guess now she’s decided to not encourage anything because she doesn’t want to be That Predatory Pervert and I can’t say how but this why I love so much how you write her it’s too real.

Snape. He’s hilarious here. You have such great zingers from or about him. They’re in my notes and I promise I’ll write them later.

Hermione! I’m usually really impatient in a slow burn if the pairing doesn’t actually meet for half the story but you managed to absolutely not do that. (I mean okay small tangent that first meeting between Bella and Hermione was amaZing. It was transcendent, I literally heard the orchestra crescendo in my gay ass brain. That moment wasn’t even that long in words or in-story but it felt stretched out into infinity and soul-searing ya know? Like in Imagine Me and You when they first make eye contact across the pews, but with 500x more angelic choir and also just EVEN BETTER.) I was really interested in all the adventures you had her go on and it’s kind of interesting because we start with a regular Hermione who just steals a few time turners for an experiment or two, and eventually she becomes basically god-tier knowledgeable! But we were with her the entire journey there so it doesn’t seem ooc or outrageous! And then - brilliantly - after Hermione reaches that level, you switch to Bella POV and the mystery is preserved and we also get to see Bellatrix’s fascination with Hermione. And it’s just done so well because honestly there’s not THAT many plausible reasons for her to be interested in basically a child she would normally not give a single specter of a thought to and really I love how you build up that mutual fascination with each other.

I need to go back to a project I’m working on rn but I have so much more to say. Your prose is great but the content is so so stand-out incredible. The humor AND the plot AND the compelling characters and I don’t know how to properly convey how much I love your story without sounding like a broken record, but yeah. Damn, thank you so much for making and sharing this story. I personally understand how life can get in the way, in many many ways! So no pressure about updating or whatever. What you have shared already is such a gift and seriously I would love to see any other work that comes out of your brilliant kind. (And honestly I find it kind of hard to believe if you haven’t published anything? If you have I will happily buy a copy for me and any willing friends and their dogs, no joke. Please let me know if you have.)

Author keep up the good work I’m loving it. I can’t wait for another chapter to be released.

Poopmilp

Oh man...
Oh my god. This can’t end like this, I gotta know how this story ends! Again, I’ve said it Again and again but the story is just so great so amazingly pacedAgain and again but the story is just so great so amazingly paste, So well thought out, the characters are so fucking well written. I love what you did with the story! It is so well thought out, the characters are so fucking well written. I love what you did with this story! I really really really hope that you will continue writing it and one day hopefully finish it, i can’t wait to see how the relationship between Bella and Hermione develops. Thank you so much for writing the story.