Hee, I love Snape being all mischievous with his flower-sending hints ;) That was a great theory you had there with Snape's Book 1 opening speech -- I can't believe I missed it when you first postulated it!
I also enjoyed the Harry/Hermione aspects of the fic, even though I don't recall having ever read a H/Hr fic *g* That the two of them are past the adolescent/young adult "finding myself" stage of life makes their eventual attraction to each other more realistic for me, and also more solid for a hopeful future. Throw Snape into the mix, and they're going to have quite an interesting future!
I enjoyed this a lot. Thanks for writing for Team Phoenix :D