If I hadn't seen the posting date (and I did explicitly look for it!) I'd say that you wrote this chapter just to tease me. Oh my, you must have gotten such a laugh out of my whining and lamenting about Severus's obliviousness and how I'd have to wait fourteen chapters for relief, just to find it around the corner in the very next chapter. Well, I'm always up for some laughter, even if it's at my own expense. :D And it's not really a relief...

Severus knows himself well enough to understand that even though he may be willing to indulge in the dreamy-eyed, diffuse sense of hope that comes with having a crush on an unattached, gorgeous, wizard
So he is willing to admit that he has a crush on Harry! A step forward. :D

The list-making with Daphne and Pansy is hilarious. And Harry's reactions are so telling. *hint, hint* (Well, except for Severus, but what's new) A step back? At least not a step forward.

But it's the talk with Minerva that is just blowing my mind (and Severus's)... She's droll when she tries to gently lead Severus to the right conclusions - even using a teacher's approach to it. I couldn't keep a straight face reading her reactions. Minerva is so wicked! And she's such a wonderful friend. :) And then she just clubs Severus over the head with the truth when he is too... bullheaded to grasp what's in front of his eyes.

And just when Severus is able to see, to accept that Harry truly might want him, when he opens up like a bud bursting into bloom, he shies away from the light and warmth that is Harry and clams up and hides in the dark shadows. It's heart-braking to see.

should Severus allow himself to fall for the boy,Oh, come on Severus! WHo are you kidding? You've already fallen! then the Gryffindor would become his Achilles’s heel, the one thing he wouldn’t survive losing.
Will he overcome this fear of his own weakness - his fear of Harry exploiting his weakness? He cannot believe that of Harry, can he? So he fears an attack from outside? Or does he fear that Harry would eventually leave him?
Severus’s every instinct tells him to run away, to seek safety, but there are only two paths ahead of him, and they both look equally perilous. His foolish heart’s desires have placed him once more between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Two paths: Continuing his friendship with Harry or following his heart's desire?

Thank you for this wonderful chapter, dear pekeleke! Although I have to say I'm not happy about the end. But it's just a chapter's end - so I can look forward to it getting better - in the next thirteen chapters or so. ;)