Disclaimer: I neither own Harry Potter nor Blade though I wish I did. Raise your hand if you do too.
A/N
2 things first
1. I'm really really sorry about the later update, I've had a serious case of writer's block. Add to that I lost part of the file when the original got corrupted. Plus I had to prepare for a big Scout competition and I just started my National Service.
2. Sorry about the msitake about Harry's hair. In my defence, I was looking at the cover of Philosopher's Stone at the time and his hair looks brown to me (I'm partically colour blind) and I forgot about other text referances. Thanks to Bestest List for pointing it out.
I wasn't able to add much about the history and background of the characters w/o turning this into a history lesson or delay publishing this later and making it longer, much longer.
Advance apologies to anyone who may be upset with my, as my friend puts it, Hagrid speak. Most of his dialogue is from the book, I tried to play around with it as much as possible.
Thks to all my reviewers. And to Lokota-Jones I love your work hope you update soon. Now on with the fic...
---- London, England ----
"All students must have 1 Size 4 pewter caldron, a wand…" Harry skimmed the rest of his list, "Students are allowed 1 pet… an Owl or Rat or Toad. Sheesh, can we get all this crap in London?"
"We'll know when we get to the Leaky Caldron, you can ask Hagrid then." Replied Whistler as he looked between his map and the street. "Ah there it is, let's go."
As they stepped into the old pub, the first thing Harry noticed was the décor, "Early dark ages." he thought jokingly.
The next thing he noticed was the giant of a man sitting by the bar, drinking and happily chatting it up with the bartender. Whistler signaled for both of them to follow as he walked towards the giant.
"Been a while, Hagrid"
The man turned towards Whistler, it took a second before recognition appeared on Hagrid's face, "Blimey, Whistler! Abraham Whistler! How've yer been ol'chum?"
"Been great. I want to introduce you to some people. This is Crystal."
Crystal stepped forward and shook Hagrid's hand, "Pleasure to meet such a pretty lass."
"Thanks."
"And this…" He pushed Harry toward Hagrid, "is the man you've been waiting for, Harry James Potter."
"Blimey! I haven't seen you since you were a wee baby. My goodness, how you've grown. Yeh look just like yer father but yeh've got yer mother's eyes."
"Thanks, I guess"
"Tom! Come over here! I want yer to meet somebody." Hagrid called over the bartender.
"And who might that be?"
Hagrid put an arm around Harry's shoulder pulled him towards the bar, "This is young Mr Potter." He said proudly.
"Lansakes. Are you really?"
Harry just nodded.
"Well let me shake your hand." Tom took Harry's right hand with both his hands and shook it. "Imagine Harry Potter here in my pub."
After they exchanged pleasantries and were stopped and greeted by practically everyone in the pub, they made their way towards an empty table in an isolated corner and sat down.
"Well now that we're settled down. Let me formally introduce myself." Hagrid sat down next to the fireplace, lighting the fire by making two fireballs appear from the tip of his umbrella.
Crystal and Harry stared wide eyed.
"Shhh. Don' tell anyone, I'm not supposed to do magic." He placed his umbrella down against the table. "Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, at your service."
Harry quickly recovered from his shock, "Hagrid, you said the last time you saw me I was a baby, that means you know about my parents and this Voldemort…"
A crash sounded. "Ex..excuse me." Tom stuttered as he bent over to pick the tray and its spilled contents, "I'll get your drinks and snacks again."
Harry just raised an eyebrow and turned to face Hagrid, "What's that about?"
"Yer see Harry, most people in the Wizarding World are still afraid of… of… You-Know-Who. Even though most believe he's dead, his name still sends shivers down their spines, so I wouldn't go round saying it."
"Frankly I don't give a damn who he is." Harry gave Hagrid a determined, bordering on pissed off look.
"Harry please!" The man looked alarmed, panicked even. "He is one of the darkest of all the Dark Lords in history. He's…"
"A fucking moron." Harry interrupted.
Hagrid was currently doing a fantastic impersonation of a goldfish as he looked round the table. Crystal just smiled sweetly and Whistler shrugged as he lit a cigarette.
"That idiot is responsible for my parents' deaths. If he's still alive, that strange tickling feeling at the back of his throat will be my boot being forced up his ass."
Hagrid just carried on with his goldfish impression as Harry straightened up and folded his arms across his chest.
"Here ya go, gents and lass." Tom came up and served their food and drinks. He gave Hagrid an odd look as he walked away.
Harry reached over grabbed his drink just as Whistler and Crystal did the same.
"Not thirsty Hagrid?" Harry asked innocently.
"Oh… Oh right." Hagrid reached over and took a long swing of his drink. "Here yeh go Harry, I know it's a little late but here's a little something for yeh Birthday." He reached behind him and pulled out a slightly flattened cake box. "Guess I must have crushed it a little." He looked a little embarrassed.
"That's ok." Harry accepted the box and opened it, revealing a cake with the words 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' written on it in green icing, though a little smudged.
"Made it meself." Hagrid said proudly. He looked up and saw something at the bar. "I'll be back in a minute."
Harry reached into his jacket, pulled out a 6 inch long combat knife and stuck it into the cake.
It barely went in.
"Huh?"
He tried again. Again, the knife only nicked the cake. "What the Hell is this made of? Concrete?"
Whistler started sniggering, "Guess Hagrid's cooking skills haven't improved much."
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Professor Quirrell, he's one of the professors at Hogwarts. Professor, this is Harry Potter."
"Ha..Harry… P…Potter."
Harry stood up to shake his hand but Prof. Quirrell shied away.
"So Professor, what so you teach at Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"D..Defense Against… the… Da… Dark Arts. Not that you… you'll be… need… needing it… will… will you… Po… Potter. In fact I have a spec… special interest in Vampires…"
"Vampires!" interrupted Harry and Whistler.
"Oh crap." Crystal rolled her eyes.
"Why… why yes. I have… some experience… with them and… have… have come across… som… some interesting bo… books about… them."
"I'm very interested in vampires myself, as well as had some experience with them. Maybe you and I can sit down and talk about them at Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"Ye… Yes of… course. Now… if… if you don't… mind I have… so…some business… business to attend to." said Prof. Quirrel as he took his leave.
"Nice fellow. Brilliant but a little jumpy." Commented Hagrid.
"Well our little Hare-bear is World famous, Wizarding World at least." Giggled Crystal.
"Hare-bear?" Hagrid repeated, earning a glare from Harry.
Whistler laughed. "A bit of fair warning, Hagrid. ONLY Crystal can call Harry that." The old man rubbed his chin as if someone had punched him.
"Oh…ok." Hagrid said getting the hint.
"Say Hagrid, I was going over the stuff that I need for Hogwarts and I was wondering, where in the blue hell am I supposed to get this stuff?" Harry asked.
"Why, Diagon Alley of course." Hagrid got off his seat, "Com'on now, I'll shows yer."
He led them to a backdoor which opened to reveal a brick wall. Before any of them could comment, Hagrid tapped a sequence of bricks with his umbrella. The bricks started to shake, and moved aside to reveal the busy street that was Diagon Alley.
"Lady and Gents. Welcome to Diagon Alley."
"Wooow... Hey Whistler do we have a little extra cash to do some shopping?"
Harry and Whistler rolled their eyes, "Oh boy."
Hagrid just chuckled, "Why don't we head to Gringotts, that's the Wizards' Bank, first?"
The group walked past all the different stores on their way to Gringotts, Crystal stopping every once in a while to look into a clothes or jewelry store and ask Harry and Whistler to remember to go back there. Harry stopped to look into Quality Quidditch Supplies to look at the new Nimbus 2000 which had quite a few admirers at the window.
After they climbed the steps to the white marble building that was Gringotts, Harry and Crystal just stared at the goblins who seemed to be too busy to be bothered by their gawking. They walked up to a goblin at a free counter.
"Morning," said Hagrid. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr Harry Potter's safe."
"My safe?" Harry thought.
"Do you have his key sir?"
Hagrid dug through his pockets before finally finding Harry's key. The goblin examined it and nodded, "Yes everything looks in order."
"An' I've got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly and threw out his chest, "It's regarding you-know-what in vault seven and thirteen."
The goblin carefully read the letter before handing it back to Hagrid, "Very well. I shall have someone take you to the vaults. Griphook!"
Another goblin walked up to them and bowed, "This way please."
Harry and Crystal gave a nod of their heads which the caused the goblins eyes to widen slightly. The group followed Griphook to one of the doors leading off the hall.
"So Hagrid what's in vault Seven thirteen?" asked Crystal.
"Can't be telling yeh that lass. Top secret, Headmaster Dumbledore trusted me for this job."
At the end of a torch lit corridor there was railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and an empty cart came hurling down the track towards them, stopping in front of them. Hagrid sat next to Griphook in the front, Harry and Crystal sat next to each other in the center while Whistler sat on his own in the back.
"Err… is this safEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Crystal screamed as the cart rocketed off.
"WOOHOO! That was more fun than a roller coaster!" Crystal screamed in joy just as the cart came to a stop.
"Crystal have you ever been ON a roller coaster?" Harry asked rather sarcastically.
She answered him with an annoyed glare.
Hagrid and Griphook got out of the cart and walked towards the vault door. When the door was open Harry tried to look inside from where he was sitting but could not see any thing. He watched as Hagrid walked in and looked like he grabbed something from inside and placed it in one of the many pockets of his coat.
Hagrid retook his seat and turned to face the others, "Now remember this is top secret. We were never here."
"I thought we were here just to get money out of my vault." Harry said innocently.
"Of cos we're here ter take money out of yer vault but… oh. Oooh…" Hagrid finally got the hint.
"Next stop, vault six hundred and seventy-two." Griphook released the brakes and they were off on other roller coaster ride, stopping a little while later outside another door.
"Key please." Harry handed him the key and follow Griphook to the door with the others behind them.
"Say Griphook what kind of security do you have around here. This place may be underground but isn't there anything else guarding this place?" Harry asked the surprised goblin.
Griphook gathered his wits before answering, "There are wards here that prevent anyone from apparating or portkeying with the confines of Gingotts and its vaults…"
"Apparating? Portkeying?" Harry was a little confused.
"Then there are the dragons…"
"Dragons!" Crystal screamed.
"And of cos if anyone does reach the vaults, they still need a key to open the vault like this one. And for vaults without a keyhole anyone other than a Gringotts goblin will be sucked through the door trapped in it when they touch it." He explained with a rather wicked smile.
"How often do you check'em?" Harry asked.
"About every ten years." The goblin replied with nasty smile.
"Nice…" Harry replied with his own nasty smile and an approving nod.
Griphook was pleasantly surprised by Harry's approval of what many wizards would consider barbaric. He proceeded to unlock the vault and opened it, mounds of gold, piles of silver and stacks of bronze.
"All yours." Hagrid smiled at the rather dumbfounded group.
Hagrid stepped in and dropped large handfuls of gold coins into a bag, "That should be enough for a couple o' terms." He walked out and handed the bag to Harry. "Yer can drop by any time before the start o' the term to get more."
"Whoa. Whistler, with all this we can run our operations for years."
Whistler just shook his head, "No kid, your parents left this for you to finish your schooling and maybe enjoy life a little. I doubt they had any intention of it being used for vampire hunting."
"But…"
"No buts kid. We've been getting along alright all these years without this kind of dough, and we'll be just fine without it still."
Harry just dropped his head and shoulders till he felt someone wrap their arms around his neck. He turned left slightly to see Crystal resting her head on his shoulder with a sweet smile and something else he couldn't quite place.
"Hare-bear," she started tracing little circles on his chest, "think we can do a little shopping? Pleeeaaase…" she asked sweetly with big puppy dog eyes.
He turned to Whistler, who just shrugged and turned away. "There's really no point in arguing." He thought and just nodded, "Alright."
Crystal squealed and wrapped her arms tightly around him, while jumping up and down repeatedly and thanking him.
"Crys…tal… need… air…"
She let him go and they took their seats in the cart.
Whistler lend over and whispered to Harry, "Kid, you do realize that you're in for a world of hurt?"
"Com'on how bad can it be? It's not like we've never been shopping with her before."
"Don't say I didn't warn you kid."
---- 1 Hour and 4 Clothes Store Later ----
Harry groaned and thought, "Oh for the love of God… I thought Whistler was kidding." The vampire hunter was carrying a mountain of boxes he could hardly see over with at least another half dozen bags hanging off either arm.
"God if you're really up there, please let a pack of daylight resistant suckheads attack this place so that I can end my suffering…" he begged silently.
Crystal had happily dragged everyone straight to a clothes store, much to Whistler's chagrin. Harry didn't see what the big deal was, but two clothes stores, several hundred galleons and two and a half dozen bags and boxes later he was starting to regret allowing Crystal to wrap him around her little finger.
"Oh how the mighty have fallen. Wonder what any of the suckheads would say, the cold and deadly Blade carrying shopping bags." He thought.
He looked at Whistler who was only carrying two bags in one hand and a cigarette in the other, citing his bum leg as a reason for not carrying more bags, and Hagrid who looked like he was carrying twice as much as Harry and seemed more than happy to do so. Heck, he was what, twelve feet tall and a half giant? Of course he didn't have a problem, the rest of Harry's thoughts became nothing more than nonsensical ramblings and cursing till he realized something… They hadn't even started buying his school supplies yet.
"Ah fuck."
After another clothes store, then a shoe store, Hagrid and Whistler offered to take Crystal's current purchases back to the Leaky Caldron while they headed towards Ollivander's which Hagrid had pointed out.
Harry and Crystal walked into the seemingly unoccupied store. Harry used his heightened vampire senses and realized that someone was in the store, just out of sight.
A man appeared, standing on a rolling ladder, "I was wondering when you were going to pay me a visit, Mr. Potter."
Crystal stepped back, a little creeped out by Mr. Ollivander's silver eyes. "Now Mr. Potter, which is your wand arm?" he asked as he took a measuring tape out of his pocket.
"I can use both hands just fine but I'm right-handed."
"Alright, hold up your arm. That's it." Mr. Ollivander measured the different distances of his arm, "Every Ollivander wand has a powerful magical substance for a core, which is why it is the wand that chooses the wizard and not the other way around."
Harry noticed that the measuring tape continued to take measurements of different parts of his body on its own while Mr. Ollivander walked back behind the counter, but when it started to measure his in-seam and the distance between his nostrils he got irritated and swatted the tape. It hid behind the table it landed by, then took a peek at Harry only to duck back when Harry glared at it.
"Here try this. Oak and Unicorn tail, fourteen inches. Give it a wave."
Harry gave it a wave and a vase behind the counter broke.
"Nope. Definitely not." Mr. Ollivander just dropped the box on the floor and went back to the shelves. Harry followed suit and dropped the wand next to the box.
The shopkeeper returned with another wand and again handed it to Harry, "Holly and Dragon Heartstring, twelve and a half inches."
Harry waved it and a bunch of boxes flew off the shelves behind the counter.
"No. No. No." Mr. Ollivander grabbed the wand and dropped it along with its box on the floor and headed back to the shelves.
"Maple and phoenix feather, seven inches."
Harry gave this one another a quick wave, which was followed by a snapping sound and a shriek. Mr. Ollivander and Harry turned to see Crystal kneeling on the floor rubbing her butt surrounded by the remains of the chair she was sitting on.
Harry chuckled, "Sorry Crystal." Only to be replied with a glare as she stood up and brushed herself off.
Mr. Ollivander just sighed and headed back to the shelves.
The pile of rejected wands started to grow but Mr. Ollivander didn't seem to get frustrated. In fact, he looked quite happy, even if half his store was destroyed.
"Hmmm… tricky customer…" Mr. Ollivander walked back towards the shelves, "No matter, I'm sure we'll find the prefect match."
"Jeez… Hare-bear you've tried more wands than I did shoes." Crystal joked as she eyed the mountain of rejected wands.
"Well maybe now you know how I feel when you drag my ass shopping." He thought but she didn't seem to mind.
Mr. Ollivander pulled out a box from the furthest corner of his store, it was one of the last few, "I wonder…"
He removed the wand from its box and handed it to Harry, "Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, quite an unusual combination."
The moment Harry grabbed onto the wand, he felt a warmth surge through him. He held the wand above his head, then brought it back down. It caused a whirlwind to blow through the store as a pillar of light surrounded Harry.
"Wow. Cool special effects Hare-bear." Crystal cheered and clapped at the display.
"Curious. Very curious."
"And what exactly is so curious?" Harry asked.
"I remember every wand I every sold. Every single one. And what is so curious is that that wand you're holding has a brother. And it was its brother that gave you that scar."
"How can a wand have a brother?" Crystal asked.
"You see, the phoenix whose tail feather is the core of this wand gave one other feather, just one, and it resides in the wand of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Mr. Ollivander explained.
Harry just shook his head, "Is everyone in this world so scared shitless about this guy that they can't even say his name? What a bunch of… of ass-wipes." He thought. Crystal's line of thought wasn't that much different.
"I think we can expect great things from you, Mr. Potter." Mr. Ollivander started, oblivious to the thoughts of the other two people in his store, "After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did many great things, terrible things yes, but great nonetheless."
Harry just stared at his wand till a knock on the store window caught his attention. He turned to see Whistler and Hagrid standing outside, with Hagrid holding up a cage containing a snow-white owl, "Happy Birthday Harry!"
"It's beautiful." The owl looked at Crystal before turning away from her, "A little stuck up though."
"Don't mind her. Snowy owls are proud creatures. Don't think she liked ya referring to her as an 'it'."
"She's beautiful." Harry opened the cage and stroked the owl's feathers. In return, it hopped onto his arm, moved up onto his shoulder and gave him an affection nip on his ear.
"I think she likes ya." Hagrid grinned broadly.
"Now that we've got your wand and this cool new owl, let's go get the rest of your school stuff, hit the ice cream store, I'm dying to try wizard ice cream, then hit the last few stores in this alley."
"Oh crap…"
---- Leaky Caldron ----
Crystal sat down to join Hagrid and Whistler's conversation, "Well Harry's calling it a night."
"Kinda early don't you think?" Whistler asked, though it sounded like he knew something she didn't.
---- Leaky Caldron – Harry's Room ----
Blade threw on his trench-coat and walked over to the open window, "Sigh… new country, same old problem… well, not really I guess." He thought as he replaced his glasses with his shades and turned towards his owl, "I'll be back later girl, and I promise we'll pick a name for you." He opened the window and jumped out.
---- Leaky Caldron ----
"Nah. He seemed pretty wiped. Why else would we cut our shopping trip short?"
"If you say so kid. If you say so."
"Humph. Whatever Whist." She turned to Hagrid who was enjoying his drink, "Say Hagrid, you said you last saw Harry as a baby, so does that mean that you were there when Harry's parents were… well, killed?"
Hagrid put his drink down, "Aye, but I got there only after the deed was done. All that was left was the broken remains of their house, and little Harry crying his eyes out." He took a sip from his drink before carrying on, "I put 'im in a basket, got in an enchanted motorcycle and I flew us back to Hogwarts…"
"Wait. Did you say you flew in a motorbike?" Crystal interrupted.
"Yes it was lent to me by a… friend. Why?"
"Well there was once I went to wake Harry up after a rather hard night and I found him smiling as if he was having a nice dream. When I asked him, he said he had a crazy but pleasant dream about riding in a flying motorcycle."
"Hmmm… sounds like he's been remembering some stuff about his past he didn't know about." Whistler offered.
"Well anyways, after some discussion with Professor McGonagall, she's the Deputy Headmistress, we decided to contact old Whistler here to see if he'd take Harry in and train him."
"Ok, I get that part, but doesn't Harry have any family that he could have gone to?"
"Well there are the Dursleys, but they're the worst sort of muggles, real prudes, Harry would have been miserable there. In fact he might have been abused and Merlin forbid killed." Hagrid explained with a stutter.
"Why?"
"Well yer see the Dursleys especially Harry's aunt, who's Harry's mom's sister, and her husband think that anything to do with magic is just plain unnatural and has no place in the normal world, so can ya imagine what they would do with someone like Harry when he was a wee baby?"
"If you don't mind I'd rather not think about it."
Hagrid just chuckled, "Too right lass." He took a swig of his drink before asking, "And what about you Crystal? How'd yer end up with Harry and this old dog?" He pointed to Whistler with his mug.
Crystal sighed and leaned back into her chair, "What's it been, three years now? Yeah, that's about right. I was a real mess back then. Ran away from a dead-beat dad after my mom decided to split. I was only thirteen. So I lived on the streets, stole food and anything I could sell for a little extra cash. I managed to stay out of any serious trouble."
Crystal took a deep breath and a sip of her drink.
Hagrid leaned closer and asked in a soft gentle voice, "If ya don't mind me asking lass but how much more trouble could you have been in? Don't take this the wrong way but you were stealing."
Crystal gave a light laugh, "Well Hagrid, I highly doubt you don't have prostitutes in the wizarding world, as for gangs, I think your Dark Wizards are the closest but we've got quite a few of 'em running around our neighborhood shooting and killing each other over money, drugs and turf. Thankfully I wasn't involved with either."
Hagrid nodded in understanding, "Then how'd ya end with these two?"
"Well one night I broke into what I thought was an abandoned warehouse, but it turned out to be a vampire safe-house. I walked right into a feeding session…"
---- Flashback ----
Crystal turned to flee but ended up running into a tall figure with long hair dressed in a long coat, she couldn't see his face till he stepped out of the shadows.
"I suggest you duck and cover kid."
She ran and hid behind some crates as Whistler pulled two Submachine guns (MP-5s) with UV torches from his coat and started firing into the gathering of vampires. While many ran for the exits, some actually charged Whistler as he reloaded but he just stood there, seemingly taking his time to do so.
Four such vampires who had the guts to charge Whistler were stopped dead in their tracks by four shots to their heads from an unseen sniper.
Whistler and the hidden shooter continued to take out as many of the fleeing vampires as possible.
The old man reloaded his guns and kept them in his coat before turning to her, "You ok kid?" She just nodded. He then turned towards the shadows which covered the upper levels, "What about you kid?"
Crystal turned in that direction but she didn't see anything till a figure silently leapt down, moving from crate to crate before landing on the ground, concealed in the shadows. The figure stepped into the light and revealed himself to be a young boy no more than seven, maybe eight years of age with messy black hair and sunglasses carrying a M4 Carbine.
A vampire tried to jump Harry from behind only to have him nonchalantly point his rifle over his shoulder and fire off three rounds, killing the vampire before turning to stare down at Crystal.
---- End Flashback ----
"I mean this… this kid just killed this guy in front of me and the guy turns to dust." She poured herself another drink before continuing, "And his eyes… they were so cold and hard. I've seen thugs kill each other in front of me before but their eyes were never as bad as his were. He was a stone cold killer."
"But he looked like a right friendly and pleasant lad." Hagrid was very confused by the contrast between the boy he saw earlier and the one Crystal was telling him about.
"I swear Harry was colder than a block of dry ice in the North Pole during the ice age, it took almost three months before he would even call me by my name."
"Guess that would be my fault." Whistler took a drink before continuing, "I trained him to control his emotions, to use his head and not rush into things so he always was a little cold and quiet."
"Yeah, you trained him to be a cold, ruthless killer but deep down I think all he wanted was to be part of a family."
"Kinda like you huh Crystal?"
"Sigh… I don't know. I guess there was a… a connection, for lack of a better word. I always wanted to be part of a family, a real family and well you two were the only ones that ever showed me an ounce of kindness even if it was unintentional at first."
The group sat in comfortable silence before Crystal excused herself, calling it a night.
---- London, England – Big Ben ----
A man walked down the street with two women holding onto his arms. He was a little drunk and judging by the way the women were dressed, they were pros. The trio ducked into an alley and things started getting hot and heavy.
The man was having the time of his life till he was slammed onto the wall behind him, coming face-to-face with two fanged and snarling vampires. Both were about to bite into his neck when a knife flew between them and stuck itself into the side of a dumpster next to them.
Startled they jumped back, dropping the terrified man who tried to crawl towards the entrance of the alley, stopping in front of a pair of black boots. He looked up to see the silhouette of his savior.
"I suggest you get your rocks off somewhere else."
The man stood, pulled his pants up and tried to run at the same time.
"Who the hell are you?" The vampires demanded.
"You don't need to know my name where you're going."
The two vampires charged towards Blade while he just stood his ground.
TBC...
Before I forget just one more thing, some of you might have noticed that I changed my writing style a little. This was adviced by my main beta. What do you think? She did score better than me in English.
Thanks for the support and good reviews.
Please review.