Disclaimer: look to chapter one or to any of the last nineteen chapters, I'm getting sick of writing these.
Ch.20: The Ball and Hogsmeade date
November flew by quickly and soon the Ball was arriving and much talk was heard from many of the students around the halls and in the great hall.
"So my mom sent me ze dress for ze Ball, do you have your costume yet?" Belle asked Remus, they were in their little spot in the library again talking about the ball. It had been decided that Vanessa and Sirius would go together, just in Dress robes and Lily dressed at one of Charlie's angels and James a quidditch player, it was a weird coupling but no one really cared.
"Yeah I've got it all planned out, I've got a dress coat, pants, shirt, shoes, you know the basics for the outfit." Remus said. Belle smiled. "So we'll meet at eight in the common room?" Remus asked. Belle nodded and they quietly continued their school work. On the other side of the school Vanessa and Sirius were together in the boy's dormitories.
"So what does your dress robe look like?" Sirius asked. They currently were lying on his bed, just chatting. V looked up.
"Well if I tell you it won't be a surprise," She said with a grin. Sirius smiled. "Well can't you just tell me the color?"
"No, you'll have to wait until the night of," She said.
"So the last day of school before the winter break is coming are you going home for the holidays?" Sirius asked.
V nodded, "Yeah, back home to my parents, and to do my video, what about you, did you talk with James about going over with him to his place?"
"Yeah, I'll be there for the whole break, but ames is going home with Lily, for a few days then we are all meeting up for your recital and Lily's recital." He said.
V smiled, "Yes, that's coming up I saw Lily's costume for one of her dances, and it's really nice, its . . . well actually you can see for yourself when the performance comes." She said.
"Yes, James is excited to see her, since you know she's seen him play quidditch, he wants to see her do her dancing, and support her."
In the heads common Room Lily and James were their homework together, it worked out for them since they had the same classes.
"So are you excited about the ball?" Lily asked, looking up from her paper.
James looked over, "Yes, I can't wait, it'll be a lot of fun," he said.
A week went by and a Hogsmead visit was posted for the up coming weekend before the ball, the group went down to the village and shopped for Christmas gifts and such, Lily bought her dad a box of chocolate frogs and a mirror which recited compliments every time you spoke into it.
James bought a few gifts for family and friends, Sirius got gifts for the Potters and friends, Remus bought gifts for his parents, Belle and the others, and V bought gifts for her parents and her friends. All in all, the day trip was successful.
The group walked back to the school and James and Lily went to their dorm to talk.
"So are you sure it's alright for me to come this holiday I don't want to impose on all of the festivities," James said to Lily as they walked through the portrait door.
"Nonsense, James really please come, I don't want to be alone with my sister, my mum, my dad's agent, my dad, and my sister's boyfriend, please." Lily said pleadingly.
"Alright, well is it alright that I'm staying over?"
"Yes, of course we have a spare bedroom and my dad's agent is only coming for dinner."
"And you are staying with me from the day after Christmas on through new year, right?" Lily smiled happily and nodded.
"Great. Hey I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to go on a hogsmead visit before the holiday beak, just the two of us?"
"Oh yes, that would be wonderful, you mean the Saturday after the dance?" James nodded.
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The night of the ball soon arrived and the prefects along with James and Lily spent all day fixing up the Great hall with Gold and Silver tapestries and table cloths, and chairs. Professor Flitwick helped facilitate the decorating. He came over to where Lily and James were to say hello.
"Hello, Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans, this place looks splendid, well done," he exclaimed. James nad Lily looked down. "Thanks Professor," James said. With in four hours the whol hall was set up and looked marvelous. Lily and James went down to the kitchens to give the menu to the house elves.
They tickled the pear and walked in, they were greeted with Tess, one of the elves.
"Hello, Sir, Miss how may Tess help you today?" she asked nicely.
James bent down and handed her the menu.
"Give this to Rawlins, this is for tonight's dinner, we have a few selections for the students," James said. The elf nodded and ran off to give it to the chief house elf.
James stood up and turned to Lily who looked distracted.
"What are you looking at Lily?" He asked curiously. Lily turned back away from the cupboard, "Oh nothing, just looking around." She said with a smile.
"Okay well come on, we should get ready and stuff," He said grabbing hold of her hand.
They walked back up to their dorm but were abruptly stopped by the Slytherins.
"Potter," Malfoy said calmly. James furrowed his brow.
"Malfoy," He said bitterly, grabbing hold of Lily a bit tighter.
"What are you to up to, coming out of the kitchens?" Rodulphus asked.
"Giving the house elves the menu for tonight," Lily said casually.
"Oh what a shame, so sad that you both won't be going, to the ball that is," Bellatrix said with mock sadness in her voice.
"What do you mean we won't be going?" Lily asked.
Suddenly James pulled out his wand and so did the other slytherins. Bellatrix immediately knocked out Lily, causing her to fall to the floor and Malfoy along with Snape and Lestrange took on James, James being only one person was over come by them and they managed to knock him out as well. They levitated both of them out of the hall way and led them into a separate chamber, down near the dungeons.
Meanwhile in Gryffindor Common room, Remus and Belle sat with V and Sirius talking about the dance, and how Remus and Belle had finished decorating the hall.
"So where did Lily and James go after you finished?" V asked.
"Well I saw them go down near the kitchens, perhaps they're tell ing them about tonight's dinner arrangements." Remus said. the others nodded in agreement.
"I guess we should finish our homework before the dance huh?" Sirius asked looking to his school things and frowning. "Yes, but the sooner we're done, the more time we have to get ready for the ball," Vanessa added.
-Dungeons-
Lily and James were dragged into the dungeon by the slytherins and were soon brought back to consciousness, by the flick of Severus's wand. Bella and Narcissa sat Lily into a chair and tied her, Both of them receiving hard kicks form a protestant Lily.
"Get off of me you wankers!" She exclaimed, this only bringing a large stinging sensation to reach her cheek and head flinging side ways.
"Get away from her!" James exclaimed as he fought against Snape, Malfoy and Lestrange. Malfoy punched James in the stomach hard, causing him to become winded. He fell to the floor. They continued to beat him up.
Lily on the other hand had only two people on her and they both were girls. Lily kicked her chair back wards slamming it into the wall, she kicked Narcissa in the face, causing her to go down and Bellatrix came at her with a curse, petrifying Lily solid.
"No," James exclaimed getting up from the floor, having seen Lily be petrified, he punched Rodolphus and kicked Severus hard. Malfoy cursed him just as he made it over to where Lily was, also petrifying him. James lay on the floor stiff as a board. Bella un-petrified Lily and shoved her to the ground. Bella, unaware of Lily's fit nature was astounded when Lily got back up off the floor immediately after shoving her.
Lily turned to Malfoy and reached down her robes. She felt nothing she looked down frantically.
"Where the hell is my wand?" she asked fiercely coming over to Malfoy. He pulled it out and pointed hers, his, and James's wands at her.
Lily pulled back. Bellatrix came over to her pointing her wand at her. Lily glanced over to her; she had four wands against her.
"What do you both want? You know you could have asked instead of beating the shit out of us," Lily asked looking to the both of them.
"Personally I'd like for you to die and James to suffer, but that isn't what the dark Lord has in mind," Bella sneered.
Lily looked to Malfoy, "And you, what do you want?" She asked.
James looked up, still stiff as ever.
"I want you and Potter to suffer, but the dark lord wants you both,"
"Alright then why don't you just un-petrify James, I mean what could he do you have his wand, and honestly if you really wanted to get up in closed doors away from students or anyone, you went about it in a completely wrong way." Lily said.
"Shut up mudblood," Ballatrix snapped. Lily rolled her eyes.
Malfoy pointed his wad to James and un-petrified him.
James got up slowly and looked to both of them. "What does he want us for?" James asked.
"Apparently you know too much," Ballatrix said.
"We don't know anything though . . . ," Lily began.
"Not you mud blood, Potter," Lucius spat.
Lily turned to James with curiosity.
"What do you know and I don't?" She asked angrily. James looked to her in shock, "Nothing, I don't know anything, these two ass holes think I do," he said. Lily turned back to Bellatrix, then back to James. In the far corner of the small room was a door, Lily turned back to Malfoy and Black.
"Well where is he, if he wants us shouldn't he be here?" James looked to her.
Malfoy lowered his wands.
"He's busy, he asked us to do the deed for him."
"Well you've done a pretty crap job of it; that is if you were supposed to kill us." Lily said.
"Evans shut up, we aren't here to kill you, unfortunately, we're here to warn you, watch your back Potter and you mood-blood, the dark Lord is rising it's you he's after," Bella said.
"So why did you beat us up?" James asked.
"Because we were asked to," Malfoy said. Lily then looked over Malfoy's shoulder with shock. Both Malfoy and Black turned around. Lily and James then went at them, punching both of them and grabbing their wands and rushing out the door. They made it out of the hall; both hurt in some form, and ran into none other than Professor Dumbledore. They looked up to Dumbledore with shock.
"Where are they?" McGonagall asked fiercely from behind him. Lily pointed to the door.
"Get your selves to the hospital wing to be treated," Dumbledore said and went in with McGonagall to get the Slytherins. Lily grabbed Lily tightly into a hug and they made their way to the hospital wing.
They walked in and Madam Pomfrey was standing by another student whom seemed to be recovering from a bad potion reaction.
Pomfrey turned towards the door and walked up the aisle to the two heads.
"What on earth happened?" she asked.
James spoke up, "We were attacked by those goddamn slytherins, that's what happened." He said angered.
"Well take a seat on the bed I'll heal you, just a moment." She walked back to her cabinet. Just as she went out of sight the doors to the hospital wing burst open and the others filled in.
"What the hell happened to you two!" Sirius exclaimed coming over to his two firiends
Lily and looked up and soon was embraced with hugs by V and Belle.
"The slytherins attacked us those prats," Lily said. Madam Pomfrey came up the aisle with a potion bottle. She served two cups of it and gave one to each of them.
She pointed her wand at Mr. Potter and his nose was repaired along with some cuts and bruises. Lily was also healed, by a couple swishes of her wand.
The doors to the hospital wing opened once more and Professor McGonagall came in. She came up to the two heads and demanded explanation.
"What happened in the corridor?" she asked.
Lily began. "We were heading back form the kitchens, we were giving them the menu for tonight and then the Slytherins showed up said we wouldn't be going to the ball tonight then they just knocked us out, dragged us to that room we were in and began to beat us up."
"Well I assure you they will no longer try and hurt you did they say anything to you or were they just hurting you?"
"They said they were doing a duty for the dark Lord, they said he wanted us, said I knew too much," James said.
Lily then turned to him. "Yeah what was that about, you said you don't know anything, but they seemed pretty damn serious about it," She said.
"All I know is that Voldemort is after my parents, they are aurors, they aren't at a huge risk, but he is after them, that, is all I know," James said.
"Well Poppy are they healed, if so you all may leave, and don't worry all of them have been banned from the ball tonight," McGonagall said.
James and Lily nodded and headed out of the wing with their friends in tow.
McGonagall turned to Poppy with concern, "I'll see you later Poppy." She said and with that she left the wing.
Once back in the dormitory, Lily got showered and changed for the evening's events.
She dried her hair and combed it through. She straightened it through though left smooth wavy curls through it, she then put on a white collared shirt and flared blue jeans, with platform boots. She then put a hair band in her hair colored blue and applied her make up. She looked in the mirror.
"Good Morning, Charlie," She said to herself, then laughed; she put down her make up and walked to the door. True it was a bit early, but they had to make sure everything was set up just right. Lily came down the stairs and saw James in a different quidditch outfit, this one was black.
"What happened to your Gryffindor outfit?" she asked coming over to him. James looked at him self then to her.
"Well this is the one I wear at home when I practice, you like it?" He asked.
"Yes, it matches your hair, perfectly."
James smiled, "You look amazing, and you are Subrina Duncan, Right?" He asked. Lily smiled and Nodded, then went over to her desk, She grabbed something form the drawer and brought it over to James, it was a picture of the person whom Lily was impersonating.
"Wow, yeah you look like her only you have red hair and green eyes." James said. "Yeah, well we should get down to the common room to see the others." Lily said. James agreed and they walked down together to the Gryffindor common room.
They walked in and saw many students dressed up and getting ready. They saw Remus and Sirius in the corner talking, Remus wore a navy dress coat, trousers, a collared shirt and two red wrist bands, which trade marked his character and he had a pipe, though it was empty. Sirius was dressed very nicely in dark navy dress robes.
"Hey Lily you look great, Subrina Duncan right? My mom loves Charlie's Angles," Remus said.
"Thanks, so do you I love your coat . . . Sirius you look very handsome," She said looking to Sirius.
"Thanks Lily flower, as do you. We're waiting for the girls to get ready; I think V is helping Belle with her dress. James looked up to the landing and saw Belle, she looked astonishing, in her white Victorian gown.
"Whoa," James muttered. Remus looked up with amazement. Belle smiled, her hair was done up in ringlets and a curly bun. Her dress fell to the floor and had ruffles along the bottom, it was huge, and lace covered the three quarter length sleeves and the collar. Belle came down the stairs and joined the others.
"Sorry I'm late," She said.
"Belle you look . . . Amazing, you're beautiful." Remus said. Belle smiled.
"Thanks, It took a bit of time to get the corset on, ha," she said with a laugh. Remus smiled. James then looked up again and elbowed Sirius and ushered him to look up. There on the platform stood Vanessa, but she looked very different. She wore a green dress robe which fell to her feet, her hair was brown and fell to her shoulders, it was curled and her eyes were her natural blue color. She came down the stairs and stood before her friends.
"Hello?" She asked at their longing stares.
"You look fantastic," Sirius said. V smiled. "Thanks, so do you I like your dress robes, and you all look great," She said to James, Lily, Belle, and Remus.
"Shall we?" Sirius asked extending out his arm. "We shall," V said and took hold of his arm. They walked down stairs to the great, several students were already there. They entered and they grabbed a table near the middle-back. Lily looked around at the students coming in and recognized several of the couples, one was Romeo and Juliet, another was Lady MacBeth, and MacBeth, and another was of Minister Kingsley and Lady Collins from the eighteenth century, and numerous wizarding people, whom were famous for heroic achievements.
The hall filled quite quickly and soon the festivities began, music played and James asked Lily to dance and of course she accepted. Remus then asked Belle to Dance and then Sirius to Vanessa. They danced and laughed. Lily glanced over to Vanessa and Sirius and they were dancing together, V was showing Sirius some of her moves and they looked very happy together.
Soon a slow song was heard over the mob of students and some students went off the floor and a lot stayed on including James and Lily.
Lily stood closer to James and James wrapped his arms around her. "Are you having fun?" James asked whispering into her ear. "Yes, I' am, very much, and you?"
"Yes," Lily and James swayed to the music; the music was a variety of muggle and wizarding music, alternating from each other. After that song they all decided to sit down and eat. Lily ordered her meal, as did the others. Magically their food appeared in the same fashion as their regular daily meals.
"You both have done a marvelous job," Professor Dumbledore said to both Lily and James as he came up behind them from across the hall. Lily and James turned to him. "Thank you professor," James said.
"Well I should be off, enjoy yourselves, now," he said gleefully and went off through the crowd. Lily and James turned back to the others. They enjoyed their meals and desserts, Lily had her favorite, Vanilla Cheesecake.
Soon the master clock struck eleven and the ball came to an end, many of the students were tired from dancing and others were full of energy from the large amounts of sugar that was consumed from the desserts. Lily and James headed back to their heads room and got changed out of their costumes. V, Sirius, Belle, and Remus went back to the Gryffindor common room, to settle down.
"Mortikiss," Lily said, their portrait opened and they stepped through, there on the coffee table sat two Owls, one brown the other and darker brown. Lily and James walked over, they both peered at them, making sure it wasn't a cursing letter, they looked and it wasn't. Lily grabbed the letter from the lighter brown owl and James from the other.
Lily opened the first one, it was from her mom.
Lily,
Hello Dear, how are you, your father and I are looking forward to your visitor, perhaps Boyfriend, James (Wink, Wink), anyway can't wait to see you sweetie, you father and I were wondering if you both need a ride or if you were going to aparate back home, if so, then there's no need to write back, but if so, please inform us, so we know to go down to King's Cross. Love you sweetie.
PS: your father has some great story to tell you about a club he visited, though I'm not sure about it, he said it has to do with Studio 54? Anyway talk to you soon sweetie.
Love Mom.
Lily looked up, to James who had opened the other, he was still reading it.
James,
Your father and I are hoping that you can get home on your own this holiday, the ministry is in dire need of back up, so we will be busy for the first couple of days of your break, we know your going home with your friend Lily, be nice to the Evans Family and don't forget to thank them for inviting you, Love you dear.
Love,
Mom & Dad.
Lily looked to him, he looked up.
"It's a letter form home, telling me to be on my best behavior when I get to your house." James said with a smile. Lily smiled.
"Yeah, um, were we going to aparate there, or I guess why not, huh? We can now," Lily said with a laugh, both of them had passed their aparation tests the previous spring.
"Yeah, we can just pop over there, literally." James said.
"Well we should get some rest, I need to get out of these god awful shoes, my feet are killing me." Lily said heading upstairs. James followed her and they both went off to their own rooms to sleep.
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The next morning came and Lily and James woke up early to go on their Hogsmeade trip. Lily dressed in blue jeans, a collard long sleeved shirt and her lined corduroy jacket, she also put on her green beret. James wore jeans, a wool pea coat and a sweatshirt. They met downstairs in their common room.
"Hey you ready?" Lily asked with a smile. James nodded and took hold of her hand; he went to his desk and pulled a pen out form the left hand drawer. He turned to lily and grabbed her hand, and then clicked the pen. They both were soon swirling into a whole new place.
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They landed firmly on the ground right outside honeydukes and looked around, many people were out and about shopping and snow covered the whole village, to Lily's delight.
"So where do you want to go first?" James asked turning to Lily, her eye sparkled in the clear, crisp surroundings and her hair stood out more so, because of the snow.
"Um, how about the book store," she said. James nodded and they headed off to the store.
The door bell rang above them as they entered, several witches looked up. Lily and James perused the shelves, and Lily didn't find anything that she had to have, James bought a new addition of Quidditch Weekly, his favorite magazine. The left the shop and headed down the village, looking through windows and such. Lily glanced through the windows and soon stopped at a window, where jewelry was being show cased. Lily looked closer at the watches, necklaces, and rings, but one piece of jewelry stood out for her above the rest, it was a platinum watch, with the back splash of the watch being an emerald green color and little emeralds around the dial. Lily looked at the Price, it cost four hundred galleons, "Too much" lily thought to herself.
"Do you like it?" James asked coming up behind her, Lily jumped at the sound of his voice, she spun around.
"Oh gosh you scared me," Lily said smiling,
"Sorry, but do you like the watch, I saw you eyeing it?" He asked again, Lily turned back to the watch.
"It is very pretty, but way to much . . ."
"Do you want it?" James asked stopping her mid sentence.
Lily laughed, "Oh no, it's too much, I could find one probably for much less, some where else," Lily said frowning a bit.
"True you could, but that is a wizarding watch, it's magical." James inquired.
"Oh yeah, what's so magical about it?" Lily asked.
"Well you see those two circles on the inside dial?" James asked pointing to the watch.
Lily nodded.
"Well those two circles light up if someone you care about deeply is in trouble. It's sort of a warning mechanism." James said.
"Let me get it for you, if you really want it, it'll be my gift to you, along with my other gift to you for Christmas." He said.
"It's four hundred galleons, James, thank you but no, it's too much," Lily said.
She glanced at it again, and then turned to James who was giving her a look of disagreement.
"Lily I can tell you want it, come on let me buy it for you, you're worth it," James said. Lily once again looked back to the watch.
"Are you sure, I can really find another one in muggle London, I don't need this one . . . though I don't have any wizarding jewelry or anything from the wizarding world other than my text books and school things," She added
"Then it's done, come on." James said pulling her into the store.
"James!" Lily exclaimed as she was dragged in. they entered the store and were greeted by a sales woman.
"Hello dears how may I assist you this morning?" she asked pleasantly.
"We would like to see the watch that is shown in the window, the one with the emerald colored back splash," James said.
The woman nodded and went to get the watch.
"James, really you don't have to . . ." James covered lily's mouth, causing her to stop talking.
"Lily, I love you, please let me buy you this watch, Please?" James asked, realizing then that had just said the four letter word. Lily's eyes widened and she was about to respond until the woman returned holding a box.
"I have this watch it's the same as the one in the window, only this one has been in storage, not in the window," she said opening the box. The platinum glimmered in the light and the emeralds glistened. "Is that all sir?" She asked. James looked to Lily to see if she had finally given in to letting him buy it.
"Yes that is all," Lily said quickly, she then turned to James. "Thank you James, I love you to," She said. The woman went away to package the gift. Lily leaned in and kissed James sweetly.
The woman soon returned with a bag, Lily grabbed it and they made their way outside of the store. They headed down the street and James stopped into the quidditch store. He looked around and found a few things, but didn't buy anything. They hit a couple more stores, before they went off to lunch, they stepped into the three broomsticks for lunch. Lily got a sandwich and a butter-beer, as did James.
"Thank you for this watch, James I love it," Lily said, looking down at her wrist, she had put it on.
"You're welcome Lily it was my pleasure." James said.
"And James I really did mean what I said, please don't think I said I love you just because you were buying me this watch, I really do love you," Lily said with a warm smile. James smiled, "I know, as did I, I truly do love you Lily and I'm glad we finally, or well I finally got my act together," He said.
Lily smiled.
"So how's the quidditch team going?" Lily asked starting a new topic.
"Oh it's good, we've beaten Hufflepuff, and raven claw, now we just have Slytherin after the holidays, which maybe a little tricky, though I think we have a good shot." James said.
Lily nodded. "My father is an avid sportsman, though he plays muggle sports, he's on an adult cricket team in our neighborhood, they go out to Warrenton field and play every other weekend, though he hasn't played much do to filming and other work." Lily said.
"Really, that's nice," James said.
"So does your father play quidditch?" Lily asked. James took a sip of butter beer and nodded, he put the bottle down, "Yes, well he used to, once he left Hogwarts he stopped, but he occasionally plays with me and Sirius, and Remus and Peter, if they're around."
"Where do you play in a field where no muggles are or what?"
"Oh no, we have a small quidditch pitch behind our house," James said a bit sheepishly.
"Oh well no wonder you're so good, you probably practice all summer for each season," Lily said with a smile and laugh.
"Yes well not everyday, but I do play quite a bit, but it's the same as you, you dance a lot, you teach classes, right?"
Lily nodded, "Yeah I choreograph some classes recital pieces, such as this coming up holiday I choreographed three classes, which was a lot of fun I did it in the summer, then they have been just rehearsing it with another dancer whom knows the choreography, this past fall." James nodded. They soon ended lunch and left the pub.
They walked down the street hand in hand glancing at other shops and people.
"Here there's some where I want to show you," James said pulling lily, past the last shop on the main strip. James pulled her and they began to pick up their pace. The jogged a few more feet until they came to a clearing. Tall oaks surrounded them and the ground was layered in snow, the tree limbs fell much lower than they usually did and nothing had been disturbed. Lily looked up into the trees. James led her to a bench near the edge of the clearing and he dried it off with a swish of his wand. They sat down together and enjoyed the view around them.
The sat in silence for several minutes but soon lily was the first to break the silence.
"So do you think you –know-who is really after us, I mean you heard Malfoy, he said he wants us?" Lily asked quietly.
James turned to her, Lily looked to him. Worry covered her face. James took Lily's hand and held it.
"Don't worry, I promise nothing bad will happen to you," He said firmly. Lily smiled and nodded still unsure, she knew James would protect her, but he was only one person, and Voldemort was one man, powerful, but he also had an alliance of death eaters.
"But to answer your question, "Yes, I do, both of us are powerful, those dreams we've had, aren't one's that many people would have, my parents are threat to him, I'm a threat to him and you unfortunately are one he wants to eliminate, but I promise that won't happen,"
"I know, I mean he's so bitter, I was reading about him, though there isn't much about him, only because he has only sort of come out fully, but I read that he didn't have the best childhood, and he was actually educated at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore was his professor."
James nodded. He could tell Lily was worried, so was he, but they just had to go on and see what would come, he and lily couldn't explain their dreams or why they were having them, but perhaps they would soon find out. James kissed Lily, in hopes that it would cheer her up; gladly it did, just as he hoped. They separated and stood up, "Come on, we should get back, it's quite cold out here," James said, grabbing her hand and kissing her cheek. Lily took hold of his hand and they headed back to the castle.
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