A/N: I own nothing, JKR owns the characters and everything else but the
idea - so there.
A/N: Tell me your thoughts --- share with me.
A/N: Come one - I know you want to tell me what you're hoping will happen.
CH23 Private Plight
The Great Hall was almost emptied as they approached the head of their house. She looked up as they neared. "I was going to go get you three anyway; I'm glad you came over here."
That struck them as odd. They expected Professor McGonagall to yell at them and send them back to Gryffindor Tower. And none of them really thought that she looked glad at all. "Potter, you will follow me. You two stay here." The three friends briefly glanced at each other as Harry followed her to the other side of the Great Hall. When they were well out of ear shot range of the other two she stopped walking and turned to face him as she began speaking.
"Potter, Professor Dumbledore gave me very clear instructions on this matter earlier in the day. Although I may not agree with them, I have no choice but to carry them out. Harry, Dumbledore, Lupin and Black are trapped in a forest filled with Death Eaters. It's only a matter of time before they're caught and you're going to have to go after them. It won't be for a couple of hours but it does have to be you. I'll explain more about that later. Now that isn't the pressing issue. The more time sensitive issue is that it's up to you whether or not to tell Weasley and Granger."
"It is? Why?"
"Dumbledore was very clear that I was to leave it up to you whether or not to tell your two best friends. There are good and bad points to each decision but I'm afraid you don't have much time. I need your decision now."
"What are the good and bad points?"
"Well I'm sure that I don't know them all and I don't want to unduly influence you --- "
"Please tell me anything that you can. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore wouldn't mind."
"I'll only tell you what I think is the biggest plus of each and then you must decide for yourself but again, you don't have much time --- the train back to London will be here soon and there are other preparations I need to make depending on which way you decide to go. The biggest advantage I see to telling them is that they will probably choose to stay here with you and go with you to help free the wizards, and frankly, I think you could probably use their help."
Harry was extremely shocked but he was trying to hide it from the witch speaking to him. He listened intently as she continued. "The biggest advantage that I see to NOT telling them is that they will then have no choice but to go home with everyone else, and that means they will remain safe."
Harry wasn't sure this was a decision he was ready for. He would let Ron and Hermione go home in a minute if he thought that he could help his mentors without them. As bad as he would feel if one or both of them got hurt, he didn't think he had a choice. He knew that they would both want to help if the choice was theirs and he also knew that if McGonagall and Dumbledore thought he needed their help then he probably did. He also knew how he would feel if the tables were turned and they had to decide whether or not to tell him something as important as this.
"I do want to tell them, but it must be their choice to stay."
"Very well. If they don't decide to stay send them to their rooms to pack. If they do decide to stay, bring them to Dumbledore's office. Whichever way you all go, I must ask you to hurry. I'll be waiting for your verdict in the headmaster's office." And with that she turned on her heel and walked out of the Great Hall leaving Harry alone to go talk to his two best friends.
"What's going on Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, what is it?" Ron asked.
Harry spent the next sixty seconds filling them in on what Professor McGonagall had told him, everything she had told him. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I want you to do what you want to do and only what you want to do. You've both done so much already for me and for my dad's friends that --- "
"Don't be daft!" Ron interrupted.
"You are being kind of melodramatic Harry. You know we're both going to stay. I'm only glad that you had the sense to tell us because if you hadn't Ron and I would have beaten you up and how would that look? The famous Harry Potter being beaten up by little old us."
Harry didn't know how to react at first. In the end he just smiled. "Come on. We have to go meet McGonagall in Dumbledore's office. Hopefully she'll tell us what happened." They ran to the office. When Harry knocked, McGonagall's voice answered, "You three may enter."
The trio smiled as they entered the office and sat down in their now familiar places. Each of them was glad that their head of house knew them well enough to know that they would each choose to stay. After they were situated she began.
"Well, you all already know that Dumbledore and two of his associates have gone missing. Also you know that he instructed me earlier in the day that I was to bring in one or all of you and --- er --- and launch the rescue plan."
"What rescue plan?"
"Patience Potter, I was getting to that. First of all I need to make sure that you three understand that you can change your mind at any time before you go."
"Go where?"
"Weasley, all of you, please let me finish; this is difficult enough without each of you interrupting me every few seconds."
"Sorry Professor," the boys muttered in unison.
"Do any of you think you know why we started these two new classes this year and why we decided to start them only with 5th years?"
Harry thought he knew that the independent study class was a chance to get him ready for the Order's test at the end of the year. He hadn't really thought about the other class. He also hadn't expended too much brainpower on why the professors were only teaching their year. Hermione had though.
"You all are trying to get us ready to fight You-Know-Who's army of Death Eaters."
"Yes that's the first part of it. And I must tell you that Professor Dumbledore insists that all of his students and staff call Voldemort by his name." Only Ron flinched at hearing the name. Harry was glad; he agreed with Dumbledore's philosophy and especially hated it when people called him the "Dark Lord". He wasn't a lord. He was an evil monster.
Professor McGonagall continued, "He doesn't want the myths growing because people are afraid to say his name. Now please continue Granger. Why are we only teaching the 5th years."
"Well there are a few possibilities. I think that the most likely reason is that you have three years' worth of new things to teach us."
"That's exactly right. We don't want any of the 6th or 7th years thinking they know enough to run off and handle the Death Eaters after only a year or two of extra training. We spent a lot of time over the summer trying to decide what was the right year group to begin with and we came up with your year group. That's another reason that makes what I'm about to tell you all so difficult. You haven't had nearly enough training to do this but we have no choice because it has to be Harry and he has to have help."
Professor McGonagall stopped talking after that last sentence. She seemed to be trying to decide how to proceed. Not one of the trio even thought about breaking the silence. She made eye contact with each of the three of them before continuing.
"I don't want to influence your decision one way or the other although it would be impossible for me not to have an opinion. Some Death Eaters have trapped Dumbledore, Lupin and Black. They don't actually have them yet they've just got him pinpointed inside a five square mile forest. They're pretty well hidden and can probably elude capture for days inside the forest but getting past the Death Eaters to escape is going to be another matter."
"Why don't they apparate out?" Hermione asked before she remembered that questions were entirely unwelcome at this point.
"I think they were set up. They were chasing Pettigrew and when they followed him into this forest they found that it had all types of charms on it that must have been set earlier. The charms are too complicated to have been set on the spot. One of the charms is an anti-apparation spell. Since Death Eaters appear to have no trouble apparating in, it must be tailored to only prevent people from apparating out. Now are there any other questions before I continue?"
They knew she wasn't really encouraging them to ask anything else. When no one asked anything else, she continued.
"Thankfully the full moon starts tonight and they think their best chance is to escape while Lupin is transformed. Death Eaters or no, everyone in their right mind is scared of a fully-grown werewolf. They should be able to stay hidden until Lupin transforms and then try to escape. Harry, they can't corral Lupin out in his werewolf state without another animagus that's big enough. Black apparently --- er --- knows from experience that it takes two large animals to control Lupin."
Ron and Hermione didn't miss a beat. They didn't say anything but they both turned to stare wide-eyed at Harry.
"Dumbledore is really needed in his present form to repel approaching Death Eaters. I'm afraid that my animagus form isn't big enough to help. Harry, it's strictly up to you whether --- "
"I'll do it. I'm ready now."
Professor McGonagall looked slightly saddened but nevertheless she smiled before continuing. "Harry, slow down. It will be soon but not quite yet -- - you have to go at the prearranged time. Now as for you two," she looked over at other teenaged wizard and witch sitting in the room. It tore her up on the inside that she was sending these three 5th year students on such a dangerous mission but what choice was there? It had to be done and her cat form was not a match for a werewolf.
"Now as for you two, you two also have a role in this --- but only if you want it." They were already nodding their heads up and down.
"At least do me the courtesy of thinking about it. Although I could do it, I really should go with the other professors and we're not sure how long it's going to take to get Lupin corralled. Anyway, if you consent, I will apparate the three of you to a place about one-half mile away from the forest. Harry will already be in his animagus form. The three of you, working together will be able to apparate to Dumbledore. Ron, Hemrione, after I place a couple of spells on you, you will ride on Harry's back disarming any Death Eaters that you happen stumble across. That's basically the same thing that Dumbledore is doing with Black."
Although Ron and Hermione both had a multitude of questions, they knew that this wasn't the time. They both said that they would go and waited for theit professor to tell them what they were supposed to do next.
"All right then, it's settled. I need to go speak to the other students in our house before they leave. You three go down to the kitchen. I want everyone well fed and watered before you go. We'll meet back here in twenty minutes and then we'll go."
As was often the case, each of the three friends had many more questions than they had answers. Ron and Hermione had even more questions since learning only a few minutes ago that their best friend was an animagus, an unregistered one at that.
They walked most of the way in silence. Ron, the tallest, reached up to tickle the pear. When they entered the kitchen they were met almost immediately by ---
"Dobby! How are you?"
"Dobby is fine misters and miss. Dobby was hoping to see you three before you left today. Dobby is needing to tell you all something very important."
Harry extricated himself from Dobby's death grip around his mid-section and said, "Can we get something to eat while we talk?"
It took under ten seconds for ten house elves to appear with trays and pitchers. The elves led the students to a table and distributed the food and drinks.
Ron couldn't hide his amazement, "I've said it before and I'll say it again. What amazing service!" The house elves bowed their thanks and left Dobby to his hungry guests.
"Dobby, how did you know we were leaving today?" Hermione asked.
"House elves know things miss. We go all over the castle at all times of the day and night. That is why I am needing to speak to you three. Dobby knows that his former master's son has been studying the dark arts. Dobby knows that evil dark wizards have set a trap for Harry Potter. Harry Potter must not leave Hogwarts."
Harry groaned. "Not this again Dobby. Come on, have a heart."
"Harry Potter must not leave Hogwarts. If you try to leave, Dobby must go with you. You is not safe away from Hogwarts sir."
Harry had enough on his plate without arguing with Dobby again. He stood up and turned to Dobby. "I'll be fine; now just drop it." He left the kitchen. Ron and Hermione had little choice but to follow him out. That didn't stop Ron from stuffing his pockets with pasties as he left.
They met McGonagall back in Dumbledore's office. "We need to be sure that you three get there on time. We'll talk while we walk over to Hogsmeade. Come along now."
She told them the details of the plan while they walked. "I will apparate the four of us to a spot about a half mile away from the forest. Once we get there, you three will immediately grab hold of each other and picture Dumbledore standing in the forest about one hundred yards deep from the edge closest to us. The most important thing is that you all concentrate on Dumbledore's features and just imagine him surrounded by trees. Ron, you count out loud and on the count of three each of you will try to apparate to Dumbledore. It will be a shorter distance that what you've been doing in your Tuesday afternoon practices so I know it won't be a problem."
Hermione briefly thought back to the time she and Ron had dueled in Dumbledore's office to show Sirius and Harry what they had been learning. She thought it would be better if she was the one counting to three since Ron had so much trouble last time getting to three before hexing her hand into a taco shell but she decided to let it go.
When they got to the park in Hogsmeade she faced them once again and said. "This is the last chance for any of you to change your mind; I assure each of you that there would be no shame in doing so."
Quickly and in unison they all said, "We're going." They briefly smiled at each other and waited for her to continue.
"Very well then. Harry, nothing against your --- er --- speed and prowess at transforming but go ahead and do it here before we apparate."
They only had to wait a few minutes for Harry to once again become the beautiful animagus that he knew he could, if no one else here knew he was capable of becoming such a magnificent magical creature. Hermione and Ron just stared at him. They had each seen enough pictures to know whose face they were looking at. Hermione couldn't resist stroking his beautiful fur. Even McGonagall was looking impressed. She was the first to speak. "Harry, before we proceed, I was instructed to ensure that you could say something to me."
He couldn't open his mouth. With all that had been going on today he hadn't had time to learn any generic rhymes and really hadn't even thought about it. He just had to settle down and focus. He could do this. He had to do this. \\ Let's go. I'm ready now.// Nope. \\ I can talk later. Find me a waiter.// Yeah, he thought to himself, that made a lot of sense. He had to think.
"Come on already. My nerves are steady."
"That will do. Everyone grab hands --- and --- er --- paws." She knew that desperate times called for desperate measures but she really hoped that Dumbledore was right about bringing these three students into this lair of Death Eaters. There was no point in second guessing the head master.
POP
The teenagers immediately turned to face the forest, grabbed hands and waited for Ron to count to three. The only problem was --- there was no Ron.
A/N: A lot of stuff is starting to come together. Please inform me of any inconsistencies. I had to read it over and over to get it to a point where I was happy with it.
A/N: Tell me your thoughts --- share with me.
A/N: Come one - I know you want to tell me what you're hoping will happen.
CH23 Private Plight
The Great Hall was almost emptied as they approached the head of their house. She looked up as they neared. "I was going to go get you three anyway; I'm glad you came over here."
That struck them as odd. They expected Professor McGonagall to yell at them and send them back to Gryffindor Tower. And none of them really thought that she looked glad at all. "Potter, you will follow me. You two stay here." The three friends briefly glanced at each other as Harry followed her to the other side of the Great Hall. When they were well out of ear shot range of the other two she stopped walking and turned to face him as she began speaking.
"Potter, Professor Dumbledore gave me very clear instructions on this matter earlier in the day. Although I may not agree with them, I have no choice but to carry them out. Harry, Dumbledore, Lupin and Black are trapped in a forest filled with Death Eaters. It's only a matter of time before they're caught and you're going to have to go after them. It won't be for a couple of hours but it does have to be you. I'll explain more about that later. Now that isn't the pressing issue. The more time sensitive issue is that it's up to you whether or not to tell Weasley and Granger."
"It is? Why?"
"Dumbledore was very clear that I was to leave it up to you whether or not to tell your two best friends. There are good and bad points to each decision but I'm afraid you don't have much time. I need your decision now."
"What are the good and bad points?"
"Well I'm sure that I don't know them all and I don't want to unduly influence you --- "
"Please tell me anything that you can. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore wouldn't mind."
"I'll only tell you what I think is the biggest plus of each and then you must decide for yourself but again, you don't have much time --- the train back to London will be here soon and there are other preparations I need to make depending on which way you decide to go. The biggest advantage I see to telling them is that they will probably choose to stay here with you and go with you to help free the wizards, and frankly, I think you could probably use their help."
Harry was extremely shocked but he was trying to hide it from the witch speaking to him. He listened intently as she continued. "The biggest advantage that I see to NOT telling them is that they will then have no choice but to go home with everyone else, and that means they will remain safe."
Harry wasn't sure this was a decision he was ready for. He would let Ron and Hermione go home in a minute if he thought that he could help his mentors without them. As bad as he would feel if one or both of them got hurt, he didn't think he had a choice. He knew that they would both want to help if the choice was theirs and he also knew that if McGonagall and Dumbledore thought he needed their help then he probably did. He also knew how he would feel if the tables were turned and they had to decide whether or not to tell him something as important as this.
"I do want to tell them, but it must be their choice to stay."
"Very well. If they don't decide to stay send them to their rooms to pack. If they do decide to stay, bring them to Dumbledore's office. Whichever way you all go, I must ask you to hurry. I'll be waiting for your verdict in the headmaster's office." And with that she turned on her heel and walked out of the Great Hall leaving Harry alone to go talk to his two best friends.
"What's going on Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, what is it?" Ron asked.
Harry spent the next sixty seconds filling them in on what Professor McGonagall had told him, everything she had told him. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I want you to do what you want to do and only what you want to do. You've both done so much already for me and for my dad's friends that --- "
"Don't be daft!" Ron interrupted.
"You are being kind of melodramatic Harry. You know we're both going to stay. I'm only glad that you had the sense to tell us because if you hadn't Ron and I would have beaten you up and how would that look? The famous Harry Potter being beaten up by little old us."
Harry didn't know how to react at first. In the end he just smiled. "Come on. We have to go meet McGonagall in Dumbledore's office. Hopefully she'll tell us what happened." They ran to the office. When Harry knocked, McGonagall's voice answered, "You three may enter."
The trio smiled as they entered the office and sat down in their now familiar places. Each of them was glad that their head of house knew them well enough to know that they would each choose to stay. After they were situated she began.
"Well, you all already know that Dumbledore and two of his associates have gone missing. Also you know that he instructed me earlier in the day that I was to bring in one or all of you and --- er --- and launch the rescue plan."
"What rescue plan?"
"Patience Potter, I was getting to that. First of all I need to make sure that you three understand that you can change your mind at any time before you go."
"Go where?"
"Weasley, all of you, please let me finish; this is difficult enough without each of you interrupting me every few seconds."
"Sorry Professor," the boys muttered in unison.
"Do any of you think you know why we started these two new classes this year and why we decided to start them only with 5th years?"
Harry thought he knew that the independent study class was a chance to get him ready for the Order's test at the end of the year. He hadn't really thought about the other class. He also hadn't expended too much brainpower on why the professors were only teaching their year. Hermione had though.
"You all are trying to get us ready to fight You-Know-Who's army of Death Eaters."
"Yes that's the first part of it. And I must tell you that Professor Dumbledore insists that all of his students and staff call Voldemort by his name." Only Ron flinched at hearing the name. Harry was glad; he agreed with Dumbledore's philosophy and especially hated it when people called him the "Dark Lord". He wasn't a lord. He was an evil monster.
Professor McGonagall continued, "He doesn't want the myths growing because people are afraid to say his name. Now please continue Granger. Why are we only teaching the 5th years."
"Well there are a few possibilities. I think that the most likely reason is that you have three years' worth of new things to teach us."
"That's exactly right. We don't want any of the 6th or 7th years thinking they know enough to run off and handle the Death Eaters after only a year or two of extra training. We spent a lot of time over the summer trying to decide what was the right year group to begin with and we came up with your year group. That's another reason that makes what I'm about to tell you all so difficult. You haven't had nearly enough training to do this but we have no choice because it has to be Harry and he has to have help."
Professor McGonagall stopped talking after that last sentence. She seemed to be trying to decide how to proceed. Not one of the trio even thought about breaking the silence. She made eye contact with each of the three of them before continuing.
"I don't want to influence your decision one way or the other although it would be impossible for me not to have an opinion. Some Death Eaters have trapped Dumbledore, Lupin and Black. They don't actually have them yet they've just got him pinpointed inside a five square mile forest. They're pretty well hidden and can probably elude capture for days inside the forest but getting past the Death Eaters to escape is going to be another matter."
"Why don't they apparate out?" Hermione asked before she remembered that questions were entirely unwelcome at this point.
"I think they were set up. They were chasing Pettigrew and when they followed him into this forest they found that it had all types of charms on it that must have been set earlier. The charms are too complicated to have been set on the spot. One of the charms is an anti-apparation spell. Since Death Eaters appear to have no trouble apparating in, it must be tailored to only prevent people from apparating out. Now are there any other questions before I continue?"
They knew she wasn't really encouraging them to ask anything else. When no one asked anything else, she continued.
"Thankfully the full moon starts tonight and they think their best chance is to escape while Lupin is transformed. Death Eaters or no, everyone in their right mind is scared of a fully-grown werewolf. They should be able to stay hidden until Lupin transforms and then try to escape. Harry, they can't corral Lupin out in his werewolf state without another animagus that's big enough. Black apparently --- er --- knows from experience that it takes two large animals to control Lupin."
Ron and Hermione didn't miss a beat. They didn't say anything but they both turned to stare wide-eyed at Harry.
"Dumbledore is really needed in his present form to repel approaching Death Eaters. I'm afraid that my animagus form isn't big enough to help. Harry, it's strictly up to you whether --- "
"I'll do it. I'm ready now."
Professor McGonagall looked slightly saddened but nevertheless she smiled before continuing. "Harry, slow down. It will be soon but not quite yet -- - you have to go at the prearranged time. Now as for you two," she looked over at other teenaged wizard and witch sitting in the room. It tore her up on the inside that she was sending these three 5th year students on such a dangerous mission but what choice was there? It had to be done and her cat form was not a match for a werewolf.
"Now as for you two, you two also have a role in this --- but only if you want it." They were already nodding their heads up and down.
"At least do me the courtesy of thinking about it. Although I could do it, I really should go with the other professors and we're not sure how long it's going to take to get Lupin corralled. Anyway, if you consent, I will apparate the three of you to a place about one-half mile away from the forest. Harry will already be in his animagus form. The three of you, working together will be able to apparate to Dumbledore. Ron, Hemrione, after I place a couple of spells on you, you will ride on Harry's back disarming any Death Eaters that you happen stumble across. That's basically the same thing that Dumbledore is doing with Black."
Although Ron and Hermione both had a multitude of questions, they knew that this wasn't the time. They both said that they would go and waited for theit professor to tell them what they were supposed to do next.
"All right then, it's settled. I need to go speak to the other students in our house before they leave. You three go down to the kitchen. I want everyone well fed and watered before you go. We'll meet back here in twenty minutes and then we'll go."
As was often the case, each of the three friends had many more questions than they had answers. Ron and Hermione had even more questions since learning only a few minutes ago that their best friend was an animagus, an unregistered one at that.
They walked most of the way in silence. Ron, the tallest, reached up to tickle the pear. When they entered the kitchen they were met almost immediately by ---
"Dobby! How are you?"
"Dobby is fine misters and miss. Dobby was hoping to see you three before you left today. Dobby is needing to tell you all something very important."
Harry extricated himself from Dobby's death grip around his mid-section and said, "Can we get something to eat while we talk?"
It took under ten seconds for ten house elves to appear with trays and pitchers. The elves led the students to a table and distributed the food and drinks.
Ron couldn't hide his amazement, "I've said it before and I'll say it again. What amazing service!" The house elves bowed their thanks and left Dobby to his hungry guests.
"Dobby, how did you know we were leaving today?" Hermione asked.
"House elves know things miss. We go all over the castle at all times of the day and night. That is why I am needing to speak to you three. Dobby knows that his former master's son has been studying the dark arts. Dobby knows that evil dark wizards have set a trap for Harry Potter. Harry Potter must not leave Hogwarts."
Harry groaned. "Not this again Dobby. Come on, have a heart."
"Harry Potter must not leave Hogwarts. If you try to leave, Dobby must go with you. You is not safe away from Hogwarts sir."
Harry had enough on his plate without arguing with Dobby again. He stood up and turned to Dobby. "I'll be fine; now just drop it." He left the kitchen. Ron and Hermione had little choice but to follow him out. That didn't stop Ron from stuffing his pockets with pasties as he left.
They met McGonagall back in Dumbledore's office. "We need to be sure that you three get there on time. We'll talk while we walk over to Hogsmeade. Come along now."
She told them the details of the plan while they walked. "I will apparate the four of us to a spot about a half mile away from the forest. Once we get there, you three will immediately grab hold of each other and picture Dumbledore standing in the forest about one hundred yards deep from the edge closest to us. The most important thing is that you all concentrate on Dumbledore's features and just imagine him surrounded by trees. Ron, you count out loud and on the count of three each of you will try to apparate to Dumbledore. It will be a shorter distance that what you've been doing in your Tuesday afternoon practices so I know it won't be a problem."
Hermione briefly thought back to the time she and Ron had dueled in Dumbledore's office to show Sirius and Harry what they had been learning. She thought it would be better if she was the one counting to three since Ron had so much trouble last time getting to three before hexing her hand into a taco shell but she decided to let it go.
When they got to the park in Hogsmeade she faced them once again and said. "This is the last chance for any of you to change your mind; I assure each of you that there would be no shame in doing so."
Quickly and in unison they all said, "We're going." They briefly smiled at each other and waited for her to continue.
"Very well then. Harry, nothing against your --- er --- speed and prowess at transforming but go ahead and do it here before we apparate."
They only had to wait a few minutes for Harry to once again become the beautiful animagus that he knew he could, if no one else here knew he was capable of becoming such a magnificent magical creature. Hermione and Ron just stared at him. They had each seen enough pictures to know whose face they were looking at. Hermione couldn't resist stroking his beautiful fur. Even McGonagall was looking impressed. She was the first to speak. "Harry, before we proceed, I was instructed to ensure that you could say something to me."
He couldn't open his mouth. With all that had been going on today he hadn't had time to learn any generic rhymes and really hadn't even thought about it. He just had to settle down and focus. He could do this. He had to do this. \\ Let's go. I'm ready now.// Nope. \\ I can talk later. Find me a waiter.// Yeah, he thought to himself, that made a lot of sense. He had to think.
"Come on already. My nerves are steady."
"That will do. Everyone grab hands --- and --- er --- paws." She knew that desperate times called for desperate measures but she really hoped that Dumbledore was right about bringing these three students into this lair of Death Eaters. There was no point in second guessing the head master.
POP
The teenagers immediately turned to face the forest, grabbed hands and waited for Ron to count to three. The only problem was --- there was no Ron.
A/N: A lot of stuff is starting to come together. Please inform me of any inconsistencies. I had to read it over and over to get it to a point where I was happy with it.