A/N: HI!!!! Finally!! The update you've all been waiting before!! First of all, I'd like to register my absolute joy at hearing the long-awaited news: they finally announced the publishing date of the fifth book!! Everyone mark their calendars for June 21st!!! The idea of a Golden Orb is from Cassandra Claire (although it has a completely different function in my story). To a Very Interested Reader: I warned you that my poem was passionately romantic (maybe a little tooo much, lol) I wrote it a long time ago when I was much more younger and naïve (sigh) lol, but I admit I'm still pretty idealistic when it comes to love. Just how I'm wired, I guess. Thanks for the great reviews. To Lbj5411:thank u for the lovely, lovely reviews, and also thanks to the wonderful reviewer, Potterlover. (I'm a potterlover myself, lol). I've been wanting to write this chap for a long time and I think it's my longest one yet. I really didn't want to divide it (u know how that feels now, Lbj5411) There WILL be kissing in this chapter, but not what you think!!!!!!!!!! My sister almost cried while reading it, hehe. Enjoy!

Chapter Eighteen: Awakening (Part II)

The crackling fireplace sent even more twinkles in Dumbledore's bright, blue eyes, which were a surprisingly youthful aspect in the elderly man.

"What do you want to show me, Headmaster?" asked Sirius.

Dumbledore went behind his desk and beckoned Sirius forward. He bent over and pulled out a book, which was fairly new-looking, compared to his collection of ancient writings on the shelves in his office.

"I asked Eve to translate this book for me."

"Translate from what?"

"Parseltongue," he said, amused. Sirius came forward, fascinated. He looked at the title:

The Autobiography of Godric Gryffindor.

"Godric Gryffindor spoke Parseltongue?" Sirius asked, astonished.

"Yes, Sirius. It is a little known fact that him and Salazar Slytherin were cousins. Because the omen was written in Parseltongue, I asked her to read Salazar's diaries, but nothing came of them. He probably wanted his plans known to no one. Then I remembered Gryffindor, and he has been of much more help."

"You mean this will give us more clues to the omen in the Great Hall?"

"Yes, Sirius. I want you to read this," he said, opening the book, and after flipping a few pages, moving the open book to Sirius. He read:

'Every day Salazar grows stronger, more powerful. His ambitions are becoming more bloodthirsty. He has created monsters that we have seen only in out nightmares: Basilisks, giants, werewolves, vela, and much others. At first he wanted no one without pureblood wizarding heritage to attend the school that we had created with Rowena and Helga. But now he is speaking of wiping them out altogether. Rowena says he is merely rambling, but I've known Salazar since childhood: he rarely jokes about anything at all, and never anything this serious. He has started searching for the Golden Orb, to keep with him until the All-Powerful Being should return with his or her Chosen One. Salazar is certain, although he won't tell us why, that either one of them will be one of his descendants. The Orb is the key to unlocking something of which even I know nothing of: only that it will bring terrible destruction. What Salazar does not know is that I have already found the Orb, and have locked it away in a place where he would never look. He doesn't know that being his kin, I also speak Parseltongue, for I have kept it a grave secret all my life. Not even Rowena and Helga know about it, though it is how I also know about all the prophecies. And Rowena has brilliantly charmed the Orb so that it can only be opened when touched by all four of our Heirs. Although Rowena, Helga, and I will continue fighting in the present to prevent as much evil as possible, I am still fearful for the future'.

Sirius stopped reading. "Do we know where the Golden Orb exists?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Sadly, no."

Sirius cleared his throat, "Uh, Sir, what did you mean by giving these kids the right tools to, to fight this."

"Ah, yes. Sirius, next time you see Harry, ask him to come to my office. I need to give him his old sword back."

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The next morning, Eve walked towards Potions with so much apprehension she felt that an enormous knot was twisting in her stomach. It wasn't only that this was the first time she would be teaching a class of seventh years—her peers— (because Snape had been especially fearful when she had revealed everything of the previous night to Dumbledore; Snape was an ex-Death Eater, after all, and he would be one of the first targets of her father. Not to mention that he was busy with the other Aurors this morning with driving off the dementors). She was more nervous because she had decided to finally do something she had been secretly aching to do ever since she came to Hogwarts. After what Ron had said to her, a sudden awakening realization filled her senses. What she had been repressing for so long was no realized, and like the breaking of a dam, came flooding through her once it had been allowed to be opened.

She had no idea how to go about revealing to him what she herself had just fully accepted, so she had written a letter. Right now it seemed to be burning an imaginary hole in the pocket of her robes. At least it helped her to concretely formulate what she wanted to say; it was something tangible among all the astonishing events of the past few weeks which all felt like some ethereal dream. It was actually quite amusing, once she thought about it. After last night, she didn't feel very afraid of her father: she was impervious to any physical harm. But the prospect of what she was about to do no terrified her: she was just as emotionally vulnerable as anyone else, if not more so. If she was unable to tell him personally, she would at least send him the letter, and pray with every inch of her existence that he felt the same way.

She opened the door to the Potions class when a sudden suspicious feeling of being watched came over her. At first glance, the dungeon's corridor seemed virtually deserted: She had arrived early for class for preparations. The dungeons were now quite dark, as always. Then she heard a low sound, and from the shadows she saw the form of a large dog. She exhaled, and said, "Oh, its you. Come in here."

Once in the class, and the door was locked after them, Sirius changed into his human form. Eve stared at him smugly, arms crossed across her chest.

"I suggest you stop trying to be useful, Black, because you're doing everything besides that." Sirius grunted indignantly.

"I'm not joking. That's twice you owe me now. If I save you even more, then dear old dad will suspect something."

"Well you didn't have to save me the first time, you know. I'm a grown man now. I tie my own shoes and everything." He smiled. Some of the hollowness of his cheeks and dark circles under his eyes had gone from last night.

"What, and leave you to the dementors who were specifically looking out for you?"

"No. You could have just warned me to stay away. But you were awfully keen on kissing me that night."

"I had no other choice! You were being so terribly difficult, being your suspicious self and not drinking that juice."

"You could have just TOLD me what you were about to do."

"Oh sure. 'Hi, you don't know me, but I'm a Slytherin and the daughter of the Dark Lord. Now will you please drink this potion which is called the Draught of Living Death?'"

Sirius chuckled. "Well, if you put it that way…."

Eve smiled. "You know, I'm really not the person you should be talking to right now." Sirius tilted his head questioningly. " Harry is probably worried to death about what's happened to you. He probably misses his godfather."

"You've been doing so much to help us. Since when do you care so much about Harry?" Eve sighed. She wanted to say, 'I've been caring about him since we were born,' but she didn't. Instead, she said, " It's terrifyingly easy to care about Harry."

Sirius nodded his head. "Yes, but it's not so easy for him to care about people. Unfortunately, every time he cares about someone, they seem to be snatched away from him. He must be wary of something that comes more naturally to him than anything in the world: Love."

Eve lowered her voice. "He isn't the only one." Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"I should leave. Somebody might see me." he said, although he looked as if that wasn't the only reason he wanted to leave. He opened the door but hesitated, half in and half out the room. "Oh, and Eve?"

"Yes?"

He smiled. "Thank you for what you did. Twice."

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"Where's Professor Snape? Why isn't he here?" Hermione asked indignantly. Ron wondered if he ever thought he'd see the day where a Gryffindor would have ever asked that question. But Hermione was still slightly uncomfortable around Eve, but more so, she worried that the situation must have been worse than they thought if he was still outside fending off dementors with the whole lot of Aurors.

"He's currently busy with the, er, present situation the school is under. Being Head Girl, you should realize that more than anyone, Hermione," she said in a tone not unlike Professor McGonagall. The only thing which would seem more pretentious to her was if Eve had called her 'Miss Granger.' It was a good thing she didn't; Hermione was already red in the face with anger in her narrowed eyes. Draco looked at her, a faint smile crossed Draco's lips, although before that, he had regarded Snape's absence, in an instant where his usually unreadable and icy gray eyes flickered, with a strange expression she had never seen before – relief and apprehension.

Eve clapped her hands together. "Today Professor Snape had scheduled you to start work on a new potion which enables you to remember your dreams. But first he wanted each of you to experience the effects of the potion firsthand. So the goblet in front of each of you is filled with the potion; once you drink it, it will make you remember your most recent dream (Ron started squirming in his seat, hoping that he won't scream in the middle of the class when reliving his own death in a dream). He looked at the goblet in front of him; its contents had a pleasant smell and was a vivid red color, looking almost like wine, yet he looked at it as if it were some sort of poison.

"Ron, are you going to be alright?" Hermione asked comfortingly.

Harry, suddenly remembering last night, said, "Maybe you should say you're not feeling all right or something. We'll explain everything to Eve."

"But this potion is a major part of his grade! If he misses it, he'll fail the class! His grades aren't exactly exemplary in this class," Hermione whispered. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Is there a problem?" Eve startled them. Harry marveled at the way she sometimes seemed to glide seamlessly across a room. They shook their heads.

"Usually Professor Snape would deduct points for talking in class," Draco said. Eve turned to look at him. She remembered the conversation they had last night, her fury at him. He had said, 'Of course I'm not a Death-Eater. Do you see a bloody mark on my arm?' And indeed, to her great relief, there hadn't been one. But he had been silent about everything else. Then Snape's dark words echoed to her head, when she asked him about it: ' You don't expect the Dark Lord to immediately mark a servant when he first meets them. They must prove their loyalty first.' She still regarded Draco with a barely masked anger and tension.

"Well, Draco, I am certainly not Professor Snape, but he has trusted me to handle you guys however I choose as proper. So stop interrupting my class as much as the Gryffindors." The Slytherins all looked at her with a mix of curiosity and suspicion.

Meanwhile Ron had seen the familiar bump in Neville's backpack indicating his pet toad, Trevor, and an idea came to him. From under his desk he pointed his wand at it, and muttered, "Accio". With a squeak from Neville, the toad came flying out of the backpack, bouncing directly towards Ron's goblet, knocking it down and spilling its contents across the desk. Neville jumped after it, and after years of catching his toad, he grabbed it in one fluid motion. Eve approached them, angry.

"Neville, I'm sure you've been told a million times that there are no pets allowed in classrooms!"

Neville stammered and spoke very quickly. "Sorry, it's just that he was awfully sick, and Madame Pomfrey was not in the infirmary in the morning, and I couldn't just leave him in the dormitory, its so cold there and he used to belong to my parents, he's very special and I had just put a Sleeping charm on him, I swear I don't know what happened…"

Eve waved her hand impatiently. "It's alright, Neville. But I'm afraid I have no choice but to deduct at least ten points from Gryffindor. Help me clean up this mess. The rest of you start taking your potions," she said as she summoned some towels from a storage cupboard and started mopping the desk with Neville.

Ron stared at her hopefully. "Oh, Eve, sorry but it looks like I er, don't have a potion."

Eve looked at him, exasperatedly wiping a strand of hair that had fallen to her face while she was knelt over the desk. "Oh, yes, sorry. I think Snape must have made some extra, for me, but its alright, I've already tried the potion before. I'll give it to you."

Only Hermione seemed to have heard the slight gasp that came from the someone in the direction of the Slytherins. As Ron, crestfallen, watched Eve leave the table to get the extra potion (and the Neville's slight surprise, leaving the rag wiping the table by itself), Draco was watching her with an expression no less than mild horror. Eve summoned with a motion of her hands, a taller goblet encrusted with jewels. The swirling liquid inside it was the same red color, and had the same scent. She directed it to land in front of him on the table.

By then everyone, drunken their potions, and had all closed their eyes, with differing emotions crossing their faces. Pansy was gasping in fright, "Not my hair!!!" while Dean had a very goofy smirk, and was muttering to himself, "I'm sorry, but you're not good enough for me, Britney Spears."

But Ron had not taken a drink from his cup yet. He was merely gazing at it, a curious faraway look in his eyes, and neither had Harry or Hermione; they were staring at Ron worrisomely. Draco was also looking at them, but with a much more different expression.

"Ron, what's wrong?" Eve asked.

" Uh, I think he should go to the hospital wing, Eve. He was complaining this morning that he hadn't been feeling well." Harry falsely offered. Hermione gulped in apprehensive silence. Eve looked unconvinced. "And….well, he didn't have exactly the best dream last night."

"Ron, is that true? Ron?" Eve repeated loudly, but by the look on his face, she could have been a thousand miles away. He was still staring, transfixed at the cup, an awful thirst and desire coming over him since he had first laid eyes on it, and his blue eyes were flickering with some intense internal struggle. He finally outstretched his hand, shakily, as if he was fighting it with all his willpower. But as soon as his fingers touched the cold metal of the goblet, it was as if it had an icy grip on them. Eve opened her mouth in astonishment and reached for his arm, but she was a nanosecond too late; he had swiftly gulped down all its contents.

Hermione reached over to hold him, knowing what his dream was, but Something tugged at Eve's heart, telling her it would be far worse than that.

Because Ron was already on the floor, clutching his stomach and opening and closing his mouth, gaping in silent agony. It was torture for him to breathe. A black darkness was beginning to edge itself in his field of vision, like a murky, viscous ocean creeping in from all sides. With a shriek, Hermione was already by him on the floor. She took off his robes and loosened his tie to help him breathe.

"Ron! What happened? RON!"

But finally able to catch a breath, all he could do was let out a cry of complete and utter pain. It was as if his insides were being slowly ripped apart and devoured. Eve picked up the cup from the floor, its red liquid seeping into the floor like blood. She sniffed it and said lowly, "There's the Devil's Draught in here. This is poisoned."

'Are you sure?" Harry asked. She knodded

He couldn't bring himself to look at Ron; all that was conceivably able for him to feel at that moment was a wave of numb shock, a million times more awful than what he had felt when first seeing Cedric dead. Hermione looked up and gave an anguished, yet disbelieving cry. Ron had gone so completely pale that his freckles were standing out like red ink splatters across his face. He was gasping spasmodically, and his fingers and face were freezing. She was watching the boy she loved die in her arms….

By this time, the rest of the class, recovering from their potions, was watching the scene in horror. "Seamus! Go get Dumbledore, quick! Dean, get Madame Pomfrey, and hurry." Eve ordered.

But Parvati Patil immediately rose from her seat, her finger although quaveringly, pointing straight at Eve. "Don't listen to her! She's probably the one who poisoned him! She must be following some sick order of her father's!"

Eve looked at her, her eyes piercing like daggers. "If nobody listens to me then he'll be dead in five minutes!" Dean and Seamus leapt from their frozen positions. They didn't need to be told twice; the look on her face was terrifying.

Then Hermione shrieked in a moment of inspiration, despite her bloodshot eyes and pale face. "Eve! The Life Water! It has healing powers!"

Eve lowered her eyelids. "No, it can't save a person from near death."

But what she said didn't seem right to Harry. She had said she used it to heal her when her father stabbed her; and by the amount of blood she was drenched in, it had seemed to be a fatal wound. But he pushed it to the back of his head and concentrated on Ron.

Meanwhile, Hermione was on the verge of hysterics. She started sobbing, her cheeks shiny with tears. Although it was the last thing she wanted to admit, Eve seemed right. Ron was almost collapsing, and it seemed to be taking every ounce of his strength to breathe. His lips were turning blue and he was breathing in shallow breaths.

"Dumbledore's office is all the way up in the North Tower. He can't apparate in the castle; he won't get here in time," Harry said. Although he was in a panic, he could still think clearly; in fact, his mind would come into sharper focus in emergencies, an unnerving characteristic that was often the cause of his heroic victories, whatever they may be. But this situation was the worst type of torture for him. There seemed that there was nothing he could do now to save his best friend who was inches away from death; if it was a monster attacking him, or even Voldemort, it was something tangible Harry could fight against. But he couldn't fight against the poison tearing within Ron's own body.

'There has to be something we can do," Hermione cried. The rest of the class had either remained frozen in their places, watching in silent horror, or were approaching Ron, as if maybe their mere proximity might help.

"Something we can do….." Eve had her fingers against her temples, screwing up her face in concentration. Then she raised her head and saw the tormented look on Harry's face. Then she realized what she had to do. She realized everything: her dream, her mother's words, her destiny. She murmured to herself. "That's it. It's the only way."

"Everybody out of my way! Give him some space!" she cried, and the class immediately backed off. Hermione was still clutching him, shaking terribly.

"What are you going to do?" she gasped breathlessly. But Harry knew somehow that she was to be trusted, at least at this moment.

"C'mon, Herm, let her do it," he said gently, holding her and wrenching her away from Ron. Eve nodded a thank you and she knelt over to Ron, taking off her robes and throwing them onto Ron's chair. Her letter slid, unseen by anyone, into Ron's bag.

She whispered, "Ron, just hang on for me for a couple of seconds, okay?" Harry had never seen such a tender expression on her face before. Ron blinked in assent. His eyes had even seemed to be drained of their color, and had turned from a deep ocean blue to the color of an icy, pale sky. He felt that instead of blood, pure pain was coursing through his veins; the inky ocean was about to take over him.

Eve started murmuring words in Latin, too quickly for them to be comprehensible. Her face was centimeters away from Ron's face, her breath stirring his red hair. As she spoke, a bright golden glow was forming all around her, causing everyone to back away a few more steps. Hermione and Harry were watching in amazement. Then suddenly Eve paused. At last, she said more loudly and clearly, "Amor vincit omnia."

Then she did something which shocked everybody. She knelt down even closer and kissed Ron on the lips. The bright glow surrounding her started pulsating, and it was somehow transferring itself in cycles to Ron, like strands of bright lightning or electricity.

At this, Draco leapt from his seat, comprehension dawning on his face. "No!" he cried and ran toward Eve, but a few of the boys on Harry's Quidditch team held him back. He fought them off in an uncharacteristic passion, punching a few of them. Crabbe and Goyl ran to his aid, but Harry had whipped out his wand too soon and they fell to the ground like two big, useless lumps. Jeremy O'Malley held tightly onto Draco, and he desisted, but every inch of his face was lined with cold fury.

Ron had been kissed before, but never anything quite like this; Hermione always kissed him with a soft, tender affection. But Eve was kissing him in furious determination. She was gripping him so tightly it almost hurt. (Later he would notice small blue bruise marks from her fingers). Her mouth had enveloped his and her lips were moving fervently, as if her whole heart and soul was going into that one kiss. Before it Ron felt he was covered in icy waves, but now an intense, burning, heat was going into him. With every breath he felt more and more strength coming back to him, but every ounce of it seemed to be taking a toll on Eve. The glow surrounding her was ebbing away. The color in her face was now draining. Slowly her grip loosened and Ron was able to sit up (among gasps from the class), but Eve was the one who collapsed, but he held onto her. She kept her lips on his as long as possible, and finally they parted when she had no strength left at all. Her head fell back and she gave Ron a slight smile before her eyes closed and she went completely limp in his arms. Ron, on the other hand, was looking vibrant and alert. There were blazing pink patches on his cheeks and his ears were scarlet.

Draco was finally able to wrench his way from Jeremy, who had loosened his grip in shock at the whole scene. Ron was gaping at Eve's motionless figure as if she were a minor miracle. The whole class rushed ahead and Draco pushed Ron away, grabbing Eve.

"No, she can't be…. It couldn't possibly happen…." He murmured.

"What couldn't possibly happen? Is she alright?" Harry cried. He had let Hermione go, who ran and grabbed Ron, sobbing in anguish into his shirt. He held her and gave her small comforting kisses on her face, which didn't seem to help.

Draco swiftly turned to him and yelled furiously, " What are you playing at, Weasley??"

Again, the whole class froze. "What do you mean, Malfoy?" he answered.

" I saw you. You set Neville's toad leaping onto your cup. You probably knew it was poisoned. And you probably knew she'd give her life saving your filthy ass," he said. Hermione had never seen him so utterly furious.

"What do you mean, give her life?" Harry gasped.

"Why don't you go see for yourself, Potter, and tell me if you feel a pulse. She's dead." His voice cut into Harry like a vicious blade. He went to her and touched her face, trailing his fingers down to her neck; her skin was still soft and surprisingly warm, but he could not feel a pulse.

"He knew she'd die saving him, Potter. And do you know why?" Draco's voice was shaking in anger. Strands of his usually perfect, sleek hair were falling over his eyes. He turned to Ron, who was glaring at him warningly. " Off having clandestine love affairs with Slytherins, are you Weasley? I should've known. You always like hanging onto the tailfeathers of powerful people."

Hermione shouted. "Love affairs? Don't be ridiculous."

"Oh yeah? Then why don't you tell him yourself what spell Eve used on him, if you're so goddamn clever, Granger. 'Amor vincit omnia.' 'Love conquers all?' What spell is that? What kind of people care so much for each other, that one will give their own life energy to save another? Which ancient spell is that, tell me??"

Hermione started taking deep breaths, and whispered, looking up at Ron, her eyes shiny with unspilt tears, "The Lover's Sacrifice."

Ron gaped, shaking his head. "No," he denied vehemently, "It's not true."

Hermione by her nature relied on her logic first. "You were in her room last night before we came. And after we left, I saw you talking to her and giving her something. I didn't want to ask about it, thinking it was none of my business." At this everyone whispered excitedly, looking at Ron, whose face had gone even more red.

"Hermione, will you listen to yourself? You actually believe him?"

Hermione could only stare at him, searching his sparkling eyes for the truth. And she found it. She looked away, embarrassed. Ron somehow had a new sense of power radiating from him.

"You're right. I believe you, Ron. I trust you. And so should everyone else." She meant it. She walked towards Draco, who stared at her malevolently, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes blazing like chips of ice. Any other girl would have quailed at the sight of him, but not Hermione. "And you…..you stop trying to throw us into some trap. We know where YOU were last night as well. That poison was in Snape's cup. Ron only got it by accident. Somebody was trying to poison Snape, not Ron. And the Dark Lord wants Snape dead." Again, more surprised whispers.

Draco lowered his head and stared straight into her chestnut eyes, which were narrowed in anger. He was chillingly calm. "Then tell me why Eve died saving him. Why she used that particular spell."

Hermione lowered her head and answered quietly. "I don't know."

Suddenly the door opened with a loud bang. Dumbledore, Snape, and Madame Pomfrey rushed in, looking panicked and slightly disheveled. They were followed by Seamus and Dean. Then Ginny ran in crying frantically, her fiery curls all over her face, her arm bandaged. She clutched her brother.

"Ron! Ron, you're alright! They said…they said…."

Ron tried to pull away from her. "I'm fine, Gin. What happened to your arm?"

"Minor burn from a Fire Snare in Herbology," she waved it off. "I was in the hospital wing when they ran into Madame Pomfrey's room saying you were…you were poisoned."

"What happened?" Dumbledore said. Snape had gone to revive Crabbe and Goyle. Madame Pomfrey was surrounding her, a terrified expression on the sweet old lady's face.

"Yes. Mr. Finnigan told me Mr. Weasley had been poisoned. Yet he looks in good health to me. But Miss Riddle doesn't look too well."

"Professor Snape, I'm afraid she's… well she doesn't seem to be…." Madame Pomfrey's voice broke off.

"She used the 'Amor Vincit Omnia' spell to save Weasley," Draco said bitterly.

Dumbledore swiftly went and examined her. "Take her to the hospital wing," he said quietly. Snape looked at his fallen goblet. "There was Devil's Drought in here. It is detectable in the goblet only after it has been drunk. And it is one of the deadliest poisons in existence. Only that spell would have stopped it." His eyes had gone even more darker than usual in silent anger.

"I'll take her to the hospital wing," Harry said. He wanted to get away from the whole scene. The only person he wanted to be near to at that moment was Eve. He picked her up; she seemed so frail and delicate he was afraid he might be hurting her; yet a painful tug in his chest told him he couldn't do that anymore. Her skin was milky white and smooth, and an unnerving calmness had taken over her features: not the terrifying frozen look of rushing death that Cedric had when he died, or perhaps even his own parents. He took her out of the room, being followed by more suspicious murmuring. Eve seemed very light in his arms: just as something emptied seems significantly lighter. The scene of her kissing Ron flashed across his mind, and he couldn't help thinking how it had felt kissing her, and that he himself never would. Hermione said that she believed Ron, but did she really? Moreover, did HE believe him? Once hearing the name of the spell Eve had used, he couldn't help but remembering over and over again the last line of the omen, "And for him she shall make the ultimate sacrifice."

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A/N: What will happen next? *gasp!* we all thought Eve was immortal! Is she really dead? Was Draco's accusation true? How will Harry and Hermione handle it all? Where's the Golden Orb? And what was in Eve's letter? All this to come…. (hopefully sooner than this last chapter, lol). Meanwhile, keep the reviews coming, they're absolutely amazing and more than I can hope for.