FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL
Flipped
Summary
Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)
Disclaimer: The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.
Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.
1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan .
2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.
3) Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing.
4)This is a gender bender. I will bend gender roles like clay, considering it is based in 1940s. :D
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For your references
"Talk"
"Thought"
"Parseltongue"
Previously
He rolled his eyes. He actually did that and then he blinked as if he could not believe his own childish move and Cordelia let out a chuckle, "It is nice to be human once in a while, trust me." She softly muttered.
Interlude 2: Dry eyes.
Cordelia's POV
Dorea's look after she entered the common room with Tom had told her that if Dorea had her way, today would be the 'some day' where she would be explaining Tom's behavior to her. Cordelia did not mind. She honestly needed someone from the Blacks who was on her and Tom's side without question. She gave Dorea a discreet nod and received a widening of eyes in response before she quickly climbed up the stairs.
"What was that Corrie? Since when are you on friendly terms with Heir Slytherin. He threatened you for Merlin's sake." Dorea said agitatedly as soon as the door of Cordelia's room shut. She trusted that Cordelia of all the people had installed the best privacy and silencing wards in her room.
"I told you, I will be fine. He is honestly not that bad." Cordelia said lightly "And he seeked me out, not the other way around."
"Why?" Dorea asked impatiently.
"I sent him a basket too. He was not clear about the reason." Cordelia said lightly as she unbuttoned her Cardigan, her back facing Dorea.
"He threatened you and you sent him a 'thank you' basket!" Dorea was angry and confused.
"No silly, I sent him a basket because he is entertaining." Cordelia swiftly said, she had unbuttoned her shirt and threw it on the bed. Dorea could probably see her bare ivory sides, but her hair acted like a thick curtain to her back. Well, she didn't care.
"Entertaining. You think his megalomania is entertaining!" Dorea began. .
"Define his megalomania." Cordelia asked turning around. She was pleased to see Dorea look away.
"Did you have to change in front of me?" Dorea asked with a little irritation.
"Stop being such a prude, Dory." Cordelia said lightly. She was trying to unnerve Dorea and it was working. She swiftly pulled on a jumper that went to her knees and pulled off her skirt.
"Prude! You stop being…" Dorea looked at her and stopped abruptly at seeing the state of her undress.
Cordelia swiftly put on Pajamas and settled on the bed, sitting cross-legged, sending her clothes flying into her trunk, "Sit." She patted her side.
Dorea, hesitantly came and sat.
"Now, tell me. What about Tom has got you so bothered?" She asked Dorea seriously.
"He is just a bit disconcerting. He does not entertain dissent, he treats other heirs like they are subservient and he has physically hurt many of them when they spoke against him. He is just unnerving. He even threatened you . . . that alone makes him…" Dorea trailed off. "How can you be so calm about this?"
"I told you that there is a reason he is that way. A very valid reason." Cordelia said, gripping her knee in her palm.
"And you know the reason, when I, who has lived with him for the past three years, doesn't? When he has not confided in you?" Dorea began, her tone irritable.
"No, you do know. You just are not willing to look past your conceptions." Cordelia said easily.
"You have always had a good head, Corrie. You have been more mature than your years, far mature than me, which is why I trust you to deal with matters, trust you to lead the House of Black in the best way, but this time, you are wrong." Dorea said.
'Oh Dory, I am maybe more mature, but that does not mean I am not prone to mistakes, even Uncle Arcturus makes them." Cordelia said slowly.
"And there that point, Father. Riddle has not bound you in any oath and yet you have not warned our head of house about him, why?" Dorea asked in a tone of accusation.
"Because it is not Uncle's business." Cordelia said simply, giving Dorea a grave look.
Dorea just stared in astonishment.
"Oh, don't give me that look. You know your father very well. You know he is going to suck off Tom's power and manipulate him into the seventh hell. Do you honestly want to send Tom, a mere 14 year old, against him? Just throw him to the wolves." Cordelia said bluntly.
Dorea looked taken aback.
"I never thought you would be…" Dorea said a while later.
"So, coarse, callous?" Cordelia offered choices nonchalantly and slumped down on her pillow and lay down.
Dorea sighed, "You have always been so refined."
"I am refined, that does not mean that I don't see the blemishes of others." Cordelia offered with a shrug.
"That's my father you are speaking about." Dorea said in a hard tone.
"I speak nothing but truth and you know that. Remember Aunt Charis, remember Uncle Marius, thrown to wolves for the betterment of the family." Cordelia said blandly, as if she was discussing weather, "And I do not deny that giving up Tom might have benefits for our line, at least in some of your perceptions, but you are underestimating Tom. He is a 14 year old, but he has somethings that you have no clue about. He is innocent in a way, but as you said dangerous. I have thought long and hard and I have not made this decision lightly. We can't throw him to the wolves because he is a snake. You will never know when he will strike back."
Dorea's shoulders sagged in defeat, "He will use Riddle, for his own means." She said while biting her lip.
"He will, I mean look at the heirs in the court. All of them are part of the court because they are hoping to play Riddle and they are not realizing what an accomplished manipulator Riddle is. Abraxas and Orion are busy in their hero worship and Alphard wants to bring him down by being a part of his circle and the entire facade is juvenile. Riddle is not juvenile, most of the times anyway." Cordelia informed.
"Why are you so concerned about Riddle?" Dorea asked.
"It is hard not to be. Remember what Grandmother said, I am a humanitarian." She said the last word sarcastically.
"Grannie Nia saw the humanitarian in everybody!" Dorea said with a little exasperation.
Cordelia cracked a smile at that.
"Why does Riddle need your humanity? He is powerful, he is cruel." Dorea asked.
"He is powerful, yes. I am powerful too, don't I need some compassion? He is cruel, really! He might be, for all I know, but is it that unwarranted?" Cordelia asked, staring at the ceiling.
"How can you excuse it?" Dorea asked.
"I am not excusing anything. This is not a justification, merely an explanation. How much do you really know about Riddle?" Cordelia asked, fixing a piercing gaze on Dorea.
"He is an orphan. He lives in London. He is very good at magic and is powerful too. He has a very well built mask." Dorea said.
'That's it." Cordelia gave her an unimpressed look.
'It's not as if I am writing his biography." Dorea said indignantly, and then added a bit bitterly, "He spends most of time with boys anyway. What can girls do in politics? And Orion refuses to say anything and Alphard is too much of a child to notice something and Riddle is unreadable without his facade on. He does not give anything up."
"Where does he live in London?" Cordelia asked.
"Nobody knows, but an orphanage. He does not seem too happy about it either, He has been requesting Dumbledore for letting him stay over the summers since first year. I discovered it last year when I became prefect. The requests went through me." Dorea revealed.
"Why do you think he is so secretive?" Cordelia kept up the questioning.
"Because he has an agenda. He does not want his weakness revealed out there in open." Dorea tried answering.
"No, he has not revealed the address because he does not trust anybody in this school. Yes, he has bound all of you in oaths, but there are ways around oaths. But the main reason is that he is ashamed. Do you know why that might be? I mean why would an heir of Slytherin be ashamed?" Cordelia asked innocently.
Dorea struggled, "Because he is a half blood."
"Yeah, right. Do you remember his first year? How many of the purebloods offered a powerful orphan their support in our house?" Cordelia continued her innocent tone.
Dorea stayed silent.
"Why are you silent? Is it because they did not offer support to an 11 year old boy who was living a hard life in muggle world? Is it because they bullied him incessantly? Is it because, a mere mudblood to their eyes was better at magic than them? Is it because, this world, 'his' world, made him feel so alien that he treats everyone with hostility and distrust?" Cordelia's volume increased with each question. Cordelia glared at Dorea.
"I could not do anything. I was in third year. The men don't listen to women anyway." Dorea said in a low voice.
"So you turned the other way. And then when Tom replied back in kind, revealed his parseltongue, treated the purebloods the same way the purebloods treated him, he became an antagonist in your eyes? Why? Because it is easy to blame Riddle rather than look in your conscience?" Cordelia was furious. "I daresay Tom treats his courtiers and House in a better way than purebloods treat those of 'inferior' blood. He treats them in a better way than Uncle Arcturus treated Uncle Marius. And you, you are like my father, a docile observer, who absolved herself of any responsibility." Cordelia had risen up, resting her body weight on her elbows.
Dorea stayed silent.
"So you see, Tom has a reason for treating everyone the way he does. Can you tell me the same for the purebloods who treated him that way, except for that spurious notion of blood purity?" Cordelia was very angry.
"Charlie would like to have this conversation with you." Dorea said lowly, "Blood Purity, I mean."
"Well, too bad, I am having this conversation with 'you' right now, Charlie can wait." Cordelia replied back, her eyes passionate then she toned it down, "You have a good head, Dory, and I know you don't buy into this blood purity. . . I am thinking that is why you are attracted to Charlie. You are taking the easy way out from a family who is big on blood purity to a light family who opposes it."
"I love Charlie and don't you dare suggest some Merlin forsaken reason for this." Dorea snapped.
"I never denied your love for him. You do love him, but love is complicated Dory, I am just pointing out one of your motivations for it. Since when are you an advocate for the light side's issues?" Cordelia said calmly and asked pointedly.
"I am not an advocate, what are you. . ." Dorea sputtered.
"You say Merlin instead of Morgana now." Cordelia said quietly, "Merlin, a name that is considered so light that children of dark families are taught not to use his name, the hard way. And today, you used it twice in this conversation," She had sat up.
Dorea froze, "I spend time with Charlie and the Gryffindors." She said faintly, but she sounded unconvinced.
"Ahmmm" Cordelia hummed, "Then why the need of secrecy? I never once heard you speak it at home, in front of Uncle or your mother or other elders. Why here? Because you know our cousins are dunces and would not realize this subtle change until it is too late. You forgot about me, didn't you? I am so quiet that you did not think I would realize, or you thought I would not voice it? Do I need to write to Aunt Ariel and express my doubts about the courtship?" Cordelia asked very provokingly.
Dorea's jaw was set, not in stubbornness but in anger, "Do whatever you wish!"
"Hmm, I think I will, regardless. I am not going to write to her, if I wanted to, I would have wrote in the first week when I met Charlie." Cordelia said lightly.
"So are you threatening me? Holding that knowledge over my head?" Dorea asked in a betrayed and angry voice.
"No, none of that. You forget, you are my sister and you also forget that how much I condone the philosophy of greater good. I did not approve in case of Charis, I did not approve in case of Uncle Marius, and I certainly would not be the cause of something like that happening to you. I am just ensuring that you know that you have a family, and as heartless they are at times, they are still your family. Mindlessly choosing light because you do not understand the methods of dark is not the best decision." Cordelia said.
The fire in Dorea's eyes died a little, "I don't know what you are talking about?" She was still adamant.
"Really!" Cordelia said with mock surprise.
Dorea gave her a glare and Cordelia let out a laugh, "I love you Dory, but heiress or not, I am thinking for the best of the Blacks. Pursue your courtship with Charles Potter, all you want, support and cherish light as much as you want, but do not forget that dark is being oppressed too. They are oppressive yes, but the light is oppressive too. You are stuck between two evils and you are choosing the one you are not intimately aware about simply because you don't know the problems of light yet."
"And are you thinking the best for Blacks when you are busy consorting with Riddle?" Dorea said bitterly, not giving an answer.
"I am." Cordelia said simply, "The best bet for Blacks to survive is to befriend him, not be subservient to him and not to oppose him, and not to put him down. You do not know Riddle the way I do. And do not try to sidestep my comment. Is it because I am right?"
Dorea's shoulders sagged in defeat the second time, "How do you read people so well?" She asked in a small voice.
Cordelia shrugged, "I read you because I care about you."
Dorea just looked at her, then said after she gathered herself, "You don't buy into blood purism but you don't like the stance of light either." It was a question, not a statement.
"I don't." Cordelia had again lay down and she looked up and sideways to answer Dorea.
"Which side are you on?" Dorea asked in confusion.
"None." Cordelia popped her lips, as if she was enjoying the inquisition.
"Riddle supports the dark." Dorea said indignantly.
"Does he?" Cordelia said doubtfully, "He is a master manipulator, he is giving the Slytherin heirs what they want. I won't be so sure about his stance just yet, but he is a dark wizard, yes."
Before Dorea could ask, Cordelia begun, "I do not think that light and dark is a just division. It is political division driven by nefarious agendas to partition magicals into two sides for profits to 'n' number of related parties. Riddle knows what other Slytherins have told him, but I am not sure if he buys into their version. He is constantly researching into it, I checked the library records but yes, his main ideal is that all forms of magic must be free, even light, even though he does not quite phrase like that. But you and I both know, he will not find a correct version of the rift in Hogwarts Library. So I am hoping to nudge him in the right direction."
"You plan to use him…" Dorea said bluntly.
"No," Cordelia said without even thinking, "No, I don't plan to use him. Riddle is an unknown variable, yes, and I would like that he forms an informed opinion about the entire wizarding World and I hope that he uses his power and influence for good, but that is just a hope. I hope for him to have something that is rightfully his, his legacy, his opinions, his independence. I hope to achieve an understanding between light and dark and I hope to achieve a state where light and dark does not matter, but that is all me, I am not going to drag Riddle into it if he does not want to. He is also a person, not just a variable."
"You are being very gracious with him." Dorea noted.
'Well, he is gracious to me." Cordelia said, with a one shoulder shrug.
"How?" Dorea asked with one brow raised.
"He does not underestimate me like the rest of heirs do. Even though his hostility toward me is irritating because I want to befriend him, it kind of flatters me as well. He took me seriously even though I am a woman. He is rare in that matter." Cordelia told.
"You are the heiress of the house of Black. You are not underestimated." Dorea pointed out, "Father chose you over Oree, over Affy."
"He knows my abilities and he values them yes, but he underestimates me. All of the people do. All the time. I am not even sure if it is deliberate. I might be magically powerful in their eyes, but they still think I understand little of politics, they still think that I cannot use my power as well as they could if it were in their hands. And they don't just do it to me, they do it you and you, in turn, do it to me. It is such a vicious circle." Cordelia elaborated.
"Oh, yeah, I definitely underestimated you." Dorea gave her a dark look.
Cordelia let out a giggle at that, "Oh Dory." and Dorea gave a reluctant, indulging smile and then begun laughing with her too, shaking her head.
"What are your plans?" Dorea asked after their laughter subsided.
Cordelia looked at her thoughtfully, "I have a lot of them, but yeah, I want Tom Marvolo Riddle to feel safe in magical world and I want him to know that he can count on me to not use him. The rest will come after that."
"Safe from what?" Dorea asked.
"Well, people. He was bullied, hurt by those who should have embraced him. This was his world and he was abused here too."
"What do you mean by 'too'?" Dorea asked.
"See, you have such a sharp mind. You should stop following boys and use it for yourself. But here,' Cordelia said a little sassily. She sighed and took out something from the drawer of her sidetable after hissing the password in parseltongue and sat up, facing Dorea.
It was a medical report from Hogwarts Infirmary.
"Madam Underhill has been familiarizing me with the infirmary. She is hoping that I would be her teaching assistant come NEWTs and help her out in the infirmary once in a while, maybe over the weekends." Cordelia said without preamble.
"That is great news. Is that what you want to be, a healer?" Dorea asked.
"Yes apart from Politics, that is, it does not just require strength but finesse as well, so I will have to work for it, but that is beside the point right now. She has been familiarizing me with the 'At risk' cases of Hogwarts in case of an emergency and if somebody needs medical attention when she is not available for any reason. I found Tom's file in that." Cordelia told, her expression very serious.
Dorea looked at it seriously, "Yeah well, he was injured a few times in the first year until he began fighting back. His wandless magic..." She gulped.
"It is not that. This report also has the vaccine and other checks that muggleborn students go through in their first week." Cordelia said seriously.
"I did not know that they recorded that." Dorea appeared confused.
"Yes, they do. The purebloods do not know because they do not care. Other Professors do not know as well. This is strictly between Dippet and Madam Underhill. But there is no healer- patient privilege here, so she could show it to me. Madam trusts me to keep it to myself." Cordelia said softly, "But I am telling you because I need you to understand."
Dorea swiftly went through it, "He was bullied in his orphanage." She said in a low and sad voice after perusing it.
Cordelia nodded, "And that is not it. There is war in the muggle world and Britain is, it is at heart of it. The food is scarce, everything is scarce. There are bombs, similar to the spell of bombarda , being dropped everywhere. Riddle could die out there and no one would care. He is not ashamed about him home, no, he is afraid of it. He, maybe, hates it."
"Then why isn't he getting a stay in Hogwarts? I mean surely, if explained properly, his case is. I mean Hogwarts has served as a refuge in wars of magic, surely it can offer aid to one student." Dorea was indignant.
"Dumbledore." Cordelia said one word, very sombrely. "He thinks Tom is cooking it up. He has not once forwarded the application to Dippet. I sneaked in, well I snooped around. Dippet has no records of the requests. They go through the Deputy headmaster first and I know for a fact that Tom sent the requests. Abe asked around when I prompted him."
"Abe knows about your…" Dorea asked.
"No, but he trusts me to handle anything. That is why I said Tom is just rare. Abe sees me for who I am. That is why I have always been fonder of him than Oree or Affy." Cordelia bit her lip.
"Dumbledore is such as... Charlie hates him, you know." Dorea began angrilly.
"Why does Charlie hate him?" Cordelia asked, now curious.
"Well, Dumbledore has a very skewed perception of things. He guides the Gryffindors in a very weird way, almost as if feeding them a doctrine. Worse than Riddle. Minerva is caught up in it and Charlie is worried." Dorea told.
'What do you think of him?" Cordelia asked.
"He is two-faced old coot. He treated me with downright hostility in the early years and last year when I started talking to Charlie and this year, our courtship, he is all smiles and that twinkle. As if he is telling me that I made the right decision." Dorea said a bit sullenly.
"Yes, he has a very skewed version of what is right and light and how everyone should go about it?" Cordelia said, she pulled her lips inside her mouth for a jiffy, tilted her head and thought carefully and then released them with a sigh.
"You are going to be in trouble if Riddle finds out that you have this." Dorea pointed out.
"I know, that is why we have to keep quiet about this. My impression is that he does not know about the existence of the file too. I am going to keep it hidden with me, so that no unwanted eyes pry on this and it is safe. That it, until I gain his confidence and give it to him." Cordelia sighed.
"You are serious about helping him." Dorea asked.
"The world, muggle and magical have been unkind to him. I am just trying to right a wrong. But yes, I will help him, at any cost." Cordelia said giving a 'I don't have a choice' look.
"No, you have a choice Corrie, your heart is just too good to pick the other one." Dorea muttered, and Cordelia gave a sheepish smile at that.
"Do you need me for anything? Don't hesitate, I might look…" Dorea begun.
"Speak your mind, take part in the politics. I am going to invite you to the court meeting. Riddle invited me for the next one. You can come and listen at first. You are good at it. You are a powerful witch, as powerful as Charlie okay. He is your equal, men are our equal, not superior. I am going to prove that, but I need help. I cannot be the odd witch who can best men. I want to be in a group of witches that can kick their butts and be less vain about it than them." Cordelia said passionately.
"Kick their butts, you are spending time with Alphard." Dorea sniffed her nose.
"Well, it is just an expression and I can use it. Just because I am a woman, doesn't mean that I cannot curse." Cordelia slumped back in her bed, mussing her pillow.
"You are serious about this, aren't you?" Dorea sighed in acceptance.
Cordelia nodded impishly.
"Alright, I will participate. Charlie always says I have good and informed opinions on the moves of Ministry. He likes to discuss it with me." Dorea said determinedly but blushed a little by the end.
"He does!" Cordelia said happily, "Well, he is a keeper then."
Dorea begun laughing.
Cordelia rubbed her eyes sleepily.
"You have been working in nights as well? You need to take care of yourself." Dorea asked with concern, "You spent the other night completely awake, trying to convince those heirs of Riddle's leadership. Did you stay up any other night?"
"Nah, I was just finishing that book on wards. I have to start on a new book. I just tried healing a lot today. Madam Underhill might let me take the minor cases if I demonstrate... I wish I could use parseltongue for magic. It takes a lot less effort. Don't remind me of the night. I had to spend hours to convince them to give Riddle a chance on the condition that Riddle would not do anything to me if I entered his room and left unscathed. Then I spent time till morning, again arguing with the lot of them until their acquiescence. That dunce Lestrange made it all the more harder." Cordelia yawned.
"Well, be careful about parseltongue. Riddle will never trust you if he finds out about that." Dorea warned, "And sleep. And am I to understand that you plan to keep Lucy and Burga out of this, and even Oree and Affy?"
"They will not understand." Cordelia replied sleepily.
"No, they won't." Dorea agreed, "So it is just you and me." Dorea sighed and saw that Cordelia was already adrift, her breathing even.
She quietly left.
Cordelia's eyes snapped open as soon as the door closed. She cast a tempus, and rushed inside her second trunk, climbing down hurriedly, bypassing layers of security, but rushing down the maze of stairs instead of using the elevator, not even pausing for looking at the way. She could navigate her trunk blindly. Siddharth had made sure of that.
She went down to the 11th layer and stared at the unmoving portrait of Dorea Potter when she was about 20-30. The smiling visage of her grandmother. Narcissa had remembered her aunt's face and had painted it for her. It did not talk like other magical portraits. Her essence was missing. The portrait that had the essence was in the Potter manor that had burned down when Juniper had been 3 months old. Narcissa had not seen Dorea, her aunt after Narcissa turned 3 year old. Dorea had stopped all contact with the Blacks sometime after her marriage, too hassled by their blood purism and megalomania and their support for Voldemort. One voice of reason in the Blacks had relinquished the Blacks. Cordelia had to prevent that and she thought that she had done a fairly good job of it tonight.
She glanced at the portrait beside it, Charles Potter. Narcissa had met him once in the Ministry when she had gone to register her marriage with Lucius Malfoy and had taken a wrong route alone. Narcissa said that he had been kind to her despite everything and had asked away after the other Blacks. He had also expressed his sadness and helplessness in the light of the meaningless war and had escorted her safely back to the Atrium. Narcissa had been so overwhelmed that she had not said anything to him. But she had painted the portrait of a 50 something man for June and the kindness she had seen had been reflected back in that portrait. Also reflected was Narcissa's sorrow. Charles Potter and Dorea Potter had died at the hand of Bellatrix in the raid of Potter manor in search of their son James and daughter-in law Lily. The Death eaters had burned the manor down.
Cordelia gulped. She had never known this as Juniper until she had turned 18. Only after war, only after...Tears escaped her eyes once again. She had not known the full name of her grandparents and when she had looked at the wedding album of her parents, she had been unable to identify them, never knowing how they looked. Apparently, one of the early deatheaters had cursed Dorea with a curse that had left her almost barren. They could only have one child, James, who gave birth to only her, Juniper.
She wiped her tears
'You won't die in a meaningless war this time. I promise!' She slowly said, "I will prepare you, I will make you a part of a larger group who want magic as one. You will live a long life, have sons and daughters, and grandchildren and they will have a chance to know you unlike me.' Her voice broke and she sat on the floor and cried until her eyes dried.
Author Note: There is a slight change from the previous chapters.
Nicknames:
Dorea: Dory instead of Rea.
Lucretia: Lucy instead of Tia/Luc
I will change the previous chapters to reflect the change when I come back.
This week I made my 100th follower. Thank you everyone for the support.
I know today is not a Saturday, but I am taking a trip and I will not have access to Internet, so I am updating early. Next update will be on 30th January.
