Disclaimer: Owned by JK.
a/n: Here's another update enjoy!
February 1993
The beginning of February came and with it came a welcome sight: Hermione fur-less, out of the Hospital Wing and back attending lessons with the rest of them.
"Oh, you didn't opt to keep the tail?" Ascella asked looking behind her friend, disappointed to find her tailless. Hermione's only response was to glare heartily at her. Ascella grinned.
"Only teasing, 'Mione," she said looping her arm into Hermione's elbow and walking to Astronomy Theo with her and Ron. It took Ascella a moment more to realize Harry wasn't with them exiting the Great Hall. She turned to look for him and spotted him in a place she'd never have thought to see him. He was up near the staff table, a few steps down, head bent as he spoke with Flitwick.
Ascella's brow furrowed, her eyes narrowing. Why would he be talking to her Head of House?
Ascella watched him until he smiled widely at Flitwick and hefting his bag higher on his shoulder, he hurried to catch up with the other three, acting as if there was nothing unusual about him stopping to talk to a Professor. Ascella wouldn't let him off that easily though.
She fixed him with a hard stare as they ascended the stairs to the fourth floor, before she asked, "Why were you talking to Flitwick?"
Harry didn't turn to look at her but Ascella couldn't miss the secret grin on his face. Then he shrugged and said, "No reason."
Ascella wanted to argue the point and push him but they had arrived at their lesson and Ascella was distracted by the sight of Aaron looking for all the world as though he'd been petrified. His face was pale, his eyes bloodshot as though he'd been crying instead of sleeping the night before.
Ascella didn't hesitate a moment more before slipping into the seat next to him and gently touching his arm. "Aaron?" she said. He turned to her, his blue eyes unseeing. Ascella felt her heart rate speed up in fear. "Aaron, what's wrong?" she said in her kindest voice, a voice she very rarely used, as she began to rub small circles on her friends arm.
He looked away from her, caught sight of her Gryffindor friends gathered around behind her and his eyes dropped to his lap. Ascella turned and looked significantly at them.
Ron was staring at the two of them, a look of curiosity on his face but Harry and Hermione got the message and managed to pull him away to give Ascella and Aaron some space. The rest of the class, thankfully, hadn't seemed to notice what was going on in the back of the circular planetarium classroom.
"It's okay," Ascella said turning back to Aaron. "You can tell me. Or I can go get Kevin-" but at the sound of Kevin's name, Aaron's lip began to tremble and Ascella stopped speaking abruptly. Her heart went cold, her hand stopping its rubbing momentarily. No, she thought, not Kevin.
"When?" she asked. Aaron swallowed hard and answered still looking at his lap, his shaggy blond hair covering his eyes.
"Last night. He never came back to the dorm. I thought he was just still in the common room working on that essay for Snape." Ascella knew the essay; she hadn't been looking forward to writing it as it was about the uses of Flobberworm Mucus in potions and she still hadn't recovered from her detention with Snape in December when she'd had to sort the rotten ones from the good ones. "I didn't know he'd snuck out to the library," Aaron continued his voice raw. "They found him this morning. He was in the Potions section by the windows, a book about Flobberworms in his hand, facing the window looking horrified."
Ascella grabbed his hand and squeezed, her eyes burning with her own tears. She refused to let them fall but they were there making it harder to see the boy in front of her. Aaron's shoulders shook now as he tried to control his ragged breathing.
"I should've just let him copy the parts he needed from my essay," he said miserably. Ascella shook her head, a tear slipping out. He had no reason to blame himself.
"No Aaron, this isn't your fault," she beseeched him, whispering it into his ear as her arm went around his shoulders. "He chose to go to the library. He knew that if he still didn't have what he needed you, or I even, would've let him copy the next day at breakfast. There was nothing you could've done to stop it."
"I could've stayed up with him. Convinced him to not go. Or gone with him," Aaron argued.
"No," Ascella said her tone harsh, harsh because only that would cut through his guilt. "No, you couldn't have. Because then there'd be two of my friends lying in the Hospital Wing instead of one. And who knows, you could have both been killed instead."
Aaron looked up at her then. "But I'm not muggleborn."
"I'm not convinced the creature, whatever it is, would care. Only the person controlling it. From all I've read there isn't any kind of magic that only affects you based on your blood status. And who knows, maybe blood traitors, those friends with muggleborns, are considered just as despicable."
Wide-eyed, Aaron nodded at her. If he looked mildly horrified at Ascella's suspicions, he at least looked a little comforted about Kevin and was able to at the very least pretend to pay attention to the rest of Professor Sinistra's lesson on comets. Ascella knew he would still torture himself with guilt, but Ascella also knew she'd done what she could for now knowing the only thing that would truly pull him out of his funk would be to have Kevin back, safe and whole.
Harry caught Ascella's eye shortly after, a question in his green eyes.
'Kevin' Ascella mouthed back. Harry deflated, his eyes clouding over with unhappiness. 'I'm sorry,' he mouthed back. Ascella smiled tightly back, her eyes swimming again.
After the lesson Harry gave her a tight hug for comfort. Ascella returned it allowing herself to feel upset for a moment. Kevin was her friend too and it hurt that he had been attacked, but she would only allow herself to feel this with Harry, her friend who would never judge her and who understood her unconditionally. He alone did she fully trust, he alone was she capable of fully trusting.
"Are you sure you are alright?" Harry asked so only she could hear, a moment later when she'd pulled back from his embrace. Ascella dried her eyes with a tissue she conjured with a flick of her wand and nodded.
"For the moment," she answered. "Besides I have to be," she added flicking her eyes to Aaron. Harry followed her gaze and saw what she saw.
Aaron had followed Ascella out of the classroom at her prodding and was now standing in the corridor a few feet removed from where Ascella and Harry stood, looking like a lost puppy. The rest of the students had already moved on, including Hermione and Ron. "He needs me."
Harry nodded in agreement. Then he turned back to Ascella. "And when you need me, I'll be there," he said earnestly. Ascella gave him a grateful smile, her heart rushing with warmth.
"I know," she said before walking away to walk Aaron to Charms, where she sent Terry Boot an apologetic smile for not sitting next to him, instead taking the seat Kevin usually occupied. Terry's eyes widened in understanding and didn't look at all upset at losing his Charms partner and fellow Charms Club member.
By lunch the whole school knew there had been another attack. Ascella did her best to shield Aaron from the brunt of the curiosity and scrutiny, but even so they still left early, the food on Aaron's plate untouched.
She spent the next few days constantly at Aaron's side. She sat by him in all their lessons, even lessons with Harry, visited Kevin in the Hospital Wing with him, and made sure he was eating at meals, all the while trying to pull him out of his depression with her usual dark humor and inane chatter. Nothing seemed to work though. Soon the other Ravenclaw second years were even attempting to help, trying to make jokes and engage him in card games in the common room or offering to help him with homework. The last always seemed to make him worse though, so Ascella told them to stop; clearly his guilt about not helping Kevin was still paramount in his mind.
History of Magic was by far the hardest though, for both of them. Neither mentioned the bet and how Kevin always slept, not after Ascella had made the joke, "Well I bet Kev will be asleep the whole lesson today! That is if he even bothers to show up," and Aaron had glared at her so hard she'd thought he was going to curse her. "Too soon?" she'd asked sheepish. "Sorry, won't happen again."
On Friday, they skipped History of Magic all together. Instead they spent the time in the Hospital Wing at Kevin's bedside. Aaron was sat in a chair his elbows on his knees his head in his hands staring at Kevin unseeing. Ascella sat curled up in a chair behind him watching him more than Kevin.
"You know," she broke the silence, her voice soft, "You weren't the only one who's friend was attacked."
Aaron scoffed. "What? You want all of us who've had friends attacked to start a club so we can all get together and bond over what we've lost."
Ascella glared hard at the back of his head.
"No," she snapped back. "I didn't mean the friends of the other people attacked. I mean you weren't - aren't - Kevin's only friend."
Aaron's bravado shrank away from his frame, his body sagging further into his hands. Ascella, seeing he might finally listen to her, continued, her voice a little softer than when she'd snapped but not quite as soft as before.
"And as a fellow friend of Kevin I can honestly say he wouldn't want you to be acting like this. He'd want you to be, well not happy exactly, but at least still capable of laughing and being as normal as you can be in his absence."
Aaron mumbled something into his hands.
"I'm sorry?" Ascella asked leaning closer.
He lifted his head and said, "What's normal without him? He's my best friend. I don't have anyone else that's as close to me as he is."
"No, you don't," Ascella agreed, thinking about how she'd feel if it was Harry instead of Kevin lying there; her whole life would be messed up, her whole schedule. "But you do have me still, and the other second year Ravenclaws. They don't bite. I know, I was shocked as well."
Her attempt at humor earned her a small smile out of Aaron.
"Look at this. Ascella Black, actually admitting to liking her fellow Ravenclaws," he teased with a touch of his old sarcasm.
"Tell anyone and I'll hex you into next year." Aaron chuckled softly shaking his head. He sobered up real quick though when he looked back at Kevin.
"He'll be back," Ascella said. "You haven't lost him forever, Aaron."
Aaron sighed deeply.
"I know. At least I do now," he said rising and turning to face Ascella. "Lunch?" he asked.
Ascella smiled and nodded. They'd been in the Hospital Wing so long that they'd missed Transfiguration as well. Luckily, McGonagall had turned a blind eye to their absence apparently as they learned when they ran into her outside the Hospital Wing. She took one look at them and softened, before she gave a clip nod and headed on her way.
Ascella and Aaron looked at each other eyes wide.
"I thought we were goners for sure," Aaron said finally.
"Me too," Ascella breathed. "Let's get out of here before she changes her mind."
Lunch was a much more pleasant affair than it had been all week. They sat next to Padma and Terry, the two of Ascella's fellow Ranvenclaw friends that had been trying the hardest to help Aaron. Padma in particular, had taken on a devoted air to helping Aaron, much to Ascella's surprise; she hadn't thought Padma had much cared for the Ravenclaw trouble maker.
Harry joined her a short while later, sitting on her other side. He had been her rock the past week, not questioning why she was no longer sitting by him in their shared lessons or why she hadn't been to Gryffindor Tower all week, instead adjusting his schedule and sitting with her and Aaron at most meals and spending an evening or two in the Ravenclaw common room doing his homework there and in general being the great supportive best friend he was.
This day found him smiling before looking questioning at her as Aaron ate on his own and even laughed at Padma's imitation of Ascella in Herbology. It was from when she'd thought she was going to be attacked by a Mandrake while they were feeding them a few weeks ago.
"It looked viscous to me. A very angry Mandrake. They have started to get all secretive, moody, and irrational you know," Ascella defended herself to Harry but she wasn't too put out, just glad to see Aaron acting more himself.
"While that sounds fascinating, I was actually referring to the fact that Morag is laughing," Harry whispered, grinning.
"Oh," Ascella said. "I think I got through to him finally."
"Good. I'm glad," Harry said. "Think you could come back to Gryffindor tonight? I've got something to show you."
Ascella nodded, curious despite herself. She wanted to know what it was now but Harry wouldn't have it, promising she'd see it later.
It turned out to be a blank diary. Ascella was less than impressed.
"A diary?" she said dryly. "You convinced me to come up here to show me a blank diary?" They were currently up in the solidarity of his dormitory.
"Well it has a name written in it," Harry defended. "And get this we found out he was around some 50 years ago. Won a medal for service to the school. We also know," he added significantly, "from Malfoy that the Chamber was opened 50 years ago."
"So you think the two could be connected!" Ascella said feeling excitement rush over her. If they could figure out who had done it last time, maybe they could put a stop to these attacks now. Ascella flipped frantically through the rest of the pages, hoping one of them wouldn't be blank. Unfortunately they all were.
"And you've already tried the revealing spell aparecium? Or even a Revealer? Looks a bit like a bright red eraser," Ascella questioned, looking up at her friend.
Harry nodded. "Yeah, Hermione tried all that already. I was hoping maybe you knew of something else to try." Ascella shook her head dismayed.
"That's all I've got. It's possible he recorded his thoughts in the diary in a different way. Perhaps as a recording of some kind, but that's unlikely. Have you tried writing in it?"
"No," Harry almost snorted. "Why would I do that?"
"I don't know," Ascella said back at him, throwing the diary at him. "Maybe you thought, 'hey free diary. Now I can finally write all about how amazing my bestest friend Ascella is.'"
"Yeah," Harry scoffed, tucking the diary away. "Like that would ever happen."
Ascella threw a pillow at him. He ducked and it hit poor Neville Longbottom in the back of the head. Ascella pointed, straight faced, at the laughing Harry when Longbottom turned around, effectively laying the blame on Harry, much to Harry's chagrin.
After the epic pillow fight that ensued as a result, the two friends settled into a game of Wizards Chess, which no, Ascella was still not any good at.
The next week Ascella dragged an unwilling Harry out of bed. He'd had a late-running Quidditch practice the night before and hadn't slept well and therefore Ascella hadn't either. They rushed down to the Great Hall, slightly late where both promptly stopped dead in their tracks.
The walls of the Great Hall were covered in large pink flowers and heart shaped confetti drifted down from the ceiling.
Ascella was horrified. She'd never once seen so much pink in her life.
"I didn't somehow miss this happening last year on Valentine's Day, did I?" Ascella asked. "You know, maybe it scarred me so badly that I blocked it out and don't remember or something."
Harry shook his head.
"No, I don't think so. Not unless I too was scarred so badly. Come on, let's ask Ron and Hermione," Harry added and they made their way to the Gryffindor table, Ascella in a mild daze as she took in all the pink.
When they asked the other two what was going on Ron, a look of complete disgust on his face, pointed toward the staff table. Ascella and Harry turned to see Lockhart dressed in pink robes as vomit inducing as the walls and confetti. He began waving for silence.
"Oh no," Harry said looking at Lockhart like he was some disgusting sea creature. "This must have been what he meant by us all needing a 'morale' booster."
Slowly Ascella turned to look at Harry, her eyes wide and her mouth open ever so slightly. She was about to respond when Lockhart began speaking.
He told them he'd already received 46, 'Forty-six' Ascella had mouthed disgusted to Harry and Ron, while Hermione looked like she was completely in love, Valentine's Day cards and then proceeded to tell them that the fun wouldn't stop there.
"Oh please Merlin, why can't it?" Ascella muttered. Harry and Ron choked on their laughter.
That was when a dozen surly and garishly dressed dwarves in golden wings, and carrying harps, marched into the Great Hall and Lockhart announced they would be roving around the castle delivering Valentine's all day.
Ascella took it all in and suddenly she was completely torn between vomiting and laughter. Laughter won out.
"Did you see Snape's face?" she said at the end of Lockhart's announcement. "When Lockhart suggested students go to him and ask for a Love Potion?"
"Yes," Harry sniggered. "He looked as though he'd give poison to the first person that asked."
"Oi! Identical Weasley's!" Ascella called to the retreating backs of the twins as they all left the Great Hall for lessons. Ascella had Herbology (joy of joys) and the rest History of Magic. The twins turned as one.
"Yes Black?" they said in unison. Harry and the others slowed with her, Harry looking at her with anticipation as if he already knew what she planned to ask. Ron just looked confused and Hermione was pretending to search her bag while ignoring Ron's inquiry as to if she'd been one of the 46 who'd sent Lockhart a Valentine's Day card.
"Dare you to ask Snape for a love potion," Ascella said an evil glint in her eye. Of anyone that might be goaded into this, it would be the Weasley twins. Looking thoughtful, the twins crossed their arms.
"And what, pray tell," Fred began, "is in it for us?"
"A galleon," she said with a shrug. "Five, if he actually gives you a love potion." She paused thinking. "And five too if he ends up giving you poison instead," she added.
"You're on," Fred declared with a grin. George nodded looking equally up for it.
"Ascella!" Hermione exclaimed after the twins had left, on their way to Potions.
"What?" Ascella defended. "I want to see what Snape will do! And they are the only ones I could think of who have the right combination of nerve and lack of caring of the consequences to actually do it." Hermione looked like she wanted to say more but then Ron was speaking.
"Brilliant," he said, with a grin.
"Really," Harry added. "Anyway Cells, see you at lunch, yeah? I have something you might like."
Ascella perked up at that.
"Oh ho, and what could Mr. Potter have for his dear, dear friend on Valentine's Day? Intrigue abounds."
"Oh shut it," Harry laughed moving on up the stairs with Ron and Hermione. "See you later."
"Later!" she called, before turning and walking across the now rapidly emptying Entrance Hall and making for Herbology.
The rest of the day passed with a surprising amount of entertainment. All day long the dwarves kept barging into lessons to deliver Valentine's much to the annoyance of the teachers. Ascella had thought McG's lips were going to disappear permanently after the eighth interruption in her class. Granted six of those had been orchestrated by Ascella as she'd ordered Valentine's cards to be delivered to all her friends during that hour, just because. She was glad her funny card got a smile out of Aaron.
She was back to sitting with Harry in Transfiguration, Kevin's seat replaced by Padma and Terry Boot, but he'd turned and smiled at her after reading her card. All of the cards that she sent were, of course, ridiculous. Ascella was not a sap but she did enjoy a bit of fun and how often did you get the chance to send overly simple and hilariously cheesy Valentine's like 'You're Charming' (she'd sent that to Boot, him being her Charms friend and all that), or 'You're Ravenclawsome' for Padma, or her favorite yet 'Your smile is like expelliarmus: Disarming' that she'd gotten Harry because he'd gotten so good at that spell.
Ascella herself was surprised by just how many Valentine's she received. At lunch she was sat with Padma at the Ravenclaw table going through them all. She and Padma had exchanged for fun, and she'd sent a few others but she certainly hadn't been expecting the vast number that she'd received.
"Is that 32?" Ascella said incredulous, the cards spread out before her. "I don't even know who half of these people are!" She truly was completely puzzled.
Padma rolled her eyes at her. Padma herself had gotten more than her fair share of cards though not as many as Ascella, but that, at least, made sense to Ascella that Padma would get a lot of cards; people liked Padma, she was nice, unlike Ascella almost always.
"What?" Ascella asked.
"If you don't know I'm not going to tell you."
Ascella's brow wrinkled. What did that mean? She was about to ask when she caught sight of one of her cards.
"Oh look!" she said pulling the pale blue card from the pile. "Terry got me a card. 'You're wand-derful'. Aw, how sweet! He must like cheesy Valentine's too. And look he wrote a message on the inside. 'So glad you joined Charms Club! Anyway, hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day! -Terry'. Aw," she said again, touched. She began to scan the heads at her table looking for Boot to thank him when she caught sight of Padma's secretive grin.
"What?" she asked again, starting to get a bit annoyed at her friend.
"I didn't get a card from Terry," was her only reply, the knowing look still on her face.
"What are you implying?" Ascella asked.
"Again if you don't know why so many people sent you cards then I'm not going to tell you."
Ascella was about to open her mouth and demand for her friend to speak straight but she was interrupted by the arrival of Harry.
"Oh hullo," she greeted with a smile. Harry returned her greeting before settling in on the bench and shooting a bemused look between all the cards taking up space on the table and Ascella.
"I'm very popular apparently," she said by way of explanation. Harry snorted, disbelief all over his face. "Now what did you have for me?" Ascella asked practically bouncing in her seat on the bench.
"Calm down," Harry said with a grin and reaching for a sandwich to add to his plate. Ascella had already eaten and so was less patient than she normally might have been. She busied herself with collecting her cards up and storing them in her bag and then stared at Harry while he ate. He pretended to be ignoring her but she could see the tugging at his lips. He was now making her wait for his own amusement and Ascella was out of patience.
"Har-ry," she whined at him. "You're killing me."
He laughed and setting his pumpkin juice down reached into his bag. He pulled out a large leather bound scrap book. Ascella looked at it perplexed.
"It's for you," he said handing it to her. "Think of it as an extended Christmas present."
At his words Ascella's confusion left and she eagerly opened up the front cover. What she found made her heart stop. Stop and then warm. It was her mother. Countless photos of her mother from Charms Club and from old Hogwarts Times (the school newspaper) as well as articles and silly interviews, including one where she was interviewed as the most eligible bachlerette in a silly column the school newspaper still did. Ascella searched the photos with eager eyes and completely devoured any quotes she could find from her mother including the ones in the eligible bachlerette article. The one about what she looked for in a man was particularly interesting. 'Er - this is a bit awkward but I'd say loyalty. I want someone who is devoted to those he cares about. Doesn't hurt if he's got a bit of a sense of humor too!' How far she'd ended up from that with Ascella's father, mass-murderer Sirius Black, was almost laughable.
"Do you - " Harry cleared his throat. "Do you like it?"
She looked up at him, eyes filled with wonderment and a tad watery.
"Like it?" she said, before throwing her arm around him in a one armed hug. "No Harry, I more than like it. I love it! But how? Where did you get all of it?" she asked, pulling back.
"Flitwick," Harry grinned in response.
"That's why you were talking to him the other day!"
"Yeah," he confirmed. "They are just copies though. The originals had to stay where they were but Flitwick helped me make the copies and such. I thought about adding these to your Christmas present but then I thought maybe something separate from us would be better. Besides this way you can add photos of your dad and the rest of your family if you wanted to."
Ascella froze. Her dad. No, she would not be adding any of those. Meda had plenty of photos of Sirius Black, including the only one she'd ever looked at, one of him holding her up on her 2nd birthday as she giggled and attempted to blow out her two candles on her cake, and knew people who could get her more but as far as Ascella was concerned, father or not, there was no place for a murderer in any family scrap book of hers. But adding photos with Meda, Ted and Dora would be a welcome addition she thought.
"Thank you," she said again looking at Harry. She slipped the book into her bag to look at more later and hugged Harry again.
He smiled pleased and they spent the rest of lunch chatting easily.
It was after lunch as Ascella's Gryffindor friends made their way to Charms and she toward a required study hall when, by far, the most entertaining event of the day occurred.
Harry was accosted by one of the grislier looking dwarves, it calling out to him and elbowing his way through the crowd towards Harry.
Ascella watched as Harry flushed deeply and tried to make a run for it. She doubted he wanted to receive a Valentine in front of the first years, which included Ginny, who'd no doubt sent it but she also knew it was a futile effort to attempt escape. She was proved right a moment later when the dwarf was upon them.
When the dwarf said it had a musical message to deliver Ascella couldn't help but grin. Harry still fought and tried to convince the dwarf to give it to him elsewhere, which only resulted in the dwarf ripping Harry's bag open, causing an ink bottle to smash and spray ink all over his books and parchment. When Malfoy and Percy showed up Harry tried to make a break for it, not thinking straight enough to ask Ascella to fix his bag, but the dwarf tackled him and sat on his ankles.
Ascella was clutching her stomach now as she tried and failed to not laugh at the scene. Did she feel sort of bad for Harry? Yes. Was that going to stop her from finding the humor in this? No.
Then the dwarf started to sing.
'His eyes are as green as a fresh picked toad, His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, The hero who conquered the Dark Lord.'
And Ascella lost it completely. She was practically bent double, no noise coming out because she was laughing so hard. Harry glared at her, rising to his feet. Percy did his best to disperse the crowd and Ascella was swept away with her fellow Ravenclaws. Still she didn't miss Malfoy's goading. It quickly wiped any mirth from her as she struggled to turn around to get a good view of Malfoy to hex him.
Harry had it covered though and with one glance of sympathy for her friend she went on her way.
The twins found her and Harry at dinner later that night. After singing "His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad" rather loudly for the entertainment of those around they turned to Ascella and told her to cough up.
"Oh?" she said, one eyebrow raised, her long blond hair swept over one shoulder. "And where is the evidence?"
They handed her a small vial. She uncorked it, smelled it and grimaced.
"Ugh, definitely poison," she said. "Albeit not a deadly one. A quick trip to the Hospital Wing would stop the vomiting." She looked up then to see both twins holding their hands out and looking expectant. She laughed.
"Oh alright," she said and handed them five galleons. "What was his reaction anyway?"
Ron and Harry leaned in, eager for the response too.
"He looked like he wanted to murder us," said Fred.
"Face got so flushed that I thought we were goners for sure," George added.
"Gave us a weeks worth of detentions."
"But then he also handed us this which got us the galleons so all in all worth it!"
They all laughed. Later up in her dormitory, her blue curtains pulled shut, the scrap book open across her lap, Ascella couldn't help but think that the day hadn't been so bad after all. She wouldn't be advocating for a repeat performance for next year but it had had its entertaining moments. And it had given Ascella this book, and further insight into just who Marlene McKinnon was and for that she couldn't help but be happy. She fell asleep with a smile on her lips and warmth in her heart, which really was all anyone could ask for in such dark times.
a/n Thanks for all the lovely reviews! Glad you are enjoying the story!
note: I moved back Harry finding the diary a couple weeks because of the Kevin attack. I figured in reality it was likely more students than just those somehow in Harry's circle would have been attacked.
