Disclaimer: I'm sure everyone is bored with these disclaimers by now, but just to make sure there's no confusion, I am not J.K. Rowling, and I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the long wait, I hope you all will forgive me. Before we begin, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the first chapter:
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Chapter 2: Meeting the Grangers and Auror Training
"Hermione, honestly, why can't you just stay at the Manor, and apparate to the Ministry for your Auror training?" Draco asked with a pout on his face.
"Because, I already told you, I've already made arrangements to stay with Harry and Ron," coaxed Hermione.
Draco did not bother to hide the look of resentment in his face. But he prudently decided to drop that matter. Instead he went for another one. "Why won't you tell me where you'll be staying?"
To this, Hermione stopped short, and took just a split second too long to hide the guilty look in her face. "Because, Harry and Ron don't want you to know, cause there afraid you'll apparate in and out just to annoy them."
"Well that would be rather entertaining."
Hermione crossed her arms over her chest.
"Come on Hermione, I would never do that unannounced because I know you wouldn't like it. So just tell me where you'll be so I won't need to worry and wonder."
There was a pained look in her eyes, as if she really wanted to tell him. "I'm sorry, but I promised. She placed a kiss on his lips which he did not respond to. His lack of action made her feel even worse, "Draco you know I love you, and I'll write to you all the time, and I'm sure we'll be able to get together when you're not traveling."
Draco closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, he did not want the week to be over, with Hermione there, he had never felt freer or happier in his life. "I love you too; I just don't like not knowing where you'll be."
"I'm right here," she pressed the side of her fist into his chest right over his heart, "And that's where I'll always be.
Draco didn't bother attempting to hide his frown. He felt as though she didn't trust him because she wouldn't tell him where she was going. And he hated not being trusted.
From another room in the Manor, a clock chimed 10 am. "It's time to go, my parents are expecting us."
"Right," Draco turned away from her.
"Draco please don't act like this, I don't want to say goodbye with you being mad at me."
He turned back and looked her in the eye, "I'm not mad," he cause a moment, "I just don't want to say goodbye."
"Well we don't have to say goodbye just yet, so don't you start rushing things." Hermione insisted, although her eyes were becoming damp.
"Right, let's go."
"Ok, hold my hand so you know where to apparate to, we have to make sure we end up inside the house, otherwise muggles might see."
Draco grabbed Hermione's hand tight, and with a pop, the two disapparated out of the Manor, and apparated in the family room of Hermione's house. Draco looked around with a highly skeptical look on his face. There were several odd things in this muggle dwelling that Draco had never seen before. There was a large black box on top of some sort of pedestal inside which there was another, much smaller black box, and several other objects in covers of varying colors, lined up neatly next to one another like books on a shelf. There were also lamps, although they were not lit by candles as normal lamps were, these were lit by some sphere like object, and all these lamps had cords leading from them to holes in the wall.
Hermione smiled amusedly at Draco's reaction to her house. Quickly, before her parents came into the room, she pointed out the television, DVD player, and DVD's to Draco. She didn't bother to explain what they did or anything about the lights.
"Hermione, sweetie, is that you?"
"Yes mum!" shouted Hermione.
Draco turned towards the voice and was greeted by the sight of the kitchen. Draco rarely spent any time in his own kitchen, so he didn't bother to fathom the strange contraptions that occupied this muggle kitchen. Not that he had any time to explore any of them anyway, for at that moment, Hermione's mum came rushing in. She did a very obvious double take when she saw her sweet little girl standing next to a strikingly handsome you man.
"Hermione!" she cooed, after getting over her initial surprise, "it's so wonderful to see you again." She turned to Draco, who was maintaining as blank an expression as possible, so as not to give a negative impression despite his wariness around all the strange muggle contraptions.
"And you of course must be Draco." Mrs. Granger added. "Yes, well Hermione's told us a lot about you."
Draco quickly put to use his perfected charming and mingling skills and held out his hand to Mr. Granger, with a slight bow of his head he said in a smooth voice, "Mrs. Granger, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Mrs. Granger smiled a bit abashed, "such a gentlemen."
Draco nodded in acknowledgement of the compliment but said no more. Hermione watched the whole scene while suppressing a fit of giggles. She couldn't say why she found it so funny, but Draco was so remarkably different in every situation that it was amazing he was the same person from instance to instance. She of course preferred the way he was when it was just the two of them, but this Draco was not bad either, at least he was making a good impression on her mum. Her dad however, would be another story, he, like most fathers, was very protective of his little girl. Hermione had not failed to notice that he never seemed to enjoy conversations that involved Draco, and while he kept his mouth shut around her, she was not foolish enough to hope he would do the same around Draco.
As if on cue, Hermione's father entered. "Hermione!" He called walking directly to her, and making no acknowledgment of Draco. "How's my little girl?"
"I'm fine Dad," said Hermione, expecting her father to then introduce himself to Draco. But when her father made no effort to even look in Draco's general direction, Hermione took charge, "Daddy, remember I told you about my boyfriend? Well, this is Draco."
Mr. Granger turned and grudgingly viewed Draco, looking at him as if he was sizing up a particularly formidable enemy.
"Mr. Granger," Draco held out his hand and bowed his head slightly just as he had to Mrs. Granger, "It's nice to meet you sir."
Mr. Granger did not shake Draco's hand; rather he looked at Draco with increased suspicion, "Draco is it? What kind of a name is that?"
Draco dropped his hand, and his lips instinctively curled into his all-too-familiar smirk, "I believe it's the one my parents gave me, do you have a problem with that?" Draco quickly threw his manners aside in light of Mr. Granger's rude behavior.
The last thing Hermione wanted was a fight between Draco and her father, but she knew that neither of them was likely to back down if they were allowed to continue. Plus, Hermione would not put it passed Draco to curse her father if she allowed things to get too out of hand. So, in an effort to avoid any major conflict she turned to Draco and put her hand on his chest, "Draco maybe you'd better go. My parents can help me with my things."
Draco's smirk faded as he turned to Hermione. He wanted to argue for her to allow him to stay, but the pleading look on her face caused him to hold his tongue. Instead, as if to prove he were the world's most perfect gentlemen, he nodded, "as you wish." He leaned in and kissed her firmly on the lips, which she returned, though he could sense a slight amount of unease. He through a smug glare at Mr. Granger, a brief but genuine smile at Hermione, and before the father could say anything, Draco dissaparated with a loud pop.
"Dad why did you have to be so rude to Draco!" Hermione demanded furiously the moment Draco had left.
Mr. Granger looked entirely taken aback at being spoken to in such a manner by his own daughter. He opened his mouth, and with a defiance equal to Hermione's he argued, "I don't know how that young man made you forget the past, however I remember you telling us about the horribly things he said to you and your friends when you were younger."
Hermione sighed with annoyance, "Daddy, that's all in the past, and he's changed he never says or does anything bad to me anymore. He's wonderful."
"Really dear, he seemed like a perfectly fine gentlemen to me," added Mrs. Granger.
"Hmph, he seemed like a bratty little snob to me."
Hermione balled her fists in anger, "You know, Draco offered to allow me to stay at his house instead of moving in with Harry and Ron, but I said no because I knew you wouldn't approve, but now I'm thinking that I might just go do it anyway! It would certainly make me happier!" Hermione stormed out of the room, up to her own room. In actuality, it was an empty threat, while she would have been happy living with Draco in the Manor, she could not move in with him because she had already planned on joining the Order and there was work to be done that she could not share with him. But her parents had no knowledge of the Order, so they had no idea.
"Now wait one minute young lady!" demanded Mr. Granger.
From upstairs there was a slamming of a door.
"Dear, please calm down. After all, Hermione's not a little girl anymore; she's a young woman and an adult. She's perfectly free and able to make her own decisions about her life," Mr. Granger said consolingly.
"I refuse to allow her to move in with that thing."
Mrs. Granger chuckled softly, "That thing's name is Draco Malfoy, and from the looks of it, he makes Hermione as happy as I've ever seen her, but Hermione would not move in with him."
"How can you be so sure? We have raised a very strong and independent child, and she will do what she wants."
"She won't because she's already promised to move in with Harry and Ron, and Hermione never backs down from her word. But still, she is an adult, and it's time you learned to let go. Think about talking to Draco sometime, getting to know him, because I doubt Hermione's letting go of him anytime soon."
Mr. Granger sighed, but found himself momentarily choked up. "I'm just not ready to say goodbye to my little girl."
"I know, it's hard for me too, but you said so yourself, she's strong, independent, determined and intelligent, she's going to be just fine. She knows we care for her, her friends care for her, and Draco cares for her as well."
Mr. Granger conceded with a sigh, he then cautiously made his way up to Hermione's room. He paused at the door, and heard the scraping of boxes against the wooden floor, "Hermione?" he said softly.
"Come in," came a stern voice from inside the room.
Mr. Granger entered his daughters' room, and suddenly felt a bit choked up at how empty and barren it looked without all her stuff in it. He turned to Hermione with an apologetic expression on his face, "Hermione, I'm sorry it's just hard for a father to see his little girl growing up."
"But you can't stop me Daddy, and I think that if you just talked to him, you'd really like Draco. He's very smart and witty."
"I have no doubt that I would like him, that's what scares me the most, the thought of a man in my baby's life, taking her away so she wouldn't need her daddy anymore."
"Daddy you know no one could do that, I love you and mum, but I love Draco too."
"I know, and I'm sorry about how I acted, I'll behave better next time, I promise."
"Good, now let me just go get Harry and Ron, and then they can come help me with my things."
- - - - - - - - - -
Harry and Ron had apparated over to the Granger's house to pick up Hermione, and after having a small lunch, they helped her bring her things to Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Since it was Harry's house they had decided to stay there, that way, since they were all joining the Order, they would constantly be around the Headquarters in case anything important came up.
The house was still rather too dark for Hermione's tastes, and while Draco's Manor had been filled with a similar décor, it had still retained some warmth and charm. Grimmauld Place however, lacked all warmth and had long since lost its charm.
Hermione, Harry and Ron each had their own room on the second floor. Hermione wrinkled her nose at the room she was to be occupying; it was covered in a thick layer of dust which she was determined to remove as soon as possible. Harry and Ron had moved in the previous week, so they helped Hermione clean her room and unpack her things, and by the end of the day, the room was looking much more to Hermione's taste.
Not long after they finished unpacking, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny arrived for dinner. Mrs. Weasley of course did most of the cooking, and all in all it was a very pleasant night. Ginny kept hinting that she would like to stay over, however since Harry, Ron, and Hermione were to begin their auror training early the following morning, she was not allowed to.
Before turning in, Hermione sat at her desk and penned a note to Draco;
Draco,
I am sorry to have had to say goodbye so soon this afternoon, and I apologize for my father's behavior, he's really not bad, and I hope you'll be willing to give him another chance sometime. The move in went well, although I must say I do prefer the furnishings of your house to the one's here (no that does not mean I've changed my mind about staying with you, it's just a comment.) I miss you already, and I hope we'll see each other again soon. But I know you're planning on doing some traveling, so let me know where you plan to go first, and be sure to tell me all the wonderful things you get to see and do. I hope you find whatever it is you need to find while you're away, but always remember that I'll be here waiting for you to return.
Love,
Hermione
Hermione reread the note before sealing it closed. Somehow, it brought a tear to her eye. She knew that Draco had a lot of soul searching he needed to do in order to find out what to do with his life, but she simply could not ignore the concern that was nagging at her. What if he found something, and what if that something was far away from here? She could not leave to go wherever he was; she had a life here, and duties to fulfill for her auror training and for the Order, once she was allowed to join.
Amazingly, so far their relationship had stood through all the tests it had been put through, but what if this turned out to be one test too much? Hermione wasn't sure she could handle the heartbreak that would come with that. She sealed the note and sent it off with her owl into the night, all she could do now, was trust their love for each other, and wait for whatever was to come.
- - - - - - - - - -
Draco didn't bother watching Hermione's owl as it flew off with his response. He knew he had probably come off angrier than he should have, but he was still hurt that she couldn't at least tell him where she was staying with Potty and the Weasel. What was the big deal? He was her boyfriend; didn't that give him a right to know where she was? She expected him to tell her where he was going and what he was doing all the time, so why couldn't she do the same? At any rate, he hoped the end of his letter had let her know that he wasn't mad with her, not really anyway, he was just mad with the situation.
After completing the letter and sending it off, Draco magically packed his trunk, and shrunk it so that it could fit inside his pocket. It was still about 6:30am, but he was in no mood to sleep, and the Manor seemed about 10 degrees colder now that Hermione was gone. He stalked down to the kitchen and called to Mimi, "I am going to my estate in Italy, I expect you to meet me there by noontime, and the other elves shall stay here and tend to the Manor.
"Yes sir Master Draco!" Mimi bowed, and scampered off to give the other house elves their instructions.
Draco stepped outside the Manor, he did not know why but for some reason it was easier for him to apparate great distances if he began outside rather than inside. He concentrated on where we had going, and with a loud pop, he vanished from the front of the elegant Manor. Moments later, he apparated at the front of another house far away; it was still quite a bit larger than most people's dwellings, however it was a mere cottage compared to the Manor.
Draco whispered a spell to open the door, a white flash of light appeared along with a flat panel. Draco placed his right hand on the panel, and after feeling a prickling sensation, the door opened to allow him entry. The panel was part of a security system put into place ages ago by Malfoy's long deceased, yet the old magic still effectively prevented unwanted visitors from breaking in whilst the house was empty.
Draco automatically went up to his old room, and found it to be rather dusty, he'd have Mimi fix that once she arrived. He removed his trunk from his pocket, placed it at the foot of the bed, restored it to its original size, and magically unpacked it so that all his robes hung themselves neatly in the closet.
Realizing that he had not been to this particular vacation home for a few years, Draco gave himself a tour to re-familiarize himself with the location of the rooms, and the surrounding view. Italy really was quite lovely; he'd never really taken the time to look before. But now, the sun was still low over the horizon, and the view was as pretty as a picture. However, without someone to share that picture with, the view, no matter how stunning it was, was nothing more than a view.
By the time he was finished exploring the house and unpacking it was nearly 8am. His stomach was threatening to audibly rumble, so he decided to take himself out for breakfast. He apparated into the nearest all magical town and sauntered down the street. Several of the shops were already open, though a few were still in the process of opening. Draco stepped into a small café and purchased a pastry breakfast. He continued down the street, munching on his food, but the further he walked, the more his mind raced. He had come here to see what else was out there in the world, but where was one to start looking when one did not know what it was they were looking for?
With a frown, Draco continued down the street, he observed the passers by, the shopkeepers, the families out on holiday. No matter who they were, they all seemed so happy, how could that be? They lived such mundane repetitive lives, how could they be happy with that? What was it that brought those smiles to their faces? Draco was sure that was what he was looking for, but honestly, what made him happy?
- - - - - - - - - -
The morning of the first day of Auror training, Hermione awoke even earlier than she had planned. She was terribly excited, and could hardly manage to stand still. She showered and dressed, and then made her way down to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the three of them. She didn't expect the boys to be around for another half hour or so, so she took her time in preparing the eggs sausage and toast.
By the time they did come around, breakfast was prepared and Hermione was halfway through her eggs. "Wow, thanks Hermione!" Ron said as he loaded his plate up with food.
"Yes, well, don't expect me to cook breakfast everyday," Hermione said after swallowing a bit of toast.
"We won't" chanted the boys, sounding much like a class repeating something for a teacher, although Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that they would begin to expect it if she did it too often.
"So, what do you think they'll teach us today?" asked Harry.
"Oh, I imagine that today they'll focus on the objectives, what we'll need to learn, stuff like that," answered Hermione with a casual shrug.
At that moment, two owls flew through the door, one was Hermione's owl, and the other was an owl carrying a copy of the Daily Prophet. Hermione paid the owl delivering the newspaper, but didn't even cast a second glance at the Daily Prophet before tearing into the note her own owl had delivered.
Hermione,
I'll give your father another chance, as soon as he's willing to apologize to my face. Are you sure you haven't changed your mind? You know it would be much more fun to be here than wherever the hell you are. And just to remind you, we would be able to see each other soon if you would just tell me where you're staying.
No matter, I'm leaving for Italy today anyway, and then I may go to France or Spain, depending on my mood. I'll miss you. Good Luck with Auror training, and feel free to use Potter and Weasley as test dummies for any new hexes you learn. They've already got the dummy part down perfectly, so being test subjects should be no trouble.
Until we meet again,
Draco
Hermione was a little disappointed that he still seemed so angry in the beginning of his letter, but she laughed in spite of herself when she got to the part about hexing Harry and Ron.
"What's so funny?" asked Ron.
"Nothing," answered Hermione, still reading the letter, and giggling again.
Ron and Harry sent each other a mischievous look, and Harry, with his lightning fast seeker reflexes, snatched the parchment out of Hermione's hands.
"Hey give that back!" cried Hermione, but not before both Harry and Ron read it.
"You're laughing at him saying you should hex us?" said Harry as he threw the parchment back at Hermione with a look of disgust.
"What? It's not like I would ever actually do that, it's just funny to think of what how he'd sound while saying that."
"Oh sure, bloody hilarious," spat Ron.
Hermione folded the parchment and placed it safely in her pocket, but that did not remove the slight amount of tension that had taken over the room. The tension lasted until they stood up to leave for the Ministry of Magic, at that time, whatever tense feelings they had were replaced with anticipation. Hermione in particular felt just as she had on her first day at Hogwarts. She was determined to prove herself an accomplished witch who was fully capable of becoming an Auror.
The three apparated into the Ministry of Magic lobby, and asked the security guard where Auror training was to take place. He directed them to a conference room on the main floor, and off they went. There were quite a few less people in the corridor leading to the conference rooms. Harry led the way, and once they found the appropriate room, he opened the door and the three entered. The room held a large polished wooden table, surrounded by comfortable looking chairs. There were no candles lighting the room, instead the ceiling seemed to glow with a natural light. There was one other wizard, who was a few years older than them but apparently a trainee as well, who was already seated at the table, but other than that it was empty. The wizard smiled at the trio, who smiled back, and then followed Hermione to the head of the table where there appeared to be a sign-in sheet.
Hermione took out a quill from her pocket and signed her name. As she wrote, she saw that the other wizards name was Michael Dugsby, she made a mental note of this and then seated herself in one of the chairs.
In the next five minutes, one other trainee, also a wizard entered and nodded at all the room's occupants. Once everyone was seated, they looked around, wondering if there was something they should be doing. Hermione was quizzing herself with any and all knowledge she may need to become an Auror as if they would be tested on what they knew that very day.
At precisely 10 o'clock, the doors opened again and Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the room. Hermione Harry and Ron lit up at the sight of the familiar face. "Good Morning everyone," he began as soon as he entered. "Congratulations on deciding to pursue careers as aurors, and dedicating yourselves to what is a very dangerous, yet extremely exciting and rewarding career."
Hermione sat up a little straighter in her seat, ready to prove that she was worthy of such an important position.
"My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt, a few of you I already know," he nodded to Harry, Ron and Hermione, "and the others I am sure I will get to know in no time at all. Today will begin by me giving you an overview of what the next three years of training will entail. You have all achieved the appropriate N.E.W.T.s required for this training, so we know you are skilled; however we also want to know about your thought process. As a result, this afternoon, we will be giving you examples of situations that Aurors have actually faced, and we would like you to write how you would handle the situation in a way that would cause the least damage, yet at the same time be most effective. Your answers will help give me an idea of where you all are coming from, and will allow me to help teach you how to think like an Auror. Shall we begin?"
Hermione nodded, with a thirsty expression on her face. She had her quill loaded, and her parchment notebook out ready and waiting to begin. The overview took until lunchtime, and by that time Hermione had several pages detailing just about everything that Kingsley had told them word for word. Harry Ron and the fifth trainee hadn't bothered to take notes, and Michael had only written about half a page with what he deemed to be the most important information.
All of the trainees sat together for lunch in the Ministry restaurant. Kingsley had some business to attend to in his office, so they were left to get to know each other on their own. Hermione sat next to Harry and the other two men sat on the opposite side of the table. Once they'd all introduced themselves, conversation seemed a little easier, although Hermione felt a tad left out because she was the only female amongst the trainees. The guys, as guys always seemed to do, immediately began discussing quidditch. Hermione allowed her mind to wander, and after thinking about how marvelous a career as an auror was going to be, her thoughts wandered to Draco. Where was he now? Was he missing her as much as she already missed him?
"Hermione?" Michael, who had seemingly left the other conversation behind was looking at Hermione with a smile.
"I'm sorry, what?" Hermione said reluctantly pulling herself from her thoughts about Draco.
"Nothing, you just haven't been talking and you looked like you were off in space."
Hermione smiled, "well quidditch isn't one of my favorite conversation topics."
"Ah, I understand, my little sister doesn't see the thrill in quidditch either." Michael paused, "so what were you thinking about?"
An instant light pink blush spread across Hermione cheeks, and she shot a quick glance to assure that Harry and Ron weren't listening, "oh, nothing."
But Michael had a keen sense of observation so he had seen the blush, and the glance, "ah no, you're not fooling me, I've seen that look on my sister dozens of times. I'm guessing you're thinking about a certain gentlemen, a crush perhaps?" Michael eyed Harry and Ron and winked at Hermione with a knowing glance.
Hermione took a second to catch onto what he was implying, but when she did she laughed. "No no, those two are just my best friends, but you're almost right. I was thinking about my boyfriend."
"I see, so you already have a boyfriend then," Michael kept his smile, but somehow his face still looked a tad disappointed. "And how come this boyfriend of yours isn't here?"
Hermione gave Michael a somewhat calculating look; she wasn't sure exactly how much she should tell him. She was not one to divulge her private life to anyone, let alone to someone she'd just met. "Well," she began cautiously, "He's certainly smart enough and skilled enough to be an auror, but it's just not the right career for him."
"Ok," Michael instantly noted how long it had taken Hermione to respond and he was intrigued, obviously there was a much bigger story here than she was letting on. "Well, this man is very lucky to be dating someone as intelligent and beautiful as you," Hermione blushed, but at the same time felt awkward receiving flirtatious compliments from a guy other than Draco. It seemed almost wrong, like she shouldn't be flattered by them. "what's his name?" Michael continued.
"Draco," Hermione stated, her voice had become quieter all of a sudden.
Michael's face took on a pensive expression, "that's a unique name, but it sounds really familiar, I think I remember reading something in the Daily Prophet about someone named Draco."
Hermione tensed, she did not like where this conversation was going at all, and she was not in the mood to explain everything that happened between her and Draco after the Dementor's Kiss article came out. She quickly, (and rather rudely in Michael's opinion) pushed herself away from the table. "I've got to run to the bathroom, I'll see you all back in class." And with that, she fled through the doors and out the restaurant.
"What made her so eager to leave?" asked Ron, now that the other three boys finally noticed she had been at the table.
Michael was still staring at the doors where she had left with a quizzical expression on his face.
"Yeah, Mike, what'd you say to her?" asked Toby, the other trainee.
"Not sure, she was kinda off in space, and I asked her what she was thinking about and …"
"Malfoy," interrupted Harry and Ron at the same time.
"What?" Michael asked, another spark of recognition igniting in his brain.
Harry rolled his eyes, "whenever she gets that far off look in her eye, she's thinking about Malfoy, her boyfriend." Ron made a gagging gesture causing both Harry and Toby to laugh heartily.
"Wait a minute," Michael interrupted their laughter with more than a hint of worry in his voice, "isn't he the one they caught last year, the Death Eater." Michael stressed the last part softly and looked around to make sure no one was listening. "I thought he got the Dementor's Kiss."
"Yeah," Harry said with a nonchalant wave of his hand, "but then we found out that he was under the imperius curse the whole time, so he got off and they released him. They didn't make too big a deal out of it though, the Ministry didn't want everyone to know that they'd messed up."
"Oh," Michael said disbelievingly, "so you're sure he's innocent?"
"Innocent of being a Death Eater, yes," said Ron. "Innocent of being a slimy, insufferable, sleazy, Slytherin git, absolutely not."
Michael laughed, "Hermione certainly seems to like him though."
"Yeah well, she's strange, and stubborn as hell, so don't get on her case about it, cause she'll never listen to reason," advised Ron with a noticeable trace of annoyance in his voice. "Trust me, we've all tried to talk her out of it more times than I can count."
Michael nodded, but did not join in the conversation with the other boys, instead he was thinking about Hermione.
Well, there you have it, I hope you liked the second chapter. This fic is turning out to be harder to begin than I thought, so the next update might take a while. Once again, I know where I want to go, but I'm not quite sure how to get there yet. Anyway, as always, reviews are welcomed and appreciated, and everyone who reviews shall be receiving sugar quills!