"Hermione you should get some rest," the boy-who-lived spoke softly from the doorway. The witch shook her head.
Finney had transported them to the Shell Cottage and then promptly left to go home to his masters. Usually Bill and Fleur lived here but for now it was empty due to the fact that the Weasleys were all situated at the burrow, save for Ron and Ginny. Now it was just another safe house for the order.
"Hermione…"
"Harry, really. I'm alright, you and Ron should be the one to rest. I'm fine here." The witch said in a tone that told the green-eyed boy that this discussion was over.
"Are you sure?"
Hermione smiled at her best friend, "Go, Harry. We'll talk in the morning"
Harry lingered for a few more moments as he studied the witch. Ever since they landed on Bill's, Hermione hasn't moved from her spot beside Draco despite his and Ron's urgings for her to get some sleep. The witch kept refusing saying that she won't rest until she sees the blonde wake up.
"Well, goodnight then," Harry said, "If you need anything, feel free to wake me up"
"Goodnight" Hermione offered another smile.
As Harry's footsteps grew fainter, Hermione turned back once more at the sleeping form of Draco Malfoy. The truth was she was afraid. She was afraid that when he woke up he would look at her with hateful eyes and she wasn't prepared for him to look at her like that again just yet. The Gryffindor studied the Slytherin who was now at age fourteen.
The witch smiled at him. He looked so peaceful, almost like an angel with his soft glowing hair. She remembered this Draco back in their fourth year. She remembered herself blushing furiously as she saw him at the Yule ball. That had been the first time she might have realized how attractive he was—he and his dark formal clothes that contrasted perfectly from his pale skin. Hermione brushed his hair away from his face, If only you weren't such a bloody ferret. Maybe I would have even liked you then."
Her gaze moved to his arm—his dark mark was missing. She figured it would reappear when he turned sixteen, just like how his wand had reappeared in his hands when he turned eleven. Hermione had tried to pry his wand off so she could put it on his bedside table but true to Tonk's word, it would not budge.
Hermione sighed as she sat on the chair beside the Slytherin's bed. She curled herself up into a ball and rested her head on her knees, keeping her eyes on the Death eater. Just a few more hours and he would be back and the Gryffindor would have to prepare her heart for whatever will happen then.
xxx
Hermione woke up to an empty bed. Oh no, I must've fallen asleep.
"Draco?" She shot up in panic as she scanned the room. There was no sign of the Slytherin. Well, he hasn't killed me. That's a good sign right?
She quickly got up on her feet and searched the house quietly. She was careful around Harry and Ron's rooms not wanting to wake them up.
"Where could he be?"
The Gryffindor was beginning to worry. She had found herself downstairs in the kitchen and there was still no trace of Draco. She was about to give up and succumb to her temptation to wake up Harry and Ron when she glanced out the window.
There, sitting on the sand, was the silhouette of the Slytherin, his platinum blonde hair gleaming against the moonlight. The muggle-born made her way out of the house, towards Draco.
"Mudblood," Draco said softly as Hermione reached him
Hermione froze, her heart falling. Maybe he had forgotten about her and was now back to hating her. She swallowed her heartbreak and began to retort when Draco grabbed her arm and forced her to sit beside him.
"What are you—"
"This was the last thing I remember," he said as he caressed her arm, gently running his fingers across her scar.
The muggle-born chose to remain silent as she watched the Death eater carefully.
"This is real right?" The Slytherin said, his fingers ceasing its movements, "I haven't gone crazy?"
"No, you're not crazy"
Draco let go of Hermione's arm abruptly, stood up and quickly walked back into the house. The witch jumped to her feet and followed him.
"Draco!" She called but the Slytherin did not stop nor look back. Hermione kept running after him afraid of what he'll do. She sighed with relief as he saw him walk past Harry and Ron's room in peace and disappeared behind the door to his own room. Hermione followed him in and cast a quick silencing spell to not disturb her sleeping best friends.
"Draco?" Hermione called softly
The Death eater stopped. He stood facing his bed.
The muggle-born gathered all her courage and approached him.
"Draco ple-"
Without warning the Death eater whirled around and pointed his wand at her, pressing it against her neck. He backed her up until she was pinned against the door. Their noses were just inches away from each other, his angry silver eyes bore down on her.
"Stop calling me Draco!" he hissed at her. Hermione tried maneuver herself away but the Death eater only pressed his wand deeper.
"I know you're angry. You have every right to be-"
"Of course I'm angry," Draco snarled, "I wake up and nothing makes sense. My own aunt tried to murder me and my enemies take care of me?"
His eyes grew two shades darker now and Hermione felt afraid for the first time in the long months she had spent with Draco.
"Draco please...you're scaring me" The muggle-born whispered
The Death eater froze as he realized what he was doing. He lowered his wand and stepped back a few inches. He kept his eyes strained on the floor waiting for the witch to slip out the door but instead he was shocked as she stepped towards him instead.
"You don't have to be afraid. You don't have to fight what's happened to you"
"How dare you pity me?" He accused her angrily, "You...you..."
"Mudblood?" Hermione snapped raising her voice for the first time that night, "That's what you wanted to say right? Then go ahead and say it," The Gryffindor challenged him.
Draco looked at her in horror.
"Say it!" Hermione hissed this time mustering all her anger as she used both of her hands to shove him back.
The Death eater barely flinched at her actions. He looked at her with pained eyes before he seated himself on the edge of the bed and buried his head in his hands.
"I can't. I can't." He whispered hoarsely to himself, "Why can't I?"
Hermione gulped back her tears. She wasn't about to give up on him now—not after everything she's been through with him. She watched his shoulders shudder and she knew he was crying.
"Draco, look at me" the Gryffindor said softly as she knelt in front of him. The Death eater didn't budge.
"Draco," Hermione said firmly as she forced him to look at her by cupping his cheek by one hand each. He flinched but did not move away.
"It's going to be alright," Hermione smiled at him as she wiped his tears with her thumbs.
"Stop being so bloody nice to me" he argued half-heartedly
"Okay"
"I hate you"
"I'm sure you do"
"And you're supposed to hate me."
"And yet I don't" Quite the opposite actually, the Gryffindor added to herself.
"But I was horrible to you"
"Yes, you were an insufferable, little ferret"
"I called you names"
"Bucktooth, know-it-all, bookworm and mudblood. Yes, I remember."
"I am your enemy"
"That's true. You always foil all our plans."
"Then why don't you hate me?" Draco said in frustration
"The same reason why you don't hate me," Hermione smiled softly
Draco closed his eyes shut as he was unable to hold back his sobs any longer. He even leaned in when Hermione moved to hug him and buried his head in the crook of her neck.
"I'm sorry, Hermione"
The muggle-born beamed against his shoulder. Something about hearing his seventeen-year-old voice saying her name made her heart flutter.
"Oh, Draco. I've forgiven you a long time ago"
xxx
The next day Hermione woke up feeling well rested. She also felt wonderfully warm and she couldn't help but sigh with contentment.
"Er…Granger, do you mind getting up now. The monstrosity you call your hair is suffocating me"
Hermione's eyes flew open as she hastily pushed herself off Draco making her lose her balance and fall back on her bum. She blushed furiously as she realised in what situation she found herself in. During the course of the night, the Gryffindor and the Slytherin had fallen asleep in each other's arms in their inconvenient sitting position.
The Death eater laughed.
"Well, aren't you going to help me up?" Hermione glared at him
"I would but I had to hold your weight the entire night," He smirked as he stretched his hands behind his head and leaned back on the bed, "My back hurts"
The Gryffindor threw him a dirty look as she stood up and patted down her wrinkled clothes, which only caused his smirk to grow wider, "Well, I see that you're back to normal"
"Miss me, did you?"
"You wish"
"Potter's rubbing off on you"
"Well, we have been friends for almost seven years now"
"I know. I almost feel sorry for you," He sneered, "I must say Granger, You're looking lovely in your ripped nightgown"
Hermione scowled at him while blushing furiously, hugging her cardigan—which was the only thing she had been able to put on that day, around her she remembered what she was wearing. She wasn't able to change in the cave as Draco wreaked havoc with her packed belongings. She opened her mouth to insult him stopped as she noticed what he was wearing. Draco hadn't thought to change out of his clothes either. Hermione stifled a laugh. If he was going to make fun of her for what she was wearing, she was definitely not going to let him get away with his outfit.
The Slytherin raised his head of the bed a few inches and raised an eyebrow at her, "What's so funny?"
The Gryffindor smirked, "Nice sweater"
Draco looked down at his clothes with confusion and groaned, "Bloody hell." Draco Malfoy was still wearing his Weasley sweater.
"So, anyway…how are you feeling?"
"Fantastic," the Death eater drawled
Hermione chose to ignore this, "You're taking this rather well. You, know…considering what happened last night. Are you sure you're alright?"
Draco sighed and closed his eyes, "I don't know. Everything is so confusing right now. I feel like it's much easier to deal with this if I just carried on like the way it was before. You know. Be my usual devilishly handsome and charming self?" He added quite smugly
"And by charming you mean rude, insensitive and completely perverted?"
"Yeah…except now I'll only half mean the stuff coming out of my mouth."
"Thanks," Hermione said dryly, playing along with the Death eater's joke, "Keeping it in is not the healthy way of dealing with this"
"It's the Slytherin way"
"You need to talk about this," Hermione insisted
Draco groaned, "About what?"
"How you really feel right now"
"I said I felt fantastic"
"Draco," Hermione sighed exasperatedly
"Fine! You want to know how I'm feeling? I feel really, really, really angry right now. Aside from you hounding me with talking, I have this insatiable urge to hex someone and it's so frustrating because I can't hex you and—wait, is Potter and Weasley…?"
"Don't you dare," Hermione narrowed her eyes at him
The Death eater sat up and grinned a grin at her that made her legs go weak. Hermione wanted to die as she felt a blush creep up under her skin. She inwardly chastised herself for acting like a love sick teenage girl. Luckily for her, Draco hadn't noticed—or so she hoped. And if he did she was thankful that he didn't bring it up.
"What if I told you that hexing them would deeply help my emotional needs right now?
"Really? What reason could hexing be of any use to anyone?"
"Revenge?"
The Gryffindor glared at him.
"Dueling practice?
Hermione narrowed her eyes.
"Because I really, really want to?"
Hermione groaned giving up on him to come up with a serious answer.
"Thanks Granger"
"I didn't say yes."
"You didn't say no either"
The Gryffindor sighed exasperatedly, "Why must you always be so difficult?"
Draco smirked, "It's part of my charm"
Hermione tried to be upset with him but instead she found herself smiling. For some reason seeing the Slytherin back to his normal self—no matter how frustrating he was, made her feel happy inside. She quickly swallowed her smile and mock scolded him,
"I'll go check for breakfast. You should go down soon too." The Gryffindor said as-a-matter-of-factly as she marched to the door. She paused by the doorway before leaving completely, "And Draco?"
The Slytherin raised his eyebrows at her.
"Behave yourself."
"Don't I always?" The Death eater smirked at her as she narrowed her eyes at him.
Draco rolled his eyes at her as she turned around to leave. He stayed put for a while, letting himself wrap the idea around his head that this is actually happening. That in a few minutes he would have to face Potter and Weasley. Then, he might have to face all those other confusing feelings—like friendship with Potter and Weasley. They weren't friends were they? They just benefited from each other mutually. That would make them like...like, business partners, right? He shuddered when he realised that when the final battle came he would be fighting on Potter's side. What bothered him even more was that he was not bothered by that idea at all.
Finally he got up and made his way downstairs but not before discarding the Weasley sweater—the last thing he wanted was to be seen in that monstrosity. Dressed in his pyjamas and his wand in his hand, he followed the voices of the golden trio being carried out from the kitchen. He looked at his wand thoughtfully as he walked, "Now what to do with you"
"So you two decided that it was a bright idea to break into the ministry of magic and into Bellatrix LeStrange's vault?" Draco heard the angry voice of the Gryffindor witch
"But Hermione, we told you we had to. Besides, you were the one who basically told us to get it. It's all here in your notes," the boy-who-lived argued
"Well I didn't mean for you to risk your lives—"
"We've been risking our lives the day we met Harry," Ron said dryly
"Thanks, Ron"
"You got caught!" Hermione hissed
"Yeah and you did too"
"But—"
"Hermione it's okay now. It's done and over with. The important thing is that were all still alive and were closer to our goal."
Draco heard the witch sigh as he got even closer, "I was just so worried. When Draco and I were brought to the manor and I saw you two I just…"
"We're sorry Hermione. Really." The Chosen one said sincerely
"How is the ferret anyway?" the Weasley piped up
"He should be down in a minute"
"So…he remembers everything? He won't, you know, try to kill us all?" Draco heard Harry say as he stopped by the doorway.
The Death eater smirked as an idea popped into his head.
"No, Harry, he won't—" Hermione started to say but stopped when she noticed Draco's presence at the doorway, "Oh hello, Draco"
"Hello, Granger" the Death eater replied pleasantly. He then raised his wand and fired a hex at Harry Potter.
xxx
The boy-who-lived ducked as he saw the hex coming straight for him. Ron Weasley was up on his feet in an instant, whipping out his wand.
"Malfoy, you bloody git!" the red-head bellowed.
Harry scrambled up to his feet just in time to see Weasley being thrown back by a stunning spell. He then watched the Death eater turn towards the Gryffindor witch.
"What did I just say?" Hermione glared at him
Draco smirked.
The Gryffindor witch groaned and buried her head on the table, "Why do I even bother?"
"Hermione!" the Chosen one gasped in disbelief, "Aren't you going to do something? If you haven't noticed this Death eater is trying to mur—"
But Harry couldn't finish his sentence as Draco turned back to him once again and fired another spell. This time he was prepared and was able to throw back a protego just in time. And just like that, the duel was on.
Harry ducked another spell, "Hermione! I thought you said he remembered everything!"
"I said he remembered everything. I didn't say he wasn't going to be an arse about it. Besides, do you doubt my skills at leglimency?" The witch said without looking up.
Draco froze for a moment, "You went through my head?"
Hermione lifted her head and smiled sheepishly, "I just needed to check. Purely for academic purposes. I needed to study—"
This seemed to anger the Death eater as he turned back towards the Chosen One once again, sending out hexes twice as strong.
"Hey! Why are you taking it out on me. SHE'S the one who—oh sod it!" Harry said as he threw another protego and made a run for the door leading them outside to the shore. It wouldn't do well for the house to be destroyed. The green-eyed boy whirled around to face the approaching Death eater.
"Malfoy! Stop! I am not your enemy," Harry said, growing more worried as Draco's spells got stronger. He was running out of options. Pretty soon he knew he'd have to switch to offensive spells if Draco didn't stop his attack.
"Really?" Draco sneered, "The dark mark on my arm says otherwise"
The Death eater raged on.
"Malfoy don't make me hurt you!" Harry warned
"Isn't that warning a little bit too late?" Draco drawled. Harry winced as he remembered a certain sectumsempra incident. The Death eater took this moment of distraction to send a hex hitting the boy-who-lived square on his chest. Harry fell, bottom first, to the ground.
The Death eater loomed above Harry and grinned, "Goodbye, Potter"
Harry's face contorted in panic as he raised his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus" and Draco's wand came flying towards him. He flicked his wand again and sent a spell towards the Death eater knocking him backwards.
The Chosen One's heart was racing. He gripped both his borrowed wand and Draco's wand in his hands as scrambled up. He cautiously approached the Death eater and peered at him. Suddenly Draco Malfoy started laughing.
"Took you long enough, Potter" He sneered
"Wha—?" Harry blinked
"Congratulations, Oh Chosen One," Draco winced as he sat himself up, "You are now the proud master of the elder wand"
Harry punched Draco.
"What the fuck was that for?" Draco said angrily, "You fucking broke my nose"
"You're an arsehole!" Harry gritted his teeth
"I already knew that. You didn't have to punch me!"
"You…you could have just asked me nicely if I could disarm you.
"Now, where's the fun in that?" Draco smirked, "Besides, you should have seen the look on your face. Priceless."
Harry looked livid and he raised his wand sending out hexes at the Slytherin. Draco scrambled up to his feet and dodged the five hexes coming his way. Harry stood still, huffing after a while.
"Are you quite done now?" Draco said quite bored
"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME"
"I hardly think rictumsempra would've have killed you"
Harry glared at the Death eater looking smugly at him. His blood was boiling, embarrassed that he let Draco Malfoy get the better of him that he did not even notice that he had been throwing harmless hexes at him. He took another swing at the ferret one last time before they trudged back together towards the house.
xxx
Draco sat him and his bleeding nose beside the muggle-born who was now sipping tea. He would have sat beside the ginger but he did not like the dirty looks he was giving him.
"Did you get that out of your system?" Hermione gave him a pointed look
Draco rolled his eyes, "Yes, Granger"
"Good" the witch said as she repaired his nose with a flick of her wand, "What do you want for breakfast?"
"A bottle of firewhiskey," the Death eater said pleasantly
Hermione shot him a look.
"A bottle of firewhiskey," Draco repeated, "please"
The Gryffindor witch rolled her eyes and dropped a plate of canned tuna loudly against the wooden table.
"This is what I get for being polite?," Draco grumbled as he ate his meal sulkily
"Oh so you can talk to Hermione properly but you have to nearly kill me?" Harry said bitterly as he strolled in, taking a seat in front of the witch.
Draco waved his hand dismissively as he poked through what he thinks is food.
"Can someone please tell me what the bloody hell is going on?" the red head spoke up
"Ah, Weasel. I've forgotten how dense you were," The Slytherin looked up and sneered at him, "Did your lack of galleons also affect your lack of brains?
Ron looked livid. Draco looked smug. Ron lunged across the table and landed his fist on Draco's face. The Death eater fell back and groaned as he once against found himself flat on the floor. He cradled his nose.
"I just had that fixed, you wanker!" He growled
"That was for stunning me a while ago, you ferret!"
Draco stood up shakily until he was eye to eye with the ginger, "Fair enough," He breathed in, smelling and tasting blood at the same time. He threw a punch at the Weasel.
"Well, that was for cheating!" The Death eater snarled and sent the red head toppling backwards.
Ron quickly got on his feet and tackled the Slytherin, "Well, this is for calling me poor!"
Draco kneed the Gryffindor, "That's because you are poor!"
The red head now had the Death eater in a headlock, "Apologize!"
"Okay"
Ron calmed down for a minute and blinked at Draco, "Really?"
"Fuck no" Draco said as he used this opportunity to get out of Ron's grip and pin him down instead. Ron screamed out in frustration and soon the two were wrestling each other on the floor.
Hermione turned to look at Harry in exasperation, "Aren't you going to do something?"
"No way. I've already had my share of the Draco Malfoy morning greetings" Harry shook his head with alarm, "Besides, look, I think Ron is winning" The boy-who-lived grinned at the display.
Hermione stood up in frustration and unsheathed her wand. She cast a spell that threw Ron and Draco to opposite directions. They both stood up quickly and was about to tackle each other again when the witch spoke.
"Both of you, SIT DOWN" she hissed.
The red head and the blonde narrowed their eyes at each other before slowly approaching their seats and lowering themselves in it. Their eyes never leaving the other's.
"Draco stop being an arse! Ron stop falling for Draco's insults! And Harry," The chosen one turned to her with a what-did-I-do look on his face, "Wipe that grin of your face"
And with that the witch sat down huffing, her bushy mane crackling dangerously with electricity, "Now, were going to have a nice, quiet and pleasant breakfast."
Hermione shakily picked up her fork and began eating. Sensing that none of her companions were moving she looked up at them and saw them staring at her. She cleared her throat impatiently. Suddenly the three boys averted their gaze from her and shuffled around their meals awkwardly.
"If no one is going to bring it up," Draco spoke up, "Then I will. Potter, what the hell happened to your face?"
"Ron hit me with a curse to conceal my face," Harry answered startled at the Slytherin's question that he didn't even have time to be offended by it
Hermione blinked at the red-head momentarily forgetting about her anger, "Ron, that's brilliant"
The Weasley rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Always the tone of surprise"
Hermione crossed her arms as Harry and Ron were clearly laughing at her.
"What about you Malfoy?," Harry asked hoping to diffuse the Hermione Granger situation, "What the hell happened to you?"
"Tainted by Gryffindors"
"Before we found you, you git," Ron gritted his teeth at him
"Oh, well that's an even simpler story," The Death eater said casually, "The Dark Lord tried to kill me because of the Elder Wand's allegiance to me"
"How did you escape?" Hermione asked with a soft, concerned voice, "And more importantly, why didn't he just disarm you?"
"Oh, he tried," Draco said dryly, "But he soon lost interest in trying to disarm me. He figured killing me was much more fun."
"But how—"
The Death eater rolled his eyes. Typical Granger, always looking for answers, "Snape. He cast a spell on me—and don't ask me, I don't know. But for some reason my wand stayed with me. My guess is that whatever he put on me created some magnetic field from my magical energy to my wand. I think he made my bond with my wand stronger. Whatever it was, I think it's gone now. I don't feel the tugging sensation anymore."
"That explains why we couldn't pry it off," Hermione frowned thoughtfully as she discovered another thing she didn't know about.
"You tried to pry it off?" Draco furrowed his eyebrows, "Anyway, long-story short when the Dark Lord thought I was going to die eventually he just left me there and asked dear old aunt Bellatrix to watch over me until I passed. I used the last of my energy to cast a spell on myself to slow down my heart rate, long enough to make her believe I was dead. She left me there soon enough. I thought I was going to die for sure and if I did then you-know-who probably would've gotten what he wanted from me. But lucky me, the Order decided to pop by the neighbourhood. The rest you can figure out for yourselves."
The room fell in silence again.
"I can hear you all feeling sorry for me. Stop it before I change my mind about not turning the three of you into snake food," Draco said impatiently
Ron grumbled, Harry winced and Hermione smiled sheepishly, "Here, before I forget. Your mum wanted me to give you this"
The witch took out the vial that she had been holding onto for Narcissa. Draco quickly took it from her hands and stuffed it in his pocket.
"What is that anyway?" The red head asked
"Wouldn't you like know," the Slytherin sneered
"Anyway," Hermione interjected before another argument broke out, "I'm sure Draco would tell what it is in his own time"
The Gryffindor looked at the Slytherin expectantly. Draco smirked, "Not today, Granger"
Hermione grumbled to herself, frustrated because she hated not being able to know the answer to a mystery, "Fine. Where does this leave us now?"
"Two more Horcruxes. One of it is in Hogwarts," Harry said gravely, "And the other is—"
"The snake," Hermione said as she remembered the research she had been drawing up for Harry and Ron
Her two best friends nodded their heads solemnly.
"What the hell is a Horcrux? That's like the third time you've brought it up," The Death eater spoke up
Hermione looked at Harry questioningly and watched him nod before she spoke to the Slytherin, explaining the greatest dark magic Voldemort has ever performed. After the witch finished speaking, for some odd reason the Slytherin could not stop staring at Harry with sad, pained eyes. It greatly unnerved the boy-who-lived.
"What?" Harry said uncomfortably
Draco clutched the vial hidden deep within his pocket, "Nothing. What day is it?"
"It's the first of May. Why?" Hermione asked
"We have to get to Hogwarts," The Death eater said meeting the gaze of the trio
"Why?" The Weasley raised an eyebrow
"Must I explain everything to you?" Draco sneered at him, "The Dark Lord is planning to end this with a war. And by tomorrow, our time has officially run out."
"How do you know this?" Harry narrowed his eyes at Draco
"I have my sources"
Ron scoffed, "Like who? That slimy git, Snape?"
Draco gritted his teeth, "Snape's dead"
Ron grimaced and Hermione shot him a look, "Okay, we'll move out by tonight. Draco is there anything else you remember? Anything at all would help"
The Death eater's face scrunched up in thought and then lit up into a smirk, "Well there is one more thing I remember," Draco paused as he leaned his elbow on the table and rested his temple on his fist. He was grinning up at the muggle-borb, "So Granger…you saw me naked, eh?"
Hermione's faced turned as bright as a tomato. The last thing Draco saw before blacking out was a delicate fist coming towards him and the two Gryffindor wizards high-fiving.
A/N: Finally! This is definitely the hardest chapter to write, ever. I just could not get Draco's reactions right for this scene. I wanted him to feel remorse but I also didn't want him to be all depressed and mopey for the rest of the chapter/fic.
I also decided to make this chapter light and happy-ish since the battle is going to start soon and I'm going to have to start killing people off...
&& to the Guest who wrote "You probably think this is a review...muwahahahahaha" Stop being a troll, Kim. (This is why you should never let your sister know about the fics that you write.)
&& Thank to everyone who review/followed me for the last chapter. (Thanks for the birthday greeting RoseGranger & Pche Melba)
&& Thank you Pbeeeebp for your wonderful insights on this chapter.
If anyone has any comments (or violent reactions) on how this chapter panned out, please don't hesitate voice them out. :)