The Best Revenge

Chapter 38

Harry knew he could not keep such a wonder as that mirror all to himself. All his friends should have a chance to see that vision for themselves! It would be impossible to bring them all under the cloak, so they would just have to sneak in there quietly. He paid close attention to his way back to the Sett. It would be a terrible disappointment if he dragged everyone out, and then couldn't find the mirror again.

Justin and Ernie were fast asleep in their dorm room. Harry folded up his cloak and tucked it away safely in his trunk. He was terribly tired himself, and knew he had lost too much sleep lately. He decided that his explorations would have to be reserved for weekends-and then not so often. He hadn't really found out much more about Quirrell and his movements, and Muffy could be relied on, if the Defense Professor made a move on the Stone. She had been told to report to Professor Snape, but Harry had told her to tell Harry himself as well. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Tired as he was, he awoke early on Monday, eager to tell his dorm mates about his discovery. He was not so eager, of course, to tell them everything about his late-night wanderings. It had occurred to him that he had been pretty reckless and was likely to get a telling off for it.

"Harry!" said Ernie, rolling out of bed, "You're already dressed!"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep anymore. Listen, Ernie! I've something to tell you and Justin-all our friends, really. Justin! You've got to hear about this!"

Justin groaned and shied a pillow at him. "Go 'way!"

"Come on! This is really brilliant! I couldn't sleep last night, because I thought I'd left my Transfiguration book in the library. I-well-I went out after curfew to get it, and I found something amazing!"

Ernie frowned. "You shouldn't have gone out after curfew alone, Harry! Professor Sprout doesn't like it! You weren't caught, were you?"

"No! I got away clean-but the good part-Justin, listen to this! I found this old classroom with this enchanted mirror. It was really big and posh, but the really neat thing was that it didn't show just me! All of you were in it!"

Justin was fully awake, curious in spite of himself. "It shows-like-Hogwarts?"

"It showed me, and then all my friends, and my favorite teachers, and it showed-well-the person who's been causing all the trouble getting caught. Maybe the mirror shows the future, and everything's going to be all right!"

"Who was it?" Ernie asked instantly.

"This is a secret, mates, you can't say anything about it, right?"

Slow nods answered him. It was time to tell his friends most of the truth. If they looked it the mirror, they'd probably see it for themselves, anyway.

"Professor Quirrell is up to something. He's after an important magical thing that's kept here at Hogwarts. Professor Snape knows about it, and I reckon he and the Headmaster are working on catching him red-handed. He told me to stay out of it, and not to look Quirrell in the eye, because Quirrell might be able to read minds and see that we suspect him."

"Blimey, Harry!" Ernie breathed. "Do you think Quirrell sent the Bludger our way?"

"Who else?" Harry told them. "I reckon he's behind the troll, too. He wants to distract people and then make for the thing."

"Do you know what it is?"

"I do, but I can't tell. Professor Snape made me promise. It's really important, but he says it's really well guarded. Any day now they'll catch Quirrell in the act and then we'll have a new Defense teacher!"

"The sooner, the better," Justin grunted. "So we're not supposed to look Quirrell in the eye?"

"That's right. We're supposed to stay out of that, but I wanted to show you this mirror, and if you looked in it, you'd see Quirrell getting caught in it, so you'd know anyway. I thought we could go after dinner tonight and you could see."

"You're telling the girls, aren't you?" Ernie asked, brushing his hair.

"They'd kill me if I didn't. In the mirror they're all dressed in white and dancing!"

The boys chuckled.

"Girls." Justin shook his head.

"And since I saw Draco and Hermione and Neville, I thought I'd bring them along, too. There were a lot of other people there, too-like Cedric-"

"That's an good idea!" Ernie nodded vigorously. "If Cedric is along, Professor Sprout won't mind."

"But then I'll have to tell Cedric all about Quirrell, and I'm kind of stretching it as it is, telling you and the girls. It had better just be us first years-Hufflepuff and the club officers. They know a bit about it anyway, since they were with me when I ran into the Cerberus."

At breakfast, Hannah and Sally were told about the adventure, but not about Quirrell. They would see their other friends in class today, and Susan would be joining them as well. When the girls were all together, Harry would warn them about Quirrell.

"We can all meet in the library after dinner," Harry whispered. "The room isn't far from there. We'll meet and I'll lead the way. You won't believe it!"

Feeling like experienced conspirators, the first-years suppressed their laughter, and exchanged quick glances as the time drew near to leave the library.

"Are you sure you feel up to this, Susan?" Hannah asked anxiously.

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey," was the sarcastic answer. "You're not going to leave me behind! I can't wait to see Professor Quirrell get just what he deserves!" She had been very angry when she heard Harry's secret, and had wanted to owl her aunt right away. Harry told her that Professor Snape and the Headmaster were gathering evidence, and they had to wait for clear proof. She was unhappy about it, but understood. She was eager to see the man who had hurt her punished, even if it were only a vision.

They would leave separately, it had been agreed: Harry would come over to Draco and tell him he needed to talk to him and they would meet by the suit of armor down the corridor. As soon as they were out of sight, the Hufflepuff girls would follow them, and then Neville and Hermione, and then the Hufflepuff boys. Nine students made a sizeable group, and Hannah had to keep her hand over her mouth to smother her giggles.

"Shh!" Harry waved for more quiet. "It's just up here!" He found the door closed, which worried him a moment, but it pushed open at a touch. His friends crowded after him into the room, filling it with excited whispers.

"Ow!" Sally complained, as she stumbled over a discarded chair. "It's dark in here!"

Hermione raised her wand for a helpful "Lumos!" Harry stopped her.

"Wait! Your eyes'll get used to the dark. Look at the window! The moon is up, and you see the mirror best without extra light in the room!"

He had hurried to the mirror himself, and grinned as the wonderful vision was displayed once more: his Hogwarts family all about him. "Look! It's even got your toad in it, Neville!"

"Don't push, Draco!" Hermione scolded. "We'll all have a turn-oh my!"

Harry beamed. "See! You and Draco are playing chess, but I can't tell who's winning."

"Harry!" Hermione was staring at the mirror, entranced. "I'm Head Girl!"

"What?" He looked again, puzzled. "Are you wearing a badge?"

Still gazing raptly, Hermione shook her head. "I'm not playing chess, Harry. I don't know why you think that. I can see myself when I'm seventeen." Her hand reached up to her mouth. "I look different." She smiled uncertainly. "-And I'm Head Girl!"

Draco edged her aside, impatient to see. He saw, and gaped, then nearly burst with delighted importance. "Head Girl!" he scoffed. "I'm Minister of Magic! You're all there, congratulating me. I'm the youngest Minister of Magic ever. Father is so proud!"

An excited chatter broke out.

"Harry!" Sally said excitedly, "do you think this mirror shows the future?"

More excited talk. Draco was still admiring himself, turning his head, smoothing his robes.

"Come on, Draco," Susan scolded, "Let someone else have a look!" Too polite to push ahead, she urged Sally, "Go on!"

Sally pushed a reluctant Draco out of her way and stood in his place. "Oh!" she gasped, her face alight.

"Well?" Hannah asked, "What do you see? Sally!" She nudged the oblivious girl. "Sally!"

"I'm in the Royal Ballet!" Sally breathed. "I'm prima ballerina assoluta! I'm dancing Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. I'm more famous than Margot Fonteyn!"

"Who's Margot Fonteyn?" Ernie asked Justin.

"Famous ballerina, I think. Long time ago." Justin was twitching in eagerness, but too polite not to let the girls go first. "Go on, Hannah!"

Hannah had to pull Sally away before she could have a look. Her jaw dropped. She blushed dark red and was silent, gazing at the image.

"What is it, Hannah?" Hermione asked.

Hannah kept staring and blushing. Then she smiled radiantly, still looking.

"That's enough of that!" Susan said, pulling on Hannah's hand. "Tell us what you saw."

Coming to herself, Hannah blushed even redder. "Won't," she muttered.

"What was it?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"Iwasmarried," Hannah said, in a single breath.

"What?"

"Iwasmarried," she said, almost inaudibly. Plucking up her courage, she added, "and I had lots of children, and I lived happily ever after!"

"Who do you marry?" Susan asked, almost shaking her in her curiosity. "Who?"

"Not telling," Hannah muttered again, still smiling.

"Is it one of them?" Sally waved at the boys in the room, who eyed each other nervously.

Hannah shook her head. "Older."

Hermione blurted out, "Cedric?"

Hannah shook her head. "I'm not telling," she managed. "He's so wonderful!"

Susan was torn between taking her turn and getting the secret from Hannah. She dragged her friend into a corner, and started the interrogation.

"Let them gab," Ernie laughed. "You want to go next, Justin?"

Justin didn't mind, and stood in front of the mirror wanting to see what it would predict for him. After a moment, he grinned. "That's great!"

He turned and told everyone, "My little sister is a witch, and she'll be coming to Hogwarts!"

He was congratulated, and left the mirror for Ernie, who stepped up smartly and stood a moment, and then sagged in relief.

"She's going to be all right," he breathed. He saw his friends looking, and said, "My grandmother. She's been sick. We've been afraid-well-she's going to be fine."

Hermione, meanwhile, had gone up to the mirror and was studying it. With her eyes adapted to the dark, she could read the letters over the top, and was mouthing out words soundlessly. Suddenly, she looked very grave.

"Your turn, Susan!" Harry said. "Let's see what it predicts for you!"

Hannah gave Susan a push, and the red-haired girl came forward and stood in front of the mirror.

"Wait!" Hermione called out.

She sounded so distraught that the smile died on Harry's lips. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think this mirror predicts the future at all. Look at what it says at the top!"

A pause, while the children walked closer to peer at the curious letters.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi," read Draco. He thought a minute, and abruptly deflated. "Oh, bugger!"

"It's backwards, isn't it?" Hannah guessed. "I-show-no-uh, not-yo-ur-facebu-your face-but- your- heart's-oh."

A silence.

"But it could happen, couldn't it?" Sally pleaded. "It doesn't promise it, but it doesn't say it couldn't-"

"Susan, are you all right?" Ernie asked.

In the dim moonlight they could see tears streaming down her face, leaving silvery traces.

"Uncle Edgar? Aunt Felicity?" she whispered.

Hannah was shocked. "That can't be right! Susan, that can't be right!"

There were some bewildered looks. They all knew Susan's aunt and uncle had been killed in the War.

With the sickening feeling that everything had just gone pear-shaped, Harry hurried to her. "Come on, Draco-Neville, let's get her away." Draco was willing enough, and helped Harry pull Susan away from the mirror.

"No! They've come back!" she shouted, struggling against them, trying to get another glimpse. The vision disappeared and she covered her face with her hands, sobbing. Hannah rushed over to hold her.

"I don't think we should look at it anymore, Susan! I think it's a trick. The things we see are just what we want, not what's really going to happen."

"It could never happen," Susan choked out. "They're dead and I'll never know them!"

Ernie faltered, "You really saw your aunt and uncle?"

Susan shook her head in disbelief. "And my cousins that I never met! Laurel looked just like me, like Auntie always says. We could have been like sisters! And Colin was an Auror, and the baby who was never born was older than us and a prefect! It's not fair-"

Her friends stood around her awkwardly, not sure what to do.

Appalled, Harry tried to stammer out an apology. "I'm really sorry, Susan! I thought it just showed our friends! That's all I saw, I swear!"

His friends were reconsidering their visions in light of this new information. Justin was terribly disappointed, and Ernie worried. Sally was still determined to make the best of it.

"All right. It shows us what we really, really want. It shows us what we'd like to have happen. Some things are just impossible, but some things aren't. Hermione could still be Head Girl, and Draco could still be Minister of Magic. Justin's little sister might still be a witch-"

"-or she might not," muttered Justin.

"Ernie's grandmother might still get better," Sally insisted.

"Maybe," Ernie agreed reluctantly. "Why do they put things like this out where anybody might see them? It's a mean trick, if you ask me. Come on, Sue," he urged Susan, patting her hesitantly. "Let's go. We'll sit in front of the fire and have a snack. What do you say?"

Susan nodded listlessly, and let Hannah and Sally lead her to the door. "My head hurts."

"Oh, dear," Hermione worried. "Maybe you should go back to Madam Pomfrey!"

Susan groaned at the very idea, and Hannah and Sally promised her in whispers that they would get her straight to the Sett and some cocoa.

"We'll see you all tomorrow," Hannah said with a slight wave, and the three girls hurried away.

Harry blew out a breath. "I feel like an idiot. I can't believe I brought you all here to be tricked by that rotten mirror."

"Not your fault, Harry," Hermione comforted him. "You only saw it briefly in the dark, and of course you were concentrating on what it was showing you. And Sally's right. We may get the things we saw, as long as they're possible. I'd like to be Head Girl, but I'll just have to work for it, and not take for granted that I'll get it."

Draco grunted, thinking about what he'd seen.

Justin was still disappointed. "I wish-no, it's not your fault, Harry-but I wish I'd never seen that mirror. It was just smashing when I saw my little sister get into Hogwarts, and I'm going to really, really hate it if she doesn't. I hadn't realised how much I want it. She wants it, too. I wish there was something I could do to make it happen, but there isn't."

"I think I'll go sit with the girls a bit, and then turn in," Ernie said. "I hadn't realised how much Grandmother means to me. That's one good thing, anyway. I'll owl her tomorrow. I should have done it weeks ago."

Hermione and Harry watched the two boys leave, feeling very concerned for them both. Draco was still brooding by the window.

"It's very wrong not to take better care of objects like this," Hermione declared. "I can't imagine what the staff are thinking. Oh-where's Neville?"

"Neville!" Harry gasped.

Neville Longbottom was seated on the floor in front of the mirror, a faint smile on his face, simply looking.

Draco roused himself and came over, giving Neville's shoulder a shake. "Oi, Longbottom!" he said. "Don't sit there looking in the mirror! It'll crush your dreams and drive you raving mad and who knows what else. Get up!"

The three of them pulled on the boy until he shook his head and looked about the room. He was reluctant to move, but finally gave Harry a big smile.

"Thanks, Harry! That was great!"

"Neville," Hermione said warningly, "You know it wasn't real. It was just showing you what you wanted to see."

"Yeah, I know. It was great," he repeated. "I never thought I'd see them like that. It meant a lot to me," he said to Harry, and impulsively shook his hand. "You're a real friend!"

Harry smiled weakly. Draco asked, "What did you see?"

"My parents," Neville told them outright. "They were hurt in the War, and they've spent all these years in St. Mungo's. I've never seen them the way they were before-well-the way Gran says they were. Now I have. It was like it was real. They talked to me and everything!"

Draco shrank back, and was silent, looking a little sick. Hermione was full of sympathy for Neville. Harry felt ashamed of himself.

"I didn't see my family in the mirror," he confessed. "You saw your parents, and Susan saw her aunt and uncle and cousins. I feel like I'm not-not a very good son-"

"It's different," Neville said. "You told us you don't remember your parents, but Susan's heard about what a great wizard her uncle was since she was little. Everybody has. And," he gulped, and then told them, "I see my parents all the time at St. Mungo's. I've always wanted them to look at me and talk and be normal-always-ever since I can remember."

"Everybody's different, Harry," Hermione said. "Not seeing the same things doesn't make you a bad person."

"If you say so," Harry grunted, unconvinced. He glanced at the mirror. Last night he had thought it a fairy-tale wonder. He had allowed it to deceive him, and now it appeared to him ominous-even menacing. His own vision -of the villain punished and his friends safe and happy-was only a cruel illusion. Hermione was right. It wouldn't do to take anything for granted. "Let's get out of here. I think we should leave, and not come back."

"I wouldn't mind seeing my parents again," Neville objected, craning his neck for another look.

Hermione put her hand on Neville's arm and urged him away. "Don't look, Neville. Harry's right. We must never come back here. Let's each of us promise never tell anyone else about this room!"

Draco let the others go through ahead of him, and scowled back at the mirror. He shut the door firmly behind them, and the four of them walked down the corridor in heavy silence.

"I wonder-" Draco finally spoke "-if this isn't the latest trick of Quirrell's. It's the sort of thing he would do-making fools of us, raising our hopes, and then pulling the rug out from under us. Maybe it's all of a piece with setting the troll on us."

Harry nodded slowly. Quirrell had not hurt him-not directly-but he had upset his friends and made them feel terrible.

"I reckon you could be right," he said to Draco. "It's exactly the sort of thing he would do."

Dumbledore, under a Disillusionment charm in the far corner, watched the children leave, feeling very uncomfortable. He had never dreamed that Harry would bring all his young friends to peer into the Mirror of Erised! Aside from the trouble it took not to be bumped into or stepped upon by the children, he was very sorry that the Bones girl had been hurt and upset. And poor Neville Longbottom! Seeing his parents in the mirror was a mixed blessing indeed.

The one good outcome was that he now knew that Harry was not apt to be ensnared by the mirror himself. Whatever he had seen was so harmless-and so close to his own reality- that he would not need to lose himself in it. That indicated that Harry was actually a rather happy young man. It was pointless to speculate how this came to be, but so it was. He had meant to meet Harry in private and explain the mirror to him, and that it was important not to live through dreams. That effort now seemed quite unnecessary. Young Hermione Granger was a remarkably observant and clever child, and had comprehended the true nature of the mirror with astonishing speed. He made a mental note to follow the girl's future career.

And Lucius' son surprised him, too. Vain and full of a sense of his own entitlement Draco might be: yet there he was, socialising pleasantly with children from backgrounds that his father would certainly think merited only a sneer. The youngest Minister of Magic! If only Abraxas had had such a benign ambition!

He still believed that Harry's "power to vanquish the Dark Lord" was rooted in love-his mother Lily's great love for him. But Harry too, had a generous and loving nature, which had manifested in his large circle of friends. Bonds of friendship like this, forged so young, might well undermine Tom's hold on the families he had enslaved in the past. Beginning with Draco, Harry was making real progress with the Slytherins. Dumbledore had his own ways of learning who participated in the Explorers' club meetings. He admitted to himself that he had never expected so much good to come from a group ostensibly devoted to learning wizarding traditions.

Perhaps I have been going about it the wrong way! instead of isolating those I thought carried the infection of hatred and bigotry, perhaps I should have encouraged more communication and friendship.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, though his own methods were rooted in experience. Horace Slughorn was a great believer in assimilating talented outsiders into the wizarding world, but Horace had failed to keep Tom Riddle from poisoning everything he touched. Tom's fatal charm was his first and greatest weapon, and Dumbledore had felt that the only way to deal with him was to keep him and his as far away from as many of the students as possible. However, this was a new generation-and a new generation called for new ideas. These children might well, in the course of dancing and study and taking tea, succeed in making Lord Voldemort irrelevant, without ever being consciously aware of it.

To their credit, Harry's friends did not react to the disappointments of the mirror's visions with anger and recriminations. Each of them made an effort to be kind: the sort of kindness one shows to a friend who has suffered a loss. Harry was burdened with guilt, and reluctant to show his face at the Hufflepuff table at breakfast, but Susan sat by him and squeezed his hand, to show him there were no hard feelings. It was quietly agreed that Draco probably had the right of it: this was the doing of Professor Quirrell, who had proved himself a secret enemy. They sat in his class, not looking at him, resenting him with all their hearts.

If the Defense instructor had thought Hufflepuffs worth a moment's consideration, he might have noticed their passive hostility. As it was, confident in his disguise, he was satisfied that they were silent and obedient, and focused instead on his own absorbing desires and goals.

After History the next day, Hermione thought Harry needed some cheering up, and suggested an outing.

"Let's go see Hagrid this afternoon, Harry. Maybe he can recommend some good books about magical creatures!"

Draco, as usual, was eavesdropping. "You just want to see if he'll let anything more slip about that monster of his!"

Hermione did not deny it. "He might," she agreed primly. "But if he does know any books about them, I'm going to check them all out so Professor Quirrell can't get his hands on them!" She hissed across her desk, "Neville! We're going to see Hagrid after lunch! Do you want to come along?"

Neville hesitated. He would have really preferred to have another look in the mirror, but Professor Dumbledore had caught him in front of it last night, and told him it was being moved. He sighed. "All right."

They were glad of their warm cloaks as they made the short journey to Hagrid's hut. Fang gave them a slobbery welcome, and Hagrid soon had them sitting cosily in front of the fire, each with a mug of sugary tea. The hut was a jumble of long, round pieces of wood, wood shavings, and carving tools.

"Gettin' a start on my Chris'mas presents," he told them, a bit bashfully.

"What are you making?" Neville asked. He liked the idea of making things, but was never allowed to, because of the "mess."

"Makin' a flute," Hagrid told them, pleased at their interest. He rummaged through a cupboard and pulled out a larger, finished instrument, a length of smooth and shining wood with carefully carved fingerholes-large enough for Hagrid's huge hands- and with a nice curve to the ends. "Nothin' like a bit o' music on long winter nights." He obliging blew into the fipple and played a few low, pleasant notes, and then a brief scrap of melody. "Old Ogg taught me in his day, when I was his apprentice. Useful too-yeh'd be surprised to know what a bit o' music does for the pumpkins-an' most magical animals like it-why, a tune's all yeh need to shut up a Jarvey! There's not many as knows that," he told them with a tremendous wink. "Unicorns fancy music, too, though they go wild for harp, I hear. Never tried it meself. I heard that werewolves will sit down in a circle and listen as long as yeh keep playin', but I never put it to the test-"

"I should say not!" Draco shivered.

"-but it works a bit on just about everythin' alive-more or less." He showed them his drill and his chisels and the wood he'd gathered and cured. "Pearwood's nice to work with. O' course, some try usin' the same wood as their wand-but not all wood's the same, an' yeh need a nice fine grain-"

He talked for some time, enjoying the company and the attention. Even Draco allowed that music was a perfectly acceptable pastime for a wizard-especially since it had proven magical value.

"So you play to the vegetables in the Hogwarts gardens?" he asked, raising a skeptical brow.

"That I do. Yeh need to play over the seeds in the groun' and again at Mid-Summer Eve, and a third time in the full moon afore harvest. Yeh can triple your growth if yeh play jus' right. I play in the orchards, too-but they can be finicky, and they like bein' sung to better."

"That's very interesting," Hermione said earnestly. "Would music help sheep? Draco's family raise sheep, and maybe if Draco played-"

"Granger," Draco said warningly, "I am not playing for a flock of sheep!"

Hagrid looked at him pityingly. "Well, that's yer loss an' no mistake. I heard of a tune that can make the ewes bear twins-"

"You see?" Hermione asked Draco triumphantly.

Draco glared at her, and seemed likely to make something of it, but Neville broke in.

"Can you make animals come to you? I mean-magical animals."

"Some. I'm no master at it, mind, but I can draw a kneazle or two, an' bowtruckles, an' there was this acro-"

"What about snakes?" Harry asked.

Hagrid shook his head with a shudder, "Got no use for snakes. Never did. Yeh got to want the animal to mind you."

"What about a phoenix?" asked Neville. "The Headmaster has a phoenix, I heard."

Hagrid guffawed. "Me drawing in a phoenix! Not likely! Don' doubt a real firs'-rate player could, o' course..."

The four of them had caught on to the plan and bombarded their host with questions.

"What about a centaur?"

"They like it, but they don' admit to it. Very proud, like, they are."

"What about a doxy?"

"Naw-nasty things."

"What about a-red cap?" asked Draco, hesitating to go in for the kill.

Hagrid nodded sagely. "Yeh can make 'em leave you alone with a bit o' music. I done it meself."

"What about a mooncalf?"

"They get right up an' dance!"

Harry took a breath, and asked, his eyes wide and innocent, "What about a Cerberus?"

"Puts 'em straight to sleep, it does-an' here, now-"

"What about a dragon? Hermione asked breathlessly.

Distracted, Hagrid beamed. "Dunno. Like to try it sometime."

Wanting to play his part, Neville wondered, "Wouldn't you need something really loud and big for a dragon-like a trumpet, maybe?"

"Haw!" Much amused, Hagrid shoved aside the clutter, and brought out a plate of rock cakes. "Almos' forgot yer favorites!"

Note: I've always found Hagrid's Christmas gift of a wooden flute somewhat suspicious. Either Dumbledore suggested that Harry might like such a thing, or Hagrid, knowing that Harry knew about Fluffy, wanted to help him in his own way. I realize that JKR describes the flute as "roughly cut," but I think better of Hagrid than that, and a "roughly cut" flute would probably not really make a sound adequate to lull Fluffy. A decent recorder is really not all that difficult to make with the right tools.

There is some contradiction in canon about which of Susan Bones' relations were killed in the war: uncle and his family or grandparetns. I decided to use Uncle Edgar, since he has a specific name.

Thank you all, once again, for your excellent suggestions.