Disclaimer: The projection of Harry Potter onto the space of reals is JK Rowling.
Thanks to Pahan for general suggestions on spellcrafting that are referenced in this chapter. I have collected the other reader suggestions, and I will endeavour to include the ones I can in the story later on.
Chapter 43
"I'll go with you to Arithmancy, Harry," Hermione said once they finished breakfast. "I need to talk to Professor Vector about my independent study." And secretly, she also wanted to see who else was taking the class in her year.
"Great, you can show me where it is," Harry said.
Hermione rolled her eyes and led the way. Upon reaching the classroom, Professor Vector rose from her seat and greeted her with a broad smile.
"Miss Granger," she said, "I'm so glad that you were able to come back." She shook her favourite student's hand formally.
"I'm glad I could, too, Professor," Hermione replied.
"How was your summer?"
"It was very nice. France was wonderful. I learnt a lot about French magical history. The rest was just really busy. Oh, and thanks for keeping an eye on Harry this summer."
"No thanks necessary, Miss Granger. It was my duty as a teacher. I'm glad to see you looking well, too, Mr. Potter."
"Thanks, Professor," Harry mumbled embarrassedly.
"And Professor, I want to ask about that independent study you mentioned," Hermione continued a little more softly.
"Oh, of course, that," Vector replied. "I'm eager to see what developments we might be able to produce with your latest studies. Let's see…I wouldn't want to interrupt your time with your friends too much. How does five o'clock each Saturday sound? We could start this weekend, and, of course, we could make other arrangements when you go to Hogsmeade."
"That sounds good, ma'am. I'll see you then."
At that moment, a voice behind her muttered, "Teacher's pet." Hermione and Harry spun around to see Draco Malfoy entering the classroom.
"What're you doing here, Malfoy?" Harry said, immediately running his mouth off, as the Slytherin often did to him.
"I am taking Arithmancy this year, Potter. What are you doing here?"
"Same thing," Harry replied.
"Ah, Granger's got you trained well, I see."
Hermione considered backing off and letting Professor Vector handle this, but by the same token, there wasn't much Malfoy could do in front of her, so she decided to fire back: "You say that like it's a bad thing, Malfoy." Harry started turning red at getting caught in the middle. Vector stopped her own retort in surprise at Hermione's boldness.
"Well, I suppose it might actually make Potter interesting, for once," Malfoy said. "Say, what's the matter, Granger? Couldn't get Weasley to go along with it?"
"No, Ron just happens to be better at Runes. I recommended it to him."
"Oh, so you do have both of them trained—"
"Okay, that's enough," Vector interrupted before someone could say something they'd regret (she could sense it coming as a teacher), although she was secretly pleased to see how far Hermione had come from the shy little girl she'd met two years ago. "Everyone take your seats, please."
"I'll see you in Transfiguration, Harry," Hermione said.
"Yeah, see you later."
Hermione walked off to make good use of her free period. She was sure she could find something to fill the time.
Meanwhile, Harry took his seat as far from Malfoy as possible. The one good thing was that this was one of the few times he'd seen him without Crabbe and Goyle at his sides—as if those two could ever cut it in Arithmancy. Still, he felt pretty isolated. His year at Hogwarts was a lot smaller than average, and Arithmancy wasn't the most popular class, but even so, he was surprised to find that Dean Thomas was the only other Gryffindor in the room. Meanwhile, there were seven Ravenclaws, and Malfoy was joined by Blaise Zabini, Theo Nott, Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis, and Pansy Parkinson from Slytherin. Harry wasn't sure Pansy could cut it in Arithmancy either, and the way she kept sidling up to Malfoy, she was probably only doing it for him. Hufflepuff was represented by Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones, and Megan Jones.
"Welcome to Arithmancy…" Professor Vector began the class with a brief explanation of the next three years, which Harry had already heard in bits and pieces from Hermione. It was actually a refreshing change, he thought when he realised that everyone in the class actually wanted to be here. There were always a few—even Ron in his worse moments—who didn't particularly care for the required classes.
However, Harry was the only one who was prepared for Vector's introductory quiz to see how good at maths they were. Most of the class groaned when she announced it, and he noticed that Malfoy grimaced in anger when she explained how muggle-born students often did better on it than purebloods.
Harry wasn't sure how well he would do himself. He hadn't been bad at maths in muggle school, but he was out of practice, although Hermione had been trying to coach him for the past couple days. However, when he looked over the parchment and started solving the problems, he realised that it actually looked pretty easy.
No, scratch that. Only the beginning was easy. Hermione might have been able to do this in her sleep when she was nine, but for mere mortals like him, the harder questions quickly escaped his grasp. On the other hand, he noticed Malfoy and the other Slytherins growing frustrated even faster than him. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad class after all.
Ron had a very different experience walking into Muggle Studies class. Officially, there was enough interest in Muggle Studies to justify splitting it into two sections, like the core classes, but his section was tiny. It was supposed to be the Gryffindor-Slytherin section, which was scheduled opposite Arithmancy because of the chronically low interest in Arithmancy in Gryffindor and the chronically low interest in Muggle Studies in Slytherin, but it didn't look much like it.
Muggle Studies tended to attracted purebloods looking for an easy O, half-bloods looking to get in touch with their muggle heritage, like Seamus Finnigan, and particularly people with parents working at the Ministry, where they had to deal with muggles more. Ministry work often ran in families. That was probably the only explanation for the lone Slytherin in the class, Elizabeth Runcorn: her father worked at the Ministry in the DMLE somewhere. There was also one Ravenclaw and one Hufflepuff whose regular section, Ron overheard, conflicted with Ancient Runes. Apparently, scheduling electives was more complicated than anyone let on—probably a job for someone like Hermione.
Charity Burbage was a middle-aged witch with a bit of a tired face and scruffy hair that had once been red, but was now a faded tan. Only her eyes, which were prominent and a deep forest green, looked lively and spirited. She was a pureblood, as everyone knew and joked about at times, and which made Hermione sceptical about the quality of instruction in her class, but no one could deny she had a passion for her chosen subject, much like Ron's dad.
"Good morning," Burbage said happily, "and welcome to Muggle Studies. I know this course may be a little off the beaten path for some of you—" She nodded at the small size of the class. "—but I hope that each of you will find it as fascinating and informative as I have.
"The most important goal of this class, as per the official curriculum, is to be able to interact with muggles comfortably and without raising their suspicions. Naturally, this means that we will focus a lot on the differences between us. Muggles wear different clothes than we do, read different books, listen to different music, have a different history and culture, and, of course, use electricity instead of magic."
Oh, so that's how it's pronounced, Ron thought.
"However, while we are studying these things, I hope that I can instill you with a deeper understanding of muggles. For all our differences, I believe that deep down, we are not so different at all. After all, we're all human. A third of the families in our world include at least one muggle who knows about magic. We have the same needs and desires—the same hopes and dreams. And magic may make it easier for us, but the muggles get on better without it than you might think. That is the message I hope you take away from this class.
"Now, up through O.W.L.-level this class will focus mainly on what you need to know to interact with muggles on a wizarding level—the relatively limited contact you're likely to experience in daily life or a Ministry job—although that's more than you might think. You'll also be expected to understand how the muggle and magical worlds affect one another; even a passing familiarity with Grindelwald's war should prove that we are not completely isolated from each other.
"One thing that muggle-born students often request here at Hogwarts is muggle history and science courses. These are fascinating subjects and can mesh surprisingly well with History of Magic and Arithmancy, respectively, but unfortunately, they are not thought to be of much practical value for the average witch or wizard, so we will only be taking a brief look at them at O.W.L.-level, while those of you who continue to N.E.W.T.-level will be able to study them more in depth.
"For today's lesson, I'd like to just look at the situations where we typically encounter muggles. Where do we often find muggles in our daily lives—Mr. Finnigan?" she asked as Seamus raised his hand.
"Me da's a muggle, ma'am," Seamus replied.
"Of course," Burbage replied. "I'd wager almost all of you have a family member or a family member of a friend who is a muggle—and those individuals can be very good resources for knowledge of muggle life, by the way. Of course, these are people who already know about magic, which makes it a bit easier to interact with them. But when do you typically meet muggles who don't know about magic?"
Hermione's roommate, Lily, raised her hand.
"Yes, Miss Moon?"
"There's always a lot of them walking around London, Professor."
"Very good. There are many more muggles than there are witches and wizards, so in almost any city or town, you will meet many of them just walking down the street…What about you, Mr. Weasley? I understand your father has a particular affinity for muggles."
"Erm, yeah, he works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry," Ron said, a little embarrassedly. "He has to collect enchanted stuff that winds up with muggles. Oh, and Mum always goes into the muggle village for groceries."
"Excellent, Mr. Weasley. Five points to Gryffindor. In addition to chance meetings and Ministry-related work, if you don't live in London or Hogsmeade—which covers at least half of you, I suspect—the most convenient place to buy food is usually at a muggle market. So you see, we do depend on muggles for some things, and we need to be able to talk with them without sounding completely barmy…"
Ron grinned with pride. He'd earned points for Gryffindor in his very first class. Even Hermione would have a hard time doing that. Then he remembered that Hermione had a free period right now. For a brief moment, he was actually beating her. Maybe he would be glad he took this class.
Ron still had an extra spring in his step when the trio reconvened for Transfiguration. On the other hand, Harry's head was spinning from Arithmancy, Hermione looked a little bored from her free period, and Lavender and Parvati seemed shaken up from something Professor Trelawney had said in Divination. Ron wanted to ask what, but Parvati inexplicably flinched away from him.
But all of that was forgotten when Professor McGonagall turned into a cat to loud applause from the class. That was a trick one didn't see every day.
McGonagall spent most of the lesson talking about Animagi and the similarities and differences of the transformation from regular transfiguration. "When you conjure or transfigure an animal," she explained, "you are only creating a magical construct with no life of its own. The fourth exception to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration states that magic cannot create life. The construct's anatomy and behaviour will not be true to the animal, but will only be as accurate as you can visualise it—or as inaccurate, should you choose to visualise something different. If you were to dissect such a construct, you would find that its internal anatomy would be wrong and often non-functional. However, I do not recommend doing this: the results can be…disturbing."
Disturbing? Hermione thought. Now half the class will want to do it—mostly the male half…and me, just to figure out what it means. On the other hand, knowing more about anatomy than most wizards, she could probably get it more accurate than most, although she turned a bit green when she realised she could also more vividly imagine all the "disturbing" ways it could turn out wrong. Maybe that's something better left to Fred and George, she concluded.
"The Animagus transformation is different," McGonagall continued. "It preserves life—changing one living thing to another. And just as a real cat "knows" how to be a cat, so does my animal form, because that is part of its innate life, so I do not have to know the precise anatomy of a cat to achieve it—although it helps to be very familiar with one's animal form, especially when starting out."
It was very interesting material, but by afternoon, Hermione was getting antsy for some practical instruction. Care of Magical Creatures promised just that, as anything Hagrid came up with was likely to be very hands on…maybe a little too hands-on, knowing him. Unfortunately, they had the class with the Slytherins, including Crabbe and Goyle this time, who were still mocking at Harry for fainting on the train yesterday and also didn't look too impressed with Hagrid as a teacher. Hermione, Ron, and Harry, however, all waved to him happily as they approached his hut. He winked at the three of them before leading the class onward to a paddock the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
"Got a real treat for yeh today!" Hagrid told the class. "Everyone gather 'round the fence here, an' open yer books to page…"
"How?" Draco Malfoy interrupted with annoyance.
"Eh?"
"Hagrid…" Hermione said softly. She held up her copy of The Monster Book of Monsters for him to see. It was bound with Spellotape and was growling and shaking in her hands. Everyone else's books were bound, too. Harry had wrapped a belt around his, while others squished them between other books or clamped them with binder clips.
"Huh? Yeh mean—none o' yeh's been able to open yer books?" Hagrid said disappointedly. "Yeh've got to stroke the spine. Here, lemme see that, Hermione."
She handed over her book, and with one swift motion, Hagrid ripped off the Spellotape and ran a finger down its spine. The book shivered once and lay open limply.
No, that's not creepy at all, Hermione thought.
"Oh, so that's how you do it," Malfoy drawled. "And here I thought part of the class was gonna be training our books not to bite our hands off."
"Well, erm—" Hagrid stammered. "Lemme jus' get the magical creatures, then…"
Hermione sighed. Hagrid looked like he was trying to be funny, but his sense of humour left a lot to be desired.
"God, this place is going to the dogs," Malfoy groaned. "I thought this would be a good class. Wait till my father hears about that oaf teaching."
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said.
Malfoy sneered at Harry, but then he got a frightened look on his face and pointed and yelled, "Dementor! Dementor!"
Harry flinched and spun around, but there was nothing there. In truth, Malfoy's ruse might have been more amusing to him if half the class hadn't flinched with Harry. Everyone was scared of dementors. Even Hermione half flinched, but she caught herself. There couldn't possibly be a dementor there because she wasn't feeling that icy grip of hopelessness and futility.
"That's not funny, Malfoy," she grumbled.
"Says you, Granger—"
But the argument was cut off when Hagrid returned leading a pack of very strange animals. At first, Hermione thought they were griffins, until she saw that their hind legs were hoofed instead of clawed, which meant they must be hippogriffs. Now that she had her book open, she made short work of finding the entry for the animal: less aggressive and more trainable than griffins, but more temperamental than "ordinary" winged horses.
"Beau'iful, aren' they?" Hagrid asked. Hermione had to agree. They really were majestic creatures—a beautiful blend of horse and eagle, all of them different (horse-like) colours, but each with the same golden eyes and wickedly-sharp talons. "So, if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer…"
Hagrid looked excited at the prospect, and so did Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but no one else seemed to, and they all let the Gryffindor trio go first.
"Now, yeh've gotta be careful with hippogriffs," Hagrid instructed. "They're very proud creatures—very easily offended, and yeh don' wanna do that, do yeh?"
Sounds like Crookshanks, Hermione thought with a smile, though Crookshanks's claws were only an inch long, not a foot. No, she didn't want to offend a hippogriff.
"Yeh need ter be polite around them. Yeh look 'im in the eye, an' yeh bow—tha's the polite thing ter do. If he bows back, yeh can touch him. If he don', yeh wanna back off out o' his reach right quick an' watch out for them talons."
That didn't sound reassuring. "Hagrid, is this really appropriate for the first lesson?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Well o' course it is," Hagrid replied, although he didn't look as sure as he sounded. "Who wants ter go first?"
Everyone but Harry took a step backwards. Hermione didn't particularly want to be the guinea pig for that one. She'd rather it be Malfoy than Harry, but someone had to do it. Harry shot his friends an annoyed glance, but he said, "Alright, I'll do it," and climbed over the paddock fence. At Hagrid's direction he cautiously approached a granite-grey hippogriff named Buckbeak and bowed. The creature stayed still and eyed him with a haughty look for so long that Hagrid started telling Harry to back off before Buckbeak bowed. Hermione couldn't help but wonder if that was some kind of test on the hippogriff's part, or else a joke—if it was smart enough to do either of those things.
But Hagrid was elated that Buckbeak accepted Harry: "Well done! Yeh touch him, now. Go on, pat his beak."
Harry slowly stepped forward and did so. The class applauded, except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who looked annoyed that Buckbeak hadn't taken a swipe at Harry. Then Hagrid suggested that Harry take Buckbeak for a ride. That was definitely above the level of the curriculum, Hermione thought, but there was nothing she could do about it now, and Harry—predictably—didn't want to look cowardly in front of the Slytherins, so up he went. She was greatly relieved when he proved to have almost as much of a knack for riding hippogriffs as riding brooms, even if he didn't look as comfortable.
When he got back on the ground, however, things started to go wrong. Hagrid told the rest of the class to climb into the paddock and try to approach a hippogriff. Malfoy immediately made a beeline for Buckbeak.
"I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said. "You great, ugly brute."
Buckbeak stamped the ground with his talons in protest. Apparently, he was smart enough to tell when he was being insulted. And then, Hermione made a snap decision: she'd rather see Hagrid's first class not get ruined than see Malfoy get his face shredded by a hippogriff. "Malfoy!" she yelled. "Professor Hagrid said to be polite."
Malfoy spun around and sneered at her: "I didn't ask you, Granger." He turned back and took another step forward, even as Buckbeak screeched in protest.
"Malfoy, don't be an idiot," she called. But no, she realised, even Malfoy wasn't that dumb. He was obviously baiting Buckbeak to get Hagrid in trouble.
He only spared her a glance this time. He bowed patronisingly and said, "It can't be that hard if Potter can do it." Buckbeak didn't return the bow and only screeched in protest again. "Yeah, well, I didn't ask you either," Malfoy said to the animal. He started to step forward again.
"Malfoy, no!" Hagrid yelled, rushing forward, but too late.
He was really going to do it! He was going to put himself in the Hospital Wing just to try to get Hagrid fired. Hermione couldn't let that happen. Acting fast, she did the only thing she could think of.
"Desatalos Cordonzapato Syenreda!"
Several things happened at once.
Malfoy reflexively turned back toward her at the first word of an unfamiliar spell being cast and said, "What are you—AHHH! OW!"
The entire class screamed as Buckbeak's talon's swiped through the air right where Malfoy's head had been a second earlier.
Buckbeak jumped back in surprise to see Malfoy fall without connecting with him just before Hagrid backed him away.
And finally, Malfoy found himself lying on the ground scrambling to get back from the irate hippogriff. His shoelaces were tied together.
"Filthy—mudblood—Granger—" Malfoy spat, not caring if Hagrid heard. "You could've killed me."
"Hey, she saved your sorry arse!" Ron jumped to her aid. "That hippogriff almost took your head off."
Malfoy untangled his shoelaces and stood up. "Well, then that bloody chicken needs to go, too," he said.
"You were baiting him, and you know it, Malfoy," Hermione said. "I told you you need to be polite…like this…" She turned around, took a deep breath to calm herself, and approached Buckbeak like Harry had.
"Hermione, no! My tea leaves!" Lavender Brown called from behind her. Hermione paused and glanced at her in confusion, but she kept going. Hagrid let her approach the animal, although he still stood close by warily.
"Hello, Buckbeak," she said demurely, and she bowed whilst maintaining eye contact.
Buckbeak seemed to approve of her jinxing Malfoy and immediately bowed back.
"Well, looks like he likes yeh, Hermione," Hagrid said, becoming happier again. "Go on, give him a pat, then…And uh, thanks for savin' me lesson," he added in a whisper.
"No problem, Hagrid," Hermione replied as Buckbeak nuzzled her with his beak. Maybe Dad's right, she thought. Maybe I do have a way with animals.
Of course, it couldn't be quite that simple. By the time Hermione got out of Charms, the story that she had jinxed Malfoy in the middle of class and saved him from an angry hippogriff had gone clear around the school. Alternate versions included Hermione actually trying to hurt Malfoy (courtesy of the Slytherins) and Hermione saving Malfoy because they were secretly dating (courtesy of some lovestruck older Gryffindors girls; Hermione had difficultly not throwing up when she heard that one). So it was only to be expected that there would be consequences.
"Hermione, I was so scared when you went up to that hippogriff," Lavender Brown said as they left Professor Flitwick's classroom. "I tried to stop you."
"But why?" Hermione asked. "Hagrid was right there."
"We were reading tea leaves in Divination class this morning," said Parvati Patil ominously.
She humoured the two girls: "So?"
"So, in my tea leaves, it showed the flag and the ivy leaf," Lavender said. "And that means danger for a friend."
"Mm hmm," Parvati added. "Professor Trelawney said so herself."
"Parvati, I've talked to Professor Trelawney a couple of times. Has she ever actually predicted something correctly?"
"Yes she has! This morning, she predicted Neville would break two teacups, and he did!"
"Probably just a coincidence. Besides that could mean any of your friends."
"I wouldn't be so sure…" Lavender pointed over Hermione's shoulder. "Danger for a friend?"
Hermione turned around and saw Professors McGonagall, Vector, and Snape waiting for her, all looking stern.
"Miss Granger, come with us, please," Professor McGonagall said.
Hermione just hung her head and followed them to McGonagall's office.
"Miss Granger," her head of house told her in clipped tones, "Draco Malfoy has made a complaint against you and also one against Professor Hagrid. We have already heard his and Professor Hagrid's sides of the story, but I would also like to hear yours as well." She glared at Snape not to interfere.
Hermione took a deep breath and tried to tell her teachers as accurately as possible what had happened at the paddock and why she believed she had thwarted Malfoy's attempt to bait Buckbeak into attacking him. When she mentioned the spell she'd cast, Professor Vector drew herself up and stood over her with an intensely disapproving look that made Hermione sick to her stomach.
"Miss Granger, please tell me you didn't cast an untested spell on a fellow student," Vector said.
"Of course not, Professor…" Hermione replied quickly. "I tested it this morning during my free period."
That took the professors by surprise. "Then you mean to say," Snape asked suspiciously, "that you did, indeed, craft the spell you used on Mr. Malfoy yourself?"
"Y-yes, sir. I did all the maths this summer for practice for Arithmancy this year. I just needed to get back to school to test it."
"And how exactly did you test this spell?" Vector pressed. Hermione was a little surprised Snape wasn't trying to redirect the conversation to what she did to Malfoy. Maybe he knew a thing or two about spellcrafting himself.
"Well, first I tried casting the spell on an empty pair of shoes—and I did it a couple more times to make sure I got it right. Then I tried casting it on my shoes when I was wearing them, and when that worked fine, I knew I had it."
Vector nodded slowly. For a spell that simple, that was probably safe enough. "And if you had damaged your shoes in the testing?" she continued. "I assume they were your shoes."
Hermione shrugged: "They were my cheapest pair."
Another nod. "Very well. One last question: could you demonstrate this spell for us?"
"Of course, ma'am." Hermione hitched up her robes enough to show her shoes, pointed her wand down at her feet, and said, "Desatalos Cordonzapato Syenreda." In a blink, her shoelaces untied themselves and tied themselves back together in a knot.
With that, Snape snapped back to his usual acerbic self. "Well," he said, "I suppose that is some impressive spell work for a third year, though no doubt you will say this is what you've come to expect from Miss Granger, Septima. The fact remains that she used this spell on Mr. Malfoy in the middle of a dangerous situation—"
"From the sounds of it, a dangerous situation that Mr. Malfoy caused, Severus," McGonagall interrupted.
"Mere hearsay," Snape dismissed her. "Of course, Miss Granger would corroborate Hagrid's story, as they have been friends for two years, not to mention to save her own skin."
"And if we were to question the rest of the class?" Vector asked. "Would all of our Slytherins corroborate Mr. Malfoy's story? It would not take long. And Miss Granger has been quite open about the contribution of her spellcrafting to the incident—hardly a sign of one who has something to hide."
"She has admitted casting a spell to put Mr. Malfoy in danger," Snape growled.
"It sounds to me like Mr. Malfoy placed himself in danger," Vector said, "and Miss Granger saved Mr. Malfoy's life, or at least his complexion."
"Based on her own words—"
"Then we should question the rest of the students, since the evidence seems to be limited, Severus," McGonagall interrupted. "I believe innocent until proven guilty is still current in this school. If Miss Granger acted irresponsibly, I give you my word I will discipline her accordingly. I expect you to do the same for Mr. Malfoy."
Snape glared at McGonagall, but between her and Vector, he knew it was time to cut his losses. "Very well," he grumbled. "We will continue this discussion in the morning, Miss Granger, after we enquire with your classmates."
Hermione struggled not to sigh audibly with relief. "Yes, Professor."
Snape and McGonagall walked away, but Vector lingered back to speak with her: "A word, Hermione?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"I don't anticipate any trouble for you once they get done talking to everyone, but I should advise you that that probably wasn't the best spell for that situation."
"I know ma'am," Hermione said disappointedly. "I can think of a few others that would have been better. It's just the one I'd been working on, and it was the first one that came to mind. It's not even a very good spell. It's thirteen syllables long."
"Well, from a spellcrafting point of view, that's actually quite good for a first try, Hermione. You struck it lucky once with that colour charm, but spellcrafting is often much more complicated than that. Most students' early attempts result in overly-long incantations, impossibly complex wand movements, or idiosyncratic limitations. What did surprise me, though, was that your first attempt at spellcrafting was a jinx."
"Oh, it wasn't, ma'am. I wanted to charm self-tying shoes, but that still needs some work. A square knot is simpler than a bow."
Professor Vector laughed. That was just so Hermione.
A/N: Desatalos Cordonzapato Syenreda: Stylised from the Spanish for "Untie the shoelaces and tangle."