Katharina Lioncourt
Slytherin Alumni
"Why? Because I love her more than life." -Severus Snape, in reply to Everett Sarandon's challenge.
Posts: 523
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Post by Katharina Lioncourt on Feb 15, 2002 3:17:04 GMT -5
Part Five: Four years later.
"I need to talk to you."
Severus Snape looked up from the pile of papers on his desk. He shook his head at the teenager in front of him. Even after all this time she had not discarded the robe he'd given her that night. It still hung loosely around her shoulders, although puberty had filled her out with curves that seemed, somehow, to add to the robes attractiveness. The sleeves were, as always, rolled into thick cuffs that hung at her elbows.
At fifteen, this girl had not once left his mind for more than a moment. Now, her long fingers set firmly into fists, perched on her hips, he could barely look at her.
"You'd think," he had said once to Albus Dumbledore over butterbeer, "that I would've gotten over this infatuation by now. In the name of Salazar Slytherin, she's only a child--"
Dumbledore had smiled widely. " Don't invoke his name for help with this one, Friend. He married a woman who was twenty-five years his junior. And, as for the girl, she is no longer a child. She has grown up quite nicely under your tutelage."
Severus had sighed. "I don't know what to do."
"I still don't," he mumbled as he forced himself to look up at Katharina, who was still standing primly in front of him. Outside the window of his office, the sky was perfectly blue. In two weeks, students would will the halls of Hogwarts and Katharina would begin her fifth year as a student.
Today, however, she had other things on her mind.
"You promised," she sulked. "It's perfectly gorgeous outside and you can't manage to get away for one minute? What is WRONG with you?"
"I know I promised, Child." After all these years, he couldn't get out of the habit of calling her that. "But--"
"But nothing! It's my birthday, for goodness' sake, you can spare an hour to come outside and fly with me."
"But--"
"Y'know," she said slyly, "a couple years from mow I'll be gone from here, and you'll wish you had spent more time with me..."
"I read to you every night."
She stomped her foot. "It's my BIRTHDAY!"
"All right, all right." Severus stood from his desk and put a paperweight over the stack of papers on his desk. Her smile was radiant.
"Thank you..." she chirped, and threw her arms around him. "It means a lot to me."
For the first time in five years, Severus returned the hug instead of just patting her back. He was surprised at how well she fit in his arms. The top of her head touched his chin. He very well could have stayed there for hours, had Argus Filch not walked past at that moment. Filch eyed the pair lasciviously and raised a hairy eyebrow at the professor.
Severus stepped back from his student and swallowed, hard. "I'll get my broom," he said, and Filch disappeared down the hallway.
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Post by Jet Black on Feb 17, 2002 8:18:41 GMT -5
Interesting.....Snape, huh?....... ......
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Post by superstitious13 on Feb 25, 2002 23:47:13 GMT -5
ddaaammmnn....Kath....thats good.....more please ;D
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Katharina Lioncourt
Slytherin Alumni
"Why? Because I love her more than life." -Severus Snape, in reply to Everett Sarandon's challenge.
Posts: 523
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Post by Katharina Lioncourt on Feb 26, 2002 22:52:33 GMT -5
He was watching her sleep, her chest slowly rising and falling with a steady rhythm.
They had flown for hours over Hogwarts, and had gone into Hogsmeade for lunch and butterbeers. He couldn't remember ever having had a better time. Her laughter still echoed in his ears. There were even moments where they had been close enough to kiss. He closed his eyes, remembered the radiance on her face as she had leaned across their lunch table and run her long fingers through his hair. Now, at midnight, the moon was full outside her window, casting a white glow on her pale skin.
He saw her brow contract slightly in her sleep and, against his better judgment, neared the bed. Even had he not known her for years, he would have been able to tell that her dreams were frightening her. Beads of sweat formed on her brow and she whimpered. He reached out and touched her face with his hand. In her sleep, she slipped her hand into his.
"Mon Everett..." she said, in her father's native French. "Everett... je ne souhaite plus etre avec vous..."
He didn't know French, but he knew the name she spoke. Her father's close friend, Everett Sarandon... a man she'd always known... and now she gripped Snape’s hand as she whispered the man’s name in her sleep.
Severus Snape felt his face heat and he released her hand; backed away from the bed. What a fool he'd been! To think she felt anything for him, a man who would age with time and die. Everett could offer her immortality and a life with him until the world crumbled. He could make her like him, a perfectly beautiful parasite, living off the life blood of humans...
What could I offer her? he thought as he left the room. A professor's wife? Life surrounded by children, in a school... living with a simple wizard...
He was in the hallway now, still backing away from her bedroom door. Tears stung his eyes. How could he have ever even dreamed...
He turned abruptly and hurried down the hall, stopping only in his office to grab his broom. Down the stairs and out into the night... and then he had kicked off the ground and was flying straight into the air, heading for the roof of his favourite tower. High above the school, the wind whipping around his face... he took a deep breath.
"But," he said to the wind and to the full moon, "I love her..."
And only then did Severus Snape bend his head and cry.
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Post by superstitious13 on Feb 27, 2002 23:34:29 GMT -5
wow this is getting good...
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Post by Jet Black on Mar 2, 2002 8:42:23 GMT -5
Nice.....
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Katharina Lioncourt
Slytherin Alumni
"Why? Because I love her more than life." -Severus Snape, in reply to Everett Sarandon's challenge.
Posts: 523
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Post by Katharina Lioncourt on Mar 14, 2002 1:41:12 GMT -5
Part Six Two Years Later
It was with a certain amount of apprehension that Severus Snape answered the cellular phone in his hand. Katharina glanced up at him from across the Slytherin banquet table. She held her finger as a bookmark in the page she'd been reading and said, "It's about time."
Severus waved her into silence and answered the telephone. "Hello?"
"Severus, old friend! We've arrived. Give us five minutes and we'll meet you in Hogsmeade."
Severus nodded, realized that a nod couldn't be heard, and said, "Of course." He disconnected the conversation.
"Was that Papa?" Katharina asked, closing her book.
"Yes. He and his friend are meeting us in Hogsmeade."
She stood. At seventeen, her hair was halfway down her back. The voice that he'd always admired had, as he had guessed, become a clear, rich soprano, and the curves had filled out nicely. Now, however, the hair was dangling in her face. She gave a sigh and waved her wand at it, twisting the hair into a tight bun. "We should go, then, don't you think?"
He was silent as they flew, only mentioning as they landed, "Take your hair down, don't you think?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?"
"You'll want to make a good impression, won't you?" Severus' comment was dry, almost bitter. Katharina sighed. She shrugged her shoulders and her hair fell in waves down her back.
"It isn't like I've never seen them before."
"Well, you haven't seen them in quite a while." He held the door of the tavern open and she walked through.
"My darling!" Lestat deLioncourt, perfectly beautiful even in jeans and a tee-shirt, stood from where he'd been talking to another young man at the table and embraced his daughter. "You've grown up so much..."
"Indeed," said the second man. "You've become quite beautiful, Katharina."
Severus Snape's eyes flashed, and he was aggravated to see that Katharina blushed at the compliment. "Everett... I see you're no less charming," she said.
He stood and extended his hand to her, ushering her into a chair. "And you are no less witty. I assume this is your caretaker?"
"Yes... Severus, this is an old friend of Papa's and mine: Everett Sarandon. Everett, my tutor and friend, Severus Snape."
"A pleasure to meet you, Professor Snape," Everett said smoothly and with an easy smile. "Lestat trusts you have taken good care of his daughter." His smile widened, and Severus noticed elongated incisors. Another vampire, then.
"I have tried," Severus returned warily.
"Katharina..." Lestat eyed his daughter. "I do not wish to dismiss you, but if you could excuse us for a moment..."
She nodded. "I think I see Minerva sitting over there. Come get me when you're finished with the manly stuff." She rose and joined the woman at a far table. Lestat kept his eyes on her for a moment, then returned them to the men sitting with him.
"Gentlemen," he said, "My daughter has grown up well. I think it is high time I find her a husband."
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Katharina Lioncourt
Slytherin Alumni
"Why? Because I love her more than life." -Severus Snape, in reply to Everett Sarandon's challenge.
Posts: 523
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Post by Katharina Lioncourt on Mar 14, 2002 2:13:54 GMT -5
Severus Snape felt his heart drop into his stomach. He automatically reached for the glass of red wine in front of him. His hand shook as he gripped the stem and tried to wash the bitter taste from his mouth. "What?" he managed.
Everett grinned. "Surely you've noticed. She's blossomed. She's perfect. And--"
"And how marvelous it would be to keep her that way," Lestat finished. "If she agrees to it, of course. I brought Everett here, Severus, to give my child the Dark Gift."
"What?" It seemed to be the only word he could form. He couldn't manage to think complete thoughts. He collected himself, then stammered, "But... her school..." It was all he could think of to mention. What else could he possibly say? That he loved her? That he'd loved her since he'd tucked her into bed that first night?
"Of course, we'll wait until she graduates. But we wanted to tell her now. She'll need to prepare for the wedding. Next August, I should think, don't you agree, Lestat?" Everett was calmly swirling the wine in his glass, discussing the girl's future like she was a horse on an auction block.
Severus moved his lips, but no sound came. He tried again. "But... surely you don't mean to arrange her marriage?"
Lestat laughed. It was a laugh that immortals loved. A laugh that mortals feared. Severus eyed the sharp teeth in his friend's mouth. "Really, Severus..." Lestat said. "Of course we plan to arrange her marriage. She's a Lioncourt, after all, and she's known her marriage was to be arranged since she was a child. But we wanted to make sure you had no objections to it--"
"Of course he doesn't. He couldn't possibly. Katharina!" Everett raised his voice, cutting Severus off before he could even draw breath. She returned to the table and sat next to her father, accepting the glass of wine he offered her.
"Well, Daughter, it seems Severus has no objections. You are to be married."
She looked up. Her face was radiant with a smile that beamed from her heart. "Married... I had no idea you felt..." She stood suddenly and moved to where Everett and Severus sat. It was Everett who caught her, ran his hands through her hair, kissed her forehead. She stared up at him, surprised. "We'll live forever like this," he said. "Never old... never crippled... and you will be the most beautiful immortal since Akasha..."
Severus Snape could no longer bear to look at her. He felt her hand on his face, heard her ask quietly, "Severus... you don't... object?"
"Of course not," he said, his voice hard. He did not meet her eyes, didn't see the flicker of pain and confusion therein. "Why should I object?" he said
Katharina looked at the man she'd secretly loved since her fifteenth birthday. "I thought--" The happiness faded from her eyes, but not from her mouth. "Then I have no objection either," she said softly, and rested her head on Everett's chest.
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Post by Kiavrei on Apr 16, 2002 6:45:43 GMT -5
Good story... good story...
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Katharina Lioncourt
Slytherin Alumni
"Why? Because I love her more than life." -Severus Snape, in reply to Everett Sarandon's challenge.
Posts: 523
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Post by Katharina Lioncourt on May 1, 2002 0:26:43 GMT -5
Part Seven Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Severus hadn't been sure what woke him. He remained in his bed for a few moments, collecting himself from his dreams.
Brushing the farthest edge of his hearing was music... a piano being played with clarity and passion. He rose from his bed and slipped into a robe. He hadn't known there was a piano anywhere in Hogwarts.
He followed the music farther into what had once been a working dungeon, complete with its very own rack and thumb screws. They had since been removed, of course. The only reminder of the dungeon's history was the large iron maiden hulking at the bottom of the stairs like an oversized cockroach. Severus sidestepped it and continued into the dungeon past the potions classroom.
The farthest room had always been for storage. The past summer, however, it had been cleaned and organized. The room was near empty, save for a few boxes (in which, Argus Filch believed, were the missing thumbscrews, although he never bothered to check). Now, Chopin's Minute Waltz was flowing from the barely open doorway. Severus took a glance at his watch and raised his eyebrows. At this rate, whoever was playing would finish the waltz in well under a minute. He neared the doorway and peered through.
The piano was against the back wall of the room, it's pianist with her back to him. He watched as she finished the Chopin and began a piano rendition of Figaro's scene from The Barber of Seville. And then the pianist began to sing, and every rational thought flew from his head.
If he hadn't heard the voice he might've gone back to bed without knowing who was playing with such a tremendous amount of talent. The hood of her cape was up, the only part of her body visible her thin hands. But as the clear soprano floated an octave above the tenor line, he realized he should've known.
He'd never heard the piece sung by a soprano. When he'd seen the opera in Florence, the tenor had been marvelous. Now he wondered why no soprano had never preformed it before. Her voice was like an angel's.
It was only after the piece had ended and he heard someone clapping that he realized someone was in the room with her. A pair of hands slid over her shoulder and around her.
"That was perfection, Dearest."
She turned then, a radiant smile on her face. "Oh, Everett, I haven't played like that in what seems like forever! You have no idea how much this means to me!"
Everett kissed the top of her head. "When we saw that you were without a piano here, your father and I decided you needed one."
Her hands began Beethoven's Pathetique, slowly... with more tenderness than Severus had ever seen her show toward anything. Tears glistened like crystal at the corners of her eyes as she played. Severus had never seen her so happy.
As Everett bent toward Katharina, Severus turned and walked like a man already dead back to his room. The Pathetique floated behind him.
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Post by superstitious13 on May 7, 2002 17:06:08 GMT -5
MORE MORE MORE!!!
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Katharina Lioncourt
Slytherin Alumni
"Why? Because I love her more than life." -Severus Snape, in reply to Everett Sarandon's challenge.
Posts: 523
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Post by Katharina Lioncourt on May 8, 2002 0:32:29 GMT -5
Part Eight Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry
She sat at the large oaken desk in her room, trying to write an essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Her hair was in what Everett had begun calling "The Thinking Position": a messy bun piled on top of her head.
Even after all this time, she hadn't gotten used to Alastor Moody's bad attitude. She hated the idea of putting forth her best writing efforts only to have them quashed by a grumpy old man. There was small satisfaction, however, in her subject matter. Alastor Moody had a personal vendetta against any and all Shape-Shifters. As a private joke, Severus had advised her to write a persuasive essay discussing a Shape-Shifter's large capacity for goodness and love.
Alastor was going to hate it.
She shrugged and continued writing. "I'm graduating in five months," she said out loud. "I'll be married in seven. What do I care what a washed-up old hack thinks of my writing?"
"Careful," said a voice from behind her. "That washed-up old hack is a friend of mine."
Katharina reddened and slowly turned to face Minerva McGonagall. She smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Professor, I--"
Minerva laughed, a surprisingly warm laugh that resonated off the stone walls. "Have no fear, Child. I said he was a friend. I didn't say I agreed with all his opinions." She held two mugs of hot chocolate, and she offered one to Katharina. " Do you mind if I join you for a while, Dear? I'm taking a break from correcting a pre-exam quiz I gave to the Second-Year Hufflepuffs today... quite frankly I'm a bit worried about how much they're learning."
Katharina laughed and nodded, indicating a large chair near her fireplace. She finished the sentence she was writing, placed her quill in the bottle of ink, and sat facing Minerva in the armchair. She sipped gingerly at her cocoa.
After a long moment, Minerva said, "You look very pensive this evening, my Dear. What's on your mind?"
Katharina shrugged and took another sip of her drink. "Lots of things. Exams, this essay, my wedding. And to top it all off, Severus barely speaks unless he's teaching his classes. He isn't himself at all."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "I know. I've seen it too."
"You know what else? I just don't feel ready to get married. I don't want to leave here yet. I always kind of hoped I could stay on as an apprentice or something. And now, after we marry and Everett makes me immortal, we fly to Italy. We'll be staying there for a few months, and then we're off to Paris, then Cairo. It all sounds very exciting, but it also sounds exhausting."
Again, Minerva nodded. "Have you told your father this?"
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Katharina Lioncourt
Slytherin Alumni
"Why? Because I love her more than life." -Severus Snape, in reply to Everett Sarandon's challenge.
Posts: 523
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Post by Katharina Lioncourt on May 8, 2002 1:00:44 GMT -5
Katharina shrugged her shoulders and pulled her robe closer around her thin frame. "Some of it. He knows I don't feel ready to be married, but he also is of the firm belief that it is time I am. So we are at an impasse. And of course I plan to follow Papa's wishes." She sighed wearily. "It will be a good match for me. Everett is well off and loves me very much. He's a close friend to Papa and therefore my safety in every respect is insured. I will learn to love him."
Minerva frowned a little and placed a hand on Katharina's arm. "If you don't love this man, you should not be expected to marry him."
"I have no other choice. Papa and I have spoken. He's agreed that if there is another man he approves of that would be willing to marry me, and if I prefer this man, then the bargain with Everett would be null and void. But I know of no one else."
"Perhaps you aren't looking hard enough."
"I have no reason to look. If nothing else, with Everett I will be comfortable. The only real fear I have is that he plans to make me immortal. I really haven't decided how I feel about that."
Minerva knew better than to press the issue. She changed the subject. "Severus tells me you're writing quite the paper for Moody's class."
Katharina smiled slightly. "In all honesty, I'm extremely sick of his prejudice against the shape-shifter community. We have a student at this school, Minerva, who suffers emotionally from Alastor's treatment of her. It simply isn't fair. I visited her former school before she came here, and it was the closest thing to hell I ever hope to see. Alastor Moody should pick on someone his own size or keep his oversized mouth shut."
Minerva McGonagall laughed out loud. "Tell me how you really feel, Katharina."
Katharina grinned as well. "I know, I know, but it makes me mad. She's only a child, and a sweet girl at that. Which he would know if he bothered to speak to her."
Minerva nodded and drained her cocoa. "It's late," she said. "I should let you get back to your writing."
Katharina stood with her friend and walked her to the door. "Your cocoa and your conversations are always welcome, Minerva," she replied. "Sleep well."
When McGonagall had left, Katharina sat back down at her desk and picked up her quill. She eyed the roll of parchment she'd been writing on and set it aside. Pulling a sheet of scratch paper from a drawer, she began scrawling her name across the paper in beautiful calligraphy.
"It's rather late for penmanship, don't you think?"
Katharina sighed and took her reading glasses off. "Doesn't anyone around here knock?" But she smiled up at her friend and guardian as he took a seat by the fire.
"Minerva said you might want company," Severus said. "She seemed to think you had a lot on your mind." He raised an eyebrow at her. "She also says you don't think I've been myself lately."
Katharina shrugged. "I've always known you better than you know yourself, Severus. I'm worried about you, that's all." As she spoke, her hand continued its swirls across the page. "I just want to know you'll be all right here when I'm gone."
Severus gave a small sigh. "I won't lie to you. I don't want you to leave. I'll miss you very much."
She smiled ruefully. "Don't know what you'll do without me, hmm?"
Snape ran a hand nervously through his ink black hair. "I... well, to tell you the truth, no. I have no idea where I'll be without you. You've been my life for almost eight years, Katharina. You've been my friend and my daughter and my student and my teacher. Don't you remember? I became potionsmaster the same year you began school here. I've never been without you, Child, and for the first time in my life I'm frightened out of my mind. I-- I don't know what to do. I can't even think."
She was stunned. In all the years she'd known him, Severus had never spoken this earnestly to her. She cast her eyes down so he wouldn't see her pain and noticed his hands were shaking. "Severus, I--"
She couldn't finish the sentence. He reached out and gently touched her hair, and as she looked up at him she saw tears in his eyes. His voice was soft and pleading, almost like a child's, and he said, "Please don't leave me. I can't bear it, Katharina, I--"
A loud knock sounded from her door and she straightened. Her hand shuddered to a stop from where it had continued writing without her thoughts. Involuntarily she glanced out her window in habit and saw that the sun had set. She knew without a doubt who was on the other side of her door.
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Katharina Lioncourt
Slytherin Alumni
"Why? Because I love her more than life." -Severus Snape, in reply to Everett Sarandon's challenge.
Posts: 523
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Post by Katharina Lioncourt on May 8, 2002 1:29:03 GMT -5
Severus' eyes closed as if he'd been cut through the heart. He nodded slowly, as if accepting his fate, and folded his hands in his lap. "You should invite him in, Dearest," he said softly.
She wanted to crawl into her bed and burst into tears. Amazingly, she managed to calm herself and called, "Yes?"
"Katharina, my love, your father has sent me with a new piece for--" Everett stopped as he neared his bride-to-be and her former caretaker. "In Akasha's name, Love, are you all right?"
She stared up at him and saw the genuine concern in his eyes. Her heart felt like it was ripping in half. "I... well, I..." she swallowed again and again, trying to move the hard lump from her throat. Her eyes darted from Everett to Severus, and back to Everett. "I think I'm overtired," she said lamely, "and this essay simply needs to be finished."
"If you're this exhausted it certainly does not need to be finished tonight," Everett answered shortly. "You look ready to fall in a faint or cry your eyes out, I'm not sure which." He turned to Snape and eyed him curiously. "You don't look so well yourself," he added.
Severus Snape did not take his eyes off Katharina as he stood. "I've simply had a very vivid nightmare," he said softly. "And I'm not quite sure if it's over even now." He took her hand and kissed it. "Goodnight, my dear," he said, and he left the room.
Katharina couldn't manage to stand up. The room was whirling around her and she tried desperately to focus on something... anything... her eyes stopped on her calligraphy and the blur of her vision focused.
The only reason she didn't cry out was because she sank her teeth into her lower lip until she could taste the iron in her blood. Over and over, in her careful, lovely penmanship, she had written: I love you I love you I love you........
Everett saw the change in her color and hurried to her side. "In Akasha's name, what's wrong, Katharina?"
She shook her head quickly, mechanically, and crumpled the paper into a ball.
"What's this?" he asked her, and reached for the crumpled parchment in her hand.
With every ounce of strength left in her, Katharina flung the paper into the fireplace, where it caught flame and burned to cinders. She sighed in audible relief. Everett's eyes flashed.
Her eyes were closed, and so she had no advance notice of her betrothed's anger until she felt his hand, gentle but firm, close loosely around her throat. "My dear girl," he said, almost conversationally into her left ear. "One of the first things I see you must learn is that when I ask you a question, it is in your best interest to answer me."
She was stunned into perfect stillness. Outside, she could hear the beginning of a storm: rain pattering softly on the lake. She couldn't be sure if the thundering in her ears was thunder or her heartbeat. Dumbly, she jerked her head up and down once... twice.
Instantly, the hand at her throat became a caress along the bone of her chin, up past her ear, trailing along the back of her neck and around to trace her collarbone. Everett kissed her earlobe, then turned her and kissed her mouth.
As his hands slid up the back of her shirt, the memory of his hand on her throat dissolved.
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Post by superstitious13 on May 8, 2002 20:08:22 GMT -5
awww...poor Prof......
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