Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

**A/N – This is my first Draco/Ginny fanfic and I normally write in first person so any comments or advice on the writing style will be welcome. It doesn't really follow any of the plots of the books but parts of them might come into it. Let me know if you think anyone gets OOC. I'll try my best for them not to :)**

Ginny Weasley was one of the first people on the train for once. She had made sure her family were all up early, even helping her mother make breakfast so they would not be hurrying to get to platform 9 ¾ like they usually did. It was the first summer Hermione and Harry had not stayed at the burrow since Ron had started Hogwarts and she did not want to have to walk along the train alone, Slytherin smirks following her as she desperately searched the carriages for someone she knew.

She sat in an empty compartment and watched as the train began to fill up; she saw familiar faces passing her carriage – some smiling and some with what seemed to be a permanent glare on their faces. Finally Lavender burst in, grinning from ear to ear. Ginny blinked in surprise as Lavender smiled wider and did a twirl.

"Do you like it?" she asked, flicking her head so her hair shook out over her shoulders.

"You look so different!" Ginny exclaimed, looking her up and down, trying to hide her annoyance. This was supposed to be Ginny's summer of transformation, not Lavenders. Ginny had started wearing more makeup, tried out new styles with her hair and even looked physically different by growing a few inches and getting more curves. As she looked at her friend, her heart sank. How was anyone supposed to notice the new Ginny when the other girl had changed so much more? A few extra inches of height couldn't compare to Lavenders newly dyed hair and the amount of curves _sh_e had developed over the summer. Ginny felt like a plank of wood standing next to her.

"I know," said Lavender, smugly. "There's something different about you too, Ginny," she thought for a minute. "Have you got mascara on or something?"

"I've always worn mascara," she answered, sighing as she realised just how little she had really changed. "I'm wearing a bit more make-" she started but was interrupted when the door to the compartment slid open and Ron, Harry, Hermione and Luna walked in.

"Ginny!" cried Hermione, hugging her friend tightly. She stepped back and looked at her properly and Ginny felt a smug smile of her own creep onto her face as Hermione's eyes widened enviously. "Oh my god you're so... voluptuous!" she whispered the last word and Ginny suspected she was probably worried about alarming Ron. Smiling gratefully, she glanced over at her brother to see if he'd heard, her smile falling as she realised Ron was staring fixated at Lavender, who was basking in the attention. Luna smiled warmly at Ginny before pulling _The Quibbler_ out her bag and sitting down to examine the front. Ginny was about to sit down and join her blonde friend before she noticed a certain messy haired boy staring at her from the door. He caught her eye and smiled, obviously embarrassed that he'd been caught in the act. She smiled back, feeling her cheeks redden as she realised the boy she had liked since the first time she'd seen him had finally noticed her the way she wanted him to. Or the way she _used_ to want him to anyway. She bowed her head and chuckled to herself, pleased that she had finally got over her ridiculous crush. But as she looked up and noticed Harry staring at her again she couldn't help but think how much his expression mirrored her own just a few months ago whenever she looked at _him._

"Harry, shall we go find Neville?" Ron suggested, finally moving his eyes away from Lavender. "He's normally found us by now." Harry nodded, stealing a last look at Ginny before they both left the compartment, shutting the door behind them. As soon as they left, Lavender turned to Ginny, Luna and Hermione with a wicked look in her eye.

"What are you looking at us like that for?" Hermione asked, and Ginny could hear the doubt coming into her voice.

"I've already been asked out to Hogsmeade," she replied, a smug smile on her face.

"Ron?!" Ginny gasped, surprised at her brothers confidence. She felt Hermione stiffen next to her.

"No, not Ron," laughed Lavender. "Although I wouldn't mind," she winked and Luna looked up from the Quibbler she was reading to stare at Lavender.

"Who then?" asked Hermione nervously, but Lavender shook her head, still laughing.

"I'm not telling," she answered and Ginny groaned; it was just the sort of thing Lavender would do. "But I will tell you that it happened on the platform and we both decided to keep it quiet." She raised a finger to her mouth childishly. "For now."

"I know who it is," Luna piped up, and the others turned to stare at her. "I won't tell, Lavender," she continued, losing interest in the conversation and going back to her magazine. Ginny was about to protest when the door slid back open and Ron, Harry and Neville came in and sat down, Neville's eyes widening when he saw Ginny. With a glare from Lavender the girls abandoned the subject of Lavenders date and started talking an argument the boys had had with Malfoy and Zabini.

*****

As Draco took his seat at the Slytherin table with Blaise and Pansy, he groaned at the sight of Dumbledore at the head of the teachers table, knowing he would have to endure another of the headmaster's speeches. Glancing round the room he noticed a few pretty girls from the Ravenclaw table looking over at him but he was in too much of a bad mood from his confrontation with Potter to acknowledge them. His eyes fell on the Gryffindor table where The Boy Who Lived was sitting with the Weasley's and Hermione Grainger. He seemed to be taking a great interest with what the Weasley girl had to say, but Draco could only see her long red hair as Hermione's bushy hair was blocking his view.

"Draco!" Theodore greeted him, slapping him on the shoulder and sitting down between him and Blaise. "Have you seen the girls this year? I don't know what they've been doing over the summer but it's payed off." Draco rolled his eyes at his friend, who was surveying the great hall, and he took great pleasure in seeing that a lot of the girls looked away when their eyes met those of Theo's.

"Have you seen Weasley?" asked Theo, eager for Draco's opinion.

"Are you being serious?" Draco answered with another question and raised an eyebrow when Theo nodded, grinning.

"I'll take that as a no then," said Theo, gazing over at the Gryffindor table. "You would know exactly what I was talking about if you had." Draco shook his head in disbelief. He knew his friend had a bit of an obsession with the opposite sex, but he never thought he would hear one of the blood traitors being described as attractive by a Slytherin. Draco was about to argue back but Dumbledore stood up suddenly and the hall fell silent for his speech.

*****

After the sorting and the feast in the grand hall, Ginny and Hermione stayed back to talk to Luna before they returned to their different houses. As they entered the Gryffindor common room they noticed Dean, Seamus, Harry, Neville and a few others from Hermione's year gathered round one of the tables in the corner.

"Have you seen her?" they heard Seamus ask no one in particular. "She's gorgeous! She had half the lads in the great hall staring at her when she came in."

"Who are they talking about?" whispered Ginny, nudging Hermione.

Hermione looked back at her with an amused expression on her face. "I think they're talking about you," she whispered back and Ginny's mouth dropped open.

"Me?!" she asked, a bit too loudly and the boys looked up quickly, wide eyed and blushing.

"Oh, hi Ginny," Harry mumbled. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Me and Ginny just came in," Hermione said quickly. "We were just talking to Luna in the great hall.

"Oh that's good," Dean said, breathing out in relief.

"We were just talking about divination," Harry added unconvincingly.

"Well, we're going to bed," Ginny told them, looking at the floor and trying not to giggle. "Goodnight!" She could feel their eyes boring into her back as the girls made their way up the stairs and just before she shut the door she heard Seamus announce, "That was close!"

**A/N – Review telling me what you liked/disliked. I need the criticism to get better :) I know a lot of people have done the transformation over summer/Draco suddenly notices Ginny plot so I'll try and make it a little different. I have the next few chapters written out but I won't update until I have enough reviews so get reviewing :D**


	2. The Staircase

**A/N – Sorry it's been literally months since I updated. I'm quite aware that boys can't get up the girls staircase but for the purposes of this story they can. Or Malfoy can anyway. And seeing as there have been no attempts of climbing the staircase from anyone except Gryffindor boys, maybe Slytherin boys are immune to charmed staircases :)**

Most of the students seemed to be outside enjoying the sun but as Ginny walked through the castle to the common room after Quidditch practice she felt a number of male eyes on her and she smirked, imagining what she looked like right at that moment. She had fallen off her broom when a particularly violent bludger had hit her in the head and she knew for a fact she had mud on her face and that her hair was no longer in the neat ponytail she had started with. She gave the password and ran straight up the stairs to the girl's dorm expecting it to empty and was surprised to see Lavender sitting on her bed surrounded by what looked like the entire contents of her black handbag.

"Oh, hi Ginny," she said, grabbing her make up from the duvet and walking to the door of the bathroom. "You stink," she wrinkled her nose before slamming the door behind her.

"Hey!" Ginny protested angrily, marching up to the bathroom door and hammering loudly on it. "What are you doing? I need a shower!"

"My date was brought forward," Lavender told her through the door. "I need to do my make up so you'll just have to wait!" Ginny sighed angrily and lay down on her bed, her Quidditch uniform sticking to her uncomfortably.

Lavender finally came out of their shared bathroom and Ginny grabbed her towel and ran in, eager to finally wash away the sweat she'd built up playing Quidditch. Turning the shower onto full blast she stepped out of her clothes and slipped under the hot water, grinning as it hit her skin.

Lavender looked at the clock and cursed, quickly switching her straightners off and hurrying out of the dormitory to meet her date at the door of the common room. It was practically empty because everyone was outside basking in what was left of the sun so she let him in and he followed her up to her dorm so she could get her bag and he could use the bathroom.

"Crap. I must have left it in the common room, I'll go have a look," Ginny heard Lavender say through the door and she chuckled as she realised she must be talking to herself. She finished towel drying her hair and wrapped the towel around her body, her normally straight hair hanging round her face in messy waves. Opening the door to go to the dorm and get changed she found herself face to face with... Draco Malfoy.

Horrified, she backed away from his shocked face but slipped on the wet bathroom floor, her feet sliding across the wet tiles. Suddenly she felt a strong arm around her waist, stopping her from falling. She quickly got her balance again, making sure to avoid the wet patch on the floor this time. Realising the arm was still around her waist she turned her head to face Malfoy again, this time to be greeted with a smirk.

"What?" she asked timidly, almost afraid of the venomous remark that would come out of his mouth.

"How long does it take for you to pee?" Lavender shouted from the common room. He turned his head to the direction of her voice, removing his arm before turning back to Ginny, unable to keep a smile off his lips as he looked her up and down.

He leant forwards until his mouth was at her ear. "I have to go. Don't miss me too much." And with another smirk in her direction, he turned, opened the door to the staircase and disappeared into the common room.

Ginny stood there for a minute, hardly believing what had just happened. She laughed out loud, her mouth still hanging open in shock as she got changed into a white vest top and a blue skirt and hurried down the staircase into the common room. She glanced in the mirror before she left and groaned at the sight of her messy hair and bare face.

Looking around the room she spotted a hair bobble and a tube of mascara she assumed Parvati and Lavender had left lying around and grabbed them, tying her unbrushed hair into a messy ponytail and using the mascara to make her eyes look a little less like she'd just got out the shower.

"Hermione, Hermione!" shouted Ginny, running across the grass towards her friend, having spotted her as soon as she left the castle. "You will not believe what just happened!" The brunette looked up and smiled at Ginny.

"What's wrong? And you'll never guess who Lavender was on her date with! I've just seen them walking over there," she pointed in a direction to their left. "It was-"

"Malfoy," Ginny sighed, already too aware of the fact. Hermione narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously.

"How did you know that?"

Ginny opened her mouth to speak but closed it again when she realised she had no idea where to start. "Well... I'd just finished quidditch practice," she started, choosing her words carefully as not to make them sound any stranger than she'd just realised they would sound. Hermione raised her eyebrows as a sign for Ginny to continue. "And the common room was empty apart from Lavender who was in our dorm getting ready – and she still wouldn't tell me who she was going out with. She was taking ages in the bathroom and you know what I'm like after Quidditch."

Hermione nodded, wrinkling her nose. "You stink."

"Yes I know, that's why I brought it up. It didn't really require a response though," Ginny snapped, glaring at her. "Anyway, that's not the point of the story. So Lavender came out the bathroom, and I went in the shower and when I came out I only had my dirty clothes I'd been wearing for practice so I wrapped a towel round me and I opened the door and-" Ginny stopped, blushing furiously.

"And?" Hermione asked, suddenly taking an interest as she noticed Ginny's cheeks had turned the same shade as her hair.

"I opened the door and Malfoy was stood there, hand poised as if he were about to knock on the door." Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

"Malfoy?!"

"Yeah," Ginny cringed away from Hermione's stare. "I took a step back and my foot slipped on the wet floor and he could have just let me fall over and got a good laugh out of it but he... grabbed me. Round the waist and... And I sort of liked it," she stopped, suddenly nervous to see Hermione's reaction. To Ginny's annoyance, she had an annoying smirk plastered on her face, a look which gave Ginny the impression that Hermione knew more than she was telling her. "What?" she barked.

"Oh nothing," Hermione muttered, her grin widening as she grabbed a pile of books from the grass next to her and hurriedly shoved them in her tote bag. She glanced at the watch Ron had given her for Christmas. "Oh, Gin, I have to go. I have to go help Neville with his potions homework," she lied unconvincingly. Ginny knew for a fact Neville was helping out in the greenhouses.

"Bye then," Ginny mumbled as Hermione sloped off towards the castle. She pulled her hair out of the ponytail, lay back on the grass and sighed. Her talk with Hermione had provoked more questions than it had answered.

"Draco!" The blond Slytherin looked at Lavender, slightly annoyed that she'd interrupted his thoughts of a certain petite redhead in a towel by snapping at him. "You haven't listened to a word I've been saying have you?" She huffed, turning her head away from him and nearly whipping him in the face with her hair.

"No, I haven't," he muttered angrily, desperately trying to conjure up the image that had met him when he had opened the bathroom door. It was too late now; his thoughts were tainted, full of anger and impatience for his date to end. Why did he think that asking a Gryffindor out would be a good idea? A drop of rain hit him in the middle of his forehead and he looked up, surprised to be greeted with dark skies instead of the cloudless blue he had been expecting. He looked over towards Lavender who had a worried look on the face as she looked up at the rainclouds. _Probably worried about her hair or something_, Draco decided.

"Shall we start walking back then?" he asked and she nodded gratefully as people around them started packing up their stuff and walking back to the castle. The rain started to fall lightly at first but was getting gradually heavier as they got closer to the castle and he could tell Lavender was getting more and more anxious. She had also started to shiver but Draco felt no need to offer her his robe. It was her own fault if she had come out without her own, in his opinion.

"Can we wait here for a minute, Draco?" she asked, as she stopped underneath a tree without waiting for him to answer. He sighed, eager to get back to the warmth of the common room.

"Shouldn't we just keep going?" he moaned, wrinkling his nose as the rain continued to drip through the branches. "It'll just keep getting worse and if we get back now then there'll still be time to get dry before we need to go to the great hall."

She looked at him sceptically. "Or we could just wait here for it to stop raining and then we won't need to dry off because we won't be wet," she said, trying to make a joke although it came out more of a demand than a suggestion. He turned away from her angrily, walking to the edge of the tree and standing just outside of the branches, the water that had gathered on the tree soaking him now as well as the rain from the sky. He stood, gazing towards the castle longingly when a flash of red and blue caught his eye. He flicked his hair back from where it had settled messily on his forehead, trying to focus on whatever it was. _Ginny Weasley, _he realised, laughing despite himself. She was lying on the wet grass in a short blue skirt and what looked like a thoroughly soaked white top. He froze for a minute, worrying that the reason for her still figure was that she had been harmed but as he watched she sat up slowly, throwing her wet hair back and raking her fingers through it. Then she got up, looking round at the empty field. He continued to stare at her, transfixed, with a burning curiosity to know what would be her next move. Suddenly she started to dance, throwing her hair around wildly and waving her hands in the air, completely unfazed by the rain.

A few minutes later she stopped, throwing her hair forwards then flicking it back over her head to get it off her face and even from his position at the other end of the grounds he could see she was laughing.

As Ginny stood up she noticed someone standing at the edge of a large tree, looking as drenched as she currently felt. A shiver ran up her spine as she recognised him - she would know that head of white blond anywhere. Already shivering with cold as well as the shock of seeing him staring at her, she turned and ran back to the castle without looking back.

**A/N – Not completely sure about that last bit. What did you think? Reviews mean quicker updates :) Next chapter is already written.**


	3. Cloaks

**A/N – Please ignore the fact that in the last book there is only supposed to be one Invisibility Cloak because of the Hallows. In my story there are at least three :)**

Ginny was blushing before she'd even entered the great hall, causing Hermione to stop her several times and demand to know the reason.

"Is it Harry?" she whispered loudly, causing Harry to look round at them hopefully.

"No!" Ginny replied fiercely. They walked into the great hall and Ginny glanced quickly to the Slytherin table. Theo and Blaise seemed to be competing for Draco's attention either side of him but his eyes were locked firmly on Ginny and she was surprised to see there was no smirk on his lips.

"Ginny!" She turned to the direction of the voice and was surprised to see that she'd walked right past where her friends had sat down and, blushing even harder than before, she stumbled back a few steps and threw herself down in between Ron and Harry, who smiled happily at her.

"So I guess you want to hear all about my date," Ginny looked up with a start and was surprised to see Lavender sitting opposite, a strange expression on her face.

"Not really," muttered Hermione, receiving a glare from Lavender. "Well what do you expect?" Hermione snapped, "It _is _Malfoy we're talking about," she looked at Ginny but Lavender was too busy glaring at her to notice.

"Well then, you'll be happy to know that it was a complete disaster," Lavender concluded, standing up and storming off in the direction of the door.

"I should go see if she's ok..." Ron said awkwardly, starting to stand up.

"She's fine! She has Parvati!" Hermione said, gesturing obviously to Parvati, who was hurrying towards the door after Lavender. Ron sat back down with a thump, and if looks could kill Hermione would have been dead on the floor within a matter of seconds.

"Well, we'd better get to lessons," sighed Harry, looking between his best friends as if he'd rather do anything but. "Bye Ginny."

"Bye," she smiled back; trying to ignore the look Harry gave her as she left to find Luna at the next table. She scanned the room for her long blonde hair and a shiver ran up her spine as she noticed a different blond was still following her with his eyes. She finally spotted Luna and hurried over, dragging her from the hall immediately.

"Hello?" Theo's hand obstructed Draco's view as her waved it in front of his face, trying to get his attention. Draco swatted the hand away but Ginny had already left. He turned back to his friends angrily and Blaise seemed to sense the tension.

"Potions first, mate," he said, standing up and throwing his bag over his shoulder. "Snape might not care if _you're_ late but I don't fancy another detention."

Blaise and Theo talked on the way to potions, leaving Draco alone with his thoughts. He'd been staring at her this morning. As much as he hated to admit it, he hadn't been able to take his eyes off her. He'd laughed out loud when she'd strolled straight past her friends and he'd had to make some excuse about Potter to his friends so they hadn't suspected anything out of the ordinary. He'd looked back over at her then, and he could feel the anger rising as he saw her sit down with Potter, feeling angry with himself for feeling so jealous at the closeness he was able to have with her. Lavender had stolen a few glances at him as well but he had just looked back coldly to which she had blushed and looked down at the table.

By time they got to the dungeons they were deserted, and as they entered the room he saw the desks had now been pushed into fours instead of the usual rows they were in. Blaise and Theo seemed to notice this too, rushing forward and slamming their bags down on a table with Crabbe and Goyle. Seeing no other spare seat he looked towards Snape.

"There is a seat left next to Potter," Snape told him, curling his lip as he spoke the last word. Draco looked over at the Gryffindor side of the room with disgust. He looked back towards Snape, hoping for another solution but the professor had already started writing instructions on the board, forcing Draco to take his seat with Harry, Dean and Neville. He glared at his friends as he sat down and purposely moved his seat as far away from Dean as he could.

"I will be gone for part of the lesson," Snape announced, turning round from the board. "I expect a suitable essay describing the effects of the polyjuice potion by the time I come back. Anyone who doesn't finish it to my standards will find themselves with a detention on Saturday," he finished, striding across the classroom to the door and giving everyone in the room one last warning look before leaving. With nothing else to do, Draco bent over his parchment and started to write.

"What happened with Ginny this morning?" Dean asked the other two Gryffindors, obviously not caring whether Draco heard at all.

"Daydreaming obviously," replied Harry, "I think she might fancy me you know. Hermione's always been telling me-"

"That was last year," Dean argued. "Last _I _heard was that she was totally over you," he gave Harry and Neville a smug smile. "That's where I come in."

"She didn't seem so over me this morning," Harry said, but Draco could hear the doubt in his voice.

"Really?" Dean raised an eyebrow. "She looked quite bored when I looked over." Draco had to bend down further over his parchment to hide the smirk that he was fighting to keep off his face.

Dean and Harry stopped speaking after that, and the rest of the lesson passed in silence.

For her thirteenth birthday, Fred and George had presented Ginny with an invisibility cloak, and she had been sitting under it in a corner of the common room for the past hour. So far, she had heard Lavender telling Parvati a detailed description of why she thought Ron liked her and Harry telling Neville a detailed description of why he liked Ginny.

She had been sitting under the invisibility cloak a lot lately. It was ironic that she was hiding from the attention she had once craved, but now she could hardly go anywhere without someone going silent as she passed; a sure sign that they had been talking about her. One by one, everyone filed up the stairs to the bedrooms but Ginny did not feel tired and decided to go for a walk.

As she walked down a deserted 2nd floor corridor debating whether or not to go to the kitchens, the sound of footsteps made her stop dead. They sounded like they were coming towards her but the corridor was empty. She stood still, wishing more than anything that she had gone to bed like the others instead of standing in the deserted corridor, with no idea as to what was coming towards her.

The footsteps sounded like they were only metres away now and she suddenly realised if she didn't move then whatever was making the footsteps was going to plough straight into her. Trying to make as little noise as possible, she shuffled one of her feet to the left but as she moved her other foot she tripped on something and fell against the wall painfully, making a thud as she hit the floor.

"Accio cloak," hissed a male voice and she groaned as her cloak shot up into the air where someone grabbed it.

"Who's there?" she asked fiercely, not completely sure she wanted them to answer. She could sense the person hesitating so she took her chance, whipping her wand out her pocket and whispering "Accio cloaks."

Her cloak flew through the air towards her outstretched hand, followed by the second, leaving Malfoy standing there wide eyed.

"Oh, it's just you," she whispered, letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"What do you mean, _just you_?" he asked, and if Ginny didn't know him better she would have thought he had been flirting. She had to stop herself laughing at the thought.

"You stood on my foot," he told her, matter of fact, his lips curving into a smile.

"Yeah, well your foot made me hit my head," she replied, starting to get up. He offered his hand but she ignored it, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"So how come you have a cloak, Weasley?" he asked, taking the material out of her hands and throwing it back over himself. She shrugged, putting her own cloak back on before answering.

"Birthday present off Fred and George, what about you?"

"When you're a Malfoy, you don't have to want for anything. You just get it," he replied, his voice sounding further away.

"Where are you going?" she took a step in the direction she thought he was going in but it was hopeless with the cloaks on, she had no idea where he was.

"I'm getting out of here. Filch will be coming down here soon, he patrols the corridors at night."

She followed the sounds of his footsteps, struggling to keep up with him.

"How come you're being nice?" she asked him and the footsteps stopped. He pulled the cloak so only his head was visible and she copied him.

"I'm not always a prick," he told her defensively, looking a bit hurt.

"Are you kidding? You love being mean!"She told him, raising an eyebrow. He smiled widely at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling, and Ginny realised this was the first real smile that wasn't a smirk she had ever seen him give.

"I have to go, Weasley," he said, his smile disappearing.

"Ginny," she corrected. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

He pulled the cloak back over his head leaving Ginny feeling exposed. "Goodbye, Weasley," he said coldly, and Ginny's eyes widened at the obvious rejection.

"Goodbye _Draco,_" she called cockily after the footsteps but he seemed not to hear her.

As soon as he turned the corner, he stopped and shut his eyes, breathing heavily. He slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor and brought his knees to his chest. He couldn't understand why he felt so horrible. Every time he shut his eyes he could see her big blue eyes staring back at him, full of hurt. He had never felt this way about anyone before. Whenever he had insulted Potter or his friends it was for his own enjoyment and they had fought back but even as she had called to him as he walked away he could hear the sadness and slight resentment in her voice. He didn't want her to resent him, but he felt he had no choice. She made him forget about the barriers he had built around himself, made him want to tell her everything without getting her involved at all.

He sat there for hours, thinking. Filch passed him several times but he just brought his knees closer to his chin and he was left unnoticed. He guessed it was about 4am when he went to bed, having finally made a decision about everything that had been swimming around his head for most of the night. He got up, stretched and walked off in the direction of the dungeons to try and get a few hours sleep

**A/N – It's so hard to keep them both in character. Let me know if you have any ideas for the story or if there's anything I can do to make it better :) What do you think Draco decided? Reviews mean quicker updates.**


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