FicWad

A/N: I own none of this. I do not own Harry Potter or any rights to his image or personality. I do not own the moon or the stars. I do have any claim on any of the concepts or characters of a television show named Quantum Leap. This is all a coincidence. Nothing to see here, move along. Honest. Nope, not me. I most certainly do not own the rights to a billion dollar literary work.

Harry Potter and the Clockwork Leap



"After hearing /Someone/theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Harry Potter stepped into the Department of Mysteries' Time Turner Acceleration Chamber and vanished. He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is /Someone Else/, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of an Astral Projection that only Harry can see and hear. And so Harry Potter finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the one that allows him to kill Voldemort."



CHAPTER THREE



A shrill scream pierced the air and there cowering on the floor in the wreckage of the stalls was a small bushy haired... girl?



Something wasn't right. Something was... wrong. This was familiar, but the screaming hurt his ears, then something was on his back, and a sharp... something was stuck up his nose.



I know this. Harry thought. I know this, but I can't remember...



He turned to find a miniature Ron Weasley waving his tiny wand at Harry. Harry dropped his club as it all came together for him. From deep in his chest, a sound rumbled.



"Oh boy."



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"I believe that is quite enough of that Mr. Potter."



Harry wheeled to face the speaker and was so shocked to find Professor McGonagall staring at him in a most disapproving manner that he forgot to duck and bumped his head on the ceiling.



"Per...fee...ser?" Harry managed to grind out. There was something wrong with his voice. There was something wrong with everything. Why was it so hard to think? Why wouldn't little Hermi stop screaming? Why was little Ron pointing his wand at Harry? And what was it that was on his back jabbing something sharp into his nose?



The mirror in the Assistant Headmistresses' hand began squawking.



"Yes, yes, Gilderoy, I'll tell him." The woman returned her attention to Harry. "Mr. Potter, Professor Lockhart believes that you are here to ensure that Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley survive the Troll's rampage this time around.



That made sense... sort of. But where was Luna? Or Daphne? The small part of Harry's mind that was still capable of rational thought was trying in vain to think of a reasonable way for Minerva McGonagall to have taken the position of the one person who could astral project to him during one of his leaps, and Gilderoy Lockhart was running the research/evaluation end of the operation? What the hell had he changed?



Harry stumbled to one knee, jarring what ever was on his back so that it fell off. The sharp distraction in his nose fell away as well. That was when he looked up and saw that his club was hovering over his head.



"Oh, very good Mr. Potter. Now, just allow him to drop it on you." McGonagall's astral aspect said.



Harry waited for the club to drop.



And waited.



And waited.



"Drop the club you stupid boy!"McGonagall snapped at the unhearing Ron Weasley.



Harry felt his trollish rage starting to rise again, and wasn't sure how much longer he could hold it at bay. He reached over to where Ron stood stalk still in open mouthed amazement that his spell was working and lightly (for a Troll) gave the red head a push.



Ron Weasley flew across the room hitting his head on the door frame, and the club fell, hitting Harry the troll square on the top of his head.



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~discontinuity ~



Harry blinked. Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell were staring into his eyes with an expression of deep concern on their faces.



"Are you alright Fred?" she asked.



What was going on? "Angelina?"



"George Oswald Weasley, you aren't going to win any points from me by calling me Angelina." Katie said sarcastically.



"Katie?" Harry asked, deeply confused.



"Katie's with George, Freddie. Are you alright?" Angelina asked.



Harry shook his head, before pushing his palms to his forehead as if to ward off a headache. He was experiencing the worst case of vertigo he had ever known.



"George, you're scaring me." Katie whispered in his ear.



"Fred? Fred, are you alright? Should I get Madam Pomfrey?" Angelina asked.



Harry just sat where he was shaking his head. Why were Angelina and Katie talking over each other like that? Why were they calling him George and Fred?



"OK Susie, I've found Him. This is a bad one." Another voice Harry dimly recognized said. He looked up to see Hannah Abbott with a finger to her lips signaling him to stay quiet. "Harry, Iknow you're confused. Tell her you need to go to the loo, ok? I'll explain everything."



Harry could see that neither Katie nor Angelina could see or hear Hannah. Was he going mad?



"I need to go to the loo." He said simply, struggling to rise from his seat.



"I'll help you." Angelina answered as she took hold of his left arm.



Harry fell on his face in front of Katie, while Angelina held him upright.



He fell down. But he hadn't. But he was on the floor... but he wasn't.



The vertigo got worse. What the hell was going on? Katie helped Harry back to his feet and guided him to the nearest boy's loo, Angelina kept her grip on Harry's arm as they approached the facilities. There Harry saw Angelina almost carrying Fred Weasley. And Harry saw Katie Bell holding George Weasley upright.



"Oh boy." The Weasley twins said together in perfect unison.



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Harry held onto George while Harry held onto Fred as the pair made their way into the loo.



"This is bad." They said in unison.



"You're telling me," Hannah Abbott chuckled. "You've certainly gotten yourself into a good one this time Harry."



"Hannah?" the pair said in unison, "what's happening to me?"



"It appears that you've leaped into both the twins simultaneously," Hannah smirked. The blonde consulted the sheet of parchment in her hand. "Justin and Ernie both think that this means you need to be in two places at once to fix whatever the problem is..." her eyes widened as she read some more of the writing on the parchment before looking up. "Susan, you're nasty!" She redirected her attention to the twins. "Susan says she has all sorts of ideas that would be a whole lot of fun with two of you."



"So much has changed." The Twins said in unison.



"What do you mean?" Hannah asked.



"I... God, this is distracting." The pair said, before they both closed their eyes in concentration and the Fred twin said. "I don't think you've ever been with me before."



A look of concern crossed Hannah's face. "What do you mean Harry?"



"I... I think I remember Daphne Greengrass being the one astral projecting to me." There was no way in hell Harry was going to admit to the insane McGonagall/Lockhart team he sort of remembered. That had to have been a messed up dream.



"Daphne Greengrass? The Gryffindor? Merlin Harry, this leap has mangled your memory worse than ever. I've been with you since you first entered the chamber six months ago."



"Six months?" Harry asked, using George this time. "Has it been that long?"



"You've been in thirty four different people's lives Harry; it's not surprising that you're confused."



The parchment in her hand chimed. Hannah examined the note that had appeared, and then looked up. "I'll ask him Ernie, but this sounds stupid." Returning her attention to Harry she continued. "Harry, Ernie wants to know some basic information so that we can evaluate your memories. What house do you remember being sorted into?"



"Gryffindor." Fred's body answered.



Hannah's eyes grew wide. "Ok, next question. Who is your best friend?"



"Hermione Granger. Ron Weasley aclose second."



"Oh Merlin's balls." The blonde breathed. "Ok. Last question, and it's really personal, but Ernie says he needs an answer. Who did you lose your virginity to?"



The twins' mouths opened and closed without making any sounds for a few seconds.



"Ernie needs to know Harry." Hannah said while blushing to her roots.



"I'm a virgin." The Fred body said, his eyes firmly focused on the floor.



Hannah blinked, and then returned her attention to the parchment. "Alright Harry. The consensus in the common room has boiled down to two possibilities. Either the Leaping Effect had addled you to the point where you no longer have a firm connection to reality, or Justin's more likely theory that you have made changes to history in your leaps, changes that you are exempt from by your being outside the time stream, while we've all experienced the new pattern."



"The Daphne I knew was aSlytherin." Harry said using George's body. It was becoming easier to have the two act independently.



"Really? I'm having trouble picturing a giggling huggy kissy girl like Daphne Greengrass in Slytherin. Weird. Did she still hang out with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown?"



Daphne? A huggy kissy girl who hung out with Parvati and Lavender? What the hell had he changed? Harry shook Fred's head. "Does anyone have any suggestions as to what it is I'm supposed to be doing?"



"The consensus is that you need to expose Barty Crouch Jr.," Hannah explained. "That will hopefully save Cedric."



"Harry nodded from within George. "We could confound him, and then nick his polyjuice. What else?"



"We're not sure, but we think you need to neutralize Rita Skitter before her ambition and greed can make what we need to do any harder than it absolutely has to be. She's here, she's a..."



"Beetle animagus." Harry interrupted. "I remember Rita all too well."



"Because of her articles, almost no one believed us until it was almost too late." Hannah looked down at the parchment in her hand, her eyes tracking whatever was being written. "Sue says that you can hurry up and come back to us, so that she can remind you about who you gave your virginity to." The blonde offered Harry an evil smile.



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Fred and George stumbled out of the loo, still a bit wobbly, but in noticeably better shape than when they entered.



"Are you two alright?" Angelina asked, concern etched across both her and Katie's face.



"Yeah, we're better." Harry/George said.



"I need to change my shirt,"Harry/Fred agreed.



"I'll come with you." Angelina said taking his arm.



"No, stay. You're having fun, no sense in wasting it on waiting for me to clean up after myself. I'll just be atic."



"Are you sure you're alright George?" Katie asked.



"I was feeling a bit odd for amoment, but I'm better now," Harry/George answered.



"Oh sweet Merlin!" The spectral Hannah Abbott proclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me that dress made my bum look huge?



Both the twins turned to watch ayounger version of Harry Potter dancing with a younger Hannah Abbott. Harry/Fred turned away and exited the Great Hall with the spectral Hannah Abbott in his wake, shaking his head and muttering about crazy women. Harry/George turned to Katie and suggested that a bit of fresh air might help how he was feeling.



The pretty chaser took his offered arm and led him out into the entrance hall. The front doors stood open, and the fluttering fairy lights in the rose garden winked and twinkled as they went down the front steps, where they found themselves surrounded by bushes; winding, ornamental paths; and large stone statues. They could hear splashing water, which sounded like afountain. Here and there, people were sitting on carved benches. Together the pair set off along one of the winding paths through the rosebushes, looking for the fountain. It wasn't long before they reached a circle of large stone reindeer, past which they could see the sparkling jets of a tall fountain. The shadowy outlines of two massive people were visible on an engorged stone bench, watching the water in the moonlight. And then Harry heard Hagrid speak.



"Momen'I saw yeh, I knew," he was saying, in an oddly husky voice.



Harry/George and Katie froze. This didn't sound like the kind of conversation that they really ought to walk in on, somehow... Harry/George looked around, back up the path, and saw Fleur Delacour and Ron Weasley standing half-concealed in arosebush nearby. Fleur and Ron? What the holy hell had he changed? Katie noticed George staring and followed his line of sight to see what he was staring at. She blushingly elbowed him in the ribs.



"Don't you dare! George Weasley, if you so much as think about pranking your little brother when he's with that French girl, I'll make you wish you had never heard your first joke.



Harry was confused by Katie's comment for a second before he remembered who she saw when she looked at him. Yeah, George would make sure Ron wished he had never been born if he had caught Ron in this situation, and Fleur and Ron did look to be very busy to Harry. What could he possibly have changed to bring this sequence of events about?



"What did you know, 'Agrid?" asked Madame Maxime, a purr in her low voice.



Harry definitely didn't want to listen to this; he knew this was when Hagrid had been overheard by...



Skeeter. Skeeter was here somewhere. Drawing George's wand Harry conjured a glass jar.



"George!"Katie whispered. "I didn't know you could do that..."



Harry/George ignored her, his eyes searching for something small and moving... There. There she was, a beetle crawling along the back of one of the stone reindeer.



He deftly scooped the animagus into the jar and capped it.



"Why did you do that?" Katie asked, confused by her date's odd behavior.



I just needed a bit of air and a distraction." Harry/George explained. He gave the young woman his best smile. "Shall we get back to the party?"



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Harry/Fred made his way through the halls on his way to Moody's office. He was pleased to find that the further he got from his other self, the easier it became to deal with the slight vertigo that still remained. Though he found it odd that he had no idea what his other self was doing. How was that even possible if they were sharing a mind?



"Turn left." Hannah said while consulting her parchment. She looked about as she walked beside Harry/Fred. "So this is where the teacher's quarters are. No wonder we never found them."



"Why would we have been looking for the teacher's quarters?"



"Why to prank them of course. Snape was always a right bastard. Back in third year we came up with a great plan to fill his quarters with flan." The astral projection of the pretty blond giggled. "Too bad we never found this place." She stopped in front of adoor. "Ernie says this is the door to our faux-Moody's office, just a sec." She stuck her head through the door. "Ok, no one inside, see if you can open the door."



Harry/Fred considered that for amoment. There was no way in hell that he would ever be able to unlock a door secured by Mad Eye Moody... and Barty Junior would be nearly as paranoid as the old man... But would a Death Eater like Crouch think about... Harry/Fred searched his pockets until he found what he was looking for.



Fred Weasley was always the more cautious of the twins, where George was the primary source of manic destruction, Fred was the source of patient planning (which invariably led to manic destruction). While George tended to fly by the seat of his pants, Fred was always prepared. This is how Harry knew that Fred would have a set of mechanical lock picks in his pockets.



Harry/Fred set to work, hoping that he remembered enough of the lock picking lessons the twins had gifted him with the summer after third year.



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Harry/George reentered the Great Hall with Katie Bell on his arm. As the pair made their way to their table, they were once again passed by a much younger Harry Potter dancing this time with Susan Bones.



Harry/George was shocked when he noticed that the younger version of himself had no scar on his forehead. That shocked him enough to stop dead in his tracks and stare.



"George!" Katie hissed. "I swear to Merlin, if you don't quit staring at that little 'Puff's chest, I'm going to hex you into a greasy ginger puddle."



"What?" George/Harry responded. "Chest? No, no, no... I thought I saw something odd about Potter."



"Sure you did. Since when do you care about the 'Puffs and their cheating ways?" The young woman said shaking her head. "At some level you have to admire their gall for figuring out how to get Diggory into the tournament, but when they got Potter in as well..."



Harry/George blinked at that. The Gryffindor's considered all of Hufflepuff house cheats? That not even Cedric deserved his place in the tournament? That wasn't something he expected. Still, the younger version of himself seemed... happy.



As they reached their table, Viktor Krum danced by with Pansy Parkinson in his arms, the girl beaming with happiness. That didn't seem right. Harry/George couldn't remember if Krum had danced with anyone other than Hermione the first time he was at the Ball.



"I wonder where Hermione is," he asked absently.



"Where do you think she is?" Katie asked acidly nodding toward a twirling Cedric Diggory with a ravishing brunette in his arms. "We're going to have a long talk with that girl about House loyalty."



Harry/George had been looking for the periwinkle robes Hermione had worn the first time, this time however she was wearing robes of an emerald green. Also unlike the first time the expression on her face was different. Hermione was quite clearly in love with the man she was dancing with.



Ron with Fleur, Hermione with Cedric, Viktor with /Pansy/? What the hell changes had he made to this the timeline that allowed this to happen?



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Harry/George excused himself from the table to get Katie a drink, all the while shaking his head as the odd relationships this timeline had. Hopefully whatever it was he needed to do would allow those relationships to continue.



There was something wrong with the universe when something that he might or might not have done while in the troll's body could lead to this very different reality.



Harry/George's path to the ever-full punch bowl took him behind the faux-Moody. What should he do about the polyjuice? Simply vanishing the flask would alert the Death Eater that something was going on.



A dose lasted an hour. Harry/George wondered how long it had been since Crouch's last dose... With aflick of his wand, Harry/George performed a Switching charm, and then covertly poured the glass of Moody flavored polyjuice into a convenient potted plant. He hoped that Crouch enjoyed the punch.



Ok, Rita neutralized, check.



Crouch deprived of his polyjuice. Check.



Where was Fred?



Harry pondered that and suddenly realized that he had no idea what his other self was doing. Shouldn't he know? Had his connection been severed by distance?



Was Fred ok?



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Albus Dumbledore carefully watched George Weasley return to his date at the table the pair had staked out for themselves.



The Headmaster nodded in agreement with whatever point Percy Weasley had just made, not really paying attention to the young man or his extended rant about cauldron bottoms and how only the standardization of those bottoms was vital to staving off a global collapse of Wizarding culture. Something was going on with the Weasley twins.



The pair had been on the Dance floor with their respective dates when both appeared to have a flare of magic. A blinding flare that no one else seemed to have noticed. Then the pair of them began behaving oddly, one falling to the floor, and the other nearly so before their dates guided the twins to the nearest toilet.



After almost twenty minutes in the toilet, the pair had emerged, still looking a bit worse for wear, and then split up, with George Weasley returning unsteadily to his date, while Fred Weasley had stumbled from the Great Hall, claiming that he needed to change his shirt. Dumbledore almost went back to ignoring the twin mischief makers when he noticed... something accompanying Fred from the room. /Something/that almost appeared to be a ghost.



The ancient Wizard's brow furrowed. What was 'almost' a ghost? While he had pondered that question George Weasley had conducted his date out of the Great Hall, into the gardens.



Was something going on that would merit his direct interference? Dumbledore allowed himself to connect with the castle's protections. Something was amiss... That same something that had been... wrong since the beginning of the school year. What ever it was the Weasley twins were up to, it wasn't sufficient to alert the Ancient Protections that every Headmaster had depended upon since the time of the Founders... Interesting.



Dumbledore spent the next twenty minutes nodding wisely in agreement with what ever it was Percy Weasley was blathering on about until George Weasley and his date... Katie someone... She was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, returned to the Great Hall.



Young Mr. Weasley excused himself to his date and headed for the beverage table, which was being guarded by the ever vigilant Alastor Moody. Dumbledore smiled to himself. If George attempted one of his traditional pranks of spiking the punch with some potion or other Alastor would certainly make the young man wish he had never been born.



But the boy had simply taken aglass of punch and retreated to the far wall behind the table... what was he up to?



Dumbledore's faith in human nature was rewarded when George discretely drew his wand, and pointed it at his glass of punch. The Headmaster's eyes widened when he saw the boy cast a switching spell between himself and Alastor Moody.



Then the old man's bearded chin dropped in shock when the retired Master Auror, quite possibly the most paranoid man alive, completely missed that the contents of his personal flask had been swapped with the punch in the prankster's hand.



That wasn't possible.



Dumbledore rose to his feet as he watched the Weasley boy pour a thick grey liquid from his punch glass into apotted plant. Sudden realization of what was going on bloomed full on in the Headmaster's mind. Abandoning the still droning Percy Weasley, Dumbledore made his way toward the man wearing Alastor Moody's face.



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Barty Crouch Jr. fished his flask of polyjuice from the pocket of his robes. He had lost track of the time, another minute or two and he might have attracted some unfortunate attention. With a quick practiced motion he threw back a slug of the horrible stuff, trying not to think too much about what essence of blood traitor might be doing t his body.



His tongue was assaulted by a sweet fruit flavor.



His one human eye widened in horror. Someone had taken his polyjuice. How had he missed that? He only had moments before his body would start reverting to normal. With a grunt he heaved himself into motion.



Every day he spent in this form caused his respect for Moody to climb ever higher. The Old Auror might be ablood traitor, but he had fought and defeated younger, healthier, and perhaps most importantly whole wizards and won for more than two decades before he had been forcible retired. It took everything Crouch had to just move about the castle most days.



"Professor Moody?"



Crouch froze at the sound of the voice. The damned eye was focusing too much on what his natural eye was looking at and not the world around him. No one should have been able to get close enough to speak without Crouch knowing about it. Had he missed amaintenance charm?



Looking up Crouch found one of the damned Weasleys looking at him with a huge Grin.



"What is it boy? I've business to take care of."



"What's wrong Professor? You don't seem well... Not feeling like yourself?" Again with that damnable grin. Crouch then realized what the boy had asked. Did he know? This was one of the pranking bookends... Had the boy switched his polyjuiced for some of the punch at the party and recognized what it was?



Crouch decided to try and bull his way through it. "I am feeling a bit under the weather... Don't look at me like that boy! Wait until you're my age and see how spry you feel in the winter time. I'm heading to my quarters for a bit of a lay down."



"Is there a problem Alastor?"



Crouch turned to find Dumbledore behind him. The damned eye was definitely not working. He had to get out of here. "I'm just not feeling well Albus," he said trying to avoid the old man's eyes. "I think I'll be heading to my quarters for..."



Crouch was shocked when his arms snapped to his sides and his legs snapped together causing him to lose his balance pitching forward to fall face first onto the floor. The pain of his nose breaking brought tears to his eyes, which blurred the image of abedraggled one legged one eyed Alastor Moody standing in the door way to the Great Hall, leaning heavily on the other Weasley twin, clutching the boy's wand in his right hand.



"Step away from him Albus," the ragged man said. "That's Barty Crouch Jr. back from the grave.



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Dumbledore knelt next to the polyjuiced man running several identification and diagnostic charms as he did so.



This was embarrassing. To have someone come to the school and impersonate a close friend like this.



"Alastor, when did this happen?"



"Crouch and another man ambushed me at my house before the school year started. A more important question is why these two kids who I've never met sussed out that he wasn't me when you did not," the old Auror noted.



Dumbledore's eyes flashed from one of the twins to the other. Something was different about them, their body language had changed, and there was that... 'Almost a ghost' standing next to Fred and Alastor.



A crowd gathered around the body of the polyjuiced man when his features began to contort. Only Moody's petrifaction spell kept the man from convulsing as the magical eye was ejected from his body and the horrible crushing that occurred when Moody's wooden led remained stubbornly in place when Crouch's real leg attempted to regrow.



As the crowd gasped Dumbledore looked up at the twins again just in time to be almost blinded by the spectral flares that bloomed from each of the Weasley twins. After the flare of magic died away, the Headmaster was amazed to see that each of the twins wore an identical expression of shock and surprise.



The 'Almost a ghost' remained however and Dumbledore concentrated on that entity to the exclusion of all others. His formidable abilities in magic allowed him to catch some oddly modulated echoing words from the being, words that would puzzle him for the rest of his life.



"He's gone. Find him. Find him now."



And the 'Almost a ghost' was gone as well.



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~discontinuity ~



Harry stiffened. What had happened?



He found himself holding a woman who clung to him like he was the only thing between her and certain death. Her body quaked with sobs, and as hard as it was for Harry to believe, she tightened her grip on his body.



Suddenly realizing that his own face was wet with tears he felt oddly comforted when he pulled the woman even tighter to his own body. Harry opened his eyes and was immediately rewarded with a face full of red hair.



Red Hair? Was he home? Ginny? Sue? Oh god please, not Aunt Petunia?



"Mum? Mum? Mum? Mum?" a young child's plaintive voice called out in the room.



The woman in Harry's arms broke their clinch and stepped away from him, carefully wiping her eyes before turning to her son, a boy of two, perhaps three years. She knelt down next to the boy and pulled him into a hug. "Oh, Harry, it will be alright. I promise."



Harry's eyes widened when he looked down in response to the use of his name and saw the young boy in the woman's arms. The boy wore his face... his face, but no scar.



Memories of time travel filled his mind. A red headed woman and a little boy with his face. He must be in his own future, meeting his son and his mother... His wife? He still hadn't seen her face, but she was too tall for Ginny, and too... slim for Susan and...



He had a son!



The little boy looked up at him and raised his arms. "Padfoo! Up!"



The woman looked up at him, her eyes red from her tears, but still a vivid emerald green.



Harry felt faint. Mum?



A sad smile crossed Lily's lips. "Well, what are you waiting for Sirius? Your Godson wants held."



Harry lifted the boy... himself? And looked into his eyes.



"Padfoo!" the boy said wrapping his small arms around Harry's neck.



Harry's eyes found a mirror on the wall across the room and in the reflection saw a young and healthy Sirius Black staring back at him.



"Oh boy."



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