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"Those not in the business often imagineintegration as being a constant struggleagainst the whims of the shape and ofstubborn Primes. In fact, integrationmuch more closely resembles a businesspartnership than a form of herding – youaren't chasing cattle! There's a level ofautonomy inherent in the process that cancome as a surprise to the inexperienced.But it's crucial, because it's just not possibleto always be in control."
–Captain Paul Skinner, Ret., Life in Providence
It was a very subdued breakfast that Ginny walked in on a bit before nine in the morning.
Sophie and Kylie were absent, possibly still in bed. Harry, Ron and Hermione were eating in silence, eyes on their food. There was a noticeable tension to the proceedings. It wasn't especially surprising, considering one of their own was missing.
And, yes, Ginny could admit to herself that she thought of Scott as 'one of theirs'. She wasn't exactly the best of chums with the Kharadjai, but he was part of the group and part of the fight, and… Well, he had come through enough times in the past to earn some respect. Besides, she was not so petty as to wish harm on him. She didn't want Scott to be gone, and certainly not to be dead, or whatever his equivalent was. She just wanted him to quit taking the piss and stop messing with Harry's head when it suited him.
She had really expected Scott to come waltzing in not too long after they started worrying the night before, probably making some smart remarks as he did so, the bloody liar. But his continued absence had given her anger time to cool. By the time she rolled out of bed to find her friends in the midst of an eerily quiet meal, she had discovered her own measure of concern.
Scott was somewhere out there risking life and limb for the cause, and although she was still angry that he hadn't allowed her the chance to do the same, she recognised his dedication. And she also knew that if she'd continued to fight, then Harry would have, as well. So Scott had done some good, even if he hadn't gone about it in a good way.
"Why didn't you wake me?" she asked Harry when she seated herself next to him.
Harry shrugged listlessly. "Nothing's happening. Reckoned I'd just let you sleep."
"No word, then?"
"No." Harry stared into his cereal as if there might be some answers floating within.
Ginny leaned around him to see what Ron and Hermione were thinking. Ron was shovelling food into his mouth without much in the way of expression, but Hermione was watching Harry with a look of resignation. Like Ginny, she knew what came next.
Harry did not disappoint. "If he's not back by noon, we go looking for him," he said, dropping his spoon with a clatter.
The noise woke Ron up. "You think it'll be safe by then?" he said, sounding unconvinced.
Harry's dark expression was answer enough: he didn't much care.
Ginny sighed and looked to Hermione. "Do you want to try and talk sense into him, or should I?"
"I'm not sure I have the energy for something so exhausting," Hermione said wryly.
"I'm sitting right here!" Harry said.
"Harry, going back is not a good plan. The Ministry will surely be there, even if the Death Eaters aren't," Hermione said, trying logic.
"You think I'm that daft? I've thought about this," Harry told them forcefully. "I'll go back to the car park under the Cloak. I can look around, suss out what's happening, and maybe see where Scott went. Then we can go from there."
"We work in teams, remember? I'll go with you under the Cloak," Ginny said.
"I'll move faster by myself. Less chance of being seen," Harry told her in a tone that was obviously intended to be as reasonable as possible.
Which was a bit insulting, but she got the point. She could be a little shirty when it came to being left behind. Could he blame her? She had been so peripheral before. He wouldn't have even taken her to the Department of Mysteries if she hadn't insisted then, too. She had to fight for every concession. She had to constantly prove her right to be present, and she didn't feel like anyone else had to do that.
Or was that just her own insecurities talking? Well, whatever it was, she didn't like the idea of Harry buggering off by himself with nothing but the Cloak for company.
She took a breath and tried to match his reasonableness. "I get that, but if you find trouble–"
Right in the middle of her sentence a clatter came from the stairs that about made her jump out of her skin.
They all whirled towards the staircase with eyes wide and wands out just in time to see Scott slide down the last few steps on his bum, legs splayed out in front of him.
"I do believe," he said in a hoarse yet cheerful voice, "that the ol' leg is giving out."
Harry was out of his chair in an instant. "You stupid idiot! You're fucking insane, what have you done to yourself?!"
"Bloody hell, you're dirty," Ron said with disgust. "What happened to your leg?"
"Let me look, let me look at it," Hermione insisted, trying to push past the boys.
From where Ginny was standing, Scott was a little over half dead. His military clothes were so filthy that they were more brown than green, and his left thigh was stiff with dried blood, running almost to his knee. He was missing an entire sleeve from his shirt, the skin unnaturally pale around the shoulder and flaring out into a nasty collage of red and yellow burns and pus blisters. His face looked like he had used it to batter down a door: covered in cuts, both lips split, nose swollen, topped with a nice fat black eye. Every square inch of him was covered in dried filth. He smelled positively awful.
He grinned at them, revealing red-tinged teeth. "Morning, mates. God save the Queen."
Harry tossed up his hands and stalked away.
"Ow! What happened to your face, mate?" Ron said, wincing sympathetically at the plethora of scrapes and bruises.
"Born this way, sadly. Doctors say they can't do anything for me."
Hermione huffed with exasperation and a touch of relief that she couldn't quite mask. "Your disfiguration is temporary. We don't mind looking at you, it's the listening to you we have trouble with. Ohhhhh…" She flinched away from Scott's mutilated shoulder after nearly steadying herself on it. "…I'll take a look at that in a moment. Lift your chin up."
Scott complied. "Will I ever be pretty again, nurse?"
"I'm not a miracle worker," Hermione said dryly. "Harry's right, what on earth did you do to yourself?"
"Took a spill. Got lucky, though, my face broke my fall."
"Maybe I can help some," Ginny offered.
Ginny was startled and almost jumped back when Scott reached out and grabbed her shoe, squeezing it. "It is weird how happy I am to see your scowling face?" he said, smiling up at her.
"Yeah, it is," she confirmed.
"He's riding his usual post-mission adrenaline high. With this level of bruising I'd say he's likely concussed, as well," Hermione said. "Can you check that hip and make sure he's not still bleeding?"
Ginny wasn't squeamish when it came to blood. Less than Ron was, anyway. His expression as he tugged down Scott's frayed trouser leg (it tore right off without much effort, and it was obvious he had taken a nasty Severing Charm at some point) was more than a bit queasy. Good thing he had a strong stomach to counterbalance how revolted he was.
Although, perhaps she had taken pride in her medical fortitude too quickly. The gash on Scott's hip was truly disgusting, and when she cast a few cleaning spells on it she could see what she thought was bone down through the gaps in the scabbing.
She glanced up to steady herself and found Scott gazing at what she was doing with curiosity. "That smell south of cheese to you? Not really bad, right?"
"You smell really, really awful," she told him honestly.
"Yeah, but not gangrenous, right?"
"Isn't it a bit soon for that? Besides, you told me you were resistant to gangrene, if I recall," Hermione said.
"I am. It's all good."
Very little about his state was good. Ginny did what she could, casting at the wound until the edges turned pink and the centre was fully scabbed over. Hermione had done more or less the same for his face, lessening the swelling. Neither of them were trained Healers with access to the kinds of resources available at St Mungos.
"I have some potions that can replenish your blood, Scott, are you going to need them?" Hermione said. "I wouldn't ask, but they'll be difficult to replace."
"Should be fine," he said, sounding a bit more lucid after their administrations.
"I'm not sure what to do about your shoulder. I cleaned up the cuts, but I don't have any salve for the burns."
"I'll fix all this stuff later, when I can. I'll slap a bandage on it, jump in the shower until the water stops running red and then pass out for awhile. You guys can yell at me when I wake up."
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes. I'm glad you remember that we have good cause to."
"Got that right," Ron muttered.
"Harry's about ready to go nuclear over there. I can't wait for that chat," Scott said, and Ginny couldn't help but think he actually meant it.
"Please don't antagonise him," Hermione requested. "You know what you did, and we know why you did it, but that doesn't mean we don't have valid
reasons to be angry."
"Uh huh," he said absently, tapping away at his mobile.
"You!" Hermione huffed. She stood and used her wand to clean her hands. "Ron, can you help him get up to the loo?"
"No need; help is on the way," Scott said, tucking his mobile away.
Sophie came rushing down into the kitchen, still holding her mobile. "Oh, no…" she groaned when she saw Scott, pressing a hand to her mouth.
"Come on, now. You've seen worse," Scott said. "And I even have pants on, mostly."
"So I should just be happy about the state you're in? Because of pants?" she demanded.
"Well, maybe not happy…"
As Sophie was even shorter than Ginny, and Scott was about the same height as Ron, the size and weight differential made it utterly bizarre to witness Sophie so effortlessly haul Scott up the stairs. She probably weighed about half as much as he did, even without all the weaponry he was still carrying.
Now that Scott was safely at Grimmauld and he wasn't in critical condition, Ginny turned her attention to Harry. He was standing near the cupboards with his arms crossed.
"Looks like Scott will be fine," she said, walking over to him. "He wasn't quite as bad as he looked."
"He's such a twat," Harry seethed.
"Are you going to go shout at him?" she said hopefully. It was sometimes nice to see Harry assert himself when it came to Scott (and, as a side bonus, an angry Harry was an extra attractive Harry, with his lean muscles tense and his green eyes flashing).
Harry huffed out a laugh, dropping his arms. "No. I'll wait until he tells us what happened, then I'll shout at him."
Ginny gave him a disbelieving look. "You're awfully calm for a bloke who was just in a strop."
Harry shrugged a bit sheepishly. "Yeah… It's hard to stay angry with him when he took a beating like that."
Ginny wouldn't acknowledge it out loud, but he was right. "I'm sorry we didn't find out more about your parents."
"I don't know what I was looking for," Harry admitted. "Just… something that wasn't there."
Hermione approached the two of them, breaking into the conversation. "Discussing the mission?" she said. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "It's awful what happened to Professor Bagshot, the poor woman… And now the whole mission was for nothing." Her eyes widened, and she held out an apologetic hand towards Harry. "Oh! I'm sorry, Harry, I wasn't implying it was a waste. I'm sure the visit did you some good."
"Maybe," Harry said apathetically.
"I'm sure it did," Hermione repeated awkwardly. "Well, be sure to write to Remus and let the Order know what happened. If they hear about it, they'll want to know you're all right."
"They'll want to know we're all fine," Harry stressed.
"Yes, of course," Hermione said with embarrassment. "That's what I meant."
Ginny just rolled her eyes. Hermione was right about the Order, or at least some of its members, when she said they would be worrying mostly about Harry. But, seeing as he loathed any reference to his friends being more expendable than him, she really should have known he would latch on to her grammatical slip. Ginny always appreciated Harry's defence of her importance, even if she wished he would be more realistic sometimes.
Harry looked dourly towards the stairs. "We'll see what Scott has to say when he's ready. Unless we kick his arse before that for lying to us."
"I don't know about you, but I'm still more than a bit put out with him," Hermione declared.
Ginny was, too, though she was still bothered by the nagging thought that if Scott hadn't lied then Harry would have willingly stayed in the line of fire, no doubt waiting for the opportunity to sacrifice his well being for someone or something. She felt like Harry was actually angry not because of the lie, but because when it came to self-sacrifice, Scott had beat him to it.
She saved that opinion for later. "If you want to kick his arse, I'll hold him down," she offered.
Harry's mouth lifted in a small smile, which was progress considering the mood he was in. "I'd like to see that."
"What? You'd like to see me jump on another bloke?" she said innocently.
"Ugh. Not anyone, but especially not Scott." Harry grabbed Ginny's wrist and pulled her over to him. "I didn't have a mum to teach me to share."
Ginny leaned into him. "Too dark, Harry."
"Ron would have laughed."
"No, he wouldn't have."
"Scott would have laughed."
"He's a prick, though."
Hermione glanced over at the table, where Ron had resumed his meal. "I'm going to finish eating. I need to get back to my research if we're going to find another Horcrux."
Harry quickly sobered, and Ginny sent Hermione a glare that the older girl didn't notice. He had been so close to cheering up, and then Hermione had to go and remind him of Horcruxes. "I don't know what we're going to do. Bagshot was our only lead," he said.
"Not true; Scott told us there was a Horcrux to the north. It's not much to go on, but we might be able to narrow it down," Hermione countered.
"Manually, if we have to. The closer we get, the more precise the shape should be."
"Only if the shape is still showing him this thing at all," Harry pointed out. "His first clue might be the only one we get."
"Well, let's hope that's not the case." Hermione briefly hesitated. "It's not ideal, Harry, but we may need to bring more people into the know. The Order have resources we don't, and the more of us that are looking, the better our chances are."
Harry's eyes darkened, his stance gaining a clear tension. "And the better our chances of Riddle finding out what we're doing."
"I know, but–"
"Dumbledore left this to me. If he'd thought the Order could help, he would have told them," Harry said with a tone of finality.
But Hermione could be equally stubborn, and she didn't take the hint and drop the subject. "He couldn't have foreseen everything. And we needn't assume that the Order would require specifics to be helpful, just a few questions about artefacts in general might lead us in the right direction."
"It's too risky," Harry said, intractable.
Hermione began to respond yet again and Ginny was done with the whole conversation. The two of them were going to circuitously argue for who knew how long, and they didn't need Ginny standing there to do it. She grabbed a scone and sat down next to Ron, who was also ignoring the clashing of his best friends in the background.
"Feeling all right?" she asked him, wondering if his silence was a symptom of something more than fatigue.
"Been better, but, haven't we all?" he said philosophically.
"True." She pushed the crumbs from her scone around on the table with her fingers. "How do you think Bill and Fleur are getting along? It's been a bloody dreadful honeymoon."
"I reckon they're fine, Bill's tough and Fleur is…" Ron didn't finish, perhaps wondering what, exactly, Fleur was. "I guess she's probably not too keen on Lila being there, though."
Ginny did remember the two blondes clashing on several occasions. "Fleur will mind Lila if she knows what's good for her." Ginny couldn't imagine Lila tolerating much of Fleur's superciliousness, and she sort of wished she could be there to see it if Lila finally lost her temper. "Too bad you won't be there to jump to her defence."
Ron glared at her. "That was fourth year, and she's partly Veela! I'm not made of bleedin' stone, I can't just shrug off whatever they do to you."
"You do just fine now."
"It took some practice," Ron admitted.
"And some practice snogging Hermione?" Ginny said slyly. "Gave you a new focus, did it?"
"Piss off. I've given you hardly any shite for all the times you've tried to suck Harry's tongue out of his head!"
Ron had, in fact, been quite non-confrontational when it came to her relationship with Harry – at least by his usual standards. Which made sense, considering Ron had been pushing for Harry to get with Ginny from day one. He just wasn't comfortable witnessing the fulfilment of his hopes. "I'll give you that, big brother."
"Glad to hear it, baby sister."
"Why does it have to be 'baby'?" she protested. "Why can't it at least be 'little'?"
"Because you'll always be the baby of the family," Ron told her, and he poked her affectionately in the forehead.
"Isn't that the truth," Ginny grumbled.
"Thanks for talking to Mum, by the way. That was nicely handled, with all the shouting."
"I should have given that phone to you," she said spitefully. "Have you tell Mum why your baby sister is out dodging Death Eaters."
Ron shuddered. "If that ever happens, I'm telling her you Imperiused me."
"A true Gryffindor, you are."
The bickering was familiar and comforting, a relic of a time before the two of them had made the transition from students to soldiers. Ginny had never admitted it to her companions (and especially not to Harry), but she worried greatly about her brothers. She knew they would never stay in the safety of Shell Cottage. She understood that compulsion towards action and wouldn't expect anything less of them, even as she often wished they would stop expecting less of her.
"Careful, careful, careful!" Scott hissed as Sophie tried to extract him from his flak jacket without abrading his shoulder.
"Oh, now you want to be careful!" she said, still upset with him.
"No, I want you to be careful," he corrected.
"I am! Stop wiggling and hold still!" she berated him.
Scott fell blessedly silent for a minute or
so as Sophie did her best to disassemble his gear as she worked around his injuries. It was a role she had performed more than once. She was used to weathering snide comments from Lila about 'stripping her brother'. Under other circumstances, it was true that Sophie might have taken secret pleasure in handling him in such a pseudo-intimate fashion; however, the condition he had be in before he needed someone to help extract him from his kit took attraction out of the equation. Especially this time, when he smelled absolutely terrible.
"I smell like the inside of an ass," Scott noted.
"That's what happens when you marinate in ditch water all night," she informed him.
"But am I tender?"
"Tenderised." She brushed a few gentle fingers over a particularly bad burn. "Can you feel that?"
"Very much," he said, wincing. The burn disappeared, leaving a patch of unnaturally clean skin behind. His posture sagged a little lower.
"Now the hip," Sophie said. "You don't need a pinch, do you?"
"Nah." Scott tensed up; when he relaxed, his breath came out in a wavering sigh. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and he wiped at his upper lip. "Got it?"
She checked his hip, making sure the injury was well healed. There was still significant bruising at what had been the tips of the cut, but the deep wound itself was gone. "Looks okay for now," she told him.
"I'll worry about the face later. Try to pretend you're still attracted to me."
"I'll try."
She helped him into the shower stall and then left to stand outside the door. She had led him to the master bedroom where Kylie usually slept, since it had an attached bathroom. At the very least, she could afford him more privacy than he would have received at a forward hospital.
"There's room for two!" he called to her as he tossed his ruined pants over the top of the curtain.
Or maybe he didn't care much for the privacy. "So?" she shot back, trying to sound indifferent.
"So, you know, the whole wash cloth thing was kind of a standing offer…"
Some day she would go ahead and take him up on one of his inappropriate propositions just to see what would happen. She liked to think he would be taken aback, caught off guard and left stammering some sort of retraction. A more rational part of her brain thought that was pretty unlikely, but she still enjoyed the idea of throwing him so thoroughly off balance.
"I was looking over your quick sheets," she said, steering him towards a different sort of conversation altogether. "Did you want me to update some of the statics?"
"I've been meaning to take care of that," he said, starting the shower. He hissed with the first shock of pain as the warm water coursed over his injuries. "I just don't see myself leaving any time soon, even for just a couple days."
"What about… involuntarily?" Sophie said reluctantly. She didn't care for the thought, but Scott had already flirted with capture.
"Good point. I'll fix the sheets, just promise me you won't let them sideline you if they bring some subs in."
"I don't see why they would…"
"Who knows. I was just saying," Scott mumbled.
He stuck to his washing from then on, offering no more salacious remarks or job-related commentary, which was a sure sign of exhaustion. She waited patiently for him to emerge. As the rush of the fight continued to wear down, she knew he would keep getting slower and more deliberate in his motions, until the act of just moving was a chore. Hopefully, the hot water would help with the soreness.
Sophie straightened up when the door to the room creaked open further. She assumed it was one of the Primes come to check on Scott and perhaps demand more immediate answers, but instead the strawberry-blonde head of Kylie peeked around the frame.
The girl's wide eyes darted towards the open bathroom door, and, upon hearing the sounds of the running water, she blushed. "Sorry," she whispered, beginning to withdraw.
"Scott's in there, he's okay! He just needed some help because he's really tired," Sophie volunteered, wondering if Kylie was getting the wrong idea about Sophie's presence.
"That you, Kylie?" Scott called out, his voice hollow as it echoed around the shower.
"Yes," Kylie replied in a voice he couldn't possibly have heard.
"It is Kylie, she wanted to know how you were doing," Sophie said, assigning motivations to the girl who might have just been trying to go into her own room.
"I'm spring fresh, at least according to this soap," Scott said, and the strain of projecting such a loud and ostensibly well voice was becoming more apparent in his gruff timbre.
"See? He'll be fine," Sophie said.
Kylie's mouth turned downwards. "Is he hurt?"
"He's okay. He just needs to sleep," Sophie told her.
"You're lying," Kylie said accusingly, and then she fled.
"Kylie! Wait…" Sophie trailed off.
"What?" Scott said, oblivious.
Sophie dropped her hands and sighed. "I fudged the truth a bit and told her you were okay, but she knew it wasn't entirely true."
"She ran off?"
"She called me a liar and then ran off," Sophie said sadly.
"Showing some spirit, nice."
Sophie wasn't quite so pleased. "I wish she had showed some spirit at someone else…"
She was prepared to refuse to help Scott dress himself for bed, but by the time he stumbled out of the shower he was so spent that he didn't even make such predictable comments. She helped him get up to the room with the motorcycle posters (which was how she always thought of that room, steadfastly ignoring all the girls in bikinis) and he collapsed on the mattress, asleep almost as soon as she pulled the covers up over him.
It was funny how the shape-enhanced Kharadjai physiology worked in combat. It was hard to slow without sputtering to a stop, dependent on inertia. No longer immersed in the rush of the shape and fuelled by adrenaline, Scott crashed.
She stepped back out in the hallway and shut the door behind her as quietly as she could (good thing she had oiled all the hinges recently). She took her phone out of her pocket and called Lila.
Lila answered quickly. "Speak," she said.
"Hello, this is Sophie," Sophie told her.
"I'm aware."
Sophie hesitated. Lila sounded terse, which might mean it wasn't a good time for a call. But Lila often sounded like that. "Are you busy?"
"I wish."
Right. Save for the coming and going of the Order, Lila hadn't had much interaction with the war effort. "Scott just got back from Godric's Hollow. He's a little banged up, but mostly okay."
"And why didn't he come back with the Primes?" Lila asked, having been made cognisant of their return with a different call the previous night.
"There were noncoms all over the AO. I guess that was expected, but Scott led the OpFor away and then hid until just a little while ago."
Lila was silent for a moment. "Hid where? In water?"
"In a drainage tube with water."
"That moron," Lila groaned.
"Well, he was in a hurry…" Sophie half-heartedly defended him.
"Don't use up his excuses, Strauss, I'll hear all about it later. Listen, when he wakes up tell him that the Order really wants to talk to Harry. Like, really. Remus Lupin is getting desperate, he even came to me. And they usually do their best to pretend I don't exist."
"Okay. Should I just tell Harry?"
"Run it by Scott. Then tell Harry, if you want to make it look like you came to him first."
There was a deeply manipulative facet to integration that Sophie had never been completely comfortable with. She understood that it could be useful and even necessary, but she didn't see the point in misleading Harry for no real purpose. Lila automatically established the option, whether it was needful or not. "Um, I'll just tell Harry since Scott's asleep. He already knows that Harry needs to see Lupin some time."
"Your call. Hey, I have to go stop Fleur from sabotaging my pound cake with her shitty French culinary 'skills'. We should talk more later."
"Sure, of course!" Sophie said, eager to have a real conversation with her friend.
"Have fun with the Primes," Lila said with a hint of warmth.
"Okay, I'll talk to you later!"
With that taken care of, there wasn't much to do except go back to cleaning and organising. And, while she had a strong and abiding belief in the value of cleanliness, she had to admit she was a bit tired of the tedium. Scott's interruption would have been welcome had he not managed to injure himself so thoroughly. And he had tracked mud everywhere, so there was that. Cleaning spells were highly convenient, and she had made full use of Scourgify. Some staining defied the magic, however. Perhaps one of the Primes could offer a more powerful cleansing spell.
Still, the upper hallways were looking better. The training downstairs had been creating a constant mess, and, rather than get caught in an endless cycle of picking up after another mattress explosion, Sophie had decided to start from the top down. The corridor she walked through was no longer quite so grimy, and the shadows didn't seem as deep. She didn't think anything could completely dispel the miasma of gloom short of a full remodelling. Grimmauld Place seemed designed to be… well, grim.
And Sophie just didn't understand why anyone would want that, she really didn't.
She peeked into the drawing room and found Kylie gazing out one of the windows. Sophie thought about saying something, but decided it would be better not to. The slight girl probably needed some time to calm down (which was a strange state of affairs, considering Kylie's general temperament).
found the Primes down in the kitchen, all of them gathered around the table with various foods. There was a bit of tension in the air, and after a moment of observation Sophie determined that Harry and Hermione were avoiding looking at each other. There must have been an argument.
She wasn't sure how well received any news of Scott would be, all things considered, but she offered some regardless. "Scott is mostly healed and in bed. Once he wakes up he should be ready for…" Sophie searched for the right word.
"Interrogation?" Hermione offered.
"He's trained to resist those," Sophie said humorously.
"I should hope he'd try to resist a bit less this time," Hermione said with a frown.
Ron shook his head. "The ponce probably doesn't think he did anything wrong."
"Perhaps not. But he may be convinced to do the right thing even if it's for the wrong reasons; that is, in the interests of team unity," Hermione explained.
"Or we may have to take turns hexing him until something goes through," Harry said darkly.
Sophie hoped that he was joking, as violence was a very unproductive way to get Scott's cooperation. "Would you like me to speak with him first? I could let him know, that… That things are a bit tense right now and he should behave himself."
"You really think he'll care?" Harry said cynically. He pushed his empty bowl away and went up the stairs, probably to make use of the makeshift target range.
"He might," Sophie said to his retreating back.
Hermione sighed, watching Harry leave. "That's going to be an uncomfortable conversation."
"You mean 'shouting match'," Ron said.
"No, I meant conversation, but I'm being optimistic." She glanced up at the clock. "I'm going to get back to research. Sophie, would you let me know when Scott is up and about?"
"Of course," Sophie assured her.
"I'm going to get back to bed," Ron said sleepily, stifling a yawn.
"Lazy prat," Hermione said affectionately.
After they left, Sophie turned to Ginny, who had been oddly silent. The red-haired teen was gazing towards the stairs with a thoughtful expression on her freckled features. Sophie had probably interacted with the youngest Weasley the least out of all the Primes, mostly due to Ginny's absence during the Christmas party of the previous year. She knew that Lila thought highly of the girl.
Ginny noticed Sophie's scrutiny. "I'm not that upset," she said, meeting Sophie's eyes. "I understand why he lied to us."
Sophie blinked in surprise. "You do?"
"He did it to save Harry." Ginny looked back towards the stair again. "How can I be angry with him for that?"
"That's very mature of you, Ginny!" Sophie said admiringly.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm still hacked off about other things. Like what he said to me the other night. And how he obviously doesn't think we're worth a damn in a punch-up. He wasn't even at the Department, where does he get off acting like we can't handle ourselves?"
Sophie was not an integrationist, and she wished that Scott or Lila were present. It wasn't that the siblings always said the right thing; it was more that, even if they said the wrong thing, they were at least screwing up their own mission. Sophie didn't want to be blamed for anything.
Oh, my… Shameful thoughts, those were. She was no coward, she reminded herself. "It's not personal, it's just common sense. You can't run as fast as Scott can. Neither can I, I'm short, too! So because of that, and all his experience, he was the best choice to create a distraction." There! Clear, logical and concise. Lila would have been proud.
"He obviously thought he was the best choice, since it's one he made for us," Ginny said sarcastically.
Sophie had a good idea of Scott's reasons, but she hadn't been there. She didn't want to say any more, not before Scott had a chance to explain himself. "You'll have to ask him about that."
"If I can get a word in edgewise," Ginny sighed. "Harry'll probably drown the rest of us right out."
Sophie made a mental note to take Kylie elsewhere for that confrontation. There would likely be an unfortunate amount of bad language.
Ginny stood and placed her bowl in the sink. "How's Lila doing?" she asked.
"Oh, I just spoke with her! She's fine, doing very well," Sophie overstated. "She said she was baking with someone named 'Fleur'."
Ginny laughed. "You should have been there for the wedding. Lila doesn't bake with Fleur, she sort of bakes around her."
It was true that Lila hadn't referred to the other woman in very complimentary terms. "That's sort of what it sounded like."
"But everyone is okay? The family, I mean," Ginny said more seriously.
"Lil didn't mention any problems. Oh, but Remus Lupin wants to speak with Harry, she did say that."
"There's got to be somewhere we can meet with him," Ginny said thoughtfully. "I mean, just to be sure he's not Imperiused or something, then he can come inside."
Sophie thought about the surrounding areas in Islington; she had taken a couple excursions to get a feel for London, and studied the maps Scott had given her. "Highbury Fields isn't too far from here, that's a nice open space."
"So no one can sneak up on us?"
"Right! Clear sightlines are very important."
"I'll tell Harry about Remus and be sure to mention it, then," Ginny said. "Last thing we want is a repeat of what happened in the Hollow… Whatever did happen. Me and Harry were fine, and then all of a sudden there were Death Eaters everywhere! I haven't gotten the full story."
Neither had Sophie, and with Scott asleep she wouldn't for awhile. "All things in good time."
Ginny snorted as she went up the stairs. "You sound like my mum."
That wasn't a bad thing, was it? Sophie thought that Mrs Weasley was very nice, by all accounts. She had never met the Weasley matriarch and probably wouldn't, seeing as Sophie had no cover story. Although, with the way things were developing, fake histories might soon be useless. Scott and Lila were expending less and less effort maintaining their false identities. The pattern of events had made such things increasingly obsolete, the lies impossible to support. So perhaps Sophie could introduce herself to the Weasleys before too long.
She was startled out of her thoughts by an incoming call. "Hello?"
"Strauss, you got a minute to talk? I'm free for now," Lila said.
Sophie grinned. "Sure!"
Harry knew he was brooding. He did. He wasn't so caught up in his own little world that he didn't even know what he was doing. It was more that he didn't care.
What else was he supposed to do? Watch Scott sleep? Boring and, honestly, more than a bit creepy. He didn't want to sit in a dark room staring at some other bloke on a bed. If Scott woke and saw Harry there he'd have something clever to say, and Harry wasn't about to hand him that kind of ammunition.
So he sat in his own room and wrestled with his thoughts. Not easy, but familiar. It passed the time and kept him occupied, and, so long as he managed to keep his brain from drifting to the really bad things – like Sirius or losing Ginny or the rest of his friends stop it – it wasn't too painful. Just sort of melancholy, really. Sadness could be bittersweet.
When Ginny walked into the room, he reckoned he was about to catch some shite. She'd never had much patience for his frequent, crippling bouts of self-pity. And he couldn't blame her. He couldn't stand himself, sometimes.
She sat next to him and began running a soothing hand over his back. The press of her fingers against his tense muscles made him realise, as if he never had before, just how tiny her hand really was. She was so small, his Ginny. It made his heart ache, and he wasn't sure why.
"Breathe, love," Ginny murmured.
He did so, drawing in the air with a long, shuddering breath. He started to understand just how tightly he had been holding himself when his posture began to loosen.
"What brought this on?" Ginny asked him.
He couldn't even begin to tell her. "I'm mental," he stated.
She moved closer to him. "You're Harry. And it's not like things have been easy." She sighed. "I wish we had gotten together sooner. Before you got so used to doing this alone."
Harry tried not to think about the years it had taken him to pull his head out of his arse. It seemed so unfair, what might have been. He could imagine taking Ginny to Puddifoot's – they would have laughed about it. They could have danced together at the Yule Ball, snogged under the mistletoe. He was happy for what they had, but whatever they hadn't had was his fault. And now it felt like time was already running out.
He tried to put that into words. "…I wish I had done everything with you," he told her with all the honesty he could wring out of his heavy heart.
"We still can," she told him fiercely.
He felt the weight of the future settle onto him and squeezed his eyes shut, just trying to stay upright. His eyes snapped back open when Ginny put her hands on his face and forced him to look at her.
"Don't give up before we get a real chance at us," she said shakily. "I want a real life after this, and I want it with you. Don't you dare sacrifice yourself, because I know you would."
"I already tried to sacrifice this, remember?" Harry said, indicating their relationship and trying to deflect Ginny's demand with a bit of self-deprecation. "That didn't work out so well."
She was not distracted. "I want you to promise me."
"Promise what? That I won't die?" he said with a strained laugh.
it. You're barmy, I can't promise that."
"You can't even lie?" she said plaintively.
"No." He shook his head. "Not about that."
Her lips thinned and she looked down at the floor. "I'll bet you think I'm being daft."
He wasn't going to lie about that, either. "A little bit, yeah."
"You know why, don't you?"
It was a trick question, it had to be. Girls always did that: they presented you with a seemingly innocuous question that was not, in fact, innocuous at all, because you were expected to bloody well know the right answer already. If Harry was honest and said no, he hadn't a clue what she was talking about, that was wrong and he was in trouble because he should be able to read her mind. And if he took a guess at it she'd know he was just guessing, so same result.
And he really resented it, because Ginny didn't usually do that sort of thing. She was so up front, and the only kind of drama she started was the kind where she was telling him where he could get off.
So he tried to think of what someone else would say, and ended up channelling his inner Scott. In his current situation, that was a lot like channelling his inner Ron, with one subtle distinction: Ron would blurt out the first thing that came to mind, not knowing if it was wrong. Scott would blurt out the first thing that came to mind, not caring if it was wrong.
"Because you love me?" he said carelessly.
He was just about to smack himself for being such a smarmy git and save her the trouble when she nodded firmly. "That's right," she said.
He blinked at her, trying not to let his surprise show. At least she wasn't taken aback that he had guessed right – she hadn't been setting him up for failure.
"Because I love you," she repeated. "And the last thing I ever want to hear is you talking about dying for the rest of us."
He remembered her admonishment for his black humour at the Three Broomsticks, what felt like a lifetime ago. "You lot talk about dying for me all the time!"
"We talk about fighting for you, Harry! We'll die if we have to, but you seem to think you're going to die no matter what! It doesn't have to be that way and it's not going to," she declared with the hard, blazing look that he so admired.
He didn't know how to respond to that. He just wanted her to be right. They sat there for a few more moments whilst she calmed down and he looked everywhere but at her, knowing that the longer he studied her perfect, freckled face, the closer he would be to some kind of breakdown. She was so beautiful that sometimes it hurt, because beautiful things didn't last in Harry's life.
She hissed something under her breath that he didn't catch, and her slim arms were placed around his shoulders. "Just stop," she pleaded.
"No, I'm not… ignoring you, I just…"
"What?" she said, close to his ear. "Tell me."
He shook his head helplessly. "It's hard to explain. It's… You're too perfect, and I can't lose you."
She stiffened. "Is this about chucking me again?"
"Then what?"
Harry pulled off his glasses and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to relieve the pressure he felt. "It's about…" he stopped, put his glasses back on, and shook his head again. "It's about me being a moron."
"You're not a moron. You just act like one sometimes."
"Yeah, cheers."
"Oh, come off it. You're not even angry, look at you. You're trying not to smile!" she teased.
He was. "No, I'm not," he said stolidly before giving in to a tired grin. Enough was enough; sitting in a dark room wasn't accomplishing anything. "You want to go shoot some more cups?"
"We could have a cuppa first, it's about teatime," she said.
"It's always teatime around here. Come on, then."
They were about halfway down the stairs when she grabbed his arm. "I almost forgot – Sophie said that Remus wants to speak with you as soon as you can."
"In person?"
"Yeah, like he said in his letters. She told me there's a park nearby we could use to meet, it's nice and open. What do you think?"
Harry thought that he didn't like treating Remus as a potential enemy. But, given the situation, there wasn't much choice. They had to be careful. "Okay, so we would meet him there, make sure it's really him, and then let him back in."
Ginny looked unsure about the last part. "You want to let him back into Grimmauld?"
"Yeah. It's Remus, Gin, he's not going to try and make me go back," Harry said. He had that much faith in his former professor.
"I know that, but what about me?" she said, revealing the reason for her reluctance.
Harry understood. And he couldn't blame Remus or Mrs Weasley if they were to attempt to return Ginny to safety; it wasn't like he hadn't tried something similar. But Ginny was at Grimmauld Place, and by Harry's side, to stay. He still would have preferred to keep her away from the danger, and if she asked to leave he would never say no, but he wouldn't force her to go. And he wouldn't let anyone else do it, either.
"It will just be Remus, no one else, or I won't agree to it," Harry told her. "And… your being here isn't open for discussion."
Her expression softened, eyes glowing. "Thank you," she said simply.
He smiled crookedly. "For what? Not being a prat, for once?"
She grinned up at him, making him realise just how close they were standing. "More or less."
He couldn't resist her when she looked like that. He leaned in for a kiss and she met him halfway. What started as mild gesture of affection quickly evolved into an extended snog, her tongue tracing his mouth while he sucked at her lower lip. They finally parted with a smack that was embarrassingly loud in the stairwell. He hoped there wasn't anyone around to hear it.
"All right," he said once they broke apart. "Let's get the maps and take a look at this park."
"In a minute," she said. She put her arms around his middle and threaded her fingers. "I'm not finished yet."
! Go To Top !


text:
Dew Drop Your Pants
I broke up with my guy a while ago, which was the right thing to do. But, I've found myself hooking up with guys for no reason other than getting caught in a provocative moment. Of course, as you've often written, men and women are very different when it comes to casual sex, and what's casual for men ends up feeling not so casual for a lot of women. Including me. So, I have to wonder, knowing what I know, why I keep going for pleasure and excitement in the moment when I know I will feel empty afterward. — Own Worst Enemy
Some women have a long list of requirements a man has to meet before they'll have sex with him. You, for example, require a man to walk into the bar, be reasonably hot, be reasonably hetero and say things that make you feel really special, like "This seat taken?" Humans evolved to live in the now: "Eat the berry. You'll never know when you'll see your next berry." This psychology made a lot of sense in the evolutionary environment, about 1.8 million years before 7-Elevens and Walmart grocery megastores. But, these days, our propensity to grab for immediate benefits (while blocking out future costs) can cause some misery — as you've discovered whenever the answer to "So, how long have you two lovebirds been together?" has been "Oh, about two-and-a-half beers."
It's possible that your need-for-stimulation jets are set on high. In psychologyspeak, this means scoring high in "sensation-seeking," a personality trait with a strong biological basis, expressed by a lust for novelty, variety and intense experiences and a willingness to engage in risky behavior to get them. Not surprisingly, sexual sensation-seekers often use alcohol to lubricate the way. (Just a guess, but you probably aren't hooking up from a park bench or after getting hammered on an immuno-boosting peach smoothie with a wheatgrass chaser — the absinthe of the juice bar.)
It's time to ditch "the power of now" for the power of no. You create a personal culture through behavior you repeat over time, like repeatedly not giving in to the temptation to seize the moment (and whatever's in the pants of the person on the next barstool). Being conscious of the psychology behind your behavior helps you change it. If you are a thrill-seeker, feed that in ways that don't involve dropping thong. If you're really looking for love, remind yourself that you aren't likely to find it between your underwear and a stack of old porn mags under some bar dude's bed. And consider other reasons you're drawn to casual sex, like maybe loneliness or a need for touch. (A massage will cost you money, but there's no "walk of shame" afterward.)
You might also try "precommitment," a strategy originated by economist Thomas Schelling that involves prearranging to make it hard for yourself to duck a goal. Tell friends you've sworn off one-night soul mates, ask them to support you in that, avoid going alone to bars. As your last line of defense, do things that would make you too embarrassed to get naked with a guy, like wearing ratty granny panties and writing a message in permanent magic marker across your stomach — something real come-hither-y, like "Got herpes? (I do, and I love to share.)"
Snail Male
This woman I've been dating is smart, sweet and kind in addition to being beautiful, but I feel we miss more than we click. It's like we almost connect but never fully do. I've finally admitted to myself that that's not enough. My only other girlfriends both cheated on me, so cutting the cord was easy. How do you break up with somebody who has done nothing wrong except seem kind of wrong? — Procrastinator
When you need to break up with a woman, you'd think she'd at least have the decency to cheat on you, clean out your bank accounts and hit kittens over the head with a two-by-four. As awful as it seems to pink-slip a girlfriend whose character flaws run the gamut from kindness to hotitude, what's really wrong is sticking around past the "ditch by" date. This just eats time — maybe taking months or years off her biological shot clock. The right thing to do is to tell her you don't click as soon as you've figured that out. So, buck up and set this one free. And try to have some perspective. There are worse things you could do to a woman than tell her it's over — such as faking your own death and turning up in Mexico five years later.
Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com (www.advicegoddess.com) '© 2012 Amy Alkon Distributed by Creators.Com.

subset: commoncrawl


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(Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration said it has formed a partnership with the medical device industry aimed at speeding the development and review of new device products.
The nonprofit organization, called the Medical Device Innovation Consortium, will collaborate with patient support groups, academia, foundations and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to improve the process for bringing medical devices into the marketplace.
The move comes as device makers push the FDA to speed up the review of devices, while advocacy groups contend the agency is doing too little to protect consumers.
The partnership will boost investment in regulatory science research by pooling people, funding and ideas to develop new methods to better evaluate devices, FDA said.
"It really is going to represent a model that will be watched carefully, will be replicated. I know there will be real advances and new approaches that will emerge from it," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told reporters on a teleconference.
Medical device makers involved in the consortium include Medtronic Inc, Boston Scientific Corp, Becton Dickinson and Co, Abiomed Inc and Cyberonics Inc.
Reporting by Susan Kelly in Chicago


text:
LONDON (AP) — BP says it has appointed Lamar McKay, the head of its U.S. division, as chief executive of the company's upstream business, leading the company's oil and gas exploration, development and production.
McKay, who has overseen BP's Gulf Coast restoration work as chairman and president of BP America, will report to CEO Bob Dudley in his new role from Jan. 1, 2013.
Dudley has headed BP's upstream business since a major reorganization of the company in 2010 in the wake of the deadly oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The shakeup aimed to improve risk management and implementation of global standards.
McKay, who has worked for BP for 32 years, will be based in London. BP said Friday his successor as head of BP America will be announced later.


text:
Cracks Appear In Microsoft Kodiak
WinFS, the evolving Windows File System for Longhorn, will be the core storage subsystem of the next major wave of Microsoft releases. Right? Well, maybe.
This week Microsoft executives opened the door to a possible shift in that strategy at least with respect to Kodiak, the next-generation Exchange Server.
While the plan remains to put Kodiak on the WinFS relational store, business pressures could abrogate that decision, the executives conceded.
While WinFS will incorporate relational technology from the SQL Server world, it must be much simpler, and quality and timing must be right for it to make it into the new Kodiak messaging release. "If we cannot provide that, then the Exchange team has a business to run," said Gordon Mangione, Microsoft's vice president of SQL Server.
Whether WinFS does, in fact, form the basis for Kodiak, boils down to several factors, agreed Tom Rizzo, director of SQL Server product management. "It all depends on timing and business needs. They [the Exchange team] have a business to run and if we don't meet the timeframe and quality they need, if they don't want to build on us, that's fine. Today's plan is to build Kodiak atop the [relational] store, but this is software and human beings. Things happen."
Microsoft has prototypes in house of early Kodiak builds running against the Yukon store now, Rizzo added.
The current Exchange 2003 still runs on a variant of the venerable JET engine. JET stands for Joint Engine Technology.
At some point, it all may come down to semantics. If Microsoft decides to put out an interim release of Exchange between the current Exchange Server 2003 and what is now being called Kodiak, that update could well sit atop yet another modified non-relational store, several observers said. Kodiak has slipped repeatedly along with Yukon itself. At TechEd in June, Microsoft said to expect Kodiak in 2006.
"There will be a service pack release for Exchange 2003, I guarantee that," Rizzo said.
Part of the problem has been mixed messages out of Redmond. Late last month, an Exchange Server marketer told CRN that the decision to go to a relational store for Kodiak was not final.
"If you're going to do a Yukon store for Exchange, you have to make sure we can get there from here. In the past we made the mistake of saying technology could solve everything and said just wait for Yukon and Kodiak. But the store is just one part of many pieces people need. You can save mail to SharePoint. Now we're focused on doing it in JET in Exchange 2003, there is no SQL there and there is no announcement on the next phase," he noted at the time.
A Microsoft spokeswoman in follow up calls said the official had misspoken and the final decision had, in fact, been made. It is unusual for such divergence of opinion on current status to happen so publicly.
Mangione's and Rizzo's comments this week now show there is some wiggle room.
Several Microsoft partners familiar with the issues were not surprised. "Putting Exchange atop a SQL-based store is really, really hard [because] Exchange information is typically unstructured and SQL is structured. Trying to merge the two is no trivial matter," said Andy Sakalian, CEO of Version 3, a Columbia, S.C. solution provider.
As of now, the decision to go with a Yukon-based store stands but with a caveat, said one Microsoft insider who requested anonymity. "Remember Exchange 2003 wasn't planned from the beginning to be on the JET store. It was sort of a forced interim release for Windows 2003 server and Active Directory compatibility." That sort of interim release could happen again, he noted.
Solution providers and company insiders alike said because the Kodiak release remains distant, current Microsoft edicts on product direction are subject to change. There are mandates from corporate on product strategy but individual product groups have their own pressures.
"There are massive dependencies from group to group and yet each group has to hit its own numbers," said one solution provider. "Exchange is trying to grow from an $800 million business to a billion dollar business and is facing pressure of [less expensive] messaging from Oracle and IBM/Lotus. If customers want something, the Exchange group has to provide it [even] if Yukon isn't ready," said one partner source close to the Exchange effort.
Said another partner. "The decision has been made. The war is over. But is it? They say the Civil War is over and yet some people are still fighting it," he said.
One ISV at PDC 2003 last week said he was surprised the Kodiak store is under review but he claims it's a question of when, not if.
"JET is older technology and not nearly as scalable as the current SQL Server 2000 or Yukon, so I'd hope it happens sooner rather than later," said one Microsoft ISV who asked not to be named. "But it will happen. They may change their minds three times before Kodiak ships."


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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Retired Alabama resident Eddie Brackett has been thinking a lot about the American economy.
"This country wasn't built on fussin' and fightin.' It was built on getting together, ironing out problems and coming together on one accord that's going to be good for everybody," Brackett said while waiting for his car to be repaired.
With less than three weeks left before Washington drives off the "fiscal cliff" of wide-ranging tax increases and spending cuts, The Associated Press drove the Deep South, taking the pulse of small businesses, farmers and retirees. Many, like Brackett, are frustrated by the failure so far of Congress and the White House to strike a budget deal.
"It's got to be a partnership," Brackett said. "You can't split up and go, because it's not good for the country any way you go."
There is increasing concern about a Dec. 31 deadline to stop the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and the start of across-the-board spending cuts that are the result of Washington's failure to complete a deficit-reduction deal last year. Even if an agreement can be reached, the halting pace of negotiations is jeopardizing chances that it could be written into proper legislative form and passed through the House and Senate before the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3.
Watch the video here: http://bit.ly/Skdhmh.


text:
Xbox One – Message Board
What games do you no longer play?
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text:
30 Nov '12 to
30 Mar '13
Yeah, sure
Est. Cost
1,000 -
USD (USD United States Dollars)
Travel Partners Wanted
South America Tip to Tip
Not sure whether to drive or take buses. I am a female, that alone poses a lot of risks of being attacked. I am learning Spanish and martial arts, but don't want to take a gun. I really just want to live on the continent for a few months, enjoy simple local food and sleep in a tent or a car, or even in a cave. I am in good shape, did half the US and France, but need help with mountains that need climbing.
I am 33 yo, looking for any age group to join. In all pragmatism, having a male in a group will be great. Spanish speaking natives are treasure.
South America Tip to Tip
Still looking for flights? You can have flight experts compete against one another to find you the absolute best and cheapest flights.
Launch a Flight Contest on Flightfox now!


text:
Corn fell the most this month and soybeans posted the biggest drop since March on signs of ample global supplies as U.S. farmers rebound from last year's drought with record crops in 2013. Wheat also declined.
Stockpiles of corn in the U.S., the world's top grower, will more than double to 1.959 billion bushels by the start of the 2014 harvest, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. The agency also reduced its outlook for global demand, which will fall short of production. Soybean reserves in the U.S. also will double, boosting world stockpiles by 20% to a record 74.12 million tons, USDA said.
"We continue to expect a significant recovery in U.S. corn and soybean production and lower prices" in the second half of 2013, Damien Courvalin, a New York-based analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said in an e-mailed report. "Our expectation for lower prices also reflects the already realized large South American harvest and current weakness in global demand."
Corn futures for December delivery, after the harvest, fell 3.4% to close at $5.0925 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest drop for the most-active contract since June 28. For the week, prices gained 3.7% amid earlier concerns that warm weather in parts of the U.S. may hurt crops. Last year, corn rallied to a record $8.49 in August, as the drought cut output by 13%.
Soybean futures for delivery in November dropped 2.6% to $12.5725 a bushel on the CBOT, the biggest decline since March 28. The most-active contract was up 2.4% for the week.
Beneficial Weather
Prices also fell on speculation that warm, sunny days and cool nights during the next week should help to boost yield potential for corn and soybeans in most of the Midwest, Jerrod Kitt, the director of research for the Linn Group on Chicago, said in a telephone interview.
Temperatures the next 10 days will be near normal for most of the Midwest, with rain developing by the end of next week to aid crop development, especially in portions of the driest areas of Nebraska, western Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, T-Storm Weather LLC said in a report today.
"There is nothing in the weather forecasts that is threatening to crop development across the northern and eastern Midwest," Kitt said. "Corn yields are angling higher."
Also in Chicago, wheat for September delivery declined 0.3% to $6.81 a bushel, halting a four-day rally. Prices gained 3.2% this week on increased Chinese demand for U.S. supplies and shrinking global production.
Yesterday, the USDA cut its forecast for global wheat inventories to 172.38 million tons, 4.9% smaller than estimated in June, amid rising demand in China. U.S. export sales jumped to 1.47 million tons in the week to July 4, more than double a week earlier, with China buying 1.02 million tons, according to a separate USDA report.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


text:
"Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective"
The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society released a special supplement today: "Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective". This report is the second in what is now an annual summary of extreme weather events analyzed through the context of climate attribution science.
A global collection of scientists, including members of NOAA, took a look at 12 specific extreme weather events from 2012 and their connection to human induced climate change. Of those events, three of them were right here in the U.S.: the central U.S. drought, the Eastern March-May heat, and Sandy. They found that human induced climate change had little impact on the intense drought, but did contribute to the long stretch of record warmth across the East. Also, climate change related sea level rise played a part in Sandy's destructive surge and has nearly doubled our chances of a Sandy-level flood recurrence as compared to 1950.
NOAA summary of the report.
Full report, published by the American Meteorological Society.
Climate Central takes a look at one aspect of research in this report.
View this email in your browser | Unsubscribe from this list


text:
It's no secret that there is no intellectual integrity on the Left, but it's still hard not to be a bit shocked by liberals' reaction to the budget proposal that Barack Obama unleashed yesterday. Let's take the example of the New York Times, probably the most prominent voice of the Far Left in the U.S. Throughout the George W. Bush administration, the Times' editorial board waxed eloquent about the terrible consequences to be expected from the Bush deficits. Let's cite just a few examples.
It is incredible to see a wartime president demanding a tax cut that would, in an instant, require a record $984 billion increase in the national debt, to $7.384 trillion, with annual deficits of $400 billion and more under a Republican Party that once bragged of budgetary rectitude.
Obama's budget contemplates a $1.75 trillion deficit in its first year, and does not even aspire to a deficit as small as $400 billion at any time in the future.
[T]he detaxation mania continues apace as House and Senate leaders press toward a Memorial Day deadline that will be a rendezvous with foolhardiness. By then, they hope to enact a Bush tax cut and spending plan adding $2.7 trillion in deficits to a coming decade of red ink….
Barack Obama's budget added a $1.7 trillion deficit in his first year in office.
This version of the president's "growth" plan will increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars across the next decade. [Ed.: Those were the good old days.] To help pay for it, the G.O.P. budget hawks of yore, born again now as deficit spenders of record proportions, will soon have to raise the national debt limit by almost a trillion dollars from the current $6.4 trillion. … "Deficits do matter," the Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, warned Congress, sounding like a Dickensian wraith ominously foreseeing a future of red-ink borrowing and rising interest rates. But the Republicans appear set to party on now and roll the tab over the far horizon.
So, do deficits "still matter?" And if so, with their grotesquely multiplied deficits, are today's Democrats "partying on now and rolling the tab over the far horizon?"
The White House serenely brushed off a detailed caution from the Congressional Budget Office last week that the growth in the deficit is more likely to roar than retreat across the next decade, fed by the three Bush tax cuts and other debt-fattening indulgences. If that warning was not enough, how about the concern reported at the International Monetary Fund that the administration has no credible plan to restore budget balance? Yes, the I.M.F., which must lecture the profligates of the globe, is worried that a structural deficit will push up interest rates and restrain growth as America ceaselessly borrows to steer red ink from imbalanced budgets onto future taxpayers.
Now that his planned deficits are four times larger, does Obama's budget contain "debt-fattening indulgences?" Has the Times denounced them? Does the Obama administration have a "credible plan to restore budget balance?" Given that Obama's intended budgets–put aside how optimistic his numbers may be–far exceed the actual deficits during the Bush administration, is the Times still "worried that a structural deficit will push up interest rates and restrain growth as America ceaselessly borrows to steer red ink from imbalanced budgets onto future taxpayers?" If not, why not?
The Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs, not given to hyperbole, warned in its most recent newsletter that the "U.S. budget is out of control." This sentiment was echoed by the bipartisan Concord Coalition, which monitors federal spending, and which called 2003 "the most irresponsible year ever" in terms of fiscal discipline. …
these Republicans have presided over an orgy of tax cuts and benefit increases that, according to the Concord group, will not only boost this year's projected deficit but also add as much as $800 billion to the national debt over the next 10 years.
Barack Obama has added more than twice that much to the national debt in his first 30 days in office. May 23, 2004:
A few weeks before the fall election, President Bush is likely to claim a victory, of sorts, over the budget deficit. The good news will be based on October data from the Office of Management and Budget in the executive branch, which, according to widespread estimates, will show red ink of $420 billion to $450 billion at the end of the 2004 fiscal year. When the year started, the budget office had conveniently projected a deficit of $521 billion. Hence, a bookkeeping triumph.
The deficits they're talking about here are around one quarter of what Obama projects for his first year in office.
The administration would like to turn the budget deficit into a nonissue in the presidential campaign. But it deserves to be one of the central talking points, even more than it was in 1992, when Ross Perot rightly convinced the nation that deficits were threatening American prosperity. …
Though the Bush deficit of 2003 was already a record in pure numbers, the administration's defenders often point out that it amounted to only 3.5 percent of gross domestic product. That doesn't sound too bad compared with the modern record of 6 percent set by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. But the size of the deficit now is masked by the Social Security Trust Fund surplus. If you believe that the Social Security surplus would be put to better use by being preserved for future retirees, the Bush deficit should really amount to 5 percent of G.D.P.
Obama's first deficit will amount to more than 12 percent of G.D.P.
President Reagan's deficit binge occurred decades before the baby boomers' retirement. This one is taking place on the eve. To use an analogy, President Bush's deficits are putting the nation in the position of a couple who take out a long-term mortgage just before retirement.
That's a travesty, because reducing the buildup of government debt is the key to strengthening Social Security. … Clearly, we could not have picked a worse demographic moment to be borrowing money on the next generation's credit.
We're still waiting for the Times to point out that the Democrats' vastly greater deficits are so ill-timed as to constitute a "travesty." More fundamentally, is reducing federal debt the "key to strengthening Social Security?" If so, has the Obama administration threatened the viability of Social Security by exploding federal debt? If not, why not?
A greater reliance on foreign creditors creates further economic instability, as nations like Argentina have found out the hard way. Debt is debt, to be sure, leading ultimately to a smaller economy than would otherwise be the case.
But debt owed to foreigners is more likely to affect the value of the dollar, and foreign capital is more nomadic, leaving the United States vulnerable to the whims of central bankers in Beijing and Tokyo.
But even if a sudden catastrophe never materializes, a slower one is already in the making. It is important that voters talk seriously about deficits in this political season.
I agree with that last observation. Now that the deficits are four times greater than the ones the Times was so worried about, do the paper's editorialists hold to the same view? Do they still think that debt–far greater debt–will "[lead] ultimately to a smaller economy than would otherwise be the case?" If not, what's changed in such a short time?
From the grim evidence of his deficit-stoking tax cuts, Mr. Bush hardly loses sleep over unbalanced books. Yet now comes his rare veto threat, a nod to the voters' growing anxiety over the crushing national debt.
Are the voters still anxious over the "crushing national debt," now slated to burgeon far beyond what it was during the Bush administration? Should they be anxious over the "crushing national debt?" In this editorial, the Times ridiculed President Bush because he proposed to veto such small spending bills. Should Barack Obama veto much more spending than Bush did?
Central to low interest rates — particularly long-term rates — is keeping down federal borrowing. All the debt that Washington incurs to finance our federal budget deficit pushes interest rates higher than they otherwise would be. …
When adjusted for the minimal inflation of recent years, interest rates have not been as low as they were during some other periods of slow growth. And although they were low, they would have been lower still with less borrowing. It's basic economics: When we want more of something, the price goes up. To deny that is to believe that the market for borrowing money is somehow different from all other markets.
I think that's true, too. Does the Times still believe what it wrote in 2004, now that federal borrowing has exploded in a Democratic administration?
[T]he president has yet to veto his first bill or to publicly pressure or scold his fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill for their lack of fiscal restraint. By contrast, conservative policy organizations have been pummeling the Bush administration for what the Heritage Foundation calls "a spending spree." Congress has been larding up legislation with local projects — for trails, visitors centers, marina repairs and planning grants by the dozen.
So, how does the Times feel about the salt marsh harvest mouse?
Some who are relaxed about the deficit say that we will "grow into it," that a faster rate of growth will lead to more tax receipts and close the gap, thereby taking pressure off interest rates. But assuming current policies are continued, the government will need to borrow $5 trillion more over the next 10 years. Even one percentage point more in economic growth than is now expected — a hugely ambitious goal — would cut the $5 trillion only in half.
Under Obama's budget, the government will have to borrow a lot more than that. Is it still a problem?
There are many reasons that we need to find a national consensus to reduce the budget deficit — bankrupting Medicare and Social Security, burdening our children with debt and the like — but now that we have entered a period of rising interest rates, a higher cost of borrowing for both business and consumers is perhaps the most immediate.
Now that the deficit is growing so much faster under a Democratic administration whose election the Times enthusiastically supported, are we still in danger of bankrupting Medicare and Social Security, and is the Times still worried about "burdening our children" with far greater debt than was contemplated when this editorial was written?
The answers to all of the questions we've posed are unclear. The Times editorialists have addressed the question of Obama's deficits–sort of–only once, here. The editorialists' main theme is glee that the Obama administration plans to raise taxes. But what about the horrors of deficit spending, that were so ubiquitous during the Bush administration? The Times can respond only with dishonesty:
Mr. Obama's blueprint, released on Thursday, commits to cutting by more than two-thirds, by 2013, the $1.75 trillion budget deficit that Mr. Bush dumped on the nation.
In fact, the $1.75 trillion, by Obama's own account, is his budget, not President Bush's: on no scenario did Bush "dump" anything like that deficit on the nation. What Obama has done, as he has acknowledged, is to increase the deficit he was bequeathed, not decrease it. So it is absurd for the Times to retrospectively blame Bush for Obama's policy choices.
Further, even if Obama succeeded in reducing the federal deficit by two-thirds from the astonishing, unprecedented $1.75 trillion figure that he intends to ring up in his first fiscal year, his deficits would still exceed those that he "inherited" from President Bush. But the Times has no integrity, and it assumes that those who read its editorials–a pathetically small, but no doubt loyal, number–won't notice how its tune has changed. So it offers this absurdity:
The Obama administration has acknowledged the need for deficit spending to stimulate the economy but has vowed that unpaid-for government will not become the norm. Judging from the blueprint, Mr. Obama is not just talking the talk.
The Times editors apparently haven't tried to do the math. Here is a chart of federal spending and revenues through 2019–three years after Obama leaves office, assuming a second term–under Obama's rosy budget projections; click to enlarge:
"Unpaid-for government," to a greater extent than that which the Times denounced during George Bush's administration, is, in fact, "the norm" as far as the eye can see. But that's what you expect from the Times: either deliberate falsehood or impenetrable ignorance; it's often hard to tell which. The Times' editors are in the bag for the Left, and there is little pretense of consistency or intellectual integrity; in fact, the editors are not very bright–to be a Times editor is to be a full-time shill.
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Skip to comments.SUNSET ON THE RIDEAU
Posted on 10/26/2011 9:49:57 PM PDT by Fred Nerks
I wrote about the murders of Zainab, Sahar and Geeti Shafia and their father's first wife Rona over two years ago, when their bodies were found in the Rideau Canal in Kingson, Ontario:
Three or so weeks back, a submerged car was found in the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ont., containing the bodies of three teenage girls and their aunt a story initially reported as Mysterious Death Of 4 Quebecers Baffles Kingston Police. When it emerged that the four female Quebecers were, in fact, Muslim, the tearful parents offered up a strange tale of an impromptu midnight driving lesson gone tragically wrong (Driving Lesson May Have Led To Drowning).
La Presse is now reporting that the girls' father, mother, and brother have been arrested en route to Montreal Airport, and that the deceased "aunt" or (alternatively) "cousin" was, in fact, the girls' father's first wife. The words "crime d'honneur" are beginning to creep into newspaper accounts.
Not over at The Atlantic Monthly, where a certain snippy dweeb whose name is too boring to type thought Phyllis Chesler and I were getting too worked up over North American "honour killings".
The girls' father, mother and brother are all now on trial for their murder, and we're a long way from "midnight driving lessons" gone "tragically wrong":
Later in July, detectives placed a bug in the family minivan, and were soon listening to conversations where Mr. Shafia called his daughters whores and exhorted the devil to "s on their graves."
That telling detail is from Christie Blatchford's fine trial coverage, and it gets to the heart of why "honour killing" is too disturbing for the multiculti diversity-celebrating relativists even to acknowledge.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
Later in July, detectives placed a bug in the family minivan, and were soon listening to conversations where Mr. Shafia called his daughters whores and exhorted the devil to "s on their graves."
KINGSTON, Ont. The woman accused in the honour killing of her three teenage daughters and her rival co-wife wont have to be in court when prosecutors play a police video that shows the quartets watery grave in the Rideau Canal.
As the short clip was about to be played in Ontario Superior Court here Monday, David Crowe, lawyer for Tooba Mohammad Yahya, rose to tell Judge Robert Maranger and a jury that the video may raise some issues of emotional trauma for my client.
Ms. Yahya, 41, had also got to her feet in apparent protest in the prisoners box she shares with husband Mohammad Shafia and their son, Hamed Mohammad Shafia.
The girls' parents, Mohammad Shafia, 58, and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 41, and their son Hamed Mohammad Shafia, 20, are charged with first-degree murder in the deaths.
The Crown alleges they staged the crash scene to make it look like an accident after being outraged at the "treachery" of the girls for daring to have boyfriends.
On Tuesday, jurors saw for themselves how the bodies looked suspended in water as police video footage was played.
The Crown's theory of the car's path is that it would have had to travel past a locked gate, over a concrete curb and a rocky outcrop and then make two U-turns to end up in the locks of the canal.
Clockwise from top left: 53-year-old Rona Amir Mohammad, Zainab Shafia, 19, Sahar Shafia, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13.
Kingston police photo and an exhibit at trial: A photo taken July 1, 2009 in the driveway of the Shafia home, showing damage to the front end of the family's LexusPhotograph by: Kingston Police photo
"...why "honour killing" is too disturbing for the multiculti diversity-celebrating relativists even to acknowledge.
Article, then check out follow-up in # 1 through # 6.
Sickening. Thanks, Fred Nerks.
It's coming, it's coming. My tagline. It's either them or us.
I don't think I'd call murder victims "raghead refuse." Now, their murderous relatives are another matter.
Agreed, these poor girls were murder victims, unable to choose the circumstances of their birth.
But the muslims who committed this unspeakable act are BLOODY SAVAGES!!
That's where it all goes wrong. They think women are the devil's spawn, yet they want and demand 3, 4, 20 of them. Who's the devil, now? Then comes the question, since there are approximately 1 boy birth to every girl birth then what do the guys without a half dozen wives supposed to have? Is it any wonder these freaks with pent up testosterone are always so angry and cause terrorism at every turn which also explains their clean hand vs. dirty hand. One would think those with the wives and daughters would be going neener-neener to those without and would honor females by putting them on pedestals but instead they are ones blamed for the men's arousals. They crave what is forbidden and then lash out for their own weaknesses. Viscious circle. Sick, sick culture.
They may be Muslim, but they sure know the definition of chutzpah!
Though Mr. Shafia and Hamid may have appeared the picture of successful and Westernized men the father was wealthy, owned a shopping mall in Laval and had contracted to build an upscale home, and the family had lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai behind closed doors, they might as well have been back in Afghanistan.
The oldest son Hamid was the head of the household when Mr. Shafia was away. He had a drivers licence and his own cell phone, used his fathers silver Lexus, and helped him in business.
The daughters, meanwhile, had phones registered to either father or son, and Zainab was kept out of school for a full year after the family discovered she had a boyfriend.
It was her running away, in the spring of 2009, to a womens shelter which sparked the familys downward spiral, Ms. Lacelle told the jurors.
But Sahar, too, was rebelling. She had a boyfriend. She loved makeup and clothes, like her big sister. She wanted to be a gynecologist, and was moved by the plight of her native sisters in Afghanistan.
Once, miserable at facing the prospect of having to wear a hijab, she tried to kill herself. According to Rona Mohammads diary, Ms. Yahya snapped, She can go to hell; let her kill herself.
Mark Steyn ping.
Freepmail me, if you want on or off the Mark Steyn ping list.
Thanks for the ping Slings and Arrows.
"It's hard to see what Canada has to gain from admitting significant numbers of people from the culture that spawned the Shafias." And "they come and settle into a culture that asks nothing of them."
The second would seem to be an influence on the first. That is, no one asks before they are let in if they are bringing anything worth having.
But Canada at leasts asks that they meet some minimum requirements to be let in. Here in the U.S., we don't even ask immigrants to nod to a border guard on the way in. Just show up.
In both cases, we see standards in free fall. The only tiny sign of hope here is that the Canadians are actually having a murder trial.
Absolutely chilling.
We are imporing our own killers from these Sharia countries.
Radical islam is an insane murder cult; moderate islam is its trojan horse in the west.
Native Quebecois are reproducing themselves with the same rate as Europeans, - way below replacement rate - so in order to keep up the census for the province, immigration has become a huge issue. Central Americans do not seem to find the climate congenial, so Quebec is welcoming anyone who will settle there - practically no questions asked.
Not a very good plan for the long term health, safety and prosperity of the country.
I wonder how much of the Shafia wealth is just recycled from money poured into Afghanistan from the USA since 2001?
Though the family Mr. Shafia, two wives and a total of seven children left Afghanistan in 1992, they didnt emigrate to Canada until June of 2007, with Rona Mohammad following six months later on a visitors visa.
Though Mr. Shafia and Hamid may have appeared the picture of successful and Westernized men the father was wealthy, owned a shopping mall in Laval and had contracted to build an upscale home, and the family had lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai behind closed doors, they might as well have been back in Afghanistan.
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DALLAS — Similar scripts have been written so many times about the Orlando Magic this season.
An awful start.
A second- and third-quarter comeback.
A fourth-quarter meltdown.
DALLAS — Similar scripts have been written so many times about the Orlando Magic this season.
An awful start.
A second- and third-quarter comeback.
A fourth-quarter meltdown.
And an injury to a key player.
It happened again Wednesday night. The Dallas Mavericks outclassed the Magic in the first and fourth quarters en route to a 111-96 win at American Airlines Center, and making matters worse, point guard Jameer Nelson felt his left knee give out with 4:49 to go.
"I think it should be OK just by the way it's feeling," Nelson said. "I don't want to make an assessment on it right now without getting fully evaluated by the doctors and getting all the MRIs and all that stuff I have to get probably. Hopefully, it's not too serious and I can move forward."
The Magic now have lost 26 of their last 29 games and face the possibility that their roster will look dramatically different before the NBA trade deadline expires at 3 p.m. Thursday.
J.J. Redick left American Airlines Center not knowing whether team officials will keep him the rest of the season or send him to a contender.
"Look," he said, "if any player is in this situation and they're on a team that's one of the five or six teams in the league that have one of the worst records and they go to a contender, it's not a bad thing.
"If I were to stay here, though, it'd be great."
If Wednesday's game marked the end of Redick's seven-year Magic tenure, he'd leave on a low note. He scored 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting, and he also played a starring role in the game's turning point.
With Orlando ahead 79-73 late in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks sapped the Magic's momentum.
O.J. Mayo blocked a fastbreak layup attempt by Redick. A few seconds later, Mayo tossed a perfect alley-oop pass to a skying Vince Carter for an emphatic dunk.
"It's as good a hustle sequence as we've had all year," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "I thought the timing of it couldn't have been more key in the game."
Redick missed a 3 on Orlando's ensuing possession, and Carter followed immediately with a 3 of his own.
After Nelson missed a long-range jumper, Darren Collison drew a shooting foul on Redick and converted both free throws.
There, in the span of 46 seconds, Dallas had taken an 80-79 lead.
"An unbelievable momentum shift," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said.
In the fourth quarter, Dallas scored 17 consecutive points to take control of the game.
Orlando's defeat cancelled out a strong performance from rookie small forward Maurice Harkless, who scored a career-high 20 points and added eight rebounds.
Vaughn had felt excited as tipoff approached.
The night before, back in Central Florida, Nelson and Arron Afflalo spoke up at halftime to implore their teammates to play better defense. Their impassioned words worked. After a first half in which they gave up 63 points to the hapless Charlotte Bobcats, they allowed just 42 points in the second half.
Vaughn hoped there would be a carryover into the game against Dallas.
There wasn't. At least not at first.
The Mavericks started the game by scoring 42 points in the first quarter on 64.0 percent shooting — the second night in a row the Magic had given up a season-high point total in a game's opening period.
Everyone on the Dallas roster had an easy time scoring, from former league MVP Dirk Nowitzki to journeyman guard Mike James to aging power forward Elton Brand.
But Dallas (24-29) slowed in the second quarter.
After the Mavericks took a 48-32 lead on a fadeaway by Nowitzki, the Magic closed the quarter on a 21-11 run.
The Mavs hit just 23.8 percent of their shots in the period, and Nowitzki was the only player on his team to make more than one basket.
Had the Orlando defense suddenly played with some passion? Or had the Dallas offense lost its energy? Probably a mixture of both.
The Magic (15-39) kept up their momentum late into the third quarter, but Mayo's hustle play set the tone for what followed.
And, now, the Magic await the trade deadline and word about Nelson's knee.
Both are unwelcome additions to a script that's all too email@example.com


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Paige's Rustic Schoolhouse-Inspired Colorado Kitchen & Dining Room
Every room in Paige's eclectic 1880's eclectic home in Boulder, Colorado is decorated with unique finds, many of which were found at the Marburger Farm Antique Show in Texas. Her kitchen and dining room has a rustic schoolhouse feel, with vintage shop stools, old maps, and a farmhouse table grounding the look.
See the Full Tour: Paige Blackburn's Cozy Mapleton Hill Home at Apartment Therapy
Related: Schoolhouse Style in the Kitchen
(Images: Ashley Poskin)


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Style # 215758
With sexy cutouts, a figure-sculpting fit and an eye-catching hue, this bebe dress is sure to turn heads all season long. Try yours with a pair of statement earrings and strappy sandals for an instant going-out look.
- 88% nylon, 12% spandex
- Dry clean
- Made in USA
- Center back to hem: 30" (76 cm)
- Model is 5'9" and is wearing a US size S
Power Knit Wrap Panel Dress is rated out of 5 by 9.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Butterfly from A must have! Got this dress in the mail yesterday I'm soooo excited. Fits perfect I'm a 140lbs wear a 36c in bra and have a pretty tight athletic body this dress hugs my curve and is not too short perfect i highly recommend this dress. I got it in the red coral!!
Date published: 2014-01-24
Rated 3 out of 5 by OSSO from Change the color to purple I wanted to give this dress 4 stars but have deducted a star for the misleading color description. Beware the deep blue is purple period. The dress is very snug and hugs my curves. I am normally an XS but ordered a S and barely made it. Order up. Ultimately I like the design 5' 8" 129 Ibs 34 D Size 2 dress size
Date published: 2014-01-18
Rated 4 out of 5 by malecci from Love it - one flaw I love this dress! It's so cute and fits great. The only problem is the cut outs on the top show my bra... but I love the dress so much that I will figure out a way to make it work!
Date published: 2013-06-06
Rated 5 out of 5 by Vero21 from Amazing! I originally got this dress in the coral color and it fit perfectly!! I wore it to a club one night and got tons of compliments and felt great in it. I loved it so much I ordered it in white too!
Date published: 2013-06-01
Rated 5 out of 5 by YuriTC from Must have! This dress is gorgeous and it fits so perfect!! I got it in white and I got so many compliments when I wore it!! Definitively love it!!
Date published: 2013-05-31
Rated 5 out of 5 by SlimThickumz from My new favorite! This dress is perfect!! It runs small as I always wear "XS" but the "S" in this dress fit perfectly on me. The material is soft and the cut is beautiful. I love the different cut outs all over the upper portion of the dress, sexy but not trashy. I can't wait to wear this dress in the Bahamas this week! A must have for the BEBE lover!
Date published: 2013-05-07
Rated 5 out of 5 by treasure78 from smokin hot dress!! Love, love, love!!! Perfect feel, color, quality and fit ..can't wait to wear this! Ordered size medium ..perfect for my size and shape.
Date published: 2013-04-30
Rated 5 out of 5 by Fincher99 from Fabulous This dress is amazing!!!!!! The color is rich and it fits like a glove! I look amazing in it! Love it!!!! Excellent purchase!
Date published: 2013-04-14