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Technical Problem With This Chapter?
Author: KEDme
Story: Bring Me to Life
Part: 1. Everybody's Fool
Rating: Teens
Setting: Pre-DH
Status: Completed
Reviews: 24
Words: 7,354
Updated: March 14, 2007, 4:37pm
1. Everybody's Fool
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of Harry Potter depicted in this story are the legal property of J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, and AOL Time Warner, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. Chapter titles and lyrics are the property of Evanescence.
Warning: This story contains sexual content and implied drug use. If that bothers you or you are under age, please do not read.
A/N: This is Part One of Two, a seven-chapter introduction of sorts. In other words, some things will not be resolved by the end. Pay attention to the titles and lyrics excerpts… they were chosen carefully to help you understand the problems the characters are facing and contribute to the story. Part Two is planned but is still a WIP. It will not be published until it is 100% complete. Updates for this story will be once a week for seven consecutive weeks. I hope you enjoy it!
How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Wake me up inside, wake me up inside
Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul
Harry hesitated just outside the doorway. Beads of sweat droplets formed on his forehead and rolled down the back of his neck as the struggle inside him intensified. He was standing outside the Burrow, inches away from the door, and he just couldn't do it.
There was no bona fide explanation why he couldn't enter the only place other than Hogwarts he had ever called home. The truth was the Burrow was more of a home to him than Privet Drive had ever been. He hadn't spent much time here, but that didn't matter to him. This ramshackle house represented everything he had ever wanted in life but could never have – not anymore. Not ever.
Harry closed his eyes tightly trying to ward off the truth of that thought, but it was no use. He was what he was. Nothing and nobody could change it.
"Harry?" a familiar feminine voice said from nearby.
Harry's eyes flew open with a startled snap. Ginny stood in the doorway, her mane of red hair glinted golden in the late afternoon sun. Her eyes were wrinkled in confusion as she stared at him, waiting for an explanation that would not come.
"What are you doing out there?" she asked gently. Her voice sent shivers down his back and he ducked his head to stop her seeing the effect her voice alone had on him.
"I…," he stuttered awkwardly, "I was just…" He looked around for an excuse, his eyes travelling upward to the waning sun. "I was enjoying the last of the warm weather," he lied. His eyes refused to find hers because he knew she'd see through him. She always did. She searched his face, seeming to reach into his thoughts, and he glanced away nervously, thankful that she didn't press him. "Why aren't you out back with the others?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I came inside to get something. When I glanced up at the clock I noticed your hand moving from travelling to home, but when you didn't come inside right away you had me worried."
"Oh," he said, unable to think of anything else to say.
"Well, stop sulking out there and come in and join the party," she said a little too brightly, gesturing for him to come inside. "Everyone else is here already." She stepped aside to give him access to the house, holding the door open for him as he passed. "You're late as usual," she said, amusement flickering below the surface.
"Yeah," he said meekly, looking up at her apologetically through long fringe he had not bothered to cut. "Sorry about that. Happy birthday, Ginny."
She leaned in and kissed him on his cheek pretending she didn't notice when he flinched. "You're forgiven," she said tenderly. She led the way back to the kitchen and he followed meekly, his eyes on the floor. "Would you mind helping me carry out these plates?" she asked as soon as they crossed the threshold, handing him an armload without bothering to wait for his reply.
As she turned he couldn't help admiring her retreating silhouette from behind, causing a painful lump to form in his chest. She hadn't changed a bit in two years except to get more beautiful. His mouth went dry as she grabbed an elastic out of a drawer and pulled her hair up, exposing her bare neck to Harry. He sighed inwardly, knowing that she had absolutely no idea what kind of effect she had on him. Every breath was torture. He closed his eyes to her briefly before she forced him to flee. As it was, it took every once of strength he had to stop himself from bolting out the door, away from this madness – this torment.
She must have been worried about his lack of conversation because she paused to glance back at him. "Sorry," she apologized, a tiny blush appearing on her freckled cheeks. "It's really warm out there."
"S'okay," he shrugged, forgetting momentarily that he was holding an armload of dishes. He struggled to keep from dropping them, conscious that his stomach was doing an unpleasant flip flop that intensified when she came over to help.
"There," she said softly, stabilizing him. "They must be heavy. Let me take a few of those off your hands."
Reluctantly he allowed her to take some of the plates, feeling immediate relief as his heavy load suddenly became lighter. Silently he trudged behind her, his eyes on the ground, as they made their way out into the garden.
Immediately his ears, accustomed to silence, were accosted with lively sounds. Someone must have put up a mass of Silencing Charms around the area, he reckoned, otherwise every Muggle in the vicinity of Ottery St. Catchpole would have been able to hear the noise of the wizard party going on behind the Weasley's house. Music from the Wizard Wireless Network blared, people laughed, and conversation was everywhere. Tables laden with food, candles, and presents were scattered here and there, while dancing fairy lights hung from almost every limb of the trees. The paper globes that housed the vain little creatures lit the darkened area invitingly. Since the Weasley garden was on the opposite side of the house from the setting sun it was much darker back here. The fairies were doing their jobs superbly, bathing the garden in a warm, ethereal glow.
Following Ginny's lead, Harry set the plates on a nearby table then looked around to see who else had come. Ginny was already engaged in conversation with a group of people Harry recognized from school. Tons of people had come for the party. He couldn't ever recall seeing this many people packed into the tiny back garden before, and he felt an ugly stab of jealousy as he observed the numerous males who had decided to attend.
He spied Ron and Hermione sitting at the end of one of the tables under a large canopy of trees. Hermione's hand was on top of Ron's and the two were engaged in an animated conversation that looked private. He hesitated, feeling very out of place. I shouldn't be here, his panicked mind screamed. But before he could turn around and leave, Hermione looked up and spotted him. A wide grin spread across her lovely face and she called out his name excitedly. For a split second he debated about what to do, but he knew he couldn't act like he had not heard her. He was caught.
Resigning himself, he weaved his way over towards his two oldest friends and plopped down on an empty chair.
Hermione and Ron both greeted him warmly but he was immediately aware of the tension in the air. When Hermione rushed away to fetch Harry a glass of Pumpkin juice he soon found out why.
"Where've you been?" Ron said crossly. "Buggar it all, Harry! I've been stuck here all evening trying to convince Hermione that we'll be all right without her for a few months. Please assure her that we can manage just fine on our own. Honestly, it'll be a relief to not have to listen to her constant badgering to clean up or do laundry at every turn. She's driving me mad with all the mollycoddling and we still have three weeks to go before she leaves. I don't know how I'm going to stand it till then!"
The three of them had been sharing a flat in Leicester near London since finishing up at Hogwarts, and Hermione was constantly on them about keeping up the housework. It was worse than her badgering all through school about homework, in their opinion, and she had ratcheted it up a notch since learning that she was to be sent away for training until the Christmas holidays.
Ron hadn't seen Hermione come back with the drink in time to catch the tail end of the conversation, but Harry did. He looked from Ron's grumpy face to Hermione's angry one and came to the instant conclusion that he'd much rather be somewhere else. He knew from experience that this was not going to be pretty. Conversations such as this could go on for hours, with him eventually acting as referee and go between when they refused to talk to one another. It was really very tiresome, and he usually tried to avoid it at all costs.
Tonight he decided his best strategy would be to offset Ron's comment with something of his own to try to deflect some of Hermione's anger at Ron's insensitive comments.
"We're really going to miss you Hermione," he said honestly. "I don't know how we're going to manage. But if we can survive Voldemort, then I'm sure we'll find some way to get though without you around every day to keep us in line." His voice was genuine, not condescending, and Hermione's anger melted under it.
Ron looked at her, defeated. "He's right, you know," he said dejectedly. "We are going to miss you terribly."
The hard lines of Hermione's face softened at his words. As she sat back in her chair, she placed her hand on Ron's thigh. Harry saw apprehension flitting across her face. "I shouldn't go," she said, appearing to waver.
"Of course you should go," Harry said firmly. "This is your life, Hermione, your career. You have to go." She looked unconvinced and ready to argue, but Harry cut her off with a wave. "It's only till Christmas. Don't worry… you know I'll look out for Ron. I'll make certain he doesn't starve. Besides, our training is moving into a new phase and it's beginning to get very intense. I doubt we'll have much time at home anyway."
Hermione raised an eyebrow and shifted her free hand to Harry's. "And if you're taking care of Ron, then who's going to take care of you?" she asked affectionately.
Ron perked up indignantly. "You know I have Harry's back. The three of us are a team, remember? Even when you're in bloody France or wherever you'll be."
Hermione smiled at both of them, emotion glistening in her eyes. "All right, I'll stop mollycoddling from now on and leave you to it. If you wear dingy pants it'll be your own faults."
Ron and Harry exchanged significant looks, knowing her decision was made. It was just as well. They were busy with Auror training most days anyway. Hermione's super-secret position as a liaison between the Department of Mysteries and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Legal Affairs kept her just as busy, and they rarely even saw each other, even though they shared a flat.
Feeling a change of subject was needed, Harry commented quietly. "This is some party, isn't it? Who knew Ginny had this many friends?"
He noticed both Hermione and Ron give him a strange look but couldn't for the life of him think what it was he had done this time.
"You are joking, right?" Hermione said finally.
"Er…" Harry said awkwardly. "I know Ginny's always been too popular for her own good," he said defensively. "I just didn't think they'd all show up for her birthday party, is all."
"You're right," Ron said darkly as his eyes scanned the crowd. "I could really do with a few less blokes chatting my sister up."
Harry silently agreed, stealing a glance at Ginny surrounded by a group of her friends, laughing and talking animatedly. It wasn't surprising when he felt the familiar stab of pain he'd come to associate with her. But he couldn't deny that being the centre of attention suited her. She seemed to sparkle under all the attention. Among the group hanging on her every word were Colin and Dennis Creevy, Justin Finch-Fletchly, and Anthony Goldstein. They were, reportedly, the latest boys to show an interest in her.
Standing off to the side was Dean Thomas, Ginny's old flame. Hermione whispered she had heard Dean might be interested in a second chance with Ginny. Harry's stomach clenched painfully at the thought. Dean was an all right bloke, but Ginny deserved more.
Harry's eyes swept over the youngest Weasley appreciatively; she radiated confidence. He remembered when he had captivated her attention. Those had been the best weeks of his life, but that seemed like a lifetime ago now. Sometimes Harry wondered if it had all been a dream.
He jerked himself away from those thoughts quickly. He had decided long ago that she was better off without him, and he'd not back down now. He repeated it like a mantra, trying to convince himself of it, but knew deep down he'd never accept her with anyone else – not really. Still, he knew he'd have to let go of that dream sooner or later because he refused to let her ruin her life on the likes of him. He could never bring her true happiness… not in his current situation.
Bringing his thoughts back to the conversation at hand, Harry asked in a deliberately casual tone, "So who's the lucky sod this week? Is she still dating Finch-Fletchly?"
"I don't think so, but who knows?" Ron said irritably. "She never tells me anything, anymore."
"Honestly, you two," Hermione said, "Ginny hasn't dated that many boys. Most of them have just been friends. And she would tell you, Ron," she pointed out, "if you didn't threaten to hex every boy who has the audacity to show an interest in her."
"Can I help it if I want to see my sister happy?" he retorted.
"And just what constitutes happy, in your opinion?" Hermione said heatedly. "She's eighteen today. Don't you think she's capable of deciding for herself who makes her happy?"
They were still arguing when Harry slipped away quietly and headed for the food table. He was fond of his two best friends, but their constant bickering did play on his nerves; at times like these it was better that he just leave them to it. Besides, he really wasn't in the mood to hear them bicker about Ginny's happiness as it pertained to other blokes. Even though Harry knew he could never be in Ginny's life again, the thought of her finding happiness with someone else literally tore him to pieces inside.
He was in the process of examining the vast array of food laid out on a long buffet table, wondering how he was going to muster up the appetite to eat anything, when two identical blurs approached him, one on each side.
"Hello there, business partner," Fred said, clapping him on the back. "Long time no see!"
"How's Auror life treating you these days, Harry, my boy? Saved the world anymore lately?" George chimed in, throwing a brotherly arm around his shoulder. Not waiting for an answer, he ploughed on. "This brings us around to why we're here... Harry, mate, we've got something to show you." He held up a jar of what looked like ordinary green pickles in front of them.
"What's that?" Harry asked warily.
"It's our latest product. Should be a whopping big success," Fred said proudly, indicating the pickles. "We're calling them Potter's Pickles."
"Yeah," George said. "One bite and your eyes will turn the colour of fresh pickled toad."
"Two bites," Fred said, "and your hair will be as dark as a blackboard."
"Three bites and you'll have your own lightening bolt plastered on your forehead!" George chuckled.
Harry grimaced. He felt slightly nauseous at the idea that people would even want to emulate him in any way. "Sounds fun," he said dully, unsuccessfully trying to fake his approval for the product.
"We thought you'd appreciate it," Fred said, grinning. "It was all George's idea."
"Not true, my dear brother," George corrected him modestly. "Don't you remember? It was our baby sister that gave us the inspiration."
"Gave who, what inspiration?" a familiar, disapproving voice said from behind Harry. Turning around, he felt his face flush with embarrassment. Ginny was looking between him and her brothers expectantly, a frown on her face.
"I was just telling Harry how you were the inspiration for the new line of Potter's Pickles," George said confidently.
Ginny's eyes sparkled then narrowed. "Yes. About that…" The twins looked at her suspiciously.
"I have it on good authority that a certain dwarf is prepared to petition a lawsuit if you go through with this crazy new scheme. He claims that you stole his idea," she said calmly. Her eyes were deadly cold now and Harry shivered, not wanting to be the twins for even one second under that stare.
Fred and George exchanged stricken looks.
"You said you weren't going to do that," Fred said lamely.
"Did I?" Ginny said innocently, revealing a sweet but calculating smile.
But Fred smiled widely, too. "You know we need more proof than your word sister, dear," he said, wagging a finger in front of her nose. "I think you're bluffing."
Ginny smiled just as widely. "I hoped you'd say that." Pulling out her wand, she said clearly, "Accio letter!" A moment later, a letter came zooming into her hand.
"You didn't really-" George said disbelievingly as Ginny handed him the letter.
"I most certainly did." She stared the twins down with a hard glare as they read the letter, their heads almost touching as they scanned it. Harry watched in fascination as their eyes darted to and fro, their faces growing more and more serious by the second. After a few moments they looked up, identical frowns plastered on their faces.
"Can we talk about this?" George asked timidly.
"Tell you what," Ginny said pleasantly. "I'm a reasonable girl. We can make a deal."
The twins started at her dubiously.
Ginny continued. "I think this product is worth saving. Why don't you drop the scar bit, make the hair and skin green, and just call them Potent Pickles? Leave Harry out of it. If you do that, I'm sure something could be… arranged. For a price, that is. Say, five percent of your total profits?" She raised an eyebrow in question, but showed no signs of backing down.
"Five percent!" George exclaimed. "Are you mental?"
Fred gave her a disgusted glare. "And you call us family," he said, shaking his head sadly.
"Fine, have it your way," she said dramatically waving the letter. "I'll just write Armando and tell him the good news." She turned to leave.
Fred and George exchanged a glance. They clearly seemed to be doing some sort of silent communication.
"Is that your final offer?" George asked hopefully.
"Take it or leave it."
Harry nearly fell over in surprise when they agreed to Ginny's terms. He was further shocked when she produced another document making it official. The twins even seemed impressed in a begrudging sort of way. They went off mumbling about family honour and bloody sisters, but there was a proud gleam in their eyes.
When they had gone, Harry turned to Ginny and offered her a weak smile. "Thanks for that," he said sincerely.
Ginny smiled warmly. "No problem, Harry," she said, rubbing his arm in a friendly, comforting way.
An electric shock ran through his body. His arm tingled at the touch and he jerked away abruptly, although all he really wanted to do was keep her hand there a little longer.
Ginny backed away too, stuttering out her next words awkwardly. "Sorry… I forgot for a moment there. It won't happen again."
"It's fine... really. It's not you, it's me. Please don't apologize."
"All right, then," she said uncertainly. "I suppose I should get back to my guests."
Harry couldn't help holding her gaze for a moment, and perhaps it was his imagination but he could almost remember how it used to be before that last battle with Voldemort. Vaguely he could recall a time when he could feel something, anything, other than this pain he carried around in his heart every day.
"I'll see you around," he said quietly, even though his heart screamed at him to take her in his arms and hold her until all the hurt was washed away.
She smiled a sad, slow smile. "Sure," she said, turning her back on him and walking towards Finch-Fletchly who was motioning her over.
Harry turned away so that he didn't have to look at her anymore because every time he did his heart broke just a little more.
The encounter with Ginny left Harry feeling flushed and totally out of sorts. He needed to escape, badly. It was a terrible idea to be here – to be this close to her again. He should never have come. The party continued to rage around him as his head spun with thoughts that were straight from the past, before Voldemort had ruined everything for him.
Stumbling around, he finally found a dark corner of the garden under a tree where he could be alone and collect his jumbled thoughts. He breathed deeply as he leaned forward in the shadows, quietly collecting his composure as he observed the comings and goings of the mass of bodies that filled the Weasley garden. Everyone was laughing and joking, dancing and talking. They all looked so carefree. Why couldn't he be like that?
He knew why. Two years had passed and he still thought about it every day.
The final fight.
Ron and Hermione captured, used as bait.
He knew it was a trap - a lure to get him to come, but he went anyway. There was no way he would leave his two best friends in the hands of that monster. They'd been with him through everything. They helped him get the Philosopher's Stone and they'd been with him when he destroyed the last of Voldemort's Horcruxes. In the end, they had given him the courage and the means to face his nightmare, his enemy, and destroy him for good.
But at what price?
The final confrontation had sucked out all remnants of any happiness he had in him, infecting him with darkness. When Voldemort was finally gone he had no happiness, no hope, left. Harry found himself empty – a living shell that walked and talked and smiled, but could not feel. He had forgotten how.
The only emotions he had left were mostly angry, dark, and depressing. He could still care, still express kindness and tenderness towards others, but all the happiness and joy in his life – everything that made life worthwhile – was gone. Worse, he could remember having it once, like the feeling one gets between sleep and waking when dreams seem real but just out of reach. Happiness had been real once, he was certain, but not anymore. Not for him.
At first, everyone assumed his depression was the result of post-traumatic stress and the after-effects of the war. Most everyone said they were feeling that way as they looked around and the impact of what they had lost sunk in. But gradually Harry noticed others moving on, past the pain while he never improved. It was like being stuck in a nightmare, dreaming of the past nightly and reliving the feelings during the day.
When he became aware that he wasn't going to get better he pushed everyone away. Unsurprisingly, his two best friends had steadfastly refused to let him be. After awhile, he had grown tired of the effort and stopped trying to make them go away, but he knew there was something missing in their friendship… there was a distance or void that had never been there before that last confrontation with Voldemort. It was a chasm so wide and so large it was impossible for him to cross; it separated him from the rest of the world, leaving him isolated and alone.
Ginny had got the worst of it. She had tried her best to reach him in those early days but he had said and done things to hurt her, to make her go away forever. Every time she came near him it was like a knife cutting into his heart; her very touch was painful. The Fates were cruel in their case. They were drawn to each other like moths to a flame, but when they collided it only burned. He remembered how he'd shouted at her, degraded her, told her how stupid she was for holding out hope that they'd ever be together again. He'd been pissed off his arse at the time and the alcohol had made him say and do things he never would have done sober.
'Do you love me, Harry?' Her eyes bore into his, trying to penetrate the layers of darkness surrounding his heart and see the truth.
'No,' he lied, his face a cold mask.
Tears rolled down her face, but her jaw was set – hard and angry. 'You're lying. I know you're lying. Why won't you tell me what's wrong?'
His temper flared. 'Why can't you just accept the fact that I don't have feelings for you, Ginny!'
He'd thrown his mostly empty bottle of Firewhisky against the wall with a satisfying crash, causing her to jump in surprise. A frightened squeak involuntarily escaped her lips.
His face twisted in a sneer. 'You're pathetic', he said, his voice cold as ice. 'I'm never going to be the same boy you used to moon over when you were ten. That person is dead, and all you're left with is me! This is it, Ginny… this is the real me. Is this what you really want?'
Her eyes were wide and uncertain, but she answered bravely. 'Y-yes.'
'Now who's lying?' he'd scoffed, taking a liberal drink from his full glass. 'Get over it, Ginny… get over me. I can't give you what you need, so just go.'
She'd slapped him and told him he was a piss-poor drunk, but after that she had kept her distance. She was through being his fool, apparently, and he was secretly proud of her for not taking it from him. He was poison. They both knew it, they both accepted it.
'Do you love me, Harry?'
Those words would haunt him to his dying day.
It sickened him to see what he had become. Only the most abhorrent potions a wizard could purchase on the black market came close to making him feel the way a normal wizard should, but they were temporary fixes – mere band-aids on a bigger problem.
He cursed Voldemort as he stood in the shadows now, half-hidden by the tree, watching them.
Ron and Hermione swayed softly in the moonlight, caught up in a long, slow dance. Last spring a relative of Hermione's married and she had asked Ron to accompany her to the wedding. Dancing was required she had said, so she broke out the albums and taught Ron the moves. Harry had walked in on the lesson by accident and she'd grabbed him up, trying her best to get him to sway with the beat of the music he couldn't feel. In frustration he had lashed out at her for putting him in that awkward situation, and he and Ron had almost come to blows. In the end Harry had backed down and stormed out, but had apologized later for his behaviour after he'd calmed down. He knew he had been out of line, and luckily they had accepted his apology. He wasn't certain what he would have done if they hadn't.
His eyes moved on, and he saw Fred and George attempting to dump a bucket of ice on Angelina Johnson's and Alicia Spinnet's heads. They had been caught in the act, but the girls were being good sports about it. The group, including Katie Bell and Lee Jordan, was laughing uproariously and trying to shove ice down each other's shirts, gaining the attention of the entire party. Soon Dean and Seamus had got into the act. Harry's stomach clinched as Dean tried to trick Ginny and slip one down her shirt, but she side-stepped him neatly and conjured a bucket of cold water, drenching him thoroughly. The impressive bit of magic had earned her laughter and a round of applause from the twins. The dark feelings of self-loathing and raw jealousy intensified watching them. Unlike Dean, he hadn't laughed once in over a year.
His gaze leapt from person to person and his heart grew heavier with each passing glance. They'd all be better off without him bringing down the mood of the party. No matter how much they didn't want to admit it, he was broken. Unfixable. His acting ability only went so far; whenever he was around he knew his presence was not much better than a Dementor. That was why he stayed away now, out of sight. He didn't want to ruin everyone else's fun with his sour mood.
He turned away abruptly, looking out towards the field where they had spent so many enjoyable hours playing pick-up games of Quidditch. Even that was not pleasurable anymore and he rarely played. He just couldn't bring himself to get on a broom when he was so empty inside. He didn't even like flying anymore. He made stupid errors and flew worse than a first year. It was embarrassing.
"Are you watching the Hugglebees?" a dreamy voice said from beside him, startling him. "They are quite lovely this time of year, don't you think?"
Harry turned to look at Luna Lovegood. He had not noticed her approach.
Some Auror I'll make, he thought to himself glumly. No wonder I'm near the bottom of my class.
Her eyes were slightly glazed and unfocused, staring off into the fields at something only she could see. Her dirty blond hair was just as straight and stringy as it had been the first time he had seen her on the Hogwarts Express.
"Umm, no," he said uncertainly. He wasn't quite sure what a Hugglebee was – probably just another one of Luna's crazy imaginary creatures. "I was just remembering all the good times I've had here," he said miserably.
Her soulful eyes seemed to see right to through the façade – the mask he had created – and into the depths of his true self.
"You know, Harry," she said, seriously looking at him sideways, "things are going to improve soon. I've consulted my spirit guide about your problem and she agrees it's only a matter of time," Luna said with authority. "You still have something left inside your heart. It's just buried so deep inside you that you're having trouble finding it. It's not your fault you know, it's the curse. Voldemort's curse."
Harry blinked in surprise. How could she know? Once again Luna had hit the nail on the head with her knack for voicing uncomfortable truths.
"Er… right," he fumbled. "I know." He wasn't sure what else to say to that. Luna's crazy observations rarely made sense, but this time she'd got too close.
She stared at him unblinkingly for a good long while, making him even more uncomfortable. Then suddenly she said in that same irritatingly serious voice as she turned her eyes back to the field twinkling with fireflies and fairies, "The Hugglebees really are beautiful… and there are so many! Did you know that they're attracted to areas where there is a concentration of empathic energy?" She looked over her shoulder at the ruckus still going on inside the Weasley garden. "Of course, they're also attracted to the smell of birthday cake."
"Uh… no, I didn't know that," he said resisting the urge to roll his eyes, thankful Hermione wasn't around to dispute the existence of Luna's latest fantasy.
Out of his peripheral vision he was relieved to see Ginny approaching, even though he felt his face heat again and that familiar urge to run away. Luna's knowing smile unnerved him. He wondered if his aura was doing funny things again; she had accused him of that before.
"There you two are," Ginny said cheerfully. "Mum wants to bring out the cake, but I told her I wouldn't blow out the candles until I dragged you both into the party."
"I think I'll go ask Neville if he has seen the Hugglebees yet," Luna said quietly. "Excuse me."
"No problem," Ginny said with a grin. "Last time I saw him he was running away from Seamus who was chasing him with a handful of ice."
Harry and Ginny watched curiously as she drifted off, dreamily humming an odd little tune.
"What was that all about?" Ginny asked, amusement flickering in her eyes.
Harry shrugged helplessly. "Something about Hugglebees. Ever heard of them?"
"No," she giggled. "Can't say that I have." She looked at him curiously. "What were you doing out here all alone?"
"I wasn't alone. Luna was here."
Ginny shook her head. "I mean before that. I saw you sulking all alone by the tree."
"I wasn't sulking, just thinking…" His voice trailed off and he didn't turn, hoping fervently she'd drop it.
"Oh…." she said with a knowing look. "I see."
"What?" He couldn't keep the annoyance out of his voice.
"You do an awful lot of thinking these day, don't you, Harry?" she said almost cruelly.
"I have a lot on my mind," he retorted, vexed that she would choose to pick a fight with him tonight with a garden full of guest only meters away.
But Ginny didn't seem to care about guests. She whirled on him, her face alight with anger. "Isn't it time you stop dwelling on the past and start enjoying life, Harry? Everyone else has moved on, why can't you?"
He turned away, his temper simmering. "You don't understand," he said through clenched teeth.
Her quietness told him that she had calmed her temper, just as she had many times in the past. "Harry," she said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."
He bristled at the touch and turned his head to the side, but couldn't bring himself to walk away.
"I do care about you, you know," she said, her voice sounding choked. "I-I wouldn't say it, if I didn't care."
"I know," he admitted reluctantly. He didn't turn – couldn't bear for her to see him with empty eyes. "I'm trying, Ginny," he said truthfully, though it was hard to talk around the lump that had formed in his throat. "But it's hard."
"Life is hard, Harry," she said quietly, touching his cheek and forcing him to look at her. "But you're stronger than this. You can beat this."
He couldn't help himself. He turned and looked at her with dull green eyes. "I'm spent, Ginny," he said truthfully. "I have nothing left in me to give. Every day is torture, and I don't know how to move on. I've tried everything, but he took it all, Gin. He took it all, and now it's gone."
"I don't believe you," she said forcefully, fixing him with a penetrating stare. "The Harry Potter I know never gives up."
He stared back at her helplessly, willing her to see that he was telling the truth.
Understanding dawned crystal clear in her eyes. He saw it seconds before she struck like a predatory cat, bringing her mouth to his so violently he was thrown backward into the tree.
He felt himself tense up at first and try to get away, the pain in his heart practically bursting. He needed to escape before she realised what he was, what Voldemort had made him, but she held him fast and refused to let him run away. He was utterly helpless, paralyzed… torn between wanting to stay and needing to go. When he tried to pull back she stopped him, drawing him closer and closer, digging down into the layers of darkness and pain, opening his heart to feelings he'd long thought gone. Slowly, impossibly, he felt himself respond as she made contact with his weakened soul. Like a tourniquet, she wrapped her own soul tightly around his, touching him in a way he hadn't been touched before. It was raw emotion, intense passion, and pure need.
And then he remembered.
It was like breathing again after holding his breath for far too long. He filled his lungs with air as he leaned into her slightly, feeling a desperate drive to deepen the kiss. She continued to hold on to him, letting him know it was all right. Tentatively, he opened his mouth to hers when she pressed for entrance. It was like coming home – even better than he remembered. Without meaning to, he sagged against the tree tiredly and allowed her to kiss the pain away, tonic to his starving soul. Without hesitation he opened himself up to it fully.
Suddenly he needed more. Like something had taken over inside him, he grabbed her by the waist roughly and pulled her closer. Tongues danced and played, eliciting moans from both parties. Harry wove his hand in her silky hair, grabbing her by the neck and trying to draw her closer still, trying to melt his body into hers. He gasped as one of her hands trailed up and under his baggy shirt, stroking the bare skin of his back. His skin was on fire where she was touching him.
He turned her unexpectedly and became the aggressor, surprising her as he gently threw her against the tree and pinned her body next to his. Raising her up without losing contact with her mouth, she willingly wrapped her legs around him, letting the tree support the bulk of her weight and his hips support the rest. He kissed her neck roughly, applying pressure to the pulse point just below her chin. She threw her head back to allow him better access, her fingers driving him mad as they twisted in his hair. It was pure bliss, yet at the same time horrible torture.
He was just beginning to dip lower, seeking out the soft skin of her shoulder hidden under her shirt, when they heard their names being called. He broke off his exploration, panting hard and wild-eyed with unrequited fulfilment.
They leaned their foreheads against each other in an unspoken understanding, but he did not put her down. He couldn't bear to let her go yet. At the same time the feelings of despair he had been pushing away came crashing down on him like a tidal wave. He sighed heavily as the veil dropped and pulled away even further, earning him a curious, worried look that suddenly made things very awkward between them. He could tell she wanted to ease the tension but didn't know how.
Mrs. Weasley was shouting out her name. They were looking for her, wanting her to come blow out the candles on her birthday cake. He put her down reluctantly and backed away, his breathing ragged, staring at her in wild-eyed shock. Neither spoke, choosing instead to communicate with their eyes everything that no words could possibly express.
She started to say something but he backed away, stumbling slightly in his haste to escape. Turning, he fled, skirting around the garden to the safety of the other side of the house where he would be out of sight, hearing her call after him in confusion. He just couldn't face anyone right now, least of all her.
Leaning against the house, he tried to regain his composure. His self-control was totally shattered and he was thoroughly embarrassed that he had acted so thoughtlessly. What must she think of him now? He had sworn to Ron he would always take care of her and that's what he had been doing by staying away. In his mind, it was her only chance for happiness. She'd be better off with Dean Thomas than him. Anyone would be better than him.
He swore violently and kicked the house in frustration, momentarily fearing that the whole place might come tumbling down. What was he going to do now? For the first time in over two years, he had felt something. Something wonderful, incredible… amazing! But he didn't know if he was prepared for what that meant, and he certainly wasn't prepared for the pain that was now flooding his heart.
Time passed as his body that had betrayed him so badly finally came back under his control. Thankfully no one had come to seek him out – no Weasley male had come to thrash him for defiling their sister in such a brutish way. In the distance he heard the sounds of Ginny's friends and family serenading her. He longed to go back, but knew it was wrong. Ginny deserved more than he could give. He cared about her too much to let her get mixed up with the likes of him.
The laughter and clapping drifted through the late summer air, and he imagined Ginny in the middle of it all, blushing and smiling, blowing out the candles on her cake. Perfect. The epitome of life. Everything he wanted but couldn't have.
She's better off without me. I can't do this to her.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the tiny pouch that contained Ginny's birthday present. He hadn't had time to give to her. Taking out his wand he vanished it, feeling sick, nauseous with pain… the worst despair he'd felt yet.
Clutching his stomach, he knew what he had to do now… where he had to go to make the pain that was threatening to overtake him more bearable. He'd promised Ron and Hermione he wouldn't do it anymore, but tonight had changed all that. He was teetering on the edge and, if he didn't find some relief soon, he'd plunge over the cliff. One more trip to the apothecary on Knockturn Alley would solve that. Although his conscious told him it was wrong and that he'd get kicked out of the training program if the Aurors ever found out he was using an illegal potion, he knew that for a little while he could find peace – even if it was a fleeting, synthetic peace. Then he'd go back to pretending for as long as he could.
What kind of man did that make him? He loathed his weakness and hated himself all the more. Dumbledore, Sirius, his parents… they would all be ashamed of him.
He closed his eyes and willed himself once again to forget, even though he knew it was impossible. Then he disappeared silently into the night.
[A/N: Next chapter will be posted in one week. Thanks for reading and reviewing!]
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text:
California Department of Transportation
Date: July 5, 2012
District: District 05 - Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: Jim Shivers or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3237 or 549-3189
Caltrans Awards $48.5 Million for Safe Routes to School
to Increase Safety and Health
CENTRAL COAST - Caltrans today awarded $48.5 million of state Safe Routes to School Program funds for 139 projects to increase safety and help reduce injuries and fatalities among children in grades K-12 who walk and bicycle to school.
"Safety is Caltrans' number one priority," said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. "We are committed to providing the highest safety possible for our children as they travel to and from school in California."
Among the state-funded projects are new sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and other safety improvements. Caltrans chose each project based upon need, effectiveness, and how quickly it could be delivered. By improving safety, more kids are encouraged to walk and bicycle to school, resulting in healthier children while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle congestion.
Some of the projects that received funding include:
- $417,000 for the construction of sidewalks, curb ramps and the installation of a flashing beacon near Arthur Hapgood, Clarence Ruth and Leonora Fillmore Elementary Schools, Lompoc Valley Middle School and Lompoc High School in Santa Barbara County.
- $200,000 for the construction of sidewalks and curb ramps near Templeton Elementary and Templeton Middle School in San Luis Obispo County.
- $335,000 for the construction of sidewalks near Orcutt Junior High School and Orcutt Academy High School in Santa Barbara County.
- $550,000 to construct a pedestrian path and bridge near Vine Hill Elementary School and Scotts Valley High School in Santa Cruz County.
- $340,000 to construct curb ramps, upgrade crosswalks, signs and pavement markings at 34 intersections which include Ann Soldo, Freedom, H.A. Hyde, Landmark, Linscott Charter, Mintie, Moreland Notre Dame, Radcliff, Starlight and T.S MacQuiddy Elementary Schools and E.A. Hall, Cesar E. Chavez and Rolling Hills Middle Schools in Watsonville.
To date, the state and federal Safe Routes to School programs have awarded $472 million for safety projects around California's schools. More than $7 million of the funds were awarded to critical safety projects in rural counties. In addition, 82 projects totaling $28 million will create jobs and benefit at least one low-income school within each project.
To view the entire list of SRTS projects that received funding, click here.
# # # #

subset: commoncrawl


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Running time : 17:44 min
Actors : India Summer, Dorian Grey
We have a new guy for you to feast your eyes on this week. Meet Dorian Grey, a hunk of a 23 year old. His massive muscles pay tribute to the fact that he's been a personal trainer since 18, and has been hitting the gym 5 times a week since he was 15.
Dorian gets to get his fuck on with the slim beauty India Summer. This naughty school-teacher looking young women has been doing work for us for almost a year now, and she loves all the hot cock we feed her.
The two begin their antics in the bathroom, where Dorian feeds his lady some strawberries while she soaks in the tub. After toweling her off, Dorian carries India into the bedroom where he gently sets her on the bed before going down on her. India returns the pleasure by taking his rock hard cock into her mouth, giving it a skilled sucking.
When India is ready to take his hardness deep inside of her, Dorian gets on top and slowly slides his massive member into her waiting pussy.
He gives it to her from the front and from the back before pulling out and dousing her rear end with his fire house. Okay, that was a bit corny, but you get the point...the stud blew his load all over her!


text:
MOST Hampshire Conservative MPs defied David Cameron last night by voting against plans to legalise gay marriage.
But they were unable to prevent the measure clearing a crucial Commons hurdle - with a majority of 225 - thanks to the overwhelming backing of Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill - allowing same-sex weddings, including ceremonies in some churches that agree - is now poised to become law.
The prime minister, while allowing a free vote, had argued marriage made society stronger "whether you're a man and a woman, a woman and a woman or a man and another man".
But Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North), Julian Lewis (New Forest East), Steve Brine (Winchester), Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight) and Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) all voted 'no' last night.
Mr Brine said today: "This was a free vote as matters of conscience traditionally are. As I said in Parliament, if there is a feeling out there that civil partnerships, which I strongly support, are now somehow not enough the coalition should have produced a green paper to explore options for change. That could have been done in a collegiate way instead of a non-consultation last year leading to a rushed Bill that has horribly divided the entire country and the Government.
"That said, I have received more contact from constituents on this, mostly opposed to the Bill for what it's worth, than any other subject in almost three years and many said to me the coalition should not be spending any time on this and has no mandate for such a major constitutional change. I will be following the Bill extremely closely as it moves into committee."
Ms Nokes protested that - despite government promises of a "quadruple lock" of legal protections - churches could face a court challenge if they refused to allow gay couples to marry there.
She said "the vast majority of my constituents" opposed gay marriage, adding: "I am not convinced the safeguards sought by the Church of England have been guaranteed."
Tory Mark Hoban (Fareham) did not vote while Desmond Swayne (Conservative, New Forest West) did not register a vote because he was a counter for the yes side.
George Hollingbery (Meon Valley), who voted in favour, said: "This was a free vote and one that was a matter of conscience. I have always believed, and continue to believe, that a defining characteristic of any developed society is that it treats its citizens equally. With that in mind, I voted in favour of the bill.
"In doing so I'm as confident as I can be that both religious institutions and their ministers are completely secure in their right not to have to conduct same sex marriages.
"But equally same sex couples have good reason to question whether society values their long-term commitment to each other in the same way as it does for heterosexual couples. This legislation is the way to answer that question."
John Denham (Southampton Itchen) and Alan Whitehead (Southampton Test) were among the vast majority of Labour MPs who voted for the Bill.
Mr Denham said: "I'm in favour. I believe that gay couples should be able to celebrate their long term love and commitment to each other as straight couples can do."
The debate was led by Maria Miller, the Conservative Basingstoke MP and Culture Secretary, who said: "The depth of feeling, love and commitment is no different between same-sex couples than opposite-sex couples."
There was astonishment that Mr Cameron - despite personally pushing forward the gay marriage Bill - was nowhere to be seen when it was debated yesterday.
Some modernising Tories believed the prime minister had ducked a chance to put the case and swing some wavering MPs into voting 'yes'.
• Steve Brine (Con, Winchester) NO
• George Hollingbery (Con, Meon Valley) YES
• John Denham (Lab, Southampton Itchen) YES
• Mark Hoban (Con, Fareham) DID NOT VOTE
• Chris Huhne (Lib Dem, Eastleigh) NO LONGER MP
• Dr Julian Lewis (Con, New Forest East) NO
• Caroline Nokes (Con, Romsey & Southampton North) NO
• Desmond Swayne (Con, New Forest West) Did not vote since a counter for the yes side
• Dr Alan Whitehead (Lab, Southampton Test) YES
• Caroline Dinenage (Con, Gosport) NO
• Maria Miller (Con, Basingstoke) YES
• Andrew Turner (Con, Isle of Wight) NO
• Sir George Young (Con, North West Hampshire) YES


text:
An intensely rocky start back into LfBH, so I hope you'll forgive me. A more action-packed piece will be up on Monday. Thanks to everyone who enjoys LfBH for your patience. <3 LfBH is nothing without you.
There was little time. The skies, even here, were a dismal gray, as if Blackford Hill was reaching out to offer its misery like a plague upon the people of the small village. Every time a guard entered the village, he brought with him a depressing silence that lasted for hours after he left. Phaedra knew that their presence was wearing thin on the residents here, and so, once they were healed enough to move about safely, she proposed they leave.
Felix was unhappy. He knew his father would be looking for him. He knew that this wasn't over for him, and if Silas insisted on tagging along (which he knew he would), then things would be very dangerous for him, indeed. As far as the young Count was concerned, his life had been thrown away the moment he set the flame to that temple. The gallows were the place for him, but Silas had a chance at a new life.
Tully, on the other hand, was eager to be out of here; eager to be as far away from their prison hellhole as humanly possible. She wanted to go home. She wanted to be where it was safe, warm, and dry. She wanted Phae and a life of their own.
Standing at the mouth of the village, where the only broad road led in, the stonework ending at the edge of the populated area and melding into packed dirt, Phaedra shouldered a crude canvas bag with a single strap over her shoulder, and glanced to Tully.
"I'm ready…" Tully responded to the wordless request. "I don't want to leave them behind, Phae, can't they come with us?"
Phaedra sighed. "They're a liability to us, just as we are to them. It's safer for everyone if we split up. We need the best chance possible at not being picked up again."
"I suppose that means we're not going back to The Willow?"
"It's fine, Phae… it's fine. Let's go, alright? We're losing daylight." Tully turned to face the road, just as Silas came bounding up behind them, a hand falling heavily on Phae's shoulder, accompanied by a good-natured laugh.
"Thought you'd run off just like that, yeah? I don't think so," Silas laughed as Felix sauntered up beside him, and cast his eyes away.
"We didn't want to make this any harder," Phae explained, and gave a faint smile as she turned. For as skeptical as she had been of these two men during their first hours together, she had gained more respect and affection for them during their time here than she had expected. They were good friends, even Felix, the mouthy pain in the ass. It was because they were good friends that they deserved a fair chance; it would be selfish to hold them back by traveling with them.
Tully threw her arms around Felix and kissed his cheek. "If we ever go back home, I'll find a way to let you know. You can come visit. You'd love the bakery, Felix."
Felix's cheeks flared a bit red and he smiled faintly. Friendship had never been something he had been good at, but with Tully, it was so easy. She a sweet person with good intentions and a love for just about everyone.
"I'll come visit with you, I promise. At the bakery, or elsewhere, I'll find you when things settle, Tully. Maybe Silas will be with me." Another faint smile.
"Don't look so grudging. He likes you. Let him stay. You need someone to support you, Felix. You can't possibly let yourself be miserable forever. Let him enjoy your company, and for the love of the Gods, try to enjoy his, hm?"
Another dark blush from Felix and he laughed. "It makes me feel guilty."
"You shouldn't. Go. We'll talk again soon. I promise you." She shoved him lightly, and turned to take Phaedra's hand, a slight wave behind her to signal their departure. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she inclined her head, as if doing so would keep them from falling.
"It's for the best," Phaedra stated yet again, giving her hand a little squeeze. "It's safer for all of us if we split up. And our work will take us to places where they have no business being."
Sniffling in finality, Tully brought her hand across her eyes and nodded. "I know. And Felix has business with his father. I just hope he comes out of it in one piece."
Phae gave a grim nod, and kissed her beloved's fingers. "We all will."
Felix cast a glance to Silas, his eyes sliding over him head to toe, and he gave a very bare, helpless smile. If Silas were ever to change his mind, Felix knew that it would be now and he would be left alone. Silas was a good man, and he knew that he liked him, but how could the Count expect someone like Silas to suffer his upper-class woes?
"That was hard, yeah?" Silas drawled, drawing on his cigarette and tossing it aside.
"Smoking is disgusting…" Felix muttered and turned toward him, pulling his cap over his head and meandering alongside Silas.
"I know. So, what's the plan, Count?"
Felix rubbed his forehead. "I don't know. Go to my father. Kill him. Take what he doesn't deserve and try like hell to do some sort of good with it, I expect. We need to do something about Blackford Hill."
Silas slipped a hand discreetly into his and tugged him between two buildings, where he promptly stole his lips in a reassuring kiss. "Let's do that, then."
Felix swallowed hard and stared at him, before he dropped his eyes to their clasped hands. "Let's," he breathed with a faint nod. "Yes. Well, to my father's then."
With a single glance back to the departing women as he came out of the narrow alley, Felix drew a breath and pulled Silas down the road in the opposite direction.


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The hugely influential artist, architect, sculptor, painter and social engineer revolutionised the way we think about the built environment and then drowned in the Mediterranean
Translated by Danvers Couchmere from the original haughty French
March 28, 1954.
The epoch now upon us has created an upper stratum of human intelligence - thinkers, designers, planners, artists, engineering magnates, experimenters in social realism (exempli gratia Britain's so-called 'kitchen sink architects'), Modern sexualists, writers-of-the-moment & cetera & cetera.
I hesitate to call us übermenschen. Of the 500 or so truly influential figures in the world to-day, two are certainly women; also, the term übermenschen still provokes a negative connotation in certain salons. Very well then, we are pedagogues. We broadcast our seeds of cultural revolution in the ill-furrowed fields of human endeavour.
Alas, these fields remain full of human clods and are ravaged by the opportunistic starlings of the press, who gobble up the seed and make ugly 'cawing' noises.
Only last week there appeared a 'profile' of M. Picasso in Modern Iconoclast. The author impertinently accused my fellow-genius of infidelity, arrogance and 'splodged paint-work'.
My occasional smoking-companion M. Sartre was similarly traduced recently by Hep & Pep magazine, which described him as 'a pompous, squinting, miserabilist Maoist bore'.
Now I too must endure public ridicule in the gossip rags. A preposterous piece in Maestro, 'Arts Periodical for the Cultured Man of To-Day' not only prints some unflattering photo-graphs but, further, describes me as a 'behavioural fascist'.
A fine reward indeed, for my long years of resistance to the Nazi Occupation of France. My fellow resistors know how resolutely I opposed the Vichy Government, using the most powerful weapon at my disposal - a profound disdain for its taste in music and architecture.
Let us examine this possibly-libellous charge of 'behavioural fascism'. It is nonsense. Mme. L'Obscurier and I often entertain at home in circumstances of the most floweringly informal. Of course guests are required to shower and then change into sterilised linen djellabas and pantalons. We are not barbarians, I think!
Guests are then shown by the ante-chamber-maid into an ante-chamber. We call this, without affectation, as we speak mostly French, our bavardoiserie, or chatting room. Here chatting may be properly conducted. The bavardoiserie is a windowless 226 x 226 x 226 cell with experimental 'air-conditioning'. It is a machine for chatting in. It encourages conversation to be concise and to the point.
All guests are issued with the following:
- A detailed map of the house.
- Clear, sequential, unequivocal directions for using the bathroom.
Does this sound as if I do not care? Hardly! Let us hear no more talk of this coldly intelligent man, this icy L'Obscurier and his heart-in-winter. My heart, like any other, is neatly accommodated within a perfectly proportioned scaffolding of ribs, part of the human body's mathematically correct structure.
Deep diving today. My oxygen-helium tanks hold enough enhanced air for approximately 37.5 minutes. I shall work on my new alphabet idea. Suppose that instead of a 26-letter alphabet we were to employ a 26 x 26 x 26 alphabet - what a spiritualising abstraction! I shall not budge until the problem is solved. Oxygen-helium? Or L'Obscurier? Who shall be vanquished?
Ian Martin is away
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Pickerington American Legion Post 283 baseball coach Chris Weber wants his team to take micro-management to a new level as it prepares to defend its state championship.
Pickerington American Legion Post 283 baseball coach Chris Weber wants his team to take micro-management to a new level as it prepares to defend its state championship.
Post 283 cruised through the Region 6 tournament, outscoring its three opponents 30-8 and defeating Athens Post 21 10-4 in the championship game July 17 at Beavers Field in Lancaster. Post 283 won its third consecutive district/region title and became the first of eight teams to punch its ticket into the state tournament, which will be July 29-Aug. 2 at Beavers Field.
A 16-hit attack in the final was the latest sign that a more patient approach is taking root and paying dividends.
"You can't really simulate a game situation even with live (batting practice) in a cage or anything else, but we talk a lot about focusing on the process," said Weber, whose team is 33-9 entering a game against the District 8 All-Stars on Wednesday, July 24, in Lancaster. "Nothing else matters. Situations, counts, none of that really matters. It only matters if your thought process lets it."
Chris Brake (SS) had a team-high four hits -- three singles and a double -- for Post 283 in the final. Steve Asbury (DH), Scott Baker (OF), Devon Fisk (P/OF), Jordan Grubb (3B) and Derek Helbing (C) added two hits each.
Baker drew a bases-loaded walk, Helbing lined a two-run single to left field and Fisk added an RBI single in the fourth to erase a 2-0 deficit. Post 283 blew the game open with five runs in the sixth, when after Fisk, Charlie Schmidt (OF) and Doug Connor (1B) singled, Brake was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Asbury and Baker added two-run singles.
"We'd seen their pitching once," Asbury, a senior at Watkins Memorial, said of Post 283's middle-inning rallies. "You start picking up on their routines. (Athens pitchers Alex Staron and reliever Dustin Mullins were) going curveball, curveball, fastball or mixing it up a little bit, and we just sat on the curveball and drove it."
Starter Kyle Montell allowed three runs and seven hits in four-plus innings, and reliever Jake Edwards gave up a run on seven hits in four innings. Edwards allowed three singles in the eighth then got out of the bases-loaded jam.
"Kyle definitely started the momentum for us," said Edwards, a senior at Pickerington North. "I had an off week last week, and it was good to come back tonight and have everything working for me. My pitching coach, Mike Barber, helped me out a lot. He fixed my windup a little bit and that's what helped me out the most."
Post 283 earned the top seed in the tournament and took a first-round bye. It defeated Lancaster Post 11 12-2 in a second-round game July 14 and Athens 8-2 in a semifinal July 15 to earn a day off before the final.
Athens, which finished 15-14, defeated Lancaster 5-3 in the consolation bracket final. That game began July 16, but a lightning delay forced the game to be concluded July 17, about 45 minutes before the championship game began.
Post 283's previous district championships came in 1989, 1994, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012.
Before this season, Ohio American Legion Baseball widened the boundaries of its regions to encompass more teams in areas with fewer Legion teams. There were 12 districts in the state last year, but now there are eight regions.
The state tournament bracket will be determined July 28. Eight teams will compete in a 15-game, double-elimination format. The champion will play in the regional tournament Aug. 8-12 in Terre Haute, Ind.
"I see a lot of promising signs with this team heading into the state tournament," Weber said. "We've preached to the guys to not preconceive what they'll do in their at-bats. You can't do that. This game doesn't let you do that. So they just have to go to the plate with the idea they'll get a good pitch and hit it hard."


text:
Student Association Election
The election for officers of the New Mexico Tech Student Association is on Thursday, April 19, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Fidel Center.
How can I run for office?
Pick up your candidacy form across from the SA offices near the post office in Fidel Center. Return the form by Monday, April 16, to the SA offices, or download the one at the Student Association website.
How can I hear the candidates?
The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidate Forum is your chance to hear what they have to say on important school issues. It will be held on Weds., April 18, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Workman 101.
Why do we have an election?
The Spring General Election is when the Student Association (SA) President, Vice-President, and ten Senate seats are elected.
Why should I vote?
The makeup of the executive and the senate have an important effect on student life, including how the student activity fee we all pay is spent and how relations are with the Tech administration. Since we have a small student body, everybody's vote is important!
Who can vote?
All undergraduates who have paid their student activities fee can vote in the election. Graduate students may vote for President and Vice-President, but not senate seats.


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Maybe it's the heat.
That's what I'd really like to believe is behind some of the incidents in this week's selection of recent cases worked by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens. After all, fried brains certainly would seem an explanation for some of these actions.
Sadly, though, the recent hot weather probably had little or nothing to do with it. There are, it seems, a steady stream of people willing to make really bad choices in the outdoors.
But to leaven this loaf, I've included some positive, heartening stuff, too. Texas' game wardens regularly find themselves in a position to prevent some people from suffering the catastrophic consequences of their ill-considered actions or their just plain bad luck. Proof of that is below.
This week's bad, good and just really bizarre:
- Harris County Game Warden Kevin Malonson received a complaint June 18 from the Harris County Sheriff's Department regarding a criminal mischief and deer poaching incident in Hockley.
After an altercation between two childhood friends took place, one of the subjects decided to retaliate against the other by going out in the early morning hours, poaching two white-tailed deer, cutting the carcasses open, placing one in the cab of his (former) friend's truck and the other on the friend's front porch.
Around lunch time and as the temperature rose to about 90 degrees, the deer were discovered by the home's residents. The fast-decomposing and quite rank carcasses already had been discovered by vultures.
Warden Malonson tracked down the suspect who, after being interviewed, gave a written confession.
Case pending.
- Game Wardens Albert Flores, Nichole Spatz and Lerrin Williams were on patrol when they observed a dead-in-the-water boat in the middle of the Aransas Channel with a barge bearing down on it, and the people in the boat frantically trying to get the wardens' attention.
Wardens Flores, Spatz and Williams responded by tying their vessel on to the disabled vessel and towing it out of the barge's path with only moments to spare.
The barge captain hailed the wardens on the VHF radio and thanked them for their quick response, stating that he would not have been able to stop in time to avoid a collision.
- Grayson County Game Warden Dale Moses was patrolling Lake Texoma on June 11 and checked an Oklahoma fishing guide fishing in Texas waters.
When Warden Moses asked the guide how his box of fish was looking, the guide replied, "I've got too many – not total but (too many) big fish."
Lake Texoma's bag limit allows each angler to possess no more than two striped bass measuring more than 20 inches.
The guide's ice chest held 16 20-inch or longer stripers, eight more than allowed for the four anglers on the boat.
Cases and civil restitution pending.
- Game Warden Nichole Spatz was called by a Corpus Christi police officer who had seen a headless and finless carcass of a scalloped hammerhead shark on the beach.
Warden Spatz followed up by going to Bob Hall Pier, a popular shark fishing pier, and interviewed many of the fishermen on hand, several of whom are regular shark fishermen.
Warden Spatz's investigation produced a name, which led to photos and video on popular social media sites.
It was discovered that the shark had been weighed and had fallen just shy of the state record for a scalloped hammerhead shark; the dead shark weighed 243.7 pounds, and the state record is 253 pounds.
With the help of Bell County Game Warden Brandt Bernstein, the suspect who caught the shark was contacted and promptly admitted to catching the shark and removing the head.
The suspect stated that he had been feeling guilty and was expecting a visit from game wardens and had thought about contacting wardens and turning himself in.
The investigation also led to the identity of the individual who disposed of the carcass.
Cases pending for waste of game fish and littering on a beach.
- Kenedy County Game Warden Jason Duke received information that a couple of large boats were catching and retaining more than the legal limit of red snapper out in the Gulf on the Kenedy/Willacy county line in state water.
Game Wardens Duke, Roy Martinez, and Dennis Gazaway set up on the east cut and soon made contact with one of the boats where the wardens found the anglers with eight very large red snapper over their limit.
Cases pending.
Wardens waited at the cut, stopping and checking additional boats as they returned from offshore, finding all of them to have exactly the legal limit. Cell phones and chatter on VHF radios probably had nothing to do with that.
- While on vacation at Corpus Christi beach on June 12, Freestone County Game Warden Craig Hernandez witnessed a group of people pull a man from a hotel's pool.
The man's face was purple and he was not breathing.
Warden Hernandez immediately began chest compressions while a female from the hotel began rescue breathing.
After five minutes of CPR, the man began to breathe on his own, but stopped after about 30 seconds. Warden Hernandez and the female began CPR again until the fire department arrived. The man was alive when he was taken by EMS.
- Rockwall County Game Warden Clint Brown on June 16 arrested a Collin County man for Boating While Intoxicated.
On the way to the marina with the suspect, his boat and his friends, the suspect took off his personal flotation device and dove into the water.
Warden Brown called Dallas County Game Warden Martin Oviedo for assistance in trying to catch the man.
The suspect got away, but Warden Brown was still in possession of his boat, his friends, his ID, and the keys to his truck.
Warden Brown had the boat and truck towed for safe keeping.
Turns out, the suspect had warrants out for his arrest and added to the tally as a result of his actions.
Cases pending.
- Dallas County Game Wardens Martin Oviedo and Jamie Sanchez were in the right place at the right time and acted without hesitation when, on June 19, they were crossing Lake Ray Hubbard on I-30 when they noticed a man standing on the causeway waving a long pole.
As the wardens were looking to see what he was doing, they noticed a boat that was sinking and saw people in the water.
The wardens stopped, climbed over the concrete barrier, made their way to the edge of the water and retrieved seven people from the water. Their boat had taken on water during a sudden severe storm.
The boaters were transported back to the boat ramp parking lot
- Wood County Game Wardens Derek Spitzer and Kurt Kelley along with Rains County Game Warden Dewayne Noble, Van Zandt County Game Warden Steve Stapleton and Captain David Modgling worked the Skeeter Owners Bass Tournament on Lake Fork June 9-10
Five of the more than 1,650 anglers in the contest "won" felony criminal charges.
During the tournament, the five subjects were caught with illegal fish being brought to the weigh-in.
Two of the largemouth bass had their tails altered or "cut" to make them under the slot of 16 inches. Another bass, an 8-pounder, was caught on a crappie, a game fish illegal to use as bait.
All subjects wrote out and signed voluntary statements concerning their actions after being questioned by the wardens.
Five charges were filed with the Wood County DA's office for fraud in a freshwater tournament, a third degree felony.
- Montgomery County Wardens Brannon Meinkowsky and Bobby Apple on June 6 stopped an individual for operating an ATV in the San Jacinto River.
The subject claimed that his friend let him borrow the ATV but was unable to provide the friend's name or address.
He went on to say that the friend had owned the ATV for about six months.
A check of the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) found that the ATV had been reported stolen only three days earlier.
The subject was arrested for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and the 2008 Kawasaki was seized.
Case pending.
- Angelina County Game Wardens Phillip Wood, James Barge, and Tim Walker were patrolling Sam Rayburn Reservoir on June 17 when they stopped a boat to conduct a water safety inspection.
The driver failed to have a required PFD on board.
While speaking with the operator, wardens detected a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and person.
The driver stated he had consumed 10 beers.
After further investigation, the driver failed field sobriety tests and was arrested for Boating While Intoxicated, second offense.
Case pending.
- Concho County Game Warden Brad Clark on June 17 was observing a group of persons who had activated a deer depredation permit to ensure they were following the permit's guidelines.
Warden Clark had been watching the hunters for approximately an hour, when a car drove down the highway between Warden Clark and the hunters.
The car slowed down almost directly in front of Warden Clark and someone in the vehicle fired a single shot and sped off.
Warden Clark pursued the vehicle for several miles but could never get close enough to activate his emergency lights.
As the car entered the town of Paint Rock, Warden Clark watched the vehicle turn off a highway and onto a side street.
Warden Clark found the vehicle parked at a residence with two adults and one small child passenger still inside.
After first issuing a brief denial, the vehicle driver admitted to shooting at a road sign with his .357 Ruger pistol.
A DPS trooper was soon on the scene and, after field sobriety tests, the driver was arrested for DWI with a child, unlawful carrying of a weapon, and disorderly conduct.
The driver avoided a criminal mischief charge — he'd missed the sign he shot at.
Cases pending.


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FC Barcelona - Levante UD tickets
7 January 2018Camp Nou, Barcelona Spain
(*)Date & time will be confirmed 10 to 20 days before the event
Exclusive Reliable Suppliers
We offer our ticket platform to external exclusive reliable suppliers for this event. You are guaranteed ticket delivery in time for the event and that you will be able to access the event. If these guarantees are not fulfilled you will be compensated.
The selling price may not coincide with the printed ticket value, as it is the distributor/intermediary price.
Check Terms of Use & FAQ for further information.
The printed price on the ticket is the value of the ticket according to the club/event organizer.
Face values (printed prices on the ticket) for this match are:
VIP Plata
Cat 1
Cat 2
Cat 3
Stadium Info
With seats for over 99,000 spectators, Camp Nou is the largest in Europe as regards seating capacity; it also barely misses a spot in the top 10 for the largest stadiums in the world. UEFA has also declared Camp Nou to be a Category 4 stadium, allowing it to host such important international competitions as the '99 Champions League Final and several UEFA Cups.
But of course the year-round stars in Camp Nou are the Barça players who call the stadium home. FC Barcelona tickets sell out weekly to allow fans and families to cheer for the blue-and-reds or their opponents for the week.
How to Get There
Address: Av. Arístides Maillol, s/n, 08028 Barcelona
Metro: L3 Les Corts, Palau Reial, Maria Cristina / L5 Collblanc
Bus: Lines D20, H6, H8, 7, 33, 54, 56, 57, 59, 63, 67, 68, 70, 75, 78, 113, 157 & L12
Trambaix: Av. Xile / Camp Nou
22:48 | Hi would like to purchase 2 tickets for this game.


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Private lessons are a great way to get involved with music. Whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced player seeking to improve your technique and knowledge, private lessons give you the time and attention you need to further improve your skills in a much more controlled, personal one-on-one environment.
Each of our music centers offer one-on-one private lessons for a variety of instruments including the piano, stringed, and woodwind instruments. Our instructors work closely with their students ensuring that they develop an overall strong command of the instrument through learning music theory and building a repertoire of musical pieces.
We offer a free observation session of our private teachers to those considering enrolling with us. An observation session gives you the chance to view one of our instructors work with his/her student before you decide to enroll. If you would like to setup an observation session, please contact us here.
Lesson Details
Clarinet Lessons are available in our Irvine & Torrance locations.


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Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes
American Idol The Hollywood rounds begin. 8 p.m. Fox
Baby Daddy Riley's (Chelsea Kane) firm assigns her the job of keeping a client's daughter (Lucy Hale) out of trouble and Bonnie (Melissa Peterman) gets her first real estate listing, but Ben (Jean-Luc Bilodeau) inadvertently burns the property down in this new episode. 8:30 p.m. ABC Family
Criminal Minds In the show's 200th episode JJ (A.J. Cook) is kidnapped, and her colleagues investigate what went on during the year she was working for the State Department in hopes of finding clues. 9 p.m. CBS
Buy This Restaurant A Texas woman thinks she is ready to trade in her food truck family business for a brick and mortar space in the premiere of this new series. 9 p.m. Food
Super Skyscrapers "One World Trade Center" is visited in the premiere of this documentary miniseries. 10 p.m. KOCE
Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond Fleming tries to convince Godfrey to send him to France, in order to oversee the destruction of secret files in the next installment of this mini-series. 10 p.m. BBC America
Top Chef In the season final the two remaining chefs open pop-up restaurants for their final challenge. 10 p.m. Bravo
Hunting Hitler's Stolen Treasures: The Monuments Men This new special recalls the unit in World War II sent to the front lines to rescue European art from Nazi-occupied Europe, whose exploits are recalled in a new movie. 8 p.m. Nat Geo
CBS This Morning Robin Cook. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS
Today Sochi; "The Biggest Loser" winner; Yvette Nicole Brown; Patti Stanger. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC
Good Morning America Cate Blanchett; Toni Braxton and Babyface; B.J. Novak; Sherrod Small. (N) 7 a.m. KABC
Good Day L.A. Christopher Titus; Leeza Gibbons; Los Lonely Boys performs; Joan Moran; cast of "The Walking Dead"; Kristen Bell ("Frozen"). (N) 7 a.m. KTTV
Rachael Ray Thomas Gibson ("Criminal Minds"). (N) 8 a.m. KCAL
Live With Kelly and Michael Vanna White; the winner of "The Biggest Loser." (N) 9 a.m. KABC
The View Sage Steele. (N) 10 a.m. KABC
Wendy Williams Towanda and Trina Braxton ("Braxton Family Values"); the winner of "The Biggest Loser." (N) 11 a.m. KTTV
The Talk Cast of "Criminal Minds"; Andrew Freund; Candice Kumai. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS
The Queen Latifah Show Andy Garcia; Melissa Fumero ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine"). (N) 2 p.m. KCBS; 7 p.m. KCAL
The Dr. Oz Show Supercharging metabolism; yeast-infection remedies. (N) 2 p.m. KABC
Dr. Phil A 56-year-old widow has given her life savings to a "boyfriend" she has never met in person. (N) 3 p.m. KCBS
Katie A man spends 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder; Padma Lakshmi. (N) 3 p.m. KABC
The Ellen DeGeneres Show Kunal Nayyar ("The Big Bang Theory"); chef Wolfgang Puck. (N) 4 p.m. KNBC
The Doctors Body transformations; foods may sabotage weight loss. (N) 5 p.m. KCAL
The Arsenio Hall Show Larry King; Shanola Hampton; DeRay Davis. (N) 11 p.m. KTLA
Tavis Smiley Dr. Alvaro Huerta; Shelby Lynne. (N) 11 p.m. KOCE
Charlie Rose (N) 11 p.m. KVCR; 11:30 p.m. KOCE
The Daily Show: Jon Stewart George Clooney. (N) 11 p.m. Comedy Central
Chelsea Lately Brody Stevens; Jen Kirkman; Kurt Braunohler; Emma Kenney. (N) 11 p.m. E!
Conan Nick Offerman; Michelle Monaghan; Daniel Sloss. (N) 11 p.m. TBS
The Colbert Report Lake Street Dive. (N) 11:30 p.m. Comedy Central
The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Sandra Bullock; Blake Shelton; Vintage Trouble performs. (N) 11:34 p.m. KNBC
Late Show With David Letterman Matt Damon; Beatles tribute from Lenny Kravitz. (N) 11:35 p.m. KCBS
Jimmy Kimmel Live Ashton Kutcher; Sarah Paulson; The Head and the Heart. (N) 11:35 p.m. KABC
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Tom Hanks' slam poetry about "Full House." (N) 12:36 a.m. KNBC
The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson Jim Parsons. (N) 12:37 a.m. KCBS
Last Call With Carson Daly Beau Willimon; Andres du Bouchet; Jake Bugg performs. (N) 1:36 a.m. KNBC


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|The seal looks like
the wheel from
Wheel of Fortune.
|Hey look, there's a star above Lincoln!
|There's a 20 foot statue of a
farmer up there – pretty cool.
|The corn cobs are cool - the humans are seedy looking.
|I prefer original Herbie - he
had a corn cob in his pocket.
|Looks like something
from Laugh-In.
|No need to mess with this.
Academics – According to the most recent U. S. News' ranking of America's Best Colleges, Nebraska is 101st, same as last year by far the worst rating for any Big Ten school. Even Sparty is ranked 72nd. Nebraska's tied in the rankings with such academic powerhouses as Iowa State, UC-Riverside, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Maybe the N on the helmet stands for "knowledge" (I know: an oldie but a goody).
|When this guy's your
all-time leading scorer
you have a bad program.
|Maybe Carnac knows
who will win on Saturday.
Michigan - 18 (5 Gibbons, 1 Wile FG)
Nebraska - 20


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Passion, Glory, Hard work and Love for the game lives here!
Passion, Glory, Hard work and Love for the game lives here!
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