Aftermaths, Part 111

by Geri ([email protected])

Rating: Mostly PG-13, but NC-17 for overall story

Pairing: Snape/Lupin, Theodore/Blaise

Warning: AU; events that occurred at the end of Order of the Phoenix were significantly altered from the book.

Sequel to: Always, Summer Vacation, For Old Time's Sake, Three's a Crowd, Return of the Raven, Phoenix Reborn, and Phoenix Rising.

Summary: The various characters deal with the aftermath of the war, and Snape and Lupin try to build a family together with Theodore and Dylan. However, some people are unable to let go of the past...

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Hob, who belongs to William Mayne; no money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
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Draco's bad mood continued, and he knew that he was rapidly alienating his friends and housemates by constantly snapping at them, but he didn't really care. He even took a kind of perverse pleasure in thoroughly wallowing in his misery.

He hated having to see Diggory three times a week in Physical Combat and Interspecies Relations, but he did enjoy taking out his frustrations on his sparring partners in class. One day he was sparring with Weasley and recklessly charged forward, swinging his wooden practice sword with such strength that he not only knocked Weasley's sword out of his hand, but actually knocked the other boy to the ground. Even then, Draco did not stop, his mind clouded in a red haze of anger and adrenaline, and kept swinging his sword, only dimly aware of Weasley's cries of pain and the dull "thwack" of wood hitting flesh.

A commotion erupted around Draco, who remained oblivious, still focused on attacking his opponent: a few of the girls screamed, and a few of the Gryffindor boys cried out angrily. Potter yelled, "What the hell are you doing?!" and Rosier shouted, "Draco, stop!" To Draco it was nothing more than background noise, like the annoying drone of a fly buzzing around the room. He struck again and again and again, and in his mind, it was not Weasley's face he saw, but his father's, and the werewolf's...

Someone tried to grab his arm, and Draco struck out angrily without even looking, and there was the sound of someone falling to the floor and Potter yelping in pain. Then strong arms grabbed him from behind, and someone shouted, "Enough! I said that's enough, Malfoy!" Draco struggled, but could not break free, and the person who had grabbed him twisted his wrist sharply until he cried out in pain and dropped his sword.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Master Diggory, and suddenly Draco came to his senses. The entire class, Slytherins and Gryffindors alike, were staring at him in fear and shock. Even Dietrich, who usually sneered and laughed at his housemates when they fought with each other or the Gryffindors, looked pale and frightened.

"Malfoy, what came over you?!" Diggory demanded.

"Nothing," snarled Draco, struggling in the werewolf's grip. "And I don't have to answer to a werewolf!"

"Well, I'm your teacher, and you'll answer to me, or you'll answer to your Head of House!" Diggory said.

"Go ahead and tell Snape, I don't care!" Draco screamed almost hysterically.

Potter and Longbottom were helping Weasley to his feet as he groaned in pain; there was blood running out of his nose. "Potter, Longbottom, take Weasley to the hospital wing," Diggory said curtly. "The rest of you are dismissed." When the students lingered, shuffling their feet and whispering to each other, Diggory growled, "Now!" and they all fled.

"Let me go!" Draco shouted, continuing to struggle although he knew it was futile.

"Draco, what's wrong?" Diggory asked, and suddenly Draco noticed that he sounded more concerned than angry. The werewolf tightened his hold on Draco, pinning the boy securely against his chest, and it almost felt like an embrace. For one crazy moment, Draco wanted to break down and weep in the werewolf's arms.

"I've seen you angry, but I've never seen you lose control like that before, Draco," Diggory continued, looking a little pale. "You could have killed Weasley, you know. You were almost like a berserker. It reminded me of the way that my wolves and I would lose control during the full moon when we didn't have the Wolfsbane Potion..."

That brief moment of insanity passed, and Draco was filled with fury again. "Don't you dare compare me to you, you...you...monster!"

A hint of comprehension dawned in Diggory's yellow-green eyes. "It's not Weasley that you were mad at," he said slowly. "It's me. Weasley was just a convenient target. What have I done to you, Draco, to make you so angry with me?"

"Don't play dumb with me, werewolf!" Draco snarled. "You know exactly what you did!"

He saw a flicker of fear, and then guilt in those wolfish eyes. "I...I don't know what you're talking about," Diggory stammered.

"I saw you!" Draco screamed. "I saw you by the lake on Valentine's Day!"

Diggory's face turned white and he abruptly released his hold on Draco, his arms falling limply to his sides. "Draco...I..."

"I saw you," Draco hissed, and the werewolf, who had never seemed to fear anyone or anything, took a step back. "How dare you put your filthy hands on my mother!" Draco took a step forward, and Diggory took another step back, looking almost afraid of Draco. That feeling of power, of being feared, was heady and intoxicating; it had been so long since he had last felt it. At the same time, the thought of the fierce werewolf leader being afraid of him was almost funny, and he bit his lip until he tasted blood in order to repress a surge of hysterical laughter.

"Draco," Diggory said, continuing to back away from him, "it's not what you think..."

"Oh?" Draco said sarcastically. "Then you aren't shagging my mother?" The werewolf flushed and fell silent.

"We never intended for this to happen," he finally said.

"You didn't intend?" Draco cried, and grabbed Diggory by the front of his robes and slammed him up against the wall. At this point, he didn't care if the werewolf killed him or not, but Diggory made no move to resist, not even when his back hit the wall with bruising force. "Do you have any idea what would happen to my mother if it became public knowledge that she's sleeping with a werewolf? She would be humiliated and ostracized! It's bad enough being a Death Eater's wife, but the purebloods can forgive ambition! With enough time and money, eventually things will smooth over, but this? She'd never be admitted back into pureblood society again, they would all spit on her! Her life would be ruined, and it would be all your fault! How dare you treat my mother like she's a common trollop!"

"It's not like that!" Diggory protested.

"Oh, is it true love, then?" Draco sneered. "Are you going to marry her?" Diggory looked away and said nothing, and Draco said contemptuously, "I didn't think so. Not that you'd be a fit husband, even if you did win your lawsuit. Even if the court names you 'Lord Diggory,' you'll never be anything but a beast!" Draco's fists were still clenched in Diggory's robes, and he gave the taller, heavier man a rough shake. Diggory's body remained as limp and unresisting as a rag doll, which made Draco even angrier. He almost wished Diggory would fight back, even though he knew it would be suicide to take on a werewolf single-handedly.

"I'll break it off with Narcissa," Diggory said in a dull voice. His eyes looked flat and expressionless, almost glazed.

"Good," Draco said curtly, giving the werewolf one more shake for good measure, then he released his teacher and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Diggory cried. He suddenly seemed to come to life again, his eyes and voice filled with some intense emotion that Draco did not recognize. "I'll break it off with Narcissa, but you must do something for me in return!"

"What?!" Draco shouted indignantly. "You are in no position to bargain, werewolf!" But Draco suddenly realized that the opposite was true. Diggory could ruin Narcissa and the Malfoy family with a single word, while Diggory, as a werewolf, did not have a reputation worth ruining. "What do you want?" Draco snapped, glaring at his teacher hatefully.

"Don't tell Narcissa," Diggory said softly.

"What?" Draco asked in confusion. He hadn't known what Diggory was going to ask for--money, perhaps, or simply for Draco not to tell the Headmaster that a teacher was sleeping with the mother of one of his students--but he had not expected this.
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Lukas went numb with shock and grief when Draco revealed that he knew about Lukas's affair with his mother. {It's over, it's over, it's over!} the wolf wailed inside his head as Draco continued to rant. Perhaps later, when the shock wore off, Lukas would stop to wonder why he should feel grief that his ill-fated affair--which was based only on sex, after all, and was never meant to be anything more than temporary--was coming to end.

Lukas made no attempt to defend himself as Draco slammed him against the wall. Nor did he respond to Draco's verbal insults, because the wolf could hear the pain beneath the anger in the boy's words. He knew that while Draco's pureblood snobbery might have taken offense at the idea of his mother consorting with a werewolf, that was not the real problem here. The real problem was that Lukas had come between Draco and his mother, and between Draco and the memory of his father. The wolf understood the deep bond that bound a pack together, and he had disrupted Draco's pack.

He and Narcissa had been careless and thoughtless, thinking only of their own pleasure. They had never really stopped to consider how it would affect Draco if he found out about their affair. Oh certainly, Narcissa was adamant that Draco should not know, but they had taken it for granted that they could keep it a secret. Which was stupid--people had already been gossiping about his weekly visits to the Leaky Cauldron, and then they had gone frolicking on the shores of the lake right outside Hogsmeade, for Merlin's sake! Deep down, they had both known that they were taking a risk, which had only made the sex more exciting.

Their recklessness had deeply wounded Draco, and Lukas felt ashamed of himself. "I'll break it off with Narcissa," he said in a hollow voice. The days ahead seemed to stretch before him in an endless line, all bleak and empty without his mate in them, and he no longer cared about the outcome of the trial. Wait a minute...his mate? When had the wolf recognized Narcissa as its mate? Perhaps as far back as their encounter in the rose bushes on the night of the Yule Ball...

"Good," Draco said curtly, and suddenly Lukas realized that there was more at stake here than his feelings, or even Draco's. Narcissa might survive being disgraced in the eyes of the purebloods, but he knew that it would truly destroy her if she lost her son.

"Wait!" Lukas cried as Draco started to turn away. "I'll break it off with Narcissa, but you must do something for me in return!"

"What?!" Draco shouted indignantly. "You are in no position to bargain, werewolf!" Then he frowned and seemed to think better of that statement, although he gazed at Lukas with pure hatred in his eyes. "What do you want?"

"Don't tell Narcissa," Lukas said softly.

"What?" Draco asked, sounding bewildered.

"Don't tell your mother that you know about us," Lukas said. "She loves you, Draco; she never meant to hurt you. We acted impulsively and foolishly, but neither of us ever meant to hurt you."

"Hah!" Draco snorted.

"It's not your mother's fault," Lukas said urgently, thinking quickly. "It's mine. Narcissa was lonely and vulnerable, and I...I took advantage of her." Draco gave him a look of contempt, but it didn't matter to Lukas what Draco thought of him. All that mattered was that he somehow keep Draco from hating his mother. Lukas had thought of Narcissa as a shallow, spoiled, pureblood woman, but she had been fierce as a wolf in defense of her cub. She had been trained, like most pureblood women, to be subservient to her husband, but she had tossed aside her pureblood values, not to mention risked her life, when she had killed Lucius and turned against the Death Eaters. He had thought that the most important thing in her life was her social standing, but that was not true. The most important thing in her life was Draco. She might fear losing her status among the pureblood nobility, but Lukas knew that she would sacrifice it in an instant if necessary, in order to save her son.

She was indeed a fit mate for a wolf, and Lukas mourned the fact that he had only recognized this now, when it was too late. But pack came first before anything, and Draco was Narcissa's pack. He couldn't let her family be torn apart because of him. And he wanted to spare her the pain of facing her son's anger and contempt. If Lukas could persuade Draco that he alone was to blame, the boy might be able to forgive his mother, and their relationship would return to normal.

"Please, Draco," begged Lukas, who had never begged for anything in his life, not even when he had been cold and hungry and frightened as a runaway boy alone on the streets of London, having just fled the Gravenor estate. "I swear I will never see Narcissa again, so please don't tell her." Draco hesitated, and Lukas continued, as persuasively as he could, "She doesn't have to know. Even if you're angry at her right now, you know that she loves you. It would only shame her if she knew that you knew about how I took advantage of her weakness."

Draco was silent, but his emotional struggle was visible on his face. He was angry with his mother, but he loved her, and he obviously didn't want to lose the only parent he had left. "I'm not angry with her," he finally said. "I'm angry with you." Hatred blazed in his pale gray eyes. "It's all your fault."

"Yes," Lukas whispered. Draco had decided to transfer all his resentment to Lukas, and the werewolf felt a pang of mingled relief and sorrow.

"I won't say anything, as you long as you never go near her again," Draco said.

"Agreed," Lukas said wearily, his heart heavy. As the boy turned to leave, he called out, "And Draco?"

"What?" Draco snapped.

"I can't cover up this incident," Lukas said. "Your attacking Weasley, I mean. Too many of the students saw it. But I'll leave your punishment up to your Head of House, and it's up to you to decide what to tell Snape. I won't report anything other than what I saw."

"Fine," Draco said curtly.

As Draco was about to leave, a fifth-year Gryffindor prefect ran into the classroom. "You're to report to the Headmaster's office at once, Malfoy, on McGonagall's orders," the boy said with a vindictive smirk on his face.

"Fine," Draco repeated, and the Gryffindor prefect looked disappointed that he hadn't gotten more of a reaction out of him.

"And the Headmaster wants to see you too, Master Diggory," the prefect added, in a slightly more respectful tone.

"Very well," Lukas said. "You may return to class now, Mr. Fletcher."

Fletcher left, looking a bit sullen, and Draco and Lukas headed to the Headmaster's office together in stony silence.

Waiting for them in the office were Dumbledore, looking grave; McGonagall, looking stern; Lupin, looking worried; and Snape, looking very irate.

"Mr. Weasley has a mild concussion and three broken ribs," Dumbledore informed them in a quiet voice. "Madam Pomfrey is tending to him, and says he will be fine--eventually. He will need a few days to heal completely. It's very fortunate that his injuries were not more serious."

"You could easily have killed him, Mr. Malfoy!" McGonagall said indignantly. "What on earth were you thinking?!" She turned away to glare at Lukas for a moment. "What sorts of things are you teaching them in that class, anyway? You're supposed to be teaching the students to defend themselves, not kill each other!"

Lupin leapt to his friend's defense and spared Lukas from having to reply. "No one has ever been seriously hurt in Physical Defense class before," Lupin said. "This would appear to be an isolated incident." He turned to Draco, his blue eyes filled with worry and concern. "What happened, Draco? Did you get into a fight with Ron?"

"Nothing happened," Draco said sullenly. "I was just doing what I was supposed to be doing in class--attacking my opponent. It's not my fault if Weasley can't defend himself properly."

"This was not a simple sparring match," Lupin said in an even voice before an angry McGonagall could say anything. "The other students say that you kept hitting Ron even after he was disarmed and lying helpless on the ground. And that you hit Harry when he tried to stop you."

"Well, of course everyone's going to believe Potter and his buddies over me," Draco sneered.

"Are you disputing their version of events?" Snape asked coldly; Draco just shrugged.

"The other Slytherins reported the same thing that the Gryffindors did!" McGonagall snapped.

"Figures," Draco muttered bitterly. "Traitors."

"Mr. Malfoy," Snape said in a dangerous voice that put Lukas's inner wolf on alert, although Draco just stared at him defiantly, "you do not seem to comprehend just how much trouble you are in right now. Do you understand that you could be expelled for assaulting another student? Or that you could have been sent to Azkaban if you had maimed or killed him?" Draco shrugged again, which seemed to infuriate the Potions Master, and he snarled at Draco in an even sharper voice, "Do you understand the harm you are doing, not just to your own reputation, but to your housemates who are also the children of Death Eaters? Everyone will point their fingers at you and say, 'I knew he was just like his father! I knew he was a Death Eater after all!' And at a time such as this, when tensions are running high and there is unrest between the Houses! Do you understand that you could be provoking more vigilante attacks against your fellow Slytherins?"

"I don't care," Draco said sullenly. "Let them take care of themselves."

"I will not tolerate insolence from any student, not even my Slytherins!" Snape shouted, and Lupin placed a hand on his arm and whispered into his ear, obviously trying to calm him down.

"Draco," Lupin said in a soft but urgent voice, "this whole thing isn't like you at all. Won't you please tell us what's wrong?"

"I don't know what you mean, not like me," Draco retorted in a surly voice. "I'm always fighting with Potter and Weasley. I just got a bit carried away this time, is all."

Lupin shook his head. "You haven't been fighting with them recently, other than the token insults you throw each other's way just so that no one will think you're getting too chummy with each other."

Draco glared at Lupin. "Think whatever you like, Professor; I don't care."

"You will not speak to a teacher in that tone of voice, young man!" McGonagall snapped. "Perhaps some detention will change your attitude!" She shot a brief glare at Snape. "And something more than just writing lines this time, or I'll choose the detention myself!"

Snape glared right back at her. "The Slytherin students are under MY authority," he growled, "just as the Gryffindors are under yours. How many times have you stopped me from giving Mr. Potter the punishment he deserved?"

"Severus," Lupin said, a hint of warning in his voice.

"But I will concede that one of my students assaulting the Minister of Magic's son might reflect poorly on my House," Snape continued grudgingly. "So Mr. Malfoy will be banned from all extracurricular activities, including Quidditch, for two weeks. Since your actions landed Weasley in the hospital wing, you can use the extra time on your hands to assist Madam Pomfrey afterschool with whatever needs doing, including scrubbing bedpans. If she runs out of work for you, I have some barrels of horned toads that need disemboweling and slugs that need stewing. And--" Snape smiled maliciously. "--since Slytherins hate having to apologize above all else, you shall write formal letters of apology to Mr. Weasley and his family."

"I will not!" Draco cried.

"You will," Snape said in an implacable voice, his black eyes hard and cold, "or you will be expelled, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco's pale eyes blazed with fury, and for a moment it seemed like he would defy Snape and risk expulsion. Then the fury dimmed back down to sullenness, and he said, "Yes...sir," the "sir" laced with obvious sarcasm and insolence.

Snape glared at the boy, looking genuinely angry, but also a little puzzled by Draco's unusual behavior. Then he turned to McGonagall and asked curtly, "Does that meet with your approval, Professor?"

"It is a fair punishment," McGonagall agreed, a little reluctantly. "Along with fifty points being taken from Slytherin." Snape looked livid, but did not object, and Lupin moved a little closer to him, as if trying to soothe his lover with his mere presence.

"Get back to class, Malfoy," Snape growled, "and don't forget to report for detention this afternoon."

Draco stalked out of the room, and the teachers exchanged worried glances. "Mr. Malfoy is short-tempered and sometimes acts without thinking, but this seems out of character for him," McGonagall said.

"Draco has been very moody lately," Lupin said. "Everyone assumed it was because he quarreled with Serafina on Valentine's Day, but this seems to be something more serious than a lover's spat."

"What exactly happened, Diggory?" Snape demanded. "Do you have any idea what set him off?"

Lukas shrugged. "He was sparring with Weasley and just went berserk," he said, carefully avoiding an outright lie. "He kept hitting Weasley after he was down; I'm not sure he was even aware of what he was doing. The Gryffindors and Slytherins sometimes take a little too much pleasure in attacking one another, but I've never seen Malfoy lose control like that before. Usually they're content with scoring a few bruises on each other."

"I just don't understand," Lupin said fretfully. "Do you know what's troubling him so much, Lukas?"

"How would I know?" Lukas asked in a tone of indifference. "Aren't you the one that all the Slytherins are close to?" Thanks to years of practice, Lukas was a much better liar than Lupin, but the other werewolf still gave him a slightly suspicious look. Lukas met his gaze squarely, as if he had nothing to hide; to look away would be a dead giveaway that he was lying. "I thought that you had won their hearts. They all adore you, even gave you that Slytherin robe for Christmas."

"I have tried to talk to Draco, but he's been avoiding me," Lupin said, looking confused and a little hurt. "He's felt comfortable coming to me in the past; I wonder what's changed..."

"A lot has changed, Remus," Lukas pointed out, relieved that Lupin's attention seemed to have shifted away from him for the moment. "His family is no longer top dog in the wizarding world, so to speak. Perhaps it's no surprise that he's a little angry and resentful."

"More than a little," McGonagall said.

"And Weasley's father is now the Minister of Magic," Snape said thoughtfully. "The Weasleys' fortunes are rising, while the Malfoys' are declining. It would be natural for him to hate Weasley and perhaps pick a fight with him."

"Perhaps," Lupin said doubtfully, "but it doesn't feel right, somehow."

"Do you have any other insights you wish to share with us, Lukas?" Dumbledore asked. The old man's kindly gaze seemed uncomfortably penetrating, and Lukas tried not to squirm like a guilty student.

"No, sir," he replied. "May I get back to class now?"

The Headmaster nodded, and Lukas turned to leave.
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Lupin noticed that Lukas looked very weary and troubled, perhaps more so than was warranted by the situation, since he was not very close to Draco, as far as Lupin knew. Although he sometimes treated them with an air of gruff, casual affection, Lukas did not seem to be close to any of the students except perhaps his cousin Tristan and, oddly enough, Aric, whom he seemed to have a soft spot for, although he often referred to the boy as a "spoiled pureblood brat".

"Lukas?" Lupin called out as the other werewolf turned to leave. "Is everything all right?"

"Other than students trying to beat each other to death in my class, you mean?" Lukas asked sarcastically.

"It's just that you don't look well," Lupin said. In fact, Lukas looked weary, listless, and depressed, almost as if he had just endured a transformation with no Wolfsbane Potion--which made no sense. The full moon was more than a week away, and in any case, the improved Wolfsbane Potion, along with Lukas's own acceptance of his inner wolf, allowed him to experience the transformation with no side effects other than a little fatigue.

"Yes, you're looking a little peaked, my boy," Dumbledore said, sounding concerned. "Perhaps you should have Madam Pomfrey take a look at you."

"That's not necessary," Lukas said curtly. "I'm just tired, that's all. The trial has dragged out for nearly two months, with no end in sight."

"Oh, of course," Lupin said sympathetically. "Still, I heard that it was going well for you. At least, that's what Rita Skeeter has been reporting in the Daily Prophet."

"Not exactly the world's most reliable source," muttered Snape.

"Actually, her articles have been very accurate, if still somewhat melodramatic, ever since...er...she and Hermione seemed to have reached some sort of agreement," Lupin said.

"Yes, but this feud with my uncle is still very draining, and it's hard on Tristan and Gwen, too," Lukas replied.

"Of course," Lupin said. "I know it must be difficult for you. If there's anything I can do, even if it's just to lend a sympathetic ear--"

"I'll let you know," Lukas finished, giving Lupin a wan smile, and left the room.

"I know that the trial must be tiring and frustrating," Lupin told Snape, "but still, Lukas has been in a pretty good mood up until now. He seemed very satisfied about how he and Morrigan were able to outwit Amos and his lawyer when they threatened to expose Lukas's previous illegal activities."

"The werewolf is old enough to take care of himself," Snape said irritably, "and right now I have my hands full dealing with Mr. Malfoy."

"True," Lupin sighed. "What on earth do you suppose is wrong with Draco, Severus?"

"I don't know," Snape replied. "It might be what Diggory suggested, nothing more than a little disenchantment with his place in the social pecking order."

"I'm sure that the two of you will help Draco work through whatever is troubling him," Dumbledore said with a confident smile.

Snape didn't look nearly so confident, but he nodded curtly at the Headmaster and headed back to the dungeon. Lupin followed, saying, "We really need to sit down and have a talk with Draco."

"Yes, but not right now," Snape said. "Give him--and me--a little time to cool off first. I don't expect my Slytherins to stay out of trouble, but I do expect them not to be caught at it." Lupin chuckled softly, and Snape smiled a little at him, then growled, "I hate losing points, and I hate it when my students make me lose face in front of the other teachers. Especially McGonagall, who speaks to me as if she's dressing down a student!"

Lupin laughed. "A disadvantage of having once been her student, I suppose! So many of our colleagues were once our teachers that I guess it's not surprising that sometimes they still think of us as children. Just be glad that you were facing McGonagall instead of Branwen!"

"Thank Merlin for small favors," Snape said with a shudder. "In any case, I think we should let Mr. Malfoy toil at his detention for a few days before confronting him; perhaps that will humble him a little."

"When have you ever known Draco to be humbled by anything?" Lupin asked dryly.

Snape paused to consider. "Well, there was the time that Moody turned him into a ferret..."

"Transfiguring the students is against the rules, Severus," Lupin cautioned as he saw a certain speculative gleam in his lover's dark eyes.

"A pity," Snape sighed. "Well then, if not to humble Mr. Malfoy, we shall a let few days pass so that I am calm enough to look at him without being tempted to turn him into a toad."

Lupin was still very worried, but he smiled and nodded in agreement. Severus knew the Slytherins best, after all. But Lupin resolved that when the few days were up, he was going to have a talk with Draco whether tempers had cooled or not, even if it meant that he had to tie Draco to his chair in order to keep him from storming out of the room.

Chapter 112

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