Disclaimer: I don't own, and I'll never own. Anything recognizable belongs to its owner.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Flashback

Warnings: Mmm…nothing this time.

A/N: I'M A PIECE OF SHIT SORRY! This update was NOT supposed to take as long as it did, and I sincerely apologize. I lost one of the integral explanations for this chapter, and that killed my momentum -_-". I found it though! It's funny, I'd looked on all my devices and thought I'd lost it forever, but it was just in a notebook ^.^". So, moving forward.

Some people have been worried that Severus was gonna become a main character, and I can tell you now that that's not really in the cards. Though, I'm not too sure why that would be a bad thing, like...do you guys hate Severus or something? No, don't tell me. I'm afraid of your answers. Anyway, he honestly wasn't supposed to get most of the screen time he's gotten so far, so he likely won't get too much more. For those who were hoping for more Severus, sorry! He gets some time in the next chapter, and a few later, but he'll never be a really main character, if you know what I mean ^.^" . Also, I've decided to keep the flashbacks, because you guys (for the most part) seem to prefer that to an information dump chapter (though I may end up changing that if it doesn't work out). For those who don't, I'm sorry D:

Also, I went through my previous chapters (again), this time with a slightly more experienced eye. They're much improved, so check 'em out if you'd like! Oh also, I have a tumblr if anyone wants to follow me to get updates on where I'm at with fics, give me more in depth constructive criticism, just chat, or anything at all really. I'm bluebluepikachu, for the moment at least, so...yeah. Sorry for the long author's note :( . Anyway, please enjoy the chapter!

Unbeta-d for the moment ^.^

*****Line Break*****

The murky forest had laid undisturbed for a little under six centuries, with no movement beyond that of the growing trees, and the steady, shallow breathing of the woodlands' only sentient inhabitant. The shadowy trees stretched as far as one could see in any direction, growing near-symmetrically for the most part, as though on a grid that only they could perceive, but eventually moving from this pattern to a more natural one, as though the jutsu's influence was petering out. Around the unconscious form of the forests' only denizen however, the trees had once again grown strangely, weaving their brambles densely through and around each other to form a circular, almost cage-like structure around their unfortunate prisoner.

Though ironically enough these tree limbs had protected their prisoner's fallen form from the elements, it is important to remember that the chakra behind these trees was inherently evil, intending only to trap, and taunt, and torment. Had they managed to weave themselves too firmly around their captive while he was in his inert state, he would've been truly and completely trapped, never able to move from his tiny, living prison as it continued to build upon itself, forever.

But that is neither here nor there, as he suddenly awoke. Unlike the previous times he'd regained consciousness, Naruto became aware all at once, jerking to alertness with an unintentional snarl, red eyes flashing with mania and his fangs cutting deeply into his lower lip as he ground his teeth.

When he was younger, the villagers had believed he was the Kyuubi no Yoko, and even with the Sandaime Hokage's insistence that he was merely its jailer, it had taken years and years of proving himself for the people of Konoha to believe that he was only the prison, not the prisoner itself. If any of them were to see him as he was now, they'd never believe that he was only the jailer of the demon, not its reincarnation. If one were to look into his eyes, nothing human would be found in his crimson gaze. Only rage, and an appetite for destruction.

He tried to sit up, but there were too many small branches wrapped tightly around his waist. Though in singular form they'd be no match for his strength, their combined durability was much too tenacious for him to be able to pull free with pure force. Another snarl left his lips as he curled them back over his fangs, and he made quick work of clawing himself free, unmindful of the injuries he caused himself as he hastily and carelessly ripped through his restraints.

He attempted to stand, but found himself caught once again in the winding brambles surrounding him. A growl rumbled deep in his chest, and his chakra came to the fore, reacting to the frustration and call of its master.

However, immediately after the chakra had begun to flow through his coils, the foxy-eared male began to thrash in pain. And what pain! Never had he experienced anything like this, in all his years of living. It burned like the hottest fire, and froze like the coldest ice. It was like being stabbed and beaten and crushed. Like drowning, as his lungs screamed for air and the darkness rushed in, like being disintegrated, down to his very atoms. It was like living through death. Indescribably excruciating, and without the sweet relief of his demise.

As he suffered in body, he likewise suffered in soul. As is widely known to the ninjas of the Hidden Continent, the mixtures of spiritual and physical energy used for jutsu, chakras (these including neutral, elemental, and demonic chakra, just to name a few), are congruent to the various and multitudinous properties of the soul. Spiritual energy is that of the mind, while physical energy would relate to that of the body. The location where these two are combined, the chakra pool, is the physical point of the soul. Without properly functioning chakra coils, this energy cannot be accessed.

It's not dangerous for those trained in the arts to utilize their chakra, but for the untrained, draining too much energy too harshly before the chakra coils are ready can be damaging for both the physical body and the mind. Too much damage to either component of chakra would cause chakra exhaustion, and possibly death. With the attack of the malignant chakra, Naruto began to take injury, and be both physically and mentally affected; bones breaking and re-breaking, skin shredding off and immediately growing back, his mindscape being torn asunder. The demonic component of his chakra, having sustained grievous damage from the attack of the malignant chakra surrounding it, retreated, forcing itself deep into his core and pulling itself from his coils, away from its assailant.

The pain ended, and after a moment he came back to himself, this time fully aware, his eyes returned to their previous azure shade. His thrashing had ended, and his body laid limply on the ground. Due to his high pain tolerance he hadn't quite passed out, but it had been close.

He shook his head lightly in confusion. What had happened? Where was he? The last thing he remembered was being forced into unconsciousness by a strange chakra; where was the edge of the forest? He pulled himself to his feet with a groan, scrubbing a hand down his arms along some odd scratches that he had no memory of getting, and that were already healing.

He jerked his hand back as he felt his flesh rip once more, and looked down to his hands, and the sharper-than-usual nails on his hand. Similarly to when he wore the Kyuubi's chakra cloak, his nails were claws, sharp enough to easily shred through skin and muscle. Slowly, paying special attention to his claws, he brushed his hands along his face, finding the thicker-than-usual whisker marks and, when he tapped them with his thumbs, longer and sharper-than-usual canines.

Wondering what the Kyuubi had done to him that would cause him to have these features even when he wasn't in the biju cloak, he made to run his hands angrily through his hair, but was stopped by two unexpected obstacles. He froze, unwilling to acknowledge these changes about himself, but knowing it was necessary. A tremulous hand made its way up, brushing lightly against what were obviously fox ears adorning his head. They flattened in irritation as he scowled angrily at the ground, internally bemoaning the annoyance that was his life.

He closed his eyes, tears of frustration and despair making their way to his eyes, his tail lashing angrily behind him as he-wait, tail? Completely exasperated with all the new information, he glanced almost calmly over his shoulder to see a foxy tail perched above his rear. He stared at it, not quite calm, but so overwhelmed with strange and shocking information that he truly couldn't react anymore, his tail still but for a slight twitch at the end.

He took a deep breath, feeling that ignoring everything would probably be the best choice until he had found someplace safe to contemplate. He stood, sending chakra to his legs as he readied himself to tree-jump, but falling to his knees at the uncomfortable, borderline pain that rocked through his body, growing exponentially as he fell to lay stiffly on the ground.

He gritted his teeth against the pained groans that wanted to emerge. The pain only lasted a few moments, maybe a minute, but despite not being the worst pain he'd ever experienced, it was certainly a minute that he never wanted to relive. It felt like...something deep within him, on a level he couldn't even explain, was being attacked; an invasive and uncomfortable sensation. When it was over he was lying on the ground, the soil around him filled with deep furrows he had clawed into the earth when he'd lashed out in his pain and discomfort. "What…what's h-happening to me?!" he gasped through clenched teeth, but the empty forest around him remained eerily silent. Taking only the barest of moments to recover, he staggered to his feet, beginning a search for some place to stay the night.

*****Line Break*****

He dug his claws delicately into the moist ground, using their length and sharpness to easily slice through the roots of a particularly persistent (and suspiciously dark, the chakra of the jutsu was just as petty as its originator) weed that had invaded his garden. Removing his claws just as carefully, he tossed the unfortunate intruder over his shoulder, where it was caught by an exuberantly cheering clone. Said clone threw it into the air with an enthusiastic, "Yosh!", where it was caught by another clone who pitched it into the air again, then another who dove to grab it before it hit the ground and punted it toward another. The final clone lobbed the weed like a ball, and the whole group erupted into cheers when it landed properly on top of Naruto's compost pile. Naruto merely snorted in amusement before returning his attention to his work.

Another weed was pulled and tossed over his shoulder before he changed position, moving from his hands and knees to kneel with a groan and survey his work. Neat rows of squash were subjected to his critical gaze, and, upon finding no further weeds, he stood and (interrupting the standing ovation the final clone was receiving) dismissed his clones. Allowing a minuscule amount of his dense water chakra to seep out, he pulled some water from the small, underground reservoir he'd fashioned, irrigating his crops. With a content sigh, he released his control of the water, allowing it to slosh through, and beneath, the dirt, ensuring his plants would be well moisturized.

Over the time he'd been here, he'd managed to amass quite the vegetable garden. It was large, well maintained, well fertilized (though the process of gathering the dungs of various creatures that passed through his forest was one of the most disgusting things he'd ever done, it certainly helped his garden flourish), and produced well enough to support him, and the various woodland creatures he shared his patch of forest with. There had been a point at which his garden hadn't been getting the attention it required to flourish, and after his...absence, he'd returned to find his garden largely overgrown, and a small colony of gnomes living beneath the dense vegetation. He'd remedied both issues quickly, and with the maturity expected of an immortal being of his age (no he certainly didn't chase gnomes to and fro as a fox, why would anyone cast such aspersions on his character).

Shaking off his thoughts, he allowed a small amount of his earth chakra out to aerate the rich dirt, only allowing a brief shiver from the pain that rippled through his chakra coils. While using demonic chakra was much more painful, the jutsu having been mostly directed toward that side of his chakra, using his human chakra twinged similarly, as both chakras were a part of him. In the beginning, it had been worse, but eventually he became more accustomed to the odd and intrusive pain. Moreover, as the jutsu's power lessened so did its power to hurt him; he estimated that soon, using his human chakra wouldn't hurt him at all.

Finished his nitpicking, he stood with a groan, stretching his back and picking up the remaining weeds to place in his compost pile. Leaving his garden, he flexed his chakra again, pulling the earth up behind him, creating a rudimentary fence to block creatures from his garden. With a sigh, he began walking back toward his cottage, considering the pros and cons of attempting to create bread again; his original attempts hadn't worked out too well, but he was sure he'd figure it out eventually…?

*****Line Break*****

Harry woke up slowly, his consciousness shuffling in lazily with a metaphorical yawn, and he let out a small sound of pain as the crick in his neck made itself known. He must've fallen asleep in the common room again, because he certainly wasn't in his bed. Unless his bed had turned into a sofa in the night? Considering how little he knew of magic, it was a possible if unlikely scenario. However, if he was in his bed, he'd likely be able to hear the sounds of his roommates as they slept. Though he and Dean were both pretty quiet sleepers (Harry due to the Dursley's aversion to noise, Dean due to his lack of desire to wake his copious amount of younger siblings), Neville often mumbled in his sleep, while Ron and Seamus's snores were absurdly loud. Annoying, but easily recognizable to say the least.

The little piece of his mind that was partially awake lethargically turned its attention to listening, and found that only Ron's snores were present, none of Seamus's, and none of the familiar Neville-related mutters and breaths that had become expected for sleeping space. There was some unfamiliar breathing though, which it was assumed came from someone else seated in the common room. There were also a bunch of whirring sounds that his mind assumed came from...well, it didn't really matter, did it? It was probably just some 5th years feverishly flipping through pages or something. Common room was common room, and common room was safe, regardless of what was in it. All was well.

Having made its conclusion, his mind allowed its concentration to fade, ready to retreat into unconsciousness, but some other part of him (maybe his self preservation) prodded it in concern. It disagreed, the whirring might be dangerous! And around the time he woke up, the sun would usually be shining directly in his face, where was the sun?

The rest of his mind figuratively shrugged in lazy annoyance, already drifting away, and the decision-making part of Harry's mind, having very seriously (though somewhat drowsily) taken in the concerns of both parties, sighed to itself before deciding to dedicate more attention to his other senses.

Harry took a deep breath through his nose, taking in the scent of the perhaps-common-room. It smelled kind of citrusy, had someone eaten an orange in here, or brought some orange juice? Maybe lemonade? He could really go for some lemonade right now…or lemon pie, maybe. Lemons were tasty. Apple pie was good too...some apple juice would be great right now. Or water, he was really thirsty…what had he been thinking about again?

He scrubbed a hand sluggishly down his face, and pulled his blanket closer around him, ignoring the strange feel of only having full range of motion in one of his arms. It was odd, but not painful or anything, and thus not an immediate issue, so...he mentally shrugged, throwing his usable arm sleepily over his eyes. He was already beginning to fall back asleep when he heard a sound that he couldn't attribute to anything in the Gryffindor common room. A quiet, almost amused, bird trill drifted through the now-evidently-not-the-common-room place. He slowly opened his eyes, but closed them moments later as a yawn overtook him, his eyes watering a bit. He heard another amused trill, peaking his curiosity, and he rubbed sleepily at his right eye, wiping away a bit of moisture.

He started to sit up and begin the annoying (and usually quite fruitless since he couldn't see) search for his glasses, but found that the previously ignored obstacle on his arm could no longer be ignored. Glancing down and squinting, he saw easily recognizable bushy brown hair. Too relaxed to be startled, he merely stared down at his friend, who was using his bony shoulder as a headrest. He couldn't help but think that she couldn't possibly be comfortable like that, as his scrawny frame didn't make for a good pillow.

He sighed, shifting slightly to test how firmly she was attached to him, and froze when she made a slight sound of protest. Luckily for him, she merely mumbled something before turning to her other side and slumping over. 'She'll probably have a terrible crick in her neck when she wakes up.' he thought to himself. He stood up carefully, making sure not to further disturb Hermione, and kneeled down in front of the couch to search for his wayward spectacles.

He reached out a hand, feeling around for his glasses. He managed to find them easily enough, as they were resting on the floor right next to the sofa, and he was thankful that they hadn't broken again when they'd fallen there. He put them on, relieved to find that there were no cracks on the lenses, and glanced around blearily. Looking right, he saw a wall with a bunch of random knickknacks on it, and looking left, he saw the door to the office that lead down to the Gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office. Wait. Headmaster's office?

"Hmmm…" Harry hummed ponderously to himself, tilting his head and tapping a finger on his chin. Obviously there was something he was missing here, but he couldn't think of what it could be, as his brain was feeling a bit mushy right about now. Oh well, he'd ask Hermione and Ron when woke up. They needed to discuss their most recent adventure anyway, so they could just...w-wait…latest adventure?

Harry's mind was forcefully jerked from its relaxed state as he suddenly remembered exactly why they were all in the Headmaster's office. "Oh bugger!" He swore vehemently, yet quietly to himself, his years of living with the Dursleys having curbed all his tendencies to be louder than a whisper in the morning.

Before he could mentally go into detail about how he'd messed up-and was going to get expelled-and had fallen asleep in the Headmaster's office while waiting for him-and was going to get expelled-and how he was going to have to go back to the Dursleys-and did he mention yet that he was going to be expelled-a trill from behind him distracted him. He whipped around in surprise, only to find that there was a beautiful red bird situated on a perch behind him, next to Headmaster's desk.

His problems forgotten in his awe, he slowly stepped closer, one hand outstretched hesitantly toward the magnificent bird, approaching it as one would a dangerous wild animal. The bird watched him with amusement for a moment before alighting from its perch and landing on his shoulder, startling him, but he froze instead of jerking in surprise, not wanting to disturb the gloriously plumed bird. The crimson feathered creature trilled again, still sounding amused, and began picking idly at his hair. He warily reached a hand up, stroking along the bird's side, and after getting an amused and accepting trill in response, continued with a smile on his face.

"Hello, pretty bird." He murmured, and the bird trilled, seemingly in response. "Are you the headmaster's?" The bird pecked him lightly on the head in response, and he smiled. However, thinking of the headmaster made his smile drop. The bird seemed to notice his drop in happiness and trilled again, this time questioning. Harry sighed, then gave it a weary smile. "I'm fine, I just…I made a big mistake, and my friends and I are gonna be expelled. I'm upset that I've gotten them expelled, even if they don't blame me, and I really don't want to go back to the Dursleys full time after having been here." He stated, biting his lip. The bird trilled comfortingly, resuming its picking at his hair.

They stayed there for a while longer, watching the calm of the Hogwarts grounds through the large window in the headmaster's office. Harry didn't notice, though the bird did, but the Headmaster had stepped up next to them some time during the sunrise, watching it with them. Dumbledore let out a near-silent sigh of contentment and stated, "Isn't this view amazing?" Harry startled and nearly had a heart attack as he realized that the headmaster had suddenly appeared next to him. Fawkes swayed on his shoulder and let out an indignant squawk, so he absently patted the bird as he guardedly eyed the bespectacled Professor.

Dumbledore turned his attention from the grounds, his full focus now on his student as he waited for some kind of response. "P-professor Dumbledore!" Harry stuttered, shrinking away from the headmaster.

Some of Albus's serenity drained away at the genuine fear Harry seemed to show at his appearance, and he sent the petrified boy a gentle smile. "Good morning, Mr. Potter. Did you sleep well?"

Harry's wide green eyes stared up at him in surprise as he stuttered again, "Y-yes sir. Did you?"

"I did." Albus replied with a nod, the lemon-drop shaped puffball on the end of his sleep cap bobbing gently. Harry's attention waned to it for a moment before he snapped his eyes to the side, his face pale.

Albus raised a hand to adjust his half-moon spectacles and opened his mouth to speak, and was surprised when Harry paled even more and took a step back. He closed his mouth and pondered for a moment how to say what he wanted to ask, before stating bluntly, "What's the matter, Harry? I promise I don't bite."

Harry looked up at him in surprise, before muttering, "I just...we're going to be expelled, aren't we?"

The Headmaster's face softened into an understanding smile, and he stated, "No, Harry, you aren't going to be expelled."

Harry held the Headmaster's gaze for the first time this morning, his emerald orbs wide with surprise. "W-we're not?" His eyes lit up at the Headmaster's negative head shake.

The headmaster sent him another smile before stating slightly more loudly, and directed at both him and Fawkes, "I think that it would be better to have this conversation with everyone, wouldn't you agree?"

Fawkes nudged Harry's still idly patting hand away from his feathers, and Harry removed it, resting his arms by his side as he and the Headmaster moved toward the Headmaster's cluttered desk. With a short trill and a few more pecks at his hair, the swaying Fawkes took off from his shoulder, circling above the couch. Harry watched him curiously, distractedly seating himself in a chair in front of the amused Headmaster's desk, as the bird landed on the couch arm where Harry had been previously leaning, and seemed to clear his throat. He jumped in surprise when, moments later, the beautiful fire-bird let out an amusing, and rather undignified squawk, waking both Ron and Hermione.

Ron fell to the floor, finally slipping out of his precarious position on the opposite couch arm, and shot up into sitting position, looking every which way while sluggishly muttering something about Fred and George and pranks and "no more slug puffs please". Hermione rubbed her neck as she yawned, nearly falling back over as she momentarily overbalanced. She paused as she heard movement, and scooted to the end of the couch to peer over the arm. She giggled quietly as she saw Ron sitting in an uncoordinated pile, but paused when she heard someone clear their throat.

Looking up slowly as the night's events began to come back to her, she paled when she saw Harry seated at a desk in front of Headmaster Dumbledore. She paled even more when he spoke up, stating "Ah, I see my other guests are awake. Would you care to join Harry and myself in our discussion?" Nearly petrified, all she could do was nod as she stood up woodenly, Ron following her slowly to the chairs in front of the Headmaster's desk. The Headmaster sent the two of them a gentle smile as they sat, and she felt herself relaxing against her will at the kind action.

"Now, I believe that I should clear up one thing before we begin speaking; none of you are going to be expelled." Both Hermione and Ron stared at him in surprise for a moment before Hermione began to speak.

"But, Professor Snape, sir, he said that we-" The Headmaster interrupted her with a chuckle.

"Professor Snape often threatens students with expulsion, and rarely does it come to pass. You would have to do much more in order to be dismissed from this establishment. However, we still need to talk about your punishment."

Ron sagged with relief before straightening up nervously, while Hermione straightened indignantly, opening her mouth to begin what Harry knew would be a long and scathing harangue about his character. Deciding to cut her off before she got started, he quickly interrupted, asking, "Our punishment, sir?" with a mental apology to Hermione.

The Headmaster fixed them all with a grave stare over his half-moon spectacles, his tone reprimanding as he stated, "Yes, your punishment. While you will, of course, remain students of this establishment, you will be losing 25 points each, and receiving detentions for the remainder of the school year." Seeing all of them sinking down in their seats, he continued firmly, "You were all out of bounds after hours, and you left your common room with the intentions of endangering yourselves. I believe that you are lucky your punishment is as light as it is." Harry and Hermione sat silently, avoiding his gaze. Ron pulled his gaze from where he'd been examining his shoelaces to protest, but flushed, cowed, when Dumbledore raised an inquiring eyebrow at him.

After a moment of stifled silence, Dumbledore's gaze became less forbearing, and his eyes regained their customary twinkle as he clasped his hands together. "Well, now that we've got the serious things out of the way, I suppose that you all should be on your way back to your dormitories so that you can head off to breakfast! I'm assuming you'll be able to figure out how to get there from here, correct?"

After a moment more where the first years stared at him, nonplussed, they all moved as one to scramble from their seats. The trio sent the Headmaster near simultaneous farewells, consisting of a respectful, "Of course Headmaster, have a good rest of your morning!" from Hermione, a polite, "Yes sir, thanks." from Harry, and a cheerful, "Brilliant, thanks Professor!" from Ron as they scurried from the room, Ron and Hermione already bickering about Ron's behavior during the meeting as they pulled ahead.

As his friends walked out the door, Harry paused and turned to look at the Headmaster hesitantly. After a few seconds had passed, the Headmaster gently prompted, "Was there something else, Harry?"

The boy seemed to struggle with himself for a moment before he straightened his back, and blurted out, "The stone, sir. I was just wondering...well, it's safe, isn't it?"

The Headmaster sent him a beaming smile, and replied, "That it is, my boy."

Harry let out a sigh of relief before sending the headmaster a boyish grin, and chirping, "Okay, thanks Professor Dumbledore!" and scampering out of the room, the sound of the gargoyle's departure drifting back into the office.

After a few moments of sitting silently after the first years had left, Albus lifted his left hand to his ear, and tucked the hair behind it so that he could run his finger along the shrunken sorcerer's stone that was serving as his earing. Still stroking, he murmured to Fawkes, "Though I'm sorry that some of my students got caught up in my schemes to capture the person after the stone, I'm not too unhappy with the end results, as Voldemort has been held back. For now, at least."

Fawkes responded with a reprimanding trill, swooping lowly over Albus's head and landing on his shoulder to peck indignantly at his glasses. Removing them, Albus scrubbed a hand across his face, running it through his hair as he stared blankly at his desk. After a few seconds of thought, he let out a quiet, mirthless chuckle, murmuring, "You're right, my friend. More defenses, better defenses, would've prevented this from occurring, while still luring the thief here. I should've listened to you, but I find that in my old age, I still seem to be making far too many mistakes."

A sympathetic, forgiving, commiserating trill rang out from the phoenix on his shoulder, and he reached a hand up to stroke the beautiful firebird. Continuing, he murmured, "I'm glad I have a friend like you, to keep me from paving my way to hell*, yes?" Fawkes let out a satisfied trill, tapping his beak lightly on his friend's hand. "Ah, you're right. I should speak with him immediately. Thank you for the reminder." Albus said lightly, reaching for his quill and a piece of spare parchment, and jotting down a quick note.

Reaching up, he passed the phoenix the note, and asked, "Would you please take this to Severus? I believe we have quite a few things to speak about." The firebird trilled affirmatively, before leaping off the Headmaster's shoulder, flapping his way around the room a few times, and flaming away.

A/N: Sorry it's so much dialogue with so little action, but this was the best place to cut it off. As you can see, this isn't a super manipulative!Dumbledore fic, he's just an old man doing his best to protect a society that's generally misinformed and ignorant regarding danger, and he has a hard time seeing single people when there's the big picture to worry about. He's trying though! Next chapter will also be mostly explanations for what happened this chapter as well as some insight on my non-canon approach to the biju (because I started this before we got Kurama's total background, and I'm sure as hell not changing it now), dialogue, and oneliners, but the one after that'll definitely have more action. And plot progression! I've got up through the entirety of 2nd year completely outlined and partially written, so that might come out faster, might not. I feel like I should stop promising you guys things, so we'll just see how it goes XD. Ta ta for now, please review if you have the time!

*In reference to the adage, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions".