I warned you guys that these would be pre-together chaps, and that's what they are. They're not fantastic, but I like them. Woot!

On another note, I flipped a mule the other day. How hard does that suck? (BTW, a mule is like a golf cart/four wheeler/tractor thingy.) There were to many people on it, we were going to fast, and we hit loose gravel as we were turning. I got soft tissue damage on one finger and it took me awhile to figure out that I could type, just not write. That's why this is so late. Sorry, guys.

Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff.

Carmen was doing a lousy job at her divination. She didn't have it in her to lie, but she kept reading that she would find love soon.

How off was that? The crystal was lying! Stupid ball…

Carmen sighed and put down that she would soon find love, truly disbelieving. At least she was done. Now she could focus on her Potions homework.

"What are you doing, dear?" asked Professor Trelawney.

"Uh, homework?"

The professor tutted at her. "You have to read the crystal ball!"

"I did."

"You must continue!"

Carmen rolled her eyes, but got the ball back out. Stupid Trelawney, stupid divination, stupid magic, stupid everything.

Carmen could feel it bubbling up inside of her. She knew this feeling, the loneliness and petty jealousy of a new boyfriend.

Not her own, of course, Allyssa's.

The ball predicted trouble, multiple Carmens, war, and, most prominently, love,

Carmen was disturbed by the visions of her supposed future and wrote down that she had seen loads of fog in the future.

Why would love become so important? It had never mattered before, so why should it later? And did she have twins she didn't know about? Where had the multi-Carmens come from? Seriously, that was a little too messed up for her…

Carmen shot out of the tower when they were dismissed. Divination always irked her, she only took it because she'd heard it was an easy class.

But the future was supposed to be a mystery and Carmen found it wrong to learn one's future before it was time. The present should always be a surprise, not something that you could always say, "Yeah, I knew that was gonna happen." Life wasn't a movie that you could watch over and over until you knew every line. Life was impromptu, different each time, no matter how hard you tried to make it the same.

Deep in thought, Carmen didn't see the slower-moving person ahead of her and smacked straight into him, hard, sending her flying backwards.

"Hey! Watch it!" the boy, a seventh year Slytherin, yelled.

"You watch it, slowpoke! Jeez, my grandma walks faster than you and she uses a freaking WALKER!"

His jaw dropped and he advanced on her, drawing his wand. "You little-"

"Hey!" The Weasley twins were standing in the doorway of a classroom nearby, arms crossed and angry.

"Picking on a Hufflepuff girl? And one who's younger than you, at that?"

"That's just sad, Holcomb."

The boy rounded on the twins. "It's not my fault she's too stupid to watch where she walks or that she can't keep her mouth shut! She deserves to be jinxed."

"I'll show you jinxed!" Carmen yelled, whipping out her wand.

"Carmen Elizabeth Shivers!" Allyssa yelled, Ash on her heels. "Put that wand away!"

Carmen snarled at Holcomb and slid the wand back into her pocket, backing away, between her two best friends.

"Sonaria Deafinum!" shouted the Slytherin.

Okay, if ever Carmen had been pissed at an inanimate object, it was then. That stupid crystal ball could tell her about her love life, her multiple selves, and all kinds of trouble, but not the immediate future, where she would be deafened in the middle of the hall by a psychotic Slytherin.

Too bad she passed out from the roar in her ears before she had the chance to get the jerk back.

Carmen woke up in the hospital wing in the middle of the night. The roaring in her ears was gone, thank God, and there was a pressure on her arm, as though someone was leaning on it.

"Hello?" she asked into thin air. Had she not been at a magic school, she would have felt a lot more stupid than she already did.

The pressure left and she swiped out, catching a clothed arm.

"Ash? Where'd you get an invisibility cloak?"

The arm pulled, trying to get away.

"Hey, who are you? Where'd you get an invisibility cloak? What're you doing here?"

The arm pulled again and the cloth slid, making them stop.

"Let's play 20 questions. One cough for yes, two for no, okay? Are you a boy?"

No answer.

"Cheater. Fine, I'll try again. Ah, are you… in my year?"

Two coughs.

"Aha! You are a boy! I can tell by your cough, so there!"

"Dammit…"

"Potty mouth. It's okay. I'll count that as a question. Um… Are you in Ravenclaw?"

Two coughs.

"Are you in Hufflepuff?"

Two coughs.

"Are you in Gryffindor?"

One cough.

She grinned and pulled him towards her. "Will you sit down?"

One cough and a shift underneath her hand.

"Let's see, that's… six questions. So… do I know you?"

No answer.

"Are you gonna answer?"

Two coughs.

"Okay now, stop that! That one doesn't count!"

Two coughs.

"Hey! No fair! That-"

The cloak flew off of her visitor and she saw a flash of red hair before her eyes were covered by his hand.

"O-okay then! Ah, wh-what're you doing now?"

"Listen, Carmen, you're not going to remember my visit in the morning, so I don't think it matters much one way or the other if you see me."

"Then why-"

"But I don't want you to see me all the same."

"Uhm… that's stupid."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Okay, fine, it's not, whatever. What are you doing here?"

"I- I just wanted to see you…"

"Okay, you're straight up weird."

He sighed. "So maybe I am, but I'm about to leave you."

"But-"

"Are you ready?"

"What do you m-"

Carmen's words were cut short by something over her lips, a sensation she didn't recognize.

There was another flash of red hair just before the word, "Sommeilso," was uttered and she fell suddenly asleep.

The next morning, Carmen's mind was filled with memories of her fight, but was mysteriously blank as to why she was so tired.

The memories of her sight into the future were long gone as well, but of their own accord.

So, yeah. I'm trying, guys. I've got an idea for the next chap, but please, please, please, PLEASE review me! Seriously. My number of reviews is pathetic. Lovies, huggles, and tacos, mien fruends! Oh, and sommeil is French for sleep.