AN: Hello to all! I'm really, really, REALLY sorry for not updating quickly, and that apology goes out to xXSakkaiXx especially, since I promised her I'd update on . . . um . . . Thursday . . . and I didn't . . . but anywho . . . I'M SORRY!!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: SHE DOESN'T OWN HARRY POTTER, NOW STOP HARPING ON HER ABOUT IT!

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Last Time (in Cassandra's POV)

"Harry! Ron!" I said, jogging over to their table. They looked up from their game (amazing) and at Hermione and me, now at their table.

"What?" they asked together.

"Cassy, aren't you supposed to be in detention?" asked Harry.

"Yes, but I got out of it! You won't believe what I have to tell you!" I said excitedly as they reluctantly abandoned their game to pay attention to me.

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Chapter 14: The Secret is Revealed

(Still Cassandra's POV)

"What is so important?" asked Ron as Hermione and I pulled up chairs and sat down.

"I have no clue Ron, but you'll find out if you shut up and listen," said Hermione.

"Okay, Okay . . ." Ron turned to me. "So, what's the story?"

"Yeah, what's up?" asked Harry. So, I explained the story to them, carefully leaving out the part where I had hugged Draco, as he himself had done when we were talking to Dumbledore. By the time I had finished, all three of them were gaping at me, jaws on the floor. No one looked more shocked than Hermione, however.

"Cassy, that's – that's absolutely amazing! You've made a very rare magical discovery!" she said.

"Yes, Hermione, I know," I said.

"And you know what's even more amazing?" said Harry.

"What?" said Ron, Hermione, and me.

"Well, if Cassy and Malfoy had never made that truce in the first place, Cassy wouldn't have wanted to protect Malfoy, and she would have just let him stun it, and they would have never made the discovery!" he said.

"Harry, how dare you!" I said, shocked.

"What? What did I say?" he said, bewildered.

"Although Draco and I would have most definitely been enemies had we not had the truce, I still would have had the heart to protect his life, just as your father did for Snape when he was sixteen!" I said, angry. I then realized: I had again said something that only Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew, that was recorded in the HP books.

"How did you know about that?" asked Harry, still bewildered.

"Uhhh . . . Hermione told me," I suggested innocently, trying to tell her with my eyes to back me up.

"No, Cassy, I'm not going to believe that excuse anymore. I want to know how you know all this stuff," said Harry, gently but firmly. Well, so much for that . . .

"Yeah," agreed Ron. Uh-oh . . . "I've been getting suspicious too. How do you know all this stuff?" I chewed on my bottom lip, then looked to Hermione for support, a helpless look in my eyes.

"Oh, so Hermione's in on this, too?" said Harry, his temper rising.

I took a deep breath, and then said "Harry, I had no choice but to tell Hermione, since I included her in my first excuse, back in Diagon Alley. It's nice to know that she has respected my trust for her and not told either of you," I paused there and smiled at Hermione, silently thanking her. I continued, "But I think that you two do have a right to know, now that I think about it. I mean, you are my best friends. Anyway, did you notice how worried I was about Snape on our first day of classes?" Harry and Ron nodded. "Well, how was I supposed to know that Snape was that mean to everyone except Slytherins without inside information?"

"Come to think of it," started Harry, "I never thought about it then, but you're right. We had never told you about Snape, I had just assumed Hermione had told you," he finished. His temper seemed to be cooling, which was definitely a good sign.

"Well," I continued, "truth be told, Hermione had never told me much about the students or teachers in Hogwarts, she just tutored me on magic. You guys just told me all about the building. I've been playing dumb ever since the first day I met you guys. When I asked you guys about Hagrid, the Sorting Hat, the houses, even your history, Harry, I was just acting. I knew all of those things before you even told me. I knew who all of my teachers would be – strict Professor McGonagall for transfiguration, menacing Professor Snape for Potions, tiny little Professor Flitwick for Charms, the ghost of Professor Binns for History of Magic, Hagrid for Care of Magical Creatures, even misty Professor Trelawney for Divination, even though I don't take it. Don't you see Harry? And Ron? All along, I've had inside information, from the start of your years at Hogwarts, and even a peek into what your summers are like, Harry. And, Harry, if you need any more proof before I actually show it, I know what your prophecy is, but I won't say it here for respect of your privacy." I finished my little speech and looked Harry directly in the eyes. He couldn't seem to speak, so Ron did.

"Well? Where is this 'inside information'? I'd like to see it!" he said, eager.

"I'll go get them, wait here," I said, and got up out of my chair. I jogged up to the girl's dormitories and got the first five Harry Potter books out of my trunk. I walked back down the steps, carefully holding the books so they wouldn't drop. As I set them down on the table that we had been talking around, Harry and Ron's mouths dropped open.

"Five books?" said Harry. "Five huge books are your inside information?!" he exclaimed, shocked.

"Look at the titles, Harry," said Hermione quietly. I noticed it was the first time she had spoken since she told Ron to shut up. So, Harry read each title in order: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and," Harry looked at the title of the last book, gulped, and read, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." He was breathing as if he had just run a mile.

"Harry, those aren't books about how you've defeated You-Know-Who when you were a baby, written for wizards and witches to read. Those are books about your life at Hogwarts, written for muggles to read. I know it's hard to believe, but imagine being in my shoes. I practically grew up with those books, thinking I'm a muggle. And then, one day this past summer, my parents up and tell me that they've actually kept me from going to Hogwarts since I was eleven, but on top of that, they tell me that I'm adopted, and that my parents are a wizard and witch themselves. So I go to a place that I have only known in books when I am sixteen, and all of a sudden, I no longer exist. One day, I'm a perfectly ordinary teenager, and the next, I'm just children's entertainment, actions recorded in books for muggles to read. I don't exist, you don't exist, and no one in your world exists. We are in a book, and it is being written as we speak. I'm not trying to scare you, but it's the solid truth," I finished. I felt close to tears, thinking about the fact that I was only a book character.

"Wow, Cassy. I guess I oughta be a little more careful about what I do and say, knowing that it's being recorded in books for children," Harry said as he gave me a small smile, and I knew he was referring to our "encounter" from earlier today. I smiled back.

"It's nice to know your taking this lightly Harry," I said with relief, breaking the silence.

"What's really amazing is that Ron is keeping his cool," said Hermione, glancing at Ron, who was flipping through Order of the Phoenix.

"Wow, Harry. When you read it on paper, that time when you blew up at me and Hermione at Sirius's house seems ten times worse," he said with a chuckle.

"Let me see!" said Harry, as he snatched the book out of Ron's hands. To my surprise, he just laughed. "Yeah, you're right, Ron," he said handing the book back to him.

"But, there IS something that I have been dying to get the details on from last year," said Ron with a mischievous grin. Harry looked confused, but Hermione and I realized it almost instantly.

"Ron!" Hermione half-yelled, "That's Harry's private information!" I, however, had the opposite reaction.

"Why can't he see it, Hermione? Half the world knows it, so why can't Ron?" I countered. In the meantime, Ron was already towards the middle of the book.

"Let's see, where is it, where is it...somewhere near Christmas, the last D.A. meeting..." Ron mumbled. Suddenly, something clicked in Harry's head and he knew what Ron was searching for. (AN: for all you dimwits out there who don't know yet, Ron is looking for Harry and Cho's "encounter" under the mistletoe.)

"RON! NO!" Harry shouted, grabbing the book from Ron, and attracting the attention of half the common room.

"What are you looking at?" I said to all of the people now staring at us, who abruptly turned around and went back to what they were doing. I rolled my eyes and put my attention to the conversation at hand, which included Harry and Ron fighting over the book. I got out my wand and forced it away from them with a tricky spell Hermione had taught me. I now had it in my hand.

"Why don't we all take a trip to the room of requirement and we can discuss it there?" I said, and even though I said it as a question, my voice was firm, so it was more of an order. Harry, Ron, and Hermione agreed, so they got up we walked to the Room of Requirement.

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AN: A little shorter, I know, but it was a good stopping place. Chapter 15 up soon!