AN: Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't QUITE update within the week. I'm busy and I'm lazy. I'll try to have chaoter 4 up a little sooner, since it's already written. And, thanks to my THREE SOLITARY REVIEWERS for chapter 2: Nosilla, Queenofwitches, and Jessica-McConell.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, I own him not. Sigh.

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That night, Cassandra had the same nightmare again, but this time she remembered even less than before. She was glad to get out of the hospital wing the next morning. It was too white for her liking: everywhere you looked, it was so bright that it gave you a headache. Although Madame Pomphery had given her porridge that morning in the hospital wing for her breakfast, she had pulled out her wand and muttered a vanishing spell while the nurse had her back turned to satisfy her so she would let her leave. Cassandra hated porridge. She was very much looking forward to getting to the Great Hall to get some breakfast before everyone left and all the food was gone. She walked into the Great Hall and quickly saw her friends sitting at the Gryffindor table, talking. She smiled and walked over to them. However, her smile faded when she noticed their abrupt stop in conversation upon her arrival. She had a strange feeling that they had been talking about her. Their overly cheerful "Hello's" and "Good morning's" didn't help that feeling much. However, she tried not to think about it too much and plopped down next to Harry.

"Good morning all," said Cassandra cheerfully, spooning everything within reach onto her plate. She was always terribly hungry in the morning.

"Hey Cassandra. We were just . . . talking about you," said Hermione, trying to sound casual - so much for trying to ignore her suspicion.

"I'd noticed," said Cassandra dryly, quickly removing her cheerful façade. "So, what was it this time? Draco and me being siblings, my being weak outside two nights ago and fainting, or the nightmare I had that night?"

"First of all, we're quite over the fact of you and Draco being related. Secondly, you weren't weak when you fainted – just tired. It's Draco's fault for making you try to run when you didn't want to. And, yes, we were talking about your nightmare," answered Hermione.

"I really think you shouldn't worry about it; that's all it was, a nightmare. You three take life way too seriously; you need to have fun once in a while, especially you, Harry. You're just too . . . serious about stuff." Cassandra then lowered her voice to a whisper and spoke into his ear, so Ron and Hermione wouldn't hear. "I realize that fairly soon you are either going to be murdered or become a murderer, but you can cross that bridge when you come to it. For now, have a good time." She realized that Harry hadn't told Ron or Hermione about what was in the prophecy yet, and she didn't want that exposed to them. She felt Harry nod slightly and she sat back up straight and saw him smile a bit. She also noticed a goofy grin on Hermione's face, and a confused look on Ron's. Cassandra put two and two together and realized what Hermione might be thinking – since she had just told Harry about having fun, she could have just suggested her and him meet alone somewhere to have the time of their lives. Cassandra glared at Hermione and shook her head slightly. Poor Ron, however, was still very confused, and now Hermione was, too. Cassandra rolled her eyes and finished off her breakfast quickly.

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The day seemed to fly by until Potions class, where Cassandra took her usual seat next to Draco for their Potions project. This was the last day of it – they would be testing them today. Everyone was either excited or nervous – Snape had given them all a potion they all had never heard of, even Hermione, and he never told them what it was. He was going to tell them today and then they would test them on their partners. Cassandra hoped it wasn't a love potion or something – she didn't want to be falling in love with her brother. Then again, Snape would be more likely to assign something much more lethal. Cassandra was one of the nervous ones, and she fidgeted in her seat until Snape barged in the door.

"Well, I daresay that I am going to congratulate you on getting this far with this potion – it is highly advanced. However, we shall see who really was successful with it today. And, the Headmaster requires that I have an abundant supply of the antidote on hand, so no one needs to worry," added Snape, although he looked much rather like he would want to see his students suffer from whatever the consequences would be if they hadn't properly brewed the potion.

Cassandra gave another nervous fidget.

"The potion you have most likely not successfully brewed is the Carlisus Potion. Can anyone tell me its properties?" asked Snape, scanning the room. To everyone's surprise, even Hermione's hand wasn't raised.

"No one? Well then, the Carlisus Potion allows you to see the innermost thoughts of whoever takes the same potion for exactly 24 hours – one day," Snape said with a cruel smile. Cassandra heard many groans, especially from Harry. She didn't blame him – he was partnered with Lavender, and who would want to be seeing any of her gossipy thoughts?

Cassandra wasn't sure how she would feel about it. Maybe the potion wouldn't even work, and she would just end up being normal. A normal person with a failing grade. Okay, so maybe she did want the potion to work - but only because she wanted to pass the class. Snape was now walking around the room, handing everyone their labeled potions that were now in large beakers. Once everyone had their potion, Snape instructed them all to each take out a small flask and pour equal amounts of the potion into each one, and then both partners drink them at the same time.

Draco carefully made sure each flask had exactly equal amounts before handing one to Cassandra.

"Cheers," said Cassandra nervously, and they touched their flasks before they both gulped them down. Cassandra put her flask gingerly down on the table before silently gagging.

"Yuck, that stuff tastes horrible!" she said, and Draco agreed.

"Tell me about it . . ." Draco trailed off. They both looked at each other, and then they both had the same exact tingling, numbing feeling in their heads at the exact same time. It lasted only for about ten seconds and then it went away. Cassandra heard Draco's voice.

'Whoa, that must have been the potion sinking in . . . that felt weird.'

"No kidding," said Cassandra out loud, in agreement to him.

"Sorry?" said Draco, looking at her, confused.

"You just said that you had that weird feeling in your head, and I had it too," said Cassandra.

"No – no, I didn't. I – I thought that . . ." he said, and then realization hit him and Cassandra at the same time.

'It works!' thought Cassandra excitedly.

'I can hear you . . . I can't believe it! It actually works!' Cassandra heard Draco's voice again, but this time she knew it was his thoughts, not his voice.

'The only downside is that we'll be able to hear everything we each think. That could get annoying.'

'I wonder if we can see each other's dreams?' wondered Cassandra. She hoped not . . . she didn't fancy Draco seeing her recurring nightmare.

"I can see that all of you have successfully brewed the potion, judging by your silence, since you are all most likely communicating by thought," said Snape. "Don't get too used to it, remember: by this time tomorrow, it will have worn off. Now, our next potion will only be taking today and the next class, and you will all be working individually." Everyone heard Neville groan miserably. "Now all of you return to your regular seats immediately and I will explain it to you."

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After Potions, everyone headed back to the common rooms to get started on homework. Cassandra would have gone somewhere with Draco to talk about everything he had forgotten, but Hermione practically drug her to the common room. Cassandra however, had a plan. She took a book out of her bag that she was supposed to read for History of Magic, opened it to the middle, and then pretended to read while she contacted Draco.

'Draco, are you there?' she asked.

'Yeah. What's up?' he answered.

'I just figured you might want to know a little bit more about what happened since you bumped your head on that statue. You were lucky that we had finished the potions project before that Bludger hit you in the head, or we would have been in deep trouble.'

'No kidding. And I'm more than willing to hear whatever happened that was important. Anything is better than homework.'

'Okay then. Where did I leave off? Us in the Forbidden Forest?'

'Yeah, somewhere around there.'

'Well, after we had made our wish and all, we darted back up to Dumbledore's office . . .'

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Cassandra had been talking to Draco for some time, hours most likely, when a voice startled her out of her little mind chat.

"Must be some interesting page, since you haven't turned it since you opened that book." It was Harry.

'Uh-oh, I'm caught.'

'What?'

'I was pretending to read while I was talking to you, and Harry noticed that I wasn't really reading. Hold on a second.'

'Okay.'

"Uh, yeah, just, uh, studying up, you know," Cassandra said, quite unconvincingly. She then noticed that there was no one else in the common room except Ron and Hermione, on opposite sides of the room. Most likely Hermione was trying to keep Ron from copying her homework, while still making him go without food until he finished his work. "Where is everybody?" I asked, eager to change the subject.

"All down at dinner, it's 6:45. I figured I'd better get you out of that book that was so interesting before you missed dinner completely," said Harry, grinning. I knew he had won – it was plain that I wasn't reading.

"Yeah, I guess I should get some food."

'Draco, did you know it's dinner time?'

'Yes, I'm eating now.'

'Why you little . . .' Cassandra thought angrily. She didn't realize she was speaking out loud also.

"Oh, I get it. You were talking to Draco, weren't you?" asked Harry. "At least you're enjoying the effects of the potion. Now, want to go down to the Great Hall to get some food?" asked Harry.

"Sure. Let's go," she said, standing. "Don't keep him away from his food for too long, Hermione," she called over to her. Hermione looked up at her and just rolled her eyes. Harry and Cassandra walked out of the common room and got halfway down to the Great Hall when Harry realized he'd forgotten his book on Occlumency. He had been planning to study at dinner so he could block Lavender's thoughts from his mind and keep his thoughts out of Lavender's mind. He turned around to go back to get it, and he told Cassandra to keep going when she motioned to follow him.

"Fine, I'll go without you, but don't blame me when there isn't any food left for you!" I called jokingly. Harry just laughed and kept walking.

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Hermione had been concentrating on her work, or at least trying to, when she was interrupted by a loud cry of frustration from Ron.

"Hermione please let me copy your work! This stupid Transfiguration assignment doesn't make any sense at all!" he begged.

"Ron, all you had to do was ask for help. Here," she said, walking over to where he was sitting and standing next to him. He leaned his large wooden chair back on one leg, the one closest to Hermione, as she began to explain it. She noticed how he was sitting halfway through a sentence.

"Ron, you might fall if you don't put that chair on all four of it's legs," she scolded him, and just as she put her hands on the chair to push it against the floor, he lost his balance and fell off of the chair – directly onto Hermione. She screamed and he yelled, and before he knew what was happening, he was flattening her to the ground with his body weight, partly because the chair had fallen on top of him – it was a very heavy chair. The force of their hitting the ground caused his head to lurch forward slightly, and he, without meaning to, pressed his own lips against Hermione's. Both of them stunned for a moment, neither did anything until they heard hysterical laughter, and Ron felt the weight of the chair lift from his back, which was a welcome relief. He immediately jumped off of Hermione as if she had burned him, and turned his head towards the portrait hole, where Harry was standing, his wand out, levitating the chair, and laughing like there was no tomorrow.

"How long have you been there?" demanded Ron.

"Oh, I walked in and caught the last words of Hermione scolding you for sitting improperly on the chair," said Harry, still snickering. He placed the chair down next to the table. "That was just so unbelievably funny!"

"Ha ha, so funny that I forgot to laugh," said Ron dryly.

"But seriously . . ." said Harry, looking around Ron to Hermione, who wasn't moving. Harry walked over to her while Ron kept his distance.

"Hermione, are you all right?" he asked, kneeling next to her. She opened her eyes and seemed to snap back to reality immediately. She sat bolt upright and looked from the chair, to Ron, to Harry, and back again.

"Ron, you never listen to me, do you? I told you that you would fall if you were only leaning on one leg of the chair," she said, but she was blushing slightly. Only Harry noticed this, however.

"Hey, you guys, dinner is going to be over soon, and I think it might be a good idea if we get to the Great Hall before there's no food left," said Harry, trying to break the tension between Hermione and Ron.

"Sure, let's go, I'm starved," said Ron, practically sprinting towards the portrait hole.

"Hermione?" asked Harry.

"Right behind you, I'm rather hungry myself," she replied. Harry went ahead of her and they both walked rather quickly down to the Great Hall, sitting across from Cassandra and Ron, who were already there. Harry could tell by the glazed look in Cassandra's eyes that she must be talking to Draco again.

'Harry's finally here . . . I wonder what took him so long? He was just supposed to get a book . . . that he doesn't have with him.'

'Dunno, ask him. Then tell me if it's interesting.'

'All right.'

"So, Harry, what took you so long? And where's your Occlumency book?" asked Cassandra casually.

"Oh, never mind the Occlumency, it's just one day, after all. I'll tell you what took me so long later," he replied, glancing at Ron, who was digging into his food and not paying attention to a single word Harry was saying. Hermione simply shrugged her shoulders and continued eating.

'He says he'll tell me later.'

'Darn. It must be good, then. Tell me when you find out.'

'Unless it's something personal.'

'Fine then.'

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After dinner, Harry pulled Cassandra out of the Great Hall and up to the Gryffindor Common Room, where there were still hardly any students.

"Cassandra, it's now only a matter of time before Ron and Hermione are together," said Harry. "I've been watching them since last year, noticing little things, and I just know it's going to happen soon." As he explained what had happened between Ron and Hermione in the common room, Cassandra couldn't help herself but to laugh, no matter how hard she tried not to.

'Okay, I'm not going to laugh, I'm not going to laugh, I'm not going to laugh . . . oh what's the use?'

She suddenly burst out laughing, and the few students that were in the common room looked at her strangely. She eventually regained her composure and heard Draco talking to her.

'So, I take it that whatever it was, it was funny?'

'Hilarious. I'm not sure if I should tell you though, it's a bit personal . . .'

'Please?'

'I don't know . . .'

'Pretty please? With a sugar quill on top?

'Well, if you've lowered yourself to begging . . . oh, why not? Just promise not to tell anyone, okay?'

'I promise.'

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AN: How's that for a chapter? YAY FOR ALL THE RON-HERMIONE SUPPORTERS! This was a pretty satisfactory chapter, if I do say so myself. R&R, everyone! I NEED THEM!