(Giggles!). Oh, ye of little faith for Ronald Weasley! Do you really think that Hermione will lose him that easily? (cackles!) One can never tell, I reckon...Well, I would really like to thank those 62 wonderful reviewers who left very encouraging, fantastic compliments and comments on this story! A ginormous thank-you to: One With A Constant Sugar High, Miss Court-A-Doo,Vague Angel, Dany Granger Weasley, Arnostae, dancerrdw, EWlookalike, Mrz.Potter, Avantara, somemoonlitnite, cathyrock, EponineWeasley, aishteru, LyssaGranger, TheDaughterOfKings, Ronsreallove, summerxkiss2, sailorstarryeyes, SilentRaven987, astraeos, Elemental Water Mistress, amrawo, kitotterkat, aurorasakura16, I AM EOWYN, silktophat, Lara Potter, Alli-Baby, Loku, Emma-Lynn, suckr4romance, Pauly, Fairy Princess, georgia xx, Syd, dreamchubb, hot4scott68, Tria Marie Val, LadySimone123, fredngeorgegirl, Rupertlover 14, FairyPrincess, RainDateChick, Lucy the Rat, ShadowHexx771, milky way bar, xOx-Mystique-xOx, RubyPhoenixFire, lacatamar, Bloody Corsets, cherry blossom, KK, Endless Potential, mAlFoYiSaWeSoMe, waterfaerie15, FionaFlamingo, goblin monkey, Lost in Land, Jerry, rachyluvsgrin112, Lady Smoothie, and last, but definitely not least, MyOnlyCat. Thanks so much, you fellow readers and authors! Now I present to you Chapter 2. Read, and review, and above all esle, ENJOY!

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" I sputtered. With a flick of her wand, Ron disappeared. I gaped. "And what the heck did you just do with MY boyfriend?"

"I'm just practicing," Cassandra said breezily, laying her wand on her bedside table and stretching out on her long, lithe body with all the grace of a jungle cat on her purple velvety bedspread.

I could scarcely keep a hint of admiration out of my voice as it finally clicked. "That's the—"

"­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Pseudohominis spell," Cassandra yawned. (A/N: Pseudo means "fake," and hominis is "man"). "I've been able to do that for ages!"

"No way," I breathed.

"Er, excuse me for interrupting," Parvati said loudly, "But what the bloody is the Pseudohominis spell?"

"It's an extremely advanced form of magic," I began, sounding as usual, as though I was reciting my words from a textbook. "A skilled witch or wizard, after many years of practice, can conjure a 3-D image of a person of their choice. Mind you, it's just an image- it can't move, talk, or do anything of significance. A shadow of that person, really. However, from far away it can easily be mistaken as the real person." My eyes narrowed. "It's a very hard spell to complete. And it's as close to Dark Magic as you can get without being illegal."

"It's very easy, really," Cassandra interrupted smoothly in a bored tone. "I just fiercely concentrate on a person in my mind, utter the incantation, and then, voila!"

"Well, aren't you special," Lavender snorted.

"Wherever did you learn that?" I peered at her suspiciously.

"Like I informed you before, Hermione, they teach us well at Beauxbatons," she replied, more than a little bit smugly.

"Why Ron?" I snapped.

She let out a delicate, yet exasperated sigh. "Because I fancy the wizard, bookworm. Haven't we been through this already? I also thought it would be quiet amusing to see the expression on your face when you saw "Ron" and I. Together. In the dormitory. At 1 AM at night."

"Your poor sense of humor is laughable," I sneered to her disappearing figure as she pulled her bed-hangings shut. As her breathing became slow and even, the three of us let out an enormous sigh of relief.

"A brief reprieve," I cried dramatically, "From the terrors of the spawn of Satan."

"You have absolutely got to be kidding me," Lavender groaned. "We'll have to spend a WHOLE year with Miss Perfect?"

"That's my nickname," I grumbled.

For some strange reason, Parvati began giggling.

"What's so funny?" I asked peevishly, pulling my bush back into a ponytail to allow for a "no-hair-balls-in-my-mouth" night. Between unladylike snorts, she managed to gasp, "I was just imagining Professor Snape's reaction to Bimbo Barbie. And Professor McGonagall! They'll see right through her."

A small grin began to slowly cross my irate face. I snickered right along with her. Tomorrow would be quite amusing.

"Parvati, turn your radio off RIGHT NOW!" I groaned in a muffled voice into my fluffy white pillow at exactly 5:35 AM the next morning.

"You of all people should know, Hermione," Parvati said sleepily, "That electronics can not function in Hogwarts."

We all listened closely to the beautiful, rich soprano voice singing some sort of Italian opera.

"It's coming from the bathroom," I whispered.

Lavender rubbed her eyes groggily. "Honestly," she yawned, "I didn't think you two were that daft! That's Cass-Ass, singing her heart out in the shower!"

"At 5:35 AM in the morning?" I asked incredulously, trying desperately to ignore the fact that along with everything else, Cassandra was an extremely talented singer.

"I reckon it take some people like her an awful long time to beautify themselves for the day," Lavender snickered.

"Bacon, Hermione?"

"No thanks," I snapped. "I've rather just lost my appetite." Harry followed my gaze to the slim witch who was walking sultry into the Great Hall, hips swinging back and forth, much to the delight of 99 percent of the wizards.

"Oh," my best mate patted my arm sympathetically and quickly sprang out of his seat across from Ron and I, sprinted around the end of the table, and landed breathlessly in an ungraceful heap on the other side of Ron.

"I was going to sit there," Cassandra pouted, as Ron's eyes traveled from her long, lean legs visible underneath a short black miniskirt to her skin-tight cream blouse. Her robes, I noted, were nowhere to be found.

"Well, I reckon you'll have to change your plans a bit," Harry smiled angelically as Ron shot him a dirty glance.

"Knock it off, Harry," my boyfriend hissed through clenched teeth.

Cass-Ass sighed as though this was the most difficult action she had ever had to perform in her entire perfect life and perched on the bench across the table from Ron.

"Perhaps Professor McGonagall wasn't clear to you," I said sweetly as her frosty blue eyes flickered over me with obvious disdain. "Robes are to be worn at all times in public places- including meals!"

"She did?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow in an expression of perfect innocence. "I must have missed that tidbit of information. I'm a trifle deaf in one ear, you know. Well, I figured if you have an excellent figure, why cover it up in those awful robes?"

"It's a school policy," I sneered. "One you would do good to follow or else you'll find yourself in detention before you can say, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

"For some of you girls," she smirked, "It isn't a sacrifice at all to cover up those figureless bodies." Hmmphh. Well, excusez-moi if my chest hasn't grown since the third year!

"I really admire you, Cassandra," I said sarcastically. "Adjusting to a whole new school with such ease, and thinking you can just waltz right in and steal MY boyfriend!" I added in the quietest of whispers that only she could hear.

"Who said anything about stealing?" the beautiful witch shrugged and flipped her long, silky black hair over one shoulder. "I sure as heck don't see HIM putting up any resistance to my advances."

"Why, you little slu..."

"Schedules are here!" Harry said loudly as Professor McGonagall handed me a crisp white sheet of parchment.

"Oh look, we have every single class together!" Cassandra beamed after leaning across the table so she was practically falling out of her low-cut blouse and comparing schedules with Ron's and mine.

"I look forward to it," I muttered under my breath. "Bacon, Cassandra?"

"Oh, I'm not hungry." She let out a tinkling laugh. "I have a very delicate appetite."

"No wonder you're so slim," I snorted. "You starve yourself. That's isn't very healthy, is it?"

"It's an example you would do good to follow sometimes," Ron said through a mouthful of kippers.

"EXCUSE ME?"

"Hermione has a very large appetite," he explained to the b-with-an-itch-of-a-witch-trying-to-seduce-the-object-of-my-affections. "Honestly, she frequently devours at least half of the table's contents! Eating a little less food would be good for her!"

"You should talk," I snarled, grabbing my bag and hopping up out of my seat. I leaned over and gave Ron a quick kiss, which he responded only half-heartedly to.

"Where are you going, Hermione?" Cassandra called as I practically ran away from the Gryffindor table.

"Library!" I yelled back, throwing my most dirty glance that I reserve for such ginormous prats as Malfoy her way. Speaking of whom..."

"The sight of Weasley drooling over Cassandra a bit too much for you, eh Granger?"

" Sod off, Malfoy. Trust me, you DO Not want to mess with me right now," I growled as he fell in step with me.

"But I have to tell you something I think you would find comforting," he drawled, dragging me into a secluded corner.

"Let me GO!" I struggled against his muscular arms that held me 2.6 inches away from his toned, sexy body.

"I'm not going to do anything to you of a sexual nature," Draco said calmly, as I searched hastily for my wand. "That is, unless you want me to." I shivered, despite myself, at his suggestive manner. Draco was as sexy and drop-dead gorgeous as they came-and I'd heard he was excellent in the snogging department. There was just that little problem of him possibly being a Death Eater and one of the most evil, obnoxious blokes to ever walk through Hogwarts...

"Get to the point, Malfoy." I put my hands on my non-existent hips. (I really don't understand how I weigh that much- I have no hips, chest, or butt, but somehow a good two pounds for every inch of my height (I'm 5 ft 4 inches tall, and weigh 128 pounds!)).

His icy gray eyes bore straight into mine. "I don't like Cassandra at all," he said seriously.

My eyes widened. Then I remembered whom I was talking to.

"Well, that shouldn't come as any great surprise," I scoffed. "You do tend to have a strange taste in witches. Take Pansy, for example..."

Draco winced. "I honestly don't fancy Pansy," he sighed. "She's the most obnoxious, evil, ugly witch at Hogwarts!"

"Why don't you like Cassandra?" I asked, very curious despite myself.

I thought he would make a "Malfoy flippant remark" such as "I like my girls juicier" or "I like to be the one who seduces the girl, and not the other way around." However, he was dead serious.

"She's a huge flirt. She's sexy and she knows it. She is all my two best mates- and any Slytherin male -will talk about anymore. She is arrogant, cold, and superficial."

"Seems like the exact description of the bimbos you pursue," I said a tad bit too nastily.

Draco shook his head of attractive blonde hair. "Not any longer, Granger."

I gaped. What in Merlin was wrong with Draco Malfoy? He was acting so- NICE!

"Here's the deal." He got down to business. "I don't like Cassandra. You don't like Cassandra. Cassandra is trying to seduce Ron. I don't like Ron. You love him. I would love for the opportunity to make a ginormous fool out of that little sl--, and make smoke come out of Weaslye's ears. I can help you," he finished simply.

My suspicious were definitely raised. "And I should trust you?" I laughed. "You, a Death Eater, an obnoxious, arrogant prat.." I was silenced by Draco's very close proximity.

"I am not a Death Eater." His breath tickled my ear as I shivered once again. "Even ask Dumbledore."

"Oh, right," I sniggered. "Like I really believe that."

"He's telling the truth, Miss Granger," Professor Dumbledore said quietly as he suddenly appeared two feet away from us.

"You both are wacko," I shook my head. "There is no way in Merlin that Draco has come to the side of good."

"He has, Miss Granger," Professor Dumbledore said lightly, blue eyes twinkling behind his spectacles. "Now if you two will excuse me, I have some matters of business to attend to before classes begin."

"Now do you believe me?" Draco questioned.

"I reckon I do, Draco," I sighed, eyes widening as I realized that I hadaddressed my nemesis by his first name!

"So, Hermione, shall we shake on it?" He held out a pale hand, callused from many years of playing Quidditch.

"Deal," I sighed.

Still holding my hand, Draco outlined his plan. "I will do my very best to seduce Cassandra. With looks my mine, that shouldn't be too hard. Even if she is infatuated with Weasley."

"Then?"

"Then I will completely mortify her in some manner. Weasley will be furious that I stole her away from him in the first place, Cassandra will be embarrassed beyond relief, and you will have your boyfriend back."

I hesitated. "That could really backfire, you know." After all, I was practically putting my relationship with Ron into DRACO MALFOY'S HANDS! "She could just run straight back to Ron! And he'll despise you even more than he already does! And if he ever finds out that we're working together..."

"Do you want to lose your boyfriend?"

"No."

"Then you'll have to trust me," the sexy bloke said grimly. "Because there's more at stake here than your relationship with Ron."