Disclaim: Don't own

Skazzy wasn't really paying attention to what Bins was saying in class that morning. She still found it strange that Bins could actually deviate from a lesson plan, since it never seemed like he noticed anything. Or didn't care. However, Amity kept jabbing her, so she couldn't fall asleep like she normally did. She looked around, watching as the other lucky students who did not have someone trying to prevent them from sleeping sleeping. Besides Amity, the only one who appeared awake and aware was Ginny, and she was writing in that diary again. Amity appeared to be watching her. Skazzy yawned, and Amity jabbed her again.

"What?" Skazzy asked, keeping her voice down.

"See! She's writing in it during class. Do you think she's homesick?" Amity said, her eyes never leaving Ginny.

"Aren't most of her brothers here? Why would she be homesick?" Skazzy asked, stretching since it was obvious that she was not going to be able to sleep.

"Maybe she misses her parents?" Amity said, giving Skazzy one of her 'I can't tell if you really don't understand or just don't care' stares.

Skazzy shrugged. "What's it matter to us again?"

"Ginny is a friend. And I'm concerned," Amity said, gnawing her bottom lip.

"I'm sure she's fine. She's got, what, four brothers here? I'm sure one of them would notice if she was acting strange. Harry notices when I act strange," Skazzy said, resting her head in her hands.

"I'm nearly certain that your relationship with your brother is not a healthy one, or even an indication of what other siblings are like," Amity answered. "Do you think I could catch her after class? She's been skipping meals a lot."

"I dunno, maybe?" Skazzy said, completely uninterested in the topic. This earned her a slap from Amity, and a glare. "Sure? Don't see what the big deal is missing a few meals."

"Well, maybe if someone ate more..." Amity said, turning to glare at Skazzy. "...she would understand."

"You're already putting too much food on my plate! I'm fine," Skazzy hissed. The two of them continued to have a hissed argument over the amount of food Skazzy ate. They didn't notice as Ginny glanced at them, then back at her diary, and then put it away and run out the door. In fact, they didn't notice class was over. Until Binns asked them what they were still doing in the room. Slightly embarrassed, both girls went to leave. Walking through the corridors towards their classroom, Skazzy saw a familiar head of black hair. She turned to follow it, and heard a faint "I'll look for Ginny!"

Apparently her brother and his friends were using the bathroom Moaning Myrtle was in. Skazzy came in and looked to see what they were doing.

"Wait, you actually managed to get that? What idiot...never mind," she said, knowing who would sign anything in front of his face. "You really think this is the best way?"

"How else are we going to get a truthful answer?" Hermione shot back.

"I don't know, why do we need one?" Skazzy asked, leaning against her brother. Since her nap time had been interrupted, she was tired.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because there's someone out there who is using a monster and targeting innocent students and might come after some of us!" Hermione said shrilly, surprising everyone.

"Point," Skazzy acknowledged. "I suppose monsters should be stopped. So, why are we in a bathroom?"

"Well, we're here to try and figure out to brew this potion. You followed us," Ron pointed out. Skazzy ignored him. She was drifting off on her brother's shoulder, not really following the conversation until there was a mention of a student cabinet for potions supplies. There was some talk of stealing, but that didn't interest Skazzy half as much.

"I didn't know there was a student potions supply cabinet," she said, opening her eyes.

"That's because you won't need it until after Christmas," Hermione said, and went back to talking about their plan. Skazzy fell asleep, until her brother moved to get up and she fell to the floor.

"Ow," she said, rubbing her head and looking up at three amused faces. She scowled, but stood up and went to dinner with them. The next morning, she sat at the Gryffindor table, and watched the quidditch team not eat. Seemed like they were upset about something. Soon, the whole castle began to filter down to the field, and Skazzy wished her brother good luck before sitting with Hermione, Ron, and Amity, who was looking around, concerned. Skazzy considered asking what the matter was, but the game had started and she had eyes only for her brother.

Who was being attacked by a black ball. She narrowed her eyes, and turned to Ron.

"Do bludgers normally focus on one person in particular?" she asked as her brother was surrounded by the twins, fighting off the persistent ball. Ron shook his head, worried.

"No, they shouldn't focus on one person, the goal is to injure as many people as possible," Ron answered. Hermione had her hand held to her mouth, her eyes wide in fright.

"Right," Skazzy nodded, and drew her wand. Ron saw her about to cast something and lunged at her to stop her.

"You can't interfere! That would be an automatic win for Slytherin," Ron said. "Harry'll be fine. See? Their calling a time out to deal with it."

After the players returned to the skies, Skazzy was not appeased. Ron still had her wand hand in a tight grasp, although the progressively tighter grip told her that he too was concerned. Harry stood still for one moment too long, and Skazzy heard a crunch as the ball broke his arm.

"That's it," Skazzy said, tearing away from Ron. He let her, saying something about a Gryffindor win. All Skazzy cared about was getting to her brother. He was lying unconscious on the field. Unfortunately, she wasn't the first person to him. Her least favorite professor was there with his charming smile.

Her brother woke up, blinked up at Lockhart and groaned. Lockhart claimed that Harry wasn't aware of what he was saying. Then he grabbed his wand and smiled.

"I'll fix your arm," he said, smiling. Harry groaned again, and Skazzy clenched her teeth.

"How about I go to the Hospital wing, let Madam Pomfrey fix me up?" Harry asked. Skazzy managed to lock eyes with Colin, scowling and he didn't take the picture he was about to take.

"Ah, it's a simple charm, done it hundreds of times before," Lockhart said, waving his wand. Skazzy tried to jump over her brother to get at the professor with a feral look, but two girls from the quidditch team held her back. Lockhart cast his spell and everyone but Harry watched as his arm...deflated.

"Ah, well, that's something that can sometimes happen. Well, the bones are no longer broken, right Harry? Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger, would you accompany him to the hospital wing?" Lockhart asked, nervously looking around. In all the surprise of Harry's arm being deflated, Skazzy managed to break free of the girls' hold, and she started towards Lockhart. Just like Dudley and his gang. Payback. Except someone managed to grab her before she could do more than just growl at the professor. He paled considerably, but stood his ground.

"That's not the way to treat the person who helped your brother, Phoenix," Lockhart said, managing one of his smiles. Skazzy growled again.

"That's not helping, you made it worse," Skazzy said, struggling against who ever had her now.

"Now, I'm sure it's nothing that Madam Pomfrey can't heal," Lockhart said, eyes darting around.

"His hand looks like a rubber glove! That's not natural!" Skazzy screeched. She felt more hands grab her, and hold her back from the professor. He looked around, and straightened up.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to take twenty points from Hufflepuff and give you a detention," Lockhart said, regaining his confidence, although at the look on Skazzy's face he added "detention with Filch."

After that, he swept off, leaving some stunned Gryffindors, one angry Hufflepuff, and one Hufflepuff resigned to even more friction in the Common Room. Great.

It appeared that the Weasley twins had her, and they began to march back up to the castle with the struggling girl between them.

"Attacking a teacher isn't going to help," One said, a serious look on his face for once. The other nodded.

"Lockhart may be a git and an idiot, but he's still a professor. You can just outright try and attack them," the second twin said.

"Even when said professor is an idiot who could have possibly made life worse for my brother?" Skazzy asked, incredulous. The twins nodded, having been joined by the rest of the quidditch team now. Skazzy sighed as Lockhart became more distant. She looked at the twins. "I won't run off and try to attack Lockhart now."

The twins looked at each other and agreed, and let her walk with them to hospital wing. Skazzy ran to Harry as soon as she could see him. Harry smiled a little.

"Next time, I'm going to tackle him before he tries anything," Skazzy said, sitting on the floor leaning against the bed while Harry rested his good hand on top of her head.

"Let's hope there isn't a next time, Skaz," Harry said, before talking with his teammates. It wasn't long until Madam Pomfrey sent everyone one out. Skazzy looked behind her, wanting to be with her brother. He waved her on, and Skazzy left the hospital and headed to her common room. Except Filch found her and informed her she would be serving her detention tonight. Cleaning the trophy room like Ron at the beginning of the year. Made her wonder how often cleaning the trophy room was used as a punishment. She quietly worked through all the trophies, letting her hand run across the name James Potter.

What would he think? What would both of them think? How different would life have been? Skazzy allowed herself another minute of wondering before deciding that there was no point in might-have-beens. They were just fairy tales you thought might have had a real chance. Close to midnight, Filch decided that she had cleaned the trophies well enough. She left, and began walking to her common room before stopping.

I lost twenty house points, and they already hate me. No point in going back there to just ignore everyone and dream of it. Maybe I'll visit Harry, Skazzy thought, as her feet moved away from the staircase that would have brought her down to the Hufflepuff dorms. She walked quietly, staying to the shadows and wishing she had the invisibility cloak right now. Unfortunately, she wasn't careful enough, and she bumped into Colin. Colin looked at her, a little wary, as they both stood up.

They looked at each other until Colin spoke up.

"Going to visit Harry too," he said, showing Skazzy the grapes he was holding. Skazzy nodded, wary of the kid. "We can walk together."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you so obsessed with my brother? Why are you being nice to me? Amity tells me I haven't been nice to you," Skazzy said, letting a little of her frustration out on the boy. Colin looked at her.

"He's famous, and acknowledges me," Colin answered.

"He hates his fame," Skazzy retorted. Colin shrugged.

"He's a wizard, raised by muggles, who apparently defeated a dark lord when he was younger. He's a real life role model, someone to look up to," Colin answered, fiddling with his camera. "I know I sometimes get a little excited, but his story sounds like a real life fairy tale, and I'm still new to this magic thing."

"It's a crappy fairy tale. And doesn't explain why you're being nice," Skazzy said, looking at the floor.

"I have a younger brother, and I'd do anything to protect him. And you're just trying to protect him," Colin said, more serious than Skazzy had ever heard him. She looked up, and Colin flashed a smile. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Harry wouldn't like it if I was mean to his sister."

"You're better than me," Skazzy murmured, but followed Colin towards the hospital wing. Until they heard something.

"What's that?" Colin asked, as they heard the sound of something being dragged over stone. "A ghost?"

"Don't know, didn't think ghosts made noises like that," Skazzy said, looking for a place to hide. "I'm pretty sure we don't want to meet it."

"Maybe it's the monster! If I get a picture, then people will know Harry isn't the heir!" Colin darted out onto the stairs, grapes in hand, camera to his eyes.

"No, bad idea. Monster might get you," Skazzy hissed, staying where she was. She heard a thumping sound, and she closed her eyes and curled into herself. It'll go away, it'll go away, it'll go away.

Skazzy felt something go past her hiding place, but she stayed put pretending to not exist. Finally it sounded as if whatever giant creature the monster was was gone. She peaked out to look for Colin.

He was just lying on the floor, camera in his hands, grapes next to him. He was just as stiff and frozen as Mrs. Norris. Skazzy felt her instincts take over as she started to run away, to not be where the problem was so she wouldn't get in trouble. She needed safety, she needed to process everything that had just happened. Her feet carried her to the hospital wing, and she quietly opened the door and went to Harry's bed. To her surprise, he was awake.

"Wha...?" he started, but then they both heard voices. Skazzy hid under the bed, curled up next to the wall, hoping that in the dark she wouldn't be visible. Some people came in, whispering about Colin, before leaving. She waited a few minutes before getting out from under the bed.

"Colin got petrified," Harry said. Skazzy nodded, wrapping her arms around herself and looking down.

"He was...coming to visit you, and then we heard something, and he ran out, and he fell down, and something passed by my hiding spot," Skazzy whispered. She sat on the floor, leaning against the bed, and Harry rested his good hand on her head. "It was something big."

"Well, he's not dead," Harry said, looking up at the ceiling. Skazzy just hugged herself tighter.

"I told him not to do it, but he wanted to prove you weren't the heir and he didn't listen and it happened too fast," Skazzy whispered. She dug her fingers into her arms, holding on tight. "I should have stopped him. If I hadn't started talking to him before, he wouldn't have been there, and he'd be ok."

"You don't know that," Harry pointed out. "I'm glad it wasn't you."

"It shouldn't have been Colin," Skazzy whispered into the dark. "It shouldn't have been Colin."

Skazzy just leaned against the bed, falling asleep. She didn't dream at all. Harry kept his hand on her, and sighed.

He'd keep Dobby's visit to himself. Skazzy seemed on edge, unstable. It was probably best to let her work through whatever problem she was having before placing more pieces of the puzzle on the table.

Down in the Hufflepuff common room, a young girl decided that her friend wasn't coming and headed to bed. She didn't blame her friend, since the others had been complaining about the points she had lost, and there was still that rumor that her brother was the Heir of Slytherin, although some were saying it was actually Skazzy. Amity laid in bed and turned towards the bed that usually had her friend in it.

Something was wrong, with Skazzy, with Ginny, at this school in general. She wanted to be liked by her housemates, but had apparently picked the wrong person to be friends with. She knew that Skazzy wasn't what most people considered a Hufflepuff to be, but once you saw her loyalty to her brother, it was obvious. She didn't care about herself at all, just that her brother was fine. But most wizards and witches in Hufflepuff became loyal to the house after sorting, no matter what had gotten them in. She had been talking with Calanthia, who said it was her loyalty to family that had gotten her into Hufflepuff, and that she now considered most of Hufflepuff her family. Maybe that was how others viewed it, but to Skazzy only one person would ever be family, and to her, family came first. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Maybe Amity should have left the girl alone, decided to become friends with one of the other girls. But something about Phoenix Potter had grabbed her attention, and Amity was a Hufflepuff. She wasn't going to quit when the going got tough. She made her bed and she would lie in it. Even if she wasn't appreciated. Even if the other members of the house thought her crazy.

There was the tiniest spark of something still alive in Skazzy, despite her brashness, rudeness. And Amity had decided to try and make the spark into a fire. Someday.

A young girl was hiding in her bed, a diary with no words on her pillow. She knew Amity was concerned, but she didn't know what was going on. She didn't remember everything she'd done, she didn't know why she felt so drained, and Tom wasn't helping.

She wanted to talk to Amity, to confide in her, or her brother, but Tom said that it was an act. That Amity was going to be just like Skazzy and insult her and make fun of her. The two were in the same house after all. And she couldn't tell Percy because he wouldn't understand, and Fred and George would make a joke, and Ron ignored her. Tom said she was all alone, with only him as a friend. That no one else cared about her.

She tried to remember that wasn't true, that Mum and Dad cared, and Bill and Charlie. But the longer she was from home, the harder it was to remember that fact. She just felt isolated, unwanted by everyone.

Ginny Weasley felt that she had done something horrible, but she didn't know what, and she struggled to remain silent as she cried. After all, she was a Gryffindor, and Gryffindors didn't cry. They're brave, and noble. She felt like she was an awful Gryffindor, and didn't want anyone to know that she doubted herself.

Gryffindors didn't doubt. They knew.

The Room where Time is not allowed had a lot of information in it. Not only on the three girls: Amity Fear, Ginevra Weasley, and Phoenix Potter, but on the last time the Chamber of Secrets opened. The information didn't make sense. Rubeus Hagrid was expelled, but he had an acromantula and acromantulas killed, they didn't petrify. And there would have been bite marks. The outside of an acromantula wasn't poisonous.

Of course, this was all an academic conversation. Since the Chamber was supposed to be opened, they could do nothing to stop it. Time had decreed it to be open, and so it would be. But the two Unspeakables hoped that they might find clues in the past event that would help them to fix time. Why was Amity looking for Ginny a big enough change? Were any of them actually related to Slytherin? Hagrid?

They didn't have any answers, and the more information they got, the more confused they were.

What changed the world?