A/N: MARIEMEIA!!! Mariemeia is the lovely, lovely editor of The Pottery, a Harry Potter zine. Y'all should join (shameless plug right there!) Thank you so, SO much for all your kind words about my story and I. Thanks to you, my story is getting out there, and getting more exposure. I am welcoming all you new readers with open arms. I hope you all are enjoying the story. If any of you other readers would like to subscribe to The Pottery, give me your SN in your review and I'll send it off to Mariemeia.

So, life is slowly getting better. Yeah, I'm not gonna find out if my best buddy (Beebe) is staying at my school until Friday, but Friday does bring some good things, too. The all boys school (my school's "brother" school because I go to an all girls school) is having a dance on Friday...and I get to go!!! Oh yeah! ::does happy dance:: I'm gonna find me a hot guy, and...do stuff with him. ::evil grin::

By the title of this chapter, there'll be some changing going on. Is it with the students? Is it with Hogwarts? You'll have to read on and find out!

I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 10: Change is Good (And Bad)

The weekend came and went by too fast, and Harry found himself sitting next to Ron at the Gryffindor table Monday morning picking at his scrambled eggs. His stomach wasn't really cooperating with him. He knew it had nothing to do with his past weekend. His weekend was.wonderful. He had found himself spending a good portion of the weekend with Alina. They spent most of the time sitting by the fire in the common room talking about life, and simply getting to know each other. But as he sat at the Gryffindor table, he had to wonder where Alina would be sitting. If they had really started some sort of bond, she'd sit down with him and the rest of the Gryffindors. But if she just used him to let her time without Draco Malfoy pass, then she'd obviously go back to her old spot.

Harry looked up, just in time to see Alina, Megan, Penelope, Camille, Erin, and Mikaela enter the Great Hall. He wasn't sure if his eyes were deceiving him, or if it were really happening, when he saw Alina wander away from her friends to go over to the Gryffindor table.

"No, she's not going to sit here." Harry thought, "She's just going to come by and say something like, 'Good morning Harry. This weekend was wonderful, but don't bet on spending that much time with me. Oh, is that Draco calling? I must be off now.' I know it. Okay, brace yourself Harry. Here she comes. She's coming right here. Oh god."

Alina stood across from Harry at the other side of the table.

"Good morning Harry." Alina's voice rang. It was music to his ears. Even if she wasn't trying, her voice sounded like melodies.

"Good morning Alina." Harry said, nodding his head.

"Is anybody sitting here?" Alina asked. Ron snorted, and almost had pumpkin juice coming out of his nose.

"Uh...what?" Harry asked, flabbergasted.

"Is anybody sitting here?" Alina asked again. Ron had set his goblet of pumpkin juice down and looked at Alina wide-eyed. He nudged Harry when he hadn't answered Alina's question.

"Oh-um, no. Nobody is sitting here." Harry said quickly.

"Do you mind if I...?" Alina asked slowly.

"No, not at all! Have a seat." Harry said, using his hands to gesture to her that the seat was all hers. Alina sat down, placing her book bag beside her. She opened it up and took out her class schedule.

"We have double Potions with Slytherin. It's our first class on Mondays and last class on Fridays." Ron said.

"What a way to start and end your week." Alina said before she put her schedule back in her bag.

"Where's the rest of the crew?" Harry asked. Alina nodded her head back towards the Slytherin table. Harry looked over her shoulder to see Malfoy flanked by Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him. Sitting across from him and beside Crabbe and Goyle were the rest of Alina's friends. Malfoy didn't look too happy. He was glaring over at the Gryffindor table, more so at Alina's back.

"Why aren't you over there?" Ron asked. Alina looked up at him, feeling a little hurt. "No! I didn't mean it that way!" Ron exclaimed as his cheeks turned pink. "I just thought you'd be sitting with your friends."

"You two are my friends, too. I don't understand why I'll always have to sit with Draco and Megan and them. I should be free to roam, and sit with whomever I want to sit with in the Great Hall." Alina said.

"Did you and Draco have a disagreement or something?" Harry asked. She nodded.

"How'd you guess?" Alina asked. Ron snorted again.

"If looks could kill, then the way he's staring at you now would knock you dead faster than the affects you'd get if you looked a basilisk in the eyes." Ron said. Alina's face fell and she buried her face in her hands.

Harry looked to Ron wide-eyed and nudged him hard in the ribs.

"Ow! What the f-" Harry glared at Ron, and then looked back at Alina, whom still had her face covered. Harry lowered himself in his seat until his knees hit the ground below him. He lowered the upper-half of his body until he was completely under the table. He looked on both sides of him to see pairs of feet by pairs of feet. He crawled under the table until he was at the seat across from the one he was sitting in earlier. Beside the seat were Alina's feet, and he knew he found the right spot. He put his hands on the seat, and hoisted himself out from underneath the table. He was now next to Alina, and could hear her muffled cries.

"Alina, don't cry-"

"I didn't even know that talking to you would be so wrong! I go and meet Draco over the weekend and he gets mad about me hanging out with 'the famous Harry Potter.' He complained about not being enough for me! I don't even get what he was talking about! It's not like we were the best of friends-" Alina cut her sentence short when Malfoy, along with Crabbe and Goyle, of course, stopped swaggering to face her.

"So that's all it was to you. Did you just hang out with me to pass time?" Malfoy asked.

"You've got it all wrong, Malfoy." Alina said, waving her hand to shoo him off.

"What did you call me? Did you just call me 'Malfoy'?" Malfoy questioned.

"It's your name, isn't it?" Alina sneered. Malfoy stared at her icily for a second.

"You're a sell-out, Halliwell. You're a good-for-nothing sell-out." Malfoy snarled. Alina was about to open her mouth to speak, but Malfoy put a finger to her lips, "Save your breath," before muttering quietly, "bitch."

It wasn't too quiet, though, because after saying that, Alina's eyes were as wide as tea saucers as she jumped out of her seat and leapt for him. Harry had faster reflexes and was up before she was, and was able to hold her back. But she wasn't the only person out of her seat.

Following Alina's actions, Ron had jumped out of his seat, and climbed over the table to shove his wand in Malfoy's face. Fred and George, who were beside Harry on the other side of the table, leapt out of their seats and pointed their wands at Malfoy, too.

"You don't ever say that to Alina when I'm around, Malfoy." Ron growled as he poked Malfoy in the face with his wand. Crabbe and Goyle couldn't do anything because they were preoccupied with Fred and George.

Alina struggled against Harry's clutches. She really wanted to wrap her hands around Malfoy's neck and choke him until his head fell off. She kept trying to free her arms, but every time she did, Harry just tightened his grip on her.

"You take that back, Malfoy." Alina said forcefully.

"Make me." Malfoy said, using big arm motions to poke fun at the fact she couldn't do anything to him.

Ron poked Malfoy in the forehead with his wand again.

"You take it back." Ron repeated.

"What're you gonna do about it, Weasley? Hex me? It didn't work the last time, remember?" Ron had discarded his wand now, and had his fists up. Malfoy was no match against Ron because Ron was a good couple of inches taller than him. Harry let go of Alina and grabbed hold of Ron, giving Alina the chance to reach into her robes. She pointed her wand at Malfoy and then there was a huge jet of green light that shot out from her wand, hitting Malfoy right in the stomach.

Now the whole Great Hall was aware of what was going on as they watched Malfoy fly through the air and land in a thud about three feet away from Alina. Crabbe and Goyle were able to get away from Fred and George and ran to Malfoy. Pansy Parkinson screamed and almost flew from her seat to Malfoy's side. Megan, Erin, Camille, Penelope, and Mikaela had gotten up, too, to check on Malfoy.

Alina stood her ground, with her arm still outstretched and her wand still pointed to the spot Malfoy was once standing on. Her breathing was ragged, and she seemed to still be taking all the events in.

"Alina, are you okay?" George came running over to Alina and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Ron broke free from Harry and followed George. Harry was unaware Ron had left him because he was still paying attention to see what was going to happen to Malfoy after Snape and Professor Dumbledore pushed through the crowd surrounding him. Professor McGonagall came striding over to Alina with a stern look on her face. She grabbed her by the arm and led her out of the Great Hall, and ordered Fred, George, and Ron to follow.

Snape and Professor Dumbledore helped Malfoy sit upright, and Pansy clutched his hand as he blinked a couple of times, taking in his surroundings, and trying to remember what happened. Students from the other houses were standing on their chairs and on the tables to see what was going to happen to Malfoy.

"Mr. Malfoy, are you okay?" Harry overheard Snape ask. Malfoy cleared his throat, and then began to cough. He tried clearing his throat again, and coughed. His hands moved away from his mouth as he looked down into them. He coughed again, and a single slug fell from his mouth and into his hands. He looked like he was going to pass out from disgust, and embarrassment, as the students from other houses began to erupt in laughter. Crabbe and Goyle helped Malfoy to his feet as he kept coughing up slugs. Harry heard Professor Dumbledore order them to take him to Madam Pomfrey.

Harry didn't want to be caught in the midst of everything at the moment. He ran out of the Great Hall, hoping nobody had noticed that he was, in a way, tied into that outburst.

******

Alina dragged her feet along the corridors, hoping that she saw nobody on her way to the Great Hall, especially Malfoy. To her, Malfoy was a great person...at first. But the fact he got easily jealous didn't help the friendship they had, and what it could've been. She was in no mood to see him after everything that happened. She wasn't even sure if her hex had worked. She prayed it did. Although she had a gut feeling that she hadn't used the right curse. She always got the belching and coughing mixed up.

She yawned, and rubbed her eyes as she turned one corner, unaware someone was turning that corner, too.

"Oh, sorry." Alina said nonchalantly as she brushed by.

"Hey, I know who you are." Alina groaned, but was happy it wasn't that drawling voice speaking to her. She turned on her heel to see one of the Ravenclaw sixth years looking at her curiously.

"You do? Who am I, then?" Alina asked.

"You're Alina; that new Gryffindor girl. Of course I know who you are, you cursed Malfoy earlier." She said.

"How could anybody not notice that? Who are you?" Alina asked.

"Cho. Cho Chang. I'm a Ravenclaw." Cho said.

"Yeah, I remember. You called my friends and I to the Professor Snape's office." Alina said. Alina noticed Cho's eyes darken when Alina mentioned it.

"You were with Harry Potter, weren't you?" Cho questioned. Alina arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, why?" Alina asked. Cho advanced on Alina, and then she shoved her against the wall.

"You better stay away from him. He's mine. Don't go screwing things up." Cho warned.

"You're acting like Harry is a piece of property, and not a human being." Alina said.

"At least I'm not using him to pass time. You're going to use him like you used Malfoy. When this week is up, I wouldn't be surprised if you dropped him for the next guy you see." Cho said as she backed away from Alina.

"That's not-" Alina stopped. Cho didn't even want to hear it. What was the use of speaking?

******

"Damn that McGonagall; taking away ten points because of Fred, George, and I, and taking fifty points on Alina's behalf and giving her a detention. She knows damn well that if she were in Alina's spot, she would've done the same thing! That's outrageous, though. That's eighty points down the drain. Poor Alina. She might have to go to the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid..." Ron cringed, "I don't want to know of the things she could possibly encounter." Ron had put his quill down and started telling Harry about the events from earlier on.

"Eighty points isn't much. We always lose points from Snape." Harry explained.

"But not as much as we did in a three minute span. When the other Gryffindors hear of this, they will flip." Ron said as he started writing furiously. So furiously that his quill had snapped. "You got an extra quill?" Ron asked, showing Harry his quill.

"I think I..." Harry and Ron both heard the portrait open, and footsteps entering the common room. A disheveled looking Alina pushed herself along, not looking at Harry or Ron as she headed for the girls' dormitories. They heard her feet against the stone steps to the dormitories, and then they heard them stop.

"Where have you been?" the two boys recognized that voice as Megan's.

"Leave me alone, Megan." Alina snapped.

"We were worried about you. Do you even know what you did to Draco?" Megan asked.

"I could care less about Draco right now." Alina said, her voice growing faint. She probably left Megan.

"He could care less about you, too. I thought you ought to know." Megan called. Ron and Harry heard a door slam. "Why'd you do it anyway?" they heard a door open.

"He called me a bitch!" Alina exclaimed, loud enough for the whole common room to hear.

"I wouldn't blame him. You were acting like one." Megan said.

"Where'd you hear that from? Malfoy, huh? What did I do that made me such a bitch? I hung out with Harry Potter, big whoop. Nobody told me it was so wrong for me to hang out with him." Alina yelled.

"But you know how Draco feels about him." Megan countered.

"I don't care. It's his fault he's jealous. I shouldn't be the one paying for it. I'm doing what I want to do. Malfoy is not in charge of me, and he especially cannot tell me who to associate with. Who I associate with is strictly up to me." Alina said.

"Look, I don't care who's in charge with what. You're just too proud to handle. Apologize to him, and maybe doing so will cure that big head of yours." Megan said, dripping with attitude.

"I do not have a big head." With that, Alina slammed the door.

"Stupid stubborn prat. She has no right to talk to me with that tone." Ron and Harry heard Megan's voice growing louder, and they assumed she was heading down to the common room. The two quickly picked up their quills and pretended to do their work. "You two didn't hear that, right?" Ron and Harry shook their heads without looking up at Megan. "By the way, your quill snapped. How could you write with that?" she asked as Ron looked up.

"I...I'm trying my best to get along with it. I'd use another quill, but this is my last quill. My quills were supposed to last me until our first trip to Hogsmeade, but all those writing assignments on top of another were too much to handle." Ron explained as Harry tried not to laugh at the shade of Ron's face.

"I've got an extra quill upstairs, if you'd like to use it... I'll go and get it. I'll be back." Megan said before scurrying back to the staircase up to the girls' dormitories. They heard Megan try to open the door, and fiddle with the doorknob. They heard her curse aloud. "Alohomora!" Megan exclaimed.

"Can't you k-"

"Shut up Alina, I don't wanna hear you whine." They heard Megan say. Then they heard her feet against the stone steps once again. She jumped from the third to the last step and jogged over to Ron, quill in hand. "Here." She said, handing him the quill. Ron reached for it with a shaky hand, and brushed his fingers against Megan's hand ever so slightly. He pulled his hand back.

"Thanks." Ron squeaked as Harry suppressed a laugh.

"What are you working on?" Megan spoke up after a pregnant pause.

"Oh, we're working on our reports on the wolfsbane potion." Harry said as he noticed Megan stiffen a bit.

"Yeah, I'm almost done." Ron said proudly, "How's yours going?"

"Oh...um...I'm getting there. I've just got one more piece of parchment left." Megan explained, "I just remembered I've got...something to do." She said as she headed for the staircase.

"Don't you want your quill back? I just need to write one more sentence." Ron said.

"It's okay. Keep it. You might need it later." Megan said, flashing Ron a smile before she headed up the stairs. Ron looked as if he was going to cry tears of joy.

"She let me keep her quill!" Ron whispered excited.

"When did you snap all those other quills?" Harry asked.

"I didn't. I just wanted to make an excuse to get her to lend me one of her quills. Never did I imagine her letting me keep one of her quills." Ron said, "Oh yeah, it's almost time for Quidditch practice to begin. Will there be try-outs or what?" Ron asked. Harry had almost forgot all about the try-outs.

"Um...I don't know. I have to check with the rest of the team first." Harry said.

"When you set a date, let me know first, okay?" Ron asked. Harry nodded.

"Okay." He said. But he was still worrying about one thing: having to choose between Ron and Alina.

A/N: Rosh, see, see!!! It's a good thing Draco stuck around for so long because he starts belching up slugs! And I bet you didn't know I had it up my sleeve!!! Cho friggin' Chang...I'm not liking her at all. How dare she do that to Alina! Harry is not a piece of property. And besides, he belongs to ME!!! Muahahahahahahaha!!! Okay, the next few chapters should probably come up around the weekend, if I'm up to it. If I'm still trying to get over all the fun from the dance, who knows, I might have it up in two weeks again. I hope that doesn't happen. Hmm...OOH!!! It's American Idol today!!! The FINALS!!! Kelly Clarkson better win. She just HAS to. If she doesn't, I am SO boycotting FOX, even though I have absolutely no idea what boycotting means. I need to look it up. -Gryffindor Heiress