Standing To The Right Chapter 12: A Few Little Changes, a harry potter fanfic

Chapter Twelve: A Few Little Changes

I don't wanna go another day

So I'm telling you exactly what is on my mind

Seems like everybody's breaking up

Throwing their love away

I know I got a good thing right here

That's why I say (Hey)

Nobody's going to love me better

Imma stick with you

Forever

Nobody's going to take me higher

Imma stick with you

You know how to appreciate me

Imma stick with you

My baby

Nobody ever made me feel this way

Imma stick with you

I don't wanna go another day

So I'm telling you exactly what is on my mind

See the way we ride

In our private lives

Ain't nobody getting in between

I want you to know that you're the only one for me

And I say

And now

Ain't nothing else I can need

And now

I'm singing 'cause you're so, so into me

I got you

We'll be making love endlessly

I'm with you

Baby, you're with me

So don't you worry about

People hanging around

They ain't bringing us down

I know you and you know me

And that's all that counts

So don't you worry about

People hanging around

They ain't bringing us down

I know you and you know me

Harry potter had decided to mope. He had woken up, considered being a good sport; being angry and even pretending he'd forgotten about it already. However when he finally climbed out of his bed this morning, he had decided moping about the common room was much less hassle.

It hadn't come as much of a surprise to him when Ginny had tentatively ended their relationship.

Even he had felt the subtle shift in their liaison, but it still hurt. And so that was how Ron found his best friend on the sunny Saturday afternoon, when everyone else was at Hogsmede.

"Harry Potter! Get your butt down to Hogsmede right now!"

Harry looked pathetically up at his best mate and sighed dramatically. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Ill set Hermione on you" he warned and Harry bolted upright.

"Okay, okay, im coming" he groaned, grabbing his jacket ands wand and grudgingly following Ron out onto the grounds.

Ginny peered out from a gap in the door to the sixth year girls' dormitory and heaved a sigh of relief.

She had been showing Draco her dress robes for the upcoming ball, when her two dorm mates had returned early from their detention with professor Flitwick.

Consequently, Draco had spent a rather uncomfortable night, squashed under Ginny's bed, desperately trying not to make a sound.

"Your lucky I like you so much Weasley" he growled as he finally slid out from under the four poster, a cobweb in his hair.

Ginny laughed.

"You should be thankful I didn't throw you to the Gryffindor's!" she retorted casually, then yelped as Draco leap forward to tickle her.

"You wouldn't have dared!"

"Oh really!"

"Really!"

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"I always thought me and Ginny would be the one that stuck you know?"

Harry stared miserably into the bottom of his glass and Ron sighed for the millionth time that hour. This hadn't been quite what he'd had in mind when he'd dragged Harry to the three broomsticks in order to cheer him up.

But if the man needed to talk…….

"Hiya! I hate to interrupt you dudes – but if your Harry potter, I think you might be able to help me!"

Harry and Ron both looked up abruptly at the sound of a strong American accent shrilled out over the noise in the bar.

"Er, hi" Harry greeted the exceptionally pretty blonde girl in front of him. How is she this cheery this time of the morning? He thought wildly.

"So…? Are you Harry potter?" her accent made Harry cringe ever so slightly, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Great! Im looking for Ginny?"

Harry shook his head and banged it down on the table.

Ron looked from his best mate, who seemed to have sunk further into despair, and the perky American girl in front of him.

"Im Ron, im Ginny's brother. Ill take you back to Hogwarts if you like?"

The blonde girl nodded chirpily and slipped her arm through Ron's.

"Im Amy by the way" she informed the red head, then glanced over her shoulder.

"Hey Brett! Ron here is taking us to the castle!"

A boy of about Ron's age stood up and held out his hand to Ron, who shook it, then offered him and everyone else around him, a brad pit smile.

Harry wiggled his fingers from his depressed slump on the table in farewell.

"AMY!"

Ginny launched herself at the petite American as she caught sight of her coming up the hill with Brett and her brother.

"BRETT!"

She launched herself at Brett this time and he swung her around.

"I can't believe you're here! When? How?" she demanded.

Brett laughed easily at her hyper state.

"We got the week off school to finish our project, so we decided to sod the work and visit you and Draco instead" he explained and Ginny laughed.

"This is great! Ill get Draco. You can probably stay in the heads dormitory with him" she darted off into the castle, dragging the two American students with her.

Ron stared at the giggling trio then shrugged, running after them and giggling in a girlish fashion.

If you can't beat, don't get them or are simply scared by them, join them was his motto.

"…….and so I later that night I found them stashed behind the sofa!"

Ron choked on his pumpkin juice as Brett finished telling him about Ginny and Draco's time in New York.

"I can't believe he did that! Malfoy always seemed so evil" Ron cried, still red from his choking fit.

Ginny shrugged and smiled inwardly.

"But surely you must have gotten to know Draco more now that him and Ginny-"

"Amy? Brett? Can I talk to you quickly? About your……luggage! Yes your luggage!" Ginny exclaimed quickly, bolting to her feet and practically dragging the pair away from Ron, who was peering at them curiously.

"What's going on Ginny?" Amy asked concernedly and Brett leaned in conspiratorially.

"Ron doesn't er….know about Draco and I, and he hates him……so it's probably better if you don't mention it please" she pleaded and Brett laughed.

"You have the craziest relationships you British girls!"

"I think its kind of romantic….." sighed Amy, clutching her hands together, her eyes glazing over dreamily.

"You know all the secrecy and forbidden love"

"Amy – shut up"

"So what were you saying Amy?" Ron interrupted her Shakespeare style monologue and she frowned.

"Oh, that you should know Draco better because he and Ginny went on this trip and stuff. I would have thought an older brother would have tried to protect his little sister at all times?" she battered her eyelashes Ron's direction and he blushed madly.

"Well, I do try. Perhaps I should be more tolerant of Malfoy…… maybe…..once in a while………when he's not being a complete pric-"

"Ron!" warned Ginny.

"You're a miracle worker!" Ginny muttered to Amy. Her brother had just agreed to kinda maybe put his feud with his worst enemy behind him! God bless America!

"AAHHHHHHH!"

Blaise yelped as he was unexpectedly thrown off the bed, where he had been sleeping peacefully next to Hermione.

Escaping from beneath the duvet that was bent on suffocating him right there on the floor, he got to his feet and glared furiously at Hermione, who seemed to be completing some kind of victory dance on the bed.

"Hermione! What in Merlin's name are you doing!" he cried, rubbing his shoulder, which it seemed had broken the majority of his fall.

The brown haired girl beamed at him and promptly threw her arms round his neck.

"Guess who got accepted for two weeks work experience at the sub – department of mysteries and secret enforcement!" she chirped happily.

Hermione had for quite some time been desperate to work at the ministry of magic once she'd left Hogwarts, and the department of mysteries had sparked her imagination and curiosity beyond words. Therefore she had arranged with Dumbledore to spend two weeks working in the departments minor areas of expertise, so not to divulge the magical world's top secrets to a seventeen year old school girl.

"That's great!" Blaise spun his girlfriend round in his arms and kissed her passionately.

However, Hermione suddenly frowned.

"What? Aren't you happy?" Blaise asked concerned.

"Yes of course" she replied softly. "Its just ill miss your eighteenth birthday if im working"

Blaise smiled grimly.

"It's not as if they'll be much to celebrate" he muttered. On his eighteenth he was expected to receive his dark mark from Voldemort, and he wasn't looking forward to it to say the least.

He felt a sudden surge of guilt as he remembered he hadn't yet told Hermione of the consequences that mixing Harry's potion and his dark mark would have. It wasn't needed he'd decided. What happens happens for the better. And saving Harry's life and indirectly everyone else's was the right thing to do.

So instead of spilling these worries to the girl I his arms, he simply shrugged, smiled and held her closer.

Forget car crashes, vomiting pets, diapers and washing lord Voldemort's underpants - Watching Ronald Weasley eat breakfast had to be the most disgusting thing in the world, thought Hermione that morning, as she averted her eyes from Ron's sausages, which were entering his mouth at a rate of 0 – 60 in two seconds flat.

It was a strange collection of people sitting at the centre of the Gryffindor table that morning. Ron, Harry and Hermione sat opposite Ginny, who was ignoring Harry. Ron sat next to Brett, who if he flashed a smile at yet another pretty raven claw girl, Hermione might have to kill him. And Amy, who looked the picture of innocence, with her cloud of blonde hair, was slyly making sure Harry's look of rapture never faltered, as he watched her butter a piece of toast.

Hermione checked the time on her watch and gave a startled cry. The other five looked up curiously at the witch.

"Its ten to nine!" she gushed, "we were meant to meet Blaise five minutes ago in the potions lab!"

Harry jumped up and followed Hermione, who was already half way towards the doors of the great hall, casting a final longing look at Amy. Ron stuffed two more sausages into his mouth and ran after the other two. Amy bit into her toast, sulking at Harry's departure. Brett sensing it was now safe to unleash his smile yet again, focused in on two Hufflepuff girls, who blushed and giggled at the good looking American. And Ginny feigned complete ignorance that Harry had been sat opposite her at all, let alone just dashed out of the hall.

"Okay. All we need now is the final ingredient" Harry finished bringing the two separate parts of the potion to their correct temperatures and looked up at Blaise.

Blaise glanced across at a very tense looking Hermione and signalled for the others to leave them for a second.

"Hermione, I just wanted you to know that I love you and that im sorry" He said, kissing her very tenderly on the lips. Hermione pulled him to her, deepening the kiss, and then pulled away, a confused look in her eye.

"Sorry for what?" she asked, but Blaise had already dragged a knife through the skin on his arms, catching the blood in a vial, and hastily shook it into the first half of the potion. Hermione gasped as it began to smoke, and Blaise quickly added it to the second caldron, completing the potion.

The room filled with a sudden burst of light and a pale blue smoke fell over them. Once cleared, the four peered into the caldron curiously, and saw a tiny, shiny silver pebble shaped object.

It had a thin rim around its circumference which Harry twisted ad pulled apart as he picked it up. The silver pebble separated into two halves; a shimmering dark blue liquid resting inside of one half.

Harry raised the pebble half to his lips, held his nose and drank.

After a moment of silence, several things happened at once.

Harry dropped both pebble halves, which bounced soundly on the stone floor of the dungeon. Then both he and Blaise screamed out and collapsed, lying very much unconscious, sprawled out at odd angles.

"Oh my god!" cried Hermione, throwing herself down at Blaise's side and quickly checking for a pulse. She gestured frantically for Ron to do the same with Harry.

She sighed in relief as she found one and Ron gave her a thumbs up, indicating that Harry was still with them also.

Hermione cast a wary eye over the silver pebble halves as she levitated the two boys to the hospital wing.

"Incredible really!" Dumbledore gushed as he examined the pebble in the light of the hospital wing.

"Absolutely incredible! You managed to make it perfectly. No inaccuracy's anywhere! Well done miss granger! And Mr. Blaise of course – if he were with us yet"

Both the head teacher and Hermione's eyes fell on Blaise's sleeping body. Apparently the potion was so strong that it could drain a wizard of their strength for up to two weeks. It was why the potion should never be drunk as a last minute advantage.

Hermione jumped as she heard the scrunching of covers from behind her.

"Harry?" She turned to see Harry propping himself up on the pillows madam Pomfrey had plumped for her favourite; and most frequent; patient.

It didn't surprise her that Harry had awoken so early from the ordeal. He was much stronger the Blaise, and hadn't lost any blood.

She ran across to hug him and he grinned.

"How do you feel Harry?"

"Yeah, okay." He replied, stiffly. "Is Blaise still out?"

Hermione nodded.

"Ah mr. potter! Your awake at last!" Hermione retreated from Harry's bedside as professor Dumbledore approached.

Hermione approached Blaise's sleeping form and gazed at him sadly. What had he apologized for, before he'd finished the potion?

Her eyes travelled down his still frame, then rested on his forearm, where he'd cut himself.

The scar he'd left was in the shape of a tiny letter H…….

Blaise was still unconscious when the time came for Hermione to leave for her work experience at the ministry.

She sat miserably by his bedside, until professor McGonagall was forced to drag her into Dumbledore's office, in order to floo to the ministry, where mr. Weasley would be waiting for her.

The Weasley's had arranged to have Hermione stay at the burrow during the next two weeks as it was illegal to floo inside the ministry itself, and for her safety.

Harry watched her leave the hospital wing after he had promised to stay with Blaise till he awoke, then turned back to keep an eye on his charge.

"Potter? Please stop watching me. "Im not going to die." Blaise slowly, opened one eye and then proceeded to try and sit upright.

"Don't try, your still too weak" Harry replied, insisting Blaise lie down again and Blaise stuck out his tongue at the Gryffindor boy, who rolled his eyes.

"Where's mione?"

"She left for the ministry about five minutes ago"

"WHAT!" Blaise yelled, bolting upright.

Harry repeated his last sentence, but blasé was already trying to scramble out of bed.

"I need to talk to her. You don't understand potter! Let go of me!"

"MR. ZABINI!" Madam Pomfreys' stern voice silenced the two boys and they peered meekly up at the furious looking mediwitch.

"I suggest Mr. Zabini that you get back into bed and stop being such an annoyance!" She roared. Blaise pulled his covers up under his chin obediently. Harry cowered behind a vase of flowers, suddenly wishing he actually was a carnation so his disguise could be better.

"Thank you" the mediwitch sighed, "now keep quiet and get some rest!"

"This is your fault"

"Is not"

"Is"

S'not"

"Is"

"Sod off!"

There was a definite change in the air, Ginny thought, as she breathed in the sweet spring breeze, as she sauntered round the dark waters of the lake early one morning.

In the last week several things had shifted. Amy and Brett had returned to New York and their own school, Hermione was working at the ministry; and if her letters were anything to go by, she was having a blast – as only Hermione could when working solidly for eight hours a day!

She wrote each of them a letter everyday. Her own and Ron's were short, sweet and informative. Harry's tended to be longer and full of "take care of yourself" undertones. And of course Blaise's were about a foot longer then all of theirs, spanning several pages of thick white parchment and written in a delicate curling script; which he devoured hungrily every morning at breakfast.

Ginny and Harry's relationship had changed too. They were now able to speak normally and exchange friendly gestures in the hallways. Ginny suspected it had something to do with his blossoming courtship with Amy. Anyway, whatever the cause, Harry was happy and that made Ginny feel less guilty.

And then of course there was her own relationship with Draco. She had never believed she could be this close to someone before she'd met Draco. He wasn't just her boyfriend, but her best friend and confident. She told him everything and missed him dreadfully if she spent even ten minutes away from is side.

He had received his dark mark a week previous, and Ginny hadn't uttered one word of distaste as he revealed the inky black stain on his pale, pale skin. She knew he had no choice. They didn't have a lot of choice in many things in their relationship. They couldn't go public with their courtship. She still had to pretend to hate him in class and in the corridors and vice versa. This was simply another obstacle in their path, but it didn't change how they felt about each other.

She watched as the giant squid sculled its way gently across the surface of the lake as she awaited her owl from Hermione.

A minute later, a huge tawny owl fluttered onto her outstretched arm and deposited a letter in her hand.

Dear Ginny,

Hope you're well today.

Still can't believe im working with so many important witches and wizards! It's amazing.

I was wondering if you would do me a favour?

It's Blaise's eighteenth birthday tomorrow, and I need you to give him his present from me.

It's in the second drawer of my bedside table.

Thank you,

'Mione X

Ginny frowned whilst scribbling a hasty "yes" on the back of the letter and returning it to the owl, who immediately took off again.

On day where smiling seemed completely impossible, Blaise should have known that Hermione would be the one to make the impossible, achievable.

Ginny Weasley had delivered a beautifully wrapped box to his dormitory early that morning. A birthday present from Hermione, he had guessed instantly, ripping open the silver paper slowly. To be honest, he couldn't be less in the mood for presents if he tried. However it was from Hermione and he loved her, so he'd try on her behalf.

As he'd ripped the last of the paper off and revealed a small wooden box, with a note attached, he began to smile.

Aim at least one at Pansy. Happy birthday X

He pulled the lid off the box and gazed down at the contents. Seven shimmering splatter darts winked innocently up at him. He smiled evilly.

"Oh, Pansy!"

"Pansy looks less then happy this morning!" Laughed Ron, as a dishevelled looking pansy scuttled into the great hall, her hair wringing wet.

"I don't believe it…."

Ron glanced across at Harry, who was staring at the letter in his hand, as if it had just announced him the winner of several million galleons.

"What is it mate?" Ron leaned across to take the letter from Harry, who still looked shocked.

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are extremely happy and honoured to offer you an opportunity to audition for our international quidditch scouting panel on the 15th of March at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry.

We have heard only great things of your flying talent and abilities and hope you accept this offer as we are certain that our panel will deem you worthy of a place on one of the major quidditch teams in the country.

Please reply as soon as possible and we hope to see you on the 15th.

Many Thanks,

Bert Ingles,

MD of The English Quidditch Association and The Young British Quidditch Players Association.

Ron's jaw fell open, as he too stared helplessly at the piece of paper in front of him.

Ginny had had enough.

"What's going on!" she demanded of Harry who was recovering slightly.

"Ive...erm……been asked to audition for the major quidditch teams by Bert Ingles……" he stammered.

"What," Ginny cried, grabbing and scanning the letter, "the Bert Ingles! Oh my god Harry! This is incredible!"

"Congratulations Mr. Potter" Professor McGonagall smiled down at the shell shocked boy.

"It seems my recommendation fell on the right ears"

Harry then did something that would embarrass him for months to come. He hugged professor McGonagall in complete elation, as the whole hall stared incredulously at the strange sight before them.

"So are you going to take it if they offer you a place?" Hermione asked as she spoke to him and Ron through the floo network later that evening.

Harry nodded.

"I think so. I mean if all goes according to plan with the whole prophecy thing and im still alive at the end of it" Harry snorted, hiding his fear of his having to kill or be killed destiny, "then auror's will be a dying profession, and well I love quidditch. I was born to play it"

Hermione smiled, "well congratulations!" She said warmly.

"By the way, has anyone seen Blaise today? You know since…….?"

Harry nodded.

"I waited for him when he returned, but he just went straight to bed. He looked awful mione…"

Hermione bit her lip worriedly.

"Do you think I should come home?" she asked him.

Harry considered this for a minute, before replying.

"If you think it's the right thing and your employers don't mind then maybe-"

"Harry! Yes or no?"

"Yes. Come home Hermione"

A/N: So! Lots of developments are happening! Ive kinda got into the routine of giving you all a recap so here goes…………..

Harry and Amy have hit it off big time and therefore Ginny and Harry are friends again.

Harry's been offered a chance to play for a major quidditch team!

Hermione has done some work experience at the ministry but is going to cut it short to come back to Hogwarts to look after Blaise – who has just received his dark mark.

Ginny and Draco are living happily ever after – well for now anyways!

Got it? Good!

There are going to be some major developments in the next chapter and its going to be a long one!

A major obstacle in Blaise and Hermione's relationship will occur.

We'll learn more about Blaise's past and skills.

Ron will find out what he's really good at.

And a major character will no longer be with us! – Maybe it's too soon but I can't wait any longer!

HaHaHa! Im so evil!