Taking Chances and Making Changes

Authors Note - This story is an AU. It follows canon events up until the end of Prisoner.

Disclaimer - I own nothing except my OC's. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling. Basically, if you recognise it from the books/films then it is not mine. Once again the OC'S in this chapter belong to RavenclawPotter666 and ninjahamsterassassin.

Hayley POV

Leaving Dumbledore's office and heading back to Gryffindor Tower I was confused and angry. Apparently, Dumbledore seemed to think that even though he was now no longer my magical guardian he could still control my life. He had told me that he was concerned that I hadn't been thinking properly when I changed my guardians and that every action he has made regarding me has been with my best interests at heart. I knew that it was a polite way of saying that I am a child and so I don't know what I am doing. It's almost as if he seemed upset and maybe a little bit angry that I wasn't firmly under his control anymore but I dismissed that idea pretty quickly because Dumbledore has never been that sort of person and he just doesn't have it in him to be that controlling and manipulative.

Arriving at the tower entrance I gave the password to the portrait. "Balderdash" Watching as the portrait door swung open I stepped through smiling as I saw that Hermione, Ron and Neville were all still in the common room waiting for me no doubt wondering what the meeting was about. Sitting down next to Neville on one of the sofa's I sighed. Before they could ask what had happened I started to explain to the three of them what had gone on in the meeting.

"It makes sense why you're upset and angry. What he said was really condescending" Neville says

"I can see where he's coming from though Hayley. Going off on your own like that was quite reckless and probably not the smartest idea in the world"Hermione says

Looking at her I frowned wondering why she was taking his side in this."I thought that you would have agreed with me on this Hermione. Out of all of us, you hate being patronised and treated like you don't know what you're doing the most"I say

"Yes but not when it comes to situations where I could be in danger. The professors just have your best interests in mind and your being quite disrespectful "Hermione snaps

I look at Hermione and feel my anger growing."Hermione, I'm not apologising for being upset that I'm sick of being treated like a child who has no concept of danger"

"Well, Hayley maybe if you stopped throwing yourself into dangerous situations all the time without thinking then maybe people wouldn't treat you as much like a child"She snaps before storming off to the dorms. As I looked over to Ron and Neville I could see that they too were just as shocked as me.

After a few moments of silence, I speak up."You guys don't think I rush into things without thinking?"

"No, you don't. This summer, for example, you took the proper time to think before you decided to change your electives" Neville says to me shaking his head

"If we're being completely honest there have been a few times where you have acted without thinking. I do think that Hermione was over exaggerating a bit but Hermione is the smartest one out of us and she's usually always right so the chances are she's right about this too" Ron says

"Just because Hermione is the smartest out of us in regards to academics doesn't mean that her opinion is always right," I say not able to believe that both Ron and Hermione are against me on also makes me wonder how long they have thought this about me.

Ron sighs."Whatever asked me what I thought and I told you don't like it then that's not my problem" He says getting up and going up to his dorm

Sighing I look down at my feet and Neville gives my shoulder a comforting squeeze."I'm sure they will come round give them some space and soon enough it will be as if this entire argument never even happened"He says

"Thanks, Neville, I really hope so,"I say forcing myself to give a smile

For the rest of the evening, Neville and the members of the Quidditch team made it their mission to try and cheer me up. We talked a lot and played a multitude of card games as well as wizards chess. When I eventually went up to the dorms a few hours later I saw that Hermione had closed the curtains around her bed making it clear that she didn't want to talk to anyone. Sighing I started to unpack my trunk getting out the essentials for the next few days leaving the rest in my trunk until I could properly sort through everything.

The next morning I woke up to my alarm going off and as I groggily grabbed my glasses to turn it off I saw that I was the only one awake so far having set my alarm a little bit earlier than normal so I had time to use the shower before anyone else woke up. Getting out of bed I grabbed my toiletries and uniform and headed to the bathroom.

As I came out of the bathroom I noticed that the other girls were slowly starting to wake up. Avoiding looking at Hermione who was passing me on her way to the bathroom I sighed and began to finish getting ready. Once I was fully dressed I got my bag ready with my equipment and stationery. Glad that the bag had a feather-light and extension charm on it I was able to put all of my books in without it getting any heavier. This meant that I didn't have to rush back to the dorm after getting my timetable to grab the books that I would need for the day. I left the dorm room walking down the stairs to the common room that was mostly empty apart from a few 6th and 7th years. After noticing that Neville wasn't up yet I headed down to the Great Hall by myself.

Looking around the Great Hall that was still pretty much empty bar a few Ravenclaws and Slytherins I sat down at the table and began to get some breakfast enjoying the quiet.

Neville walked in and took a seat next to me about 30 minutes later and I had already eaten by this point and had talked to Cyrus and Luna for at least 5 minutes.

"Hey Neville,"I say once he has sat down and started to get himself some breakfast.

"Morning Hayley,"Neville says tiredly before he started to eat.

Smiling amusedly I looked around the hall. As the hall started to fill up with more and more students I noticed that the noise level was gradually getting louder. After a further 5 minutes later I saw Hermione dragging a reluctant and tired Ron into the hall before taking a seat at the other end of the table to where Neville and myself were sat at.

20 minutes before the first class was due to start the house heads started to hand out students class timetables. Glancing at my timetable I noticed that I had Charms with the Ravenclaw's first followed by Potions with the Slytherins and then Ancient Runes followed by a free period before lunch. After lunch, I had Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins, Herbology with the Hufflepuff's and as my final class of the day Arithmancy.

Neville looked at me as he stood up."Hayley, should we see if Cyrus wants to head with us to Charms with us?"

Nodding the two of grabbed our things and headed over to the Ravenclaw table where Cyrus was sitting with Luna. As he saw us coming over he smiled."Hey guys"

"Hey Cyrus, since we have Charms together do you want to head there with Neville and me?" I ask

"Yeah sure that's fine. Luna's got Herbology first anyways so she's going to head there with Ginny" Cyrus says gathering his things.

After saying goodbye to Luna the three of us left the Great Hall slowly heading up to the Charms classroom.

By the time my free period had rolled around, I was already sick of Hermione's attitude. I had tried to avoid her as much as possible to give her some space to herself but all she seemed to do whenever we were near one another was glare at me. To start with I went up to my dorm to drop off the books that I didn't need for the rest of the day. As it was only the begging of September the weather luckily wasn't too bad and was surprisingly not too cold. Grabbing my broom from my trunk I headed out to the Quidditch Pitch to do some flying due to the lack of the Quidditch cup this year. I had told Neville that I would be at the Quidditch Pitch for a bit and he said that he was going to spend some time with Seamus and Dean. Getting out there I saw that there was only one other person there closer it was a Slytherin, I knew he looked familiar but I never remembered 0laying against him in a match so I surmised that he must be a reserve member. As I got closer I noticed that he had dark brown hair, light green eyes, and quite a harsh expression. He was taller than me but I am usually shorter than most people.

He looks at me his expression a combination of wariness and disinterest but eventually, he gives me a small nod to acknowledge my presence."Hi"He says

"Hi.I'm sorry if I'm intruding,"I said awkwardly

"You're not intruding,"He says shortly

In order to escape the awkward tension that felt so thick I could probably cut it with a knife, I mounted my broom and took off starting simple with a few laps of the pitch. Finishing my laps I do some stunts and quick dives getting my heart beat faster with adrenaline.

I see that the boy has also started to fly around the pitch. He flies over to me."What position do you play?"He asks me and I notice that he seems to be much more relaxed when up in the air than what he was on the ground.

"Seeker what about you?"I reply

"Reserve Beater,"He says confirming my early assumptions

"Wanna race?"I say

"Sure"

The two of us spend a good portion of the hour racing as well as competing with practice quaffles and after about 40 minutes we both descend back down to the ground.

"So what year are in. I don't recognise you from my year?"I ask him

"I'm in 5th year. I am supposed to be in History of Magic but the class is completely pointless so I don't usually bother showing up. It's not as if Binns really even notices"He explains

"I can agree with that. I usually set a quill going taking notes for me and spent the hour doing homework for my other classes."I say "I'm a 4th year by the way" I add

Nodding it he says."Are you skipping or on a free period?"

"Free period" I reply

"I'm Hayley by the way,"I say deciding to purposefully leave my last name unsaid for now

"Declan," He says copying my decision to not include last names

Afterwards, the two of us parted ways after reaching the castle him heading down towards the Slytherin dorms and I heading up to Gryffindor Tower to shower before heading back down to the Great Hall for lunch.

Soon enough it was October 30th and that evening the two other schools competing in the Tri-Wizard Tournament would be arriving. Ron, Hermione and I had started talking again and considered each other friends but there was still quite a lot of tension between the three of us and we didn't spend nearly as much time together as we used to. I had expected to be more upset and disappointed more than I actually was. I think it was because I had other friends to spend time with so that it meant that me, Ron and Hermione didn't have to spend every minute with each other.

I had been spending more time with Neville, Cyrus and the twins too. It had turned out that Declan was actually Neville's cousin and the two of them weren't very close due to Mrs Longbottom not liking Declan's mother and thinking that she wasn't good enough for her son. It was nothing to do with her blood status or anything it was just that Mrs Longbottom was quite protective of her sons and had high standards that Selena could never seem to reach. As we spend more time together which was usually spent flying around and doing mini quidditch competitions, which Cyrus, Fred and George often joined in on, that he wasn't the most social person and was often very standoffish sometimes bordering on mean.

I had also researched the history of the Tri-Wizard tournament finding a book about it in the library and was extremely appaled that the ministry would allow the tournament to be held at all due to the dangerous nature of the tasks as well as the amounts of deaths and injuries that were caused from the tasks. It immediately made me glad that there was an age limit on the tournament and that it was typically reserved for students above the age of 17.

That evening before the feast started the two schools arrived, both of them entering in a stylish and slightly over the top manner that reflected the nature of there schools. The Beuxbatons entrance being very elegant, fancy and poised while the Durmstang entrance was very action filled, masculine and serious.

Two of the house tables had been extended to accommodate the extra students with the Beauxbaton students sat at the Ravenclaw table while the Durmstrang students sitting at the Slytherin table. After the Feast had ended, Dumbledore introduced Bartemius Crouch who was the Head of International Magical Cooperation as well as Ludovic Bagman who was the Head of Magical Games and Sports. Crouch gave everyone more information about the tournament including the age limit which gained almost as much negative response as when Dumbledore announced that there would be no Quidditch this year. Other topics included the rules, when the champions would be selected and what the winner would receive as a prize.

That evening I went to bed excited that maybe for the first time since joining Hogwarts I might actually get to have a normal year without either having to get involved with something dangerous or facing against Voldemort in some form.

Authors Note - Hello Everyone. I hope you are enjoying the story and I really hoped that you liked the chapter. I don't think anyone expected the argument between Hayley, Ron and Hermione. If any of you think that it is too out of character for them think about it realistically. The three of them are all 14. They are teenagers and are going through puberty and so arguments between friends are common. Besides up until Order of the Phoenix Hermione's belief is that teachers and authority figures are usually always right so this would definitely be something that she would argue about. Shout out to ninjahamsterassassin for writing the bio for Declan and remember if you want to see your own original character to appear in the story all you have to is Review and PM me the bio.