Taking Chances and Making Changes

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

Disclaimer - I own nothing except my OC's. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling. Basically, if you recognize it from the books/films then it is not mine.

Hayley POV

I returned to my dorm just before midnight to find I was the last one back and everyone except for Hermione was asleep. I slowly headed over to my bed throwing my shoes that I had already taken off at the end of my bed sighing with relief as I sank into the soft mattress.

"You're back late" She commented with a smirk

"Yeah, it continued for another couple hours after you left. When I left there was probably only 7 or 8 people left and most of them were teachers. Cyrus went to his dorm about an hour and a half ago. He offered to stay until I wanted to leave but I could see that he was really tired so I said that he should go to bed" I said while sitting up. "What happened that made you leave so soon. I thought that things were going well between you and Viktor?"I asked her while I grabbed the pyjamas I had left out on my pillow after packing my truck.

"Things were going well. Ron was being a prat and said some stuff that upset me so I decided to leave"Hermione explained

"Do you want to talk about it?"I asked her

"No, but thank you, Hayley, for the offer. I'm mostly over it now anyway" She said shrugging

I nod. I stood up and went to the bathroom to get myself ready for bed. I came out a little bit later and put my shoes and dress in my trunk making sure to leave clothes on top of it for the morning. I sat down looking at Hermione across from me. "Hermione if there's ever a ball or party again that is more than three hours long remind me to not wear heels, " I said

Hermione laughs."I'll try. Night Hayley"

"Night Hermione, "I said as we both pulled the curtains around our beds and went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up when my alarm went off and I got excited about seeing Andy and Ted again after so long. I pulled the curtains back to see that Hermione's bed was empty indicating she was most likely in the bathroom or in the common room and Parvarti and Lavender were still asleep.

I grabbed my clothes and pulled the curtains back again so that I could get dressed. As I finished pulling on my jumper and pulled back my curtains again Hermione was still in the bathroom. Because I hadn't taken my curls out last night before sleeping they were quite knotted and tangled thanks to my hair growing a lot in the last 5 months since I last got it cut. I brushed them through to get as many of the tangles out making it really frizzy. Giving up I put it in a ponytail until I got home and could shower and wash out the curls. I was putting my shoes on as Hermione came out of the bathroom and went over to her bed.
"Morning Hayley. Merry Christmas" She said smiling

"Thanks, Hermione. Merry Christmas to you too."I said smiling back

"You all ready to go home for a week then?"She asked

"Yeah, I'm just making sure that I haven't forgotten is meeting me at Professor McGonagall's office in about 10 minutes," I say as I stand up from my bed and throw on my jacket.

"Okay. Before you go are you really sure about going to the Malfoy's party. I mean after everything that's happened is it really a good idea. You know that they were supporters of You-Know-Who" She says concerned

I sighed expecting this. I had been getting this pretty much every day since I told my friends that I was going. "Hermione I'm sure. I know it seems really odd considering me and Malfoy have been enemies since day one but it's fine. There are some things that I'll tell you all when I get back."I explained

She frowns still but nods."Okay just be careful "She says giving me a hug.

I give her a hug back."I will be Hermione don't worry and if you are really that worried you can use the communication rings to check in with me while I'm there"I say

She nods as we pull apart and I head for the door.

"Remember to not wear heels," She said just before I left remembering what I had told her last night.

I laughed and even though I couldn't see her face I knew she had a small smork on her face.

I use the levitation spell on my trunk to levitate it down the stairs beside me as I head down the stairs to McGonagall's office. About 5 minutes later I arrived at McGonagall's office and knocked on the door.

10 minutes after I arrived at McGonagall's office I was back home. I was currently in my room getting ready to take a shower so I could sort my hair out before we had breakfast. As I stepped out of the shower I dried it off with a hairdryer and brushed it putting it into a quick plait. I got dressed in some warm clothes and putting on a long cardigan. Going downstairs I smelled the familiar smell of Andy's blueberry pancakes that I had missed so much. As I got downstairs I sat down at the table just as Andy was putting a plate of pancakes down in the middle of the table.

After eating I went upstairs to my room to get the presents that I had been given from friends before I had left and the ones that I had bought for Andy, Dora and Ted when I had done all my other shopping for my friends. After a few minutes of getting them all out from my trunk and placing them on my bed knowing that I wouldn't be able to carry them in one go I started to put some in my hands deciding on making two or three trips when I turned around to see Ted at the door holding two cardboard boxes in his hands.

"Dora mentioned that you had quite a lot of presents so I thought I'd bring a few boxes. Save you multiple trips" He said with a smile

"Thanks, Ted, "I said smiling back

We separated the presents into the two boxes. In one box we put the gifts from my friends and in the other, we put the presents that I had bought for Ted, Dora and Andy. We went downstairs to the living room where Dora was sat on the floor by the tree sorting out presents into 4 piles, one for each person. I sat down and started putting the presents from me into each of the piles that Dora had made while Ted put my box of presents down next to my pile. After the presents were all laid out we started to open them one at a time. Dora went first and I handed her the gifts from her pile. After Dora had opened her gifts Andy and Ted went and I went last as I had the largest pile due to having so many from friends, more than I had gotten in the past but that was down to making a number of new friends this year mainly Declan, Fleur, Cyrus, Cedric and Viktor.

I started by opening the ones from my friends wanting to leave the ones from family for last. Hermione had gotten me a green notebook along with a set of quills and a small selection of wizarding sweets. The notebook was a really nice present because I had recently told Hermione that I hated writing everything down on parchment and that I liked to be able to write things down on normal paper in a notebook especially when it wasn't school related. Neville had gotten me a new wand holster for my arm and wand care kit. Declan had gotten me some sweets and framed pictured of one of the times that Cyrus and the twins had joined us for one of our mini Quidditch games. Since he was in the picture I knew that someone else had taken the picture most likely Neville or Colin since they were the only ones I knew of that were even slightly interested in photography. Fleur had gotten me two dresses. A light blue one that was shorter and more suited for summer and a black and gold one that was longer and slightly thicker which was clearly more suited for the winter months. I smiled thinking that it would be perfect for the Malfoy's New Year's Eve party which was a week away and I still hadn't decided on what I was wearing. I got a selection of prank items from Fred and George, a jumper and homemade brownies from Molly and Arthur and a snowball with a miniature model of Hogwarts inside from Ginny. I smiled as I had seen them being sold in Hogsmeade but hadn't thought to buy one. Viktor had gotten me a broom care kit and a pair of thick warm seeker gloves. According to the note attached, they were the same type that he wears because he knows that it can get really cold when flying. I got an assortment of sweets and a new copy of Quidditch Through the Ages from the Quidditch team as a group present. I got another framed picture from Cedric that was of me flying away from the dragon during the first task. The final present from my friends was from Cyrus. He had gotten me a pair of silver matching bracelet and earrings. The note said that he came across them in one of the little antique shops in Hogsmeade that along with other things sells old jewellery for low prices. I smiled as I organised the presents back into the box before moving onto the presents from family.

It was a week later and Andy was helping me get ready for the party. Because of how annoying it had been to get the curls out of my hair after the Yule Ball we opted to put my hair in a plaited bun at the back of my head and simple makeup. I was wearing the black and gold dress that Fleur had given me as a Christmas present with shoes that were similar to the ones that Ginny had worn to the Yule Ball so they had a short platform rather than an actual heel. The guests weren't arriving until 8 but Draco had asked me to Floo over about 40 minutes early so that we could exchange presents as we hadn't had the chance to do it before I left. This would also give me chance to ask Lucius if either he or Snape had, had anything to do with the letters from Dumbledore and McGonagall not reaching me during the summer.

When I Floo'd over I managed not to stumble and I can guarantee that if I had of worn heels that would not have been the case.

"Wow, Potter you certainly clean up nice. I wasn't sure if the Yule Ball was going to be a one-off occasion or not"Draco said from the entrance hall with his typical smirk.

"Malfoy did you just give me a compliment. I think that cold Slytherin mask is starting to crack a little"I say giving him a smirk of my own.

I crossed over to him giving him a small smile as I handed him his present."Merry late Christmas, and Happy new year Draco"

"You too Hayley"He smiled as he took the present."Thank you. Yours is in the living room."He said as he showed me to the living room

"My dad is in his study finishing something up and my mum is making sure the finishing touches are ready for the party, "He said as we walked in. We both started to open the present from one another. I had gotten him some new seeker gloves and a separate communication ring so that we could talk without anyone knowing. This was mainly because it was always so hard to find time to talk because Draco could never come and talk to me when my friends were around and the same with his friends. It did mean that I would have to concentrate a bit more to make sure that I was talking to Draco and not to Neville and Hermione. I didn't really have to worry about Ron anymore though as Neville had told me that he had seen Ron put the ring in his bedside drawer after my name had come out of the Goblet and hadn't taken it out since. Draco had gotten me a large pot of emerald green ink that I had been considering buying for myself for a while. From his parents, I got an emerald necklace and earring set and a book that contained a mixture of offensive and defensive spells that from a quick glance couldn't technically be classed as dark spells but could definitely not be considered light either. So it was more of a grey area. I sent a confused look at Draco so he explained.

"The book was my dad's idea. He said he would explain later" Draco explained.

I nodded and we continued talking for a few more minutes before his parents joined us for a little bit until the guests started to arrive. To begin with, Draco introduced me properly to a few of his friends that were attending. They were all surprised to see me and when a few were about to make a snide comment Draco shut them up with a glare. He went with the story that his father had ready to explain the reason for her attendance. The story was that when he found out that she and Draco hadn't gotten off on the right foot he said it was the polite thing to invite her and try to start fresh. Narcissa took it upon herself to introduce me to many of the guests including Minister Fudge and his wife and the heads of noble families.

Midway through the party Lucius took me aside and asked if we could speak in his study privately and I nodded and followed him. I had questions swirling around my brain that I really needed answers to and it gave me a way to escape from the party for a bit.

We walked in and Lucius shut the door behind him and sat down gesturing for me to do the same. Once we had sat down he looked at me and began."I can assume that you are curious about the book?"He asked

I nodded."Yeah, Draco said that it was your idea?"

"Yes the book is from the Malfoy library and the spells inside are something that all of the Malfoys start to learn usually when they enter 6th year."He begins to explain

"So why are you giving it to me.I'm only a 4th year and I'm not a Malfoy. Shouldn't it be going to Draco?"I ask confused

"Inside the Malfoy library, there are another three copies of the book so Draco will get his copy when he enters his 6th year. As for you not being a Malfoy, you are still family and the Malfoy family looks out for its own. And as for you only being a 4th year I am not worried about your ability to properly cast the spells. From what Severus had told me you are a very talented and bright witch. He said that despite your slightly above grades the past few years it is obvious that you are very intelligent. He has said that over the past few months your grades have increased significantly indicating that you were purposefully holding yourself back" He says with a perfectly raised eyebrow.

I blush slightly."Thank you. Yeah at the beginning of the summer a friend gave me some advice and said that I shouldn't be holding myself back on account of somebody else. So after looking back at how much I was holding myself back, I decided to start getting serious about my studies."I admitted

Nodding he continued."As for why I'm giving you the book it is because there have been two incidents so far where you have been in danger. First, there was the attack on your relatives which thankfully we were able to warn you before it happened and no one was hurt and it was clear that Dumbledore didn't have anyone watching your place otherwise he would have known about it sooner. Secondly, there was your name coming out of the Goblet of Fire and having to compete in the tournament. I obviously believe that you had nothing to do with entering it seeing as it wasn't even your handwriting on the parchment. No, I haven't been able to find anything out about whether any of his supporters had anything to do with it but something has happened that I don't think is a coincidence."He says

I frown."What's happened?"

He sighs before pulling up the sleeve of his left arm revealing his dark mark."After his defeat on Halloween, it faded and continued to fade over the years since. But over the past few months, it had started to get darker in colour again and there have been the occasional twinges of pain. This means that he has been able to find a body to keep him alive long enough until he can find a permanent form and come back to full strength again."He explains while rolling his sleeve down again.

I sit silently for a minute trying to process all of the information when I got a thought" You said that you didn't think that it was a coincidence that it was happening during the tournament. Do you think that whatever his plan is to get a permanent form, that they had to get me into the tournament?"

"I do yes and that is why I'm giving you the book. I can't help but think that something is going to happen and You need to be prepared. Something tells me that Dumbledore isn't making sure that you are prepared to fight him should he succeed in coming back?"He says raising his eyebrow again.

I shook my head."No he isn't and I can tell he knows more about why you know who actually targeted my family in the first place but he isn't telling me anything. Whenever I ask he always says that I'm not ready to know."I sigh before getting another thought.

"Lucius, do you happen to know why he was so fixated on targeting my family?"I asked hopefully

Sighing he shook his head."Unfortunately, I don't. Because I only joined in order to protect Narcissa and Draco I wasn't as privy to as much inside knowledge as the other members of his inner circle" He said. "But there is a chance that Severus might know so if you ask him he might be more helpful" He adds

I nod."Okay, thank you, Lucius."I said

"You are is there anything else that you wish to know?"He asks

I nod."Well after I left the Dursleys and went to stay at the Leaky Cauldron over the summer the only way that I received letters from Dumbledore and McGonagall was if they were sent by the Weasleys and I was wondering if either you or Snape had anything to do with it?"

I noticed a slight smirk appear on his face very similar to Draco's."It may have been Severus's idea to place a ward on you so that Dumbledore couldn't find you and trace you. We thought that by his letters not being able to reach you it would be a good way to annoy him"

After joining the party again I talked to a few of Draco's friends that had been friendly and hadn't really had a problem with me being there before going out to the garden for some fresh air. It was nearing midnight and I would be Flooing home soon after. It had started to snow earlier on and there was a thin layer of snow on the ground. As I watched the snow continue to fall over the garden I heard someone walk up behind me. As they stopped at the side of me I saw that it was Blaise Zabini. He had been one of Draco's friend who had been quite nice and hadn't made a snide remark to me during the party. We had talked a few times and he was quite nice. He seemed to hate large parties as much as I did.

I had been quite surprised when he had continued to talk to me during the party seeing how at Hogwarts I had never really seen him talk to anyone except a few select Slytherins. I had been even more surprised when he had complimented me saying how lovely I looked tonight. That had caused me to blush heavily and I was only just able to thank him without stuttering with nerves. It wasn't surprising given how handsome Blaise was and the fact that many of the girls at Hogwarts had small crushes on him no matter their house myself included.

"Hi, Blaise what are you doing out here?"I asked kindly

"Nothing much. Trying to escape the party, some of the girls were flirting pretty hard and I didn't think I would be able to hold back laughter anymore so I decided to make a quick exit"He says smiling."What about you?"

"Similar reasons. I don't really like large parties that much so I've been trying to keep to myself as much as possible."I explained

"If you don't like large parties then why did you decide to come?"He asked curiously

"I could ask you the same thing Blaise" I retorted quickly but my smile showed that I was only teasing.

"Well, my mother said that if I didn't go she would hex me into next week. What's your reason?"He said grinning

"Apart from Malfoy's parents wanting to try and make amends for how I and Malfoy got off on the wrong foot, I didn't really have anything better to do, "I said shrugging my shoulders.

We continued talking for a while longer getting comfortable with teasing each other about different things. By this point, we had both ventured out into the garden and were walking about enjoying the sound of the fresh undisturbed snow crunching under our feet as we walked. I wasn't worried about the temperature because if I did get cold I could just ask Narcissa to cast a warming charm on me when I got back inside.

We soon decided to head back inside to rejoin the party and as I turned to head back through the garden I slipped on some ice on the path and I felt myself falling backwards. Before I could hit the ground though Blaise caught me. We looked at each other and I could feel myself blush at how close we were to one another. His dark brown eyes met my bright green eyes and we both tentatively closed the gap between us and our lips met just as the clock struck midnight and the guests inside were celebrating the new year coming in.

A few moments later we pulled apart and I looked at him feeling myself heat up in embarrassment. Before Blaise had the chance to speak I pulled away and ran back inside. After getting inside I went and hid in the bathroom to try and process the fact that Blaise and I had just kissed.

The next day I woke up at around 9 to the smell of Andy's blueberry pancakes. I slowly managed to drag myself out of bed and start getting ready. When I had come home for the week I decided that it wasn't worth unpacking everything from my trunk so I had been living out of my trunk for the past week so I didn't really have anything to pack. I got dressed in clothes that I had left out before placing my pyjamas back in my trunk along with a few final things that I had left out that I would need to get ready in the morning before closing it and locking it.

As I sat on the bed putting on my shoes I started to think back to last night. I had managed to avoid Blaise for the short time between the kiss and when I left and it didn't seem as though he had told anyone so I was hoping that we were just going to pretend that it had never happened. An hour and a half later I was sitting alone in an empty compartment waiting for the train to set off. I was reading the book that Lucius had given me the night before. Before I left the party that night he charmed the book so that to everyone but me it would look and read like Quidditch through the majority of the journey, I occupied myself with reading the book and taking breaks to talk to Hermione and Neville and talking to Draco a few times as well. I also wrote out a letter Sirius and Remus. It was only a short one thanking them for the Christmas presents and just to see how they were doing. When the train arrived I got in one of the first carriages to avoid the possibility of running into Blaise. After getting off of the carriage I headed straight to the Great Hall knowing that dinner would be starting soon.

That evening after dinner Hermione, Neville, Fred and George and I all met up outside one of the unused classrooms on the 5th floor so I could tell them the truth about what had happened with the Malfoys over the summer like I had promised to before going home.

We all sat in a circle and they all looked at me expectantly.

"Okay, the truth is that it wasn't just pure luck that I wasn't home at the time the attack happened. Someone sent me a letter earlier that day warning me of the attack and when I git back home after spending some time with Neville on Diagon Alley I read it and I immediately packed my stuff and left"I admitted

"Okay, so who sent you the letter?"Neville asked

"It was Professor Snape, "I said

"How did Snape know of the attack in the first place?"Hermione asked suspiciously

"He didn't originally know. What happened is Lucius Malfoy had found out about the attack and so he told Snape to send a letter warning me."I explained

The twins frowned at the same time and then Fred started speaking."Why on earth would Lucius warn you of the attack? He's a death eater" George said finishing his twins sentence.

I sighed."In the letter that Snape sent, it said that Lucius didn't want to join Voldemort and that Voldemort threatened to kill his wife and unborn son if he didn' he found out about the attack he said he knew he had to warn me of it. There was a portkey attacked to the letter that took me to Malfoy Manor when I said a trigger word"I explained to them

"Hayley that was really dangerous for all you knew it could have been a trap"Hermione scolded

I sighed."I know and that was a thought in my head too, but I reasoned that Snape wouldn't have sent me the letter if he thought it would put me in danger. As much as he dislikes me I don't think he wants me dead" I shrugged "That's one reason why I accepted the invite to the party. I felt it was only polite to go after Lucius pretty much saved my life" I added.

"Okay, so what's the other reason?"Hermione asked

"The other reason I said yes to going is that the Malfoy's are family" I admitted slightly awkwardly

"How are you related to the Malfoys?"Neville asked

"Through my grandmother. Her name was Dorea Potter but before she married my grandfather her last name was Black. She was the great aunt to Andromeda and her two sisters Narcissa and Bellatrix"As I said the last name I saw Neville pale slightly and tense up at the name. I frowned slightly and made a mental note to talk to him about it later.

"So Mrs Malfoy is what your cousin or something?"George asked

"Yeah she's like a second cousin or something but she's still family. That's also why I chose Andromeda and her husband to be my guardians."I nodded

We soon headed back to the common room as it was nearing curfew and then we quickly headed up to our dorms to get some sleep as we had classes the next day. I was able to sleep in tomorrow morning as it was a double session of History of magic first and then a free period just before lunch. So I didn't actually have to get up for class until just before lunch.

Authors Note - Hey guys I hope that you enjoyed the long chapter. I had started writing it much earlier as I had a lot of free time this week. I started writing and I got so many ideas that I just couldn't stop. I am going to be really busy for the next two weeks so I won't be updating again until the 16th of December.