Changing Sides

Disclaimer: I still don't own this. After, eleven chapters, I thought you might've known by now.

Chapter 12: Loving and Loathing

It was after classes during the two hour period before dinner and everyone was in the Common Room. Hermione was frantically writing an essay for her Advanced Runes class, Neville was sitting with Ginny a little farther away from everyone else and whispering quietly about how Ginny was going to handle the whole Harry situation when they really should have been working. Miranda was reading a book, she was already done with all of her homework and Harry and Ron were comparing notes they took in Defense Against the Dark Arts with their new professor: Professor Connelly.

Harry remembered what Voldemort had said to him: "You will find that there will be new teachers at Hogwarts, this year, who drink from their own goblets."

Professor COnnelly, could he possibly be one of the Death eaters? Was Voldemort just playing him? He had seemed nice and Harry had completely forgotten the fact that Death Eaters could be at Hogwarts and acted completely normal in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He even raised his hand when his teacher asked if anyone had ever done a patronus. Harry raised his hand again when the teacher had asked if he was successful. But, first appeareances can be deceiving. He was much like Draco Malfoy, untrustable.

Tha leaves him with his dilemma to think about. Miranda Wesley. She was smart, pretty and they had similar interests. Was she someone in disguise? What do you do if you fall in love with an enemy? What do you do if an enemy falls in love with you? Was he supposed to take this lightly or ignore her and treat her like an enemy? Life Neville had said, Rita Skeeter was also in disguise, was it her? Should he watch out and try not to be alone with her. Would she kidnap him and return him to Voldemort so he could finally be finished?

Harry came out of his thoughts when Miranda asked him a question.

"Harry? Harry?" she was saying.

"What? Sorry, I was thinking, you were saying?" Harry said.

"I was wondering if you could help me with a Patronus Charm?" Miranda asked.

Harry took a moment to think. More like a millisecond. "Yeah, sure," Harry replied.

"Harry, you really aren't supposed to do magic in the Common Room while other students are in here. I'm a prefect and I'm sorry but I can't let you," Hermione stated.

"I'm a prefect and I'd let you," Ron said.

"Ron! Have a sense of responsibility. Tell them no," Hermione said.

While Ron and Hermione were arguing, Miranda pulled Harry out of the Common Room and they went to find an empty classroom to practice in. As they walked, Harry showed her the movement to make with her wand but she wasn't paying much attention, she was looking deeply into Harry's green eyes. She didn't even realize that she walked into someone that turned the corner.

"Watch it mud--... oh. Sorry, you look at lot like Granger," Malfoy said as he picked up Miranda's wand which she dropped.

"Why thank you. But you really shouldn't call her that," Miranda said.

"Where are you going, the Great Hall is the other way and with Potter?" Malfoy asked.

"Harry is my friend," Miranda said and she took Harry's hand in her own. Harry guessed that maybe in the states, people who held hands were friends, but that was not the case here at Hogwarts and at this sudden gesture, his cheeks grew red.

"Well, he's a rule breaker. I'm a prefect. I have power and authority," Malfoy said trying to look tough.

"Cute," MIranda commented. "So excuse us Draco, we're going somewhere." She pushed past him and Harry followed.

"Wait Potter," Malfoy said.

Harry turned around. "Be right back," he said to Miranda and went next to to Malfoy. "What?"

"What are you doing? Don't you have a plan for your task?" Malfoy asked.

"It's the first week of school, don't I have all year?" Harry asked.

"Sooner is better," Malfoy said. "And you're not supposed to tell anyone what you're doing!"

"I didn't!" Harry said alertly.

"Explain the newspaper then!" Malfoy retorted.

"Please! THat's Rita Skeeter. She writes rubbish. She wrote an article on how she thinks Ginny and I are conspiring to take down the Ministry."

"It also said she was undercover. Make sure you check people out before you befriend them." Malfoy gave a slight nod in Miranda's direction.

"Thanks, Draco. I will," Harry said putting some emphasis on the Draco. "And if you keep talking to me people are going to think that we're friends or something."

"FIne. But get on with it!" Malfoy said and he turned and strode the opposite way.

"Sorry about that," Harry said returning to Miranda.

"It's fine. He's a nice boy. I wish you were friends with him too so we could all be friends," Miranda said.

"Er, you can be friends with him. I'm just... not," Harry replied as they continued walking.

"No, he wants to be more than friends with me," Miranda stated suddenly. "Did you see how he was boasting about his prefect authority? He was trying to impress me, and I may have taken a little delve into his mind."

"You invaded Draco Malfoy's mind?" Harry asked. "Bloody hell."

"You sound like your red-headed friend. Well, he wanted me to, I could tell, so I did," Miranda said.

"Would you ever, you know, go out with him?" Harry asked reluctantly.

"Hmm, maybe. He's definitely a high seven. Maybe an eight, even," Miranda replied.

"He's what?" Harry asked.

"Woah," Miranda said and stopped walking. She didn't bother to answer Harry's question and she had stopped in front of a wall. As they were walking past the wall, a door appeared right out of the cement wall. "What's in there?" she asked.

"Shall we find out?" Harry asked taking a step forward.

"I love an adventuror," Miranda said as Harry turned the large doorknob and pushed the door open. Miranda followed Harry inside. "It's just a very large room."

"A hidden room is more like it. I bet no one else knows about this. This could be our secret," Harry said. "But, look, it's perfect for practicing spells. Look, there are cushions in case you do some stunning."

"This entire bookshelf over here has books on Practical Dueling, Defense Skills, The Dark Arts, everything!" Miranda said running her hand along the spines of all the books.

"So now we have a room," Harry said shutting the door. "Shall we try the Patronus?"

"Alright."

"You're going to want to think of a happy thought. Something that makes you happy or something that you like. It could be a memory, mine's a memory. The man who taught me told me that it had to consume me. Let the memory fill you up. Say Expecto Patronum," Harry explained.

"Expecto Patronim," Miranda repeared.

"No. PatroNUM. Expecto Patronum," Harry said. Like this, "Expecto Patrnonum!" A silver stag burst from Harry's wand and then faded away into mist.

"Oh. Expecto Patronum," Miranda corrected herself.

"Yeah, that's it. Now, pick up your wand and try it. Still think of that memory," Harry instructed. He took a few steps back to give Miranda extra room. She turned and looked at him and he gave her a nod of encouragement.

"Expecto Patronum!" Miranda yelled. A white, silvery misty looking figure erupted from her wand. Harry couldn't tell what it was at first but hen he realized it must have been a lion since it made a roaring sound. "It's a lion!" Miranda exclaimed as her lion ran around the room.

"Wow, you did it on your first try," Harry commented. Miranda stopped looking at her lion and turned to face Harry, her wand still in her hand but the lion did not disappear. "It didn't disappear. You can relax, you don't need to think about your memory as hard."

"I'm not," Miranda said.

"What memory did you choose?" Harry asked as he watched the lion lay down on its back and roll over.

"The first time I met you," Miranda replied. "I was thinking about you."

Harry turned redder than the Weasley's hair and Miranda ran up to him and kissed him on the lips.

Harry was shocked but he did not push her off of him but he kissed her back.

"Wow," he finally said.

"Oh gosh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Well I did but I wasn't going to. I wanted to... oh no," Miranda babbled.

"No, it's fine. I... I... I don't have a problem with this. So this makes us... does it? Are we..." Harry struggled to find the right words.

"Together?" Miranda asked.

"Yeah. Are we?" Harry asked.

"Do you want to be?"

Harry suddenly kissed her again. "Yeah."

"Me too."

"But if you're going to date the Boy Who Lived you have to know that the whole school thinks I'm conspiring with Lord Voldemort to take down the Ministry of Magic so you're going to be hearing a lot of rumors about my allegiance with him and Ginny Weasley, which also isn't true," Harry explained.

"I know that's not true. You're not the type of guy who would do that. You know what's weird?" Miranda asked.

"What?" Harry asked holding her hand as they left the Hidden Room. He looked at the hallway making sure he would remember where their room was. As they left the room, the door disappeared behind them.

"I met you this morning," Miranda said.

"But we had all of the same classes together. I've been with you since eight AM and we've gotten to know each other a lot since then," Harry said. "Here, I'll tell you something about myself. There are lots of people in this world and the Muggle world,"--Harry momentarily thought of the Dursleys-- "who do not like me and would prefer to see my name on a tombstone right next to my parents."

"Like who?"

"Well, Voldemort being the main one. He just tells all of his Death Eaters what to do. Like last year during the Triwizard Tournament, one of his Death Eaters, Barty Crouch Junior was disguised as Professor Moody using the Polyjuice Potion and he put my name in and I got selected and I nearly died. I battled a dragon, swam to the bottom of the black lake facing merpeople, and made my way through a giant maze looking for the Triwizard Cup which Barty Crouch Junior had turned into a portkey. Cedric and I took the cup together and were portkeyed us... away from Hogwarts. Voldemort's servant Wormtail killed Cedric and used me to bring about the return of Lord Voldemort," Harry explained. He contemplated why he didn't tell Miranda where they were portkeyed to. He had actually never told anyone but Hermione and Ron.

"So he really returned? He wasn't much of a threat for us in the states. I mean, sure we heard of him but the thought never crossed our minds that he would come over to the states and be a threat to us. But we heard loads about you," Miranda said.

"Yeah, he did return," Harry said sighing. "No one really believes me though."

"I do," Miranda said and kissed him on the cheek just as they entered the Common Room.

The looks they received upon arrival included looks of sheer shock (Neville), happiness (Hermione), confusion as always (Ron), sadness and anger (Ginny).

"Bloody hell mate!" Ron cried breaking the lengthy silence. "You and Miranda?"

Harry gave a slight nod.

"I'm happy for you guys," Hermione said kindly taking a moment to look up from her essay.

"I have homework to finish," Ginny said and went up into her dormitory. No one seemed to notice that her bag was still in the Common Room.

"This is sudden," Neville commented. "Didn't you just meet each other this morning?"

"Yes. But, we have been with each other the whole day and we got to know each other in that time and we like each other," Harry answered.

"I'm sorry if this makes anyone feel awkward," Miranda said.

"Not at all," Hermione replied. "It wouldn't, I mean, Ron and I are going out."

"I didn't know that," Miranda said.

"Now you do. So now that you're both back, let's go down to dinner," Hermione said.

"Finally! I'm starving!" Ron remarked putting his things in his bag.

"There's a shocker," Harry said sarcastically.

They walked into the Great Hall for dinner, Hermione and Ron first. No one seemed to notice anything about them but when Harry and Miranda walked in holding hands, the silence was deafening.

"I told you I saw them holding hands!" Draco Malfoy shouted from the Slytherin table to his friends next to him and why he shouted this unnecessarily, we will not know.

"Why are they staring?" Miranda whispered.

"I told you, they think I'm involved with Voldemort," Harry answered quietly walking to the Gryffindor table. "Over time, they'll get over it and stop believing every ruddy word that the Daily Prophet says."

Harry and Miranda sat down at Gryffindor table and conversations began around the room again and people turned back to their own tables.

Harry looked up at the staff table surveying all of the teachers. He realized that there was only one teacher who did not teach at Hogwarts last year and that was Professor Connelly. He was sitting to the left of Snape who was all the way on the right end of the staff table. Him and Snape were discussing something quietly.

Harry was staring at Connelly and wondered if Dumbledore gave him a full look-over before hiring him. Surely, he would have checked for Polyjuice Potion concerning the whole Moody incident the previous year. Harry turned back to the table, rolled up his sleeves and began eating.

"Where is that from?" Miranda asked gesturing to a lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's forearm.

"Yeah, where did you get that? I don't think I've ever seen it before," Ron asked.

"I'll tell you later," Harry answered simply and shoved food in his mouth so he wouldn't have to talk about it. He knew he couldn't tell them anyway because then he would have to elaborate on Cedric's death, his assist in the return of Lord Voldemort, his disappearence for the entire summer, his stay at the Malfoy's, his task assigned to him by Voldemort, himself and all of that. Things he was not supposed to tell anyone if he wanted his friends to remain safe, as Voldemort had told him.

As they finished eating the group of Gryffindors got up to go back to the Common Room and finish homework. Harry stood up and bumped into someone.

"Sorry," he said instinctively and turning around. "Oh, Professor Connelly, I'm sorry."

"Potter!" Connelly said. "I mean, no matter there." Harry did not let his random outburst of shouting his last name go lightly. He was someone in disguise, he didn't need to test for Polyjuice Potion to see that.

"Professor, are you alright?" Hermione asked. "You seem to be limping."

"Fine, fine. Just a little mishap over the summer," Connelly replied. "I had a chair dropped on me."

"Oh did you?" Harry asked raising his eyebrows. He instantly knew this was Antonin Dolohov in disguise, one of Voldemort's Death Eaters. Harry remembered him mainly because he was the one who had dropped the chair on him.

"I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Connelly elaborated. "Now excuse me, I have to go and prep my lessons for tomorrow." He limped through the Great Hall and exited through the doors and all the while Harry was smiling.

"I feel like Harry knows something that we don't," Ron remarked.

"Ron! Not here!" Hermione said.

"Not here? What does she mean?" Miranda demanded.

"Nothing," Harry said quickly. "I have that defense essay to write so we should get going."

"Harry, that essay is on Spells. Something we both learned our first year. Professor Connelly just assigned it so he could assign work, it's not like we did anything realistic in Defense Against the Dark Arts today," Miranda said.

"Let's go anyway, I have Advanced Runes and Arithmacy homework," Hermione said speaking for Harry. He shot her a "You just saved me" look and she smiled and turned and walked away with everyone else following her.

Coincidentally, Draco Malfoy arrived at the door the same time as the Gryffindors.

"A girlfriend Potter? Moving up in the world?" Malfoy asked.

"What do you want Draco?" Miranda asked.

"I can't talk to Potter?" Malfoy asked back.

"Why would you need to?" Ron demanded.

"Fine, I won't," Malfoy said and pushed past Hermione and left the Great Hall saying something about Mudbloods as he left.

"What was that about?" Neville asked bringing up the rear.

"Dunno," Harry said but he had a familiar idea that he knew what it was.

They all left the Great Hall and wandered through the corridors taking the route to their Common Room. Hermione was in the front with Miranda talking about Defense Against the Dark Arts and why they were assigned such a pointless essay. Ron, Neville and Harry were talking about Quidditch. Tryouts were in two weeks and Neville was asking Harry if he was trying out again.

Harry was about to reply when someone reached out of the classroom they were passing, grabbed his arm and pulled him inside and shut the door.

"What the?" Harry asked.

He was facing Malfoy.

He rolled his eyes. "Malfoy, you can't keep dragging me away from my friends," Harry said.

"It wasn't me who wanted to," Malfoy said pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

Professor Connelly limped over to them.

"Oh, hello Professor," Harry said emphasizing the Professor part.

"Potter," Professor Connelly said with a slight nod.

"How's your back?" Harry asked trying to contain a laugh and a smile.

Connelly glared at him. "If the Dark Lord doesn't kill you then I surely will," he said darkly.

Harry just waved off that comment. "Did you need something?" he asked.

"A status update," Connelly replied.

"It's the first week of school! Don't I have all year?" Harry asked. He got the strange feeling of Deja Vu. He recalled having this exact same conversation with Malfoy right before he found the Hidden Room with Miranda.

"Sooner is better," Connelly said. Same answer as Malfoy's.

"I'm working on it. Give me time," Harry answered sadly. He didn't really want to go through with this. He didn't want to help Voldemort. He looked down at his scar on his arm. It was shaped like a lightning bolt. It was the way Wormtail had cut him that night in the graveyard. Now he had matching scars. Suddenly he looked up and looked at Malfoy. "What, are you doing?"

"Nothing," Malfoy answered quickly.

"There's nothing I'm not tellng you so don't go attempting to get in my mind again," Harry threatened. He turned around and he pulled open the door.

"Potter," Connelly said. He muttered something Harry couldn't quite decipher.

"What?" Harry asked turning around. Connelly had his wand out and the second Harry turned around, a white light struck him in the chest. He was expecting to be thrown against the wall but he didn't even feel the spell hit him. It seemed to just go right inside of him. Harry put his hands on his chest checking for any scars or anything. "What did you just do?!"

"Fidelius Charm. Ever heard of it?" Connelly or Dolohov asked.

Harry was about to say that Hermione mentioned it but decided against it. "No. What does it do?" He answered.

"It will prevent you from telling anyone who I really am. It's hiding this secret inside of you," Connelly replied. "So if you try and tell your muggleborn friend who I really am, well, you won't be able to.

Harry was still examining himself. He looked at his hands and arms.

Malfoy laughed a little. "It was just a spell," he said.

"Oh, I'd cast a number of spells on you Malfoy," Harry said angrily.

Malfoy stopped laughing and walked right up to Harry's face. "I'd like to see you try," Malfoy said.

"Really?" Harry asked. "So if I was just like stupefy, you wouldn't mind?"

"You would what?" Malfoy asked. "Puh-lease." Malfoy stifled another laugh.

"Fine. Stupefy!" Harry yelled suddenly. Malfoy was thrown backwards across the classroom and landed on top of a row of desks and then fell off of them. Harry didn't see Malfoy get up.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor, Potter!" Connelly said.

"It was worth it," Harry replied and strode out of the classroom.

Harry walked the rest of the way to his Common Room.

"Sorry about that," he said entering.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked. "You look pale." She touched his face. "And you're incredibly hot."

Miranda immediately looked up at the last remark. "Let me feel," she said jealously and jumped to her feet. She put a hand on his face. "Your face is a little hot."

"What happened?" Ron asked.

At that momeny Ginny burst into the Common Room.

"I was walking up here and Professor Connelly and a bunch of other teachers were outside this random classroom and apparently, according to what I heard, someone attacked Draco Malfoy! He was unconscious and bleeding!" Ginny exclaimed panting.

Hermione looked at Harry. "Harry! You did not!" Hermione said.

"He was being a git and saying mean things," Harry answered.

"Did you do that to him, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah but how could Connelly say that? He was... was... damn it," Harry said. He knew the Fidelius was preventing him from saying anything. But he just told them about Malfoy, well, technically that was after the spell was cast.

"You attacked another student!" Hermione said. "I'm a prefect and I am required to dock points." There was a pause. "But, I wasn't there and there are no eyewitnesses so I guess I'll let it slide." She smiled.

"Hermione, you're the best," Harry said. Besides, Connelly had already docked him points.

Suddenly the Common Room portrait hole burst open and they heard the Fat Lady saying, "No! No! You are not Gryffindors! I don't care if you are Head of House! Rotten Slytherins!"

Professor Snape, Professor Connelly and Draco Malfoy looking rather beaten up entered the Common Room.

"What is he doing in our Common Roon?" Ron asked pointing a finger at Malfoy. He had a bandage wrapped around his wrist and a long cut down his cheek.

"That's him, sir," Malfoy said pointing to Harry.

"It was Potter?" Snape asked.

"Yes sir," Malfoy said smirking.

"Doesn't surprise me. Picking fights like his low bred father," Snape said.

"I am not lowbred!" Harry claimed.

"And he does not pick fights," Ginny announced sticking up for Harry but took a step behind him when she said that.

"We'l see about that," Snape said. "Give me your wand Potter." Harry didn't move. "NOW Potter!"

Harry reluctantly handed over his wand. Snape took out his own wand as well.

"What spell did he use, Draco?" Snape asked.

"A stunning spell," Malfoy replied.

Snape waved his wand and pointed it at Harry's wand. It glowed blue and Snape looked at Harry angrily. "I'm sorry, Mister Malfoy but Potter's wand did not cast no such stunning spell. The last spell he cast was a Patronus and it was well over an hour ago," Snape said angrily. "But for what reason were you casting a Patronus Charm?"

"He was teaching me how to do one," Miranda said. "Check my wand if you want. I cast one too."

"No. Let's go Draco," Snape said and him and Connelly left the Common Room. Malfoy left a while after them making sure to glare at Harry long enough. Then he shot a death glare at Ginny.

Then Harry ran out of the Common Room after Malfoy.

"Malfoy! What were you doing?" Harry asked.

"Well, we're not exactly friends. So I'm doing what I do everyday. I make fun of Granger and try and get you into trouble," Malfoy answered. He lowered his voice. "Just because you stayed at my house doesn't mean we're best friends."

"What are you doing glaring at Ginny? She didn't do anything to you," Harry said. "Yeah, I saw that."

"Just freaking her out a bit. I was so sure that Snape would prove you did it," Malfoy said turning around and heading down the stairs.

"Well, it wouldn't show up on my wand if I didn't use a wand," Harry said.

"I thought you could only do a shield charm without a wand," Malfoy said.

"Then you don't know me at all. How else would Connelly's back be so messed up?" Harry asked and he didn't wait for a response. He left Malfoy and went back into his Common Room.

"Did you just go an talk to him or something?" Ginny asked.

"No, I just told him not to bother me anymore," Harry lied.

"It's late. We should get to bed. There are classes tomorrow and then the first weekend at Hogwarts. Thank Merlin!" Hermione said.

Everyone agreed and packed up their things and brought them up to their dormitories after saying good night to everyone else. Miranda said goodnight to Harry and he kissed her on the cheek in front of Ginny and Ginny turned away. Then Miranda went up to her dormitory.

"Harry," Ginny said.

Harry didn't even realize Ginny was still there. "Yeah?"

"If you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here for you," Ginny said.

"Thanks," Harry replied. "If I need someone to talk to, I'll come to you."

"Okay. I figured I would just let you know," Ginny said.

"And Gin," Harry replied. "And if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here for you."

"Thanks Harry," Ginny said. "Good night."

"G'night Gin," Harry said and went up to his dormitory.

A/N: Big news. My computer has been fixed. It happened much quicker than I thought. So to celebrate, I've updated this chapter. Hope you enjoy it. I enjoy my computer being back.

--Elizabeth