A/N: You guys have no idea how much I despised the last chapter. Basically, my dad has the laptop currently and he's out of city, so when he came home for the weekend I was writing as fast as I could, then the stupid laptop started glitching and blah blah blah and the incomplete chapter was uploaded. Sooo… yeahh. Anyway, hopefully this chapter will redeem me.*crosses fingers and toes*

Changing

"5 knuts?"

"Grey, I've already told you, I don't know where Marcus is. Offering me money isn't going to make me suddenly know where he's gone", Albus Potter said with a huff.

After searching all day and all over for my green eyed friend, I'd given up and decided to find a housemate of his. The first one coming to mind being the infamous Albus Potter, I'd hurried over to the library where he was known to spend quite a bit of his time.

A boy of my own heart, really.

Anyways, upon spotting him with his nose deep in an extremely musty and ancient looking book with Scorpius seated next to him, idly twirling his wand in his hand, I had rushed over and demanded to know the whereabouts of Marc(though not after sending Scorpius a knowing wink which made him flush a deep red). However, it was quite pointless. Neither had seen him after first period, the same as me.

"Maybe he's with his new girlfriend?" Scorpius suggested, carefully avoiding eye contact with me.

Honestly, the thought had occurred to me. Multiple times. Contrary to popular belief, Hufflepuffs really weren't that dumb. But it was just easier to refuse the fact that my best friend had ditched me for some girl. Or rather, the girl.

My mood darkening by the second, I merely waved a goodbye to the two boys in green. One of which had already returned his attention to his book and the other preoccupied with trying to balance his wand on his nose. Sighing I trudged to my room. As soon as I saw my bed, my mood considerably lightened. Landing face first on it, I let out a long groan.

"No luck then, I assume", I heard Ada's cheerful voice say from the bed next to mine.

I mumbled out a reply, then adjusted myself on my lover until I was comfortably curled up, my head resting on the fluffy pillow. Just as I felt my eyes close, Sam piped up, "Hey Harp, have you completed that Potions essay yet?"

Groaning as I felt the sandman's pull leave me, I sat up and scowled at my two companions, both who were sprawled on their respective beds, parchment and ink spread before them. Still scowling, I reached inside my bag and upon finding the half finished essay, let out a tired sigh and began my work. An hour and a smuggled jumbo pack of Cheetos later, we were done. And just in time for dinner too. We tidied our room, since Sam and I were neat freaks, and headed out to the Great Hall. The usual hustle bustle of the hall having an immediate calming effect on me, brought a smile to my face. I wouldn't let the fact that Marcus couldn't be bothered to let me know where he was bog me down. No siree. Feeling myself relax, I headed to the table which held the badgers. "Evening Anne", I said to the chubby, blonde girl who had become a good friend over the years.

"H-hello Harper", she replied amiably with the stutter she's had since she was 11.

"Found your slippery friend yet? Hee hee. See what I did there, snakes are slippery… and he's a Slytherin… No? Nobody get it?" Roger, a fourth year boy with wild, golden hair said.

Rolling my eyes and seating myself in between Sam and Anne with Roger and Ada across from us, I replied, "We all got it Rog, it was just a bad joke."

"You're no fun", he shot back with a fake pout.

"Whatever you say Roger. But to answer your question, no I didn't find Marcus. But, honestly, it's not a big deal. He's probably… around. He can do what he wants", I said with a nonchalant shrug.

And I meant it too. I wasn't about to become one of those weird clingy friends. Nope. And I was overreacting anyways. So for the remainder of the evening, I busied myself with jokes, food and badgers. However, it didn't escape my notice how I still thought of Marcus. And this scared me. It was true that in the beginning of our friendship, I hid behind him, depending on him when I was bullied and mocked. He was always there for me. So yes, it was also probably true that I needed him more than he needed me. He was stronger, and definitely didn't need a stupid Hufflepuff for a friend.

'You're over-analysing', I mentally scolded myself and distracted myself as well as I could.

After a good night's sleep, I felt much better. Going through the daily routine of brushing, dressing and attempting to murder Ada for waking me up, I was soon walking towards Potions. Entering the dark classroom, I squinted, trying to look for Marcus. Immediately, I spotted his curly brown hair and started walking towards his seat, with the intentions of sitting next to him… only to find the spot already filled. By none other than the girl. I felt a rush of anger, but quickly pushed it down. I wasn't going to make any assumptions nor was I going to make judgments about the girl, though it might be a little late for that. Standing in front of his table I felt even more angry when I realized he hadn't even noticed me yet. I loudly cleared my throat and said to Marcus, without even sparing a glance towards her (like I said, it might be a little late for the not making judgments part) "Morning M, I didn't see you all day yesterday. Everything okay?"

He finally raised his head towards me and I was disappointed to find a smirk painted across his face. He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by her voice. "Marky and I were simply spending some time with each other. You see there is absolutely no privacy in the Slytherin common room", she finished while shooting a *gag* adoring look to Marcus.

In return, he grabbed her cheek and *ew ew ew* placed a kiss on her lips. Gross. I was quite horrified to see that they weren't even thinking about stopping any time soon! Clearing my throat and giving them a great look of disgust, I walked away, muttering, "Get a room. Talk about PDA people. Sheesh"

From the corner of my eye, I saw they had finally dislodged their tongues from each other's throats, but I couldn't be bothered to try to talk to him again. I was disgusted. And freaked out. And angry. And concerned. What was wrong with him. He hated couples who kissed in public and was always dead against doing it himself. He wasn't himself. He didn't apologize for ditching me, and he didn't even really tell me where they were yesterday. Huffing, (A/N:I just realized something. Huffing and puffing = Hufflepuff… I think I'm onto something here) I seated myself next to Anna and tried not to look at Marcus and the girl… it was kind of hard to though. But it wasn't only me. The whole class was looking at the pair as if they had grown two heads. The reason to this was probably the fact that they kept swapping saliva every time the professor's back was turned. Anna turned to me and gave me a questioning look, but I just shrugged. I mean, what could I say? I had no idea what was happening to him. He'd been fine the night we had met up in the Room of Requirement, then. BAM! 180 degree turn. It was confusing.

For the whole day after that, the case was the same. Ignoring me, snogging her, giving people who were looking at them challenging looks and basically being an utter asshole, sorry for my potty mouth. As the evening approached, I didn't even bother leaving the comfort of the common room. Usually at this time, Marc and I would be spending time with each other, playing pranks, complaining about random things and picking fights (he'd pick fights, I'd diffuse the situation). But now, I really didn't want to be around him. 'He'd probably bring the girl with him too', I thought with distaste. Also, he hadn't actually made a move to come and spend time with me. I felt sadness, fear and anger bubble up inside me. I just felt so – before I could finish the thought, however, I heard a voice say, "I brought snacks love!"

Looking up from where I had been sulking on my bed, I saw Sam enter the room with a brown paper bag in her hand. She had a kind smile on her face as she pushed the bag into my arms. "Thanks Sammy", I said, though it came out jumbled through the donuts I had already stuffed in my mouth.

"Oh it's no biggie. Though it's not me you should be thanking, it's the house elves."

I nodded. It made sense. The Hufflepuffs were always nice to the elves so naturally they went overboard with pampering us. Not that I was complaining. It also helped that our common room was through the kitchens, we couldn't help running into them on most days. I continued stuffing myself as Sam sat on the foot of my best friend. "If it's any consolation, I think he's being an asshole too."

I gave her a smile, a real one, and nodded. "It is Sam. It really is."

"Where's Ada?"

Sam rolled her eyes and crossed her legs. "You know her. She's off socializing with some random person she met five minutes ago."

Laughing, I nodded and handed her a donut. "Is it bad that I'm more worried about him than angry at him?" I asked with a heavy sigh.

"It kind of is. He's the one who's being a jerk, not you. But I don't blame you. It's in your nature Harp. You care about others more than yourself", she replied with a ghost of a smile on her face.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, a devious smile found its way onto Samara's face. Since these type of smiles never meant anything good, I raised an eyebrow while raising my hands as if protecting myself.

"Want to play Exploding Snap?"

Crap.