Hi everyone! Sorry again for the delay. It's been a bit hectic here (6 month old baby in the process of teething, being sick, bad weather, work, etc.) so I haven't had much writing time. I was able to finally sit down and write this without distraction. Hope you all enjoy it!
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Artemis sat in the Great Hall after a long day of class, burying himself in his work. Dinner was slowly filling the platters in front of him, but eating was one of the last things on his mind. There was so much work to be done, so little time to do it in. Being the overachiever that he was, after passing all of his O.W.L.S. exams, he decided it was a great idea to literally take all of the classes offered to him as a sixth year student. He was a genius; he figured it would be easy. And it was. He had learned how to balance all the course work- even for the classes he didn't quite attend in person, and now that he had a system down, he was sure academically he would be fine.

What was truly bothering him was Vanessa.

The girl acted like everything was fine, but he knew better. He had known her for years now, and he could tell when something was truly not right with her. She hadn't been herself in quite some time now, and it was all because of Draco Malfoy. It was all too apparent. Artemis rolled his eyes at the thought of the Slytherin boy. He made him sick to his stomach. Everything about Malfoy irritated him, but he bit his tongue. All because he was a supportive friend, and he wanted Vanessa to be happy. And if seeing Draco made her happy, then he was happy for her.

But she wasn't happy.

Only a fool would say otherwise. She didn't smile like she used to. She was nowhere near as sassy as she used to be. This Vanessa was not the same vivacious girl she once was, and it was becoming all too obvious for him to ignore.  She was so busy trying to figure out what was wrong with Draco that she was forgetting to take care of herself. She was too obsessed to see he was slowly draining her.

Sure, Artemis truly only ever had one real girlfriend, and she dumped him for being smarter than she was after a year. Plus, there was a girl from Beauxbatons he spoke to for a while, but that fizzled out before it even started. But despite his inexperience in the area of romance, he knew the signs of an unhealthy relationship when he saw them. They were lit like a neon sign for the whole world to see- at least to everyone but Vanessa. The fighting had become much more constant in the past few days, and honestly he thought there were probably much better ways to apologize to each other than having sex. Especially since they just ended up fighting again the next day. But what did he know?

And that wasn't even factoring in the ever-growing possibility of Malfoy being a Death Eater.

He needed to talk to her about it. Preferably alone. Alex meant well, but she often didn't provide the most logical or sound advice. He knew she didn't like Vanessa being with Malfoy either- they had talked about it at length more than once- but she would just be too brash about the whole thing and likely piss Vanessa off more than help her. It was just their dynamic. Luckily for him, Alex was too preoccupied talking to some Gryffindors so he was alone for the time being. Artemis knew he could get through to Vanessa more than Alex could ever hope to, and he intended to do it. Tonight.

He sighed and started to put his books and parchments away in his bag. He wasn't going to get any work on his assignments now. And despite the stress building up on top of him, he wasn't going to starve himself. A brain starved of nutrients wasn't going to do anyone good. If only others thought that way.

Artemis hadn't even set his bag on the floor yet when he saw Vanessa walk into the room. She was frowning again as she walked slowly towards him, her face swollen and pink. She had been crying again, even though she would never admit to it. Even without speaking to her, Artemis knew that she had been arguing with Draco again. She likely tried to push him for answers again, and it didn't go well just as he predicted. He waited for her to take her seat and get settled in before he spoke to her, and even then he didn't want to push her too much.

"Evening, Nessa," he greeted quietly.

"Hey," she answered, staring at the platters of food in the center of the table. She was avoiding eye contact again.

He took a deep breath, knowing he might end up regretting asking his next question. "Are you okay?"

Vanessa barely shook her head, but it was enough for him to notice. She took a small breath, still looking at the food platters. She slowly started to put some food on her plate, so it seemed like he was going to have to press on.

"Fighting again?" Artemis inquired, starting to fill his plate too. He watched her carefully, trying to read her expression and nearly missed his plate when he put a scoop of mashed potatoes on it.

Vanessa didn't say anything for a few moments, and when she did finally speak it was in a whisper, staring at her plate still. "He called me a half-blood."

Artemis liked to think he was fairly even-tempered, but that... that made his blood boil. "He called you what?"

"Half-blood," Vanessa repeated quietly. "He called me a half-blood."

Artemis took a deep breath, trying his hardest to not get up and hunt Malfoy down himself. There were certain lines any respectable wizard didn't cross, and that was one of them. How dare he? Who the hell did he think he was? Artemis already didn't like Malfoy, but this was the final straw.

"Vanessa, I... I'm so sorry," he offered. He didn't call her that- he knew better; his mother would've killed him- but he still felt like someone needed to apologize for it. He knew damn well Malfoy wasn't going to say it to her. "That's absolutely appalling that he felt the need to bring in such a slur. You don't deserve that."

And he was right. She didn't deserve it. But did she see it that way?

Vanessa didn't say anything again for a few moments. "I shouldn't have pushed him to tell me what was wrong."

She was blaming herself. Oh hell no.

"What do you mean you shouldn't have pushed him? How are you wrong for wanting to help him?" Artemis questioned, trying his hardest to hide his anger but he was sure it was failing. "Vanessa... you're in a relationship with him. He should want you to be concerned for him. He shouldn't be arguing with you and calling you heinous names." He paused for a moment, debating if he should really say what he wanted to. "This... this isn't healthy."

"In all fairness, I called his family inbred in retaliation," Vanessa tried to deflect.

"That's not the point, Nessa," Artemis sighed. "This fighting all the time isn't good. For you. For him. Please don't take this as a personal attack, but... it's already changing you into someone else. You haven't been happy in weeks. I know you love him or whatever, but something's got to give."

"It's... it's not that simple, Artemis," she answered, still focusing on her food.

Artemis shook his head. "No, of course it's not," he muttered. "I'm not saying all this because I'm trying to be mean; I'm saying this because as your best friend, I am genuinely worried about you. I don't like seeing you like this, and I certainly don't like how powerless I am in being able to fix it." He paused for a moment. "I'm not saying leave him, but please consider your health and safety. I'm just... worried that his verbal abuse will take new forms."

Her eyes were still cast downwards when she answered him. "I'll be alright, Arty. Please don't worry about me."

That was the thing though. He was always going to worry about her. Just as he had since they were young. If anything, he was much more worried for her now than he had ever been before. This was turning into a dangerous situation. He wanted nothing more than for Vanessa to leave Malfoy and get back to her usual self again, but he wasn't naive enough to think that it was going to be that simple. The guy had some spell on her, and there was no telling how much abuse she would endure at his hands because of it.

He went to reply, but was cut short when he noticed Malfoy approaching them.

It was times like this that he truly hated that he had promised his mother he would stay out of trouble this year. He wanted nothing more than to punch Malfoy in his smug face, but he knew how that would play out. Draco would make it  look so much more dramatic than it actually was, and Artemis didn't have the patience for that.

The blond boy stopped on the other side of Vanessa, and she looked up at him. "Yes Draco?"

Malfoy looked to Artemis and then back at Vanessa. "Can we speak in private?"

Vanessa nodded, and got up from the table, leaving Artemis sitting there alone, fuming silently. He knew exactly how that private chat was going to go, and it was only going to continue the vicious cycle his friend was in. Artemis shook his head again, stabbing the piece of chicken on his plate with his fork. Some way, somehow, he was going to convince Vanessa she deserved the world and get her away from Malfoy for good. No matter the cost.