Hi everyone! I am so sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up! Life has been super busy! Between work, being a mom, the holidays, and all that sometimes it has been hard to get some proper writing done. Not to mention I had REALLY bad writer's block for this story for a long time. I honestly got stuck on a difficult scene in my other story, Shine Again, and I bounced over to this one on a whim. I got this chapter done written much faster than what I thought I would, considering when I opened the document I had zero clue about what I was doing. I hope you all enjoy, and I hope I will have another chapter up for you all soon!

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"So tell us about this party Slughorn is throwing?" Kendall asked, taking a drink from her butterbeer.

Vanessa picked at her food, trying to debate an answer. The girls decided to meet up the next day at lunch for some much needed girl time. It was the first time all five of them had been together since the school year began. Different houses, classes, and years sometimes caused there to be times they went weeks without a proper conversation. Vanessa was both happy and nervous about this. Given the events of the last few weeks, she just knew she was likely going to be the center of attention and she would much rather not deal with it.

Like right now, for example, with Slughorn's party. It was times like this she wished Artemis was here to do the talking for her. But of course, Mr. Overachiever was too busy with classwork to bother with eating that day. Vanessa wasn't a fan of that, so she was going to bring him some food once the girls were done talking. She would likely be late to class, but she'd blame her prefect duties for that. She was going to have a chat with him about not eating later.

She eventually shrugged, unsure of what her friends were wanting to hear. "I don't know. It's some Christmas party he apparently likes to throw before the holidays. Something about sharing the festive spirit and all that jazz," she responded. "He said we can bring a guest if we want."

"So obviously you're going to bring Draco," Amber insinuated.

"Well, that is the plan," Vanessa replied. She sighed. "But I'm not sure he'll want to go. He's been kind of weird about me being involved with the Slug Club, so I'm not sure if he will be happy to tag along or if he will think it will mar his social status or some nonsense."

Emily snorted, setting down her fork. "He's your boyfriend. He should want to go to a party with you."

Alex took a drink and set her cup back down. "If he doesn't, he's garbage."

Vanessa shot her friend a glare. "You were just waiting to call him garbage, weren't you?"

"I mean, you'll be all dressed up and everything," Emily continued, not letting Alex answer that. "This is what? The first time you've worn a fancy dress since the Yule Ball?"

It wasn't the last time she had worn a dress, but she wasn't going to remind Emily about her mother's funeral right now. She didn't have the energy for that conversation. It was too much to deal with, especially on top of all of this.

Before she could say anything, Kendall spoke up again. "It seems like the Yule Ball was just yesterday," she sighed.

"Didn't you go with Blaise?" Amber asked, taking a bite of her food. "I don't remember."

Kendall nodded. "That's because you were too busy snogging that guy from Durmstrang."

Amber shrugged. "Sue me. He was cute."

"Of course he was cute," Alex agreed. "Those men were built like brick houses. Like damn."

Vanessa sighed. "We're getting a bit off topic guys."

"Oh don't be upset, Vanessa," Amber said. "You could've picked someone else to go with too. You had plenty of guys interested in you. You didn't have to go with Artemis, although I'm sure that was a riot."

They always picked on her for going with Artemis. Always. She went with him merely as friends. It seemed like the best option at the time. He certainly wasn't a partier or a dancer or anything of the sort so it was mostly just the two of them hanging out and drinking punch. Vanessa was more than okay with that. So many other girls got their hearts stomped on at the Yule Ball by their dates and other guys. She was very happy she was not one of them.

"We went as friends, and the evening was perfectly fine," Vanessa reminded them. "I didn't need to be snogged or groped to have a good time. Honestly if given the chance to do it over, I'd still take Artemis."

Emily smirked, something that seemed super strange. She was supposed to be the sweet one among Vanessa's friends. "Oh, I'm sure he'd agree with that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vanessa questioned. All the girls at the table other than Vanessa started giggling, and it caused her to blush unintentionally. "Why are you all laughing?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing," Alex said between laughs.

"You wouldn't try to bring Draco?" Amber asked.

Vanessa snorted. "No. He was too busy up Parkinson's arse to notice anyone else. Plus, he may have been a bigger jerk back then than he is now. No thank you; I'll pass on that. I'd much rather go with my best friend."

"Uh huh," Kendall replied. "Best friend."

Vanessa rolled her eyes, and took a bite of her soup. "You guys are all being weird. Can we please get back on topic? We're talking about Slughorn's party, remember? Not the damn Yule Ball. Focus."

Amber sighed. "Fine, fine, back to the party. So you're going to ask Draco to go?"

Vanessa nodded. "Yes. And if he doesn't want to go, then I'm skipping it. I really don't like going to his little meetings and I can't imagine I would like a party any more."

Alex smirked. "You're going to make Artemis go to that hellhole by himself?"

"He's a big boy," Vanessa stated, picking at a piece of bread. "I think he can handle going to a party alone. Hell, he may not go anyways. I haven't heard him talk about it at all, so I'm not sure what his plans are. Maybe he's going home for the holidays and can't be bothered with it."

"Hmm," Emily mused, shifting in her seat. "I guess we'll see what he ends up doing. He does whatever he wants. In the meantime, how are you going to ask Draco?"

Vanessa thought about it for a second. "Probably just ask him straightforward. No point in beating around the bush. He's either going to go or not. It is what it is, you know?"

Really, Vanessa just didn't want to start another fight with him. It had been a rough couple weeks, and Vanessa wasn't ready to admit that to them. None of them knew about how bad things had been, and she was determined to keep it that way. The only one who had any idea things had been going terribly was Artemis, and he wasn't a gossiper so Vanessa knew her secret was safe. If Draco wanted to go to the party with her, cool. If not, she wasn't going to push it. She didn't have the energy for another argument. Not when she still didn't have an answer about whatever he was up to.

Rumors were still swirling about him being a Death Eater, and that he was up to something sinister. Vanessa didn't want to believe it, and without concrete evidence she wasn't going to. But with the way Draco was acting and not telling her about whatever was troubling him definitely made it seem like he had something to hide.

"I suppose that's fair," Amber replied, shaking Vanessa from her thoughts. "Are you planning on going home to your dad afterwards for Christmas?"

Again, Vanessa hadn't thought about it. "I dunno. Haven't asked him yet. I'll have to write him and figure out what the plans are. I've got about a month to figure it all out." She didn't want to seem rude, so she added, "What are you guys all doing?"

Amber started talking about how her family was planning on having a big dinner at her grandmother's, and admittedly, Vanessa zoned out. Her thoughts were preoccupied with asking Draco about the party and getting things back on track with him. She didn't like fighting with him, despite what it seemed, and she was afraid this was going to ignite another battle with him. They had enough to sort out already. She decided she was going to ask him in a couple days, make sure he had calmed down enough from their last blow out. That should be enough time to get him to see reason and want to attend the party with her. And if not, she would just go home for the holidays. No big deal. She could use some time away from school anyway. Spend some time with her dad, probably go see Artemis' parents too.

And what was the deal with all the girls laughing when they brought him up? She'd deal with that later. Right now she was focused on getting an answer from Draco about the party so she could plan her holidays.

As bad as it sounded, part of her hoped he said no.