Sorry it took so long for me to update this! It shouldn't take me that long for the next one. I actually know what I'm doing now! Hope you enjoy!
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    Vanessa sat with Draco in the Great Hall after dinner that night. The two of them were sitting in relative silence, both working on some homework. The hall was far from busy, but it wasn't empty either. There were a few other students lingering, all for their own varying reasons. But honestly there was a lot more on Vanessa's mind than her homework.

    She looked over at Draco, a frown on her face. He was focused on his parchment in front of him, furiously writing something. It was the first time she had seen him do homework all term. Surely his grades had to be slipping, unless of course he had been doing homework in the Slytherin common room. But that was a conversation for another time. She really needed to ask him about Slughorn's party, but she wasn't sure if now was a good time or not. She decided to test the waters first.

    "How's your homework coming along?" she asked quietly.

    Draco shrugged. "It's going alright, I guess." He paused and looked over at her. "Yours?"
   
    Vanessa looked down at her parchment, and realized she had hardly written any of her essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts. She was glad they finally had a competent professor for the class, but she hated that it had to be Snape. All it had done was shift her usually long Potions assignments to another class. "Eh, I don't think I'm getting anywhere with this nonsense tonight," she admitted.

    Draco raised an eyebrow, but his face seemed to soften for a moment. "Oh? Why is that? It looked like you were nearly done with it earlier. You had almost a whole sheet written."

    "Yeah, before I realized I had completely missed the point of the essay, so I had to start over," Vanessa admitted. She reached over and grabbed the piece of parchment sitting off to the side. "See? I completely botched it."

    Draco smiled and shook his head. Vanessa couldn't resist smiling back at him. When he was in a good mood, it was rather contagious. It was nice to see him not looking so stressed for a moment- even if he still had dark circles under his eyes. "I'm surprised you didn't just say screw it and keep it," he said with a laugh.

    "If it had been anyone other than Snape grading it, I totally would've," Vanessa agreed. "But he's left me some brutal responses to my Potions essays in the past, and I have not forgotten. I'm sure he's dying to leave me another critical response."

    "That's fair," Draco replied, still laughing. A good sign. "But he isn't always right, you know. He doesn't know everything."

    Vanessa raised an eyebrow. That was strange coming from Draco. "I thought you used to be like buddy-buddy with Snape? What happened there?"

    Draco shrugged. "Eh, nothing really. Just don't like the insufferable bloke anymore."

    Fair point. Snape was fairly unlikeable on a good day, let alone any other time. Vanessa smiled as she sat her quill down on the table and turned to look at Draco. This was as good a time as any to ask him about the party. "So um... I have a question for you," she started.

    "Alright," Draco said, his voice already sounding confused. "What is it?"

    "Well, on December 20th, Slughorn is having a Christmas party for the Slug Club and we can bring someone with us. I was wondering if you would like to come with me?" Vanessa asked, unable to hide the nervousness in her voice. "It would be before the holidays and when we all return home for them."

    Draco stared at her for a moment, and Vanessa was sure that this was about to go horribly wrong. His smile was gone, and a more vacant expression had replaced it. Vanessa was having difficulty reading it. Was he mad? Upset?

    "I'm sorry, but I won't be able to go with you," he answered quietly. He sounded more disappointed than anything, which was a relief. "I've got... other plans that night."

    Other plans? What could be more important than going to a party with her? Vanessa was honestly hurt, but she was also relieved all at the same time. While he had declined, it hadn't turned into another fight, so Vanessa was going to let it go for a moment.

    "Oh, alright," Vanessa replied quietly. "I just... thought I would ask. I probably won't go then. Spend the night packing for the holidays at home."

    Draco raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you go?"

    Vanessa shrugged back. "I don't like the Slug Club meetings on any regular day. I can't imagine a Christmas party would be any different, you know?"

    Draco nodded. "I suppose that's fair. The whole thing seems rather cringeworthy. A teacher hanging out with a bunch of students? Super weird."

    "It certainly has its moments," she agreed. Vanessa paused. She was hesitant to ask this, but she wanted to know. "So, what are your other plans then? Just out of curiosity."

Vanessa saw him tense up, and she knew she had made a mistake by asking him that. This conversation had been going so well up until that point and she just had to ruin it by asking him a question.

"There are some things I would just like to keep private," Draco answered coldly. He had shut his textbook and had begun shuffling his papers together. Vanessa had seemingly ruined this conversation to the point he was calling it a night. Lovely.

"Even from your girlfriend?" she pressed on. If she had already pissed him off, what was a little more going to do? "I'm just trying to take interest in your life and you keep shutting me out."

"It's really none of your damn business," Draco hissed, shoving his book and papers into his bag. "Why do you have to be so damn nosy all the time? It's ridiculous."

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "You get on my nerves, you know that? All I do is try to be involved with you, and you pull this every single time. I don't know why you shut me out, and hide parts of your life from me. I'm not going to judge you so you don't need to be so defensive!"

Draco stood, refusing to look at her. "You wouldn't understand," he muttered. He sighed. "I'll talk to you later, Vanessa. Good night."

Vanessa watched him walk away, unable to decide how she was feeling. Draco was definitely acting suspicious. He was hiding something; she just didn't know what. He had mysterious plans he wouldn't disclose. He would immediately turn defensive at any mention of said mysterious plans, or any other strange thing he seemed to be up to. Vanessa didn't want to think the rumors were true, but at this point, what else could it be? What else was so horrible that he couldn't tell her about it? She shook her head; no way he was a Death Eater.

She took a deep breath, trying her best to calm down. It wasn't that bad of a fight. They both just needed some time to relax a bit. This time tomorrow, they will be fine and back to normal. Or at least that was her hope. They had recovered from worse fights.

She shut her book and rolled up her parchment, stowing them in her bag. If she wasn't going to get any more written on her paper before, she really wasn't going to get anything written now. Time to call it a night. The girl stood and started her walk back to the Ravenclaw common room.

After answering the portrait's new riddle, Vanessa stepped into the room, trying her hardest to put on a happier face. She had no idea if her friends were still awake, and the last thing she wanted was another confrontation. Luckily for her, the common room was completely empty, other than Artemis, who was sitting in front of the fireplace reading and taking notes on something. He hadn't even noticed her come into the room. Didn't surprise Vanessa in the slightest, especially not these days.

She crossed the room and took a seat in the empty chair across from him, setting her bag on the floor beside her. The thump of her bag hitting the floor made her friend look up at her.

"Good evening, Vanessa," he greeted.

"Evening, Arty," she responded. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb your studying." She paused, trying to get a good look at his book. She couldn't make out anything beyond the phrase Disillusionment Charm. "Something for Charms?"

Artemis glanced down at the book in front of him, and shook his head. He closed the book abruptly, and looked at her. "No, just some recreational learning," he answered, setting the book on top of his notes and moving them aside.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you bogged down with enough stuff this year with all your extra classes? You still find time to learn stuff you aren't required to?"

"Of course," Artemis said. "There's no such thing as too much when it comes to learning new things."

"Nerd," Vanessa teased.

"Your favorite," Artemis retorted, a small smile on his face. He paused and looked at her. "You're back earlier than I thought you would be. I assumed you would be with Malfoy until late again tonight."

"Eh, we decided to call it a night," she replied. It wasn't technically a lie.

Artemis saw through it anyway. "You guys got into another argument."

"Of course," Vanessa sighed.

"What about?"

She shrugged. "I asked him to Slughorn's party, and he declined, and told me he had other plans. It was fine until I asked him what those other plans he had were."

Artemis didn't say anything for a few moments. "He's definitely hiding something from you," he said quietly.

"I know that," Vanessa snapped, a little more angrily than she would've liked. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. "I'm sorry. I just... I know. I'm going to figure it all out. Right now, I'm just going to try to figure out my Christmas plans since I'm not going to the party."

"You're not going?" Artemis asked, unable to hide the confusion in his voice.

"I was thinking I wasn't," she answered. "Why? Are you?"

He nodded, and some of his hair fell into his eyes, causing him to quickly brush it away. "Slughorn isn't my idea of great company, but it would be beneficial to stay on his good side for networking once we have finished school here," he explained. "So I was planning on attending. After that, I was going to head home for the holidays. Mother wants me home."

Vanessa frowned. She hadn't even thought about what she was going to do for Christmas yet. She was guessing she wasn't staying here. Not with the way she had been fighting with Draco. She loved him, but she didn't want to be here alone in case things went really south. Hell, she didn't even know if he was staying at Hogwarts anyway. She was going to have to send her father an owl and see what he was planning. Worst case scenario, she stayed at Hogwarts alone.

"I guess I should probably go too. I don't really have anything else to do that night," she finally admitted. "But I have no idea what I'm going to do for Christmas yet."

"You know you are always welcome at the manor," Artemis reminded. He must have caught the uneasiness in her voice despite her trying to sound calm. "Plus I'm sure your father would like to see you too."

Vanessa nodded. Her friend made several valid points, as much as she hated to admit it. "I'll send him an owl," she assured. "I have a little bit of time."

"True," he said. Artemis glanced at the clock. "We should probably begin our prefect duties. It's about that time."

Vanessa sighed. "I'm actually not really feeling up to it tonight. Do you mind doing rounds alone tonight?"

She thought Artemis was going to be angry she was shirking her duties again, but instead he just replied, "Of course not. I can handle it. You get some rest."

"I will," Vanessa assured. "After I write my dad."

She watched her friend stand, and couldn't help but notice a mischievous gleam in his eyes. What was he up to? Artemis set his books in a neat pile on the table, and then he turned to look at her once more.

"Very well," he said. "If you aren't asleep by the time I get back, we'll talk more then. But in case, good night, Vanessa."

"G'night, Artemis," she replied.

Her friend smiled, and then he made his way out of the common room, off to start their prefect duties, the ones she had put off way more than she should. She just didn't have the energy to deal with it tonight. There was too much on her mind, and the last thing she needed to deal with was her prefect duties.

Perhaps writing her father was the perfect remedy to her problem.