Vanessa flipped aimlessly through a book as she sat in the library. She was attempting to get some of her homework done. Not that she was getting much accomplished. Her mind had been elsewhere all evening, but she was trying anyway.

    The Christmas holiday was fast approaching. Slughorn's party was in a week, and a few days after that, the holiday break would officially begin. The bad news was that Vanessa still had no idea what she was going to do. Draco was supposed to get back to her about his plans, and he hadn't said a thing. She was growing annoyed; how was she supposed to decide her plans if he couldn't figure his own out? Vanessa was at a point where she was going to have to make a decision for him if he didn't tell her within the next day or so. She still needed to let her own father know what her plans were going to be, after all.

    She twisted a strand of her hair around her finger as she glanced up from the textbook in front of her. It was hard to concentrate, and she found herself eavesdropping on nearby conversations instead of actually getting work done. She couldn't resist; especially considering Harry Potter and Hermione Granger we're standing just on the other side of the aisle, and they were talking more loudly than she thought they should be for being in the library. Yet the gossip was proving to be a nice distraction.

    "He's at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes. I really couldn't care less. Was I under the impression that he and I would be attending Slughorn's Christmas party together? Yes," Hermione ranted, pulling books from the shelves. "Of course now, given the circumstances, I've had to make other arrangements."

    Vanessa raised an eyebrow. She had honestly forgotten for a moment that Potter and Granger were both members of the Slug Club. Other than Potter supposedly stalking Draco, the trio had been relatively quiet this year. Yet, it seemed there was some personal drama in their inner circle. From context clues, Vanessa could only assume that Hermione had been talking about Ron Weasley. Why was he so damn popular with the ladies recently? She shook the thought and listened in again, looking down at her book in an attempt to not be noticed.

    "Have you?" Harry asked.

    "Yes. Why?"

    "I just thought, you know, since neither one of us can take who we'd really like... maybe we'd go together. As friends," Harry went on.

    Boy, did that sound like a familiar plight. Vanessa hadn't even thought of going with someone other than Draco. She supposed she could've asked Alex to come, but she wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. She could be a bit much, and babysitting her at a party seemed like a nightmare Vanessa would like to avoid. She supposed in a way she was attending the party with Artemis as friends, but neither one of them had formally asked the other one about it. It was just some unspoken thing. Maybe it was better that way. Vanessa was sure that Draco would use that as a reason to be a jealous jerk. Merlin knew she didn't need that.

    Vanessa glanced up to see Hermione stop in her tracks. "Why didn't I think of that?"

    "So who are you taking?" Harry asked. He seemed genuinely concerned. Vanessa couldn't say she blamed him.

    Hermione placed a book on the shelf. "Um... it's a surprise. Besides, it's you we need to worry about. And you can't pick just anyone. See that girl over there? That's Romilda Vane. Rumor has it she's trying to slip you a love potion."

    Harry and Vanessa both followed Hermione's gaze to a raven-haired girl sitting some feet away from all of them. Honestly there seemed to be a massive influx of girls trying to use Amortentia this year. Vanessa was perplexed. Where were they all getting it from? She'd have to figure that out later.

    "Really...?" Harry asked, dreamily.

    Hermione snapped her fingers in front of his face, obviously annoyed. "Hey! She's only interested in you because she thinks you're the Chosen One. You know that, right?"

    "But I am the Chosen One."

    Hermione swiftly bopped him on the head with some papers she had been holding. Vanessa resisted the urge to laugh. She would've done the same if one of her friends- most likely Alex- had reacted that way.

    "Okay. Kidding," Harry responded, rubbing his head. "I'll just ask someone I like. Someone cool."

    Vanessa was disappointed she wouldn't hear the rest of their conversation, as the two of them moved away from her. Just as it was getting good, too. Guess she would find out in a week's time who Granger was bringing to the party. She sighed, and looked back at her book. What was she doing again? Without any drama to distract her, she had no excuse to not get a little bit of her classwork done.
   
    But she didn't get very far. After writing only a few sentences, she was interrupted by someone sitting down across from her. She glanced up to see Draco looking back at her.

    "Oh, hey," she greeted with a small smile on her face.

    "I've been looking everywhere for you," he started.

    "Congrats, you found me," Vanessa replied, setting her quill down and putting her full attention on him. She shut her textbook too, shoving her parchment inside it. Definitely safe to say she wasn't getting any further with this work right now. "So what's up?"

    "I thought I'd let you know I was going to be returning home for the holidays," Draco cut to the chase.

    "Well alright," she answered. At last she had an answer. "Thank you for telling me."

    Draco nodded. "I'd ask you to come with me, but my parents called an emergency family meeting, and I don't think you need to witness it."

    Family meeting? Emergency? Vanessa was curious, but she knew even if she asked he wouldn't tell her. She would just add that to the very long list of things he wouldn't give her a straight answer for. She decided it was best to just roll with it.

    "Fair enough. I'll have plenty of time to meet your parents later," she answered. "Plus I think my dad would kill me if I went to your place anyway. Best stick with what he asked."

    Draco was silent for a moment. "So what are you doing then?"

    "Well, my options were to stay here, go home to an empty house because dad will be gone for work, go with Alex, or go with Artemis," Vanessa reviewed, counting them off on her fingers. "I don't want to spend Christmas alone, because, well that sucks." She paused, taking two of her fingers down. "I think I would end up killing Alex if I went back with her. I love her, but I can't handle her for two weeks straight." She pulled down a third finger, leaving only her index finger still up. "So that leaves Artemis. He won't piss me off, and I miss his family really bad so I think that's the best choice."

    She brought her hand down in front of her, resting it on top of her other one, while she waited for Draco's response to that. She wasn't sure how he was going to take that she was electing to stay with her male best friend for the holidays. He had always seemed a bit wary and suspicious of her friendship with Artemis, and she wasn't sure if he was going to take that as some threat on their relationship. It wouldn't shock her at this point.

    She was surprised when Draco nodded slowly and replied, "So you're pretty close with his family, I take it?"

    "Well, of course," she answered. "We've been friends for years now. Our families spent a lot of time together over the summers. His parents and brothers are like my own." She sighed quietly. "I miss them."

    Draco was silent for a moment. "I see... I hope you enjoy your time with them then. Sounds like they probably miss you too."

    So he was okay with this? Vanessa almost thought it was too good to be true. Unless of course Draco was suddenly much more cool about her friendship with Artemis. She supposed the two of them had been talking a bit more, so perhaps Draco was finally laying off his jealousy. That was definitely a good thing. It would be one less thing they could fight about.

    "Probably," she said. "We'll have to send owls to each other with our gifts."

    Draco nodded. "That we shall, but in the meantime... we should uh... probably make good use of our time together this next week and a half," he replied, winking at her suggestively. "Being apart for two weeks is going to suck."

    Vanessa caught on to what he was implying. "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

    The girl stood, picking up her book and placing it in her bag as Draco stood as well. He offered her his arm, and she looped hers with his. As the two of them started to walk out of the library, Vanessa couldn't help but smile. That chat actually went well, without any fighting. Perhaps things were getting better.

    Or perhaps they were heading to something much worse.