Vanessa ran her fingers through her hair in front of the mirror in the girls' dormitory. She was in the process of finalizing her look for the party. Her makeup was done, and she was in her dress. All she had left to do was put her shoes on and she would be ready.

    Her day so far had passed without incident. Draco had given her some half-assed apology at breakfast, but had still been rather distant throughout their classes that day. Vanessa was still livid, and it was going to take a lot more than some honeyed words to fix that this time. Even with the apology, she was still going to this party and having a good time. She deserved it.

    She wasn't the only one getting ready, it seemed. Luna Lovegood was in her own mirror, putting earrings on. The younger girl wasn't a member of the Slug Club, so Vanessa wondered who she had been invited by. There were quite a few Ravenclaws invited to the party, with both herself and Artemis along with Marcus Belby all being members of the little club. Although she supposed she could've been invited by anyone.

    Vanessa looked over at Luna. "Looking forward to the party?"

    The eccentric girl turned, her large earrings swinging in every direction. "Oh most definitely. It was very nice of Harry to invite me," she answered excitedly.

    So it was Potter who invited her. That answered both who Luna was going with and the burning question from the library when Harry said he was going to invite someone cool a few weeks ago. It was an interesting choice, but it was also a safe choice. There was no chance Luna was going to try to seduce him with Amortentia. She was far too sweet for that.

    "It was very nice of him to invite you," Vanessa agreed, finding it very hard to not smile at the girl. "I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun tonight."

    Luna smiled. "I'm sure you will too. I assume you're bringing Draco?"

    Vanessa shook her head. "No. He um... had other stuff to do tonight," she explained. She hoped that was enough of an explanation for her. "So I'm going with Artemis." She saw a strange look cross Luna's face, so she added, "As friends."

    Luna nodded, knowingly. "I see. That's unfortunate. Artemis is quite fond of you. I've heard him and Alex talk about it a lot when you aren't around."

    Vanessa almost laughed. "Well of course he's fond of me. He's my best friend."

    Luna shook her head, causing some of her white-blonde hair to fall over her shoulder. "No, Vanessa. Not like that," she replied. "He's liked you for years now. He's just too much of a gentleman to admit it." Luna shrugged. "It's a shame. You two would be quite adorable together."

    Vanessa blinked a few times in confusion, not sure what she should do with that information. Her best friend was in love with her? Could it be true? It wasn't impossible, but it seemed so strange that her brain didn't want to believe it. Artemis couldn't have a crush on her.

    But it did explain a lot- why all her friends kept giggling when he got brought up, why they kept saying she had the attention of multiple men, why Alex said she had sworn a pinky promise and the person would kill her for telling. Why Artemis was more than happy to help her out with her classwork, and why he didn't mind giving her nights off from their prefect duties. Why he let her lean on him without protest. Everything made sense if what Luna was telling her was in fact true.

    And if it was true, why did Vanessa not mind?

    "Well, that would explain a lot, honestly," Vanessa eventually answered, sighing. "Thank you for telling me."

    "No problem," Luna said with a smile. She glanced up at a clock on the wall. "It's about that time. We should head to the common room."

    Vanessa took one more glimpse in the mirror before slipping her shoes on. This was as ready as she was going to get. The girl stood, brushing out some small wrinkles in her dress. She looked to Luna, and noticed her dress for the first time. Vanessa wasn't shocked to see the girl in a much more elaborate dress than her own, covered in ruffles. She would've never worn something so bold, but it worked for Luna. Honestly, Vanessa would've been shocked if Luna had worn something more toned down.

    Without another word, the two girls made their way to the common room. The room was rather packed with other Ravenclaw students, most of them doing their own thing. But Vanessa's eyes went immediately to Artemis.

    He stood there, chatting to Alex about something with an annoyed look upon his face. He was dressed in a full suit, which didn't entirely shock Vanessa. Artemis usually wore suits outside of school, where he generally wore his Ravenclaw uniform. It was strange to see him wearing anything outside of those two things. It had been a while since she had seen him in a suit though, and she had forgotten how devilishly handsome he looked in them. Between the fancy clothes and his glossy black hair being perfectly coiffed, it was sickening how flawless that boy was tonight.

    Not that he wasn't any other time.

    She caught herself staring when she saw his eyes lock with hers after a few seconds. The scowl on his face was immediately replaced with a smile, and that was all it took for Vanessa to smile back at him.

    "See, I told you," Luna said quietly, breaking her thoughts.

    Vanessa never took her eyes off Artemis as she replied to Luna. "You did."

    Artemis abandoned Alex seemingly in the middle of a conversation and started to make his way over to where they were standing. Luna took this as her cue to leave.

    "Well, I've got to go find Harry," she said, a smile still on her face. "So I'll see you two at the party."

    Vanessa barely nodded as Luna walked off, and Artemis came to a stop in front of her. Vanessa tried to resist giving him a glance over, but she couldn't help herself. He looked even more perfect close up.

    "Good evening, Nessa," he greeted, still smiling at her. "You look wonderful tonight."

    Vanessa couldn't stop herself from smiling. That was the nicest thing someone had said to her in a while. She was sure she was blushing. "Says you!" she deflected. "I'm going to have the most handsome date to this party."

    Artemis' pale skin turned pink. It was a rare sight. Vanessa had only seen him blush a handful of times in their friendship. "We um... we should probably get going," he said.

    "Probably," Vanessa replied.

    Artemis went to say something, but was interrupted when Alex popped up beside them. "That was rude as hell," she started. "I was talking to you."

    Artemis was unmoved. "And I was done listening. Now, if you don't mind, Vanessa and I must be going," he answered. He offered Vanessa his arm. Once she looped her arm with his, he led her away from their friend and out of the common room.

    The two of them walked down the hall in silence for a few moments before Vanessa asked, "So Alex must've been aggravating you?"

    Artemis took a deep breath. "She's upset that neither of us invited her to the party tonight. Said that since we were allowed to bring someone outside the club, it was inconsiderate that we decided to just go with each other," he explained.

    Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Of course. Sometimes I swear she cannot live without starting drama," she replied. "Us going together was literally a last minute decision we made last night. She knows why- just ugh."

    "I know, I know," Artemis assured, trying to calm her down. "But she'll get over it; she always does. For now, let us focus on trying to enjoy ourselves at the party. We both have been quite stressed recently so this should be a nice little distraction."

    A distraction, Vanessa thought. If it were only that simple.