The week or so following the breakup was the first time since Christmas break Vanessa felt so calm and free. Not having to walk on eggshells dealing with Draco took the weight of the world off her shoulders. No fighting, no accusations, nothing. She unfortunately still had to deal with him in several of her classes- the worst of them being Potions- but other than a few scoffs and glares, he hadn't paid her any mind. Hadn't even said two words to her. It seemed as if for now all was truly well for the first time in months.

    It was a cool Friday evening, and Alex had forced Vanessa and Artemis to go watch the Gryffindor Quidditch practice once again. Honestly, it was becoming routine at this point, and while Vanessa didn't completely mind it, she was beginning to wonder if Alex was ever going to realize she was chasing after something truly unattainable. But she digressed. This was a nice little break from reality for a bit, and any time not focused on homework or classes was more than welcome. Even if it was just her friend watching boys.

    The friends sat in the same spot they always did, although it was too cool for any of them to want to spread their robes out as a blanket to sit on this time. Vanessa was over the late winter/early spring air, and she huddled close to her friends hoping to stay a bit warmer. Her gloves were doing little to keep her fingers warm, their thinning fabric was starting to become see-through in several places. Shoving her hands deep into her robes' sleeves, she made a mental note to get new gloves before next winter. For now she'd deal with it for the last stretch of cold for the season.

    She sighed. As much as she enjoyed spending time with her friends, she would be lying if she said she wasn't bored watching the practice. Gryffindor was preparing for their match against Hufflepuff in two weeks, and Vanessa was sure she was going to have to endure yet another Quidditch match for Alex's feeble attempts at romancing Weasley.

    Her sigh didn't go unnoticed. "You don't have to sound so unenthused, Vanessa," Alex scoffed, unable to hide her annoyance.

    Vanessa rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm just bored. We literally only come to these so you can gawk at Weasley some more. Have you ever even talked to him?"

    "Um... I mean, a couple times, just not... one on one," Alex admitted sheepishly. "One day I will make him see the light and leave stupid Lavender."

    Artemis huffed. "Seeing the light is not what I'd call it, but sure, we will go with that."

    Alex frowned as she stood up defiantly. "Says you. We'll see who is right in the end." She didn't give Artemis a chance to reply before she stormed off, heading down the field towards the Gryffindor team.

    "Congrats; you pissed her off," Vanessa replied with a laugh.

    "Doesn't take much, unfortunately," Artemis mused. "But it did accomplish my goal." He paused for a moment. "I know you're beyond bored here; do you want to leave?"

    Vanessa blinked a few times, wondering where he was going with this. "Are you suggesting we ditch our friend?"

    "Indeed I am," he answered, a devilish grin tugging at his lips.

    Vanessa glanced up to see where Alex was. Sure enough, their friend was standing with a bunch of the Gryffindor students. She couldn't tell if Alex was actually talking to them or if she was just listening to them, but either way she was predisposed and likely wouldn't notice their absence right away, if at all.

    She looked back at Artemis, unable to resist smirking back at him. "Well let's get the hell out of here then."

    Artemis stood before offering her his hand. She reached for it, allowing him to pull her to her feet before relinquishing her grasp on his hand. The two of them walked in comfortable silence for what seemed much longer than it was until they arrived at the base of a tree not far off from the main walking path. It wasn't quite the location Vanessa had in mind, but if this is where Artemis wanted to go, she wasn't going to protest this time. It had been a while since it had been just the two of them, and she was going to take any time she could get. The two of them sat at the base of the tree, facing away from the school. Vanessa straightened out her robes a bit on the ground so she could tuck her legs sort of underneath her, keeping them a bit warmer and off the ground.

    The silence between them was broken when Artemis asked, "How are you feeling?"

    Vanessa shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm fine. A little cold, but otherwise I'm alright."

    Artemis shook his head lightly. "I suppose I should've specified. I mean... it has been just over a week since you broke up with him," he clarified. "How are you feeling being free from that?"

    It was a good question. How was she feeling exactly? There had been a lot of emotions coursing through her the last week- some positive, some negative- but she was fairly confident in her answer. "I feel pretty good," she replied. "Probably the best I've felt in months honestly."

    Artemis nodded lightly. "I am glad to hear that. I thought you might be, but I didn't want to assume."

    "It's been nice, not stressing out," she continued. "Not having to walk on pins and needles... no fighting... a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I finally feel like myself again."

    "Good," Artemis said. "You deserve happiness, and I am truly glad you can finally get a taste of that again."

    "I am too," Vanessa agreed, smiling as she leaned over and rested her head against her friend's shoulder.

    Artemis gently rested his head on hers. He didn't say anything for a few moments, seemingly contemplating something. "I'm not sure if this is the right time to bring this up, but knowing our friends, this could be our only time alone for the foreseeable future, and I think it is best we have this conversation without eavesdropping," he mused quietly. There was a slight pause as he thought some more. "Have you given any thought to us yet? I understand if not; I was just curious and wanted to be on the same page."

    Vanessa knew this conversation was coming sooner rather than later. It was a touchy subject still, being so fresh out of a relationship and all. Yet at the same time, she had already decided long ago that she did indeed have romantic feelings for her best friend. Alex was right when she had said they were all but official- and only because Draco was still in the way. Now that he wasn't an obstacle, and she had a little time to clear her brain a bit, Vanessa was fairly certain she had an answer to Artemis' question.

    "Actually, I have given some thought to our situation," she answered. "I think you and I both know there is something there between us, something beyond friendship. It's just been missing officialness."

    Artemis chuckled quietly. "Officialness, huh? What are you trying to say?"

    "You know what I'm trying to say, Artemis," Vanessa replied, feeling herself beginning to blush.

    Artemis lifted his head from hers, turning to look down at her as a smirk formed on his face. "Do I, now?"

    "You are so aggravating sometimes. You know that, right?" Vanessa retorted as she shifted to face him.

    "So I've been told," he said, "but you like it."

    "Perhaps," Vanessa replied, shrugging.

    The smirk on Artemis' face shifted into a smile. "Well, in any case, I do know what you are trying to say, so allow me to handle the formalities," he continued. "Would you like to be my girlfriend? Officially?"

    Vanessa found it impossible to not smile back at him as she answered, "I would like that. A lot."

    "Perfect," Artemis replied, taking her hand in his and squeezing it tightly.

    "The only thing is that I'd like to keep it a little quiet for a bit," Vanessa added. "The whole fiasco with Draco is still pretty fresh, and I know the hell he will cause if we are so open about this right away."

    Artemis' smile faded a little, but he nodded. "I still think he is going to react negatively to us no matter when it is revealed to him, but if that is what you want, I have no qualms about keeping our relationship quiet for a while," he responded.

"You're probably right, but at least this will continue the illusion that we didn't just always have some unspoken thing," Vanessa replied. "The longer it takes for him to realize we're together, the better. Hopefully it means he's over it by the time he realizes."

Artemis sighed. "Somehow I don't think he will ever be over it."

"You're probably right. Enough about that arse though," Vanessa dismissed. She shifted a little closer to him, leaning into him as she rested her head on his shoulder once more. "This is a good day."

"You're right; it is," Artemis agreed, resting his head against hers once more.

As the two of them fell into a comfortable silence, Vanessa closed her eyes, a smile on her face. This was not how she anticipated this evening going, but she was so very glad it did. It was a chance to start over, a chance for happiness- and all with someone who was truly her best friend. Although that made her admittedly worried about what her life would be like if this new relationship failed. She quickly dismissed the thought; she didn't want to imagine the possibility. Now wasn't the time for upsetting hypotheticals. For now, Vanessa was more than content with just relaxing and enjoying the start of what she hoped was one hell of an adventure.

*****

A week had passed since that fateful Friday. So much had changed, yet nothing had at the same time. It had been relatively uneventful since Vanessa and Artemis had become official. They had somehow managed to keep their relationship a secret from their classmates- all except Alex who figured it out later that night when she realized they had ditched her and returned to the common room to find the two of them snuggled up on the couch. Alex had been upset at first, but quickly got over it when she realized what happened. How she had managed to keep her mouth shut this long still baffled Vanessa, but she wasn't going to question it too much.

It all honestly still didn't feel real. The two of them had maintained a facade for so long that this almost felt as if they never stopped. Yet, at the same time, Vanessa couldn't stop smiling, happiness radiated from her. That alone should've been a sign to others that something was amiss, but so far her newfound relationship remained a secret to all other than Artemis himself and Alex. Soon, she was sure she would be unable to contain her excitement and she'd have to just shout from the rooftops that the boy walking beside her was her boyfriend.

"Another dull night," Artemis' voice broke her thoughts.

Vanessa had zoned out as the two of them did their regular prefect rounds. Her brain had been on autopilot, trying her best to just focus on their tasks and ignore the urge to hold his hand while they walked around the castle.

"Yeah," she replied. "There have been a lot of those recently, at least in terms of prefect duty. Can't wait to get back to the common room."

Vanessa didn't need to look at her boyfriend to know a smirk was on his face. "Oh? And why is that, Vanessa? Do you have a hot date?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Vanessa answered, unable to resist smiling.

"He is a lucky man," Artemis mused.

    "Indeed he is," she continued. "But I may be luckier."

    Artemis came to a stop in the middle of the hallway, causing her to stop in her tracks too. She watched him curiously as he glanced around the corridor. The smirk on his face only grew as he spoke again, "There's no one around."

    "It's been that way all night," Vanessa retorted. "Why does it make a difference now?"

    Artemis' immediate response was to pull her into a nearby alcove, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close. "Who says you have to wait until you get to the common room?"

    Vanessa raised an eyebrow at him, resting her hands briefly on his shoulders before sliding them up and behind his neck. "Are you trying to seduce me, Artemis Fowl?"

    "Perhaps," Artemis replied. "Is it working?"

    "Maybe," Vanessa answered, smiling up at him for a moment before she pressed her lips to his.

Artemis kissed her back with an eagerness and force he hadn't used since the Christmas holidays. Sure, they had kissed since being back at school and since being official, but they had all been quick and chaste, afraid they'd be caught. All that caution had been thrown to the wind now, and Vanessa was admittedly more than grateful that it had been- even for a moment. She had missed this. She tangled her fingers in the hair at the back of his neck, deepening the kiss as she pulled him closer, eager for more.

That, however, came to a screeching halt when the absolute last voice she wanted to hear interrupted them.

"I knew it," Draco Malfoy hissed.

Of all people to witness them snogging, of course it had to be him.

Vanessa sighed, relinquishing her grasp on Artemis as she pulled away from him to shoot a glare at her ex-boyfriend. "You didn't know a damn thing," she snapped.

"No, I was right all along," Draco continued, undeterred by Vanessa's remark. "You two have probably been doing this the entire time we were together."

He was partially right, but did it really matter anymore? They broke up nearly a month ago, and he was still worried about what she was doing? Vanessa rolled her eyes. "What difference does it make? We aren't together anymore; who I kiss is none of your business."

    "Maybe, if it wasn't the same bloke one of my friends witnessed you snogging months ago while we were together," Draco ranted. "I knew Blaise wouldn't lie to me."

    "You and Zabini are both delusional; we established that months ago," Artemis chimed in, annoyance dripping from his voice. "As she already stated, who she kisses now is truly none of your concern." Artemis paused for a moment, seemingly contemplating his next sentence carefully. To say Vanessa was not expecting his next words would've been an understatement. "Besides, it's not my fault she thinks I'm better than you."

    If looks alone could kill, Vanessa was sure Artemis would've collapsed the second the words left his lips. An icy glare and a scowl were etched upon Draco's face as he reached into his robes' pocket. Instinctively, Vanessa and Artemis both rapidly drew their wands, and their quick thinking proved to be the correct action, as Draco drew his wand too, aiming it at the space between the two of them.

    "You want to repeat that, Fowl?" Draco hissed.

    "What? Can't handle the truth?" Artemis continued to mock. "I've always been better than you. At everything. Surely this isn't a surprise to you."

    Draco adjusted his aim, his wand solely pointed at Artemis now. "You have got to be the most egotistical git I have ever met," he spat.

    "Have you ever used a mirror?" Artemis inquired.

    Vanessa sighed. Time to put an end to this. "I suggest you get back to the dungeons," she instructed, sounding calmer than she felt, "or risk detention and losing Slytherin house points. Surely you don't want us to inform Professor Snape that you felt the need to threaten two prefects?"

    Draco scoffed, but he did lower his wand a few moments later. "This isn't over," he spat before he turned away from them, storming down the corridor and leaving them alone once more.

    As he disappeared from their view, the momentary relief Vanessa felt was quickly replaced by dread. With everything Draco had done thus far this year, she couldn't help but feel like she and Artemis both had just had targets placed on their backs.

*****

Hello everyone. I know it's been a minute since I've updated. This summer has been... brutal, for a lack of better words. It has been a summer of great loss in addition to it being extra busy at work. So I have admittedly been emotionally and physically drained most of the summer, and that has negatively effected my writing. I'm finally starting to feel a bit more like myself again, so I am trying to play catch up on my writing. This chapter was originally going to be two separate chapters, but I decided after finishing the first half that perhaps they would work better in one chapter. So that means the next chapter is a big one, and- as a friend and I would say- I'm excared (excited + scared) to write it and share it with you.

Thank you- as always- for your continued patience with me. I do truly appreciate it.

~arty_writes