A few weeks passed, and Vanessa was slowly losing her mind. Sixth year was proving to be the most draining year she had ever experienced. More than half her classes involved using nonverbal spells, and learning how to do that alone was tiring. She had been practicing in her free time with Artemis and Alex, since they seemed to be the only friends in her year with even half the motivation to do well. The three sat in the courtyard, spell books scattered about them. They had been at this for a few hours already, and admittedly Vanessa was growing all the more bored. And she was not the only one.

                "This is gross," Alex muttered, falling backwards into the grass. "Can we like... not do this anymore?"

                Artemis rolled his eyes. "And what is it you think we should do then? We have to know how to do this, Alex. If we don't we will ultimately fail most of our classes."

                Vanessa watched Alex think about Artemis' question for a moment, curious to know what her friend was going to suggest. "Let's kill something!" Alex shouted. "That would be fun!"

                Had Vanessa been drinking something, she would've spat it out. Her eyes jumped to Artemis to see his reaction. He stared at Alex with awestruck disgust. He shook his head. "No. We're not killing anything," he dismissed. "Any other ideas? Preferably ones that are not illegal."

                "But... Arty, aren't most of your favorite activities illegal?" Vanessa questioned, tilting her head slightly. "Hell, I think murder may be the only crime missing from your repertoire."

                Artemis sighed, feeling defeated. "I'm so done with you two today. Those days are in the past. I have turned over a new leaf, and I am trying to keep it that way."

                Vanessa leaned over, resting her head on Artemis' shoulder. "Oh but what would you do without us?"

                "Admittedly... probably not a lot," Artemis responded, smiling slightly as he glanced over at Vanessa.

                Alex shot upright, a huge smile plastered to her face. "Awe, you two are just too cute!" she squealed. "Can you stop being so adorable?"

                Vanessa moved away from Artemis, sighing. Alex was so dead set on the two of them being together. She had been that way for years now, and it was only getting worse as time went on. Not a day went by when Alex didn't suggest to at least one of them that they should be together. Granted, there were far worse options at Hogwarts; Vanessa just wasn't sure her best friend was the best choice.

                "Oh shut up Alex," Vanessa muttered, shifting uncomfortably on the ground. "Anyway, we have a few hours to kill before dinner, and if you don't want to study anymore, what do you want to do?"

                "We can go watch the Gryffindor Quidditch practice," Alex suggested, shrugging her shoulders. "If that's not okay, then I am out of things to do that don't involve murder."

                Artemis sighed. "I'm not sure why you would want to watch them practice, but it beats your other suggestion by at least a mile." He shut his book as he stood up, tucking it under his arm as he offered Vanessa his hand. He pulled her to her feet, and tried his hardest to ignore the swooning Alex was doing a few feet away.

                "We're going to watch them for science reasons," Alex finally answered.

                Vanessa glanced at her friend as she put her book in her bag. "Science reasons? That's obviously a code word for boy watching. I'm on to you."

                Alex shrugged. "So? I'm not dead. I think I can observe some men if I want to. And let me tell you, Gryffindor has some fine looking men, if I do say so myself."

                Vanessa shrugged. "I suppose. If overly confident and brave men are what you're into," she retorted, a smirk forming on her face. Before Alex could say anything to that, she added, "C'mon. Let's get down to the pitch so you can watch them practice so we can leave."

                "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot you don't like athletic men," Alex scoffed as the three of them began to walk down towards the Quidditch pitch. "You like yours brooding and evil."

                Vanessa rolled her eyes. She knew that was another jab at her and Artemis possibly one day being a thing. At this point, she wasn't even fazed by it. Alex was so persistent with her insinuation these days it wasn't even shocking anymore. Vanessa got it. Sure, Artemis was an attractive and intelligent young gentleman, but Vanessa had been friends with him for so long now she almost felt like pursuing anything with him could ruin their friendship. And losing him was not something she would be able to endure. She shook the thought as the three of them continued to walk towards the pitch. Right now she had bigger fish to fry.

                It had been a few weeks since Vanessa had made her deal with Amber to spy on Malfoy. She was still awaiting some kind of answer about whether or not Malfoy had feelings for her or not. Admittedly, it was a tad unnerving. It was something Vanessa had never cared about before, and now she found herself caring quite a bit more than she cared to admit. Part of her wanted to know, but part of her hoped she never found out. She was doing her best not to think about it, but it was hard not to wonder whether or not the reason she had been tolerating this fool's behavior was because he liked her.

                She shook the feelings as she and her friends finally reached the Quidditch pitch. The three of them took a seat in the grass on the field, Alex paying more attention to the team of mostly boys flying above them. Vanessa paid the Gryffindor team no mind, and pulled her book out again, not that she really wanted to read that either. She had half a mind to curl up on her robes and take a nap, and the longer she sat there pretending to read her book, the more that option seemed viable.

                She shrugged off her robes, and rearranged them so she could lay on them comfortably, using Artemis' leg as a pillow. He glanced down at her, but said nothing to this. Much to Vanessa's pleasure, Alex didn't say anything either. She shut her book, giving up all hope in getting any more studying done. Vanessa closed her eyes, trying her hardest to ignore the sounds from the Quidditch pitch, and Alex's comments about the team.

                Next thing she knew, she felt a hand gently shake her shoulder. She opened her eyes, seeing that the skies were much darker now, and that the Quidditch team was no longer flying around. She didn't think she had kept her eyes closed that long, but realized she must have fallen asleep. She sat up, glancing around trying to figure out exactly what was going on. She first saw Artemis, still sitting to her left.

                "You fell asleep," he offered as an explanation. "And Alex is over there chatting up the Gryffindors."

                Vanessa shook her head, stretching slightly. "Go figure," she muttered quietly. "She fancies one of them boys. I just know it."

                "You and I both know it," Artemis agreed. "But I suppose like all things, it will be exposed in due time." He paused for a moment and then added, "I suppose we should head back to the castle and get dinner."

                "That we should," Vanessa retorted. She looked over to where Alex was still talking as she and Artemis stood up. "Should we alert the lovebird that we're leaving, or do you think she'll get the memo?"

                He shrugged. "Let her talk with them. It will do her well to be social outside our group. Besides, they'll have to head in as well. She'll join us at dinner; I'm sure, with all sorts of new interesting things to discuss."

                Vanessa said nothing more to this as she picked up her robes from the ground, shaking them lightly before sliding back into them. She and Artemis started to slowly make their way back to the castle, the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Alex trailing behind them. When they finally made it back to the Great Hall, the two friends took their seats at the Ravenclaw table, patiently waiting for dinner. Alex finally joined them, laughing wildly at something she must have discussed with the Gryffindors.

                "Done flirting?" Vanessa asked, smirk forming on her face.

                "Flirting? Psh, I have no idea what you're talking about," Alex responded, pushing an errant strand of hair from her face. "I was merely talking to them. No flirting whatsoever."

                "Right, I forgot your idea of flirting was staring at them intensely," Vanessa replied. "Definitely no staring there, so I think you may be right. I apologize."

                "Oh whatever," Alex huffed, crossing her arms on the table. "I wouldn't have had to abandon you if you hadn't fallen asleep."

                Artemis cleared his throat, deciding now was an appropriate time to add his input to this conversation. "Actually, I believe whether or not Vanessa fell asleep, you would have abandoned us to commune with the Gryffindors, due to your fancying of one of the players."

                Alex shot him a glare. "You have no proof," she replied, just as the food began appearing on the table in front of them all. "Right now all I care about is filling my face with delicious food."

                Vanessa said nothing more to this, but instead began putting food on her plate. Even if she had valid proof, it wasn't as important as getting some food in her system so she could survive her prefect duties for the evening. She hadn't eaten since breakfast, much to her displeasure. She decided to do some of her homework at lunch to try to get ahead.

                She ate her dinner in silence, or as close to silence as she could due to being in a hall with hundreds of other people. Vanessa, however, did not stay this way for very long. As she took a sip of her water, someone cleared their throat to her right. The girl glanced over to see the absolute last person she wanted to deal with right then. Vanessa looked up into the steely blue eyes of Draco Malfoy and sighed.

                "What do you want, Malfoy?" she questioned, sitting her cup down on the table.

                "I know about your little deal with Amber," he started. "If you really wanted answers, you could have just asked me directly."

                Vanessa didn't even hesitate. "I tried that, and you blatantly disregarded my questions."

                Draco ignored her response, and instead asked, "Are you attending the Hogsmeade trip this next weekend?"

                Vanessa was taken aback by the question. She blinked a few times in confusion and then responded, "Um... I planned on it. What are you getting at, Malfoy?"

                "I would like for you to come with me, that's what I'm getting at," he answered, almost less smugly than normal.

                Now Vanessa was thoroughly baffled. Was he asking her out? And if so, why? Was he doing it as a joke? Or did he sincerely want to hang out with her? Vanessa thought about it quietly, wondering what harm could come from spending a few hours of time with him. She normally hung out with Alex, Artemis, and the rest of their group, but she could miss one Saturday, right?

                "Sure, I suppose I could do that," she answered, to which Artemis and Alex both shot her questioning glares. "We can talk more about it later, mmkay? I just want to eat dinner now."

                "Fair enough. See you in class, Avery," Draco retorted, and strode away, leaving the group of Ravenclaws in a stunned silence.

                "You just agreed to go on a date with the devil. What the hell is wrong with you?" Alex asked, smacking Vanessa's arm lightly.

                Vanessa just shrugged. "I dunno. Can't be that bad of an idea. Maybe I can try to make this Potions class less awkward for us all," she stated calmly. And while she may have been calm on the surface, deep down Vanessa was panicking. Alex was right. What had she just agreed to?