One More Night {A Harry Potter/Artemis Fowl Crossover}

Chapter 40

Vanessa didn't even go back to Potions class. What was the point? She was too upset and frazzled to finish her work, let alone face her friends, classmates, and professor. She had other classes she needed to attend that afternoon, but she decided she was going to skip out on them too. Missing one day wasn't going to make or break her grades, and she thought her mental health was far more important than dealing with class right now. She would deal with her professors' disappointment in her later.

So there she was, curled up on the sofa in the Ravenclaw common room, alone and still crying quietly as she toyed with the broken necklace on the arm of the sofa. The chain was broken just beneath the clasp, the acrylic charm holding the clover cracked from hitting the stone floor. She was upset about the necklace almost more than her possible breakup with Draco, if she was honest. But that was probably because of the feelings for Artemis she was trying her damnedest to repress.

Vanessa knew she was going to have to face Draco again, and figure out what the hell was going on with their likely doomed relationship, but it was probably not going to be tonight. Even if she went to dinner, there was a chance he skipped it once again. She'd deal with that later; if she saw him now she was likely to hex him, and rightfully so. Vanessa knew that a lot of their problems were truly her own doing, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she would've never made those mistakes (and were they even mistakes at this point?) in the first place if he had simply treated her better. Had things stayed the way they were when the two of them had first gotten together and not deteriorated into the hell it had, this would've never happened. She was more than sure of it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door to the common room open. Vanessa looked up from the necklace, glancing to the doorway. She was relieved to see it was only Artemis and Alex, but the concerned looks upon their faces told her all she needed to know, just as she was sure her tear drenched face told them everything too. Before either of them even spoke, Vanessa knew where this was heading.

"What did he do?" Alex broke the ice, the concern dripping from her voice.

Vanessa shrugged, wiping her face free of tears as she took a shaky deep breath. "Just the usual, I suppose," she replied. "But I think this time may have been the final straw."

Vanessa watched as her friends moved from the doorway and to her side, dropping their respective bags and the one she had left behind next to the sofa. Alex plopped herself down on the floor in front of Vanessa, sitting cross-legged, while Artemis sat beside her, neither of which surprised her. Both of them were silent for a few moments, but it was Artemis who asked for clarification first.

"What exactly did he say?" he asked, his voice sounding probably the angriest Vanessa had ever heard it. She swore as time went on he was only becoming more annoyed and losing the ever-in-control persona he had for so long. Draco's antics surely brought out the worst in him.

"It was basically the same argument we always have," Vanessa answered. "Him insisting you and I are a thing, me vehemently denying it." She paused for a moment, sighing. "Only this time he told me he couldn't do this anymore, and... and he did this..." Vanessa's voice trailed off as she scooped the necklace off the arm of the couch and gently placed it in Artemis' hands. "I'm sorry it's in this shape. I'm sure you paid a lot for it..."

Artemis sighed. "It's not about the money, Nessa," he replied, shifting the necklace to one hand's palm. He shook his head as he reached into his robes' pocket to pull out his wand. "I'm going to assume your emotionally charged and clouded brain wasn't thinking about this, and that's why you hadn't done it yourself yet." He aimed the wand at the necklace and said, "Reparo."

Vanessa watched as the necklace danced around her friend's palm, the metal chain reconnecting itself as the cracks in the charm slowly faded away. It sparkled in the sunlight coming from the window, looking just as radiant as the day she received it. The necklace finally stopped moving from its repairs a few moments later, resting gently in Artemis' palm once more.