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

Chapter 17

Have another chapter! Two updates within 24 hours? This has to be a first in a while. Hope you enjoy! I hope to have another one up soon!
*************************************************

Vanessa was trying her best to focus on her potion, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult. She had a restless night, and didn't sleep very well for some reason. She was ready to go back to the common room and nap, but she had a feeling that wouldn't be happening today. There were already a bunch of assignments she needed to focus on, and she wanted to get as much of them done as she possibly could so she could maybe enjoy her weekend and maybe attend the Quidditch match too.

She was in Advanced Potions, in her usual seat between Artemis and Draco, and for once Draco was talking. Like nonstop. It was unusual for the boy to be so vocal as of recent. Of course, he was only complaining about an encounter he had last night, but it was still nice to hear him actually speaking for once. And he was in a much better mood than he was when she last saw him yesterday.

Apparently he was under the impression that Harry Potter had been stalking him. Honestly, Vanessa wouldn't be entirely shocked by that; Potter always thought Draco was causing issues, and with the rumors swirling around about Draco possibly being a Death Eater, she would be shocked if Potter hadn't been following him even more closely. It was kind of embarrassing, really. Potter was borderline obsessed with Draco, and it showed.

"I'm telling you, he's been following me everywhere," Draco continued.

Vanessa took a deep breath, looking up from cutting up one of her ingredients. The last thing she wanted to do was cut herself and have to go to the Hospital Wing. "If you're that worried about it, maybe you should talk to a professor?" she suggested. "One of them would be able to get him to stop."

Draco shook his head. "They would side with him, like they always do."

Vanessa frowned. Draco made a fine point. It seemed as if Harry was invincible these days. It was rare he got any sort of punishment for any rule breaking he did. She supposed stalking another student wouldn't be any different. "I know you said you and Snape aren't cool now, but maybe he could help? He's about the only one who doesn't kiss Harry's arse," she replied.

"I don't think he'd do anything either at this point. I've burned that bridge too much," Draco said. "All I know is that Potter is stalking me, and I'm going to prove it."

"That's super weird," Artemis chimed in from beside her. His voice almost sounded sarcastic, but Vanessa wasn't entirely sure why. "Surely he must have something better to do than follow you around."

Vanessa was surprised to hear Draco agree with Artemis. "I'm not sure what his problem is, but I'm going to kill that bloody git," Draco hissed.

"Mm, you go right ahead and do that," Artemis replied.

Vanessa looked to her left, and Artemis had a wicked grin on his face as he continued to work diligently on his potion. He was apparently feeling rather sassy today. He had been in a strange mood so far today. He was weirdly smug, and it honestly concerned her a bit. Granted, he was always a bit smug and arrogant, but today he seemed to be even more so. Vanessa was going to have to inquire about it later.

"Why would you kill someone for following you? Seems a bit extreme," Alex questioned loudly, interrupting her thoughts. Honestly, she had been so quiet for once that Vanessa had forgotten her friend was on the other side of Artemis.

"I'm sure your opinion would change if you were being followed," Draco snapped. That response was a lot less rude than Vanessa thought it would be.

"I'm not the one hiding something," Alex countered.

Vanessa looked past a smirking Artemis and directly at Alex. "Okay, that's enough," she said. "I'm not going to play referee today, so drop it."

Alex mumbled something to herself, but said nothing more on the topic as she focused back on her assignment. Vanessa was relieved to see that there was an argument avoided for the time being. She resumed cutting her ingredients up, trying to get that bit done so she could move on to the next step.

"Say you were being followed, what would you do, Fowl?" Draco asked.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. That was the first time in a while Draco had addressed one of her friends directly. It was definitely the first time he had asked for advice from one of them.

"What would I do?" Artemis repeated, his voice still sounding ridiculously smug. He thought about it for a moment. "I'd kick his arse, that's what I would do."

Draco snorted. "You? Kick someone's arse? Yeah, right."

    Artemis smirked. "Oh, I think you would be surprised."

    Draco shook his head. "At any rate, that plan didn't work out, so I need to come up with a different plan of attack."

    Vanessa wanted to know more about what happened, but she knew Draco wouldn't tell her. Especially not in front of her friends. She decided partial details were better than none. "So what exactly did you try?" she asked.

    The Slytherin boy aggressively chopped some of his ingredients. "I tried hitting him with a bunch of spells, but he was too quick. Almost seemed like he wasn't even under that damn cloak of his. I reached out to grab it and it either wasn't there or I missed," he explained quietly. "Plus he was able to fire back at me without me seeing him, which is hard to explain if he was using the cloak."

    Those were valid points. It would be quite difficult to fire on someone from underneath a cloak, especially while staying completely invisible. Honestly, Vanessa wasn't sure it was even possible without using a backup spell. Perhaps Potter wasn't using his Invisibility Cloak then? There were other methods of making oneself invisible; it sounded like maybe he had utilized one of them instead.

    "Have you tried kicking your way out?" Artemis suggested, hardly hiding a laugh. "Word on the street is that you kicked him in the face back on the train. Maybe he needs his nose broken again."

    That was not a suggestion Vanessa expected from Artemis. He was generally not the one to resort to violence to solve his problems. Alex, totally, but not Artemis. He'd rather use his intelligence to get him out of trouble. Vanessa had never seen him in a physical fight in all her time knowing him. Somehow she didn't think that was going to change now.

    Draco gave Artemis a pointed look. "How did you hear about what happened on the train?"

    "Lovegood is the one who found him under the cloak, and we share a common room, so you figure that one out," Artemis replied with a shrug.

    Draco sighed. "Fair point."

    "At any rate, throw something at him," Artemis continued. "Maybe he can dodge a spell, but can't dodge a book. You have plenty of options left. Don't worry."

    Vanessa shot him a glance. He was on a roll today! This had to be the most ridiculous advice she had ever heard him give before. Granted, they were still very valid courses of action, but they seemed very un-Artemis-like. He still had that famous vampire-like smile on his face, and Vanessa couldn't help but smile back at him. Even if he was acting a bit strange.

    It took Draco a few seconds to reply, but when he did, he sounded genuinely happy. "Well, let Potter try something again, and he's going to have a hell of a time," he replied.

    Vanessa kept smiling and shook her head as she focused on her potion once again. This was a very strange conversation, but she didn't mind it entirely. At the very least, Artemis and Draco were getting along, and that made her oh so happy. The two people who meant the most to her were finally on friendly terms.

    If only that were truly the case.