Sometime over the course of the last semester of her first year Sofia and Hugo had started dating. Naturally, the moment Amber found out about this she was more than happy to share details of their budding romance to the rest of the university's elite social circle and it wasn't long until everyone of their friends knew that the kind and lovely Sofia was in a somewhat exclusive relationship with the icy but handsome Hugo from the riding team.
Everyone, including Cedric.
Not that Sofia had been the one to tell them. His colleague Greylock, who was much more involved in social media, had been the one to share the news with him after mentioning it to Cedric in passing while scrolling through his feed lazily on his phone during lunch one day.
"Isn't she the one you're mentoring? Sofia, wasn't it?" Greylock pointed to a photo of Sofia in a red and white polka-dotted swimsuit on a picturesque beach somewhere. A darked haired boy he recognized vaguely had a muscular arm wrapped around her bare midriff in a possessive squeeze.
Cedric coughed, a clearing a strange frog that had formed in his throat in his throat as he looked away. "Yes, I suppose it is."
"Well, hasn't she begun to fit in neatly in the hormone charged ecosystem that is our University's dating scene..." chuckled Greylock, not noticing Cedric's jaw clenching and unclenching repeatedly. He scrolled through more photos on his feed. "Ah, it brings me back to my summer flings here as an undergrad…"
Cedric only grumbled in terse response, his mind too much elsewhere for witty banter- that the "guest lecturer" was almost infamous as being always able to find a fling, even today.
Why hadn't she mentioned anything to him? She had numerous opportunities during their lessons and even casual coffee dates. Ungh, 'dates'. The very idea of the word made him scrunch up his nose, as the image of Sofia being held by a handsome young man materialized in his mind.
"Aw, Dipstick~" Greylock's cooing broke him out of his private thoughts. "Could it be that you're ...jealous?"
"Certainly not. Oh, just be quiet, you." muttered Cedric grumpily. It wasn't jealousy that was bothering him (or at least that was what he was telling himself). No, the fact that Sofia, who had always been open with him, had omitted such a major event from their numerous conversations over the last few weeks. "It's just a bit odd that she didn't mention anything to me... "
"Not really, old sport, it's natural for students to keep secrets from their teachers." Greylock shrugged, then wagged his eyebrows suggestively. "Even the cute ones that smile at you as they brew you free coffee drinks!"
Cedric's face turned red and he buried his head in his hands. "Ungh! I knew I should have never mentioned that to you…"
"There, there, Spinach-Dip. Your terribly scandalous secret is safe with me~" Greylock chuckled, giving the mortified professor a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
The impact of Cedric's beloved student in a romantic entanglement with some strange ruffian did not hit him completely until he walked into the Wicked Brew just one week before the end of summer break and saw Hugo leaning over the counter to tuck a stray ringlet of auburn hair behind a giggling Sofia's ear.
Her laughter halted with an "Oh!" at the sudden noise of Cedric clearing his throat, a darkly serious look on his face as he stood behind Hugo. Sofia's eyes grew wide for a moment and Hugo glanced behind him.
"Whoops, didn't mean to hold up the line." he said casually stepping aside. Cedric didn't answer him, and only stepped forward in Hugo's previous place.
Sofia felt enormously self-conscious, having been 'caught' out of the blue like this. She hadn't felt this much shame since her mother caught her stealing candies before dinner when she was six! "A-are you having a good day, professor?" Sofia managed to say through her embarrassment at Cedric seeing her acting so girlishly.
"Not nearly as good as yours, it seems." he replied with a cynical smile. "My usual, to go please, Miss. Sofia."
Sofia nodded sheepishly and punched in the order while Hugo looked between the two of them.
"Well, I'm late for practice…" Hugo said, after what seemed like an awfully long stretch of silence. "It was nice seeing you, Professor...aaaand I'll see you later Sof?"
Cedric gave the slightest nod in the boy's direction, but then did not take his eyes off Sofia as he paid for his drink. Painfully aware of his gaze, Sofia managed to answer her boyfriend's casual question with great effort.
"Y-yeah, of course." she squeaked, and Hugo exited with a smile and a wave. Sofia cautiously looked back towards Cedric, the weight of all the unsaid things between them hanging thicker than the aroma of freshly ground coffee around them.
"...so you're dating the younger Garrick boy." Cedric stated plainly, breaking the fragile silence. He knew from their previous experience that keeping quiet would only worsen things between them and he wanted to avoid any feeling of discomfort for her.
"Yeah, uh, he's Hugo," Sofia replied softly. She couldn't place exactly why she hadn't told Cedric about Hugo sooner, other than it being a very awkward and inappropriate topic to share with your Professor. Which was odd, because considering how Cedric was becoming more and more of a friend to her, sharing such news shouldn't be an issue… but every time she thought about mentioning it a quiet voice in the back of her head stopped her- whispering that it would break the peaceful spell of comfortability between them. But why? She honestly still didn't have a clue of how to approach the conversation that Cedric had breached with her now. "We met through riding practice. He's... nice."
Cedric crossed his arms stubbornly.
"Well, of course he should be nice. Especially if you two are-" muttered Cedric testily, before he caught himself acting too involved when he was trying to just the opposite. "...nevermind."
Sofia smiled, thankful that their carefree rapport has returned so easily, like frost thawing in spring. "So is that why you came in today? For coffee and to spy on my personal life?"
Cedric scowled.
"Please Miss. Sofia, I could have definitely gone without seeing that public performance of affection..." he grumbled (only half) jokingly. "No, I wanted to let you know that my very generous Department Head of a Father has finally approved my request to open a teaching assistant position, to aid me in the painstaking effort of educating young minds."
"That's wonderful, Professor Cedric!" Sofia clapped her hands. "You've been totally bogged under the workload of all your classes. I'm so happy for you!"
"Yes, well, about that…" Cedric said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Although the position doesn't open until the start of the new term, I was wondering if you would be interested in taking it on."
"But isn't that a position for more senior students?" she furrowed her brow, puzzled. Cedric clicked his tongue in distaste.
"That group of lazy buffoons? One of them would likely make it harder to work than easier. Besides, they've all gone and brown-nosed Greylock for an internship at Magnus Enterprises..." he grumbled bitterly before his face softened into a heartfelt smile. "You would have been my first choice anyway."
Sofia felt a flutter of pride and...something else... at his words, and found herself speechless trying to identify it. "I..I, um…"
"Of course if you're going to just too busy with your 'nice' personal life…" Cedric said giving her a teasing grin. Sofia's face burned. She couldn't believe it, he had seemed so repulsed by the idea of her dating before, and now he was teasing her for it! Honestly, he was almost worse than Amber!
"Professor!" she protested, her cheeks blushing prettily. "You know that I'm very serious and very dedicated to the Chemistry Department! You tell Department Head Goodwin that I accept the position. And Hugo isn't planning to take any more chem classes, so there won't be any conflict of interest with my 'personal life', as you put it. And here is your coffee."
She held out the steaming paper cup with a triumphant smirk on her face that dazzled Cedric. This girl! This wonderful, charming, clever girl- was going to end up driving him mad as his assistant, wasn't she?! He gathered his emotions and plucked the cup from her hand with a smirk.
"In that case I'll be seeing you on the first day of term. Early morning, if you please."
"I'll be there. With coffee." Sofia smiled, and Cedric found it hard to tear his eyes away from her as they laughed and said their goodbyes.
As he made his way back towards his office to prepare the paperwork, Cedric couldn't help but turn idea of 'Sofia the Assistant' over in his mind. He would be seeing a lot more of her with this arrangement and he couldn't deny that he'd genuinely enjoy that. Additionally, he imagined that he would be making a lot of progress with the research for his book. Mendel's Monkrobes, he might even finish the draft within the year! With Sofia by his side, anything felt possible…
He paused to think about how perhaps with all the tasks he wanted her help on she would be sacrificing much of her free time to help him? Time she could be spending with-
Cedric took a sip of his coffee with a pleased hum on his lips. Maybe he should even encourage Sofia to take on a personal project of her own this year. That her reliable mentor could supervise, of course. As he fished the key to his office from his pocket Cedric couldn't help but smile bemusedly at his evil schemes.
an: I saw a few comments recently on this story that lost steam while I was busy with work this year and so I decided to revisit the fandom and finally listen to Cedric's ballad and holy smokes… it single-handedly raised this story from my draft's graveyard! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this update after such a long absence! ^^