Later that night, Greylock and Sofia were finally allowed to go into the room where Cedric was sleeping.

...Where he ought to be sleeping. "Mm, yes, hello to both of you. I shouldn't be surprised, waiting up for me like a couple of mother hens."

Greylock rolled his eyes. "Would you rather us not?" Cedric's silence was answer enough. "So, what's the diagnosis, anyway?"

"Just hypothermia, that's all," Cedric said. Sofia thought that seemed a little sudden for hypothermia, but kept her mouth shut. The way Greylock squinted reminded her that he agreed, but bullying it out of him sounded like an exceptionally bad idea, especially now.

Sofia cleared her throat. "Cedric, I know what you just said about mother hens," and what I just said about eggshells, she mentally added, "but is there anything you need?"

Cedric grumbled and turned to face the wall. "No, there's not. You really can be a nuisance sometimes, you know. 'Relentlessly Helpful,' I think was the term father says about mummy. Works here too. Shoo, shoo, stop bothering me."

"Now hold on, Cedric," Greylock cut in, "That was uncalled for. If you don't want us here, we'll go, but no need to be vile about it"

Cedric snorted, but otherwise didn't react.

"No, no, Greylock, it's fine. Thank you. I don't want to be where I'm not wanted." Sofia sighed with a rueful smile. "I'm sorry, Cedric. I guess I'll see you on Thursday for tutoring."

As she got up to leave, though, there was a strangled gurgling noise until Cedric turned back to face her, sitting up this time, and managed the words to say, "No! Don't, ah. Don't go. I… do… want you here. I'm - s...sor…" Was Cedric actually about to apologize? "Ssss…..slightly thirsty, if you could bring me a glass of water." He paused and his eyes widened. "On - on second thought, maybe not water. Probably not anything cold either. Just - ah, nevermind." Cedric rolled over, facing the wall again.

"And really, I'm fine enough to get what I want myself," Cedric said, loud enough for Greylock and Sofia to hear, "The nurses think I ought to rest here for the night, but I'm warm now, I don't just go fainting from standing up, hah. Oh, wouldn't that be awful. Horrid. Glad that's not me." Sofia and Greylock exchanged a glance.

"So, then, fine! Do go if you want. I don't care. Even if-" Cedric turned and glanced at Greylock, then looked to Sofia, still standing near the door. "Even given what happened. I don't, c-care."

That was some of the worst lying Cedric had ever done, at least while Sofia had known him. She giggled a little and moved back to sit down.

Greylock said, "Y'know, Cedric, I know. No need to be coy about it, you two kissed. Congratulations, both of you." There it was again, that sort of melancholy. She'd really have to get Greylock on his own again later to reassure him he wasn't going to be left out. She couldn't do that to him if she wanted to, and couldn't imagine wanting to, either.

At any rate, Cedric sputtered a bit at Greylock's words, finally managing to ask, "Sofia? Why?" He kept shifting his eyes over to his roommate.

"Why?" Sofia balked for a moment. "Are you really asking why I'd tell your - my - our best friend, the other of us, as a group, an inseparable unit, that you and I may have fundamentally changed our relationship?"

Scoffing, Cedric said, "Sofia, since when exactly have you been a part of the 'insep-'" Cedric stopped suddenly, and Sofia was too hurt to respond immediately; by the time she could, he was already talking again. "...I suppose that's 'not very far into this year,' since I apparently won't turn away the friendship of literally anyone who offers it."

Cedric's head faced Sofia, but he was looking at Greylock when he finally responded, "Soo… Yes, well, when you put it that way."

...And that seemed to be all he was going to say. So Sofia asked, "What...does this make us, anyway, Cedric? Are we going to be Officially Dating, or was this a mistake and we should all forget about it? Or some other third option?"

Cedric looked at Sofia again, then away. "I…" He sighed. "I don't really know, Sofia."

Sofia nodded. "For the record, I would like to be Officially Dating, but don't mind if - well, no, that's not true. Won't begrudge it of you if you'd rather not, if you'd like to think this all never happened."

Cedric snorted derisively, staring intently at the wall. "Regardless of how much I might or might not like to think this all happened, Sofia, it definitively did." He gestured towards himself, his bed. "I - well, I think it's evident I do have very sentimental feelings regarding you. But you pull me, you push me, sometimes into freezing cold water. And I have got to deal with the results."

Greylock responded before Sofia managed to catch her breath. "What in the nether, Cedric? Sofia feels badly enough already. I'm not saying you can't feel a bit salty, but you're just taking that salt and rubbing it into the wound."

Cedric turned to him and said, "Now, Greylock, I know you're fond of a good joke, and good humor in general, but my life was literally in danger. I think that ought to give me sufficient cause to be angry."

"It does," Greylock conceded, voice low and even like Sofia had never heard it before. The small tinge of anger, in addition to the contrast with his usual boisterous self, made it almost chilling to hear. "You do have right to be angry, I literally just said that. But lashing out like this is not the answer. Nor is pushing people away for one mistake. Remember, you can always come back from mistakes, you can always come back from your anger. And you've no excuse not to try." Greylock crossed his arms and glowered.

With a scoff, Cedric said, "Did you not hear me about my life in danger? You can't come back from-" Cedric hesitated and his eyes went a bit wider, then he continued with a voice a bit higher and squeakier than usual, "from what might have happened there."

"You might notice, Cedric," Greylock said, still calm, "that it didn't. You are, in fact, alive and well." Cedric started to sputter a reply, and Greylock amended, "Well enough, and on your way to doing better. That ought to be something."

Sofia finally managed to find her voice and said, looking down at her feet,"I'm sorry, Cedric. There was something coming, and you weren't doing anything, and I -"

Cedric cut her off. "What, you were upset that I froze figuratively, thought you'd add literally to that too?"

This raised Sofia's head. "Cedric, I was trying to keep us safe. Given how you panic, I knew I needed to act for the both of us. ...I know it wasn't my best moment." How Sofia kept her voice level through this, she didn't know, but she managed.

"That's quite a definition of 'safe' you've got, Sofia! I'd hate to see what your bedside manner is like, at that rate. Oh, right, it's shouting at the person you put in the infirmary in the first place!"

"Cedric," Greylock said, evenly, "you're the only one who's shouting here. And would you rather be dead? Because for all either of you knew, you both would have been if she hadn't acted!"

Cedric looked between Sofia and Greylock, and slipped his feet to hang off his bed. "Now who's shouting?" he asked. "You both come into my room, while I am convalescing from bodily harm that - regardless of intent, Sofia did inflict upon me." He stood up and took a step forward. "You come into my room, you gang up on - on me…" Cedric clearly looked between the two again, the anger having fallen from his face for a moment, replaced by a look of sadness, especially as he looked at Sofia, but not in the eyes; then, the anger returned. "You two start canoodling just outside my door, and you gang up on me and have the audacity to blame me." He took the last few steps to approach Greylock, though he wobbled.

Greylock looked up the few inches to Cedric's face, scowling but holding his ground. "I did nothing untowards regarding Sofia, and neither did she. Though you've rejected her, so I don't see that you have any cause for jealous possessiveness regardless."

Sofia would...really rather no one jealously guard her like a possession, but now was not the time for that. And why was that the only thing she could think of now, anyway? She'd just… She normally did so well under pressure, and yet here they were.

Cedric scowled back at Greylock and raised a shaking hand. "That's all you can say? You really won't deny blaming me. You've got a lot of nerve." Cedric roughly poked Greylock's nose, but his shaking hand slipped, and managed to jab Greylock in the eye causing him to recoil and cry out in pain.

Finally, Sofia was moved into action, though there wasn't much she could do aside from catch Greylock and stop him from stumbling into any of the furniture.

Before either could accuse him, Cedric had already said, "Grey! No, I didn't mean - that is, I - not that, oh there must be eye drops around here somewhere." He then went looking about the room, pulling open drawers and cabinets haphazardly, leaving them open when he'd not found what he was looking for.

After Greylock was safely seated, Sofia went to look too - and found an enchanted ice pack. "This'll do," she said, "probably better." Cedric looked over at her and followed slowly.

They gave Greylock the bag to hold over his eye, and Cedric said again, "I, I - I am sorry. I didn't… mean to hurt you. Mostly just - well, I don't know what the point of poking your nose was." Cedric sat back on his bed and sighed. "The rest too. Perhaps I am being too harsh."

That was probably the best apology they'd get out of Cedric. Honestly, it probably ranked near the top of what Sofia had ever heard from him, though she didn't remember any specifically.

"You're all right, Cedric, old friend," Greylock said behind the bag of ice, "You can always come back. Forgiven, even if this does hurt like the very devil itself."

Cedric rolled his eyes and scoffed. "One, that's exaggeration, and two, 'I nearly died' and 'my eye hurts a bit' seem a bit disparate in terms of severity."

"Well, Cedric, 'always' does in fact cover everything. As long as my heart is beating in my chest-" Greylock paused here to put his hand over his heart, "I will work to forgive, I will work to be forgiven, and I will say: you can always come back."

Again, Cedric rolled his eyes, but he seemed to smile, too, as he pouted.

"Thank you, Cedric," Sofia said, "for apologizing to me too. That means a lot." He didn't, directly, but it was close enough, and she knew what he meant. "You do have every right to be angry, but I can't lie to say that it doesn't hurt." She took a deep breath. "I said during dinner I'd try to back off a bit. I was intending to regardless, but I especially will now. I'm sorry I hurt you, physically and emotionally. I won't let that happen again."

"Hm-mm, and thank you too." Cedric looked between Greylock and Sofia again.

Greylock was just sitting back with the cold compress on his eye, the other one closed. He might have been asleep, as relaxed as he looked, if it weren't for the hand that kept the pack in position.

Sofia swallowed as she steeled herself. What was that supposed to mean? Was that really all Cedric was going to say, and leave it dangling like that, vague and unresolved? Or was he going to accuse her and Greylock again?

He did none of these things, finally resolving to look at Sofia. "Though, ah, to be entirely honest, I would… like you to not back off entirely. Less pushing into fountains is certainly good, but, maybe…" He coughed, clearly a forced cough rather than the lung-wracking sound of an involuntary one. "I'd like to -" Cedric paused and cleared his throat. "To - to kiss you again." He looked away from her, face scrunched in what Sofia assumed was embarrassment.

If she'd been less emotionally exhausted, she could have giggled. As it was, she just smiled, and said, "Would right now be okay?"

Before Cedric had a chance to respond, Greylock said, "Oh, do get a room, you two. And not one in the infirmary."

Sofia hadn't forgotten Greylock was there, but had hoped he'd been snoozing, at least. "I'm not going to snog him right here in front of you, Greylock." She laughed softly, tiredly, at that. "I was trying to be cute and say 'yes please' at the same time."She also thought might help restore some of the trust they'd lost in each other tonight, but that would sound awfully... blunt? perhaps even manipulative? if said aloud.

"You do like to succeed at that, don't you." Greylock chuckled, then made a noise in his throat, a sing-songy kind of groan, and waved Sofia over to Cedric. "I don't mean to interfere, just ribbing the both of you."

"Actually," Cedric said, "right now would not be okay. It's not - well, you see. The, the fact is-" He took a deep breath and tried again. "Grey is here, and I'd… rather not…" Cedric mumbled as he turned away, but also she caught was the word 'hurt'.

Sofia glanced over to Greylock, who still just sat, eyes closed, under his ice pack. Still, Cedric had a point, of course it would hurt Greylock, being the third wheel. "All right," she eventually said, "No problem. I ask so you can say 'no,' I'm not going to be offended, or mad, or any of that. But yes, I'd like to kiss you in the future, too."

Cedric didn't respond to that aside from making a noncommittal noise. That was… discouraging, but not entirely surprising.

There was a few moments of awkward silence - at least, they felt awkward to Sofia. Greylock broke it by saying, "Well, you two lovebirds are quite adorable I suppose, but we probably ought to let Cedric sleep, don't you think, Sofia? Not to mention you and I need our rest ourselves."

Both good points. "All right. Cedric, I'll see you tomorrow?" Sofia said.

"Yes, yes, I suppose you will," Cedric responded, and Sofia managed a laugh, then kissed her hand and blew him the kiss before she left with Greylock.

The door closed behind Sofia, and Cedric was left alone in the room. Belatedly, he made a motion as if catching something invisible in the air, having only just remembered people do that with blown kisses.

Cedric looked down at his fingers, holding an imaginary kiss. He had someone who would blow him kisses. Romance had never been his top priority, but he'd figured he'd end up old and alone, stuck in the castle's tower with his spells and his potions, which he admittedly liked more than most people… but totally, thoroughly, alone. No one interested in him, who'd send him kisses on her way out.

No friend to share his room with, either.

The semi-dark room was suddenly a lot colder, as Cedric realized this would be the first time in a while he'd be sleeping in a room alone, at least while not home in his own house for the holidays. And even that room had its own demons.

He hadn't really been alone at night since he'd gotten Greylock for a roommate. Before that, there was the occasional night he'd sneak out to find someplace else, and this was better than those nights, at least. He wasn't caught between a rock and a hard place, wasn't forced to choose feeling personally safe over official reprimand. Still, Cedric missed the comforting presence of another warm body, who knew, who would defend him, would never hurt him like that.

There were also the nights his other roommates had left him alone, finding some other student to room with, to get in trouble with. These nights weren't really any better. Cedric looked across the cabinets and shelves of the infirmary, the various medicines, tinctures, potions, chemicals lined the walls. Cedric really needed some company.

"Familiarus Comhericus," he said, and Wormwood appeared in a puff of smoke near his other, still-wet clothes, hanging by the magic radiator. The bird swooped over to the edge of Cedric's bed, and Cedric pet him with a small smile on his face. It wasn't the same as having a real roommate, especially not someone like Greylock, but it would do.

Greylock, who for all his irritating habits, was closer to Cedric than anyone, even Sofia.

And whose school robe was on Sofia's shoulders when the two talked to him. It had to be his, it was much too broad-shouldered for her small, if soft, frame. They were obviously lying, something had obviously happened in the hall before they came in to see him.

Cedric put his hands over his eyes as he laid back on his bed. Wormwood walked up to Cedric's shoulder and affectionately nuzzled the young man, but sent Cedric another vision - the one from earlier, of Sofia and Greylock, and he was falling, falling.

Did she actually feel for him after all? ...If this was some plot, it seemed to be rather circuitous. Why visit him in the room at all, if they'd been snogging right outside his door? Didn't she have what she wanted already, why drag him into it further? It didn't make sense.

On the other hand, there was… there was Greylock. As much as Cedric was hurt by the idea that Sofia would cheat on him before they were even 'official,' with Greylock of all people, Cedric...couldn't say he didn't understand the impulse. Not that Grey ever would, ever could be interested in - well, someone like Cedric anyway. Still, he'd preferred not to have hurt what little chances he had with Greylock. On the other hand, at least Sofia apparently hadn't heard, or had misheard, that little gem of a mumble.

And anyhow, how did Sofia even have these feelings, these romantic inclinations? He was going back and forth on everything, even the Amulet. First he'd been so worried, so guilty, then just… casually asked about it. His mind had just wandered and went right back to what he was stewing on, the Amulet, and he hadn't managed to check himself in time before asking for it. He hadn't been explicit about his thesis, but - wait. Sofia was so focused on the kiss, maybe she'd forget his interest in the amulet, maybe wouldn't think twice about it. ...Or maybe this was good, actually. There was no need to hide his thesis, that would give him a good reason to ask all about it, to hold it and study it. And really, that's the majority of what he wanted anyway. It would be so much easier to just own the blasted thing himself, especially since it - it probably amplified her powers. That would make sense. He wouldn't have to try at all, if he had it, he'd be able to breeze through whatever spells struck his fancy, and especially next spring's NEWTs. ...And hurt Sofia in the process, perhaps forcibly disenroll her from the school.

Oh, this was all useless. Wasn't there a sleeping draught the nurses had left for him? He didn't know the herbs, the potions and remedies here, so couldn't mix up anything for himself if there wasn't… Something of a blessing and a curse, that. At least he wasn't tempted to mix anything else for himself, either.

Luckily, there was just such a potion left on his bedside table. Cedric looked at the label to see the dosage, and found that the tiny bottle was single-serving. Right, they would do that. "Well," Cedric said to Wormwood, "bottoms up." He took the potion, grimaced at the bitter taste, and lay down to sleep. At least it wasn't fast-act-…

Cedric was out before he finished his thought.

Greylock paused as Sofia softly shut the door to the infirmary building behind them, then let her lead the way to Crage House.

She rolled her eyes at that. "I don't need you guys escorting me around just because I'm a girl, you know."

Greylock smiled. "It's not that, you're just very small." He patted the top of her head affectionately.

Sofia puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms. "You're not much taller than I am, and Cedric's only tall when he's not slouching so much. And he's more in need of defending than I am. ...Sometimes even from-"

Cutting her off, Greylock said, "Nope, none of that, Sofia. You mucked up; it happens. Everyone is all right, and we're moving past it. Be sure to keep in mind Cedric's health - more fragile than you or I thought, apparently - and you will be fine."

Sofia smiled and sighed. "Yeah, and I guess the guilt will wear off...eventually. It's just hard, you know?"

"I do," said Greylock. He'd hurt Cedric his fair share, though more emotionally than physically. Not very recently, not this school year, but he remembered quite well enough.

"Oh, also," Sofia said, "I'm sorry about the whole - the whole kiss thing, even if it didn't actually happen, in the room itself. I know that was insensitive. I just want to reassure you that I'm not going to push you out of Cedric's life." Greylock raised an eyebrow but smiled at her, and she continued, "I mean, I couldn't if I wanted to, you're way too close for that."

Apparently not all that close, but Greylock didn't want to dampen her spirits. Instead, he said, "Thank you, Sofia. I appreciate the promise. Of course, there's always the fact that one of us rooms with him…"

Sofia gave a tired laugh. "Yes, there is that. I was about to say that next, actually. I mean, I suppose it could end up driving a wedge and making it weird to sleep or something, but you'd still be around, and have a lot more chances to make right with him. Or move out, but I hear changing roommates is pretty hard once you're set up with someone, and if you've been with him for so long that, well, I find it hard to imagine what could drive a wedge between you two."

Greylock cleared his throat and looked for a way to respond. "Well, we've actually only been roommates for a little over a year. Special circumstances, and that's all I can say."

Sofia blinked, then nodded. "Still, that's a lot longer than I've known him. I wouldn't dream of taking you away from him. Or him away from you, or from me. You've been an invaluable friend to me here at Hexley Hall. I don't know where I'd be without Cedric's tutoring and help and all, but I also don't know where I'd be if I didn't have you to laugh with in some classes, to drag me to auditions, to be willing to come running to help without even knowing why Clover was so upset. I don't remember if I thanked you earlier for that specifically, so I'll say it now: thank you. Thank you for that, and for everything."

Well, that was certainly something. "You're welcome, Sofia, though there's no need to thank me. I'm a rather amazing friend to have, I'm aware! You could even call me… grand." Greylock grinned wide, and decided not to dwell on what-might-have-beens, to make jokes and be happy for his friends instead.

Shaking her head, Sofia said, "You keep saying that, like you're already titled. How do you know that if you even-"

"If? Sofia, my dear, if I get a title? Who do you think I am? Have you seen my grades? How can you even question me like that, I'm hurt!" Greylock put a hand over his heart and gave an over-exaggerated gasp and frown.

It warmed his heart to see Sofia's giggle bubble up at that, not so tired as before. "All right," she said, "when you get this title, how do you even know you'd be 'the Grand'? You could be something else, like…"

"Well, for one," Greylock said, "'The Great' is right out. Cedric's father Goodwyn has that, and he's still kicking. If mister Goodwyn Sorciere weren't such a notable figure, famous even among his already-noteworthy bloodline, then sure I suppose I might have to share. But as it stands, unless he happens to kick the bucket soon, I shan't be that. Even if he does, there's probably little chance."

"Oooh, that's right," Sofia said, "I keep forgetting about that. I mean, father issues is one thing, but I forget the guy's an entity separate of Cedric sometimes."

Greylock snorted a short laugh. "Further, it would be a shame to use a word that doesn't use the first two letters of my name. 'Great' would have been nice, sharing three, but not much to do there. Goodwyn's the only man, woman, or otherwise that I know of whose title doesn't share both the first and second letter - or at least sounds - but I suppose I don't know a whole lot else that works with his name aside from the too-obvious 'Good'." Greylock shrugged. "So it's possible I might end up with 'Good' myself, but 'Grand,' aside from being - well, grander - is more likely."

"I seee," Sofia said, smiling. "So, when I get my own title-"

Greylock cut her off with a laugh and said, "Good girl!"

Sofia continued, "-what do you think it'll be?"

"Hmm…" Greylock put his fingers to his chin as he thought. "Sofia the Sophisticated."

That got a raspberry in response. "That's not very daunting at all!" Sofia said with a pout. "I don't want to go to parties, I want to be an imposing sorceress!"

"Haha, all right. Let's see… Sensational?"

Sofia shook her head at that too. "Not with the soft 'eh' in second place, that's clearly much better suited to Cedric."

Greylock chuckled. "So it is, so it is… How about - Sonorous? Somnolent? Socratic? ...Sorceress? I'm sorry, Sofia, I'm not having any luck."

"Oh, well," Sofia said, giving an exaggerated shrug. "It's not like I need to know right away. I'll get it eventually, I'm sure. And be sure to tell whoever Titles me, after whatever great Deed I do, not to give me something silly like 'sophisticated'."

Greylock nodded. "And curse them - prank level only, obviously- until they agree if they don't, mm?"

"Well of course!" Sofia said, "Though I'd probably go with hexes I learned from Lucinda, a hedge witch near my village. Sorcery, while it can go wrong in really amusing ways, usually has a useful purpose. Hexes are - well, I don't know if they're designed, as most of them seemed to be passed down through the generations from what I gather, but I never found much intent aside from causing mischief." Sofia shrugged, only slightly this time. "Ooof course, I was also an outsider, and I didn't go to her family's village in the woods. So, they probably had useful magic, but they all so delighted in spreading trouble." Sofia shook her head and sighed.

Greylock tilted his head as he listened with interest. "Is that so? Is that how you managed to learn and wield magic in the first place then?"

Sofia hesitated for a moment… a long moment. But then she was back to herself, and Sofia said, "That's right! I've always been interested in magic, but there wasn't much I could do about that in Dunwiddee. Not until Lucinda's coven moved in, anyway! I was…" Sofia paused to count on her fingers. "I think I was eight, then. Lucinda didn't have any friends, until I became one to her and helped her make more, she taught me what she could! She eventually roped her sisters into it too, which was a blast. I wish I'd been let into their village itself though, I can only imagine what it's like…" She gave a wistful sigh and stared into the middle distance, and Greylock felt his heart go out to her.

"I guess asking if you miss it would be a silly question," he said. "Do you at least like it here?"

Sofia looked back at him with half of her mouth pulled into something like a grimace, but not quite. "I like that I met you, Greylock," she said, "and I like that I met Cedric, and several other nice people. I like that while I'm here, I'm learning new magic. But honestly?" She looked away again. "I don't know. Realistically, I don't regret coming here, as it was by far the best option, and I was lucky it was even available. But ideally, I - well, in an ideal world you two would come back with me and we could all be hedge witches together."

Greylock knitted his brows together as Sofia chuckled at her own scenario. "I don't quite follow your meaning," he said.

Sofia looked back at him, and he could see realization dawn on her. "Oh. Well, I guess it's not a big deal for most you guys here, is it?" Greylock shook his head, still not knowing what she was talking about. "Rogue mages are pretty illegal. I wasn't sponsored by a noble or in any sort of official capacity, be it training or schooling or whatever. The hedge witches get special clearance, since that's a cultural thing that's gone on for, what, hundreds of years? I, on the other hand, had no such heritage."

Blinking from the news, Greylock could only say, "Oh."

"Yeah. I am a minor, so they were lenient. Mom and I had three options: petition Hexley Halls for a scholarship and hope they'd give me one so I could afford to come here - or, uh…" Sofia hesitated. "Or maybe Mom could afford it after all… I'll explain later." Odd, but fair, regarding 'later'. Sofia continued, "Either way, option A: Hope I got into Hexley Hall."

Greylock nodded. "Which obviously, you did. Options B and C?"

Sofia nodded in return, and said, "Option B: get stuck with a noble or royal-sponsored sorcerer or sorceress. I'd have no control over the decision process of who I was placed with, and no way out if they proved to be, uh… Troublesome."

"Troublesome?"

Sofia kept her face towards him, but turned her eyes away. "Greylock. I'm… a young woman going through puberty, who would be in a position of no social power, and probably no physical power."

It took a moment, but… "Oh."

"So that was obviously pretty unsavory!" Sofia said with false perkiness. "To be avoided if at all possible. But, well, option C was South Stairs."

Ahh, yes, South Stairs. Rumors abounded of a cavern system underground somewhere in Enchancia, where political prisoners of kings gone past were put, people who weren't intended to be seen again, but too important to outright kill; there was supposed to be a whole city of the descendants of convicts down there, though that had to be fantasy.

"...I know I'm not from Enchancia, but I thought Roland II hadn't used the place in his reign?"

Sofia shrugged. "I thought it didn't exist at all, and I only lived about an hour's ride from the castle. Or at least, that's how far people said it was - the only carriage I've ever been in is the one what brought me here." She took a moment to catch her breath, then continued, "I don't know. Maybe it doesn't exist, and it was only a threat. Maybe it does, and the king's troops use it without express consent or denial from him, or maybe he's in the dark. Maybe he's ordered only mages to be thrown down there, I have no idea. But I do know that that would be even worse than a handsy teacher, and I didn't - still don't - have nearly enough information to judge whether or not that threat was idle or not."

Greylock let out a breath as he processed what she said. "Bloody hell, Sofia," he finally managed, which got a giggle out of her. "What?" he responded, "Do you expect me to use a silly oath like Pippin's Puffy Panties, at this?" He was smiling, but- "Seriously, though. I…"

He didn't know what else to do. She didn't seem as perturbed by this as he felt, which honestly made him feel worse for her. Was she holding it in, to save face? Had she bottled it up so it wouldn't hurt as much anymore? Was she really so numb to these things that it actually didn't affect her very much? There wasn't a good answer.

Greylock didn't know what else to do, so he stopped, and he hugged her. "I wish you didn't have to go through that," he said into her hair. "I'm sorry."

Sofia hugged him back lightly and said, "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault." She pulled away before he was quite done and continued, "Thanks, but I'm okay. It sucks, but that's in the past, now, and more importantly these things never actually happened. Do I wish things could have gone differently? Sure. Given the choices I had, would I have done anything different? Not on your life. ...Or mine, eheh."

With a sigh, Greylock withdrew, though he left a hand on her shoulder - that was still in his robe. Heh. "All right, then," he said, "but if you ever need a hug, or a shoulder to cry on, or any of that - know you can come to me."

Sofia smiled up at him and put her hand on his free one - and they probably looked like they were about to ballroom dance, Greylock thought. Though with his hand on Sofia's shoulder, she'd be leading. ...Not a position Greylock was used to being in, but she managed to lead even him around the school, so it felt right.

Of course, they weren't dancing. That was silly. And - oh, she'd been speaking. "Sorry," Greylock said, "I missed that, come again?"

Sofia rolled her eyes and said, "Thank you. Though being made to say 'thank you' twice feels a little much, even for you."

"No, I didn't intend to! That is, I was legitimately spacing out. I apologize, Sofia dear." Greylock stepped back, breaking both points of contact, and gave a deep bow, which got Sofia laughing again.

"All right, all right. I'll remember that - and you'd better be prepared to take me up on that offer, because I'll hold you to it." She poked a finger in the air at him, but her smile and raised eyebrow betrayed her even if her voice didn't.

Greylock laughed and said, "Come now, I wouldn't have made the offer if I wasn't prepared to uphold my end of the bargain. Now come on, let's get you inside, I'm pretty sure Crage is just up here."

So Sofia was in her room shortly, and Greylock went back to his own in Goodwyn - as long or longer distance between the two Houses as it was between the infirmary and Crage, but he no longer had any reason to dawdle.

Finally, Greylock clicked the door to his and Cedric's room shut, and sighed.

It was lonely, without Cedric here. Hopefully Cedric was doing all right, alone himself. Maybe Greylock should have made a fuss, should have pushed to let Cedric be released tonight, but no, that would have looked over-protective, like he thought that Cedric couldn't take care of himself.

No, this was probably for the best. And hell, Cedric probably appreciated a night alone, for once. No irritating roommate to keep him up, etcetera. ...Or any need to be subtle if he had certain needs, though Greylock immediately tried to push that thought out of his mind for a number of reasons.

Well, sleep well, then, Cedric, Greylock thought, and hoped that somehow his intentions would travel through the ether and reach Cedric. That's not how magic worked, not at all, but there was still that odd sort of faith that maybe it would, this time.

Greylock sat on his bed with a thump, and said, "Familiarus Comhericus." Fiyero the fox appeared next to him in a puff of blue smoke as he stripped off his remaining clothes, and was promptly squished into a bear hug by the young mage. He scratched the fox's ears and head, which nuzzled into his hands. "What a stressful day…" he said, to the fox, to the wall, to no one and nothing in particular.

"It feels a little hard to believe the auditions were just this afternoon," Greylock said aloud. "I hope I did well enough. And Jamie…" He sighed and patted Fiyero's head, continuing with a wistful tone to his voice. "I know I haven't got a chance with Cedric, I think I've known that for a while now." A pause, as he put a finger to his chin and thought. "...I wonder if it's dishonest to try to be interested in someone when I'm still so close to him? It will take a long time to build a relationship with anyone nearly as well as I have with Cedric… his lack of romantic interest notwithstanding."

Another sigh, then Greylock perked up suddenly. "Well!" he said brightly, "I'll never be able to if I don't start somewhere. And it would be so nice to have someone who's as into theater as I am, to talk with and enjoy and hold." The young sorcerer hadn't ever let his familiar go from his hug, but he took this opportunity to squeeze him - her - a bit tighter.

Greylock paused and looked down at the red-orange bundle of fluff in his arms. "I guess it's really more 'Fiyer...aba'?" He shook his head. "No, no, that sounds awful. Maybe I should just come up with an entirely new name for you… hm…" Greylock tilted his head in thought. "Glimora? No, no not that either. Uh…" Further quiet contemplation. "Okay, I don't know. I need to respect you as you actually are… this part of myself…" He let out a snort of laughter at the… no, it wasn't irony. Some sort of humor laced the situation, but irony was not it. "...But I'm clearly bad at names. You, my friend, are going to need to tell Sof a better name at some point, because I'm still stuck on-" A sudden pause as Greylock's breath hitched. "...Well, no, I suppose I shouldn't use that name anymore."

Greylock looked down at the fox in his arms, lightly shrugged, sighed, and fell on to his side on the bed, still clutching the animal. This turned out to be entirely pointless, as he had to let her go in a moment to properly burrow under the coverlets for the night, and because when he was done she slipped right back into his arms anyway.

"Is sleeping with a live animal - that won't be hurt, thankfully - as childish as sleeping with a stuffed animal?" Greylock mumbled to the fox. "No matter. You're literally a part of me. It's not like people who play fetch with their familiars in the yard or something. Imagine, brazenly playing with yourself like that."

The fox - whatever her name was - perked up and wiggled out of Greylock's arms. His gaze followed her movement, and he wondered what on earth she was getting at, until she pawed open a drawer from his dresser. Well, rather, The Drawer.

Greylock put a hand to his face and said, "-What? No I didn't mean like-" He paused and screwed his eyes shut. "...Well now I'm thinking like that. Bad fox. Bad. Amoral, even!" Another pause, though this time he looked intently from the fox to the drawer with his, ah, collection… "You, uh…" Greylock couldn't finish his sentence, didn't even know what he wanted to say. He glanced over at Cedric's empty bed again, and sighed, finally. "Familiarus Gonicus."

Sofia thanked Greylock for the company as he deposited her at her House. "Though," she added, "I'm almost surprised you're not going to try escorting me to my very bedside, little as you trust my little old self." She raised an eyebrow and stuck her tongue out as she looked up at Greylock, who was standing very close to her. If she'd leaned forward a little, she'd probably end up licking his chin, which sounded like an awful thought, with the bit of peach fuzz there and just...why, Sofia. Why, brain. Stop. What sort of thought even was that. Clover wasn't helping matters, in that he had decided to squeeze between the two and was lying across their feet, though since Sofia didn't feel much she figured most of his weight was on Greylock's toes. Figured. She really needed to learn to control him better, or remember to unsummon him, he was becoming quite embarrassing.

Thankfully, it seemed that Greylock didn't notice anything odd as he patted the top of her head. "No, no, dear Sofia, even that's not quite the case, despite what I was saying earlier. Mostly, I just wanted to stave off boredom and loneliness for a little longer." Sofia...couldn't tell if that was a joke or not. Usually Greylock was obviously boisterous about his jokes, but he also wasn't prone to that kind of sincerity. It felt...strange.

It was a nice strange. She smiled, and turned her head to give Greylock one last hug before they parted. "Thanks again," she said, "for… everything." She felt him nod, though he didn't say anything.

Then they pulled apart and looked at each other for a moment, before Greylock said suddenly, "Toodle-oo!" and, with a wave, started skipping away. Sofia waved back and watched him go - and watched him stop skipping after a few seconds. He didn't look back, so Sofia wondered if he just didn't have the energy he thought he had, or if maybe he'd assumed she'd gone back inside by then. Oh well.

Eventually, Sofia turned away from the door, where she hadn't actually been able to see Greylock anymore for a little while, and started to go to her bed. On the way, however, she was stopped by Prefect Rivera. "Young miss Balthazar, what on earth are you doing coming in so late? Lights out was half an hour ago, let alone free-roaming hours." The way she eyed Sofia's - Greylock's - robe, Sofia was fairly sure she knew exactly what miss Pearl was accusing her of.

Sofia blinked, and said, "Oh, right. I have a note here, my-" Digging in the pocket of the baggy robe, Sofia suddenly paused while talking, before managing to word her thoughts in a less suspicious way. "...Friend and I had an incident, and he had to go to the infirmary." Sofia placed the note written by one of the nurses as the two students left the infirmary into the prefect's waiting hand. There, good, note given and suspicion averted. Miss Pearl didn't need to know that Sofia had been out with what...may have been her boyfriend. "His roommate was also there, making sure he was okay, and offered to walk me back." And there was the robe explained, somewhat. Technically true, too.

Rivera eyed the note, then waved Sofia on and said, "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope he gets well soon." Sofia nodded and thanked her, then made her way to the communal bedroom.

Finally, Sofia made it to the dorm hall and made her way to her bed... which had her bookbag lying on the middle of it. Right, she dropped that off here before giving Cedric the scones earlier. ...And she hadn't done anything with it since. Which meant that she still had.. so much homework to do.

It was past lights-out, so she obviously couldn't do it tonight. That wasn't to say the lights in the room were actually all out - Connie was up reading again, surprise surprise. Rather than risk a control mishap with a witchlight - or even worse, a magical flame - Sofia picked up a candle and a match from her bedside and lit the candle manually. By its light, she dumped the contents of her bag onto her bed and started to organize them into stacks by subject and hour the class was held - that is, whether she would have to wake up early to finish the work on time, or if she could cram it in the breaks between classes and/or during lunch hour.

As Sofia was doing this, she noticed a small, unfamiliar book that had gotten wedged inside one of her much larger and thicker textbooks. She took the thing out and examined its outside - it had no label on either the front or the spine, no decoration at all on the shiny black leather binding.

Taking the obvious next course of action, Sofia opened the book. The inside had no title page or anything of the sort - what was there was hand-written. While it didn't have a name on the inside any more than it had on the outside, Sofia could recognize Cedric's handwriting fairly easily. He'd written enough things for her to read, instructions of things to practice outside of their tutoring sessions, books to look at… Not to mention, there - there was that bit, earlier, before the auditions even, in the lesson with Cedric, where she hadn't been paying close attention to what she was shoving in her bag. Oops.

She thumbed through it, and it seemed to be some sort of miscellaneous note book. There were some journal entries it looked like, thoughts about unmarked days. There were some recipes for different flavors of tea, using herbs Cedric had in his cabinet, it looked like, though Sofia didn't know herbs very well. There were apparently random quotes from things, and some poetry that looked original - and textbook bad. Sofia chuckled lightly at that. Practically every poem had overly dark motifs and veered into purple prose- amusingly, given their shared favorite color. It seemed she'd stumbled onto evidence of Cedric's emo phase.

Most common were bad drawings of birds. Circle bodies and heads, triangle wings and beaks, jagged zigzags to indicate feathers sometimes. Usually the lines were filled in to make the birds look black, even if there was more white space left than not, usually.

Some of the doodles looked lazy and bored in their drawing style, and wouldn't have been noticeable had it not been for the contrast with the occasional bird, or group of birds, that had been drawn...energetically? Each line had been gone over several times with the pencil he'd been using, and the marks left a definite imprint on the page - though whether because of the repeated action or if there was unusual force behind the pencil when it was drawn.

Clover hopped up on to the bed to look at the book with her. "So, what's that?"

Sofia closed the book and looked at Clover. "It's clearly Cedric's journal, though shouldn't you know this, being...me?" she said, and bit her lip before finishing. "...It's adorable. I'm keeping it."

The rabbit just chuckled and said, "Really? You don't think that's a little.. shady?"

"Well, if you don't, I certainly don't." Sofia crossed her arms petulantly and looked at him.

Clover rolled his eyes and flopped onto his side and said, "Hah, Sof, you're turning into Cedric."