Cedric was not, in fact, in his room.

Instead, Cedric was pouring two cups of tea - or rather, hot water he'd just heated over a small magical fire that would become tea, with the leaves and other plant material in the bottoms of their cups - in Professor Layton's office. He laid one of the cups in front of the Professor with a small nod. Then, before sitting down, he took out a small phial labeled "EM", carefully measured out a few capfuls into the drink, and placed it beside the other man's teacup; he took another phial, similarly marked, and did the same into his own drink, though he simply pocketed the thing after he was done.

"Thank you, my boy," Layton said as he took both his drink and the phial. "Masculinizing Elixir used to be a necessary evil, but it's downright pleasant in tea. I'm still astonished you managed to find herbs to complement its flavor so well - not that I doubt your ability, Cedric, of course. My point is simply that it was quite a feat."

Cedric smiled. "You're well aware my aim was less the flavor of the concoction and more the tunability."

Professor Layton nodded. "I am, which honestly makes it that much more interesting that it's a well rounded flavor."

It really was something along the lines of serendipity more than skill, though Cedric had tried to at least make the various combinations palatable. Still, he wasn't about to refuse praise, especially from his favorite professor. "You do me credit, sir," he said, then looked down at his cup. Had it steeped enough yet? Cedric realized he hadn't conjured any spoons to stir the drinks with yet, so quickly did that before Layton could beat him to it; he wasn't about to let the teacher, who'd just complimented him, have to do the work - even if the tea was more of a social call than a professional one.

...However, there was actual business to be attended to. Cedric cleared his throat. "I, ah, apologize if this is sudden, but I was wondering if you might take me on as a thesis student. I've already asked Professor Tohsaka, my previous advisor, if I should be allowed to transfer-"

Layton nodded. "So I've heard, though that was some days ago now. I had been wondering."

Ah. "Yeees, it was," Cedric said, stalling, trying to think of a good reason, trying not to be too obvious about glancing around the room. The only thing that jumped out at him was the spoon in his hand, and well, yes, but running out of spoons only made sense in a specific context, and as far as Cedric was aware, Layton had no reason to know that context.

...No good lie was coming up, especially now that Cedric was preoccupied with an oddly specific way of explaining the truth. "Something came up?" he eventually said, though he felt that with such a hesitation and the lilt at the end of his voice that he wasn't very convincing. Which was silly, because while vague, that was the truth.

Another nod from Layton, and he said, "I see." The professor didn't… seem to be suspicious about Cedric's reaction, but neither did he seem particularly sold.

...And then Cedric realized, of all people. Of all people, while Professor Layton wouldn't understand the spoons, he'd understand the issue at large.

"Sascha Nettle ran into me on the way to your office, actually. She - last time we actually spoke, before that anyhow, she still… considered herself lesbian." Cedric gulped, and forced himself to continue. "In the hallway, she - she set me up, for a magical incident thing, set me to take the fall, not - not to mention, she, she called me old names, Li-Liz-" He couldn't force it out a second time, not to his professor, even as much as he liked the man. Even if they shared the dubious distinction of having been called a 'girl' at birth.

The professor's mouth tightened into the rare frown. "I see. Yes, of course, there's no shame in needing time after that. I apologize for prying." Layton picked up his tea and began to drink.

Cedric smiled weakly, then looked down at his own tea. That he had to drink his way into being seen as a - he was too young, too frail to claim the label man, exactly, but he was too old to be considered a boy. But was he ever even that?

...Of course, if he doubted the veracity of his own identity due to needing an outside source to keep his body in line, then he was also discounting Layton's, and that wouldn't do at all. He sighed and took a breath. "I just- I wish there was anything I could do. I managed to get proper housing - though only due to Grey's own infamy, I think, and…" Cedric closed his eyes. No need to describe what happened, even if he couldn't keep himself from remembering a bit. Layton knew, and Cedric knew; outlining would only make it harder to forget. "It's even official in the books, now, and m-most at least manage to keep it behind my back, nothing overt, nothing I could rat on them for, as it were. Which… helps. I think."

Layton put down his tea and nodded. "Unfortunately for your case, Miss Nettle is, for the most part, otherwise a model student. I've heard smaller complaints of her being a tad sharp now and then, but nothing nearly so awful as you've said here. And I do wonder if even some of that was less about her and more about her orientation." Cedric's eyes widened, but Layton preempted his response, "I'm not saying I don't believe you, lad. Everyone has their faults and their struggles, their demons to overcome and all. Of course it still doesn't excuse that sort of behavior."

Cedric finally took a drink of his tea, to cover the frown he could feel forming. That… wasn't the response he was expecting, though he wasn't sure exactly what he had expected, either. He did have a point, though. That incident with her last year wouldn't have put her in such a perilous position had she not been out as… whatever she was. A woman interested in other-women-and-him, at least at one point; or perhaps it was simply easier to say as not-straight, whatever her specifics. And for just a moment, some part of him did feel perhaps he should sympathize with that...

… But on the other hand, she attacked him, made a public mess, then set him up for it. Sympathy for her oh so hard life - one of the few students who wasn't publicly maligned for identity or orientation that didn't match up with what was "normal" - was a bit hard to find. Of course, Greylock was in largely the same category, if not quite the same, especially given Grey hadn't abandoned him the moment Cedric had found himself, had chosen his name, had come out with the truth.

"Right," Cedric said, putting down his cup with a bit more force than necessary, "so- was that a yes, on the thesis?"

Layton took a moment to respond, which was… worrying. What was wrong? Was the delay that big of a deal? The professor had just said it wasn't, but that could be simply a politeness. Was it too late in the year? The first semester was over half-gone, but Cedric was honestly still in the research phase of the paper. Was that it? Was he taking too long, was he not far enough for Layton's standards? Or maybe he was too far, Layton thought he wouldn't be able to help enough at this point to justify the-

"It's been some years since I've directed a thesis," he said, finally. Well. It probably hadn't been all that long in truth, but it seemed to take an age anyway. "I suppose now is as good a time as any to take it up again, not that the opportunities to do so are especially numerous. And I suppose you're not likely to be another Clive Dove."

Cedric didn't recognize the name, and as such had no context to interpret that particular bit of information. ...For fear of misstepping, he couldn't think of anything to say, actually. Had the boy died, or just failed dismally? He couldn't have done something to tarnish the Professor's name too badly, or else he'd likely know - else, it had been swept under the rug. ...Looking back on his own troubles with housing, and the official reaction, that did seem highly possible.

"Yes," Layton said, after another pause. "I hadn't been quite sure whether or not I might until now, though I've been thinking it over since Tokiomi told me. Do be sure to bring me your current materials sometime soon, so I can begin the advising sooner rather than later." He took another drink of tea, keeping his eyes on Cedric.

A somewhat frantic nod from Cedric, a quick, "Of course," then silence. Honestly, Cedric hadn't realized he was as likely to be turned down as that. Well, his anxiety had said as much all along, but the logical part of his mind had tried to quiet that, with what he had thought were well-founded points that the professor had no reason to do so (aside from being too busy, maybe?), that he'd be thrilled to work on more archaeology (...of a sort), that Cedric had a better chance than usual due to their personal friendship (if... perhaps a bit more distant than most friends were, due to age gap and teacher/student dynamic, and Cedric's nature in general) and-

But that doesn't matter right now. The stakes had been higher than Cedric realized, which made him understandably a little shaken, sure. But he probably wouldn't have managed the nerve to ask if he'd known about this Clive, about...whatever other hesitations the professor had harbored, and wouldn't have this opportunity.

Suddenly, Layton broke the silence with a question, and caused Cedric to jump a little. "By the way, are you sure you won't take any compensation for this?" and gestured toward the teacup and the phial both. "Even just enough to cover the cost of ingredients?"

Cedric blinked and swallowed, which would have been less suspicious had he been drinking his own tea at the moment. "Oh, I wouldn't dream of it!" he said, hoping he was not smiling too broadly, or waving his hand frantically rather than dismissively. "The cost is negligible, with my family's resources, you should know this." Well, rather with the school's resources. The cost was negligible, in that it was literally zero, because he was stealing the herbs from the school's herbology gardens. Which, yes, he was allowed access to as a student, but he had a feeling he was pushing well beyond the envelope with the private collection of herbs in his rooms. Not that that was obvious, given the intentional mislabeling, though covering up overuse of herbs was more of a side-effect than the main reason for that…

A sigh came from Layton, and Cedric looked up. "I suppose not," the man said. "You're relatively lucky, as such. You won't feel the effects of the impending legislations on use of magic for some time. None of them are quite official yet, but they do seem to have a decent amount of support. Have you heard anything on them lately?"

Cedric shrugged. "I...suppose?"

"The most recent proposal is to require most magic-users to have an official escort while traveling any further than within one's own city," Layton said. "In addition to the student casting restrictions, there are a few more scattered rumors on the wind, though I do hope not too many of those are based in truth."

Cedric nodded. He had heard about this, though he'd forgotten. Layton was right; due to his family, Cedric wasn't usually affected as much by these things, given he had often enough moved in the same circles as the royal family, sometimes in a very literal sense - though usually they preferred flying coach to his father's transportation runes.

"What others don't seem to see about this is the repercussions, the potential for misuse. I'd certainly like to believe applying for such a person to accompany one on a journey wouldn't be an opportunity for officials to deny people from traveling altogether, by having forms mysteriously lost or delayed. I'd like to believe it wouldn't be used for keeping tabs on the personal lives of those with magic. But I fear, these days, I simply don't have as much faith in the powers that be as I used to."

...Merlin's Mushroom, that was a good point. Set of points, really.

"Of course, this won't happen for a while," Layton continued. "Assuming it even does make it into law, and there's no guarantee the king will agree with the nobles… However, it would be a markedly bad decision to oppose them, from what I hear."

And, while Cedric wouldn't be on the receiving end of that decision for a while, Professor Layton had no such family name behind him. Cedric wasn't sure quite what his professor's family actually was like, but knew that 'Layton' was-at least not taken by marriage, though that didn't necessarily mean it had been the name given at birth. The point he was aiming for, though, was that said family name wasn't something Cedric recognized in the least aside from his good teacher here. Neither rich nor powerful, the Professor was likely closer to Sofia in his past than to himself or Greylock, perhaps even as lowborn as her - and she'd certainly be affected by these things, unless she somehow managed to dramatically move up the social ladder.

The Professor didn't look particularly perturbed by all this, it was true, but he was frowning again. Twice in one night, where before Cedric wasn't sure he'd seen the man emote unhappiness deeper than a lack of smile. Not that he'd spent all that much time with his teacher over the few years they'd known each other, but - still, that had to be something, right?

As such, Cedric wanted to try to comfort him, somehow. It was probably the thing to do here. If he had any idea how. The only thing coming to mind was the sort of physical comfort Sofia had asked for, when speaking about her father. That, of course, was quite out of the question. Even beyond Cedric's own discomfort with physical contact - Sofia apparently slowly growing into the exception to that - there was also the fact that Cedric neither knew the Professor nearly well enough for that. He didn't even know the man's first name, for Avalon's sake. Nor would that amount of intimacy be even vaguely appropriate between a professor and a student.

Again, it was Layton who broke the silence. "Where are my manners, I apologize," he said. "I shouldn't be burdening a young lad such as yourself with these matters. I do hope you won't spread this, I fear it might cause an uproar, which would do more harm than good since there's little to be done. In fact - no, I said I'd quit. Just do try to keep mum about this, if you would?"

"Of - of course, sir. I'm -" Hmm, it was perhaps not best to advertise one's ability to keep a secret, especially given that the largest thing Layton would know of that might be safer kept secret - his being transgender - was specifically not a secret to anyone at this point - except… Sofia, assuming she hadn't heard from someone else yet. … He, ah, did intend to correct that before she did. Eventually.

But back to the point, everything else on Cedric's List of Secrets was… well, Cedric kept it secret for a reason, from petty theft of school resources to - to the level of his cowardice, he supposed. "I'm quite sure I can do that much," Cedric managed instead, lest he implicate anything.

"I appreciate it," Layton said with a nod. Another drink - Layton seemed to be going lightly on the tea, how hadn't he finished it yet? - then he said, "Have you given any more thought to the Inventing Club? If it's a solid no, I don't mind at all, and will certainly stop asking; however, given you were on the fence last time it was brought up, I thought it might not hurt to check again."

Cedric couldn't resist rolling his eyes a bit. "You know, the other members have not bothered to ask me personally, but they've apparently started asking Sofia and Greylock. The nerve! Fine, if you all want me back that badly, sure. Fine." All the same, he found it hard to resist a small smile. At least there was one group that - well, his gender was still an issue, it always would be, with anyone who knew him from Before, but they had been able to look past it sooner than many others had, and, for the most part, they hadn't wanted to push him out for it. The fact that they wanted him back so badly, even - next year would be a moot point, as he'd be graduated out, but that they wanted him for one last year - half of one year, even! - so badly. It was rather flattering, really.

Layton didn't seem to notice the smile, or perhaps Cedric actually had managed to force it back entirely. Either way, the Professor said, "Oh dear. I didn't intend to pressure you, Cedric. I wouldn't mind at all setting the other students-"

"No!" ...That came out a bit more forcefully than Cedric had intended. He cleared his throat and tried again. "No, that won't be necessary. I'm quite all right, no need to bother." He didn't add, In fact, please don't bother. That would be too desperate. And, well, it - he really ought to put more time and effort into his studies, especially DAWW with his grade being as it was, but… he had done the calculations, he'd pass the class with a little buffer with this amount of effort. He had free time that yes, he should spend doing other things, but he wasn't actually about to. So this… yes, Inventing Club seemed like a good idea. He might even be in time to start on a large project for Spring's competition.

Layton chuckled at this Cedric's response, for some reason. He'd seen through the grouchy facade, probably. "All right," the professor said, and Cedric huffed and pouted for good measure.