Greylock strolled across campus with a small spring in his step, making his way toward the Crage House dorms. It was awfully chilly today, even by late November standards, but that was okay. Or at least, it would be.

The halls weren't much warmer, but getting out of that piercing wind was a plus, he supposed. At last, he found the door to Sofia's dorm, and waltzed right in-

Only to stop in his tracks as he saw Sofia, curled up on her bed reading. Aragorn's Arse, I didn't think she'd still be here, he mentally muttered. She did seem pretty absorbed in whatever that book was, though. Given its pure black binding, Grey couldn't imagine what that might have been - although he did have a somewhat humorous passing thought that it looked familiar, even though that clearly could not have been the case. Yes, Grey, clearly all books of similar size and color are the same. Impeccable logic, he mused with a smirk. At any rate, with Sofia distracted like this, perhaps he could just…

He took a step back, and almost immediately tripped and fell with a… clang? That didn't even make sense! He'd just come through the same doorway, what could he have possibly-

"GREYLOCK!" Sofia exclaimed, slamming her book shut. Well, there went that. As he sat up, rubbing his back, Sofia stuffed the book in her bedside drawer before coming to his aid. In fact, she took so long to do so that two enchanted brooms beat her to it. … Right, so they must have been what he'd tripped on. Of course he'd come at the same time as the cleaning crew.

"Are you all right?" Sofia asked at last.

"Oh, fine, fine." He visually waved off the inquiry as he rose to his feet. "Right as rain, aside from a little aching, anyway. Likely forgotten in a few minutes, tops," he assured her.

"Ah. Well that's good." A beat passed, and her demeanor changed. "Wait, but what are you even doing here?" Her mouth twisted slightly. "I mean, I can get away with visiting you guys in a private dorm but-.. technically even that's always been a little risky, and, and they're a lot stricter about group dorms." A bit jumpy, today. Had he startled her that badly, or was Miss Late Night Expeditions actually that concerned about the rules for once? Seemingly as an afterthought, she added, "Not that I'm not happy to see you; I'd just hate for you to get in trouble."

Grey rolled his eyes with a light smile. "Oh, don't be silly, dear. All your prefects love me." He placed a hand over his heart for emphasis, causing Sofia to give him a slight leer. It made him a little happier than it probably should have to know she worried for him, but he had a point to make now, and as such strutted past her and deeper into the room. The brooms walked not far off, though they continued on to the far side to begin cleaning.

"... Grey."

He sat on her bed and gave her a defiant grin, and though Sofia facepalmed, he could also hear a weak chuckle, which was precisely the reaction he'd hoped for. As a bonus, it also gave him a moment to look around. It was the first time he'd actually seen Sofia's sleeping quarters, after all, though aside from each girl's few personal affectations it looked much like any other dorm. A bit smaller and less ornate in its decor than he remembered Goodwyn House's being, but similar.

One of Sofia's affectations, as it were, was his own coat hanging on a hook next to the bed. Greylock, however, said nothing of this, and instead went to snooping. Picking up her things and putting them back down conspicuously, etc. As expected, this got her attention again and a "C-can you not?" as she made her way toward him.

"But Sofia!" he implored in a faux-dramatic tone. "If you don't want me visiting you anymore then I have to make the most of this rare opportunity!"

Sofia pursed her lips and huffed an annoyed sigh as she stopped perhaps two or three feet away, crossing her arms. Daring him to test her patience, perhaps? Or perhaps trying to appear more annoyed than she truly was. … Pushing more buttons seemed like as good a way as any to figure out which it was~

"Oh! Be careful!" he warned suddenly, causing Sofia to startle-jump and look around for the source of his concern. But Greylock smirked and elaborated, "We wouldn't want anyone walking in and getting the wrong idea! Better keep your distance from the daaaangerous boy! Can you imagine the rumors!" He waggled his eyebrows, only to be disappointed when Sofia didn't laugh.

"I- It's my bed. You're the one who needs to move," she insisted.

Greylock frowned, then sighed lightly. "All right, all right. No need to get in a tizzy."

Sofia quickly turned to the door. "Tizzy?"

Hm? … OH. Greylock laughed. "No, the expression, not your House's prefect."

This did get a chuckle, if an unsteady one, from the girl. "Right, sorry. I guess I'm just… a little nervous."

Grey couldn't imagine why. Literally no one would actually think anything unsavory was happening here; that was the joke. Hahaha, clearly the gayest boy in school is here to raid panty drawers and seduce all the girls, that is most definitely a plausible assumption. Still, despite his amusement at his own thoughts, he decided it best not to drag it out or antagonize her further right now.

Not that he had a chance to do so, as by the time he'd decided this she was asking, "You never did answer, though; why were you here in the first place?"

Right, he still needed to justify that. "Well my Microbiology class let out a bit early today - Professor Ginko had to head out for some field work or something - so I was hoping to talk to you before Lit class. Of course, by now we're both running dreadfully late, most likely."

Sofia's eyes widened, and her mouth seemed to mull over a few different words before sputtering, "Fish!"

"Pfffwhat?" Grey snorted, but Sofia was too busy grabbing her bag and ensuring she had all her supplies to notice.

Checking the time, she noted, "If we hurry we can actually still make it."

"Ah, good," said Grey, calmer than he felt he ought have been, given he couldn't really afford more tardies himself. As he got to his feet, he took a last look around - at his coat still hanging there, at the things on Sofia's table. She moved past him to lock her drawer before heading toward the door. That struck him as a little strange, given she left plenty of knick-knacks on top of the dresser totally unguarded. Then again, reconsidering the value of those things, perhaps it wasn't so strange. After all, there wasn't exactly a long list of thieves just itching to take a cheap bracelet, or a well-used brush, or a gaudy hair bow...

"You coming?" she asked over her shoulder.

Grey was following her at a few paces, now, hands in his pockets not at all suspiciously. "Yes, of course. Be right there."

They talked a little more on the way to class, but Sofia felt more distant than usual. After the second attempt at conversation died, Greylock began a mental inventory of possible reasons for the change in behavior. Was she more uncomfortable than he'd thought about sex jokes, even when they were clearly baseless? Was she upset because he'd been messing with her things? Perhaps she was the sort for whom one's quarters were a sort of sanctuary, and just his being there actually had upset her, if for different reasons than she'd said?

"I am sorry, by the way," he broke the silence.

"Hm?"

"For upsetting you before." He hated to drag out the tension but he really did need to know what specifically to avoid in the future. "You know how I get, pushing jokes too far and all."

"Oh! No, you're fine," she said, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "I mean, you did, in a couple ways, yeah. But not… too too-far, if that makes sense, heh. Just normal Greylock levels. It would be hard to be friends if I couldn't deal with that."

"You flatter me," he said, rolling his eyes. But after a moment, he added, "Are you sure, though? You seem a bit…"

"Ah, sorry I'm just. Spacey today. When you came in-" She went quiet rather suddenly. Spacing again, was she?

But she'd said enough. "It must be an awfully interesting book," he commented. "You were almost late all on your own."

Sofia gave a nervous laugh. "Y-yeah, well." Her pause was a little too long before, "I guess I have to admit it: I like steamy romance novels." Greylock wondered if she'd been picking up notes from Cedric in the art of lying, but he didn't question. Besides, with the little blush and averting of her gaze she added, it was both rather good acting if she was lying and awfully cute either way. He could abide that. "It's a little embarrassing…" she mumbled.

Grey smiled. "You'll have to tell me about it later." They were just outside the door to class now, with little more than a minute to spare, but at least they'd made it. With a wink, he said in a hushed tone, "I love steamy romances" And Sofia's baffled expression made that exaggeration entirely worth it.

Sofia sat down to her desk in Enchancian Literature class, and despite the fact that her mind wanted to go about three places at once, did her best to pay attention when it started. They'd finished Beowulf, and would be starting something new. As it turned out, they'd be reading aloud in class today the play Romeo and Juliet. Someone muttered behind Sofia that they were in secondary school and shouldn't have to go through this, and someone else actually managed to as the teacher why they had to. "For the experience!" said Professor Higgins. "Plays, especially those in meter, are as important to hear as they are to understand, at least in part. Don't worry, we won't be spending a week on this, but you need to hear at least some of it."

And so the class sighed, and people were chosen to speak. Well, first, Higgins asked for volunteers, and Sofia had to chuckle at the way Greylock waved his hand in the air and bouncing a bit in his seat. He kept silent, though Sofia could easily imagine him saying 'Pick me, pick me!'

So he was noted, down as Sampson, and… no one else was volunteering. With a slight sigh, but a smile, Sofia raised her hand and was put down for Lady Capulet, to Sofia's chagrin. Of course. After that no one else followed Sofia's lead, so random students were chosen for the other roles, and then they were to start... And Higgins had forgotten to choose a narrator. "Sofia, you were the only other person aside from Greylock to volunteer, would you start us off?"

Huh. Sofia cleared her throat and read aloud, "Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean." A short breath, and she kept going, though not for long - the prologue wasn't terribly long. It shouldn't be, for a play, that would be a rather boring performance. Still, it meant Sofia had to put her best into this, to make it interesting and varied while she could, given Lady Capulet's single line.

When she was through, Greylock took over for a moment, with a very energetic line from Sampson, and was answered with a very apathetic line from Gregory. As the two bantered - or rather, Greylock tried to banter with the other student who just did not care - Sofia was watching her friend and drifting off into her thoughts, though at least the staring wouldn't be noticed given how excitedly he was acting in his seat.

Was that last comment from him, before they got into class, saying he knew what the book actually was? If so, did he know what Cedric has written in it? What specifically she'd been reading when he found her in his room?

On the other hand, he seemed pretty nonchalant. With her bad half-truth, if he'd seen the journal himself, he probably would have guessed she'd just gotten to the bit - one of several bits, maybe? - where Cedric had doodled on a page, such that it was hard to interpret it as anything but self-indulgent day-dreaming regarding a crush on Greylock. The next had had a badly-written poem, same level of quality as some others she'd found in the book, but rather than being about blackness and death and oh I'm so dark and edgy, it was about love. It… was still badly dark-and-edgy, but sappy, 'you lift me out of the darkness and stand by my side' and other such things Sofia couldn't quite remember. Given the lack of dates on the pages, it could have been about her, but she somehow doubted it.

Sofia found herself entirely unbothered by this revelation. She knew logically that she probably ought to be jealously guarding Cedric, given how she'd seen everyone else deal with third parties intruding on relationships, but she just… couldn't find it within herself to do that. Technically there was the possibility that these entries were old and no longer applicable, that Cedric had grown out of his crush, but that wasn't the reason Sofia felt okay with it. If anything, that thought made her a bit sad, because the two did work so well together. Which was… probably rather odd to be thinking, but-

"Sofia! Line," barked Professor Higgins, a tad annoyed, and Sofia came out of her daydreaming. Whoops. She turned pages quickly as she tried to find her line, too hurried to be as subtle about it as she'd have liked. Her amulet thrummed slightly against her chest just before she read her line, though she didn't think she really needed its help to stumble over the words. She got the message, though, and did her best to keep up with the speakers for the rest of the period, pushing away thoughts about Cedric.

...For a bit, anyway. For the rest of that class, and any time throughout the day she found herself beginning to dwell, she pulled herself out and paid attention to what was going on in class, catching up with notes when necessary. After Literature was General Sorcery, which she shared with students a year or so younger than her, which was… interesting. Not that Sofia didn't like her classmates, they were wonderful; and it wasn't that she wasn't used to learning with children of different ages, the village school was much smaller and much less funded than Hexley Hall was, to say the least. It was just that here, that was unusual. Here, she was reminded that she was beneath most of the other students.

But she was improving. And even thoughts of Cedric and the fact that his journal probably didn't look like a 'steamy romance' had a hard time diverting her attention from this. Sofia was improving at a good rate, which was encouraging, but she wasn't about to let her guard down and fall even further behind her peers.

After that, though, was Botany. Technically there wasn't a whole lot of actual magic here, but knowing and handling plants was incredibly useful for potion-making, given most of the ingredients tend to be flora rather than fauna.

Sofia had thought she'd managed to push Cedric out of her head for a bit, at least enough to focus - she'd seem him in like an hour anyway. But no, here she was, working with plants today, and wishing he'd happened to be here in the greenhouse to run into.

Of course, the real reason Sofia was wanting to see him was the journal, which she couldn't bring up. Still, she could… maybe beat around the bush a bit, see if anything shook out without directly attacking the question? That was probably still risky, though; not to mention, there was probably more information in the journal itself that she just hadn't gotten to. She sighed to herself, and cut a sprig of rosemary as she was instructed, and got a whiff of its scent.

...It didn't smell right? Sofia leaned in again and yes, she was smelling the rosemary, not another plant; but it didn't seem at all like what the rosemary Cedric kept on his herb shelf did. Normally she wouldn't remember, but she liked that smell a lot, sometimes took a bit - that one with permission at least, though it's not like she took the journal intentionally. Still, it was just odd? Unless - of course, this was a live plant. Something about the process of drying it for storage must make it smell like that.

She shrugged and got back to her assignment of collecting fresh cuttings of various plants, though made sure to keep well away from the resident Weird Magic Thing - in the greenhouse's case, a golden flower that was sentient and tended to bombard anyone in range with 'friendliness pellets'. Still, it - uh, they? - couldn't move from their pot, and so aside from yelling was relatively harmless. Most of the plants near it were poisonous anyway, given how this "Flowey," according to the sign, had managed to rip out anything else. Somehow. Even though they had no arms nor leaves to use as arms, or anything.

And finally, the official school day was over, though Sofia only had a short break before it was off to tutoring with Cedric.

Their sessions had grown longer since they'd started dating, mostly because both Sofia and Cedric were determined to get through all the content of the day, but Sofia also tended to get distracted, or be distracting; not to mention Greylock's nonsense, when he was around, though his tomfoolery was nothing new. Today he was in fact there, and was working on some homework as the other two revisited her conjuring spells, working yet again with control. She was definitely getting better, and relying less than before on her incantation being quiet or her movements being small.

Sofia was a little sad that she wasn't learning new things from Cedric much these days, as he probably would have been willing to do the old cliche of having his body close to hers, taking her hand in his own, and showing her what it felt like to do it right. Oh well.

The simple light spell, Lux, seemed to be under Sofia's fingers, finally - figuratively and literally, as she could put her hands together and cover the ball of light entirely. She still wasn't able to make it quite the pinprick that Cedric could, or some of her own classmates for that matter, but this was better than the irregularly vacillating number she had before, which at best was the size of an apple, and often was the size of a small watermelon, though could get much larger. For once, the size was about average, but the shifting energy level was not, and… But now, now she could control it, if she concentrated, much like every other spell she'd gotten the hang of with Cedric.

"So," Cedric said rather suddenly after she'd successfully conjured witchlight and kept it small for the third time, "so. You, ah, wanted to gallivant about at night some time, didn't you?"

That certainly wasn't what Sofia was expecting. "I do," she said, and thought for a moment. "I've thought about asking you to go a few more times, but now that it's actually been brought up again, Iii remember that I never actually got any sort of map to avoid the whole getting lost thing again."

Greylock snickered where he sat, though didn't look up at either person, or otherwise acknowledge the two at all. He could have been laughing at something in his textbook, though this didn't seem likely since it was the textbook for Dark Arts and Wicked Wizardry - which Sofia heard was surprisingly dull, given the subject matter.

Cedric threw a quick glare at Greylock, started to say something - and paused, mouth open, before he managed anything. He looked back at Greylock, more subtly this time, though still not terribly so. He looked at Sofia, and his mouth was screwed in thought.

"Maybe we should take a guide, then," Sofia said and sat down, now all three at the table. "Maps are hard to read in the dark, anyway. But a person who knew their way around - that would be handy."

Cedric blinked. "I mean, yes, but-" and he cut himself off.

Was… she not thinking the same thing as him, after all? ...Well, she liked the idea, whether it was originally his or hers. "Yes, but," she said, continuing at least what might have been a train of thought leading from his, "it couldn't be just anyone. The best candidates for knowing the grounds, the professors, are clearly out of the question. Even among the students, though, it would need to be someone who's been here a while, who just wanders the campus, who goes places he oughtn't anyway…" Whoops, let a pronoun slip. The way Greylock was biting his lip, he seemed to have noticed, though he was still insistent on pretending to read his book.

Cedric didn't seem to notice anything. "I, I guess? But that wasn't my point, so much as, ah. Well. Isn't this supposed to be - ah, ro-romantic, or sssomething?"

Sofia grinned a bit. "That's true. So someone close, who we wouldn't mind being around, who wouldn't mind being around us, and spending time alone with the two of us."

"But who on Gaia's green Earth could possibly fit that description, Sofia? I think this whole notion of a guide is ill-conceived."

That seemed to be the last straw for Greylock as he finally looked up and said, "Well, I don't know, but I can think of someone who fits the criteria rather well, if I do say so myself."

Cedric looked at Greylock and face-palmed. "The answer was literally right in front of me," he said to no one in particular.

"Sooo is that a yes?" Sofia leaned over the desk, trying to see into Cedric's eye - the one he wasn't covering with a hand, anyway.

She needn't have bothered, as he took his hand back to look at her, face scrunched. "Is what a yes," he said, with a bit more bite than Sofia really thought was necessary.

Still, Sofia might as well finish what she started. "Would you mind Greylock coming along on our - what did you call it? Escapade?"

"I believe the word I used was 'gallivant,'" Cedric said.

There was a moment of silence, as Cedric thought, probably. It might have been longer, but Greylock interected, "Now, hold up. No one asked me if I wanted to come along."

That was… true. However - "Wasn't what you said earlier an offer?"

"Dear Sofia, that was responding to your baiting. Continuing the joke, and all." Another pause, then he continued, "You are right, I definitely am game, I just wanted to point out you never actually asked, you assumed. And you know what ass-uming does to people."

Sofia rolled her eyes and chuckled, then looked back to Cedric who was, for the record, smiling. He breathed a small sigh, then said, "Oh, all right. It was probably sheer luck that - hey, wait. Wait one Merlin's moment, does Greylock-" Cedric turned to Greylock and continued speaking to him, "Grey, do you even know your way around the school any better than either of us?"

Greylock straightened in his chair. "As a matter of fact, I do, Faith-nicked. Drama tends to let out late, after sunset by the time the production's really in full swing, most years. Not to mention I might just like wandering. How did you not know this?"

"...I suppose you do get back to the room late sometimes?" Cedric's eyebrows knitted, and he shrugged and sighed again. "I suppose I don't have any other reasons to say 'no,' do I."

Sofia blinked in surprise and dismay, but before she could manage to say anything, Greylock stepped in with "Of course you do! A simple 'I'd rather you didn't, Greylock ol' chum of mine, I want to have plenty of sloppy makeouts and you'd ruin the whole affair' would do quite nicely." He paused to chuckle at Cedric's mortified expression, then continued, "Or an actually simple 'No reason, but no,' either way. I don't want to invite myself along on your date."

Cedric was still wide-eyed and mouth scrunched, in that way Sofia figured was probably his equivalent of blushing. Sofia managed to find her voice first, somehow, and said, "Well, technically I invited you, but without clearing that with Cedric first..." She shrugged, words to finish her thoughts lost yet again, though some of them she didn't want to be finished. Her ulterior motives in this weren't exactly malicious, in seeing the two interact more with each other, observing them. Figuring out whether or not Cedric's crush was still active or not, or at least a good start on that. Ideally, the asking itself might have been that too, but Cedric was just his own grumpy self, as usual - which may mean that there was nothing there anymore, or that he was quite as romantically fond of Greylock as he was of Sofia (or as he was non-romantically fond of Greylock, for that matter?), or that he only tolerated Greylock's presence after all, or that he was just especially grumpy that day. Of course, Cedric was always hard to read.

"Both of you, quiet. It's hard to think with all your prattling on." Oh. Sofia looked down at having been called out like that, though she'd already been silent for a few moments.

Greylock, who'd not said anything for even longer, also said "Sorry," earning a sharp look from Cedric. Greylock then closed his mouth with a snap, mimed locking it, and threw away the imaginary key.

Cedric sighed, and took a moment to think. "Don't look so glum either. I always snap, I'd have thought you knew that." ...He hadn't looked at or specifically addressed Sofia, but, well, Greylock wasn't exactly looking glum. "Anyhow. That probably is a good plan, with regards to Greylock tagging along. I had no specific plans, his ideas or otherwise , so there was nothing he could 'interfere' with, and-" Cedric stopped short, bit his lip and drummed his fingers on the table. Neither friend interrupted his thoughts this time. "This isn't the sort of rule-breaking I'm usually comfortable with, and while having Greylock come with is honestly more likely to get us caught than less, I still do rather like the idea."

Well, that was... not quite what Sofia was expecting. ... and still inconclusive when it came to possible-crush. Of course, one statement here or there wasn't likely to prove anything on its own , but Sofia was finding it difficult to even classify 'evidence' as for or against, let alone be able to weigh the options.

"Mmm mwe mMMmk moow?" Greylock... 'said'.

"Wh- What on Gaia's green Earth are you doing , Greylock?" Cedric asked, and Sofia couldn't help but giggle at his grimace.

Greylock pantomimed unlocking his mouth, which was just incredibly necessary , and said, "May we speak now?"

Cedric groaned. "You just did, didn't you?"

"Well, I tried to ask without speaking, but you weren't understanding it."

"Did you know, there's this new invention, it's called paper . And pens! You have at least fifteen of them, I - I think I still have that one from earlier this month."

Sofia wasn't sure what they were talking about, but Greylock seemed to. "You still have my pen fifteen ? Delightful. I hope you're treating it well, dear ~" Greylock wiggled his eyebrows at Cedric, who turned away and pouted. ...Well at least that was one for the 'in favor of crush' pile.

"So," she started, half to distract her from her frustration, "What time, then?"

Cedric looked distressed at this, before Greylock clapped him on the shoulder - which he shifted away from. So, one for the 'against crush' pile. Fish sticks and beaver dams. Greylock, however, wasn't finished, and took Sofia from her thoughts by saying, "I'd say after supper, we ought to all work on our homework, you most of all. When, and only when you're finished, you can come fetch us - as you have in the past. I fall asleep and wake up fairly easily, so while I may be out by just shake me a bit and I'll be up and at 'em. And ol' Bed-sick here is quite the insomniac, so I imagine he'll still be up."

Sofia looked to Cedric for confirmation, who grimaced, shrugged, and finally, reluctantly, nodded.

"Speaking of supper-" Cedric said, looking at the wall clock, "we probably ought to get moving." The other two looked as well, and after a quick cleanup of the room - without magic, given what happened the last time they tried to hurry up the cleaning process due to lateness - the three of them were heading down the stairs.

A/N: Excuses, excuses! Life happens, and certain aspects of this made it hard to pick up this past winter after NaNo. Thanks to those who've been interested in the continuation of this piece in the meantime, and here's to hoping I can keep up steam for future chapters!

A/N 2: ...something like a month and a half after I posted this chapter I was going through my doc for organization purposes and I realized I had forgotten to post half the chapter. Hopefully this all makes more sense now! Haha,,,