"Get out of my office Dakest..." She said playfully... Scaring Firsties... Really... She smiled at him and shut the door after he left.

"So..." She said not mentioning anything about Sabel. "What do you need..." She said coldly. She needed an apology for his rudeness... but she wouldn't ask him. Truth was... she'd miss the little jerk.

Jake stared at the door for a moment after it closed, half in a daze about that little goodbye he'd shared, half wishing it was open because he realised that Lafay really WAS a basilisk and it was a good job he was terrified of eye contact anyway because if he looked into her eyes he'd be killed and then he'd be dead and Neptune would KILL him and-

... he was getting off track.

All that flew through his mind in a split second before turning to Lafay and taking... one step forward.

Looking at the parchment in his hand, Jake began to talk somewhat nervously. "I have this, here... I'm, well... like, leaving soon, and I need to get-..."

No sooner than he'd started... Jake trailed off and shook his head. "Never mind. I mean, I don't expect you to do me the favour..."

Jake folded up the parchment into a tiny rectangle and stood there, realising he hand nothing to focus on and not look at Lafay... so he looked at her desk.

"So you'll know this is genuine. I realise that when I apologised to you in Moretti's office, it may not have sounded like I was sorry. But I am... I don't regret what I did at the feast... but I do regret the way I went about it... being rude. I'm sorry... I never intended it."

Then he looked at the toes of his left shoe and back to the desk. "And when I came to your office, I'm sorry for even showing up that day..." Jake reached up and ran a hand through his hair. How much had he wondered whether or not it would be a good idea to do all this.

"I don't apologise for protesting in Potions, though... or any other time I expressed my opinions. I still stand by what I thought."

And she was always so rude around him... but intentionally, like when she always rolled her eyes at him. That kind of... well... it hurt.

But he didn't SAY that.

"Also not expecting you to accept any of this, to be frank. I get the feeling you don't like me, Professor. Kind of resigned to it now, I guess."

And... yeah... that was kind of... it.

"Why! Why do you bother then? If you have me all figured out, that I wouldn't even accept an apology made with the best intentions, why do you bother doing it? I actually would have accepted the apology." But now... He'd angered her again. "And your opinions are fine and dandy... but to be the best potioneer, you need to be willing to do things that you don't like." She said and then shrugged. "But if you are content being mediocre... that's fine." And she meant it.

Jake waited for that leeeeeettle rant to be over before finishing, pushing on with the weariness of someone who realises there is no point trying to sort something that couldn't be salvaged.

"I said I didn't expect it. I never said I had you figured out. There's no such thing as having a person 'figured out'," he shrugged. It was true; people were complex. "I apologised because to try and make yourself a better person, you need to be willing to do the things you need to do, even if it's in vain."

Oh yeah. Lafay's words thrown back. Mwahahah.

Sure, Jake had no idea before he started that it was stupid to mention how he didn't expect his apology to be accepted, which was why he'd said it. He was still quite unaware.

"Also, it's not an ambition of mine to be the best potioneer, mediocre is fine with me. I'm a jack of all trades, master of none."

Anyway.

"I've said what I needed to say, and I know I'm a pain in the neck so I'll get out of your office." Let you celebrate my leaving and all.

It was a shame it couldn't all be sorted, but Jake had finally resigned himself to it all. He'd apologised for it, and it wasn't exactly going to trouble him that it wasn't going to be accepted... he was genuinely just indifferent to all Hogwarts issues. Scary feeling, but there it was.

Shame he didn't ask for the signature, either.

Hecate locked the door with her wand. He wasn't just going to leave.

"Stop acting like a martyr and sit." She said keeping her voice calm. "You aren't leaving until I feel this conversation is over."

Now she was angry.

"I'm not sure if you've read the meaning of the word Apology. As I am still your professor, let me give that to you. It is an acknowledgment of some fault, injury, or insult with an expression of regret and a plea for pardon." She looked in his eyes. "Apologize to me, because you realize you did wrong. Because you want to make it up to me. Not because it'll make you feel better about yourself. That's not an apology."

O.O

The door was locked.

The.

Door.

Was.

Locked.

hewastrapped

"I'm not acting the martyr... not intentionally, anyway," Jake responded, doing as he was told anyway and sitting down.

He listened, and then shook his head. "Maybe I did realise I was wrong and all that. I didn't say I wanted to feel better about myself, I said it was about being a better person. I realised I was wrong and when I did, I came here. But-"

And there was a but. A big one.

"When I did come down here, I was greeted the same way I always am by you. You roll your eyes at me and you make me feel like something unpleasant you've stepped in. And when that happens, you don't want to tell that person how wrong you were."

Jake frowned slightly and sat back, folding his arms across his chest just for something to do with them. "And so when I told you why I came here and why I was apologising, I was telling you the truth, just not all of it."

It was just that... when he DID come down here and Lafay was how she was, he automatically didn't WANT to make it up to her anymore.

"I do apologise."

And she had no idea how hard that was, because Jake did not apologise. If he did something wrong on purpose, he was rarely sorry. And if it was by accident, he rarely noticed.

BAH. The young man rubbed a hand over his face, over his eyes and then through his head. This was not working.

"I roll my eyes and treat everyone the same way. When you treat me rudely, I treat you in the same manner." She said and then came to front of the desk, sitting on it.

She looked at the boy and then sighed. "I accept your apology." She said watching him wipe his eyes. "Now. What did you wish me to do?" She said extending her hand and looking at the paper in his hand.

Jake wasn't so sure about that. He hadn't been rude when knocking on the door and Lafay had just rollllllllled her eyes at him. He was still completely unaware of what that MEANT, but it always gave him a negative feeling.

Whatever. He'd leave it. He didn't want to bring it back up again.

When Lafay held out her hand for the parchment, Jake looked slightly confused about it. "Oh," he said, unfolding it whilst he still held it. "Well... since the NEWTs were cancelled, the University I want to go to needs to be sure they can trust that I will pass any of their courses. And, basically, I'm doing a course I can do on the road, and they need to know I am trustworthy enough to go in for my coursework to be moderated when they need it... so I needed a bunch of professors' affirmation that they I can be trusted to do that, as well as some acknowledgement that I'd have done well in my NEWTs."

He handed it over with a shrug. "Wasn't sure that you'd..." well... sign. "Well... you believed I'd fail my NEWT in Potions... I didn't know if that had changed."

It was a looooong shot.

...

Hecate wasn't happy about this. Did she think he would do his assignments? Yes... if they were on his list of what was right... He had just admitted to her that he was content being a mediocre wizard. She simply looked at the paper for a few moment, then she signed it. He could change...

Jake's eyes nearly bugged out. Did she just... on the... even though...?

He hadn't expected her to sign... that was why he'd put the parchment away at first, so to see it DONE now...

"For real?" he asked, stunned, holding out his hand to take it back.

"But you aren't allowed to remain mediocre. Pick something and succeed at it." She said with a nod.