Lexi simply qirked an eyebrow and kept repeating the incantatling to herself over and over again so as not to lose her concentration.

"I told you he isn't a bad guy, Sabel. YOu are simply trying to find a reason to dislike him is all. He is actually a really good teacher. Very encouraging," she said matter of factly. Mhm.

With a flick of her wand she sent the snowball sailing off through the sky to a spot where no one stood. It splattered onto the field and she gave a triumphant smile.

"I never said he was a bad teacher. He's probably a great teacher." What with his seeming ability to read and manipulate people. The man had a strange way of trying to entice trust; a way that for some reason unnerved him.

Shrugging his shoulders a little, he finished brushing the snow off his arms. "A little hard to like him when he threatened my future." That wasn't looking for a reason to dislike him, that was being given a reason to do so. "You'll probably say I deserved the threat though, what with how I can be in my opinion and all." He didn't want to fight. He really didn't.

Lexi simply furrowed her brow and looked at him for a long moment. "What did he say to you, Sabel?" she asked with great concern in her voice. She knew how much Sabel wanted to go into the ITF and for someone to threaten that must have been tough on him.

... Although... he probably DID deserve it given his quick tongue... that tongue that spoke LONG before Sabel had a chance to process whether what he was saying was a good idea or not. But for the moment Lex would refrain from pointing that out to him. For NOW.

"Nothing. It's not important." The man could try to take whatever he wanted from him, he wasn't going to make it easy though. That he could guarantee. And he could almost thank him for forwarding the threat; kept him disillusioned to the man's nature.

Shaking his head a little, he brushed off a few flakes of snow from his pant leg. "Should we go inside? It's a little chilly and I owe you a hot coco I believe."

"I would hardly consider someone threatening your future unimportant, but if you don't wish to discuss it that is fine," she said after a moments pause to consider the boy.

Shaking her head to herself she stood up and offered her hand to Sabel. "Yeah. It's a bit chilly out here for sure. Common room or kitchen?" she asked with an involuntary twitch of sorts.

He was still for another moment as he considered her words. If anything, he remembered how she didn't like him not talking to her; how they didn't talk much about anything personal.

A slow sigh left him as he scrubbed his face with his hand, ignoring her offer up for the moment. "He said it'd be a shame if my ambitions 'fell by the wayside'. If I didn't graduate." Now that it was out in the air, he realized how much it bothered him and he flicked a clump of snow off his shoe. "I'd like to see him try to pull that one off." He muttered as an afterthought, needing to add something to the silence besides the silence.

Lexi furrowed her brow and frowned down at Sabel. Well not AT him, but in that general direction and all. "Well... have you discussed this with anyone? Headmaster Tate or something?" she asked, concern etched in her voice.

Sabel DID have the tendency to overreact, but Lex would certainly not be impressed if someone said something like that to her. Not one bit.

A slight shrug left his shoulders as he pushed himself to his feet. "I mentioned it to Tate." The frown deepened as he continued to avoid her eyes. "It was a bit of a bad...timing." Not their most memorable conversation, that was for sure.

Lexi's furrow deepened and she tried to step into Sabel's direct line of sight. "Have you been causing trouble as usual?" she asked teasingly. "Well at least someone knows that he said it and I am sure HEADMASTER Tate will do his best to see to it that your career is not ruined because of something you said or did to one man. Speaking of... what is it that you did to get on Mr. Ikenna's bad side?" she said with a quirked brrow now.

"I'm glad you like it. It's not brand new, but it's stil pretty new. But I thought you didn't know runes, especially ancient ones, and I had that one laying around, so i thought I' give you a book that you could actually read." Which was half true. She had no idea how much the book she had bought was even close to being worth, so a trade was much easier.

He drug her alll the way back to the arena just to see Slytherin lose. he stomped his foot on the wooden platform and spit over the rail, hoping to hit one of the players. He was so madthat he pulled Jaina with him to the lake which was frozen over. He picked up bigger rocks andtossedthem nto the ice to see if it was thickenough to walk on. from about twenty feet to the shore was pretty solid. He walked out about ten ft from the shore and paced on the ice. "I hate losing. Especially to an inferior team. Not to put down tthe hufflepuffs, But Slytherin was/is better than that." Finally, he had a smile on
his face and he walked back. He drew a triangle with a circle inside of it wiith a straight line in the rocks. "Do you know what this symbol means?"

When she moved in front of his vision, he turned his head away and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Tate gave me some appropriate advice." Advice that required more personal action than anything else.

And of course she was going to ask that question. Another shrug left him as he finally turned his eyes to Lexi. "I told him I thought he was in the wrong for how he dealt with the Deputy Headmaster and that I wasn't intimidated by him nor did I care about what he thought about me." Another shrug. "I kinda implied he was a stubborn goat and a fool like me, given he called me a stubborn goat first." Lords now he sounded like a child.

Running his hand back through his hair he let a third shrug off his shoulders. "He needed to hear he doesn't have all the power he thinks he does. Something is just...off about him Lexi. If I said those things to Tate he would never threaten my future. Never." As it was he had barged into the man's office and still come out unscathed.

Lexi's mouth dropped open into a comical little o. "SABEL! No wonder he got angry with you. You can't talk to all adults the way you talk to the Headmaster, Sabel! Gah! Haven't you learnt that by now?" she said in an incredulous voice.

"He had a very valid point... you ARE a stubborn old goat. Your mouth is eventually going to get you into a whole lot of trouble, Sabel. Trouble that the Headmaster can't get you out of. You have to learn to control your tongue! I know you may not like him, which I think is silly, but you have to respect him while he is here," she said in a chiding tone as she turned her back to him and crossed her arms across her chest. For Merlin's sake! People said SHE couldn't control what she said!

Sabel felt his jaw grinding. "I know what kind of a knock-off I am and I'm working on it. But that doesn't mean I'm going to shut up and bite my tongue off if I see something wrong!"

Why was he so upset about this? Why was it working him up so much? He knew, he knew exactly why. He just didn't want to admit it; to acknowledge the cold pit in his stomach. The fear.

"Respect is something that is earned, not something you can just have because you decide to waltz into someone's life."

"Sabel don't you DARE take your anger out on me! I am simply telling you to have a little tact or don't... be so confrontational. THat is what your problem is. You don't approach anything with finesse. You are like a bull in a china shop," she said in a stern voice, back still to him.

"Respect is something that should be given to our elders, Sabel. It would do you good to realize that little point," she said in a softer voice. Merlin bless that stupid boy... he didn't realize he needed help...

He wanted to shake her, but did well to keep his hands at his sides, clenched into tight fists. "Sorry." It was a forced apology, still lined with frustration, but not at her. He really didn't mean to get angry at her. It was just everything else.

There was the strong temptation to make the comment about giving respect to elders that were Death Eaters, but he was pretty sure that was a road that was extremely dangerous to go down. So for once, he kept his mouth shut, pressed together in a thin line.

Lexi heaved a great sigh. One that sagged her shoulders a bit and turned to face him. "Apology accepted. Even if you didn't mean it," she muttered at the silly boy.

"You still in the mood for cocoa or is it best that we part ways for now before one of us says something that we can't take back in time?" she asked in all seriousness.

He wasn't looking at her again, his eyes off in the distance, frowning at some speck he didn't even really see. "I did mean it." It just didn't sound like he meant it.

Letting out a heavy sigh, he drew both his hands down his face. "Do you want to know the truth, Lexi?"

She fought the urge to roll her eyes and simply nodded her head in appreciation. A half apology was better than none at all.

"The truth would be nice. I am quite partial to it more often than not, you know," she said with a hint if impatience clear in her voice. She was so tired of people thinking that she couldn't handle the truth... trying to PROTECT her by lying or witholding information. It was infuriating. "But can you please look at me when you tell me?" she asked softly.

There was a long, drawn out moment of silence in which he considered backing out. But he'd never be able to look at her again if he did, and slowly he raised his eyes to look at her. There was only pure emotion in them, the one emotion he'd been trying to hide with all this talk. Fear. Dead, straight terror. "I'm scared Lexi. I can't even begin to tell you how scared I am."

When he turned his eyes to her she felt the urge to gasp but supressed it. Instead she reached out and brushed some hair out of his face and smiled softly. "Sabel... There is nothing to be afraid of, love. Nothing is going to happen to you as long as I can help it," she said with a genuine smile to try to lighten the mood a bit. Sabel being frightened was not something she knew how to handle well.

He didn't move. Just watched her. Watched her eyes and the concern he was causing. He couldn't help but feel guilty for it. The last thing he wanted to do was worry her. The very last thing. "Something isn't right Lexi. Gevrik unnerves me. He threatens everything I know here. He threatens Tate's position, the position of the other Professors. He's even gathering his own following. If...if I lost any of you, I don't know what I would do." Even losing Tate in the simple fact that the man could be removed as Headmaster terrified him. "I just...I want a normal year. I just want a normal, solid, unchanging year. Last year was...too much. I can't...not again."

Okay. Clearly he was in Serious Sabel mode... which there were very few times that he wasn't... "Sabel... there is always some outside force trying to harm us here. I truly believe that. Perhaps... Mr.Ikenna truly wishes to enlighten us. To protect us. To HELP," she said as she placed a hand on either of his arms and gripped him rather firmly.

"You are not going to lose any of us. Not NOW. That isn't to say that somewhere down the road you won't. Loss is, unfortunately, a part of life," she said. Her happiness had slipped awayas she spoke and she looked at him with blazing eyes. "The harsh reality is this, Sabel. Nothing is normal here. Ever. Nothing is simple. There is always... something. You have to deal with it. I know I am a fine one to talk about coping, but that is what I have learnt," she said firmly as she released his arms from her grip.

He honestly didn't know what he was expecting, but he had nothing to say to her words when she finished. For some reason, there was just nothing. Nothing but a slight nod and quick breath in as if to regather himself. And it was then that he turned his eyes away again to that distant space.

Deal. Cope. Move on. He'd been trying all of that, really hard. Especially with everything that was coming up this semester. He just had to continue doing it. Just had to keep on keeping on. Or something like that. "I suppose you're right."

Lexi shoved her hands in her pockets and watched the boy closely. Mhm. That's right. "Look... I am sorry to be harsh with you. I want to tell you that everything will be alright... that you can do this or that to get past it all... but I just can't. I am sorry. Sorry for everything that has happened to you," she said softly as she reached over and mussed up the front of his hair.

"Seriously... frozen bum here..." she said and jerked her head toward the castle. Seriously.

Sabel gave a slight, dismissive shake of his head at her apology. There was nothing for her to apologize for. So he tried to manage a weak smile as well. It came, but it hardly felt like it was going to do anything proper for his mood. He would deal with things as Lexi said, as he had been doing. Take them as they came and do the best that he could.

Suppressing the sudden welt of homesickness in his stomach, he gave her a small nod and nudge with his shoulder as he started back towards the castle with her.