Right. "Good bye professor." said Victoria as she shook the headmaster's outstretched hand. Then she walked toward the exit door. Oh she'll do her research all right. Lots and lots of research.

Nate tiptoed timidly up the headmaster's steps. The gargoyles were left open, nobody was there, and the final report for the TOP was long overdue. Before entering the office itself, Nate knocked on Headmaster Tate's door. "Wow. That even sounded official," he said to himself as he awaited either an invitation or a declination.

Tate frowned at the door in confusion. Unless someone had held the door downstairs or a professor had entered with the password, he wasn't really expecting company. Strange. Very strange.

"Enter."

Nate peeked around the door and moved in quietly. "Hello Headmaster," he said, gliding slowly towards Professor Tate's desk, taking in the truly magnificent room. "It's really nice in here. Cozy. Easy to think." Nate didn't dare sit down yet, so he stood a few feet back from the chair opposite the founder of the TOPs.

"I suppose you're here for your house points?" Tate gave the boy a long look over the top of the parchment he was working over. The boy had taken long enough, really... but Tate was surprised none of the others had come to claim their points too.

Perhaps house points weren't the motivating influence they'd once been.

Nate had forgotten about the house points. "Actually, no. I came to report, Headmaster," he said, thinking for a second before adding, "And thank."

"Excellent." Tate dropped his correspondences and gave his full attention to the boy. He was rather interested in how the little team had fared in their peacemaking efforts. "Carry on. What do you have to report?"

Nate moved up towards the Headmaster and leaned on the back of the empty chair in front of his desk. "Well, the few weeks since the food fight incident with the fourth years have been really uneventful. Not much to break up. But, within our group, our friendships have grown. We've come to know each other much better, and we get along far better than we did in the courtyard last fall. That's what I wanted to thank you for. Now, because of the TOPs, I know that I have quality friends that will be there for me when I need them. So, thank you, Headmaster Tate, for your rather unusual 'punishment'..." Nate used air-quotes here, "...though I'm not sure we can even call it a punishment anymore." Nate smiled rather sheepishly. Despite how much attention the Headmaster was allotting him, Nate was still humbled being in this room.

"It's good news to me that you were unable to find a disagreement to mediate, but I'm certainly happy to hear you feel you've made friends out of this whole situation. If this happened again, say... someone wronged you or a friend of yours, how would you handle it in the future?"

So did this mean the boy didn't even want his house points anymore?

Nate was almost rehearsed for this question. "Talk it out. There are ways to reach everyone, it just takes a little observation to figure out what they are..." Nate trailed off as he looked around the office. "Wow," he said breathily, meaning to only think it. Then he snapped back into reality. "Sorry, got a bit distracted. This is a very inspiring room." Maybe a complement would remind Tate that he was all about giving out house points when he had assigned the Firsties their mission...

"Mmhmm." That was the point and it WAS an inspiring room. Certainly made him feel the size of the shoes he was stepping into on a daily basis. "It's like that old Bludger to the Head song, you know? 'Don't fly off the handle, mate. This isn't like a Quidditch match. In life, you win, you lose, you play. Don't worry, there's no Snitch to snatch.'"

The song was a few years old, sure, but maybe the boy had an older sibling who listened? No? Ahem. Moving on.

"Does five points seem fair?"

Nate smiled. The Headmaster was a very easy guy to like. "That depends..." he leaned in more, slightly challengingly, "...Is this an open negotiation?" Nate raised a rather playful eyebrow to Headmaster Tate.

"Not really, no." Tate was amused by the boy, but he wasn't willing to be much more than that. Truth be told, they were lucky not to have ended up in detention with the stuff they'd pulled. "Five is my final offer."

Nate nodded. "Is this five points for all six of us, or five points each?" He was curious now, and really wanted to know how much closer these points could get Ravenclaw to beating Slytherin to the House Cup. Regardless they had a few hundred points to make up, but thirty could still help...

"Five points for you. No one else showed up." Tate pointed a finger at the young man. Why would he be giving points to children who didn't bother to show up? No, no. Obviously only this young Ravenclaw cared enough.

"Effective immediately."

Nate smiled and held out a hand to Headmaster Tate. "Deal," he laughed. "You know, sir, I would never have thought, upon arriving here at Hogwarts, that I would ever have built a sort of acquaintanceship with the Headmaster. But I've proven myself wrong, apparently. I hope you're not thinking things like 'that's nice, get out of my office' behind your poker face as I say this, though. I honestly hope we can possibly get to know each other better over my six and one third remaining years here?" Nate looked inquiringly at the man.

Tate shook the boy's hand firmly. "We all face in our times a number of things we wouldn't expect. Hopefully positive things, but it is good to roll with the punches." Especially if the punches got you into the Headman's office, right?

"I'm thinking... I have some letters to finish, but I appreciate the sentiment. I hope that's frank enough for you."

Nate bowed slightly, not fully aware that he was doing so. "That sounds frank enough, yes. It seems you have more important work than to talk to me, so I'll just be off then?" he said, more of a question than a statement. He really didn't want to leave the grandeur of the room, but alas, the Headmaster had been busy, and Nate had interrupted him. "I have a feeling I'll be seeing you around, Professor?" Nate smiled at Tate as he headed for the door. "Good day, sir!" he called back before exiting the office and gently closing the door behind him.

After walking hurridly past the Gargoyles for fear of getting squashed, Scott arrived in the Headmaster's Office. It was truly magnificent. Portraits of famous old Headmasters lined the walls, and it was gleaming in the spring sun. Of course, he wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to be here, but he had a hunch.

He yawned, covering his mouth with his hand, hoping the Headmaster didn't see him, before approaching his desk. "Good day Headmaster" he said softly, keeping calm and patient. He had completely forgotten about the house points, but wanted to thank the Headmaster, like he assumed that traitor Nate had.

"Good day. Have a seat." Tate pointed out the chair to the lad as he leaned back in his own. Another of the peacekeepers it seemed, although why they hadn't all come together was a mystery.

"What can I do for you?"

Scott bit his lip thinking about recent events. He smiled at the Headmaster and sat down whilst staying calm, but not relaxed. He remembered the points but thought it would be rude to ask, so continued in his objective of showing graciousness for the 'punishment' he had been given.
"Actually sir, I came to thank you" he said, his voice slightly trembling. "The T.O.P group showed me how to resolve conflict without violence, and how it is easy to misunderstand, and it has helped me to learn from my mistakes" he leaned back a bit and smiled again.

"Oh yes?" Tate steepled his fingers on his desk and leaned forward, a look of expectation on his face. "And would you say you have a better relationship with those you once had a contentious relationship with? Everyone is all best friends now?"

It seemed unlikely to him that they all got along perfectly, but it amused him that they had such a universally positive response.

Scott leaned forward slightly and smiled. He then chuckled at Tate's comment on the group. "Best of friends is pushing it a bit sir, but I now have a much better relationship with the others" His tone changing mid-sentence.

He pulled out his wand, which he had got engraved by his mother.
Looking over it he glanced at the Headmaster. "I know it's trivial but, I got this done as a reminder" Etched into it elegantly, was a simple but incredibly important saying his parents had said many a time:

'Always for good, and never evil'

At least the boy was honest. It would be hard to believe they were all thick as thieves after a few forced interactions. "I don't require you to be friends with everyone, lad. I just require you to treat each other with respect."

He leaned in to peer at the engraved wand with some interest. "Nice craftsmanship."

Tate handed the wand back and gave the boy a nod. "I appreciate your coming in to share your experience with me, but I'm going to have to excuse myself. There's a line forming downstairs and I need to get to some of your classmates. Have a good day."

The boy departed and Tate was alone again.

Lexi took her sweet time getting up the stairs and paused just outside of the office before peeking her head around the corner. "Siiiiiiiiiir. Do you have a moment?" she called out to him with a grin on her face.

Clearly he had a moment or the gargoyle wouldn't have moved, right? Hehe.