He'd been determined to settle back into something that resembled a normal routine as quickly as possible.  The more routine things were, the less one had to think about what they were doing.  The less Sasha had to think about his day to day activities, the better.  He could focus on school work, on quidditch practice and he'd get through each day.  And, he had to believe, each day would get easier and easier. 

So, he'd been up early for his routine early morning jog on the snowy grounds before showering and dressing, paying the normal, fastidious attention to all the details of his outfit: the clean fold in his collar, the careful shine to his shoes, even the uniform, precise amount of royal blue that showed in the lapels and hood of his school robes.  He'd lost weight over the holidays; he could feel it in the drape of his robes over his shoulders.  The only break from routine was standing in front of Professor Ramsey's office rather than breakfast in the Great Hall.

The invitation to come in had come and gone but, even so, Sasha remained in the hallway, his hand perched on the doorknob.  If he turned and walked away now, Professor Ramsey would have no way of knowing who it was, standing at the door to her office a full half hour before that morning's Transfiguration class. 

Facing Professor Ramsey again was likely to be the biggest hurdle Sasha would face for the coming term.  The bitterness he felt towards the woman squirmed, uncomfortably, in his middle and only made the prospects of this meeting more unpleasant.  But, that meeting was better now, one on one, than in half an hour during class, right?  It was that reasoning, amidst all the others, that motivated Sasha to turn the knob and finally step into the office. 

Sasha only had one simply goal in mind for this meeting: to be allowed to sit his midterm.  He wasn't expecting Professor Ramsey to believe him or to excuse him from the detentions he'd missed.  He just wanted to be able to earn his grade - if he was given a week to catch up on the material he'd missed in November and December, all the better but he wasn't holding out much hope on that last one.  If he could just manage a day or two, though, he could borrow some notes and pull a couple of overnighters and make it work. 

"I'm sorry to bother you ma'am, but ... I know I'm not in a position to do so, but I'm hoping to still be able to take my midterm." He hoped the bitterness didn't show too much in his voice; this request was, likely, a long shot as it was.  But, he'd already decided he was willing to beg and plead if necessary.  "I'll make up the detentions I missed.  I'll do extra as interest or something.  Please." 

Morrigan hadn’t felt much like breakfast that day.  She felt as if there were a million things she needed to do in order to prepare for classes which started again that morning. The actual lesson plans had been made months ago, and she’d been tweaking them all along, but still she felt the crunch to be ready.

The trip home had been interesting to say the least, but now she was back where she was the most comfortable, at Hogwarts preparing for classes.  After twenty years of teaching being on a break always seemed a bit strange.    The classroom was home, and nothing could really change that.

The knock on the door surprised her.  She wasn’t really expecting anyone when the students should be at breakfast.  Still, without hesitation she called out for the person to enter as she leaned back in her chair a bit her eyes scanning the notes for her first class of the day.  No one entered immediately and she nearly forgot about the visitor as she finished rereading her notes.

She was just pulling her reading glasses off when Sasha Schlagenweit finally entered the office.  This was certainly not the person she had been expecting to see, yet somehow she was not entirely surprised either.  He had the over achiever streak, and she understood it all too well.  She knew if she had been in his position at the end of the term she’d be trying to find any way possible to earn her midterm grades.  Of course she couldn’t really imagine going through what the young man before her had in the fast several weeks.

“Have a seat, Mr. Schlagenweit,” she said, setting parchment and glasses aside, glancing at him for a moment.  A wave of guilt passed over her but she didn’t let it show.  The time away had given her plenty of time to think, and she had come to one conclusion relatively quickly.  “I was hoping to speak with you at some point regarding last term, and revisit the incident regarding my desk.  You missed quite a bit of material at the end of last term…but I think it would serve you well to be able to catch up.  I believe we should be able to work something out in regards to your midterm as well, after all, I’m not completely unreasonable...most of the time.”

Sasha looked towards the nearest chair.  There was an unmistakable sense of deja vu as he regarded the chair.  All too vividly, he could remember Madame Snark demanding he take a seat and Sasha refusing.  At the time, he remembered feeling a the tiniest sense of victory when he'd remained standing.  Now, that defiance seemed so petty.  With that thought fresh in his mind, Sasha lowered himself into the chair. 

"Oh?"  Sasha glanced across at the Transfiguration professor.  Sasha had been prepared for any number of conversation starters: lectures about discipline, responsibility, how suspensions and abductions were not legitimate excuses for missing detentions.  Revisiting the incident, though, had not been on the list of possibilities.  Sasha stared at Professor Ramsey, his eyes continuing to grow wider as the Professor continued to speak. 

She wasn't completely unreasonable?  Was she saying ... did she believe him?  He hesitated a moment, finding it hard not to be skeptical of this uncharacteristic stroke of good luck.  Dare he believe it? 

"Ma'am?"  Sasha tentatively.  He hesitated again.  "I appreciate that.  I've ... I've got a lot to catch up on."  Fergie had already offered his notes; there were many amongst his fellow Ravenclaws he was confident would help as well.  "And, I'd like to do well on it.  I - I know Figaro was the one who said I'd cheated."  Sasha still didn't understand why the Hufflepuff lied.  "I didn't - I wouldn't cheat.  I want to do well but I wouldn't risk that.  I have too much - well had too much at stake.  I'm sorry."