Callum knew that he shouldn't have missed the Astronomy class the night before. He had promised Landis and Jordyn that he wouldn't miss anymore classes, and he knew that he had to bust his ass to make up the work that he had missed. He also had to try to rebuild the bridges he had burned. It was hard to swallow his pride and make nice, but it was necessary evil.

He decided to utilize the study break to talk to Professor Trishna about having missed two classes, and what he could do to make up the work. If he was lucky, Trishna would take the apology gracefully and be willing to aid him in catching up. Callum didn't want to fail his classes. He wanted to do well on his OWLs so that he could take his NEWT classes and really be something when he got out of Hogwarts. His father wanted him to go into the ministry, and you couldn't get into jobs in the ministry with bad grades and no recommendations.

The Slytherin knocked lightly on the office door, waiting a minute before trying the door. It was open, so he let himself in and let his eyes scan the room for signs of the professor. Finally, Callum spotted him, stretched out on a couch asleep. Awkward, he thought, fidgeting with his uniform before clearing his throat. "Excuse me, Professor?" he asked quietly. Should he really disturb the guy? Perhaps he could just... come back later.

But Callum knew that if he didn't do it now, he wouldn't do it all. He approached cautiously, surprised that the professor didn't wake up. "Professor," he prompted louder, reaching out to poke the professor on the shoulder. "Professor Trisha?"

Tapendra jerked awake with a loud and quite undignified snort, and any embrassment he'd feel about that took a backseat when he rolled over and his eyes met Callum's. Of all the faces he'd seen at Hogwarts so far, Knight was definetly in the top 10 people he didn't want to wake up to.

After staring blankly for a moment and trying to get over his inital reaction of what the hell did I drink last night, he sat up hurriedly, the movement causing the ricketty couch to shake. One of the many stacks of books and paper cluttering up the office fell over with a thud and he glared at it for a moment, then remembered himself.  He made a valiant attempt to look nonchalanet as he stood up, having quickly dug around on the paper-strewn floor for his glasses. He cleared his throat as he shoved them on, absently straightening his clothes.

"Mister Knight, isn't it?" he asked, though is wasn't likely he'd forget the boy. His single appearance in his class had been memorable, if nothing else.  "What can I do for you?"

Callum was careful not to laugh at Tapendra when he woke up and scrambled for his glasses. Instead he simply stepped back out of the way, waiting on him to get his bearings. "I'm sorry for disturbing you." The tone was not quite genuine, but Callum was having a hard time with this whole situation he was in. Being nice was the key here. Even if his tone was not genuinely apologetic, at least he was trying hard to be civil and to work things out. Hopefully the professor would at least be thankful for that much.

"I was hoping that you would have a few minutes to discuss the class with me," Callum ventured, sitting down in a vacant chair. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Might as well take the plunge. Get it over with, so that he could just go on with his life.

"I wanted to apologize for my behavior in your first class. I am well aware that my reputation with the professors is less than favorable- and that is solely my fault. I don't want to be underestimated, though. I'm not an idiot. I'm actually a very talented wizard, and throwing away my future in this institution and beyond because I don't know when to shut up."

Callum paused for a moment, wondering what level of honesty he should use in this situation. "There is no way for me to pretend that I agree with what you're teaching, or your methods," he confessed. "It would be stupid to pretend otherwise, because you would know better. But that doesn't mean I should stop coming to class and sabotage myself. If I fail my OWLs, my father will have my head..."

"I do want to come back to class, but I know that I am behind at this point. I don't imagine that it will be easy to get caught up, but whatever information or help you could give me, would be appreciated." Help. That tasted worse than swallowing his pride. But he had to do it. "I have to pass this class to pass my OWL. After that, you'll never have to worry about me interrupting your class again. Because I won't be taking it for NEWTs."

He gave Callum a long, thoughtful look, sitting in his office chair and tapping his fingers on the desk. He listened to the boy in silence, eventually taking his glasses off and absently putting the end of the frame in his mouth.

"Thank you for apologizing for your behavior," he said curtly, though privately he doubted the boy actually meant it. The comments on his curriculum he was actually glad to hear - if they boy had tried to pretend he didn't feel that way he'd have lost what tiny amount of respect he had for him. "And for being honest about how you feel, Mister Knight. It does you great credit," he said after the boy had finished talking. "And I will be honest with you in turn," he continued after a moment's thought. "I will gladly work with you, providing you work with me," he said, putting his glasses back on and steepling his fingers. "I cannot pretend to understand or... appreciate your points of view, Mister Knight, but it is your choice and right to hold them. All I ask is that you do not let your objections obscure or impede the education of your classmates. If I teach something you simply must object to, I ask you do it outside of class in the privacy of this office."

He stood up again, walking to one of the bookshelves by the single tiny window. "As for catching up - your absences have caused you to miss two fairly important classes," he said, looking for a binder. "You're not behind on homework - none has been assinged yet - but you've missed the foundation classes. As of next week we're moving into actual theory and discussion." He found the binder he was looking for a pulled it out, putting the extremely thick volume on his desk.

"I don't expect it to be easy to get caught up," he reiterated. "And I'm willing to do what I have to. I have a bad reputation among my professors now, and among the other students- but I'm more than that reputation. I am a good wizard, and I intend to prove that. I've already spoken to Professor Storm and Professor Austerlitz about my behavior. I promise, that I am going to be a different man." Man- yes. Callum might only be sixteen, but by most pureblood standards he was a man, and he intended to prove it.

"And I appreciate your willingness to work with me. I am certain that most professors believe that I do not deserve it, but everyone is entitled to their mistakes." He was just entitled to more mistakes than others. But Callum was well aware the ice was wearing thin for him, so he needed to give it some time to thicken. And after the end of this year, he'd be done with Astronomy and done with Trishna.

Callum eyed the binder that the professor put on the desk. He seriously doubted that much information could be covered within two hours he had missed of class. If so, then it wasn't covered very thoroughly. "I missed all of that?" he asked, obviously in disbelief.

"Well, I'm not sure what you want me to do to get caught up. If you want me to read and study all of that," he motioned to the binder, "then I guess that's what I will have to do." Callum hoped that wasn't the case though. He had no doubt all of that reading was incredibly boring. "As long as I pass my OWL, then I'll consider the work to be worth it."

"That's good to hear," Tapendra replied politely. "I'm sure your classmates will appreciate the change as well..." He trailed off and decided to drop it - his own personal feelings the boy could probably guess at, but this was not a time or place for personal feelings - from either of them. Thankfully the binder provided a nice change in subject.

He looked down at the binder in confusion as Callum protested, then laughed. "Mister Knight, this is the binder of lesson plans for the entire school. If you'd like to study them, you're welcome to, but I don't expect you to do so." He grunted. "The first 4 sections would be mostly review, anyway."

He sat down and started flipping through the pages - as they flashed by, Callum could probably see the massive amount of handwritten notes and notice many of the papers were white printer paper with typed text on them. "Here we are. The first one you missed was something of a review class, but the second half was foundation...and the second was entirely foundation theory." He pulled the papers out of the binder and set them aside, reaching down under his desk. What he pulled out of the recesses of his desk was something not commonly seen at Hogwarts - a type writer. It had taken him awhile to find one. He calmly fitted a blank piece of paper into the top and began to type quickly.

"There are two ways we can go about this," he said as the keys clacked away.  "Depending on how much time you have in your schedule for this. The first would be to have me tutor you through the two lessons..." he paused as the machine readjusted the paper and then continued. "The second, and given your past grades,  one would be for you to study the lessons on your own, and speak to me about anything you're not sure you understand or want more detail on." He finished typing what turned out to be the header, then tapped the first sheet with his wand and murmured a spell, tapping the typewriter. It began to clang away on its own.

Callum was visibly relieved to learn he hadn't missed an entire binder's worth of information. He watched as Trishna extract a few pages, and looked on curiously as he pulled out the typewriter. Callum had never before seen such a machine, but immediately dismissed it as pointless. Why not just use a spell to transcribe everything? There was one that made copies- he had used it to do his posters to ruin Sasha's life. It was not only faster, but it was quiet. Callum kept the comments to himself, though, instead focusing his attention back on Trishna as his options were laid before him.

Singular study or active tutoring? Were it any professor other than this one, Callum might have opted for the tutoring. But he did not trust himself to keep his mouth shut in a one-on-one setting with the professor. The last thing he needed to do was negate his apology and have to start all over again. If it came down to that, he might stop attending astronomy all together and just fail the OWL and be done with it. What was one failed OWL if he passed all of his others?

"I would prefer to do the studying on my own," he told the professor. "I have plenty of time that I can dedicate to it, and after I am caught up, I'll be back in classes. After that point, I won't be required to do as much studying outside of class." Which was truth. Callum did study, but not often- mostly because he had a good memory. He only needed to the classes that were more difficult. Memorizing things for tests was simple. If you copied lines, things were committed to memory at an astoundingly accurate and quick rate.

"If I have any questions I can ask you." Or he could ask one of his classmates who had gone to class and understood what was going on. That was the most likely route that he would take. Anything to avoid further contact with the man if he could.

Tapendra nodded curtly, pausing the typewriter after a moment to add another line - which was his real reason for using it , in this case - that, and his elegant, loopy handwriting was indecipherable on the best of days, even to him.

"I doubt you'll have an problem getting caught up - most of what we will be covering in what's left of this year is review for the O.W.L," he said. "And any new information is mostly intended to aid you in that endeavor," he said as he typed quickly. It'd taken him a few days to get used to the typewriter, but he was almost up to speed. His long fingers flashed over the keys, and when he was done he pulled the sheet off and handed it to Callum. He plucked the second paper from his desk and quickly read it, then shrugged and pulled out his wand and duplicated it.

"What I'd added to the first lesson is what got brought up in that class itself," he explained as he did this. "The second went more-or-less as it's written. Nothing vitally important was discussed." He handed Callum the second paper and started putting the typewriter away. "Is there anything else you need, Mister Knight?"

Callum took the papers that Trishna handed over. He glanced at them, then stuffed them into his bag. He would take a look at them later. "That's about it, actually. I just wanted to make sure that I got caught up. I assumed that showing up to class unannounced might not go over so well. It's important to me that I don't make enemies of the wrong people." Which was a very true statement. Callum didn't mind having enemies- if they had no hold over him. Professors had a definite hold over him.

"Well, I need to get some work done before my next class. I appreciate you taking the time to have this talk with me." Callum stood up and pulled his bag over his shoulder. "Is there anything else that you need from me before I head to the library to study?"