It was rather straightforward, was it not? Ivy nodded seriously at the repetition of her request. "It's not just five points, my dear," she said before taking a quick sip of her tea. "If I don't -- if we don't get these jewels back, you might start to notice your grades slowly slipping down the drain. Your test scores won't be very good, your homework... Well, you might as well not turn it in at all at the rate we're going."

Ivy gave the Gryffindor a threatening stare when she mentioned pawning the jewels off. "Long story short: You bring me the jewels, you get your book and a guaranteed one-hundred percent in my class. You don't bring me the jewels and you'll fail in more classes than you'd like. Now, I don't think dear old dad would be too happy about that, would he?" Hmm, probably not. Did she understand now? There was really no way around this.

"And, to be fair, the jewels belong to the goblins more than they belong to you." Since soooomebody robbed Hogwarts' vault, they kind of owed them a bunch of money. Whoops?

Lex nodded slowly, taking in the threat in its entirety. Might as well not hand in homework? Gonna do bad at tests? She must have had her confused with a Ravenclaw. Lex just decided she'd simply buy herself the book. The grades were no longer an issue. Homework was boring, if she didn't have to hand it in it would make her day--her whole week.

But she had her at the father part. He wouldn't have been very amused to know that she was failing...but you know what else? He WOULDN'T have been happy knowing the reason either. She told him everything. He would believe her over Knox, definitely. "I don't think you're allowed to fail me though, not for gems that don't belong to either of us. If you're so worried about the school I'll just stop by the Headmistress' office after I've left here and hand them to her then ask that she not let me fail stuff. I guess that could work. I bet she'd be happy to get them back."

Partially bluffing over here. She knew the Headmistress couldn't stand her. The meeting probably wouldn't go very well no matter how spiteful good her intentions were.

"To be fair, there was no sass in my homework. I was excited that I could remember stuff." See that? A whole bunch of being fair. The gems belonged to the goblins just as much as Lex had handed in good homework.

Nod.

She didn't think she was allowed to fail her. Hah. This girl obviously didn't know much of anything, did she? Oh, and she wanted to go talk to the Headmistress about this? Ivy leaned over her desk and gave the Gryffindor a slightly.. menacing smirk. "Dear girl, who do you think is in charge of the Headmistress? The Board of Governors. And what am I? A governor, yes, so you see that the Headmistress really has no say in any of this."

Ivy sat back and took a brief sip of her tea. "I could call her down here, though. I could tell her that you have the gems. Do you think she'd be happy to hear that you've been hoarding them this whole time?" Because Ivy didn't really think so.

Lex had a feeling this was getting her nowhere so she finally took a seat. It was either that or she would have started bouncing all over the place and possibly gotten that body binding spell done on her. Yeah, she'd pass on that, thanks.

Ohhh and she was playing that governor card?? She was a Governor, one Lex never voted for so to her Knox wasn't all that much a Governor. She was more a Professor, a Professor she'd bonded with during detention. Good times. Ahem, but back to the matter at hand. She could totally be like Lottie right now and point out that the Governors should have no say in the gems because they couldn't even fix the school's situation but see, she wasn't going to.

"Can I be honest with you Professor?" Of course she could! The rug in detention said she wasn't meant to tell lies. Ever since then she'd become acutely aware of when she was lying...kinda cool when she thought about it. "I don't think the Headmistress would be upset. Wouldn't she be happy to know something was salvaged and they'd have a way of fixing the school? That's the main aim of this term--she'd probably thank me with way more points then you're offering me." 5. No. "And can I be honest about something else?"

She was gonna be honest anyway. Listen to the rug. Rule number one right there. "I don't feel like we're getting anywhere. I came to ask if I could maybe clean your office or write a few extra essays...not offer the gems." NO. Those were hers.

No. No, no, no. NOOOOO.

That's what Ivy wanted to say to Alexa, but that would have been contradictory to their detention they had a couple weeks ago. Instead, Ivy just pressed her fingers to her temples them and closed her eyes as Alexa rambled on and on. There was nothing more she wanted to do than... do something that would surely get her fired. If anyone found out.

But... Ivy waited until she was done. For several seconds she was silent, her eyes focused on her desk. Then she flicked her wand and the door opened.

"Please get out of my office," she said dully, but obviously on the verge of something REALLY UNPLEASANT.

"Wait. What? Noooo." That wasn't what she wanted either. Merlin surely they could have worked something out. Not everything involved gems, they could have found something else they could agree on.

"Do you have a cat? I can feed--bathe it--shave it?? Plants? I'm ggood with those, I could water them for you, prune them, fertilize them, take them up to the tower patch for sunlight and fresh air? How's about er...." Her hand shot to a corner of the office. "I could organize that stuff over there for you, clean them--the dust doesn't look all that healthy--Oh oh oh! I could walk you to the Healer to get a check-up, maybe brew you some more tea? Have your rug washed again--it has Laura germs on it, look! I could paint your office? Clean your wand? Make you a sundae--straight chocolate, chocolate blend, raspberry mixed, cookie dough, lemondrop, chocolate frog, you name it." ANYTHING BUT THE GEMS.

By now she was half way to the door, but still hesitating. Surely the woman would find herself in need of one of the things Lex mentioned. "What if I helped you mark papers? Walk around complimenting you all day? Had someone owl you pretty flowers, made you a prettiful badge that says 'Governor'????" Anything? No??? C'mooooon. If she left then this office visit would have been a waste.

She hated waste, it was the reason she was here in the first place.

Oh, for Merlin's sake... That girl could talk. NOT FOR LONG.

"I said get out!" Ivy said with a raised voice, clearly impatient and angry, interrupting the Gryffindor mid-sentence. The professor rose to her feet and pointed to the door. "I'm done listening to your rambling nonsense."

And just in case she needed some encouragement, Ivy grabbed hold of Alexa's ear and yanked on it, dragging the Gryffindor to her office door. "And don't come back unless you have what I'm looking for." Ivy let go of the girl's ear and narrowed her eyes at her. She KNEW what she meant.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Pulling, there was a whole lot of pulling that her ear didn't appreciate! She actually liked that ear and preferred it working in fine order thank you very much. "But--but we could work something out!!" Too late. She was now out of the office with a very frustrated looking Professor yelling about coming back when she had what she wanted.

What she was looking for? Oh. The gems.

Blink.

Lex reached into her candy bag and pulled out two sapphires. "You mean these?" These were what she wanted, right. Well then, Lex shoved them to the bottom of the bag once more then flashed her a wide grin. "Have a wonderful day Professor." BEAM.

Then she BOLTED DOWN THE CORRIDOR AS FAST AS HER LEGS COULD CARRY HER. The running wouldn't stop until she was FAR away.

Ivy was just about to slam the door in the girl's face, but the movement in her bag made her suspicious...

....... WHAT.

.................... She had the gems.

......................................... In her bag.

Ivy stared after the Gryffindor with wide, angry eyes. If looks could kill, that little girl would have been a sizzling pie of burnt Gryffindor robes. Oh the nerve... It wasn't even worth it anymore. The gems weren't worth what Alexa Cambridge was putting her through.

Robbing a bank would be easier. Maybe she would do that instead. Oh wait...

On that note, Ivy slammed her office door shut. She would be seeing no one else for at least two days while she recovered from this Cambridge-induced migraine.

Jory pushed open the door when he heard Professor Knox's response. "Hello, Professor!'' he greeted the woman and setting a small bag down on her desk. "How are you?'' And on to business. "This is my final year at Hogwarts, Professor and I know you only taught me for a year but I still wanted to give you something as well as thank you for the wonderful lessons.'' Jory grinned. "Hope you like it.
It was a model of a student performing a Charm.

Oh, that kid. Ivy gave the Hufflepuff a nod as he entered the room and eyed the bag in his hand suspiciously. It was habit. "I'm fine, thank you." Stilllll suspicious.

Ivy listened to his words and grew slightly less suspicious. A gift? Of all her many years of teaching, Ivy had only received a few gifts from students, so this was sort of a pleasant surprise. She reached for the bag and peered inside before pulling out the model student. "Oh... How... considerate of you. That is very nice, thank you, Mr. Stonewall." Ivy gave the young man a smile. "I wish you luck in your adventures outside of Hogwarts." It was sure a crazy world out there.

Jory couldn't help wondering why Professor Knox had been looking at him so suspiciously. It was not like he was up to any mischief or anything. However, he couldn't help grinning when he saw her smile. See? Nothing to worry about, Professor. "Thanks a lot, Professor. And to you too.'' Jory wondered if she would teach full time here. Hogwarts would sure be lucky to have her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Jory couldn't help wondering why Professor Knox had been looking at him so suspiciously. It was not like he was up to any mischief or anything. However, he couldn't help grinning when he saw her smile. See? Nothing to worry about, Professor. "Thanks a lot, Professor. And to you too.'' Jory wondered if she would teach full time here. Hogwarts would sure be lucky to have her.

Hufflepuffs. Always so happy. How?

"Thank you," she responded with a small smile. What a nice little hooligan student he was, much unlike the rest of them at this school. "If I may ask, what are you planning to do after Hogwarts?" Just curious. Maybe he'd end up being an excellent Charmer, like HER.