Fixing Me (Jake)

Tess stood in front of the office, shuffling her feet and wondering if she could just turn back before he even noticed she was there. It had been a week since the first DADA lesson that had shaken her more than she had expected it to be. Ever since she had her mind probed, she realized that she not only had many issues that she had to deal with, but worst of all she realized she was absolutely vulnerable to being manipulated.

It was frightening to realize this because no matter how she could defend herself with her wand, if he mind was attacked, she had a few defenses. She wanted to grow her skills, and her mind went to Jake. But she honestly felt a bit ashamed at her last attempt. She showed him that not only she had no control over it, but she had demons hiding.

Now she stood in front of the door, weight her options. It was her last year, and she had no defenses in her mind, and no control over how vulnerable it was. Before running off, she knocked on the door hoping he was there.

When the door opened, Tess was tentative to enter, was she bothering him? Based on that smile though, he thought nothing of it. It did remove some tension from her shoulders, but the anxiety was very much present in her body. Walking in, she closed the door behind her, making sure that no one could overhear what she was going to ask him to do.

"Good afternoon, Tess. Is everything okay?"

Tess nodded, an automatic reaction to whenever it was asked. But it was far from the truth. She walked towards his desk and sat down on the leather chair, placing her hands on her lap, as if she was a child who'd gotten in trouble. Lowering her gaze, she let her hair cover her face as she tried to figure out how she was going to get out what she needed.

"Professor, I...I was wondering if I could get your help" she said in a mere whisper, "You see, from the last lesson, I realized I-I'm really weak in that aspect. I..I might seek a career after I graduate" if I don't get married before that' she added in her mind, "and I know I won't be ready unless I practice now. So I was wondering, if it's not too much trouble, can you please tutor me?"

As Jake reacted to her words, she couldn't help but realize that he was so gentle with her. He was friendly with her, his tone nothing but calming and she had to admit, she never appreciated more than she did now. At his words her hands had stopped fidgeting; she knew everything was going to be okay. The silence that laid after he had taken it in had been a little frightening, but she knew that it was only for both of them to cope.

"I appreciate what you're saying, Tess, but before I go further, I would like you to know that this branch of magic is... incredibly complex. I know that it's hard when you take that step up and find you can't do things so easily, but I'm proud of you for coming here today."

Tess nodded knowing the complexity of Occlumency. It was difficult, especially since she had failed spectacularly their first lesson. But she didn't do failure, she usually just had things go in her favor. But she wanted to excel, do exceed expectations and not be passable. She blushed at him saying he was proud of her; she appreciated it, after all he had been the first person she looked up to that was not her brother, for his versatility in career choices.

Thankfully he agreed, telling her about Mondays being free for him; she would put her own elemental training on hold, because this mattered more to her. Her eyes brightened and a smile blossomed on her face, a smile she hadn't shown in a long time.

"Thank you Professor!" she said in a mixture of surprise and delight, "I promise I won't disappoint, and I'll be here on Monday early if you'd like. I don't want to affect your schedule too much."

Getting up, she stopped the urge from doing something stupid like jumping up and down. Instead she thanked him softly once more and walked towards the door. Her hand shaking softly.