The next morning, I was fully set on the plan Harry had laid out. He had explained it so simply, and the truth was, it was pure genius. I kept having to remind myself that this man had won two millennium prizes, but I doubted after today that I would have to anymore.

Walking onto campus at around 3pm, Harry and I walked through the student body, towards a specific classroom. I had taken the day off from my own classes, and Harry had hardly needed to reschedule anything; it was as if the universe had timed it perfectly, leaving the day open to give us just enough time to prepare.

And now came the moment of truth.

Entering a building I had frequented a lot these past few months, I let Harry take the lead nonetheless as we approached a nearly empty classroom. It was deserted completely, all except for one person standing in there, going over some notes on his desk.

Havers.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked, looking down to affirm my choice to be here for this. But I wouldn't miss this for the world, even if my skin crawled with the fact that I was going to face Havers in a second, only half a day after he tried to assault me.

I still nodded firmly, giving Harry an assuring smile. "I am."

Harry smiled back, but then knocked on the door, almost ironically politely, before he pushed the door open.

Looking up from his mess, Havers briefly frowned, probably wondering which student of his was showing up early for his oncoming class. The second he saw Harry there instead, though, his brows flew up and he abandoned his notes.

"Harry," Percy greeted him with a bright smile, at least right until he noticed me following behind. His smile stiffened a tad, and with a more measured mien, he looked at me. "And Miss Cassandra. What brings you to my classroom today?"

"I've treated you like an intellectual peer my whole life, Percy, please don't insult me by not doing the same," Harry replied with a stealthy voice. And yet, I could feel the ice pouring from every word as he stopped in front of Havers, who understandably lifted a confused brow.

"Excuse me? I don't believe I've—"

"You tried to sexually molest a young student," Harry broke through his bullshit. Even I was taken aback by his brash approach, but Harry didn't even as much as flinch. He was cutting straight to the point, keeping his eyes firmly on Havers as he noticeably lost a shade of color.

"Excuse me?" Havers spat back, feigning shock. He looked bewildered down at Harry, the color on his face slowly returning to a beet-red instead. "This is absolutely—"

"Unnecessary to lie," Harry cut off again, reaching into his own pocket. Pulling out my ruined stockings, he dangled them from his finger in front of Havers. The second Havers laid eyes on them, his eyes widened.

If Harry ever had had any doubts of my story, it vanished in that moment. Havers' expression couldn't be mistaken as he looked upon the same pantyhose he had tried to rip off yesterday. The look of recognition was all there on his face, clearly not expecting Harry to present the piece of clothing. The act surprised him, but as ever, Havers' slickness returned only a second later, schooling his features and straightening his posture.

"I suppose she told you this?" His tone shifted noticeably to defensive very fast, nodding towards me with a scoff. "Hardly surprising. Did she also tell you she's failing my class? Quite a coincidence she should accuse the professor who's flunking her of something like this." He looked with disgust at the ruined pantyhose.

Harry's lip lifted at the corner, and he slowly lowered the garment, stuffing it back into his pocket. "I figured you'd say that. Regrettably, you are a smart man, Percy. You know very well what evidence we have won't hold up anywhere. It's your word against hers."

Percy gave a faint smirk back, so tiny you could hardly tell. Then, pursing his lips, he shrugged, as if the matter was of no consequence. "Even if I had done such a thing—which I would never do—as you said yourself, I don't think I'd be dumb enough to let a simple girl ruin my reputation with this."

"Not dumb enough for her, no," Harry agreed, but then took a slow step forward, cocking his head to the side. "But how about me?"

Havers looked confused, his eyes blinking rapidly in concession. "You? What do you—"

"I told you to listen to me. I told you, your paper would never hold up," Harry noted with absolutely no emotion in his voice. "If only you'd have listened."

"What are you talking about?" Havers snapped, looking from Harry, then to me when I couldn't help but smirk, watching the man before me slowly crumble to ashes.

"The Dyer and Swinnerton conjecture," Harry then spoke, watching Havers frown deeper. "There's been some debate on your latest paper, the one I tried to help you with... yes?"

As if draining a bottle, I saw the color evaporate from Haver's face, turning a ghostly white as it slowly dawned on him what Harry what saying. "You didn't..."

"You should've listened to me. Just as you should've listened to her when she told you to stop," Harry spoke with utter ice in his voice.

"No!" Havers snapped angrily, looking down at Harry with disbelief. "You didn't—you wouldn't!"

"I submitted my answer to the millennium board this morning. I think you'll find it quite contradictory to yours."

"No!" Havers insisted. He then snorted preposterously. "It's impossible! The answer to that problem is impossible!"

"I am the impossible," Harry's voice hardened, stepping closer. I couldn't tell from where I was standing, but I knew Harry's amber eyes were cold as ice as he stared Havers down, towering over him. "You are a smart man, Percy. If only you had been born a little smarter, you would've known not to piss me off."

Havers looked absolutely struck, his face white as a sheet as he looked at Harry, then back at me again. I was smirking full force, not even caring to hold back. He just got his fate handed to him and watching him fall was beautiful.

"She put you up to this!" Havers then seethed, pointing a fat finger at me. He spluttered up at Harry, practically foaming at the mouth with fury. "It's because you're sleeping with her! I know, I saw it! I will tell the board, I'll tell them you set me up—"

"Set up the man who just discredited your paper?" Harry lifted a brow. "Quite a coincidence you'd accuse the man who just publicly humiliated you of something like this."

I think I just had an orgasm.

Havers hopelessly opened and closed his mouth, but not a peep came out. He stared wide-eyed at Harry, still trembling with rage, but by the crumbling look in his eye, he was realizing that there was no way out of this.

He had truly fucked up, and now he was paying the glorious price for it.

Harry smiled tightly, but then stepped back, leaving Havers to his breakdown. "It'll be my word against yours. Now, if you don't mind, I'm late for a meeting with the board."

Seeing Harry turn, Havers suddenly clamored and found his voice. "You can't—y-you can't—"

A shrill ringing then went off in his breast pocket. Caught off guard, Havers made a small jump but then fished out his phone, looking at the display. Another shade of color then drained from his skin.

"And that'll probably be the board as well," Harry noted, flattening his lips. "Probably to discuss your paper, and quite possibly your tenure."

A strange sound left Havers lips, like a frog being stepped on. He looked desperately up at Harry, regret and shame in his eyes. "Harry, please—m-my entire career—"

"Is over," Harry finished, in a cold, dead voice. "And if you ever contact either of us again, you'll soon find out the true power of the Devon name."

And with that, Harry turned and took me by my hand. Walking off with me, we left Havers in his classroom, just as his students began to arrive and pour in, probably to meet a very mute professor. I couldn't help but grin, feeling jitters of joy all over my body.

Harry had been right; This felt sooo much better than filing a police report.

The second we made it out of the building, I clenched Harry's hand. He glanced down, sending me a little smile. I couldn't help but return it.

"Are you alright?" He asked, empathically.

Was I alright?

"I'm gonna need you to fuck me in the car ride home," I breathed unashamed, causing Harry to let out a quiet laugh, before shaking his head.

"That mouth never fails."

It sure didn't. And I was going to show him just how much it didn't fail the second I got him strapped into that car.

~~~

News of Harry's third astonishing and no surprise, true answer to yet another millennium prize problem spread quickly throughout the next following days. Harry's phone hardly stopped ringing, and as expected, he declined every call. Even when the millennium board called to offer him the prize for his answer, he declined them and told them to donate the money to charity.

"Watching Havers fall is prize enough for me," He had calmly told me, before turning his eyes back into his little black book, already—you guessed it—working on another problem.

Havers did indeed, though, suffer from Harry submitting his answer. As Harry had rightfully predicted, when compared to his solution, Havers paper paled in comparison and in mathematical circles, became a complete joke. He was discredited so severely, the board eventually had to hold a meeting to discuss his employment. Since his paper had been so ridiculed, the board had fallen under pressure, as to whether or not he was still assumed talented enough to teach. The news had then come a few days later, that Professor Havers had resigned his position and that students would receive word on who would take over his classes for the rest of the semester sometime next week.

The answer to that, however, was currently lying in bed with me, scribbling in his notebook.

"Are you going to accept?" I asked, running my finger across his chest, drawing strange patterns while he worked. It was early morning, and thankfully weekend. We had slept in, or at least I had, whereas Harry had compromised to work in bed, acting as my pillow.

"No," Harry replied firmly, furrowing his brows as he moved the pen across the paper. "I promised the board one semester, and I'll finish that with the classes I already have."

"And then?" I asked, feeling my heart beat a little faster.

"I believe I have some wall space behind a bookshelf back home that still needs some equations."

Fighting a smile, I saw Harry's lips tilt up as well, just as he paused his pen on the paper.

"But that can wait," He then declared, turning his head and pressing his lips to the top of my head. "I can stay in town till summer. If you want."

Wait, what?

"You mean... until term ends?" I asked with surprise. He would really do that for me, stay just so we could remain close while I finished school?

"It's up to you whether you'd wanna join me back in the country after, of course," Harry quickly amended, turning back to his notebook. "I understand if you'd want to travel or go someplace more exciting for your break—"

"More exciting than writing math on walls?" I gasped incredulously. "You know, you'll need some help moving that bookshelf. I've seen the size of your books, your old back would probably break without some assistance."

"I'm serious, Cassandra," Harry's tone grew firm, solidifying what he was constantly trying to assure me; that he had no intentions of holding me back. "If you want to go exploring—"

"The only thing I want to explore," I said, pressing my lips to his chest; to his heart. "Is this cranky old thing you call a heart."

"Careful," Harry rumbled warningly, which only made me smirk wider. At least until Harry lifted my chin with his knuckled and steeled me with a serious glare. "I want you to experience all that life has to offer, Cassandra. I'm set in my ways, but if you wish to explore—"

"Then I'll explore. But I don't want to," I told him.

"Perhaps not today. But one day," Harry begun, making me roll my eyes. Here we go again. His 'you still deserve more spiel', the new and improved version. This seriously had to stop. "I love you, and I know you love me. I just never want you to ever feel as if I'm holding you back."

"Whatever made you think you could?" I replied back firmly, to let him know I was serious as well now. "Yes, I love you, Harry. But my life is not dependent on that love. If I want to go travel one day, I can do that whilst still loving you, you know," I told, moving closer to his lips, seeing the corner of his slowly mouth tug up at the authority in my voice. That's right, Professor. School is in session again. "I'll travel the world, see glorious sights and amazing monuments, and at the end of the day, I'll call you and tell you about everything I saw. And then," I said, giving his lips a soft kiss. "I'll whisper how much I miss you and how much I can't wait to be back in your arms again, because that's my favorite place on earth. And it always will be." I pulled back to meet his eyes, seeing him smile back calmly, the amber in his eyes a warm glow. "I can do both, Harry. I can love you and still get the things I want in life." Even though you are the one thing I wanted the most.

"Well then," Harry spoke after a moment's pause, lifting his hand to brush my cheek. His lips twitched into a smile, before giving my lips a tender kiss. "In that case, I hope you have a strong back, Miss Berry. That shelf is quite heavy."

I grinned back immediately, pressing my lips harder against his. "Don't worry, Professor. My back can handle quite a bit of breaking."

~~~

It took about a week and a half more before the bliss of the current situation finally ended. As much as we had succeeded in removing Havers, it sadly didn't fix my very real grade problem.

Staring at the results of my midterm, I gulped as I felt a strange weight land in my stomach. I had failed, as predicted, and yet... how come I didn't feel worse?

I suddenly felt a small kiss to the side of my head. Closing my eyes, I melted for a moment as Harry's comforting lips brought me a few seconds of peace. At least until he spoke.

"You'll do better next time."

For some reason, those words made my head ache. Not because his words weren't genuine. There was no disappointment in his voice, not even a smidgen of sadness. In fact, he sounded positively optimistic, and that's what made me feel worse.

Swallowing, I kept staring at the result in front of me and felt the weight in my stomach grow. The same weight I had felt ever since coming here, first confusing it for heartbreak, then for trouble adjusting, and then finally for stress.

But now, I was neither stressed, heartbroken or having any trouble adjusting. For the first time since coming here, I felt like I was finally thinking straight, and this right here... this felt like a sign from the universe.

"I don't want to do better next time," I finally whispered, bravely.

I sensed Harry halt up in his process of getting ready. Looking up from tying his tie, he lifted a brow my way. "I'm sorry?"

No, I'm sorry, Harry. Especially after everything you did for me. But you were right all along.

"I don't want to do this anymore," I said, gesturing towards the laptop where the result was. "Studying, college... this is not what I want to do. I don't want to become a doctor. I... I'm sorry."

This was something I had known for a long time, but it had been coming to me slowly, the decision to quit. It was something I usually never did, quitting. I had always correlated quitting with failure, but sometimes... sometimes you realized only too late when something wasn't the right path for you.

– And college hadn't been the right path for me.

"You don't want to become a doctor?" Harry repeated, now turning and coming towards me. He took a slow seat on the bed next to me, scanning my tumultuous face filled with emotions for any signs of regret. When he saw nothing, his worry-lines smoothed out, and instead he gave me one of his calm smiles. "Alright then. What do you wanna be?"

"I don't know," I confessed, which was probably the hardest part; quitting something before knowing what you wanted to do instead. "I just know you were right last summer. I was doing this for all the wrong reasons. I still want to help people, but not like this." I said, gesturing to all the books and papers around me again.

Harry's lips twitched, and with a small nod, he then stood up and continued to get ready. "Alright then."

And that was it. He made no objections, no protests to my decision. Instead, he secured his tie and fixed the knot, before folding down his collar and grabbing his jacket.

This was very un-Harry like. Did he have a stroke?

"You're not... mad?" I asked hesitantly, watching him smooth down his jacket, before grabbing his watch from his nightstand.

Harry chuckled quietly, but then secured the watch around his wrist. "No one quits college without having thought long and hard about it. If you're telling me this isn't what you want, then I trust you to have thought about this enough to be sure. I see no need to question that."

Well, I had officially seen everything.

"So you... support me in this?" I questioned again in that same unsure voice. Just because he didn't want to question it, didn't mean he had to be supportive about it.

"I'll support you in whatever you want to do," Harry smiled from across the room, looking down at his watch to check the time. "But even if I didn't, you're a grown woman, Cassandra. This is your life, and I am only here to help you through it if you wish."

I couldn't help but smile, feeling my heart swell. I had been so worried about bringing my decision up to Harry, especially after everything he did to get me here, and after the thing with Havers. I didn't want him to think he had done any of it in vain. But I also couldn't keep pretending this is what I wanted to do anymore.

"Thank you," I whispered, standing up and walking towards him. I looped my arms around his neck, feeling Harry lean down and wrap his arms around me. "For trusting me. I might not know what I want to do in life yet, but I promise I'll figure it out. I know I will."

"I have no doubt you will," Harry replied, cupping my face with one hand. His lips lifted in a crooked smile. "I believe I can say with certainty, when you find what you want, you go for it with all you've got, Miss Berry. Stubbornness, mouthiness and nakedness included."

Grinning, I stood up on my toes and pressed my lips to Harry's, feeling him comb his hand through my hair and pull me further up to his lips. Our tongues mingled and our bodies stood there, swaying, until time finally ran out and Harry's alarm beeped.

"I'm gonna be late for class," He sighed, pulling an inch away. "But we'll talk more about this when I get home."

"Thanks," I smiled happily, giving his lips a last kiss. "Have a great day, Professor."

"You too, Miss Berry."

• • •

It takes courage to quit when you know something is wrong for you. But it takes even more courage to pursue what's right.