Prepare for exams, 2d6+DILIGENCE-2; 4: You pass it along to someone else. Cross off the GOAL. Expend a FAVOR

⚀⚅ - 3 = 4, failure. Albert's favor is expended - it had, after all, taken the form of a promise of help with studies.

It's morning and you're knocking on a door in the Leontes dorms. "I'm busy in here, it's almost exams! If that's you again Lucas, go boil your head!"

"Reductio." you whisper, and push a tiny little soft object underneath the door.

A few seconds later, the shrinking spell expands, and what you'd sent there returns to its previous size. You hear footsteps coming over, and then a soft chuckle and a sigh, followed by the door unlatching. The big-eared gawky lad Albert Cordwhistle stands there, looking a bit sleep deprived and giving you a wary smile.

Albert looks down to your gift and shakes his head. It's a cream-filled doughnut with a message written on it in icing saying 'Miss Weber is sorry for cheating on you almost immediately but still wants to be friends', with a little frowny-face under that. You had been hoping that delivering the message via this particular type of pastry would brighten his mood by reminding him what the two of you had done together before the unfortunate incident with Chen.

"So good to see you again dear. And with no ulterior motives or favors to be asked, I'm sure. Hah, oh, Fran... you're lucky that I'm partial to something scrummy before teatime. So which class is giving you the pinch? Can't be conjurations."

"Well..." you start to say, looking down at your feet.

"Cor, I don't have to be a diviner to pull the thread on this one. Let's see... You're a naturally talented witch who likes all the flashy wand-waving but gets bored by memorization and procedure. Hahaha! Numeromancy classes are going to eat you alive next dear, wee little dove. If I were to guess, I would say it's magical theory."

You wrinkle your nose at him, pouting like when your mother had anticipated your lie about what happened to a vase you'd broken. "With such ability to anticipate someone's actions, you would make a good duelist, Albert. Another class that I excel at. Eventually, you see, you'll need some training, so -"

Albert just chuckles softly. "Oh say no more, I was just needling you for a bit of fun. It's fine, I'll write you up a skeleton of an essay and you can fill in around it so that it doesn't look too copied. Have it in your hand day after tomorrow, I will. Thanks for breakfast. Ta now, love."

"W-wait!" you say as Albert begins to usher you towards the door. "Um, I just thought - well, since I have already come here, I was going to ask if you were seeing anyone at the moment-"

He just made a silencing gesture with his hand and shook his head. "Fran, stop. Just stop. I'm not holding a grudge, if you want to stay friends that's fine, it's just... I have a younger sister coming here next year and I don't want to have a hard time explaining what I've been up to, aye? Let's not go back over that ground."

"No, no," you say with a nervous laugh. "You misunderstand, that's all perfectly alright! But I was going to host a fun little party this next weekend, and I wanted to know if you'd like to come. Not as my date or anything like that! But, well, there will be a lot of girls there, I think."

He pauses and thinks for a second. "Oh... just a little get together? Not planning anything weird for me, I'm hoping?"

You smile innocently. "No, noo! Not at all! Anyway, I hope to see you there. Now I will be off to deal with my history - even with this theory business off of my back I still have a busy day ahead of me..." Deciding that even a hug might come off as too familiar, you awkwardly shake his hand.

A bit more tedium and magic practice over the next few days paid off - you felt confident in the assignments you were turning in and dealt adequately, if not exceptionally, with the challenges. These weren't the really dramatic kinds of tests the likes of which came at the end of a class, the sorts involving fighting a monster or something.
Avoiding the cantankerous Alec, you were going to take advantage of a lack of matches this week to make one last go at inviting the polo team, accepting the fact that they'd be put off by a witch they didn't know approaching them out of the blue. If this didn't work, well, you hope that Bertie had some luck finding a pliable shapeshifter.