Z decided to follow her gut instinct for a change.
She didn't trust Nolan or his offer just yet. She liked him well enough and it seemed like he'd be a fine professor. But he reminded Z far too much of some of the more ambitious Ravenclaw and scholarly Slytherin men she'd personally encountered or heard stories about. The sort of men that on the surface, were entirely in favor of witches joining male-dominated fields (which for Pureblood women meant any field. Pureblood women and their less-blueblooded Society peers-women like Z-were not expected to have careers or do much outside the home beyond charity work) but consistently disregarded witches' contributions. Except when those contributions were brilliant-Z knew more than one society matron who'd worked on interesting projects or developed a useful potion variation and had a male collaborator snatch up the credit for it. Z didn't think Nolan had that in mind, but she didn't know him or his intentions.
Also, he was a bit of a patronizing git. Honestly, "teaching you in the manner that I think will be most beneficial to you." He didn't even know Z or any concrete details about her research interests. Z was was fairly certain he didn't intend to come off that way but really, that almost made it worse.
"I appreciate the offer, Professor. But I'll have to think about it more. No point in making hasty decisions, especially with class starting in five minutes."
Z stood and banished her plate, then took her usual class seat.