It took far more willpower than he would care to admit to prevent himself from snorting at hearing Black called honorable. More like miserable and slightly terrifying. Mason had felt that way as a student and still felt that was as a tenured professor. "Noble, but archaic," Mason pointed out. He could feel a headache forming at his temples. "Education and marriage do not go hand-in-hand in the eyes of most." It wasn't his opinion on the matter; Mason thought women to be perfectly capable of both. He also thought both had a time and a place; their students were still children, even if they turned of age near the end. Marriage was for those who had completed their education or finishing, whether academic or societal. The boys were afforded their education without the looming prospects of marriage, the ladies should be allowed the same if they wanted.

Truthfully, Mason couldn't even conceive to think of his students as anything but. He even struggled with former students, some of whom he had watched grow up, as adults who could, technically, be in his range for marriage. Prince had only been here for a little while. He hadn't watched Miss Flitwick enter the hall as a first year like Mason had, and grow into the young lady she currently was. The whole thought process still made Mason shudder involuntarily.

"It's a unprecedented case. Your position at the school is not something that has ever been considered, as far as I know. I fear it would likely appear suspicious for a student to be betrothed to a professor. I like to think myself an open-minded person, and it still gives me pause." Certainly Prince had to see that? There was no way to shape this in a positive light that Mason could see. There was too much scrutiny at play. "Ultimately, it would be up to the Board of Governors." An auspicious group that Mason wanted to cross even less than Black.