Violet wasn't so sure she wanted an inspector, real or otherwise--she no longer trusted anything the Board of Governors did or anyone who was associated with them. But she definitely agreed that being a resident in a malfunctioning magical castle was not a good thing. She still felt uneasy every time she went to her own Common Room now, for fear that she would be unable to get out again.

"Yeah, the Slytherin room doesn't ask riddles, it just sticks shut and refuses to open. Bad enough when you're trying to get in, but getting stuck inside was pretty unnerving." Though Violet supposed she wouldn't have starved in there--as long as the House Elves could get in and out. Or could they?...

Violet took another bite while she mused on these unwelcome thoughts, and then looked up at Ashley, cleared her throat nervously, and started in on a topic she had been wanting to talk about to the other girl. "By the way, you know that story I was working on? The one I sent you over the summer? Well, I revised it a couple of times since then, and then, right after the Christmas break, I...I sent it off to a publisher." Violet was still very self-conscious about this--she hadn't even told her uncles about it, only Miss Howard, who had suggested it. But Violet was feeling a sense of dread, that the publisher would send it back with a scathing review and tell her she had no talent as a writer and had better give it up.