Violet felt the need to defend her common room, which members of other Houses tended to think was dark and gloomy, just because it was in the dungeons. Though she suspected that what Ash meant by 'down there' was referring to something else--the same something else that Violet had thought about when she was stuck that day. "Oh, the Common Room is nice, really--I was just upset because I thought I would be late for class...well, and also because I didn't know what was going on, and so I suspected some new thing was going wrong at Hogwarts," Violet replied. Which it was, really, if you put together all the things that were currently going wrong. "It's not dar, really--it has all this lighting, lamps and things. And we have a window that looks out on the Black Lake, but from underneath, you know? I like to sit there sometimes and just watch all the water creatures go by. The Great Squid comes by a lot--I think he thinks he's part of the House."

Violet considered Ashley's next question. "No, I haven't heard back yet. I expect they're busy, they must get a lot of submissions from people. I don't even know if they'll consider something from an unknown," she confessed. "It's not the first time I've sent anything in, you know. I sent some stuff in when I was younger--stupid stuff, you know, I read it over now and it was really awful! But I didn't know any better and I thought it was great stuff. They all got rejected, of course. One time one came back so fast that I doubt anyone read it at all." Violet smiled at her younger self. "But this is the first serious thing I've sent out--my first really...adult story, you know? Because I've always wanted to be a writer, so I figure I've got to try to get published some time, and I might as well start early as late."