Professor Fox looked up at hearing the knock. "Well, if there's nothing else Ms. Weasley, would you kindly invite whomever is waiting outside in on your way out?" He said, nodding politely to her.

Looking into the hallway, he said quietly as Terry left, "Please come in, whoever is next."

Nadia brought Ashlie along with her as they moved though the corridors of the Arithmancy area. There were a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor waiting outside, one of them who Nadia recognized and stayed immovile as Fox asked for the next to enter, the Gryffindor not moving either and who Nadia suspected had fallen asleep. Well, since neither would enter--

"Trick or Treat!" said Nadia apearing at the door, linked of the arms with the Ravenclaw Prefect Ashlie who was dressd up as a cat. Nadia herself wasn't in her most common of looks, since she had replaced the uniform with clothing made entirely of biggish leaves. A skirt and a shirt, kind of.

As they made their first impact, grin wide, Nadia stuck a paper bag where... well, where she hopped she would be given any sweets. After all, there weren't really any rules against it, were there?

Ashlie hurried down the corridors with Nadia, continually sliding along the floor with coy laughter. They approached the Arithmancy room and she wondered if they were really going to have to wait for the fun. However, Nadia had differet plans. As she lunged for the door, Ashlie too was pulled along and they hurried through the door.

"TRICK OR TREAT!" she crowed. A month or two late wasn't so bad, she reassured herself, simply taking joy in the ability to yell trick or treat. She protruded her brown paper bag with a rustle and held it out, wondering if everyone had a candy stash or if they'd wind up with quills and or fuzzy stuff from the insides of a pocket.

The cat girl grinned, her ears now askew and leaning to the left of her head, partially hidded in her nest of curls. She wore a plain black body suit, to accomodate to the black tail and the slipper-like feet and the oversized mitten hands.

Erica was a bit too engrossed with her planning to notice right away that Terry had left and Fox was waiting at the open office door for the next student. She gave a nod to the Gryffindor girl that was waiting ahead of her, when she noticed two students rushing down the corridor. And they were both dressed in something that wasn't close to being school robes.

A very wide grin played at her lips as she recognized the one in the hula skirt as Nadia. She didn't know who the other student was, but Erica could tell that the cat girl was definitely an older student and not in her own year. She briefly wondered to herself why two students would take such care to dress in such an odd way when they answered her questions with one sumarily loud squeal of "Trick or Treat!" Halloween, of course.

And of all professors to ask, they had to try Fox. She scooted off to the side to get a better angle on the action while wondering to herself what his reaction to this unusual request would be and how much sighing and cleaning of his glasses would be involved.

This was going to be interesting to watch. Very interesting, indeed.

Looking up from his papers, professor Fox gave the two students a strange look as what they were doing sank in. After a few seemingly very long moments, he nodded slowly and said quietly, "I see." Folding his hands together he leaned back in his chair and watched the two students. "Since when did my office come to resemble the great hall, or Hogsmeade for that matter? While this school is being inspected by a Ministry official, while its future rests on the behavior of its students, you two got the idea to romp around the school not in your uniforms, asking for candy? That will be five house points each for not wearing the proper Hogwarts attire, which I don't believe to be unreasonable considering the circumstances. Furthermore Ms. Rey, considering the request you've made of me, one would think this not to be the best way to show your responsibility. I would hate to think I made a mistake in giving you all the responsibility you will have should your club be approved. I might then have to give the responsibility to someone else, or abandon the club all together. At any rate, if there is nothing further, would you please invite the next student in?" He then turned his attention back to his work.

The smile in Nadia's face disappeared. But it wasn't until making reference to the request she had made. Oh she should have seen this coming! She could have pouted, and mentally was all she did, while in her features she was only showing to be very serious. Maybe the "trick" thing wouldn't be a bad idea.

"No, professor, it's alright," Nadia said without giving explanations to Ashlie, rushering her out. "But we are not required to use uniforms in weekends," she added and walked out, closing the door behind.

"We are not asking Virhosa," Nadia said resolutely and with a serious-to-annoyed look at Ashlie without any further explanation. Five points were no loose, but abandon the idea of the club... well, it was futile. If the Headmistress hadn't talked to Fox by now, there were close to no possibilities of having the club anyways. They were running out of time. Good bye to legal experimentation...

Erica waited yet again as the two girls entered the office and closed the door behind them, effectively shutting down any idea of eavesdropping on the conversation. Instead, she took to tracing the unusual pattern of the castle walls with her finger. She was bored clear out of her mind and would have to leave soon enough if she couldn't get in to see the professor soon.

A few moments later, though, both girls exited. Erica noticed that Nadia didn't look very happy at all. She had a rather annoyed expression on her face and Erica could easily figure out what caused it. She approached the door, ready to just slip in when Nadia closed it behind her. Outwardly groaning now, she tried it and found that it wouldn't budge.

"Professor, could you open the door, please? It's not opening. It's stuck."

"We can go to Virosha," Ashlie said defiantly. "She won't be such a stick in the mud as this man. I honestly cannot believe he'd do that!" Her cheeks were coloring of red patches as she stood outside his door. "My own Head of House was fine with it. And the Ministry was fine with it as well!"

She stood, fuming for a few moments, before finally spitting out "He's an awful man. He ranks up there with Borr and Perry."

"Yes Ms. Arbon, please come in." He said, continuing his work as his door opened quietly.

Erica watched as the office door in front of her opened a crack before stepping inside the office and closing it behind her. She had been in this office enough to know her way around most of it already, momentarily scanning the large bookshelves and taking a peek at the blackboard behind the professor's desk. She then approached the professor's desk and stopped in front of it while she stated her business.

"I, uh, just had a question that related to something you said in the last class session. You very briefly went over the course subjects that curse breakers needed to know. I believe they were Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology and Potions. I could understand why most of those were requirements, but I'm stumped at the idea of Herbology figuring into anything relating to curse breaking. Could you go over that with me, please?"

Erica was openly grimacing at the prospect of such a subject getting in the way of her possible future career. Inwardly, she was praying that it would be a miniscule requirement at best, as she hated being close to the Greenhouse or Virohsa for any amount of time. The extra credit Greenhouse work was just bad and the lessons left her feeling unsatisfied as she didn't understand anything after they were over.

Professor Fox nodded then stood up and walked over to one of his bookshelves. He seemed to browse it briefly before pulling out a large, old tome. He stepped over to Erica then pulled up a seat nearby and set down the book, opening it to a page with a number of foreign looking plants illustrated nicely. "Now then Ms. Arbon, you see as I'm sure you figured out, all plants have numbers associated with them as well. As a result, certain plants and herbs have the ability to either counteract or even cure certain curses. Also, unlike many spells, many plants have a wide range of application in that they can help mitigate the effects of a wide range of curses. So, should a properly prepared curse breaker have a sound knowledge of what plants can help mitigate a given type of curse, should they need to, the plant can come in rather handy." He then closed the book and moved back to his place behind his desk. "I wouldn't worry too much about it however, you still have a few years, and with a sound understanding of your other subjects many curse breaker agencies including Gringotts will likely be willing to overlook a lesser mark in Herbology. Was there anything else?"

[OOC: I just noticed Erica tried to open the door. Unfortunately it doesn't have a handle.]

Erica took a seat as Fox pulled out the book and explained the Arithmancy behind plants. It actually would've made a good class topic for either Fox or Virohsa to puruse later, but Erica wasn't as concerned about that at the moment. The ending of Fox's answer, however, provided the answer that Erica was most hoping for. They'll overlook it, she thought, stifling the urge to cheer out loud. I'll just have to work harder at the rest and I should be okay. Thank goodness for that.

"Um, actually Professor, there was one other thing I wanted to discuss with you. It has to do with the inspection. I've heard rumors that the Ministry inspector has arrived, though, I haven't seen him just yet. I was wondering, you've been here for almost a full year, plus you've worked with the Ministry before, so you'd understand better than most how they operate. I just wanted to know your opinion on the matter. I mean, would you keep the school open?"

ooc: Okay, thanks for the clarification. I wasn't sure about that.

Professor Fox gave Erica a strange look. "Well, it's not really my place to decide that, is it? At any rate, I would not have taken the job here if I didn't think the headmistress was doing a good job. She is a more than capable woman and deserves our support I should think. Unfortunately Ms. Arbon, I never had very much contact in the Ministry with people associated wtih educational oversight, so I could not tell you anything about them."

"True, but it was just your opinion I was looking for, nothing more. I just thought that maybe you'd be a good person to gauge how things have gone so far this term. I didn't mean any disrespect towards the Headmistress. I happen to share your opinion on her, as well. I rather like her."

Erica sighed and leaned back in her chair as she thought about the inspection. She hoped that the students were being respectful and not causing trouble. For all of its stress and worry, Hogwarts was some place that she wanted to keep open. It was extremely difficult to imagine her being complete without it.

"I guess I'm just worried about it, that's all. It's finally here and it's really happening. I just don't want them to shut this place down. It's something to think how much this place has grown on me so quickly, like a second home."

"No need to worry about it Ms. Arbon. I'm sure everything will turn out alright. At any rate, should Hogwarts close down, they will simply reopen another school closer to London. At any rate, you had best start studying for your exams. Afterall, intelligence will only get a person so far, the rest is hard work." At that last note he went back to his own work.

Erica nodded and stood up and made sure she had all her things with her before heading out. The thought of exams reminded her of the makeup work she still had to do for Virohsa if she had any chance of pulling off her finals with an acceptable grade.

"Exams, yeah. That reminds me... Oh, anyway, thanks Professor. I'll be seeing you around."

She left Fox to his work as she exited the office, closing the door behind her.

After Erica left his office, professor Fox went back to his work. A few minutes later, he was excitedly scribbling things down before finally exclaiming to himself, "Excellent! That must be it!" Reaching into his desk without looking he pulled out Ganymede's mirror by accident, and still looking at his work he said into it, "Milagor? Milagor?! You'll be happy to know I've found it! Let me know when we can meet, I'll go over my findings with you, but you were way off I should say. At any rate... Milagor? Are you there?"

Professor Virohsa knocked on Professor Fox's door. It seemed he was a tad busy, so she waited outside his door.

Frustrated at his inability to communicate, Fox set the mirror piece on his desk and sighed in resignation. "Yes, come in." He said, as the door opened to reveal Virohsa. "Ah, Cleo. What can I do for you? Come in, come in. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

Professor Virohsa frowned slightly as she came inside his office. "Sorry I was unable to converse with you when you stopped by. I was wondering if we could talk now about you came to talk to me about?", she asked as she stepped in and closed the door.

Professor Fox nodded. "Yes yes. I was just curious if Ms. Rickman gave you your apology letter and if you knew whether she gave her others to their appropriate addressees." He examined the small piece of mirror before him.

Professor Virohsa nodded. "She did, and I'm not sure if she gave it to the other students", she replied. "Will that be all?", she inquired.

He nodded, still closely examining the mirror. "No no... That was all." before she could stand up however, he added quickly, "There was one other thing Cleo. I've been trying to contact someone, and wasn't able to. I thought I had done something wrong, but I've just now noticed that this two-way mirror is not my own. Though, I found it taped under my desk of all places. Any ideas?" He extended his hand and gave her the small piece of mirror to examine.

Professor Virohsa quirked her eyebrow as she accepted the mirror and looked at it. She took out her wand and tapped a few times before she frowned. "And your own mirror?", she asked as she pulled a little object from her pocket and moved around the room as she looked around the surroundings. She had experience with death eaters sneaking devices for spying purposes.

Professor Fox lifted an eyebrow and gave Virohsa a strange look. "Cleo... I hardly think that's necessary, but at any rate." He pulled out another small square mirror and handed it to her. "I thought it might just have been left over from my predecessor, that was all. Honestly, I highly doubt it is anything nefarious, except that, again it seems like it's been broken off a larger piece."