Quote:
Originally Posted by
Squishy 
Did Paul have a death wish? That was the only reason Rosalyn could come up with as to why the man was looking the thing over. Obviously he had the good sense not to get TOO close, but still... She had never liked the tree and that feeling would probably not change, though there was some interesting history behind it and that was something that she could not ignore. History was one of her biggest weaknesses.
Keeping a wary eye on the branches, she slowly approached her colleague. "Afternoon, Paul. Checking up on the tree? Seeing if it has a clean bill of health?" As the Herbology Professor, he WAS plant doctor. Had something happened to the Whomping Willow? Looked as good as ever to her but then she was no expert on the matter; if the thing started looking truly dead... Well, that would certainly catch her attention. For the moment, however, everything seemed to be going really GOOD.
Paul nodded at the voice, who he recognized as Rosalyn Newton, Art's niece and one of his new coworkers.
"Pretty much. But it looks okay today. I did some work on it last term and was making sure nothing I did affected it poorly. Which it didn't, nor did I think it would have, but it's always good to be safe," he said as he eyed one of the branches moving slowly, but menacingly.
"How do you like the castle so far, Miss Newton?" he asked with a smile.
"And how do you like teaching? Any students giving you trouble?" he chuckled a little at the thought. His lessons had been going relatively smoothly thus far, thank Merlin.
"I usually buy all the new professors a plant for their office...but there were so many this term...I decided to forego that practice." And maybe forever more, now. It was a hassle, one he was getting too old to do.