Isaac had nearly turned back four times on his way from the castle to the Green Houses.  Bombay's classes should be out for the day and hopefully he would find him there among his plants.  With any luck this would be a quick visit and he would be back in the castle before dinner appeared on the tables of the Great Hall.  That is, if a professional visit didn't turn into a personal verbal sparring session.

With a sigh he paused at the door of the first green house.  Was he truly doomed to always be the one to not know what to say when things got heated?  Heated is generally what happened whenever Bombay was within ten feet of him.  He still to this day wasn't quite sure what the Wizarding world as a whole had done to the other man to cause him to be so contrary.

Opening the door slowly, he called, "Hello, Bombay...are you here?  I need a moment of your time."

Sasha had seemed quite certain the other man might help.  If he knew it was for one of his students perhaps he would just agree so Isaac would go away and leave him to his flowers and plants once more.

"Whatcha want, Frasier," Graham called out, displeased at the man's entrance into Bombay's domain.  He looked up from the beebledorf he had been weeding.  A pair of spectrometers sat pushed up against his forehead as he peered down the row at Witch Weekly's most eligible bachelor. 

Graham sat up and waited for the bumbling idiot to make his way through the greenhouse.  He needed to find a way to train the snapdragons to keep out such specimens of humanity.  Then again, if he did that he'd be the only one able to enter the greenhouse.  That would be ideal, but unsuitable for his classes.  He removed his gloves, waiting patiently for the matter.  He could only guess at what had happened.  Graham refused to be held responsible for anything Devlin Matthews said or did.  Or the Dark girl.  He was certain McAdams was leading her astray but hadn't any proof as of yet, excepting her wardrobe.

"Make it quick, if you're able," Graham muttered, remembering fondly the review that called Frasier a rambling windbag.  It was one of the few that did so and was now pasted side-by-side with two other treasures in his journal.

The greeting was as expected, not exactly welcoming.  If he could he would be in and out in a matter of minutes and off to dinner.  He wondered if perhaps he should have told Morrigan where he was going incase Bombay had found some way to have plants attack unwanted visitors as they entered the door.  Honestly, he wouldn’t put it past the other man to find some way to make it happen.

“I need to speak with you about one of the students from your house, Sasha Schlagenweit,” he said as he moved towards where Bombay was working.

Sasha was a good student, and perhaps that would be enough for Bombay to help one of his own.  After all, it wasn’t as if Isaac was asking the young man to make a career choice in his fifth year, he simply wanted to allow him the chance to experience something outside of the walls of Hogwarts.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but I’m planning to lead a team on a new research project in South America…I’d like to give the students a chance to get some hands on experience with a field project and Sasha was one of the first names on my list,” he said.  “I believe you’re aware that getting parental consent for the project will prove…difficult.  We were hoping as his head of house you might be able to help.”

He took a breath, waiting for the response, hoping this would be better then the encounter in the staffroom.

Sasha.  Of course it was Sasha.  It was always a point of contention that Ravenclaw housed some of Hogwarts' best scholars.  Waker was already being fought over by the Ministry of Magic--most notably the Unspeakables, and Sasha would no doubt be the same.  A gloating smile washed over Graham's lips.  Graham's students were his pawns, with many more rising students to utilize later on.

"Of course," Graham nodded.  He rose to his feet, wiping off his dirty hands on his equally dirty garden robes.  At the mention of South America, his right eye twitched.  South America? Really?  Frasier would probably just have Schlagenweit do all his research for him, and write the book when they returned.  "When do you set out?" he asked, curious of how long Schlagenweit would be taken away from him.  For the sake of the boy's studies, of course.  "If it's a school-endorsed activity, I can grant approval as Head of House.  I assume it's not some personal matter, right Frasier?  As long as it doesn't interrupt his studies, of course."

"We would have our first trip next weekend," he said, glad so far things were going well.  "It would hopefully be a series of weekend excursions if all goes well and it should be a good learning experience.  You can only learn so much about fieldwork from a book after all."

He was starting to babble, he knew it.  Yet it was like as much as the little voice in his head screamed at him to shut up he couldn't seem to do it.  The more he talked the less likely Bombay was to say something that left him scrambling for a response.  Of course eventually he would have to stop talking.

"It's a school sponsored trip, but I'd rather not have to bother the Headmistress with another detail regarding the trip.  He'll be back for all of his regular classes of course, and I'm quite certain all of the students will have their assignments finished as well.  There will be three other staff members on hand as well."

Next weekend? Sounded like someone was an assumptuous arse.  "And what of the boy's extracurriculars?   I believe he has responsibilities towards a few of the clubs on campus. Don't they meet on weekends?" Surely there was some wrench he could throw in the works.  Graham wouldn't let Fraiser take one of his crown jewels without a fight.  Because of course Fraiser could just amble in and declare he was going to South America.  Graham couldn't remember the last vacation he had taken.  In fact, he wasn't so sure he had ever had one.  Sure there was a dash of fieldwork here and there but most of his exotic plants were brought in through contacts.  Graham was as rooted in Hogwarts as the old Elm back home. 

Of course it was a school-sponsored trip.  Fraiser wouldn't dare use his own fundings.  Nevermind that Graham's latest herbological find had come from his own pocket cash.  Of course it was also an illegal purchase, but that was beside the point.  "No, you'd rather just come bother me," Graham snipped back, growing more and more tired of the man's presence.  Fraiser's precious, perfect little worldview was draining every last drop of energy from the greenhouse. 

"Tell me, who all is going on this little pleasure cruise.  Reid, hmm?" He teased, delighted to use the same dagger to stab them both, "Think she'll cozy up to her white knight if he protects her from the scary mosquitoes? Just pretend you have a drop of decent blood in you, she'll spread her legs as quick as you please." Morality was a pleasant thing to feast upon, especially at the expense of others.  Of course karma would probably turn it back on him, but Graham was willing to take the hit if it meant unsettling Professor Award-Winning-Smile.

Ah yes, just when things seemed to be going well, Bombay’s charming personality reared its ugly head.  With a sigh he stood there prepared for the usual onslaught about house wives and whatever other insults he could come up with, however the mention of Aileen Reid was unexpected.

Just pretend you have a drop of decent blood in you, she'll spread her legs as quick as you please.

Isaac felt the blood rush to his face as the shock of what Bombay implied wore off.  The shock was replaced by the same annoyance and anger he had felt in the staffroom that day along with the sense of foreboding at the thought of verbal sparring.  He was quite certain Bombay was well aware that conversations such as these were his weakness, and the other man would certainly use that to his full advantage.

“Professor Reid is not attending,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm but failing.  “As I said in the staffroom, I don’t know what went on between you two in school and to be frank, I don’t care to know.  You could show a little more tact from time to time.  Insult me all you like, but leave her out of this.”

With a sigh he continued, “This whole thing came up rather suddenly and I want to be able to give the students the best experience possible which means in order to not interfere with academic schedules it must be held on the weekends only.  I highly doubt that will be too much of a problem as, after all, we do allow them Hogsmeade weekends and the clubs don’t seem to suffer due to that.”

Squaring his shoulders a bit he added, “Sasha is extremely interested in going on this trip.  If a student is genuinely interested in the academic experience I want to ensure that they are given the chance.  Isn’t that our job as teachers?”

Ah, Bombay 1; Fraiser 0.

Graham let his smile grow unchecked at Fraiser's obvious discomfort.  The little red blush was quite becoming to the manchild, and Graham enjoyed being its cause. That would teach him to stick his nose where it didn't belong.  The self-righteous propriety Fraiser felt he had to defend only gave Graham more to attack.

"You only wish you knew what on between us in school...It was probably more than you've had in your lifetime," he teased, his gruff voice making the statement sound even dirtier than he intended, atmosphere not withstanding.

The issue of extracurriculars and Hogsmeade weekends was a bluff, and they both knew it.  Graham could hide behind the excuse for ages, he was an expert at stonewalling, but he could only stand Isaac's presence for so long.  The snapdragons were already dropping as it were.

Graham reached into his robes, withdrawing a scrap of parchment and a short stub of a quill.  "Your job as a teacher should be to progress his education, not your own schemes," Graham shot back, an idea forming in his mind.  "If I sign this, now, what do I get in return?"  He was curious to see just what Fraiser might offer for his seemingly amiable compliance.  Graham wondered if Fraiser could see the half-hidden punchline, coiled away just waiting to be sprung.

Isaac was not about to go into what he had or not had in his lifetime.  He was quickly getting more and more disgusted with the whole situation, but he remained as calm as possible.  At least it seemed that he wasn’t blatantly making statements of a lewd nature about Aileen any longer, and he could take the brunt of whatever else the man might come up with as it seemed to be now related directly to him.  This he was used to, having to play ‘white knight’ to maintain a little decency was well outside his usual realm.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes at the answer to what their responsibilities were as educators.  At least Bombay was pulling out parchment and a quill, hopefully that meant this conversation would be over shortly.  Isaac could almost see the signature already, but his hopes were suddenly cut short once again… "If I sign this, now, what do I get in return?"

And just when he saw the light at the end of the tunnel came the catch.  What did he honestly have to offer in return?  Somehow he doubted whatever it was would be pleasant.  An idea dawned on him, perhaps something that wouldn’t be too terrible…if it even worked.

“I’m sure we can find something…perhaps we could see about some rare South American specimen you’ve been after?  Certainly there has to be something,” he offered, hoping it would be as simple as that.