Whaaaaat? He might not take her. He didn't HAVE to. There wasn't some rule somewhere that stated should someone be hit with the Whomping Willow, the nearest person had to take them. Or maybe there was. Ah well...

"I feel so appreciated" she replied back almost as sarcastically but ended with a smile just to show she knew he was joking. Trixie Malfoy understood sarcasm. There was no doubt about that one.

Heck there was a chance HER name could be pulled out. Which both brought excitement and anticipation. It was more the wait before the names were said that brought along the nerves. She just wished that they could be revealed sooner rather then later. The more she waited, and this was probably true of a lot of people, the more scared she got.

Struck by lightning? For that, the Blonde had to look up at the sky and make sure he hadn't jinxed it at all. No not a cloud in site. She brought her head back down. "True. But it doesn't look like that is going to happen" she smirked. "Rather fascinating though isn't it?" she asked. If that thing COULD tell you your parents, although Trix knew hers very well.

Okay? Now what was that for? Trix eyed the pendant thing quickly before answering his question.

"Go ahead. I'd love to see it." Teehee. Cat ears.

"Oh, my...!" Ella was speechless. This was in no way happening. She couldn't believe her ears. Then, she put on a nervous smile. Oh, she knew what this was. Bradin was pranking her, wasn't he? "Oh, I'm not gonna fall for this," she said lightly, smacking his arm gently. He had to be lying to her. Then again, dying? That was a bit of a stretch. No, he had to be.. he just had to be..

She took a glance at his arm. Yes, she saw the burn clearly. It didn't look like an everyday thing. But, she wasn't willing to believe it. Not a second of it.

"Doesn't look like it's possible, but it still is, isn't it." He poked the holster on his wrist. "Conventional means. The odds of me getting struck by lightning at this school are vastly higher than were I a muggle, I think."

He still had a chance of coming out of that Goblet, and yeah, his chances were probably higher than he was giving it credit for. But that didn't make his name any more likely to come out than anyone else's, and thank Merlin for that. And if the cup went on merit and stuff like that...

Well. Then he wasn't sure where he stood.

Reaching around to the back of his neck, he undid the necklace and slid the ring off the chain. If she wanted to see them, then he'd show them to her. So long as she didn't get squealy or weird and grab his head without warning, it wasn't like it was a big deal.

He slipped the ring around his middle finger.

For a moment, nothing happened. But then, with a silent pop, human ears had disappeared, immediately replaced by cat ears bursting into existence on top of his head. Everything got a bit louder, and he winced internally as he always did.

"...heh."

Monique couldn't help it. She laughed and then hit Jermaine across the arm. "I am not trying to be cute." she hissed between laughs.

She then placed her hands on her hips and waited for the other girl to answer Jermaine's question. She too was curious on what to look out for.

"Maybe" the Slytherin replied looking up at the sky once more. It was very improbable. The skies were hardly cloudy and it would have to be a dramatic change in weather before the possibility that he be struck by lightning was higher. But he was right. There was a chance, even if it was a small one. "And that's also true. Magic seems to put us in a strange position.." Sometimes they would be a lot safer, having magic at all times whereas a muggle would not but then again the things a witch or wizard would have to face. Could put them in more danger.

Now all they could do was wait and see whether their chances were high or not. Know one knew who was being pulled out. Which actually made Trixie even more nervous, she knew nothing of if her chances were lower or higher then anyone elses. The Goblet worked in strange ways, ways that she couldn't comprehend.

Erm....Okaaaay?

Trix watched intently as he pulled the necklace thingy off and the ring went around his finger. And there they were.....

Oh. My. Jeez

*Giggle*

They were so...Real. Well they WERE real. And they were attached to his head and everything. Se didn't know what to say. What COULD she say? Instead her eyes just widened as she stared at them, resisting the urge to stroke them. But they were all furry and....No Trix.

"May I ask, exactly WHY do you have Cat ears?" she raised an eyebrow. Was he like, born with it? How would you find that you had the power or the ability to do such a thing?

"Can I see the crup tail?" she asked pushing her luck maybe a little. But it was so cool to see it happening.

*Giggle!Snort*

Salander was all bemused at the Slytherin boy's attempt with the Whomping Willow. And he would've guffawed loudly when he saw the boy turn and run, screaming like a girl-- had he not plowed right into him, sending both boys to the ground.

"Gerofme!" Salander growled, pushing the other boy away and getting up. He was about to let his big mouth loose when he got a better look at the Slytherin lad. Its the Age-Line crosser bird dude. "You had a lotta guts crossing that age line, and you have to be somewhat crazy going after this..." he glared as he tilted his head in the direction of the Willow. Then Salander's glare melted away to reveal amusement and respect "My kinda guy" he grinned as he grabbed the other boy's arm and helped him up. "The name's Salander." he said introducing himself.

He turned to look back at the Whomping Willow. "Come on, dont tell me that was your best attempt at getting rise outta that thing?" he smirked.

WOW, strong push there. Really got some distance between them. It's really odd how people are able to throw him around considering how big he was...well, alright, he's not big. Just tall. But still.

Ahhh, someone who saw the incident at the GoF. Great, now this guy knows him as 'The Boy Who Crossed The Age Line And Got Turned Into A Bird'. What a traumatizing incident. The worst couple hours of his life. He still twitched whenever he thought about it. And this moment was no exception.

And he was pointing out how stupid Jimbo is by going and facing the Whomping Willow. Yes, yes, he gets it. Stupid, stupid Jimbo. But then the boy surprised him by being all nice about it. And...showing him respect? Wow. Jimbo would never have thought he'd get respect for doing something unbelievably stupid. "Er, I'm er...Jimbo." he was still shocked, because shouldn't people be looking at him like he was an idiot? That's the look he got from Monty AND Leilani. Maybe it's just GIRLS.

Oh. Wait. So...now he was being challenged? Well. Fine.

He was about to march right up to the Willow and be an IDIOT again, but then he thought better of it. After all, the guy was pretty much telling him to commit murder while he stood by and watched. "Well, what about you? Why don't you give it a shot?" Mr. High and Mighty.

Other things on the grounds that pose a threat.... Was she allowed to make a list? There was peeves, of course. The giant squid if he went in the water, and the mermaids, there were a whole bunch of unknowns in the forbidden forest, the list could go on. "Well, where are you planning on going, and what do you plan on doing?" That would definitely narrow it down to what was a threat for attack.

"A double dare?" Salander said as he raised a brow. Looking at the people around the area, he made sure that there werent any party poopers aka The Faculty. He did spot one or two responsible looking students with them shiny badges, but they all looked preoccupied. Then there were the student guests... but hey if they wanted to join in Salander sure aint stopping them. He looked back at Jimbo and smirked "Well...if you insist rookie." he chuckled as he started towards the Whomping Willow.

He circled the tree, each step taking him closer to its all terrifying reach. "You know I thought Willow-- big 'ol tree, nice willow-y leaves swaying, real pretty and all.... " he pauses, juuussst beyond the tree's reach. "....and then I see you. Back where I'm from, you're what we'd call A face only a mother could love." he said looking at the tree real pityingly.

The Whomping Willow started to creak, its scraggly branchlets shuddering violently that what little leaves it had shook loose and fell to the ground. "But hey, dont feel bad about that now." Salander continued, still circling the tree but had deftly entered the tree's reach. "I know of muggle doctors called plastic surgeons. Yeah real talented bunch. You should meet them." he said leaning forward. "They specialize on ugly."

And that Whomping Willow lashed out. Salander ducked low and could hear the zing of its branches as it swung over his head. Aaand of course he didnt stop. He kept moving retracing his steps, this time in the other direction. "You know what, forget the plastic surgeons, what you need is an eye doctor with your aim--"

With that the Whomping Willow hurled one of its branches at Salander again, trying to squash him into the ground. The boy dashed away from the spot, feeling a thunderous whack as wood meets the ground. Suddenly another branch swung low, trying to take out his legs. He leaped up then drop rolled to the other side, just barely missing the swinging branch. He got up quickly, his heart pumped with the adrenaline rush "Was that best you can do?" Come on I'm still standing! he yelled, stretching his arms out daring the tree. The Willow swung both its branches out at the same time, one on either side of Salander, trying to crush him in the middle. Salander's eyes grew large, he was much too close to run back to safety, but was still too far to lunge for the base the tree. He was in the perfect spot to get squashed like a bug.

Then he did the most insane thing. He stood motionless as the branches zoomed towards him. In the last second he dropped flat onto his back as he saw the murderous branches clap together, its thistles just scratching his face. Instinctively, he grabbed one of the branches as it swung up, taking him along for the ride.

"Yyyooowwwwwwww!!!!" he yelped as he felt the force of being lifted from the ground. The Willow swung its branch this way and that, trying to figure out where he went. Salander scrambled from out of the branch's underside, struggling to get right side up. Realizing that the little pest was riding its arm, the Willow shook its branch violently, trying to get him to fall off. Salander held on for dear life, but he could feel his grip slipping with each shake. Finally the tree has had enough and slammed its branch onto the ground, throwing Salander off from the impact and sending the boy sailing across the way....

.... and slammed onto Jimbo.

At least he landed softly. heh.

Bradin cocked an eyebrow. Did she seriously think he'd prank her about something as deadly as this? "Ella, this is no prank. The cuts aren't inflicted by me, the brun is definitely not by me, I don't even know how to burn someone and make it their death call, and I would never write words like this on myself. Most of them refer to my mom. This is not a joke. I'm not liar, I'm dying" he said. He couldn't believe Ella didn't believe him.

"Just checking." Finn grinned a little, knowing that he was special. Obviously he was, because he was pretty cool. But then Mia and him were best friends, so that must have meant that he was special, and she was too, they were pretty epic if he did say so himself. He laughed at what she said. "You already know how big my ego is Mia." He smirked a little, nudghing he waist slightly. He didnt care if his ego was huge, he was worth it.

"You're sick? But we're going in the wrong direction of the hospital wing." Finn sighed, before laughing. "Oh we're ever so lost." He grinned as he led her to the grounds. He smiled at her, because well he liked carrying her. Taking a path he grinned as he saw where they were.

"Oh. What a big tree."

Oh yes she knew how big his ego was and yet she kept right on making it bigger with all her compliments. But she liked to praise him well because as big a player as he was, Finn always treated her good and he made her happy. So why shouldn't she return the favor?

Mia was liking this whole being carried around thing. It made her feel like that woman who lived in Egypt many, many years ago. Hmm, what was her name? Ah yes Cleopatra. Mia felt like Cleopatra right now. She wondered if she she could get others guys to do this for her?

Having been too busy looking up at Finn's face and nuzzling his neck every now and then, Mia had no idea where he was taking her until they had arrived and he spoke about a big tree. Mia turned her head to look at what he was talking about and her eyes widened.

"Is that the Whomping Willow?" She had heard about the tree from her father and grandfather. It was totally awesome.

Cassandra headed for the whomping willow to see the object of so many family jokes and insults. If she remembered well, this was the same tree that Harry Potter and the blood traitor of an uncle of hers( from the father side of the family) crashed using a blue muggle car. Honestly, what were those fools thinking? She watched as the infamous tree swayed its branches, seemingly innocent. But Cassandra knew better, that tree was pure, unadulterated evil. Who had the crazy plot to plant this killer tree in a school?! She shook her head, letting her hair fly. "At least the view's awesome here." She said to no one in particular as she looked over the horizon.

Ella listened to him, utterly surprised. "It's not that I don't believe you," she said finally, after a hefty silence, "It's just that I don't want to believe you." At the end, her voice broke, and she looked down at the ground herself. This was too much for her to process.. even though she only knew Bradin by a couple of encounters, it wouldn't deny the fondness she felt for him. And to hear that he would be leaving.. not only Hogwarts, but the world, developed so much sadness in her that tears welled up in her eyes. She turned to Bradin, trying to blink them out. "You mean very much to a lot of people, Bradin," she told him with a watery smile. Ella couldn't bottle up her feelings anymore; she got up and embraced him tightly. Now, there was a legitimate excuse to be hugging someone besides your girlfriend - 'I'm gonna die.'

Bradin looked at Ella silently. He didn't know what to say. "Well you're gonna have to try and believe me, Ella. I don't want this to happen but I can't stop it from happening. You can't cheat death. Trust me I tried it with my mom and it never worked" he replied. He smiled half-heartedly when she hugged him. "I know I do. Look, just make one promise and don't break it. Please" he said.

oooooh, so dramatized
 

Ella sighed. "I know," she said finally. It was just.. a huge blow. To top that, her stupid emotions wouldn't be put to rest. She'd almost forgotten how big of a crush she had on Bradin. Now, she didn't know what to do about it. A promise? She nodded as he spoke. "Anything," she whispered, because that was all that would escape her lips now.

Bradin half-smiled at Ella. He took a deep breath before he said what he was going to say. "Ok well my cousin is starting here in a week, after I leave, and she'll need some friends to help her out. I've told her I'll ask some of my female friends to help her out. Would you help look after her for me?" he asked. Courtney was going to be a bit of an emotional wreck but she'd stay strong. She was a strong eleven year old.

The Whopming Willow. "It doesn't sound like a friendly name," Daisy whispered to herself as she sat about four feet out of it's reach. She looked over at the veiw of the grounds and sighed. School, something about it was bringing her down.

Whaaaat?

See there were times when Trixie's natural hair colour really showed through. In other words, she could be a slight airhead. But she just nodded along with what Raiden was saying, sure that she would agree with it anyway IF she actually knew the true meaning.

*Blink*

They were real right? Those ears weren't just some... How could they be? His ears were like...Gone and those were in their place. And he could HEAR with them? Woaaaah.

*Pout* Why couldn't she have been in that potions class back then? That sounded like so much humour. Humour was good in Trixie's books, so were animals. And the Goo was PINK?! See she came at such a bad time. "Further? What do you mean?" Once again maybe she was being a little too nosey but she was a Slytherin, a sly one at that, who could exactly blame her? She had missed all of this. Was it like full animal? That would be so cute. Living on a farm you could tell how much the Blonde liked her animals.

Trixie looked down at the ring that was placed around his finger. *Snort* Did that really have a cat face on it? That was just TOO funny. Seeing as he didn't finish his sentence Trixie decided to do it for him. "A little girly and young for your taste?" she asked. Even SHE wouldn't wear that. Never. No surprise it was worn around his neck. Though you wouldn't want Cat ears all of the time anyway would you?

Awh... She wasn't allowed to see the Crup tail. See that would have just been the icing on the cake. "I can see the problem there." Didn't want to be arisen from your Beauty sleep now do you?

She could touch them? She was resisting the urge to do grabbie hands. But how weird would she look and feel touching the Slythie prefects head? Ah what the heck. The Blonde lunged forward and carefully, didn't want to hurt him now, stroked his ear.

*Giggle!Snort*

It was so furry.

This took me forever. <_<
 

Jimbo watched with a smirk as the boy walked up to the Willow. He was quite interested in what he would do but he didn't think the boy would do much. He soon found out he was very mistaken.

O_______________o

Wow. This guy really was...crazy. Jimbo watched as he battled the tree, shocked yet intrigued. He stood far enough away not to get pummeled himself, but he still managed to receive a few leaves in his hair from the violently waving branches.

Then he was on the floor. Hm. If he spent anymore time on the floor the earth might think he was asking for marriage. Pushing the boy off of him, he sat up. "You are truly a lunatic. And I can't say that about many people, especially if I compare them to myself." Now he sort of understood the whole respect thing that was going on earlier. He gave the guy a manly slap on the back before getting up on his feet.

He walked up to the already angered Willow tree as it seemed to have realized that he was there to mess with it. Branches swaying, practically already aiming to Jimbo, his eyes widened as he thought twice about doing anything to the scary tree. But he'd been challenged. He had to do it. Otherwise it went against his morals.

"Well, tree. I don't like you because you scare me. Earlier, I wanted to call a truce. But you seem not to like me either." What else should he say? "So, you can either choose to declare war or be peaceful." There. It was up to the tree now.

But it seemed that the tree was still angry about the whole thing with Salander. So, it practically walloped him when he finished talking. Well. That was that then. Bracing himself, he spoke again. "It's on, tree. Although I doubt you have the skills it take to beat me. Despite the fact that I'm just a mere kid." He took a deep breath then added, "You're much too pathetic and haven't got what it takes."

WOW, that tree really is rather powerful and intimidating. How many times did he have to pick a fight with someone or something that could easily kill him using only one limb? As the branch headed towards him, Jimbo considered the fact that he might need some sort of skill to dodge every one of the branches. He'd have to do some weird gymnastics or something like Salander did. Except Jimbo has no types of talent like that. His talents consist of pranking and eating. Not dodging and fighting.

Well, at this point it would be fair to say that Jimbo is quite screwed. That was later proved when he tried to get out of the way and got hit by a different branch that he hadn't seen. It seems the tree was going to be tougher on him than on Sal. Well. That sucks.

He panicked, as all the tree's branches were swaying, all moving at once, all coming towards him. Ducking, he rolled towards the trunk of the tree, as it seemed to be the only place where the branches didn't reach. When he got there, he stood up, triumphant. That is, until he realized he would have to make his way back. And it also seemed that he was wrong about the branches not reaching the trunk. Well, if there was one thing he was good at, it's climbing trees. Doing so, he noticed that it was only making the Willow even more violent. And when a branch came toward him he tried to take the hit like a proper man. But his shirt caught on the branch and he found himself whizzing through the air without the aid of a broom.

And he got thrown a lot further than Sal did. And he hit the ground a lot harder since no one and nothing was there to break his fall. And he fell right on his stomach, which got him winded and made him puke.

Monique thought for a moment. "Well... I have heard about the squid, and the merpeople. I have also heard a bit about the forest. Let me see... there is a poltergeist too..." she said listing things off. "Anything other than that we should worry about?"

Rae knew very well that there were a lot more. Off the top of her head was the question, she hadn't had a moment to think about anything for a while, busy busy busy. As far as teachers went, she was in the clear with Crazy Lainey gone... However... "Professor Lafay. Potions teacher. She..... well, she has set students on fire." That's why Rae didn't even bother to show up to potions, that class is ridiculous.

Finn had heard that this tree was rather dangerous, so maybe it was a bad idea that they had ended up here. To be honest though Finn didn't really care, because he wasn't going to let her get hurt, so they'd all be fine.

"Yup....Well I think so." He grinned at her, as he looked at. He thought it was the whomping willow anyway, how would he know because he didn't really know. It looked bulky and scary. "We could go poke it." Yup. He was a little naughty. He grinned at her, before speaking again. "But I dont really wanna get hurt, so I think we should just stand here and look at it."

That was quite true, but he was pretty sure that looking at the tree wouldn't be the only thing that they were getting up too.