Blanket and homework in hand, Ellie made her way across the Grounds to the Whomping Willow. Odd place to do homework, yes. But at the same time, it seemed logical. The lake was too full of people and noisy. By the Willow would be nice and peaceful, that is if she stayed a good distance away from it.

Making sure she was out of reach from any branches that may want to attack her, Ellie unfolded her blanket and spread it on a snow-less patch of grass and plopped down. Just as she pulled a book out of her school bag, a letter from her mum fluttered out and the wind began to carry it away. "Noo, crap." She muttered as she began to chase it.

Maddie was walking down to the Whomping Willow, books in hand so that she could catch up on what she had missed, when something white flew directly into her and attached itself to her face. Balancing her books in one hand, she pried it away and looked around for its owner.

It was probably the girl running up to her right now. Maddie smiled and jogged over to her. 'I think this is yours?' she asked, holding it out to the girl. 'Windy out today, isn't it?' she commented, laughing as her hair flew into her face. Maybe she should have tied it back...

As she jogged after her letter, Ellie looked up just as it smacked some girl in the face. Whoops. She met up with the girl and gave her somewhat of a nervous laugh. "Heh, sorry about that." She said, retrieving her letter. Hmm, it didn't seem windy before today. "Yeah, I guess it is." She said lamely with a shrug.

Ellie scanned the girls face, but she didn't recognize her. She looked around her age, so one would think she would look familiar, but Ellie didn't see it. "I'm sorry, I don't think I know you. I'm Ellie Johanson, fourth year Ravenclaw." She said with a smile, extending her hand out for the girl to shake. Then Ellie noticed all the books she was carrying. Homework time for her too? "Hey, I'm doing homework too if you wanna join me." She suggested, gesturing to her blanket with her books on it. "Unless.. you've already made plans..?"

Aimée wandered somewhat aimlessly towards the massive tree in the middle of the Grounds. She'd never actually been this close to it before, and she still stood a safe distance away from the slightly failing branches; although the plant seemed fairly calm now, she'd heard what it could do, and she wasn't in a rush to get her face smashed in. Her beautiful face, according to Dallin, and Aimée blushed a little at the memory.

But no, she wasn't here to think about that; she was here to think about something completely different; homework.

Although she couldn't actually be bothered, so she sat down in front of the tree, her book-filled bag completely unopened and disregarded near her feet.

'It's okay,' Maddie said. It could have happened to anyone, really, what with all the wind today. It was odd, because it had been pretty calm yesterday. Oh well... weather was weird like that.

'Nice to meet you, Ellie,' she said 'I'm Maddie Force, third year Ravenclaw,' she said, taking Ellie's hand and shaking it. Heh, they were in the same house. She would probably see Ellie a lot around the Common Room then. 'And you probably wouldn't know me, I only arrived yesterday. I was ill for the start of term,' she explained.

Maddie looked down at where Ellie was gesturing, looking at the blanket spread out with all the books on it. 'Yeah, I'd love to join you,' she said with a smile. She put her books down next to Ellie's and looked at the pile. 'So, which subject first?' she asked.

Matt wandered outside after re-reading the letter from Raven; he wasn't quite sure exactly why she wanted to interfere so much with his life but it began to become quite annoying, he stopped in his tracks once he saw the Whomping Willow; that tree had quite the reputation to hurt people so needless to say he was a tiny bit scared of it.

After a couple moments of merely staring blankly at the tree, he decided to investigate why this thing was so dangerous despite all the warnings that Matt had received over the past few months about the ancient tree. Okay.. so I should just charge up to it and see what happens? No way dude.. that'll earn you a 5 star trip right to the hospital wing with several broken limbs.

Regardless of the conversation going on with his own thoughts, he decided to get a running start at the tree and basically ran as fast as he could before getting distracted by a pretty girl sitting in front of the tree. Man.. I only ever seem to run into girls around here.. not that it's a bad thing.

Before he realized that this already was a majorly bad idea, he tripped over a twig sticking up out of the ground and went flying a couple feet before hitting the ground with a thud. "Well that was awesome.." He grumbled to himself while still lying face first in the grass.

Ellie smiled. "Nice to meet you too, Maddie Force." That means they would probably be seeing each other often. Ill for the start of term? That was... 6 months. Ellie raised her eyebrows. "Wow, I'm sorry. That must have been pretty bad." She frowned. "I hope you're better now. When did you get here?" Ellie asked with an encouraging smile.

Plopping down on her blanket, she smiled at Maddie. Yaay, new friends! She puffed some air out between her lips. "Hmmm, how about some charms? I need to practice mine." She stated, looking up at Maddie. "What about you?"

Maddie smiled. 'Yeah, I had dragon pox. It was really boring - I just had to stay in bed the whole time,' she said with a grimace. That was not Maddie's idea of fun. No way. 'Yep, absolutely better. I arrived about lunchtime yesterday,' she told Ellie. It sucked to have missed so much of the school year.

'Charms sounds good to me,' Maddie said, sitting down next to Ellie on the blanket. 'I need to practice my everything!' she said with a laugh.

Maybe she would get started on the homework - after all, she had a ton of it and it needed to be done. Or maybe she'd just read for a bit; she had a good book in her bag that her dad had sent to her the previous week. Deciding that opting for the book would be best, she turned to get it out of her bag, only to be distracted by the sight of a boy running at full pelt towards the tree.

Her first thought was confusion - what was he doing? Did this kid seriously want to get hurt? Running at the tree would surely end up with him in the Hospital Wing with a broken bone or two. But nevertheless the boy was running, and as she went to call out, he turned her way and tripped right over a rather large twig. Ouch.

Trying her hardest not to laugh (because she had to admit, the fall had been a little funny) Aimée stood up slowly and made her way over to where the boy had fallen on the grass. "Are you okay?" she asked as she looked down upon him, still trying not to laugh as she tried to deem whether or not the boy was hurt.

Dragon Pox! "Oh gods! That's so terrible!" She exclaimed a little too loudly. She heard Dragon Pox was really painful and quite terrible. "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm glad you're better though." Ellie said with a sympathetic smile. "Wow you really have missed a lot. Well, I'm here for you if you need help catching up." She told her. Ellie always had a nature for helping people. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Her father always told her she would be a good mother someday.

Ellie laughed with her new study buddy. "Well, there's probably no use for your books now. I could probably just tell you which spells to use. You could copy my notes too, if you want, I wrote everything down." She said with a smile. She placed her notebook between them and let Maddie see them. Ellie pulled out her wand and began practicing some charms.

"So. Tell me a bit about yourself, Maddie Force." Ellie smiled. For some reason, she enjoyed calling people by their full names. She hoped Maddie didn't mind.

Oh bravo.. you managed to make a complete fool out of yourself. Slowly he got up from the grass and dusted off his pants before taking a seat so that he didn't fall over again. "Yeah I'm fine; probably just scraped my knees up but oh well, that's what happens after having a bad idea" Matt chuckled slightly, that definitely was one of the more interesting entrances although it would have worked out better if he hadn't fallen over.

"I'm Matthew Stevenson, but please just call me Matt; less formal that way." He introduced himself then extended his hand out to the girl; if Raven knew what he was up to, she wouldn't be too pleased then again of course he didn't care what she thought.

taking the base ball he throws it so the whomping will wacks it back toward him and then he throws it again

Katelyn skipped off to the whomping willow, it had always been nice to her, it was like they were friends, what, being friends with a tree? That sounds kind of weird, oh well! In Katie's left hand was a piece of paper, it was a letter from her mother, it had terrible news on it, but it made Katie happy to have it with her, she didn't know why, it just did, like it was her father saying his last goodbye to her via letters. The wind streamed thourgh her blonde beautiful hair but it wasn't just that waving about, her letter had escaped from her hand!

*sigh* Katie chased after the letter, why was everything flying away from her? She watched as the letter flew away, it was hopeless to run after it, but last time she ran after something she got dirty cause she fell over.

WHACK.

Great. Just great. the letter had whacked a boy in the face, great way o meet someone new, but, what. WHAAAA? She had met this boy before, she hadn't seen him in ages, it was Michael, she smiled and giggled nervously, she walked up to him and said "Hey Michael, sorry"

going to catch the ball then every thing went dark ...The parchment that had landed on his face blocked his vision for a second.clearing the paper from his face just in time to get smacked in the thigh by the baseball Merlin on a trike that stings then hearing a voice that he hadent heard in ages the pain left as soon quick as it came. " Hey what is up I have not seen you in ages " that being a small lie.He had seen her around the school,but she seemed to be with a boy,and he was not going to cramp her style ... then seeing her watch the pacrcment float away,he grabs his wand " ACCIO PARCHMENT " catching the letter in his hand.He offeres it to her."yours "

Katie blushed for a moment as Michael brought her parchment back to her, that was very kind of him she thought, she gave a little bow and said "Thank you" Then folded the paper so it could fit into her pocket, she slid it into her pocket and then looked back up to him, she hadn't seen him in ages, since her first year, but she remembered his voice from somewhere, where was it again? Katie wanted to know everything that has been happening to him, he was a good friend, at least, thats what she thought. "So whats been happening?" She asked with a smile on her face.

setting his ball and glove down in his back pack he looks around in it Well it seems like I been getting kicked in the teeth by life the last few weeks " to tell the truth it had been the whole yr "it is like with Lafay I dont think my dad is going to let me join the potions class if she keeps ticking him off" finding acan of coke he offers it to Katie

Adelyn walked toward the Whomping Willow, clutching her book and notebook in her arms, as the wind whipped her curly, auburn her around her face and shoulders. She needed somewhere peaceful to just sit and write, or study, and the Whomping Willow seemed perfect for that. After finding a spot in the grass far enough away from the dangerous tree, Adelyn sat down and opened her notebook, the wind blowing the pages in every directions just threatening to rip them from the binding. She closed the notebook, sighing in exasperation, as she stared off at the tree.

Adam did his best to avoid the tree , which swung dangerously with it's thick muscular branches.The leafs were floating in the air like graceful birds.He soon found a spot to sit down, and just 'people' watch. But he noticed a girl, around his age sitting by herself, perhaps a bit annoyed with how the wind whipped her notebook.
"Hello, I'm Adam and I don't think we've ever met."He said right off the bat, in a cheery tone.

Adelyn looked up in surprise as a boy, probably around her age, stood before her. She tucked her hair behind her ear, before smiling up at him. "Hi, I'm Adelyn. I don't believe we've met before, but it's nice to meet you, Adam. Would you like to sit with me?"

Katie listened to every word he said, she knew how he might feel, bad things have been happening to her this year "I'm sorry to hear" She said putting her hand on his shoulder, she gave a warm smile to him, she wanted Michael to stay happy, because she knew how he might have felt.

"Hello Adelyn. Yeah sure...So I see you have a notebook in your hand, do you write or make poetry and then act it out?"He asked, as he took his seat on the soft grass.

The air was chilly but it was a cool breeze that gently stung his face.

He began to wonder what year she could be? Adelyn looked around his age, but some people mature faster than others so he was gonna let Adelyn tell him that herself.

looking around to make shure so guy wasnt going to jump out and punch him ,cuz that is just the way his luck had been running " so what bout the guy I saw you with up in the tower"Katie talking bout boys allways seem to put a smile on his face,probably because the things that she could get them to do she was a walking talking charms potion

"I write poetry and songs, I don't act them out, though." She replied, flipping through the pages of the notebook. The wind blew again, cold and gentle; she shivered slightly as it rustled her hair. "You can call me Addie, if you want, or whatever other name you can think of. Most people do."

She glanced over at him, the wind still blowing. He appeared to be her age, but she never knew. "I'm a third year. Gryffindor." She added with a smile.

"Oh how awesome. I like to write in general, mostly about adventures and what not.But I don't let anyone read what I write."He said so excited he had managed to accidentally slap himself on the forehead.

"3rd year Lion also. Wonder why we haven't seen each other in the common room before now? The world is a strange place, isn't it?"

"Same here! About not letting people read what I write. Unless, you know, I really trust someone. Then maybe." She answered, excitedly, and tried to hide her giggles as Adam hit himself on the forehead.

"Oh, really? That's awesome." She smiled, "I actually missed start of term, so that could explain it. I arrived a few days ago."