After all the ridiculousness with studying for exams that were coming up in a couple months and trying to balance school work with some kind of social life with his friends, Matt knew that it was just time to take a step back and relax since it was February and there wasn't much time left in the term to just spend with his friends. Heading out towards the Whomping Willow with a mini keyboard that he got from his parents for his birthday, he took a seat on a patch of grass that had been dry thanks to the sun having been out for the past little while to melt the snow away, the only problem left now was the cold so he pulled the collar on his coat up a bit before setting the keyboard down in his lap. Was he crazy to be out by this tree with a keyboard? Probably but this was definitely much better than spending hours on end with his head stuck in a book and just being inside lately wasn't really much fun.

February was almost over already. It was cold and windy, but that's the way Ellie liked it. It was as close as she could get to the ocean breeze from home, and she would take what she could get. This would be good enough.

Deciding to take a stroll through the grounds, Ellie tucked her hands in her coat pocket and meandered around the grounds. She found her way towards the Whomping Willow since she hadn't visited it in a while... and saw a blonde girl sitting on the ground, rather close. That tree could stretch, you know.

As she neared closer, she recognized her as the crying girl with the boyfriend problems a couple months ago. "You trying to get hurt?" She asked from several feet away.

Zhenya skipped down to the Whomping Willow. She couldn't believe she hadn't come to see it yet! Her brother did tell her about it almost killing someone when he was a 4th year... but she didn't really believe that.

She stayed a very good distance away from it, because it scared her. She sat on the grass and pulled out a book, and began reading.

Walking around the grounds yet again, Stella thought about the Potions assignment. The late-February weather was rather nice, even though she still had her coat on. Her potion was probably almost done brewing, and she'd yet to figure out what she could take a picture of for the assignment. She'd practiced using the camera by snapping a picture of Lyra up in the dorms, but something told her Professor Lafay wouldn't accept pictures of her kitten as actually trying to do the assignment. Of course, the last time she'd felt like taking the easy way out would hurt her in Potions hadn't exactly turned out very well. At least temporarily, but her nervousness around the professor didn't stop her from continuing to think she needed to actually do something interesting. Find an actual person to photograph, although she had to acknowledge to herself that she'd prefer a picture she actually would want to keep. And that limited her possibilities, really.

Passing by the Willow quietly, keeping a wide berth between herself and the branches, she noticed a familiar figure seated on the ground not that far from her and had an idea. Matt won't mind, she thought, creeping a little closer until she could see what he was occupied with. A keyboard, which intrigued her even more. She hadn't managed to hear him play yet, which made her pause a few feet away from him. She'd found herself lifting the camera almost involuntarily, then... click.

Okay, that had been louder than she'd thought it would be, probably because it was rather quiet in the area at the moment. Even the Willow seemed calmer than usual, but she knew that could change at any moment. Either way, she couldn't decide if she wanted him to know she was there or just quietly observe without his knowledge. It all depended on if he'd heard the camera or not, even as she quickly slid it into her bag in the hopes that she could avoid the questions.

Jory wanted some quiet where he could do his homework so he chose to sit where few students went- by The Whomping Willow. Of course, Jory was careful to stay a good distance away from the tree. He opened his bag to take out his Astronomy book- he had to begin keeping the Journal.

When Jory opened his bag, he saw his Metal egg sitting atop his books. Carefully, Jory took it out. "I still haven't named it as yet,'' he thought. The Hufflepuff pondered for a name that will not be common with any other student. "I know!" he thought excitedly almost saying it aloud ''I'll name him Egghead.''

So Jory tended to his newly name egg, Egghead. First, he checked the temperature. Egghead seemed to be just right. He was nether too hot nor cold. Jory was happy about that. He had been quite worried after Egghead attempted to jump into the Lake.

Next Jory checked the underside of Egghead where he had acquired the little scrapes at the Lake. There was still some sand in the grooves so Jory extracted his wand from his bag and placed it on one of the groves. "Ex-CO-lo!" he said tracing his wand over the grooves and watched as sand particles fell away. Jory repeated this until all of the four grooves were clean.

"Perfect,'' the boy said aloud. Then he placed Egghead back into his bag after checking his temperature once again.

Cody smiled at Jade quickly. There was a bit of silence. "Not really, I've been trying to but I need the spare time to write music", he answered.

Amelia practically jumped as someone started talking to her, and there was now a scribble on the paper. D: Did people not know that it wasn't cool to startle someone when they were sitting near a tree that could kill someone?

"I'm just trying to write a letter to my parents." And situating herself in such a place seemed to suit her mood really. She really really didn't want to go back to South Africa.

Before he had any idea of a song to play, Matt heard a slightly loud clicking sound coming from somewhere around him; but where? This definitely wasn't what he was expecting when he had decided to come out here, that mere distracting thought hadn't helped him figure out where that sound had been coming from. He turned his head to look around at the tree, curious as to if the sound had been coming from there but when he hadn't heard it again; a slight frown crossed his forehead. You know you're probably going crazy, it was probably just a rock being thrown or something.. Wait, that didn't make any sense! Seriously what the hell was going on? Maybe it was coming from his keyboard, but if it was then his parents clearly hadn't known that it was broken before they owled it to him for his birthday. He ended up lifting the keyboard to his ear to hear if anything was wrong but there wasn't. Huh, that was strange. It seemed like there a new mystery upon the school, only it involved him; though at this point, he much rather have played something that was going to distract him from this nonsense. Setting the keyboard back onto his lap, he pressed a few of the keys to make sure that it was set properly before starting to play the opening few notes to a strictly instrumental song that he'd been working on for the past few weeks.

"I see.... So you've been busy too?" she asked him. "You've been having loads of homework as well?" she continued.

Literally just having gotten her camera back in her bag, Stella froze as Matt seemed to look around like he'd actually heard something. Probably her taking the picture, but then, oddly, it seemed like he wasn't about to actually look around him entirely. Just at the Willow, and then he actually had lifted his keyboard to his ear like he'd thought it had clicked. That was interesting, only because she knew that she would have looked completely around herself if she'd been in his position. At which point he would have seen her standing there, probably looking stupid with her hand still inside her bag, but instead she got a reprieve. She'd had to stifle a giggle at the keyboard examination, though. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to let him know she was there, and that would have obviously given her away.

As he'd started to play, however, she found herself taking the camera out one more time and clicking another picture of him actually playing. It was way too tempting, but she slid the camera back in her bag afterward. She wasn't going to be able to stay quiet too much longer, but that didn't mean she wanted to deal with explaining that she was using him yet again for a Potions assignment. Even though she knew she was keeping the photos for herself afterward, whether Professor Lafay agreed or not. Stepping forward, she stopped herself a couple feet from where he was sitting before speaking. "That's beautiful." A compliment wouldn't sound too weird, she didn't think. At least, she hoped it wouldn't, or that it wouldn't immediately tell him that she'd been there for a while already. There was already enough to explain, if he asked about the clicking.

Lets face it, we were almost holding hands.

Almost.

Well, I said we'd do something, right? Right. But what? And where? And why? It was nice here. UGH. Too many questions. That I was asking myself. Sigh. I really had some, 'talking to myself' problems. "Uhh." Really intelligent. "We could...." Superbrainstorm. Unfortunately, Superbrainstorms don't work when you don't actually know what the heck you're talking about. Right. "Go..." Any idea's? Nope. Right.

I chuckled a little. I don't know why this was funny. This was actually really embarrassing. "Any idea's?" Cheesy/shameful smile. Heh.

Harvey walked to the whomping willow wanting to take a picture of the tree for his potions homework.

Pam looked out at the twisted tree. She felt just like the tree looked. Tangled, and unkept. Cold, and broken. Pam saw Harvey, and waved. She walked down next to him. "Hey there Harvey." She said with a small smile.

Harvey looked round and saw Pam "Hey Pam, how you doing?" he asked in his usual upbeat voice, then he got a really good look at Pam. He saw that she was not HER usual upbeat self. He turned her to face him "Are you ok? What's wrong tell, Has this got something to with Nate?" he asked hoping that she would say no, he didnt want this to be because of Nate. If it was he would corner him in the common room

Pam shrugged. "I guess." She said. "I'll be fine." She said, waving her hand like she was waving away the bad idea. "Whatch'ya out here for?"

He looked at the tree "Taking a picture of this tree here." he said quickly before turning back to Pam "What has he said or done for you to look like this?" he asked "You cant hide things much Pam, I know something is wrong and you are hiding it from me. What is it?" he asked again

Again, she shrugged. "He left me for that girl, Faina." She looked up at him with sad eyes. "And, well, I don't want to start crying again." She shook her head. "I'm sick of crying. I want to be strong."

Harvey was shocked he didnt know what to say, only last week he was telling her that Nate would never leave her, and here she was telling him that Nate DID leave her. But she didnt want to cry she wanted to be strong "Well.... er .....g... good for you." he said as he continued to look at her, for a reaction of some sort.

Pam looked at Harvey and smiled. "It's fine. I don't need a boyfriend now anyways. I need to be more focused on my school work. Becoming a better witch!" Pam said, in a semi-excited tone.

Harvey watched as she said that she didnt need anyone and that she just wanted to concentrate on her studies. He looked over at the tree and without knowing what he was saying "You sound just like Minnie, when she left me she said the same thing. She wanted to concentrate on her studies. Now she has a Gryffindor boyfriend."

He then looked over at her "Sorry I shouldnt have said that, I didnt mean to say it" he said quickly "I think you are right, forget about Nate. He is not worth thinking about. I am upset at him, but you are better off without him" Harvey said frowning.

"I'll admit, girls can be weird." She said with a small smile. She poked Harvey's cheek as he frowned. "Come on now, let's see a smile!"

Harvey's frown lessened everytime she poked his cheek, and in the end he let out a smile. He pulled her closer to him and put an arm around her "So what have you been upto lately buddy?" he asked her looking at her, his arm still around her

Pam blushed as he pulled her closer to him. She was glad to have some warmth in this cold, February, weather. "School, making new friends. Same old Same old." She said, smiling. "How about you?"

"ooo nice, making new friends? good to hear. Me? I have been trying to be there for two special girls in my life. But will be with Minnie less and less as she has a new boyfriend." he said to Pam "Hows your family?" he asked her

Pam smiled at the mention of her family. "They're good. My mom's so, so. But my dad told me that if Nate ever broke my heart, he would fly down here on a broom and teach him a lesson. So he's learning how to fly one! I really would love to watch him. Since he's a muggle, he has no idea how it works!" She laughed. The image of her dad trying to fly a broom kept popping in her mind.