"Well I am honestly not sure there is another Whomping Willow... never heard of one. May be THE Whomping Willow," she pointed out with a nod. "I strongly suggest you DO read about Hogwarts, then. There is a lot of things that go on around here that you could do well to know about," she said with a more vigorous nod.

Addy was not sharing with a total stranger, but she did nod as the girl spoke. Of course, her dad was a Wizard so... that was not how she was raised, but she could dig the whole situation. She could indeed.

"You can call me Addy. It's nice to meet you, Sutton. Where are you from?" Perhaps if she met enough American's they could start a support group. Heh.

Ella took a walk down to the Whomping Willow, spreading out a blanket a little ways from the tree and plopping down. She placed her bag next to her, digging around inside for the gummy worm package she made SURE to bring with her. Not that she ever forgot something as important as gummy worms. She was always carrying those.

After finding the bag, the third year leaned back and nommed on the delicious sweets, lazily watching the Willow as it did what it did best, whomp around. The only thing that could make this day better would be some company.

Harvey walked out the Whomping Willow just for a normal walk about the ground, which was rewarding after attending classes that he had been attending. He wondered who else he would meet, if any of his friends were around. He walked upto the willow as he remembered how he and Mins played a few dangerous games with this tree.. he wondered what she must be doing at that time.. probably hanging out with her grandparents and cousins in America. This thought made him smile to know that she was with family. He walked around the tree watching it moving around as it usually did, making him laugh that no matter how hard it tried it could no get to him cause he was out of its hitting range. He then stood there not realising that Ella was nearby "Still can't get me.. can you? You only ever got me once!" he chuckled as he talked to the tree a little loudly so that the tree could hear him. "Not anymore I have learnt from my mistakes Tree!" he smiled looking at it.

Ronnie walked down to the Whomping Willow, her sketchbook and a quill in hand, and her kitten Oliver trotting behind. Once she reached it, she made sure she was a good distance away from the Willow so that she and Oliver wouldn't get beat up by it again. That hadn't been much fun. She plopped down onto the grass and sighed, flipping open her sketchbook to an empty page and began to draw Oliver who was crouched down in the grass, watching curiously as a caterpillar inched slowly in front of his nose. Ronnie chuckled. Oliver was so cuuuteee.

Ella had eaten her fill of gummy worms and so she was lying on her back, looking up at the clouds, when she heard a VERY familiar voice from VERY close by.

O__O

Merlin's beard. Really? Ella took a deep breath and sat up, turning in the direction of the voice. She wasn't really surprised to see Harvey there, having recognized his voice immediately. She was kind of torn as to what to do now too, especially after talking to Edric. On the one hand, she couldn't go on avoiding Harvey forever, Hogwarts wasn't THAT big. On the other hand, she was still kind of sad about the whole thing that had happened, though maybe it was time to get over that. Meh.

"Harvey?" What was he doing, anyway? He was going to get hit by the Willow! Though that might save him from Edric, who would probably do worse.

Adam looked curiously at the giant tree. Why was there so much space around it? Wasn't it part of, like, the forest? Nope. A quick glance around told him the tree wasn't part of it. "What a scary tree," he muttered, walking a bit closer. Maybe it was the best climbing tree ever!!

SWIPE.

"HEY!" Adam ran backwards just in time to avoid being killed. Okay. Tree bad, he thought to himself as he put more distance between him and the evil tree. "What the bloody devil was that for??" He stared angrily. What was him and his luck for this kinda thing? First the fountain in Diagon, now this.

Harvey watched the tree throwing its limbs and branches about trying to get to him and any other student that was walking by, but everyone had learnt to keep a safe distance so they were safe from it. Well he was not one for trying to get hurt by this tree he had already been hurt once, luckily not too much just a bit bruised trying to stop a best friend doing the same. He was about to walk around to its other side when he heard someone call his name, he froze! He knew that voice, but could he be mistaken? He was kinda hoping that he wasn't but still he turned around to make sure and sure enough there on the ground there she was. "Ella? Ella.. Hi" he said a little surprised to see here there, he looked around to see if she was with anyone but she seemed to be alone so he walked towards her, and stood there near her so that he wouldn't have to yell out to her drawing attention to themselves.

Ronnie looked up from her sketchbook at the sound of a branch swinging and saw Adam had almost been hit. She gasped. What in the world was he doing?! Didn't he know he could get like...killed by that tree?! And why wasn't he moving back more? It could reach him from where he was standing.

Her things fell off her lap and onto the ground as she stood up and ran over to him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to where she had been sitting. "Merlin's beard, Adam! You scared me, you could of got hurt real bad back there!!" she exclaimed. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, looking him over.

Adam kept staring heatedly at the tree, almost expecting it to respond. Why not? Hogwarts was strange enough. Stupid tree. Adam looked at his arm, which was cut and bleeding a little, and he scowled. Did this mean he had to go to the Healer? Adam didn't want to.

Suddenly, Adam was dragged another good ten feet away from the tree by some person. Apparently now sitting by a cat and some parchment, he looked up to see Ronnie. "Yeah, found that out." He glanced grudgingly at his cut arm. "I'm fine, just... scraped."

So Harvey looked surprised to see her and Ella really didn't know what to do so she kind of waved awkwardly as a means of response. In truth, now that he was walking over the third year had NO idea what she was supposed to say to him.

When the fourth year got close enough, Ella sat up a little straighter and bit her lip nervously, trying to think of something to say. It had been her who had gotten his attention, yeah? So it was kind of her job to say something. "So um...what were you doing just now...with the um...the tree?"

"Oh Adam, thank Merlin you're not hurt too bad!" she said, pulling her friend into a hug. She then pulled away after a while and gently took hold of his arm. She winced. That didn't look too good. She slowly looked from the cut up to Adam. "Do you wanna go see the Healer...? I'm sure she can bandage it up quickly." she said, glancing back at the cut and then back to Adam.

He saw the awkward wave that she gave and waved back, less awkwardly than she had done. Now she seemed confused, really she was confused now after talking to him first? well if thats how it was supposed to be then ok. He chuckled a little as she asked him about the tree and wondered how she should answer her question. "Oh nothing much, wondering if I should play a game with this tree" he looked over at the tree "But it would not be a good idea.. and if Mins heard about it I am sure I would get a howler for playing without her" he chuckled as he joked with her

It was kind of amazing to Ella that Harvey could act so normally around her, like what he had confessed to him didn't change anything at all. She wished she could do the same but she was rubbish at pretending. Her feelings always showed, even when she didn't want them to. "A game?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. What kind of game could you play with a tree, anyway? Certainly not a safe one if the willow was involved. "You weren't like...trying to get hit, were you?" Frown. Harvey was a Ravenclaw. He wasn't that stupid, right? "Do you um...want to sit or?" The third year had to ask, she felt bad and besides, it was strange looking up at him like this.

Scooting over a little, Ella tucked her hair behind her ears and looked out at the grounds, waiting for Harvey to join her...or not.

He nodded as she tried to confirm what she had just heard him say, "Yeah a game" why had she never played a game before? Well probably not with this tree but probably she had with people. She then asked him the golden question, uh oh now what to tell her well the truth is better than the lie. "Well that's a ... a possibility, I have played a game with this tree before, me and Mins used to do it all the time before she went back to America" yeah like a high possibility seeing as he would have walked towards the tree if he wanted. "But I am not in the game mood today." so sorry tree you won't be able to hurt Harvey today. He thought about what she was asking him and nodded "Yeah I guess I could sit a for a little bit" before you decide that he needs to leave you alone. He watched as she scooted over making space for him, he sat down but not too close wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable.

Ella couldn't stop the frown from forming. It was immediate. He was trying to get hit by the willow, then? That was ridiculous. He knew that though, yeah?
"That's not safe. You shouldn't play that. You could get really hurt." Oh great, and now she was lecturing him. Great job not caring so much, Ells. "Sorry. It's none of my business." And apparently he wasn't in a game mood all of the sudden, whatever that meant. Was it because of her? Meh.

The third year noted that Harvey was careful not to sit too close to her and she looked away because she was sure she was frowning. Right...now what? Well Ella was curious about something, though she wasn't sure she was allowed to ask. Whatever the situation between them, Ells had promised to always tell Harvey the truth and she didn't break promises. Turning her body to face him, the blonde sat, legs criss-crossed in front of her. "So I talked to Ameliah at the feast and she um...she introduced me to her boyfriend." Which had really confused Ells. She raised her eyebrows a bit, hoping Harvey would explain. Not that he had to, of course.

Harvey wanted to smile as she told him that he shouldnt be doing that, but he didn't smile he just listened. He wanted to smile cause she was doing the thing that she told him was not to be done, she was caring a little. He nodded "Yeah I know, I have kinda been hurt before. Just a small bruise, Mins was worse! She had cut and many bruises. Ronnie too told me about a time that she got hurt. So I guess being around this tree your are bound to get hurt" yup see very high possibility. He shook his head "No it's ok you are right, I shouldn't be doing that " she was right and more mature than him it seemed.

He then watched as she turned her whole body towards him, he could tell that she was really curious about something he wonder what but he didn't have to wonder too much cause she was about to tell him. He nodded and looked at her with her eyebrows like that she was really looking for an answer now better give it to her, truth and honesty was their policy. "Weellll a couple of days after we arrived here, I got an owl from her best friend telling me that Ameliah wanted to break up with me and that she was sorry that she couldn't tell me over the summer" yeah so that's all it said, and that explained her new boyfriend. He looked at the ground "There goes another one, yup Harvey Watson is single.... again, not too surprised though with my past, girls come and go.. mostly go" he chuckled "You know sometimes I just wish that they would actually like me..... you know.... like ..." he looked at her and remembered her confession "Well like the way you do... basically" yeah cause she had liked him for months and been there hanging out with him despite that. As he looked at her he got this weird feeling inside, one that made his heart best a little faster and made him want to sit real close to her for some odd reason. He looked back over at the tree before she would feel uncomfortable or something.

Ella's frown intensified as Harvey told her that him, Minnie, and Ronnie had been hurt by the Willow. "That's not good." She said, eyes looking from the Ravenclaw to the tree and back again. As for her being right, Ells shrugged. She wasn't supposed to be doing this, remember? Care less. That was her mission and so far she was failing.

Huh. So Ameliah's friend broke up with Harvey for her?...IN A LETTER? That was horrible. Why couldn't she have just told him face to face? That would have been the right thing to do. Frown. "She should have told you to your face. It's not right to-" REALLY, Ella? Was she seriously doing this right now? It wasn't like it was INCREDIBLY awkward for her to be talking about Harvey and Ameliah or anything...not to mention she was supposed to be NOT caring. And she had failed AGAIN. Eh. She decided it was better to just shut her mouth a listen. That way she couldn't get into too much trouble with her feelings.

O__O

To say Ella's green eyes grew noticeably wider was probably an understatement. Had he really just said that? That wasn't fair. Not fair at all. The third year wanted to say a lot of things right now. Like maybe Harvey shouldn't date so many girls, then. Or maybe Harvey shouldn't be so blind. Or maybe just maybe Harvey should have said something back when Ella told him how she felt, even if it was completely the wrong time for him to do so. What was she supposed to say now? EEP. And the way he was looking at her right now? It wasn't helping at all. The small blonde almost wished Edric would bust onto the scene and carry her off so she didn't have to think of something to say in response to this...this statement.

"I...well...I um." Yup, words were failing her. "Harvey, I really don't know what I'm supposed to say to that." There. It was the truth.

Harvey saw her frown get even more frowny, uh oh Harvey say something bad? Apparently so! He nodded "Yeah I know, but it seemed fun at the time" uh oh she wasn't going to like that either. To think that if Ella hadnt been there then there was a high chance he was wanting to have a different kind of fun with the tree. He could get a little hurt if he wasn't too careful, but Ella was here so that would have to be postponed.

Suddenly after knowing what had happened she was not so pleased that's how it went down, he nodded along before she suddenly stopped. "It's not right to....? " he tried to get her to carry on with what she was saying. Cause she couldn't stop there, right? She had to carry on, "To do it through a letter? " he wondered if that's what she was thinking "You might be right there, but I guess she didnt want me to return to school without knowing that especially since we are in the same house. " yup that made sense to him.

Her face went suddenly funny, her eyes were as saucers!*Harvey had realised what he had said, he nodded as she said that she didn't know what to say to that "Yeah I know you wouldn't know, dont say anything to that. I don't know what made me say that. I didn't even mean to say it, just pretend I didn't say it" well done Harvs you just made things worse instead of better, no wonder she is not ok around you. Change of subject please!! "So! How are the classes going for you? Glad to be back now?" he asked her just to get her to stop thinking about that blurting out and rambling that he just did to try and cover it up. Though she did love his rambling it was just the blurting out that he did that usually made thing worse, or better depending on what sort of blurting out it was.

Fun? How could doing something so dangerous be fun? Ells didn't think getting whomped by a giant angry tree sounded like a good time but she really shouldn't be judging anyone so she just shrugged it off. If Harvey wanted to play chicken with a tree, that was totally up to him. Ella wasn't his mother or anything so she couldn't exactly tell him what to do.

Ella bit her lip, not sure she wanted to finish her little speech about how wrong it was for Ameliah to break up with Harvey the way she did. She felt it wasn't her place to comment and the fact that Harvey was now pressing her to continue made her a little embarrassed that she'd even brought it up at all. The blonde was relieved when Harvey completed the sentence for her, nodding. "Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say." She admitted, lying back on the blanket and looking up at the sky. If they were going to continue talking about this, she wasn't going to be able to look at Harvey in the eyes. Oh. Right, that made sense. "I see." Though it was still not the way Ella would have went about things and she hoped no one would ever breakup with her that way.

The rambling? Ella was glad she was lying down because the smallest of smiles was on her face right now. She didn't even realize she was doing it at first and was a bit surprised when it did dawn on her that she was smiley. Why did he insist on being so cute sometimes. It was really quite frustrating. Poker face. "Okay I'll um...I'll try." She said, turning her head to look up at him. And then there was a quick subject change, one that Ella approved of. "I um...classes are good. I mean I'm happy to be in them and seeing the Professors and stuff..." Yup. Not an awkward answer or anything... "Are you...glad to be back?"

He saw her shrug at his fun comment with the tree, he knew that she wasn't too happy with it but that what he did. Even he had thought the same way as her but after having tried it with Mins he kind of found it fun, even if he didnt admit it to Mins. Cause afterall Harvey didn't do those sorts of things, he was the good boy that didnt get into trouble and stuff. He watched her bite her lip as he questioned her on what she was trying to say, he could tell that she wasn't up for finishing that sentence and it was quite understandable that she wouldn't want to which was why he had offered to finish it for her. He smiled and nodded when she said thats just what she was going to say though he thought it might have been something else but if she said it was then he would believe her.

He watched as she lay down on the blanket looking up, well it was a good time to relax so he was glad to see thats exactly what she was doing. He nodded as she seemed to agree that it was better that she broke up with him like that before they got to school, I mean who would want to go upto their girlfriend expecting to be greeted with a hug only to be given the cold shoulder or something, so yeah it made perfect sense. He wondered if she had smiled at his rambling but didnt want to look just in case she caught him looking trying to see a smile at his rambling, but he would assume that she did smile and this made him smile too. "Thanks" he said as she said she would try to forget he even said that, why did he have to say that knowing how she felt about him.

He listened as she answered his question about the classes, that was not the kind of answer he thought he would receive but it was good enough for him. Usually she loved the classes that she would be in so this was kind of unusual to hear that they were just good, maybe there was something else on her mind... well besides Harvey that was kind of bugging her a bit. Should he ask or not? best not to. Now she was asking him "Yeah I am glad, classes are quite good actually I mean how many people can say they got to launch a rocket in class or something" not many. Finding all those herbs was good too at least he knew what the uses were now if he ever wanted to use herbs in the future. But he was glad to be hanging out with Ella again, but he didn't tell her that cause she knew that from before. He had told her that before and that hadn't changed but he just acted like everything was ok between them cause not talking about the L word was the way that it seemed to work out ok.

Minerva pulled her blonde hair up,but let the pink streak stay hanging in her face as she walked towards her favorite tree. She hadn't seen her friend for awhile and expected it missed swiping at her while she wasn't around. Who else played games with it other then her. She smiled at the thought of last term when Harvey thought she was nuts and she did get hit by it a few times, but nothing that made her see the healer thank goodness. As she walked she was thinking about the two days so far that she had been back. All the drama with Maxwell that was still making her head spin, Justin not at school, Taylor and Damon broken up it was just all to much. Then herbology and losing five points it was just not the way she wanted to start her school year.

As she walked she wasn't paying attention where she was really walking until she heard two voices that sounded a bit awkward with each other. Looking up she saw two familiar faces and smiled. Did they finally get together Minerva wondered. They made the cutest couple she thought at least. Just as she was getting closer she noticed the uncomfortable feeling between the two. She smiled, guess they aren't together yet. Shaking her head she laughed and then walked over to them, "Hey Ella, Hey Harvey whats going on?" she didn't know if they had even realized she just got to school or not, but she still wanted to see them.

Ella didn't see Harvey's smile as she was watching the clouds race by. She shrugged a bit when he thanked her and replied quietly. "Welcome."

Oh yeah, the rockets. That had been really cool. "Those were fun, yeah? I never expected to be doing that in class." Ella kind of felt like a rocket scientist during the lesson, which was pretty cool. And then there was silence again, the kind that was kind of awkward and made Ella frown. She wanted to say something to fix it but she wasn't exactly sure how. So instead Ella decided to just be honest, even if that only made the situation more awkward. Sitting up, the badger turned to the ravenclaw and frowned slightly. "Harvs? I'm sorry things are so different now I just don't really know how to-"

O____O

MINNIE?




EEP! It WAS Minnie! She was back and she had just...saved Ella from maybe saying something REALLY stupid. Thank Merlin! "MINNIE!" Ella said, green eyes wide as if she had just seen a ghost or something. "You're here...I mean..are you back for good?!" And with that the third year jumped up and hugged the older badger, stepping back and plopping back down on the blanket.

Harvey smiled as she welcome, well it seemed like they were doing ok but he still wasn't sure. He nodded as she talked about the rockets they had made "Yeah they were fun, and the way they launched into the sky that was like the bestest thing I have ever done in class" he chuckled man he had loved that. Then it was silence between them, man did he hate this silence. He wished that there was some way to get rid of the silence forever and just have it the way they use to be, but he knew that with her confession came alot of changes. He was relieved when she said his name "Yeah?" he said as she sat up and turned to him, she was talking about changes and things when he heard someone call them.

Now he recognised that voice but it couldn't be she was in America with her family, thats what Justin had told him anyways. He was about to have a look when Ella yelled out her name, well it looked like she was there.. he stood up and smiled at Mins as Ella hugged her before sitting back down on the blanket "Hey Mins!!! wow!!! you are back!!? When did you get back? I see you wanted to surprise us all" he chuckled as well as shocked that she was back, he almost bombarded her with questions too but held back this was his friend afterall so he had lots of time to ask her the questions that he wanted.. that was if she was staying and since Ella had asked that he was just going to find out soon anyways.

Minerva smiled as the shocked faces turned to look at her. Well this was a better welcoming then she got from Maxwell at least and it was better then points being lost as well. She hugged Ella and then smiled at Harvey. When she got to the blanket she leaned down and gave her first best friend at the school a big hug. She had a few questions to ask him as well, but they could wait she would answer their questions before she would ask her own.

Taking a deep breath she knew she was going to be answering this question more then just a few times. "Well I didn't think I was going to get to come back either, but thankfully I was able to. I was forced to go live with my muggle grandparents right after term ended. Which they are wonderful don't get me wrong, but I missed this world. So I told them everything and begged them to let me come back. They were not sure at first, but after some convincing they let me come back. So I got hear as soon as I could. I got back yesterday." she then smiled, "So yes I am back for good I hope. My cousin has no clue I'm here so when she finds out she is going to flip since she is the one that sent me to my grandparents, but for now I'm good."

Turning she frowned at Ella, "Thought I missed tryout sign ups for quidditch, I am hoping your trying out again?" she hated the fact that she missed tryouts, but there was nothing she could do about it so it wasn't worth stressing. "I don't have my broom anyway, so I guess it's for the best." then looking at Harvey she found herself frowning more, "Justin is not at school... Do you know anything about this?"

Sooo...Ella wondered if Minnie noticed the change in her and Harvey's friendship but figured she would try and not think about it too much. Things were weird enough at the moment without her over thinking things. Right now the important thing was that Minnie was back! This was exciting, yeah? Her and Harvey could talk later.

The third year listened as Minnie explained her absence and grinned when she revealed her grandparents agreed to let her return for good. "That's brilliant." She said seriously, bouncing a bit on the blanket. "We missed you, y'know." She added, looking from Harvey quickly back to Minnie and give the latter a small smile.

The frown? It caused Ella to frown as well. "I'm sorry you missed them, I know you really like Quidditch." Ella said sincerely. Plus, Ells would feel terrible if she had missed sign ups and she hoped Minnie wasn't feeling too down about it. She wouldn't want that. "Yeah, I'm planning on trying out. I hope I make it..." Though it was clear she was worried about it. Wait...no broom? Ella raised her eyebrows at this. She wondered what had happened to Minnie's broom but figured she wouldn't press the issue. Oh...and Justin wasn't back? Huh. Ella had wondered why he hadn't been at the feast. The blonde looked from Minnie to Harvey, eyebrows raised. "Did something happen to him?"