There went Mo nearly losing his head to a tree. Wasn't he watching where he was going? She didn't think she'd have been able to explain to Vivi that her brother was attacked by a tree on her watch. Somehow, the story behind that didn't seem like something you shared over butterbeer.

Hazel? How in merlin's beard would she know?? It took her half a day to learn what Birch was!!! "Oh...um...yeah! Yup! Hazel, definitely. Pick that one!" Nodnodnod. It was Hazel...right?

"Hey, tree, does that look like Hazel to you?" They were meant to be communicating with this thing anyway so she might as well had asked. "Take your time there's no pressure." She assured it with a gentle pat and a solemn nod. "I think it says it is, so you're all good."

What else was she supposed to say and how soon could they get to the hacking??? Trees didn't talk much. Not really and she still needed to ask it permission. Pffft.

Cat narrowed her eyes to give Alice a good looking at. Nope. She definitely didn't look not okay and apparently she wasn't a master of vague hand gestures either.

OR sugar quills, as it were.

"You were annoyed with him." She shrugged, "I figured it would be good to check." She was trying to be a good friend here, Alice. Sheeeeeesh. Though she was sure that everything was super okay now anyway. It was hard to be mad at Odessa. "I kissed Mo." She offered conversationally. "Like. A lot." Yep. Cat brandished her sugar quill like a wand and pointed it at Alice, "Are you okay with that?"

"Annoyed with.. wh- oh." Alice was always annoyed with everyone, it was kind of really hard to tell who Cat was talking about right off the bat. "Yeah, I'm okay. I have candy now. Oh, hm? Did you like it? Did you think he was a good kisser? I remember him. He was good." Good, yeah. She popped another jelly slug into her mouth and chewed on it thoughtfully. "Don't let your lips get swollen, people might notice. Yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be? Think he'll ask you out?"

Wait. Wait, there was ONE issue.

"If you guys start dating, though, when we play each other in a match.. you're still going to cheer for ME, right? Not him?" Because that was clearly the biggest problem at hand.

Oh good. Everything was good. Cat was glad that it was all smooth sailing, for the moment, anyway. She tossed Alice a look and chewed on her sugar quill, "If I hadn't I wouldn't have said anything about it to begin with, probably. At the rest of the questions, Cat shrugged, "Does it matter if people notice?" As long as they were good kids, they'd be fine, right? "Dunno." She bit off a piece of quill and tilted her head, "Maybe."

Or maybe she would. It didn't matter, right?

"I think you're getting ahead of us here. No one's dating." At the moment, anyway. "So I guess we'll have to cross that bridge if we come to it, right?" She grinned at Alice and nudged her, "You'll still have a Cat fan either way. I'll try to think up an awesome rhyme for you, too." It would take some thought though and she wasn't quite interested in thinking right now. She had candy to eat and a friend to talk to.

Trust Lex to think that 'communicate with your tree' meant to try to pick a fight with it. Mo put a hesitant arm around his tree and pressed his face against the bark. He would probably get all bitten up or something, but if he was a tree, he'd much rather have a hug than a discussion.

"Lex... be quiet and give your tree a hug. Tell it how pretty it is or something." Trees were apparently just like females. They just needed some physical affection and sincere compliments. And no discussion required. It was so much better that way.

He patted his hazel tree fondly. "You have nice leaves. I like your bark. Do you come here often?" See? So easy.

Say what now?

"Give it a hug? I didn't know they liked those..." And how did he know that? Mo had become a tree expert at some point that she wasn't sure about. Either that or he spent a little too much time around them since lately but she wouldn't know so she shut up and got to tree hugging.

Yeah...

.............This was boring and she couldn't think of a compliment--well actually. Alexa ran her hand along the bark of the tree. "This is some very good quality wood you have here." Had to sweeten it up first because apparently they'd need permission for this sorta thing. "In fact it's so nice that I'd like to use some of it for my gandr, what'd you say?? Can I have a chunk???--er...I mean...take a small portion?"

Could someone please remind her why she was sugar-coating things for a piece of log growing out of the ground? She remembered back in the old days but not really because she was never actually there, chopping away at wood use to be so much simpler. "Well, is that a yes? Can I have some or not? Please?" In case manners mattered.

"Discussing bad kissers is just as fun as discussing good kissers. It's probably be more fun, bashing and all. I wish Cactus was a bad kisser so we could do more bonding things." Boy talk was a bonding thing, right? Alice wasn't quite sure how to do all these girly things still, but Dora was slowly rubbing off on her, so she kind of got it.

But.. "You can always plan out how to cross a bridge before you get to it, it makes it all the faster when you arrive." Had anyone ever tried that with actual bridges? Alice was pretty sure her way would work faster. "But a Cat fan in red. I bet you'd look excellent in red. It'd go lovely with your hair, dontcha think?" Definitely would suit her. They could get her a bow and everything, she'd be golden.

"I like your rhymes, Caterina Ocarina."

Quote:

Originally Posted by EW_FAN

He then saw her frown ok so maybe he shouldnt have said it like that but still it did seem that way to him, he nodded and smiled "Yeah I know Im just kidding with you, I mean if you did there would be alot more people with bruises on their heads and would have to wear protection from your book throwing. " he chuckled a little, ok so maybe even that was not right and he instantly stopped. He then looked around to see if anyone around had seen that cause it was the last thing that he wanted people to see was Mika hitting him with a book, no one needed to know that she did that it would be hers and his secret.

He listened to her as she talked about the liking thing and he nodded as he could totally understand. "Yeah I know what you mean! I dated my best friend a while ago, we then broke up last year and since then...things havent been the same between us" he said not knowing why it still hurt to think about it, he was over that now...right? "Things have been really awkward between us now.. we cant have a laugh like we used to anymore, I havent even seen her in ages! Im guessing we just need our space either that or she doesnt want to hang out. But I plan to find out since I want to make things right before I leave here" he said nodding "So I totally understand when you say things would become awkward between you two. " he said since he really did understand, he had been through that all before.

He nodded as she talked about runes "Oh ok.. so you just becoming friendly with the tree so it will lend you some of its bark for your purpose. I see how it goes! Good plan!" he said nodding as he looked at the big tree. He then watched her as she stood up and walked around the tree a bit as if she was doing something in terms of preparing the tree for her to take its bark or something. He couldnt hear what she was saying even though he was watching as her lips moved, just as he thought she was gonna hug the tree he sw that she didnt. Not that he had a problem with tree huggers they were good people too! He ate the ice cream that he lovingly summoned from the kitchens before looking again at the tree "Hey Elmster! You want some amazing cold ice cream?" he asked the tree in case it wanted some ice cream too.

Once she had finished asking the tree if she could use a bit of its bark to make her Grandr Mika turned her attention back to Harvy for a moment. Well, to what he had said more so. She did beam over to him when he asked about her being nice to the tree so she could use it for her purposes.

”Oh, yeah well…I get that, I just feel bad about book-throwing, the poor book and all…and face” she admitted. As face should have been the first thing that she had said. ”You dated your best friend?” she asked glancing over to him her own eyes widening slightly as well, her Best friend that’s who had admitted over Christmas break that well…that he liked her.

She was still shocked. More the why me, I’m crazy at times thing…and the fact that her nickname was Creepy. ”Well…if I ever need to ask a question about the best-friend-thing I know where to go,” she sent him a big kind of cheesy smile. ”and yeah you have to ask the tree for its wood and be accepted for the wand or Grandr to work…depending on what you are making” she nodded and sent a big smile. Then he said something about ice cream, which made her think.

Ice cream. She was going to give her tree ice cream? Nah, that would melt and trees didn’t need that. Reaching into her bag she pulled out the supplies she had collected to give as offerings to the tree.

Getting down on her knees in front of the tree she began to dig a hole in the ground at the tree’s base. Once the hole had been dug and her jar of plant food had been opened and emptied into it she sat back for a moment and glanced at the tree once more.

“Hail to thee, wight of Elm,” she chanted, “I pray to thee give this branch of your body!” closing her eyes as she sat there and tried to feel if the tree liked her offering. “Into it send thy speed, To it bind the might of the bright runes.” She added and then a breath and she finished the chant. “Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz, Gebo, Wunjo” another quick breath, and she was almost ready to begin cutting the grandr…or snapping whichever worked.

Harvey smiled "Well er.. Im ok.. so no need to feel bad.. ok?" he said to her trying to make her feel better, cause really he was ok.. he was just stunned a little since it was the first time that he been hit with a book. "And Im sure the book is ok.. its strong enough to survive even after hitting me so I guess that saying alot" he chuckled as he looked at the book and ate his ice cream as he let that joke out to make her feel better even more. Cause these things happened and there was nothing left to do but to feel ok about it. He then nodded "Well two of my best friends actually" he said to her "One in my first year and one in my third year" he revealed to her "So I will know exactly what you mean about the awkwardness" he nodded cause he certainly knew alot about that before and after dating.

He listened as she said that she knew where to come if she wanted to know more about the best friend dating thing "Oh yeah sure you can come to me if you wanna ask anything about that" cause he certainly had experience in that department of dating your best friend and what happened after that once you two broke up, cause both times they had broken up. He smiled as she gave him a big smile "I will be more than glad to help you out" he said nodding before he listened to her as she talked about asking the tree for its wood. "Oh ok I see, I guess thats true.. since taking without the trees permission means thats wrong and it wont give you its power." he was kind of getting this now "So what are you making?" he asked her wondering what she was planning to make.

He watched as she got onto her knees and dug a hole before emptying a jar full of something into the hole and looked at the tree again. He then listened to her chant, it reminded him of his muggle history lessons or something when he would learn the kind of language they had back in the days of 'thee' and 'thy'. So he watched and listened as he ate his ice cream, it sounded like a very powerful chant. He wondered what she would do next now, would she take the wood or would she bury the stuff she put into the hole. He ate some more of his ice cream "Hmm ice cream!!" he said closing his eyes and enjoying the good sugary stuff.

"That's true." It certainly sounded like bashing bad kissers would be fun and a very bondy type thing to do, "But unfortunately you and I don't have any bad kissers to bash." She was almost sort of mournful about that too, "I suppose we'll just have to languish here with the boys who aren't bad kissers, huh?"

"So what should I be planning then?" Cat asked curiously. Did she need to be planning out her outfits for the next two years worth of Quidditch matches between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw? "Maybe I'll just stick with my own house, that's always a good idea."

She wouldn't though, and she knew it too. Cat beamed at Alice. "You might be just trying to get me to wear red, but I like this, keep the compliments coming." And in the meanwhile, Cat started digging in the bag for another jelly slug.

Next on his journey throughout the castle, Dylan headed out towards the Grounds. In his honest opinion, there were much better things to observe outside than in the school. He was in there enough as it was...with NEWT studying and all the essays they'd been assigned lately. If he didn't know better, he'd swear that the Professors just didn't care for them very much...

That wasn't true, of course. Dylan was perfectly likable to adults. He was sure they liked him...

...and if they didn't...Well, he didn't care, really.

Entering the Butterfly Garden, he was on a mission. Monarch butterflies. He needed to see them...He soon found what he was looking for, too. They were out in mass numbers as Dylan took a seat gingerly on the nearby bench.

The Slytherin couldn't measure exactly...but he was positive they were all shaped the exact same. He'd photographed enough of them to know this...Some were just bigger than others...and that was the Golden Ratio, right? The proportion would be the same if reduced or made bigger.

Making some notes about this in his journal, Dylan toddled off to his next stop.

Bugs!

Bugs were totally on Alice's list of golden ratio things, because insects and stuff fascinated her. But also because she was pretty sure a ratio would be present in them, too. Right after checking books at the library, she went to the Butterfly Garden (why hadn't she just gone there from the duck pond? It would have saved loads of time) to find some bugs, and the first things she spotted were ants. Those would do, yeah?

Of course, there were more interesting insects, but Alice liked ants, too. They were simple.

"Ehehehehehe," Tobias couldn't help the weird little giggle of glee that escaped him as Ella yelled about it going down her coat. Good shot inDEED. He'd reached his wall by then of course and was planning his next attack, but before he could do anything.

INCOMING.

"ASDFGHJKLSSKJDHJGAHHHHHH!" Tobias squealed as the snow rained down on him, but he was having such fun that he just continued laughing, even as he suddenly had a masterstroke.

Without waiting too long (because snowballs falling from the sky, yo), Tobias had sprung back up to his feet and run around the wall... but this time his arms were FULL of gathered snow, and he was running straight for Ella.

She headed out to the grounds to find a tree. She wasn't sure exactly to look because like there were trees everywhere in the grounds. Or was there? She was sure there was. But what she wasn't sure about was what type of tree it was. That's why she had a book and a textbook with her. All in the bag as she headed out to the garden.

Once there, she retrieved the book she brought and started flipping through the pages until she got to the trees part. Cassia walked slowly staring at trees and then back at the page and so it went.See she wasn't sure which wood to use for the gandr. So she decided that whatever tree she successfully locates and identifies for sure, she was going to go with.

Come on, it was just wood. While all the fuss about it. They fuss about everything in Ancient Runes. Though the subject had some interesting stuffs it had lots of hard and complicated one that the snake couldn't wrap her mind around. Aaanyway. Back to the trees.

That one looked nice! However a nice tree looked like.

Did he sound as goofy as Lex when he was complimenting HIS tree? Mo gave the hazel tree a curious look and immediately stepped back, wiping bark from his cheek. So maybe hugging and sweet talking the tree wasn't the way to go about this, but it wasn't like he normally conversed with plants.

Well, no, he did. But not tree plants.

"Erm..." He went for sincerity, although it was hard to be sincere when you felt stupid. "Thank you for... your shade. And the shelter you provide to animals. Thank for the air we breathe. If you don't mind giving a bit more, I'd really appreciate the gift of your wood for a gandr. If that's okay."

The tree wasn't giving her much to go off of. How was she supposed to know whether it was saying yes or no--it couldn't say no. She'd bothered hugging it and talking to it. This was a recipe for an instant 'yes'. It had to be. The only tree she made a habit of talking to was the whomping willow. Come to think of it...why didn't they go there? It might not have minded the company.

Lex looked to Mo hoping to get some kind of answer from him and his tree. He was taking the super nice approach it seemed but from what she could tell he was getting the same response as her. Nothing.

Expected. Trees didn't talk. She would take this silence as consent. "This is where we go ahead and pretend they said yes, right?" She'd think so which meant it was time to look for something to offer.

But really. What did one offer to a tree???

Her eyes searched the ground and all over until she noticed a rock, kinda jagged and not particularly pretty but what else was there--OH!!! Lex dipped into her pocket and pulled out three sugar quills. She scowled a bit. This seemed like a waste just to get some homework done but it might not have liked the rock. "In exchange for your wood...you can have these--okay, you can have one of these, but you can pick which one." All three...no thanks.

The fourth-year stopped by the tree she had spotted but couldn't tell what type of tree it was. So she walked away, sorry tree. It's your fault for being hard. And so she proceeded walking her focus on the book trying to find some kind of a hint of how to know the tree type. And while doing that she barely ran into a tree, luckily a wild branch made her look up. She frowned at the tree and walked away. Nope, she wasn't going to use a tree which almost smashed her nose. Her nose was precious.

She got bored, you know. Because she was alone and she was silent. And she needed to talk, could she talk to herself. Would the people around think she was mad? Eeeh. Who cares about them. Then while deciding if it implied madness to speak to herself , she spotted a tree that looked so much like the one in the book. And accordingly it was Alder wood. Yup, whatever. She folded the corner of the page just so she'd remember which she chose. Then got closer to the tree.

She walked in a circle around the tree and made sure that it matched the book's description. Luckily it did. So this was the tree! Awesome, now she needed to…communicate? How on Earth does one communicate with a tree.

Ella couldn't help the broad smile that formed when Tobias began squealing from behind his fort wall. GRIN! That meant her snowballs were right on target.

The blonde continued to launch them over as she took small steps backward, knowing she'd need to restock soon. Unfortunately she didn't see the small badger dart out unti it was too late.

O__________o

Oh Merlin's beard, he was fast.

MEEP!

She turned as quick as she could and began to run, a small squeak escaping her as she did.

Cassia didn't know for how much did she stare at the tree. But she was sure that it wasn't the kind of communication required. So she decided to talk! "Umm..sorry I was staring," She said feeling more awkward than talking to herself. But oh, well, she didn't really have a choice. She kept walking in a circle around the tree because she simply where to stand and look. The tree didn't have a face. "..So…" She started then trailed off. She really failed to start a conversation. But she had to, so she said the first thing that popped in her head. "Nice…..branches,"

Was this working? Did the tree hear or feel Cassia complimenting the…branches. Hopefully. Because it'd be a loss to humiliate herself for totally nothing. At least, it's for the tree. Feeling dizzy, the Snake decides to stop circling around the tree. What if the whole circling around the tree was freaking it out. Last thing Cassia needed was a freaked out tree. She needed a rested and relaxed one.

" Nice weather, right," It wasn't a nice weather. It was cold. But trees didn't get cold right? They were….trees. And wood. So it shouldn't matter to them. And to add more awkwardness the blond reached for the tree and held one of the branches and stared. This. Was. Communicating. Hopefully.

Oh yes, you better run, Captain.

You heard me.

Run.

It was kind of hard to hold loads of snow and run at the fifth year as fast as he could, and Tobias could tell he was going to start dropping snow soon, or that the wind would blow it away, which meant he had a very small window of opportunity. He bounded forward a few more steps in an attempt to head off the captain kind of, and then he simply FLUNG the snow up and out.

SNOWIIIIIIING.

Sure Tobias caught some of it as well buuuuuut sacrifices had to be made. He darted back towards his fort!wall giggling and not waiting to see if she had caught the full brunt of the snow.

Too much?

Oookay. So the communicating part didn't work so smoothly. Or she wouldn't know, since a tree doesn't talk back or react or anything. Nope. No matter whatever you try the tree is going to stay the same. Unwavering. Well, she was only going to hope that her tree-communicating skills were good. Well, the tree didn't smack Cassia in the face…? Probably that was the whomping willow's specialty.

Standing before the tree, Cassia cleared her throat then spoke. "So like we just met…." What was she doing? "…But can I cut a piece of wood for my gandr," Did trees know those. "It's for Ancient Runes project." the tree deserved to know what the wood was being used for. Totally! Manners. Cassia knew those.

She then paused and kept her eyes on the tree. What? Did she expect an answer? She wasn't sure if an answer would more or less creepy. She just stood there, her words hanging in the air not knowing what to do.

Did trees understand fast or did they need time to take in the info. She waited anyway.

She was running, see?

She was running as fast as she could in the snow and yet the little badger was right on her heels. Sheesh. She wasn't getting that old, was she? The blonde should be able to outrun a firsty.

The next thing she knew, the sky was falling. Or more there was a ton of snow falling out of the sky and on to her head. SQUEAK! Her hair! She should have worn a hat!

The sixteen year old couldn't help but laugh as she shook herself off, eyeing the fort where a giggling Tobias was headed. He was just too cute, y'know. It was hard to want to attack something so small and adorable. She wasn't giving up, though. It wasn't in her nature.

As fast as she could, the blonde scooped up snow and ran at the fort, rolling a snowball as she did.

Multitasking for the win.

"Tobiasssssss!" Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Tobias had, in fact, ran behind the fort and then darted from there to back behind loads of bushes where he quickly balled up a couple of snowballs. It did occur to him to make a much bigger snowball, but if memory served him right, and sometimes it did, they were just hard to throw and often fell apart in mid air because of being thrown too hard. No, two snowballs would do.

Hoping to use his tiny stature as an advantage, Tobias crawled through the bushes in order to get out and get in position behind Ella. As he stood up, his jacket caught on a branch and the snow was flung off the tree and on to him... and down his coat again. He yelped in surprise and, knowing he'd given away his position, decided to just go for it and LAUNCHED his snowballs in Ella's general direction, one by one.

COLD SNOW WAS COLD.

Greer pouted behind the large magnifying glass she was holding.

Where were the butterflies?! She'd seen so many photos of other girls sitting here with butterflies on their hair and Greer wanted one too. Hmph. But it seemed the butterflies didn't like her short blonde hair, as they were nowhere to be found.

Perhaps if the Gryffindor girl had paid a little more attention to her surroundings during her fervent search for winged insects, she would've noticed the sign a few steps beside her, that explained why the garden wasn't being stocked.

Kace decided to go and explore the butterfly garden. He found it peaceful to find these delicate beautiful creatures all contained in one garden. He heard one fly by him and one touched his nose! He smiled and tried to grab it but he didn't manage to get it.

"Hey get back here you!" he said playfully. Next thing you know it, he was running around chasing butterflies. I mean how cute could this little guy get? He was laughing, giggling and having a blast.