Ronnie cautiously walked along the butterfly garden, making sure to keep a safe distance away from the creatures. Butterflies...for some reason, they spooked her out. Sure, they were pretty, but only when they were a good hundred feet away from her. Heh. The only reason she had come to the garden was to just walk around and admire the plants.

And what's this? A boy. Chasing butterflies. The red head couldn't help but chuckle to herself at how adorable he looked trying to get it. She made her way over to him and looked down at him. Ronnie had seen this boy around Hogwarts a lot, but had never spoken to him. "Hello there," she said with a smile.

As Kace was chasing his butterflies, he noticed a gryffindor girl was standing there. He felt embarrassed, he hoped he didn't look like a fool. "Oh hi there!" he said. He was caught off guard. "Umm..." he didn't know quite what to say. "I was just busy chasing butterflies if you wanna join in?" he offered. He wasn't gonna deny it. So what if he was fascinated by the butterflies. They were so pretty.

He hoped this girl whoever her name was didn't think he was lame. But by the look of her face, she found it cute. That worked for him. He could live with that. He might as well introduce himself though right? "Oh by the way my name is Kace." he smiled to her and continued to chase the creatures.

Join him in chasing butterflies? She bit her lip, glancing at the butterfly that was slowly flying away from them. Eh, why not. She needed some fun lately and the butterflies weren't that scary, they couldn't really harm her... "Sure! Why not?" she smiled, surprising herself at what she had just said. Well then. This wasn't Ronnie. But oh well! Not like the butterflies were gonna kill her.

Did this mean she was getting over her fear of them?

Hmm...maybe. Just maybe.

"Oh, I'm Ronnie! It's nice to meet you, Kace." she said, smiling again at him. Then she looked towards the butterfly who was getting farther away. "Shall we get to chasing that little guy then before he gets away, then?" she asked turning her attention back to Kace, grinning.

Kace noticed she seemed a bit afraid of them. Usually the bitting the lip gesture was how he figured it out. But she agreed to go! He smiled at her. "Great!" he said motioning her to come towards him.

Then he knew her name was Ronnie. Hm...Ronnie was a nice name. "The pleasure is all mine Miss. Ronnie." he smiled and was being polite to her. Maybe too polite but it was fun playing along. Then she mentioned chasing the little guy and he nodded. "Yeah we should! I will race you to him." he grinned. Then he sped off determined to catch the little guy.

Ronnie returned the smile, then laughed when the boy talked about racing to him. A race! How fun was this guy?! He was already making her day better and they had only met what, only a minute ago? She had a good feeling they'd be great friends. It was too bad she wouldn't be here next year, though... *sigh*

She quickly ran after the butterfly with him, building up speed as much as she could. "Merlin! You-you're f-fast!" she panted as she tried to catch up with him.

Kace was running and then turned around and noticed Ronnie was panting behind him. "Oh i am sooo sorry!" he said running back with her. "I forgot i am shape from quidditch and i never realize that i am fast." he grinned sheepishly.

Once they reached the little guy, he was jumping up and down trying to get it. "Come... here.. little.. dude! I wanna see you!" he said with each jump. "Whew it is hard to catch these guys when you are short like this." he gestured to his height admitting defeat. He probably was never gonna catch the little dude.

Laughing, Ronnie waved a hand, taking a second to catch her breath. D'awww, Kace was cute. "Don't be sorry! It's totally fine." she told him, smiling. Hmm. She had thought she was a fast runner but compared to Kace? Not at all. She needed to become faster!

The red head laughed again as Kace tried to catch the butterfly, watching him in amusement. Swallowing hard, she gently cupped her hands and raised it towards the butterfly and closed it gently between them. Shaking slightly, she held her hands out to him. "Ready?" she asked, getting prepared to let the butterfly go into Kace's hands.

Mo felt... well, he felt connected to the tree. If that was a thing, and he supposed it was. It wasn't like the tree was talking to him or they were best friends or anything, but he had this vague sense that this was going well enough for him. Until this point, where he had to figure out what he could give to his tree to make cutting into the meat of it acceptable.

What would he be willing to accept to let someone hurt him? He'd have to know it was for a very good cause, for one. And he'd want something of them in return.

"Brought you presents," Mo reached into his bag and brought out a phial of dirt. "This is from my home. So you'll have a taste in your roots of where you'll be going." He poured out the soil around the roots. "And I don't think it's sanitary to offer blood, but it's a warm day, so here's the sweat of my brow." He dabbed a shirt sleeve at his forehead and the back of his neck before touching the tree with the damp shirt.

The tree still wasn't saying much. The only thing she could really hear in the silence of the garden was Mo offering...the sweat of his brow to the tree....was THAT what they were meant to be offering?? It was kinda chilly, she didn't have any sweat fresh off her brow. The thought crossed her to ask Mo for some of his sweat but then...she promised it candy and it was probably looking forward to it.

SIGH.

Lex dug a small hole at the base of the tree and dropped TWO of the sugar quills in it. See how generous she was being? There was NO WAY the tree could say no now. Nuh-uh! Whether it consented or not she was gonna be hacking until she had enough for the gandr.

And since she was assuming the answer was yes, she could begin chanting that thing from the text. Ahem. Good thing she'd brought the book with her.

"Hail to thee, wight of Birch,
I pray to thee give this branch of your body!
Into it send thy speed,
To it bind the might of the bright runes
Sowilo, Fehu and Jera."

There! Chant said! The tree was happy now, right? It'd gotten her candy and now it got a neat chant to go along with it. She was ready to start hacking and she bet Mo was just about there too.

She's been standing and staring at the tree for quite long time now after having asked for permission. And Cassia had come to the conclusion that the tree wasn't really going to respond. Or the silence could be taken as a yes? She was going to say yes. Now, assuming the tree was ok, the snake needed to make an offering. She kinda forgot about this. What would someone give a tree?

The fourth-year peering into her bag and started rummaging. Hmmm..What to give a tree? Surely the parchments and quill won't be useful. It also might be rude since parchments and papers were made of tree pulp? Right? In case the answer was yes she was passing on this offering.

Candy wasn't really an option either. Why waste candy on someone or something that can't eat it. At last, she decided on a hair tie. It might sound a bit weird and kinda silly. But the blond had a theory. She dropped down her bag and started tying the hair tie around one of the tree's thin branches. HERE!

Taking a couple of steps back, the snake stood admiring her purple glittery head bobble on the tree's branch.

Kace was relieved that she wasn't mad. She was waving her hand, that was a good sign. He was usually the fastest runner of his family. He couldn't help it *shrugs* He was glad he was making Ronnie laugh. He loved making people happy.

As he turned around once he caught the butterfly, he saw Ronnie CAUGHT one. BEAM! He was smiling and then he moved over towards her. He noticed she was shaking slightly but she seemed to get over her fear. He was proud of her. He nodded and said "Ready Freddy." he joked. He released his butterfly he caught and then opened his palm ready to catch Ronnie's butterfly.

Lex gave up candy, which seemed even more impressive than the sweat of his brow and his dirt. Mo frowned as he tore off the cuff of his shirt and buried it at the foot of the tree. Now he was giving up even more... he was giving up his spotless appearance. Take that Lex tree.

He put out a hand on the trunk and slowly circled the tree, trying to recapture that feeling that the tree approved of him and his request. Turned out that Mo should just ignore Lex, because he'd lost that tenuous connection. SIGH.

"Hail to thee, wight of Hazel,
I pray to thee give this branch of your body!
Into it send thy speed,
To it bind the might of the bright runes
Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz..."

Mo named each of the runes in that same slow, low tone, picturing them carefully in his head and trying to imbue the picture with the meaning behind it. As much as he could, at least.

Once he finished, Mo paused and stepped back from the tree, using some mysterious sixth sense to try to anticipate which branch the tree would let him take.

Mo was ripping his own clothes. Now that was sacrifice. He must not have had any candy on him at the moment. Kinda sad when you thought about it. He didn't even have anything to munch on while they worked. She would offer him some once they were through...maybe.

For now all her attention was again on the tree. It was CUTTING time and she knew which branch she wanted. This was no longer about the tree. It got its chant and now it could be quiet.

Speaking of chants...Mo...he was using a lot of runes.

She would never understand how he remembered them all. Lex took a few steps back and grinned at the branch that would soon be hers. It was one of a decent size that she could work with and her gandr would come up epic. Most definitely.

Ahem. "Diffindo!"

CRASH!

It fell to the floor and she grinned even wider. "Excellent!! How're you doing over there Mo?" Checking up on her Ancient Runes Buddy. Yup.

So their next instruction said to CUT the branch from the tree, and Mo watched as Lex did just that. But the thing was that while the instructions said to cut, the text said that breaking it off was much better. Mo gave the hazel tree a pat and a murmur of approval before pulling himself up into the tree using the lowest branches.

He kept telling the tree how awesome she was as he climbed to the limb in question, and then he edged out on the limb to where his branch was located. Whew... this was high, wasn't it?

"Lex, I think I'm going to be giving my tree some blood in about a second," he said quietly as he let go of the limb and grabbed the branch. It took a bit of wrenching, but it finally came free in his hands, setting him off balance. Mo fell backwards out of the tree, still clutching his branch.

She was still beaming at the branch for coming off so easily, and well for getting the spell so well but then she heard Mo say THAT.

Blood?

"I don't think that's a required sacrifice, plus you already gave you shirt--" It was only after turning to look at him that she knew what he meant. Blink. Falling? Really? That was NOT a part of the instructions. More importantly, Vivi wouldn't have wanted her sitting around and watching her brother go splat...though really the ground wasn't that far...

"Levicorpus!"

Hopefully he wouldn't mind being dangled from his ankle. It was better than hitting the ground face first and it was all she could think of in such a short amount of time. Lex lowered him and gave him a look over. "You're okay right?" It's funny. She'd only learned that spell last week, just imagine what would have happened if she didn't! She kept staring at him for a bit longer, making sure he wasn't about to pass out or something before turning to the tree again. This had to be done too.

"Wight of Birch, accept my thanks.
Henceforth may your might be in this branch!
Magically bound to the bright runes Sowilo, Fehu and Jera,
Working my will with speed and wisdom."

Eyes back on Mo, he needed to talk so she was sure he was still all here.

"Y'know, you're lucky I'm even doing this. I'm deathly afraid of butterflies." she told him as she released it into his hands, smiling a little. The excitement on Kace's face was probably what motivated her to do it. Sweet Merlin, this kid could probably get her to do anything...he was that adorable. Hopefully he wouldn't figure that out, though. Heh.

"So, what house are you in?" she asked, taking a seat upon a nearby bench as she watched him hold the butterfly. Yeah she was gonna keep a bit of a distance from it now. The feeling of it when it had been in her hands and freaked her out...but she was a lion. And she was brave!

Thank Merlin for little Gryffindors named Alexa. It was hard to say whether or not Mo would have broken his head or some limb if he'd managed to hit the ground, but he for sure knew that Lex had saved him from some sort of damage. And now he owed her.

Mo pushed up gently from the ground and rolled out his arms and legs just to check for any damage. "Thanks, Lex," he said quietly, even as he was examining his branch. Priorities, you know? No damage to him, no damage to his branch... time to move on.

Time to thank his hazel tree, even if it had just tried really valiantly to kill him. Mo leaned forward against the tree and rested his open hand on the trunk. He'd have to figure out how to forgive deadly tree for being deadly, or else his branch would be able to tell about the resentment and whatnot.

"Wight of Hazel, accept my thanks.
Henceforth may your might be in this branch!
Magically bound to the bright runes Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz...
Working my will with speed and wisdom."

Whew. Listing all those runes was a mouthful!

He was talking, that was a good sign. No harm done, he might have been a little shaken by the fall but now she was more confident that he would be alright. He was a tough guy, one who'd probably bounce back quickly, yes?

"No problem! I'm just glad you're not hurt!" BEAM. She'd suggested the Butterfly garden. If he'd hurt himself it would have been her fault. Who's to say, maybe he would have been perfectly fine if they visited the whomping willow--okay maybe not the whomping willow but you got the idea.

She was DEFINITELY convinced he was fine when he began chanting so she plopped to the ground and began working on her own branch again, this time stripping away the bark carefully so as not to ruin the branch itself. She didn't want to start that whole offering sacrifices, first chant, cut, second chant thing again. Nooooo. She was being VERY careful.

Once she was done she began collecting the shavings of the bark and heaping them together into one pile. It was easier that way.

Next she pulled a small pouch from her candy bag and began loading the shavings into it. There! Now to write the thing a song and they could get out of here.

Staring at the tree which now had Cassia's hair bobble tied to a branch, the fourth-year dreaded the next step. Maybe if she stayed staring for a bit the step will change and she wouldn't have to sing and humiliate herself. See she didn't sing! No matter what. Even if her life depended on it. high-pitched voices weren't ones suitable for singing. Nope. So she was going to wait here making poppy eyes at the tree. Could it speak and say no you don't have to sing? Pretty please?

…….Nothing happened so far.

Puffing air out if her cheeks, she snatched the textbook and flipped through the pages looking for the verses. Maybe her textbook didn't have then therefore she didn't have to sing!!! Meeeh here they were. Awesome. Just awesome.

The snake looked around making sure not many people were within earshot. She cleared her throat and started humming. You know, to warm up her voice and all. Since she didn't have a choice, might as well do it properly.

Holding up the textbook, the snake started.
"Hail to thee, wight of Alder,
I pray to thee give this branch of your body!
Into it send thy speed,
To it bind the might of the bright runes.
..Uruz..Ansuz..Jera..

She might have stuttered a bit with the runes' names. But seriously why did their names have to be that weird.

Kace eye's widened. "Oooooh why didn't you say so! I wouldn't have made you do it if you were afraid!" He now felt bad. He hope she didn't hate her. But then again she was giggling and enjoying it so maybe she wasn't mad. "Well since you said your fear, i am deathly afraid of bees. I HATE them so much." he shuddered. "I mean i have gotten stung before and i don't plan to."

Then she asked what house he was in. He smiled and said with pride, "I am in Hufflepuff. How about you Ronnie?" He noticed she was keeping a distance from the butterfly and now he understood. But he would keep the little guy and let it fly around.

She waved her hand again, shaking her head. "It's all good! I'm actually glad I did this. You pretty much helped me get over my fear a little, so thank you." she explained, smiling at him. Then she laughed softly when he said he was afraid of bees. "Aren't we all....Bees are definitely on my list of fears too. Not too fond of them, that's for sure." Ronnie said, shaking her head. Nooo way. She hated being stung by those things...it hurt so bad!

A Hufflepuff! Very coool. She had a feeling he was in that house, for some reason. "Nice! And I'm in Gryffindor." she said with a small nod. "What year are you in?" she then asked, studying him for a second. He looked like a first year...but he could be a second year for all she knew.

It took her about three minutes to convince herself that it wasn't that bad. It could've been worse. And no one was near listening. Except maybe for that kid who approached her, but the snake was fast to shoot him a look. Poor kid, ran like the wind. Hopefully he made it to the facilities in time. None of her concern though. She had a tree to deal with.

Next step was vengeance! Well, it didn't really say that but somehow it implied so. To cut a branch. Only now did the steps seem realistic to the fourth-year. Sure, you sing and pat the tree and be very nice then you wrench a branch off. Yup, it was between the lines. Cassia was so good in reading those. Even better than reading the lines themselves.

She stepped closer to the tree and started reaching out testing branches. What kind of branch did she need again? Oh she forgot to decide. Well, she'll go with the easier to cut. Also, she didn't consider the upper branches. Last time she climbed a tree with Dora it wasn't so pleasant to be repeated. Let's just stay on the ground. Safer and steadier.

After rubbing her hands together, the blond closed her fists around a branch and YANKED! Doing so, she learned a couple of important facts. Branches are rough and would cut your hands. You'd think she learned that the other day with Dora. Second, it took more strength ,to yank a branch, than hers. So nope. She didn't have a branch, only a cut hand.

Glaring at the tree, she retrieved her wand and hissed, "Diffindo," HA!
Cassia snatched the branch and stepped back cradling her cut hand.

Well, it wasn't exactly 100% that he wasn't hurt, but he wasn't hurt badly. Just his pride... and at least his branch didn't get hurt. Mo examined it again, just to be sure, before plopping down with his back against the hazel tree. Now he just had to strip off the bark and he'd be all set.

Easy, right?

He dug his thumb into one end and tried to strip the bark with his fingers, but when that resulted in just pulverizing the end of his stick, Mo sighed deeply and removed his knife. So it was going to be the hard way, huh? Or not... once he started stripping off the bark, it only took a few short minutes and a few long slices before his branch was bark free. The long strips of bark were coiled and tucked away in a pouch.

Kace BEAMED when Ronnie said he helped her with her fear. "Well i am glad i can be of service." he bowed to her playfully. He smiled back and he felt relieved he wasn't the only one who was afraid of bees. They did hurt soo bad when they stung. So it was a common fear. "I mean it is a common fear so at least i am not alone in that one."

Then he now knew the Ronnie was a gryffindor. Interesting....."Cool! I have no idea what house you would be in but it's good to know now." he smiled at her. Now the Gryffindor wanted to know what year he was in. "Oh i am a first year...i guess you can kind of tell right?" he asked her with a grin.

They were making good time with the assignment, now all they had to do was come up with a...song? You had to be joking? First she had to make sacrifices to it then she had to go chanting and now she was gonna have to make it a soooong??? What even Professor Botros??? She should have gone to the Whomping Willow after all! It was the only tree she could see herself doing all of this happily for. They were like best friends.

"How good are you at making songs?" She asked, turning to look at him again from her spot on the ground. Maybe he could make a song for his own tree then make one for her? Was that allowed? Yes? No?

Fiiiiine.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of parchment, might as well get this over with but a song??? She didn't know where to begin!!!

Alright. Write, write and the words would fill the parchment. Ahem.



She couldn't tell whether this was going well or not but she was almost done. Just one more verse to go. Lex peeked over, trying to get a look at what Mo might have been doing. His song would have obviously been better.