WHERE...WAS...SHE?!

The moment he had heard that Minerva was out of detention he decided to search for her. In his hand was a big bucket of pink colored ice cream that Sonea had given him and as he speedwalked he ate from it. He looked down at his stomach and noticed he had gotten a little bit fatter from all the ice cream but he didn't care. IT WAS JUST TOO GOOD!

He had searched EVERYWHERE, from the Towers to the grounds and the Prefect was about to give up on his search when he saw the girl near the whomping willow. "MINNIIIEEE~!" He shouted out loud and waved his free arm before RUNNING towards her.

"Yo.." He GAAAAAAAAAAAAASPED "I have...." GASP "ice cream...for..wait a second" he held up his index finger and bend over to catch his breath. He condition was seriously getting worse. "I heard you were out of detention, here" he handed over the BIG bucket of ice cream "for you~"

O_____________o

"NO NO NONOOOOO NOT FOR YOU! , just a little bit"

Minerva was sitting trying to decide what she wanted to do. Sitting here was not an option, but she didn't know what else to do. Maybe she would play her little tree game. Just as she was making up her mind, Minerva jumped a foot when someone yelled her name. Looking around she couldn't help but smile when she realized it was the other half of her favorite constellation. She fidgeted a bit though feeling awkward around people since that horrible torture chamber detention and she fidgeted with her shorter hair.


Wow was he looking for something he seemed in such a hurry and out of breath. She was afraid she would have to get a professor Not the healer.. no way from him fainting right in front of her when her concern turned into a warmer smile. He was looking for her. To bring her ice cream from detention. Was he the sweetest friend in the world or what. She took the bucket and looked in side. IT WAS PINK O_o "Duck daddy why do you have pink ice cream?" she chuckled at her new name for him. Then she laughed at his other words, "No.. of course not just for me.. I would never not share with you or you are sharing with me or.. well whatever this is such a sweet thing Daichi thank you." She jumped up and hugged her friend.

Then she looked back to the ice cream. Oh she frowned a second ice cream. Thoughts of the detention and the ice cream on the plant, the ice cream that turned to candies, then to bugs. Could she really eat ice cream again. Her head was saying no way, but her stomach was saying please. Taking a spoon she scooped some up and put it in her mouth. MMM "Awful color, but yum." She smiled brightly at him.

Forrest nodded somewhat thoughtfully, and that was all the answer Kace got before he turned and walked towards the castle.

Duck Daddy? riiight that was his new nickname. "Sonea gave it to me" he answered when she asked about the ice cream. "She's a second year Slytherin" he didn't tell her why she had given him the ice cream though, since he had kind of promised not to tell.

Sitting down next to the girl on the grass, he sat indian style and looked at her hair. "What happened to your hair? You cut it?" To be honest, he liked the long hair more but of course he wouldn't say that.

When he was hugged, the Slytherin's cheeks blazed a firey red color and his blush didn't go away even when she did. "Ehm..uh..no problem?" what did she actually say?! He looked down at the grass and grabbed a handful to rip it out of the earth , hoping his blush wasn't that obvious.

Minerva looked at him not sure if she knew who Sonea was. "Well that was really nice of her." It was.. anyone to bring someone ice cream had to be nice. The nicest person around really. [B] "We should get up and play chicken with the willow, or run around and eat ice cream or something." She was sad, but happy and wanted to do something. After that horrible experience she needed something fun and exciting. She had always turned to chicken game when she was feeling awful, but she didn't know if Daichi would approve being a prefect and all.

Then he had to say the words that she knew were coming. Her hair was wonderful, long, very long. So of course people were going to notice the short, very short look. She looked at the ground and took a bite of the ice cream.. then another bite.. and a third before answering. "Well I.. um.. see in the detention.. I umm had to.. well hug.. a burning plant and it burned my hair off." She kept her eyes to the ground not wanting to see the look he might be giving. She desperately wanted to fidget with her long hair something she did when nervous, but since it wasn't there she fidgeted with the grass. "Lafay gave me a potion to grow it back, but I'm afraid she might be tricking me or something, so I took enough to get it this length." Again she kept her eyes away and took another bite of the ice cream.

Finally when her eyes lifted she couldn't help but start laughing.. "Duck Daddy why are you blushing? " She was confused.. Was it because she hugged him. O_o She wasn't hugging anyone except Ethan and she hugged Daichi without even thinking. Taking another bite of ice cream, was she that happy about the ice cream that she forgot about the burning plant hugs and it was not okay to just hug people. Well of course the ice cream was that good to forget other things, it was ice cream.

Melon was right. Erin needed a few walks around Hogwarts to somehow lessen her growing fats. She gained a pound. Can you believe that? And she's not even eating lots lately. It just happened that she got really depressed and she was with Beezus who made her eat tons of ice cream. the best medicine to a broken heart is food, of course. There were just inevitable instances when you can't really say no to food.

She bounced and bounced and bounced as she headed outside the castle. It was a good weather and a good day for some stretching. A book was peeking from her jumpsuit, in case she feels tired she'll just read by the lake. And the wand since she wasn't sure about her safety in Hogwarts. Remember, about the dementors.

While walking, he spotted two of her friends having some friendly chat around the Whomping Willow. They seemed like were really having fun. He ran towards the two ...When she reached them, she called out their names. "HEY, Daichi, Min!" while waving her hand in mid air.

Team run?

Ella thought it was a good idea and she'd even gotten up extra early and made herself a veggie drink, hoping maybe it'd give her a little extra energy. Besides, she really wanted to fix things with Oakey and maybe if she mentioned she'd had one, he'd smile. It'd been a while since she'd seen him do that.

Anyway, the blonde made her way to the willow and plopped down in the grass, stretching her legs as she waited for the team to show up.

...Some of them were going to show up, weren't they?

Tobias was always WELL up for running about, and on occasion he sometimes went for a quick sprint around the grounds, like when his energy was all pent up and he needed to get rid of it somehow. So the Defence Against the Dark Arts activity thingamajig was JUST his thing. And then Ella had suggested having a TEAM run and Tobias had been totally thrilled. AWESOME! Running about AND spending time with his friends.

So it was with his ever present smile and abundance of energy that the tiny Hufflepuff skipped to the Whomping Willow. Yep, skipped. Because that was the fastest way of moving and Tobias found that it warmed him up without getting into the rushing around thing too quickly.

As he reached the flailing tree, Tobias gave Ella a wave. He stopped skipping only to start jogging lightly on the spot, not wanting to stop completely and sit down because ENERGY.

"Hi Ella!" Toby beamed at the captain. "Brilliant idea for a team run!"

He was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and had a bottle of cold water when he held by the next between his fingers. "I love running. I love MOVING AROUND."

And then he started bouncing, actually jumping, up and down on the spot, getting surprisingly high for his tiny height.

Kace decided to go on a run with his fellow teammates. He was REALLY excited. In fact he actually liked jogging. I mean he was already in shape from doing quidditch practices. Why not run a little more? He was known to be what they call a "speed racer"

As he made his way to the Whomping willow, with his water bottle dangling by his side, then he saw Ella and Tobias there. He smiled and waved at them. "Hey guys! Good idea Ella for a team run like this!" he said while bouncing up and down. He was getting warmed up and pumped up. He didn't wanna pull any muscles. He even saw Tobias bouncing and he was giggling and doing the same thing.

There's nothing more fun than the usual jog.. except jogging with your own teammates that is. Wade had found the note near his usual napping spot under the Quidditch Pitch benches Bless Ella for knowing it, and made his way towards the Whomping Willow after changing into his jogging attire and taking his water bottle with him.

"Hey guys." Beaming as he approached their Captain Ella, and little Tobi and Kace. They each got some hair ruffle from him. Now where were the others? Hm.

Was he late? YEAH. ... Probably.

Mentally cursing his need to sort out his hair every so often, Alec rushed down towards the Whomping Willow, his bottle of water clutched in his hand. He was sure he had seen the notice pretty early on. Maybe. He was dating the Captain, after all.

And speaking of the Captain, hopefully she wouldn't be too mad at him if he turned up lateish. There were hair reasons involved, after all. And ice cream reasons from an hour ago.

Nearing the Whomping Willow, the sixteen year old grinned as he spotted the rest of the team and headed over towards them. "Hey, you guys!" he said, coming to a stop right near Kace and grinning round at them all, "Awesome idea for a run, Ells!" And... there were still people left to come so... that meant that he wasn't too late, yeah? And was his hair okay?

Also, he wasn't promoting Nike. Just saying.

Minerva skipped down towards the Willow. Her team was going to go for a jog, how awesome was that.. She was excited to do more as a team. If she wasn't hanging out with her hot keeper boy there was no one else she wanted to spend time with than her team. Walking up behind them she jumped ruffling Wades hair, "Kitty Wade... The rest of you awesome badgers." Were they running around the tree or from the tree? That would be a good workout, but she figured Ella would flip if she suggested it so she just bounced a bit and waited to start.


Oh.. maybe she should stretch.. Yes stretching was good and she remembered water in her bag. Pulling out a few bottles, "Brought a few from my trunk if anyone wants one." Maybe when they were done they could go have a team lunch in the kitchen. She would so make the food if they wanted and after they could have ice cream, because that was a great team bonding experience. "Hey when we're done.. Let's go to the kitchen and I'll make everyone something to eat." because that was an awesome thought and she had to say awesome thoughts.

BADGERS!

Ella GRINNED at her teammates as they started to arrive, feeling a bit better that they'd actually shown up. It would have been pretty embarrassing if it was just her at this team gathering, yeah?

The ickle badger cuties showed up first, bouncing and beaming and making Ella want to pinch their cheeks but she refrained. Besides, that was Nessie's thing! "Hey Tobias! Kace!" BEAM! "I'm glad you guys liked the idea." Cause if they didn't, Ella would be forced to work out alone and that was a bit depressing. "Looks like you lot are ready to go." And she laughed, finding their bounciness both adorable and humorous.

Then came Kitty!Wade and Ella BEAMED at him, tilting her head to the side. "What, no pickles?" She joked, watching as he ruffled the first years' heads.

The boyfriend got an especially brilliant grin and raised eyebrows because Ella had looked for him before she left the common room but couldn't find him. She supposed he was busy with hair things and she smiled to herself, wondering if he spent more time worrying about that than she did. "Thanks Hair Whipper, I'm glad you approve!"

Minnie brought waters? N'aww! "That was really nice of you, Min!" And that meant everyone would be hydrated which was really important. "Thanks for coming!" And she was gonna cook for them? "I...that's brillaint!" She was hungry just thinking about the kitchen.

"Oakey and Kaiden should be here soon so we can just stretch while we wait?" She encouraged, smiling a bit. No pulled muscles on her watch, okay?

Deep breathes Oakey, this next part was going to require you wand. If the Willow would allow it, if not...well he had his hands. He started to walk backwards to where the tree swatted his wand away motioning his hands forward in hopes that the Willow would understand that he was not leaving, and that he did not want to get whomped. Staying forward Oakey felt around on the ground behind him until he grabbed his wand. A few more steps and Oakey nabbed his bag from the ground as well. Coming back to the tree Oakey set the bag down then took to his knees and pointed his wand to the spot he wished to make the hole. "Defodio." Oakey spoke, then winced at the tiny burst in the ground he made where a hole now sat. He looked back up at the canopy of the Willow and almost thought to beg for forgiveness again. Instead he moved his head back down and reached into his bag. The Whomping Willow deserved the best offering he any tree could possibly deserve. It was a Sentient tree after all, it may be very picky. So he pulled out a comic. It wasn't any comic though, it was his Action Comics volume #1 still in packaging. Mint Condition. The greatest comic for the greatest tree. Oakey said his goodbyes and shed a single tear for giving up this prized comic to a tree. He placed it in the the hole, then patted down the earth with the dirt that was moved from his spell moments ago.
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These Team get together's were going to become a regular thing before each match weren't they? It was a good idea, and luckily this time nothing was expected of Oakey other than to be there. No need to accio a bass this time. He even looked around the vicinity of the Whomping Willow, good ol' friend the Whomping Willow for other students you know in case they thought it was wise to blast fireworks around here too. "Hey All." Oakey said taking setting down the gift Ella gave him a few days ago for his Birthday, it was already filled with his Veggie Drink to the rim. See he cared Ella! He gave the Captain a smile and stood in the back, this was her idea, and so Oakey would let her run it.

Soon enough, everyone had started turning up, and Tobias' hair was being ruffled. He gave said ruffler, Wade, a grin and resumed his bouncing.

When Ella mentioned stretching, Tobias abruptly STOPPED bouncing, stood still looking quite thoughtful, and then started jogging on the spot again and stretching his arms. Not that his arms would be doing as much work as his legs, but arms were still important.

As he extended each arm in turn and held it across his chest with his other arm, Tobias addressed Ella again. "Where abouts are we running? Are we gonna have a nice long run? I usually do sprints."

Because that was important to know, of course.

Kace felt first Wade giving one of his famous hair ruffles. "Hey Wade. I can always tell it's you by your famous hair ruffle." he joke with him and scrunched up his face while fixing up his hair. Not that it needed to be....he was gonna run after all!

Then he saw Alec standing by him and he said, "Hey Alec! Nice nike sneakers.." he winked at him. It did seem like he was promoting the Nike brand. Kace was wearing all different types of brands, he couldn't keep track. Kace didn't know if he said Hi to Tobias. He thought he did but why not do it again right? "Hey Tobias, i see you are energetic as i am." Kace said still bouncing with him.

The famous captain came along. She noticed that he was bouncing around and he couldn't help it. She noticed they were ready to go. Kace nodded, "I am TOTALLY ready. I mean i am like..... Ready Freddy!!!" he smiled towards her. He heard they had to wait for Kaiden and Oakey. That shouldn't be TOO long then huh?

The girl in charge said they should stretch. He didn't mind doing that. He didn't want his muscles hurting. He started with his legs first. He bent down and stretched both of his hamstrings. Then he heard Oakey saying hello. Kace gave him a nod, smile and a wave. Now it was just Kaiden. Kace wondered where he was. He swung his right arm and started to stretch it while he was waiting.

This was great, another happy moment for the team. Wade beamed right after giving the hair ruffles, chuckling as Tobi adorably kept bouncing up and down, and Kace, good old Kace. "Famous, eh? Wicked." Now turning to Captain Ella, who mentioned the lack of pickles. She was being cheeky, heh heh. "Nope.. and I don't see any gummy worms from you either." Smirky smirk from Wade to Ella..

Next thing Kitty!Wade knew he felt weight collide on his back. "Whoa there!" Instinctly reaching to grab whatever-ohh it was Minnie. Holding onto her legs as she held onto his neck he looked back at her. "Well, hello to you Minnie." She was cocoa for cuckoo puffs, yet smart. Heh, heh. Gently he let her down after getting his hair ruffled. "That's great, Min. Thanks!" For that and the upcoming fooood.

Although Wade had brought his own water, it was great knowing they don't have to worry about running out and trying to drink from the Duck pond in that case... Oh lookie, Alec was here, as Kace pointed out. "Morning Alec." Hmm, they were still missing some peeps. Turning to Tobi's question as he asked, Wade then looked at the currently harmless Whomping Willow. Were they going to be racing towards it and back? Before he could furrow his brows on this one, Ella then suggested they do some stretching until the others arrive.

"Good idea," Wade rose his arms up while joining the fingers of his hands together, giving it a good streeeetch. Much better. Now to touch his toes with said fingers.. While his torso was hunched over upside down, he could see "Oakey Pokey!".. Yeah, his welcoming the Head Boy. "Glad you could make it!"

Things escalated pretty quickly with this harmless human. The Willow had its branches surround the boy wherever he went in case he tried something funny, and he was almost squashed when he grabbed his weapon and busted a hole in the ground. The Tree could sense the unsettled feelings and aura that started around the boy, though, he was not a villain - in fact, he buried something close to its trunk. The Whomping Willow, being the protector of this territory, slapped a branch near that hole sending dirt flying everywhere along with the thing the boy buried, then taking it and whooooooooooooooosh up to the very top of its trunk between its big branches it was settled.

Good harmless human who gave it a thing, it wasn't the same as that other thing the Groundskeeper gave to it (THAT thing would've earned the boy a fun ride on one of its branches and the tree would've become his best friend and protector even), but it was acceptable. The Tree let the boy stand feet away from its trunk, didn't it? That was something.

Minerva giggled as Wade put her back down.. "N'awww you didn't want the extra weight for your job?" Not that Min was heavy, but still it might have been fun. She laughed more at the thought. Looking around she saw the cutie pie firsties they both got big smiles. "Hey Kace, get any owls from Belle lately?" She hadn't talked to her friend in so long. She really needed to send her an owl. Maybe she would jog over there later. There was an important Owl she needed to send about summer.

Turning as she finished her little almost nothing stretching she bounced on her toes. "Yes.. Toby great question. Where is this job going?" She eyed the tree. Her first years were not getting close enough.. She had run ins with that tree, all her own fault, but still run ins. So who was all here and what was she making them after their run?

So Minnie had a new way of greeting people. ... Or... Wade. And did she call him a Kitty? Alec grinned before giving her a wave, "Hey Minnie! Hey Cur- Wade!" His nickname for Wade was going to remain a secret for a little while longer. Just a little. Who knows if the dude approved of being Curly Wade. Or Curly Fries... because Curly Chips just sounded weird.

Also, Minnie was talking about cooking? REALLY? GRIN. "That sounds awesome! FOOD! "If you need help, let me know, yeah?" But he was going to stay as far away from cracking eggs as possible.

The raised eyebrow look on his girlfriend's face was enough to make the boy grin sheepishly and ruffle his hair, messing it up even more. He probably couldn't hide his reason for coming quite a bit later than her, even if he tried. She knew way too much about his hair obsession regime. "Anytime, Ells!" GRIN.

And they were meant to be stretching, yeah? He reached up his hands and stood on the tip of his toes, trying to reach as far up as possible. Stretch... streeeeeeetch... Oh look! More people... person... YEAH! "Hey Oakster!" GRIN! And the idea of little Tobias doing sprints made the older boy grin even more. He had a good question too!

... OH! His trainers were being complimented? "Hey Kace!" Kace and Tobias... were they close? Tight? Bros? Brethren? ... Anyways... "Thanks, mate! I like yours too!" GRIN.

Streeeeeetch...

Stretttttttch

Ella continued to stretch her legs, smiling more and more as she watched her teammates interact. She really loved them lots, even if she'd only just met some of them this term. They were all really great people and she enjoyed spending time with them on and off the pitch. She just really hoped they felt the same.

Oakey's arrival didn't go unnoticed and Ella immediately spotted the gift she gave him, causing her to smile. Her gaze moved up to his face and that's when she saw he was smiling too. BEAM! This was a good sign, yeah? Maybe...things could be better between them from now on? She wanted them to be because it was nearly the end and yeah...yeah.

Wade's comment earned a grin and Ella wiggled her eyebrows. "You never know! I could have them hidden." The blonde nearly always had gummy worms on her. Just saying.

As for how long they'd be running and where, Ella shrugged. "I was thinking we could go for a long run? Unless...you'd rather race?" Grin! Friendly competition was always fun.

The blonde then stood up and started to stretch her arms, wondering if anyone else would be joining them.

"Do you guys want to start and the others can just join us when they come?"

"Hey guys!" Tobias greeted everyone else as well. Pausing from his jogging on the spot, Tobias took a sip of water and looked thoughtful.

"Well I reckon a long run is a good idea. It's good for stamina and stuff," he nodded eagerly, recapping the water and looking out over the grounds. He didn't realise it but he veeeeeeeeery gradually started to bounce gently on the balls of his feet again, increasing with exuberance as the seconds wore on. He just had so much energy and he had no idea how ANYONE could just STAND STILL. Like wow.

"We could go all over the grounds!" Toby said excitedly. There were places on the grounds he'd never visited yet, and this way he could work out a good route for future runs.

As Kace was done talking to Wade and he smiled at him when Wade heard he complimented him on his hair ruffles. He saw Minnie and then she asked about getting letters. Kace squinted his eye in thought, "I have sent some letters like 3 of them and i only got one back. But i am guessing she has sent you letters?" he asked her brightly.

Then he heard Alec talking about his sneakers. Kace smiled and said, "Thanks Alec! How have you been lately?" he asked his fellow friend. He gave his full attention to Ella. She asked if he wanted to start and he nodded his head. "Yeah we should start!! And i think we should both have races and a long run!" Kace piped in.

He was still stretching his legs, arms, back, and inside of his legs and his back. He was ready to go.

STRETTTCHHHHHHHH

Kaiden was not to happy about not knowing where the team was. It was quidditch stuff, why weren't they at the quidditch pitch? Stupid Hufflepuffs, nobody likes you. On his search for the team, he saw a large group of people off in the distance, and jogged over to them. They were the only ones dumb enough to be up and out here this early... and near that Willow tree.

Coming up to them, he stopped. "Hi, y'all." he said in greeting, taking a swig of water out of his canteen. "This isn't the quidditch pitch."

Oakey coughed and spat out the dirt that flew in his face after the Willow slammed one of it's branches to the ground. "Okay fine, you can read it first." Oakey joked at the tree. Hopefully the Willow liked jokes. anyways Oakey best thank the Willow now. He cleared his throat and spoke up. You know in case the Willow was hard of hearing. "Hail to thee, wight of Whomping Willow, 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, Kenaz and Raidho." Oakey wasn't quite sure what this was going to do, but he needed to cut a piece of the Willow off next. THAT was going to be the difficult part. The Willow seemed to give him permission earlier.
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This may be a good healing exercise for him and Ella too, not just a team building exercise. You know unless she decided that they'd all have Ice Cream after jogging and gain all the calories they would lose.

Oakey started to stretch while everyone waited. Touching his toes, stretching out his back. Maybe he could get Renesmee to successfully walk on his back. Then Kaiden came "Good of you to join us. You didn't get the memo?" Seriously didn't Ella tell the WHOLE team to meet at the Whomping Willow.