Arista smiled, AJ was her spot of tea, adventurous and willing to climb the dangerous tree. She sure was happy that she meant somebody as awesome as her! "It would be hard to get close to because the tree attacks anything that comes within range of its branches!" But it was an adventure and she wanted to do it. Plus she had not been on any adventures yet. She was almost on one but then that girl happened.

"Awesome! I will definitely join you, I love climbing trees, even if my mum says it is not lady like!"

So story time, because Arista loved to tell stories. "You went to Diagon Alley right? Well I was going to go into that Knockturn Alley place but this girl stopped me!" She stopped and her eyes widened, she looked at AJ up and down three times before speaking again, "It was you! You stopped me!!" She looked at her for another time before speaking again, "You know if your into this now, what happened there? You were like its dangerous! Danger! And stuff."

The tree attacks? Well, that was some good information to have for sure. "I didn't know." She was wondering what was so special about the tree, and now she knew. "Well then I guess we'd better keep an eye out." It would be a shame to get whacked before she even managed to get close enough to climb it.

AJ laughed at the next statement. "There's not much I do that is deemed lady like." Not that it bothered her or anything. AJ liked who she was just fine. "Let's go then." They needed to move closer, devise a plan, something!

"Yes, I went to Diagon Alley." They had met at the sport store. Was this one losing her mind? Whaa? She was being blamed for stopping her? AJ never stopped anybody from doing anything especially because of danger. If anything she was always the one being stopped. "I never tried to stop you from doing anything." Then she had an aha moment. "You must have met my sister, Angel. We share the same face you see." It was exactly something that she would do. "I actually went into Knockturn Alley and this mean hag put a stinging hex on me twice. It was awesome." Yeah, it hurt, but it wasn't every day that you ran into somebody who threatened to make soup out of your limbs.

Marigold giggled a bit then poked Z playfully in her stomach. And laughed a bit more. Z gave her feel-good vibes and all.

… "Of course." What did she think she was, some lame groupie that only liked the band/members when they were popular? Noooo. She was a full fledged fan.

Buuuut… "I mean, not allllll the way, coz I'm kinda… taken." Had she told Z about this already?

Arista smiled as she continued walking to the tree, "Its funny!!" She giggled, before continuing "Yes we better watch out! I wonder if we could spell it or something." She was going to climb it though! It would be one heck of the adventure!

"Yeah I'm kind of forced into it. My mums the daughter of some lord not a very uphigh lord but because of that its like manners this and manners that... Bit annoying at times, but I learned to deal." She liked some of the lady stuff but she loved the adventure so her mum would have to learn to live with both. Whenever that would come who knew.

"Hmmm..." she said before she continued to listen. "OOOOOOHHHH!!!!!" She laughed and gave AJ a smile, "Well that makes more sense. Share a face? Get annoying at times or do you and your twin pull pranks?" Thats what she would do if she had a twin......"Angel....Wait is that why I have been seeing two of you around the Gryffindor Common Room? One minute your there next minute your there.. Turns out there were two of you!"

She laughed so more, and then the Knockturn Alley comment killed her and she burst out into a fit of laughter. "YOU WERE..STU..NNED...BY A...HAG?!!!" she managed to squeak out in between her giggless. Getting a hold of herself she added "That's quite an adventure!"

As the girl seemed to be looking around, Coral-Bay took the opportunity to stand up. She tucked the book under her arm, fingers no longer holding her place, but her mind repeated the number of the page she'd been on, in an attempt to remember it. She wasn't as occupied listening to other people's conversations now. Although they had seemed to be getting good.

CB nodded a bit. Couldn't hurt, right? She'd read about the willow once before.. and she could do it again. But not for a while cause it was getting kind of cold... Sigh. This was what she missed about travelling. Consistent weather.

She curled her fingers tighter around the book. "I'm Coral-Bay." She didn't have a kitten. So no kitten introductions for her.

"Where was the last place you saw her?"

Marigold nodded and made all sorts of affirming noises. Yes, West was the best, yes, of course. She didn't know the others as well. Ascanius she had talked to once, Vesper she admired like WHOA, and Nigel seemed… like Nigel. Yeah. Self-explanatory.

Oh. Boyfriend talking time. "Mitchell Phillips? He's in Gryffindor, too." Saying his full name sounded weird to her. The last time she heard it was his sorting. "And I hope Ruby comes here next year!"

A spell would most likely be helpful, but there was a big fat problem with that. "I don't know many spells, do you?" She had the aguamenti spell down pretty good, and she learned from a professor how to shoot hot air from her wand, but other than that she was useless in the magic department.

"A lord?" That sounded totally cool. but the whole being forced to practically be a princess thing did not sound fun at all. "Thankfully at that didn't ruin you." Because the girl could have been boring, but she chose to rise above what was expected of her, and that earned her mad respect from AJ, yup!

"Sharing a face is awesome. It's cool being able to switch who we are and confuse people." Pranks were another perk to sharing a face. "When my sister is being cool we get to do pranks." The problem was that her sister wanted to be a goody goody far too much, and spoil all of AJ's fun. "Yup, you're not going crazy. There are actually two of us." Once you got to know the sisters though you would know that they were completely different.

That was always the case, wasn't it? "Uh huh," he said nodding slowly, "Probably get more worried, too." Or the fathers didn't show it as much. And it did sound as if their parents were similar, weren't they? "Maybe your dad can convince your mum that it's a good idea later, then," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "It's always good to have at least one parent on your side."

Unique humour. Unique was a fishy term because it could be used to be honest but not tell someone the harsh truth about themselves; i.e: you have a unique style in clothing. Which essentially meant that your style is rubbish but the person doesn't want to offend you. OR. Unique could be a GOOD thing. For Kace's sake, Grayson hoped it was the latter. "Girls do like the funny kid," he said, smirking slightly.

Huh. This was funny. "Didn't know you were the smirky kind." Not that it was BAD. Not even a bit. It meant that the boy was like him, even if they were in two different houses. And now it was his turn to smirk when Kace went on to say that he was getting better with the drawing. "My teacher's not that bad, it seems." That was his way of saying thank you. Take it or leave it, Lecium.

Marigold was all GIGGLY because Z was all proud of her Gryffindorness and stuff. House pride. Go go puffs and all that, yo. "Did you really?" She didn't really… remember her sorting. All she could remember from that year was ice cream. She shook her head and focused back on the delight that was Zahra Kettleburn. But she smiled. Z didn't insult HER house, nuh uh.

"They are," she said, unashamedly. Proudly, even. GRIN.

"Prolly not, no." Well, too bad for that house.

Suddenly the urge to cry overcame Lux, and she had to wipe at her eyes to stop the tears from falling. She was 13 years old and needed to start growing up. But if anything happened to her kitten, she would be absolutely devastated. "We were going on a walk along the pathway and she got distracted by a butterfly. She ran off in this direction."

as hard as Lux had tried to catch up with her little kitten, she hadn't stood a chance.

After a refreshing shower and a shave, Theo had decided to get out of the castle for a bit to burn off a bit of carbs that had been building up over the past few weeks. Since Quidditch was taken away from them, he'd noticed that his general fitness was taking a bit of a plunge. Lack of motivation and all, but his health and stuff still meant a lot to him regardless.

Taking just a bottle of water with him, Theodore jogged in good pace around the grounds in his SHORTS.

YES, shorts. In this weather.

It made him work harder to break a sweat, to keep warm. And it was definitely working quickly. Theo was sweatinggggggggg!! Ah, the Whomping Willow.... that was a nice view to take a break on. The Slytherin stopped and held his knees, panting a little.

Seventh year was definitely taking it's toll on Bliss. She'd never sat still for so long reading just one thing before. Oh gosh, this was tiring, she thought, staring down at the revision material she had in front of her. It was most definitely time for a break and a well deserved break at that! Her butt was numb - that was how long she'd been sat down for.

Putting things away and moving them into some sort of order, she stood up and grabbed a scarf. It wasn't exactly the best weather, so she figured she might need it. The scarf was red and cute, not a Hufflepuff scarf, but she still loved it nonetheless. T'was cosy.

Bliss already knew exactly where she would go; what she didn't know, however, was who she would meet there.

It took her less than ten minutes to escape the castle, wander down the path and reach the Whomping Willow, but it seemed that she wasn't alone. Theo was stood there - unmistakable, given his height and his hair. Bliss didn't waste a second, jogging the remainder of the distance between them. She did give him slight warning, as not to surprise him, calling "Sup, Theodore?" so that he could turn around before she reached him.

It didn't take long for the cold to catch up with Theodore after he stopped jogging. He shuddered a bit, straightened up and took a massive gulp of his water. But before he could take off again he was being called. For some reason it didn't annoy him to be interrupted because it made him feel sooooooo cool. Theo knew he was popular, like gosh, but sometimes he needed reminding because people generally hated him. S'okay, bad publicity is better than no publicity and all.

Thankfully it was a FRIEND. WOOH, FRIENDS.

"Bliiiiiiiss, hey." He opened his arm to give one of those one-armed-embrace things, but then he dropped it because EW he was sweaty. Not only did he not want to get his sweaty pits over his friend, he also didn't want her to get any wiffs of his odor. So he kept his distance. "Not much, just having a run... probably gonna have a work out in a bit as well." He breathed in the cold air because talking was effort when puffed out. "What chu doing out in the cold?"

Ah, goodie, he'd heard her!

Bliss grinned and came to a halt just in front of him. Looked like he'd been running for quite a bit, he was sweaty and all. It had been a while since she'd last seen him and she'd really missed him, though she imaged he was too wrapped up in studies to notice how much time had passed since they'd last properly hung out.

Hm. Was he keeping his distance for sweaty reasons? She had noticed the raised arm to begin with, buuuut oh well. She raised her eyebrow, and gave a crooked smile. "I don't bite, y'know? Don't I get a hug, I haven't seen you in foreverrrrrrrrrr." She took a step forward regardless and left it up to him whether he'd offer a hug or not. Bliss totally wasn't bothered either way, uhuh.

Obviously.

Oh. "Work out?" She said, as if the words were foreign to her. Although they weren't, she sometimes did the occasion work out and went for the odd run, too. "I would have thought you'd be studying hard, Mr Headboy," she laughed ... which led her nicely onto why she was outside. "I'm outside in the cold because inside is tiring and full of reading and concentrating." Now that she thought about it, it was a lot colder than she'd thought. Bliss shivered slightly and wrapped her scarf a little tighter around her neck.

Awwww, really?

Theo tried to continue smiling but he reeeeeeally wasn't into the hugging thing at this moment. Him and his sweaty work out thing was kinda a Theo thing, and Theo only. "You want to hug a stinky me?" Heeeeeehe, yes laugh it off.

"Yeah, been slacking off a bit lately." Theo scratched the back of his head, then took another swig of his water. Besides it was super hard to work out at Hogwarts, since there was no gym and stuff. That's why Quidditch was always such a exercise routine for him. Oh well. PSSSHHT... Theo snorted and then grinned. "Me? Studying? HA, that's a good one." No really, he had to get into it at some point. Those darned NEWTs were right around the corner and all. "Yeah, warm though!" Theo was actually thinking longingly about his bed right now.

His legs were suddenly rather achy.

She didn't know whether Theo had noticed, but Bliss wasn't exactly swimming in friends right now and she was lacking specifically in hugs. Hugs helped her somehow and ... oh well, it didn't matter. "Yes, I would love to hug a sticky Theodore, buuuuuut I'll settle for a high five if you're not feeling huggy," she shrugged, trying to seem like she wasn't bothered.

It wasn't like was she bothered exactly. Just ... sort of bothered.

"Well, these are busy times .. and cold times, too," Bliss nodded understandingly. She knew that Theo's work out she Quidditch, and when it was cold, Quidditch was harsh. Hm. Bliss laughed again when Theo snorted, "Oh really? I thought you were into all of that? Nerd Theo," she teased, then sighed, "but really, you haven't done any studying?" NEWTs were sort of .. y'know .. imminent.

"Rather warm, yes."

Now she was missing inside.

But outside she won her over - it had no studying and a Theo, what more could she ask for? Hopefully he wouldn't get sick of the cold, or her, and leave. She wanted company for now.

For Mo
 

Cris had heard about the Whomping Willow but never had the pleasure of seeing it in its all glory...which right now really wasn't much, as almost all its leaves had shed and all that was left visible were its humungous branches. Branches which Cris knew packed a punch if you happened to be in the wrong side its Whomping.

And that was what Cris was here to find out. How far was the Whomping Willow's reach. Looking up at the tree, Cris gauged first the tree's height and then the span of its branches. Then he wondered what would invoke the tree to lash out.

Maybe he could run up and tickle its trunk. Cris prepared himself to do just that.

"Don't do it." Mo was halfway around the castle on his third lap when he spotted another student approaching the tree. It wasn't one of the usual foolhardy ickles, but still a new student... who probably thought he was smarter than a tree that had been knocking down students for over 100 years.

"I know it seems like a challenge, but you aren't fast enough. You'll lose an eye. Someone loses an eye every single term." Not true, but Cris wouldn't know that.

Cris was about to launch off on a sprint when he heard a male voice telling him not to. Great! He'd been caught by a Professor. Cris slowly turned around pulling up an innocent look.

First he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it wasn't a Professor. Second. It was someone he knew. Third, maybe he'd buy the innocent act too. "Hey Mo. What's up? Do what?" he asked innocently.

"Really? That happened? What were they thinking?" Cris asked even as his eyes opened wide in surprise at the mention of someone losing an eye. He loved his eyes...very much!!

Arista thought the only spells she knew was Reducto, the levitation spell and the fire one, "Me either... Wish I did." Cause knowing those spells would sure come in handy! Then she could actually carry her wand around and be able to use it. She nodded when AJ said a lord, yeap lord. Fun.

"Yeah, I think it did when I was a kid but I grew out of it." Or at least that is what she thought. But she wasn't sure, she was sure that AJ would tell her.

"Is it fun having siblings? I have always fancied the idea of having one but my parents couldn't be convinced." When her sister was being cool. So not often? She kept that thought to herself though. "Okay cool! Are you related to the other Valentine, she looks different right? I want to say her name is Abby. I'm horrible with matching faces to names, I can remember faces not names!" Which explained her confusion with the two sisters.

Mo wasn't sure how to read Cris, although there was something a little too self aware in the boy's eyes. It made Mo wary, and even though he smiled and shrugged, he wasn't sure that he trusted the boy not to make a run for the tree and pretend he hadn't known.

"You should just walk away. Most dangerous spot on campus, and only the ickles hang out here. They think they're smarter than the tree, you know?" He was repeating himself, but it boggled the mind. That tree had whip-sharp instincts. It was obvious!

"But no... no lost eyes in about a century, but it's happened. Usually just lacerations and broken limbs." Which were fixable, but still.

Mo
 

"In about a century? So nothing lost recently? That's good to hear," Cris nodded as he glanced over at the tree again. Lacerations and broken limbs? That wasn't too bad. He'd had his fair share of those growing up.

"So, really, how fast is this thing? Does it react to everything that moves?" Cris asked. His interest now totally peaked.

"Have you tried to um...touch it?" Cris turned to look questioningly at the Ravenclaw. Surely he must have thought about doing it.