The Whomping Willow.

What fond memories Adi had associated with this particular Tree. Hehe. Actually, what Adi was thinking about right now getting a closer look. He had never gone too close because of all the warnings they had gotten about it... and what he had read. Maybe he could hitch a ride on one of it's flailing branches sometime or would he be biting off more than he could chew? Hmmm. Right now, though, the tree looked so innocent. It stood practically still.

Who could believe it could be so violent when provoked?

Ilia was walking the grounds and exploring, curious about her new surroundings. It seemed like an enormous place and she would have fun figuring it all out over the course of the semester. Pausing in front of a unique , somewhat distressed looking tree, she saw the boy she had met at the Entrance. He was Henric's friend and had stuck up for him, so she would consider him a friend. Also,......he had a toad that would be meeting her darling baby Princess Charlotte toadette. She knew Henric would supervise it and make sure they got along nicely though. "Hello Adi." She gave the boy a small smile, at least remembered names fairly well. She looked back out at the tree, wondering what fascination it might hold? "That is a very unique looking tree." Perhaps he could tell her about it?

Adi supposed he would get into an all year long detention with the Groundskeeper or perhaps with one of the Professors if he approached the tree and irritated it. Not that he really wanted to provooke it... he just though it would be super cool to see it all flaily and stuff.

His eyes trailed away from the tree when he saw a movement beside him. It was Freya, or Ilia as she liked to be called, the girl he had met at the rock pet adoption. She had probably thought he was crazy with his shouting and what not on that day. Hehe.

"Heya, Ilia! How are you?" Adi tilted his head. "Taking a look around at the grounds? How is Princess Charlotte?" LOL. There were ALWAYS questions from this Hufflepuff.

Ilia was slightly surprised at the immediate barrage of questions that her new friend Adi asked her as she walked up to him. *Blink* "I am well. How are you?" It was only polite to return the question, though she was still a bit startled by the older boy's energy. "I'm exploring places I haven't seen yet." She nodded to emphasize her answer as she pondered him tilting his head. "Princess is doing very well, she is with Henric right now." Ilia's smile brightened at mentioning the boy. He was a wonderful toad dad and it made her happy that she decided to share a toad with him. "How is Gus?" Yes, toad parenting and its discussion could be a bonding experience.

She was curious about the tree , but would wait for a pause in his questioning line to ask him about it.

Adi had noooo idea he was surprising Ilia with his bounciness. "I am great, thank you! What do you think of the Castle? Did you get lost at any time?" He did. Adi was not afraid to say that as a first year he had gotten lost COUNTLESS times and even with Ilia being older than he was back then, h figured she could get lost occasionally. Plus it did not help that the staircases kept moving around.

Oh, Henric! Adi's new closest friend. "He'll take good care of her. Gus should meet her sometime.'' A new friend would be nice for his toad although Conrad the owl would always be his best friend. "Gus is good too. He probably is in the owlery visiting his friend. I don't know how he does it but he hops all the way up those stairs to get there.'' Gus was brave too... going up there with potentially hungry owls.

What did she think of the castle?"Its very large. Bigger than my old school." That was certain, it was much warmer too. Did she get lost? Well...."I explored a bit, but never got so lost I couldn't find myself." She smiled a little at the answer.

"He is a good toady baby daddy." She grinned happily at the thought. She considered the thought of the toad meet up. "Maybe we could all have a toady play date." That had to be adorable and fun. She loved hearing about the boys toad. Creepy crawly critters made her happy. "He is a brave little fellow then." Princess had never met her owl, she had never thought to introduce the two since her owl had never had met a toad to her knowledge.

She looked over at the tree again curiously, it looked so unique.

Adi smiled proudly. He always loved it when there was good talk about Hogwarts Castle. "Which school did you go to?'' he asked curiously. There seemed to be a whole lot of transfers this years but he didn't care. All the more new persons to meet! He chuckled. "In my first year, I got lost a lot. Especially when it came to those moving staircases.'' Gosh! They took him places where he did not want to go at the time.

Toad baby daddy was a weird but interesting way of putting things. "I guess he would be. He likes creatures as much as I do.'' As for that play date... "Yeah! Let's do that sometime. Hanging around owls all the time may not be good for Gus's health even if he is brave.'' Suppose one day Conrad was not around and some other owls decided it was their chance to make a snack out of Guster?

Adi noted that Ilya looking at the Willow. "Has anyone told you about that tree?'' Did she know it could be violent?

She forgot that she would have to say where she came from, when she mentioned this was a new school to her. Some people, didn't seem to like her answer and stared at her strangely, so she was reluctant to mention it. Adi seemed to be very nice though, so she would tell him and hope that he would still be her friend. "I used to attend Durmstrang."

He got lost? Was it oops lost or totally lost though? "My first day I repeated my steps a few times, but I eventually got where I needed to go." She giggled a little. It wasn't truly lost....just....round-a-bout.

"I think he likes creatures as much as me, as well." She smiled happily, CoMC was beyond her favorite subject. Other living things intrigued and delighted her, she was at her happiest when she was with creatures. "I think that is why we are such good friends." She knew that she was sure it was why. Yay, playdate! You'll be so happy with mommy princess! "That will be great! Maybe Gus can tell her about his owl adventures." Hopefully, that wouldn't translate into her little toady self into mischief though.

Had anyone told her about the tree? "Not yet......you could be the first?" She smiled gently at him. If he was asking, he had to know right? With someone as enthusiastic as Adi describing it, she was sure to get some interesting answers. She picked George, her pet rock, up out of her pocket to run her fingers against his smoothness.

"Durmstrang? Cool!'' But of course Adi had another question. "How come you're not as uptight as the ones that were here a few years ago?'' he wondered out loud. The ones he had seen about in classes here seemed to be so full of themselves but Ilia was the opposite. Not that he minded.

"You'll get used to it all.'' Yep. At eleven years old, he had thought he would never ever have gotten used to the Castle and their staircases because it was that HUGEEE! But now, at almost seventeen, he even knew some of the passages that were not so well known.

"CoMC is his favourite subject, I think.'' It was safe to deduce that since Henric was so into Dragons and toads. The Puffer tilted his head. "Is that your favourite subject too?" Wouldn't it be SO COOL if it was? Adi was always keen on meeting persons who loved that subject. "Of course! I wish I could understand his croaking sometimes. I bet he had HOURS of tales to tell. When I adopted him, I was told he could croak the alphabet but so far that hasn't happened.'' It disappointed Adi but he still loved Gus.

"It would be my honour!'' Hehe. "It can attack anyone who comes within reach of its branches,'' he informed Ilia and coming straight too the point. "There's a knot somewhere that can be used to stop it from moving though. And the best part? There's a passage from the tree that leads to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade.'' Pretty cool, huh?

Adi didn't seemed offended or disapproving or her answer at all, in fact, it seemed he just had another question. One that made her laugh she might add. "I'm not certain really. I guess that I am just not that way? I never was very good at making friends there." She replied with a small chuckle. She really did pretty much only hang out with her cousin that was still attending, for the most part. She missed Freyr, but so far Hogwarts was nicer than she had expected.

He said that she would get used to it all and she nodded her agreement. "I think that you are right." She smiled a little. She could and would and had been adjusting and she thought she was doing fairly well. She had yet to be late to class at least. It would take a little time though......it was about four times larger of a castle, though the grounds weren't as big, which made her sad.

"I am fairly certain that it is his favorite subject." She agreed with a shy smile. It was one of the things she loved about Henric. ..................Wait....loved? She meant liked right? Right? She frowned in her mind and then Adi asked if she shared his passion for creatures. "It is my favorite subject of all." That brought out a happy smile. "When I'm finished with school, I would like to train to be a veterinarian." She had only told Henric that so far, but Adi seemed very enthusiastic on the subject and he was nice to her.

"Maybe he does croak the alphabet, only in toadanese perhaps?"She offered. Gus sounded adorable. "I'm pretty sure Princess tells me about her day all the time, I simply don't understand very well. Unless she is asking me for more crickets. That I understand pretty well."

Now that sounded cool. A tree that could attack people, she was pretty sure that wasn't a common thing. She had certainly never heard of such a thing. "That sounds amazing." She said with an intrigued glint in her eye. "What does it do when you get too close?" She wasn't sure what a shrieking shack was or where Hogsmeade was, but it sounded like a lot of fun to her. This knot thing might be something to look into.

She was never good at making friends? Adi raised a quizzical eyebrow. No way. Sure Ilia was a Slytherin but she was as friendly as Zhenya, Dot and Beverly. Oh, well. ''I see you're having less of that problem here.'' Or if she was having that problem at all.

"I am right,'' was the confident reply. He grinned. "You'll see.'' He was speaking from experience after all. "Yep. It's mine too. And Henric has all these dragon cards so I know he's more fond of those than any other creatures.'' Look at that! The subject was Ilia's favourite as well! AWESOMEEE! She wanted to be a vet? DOUBLE AWESOMEEE! So those were three persons whom he knew that wanted to pursue that career path. "You're the third person I know that wants to become that. Will you give check ups to my future Hippogriffs?'' AJ and Hady were already on board for that and Adi would be delighted to have another friend checking on his Griffs.

The Hufflepuff laughed when Ilia suggested that Gus probably croaked the alphabet in toadanese. "I've never thought of that, Ilia. Maybe it's true. The guy at the pet adoption did not mention if Gus could do that in English so for all I know he could be croaking it in toadanese.'' Hehe. "I wish I could understand all creatures.'' This was true. Wouldn't it be fun to actually have a conversation with them?

It sounded amazing? The Willow attacking persons? Adi eyed Ilia. "If you provoke it, it attacks. It's branches go like this.'' He did a comical imitation of the Willow which involved him flailing his hands around Ilia as though he were attacking her. Hehe. The only difference was the tree's attacks would be dangerous and life threatening.

If Clara wasn't in her dorm, in the library, or by the lake, it was pretty hard to say where exactly she'd be. She'd taken to going for long walks, especially recently, as they: A) gave her the alone time she needed and B) got her away from people. It wasn't that she disliked people ... in fact, she'd become a lot more tolerant of people over the past year, it was just that .... her head was crowded with a lot of thoughts and feelings which often got too much for her to handle.

Today she'd decided a trip to the Whomping Willow was in order.

The tree intimidated her somewhat, but it was supposed to, right? Something that could easily physically hurt you was supposed to be respected and feared. So, she kept her distance. Clara reached into her bag, which she'd finally managed to charm with an undetectable extension charm, and got out her easel, sketchpad, brushes and watercolour paints, ready for a day of relaxation and painting.

It was his last year at Hogwarts and he had still yet conquered the Whomping Willow. He had managed to duck and wave its branches over the years but he hadn't been able to actually ride its branches like he had wanted to.

Michael strolled casually by the tree trying to look for a weak spot just like he had done many times before. And just like before, he could not see anywhere that was weak on the tree. Maybe he was getting too old to climb trees anyway.

He had just circled around the tree and spotted a girl about his age standing in front of an easel. "Won't it be hard to paint the tree when it keeps moving?" He asked as he stepped beside her and gazed at the tree's flailing branches.

Painting took a lot of time and focus, but it always calmed her. Luckily, today was quite a warm day, so in no time at all, Clara had managed to get most of the tree's trunk down on the paper. That was a feet in itself as it was so detailed. Unfortunately, her focus couldn't last forever and it wasn't too long before her quiet and calm was interrupted by another student.

Hardly surprising, given the number of students in school.

Clara flicked her eyes in the direction of the stranger briefly but didn't recognise him. Turning her attention back to the tree, she answered him. "If it's not disturbed, it usually doesn't move too much." Sure, the branches would sway, as with any tree, but it was still enough to draw. "They were more still before you arrived," she added, not quite hinting anything, but also not not hinting anything.

Michael had to hold down the laugh that was threatening to leave his mouth. The moment she had looked at him, he knew that he was disturbing her. He hadn't meant to, he just thought he would be friendly.

His gaze went back to the tree and his lips twitched a little. "I do apologise." He turned back to the girl. "But I think she has a thing for me. Every time I walk past her, she just goes crazy." Perhaps she wouldn't be so annoyed at the interruption if he could make her laugh.

And after a small pause, Michael burst out laughing and held out his hand. "I'm Michael by the way."

Clara chewed her lip, trying to focus on the tree and her painting. Recently, her ability to stay calm, focused and not an anxious mess was lacking somewhat and painting, among other things, helped. So, being interrupted, obviously, was not helping. "That's okay," she muttered, trying to sound sincere.

What he said next, however, made her mouth curl just slightly. "She? You think the tree's.....female?" She was sure he was just messing around, but it was amusing nonetheless.

"It would be more worrying if you had a thing for her."

Turning her gaze back to the boy again, she took a closer look. A Gryffindor. Well, that explained a couple of things. A Gryffindor that was holding his hand out to her. She tucked her paintbrush behind her ear and wiped her paint-splattered hand on her leg quickly, before taking his hand and shaking it. "Clara," she replied.

Was that a smile he could see? Yes, Michael was pretty sure that he had succeeded in humouring her which he was glad. He didn't like being on people's bad sides. He had spent the past two years being on the bad side of some people and it hadn't been particularly fun.

"Of course the tree's a girl. Why else would would it go nuts when I walked by?" He tipped her a wink and then laughed heartily at her next comment. "Well..." He looked over his shoulder to check who was around before taking a step closer to the Ravenclaw and whispered. "Iy's not something I like to admit out loud but when her leaves glisten in the sun..."

Okay he should probably stop now before she thought he was an utter nut case. "It's a pleasure to meet you Clara." He gave her hand a gentle shake before dropping his hand and peering at her picture. "Hey that's pretty good. Do you have any more pictures?"

Of course the tree's a girl. Of course. "Well, maybe the tree's male and has other interests," she said, giving him a look. "Or maybe the tree goes crazy because it doesn't like you." She might have argued that trees don't have feelings and that this whole conversation was ridiculous, but with this particular tree, it was difficult to say. It definitely seemed like it had feelings. If it did, it would definitely like want Michael said. "I have to agree with you there." Artist's eye and all, she saw the beauty in it. Obviously, he was just joking, but still.

She didn't think he was a nut case, that was for sure. She'd met a lot worse.

Definitely a little odd, though.

"You, too," she replied. He wasn't too bad, despite the fact he'd interrupted her calm ..... and was doing so again by asking about her paintings. "Oh, uh ... thank you. I do," she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out her smaller sketchpad. It was filled with sketches of people, such as Eden, herself, Gabe and her other friends, but also watercolour paintings of landscapes, classes, and situations. Very detailed. Packed full. Very good, if she did say so herself.

Michael wasn't at all perturbed by the thought of the tree being a male. "Well you can hardly blame it, can you?" He said giving her a model's pose but that didn't last long and he let out a mock gasp. "Doesn't like me? How could it not like me?" He was tempted to throw in a pout but thought that might be going too far.

He took the sketchpad out of her hands and looked at each of the drawings she had done. He was no artist but even he could see that she had talent."I like this one of the castle. It looks so real." He handed the sketchpad back to her.

"So am I forgiven yet for interrupting you?"

At his comment, she looked him over once again. There was no denying he was handsome, so his question was a reasonable one. Instead of agreeing, though, she raised an eyebrow, especially at the 'model pose'. "I don't know about that. I'd question its taste." Joking. He seemed like he was the type that could take a joke. "Perhaps it could have a problem with your ego? Or how you interrupt girls when when they are painting." Giving looks. Yes, she wasn't letting that go just yet.

Despite all this big talk, she still held her breathe awaiting his opinion of her work. She always got a little nervous when showing people her work. A lot of it was private, or subjective, but no artist likes being told negative things about their work, so when he spoke, she smiled. "Ah, thank you. It took me several day....a lot of hours...to complete it." It was one of the ones she'd worked on the longest.

"We'll see. Perhaps you could keep complimenting my work, see where that gets you."

Oh she was not going to let that go, was she? Michael merely laughed because he was not going to take her hint and leave either. So for now they were stuck with each other. "I don't have an ego." He tossed her a wink and just totally ignored the comment about him interrupting her. LA LA. He looked back over to the tree with a thoughtful expression. "You may be right there. I don't think I'm it's type. Green is not my colour."

And there was another smile. She was warming to him, Michael could tell. "Well all those hours definitely paid off." Maybe he could get her to design a tattoo for him sometime but he would until he had totally won her over before asking for favours.

Hahahaha. The girl was fun. "Hmm what if I said that I think your talented enough to show your work." He may not have the talent to paint or draw himself but the Manor he lived in contained famous paintings so he knew good work when he saw it.

She was having less of a problem with friends? Well....she supposed that she had made a few. "I suppose you are right." It was better than having only her cousins beforehand she figured.

She giggled a little when Adi stated obviously that he was right. The slightly older boy was very funny in her opinion and she saw why he and Henric got along. He mentioned that dragon's seemed to be Henric's favorite creatures and she smiled. "I don't play cards, but I do love dragons."

Whoa, she was the third person that he knew who wished to be a vet? That was rather interesting , but she supposed if you spoke about CoMC enough you were bound to meet a few folks aspiring to that right? "That is surprising, I haven't met anyone else who wishes to do that yet. Its nice to know its not just me." She giggled a little.

Would she check on hippogriffs?"Of course I will! Your Griffs, Henric's dragons........whatever creature magical or mundane I would love to help keep it safe and healthy." Ilia liked them all, every one of them. If she were to have any specialty, it would probably be things like dragons, hippogriffs, and thestrals. Whatever was considered dangerous or misunderstood....those would be the ones she wanted to take care of the most. The most feared sometimes needed the most love and fewer people were apt to do so.

Freya was happy that he took her thought into consideration. She often wondered if it were possible to learn toadanese. If she ever did, she would aspire to speak to Gus for him and see if he could in fact recite the toady alphabet. "I would love to talk to all of them. Wouldn't it be great if they made a potion or something for that?" She was sincere in this, how wonderful would it be to talk to all of the animals and help them feel better?"My aunt Lorelei speaks mermish so I know a few....'words'.....but that's about it so far." She laughed a little at the thought. Squeaking like that made her feel funny.

The branches seriously would swat and attack? Ilia watched Adi start flailing around her and she chuckled as she watched him. He was so energetic, it was a refreshing change. "Well the branches are its hands right? Maybe it wants to play or something? Did anyone ever ask it?" Probably not. Maybe that wasn't the case......unlikely.....but it was a thought.

Clara definitely wasn't letting it go, but she wouldn't bring it up again. Possibly. Okay, she probably would bring it up again, just not yet. He didn't have an ego? HAHAHA. Sure. "That wink and your .... attitude says otherwise, Michael," she said, smirking and shaking her head. She watched as the non-egotistical boy looked at the tree. "I wouldn't take it personally, green is not a lot of people's colour." It was her colour, but that wasn't the point.

It always felt good to receive compliments, especially when she could tell they were genuine.

Another smile from Clara. "Thank you."

She pretended to look thoughtful, tapping her chin. "Hmmm. Show my work where?" That was the important part. "I've never really .... shown people my art, unless they ask." Obviously her friends had seen plenty of it, but that was to be expected.

"Everyone loves dragons but Hippogriffs are the best!'' Adi said. He would tell anyone who would listen that. Hehe. The boy just felt completely at ease among the creatures. He didn't mind their fierce eyes or anything nor did he fear them. Everyone knew the trick was to be polite and say nice things to the Griffs and Adi always had nice stuff to say to persons or creatures. So yeah, it all worked out pretty well.

"There's my girlfriend AJ and my friend from Slytherin Hady.'' Adi had only just found out about Hady and her ambitions actually. "Met either of them, Ilia?" If not, Adi would only be too happy to introduce them to each other. Yaaaay! She would help keep Hippogriffs happy and healthy! "I'll have a TEAM of vets then.'' Adi LOVED this idea. A team of vets... headed by AJ of course. The girlfriend must be in charge. He wanted that. "So, Henny's going to be having Dragons too, huh?'' The Puffer' eyes glinted. Maybe he could get Henric his first dragon tooooo. Henric was such an awesome friend for putting up with Adi's constant teasing.

Adi tilted his head at Ilia. "Potions is my second best subject...'' he told her. Already his brain was working, thinking that maybe he could speak to Culloden or Lux about such a potion. "Even if we could have a potion to speak to one animal for now.'' Start off small and then go big. YEAH! He would totally ask Lux about this. "That's cool. All I know is rbbitribbitribbitcroakcroak!''

The Puffer stopped his monkeying about to survey his new friend. "Hmmm. I never thought about that. I seriously doubt anyone did too otherwise everyone would have known about how to make friends with the Willow.'' He eyed Ilia. "I bet you want to go ask it right now.'' Wasn't he right, Ilia?