Perhaps his confidence on the matter was unwarranted, but Derf just had a good feeling about the Whomping Willow this term. Maybe it was the whole becoming a Home Tree for Picketta that made him feel a special kind of connection to trees in general. It was naive and fantastical, but the thirteen-year-old had never really been one for practicality.

Approaching the tree with caution, he recalled the manner in which all the IMPS champions had in the second task where...er...well...it hadn't actually been the Willow so who was to say their tactics actually worked in real life? It all made the little Hufflepuff spiral because did that all mean that each champion had dreamed up how difficult things were? How did that work? How did they score that if one champion's subconscious made things a cake walk while others made it like...SUPER hard?

Distracted by these thoughts and spiraling down the rabbit hole of Derf-logic, the Hufflepuff continued to stroll casually towards the historic tree in a bit of a distracted daze.

Dahlia's exploration of the grounds and castle had brought her to the big tree she'd heard about from her fellow students. She'd bombarded them with so many questions, they were probably getting sick of her, but she just found everything so amazing, that she wanted to soak up ALL THE INFORMATION.

But this tree intrigued her. In her real life at home, all the ones in their garden just blew in the breeze. None of them had a life of their own, and certainly were not prone to trying to kill people. Not unless a storm happened to blown down a branch on a poor passerby. So the idea of one that swung about and was waiting to crush you, caught her attention.

And here she was, approaching it with caution and staying at a very great distance, as she watched the branches thrash and shake. Quite fast in actual fact. Movement that wasn't tree caught her attention a little further down the track, and she gasped as she saw a boy getting closer to it, seemingly unaware that a really large branch was on it's way towards him.

Picking up the bottom of her robes, Dahlia ran as fast as her legs would take her, trying to catch up with him before he got too close. With a loud scream, she lunged for him, attempting to rugby tackle him to the ground.

"DON'T DO IIIIIIIIT, YOU'LL DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"

A tad over dramatic perhaps, but she'd never had to save a life before.

Flynn had some free time before his gobstones meeting later, so with his bag of popcorn in hand, he walked down to the Whomping Willow. It was still early in the school year, so he hoped that he would get a few laughs from the younger students messing around with the tree.

He picked a spot far enough where none of the branches could hit him and made himself comfortable while munching his popcorn.

Let the amusement commence.

Patrick was still trying to get the lay of the land around the castle. He still wasn't completely sure where all of the grounds ended and out of bounds areas began but he figured he'd know when he found those areas. He walked out past other students and saw a guy eating popcorn. He looked out and realized that the other guy was likely watching the people walk up to the tree.

He was trying to pull up why the tree looked like a bad idea. He swore his mother had told him something about the tree. Patrick ran his hand through his hair to get the shag out of his face. He walked toward the other guy, "Uh, so what's the tree again?" He stayed standing just in case he didn't need to be there, "Oh, never mind, its the whomping willow isn't it?"

................

one of them found him.

Flynn knew by the before puberty voice that it was a much younger boy talking to him, and when he turned to see who it was - oh! It was brownie-stained shirt boy from the common room. He immediately looked to see if his shirt was still stained before looking back up. Clean, as he hoped and as it should be. If anything was worse than a first year, it was messy first years.

"It is," he replied with a straight face. "I don't know what you heard about this tree, but it's very friendly, especially towards first years." Aha! Hahaha!

The sarcasm was dripping in his voice as he told him the tree was friendly. "Yeah," he paused trying not to snark, he'd always been told it was rude. No one liked a snark. It was like his brother had just teased him, "it obviously just wanted to give that first year a hug." Eyes rolling in their sockets so hard they might have rolled out made him snap back to the guy sitting on the ground.

"I'll be sure," He stopped, not wanting to be a snarky individual any further than he had to be. what he really wanted to say was I'm sure it's so nice since you have popcorn. Although, this guy had a look that screamed he ruled the school.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to get to know him. He supposed that the guy was making him stick to his guns instead of being polite like his mother made him.

Darn.

Flynn had been hoping this was a not-so-smart first year, but it seemed like the little boy knew some things about the castle. Oh, this boy was also snarky and sarcastic. It was already obvious he had been sorted into the right house. "A big ol' hug," he corrected the boy. "It can also break your bones too, I guess, but it only attacks Hufflepuffs." An annoying, know-it-all Ravenclaws.

He could not help but smirk at his own words.

"What's your name again?" He asked, even though he knew he would forget by the end of the day.

Patrick looked back down at him, "Patrick, and you are?" he asked looking back over at the tree's swaying branches. Only at the current moment it wasn't flailing around like it so often did when a person approached it. This guy seemed to know a lot, or at least be someone who appeared like it, those kinds of people were good to stick by when you might need a favor, or advice.

Flynn did not immediately response to the boy's question; instead, his eyes gazed back over to the tree, watching the branches move. He was still really hoping that someone would do something stupid so his trip down here (with his cooked popcorn!) was not a wasted trip.

Maybe he was too late though.

Maybe all the stupid first year stuff already happened without him.

That thought disappointed him, and he looked back over at Patrick. "Flynn," he finally answered. "Kowalski." Was he going to leave anytime soon? Because small talk was not his thing. Neither was talking to first years but hey, he got points for talking this long to Patrick, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeredithRodneyMckay

Dahlia's exploration of the grounds and castle had brought her to the big tree she'd heard about from her fellow students. She'd bombarded them with so many questions, they were probably getting sick of her, but she just found everything so amazing, that she wanted to soak up ALL THE INFORMATION.

But this tree intrigued her. In her real life at home, all the ones in their garden just blew in the breeze. None of them had a life of their own, and certainly were not prone to trying to kill people. Not unless a storm happened to blown down a branch on a poor passerby. So the idea of one that swung about and was waiting to crush you, caught her attention.

And here she was, approaching it with caution and staying at a very great distance, as she watched the branches thrash and shake. Quite fast in actual fact. Movement that wasn't tree caught her attention a little further down the track, and she gasped as she saw a boy getting closer to it, seemingly unaware that a really large branch was on it's way towards him.

Picking up the bottom of her robes, Dahlia ran as fast as her legs would take her, trying to catch up with him before he got too close. With a loud scream, she lunged for him, attempting to rugby tackle him to the ground.

"DON'T DO IIIIIIIIT, YOU'LL DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"

A tad over dramatic perhaps, but she'd never had to save a life before.

The branches had not looked THIS thick on the viewing screen last term...nor as menacing really. In fact the Whomping Willow had seemed mostly tame to the Hufflepuff when compared to the image he had had of the tree previously. Although his vibe from it had come with how much his mum adored it like she adored flesh eaters so that really, well, it left very little to the imagination now, didn't it?

He still had a decent distance between the actual tree and himself - maybe still out of the range of the branches should it decide to animate itself but this thought was FAR from the third year's mind when something struck him with a surprising force and knocked him to the ground. While the reality was one thing, the Hufflepuff's mind went into overdrive and of course ridiculous assumptions were being made. Namely that the Whomping Willow was moving and had struck him down FROM BEHIND.

Also the unfortunate coincidence in that all he heard was the YOU'LL DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!!!!! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

She probably didn't need to shout, as they were both laying very close to each other, but her heartbeat was rushing in her ears and making her a bit deaf. As a large branch swung overhead, she rolled onto her front and commando crawled across the grass, tugging at Derf's leg to get him to follow her. The sooner they got away from the tree the better. She hadn't been a witch for very long, she had no wish to die at the hands of a tree.

When she was sure she was a safe distance, she stood up, brushing herself down and picking bits of twig out of her hair. "What are you doing?! Are you trying to injure yourself? This thing is dangerous!" If he didn't already know that, which considering he wasn't a first year like her, he probably did. But that fact made it all the weirder that he was choosing to walk into the path of destruction. "I don't want any Hufflepuff's to die!" Because that would just be such a bad start to term.

Patrick looked him over once more before glancing back up at the commotion near the tree. He could sense that he was beginning to get less and less from Flynn. Maybe he would see him around the castle, but for now he was looking to go find food and it didn't look like Flynn would do any sharing anytime soon. "Glad to meet you Flynn, I'm sure I'll see you around soon." He turned to head back to the castle in search of food hoping that not being annoying earned him points with the cool older student.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeredithRodneyMckay

"OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!!!!! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

She probably didn't need to shout, as they were both laying very close to each other, but her heartbeat was rushing in her ears and making her a bit deaf. As a large branch swung overhead, she rolled onto her front and commando crawled across the grass, tugging at Derf's leg to get him to follow her. The sooner they got away from the tree the better. She hadn't been a witch for very long, she had no wish to die at the hands of a tree.

When she was sure she was a safe distance, she stood up, brushing herself down and picking bits of twig out of her hair. "What are you doing?! Are you trying to injure yourself? This thing is dangerous!" If he didn't already know that, which considering he wasn't a first year like her, he probably did. But that fact made it all the weirder that he was choosing to walk into the path of destruction. "I don't want any Hufflepuff's to die!" Because that would just be such a bad start to term.

Flashes. There were flashes back to first year again which left the Hufflepuff paralyzed on the spot. Thankfully for him and unbeknownst to the first year, her tug on his leg was just enough to switch on his flight instincts and make him roll on to his stomach to army crawl along after her. Although he really wasn't sure WHY he was...but seemed as good a plan as anything with they were apparently knocking on Death's door.

"I...uuuuuuuuuuh..." he stammered, still very much processing what all was happening around him. "I don't...really remember..." It was an honest response, shock and some relapsing into helpless fear washing his mind blank of previous intent. Although he did snap out of it a little bit, enough to hold a proper conversation of sorts with the girl at least. "I know it's dangerous. It's also sentient, too. Mum told me loads of stories about it. She used to teach Herbology here...and her and the tree got along alright." Or, well, he hadn't heard otherwise and HAD heard that a former Headmistress and the tree had sort of had a love affair or something. Affectionate leaves or whatever.

Even he knew that his explanation was lacking - hence his hands immediately going into his hair and ruffling it.

What a Horrible situation.

Stupid, dumb, cold winter winds. Took his Homework and blew them off in the direction. Simon attempted to give chase to the papers flying with the breeze as best he could. Bundled up in his finest Winter Robe. his Hufflepuff scarf covering him from his nose down to his neck. trudging through the snow trying to find pre-made stamps in the snow where he could so not to get snow down into his socks and nicely polished shoes. Which of course was a failure. Poor Clothes he would have to see that the Elves would do his Laundry once more when he came indoors and got his homework back, if he could get it back.

He stopped instantly when he realized where the winds had taken him. The Whomping Willow. and such a shame. The Tree had claimed his homework. He parted his scarf where his lips were and used his inhaler briefly to regain his breath.

Ah well. Guess he just didn't do his homework then. Simon wasn't going to trouble himself with redoing all the hard work all over again.

Zoryn Amari Spinnet made her way to the Whomping Willow with a rather large box in hand. In fact, the Gryffindor was here to do the same thing Simon was doing, only she was going to do it on purpose. At first, the third year didn't even notice her friend because she was so busy focusing on balling up her homework assignments and throwing them at the tree. It was only when she turned to grab another piece when she saw him there losing his own homework to the tree's wild branches.

"YOOOOOOOOO, SIMON!!!!!" She hollered at him from a little ways away. "You feeding your homework to the willow too!?!?!?"

Talk about a coincidence!!!

"It's favorite is History of Magic, by the way. I've tested it," she reassured the boy 'cause he looked like he was stressed (nothing out of the usual). "What's that thing for?" She pointed at his inhaler. Simon and his inhaler were like two peas in a pod. You'd never get one without the other, though Zoryn wasn't really sure why he needed it ALL the time.

There was enough air outside, right?! The inhaler was soooorta useless out here. Just sayin.

"AH AH!" Simon as per usual was rather startled when anyone would just blurt out greetings toward him. "Oh, Zoryn. Um...no not intentionally. I lost grip of it and it flew away from me." Wait...was she? She was!! The Gryffindor was just balling up papers and tossing it at the Tree herself. He wasn't surprised by this.

"Well consider it lucky because that's what it's whomping at right now." and boy was that Willow whomping those papers pretty ruthlessly. She might be onto something about History of Magic.

He looked at her pretty confused? Hadn't she seen him use this all the time. Since his 2nd Year it was wrapped around his neck at all times.
Simon held up the teal encased inhaler and showed it off to her. "It's my inhaler. I use it when I can't breathe properly." You must have seen him at one of his worst.

Zoryn always got a kick out of startling Simon. He was just SO jumpy, it was HIlarious!!!! "Oh. How come you brought your homework outside, anyway? Sounds like a pretty bad idea." Thank you, Capitan Obvious. HA. "'Specially next to this tree, dude," she was trying to be SUPER helpful. Incase he wasn't already aware that he made a mistake, now he knew. You're welcome, Simon!!!

"But there's SO much air outside?" whut. She blinked. A few times. Maybe seven. "How come you can't breathe???" Outside was probably the EASIEST place to breathe, she thought. Isn't that how it works? You breathe more air when you're outside because there's more air outside? She was such a professional. What science. So much wow.

Someone should put a bell around her collar so Simon could hear her coming from every direction. "No I...", he muttered "I wasn't...", he said "The Homework", Simon spoke "I was", what was he even trying to say!?!? "I was coming from the Greenhouses with homework. I just I don't know didn't put all the way into my bag I guess." The Hufflepuff shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't start at the tree it blew this way over" using his hands to gesture where he came from and how the wind took his papers from him.

He took his thumb and forefinger rubbing the bridge of his nose under his glasses. "I know." He can he explain this to Zoryn. "I have trouble breathing all that Air because of my Body. It's....Um it's got nothing to do with all the Air out here." Did that Help.
Such Explain. Much Wow

"No offense, Simon," the Gryffindor began. "But you're not makin a whole lotta sense." She nodded LOTS. He was tripping all over his words, poor boy. He'd never make it big time on the big screen. "What do you wanna do when you grow up?" 'Cause he definitely would NOT make it in acting, just sayin. You had to be able to form coherent sentences if you were trying to deliver prewritten lines. Mhm.

"Oh," was all she said in response to his lackluster explanation that really didn't explain much of anything at all.

Zoryn didn't get it.

"Can you fix it with magic?" Couldn't magic do, like, EVERYTHING?

Worth a shot. At least Z thought so.

Simon blinked a few times unsure if he was shocked or insulted or confused or..."I'm trying to. I don't know how to keep up." Wait what did he want to be when he grew up? Um...he never really thought much about it. When Mr.Rockefeller adopted him he was told that he would inherit the fortune. "I guess I would continue doing what Mr.Rockefeller is doing. He owns the Wigtown Wanderers and ummm I guess I can put the Money to good causes like he does?" but not Radio Talk shows. Nope Simon wasn't gonna do that. He didn't have the Charisma like his Adoptive Father did. He was no Renaissance Man like him, being an Auror was way out of the Question then too.


He nodded.


"We can prevent it with magic but can't stop it. Not yet I don't think. The Healer has a potion that turns to a vapor when I get really bad episodes, but he keeps it." It wasn't needed in a long while since his first term. "He told me I need to swim a lot to make my lungs stronger and I think that helps a little. I have this cool Pool outside of where I live."

He felt really awkward talking about himself. "Do you want help throwing your History of Magic papers at the tree?"

“That’s okay!” She wasn’t judging him or anything, just pointing out facts. Zoryn Spinnet did that often, said things that were probably better kept to herself. But Simon was her friend and she wasn’t mad that he wasn’t make any sense. He normally wasn’t tbh. That’s why Zoryn always ignored his protests and dragged him into whatever adventure sat there calling their name. It was her duty not only as his friend, but also as someone who didn’t understand a single word he was saying. That’s the price you’ve got to pay when you ramble. Mhm. It was only fair.

And then he went ahead and said that. That which also made no sense. He really needed to work on this stuff. “Okay, first of all Simon, that plan doesn’t sound like a whole lotta fun. Do YOU want to own the Wiggyjiggy Wanderers? OR does MR. ROCKEFELLER want you to?” Simon Middlename Surname was a THIRD year. He had to be thinking about his future. It was HIGHLY relevant right now.

“Second of all, how come you always call him Mr. Rockefeller?” Couldn’t Simon just call him something normal? Like, uh, ‘Dad’ or something? Just sayin. Mr. Rockefeller sounded like an evil cartoon character and not like someone she wanted her friend to be working for in the future.

Her response to all the asthma stuff was a big, ol’ “Oh.” Mostly because her mind was no preoccupied with other thoughts and also because she didn’t care that much. She only snapped back into attentiveness at the mention of a pool. “WHAT?” She FROWNED. “And you never invited me over to swim with you!?!?” What the heck!?! What was the point of having friends who owned pools if they never even had you over to swim!? Speaking of which, “I think Professor Hirsch is hiding a swimming pool in his office and we should go sneak into it sometime.” And Simon had to agree since his lungs depended on it. Healer’s orders, y’know?

“Sure! You can take these ones!” She quickly halved her little stack and handed it to the Hufflepuff. “You gotta try ’n aim for it’s tallest branch. First one to hit that one WINS!”

"It is!?" Is it really!? Simon had trouble believing Zoryn since she seemed to be second guessing just about every other word that escaped his lips since she ran into him. Simon seemed to be paying dearly for keeping Zoryn as a friend, which he was absolutely okay with since he needed her. He didn't have many friends like her that kept him on his toes. Sacrificing his well-being for the sake of Friendship seemed good...right? That's not toxic at all. No seriously, unless Zoryn was actively seeking to push him into harms way for EVIL purposes he would have bolted the second she appeared here. So nope. He'll stick around with Zoryn.

There see! She second guess his answer!!
"But I want to. Since Mr. Rock...My Dad adopted me I fell in love with the idea. I even get to hang out with the Players sometimes." Wait...."It's Wigtown, Zoryn. Wigtown"How would she get Wiggyjiggy from that? "Um...I just call him that. He's okay with it too. I tried calling him Dad and it just felt weird for the two of us. He's still my father figure and stuff." He nodded standing by his answer. "I can do a lot of good with the fortune. We...he...I..okay well he did it for me, but Mr.Rockefeller started a Charity after I brought an idea to him. It's already helping some too."

Ah he knew was trying to get his Friends over for a pool party for a long while now. It's just been hard to get everyone together he knows under one roof for one day in August. He didn't want to leave anyone out. "I'll try. I will I want to have a pool party."

"What no Way!" Professor Hirsch? Really!? "Why would he have a Pool in his office?" he refused to acknowledge the idea of sneaking into the office because 1) he was probably going to be roped into it regardless 2) maybe if he didn't say anything she'll forget about it and move on.

Having a bundle of papers handed to him Simon took one and crumpled it up real good into a ball. "Remember I said I hang out with the Wanderer's. I've got a great arm." though he doesn't get to use it often because of his health. He usually gets 4 or 5 good tosses in before loosing his composure and needing his inhaler. "You go first Zoryn."

“Are you doubting me, Simon?” She gave him a funny LOOK. ‘Cause of course it was okay. Simon was really weird, but if Zoryn didn’t wanna be his friend she had no trouble making that clear. It’s why she didn’t ever give Isa much of her time. Zor knew you had to be selective with the people you surrounded yourself and for some reason or another, Simon was in.

Zor wasn’t second guessing him, she was just surprised. Sort of. Okay, she was definitely doubting him, but for good reason!!! “Okay, okay,” she was veeeeery skeptical. “Do you even like Quidditch?” He didn’t seem like the type tbh. “What do you wanna do with all the money?” Zoryn was gonna be rich too, but she was gonna be famous. And you can’t get bored when you’re famous. If Simon was just gonna be rich then he’d definitely need some hobbies. Just sayin.

“‘Cause he’s way cooler than all the other Professors,” it was a fact and apparently the main reason why he definitely had a pool. And there was only one way to find out right? And Simon was right, he was most definitely being dragged into it regardless and Zoryn would definitely not forgot. Sorry not sorry. Xoxo.

“Then we should bet on something!” She BEAMED. “How about….. Loser has to stand on a table in the Great Hall and dance for ONE WHOLE MINUTE!?!” It was perfect and Zoryn would TOTALLY go first once he agreed to raise the stakes.

"No no...I'm not doubting you. I'm just, surprised." Yeah that's it surprised. Nothing else. Nada Zilch Nothing. Simon was gonna be cool around Zoryn because Zoryn was Cool.
Simple Really.

Yeah. 'Okay Okay' he was getting somewhere now. Or at least he thought he was. "I Do. I like it a lot. I can't really play it, but I enjoy the game a ton." What did he want to do with the Money? "I wanna do good with it. I already kind of am doing good with it. I hope" He added 'I Hope' at the end of it, because he was too sure how the New Charity was doing. That was all Mr.Rockefeller's work right there after and stuff.

"Right...right I know he's cool. Everyone says so. I think so too."Yeah well, Professor Hirsch sorta saved him so. That was a notch on the Cool side of Simon's Cool/Uncool Mental Board of Coolness. We Cool. "So are you saying we should go to it?" Wait No! "I mean we should do this first!" Pointing at the Whomping Willow aggressively trying to keep her thoughts away from what he just said.

He nodded frantically in agreement. "One Minute. Got it. Dancing. Fools. Totally game for that." His rushing to get this started before she just dragged him to Merlin knows for New Adventure was very apparent.