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Whomping Willow https://i.postimg.cc/FsrpPKnd/whompi...low-banner.jpg The Whomping Willow is a valuable but extremely violent magical plant that has been on the grounds of Hogwarts since 1971. Beneath, it hides the Shrieking Shack and if you locate the little knot that makes the tree still you might find your way there, if you dare. |
lawra/jó It was the first weekend after classes had officially started up again and Nina Castillo had once again found herself in need of fresh air. Or more truthfully, in need of a shady lookout spot where she could watch the boys play fútbol, while she not-so-casually watched. It was tradition. It was also why she was walking towards the Whomping Willow, with a rolled-towel wedged underneath her arm, sandals on her feet, and over-sized sunnies sat on her head. Why she hadn't ever chosen this tree for her look-out point was absolutely peculiar! It was perfect. It's long arms provided plenty of shade and it's rather large trunk would be a useful backing. Did she have any idea that this tree was the Whomping Willow? Absolutely not. It hadn't begun thrashing about yet. |
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Today, though, he didn't have his broom with him. He was just wandering around, hoping he'd find something fascinating or find one of his friends. And it seemed that luck was on Józef's side because up ahead was none other than Nina. Niiiiina. SIGH. She was even pretty from behind. But maybe luck was actually on her side that day - a frown crossed Józef's face as he saw her heading DIRECTLY FOR THE WHOMPING WILLOW. Was she CRAZY?! "NINA," he shouted across the grounds, setting off at a run towards her. When he reached her, he grabbed her arm and tugged her backwards, hopefully not surprising her too much. He HAD shouted in advance. |
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In the time it took her to locate where the voice had come from, Józef had already grabbed her arm, tugging her backwards. Um. What was going on? She gave him a wide-eye look in confusion and while he had given her somewhat of a warning, she was still rather startled from the sudden pulling. "Uh, Józef?" Make that VERY confused. |
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"You- you can't.... The tree." When he was finally sure they were a safe distance away, he allowed his hold on Nina's arm to loosen and took a moment to try and formulate a sentence. "You don't want to go near the Whomping Willow, Nina!" Jó said, glancing over at the tree and hoping something would disturb it so he didn't look like a crazy person. |
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The Whomping Willow. How could she have been so careless?! Of course she hadn't ever had an experience with the tree before, but she knew enough about the castle to know that it existed somewhere on the grounds. Evidently she hadn't ever stumbled upon it until now. Her eyes grew big in, at first, shock before shifting to a look of absolute gratefulness. "Józef, you saved my life?" It came out as more of a statement rather than a question. "How can I ever repay you?" Words she didn't often put out into the universe as they often begged for unwanted favors. Her whole body trembled at the thought that something could have happened if she had stepped any further towards the tree. |
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Well, if she really believed that, then who was he to deny it? It was true, as well - she was tiny and that beast of a tree would have ripped her to pieces. The thought made him shudder. Puffing his chest out a little, and trying to act a little more bashful than he felt (without realising, of course, that the too actions were completely juxtaposed), Jó smiled at her. "Yeah, I guess I did." Looking over her, to make sure she was okay, he thought on her question for a moment. "Oh, you don't need to..." |
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He actually saved her life. ..... If her words didn't reflect her appreciation, her eyes were definitely the giveaway. Even her usual pout had been all-too-quickly replaced with a warm, gentle smile. She could have actually died. Typically something such as this would have been a complete dramatization, but his actions quite literally saved her. If it weren't for his heroic actions, her face could have had permanent damage. "I could kiss you right now," because he had saved her life, but also because he was very cute. She wouldn't insist on owing him a favor though, despite how thankful she genuinely was. If he was willing to pass on the offer, then who was she to offer again? Being indebted to someone was not something Nina Castillo took lightly. She'd rather not toddle into that category at all, thank you very much. And so, if he didn't want it. Then the offer was off the table. Life saving or not. |
Separated from their fellows, another group of Acromantulas scurried as fast as fast as they could, away, away, away from the forest. Two were much larger, a dozen more were small, they were the younglings of the forest-dwelling spiders, and it was clear that the two larger spiders were herding the younger ones, hurrying them, hustling them. "Quickly younglings, quickly!" The larger of the grown Acromantulas circled back around behind the fleeing smaller spiders, all of which were still at least the size of a human dinner plate. One got a little close to the wild tree and was pulped suddenly by a whomp from its branches. But the Acromantulas did not stop, though several of them shrieked in fear and sadness. They would mourn later. |
It took absolutely no amount of proximity for the man’s skin to begin to crawl. The direction he approached the willow put him just diagonal to the direction the spiders were heading. From where he stood still a ways off from the tree, it was difficult to see if there were any students close by and with the commotion and screams to keep moving—along with that irrational fear creeping up and numbing about all his senses—it was hard for him to make out specific voices. In the moment, the best he could do was try his hardest not to pee his pants, remember his breathing, and try to take some charge of the situation. How he planned to take care of an essentially stampeding herd of acromantulas was another story entirely, one he was still trying to figure out. For the first few seconds his throat seemed to close and try as he might, he couldn’t get the necessary words out. Wonderful start this was. Eventually he managed to raise his hands, waving and trying to signal the larger creatures leading the charge to a halt while prayers to not be eaten rang through his head. |
Why was this human interfering? Sertag came to a stop, towering over the waving man. "Do not interfere, human! We must away!" She rasped harshly. Though she had stopped in front of him, the acromantula was not still, her segmented legs skittering nervously on the spot. The other larger acromantula clicked her pincers threateningly but it was clear that she too was unnerved, and did not stop, instead continuing to herd the smaller ones away away away, they did not even stop to eat the corpse of the lost small one. |
In an instant his entire life, Kale's entire life, little Mavis's entire life and even the parts of Tally's life that he didn't know flashed before his eyes. It all happened the moment one acromantula did stop and proceeded to tower over him. Were he less nervous, he may have realized how nervous she and indeed the entire herd were but no, Malachi was effectively trying to minimize the shaking in his boots and fighting the way his head began to feel light. Focus, Trent. This was important. The Headmaster took several steps back to recreate even a little distance between him and the skittish, overgrown spider. "Away?" He looked to the forest off in the distance. He supposed he could now rule out the wishful thinking that they'd been the driving force behind everything else evacuating the forest. Not a comforting thought at all considering it meant there was something in there that scared even the acromantulas. Suffice to say the man did not want to know what had them spooked--but he had to find out. "Away from what? What's in there? Where are you going?" The questions all tumbled from his lips in hastened fashion, a nervous reaction to this entire situation. |
"Away from danger! Danger in the mist!" Sertag's pincers chittered and clicked loudly, and the poison secretions dripped to the grass below her. She reared up, her front legs waving, towering high above the human. But the threat display from the acromantula didn't last, the drive to run, to escape with the younglings, the fear was too great. Even the temptation of easy human flesh was not enough for her to linger another moment. "Move aside human, or perish!" |
Mist? What? Malachi had been about to brave his nerves to ask for more info when the creature reared up and the man truly had several heart attacks at once. He staggered back quickly with a yelp that he couldn't pass off as manly even on his best of days. The staggering led to stumbling and a whole lot of hand raising in open surrender. Wand? What was that? Magic? Who could do it? These were spiders, large ones at that. All common sense went out the door. "Go! Go go go! Go! I don't wanna st--you can go--not the castle please." Manliest. Headmaster. Ever. Complemented perfectly by the cracking in his voice as he urged them on and away and hopefully not toward the castle because there were still students inside and these things...y'know....A T E people. Just breathe Malachi, just breathe. "B-Best get far away. Holes all over the castle. Mist would seep in like nothing." Just fyi, in case they were getting any ideas. |
The human was wasting her time. She clicked in angry fear and instead of answering, she LOOMED OVER him...… but continued on, a few drops of her poison dripping from her in her wake. NOT toward the castle at all, but towards the gate. And away. |
The next few seconds happened very quickly. In a flash he was fully on his back, heart pounding furiously in his chest while the acromantula loomed over him once more. He thought for sure he was done for, so sure that all his muscles tensed and he was rendered of no use to himself. His mind went black as if the light bulb in there had suddenly blown a fuse. It wasn't until she had long since stepped over him and gone to rejoin her herd that Malachi realized she hadn't devoured him in a few, less than delicate bites. Even now knowing he had "survived" the man remained on the ground. The danger may have passed but his muscles and the rest of him hadn't quite gotten the message. All he could think of was snapping pincers, many eyes, legs for days. The images played over and over in his head. It was very likely he'd gone into shock and unlikely he'd be going anywhere any time soon. |
hi headmaster lol So...the thing was that Eiji Rasting was not only an opportunist but he was also a believer in letting nothing go to waste. He was also a particular snob when it came to the ingredients he used for his Potions brews, anything store bought and not collect by his own hand usually going to his little sister or utilized in procedures he knew he would fail due to their complexity. A bit of an ingredients purist, if you will, along with favoring organic over generic and over the counter phials found in Diagon Alley and the like. So it was that Eiji was making his rounds around the Hogwarts grounds during his usual collection periods. Something he enjoyed all the more considering the advantages the new Arithmancy professor had gifted him with this new numer...whatever that terribly long-winded term had been. Being able to see and distinguish higher quality ingredients before picking and collecting? It was like Christmas morning every time his phials ran empty. But nothing could have prepared him for today's find: the smushed remains of an acromantula. Just HOW often could one just so happen to stumble upon fresh ingredients like this?! Eiji had only seen the Whomping Willow move from a distance - he had been on the other side of the grounds collecting some bark and wild flowers - and seeing as there had been no human screeching he could only assume that a bird or some other unfortunate creature had fallen victim to the tree's trashing. Seeing acromantula legs sticking out at odd angles had not been what he had expected. Nor had the flopped over appearance of the headmaster. ....was there a strange moss covered rock around here somewhere or something? No matter... ....seeing as Headmaster Trent was, according to the rapid rising and falling of his chest, still very much alive and the acromantla clearly not going to be needing any of, well, that...the fourth year carefully crept closer and removed a few phials from his pocket to collect what bits he could. You know, for educational purposes. A phial of leg hairs...and...had this one been grown enough to produce venom? Eiji leaned a bit closer to see if there was anything to collect on that front as well. |
Normally Nettie wouldn't be out here at this time, running in the cold, but she was running because she had overslept and was LATE to practice. Like, SUPER late. OOPS. The captain was going to kill her. She deserved it, though, staying up late reading with her wand lighting up the pages under her covers. It was her own fault. She paused, though, as she ran by the Willow and noticed...people gathered around it. Well, two people it looked like - it was hard to tell from this distance. Still, Nettie was never one to pass by a situation where she might be able to stick her nose in someone else's business. Thoughts of Quidditch instantly vanished as she jogged carefully over to the large murder tree, wondering what she might wander upon. It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to recognize the back of that head - Eiji. Naturally, her steps quickened. "Eiji? What are you..." her voice trailed off as her eyes fell upon the smashed acromantula on the ground. She'd heard of those giant man eating spiders in the forest, but had never actually SEEN one. In fact, the only thing keeping her from passing out in a dead faint (because of COURSE she would faint AGAIN around Eiji, just her luck) was the fact that it had been smashed in to oblivion. It was of no threat to her dead, although her heart still felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest. "Is that...?" she asked with wide eyes, even though she KNEW the answer. In fact, she knew she shouldn't be surprised at all that Eiji was currently leaning over it, harvesting Merlin knows what from the corpse for his potions ingredient collection. That was when she remembered they weren't alone - the Headmaster was there too, on the ground, looking like he had just seen a ghost! "EIJI! The Headmaster!" she exclaimed with just a BIT of a scolding tone of voice as she ran over to him. She had no doubt that Eiji had SEEN him and just chosen to ignore him over potions ingredients. Internal eye roll. She knelt down over Trent with wide eyes. "Headmaster! Are you ok?! Should I go call someone?" she asked. She had been practicing her patronus charms but she doubted she could conjure one strong enough to bring a message to anyone...she couldn't even get it to form a definitive shape... |
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She wanted to kiss him?! Was that what she'd said? That was indeed what he'd heard. And so, once he'd composed himself (shut his mouth and made sure his eyes weren't massively wide like they had been a second ago), Jó ran a hand through his hair and grinned. Because of course she wanted to kiss him. Not only was he the most ridiculously cool and good looking future Quidditch star, he was also the saver of her LIFE. "You can definitely do that. If you really want to," he said with a grin. |
SPOILER!!: Eiji and Nettie ^^ He didn't notice the approach of the young Slytherin...or rather....he did notice but not in the same way he would have if he was back in his correct mind. Right now nothing made sense to him and just when he thought he'd forced the images from his mind, they came crashing back with haunting force. Such big pincers. Such angry, uncaring eyes. The lot of them. There were so many. The blood pumping through his veins went ice cold. Then he heard yelling. Something about the Headmaster. Yes! Protect the Headmaster! Call for help! Get the man somewhere safe from those vicious--wait...wait. HE was the Headmaster. Right. Of course. That sounded accurate. Malachi blinked a few times, trying to focus on Gladin and her words but even now his skin was crawling uncomfortably and his chest heaved hard. In an instant, the man went from being fully subdued in a daze to suddenly wide eyed and terrified. His mind had travelled back by a few minutes and he could once again see the spiders even as he saw the students. "Ruuunnn! We gotta get out of here! Spiders! Spiders spiders spiders!" The Headmaster shot up quickly, immediately grabbing Gladin by the wrist and turning to Rasting. "We gotta get out of here, now! Let's get moving! They could be back at any second! We're all in bloody danger!!!" P A N I C. |
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But she was very much aware, for the record. And she really liked it. And so she grinned at him before kissing him on the cheek. Just to see what he would do. Because she had meant an actual kiss, he did save her life he deserved all of the kisses. But teasing was also too good an opportunity to pass up. |
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"Is that it?" The words slipped out before the fourteen year old realised just what exactly he had said. "I just mean...." How did he go about this and remain cool? Obvious he was cool and that helped, but!!!! Merlin. "Well, I thought being your hero deserved a bit more than a cheek kiss." |
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With widened eyes she replied, "Oh! I wasn't sure if you'd want a real kiss..." She averted her eyes, moving her gaze to the ground (though this didn't last for more than a few seconds as she very much did want to see his face). Józef was very cute, but he was even cuter when he floundered about like this. Besides, how was she meant to pass up the opportunity? |
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Józef had asked the question when he'd first seen her, and now he was asking it once again. The first time, when she hadn't vanished from the school, it had been an easy answer. But now?!?!?! His eyes widened a little more, before he struggled to regain his cool. Which was done with a quick scratch of the back of his neck. Once his features had settled back into a smile, he said, "Why in the name of Merlin's pants wouldn't I want to kiss you? "Have you met you?" |
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His words put a smile on her face, and his question kept it there. "Józef... Do you think I'm pretty?" She just had to make sure. Before she kissed him. Because she had promised him a kiss, she'd definitely kiss him. A kiss for her hero. The boy who had saved her life from a tree that would have probably killed her. Or would have ruined her face, in which case she would rather have died. Her life-saver. And so she took a step forward, towards him so that she could do just that. |
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