"Whoa."

Emm stood (at a relatively safe distance) by the large tree that she had seen in the distance. She was still making her rounds, going around the castle trying to learn everywhere she could. In truth, it was Artemis who spotted the tree first. It caught his attention when she'd thrown him up into the air. For a dragon, he was awful reluctant to fly.

Even now, the arm-lengthed toy baby dragon wiggled and waddled in and out and through her legs while she stood taking in the violent tree.

Someone back in Transfiguration told her they'd seen the tree swat a bird clear out of the sky. If she waited long enough, maybe she'd get to see something smacked right out of its senses, too.

A girl could hope.

Ashley wanted to draw the whomping willow. On paper, for once. She approached the tree and started to draw from a safe distance away. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see another first year. She knew her of course, she had seen her being dramatic in the hospital wing, and being irritated in the cauldron shop. She was pretty sure that dragon she was holding was the source of a certain sixth years infected scratches. She didn't know for sure, but she saw his face and heard the story and now here was a first year with a dragon that had claws that matched the marks on his face. She put two and two together real quick. Consequently, no way was she going over there. She didn't wanna talk to Emmerson, and she didn't wanna go near that dragon either. In fact, she was safely sketching from the opposite side of the tree. Well, not exactly safely. This tree was dangerous and it moved unpredictably. It reminded Ashley of water. She drew a surfer surfing on the tree because why not. It was a good drawing.

Phoebe refused to jog, but she got essentially the same amount of exercise by bopping along the grounds until she was completely out of breath. Luckily, she ran out of breath right around the time she spotted little Emm dumb-struck over the Whomping Willow. So that was lucky - she could catch her breath and save a life.

"Hey, Emm!" Phoebe flopped onto the ground beside where her sister's best friend stood. Ugh. She needed to get into shape if she ever wanted to be an Auror in her next life. "Don't get too close to that... oh, hello there, dragon beasty. Can I touch him?"

With Ashley standing on the opposite side of the whomping willow, Emm couldn't see her and didn't know she was there but she DID see Phoebe. How could she not when her friend had come and flopped down next to her? For a moment, the tree was forgotten. It was always a delight when she ran into her older friend. Being here for so long before Emm and Kizzy got here, Fifi already had tons of friends. Being older, she was also probably busy doing grown kid things. That meant these little moments were a treat.

How did one treat a treat? You flopped down onto your friend's lap with an arm slung around her shoulder, duh.

"I won't. I heard it can send you to the Hospital Wing like that." She said, snapping her fingers to get the point across. Deadly tree; fascinating, deadly tree.

Artemis was equally interested in her friend. The dragon climbed up onto Emm's lap then nestled itself between the pair. "Sure you can! He's super friendly sorta mostly a lot of the time." Auntie Jessa had seen to that, no matter how much she'd insisted on getting a vicious dragon. The little girl suspected her mother had a lot to do with the final product. "Me and Kizzy are trying to teach him to fly. He's not really enjoying that but he HAS to."

Emmerson reached over to gather some of Phoebe's hair. "What're you doing out here?" She asked, beginning a mostly neat braid.

Wow, giant toddler in her lap. Phoebe wrapped her arms around Emm and allowed the dragon to worm his way in between them. It was like being cuddled by a pointy puppy, not quite soft but still cute enough to ignore the discomfort. She had to shift around a good bit to keep from spilling Emm back onto the ground, but she eventually found a position that wasn't comfortable but was mostly safe.

"I've never seen it send anyone to the Hospital Wing, but I can see exactly how it might happen. Seems a pretty odd thing to keep on the grounds for funsies. They lock up the poisonous and biting plants in the greenhouses but keep the Murder Tree out here in the open." But there was a trick to it, right? She'd heard there was a way to make it settle down, and that might be worth the price of admission.

She dropped a hand to pet the little dragon. "You know he really hurt Joshy. Have you said anything to him about that?" As for why she was out there, the answer should be obvious. She was avoiding real work.

Emm waited patiently for Phoebe to find them a comfy enough position, not at all inclined to get off and simply sit on the ground by her friend. Laps were better, they made her feel more loved by her friends and her mama let her into her lap AAAALLLLL the time.

At the mention of the poison plants, the little girl perked up! "I knoooowwww!! It's not fair! Have you gotten to play with the poison plants before?? I heard they've got flesh eaters in there, TOO!!! But I don't reckon the Professor's too keen on letting me in. I ask and it never seems to be the right time--will you come with me?? I bet if she saw a responsible older student with me, she'd let me."

Pleeeeeease.

Emmerson stiffened at the mention of THAT. Artemis lifted his head at her stiffening, able to feel the moment her emotions began to shift but he remained nestled where he was.

"I don't think I have anything to say to J o s h u a~" Emm drawled. "He broke into our compartment after we closed the door, it's his fault. He startled poor Artemis. AND." Because there was definitely an AND. "He took Kizzy's seat in Muggle Studies. I told him but he said Kizzy could sit somewhere else. He's a JERK."

That Joshua. He made her big mad.

Coming from the lake to the Whomping Willow was not too far of a walk - it was however, a bit stressful to be carrying a wriggling snake as the made the trek to the dead-looking tree.

Finding a spot near the tree, but away form the reach of its deadly branches, Serena set Sven down, and braced her hands on her knees to catch her breath before looking back down the hill to wait for Avalon.

Avalon was very proud of how far Serena had come with Sven already. She had really warmed up to him and even offered to carry him to the Whomping Willow. Although she was carrying it like it was poisonous. Oh well. Avalon wouldn't exactly be cuddling the reptile either. "Alright, so I guess we just wait and see what he does?" the Ravenclaw said hesitantly, approaching the snake.

Her jaw dropped as the snake raised its head in her direction, hissed, and slithered away from her. "Oh my gosh, that means the snake thinks I'm suspicious?!" she cried in disbelief, looking down at the paper.

Suddenly, a chill came over her. The paper dropped from her hands, floating to the ground in the wind. A foreign voice came over her, although she wasn't entirely comprehending what she was saying. "THE TREASURE! Give it back. Or else!!"

But just as quickly as it had come, the weird feeling left. Avalon was left standing dumbfounded - staring at the snake in confusion, her mind feeling a bit fuzzy.

Serena had been consulting her paper, leaving the snake socializing to Avalon, its not as if Sven was suddenly going to be doing anything remotely interesting anyway, right?

Suddenly, hearing Avalon's indignation - the blonde looked up from her piece of parchment and was surprised to find the previously docile snake hissing at her partner - then, as if things weren't alarming enough, Avalon had started spouting out the same nonsense about some mysterious treasure that apparently Hogwarts had stolen.

But before she could step forward to try to snap her out of it, the older Ravenclaw seemed to have calmed down on her own accord. "Uhmm." She began, unsure if she should address the situation - changing her mind at the last minute, she shakes her head and says "Maybe he doesn't like the Whomping Willow - do you want to try the duck pond instead?"