Graphic credit: Felixir

Standing squarely in the middle of an otherwise featureless lawn is an immense oak tree with sprawling, high-reaching branches, its foliage thick and rich with natural colour, depending on the time of year. The tree is taller than it has any right to be, and seems ideal for climbing. That is, indeed, what your benevolent groundskeeper had in mind when he grew it.

The very lowest branches jut out six feet or so above the ground, but if you can't reach or haul yourself onto these, there are little nooks and conveniently located knots in the trunk to get you started. Up in the higher branches, you'll find platforms and maybe a basic treehouse structure or two, but the real fun to be had is in traversing the tree itself.

Climbing tree though it is, this area also serves as a pleasant meeting place, the vast canopy of leaves providing plenty of shade in the summer months. A plank swing dangles from one of the lower branches, and a tyre swing from another.

It's pretty difficult to confuse this tree with the Whomping Willow. For starters, you're in an entirely different part of the grounds. Not to mention, the climbing tree is an oak, and (presumably) won't maim you for trying to climb it. All the same, you're expected to treat this place with respect. Don't act like a fool, especially when you're high up in the tree. If you do happen to fall, the slowing and softening charms in place around this area will kick in, and you will come to no great harm.

Do as you please here, as long as its within school rules. Relax. Have fun. Go wild (but maybe not too wild).

Her fingers stained with a rainbow array of paints, some bits more of a muddy purple-ish color as the hues overlapped and blended together, Anna hummed loudly while she worked on the rock resting atop her left palm. It was a smooth rock around its edges, nothing poking out at a particularly jagged angle and smooth enough that she could run the pad of her thumb all over it without any discomfort nor much unevenness, and the perfect shape for the plump owl design she was painting. Of course it wasn't any ol' regular colored owl, as was indicated by the deep pink color she was currently working with, and had big round blue eyes with heart and star shaped eye shinies. It was cute and she hoped it would bring a smile to the face of whoever found it. Beside her lay tubes of paint, all uncapped and haphazardly strung about the grass, and two piles of rocks. One of the piles, the much smaller pile, were her finished colorful array stones and pebbles decorated as owls and other creatures or various flora or hearts and stars. Very few had actual words on them since her penmanship with a brush left much to be desired and each of her assembled stones being a bit too small for her to fit anything meaningful - though she did have one that was decorated with a sunny yellow 'hello'.

Pausing her brush, the Hufflepuffle leaned back against the trunk of the climbing tree and turned her in-progress-owl around a little in her palm while she decided which color and pattern to add next. Scratching her cheek meant that she had left yet another streak across her cheek to add to the other five she had already accidentally placed there. And on the tip of her nose, two or so, and a couple more on her other cheek as well. Remarkably, her robes had yet to be decorated by any stray paint!

"Too-hoo, too-hoo, too-hoo, too-hoo," she sung not really LOUDLY but also more of a stage whisper than quietly to herself. "...two little owls in a row, row, row...in the bough of a great big tree..."

This Slytherin had had a much less creative day than his friend so far, it seemed, aside from etching a few words into a notepad very early this morning. Nonsensical rhymes, poems, songs… he wasn’t sure what they were but he would like to make it very clear that they were NOT part of a diary entry. The diary notepad in question was tucked away inside his robes pocket for safe keeping, while his hands laid bare by his sides. He’d hoped to find some more potions ingredients to mess around with, which he often did when he explored the grounds these days. Surprisingly he hadn’t singed his hair off as of yet.

Unsure about what he would find by the climbing tree, he immediately distracted as he recognised a bushy haired student who looked very busy. Solly almost didn’t want to disturb, but he couldn’t resist, smiling as he got closer and could see her painting rocks. Of course, what else would Anna be doing?

The sight of her painted face had him laughing. “Nice face paint.” He reached a finger to gently wipe the freshest mark she had left on her cheek, and lifted it up to show her.

Oh? What heavenly sound was this?

Well, okay, she knew that it was laughter but to WHOM did the laughter belong to? Looking up through her long lashes, lashes made ever so slightly longer thanks to some of the beauty products she not only knew how to use but ALSO hardly ever poked her eye while putting it on now, her lips curled immediately into a smile when she saw Solomon standing over her and her already rosy cheeks intensified beneath the paint at his playful touch. "Face paint?" she repeated curiously, her eyes crossing to focus on his finger as he presented it to her. "OH!" Now it was her turn to laugh - giggle, rather - and she uncrossed her eyes to look down at her fingers which she then wiggled at him. "I was going for abstract flower chic, what do you think?" she asked lightheartedly while striking her best impression of an Ellsberry model.

Finding the castle to be intimidating, Alfie made it a point to spend his spare time outside. Usually in the gardens, sometimes by the lake with Brooks, and other times just exploring. Today's quiet outdoor adventure had the littlest Adair chasing after a frog, something he sometimes did with his sister at home. It obviously wasn't the same because his mum wasn't watching over and smiling, but he was still having fun.

Alf stifled his laughter as he snuck up quietly behind it, inching slowly and carefully before he managed to capture it within his hold.

Oh, hi there little guy.

He smiled as he used his pointer finger to give it a gentle pet on the head.

The leaves of the tree had almost all but vanished but that didn’t deter Sloane from climbing the large oak tree in front of her. Admittedly, it was a little bit more difficult because of the amount of layers she’d had on but it was better to be warm climbing that cold and stuck up a tree.


Standing close to the base of the tree, Sloane stood with her hands in the pockets of her winter coat and looked up. Anyone looking from afar may struggle to see her face because of the condensation emanating from her as if she were some kind of sleeping dragon but she was there, eying up the tree and plotting her path up.


After finalising the path in her head, she slipped her backpack off of her shoulders and left it at the base of the tree. Her backpack didn’t have much in it, apart from her camera which wasn’t worth much, and her wand of course. Some might climb with their wands but not her. She didn’t want to fall and snap it in half.


Looking up, she wasn’t quite sure if she was going to climb high enough to hit the treehouse. It looked a long way to fall, even with the slowing and softening charms that protected the base. Even with that however, now that she was ready to climb, she found herself hesitating. Maybe it was her tick, warm clothes, the cold winter day or simply because everything was coated in a thin layer of frost, but this second year Slytherin was dillydallying.

Solomon wiped his finger against his own cheek while she offered him a truly magnificent pose, before striking his very own pose in return. “I think it’s perfect, of course.” He rubbed the remainder of paint that was on his finger against his school robes and then plopped himself down on the grass beneath the tree, leaning back to look and see if anyone was climbing. Maybe he’d shout and put them off.

Luckily, there was no one in his immediate sight so he looked around instead, glancing briefly to Anna. “Whatcha doing?” Obviously painting, but what FOR? Gifts for someone?? A school project??

Needless to say, Ellsberry would not be owling either of them any time soon to be the face of a new campaign - but it was still fun to pretend. "Now you AND your robes are vibes too," she laughed before shifting her things around a bit more to give him more space to join her. "Painting rocks," she stated matter of factly while reaching for one of the unpainted rocks. "Though...I suppose that much is rather obvious and I didn't have to tell you that." She turned the current rock around in her hand a couple of times, its smooth surface tickling her palm, and then offered it to him. "You want to paint one too? No rules and just paint...whatever comes to mind. All of these I'm going to leave about the castle and grounds for others to find. You can keep whatever you paint if you'd like or we can include it in my project and place it somewhere for someone else to discover." Her eyes flickered to the smudged paint on his cheek and the sight elicited another giggle. "Oh, well, suppose there are sort of some rules if you want to join me in my mission - I mustn't be something scary or sad. Point is to make a happy an unexpected surprise to someone."

He looked down to his robes when she gestured to them, apparently unaware of his action of rubbing the paint on them. “Aw, man.” He sighed but it didn’t really matter. Usually he had mud stained robes by the end of every day out on the grounds, potion splatters, the lot.

Solly gladly took a hold of the rock she showed him, turning it to see all of the details. “I love it.” He smiled before gently passing it back to her. He really did admire her creativity sometimes. “That’s a cool idea, like you’re making a rock scavenger hunt.” Personally he would much rather help paint them than actually going to find them. That took too much concentration.

Joining in sounded FUN, but his face was clearly disappointed when she said it couldn’t be scary or sad. Well… how could he possibly express himself in any other way? “What if I made something scary and cute?” That was totally possible. He grabbed two biggish rock and turned them a few times like he did before to examine their smoothness and compare them. He tossed the one away that had a few more sharper points than the other and then tapped his chin to think of the perfect thing to draw. “I could place mine at the Forbidden Forest to warn anyone from entering.” Since his was going to be scary.

Anna couldn't help but giggle at his reaction to the paint, though she did soon feel guilty for it on the off chance that he truly was upset about the additional splash of color. "I think it gives your robes a bit of je nai se qua," she insisted with a smile. "A unique and unexpected personal flair...buuuuuuuuuuuuut if it really bothers you so much then I am sure that the house elves have a special technique for stain removal that surprasses anything wizarding created whether that spell or potion."

You know, just in case that 'oh man' truly was rooted in disappointment. But, well, for someone who also tended to have shoelaces that untied and dragged around in the dirt...Anna wasn't so sure that Solomon was really REALLY upset.

"Yeah? You really think so?" she chirped, her smile brightening and seeming to turn all her freckles into sparkles that illuminated her face. She was never really looking for validation in any of her interests and endeavors, but it was nice to have it nonetheless - especially from those that occupied bigger and more intimate spaces in her heart. Taking the rock back, the Hufflepuffle turned it over in her hand again to see what sort of inspiration would strike her. She hadn't painted any single words on any of her amassed specimens in a bit...maybe she should do one of those again? "Scary and cute? Like...the first time you see a thestral? Not that I have yet but I've overheard others talk about it," she wondered aloud. "Or a spider with really BIG eyes filled with wonder?!"

She supposed that, ultimately, it would be a surprise and she was just going to have to be patient and find out.

"Ooooooooooh! Like a guard dog?! That's terribly clever. I like it. Maybe you ought to paint several since it is an awfully long perimeter along the forest."