Whomping Willow & The Shrieking Shack

Cass rolled her eyes at the sight of Alex and Theresa bringing up the rear, carrying all of their own (and hers) belongings.
A bags free Cass jumped on the spot, "Come here, let me relieve you of the burden," she said, grabbing the entirety of both Resa and Al's arms.

"Eh, can one of you do Wingardium? And hit that thing on the bottom with it?"

Alex gratefully unloaded her burden onto Cass's arms. "That was heavy," said Alexandra wiping her sweaty hair out of her eyes. "Okay, I can do the charm," she said, pulling out her wand. "What do you want me to hit?" she asked, never having been to this tree before.

Theresa sighed "that's a lot better" she said when Cassi took the things. She looked at the tree and grinned "that thing is so cool" she said. She wondered what Alexandra was suppose to hit, she didn't even know that there was a way to stop the giant tree from moving really.

"Well, from what I've heard from the School Ghosts, there's a little fake wooden..eh, thing- right near the base, you see that hollow bit that if you walked past you'd imagine hiding in?, well that bit, just at the bottom of that."
Cass tugged at her hair that was caught under all the backpacks. She could imagine the victory of stopping the Whomping Willow. She was going to look at it straight in the eyes and go HEY. NOT SO CLEVER NOW YOU BRUISE MAKING BRUTE!. Not that she hated trees- she actually had a certain respect for them, given that she wanted to be a wand maker.

"Alright, I'll try to find it," said Alex, looking for a suitable branch on the ground. Finding a long thin one, she cried, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and swished-and-flicked her wand. The branch was hovering in midair. Walking closer to the base of the tree, Alex spied a wooden knot sort of thing sticking out near the bottom. She levitated the branch toward it, making it bump into it.

Theresa watched carefully as Alexandra used the levitation charm on a piece of wood. It floated to the tree when she finally realised what part of the tree they were talking about. A part that looked different at the bottom, it looked odd. "So it will keep it mobilized or something?" she asked, wondering what it actually did.

Cass watched both Alex's wand movement and listened to her intonnation. This example was going much better than the rock one earlier. She made a mental note to thank Alex, and repay her by doing the charm on her, lifting her into the tree- although she made another note to ask her -casually of course- if she was scared of heights.

Her face errupted into pure happiness when she saw the tree stand still in its tracks, immobiless. Trying to make use of her agape mouth, she said, in a suddenly slurred voice to Theresa, "It's like a switch, dude. Dunno how, but it makes the tree immobiless. But I like to think of it as sleeping."

"That's what you get," she muttered to the tree, imagining one of the holes in the bark up high to be an eye.

"So guys," she began brightly, "where to next?"

(a/n you guys want to climb, and make a hammock-y thing, or go into the roots to the shreiking shack, or lay underneath the thick branches, and set up camp there? up to you two ;D)

Theresa laughed silently as Cassi muttered to the tree. She wondered what the tree did, even though she had a rough idea of what could have happened. She grinned "I think we should so climb it, I mean, how many people can say that they climbed the whomping willow and lived" she said happily.

Alexandra stared in amazement at the immobile branches. "Woah!" she exclaimed. It was so weird how the dangerously swaying tree had suddenly stopped. Alex heard Cass's question and turned her attention away from the tree. "I don't know. What do you guys wanna do?" she asked. "Will the tree stay this way?" she asked, eying it carefully. It wouldn't be very good if it suddenly started acting up again.

"Yeah, I kind of like the climbing idea too," said Cass. She eyed the tree again. She made a squeaking nose with her tongue, holding a bit of suspense.
"...Yeah, I think that should hold it. Someone cast the Levitation spell on me and the bags, and then levitate each other- I,I don't really want to risk it doing it to you two," she said, her eyes downcast.

"Okay," said Alexandra, agreeing to the idea of climbing the tree. The tree. She turned her wand toward Cass and their belongings and once again said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Holding her wand steadily, she carefully made sure that Cass and their belongings were safely up in the massive tree.

Theresa took out her wand "just so you guys know, I have only done this spell a few times, I think I get the jist of it though" she said as she shook her wand. She watched as Cassi was levitated onto the tree and thought that it was probably historical, the first person in most likely a long time or even at all to sit on the whomping willow without getting killed by the tree.

"I'm alive!" she said manically, holding her heavy hands in the air. "Come on! Lift the other up," said Cass as she sprawled her blankets around the thousands of heavy branches. I can tie the blanket ends together, and practise on Wingardium. Yay!
Cass couldn't wait for them to join her, then the ball would really get rolling.

"Do you want me to levitate you up first?" asked Alex to Theresa. She glanced up at Cass, who was shouting from up above them and getting things ready. "Then you can get me up. Or we can do it the other way around. Whatever you want," She said.

Theresa nodded "ok then, I will levitate you up once I am up there" she said as she picked up her small, side bag and flung it over her shoulder. She closed her eyes, she was scared of hights unless she was actually holding onto something like a tree branch so thought that it would be better to not see anything.

Alexandra noticed Theresa closing her eyes. "Don't worry. I'll try to make this quick. I'm getting quite good at this spell," she said as she raised her wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Theresa floated up into the air and Alex levitated her onto the branch. "See? It's all good!" she yelled up.

Theresa opened her eyes and smiled "great" she said as she grabbed hold of the branch next to her. "Your turn then" she said as she pointed her wand at Alexandra. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she said clearly, she was surprised when the spell actually worked and Alexandra was levitated onto the tree.

Cass wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. "If Dumbledore were alive to see this teamwork..."
And Cass opened her arms to display the little sleeping area she had constructed, strengthening knots with Petrificus Totalus- fingers crossed, that'd work. She'd even found a branch above on which to loop the kettle handle on.
"Get comfy, and I'll pass some Hot Chocolate around, unless you want pumpkin juice?"
She raised an eyebrow, meanwhile uneathing out the cookies, passing them around.

Theresa swung her legs slightly as she looked around, it was a very nice view. "Hot chocolate would be great" she said as she looked back at Cassi. "Do you think we are the first people to be up here and still live?" she asked, it would be amazing if they were. No one else would be crazy enough to do it.

Cass looked around the woodwork- after all, she was sure they'd be marking it; it's the trepid explorer thing to do.
"Nope," she said as she handed Theresa and Alex some Hot Chocolate, "careful, they're quite hot,"
She grinned at the bite of the chill. It was so refreshing.
"You could look at these stars all night and still have so much more yearning to not see morning," she said plainly. She snuggled further into the wood, hugging Theresa and Alex in turn, glad that on this moment, on this tree, at this small moment in time, they were alive, and under the stars.



(a/n, Alex is off PC, and I'm feeling sleepy. See you tomorrow?Love you Theresa! Keeley.x)

Theresa nodded "probably will look at them all night" she said. Cassi wasnt kidding when she said that they were hot. She looked up at the sky as she noticed Alexandra and Cassi go to sleep. It really was a nice day. "Night guys" she said.
(A/N see you tomorrow, love you Keeley!)

Alexandra sleepily looked up at the stars from her position in the hammock, snuggled between her two friends. As she finished the scalding hot chocolate, she felt her eyelids begin to drop in spite of herself. She barely had time to mutter a quick goodnight before she was out like a light.

Who was snoring? They were snoring like a giant with a blocked nose. Eugh.
Cass felt the vibrations on her face.
AGH! THEY'RE SNORING ON ME THEY'RE SNORING ON ME!
Half awake, half asleep, her heart still beating slow, Cass felt the tip of her nose.
This was the culprit. Hopefully, she hadn't woken them up- yet.

By the looks of the night, it was long before morning- 2am, maybe? She sat up for the third time in the night- hello, insomnia. She felt around for the kettle, shivering. Typical Cass had pushed the extra blankets over to the soundly sleeping Alex and 'Resa. It wasn't like Cass would need them, anyway.
She sighed contentedly, sipping on Hot Chocolate, counting how many stars (and in the back of her mind, looking for the constellation Cassiopeia, of which she was named after).

Theresa yawned and opened one of her eyes when she heard someone move. She looked up and saw Cassi drinking some hot chocolate. "What's going on?" she asked groggily as she rubbed her eyes. She sat up and took off the blankets and stumbbled over to her friend.

Aw, nuts.
"I didn't mean to wake you," said Cass, whispering. "It's like half two, you ok? Excited about your birthday tomorrow?"
Cass made Theresa another cup, passing her another blanket in case.
A lump had formed in her throat when Theresa had walked over. When she was little, and she woke up every few hours, Alex-her brother, that is- would've woken up and talked to her, trying to find what the problem was. Not that there was one, of course.

It struck her as odd-cool how her brother and one of her best friends had the same name.