Cassie had no idea why at least once for the first couple of days back at school every new term she had to visit the whomping willow. It was a weird tradition she started back in her third year, but for whatever reason it confirmed her being back...after all nowhere else had a tree that whacked anything that came close to it.

She folded her arms and watched as the tree swayed gently..almost as if it was dancing. It must be in a good mood today or something. It almost made her not want to chuck a rock at it to see how far across the lake it could hit it.