Wiley was out talking a walk through the grounds with his cat Fishbait, just exploring or looking for something fun to do. Before he could get very far though, something spooked his cat, sending the feline racing up the big tree just ahead. He wasn't sure just what it was that sent his cat running - he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, though he did suppose that it could be something invisible - but Wiley stopped and peered up at the tree where his cat disappeared within the leaves.

"Fishbait?" he called up, a little uncertain as he couldn't quite see where the cat ended up. "I guess I'll have to join you," he quickly decided cheerfully. Wiley did like to climb trees and he was pretty good at it, if he said so himself. It was just that he wasn't all that tall yet (but he was sure he would be one day!) and the lowest limb was just a bit out of his reach. Maybe if he jumped? He jumped with his arms raised high, managing to grab the limb and then he began to hoist himself up.

Ewy thinks he's got the layout of the Grounds all figured out. Or at least what he has covered the Grounds were massive. He got all the pathways memorized that needed to be known for traversing to Herbology Class and back. Though he wondered what else there might be. There were domes on the Grounds somewhere and he had heard lots about the Whomping Willow but had not seen it yet either.

Oh...that must be it right there. Ywan Dewey assumed so. With no knowledge of what the tree might look like. This one was tall and imposing, and the branches certainly looked like they would hurt if they whomped you. This was the Whomping Willow

He kept his distance from it to be safe and admired it's splendor. Though his eyes went from admiration to utter fear as he saw someone climbing up onto it. The young Badger clenched his teeth made a few steps forward. He couldn't let someone get whomped by the willow! "You!...." He shouted out toward the figure climbing the tree but froze unsure on what to even say in this situation. "You'll get WHOMPED!!" He mustered up as he also took another step forward.

Wiley was TRYING to hoist himself up onto the limb. He wriggled his body and kicked his legs while trying to pull with his arms, but the limb was a little too high and he didn't have quite a good enough grip to give him enough momentum. So he was struggling a bit. Enough that the shout behind him startled him enough that he lost momentum completely and released his grip as he jumped back to the ground.

"Huh?" Wiley turned around to see who had been shouting. "Oh hey, Ewy!" He grinned mometarily, noticing that it was his new dormmate. But his smile soon faded as he remembered why he'd dropped down from the tree in the first place. "What were you shouting about?" Who was going to get... what?

Ooooooh no. Why was getting whomped so terrifying. Ewy didn't want to be sent back home to Mama as a pancake. He would make for a terrible pancake and Mama would be heartbroken. He watched as the boy fell down from the tree and the worried look on his face grew even worse. He lifted his hand and nipped on his fingernails. Wait was that!? That was Wiley his Dorm Mate! "Th-that's the Whomping Willow, Wiley! ...Wiley you'll be Whomped! Why won't whomping worry you!?" That was a mouth full of W's for eWy deWey.

Oooo no good. He didn't know Wiley all to well yet, and the concern that Mama would miss him held him back from going ever closer to the tree. So he stayed where he was and cowered for a moment longer. But then what if Wiley's Mama would miss Wiley!?
...He gave both his cheeks a slap and rushed toward him...

He stood running in place beside Wiley and looked up at the tree. "H-hurry, before it gets you!"

The Whomping Willow was certainly taking its sweet time in it's Whomping wasn't it? He looked back up at the Tall Tree. His jogging in place stopped.
"This IS the Whomping Willow right?"

"The Whomping Willow.. what?" Ewy's panic and concern rubbed off on Wiley a moment and he jumped back away from the tree, turning in the process to look up at the tree. Wait, was this the Whomping Willow?

All the excitement cause the eleven year old to second guess himself a moment, but no... he didn't really think so, even though he still had yet to see the actual Whomping Willow. He took a calming breath then turned back around to face his dormmate again.

"I don't think it is... no.. It looks like an oak tree, see the leaves?" He pointed at the leaves hanging from the nearest branch. Unless the Whomping Willow was a misnomer... He sure hoped not, though. "My cat climbed up there," he pointed up again, further up. "But I can't see him in the leaves." And he certainly didn't want him whomped.

After he stopped jogging in place Ewy bent over and rested his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Being terrified was exhausting. He looked up at the tree leaves that Wiley was pointing at and lifted himself up having caught his breath. "I wouldn't know. I never really paid attention to tree leaves too much." Ewy wasn't a fool. Of course he knew there were different types of trees. But if you asked the Eleven-year-old to identify them he'd look at you like you were crazy for asking. He couldn't even remember the tree his wand wood was made from.
He trusted Wiley. His Dorm-mate seemed smart, or to Ewy definitely had more smarts about things than he did. Especially about magical stuff. Ywan only just learned that he was a Half-Blood and not a Muggleborn at the start of the term.

"You were trying to climb the tree to find your cat before I came by." He said not asking. It seemed that made the most sense based on what Wiley was telling him. He walked around the tree his head tilted up again to see if he could spot Wiley's cat all the while still staying vigilant should this Oak Tree actually be able to Whomp them both into pancakes. Ewy turned his attention to the trunk of the tree and spotted something interesting. "Look you can put your feet in these little nooks on the trunk, and can reach the branch from there." He pointed from the trunk to the branch he witnessed his friend trying to reach from the ground.
He dare not do it himself. Too much effort in trying to climb a tree.

Wiley was enough of an outdoorsy kid to have learned about different trees so he was pretty sure this one wasn't a willow and was in fact an oak, even if he had a short, panicky moment of second-guessing when Ewy came rushing over, warning him of imminent danger. "Yeah.. I'm pretty sure.." He hopped up and plucked a leaf from the branch, turning it over in his hands, even more certain that it was an oak.

"I was," he nodded before looking up again, trying to see where Fish Bait might have gone. "I think he must have gotten up pretty high because I can't see him anymore in the leaves." And if he was too far up there, he might not be able to get down by himself. Wiley looked back down again, this time to see Ewy walking around the tree. Curious himself, he started to follow, then stopped as his dormmate came around again, pointing to some divots in the trunk. How hadn't he noticed those himself?!

"Oh, cool! I'm gonna try that," he exclaimed, immediately using them to his advantage as he began to pull himself up again. "C'mon, Ewy. Wanna climb up too?" Because climbing trees was fun, even if he needed to find his cat first.

How was it that the term was already drawing closer and closer to the end? On the one hand, it had the third year Gryffindor VERY excited for a summer at home (was she old enough for a job yet?) and time with Papa and Scoot. AND as of next September, she would not be separated from her little sister again either until she and Vasco graduated. But that was still yeaaaars away. But... there were bitter emotions she was feeling too, like more graduating older students that she like (mainly Atlas, which was just as tragic as Fox's graduation), and it meant next September Papa really was going to be alone. Scoot had obviously been trying her best to find someone for Papa to date but... it was a lot harder than one would assume.

Which was silly, because she was still willing to die on the hill that HER Papa was the best. But maybe that was true for all children.

Either way, all of the feelings were just too much for the girl who usually liked to just... be energetic and feel nothing, so she made her way down to a place where it was hard to be morose - the climbing tree. But when she got there, she found she didn't particularly want to climb so instead... she just pulled herself up onto the swing and moved back and forth on it for a bit while looking up at the sky. She should probably be studying or working on homework but.. she was still so far from any exam year, did it really matter?

Aurora had never been the bookworm type, perhaps due to the fact that she would much rather be active and engaging in her sports or riding horses or going for a walk on the beach. Sitting still for hours on end with her nose in a book didn’t sound all that appealing and when she did indulge in a novel, she would get the fidgets within ten minutes. A magazine full of pretty pictures was much more her style. Maybe that made her a terrible Ravenclaw? Where her housemates were in the tower, the older students studying for their exams and the younger ones doing who knew what, Aurora had chosen to leave the castle and head out into the grounds with a brand new edition magazine her mum had recently sent her.

Meandering down the pathways that led across the Scottish countryside, the Ravenclaw had settled on finding a spot near the big oak tree. Aurora might have been a very petite, extremely girly looking blondie but she knew how to climb a tree! Her Ma was the sporty kind, London born and not afraid to get dirty, and she had instilled that spirit in her children. She pulled herself up, one branch at a time until she found the perfect spot just above the swing. Leaning against the trunk of the tree, she tucked her legs up towards her chest and rested her chin on her knees before opening her ‘My Horse’ magazine onto the first page.

But her concentration on the magazine was promptly disturbed when she noticed a girl sat on the swing below her. Deciding that having a conversation with someone was much more exciting, the eleven year old cleared her throat hoping to gain her attention.

“That looks fun” She hadn’t been on a swing in years. Not since she was younger and her mums would take her to the local park whilst her sister was at school.

She was usually at least a little more observant that seeing someone in the branches above her should have been noticeable, but Vera supposed her mind really just was that preoccupied. She was sure that idea, that there was anything taking up her thoughts, would have caused quite the jokes from at least two of her people but thankfully neither of those boys were here. Who was here was the first year above her, whose voice scared her just the slightest bit so that she slipped a bit on the swing but was able to grab the rope to right herself before she fell off entirely. Eyes scanned through the leaves until the small blonde was located, and Vera forced a smile - trying to put all her usual energy into it.

Which actually felt successful. Conversation might have also been the distraction she needed.

"It is fun! I like to come down here and swing whenever one is open. Though... be careful of the tire swing. I got stuck in there once." And had to have one of her year mates help pull her out. It'd been a whole thing and she 10/10 would not recommend. "Climbing is fun too though." She pointed out, considering that was clearly what the other girl had opted to do for her source of entertainment. "Have you ever tried to just jump off? The charms really do make the fall so much fun!" And no injuries. Good one, Professor Hernandez.

Oops!

Aurora couldn’t help the cheeky giggle from escaping her mouth as the girl she had spoken to had obviously been startled by the petite blondes sudden appearance. She didn’t intentionally mean to make her jump but it was a little funny nonetheless as she watched the fellow student steady herself back on the swing. The fact that the other girl hadn’t heard or seen Aurora arrive wasn’t that big of a deal considering she was still pretty small and fairly nimble on her feet thanks to the years of ice skating practice. She supposed she could’ve thrown an acorn down to warn the girl of her presence but that might have made her jump even more or she might’ve thought that it was a squirrel targeting her for no reason. They seemed to do that a lot whenever Rory would go for a walk with her Ma and stroll through one of the big London parks that were lined with trees. The squirrels always seemed to have a vendetta against her particularly and would aim in her direction. What she had ever done to upset the squirrel nation was waaaay beyond her!

If her Mum hadn’t taught her to be just a tiny bit ladylike, Aurora might’ve snorted at the thought of seeing someone stuck in a tire swing. She was lucky in that she was still very small even for an eleven year old and getting stuck was probably not going to happen. “How did that happen?” she giggled. It wasn’t like this girl was one of the seventh years and therefore could be too tall for the swing. “I’m only up here because I don’t trust the squirrels being above me!” Those pesky things!

As for jumping out of the tree, that didn’t sound like her idea of fun. Aurora was used to injuring herself and she wasn’t scared of getting dirty but she didn’t exactly want to end up in the hospital wing with broken limbs. The older girl did reassure her that there were charms to prevent that though. “How do I know you’re not lying about that?” she grinned. Why the other student would want for Rory to injure herself she did not know but there were some cruel people out there! This girl seemed trustworthy, at least she did in the ten seconds that she had been speaking to her. Still, the Ravenclaw liked being up in her vantage point.