It was under the Whomping Willow that Gav finally found some nettles. She thought they would be easier to find than they ended up being. She snipped them with some scissors and placed them in a storage jar. "Two more," she said to no one in particular.

Sarah listened as William told her his problem. She felt really very bad about it. Not being able to help him, argh!, too bad! Sarah gently touched his hand, hoping it would calm him down. "I'm always there, Will." she said with one of her charming smile. "Now, why are they not talking? Did you do something? --" she continued, "-- Ofcourse, you wouldn't have, I suppose!" she finished. When he said it was his problem, Sarah raised her eyebrows. "Well, well, well. Cut it off. It's your problem, then it's mine too!". She stressed mine a lot that it made her look a little angry. Hoping not to frighten him, she broke into a smile.

" " You are a great friend" William told Sarah. " Yes, I broke up with Rose and have gotten the silent treatment ever since that day" Willaim sighed.." You are very sweet to say it is your problem, too" William said to Sarah. " For example while I haad been in the common room, I notices a note on the bulletin board about a meeting of Gryffindor in the common room run by the prefects and Quidditch captain, I madr sure everyone heard me and I never got one response from anyone" William explained to Sarah. "Another perdon I was close to is friends with Rose and I, but she seemed to take Rose's side, even though Presley told me she would get my side of the story of the break-up" Willaim did more explaining. " Everyone thinks because I have a new girlfriend that this is the reaon for our break-up and it is so far from the truth" Willaim sighed again.

It's been literally three years and some that Jimbo has been having this never-ending duel with the Whomping Willow. He figured that now, as a mature seventh year, he would be able to approach the willow with poised calm and awesome persuasion.

And even though as he approached the Willow he realized that he was still rather frightened by it, he noticed that it also came with the sort of awe he had when he had first seen the whomping willow in action. You know, before it tried to kill Jimbo.

This gave him a bit of encouragement. The whomping willow wasn't all that bad. It probably had feelings too, and he was going to try yet again to reason with it and put an end to the feud between the two.

With confidence, he strutted right up to the willow and stood just close enough to it not to get hurt.

"Hello, Willow. It's me again, Jimbo." Here he paused, making sure the willow wasn't going to make any sort of attempt to hurt him. When nothing happened, he continued. "I know we've had some fights but I really mean it this time. I want to call a truce. All I want to do it pat you. I swear. I won't insult you anymore and try to run at you. I know that only leads me to the hospital wing." And to puking. It leads to puking. Puking is not good. There is never a good excuse for returning food.

Josh Carter had been wandering around rather aimlessly this time...maybe just to breathe in some nice fresh air and to enjoy the fact that it was not snowing anymore. He really did dislike snow. It was cold and too white and annoying and whatever. Showflakes flew around in an annoying manner. Oh well...

Also if he could call something else annoying, it was that Whomping 'stupid' Willow. Was there a reason for any tree to be all unfriendly towards people anyway? Not to mention that the Gryffindor did not consider it so dangerous, not at all. It was more like...boring so the seventeen year old boy was about to change his direction yet his eyes spotting a he-snake close by the tree made him stop and stare with a curious expression. What on earth did that dude think he was doing?

Once the lion boy took slow steps towards there, approaching the boy from his back, he couldn't help but smirk quite widely when it came to his ears that the Slytherin was actually talking to the Willow. Bahahahahahahhha!

Doing his best not to disturb the odd snake, Josh just stood behind him in silence listening to his words to the big tree. Awww...was not that a rather sentimental speech? Haha. Not being able to hold it anymore, Josh let out a loud laughter. ''You're apologising to the tree? Seriously?'' HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAAAA!

Then lifting his leg some, the Gryffindor kicked the Slytherin, not in a way to hurt him of course but to only make him move towards the Whomping Willow, from his back ''Then, why don't you give it a nice, warm hug now?''

Raising her eyebrows a bit, Thea tilted her head to the side. She could read people pretty easily. 'Are you sure? Well, I'm here if you need to talk!' She smiled slightly at Mikey.
Sighing, she tried to pat down her hair. She defiantly suited being in Gryffindor.. her mane of hair just added to it really!

Mikey nodded reassuringly. "I'll take that into consideration" he replied. "Promise, I'm fine" he added.

Nika's next destination lead to be the grassy area inhabited by none other than the Whomping Willow. Nika looked at the tree and had a sudden thought of Elyon and the time she wanted to go and sit under. That would not be a smart choice... Not at all. She looked on the ground and unlike last time she was looking for beetles. Well really she was looking for beetle parts, but still she'd probably be safer just getting the icky bug as a whole.

"Beetles, where are yoooooouuuuuu." She called as she looked around carefully. "AHA!" And look there's even a whole family of them! Well maybe they aren't a family, but there are a whole lot. She took five just to make sure and put them in her jar. She didn't even bother poking holes in this one because beetles are gross and caterpillars are cute. There's a difference.

He was being watched!

Turning around to face the boy, Jimbo glared. Stupid Gryffindor, making fun of him. "Yes, seriously. Trees can have feelings too, you know." He was going to add that making peace with the tree would help him master how to maneuver around the tree. Something that the Gryffindor boy surely couldn't do. However, he felt that saying anything else might just make the boy laugh even more than he already did, so he figured it was best to keep his mouth shut about that last thing.

Wait, was he going to kick him? Jimbo tried to step back but was a milisecond too late because the boy had already nudged him enough so that Jimbo lost his balance and fell backwards, right into the tree's danger zone. He only spared one second to throw a very dirty look over at The Kicker before he let himself begin to panic and quickly stumbled into a standing position, facing the Willow.

The tree's branches were already swaying dangerously and Jimbo found himself stupidly frozen to the spot. He couldn't believe that he was in this position once more. He had come over to visit the Willow with the intention of a truce and an ultimate goal of NOT getting pummeled by it.
But then the stupid Gryffindor came along and ruined all that.

Just as he had the mind to try and dodge the branch that had quickly made it's way over to Jimbo in an attempt to sweep him off his feet (was Jimbo has learned to by the Willow's favourite move, at least where Jimbo is concerned), he dodged it by stepping backwards and at the same time noticed another branch coming in his direction.
As quickly as he could, he almost blindly reached behind him, grabbed the Gryffindor by the front of his clothes and pulled him forward. Jimbo threw the kicker on the ground before him and dodged the branch that had been heading in his direction.

With a silly triumphant grin on his face at the victory of dodging the last branch, Jimbo didn't notice another one heading his way.

Ellie wasn't surprised that she had beat Dallin down here. She had already been at the lake, so it wasn't much of a walk to the giant tree. Not wanting to just stand there awkwardly, Ellie found a patch of grass amid the thinning snow and plopped down on the ground. Hmm... She then extended back and layed down on the ground, her eyes toward the sky.

Clouds floated above, in different shapes and sizes. She could remember when she was a child, looking up at the clouds and trying to figure out what animals they looked like. She smiled at the memory and waited for Dallin.

Dallin headed towards the Willow, sort of deliberately walking slowly. He looked down the sloping grass, trying to find Ellie. When he did, a small smile formed on his lips. She was laying on the grass? Crazy. There was still snow on it!

When he got closer to her he sped up to a normal pace not wanting to seem like he was suspiciously walking slow. He clasped his hands behind his back as he walked up, then plopped down on the grass by her legs, crossing his own and putting his hands in his lap. At least her laying down saved him the trouble of deciding whether or not he should hug her or something.

What? Friends hugged, didn't they?

... Anyway. "Hey Ellie," he said, half-smiling in a totally unintentionally awkward way.

Almost entranced by the movement of the clouds, Ellie took a second to realize that someone had sat down next to her. Oh, right. She was meeting Dallin here, duh. Ellie popped up from the ground and sat up, crossing her legs, like Dallin.

She noticed his extremely awkward smile. It was kind of adorable, and it made her smile too. "Hey Dallin." She said back. Ellie wanted to talk to him. About kind of... everything. She had left him hanging in the common room after she broke up with him. But she still really liked him, just... as a friend. And she wanted them to be friends. It would just require both of them to look past that little spontaneous relationship they had for a couple months.

"Thanks for coming... To be honest, I wasn't sure if you would." She said with a half-smile, looking over at the tree, whose branches were twitching. Ellie was glad Dallin didn't, like, HATE her after the break up. Ellie had already dealt with ex-boyfriend hate. She was so over that.

Dallin watched Ellie as she talked, then looked down at his hands when she looked away. Why wouldn't I come? he thought to himself. She had just left after breaking up with him, with no real answers or explanations. If nothing else, Dal wanted to talk to her to really figure out how he felt about all this. Of course he wasn't going to say all that to her, though.

"Of course I came," he said lightly. He even laughed a bit. "I'm not that easy to get rid of. And I still want to be your friend, if that's alright with you." Maybe that's what she had wanted to meet him here for. To tell him 'they could still be friends.' And Dal was honestly fine with that. He liked Ellie like that. Maybe that's all he ever liked her as, really.

"How've you been?" he asked, genuinely curious. It'd been a while since they'd seen each other... and she honestly hadn't seemed to good then.

The fact that Dallin had laughed a little really broke any awkwardness that was there. Ellie was completely relieved that Dallin seemed comfortable, because she did too. His next words were even more of a relief. It was like he was reading her mind! Ellie grinned at him.

"That's perfect! I was actually thinking the exact same thing, believe it or not. That's why I wanted to talk to you." Ellie told him with a chuckle. Friends. It was a good word, and a good feeling. "I think we could be good friends." She said honestly. They got along well when they were dating, but it had just seemed more like a companionship than a boyfriend/girlfriend thing. It was all just spur-of-the-moment silly teenage stuff. And Ellie was glad they could move past that.

Hmm. How had she been? There was two ways to answer this question. She could either just say "fine" and leave it alone, or she could be honest and tell the truth, like friends did. Dallin deserved the truth, anyway. "I'm okay. Er... Getting sicker." She added. And he had no idea what she was talking about. The last time they talked she had said "I'm sick, and I'm not oing to get better." And then just left it at that. Ellie sighed and clasped her fingers. "Look, I probably owe you an explanation as to what this whole... "sickness" is." Ellie said, using her fingers as air quotes. Sickness was an understatement. But she paused and waited for him to say something. It was his choice, whether or not he wanted to hear it.

"Thanks Will." she said with a smile. Sarah listened intently as William told him what happened at the common room and how things have been going on with him. "Aww! That's so bad!" she said, her face turning to a frown and then a sigh. "And you never told me!" she said, her brows raised. This is all, not so good behavior. That too Gryffindor's? Unbelievable! "Now what are thinking of doing Will?" she asked, "Going to try talk with them or what?" she waited for him. She took his hand into hers and then asked, "Do you want me to help?" and she smiled.

So he was right - that was why she wanted to talk to him. Dallin smiled, feeling relieved for some reason. Maybe he'd been thinking that she broke up with him because she didn't like him, and he was worried she wouldn't be his friend. "I think we could be, too," he said slowly. Then he kept talking, even though he had no idea what he was going to say. He could have easily been trying to talk himself through his thoughts. "We sorta just... went for it, ya know? It was more of a friendship than anything else." With kissing. Because just friends didn't do that.

He frowned when she said she was getting sicker, looking at his hands. Of course he didn't know how sick she was to begin with, because she hadn't explained anything last time she told him about it. He met her eyes again at her next words. Of course he wanted to know what was wrong with her. But he wasn't sure he wanted to ask her what it was. She shouldn't feel like she had to tell him.

Wiping the frown off his face and replacing it with a small smile, he shrugged one shoulder. "You don't owe me one. But if you want to tell me, you can." There, that worked. Then it was her decision.

Gwen nodded when listening to William talk. I did NOT mean that I am not always wrong- I meant I am almost all the time right, but you, my ‘friend’ are mostly wrong.

Really nice?, Gwen thought and, without willing she started to grin. Afterwards, she tried not to laugh in his face but just couldn’t. At least you have a good sense of humor, she thought, but didn’t tell William. What’s the point in giving him a compliment? Better shut up.

Rose skipped to the Whomping Willow (Obviously not near it! She's not that stupid!) and sat down whilst contemplating what to do when Williams next attack on her started. Hmm, I could use my wand! Rose thought mischieviously. Whistling whilst thinking, she waited for Presley to (hopefully) tell her what crud came out of William this time! She waited, but no sign of Presley... She'd come back later, after seeing if Hazel brought back her letter!

Ellie pulled some grass out of the ground as she listened to Dallin speak. And she felt so relieved that he felt the exact same way that she did. Ellie held back a laugh when he said it was "more of a friendship". She did agree with him, except on one part. Friends didn't kiss. Not like that. "You're exactly right." She said, anyway. "It was all very... rushed, and spontaneous. Kind of silly." She said with a smile that wrinkled her nose.

When Dallin met her eyes, she could tell that he wanted to know. Even though he said it was up to her, she could see it. Plus, they were friends. Friends told each other everything. Friends were honest; they didn't lie. "Let me just say, that what I'm about to tell you... is kinda crazy." Ellie took a deep breath and sighed, looking at Dallin. Well, here goes nothing.

"My father's parents were purebloods. And they always emphasized the importance of being pureblood. So, when my dad married a muggle... Naturally, they got a little upset." Ellie pursed her lips. Stop beating around the bush, Ellie. She thought to herself. She took another deep breath. "My grandmother cursed my family. She promised my mother that she would outlive her husband and children, and live to see them suffer... and die." Her voice cracked and she looked down at her hands. "My father got sick three years ago. It worsened dramatically, and he died a year later. My brother got sick a year after, and died just last October. And I..." She looked back up at Dallin, not wanting to cry. "I started getting sick two months ago. At first, I thought, I hoped it was just a cold. But then I realized... I don't know how much time I have left." She ended it with a whisper, in fear that if she spoke louder her voice would break.

He'd heard some pretty crazy things in his life, so honestly Dallin didn't think it was going to be horrible. He leaned back on his hands, digging his fingertips into the soft ground. He looked back at her, starting to get nervous. Was it bad?

At some point in Ellie's explanation Dal had leaned forward again. She couldn't be serious. That was crazy. But it was obvious from the way she was talking - whispering - that she was serious. Which immediately made him feel like a jerk; he'd been moping for months over the fact that she broke up with him for 'no reason.' And it turned out that besides the fact they didn't even really feel that way for each other, she did have a reason. A good one.

"Ellie," he whispered, tipping his head slightly and looking at her. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't get himself to say 'I'm sorry' because that wouldn't help anything. But nothing he said would, so... he pressed his lips together. Finally he shook his head. He just couldn't think of any words.

The fact that Dallin wasn't saying at first anything made Ellie nervous. Maybe he didn't believe her. It would be a pretty drastic lie to tell. It would definitely get attention...

When he whispered her name, she bit the inside of her cheek and looked away, squinting in the sunlight. Scratch that. There was no sunlight. She was just squinting. Ellie could tell that Dallin didn't know what to say. And she didn't know what to say either. It was all so complicated. And painful, emotionally and physically.

"I'm sorry that I didn't explain anything when I broke up with you." She looked back down at the grass. There was a lump in her throat, but she tried her best not to cry in front of him. "I guess I thought that would be better for you instead of just... disappearing." And by disappearing, she mean dying.

"No, I'm glad you told me," Dal said softly, looking away from her. He couldn't believe what she'd told him. And he was sort of glad she hadn't told him when they broke up - he wasn't sure if he would have believed her then. He believed her now, though, because he knew she wouldn't make something like this up.

He plucked up a few blades of grass, thinking. She'd known about this for a long time, then? At least her family had. So they must've tried to come up with a way to stop it. That's what Dal thought, at least. He knew that if it was him, he would try every way possible to get rid of the curse.

"Have you... tried to get rid of it?" he asked, biting his lip and looking at her again.

" You welcome" Willaim smiled. " I am sorry I never told you" William told Sarah. "Well, I tried to mention the meeting again and I will see if anyone talks to me this time" Wiliam explained to Sarah. "Well I guess I would not mind help "William said to Sarah. " right now, I am not sure if I even want to be a Gryffindor" William sighed. Willaim dropped his hand from Sarah.
" I am sorry I took my hand from yours, but I do not want my girlfreind Katelynn to get the wrong idea" he told Sarah. " I will meet you in the common room" William smiled.

" Cat, got your tongue?" Willaim asked Gwen. " I am breaking you down, down" William told Gwen. " I saw a grin, we can become friends" William said to Gwen.

"Hmm, that's ok." she said. "Oh don't! Gryffindor is great, the best.. actually.". Sarah was a little shocked at his words. "Oh wait, you have a girl friend?" she said with a wink and then a smile.

" you are so nice to me" Willaim told Sarah. " I just wonder about the new Gryffindors, they just do not act l ike real Gryffindors" Willaim said to Sarah. " When my dad went to HogWarts, Gryffindor had been the best house. they were all friendly to each other, had great Quidditch teams. did not have real smart students-they did not care- and no one would dare ignore each other plus they barely talked to Slytherins" Willaim explained to Sarah. " Yes, Katelynn is my girlfriend, b ut I still ike yo uas one of my best friends" Wiliam smiled." I know yo uwill find the right boy because yo uare so nice and si pretty' he told Sarah. " They have to meet me first for approval" Willaim laughed. " Would you like to meet Katelynn?" Willaim asked Sarah.