From Mandrake to Whomping Willow Finished

"Glad to hear that! I'm excited too. Oh yeah, I handed in my assignment today. Although, I have to admit... My mind has been a bit scattered today", said Simon, looking into the grass for a moment. "And I had the most peculiar dream. You were in it." He had no reason to blush but still felt the familiar heat on his cheeks when a slight redness rose across them. "We were chased by an agree tree dressed in an apron with pink flowers. It was really weird. It held a broom in one of its armlike branches and was sort of trying to sweep us away with it. You were laughing and..." Simon chuckled. "I'm talking nonsense now. How's your day been?"

Simon was almost surprised by how natural it all felt to tell Irina about the dream. Dreams were after all a bit private. A piece of one's own subconsciousness (however hard it may be to decipher them). The reason for his blushing was not because he felt ridiculous; it was because he was not used of feeling fine with being ridiculous. For the most part of his life, he had never had a friend with whom he could be so outspoken without hearing that he was 'being silly' or 'weird'.

He was sure the dream was just a puzzle of random fragments of thoughts, experiences, and feelings of anticipation for their next adventure. Still, when he woke from his dream in his bed, he had laid awake for quite a while, smiling and feeling grateful for being able to go on adventures with Irina, despite it being in his dream.

Interacting with @Irina Shevel

"My mind has been a bit scattered today."
Irina paused, looking at Simon in slight concern, as he gazed into space, evidently thinking about something else. She remembered yesterday when she had tried to ask about his life and he'd dodged the question. Should she try again?
Before she could speak however, he had started telling her about his dream. Irina grinned as she listened to Simon talking. As he spoke, she saw his cheeks blush red. She decided it would be best to not say anything, so she looked away. "Now that is a fun dream. Let's just hope we don't actually get chased across the grounds by an angry tree in a pink apron weilding a broom," she giggled and looked at Simon again. "But that could be pretty funny too. And I don't think many people could claim that's happened to them!"

"I'm talking nonsense now. How's your day been?"

"Woah, woah, woah! We never call dreams nonsense!" She put on a fake teacher's voice, raising her finger and saying, "Dreams are the very core of our being, the very essence of out subconscience, the . . . erm. Well, you get the picure." she finished with a laugh, dropping her finger and reverting back to her normal voice. "And I'm okay thanks! Nothing much to report really."
She was about to say more when, to her surprise, she found they had already reached the circumferance to the tree. She stopped with a jolt, gazing up at it with slight shock - she had never been this close before.
Without looking away from the tree, she leant towards Simon and whispered, "Wha'd'ya think?"

"Woah, woah, woah! We never call dreams nonsense! Dreams are the very core of our being, the very essence of our subconscience, the . . . erm. Well, you get the picture."

That was actually a pretty good reflection. And very well-formulated. He knew that Irina was doing pretty good in their class but did not expect her to suddenly give the impression of being so academically, or even poetically, inclined. When she cut off her sentence, that felt more like Irina, and he chuckled. She probably did not want to let things get too pretentious!

When they finally arrived, Simon found himself standing in the wide shadow of a massive tree. It was like they both paused for a moment, just to take it all in. He looked up and examined the knotted willow, from the impressively thick trunk to its sprawling branches that almost seemed to be frozen in a pose. It was an incredibly large tree that must have been here for ages.

Irina leaned towards him and whispered: "Wha'd'ya think?"

Simon answered by mimicking her, leaning in towards her too: "You wanna know what I think? I think that looks like a bloody big tree. And", he said, looking towards the bottom of the trunk and pointed. "I bet we could get that red flag."

The middle of the trunk had something nailed to it that looked like a red flag or a red scarf.

"I did some research. I know why the tree is famous. Or infamous" He smiled. "So... What do you think? Who would get the flag first?"

Interacting with @Irina Shevel

"You wanna know what I think? I think that looks like a bloody big tree. And I bet we could get that red flag."

Irina raised an eyebrow, giving a mischevious grin and turned towards him. "I raise your bet with Heck yeah we could!" As she said it though, the tiny voice in her head called 'logic' woke up for the first time in a while and muttered, 'You do realise it's called the Whomping Willow for a reason, right? It's not something a First Year can just win.' She paused thinking it over.

Before she could voice her thoughts, Simon said, "I did some research. I know why the tree is famous. Or infamous. So... What do you think? Who would get the flag first?"

Immeditetly, her pride and arrogance shoved logic aside. "Pff," she waved her hand in a careless manner, "If it's a case of winning then mate, you're going down!"
Before Simon had the chance to do anything, Irina leapt forward, running as fast as she could towards the red object, adrenaline and excitement pounding through her head. She loved running, and despite her petite form and small legs, she was surprisingly fast. She reached the red thing first, touching it and turning with a loud whoop.
"YES! Haha, told you I would win!"

Still laughing, she looked down at the object and realised it was a sign. She crouched down to read it . . . and her face drained of colour.
Looking up with a set face, she slowly held up the sign to show Simon.

"WARNING! Tree will attack if provoked or disturbed. Stay away or die.

"Hey, that's cheating!", Simon yelled and ran after her.

Despite his long legs, Irina turned out to be very fast over short distances and she quickly got to the trunk first. She turned around, holding the red fabric and exclaiming her enthusiasm over winning.

"YES! Haha, told you I would win!"

"Yeah, yeah", said Simon, descretily smiling, walking the last few steps with his hands on his thighs. He was not a very competitive person anyway. It probably meant more for Irina to win than it would have meant for him. "But you might wanna... What? What is it?"

Irina examined the red fabric and he could instantly tell that something was off. Was there a bug on it? She looked almost like his sister Clara whenever she saw a spider and before hell broke loose. No. Was there something written on it? Her eyes went from left to right. Then she held up the fabric for him to see. It was a banner.

Before he had the chance to say anything, something moved in the corner of his eye, followed by a low and deep growl that seemed to make the ground vibrate beneath his feet. The trunk was slowly moving behind Irina's back. In that moment, he realized how small the brave Gryffindor looked in front of the giant tree.

"IRINA!", Simon exclaimed. "Watch out!"

But it was not towards Irina that the first whomping branch came swooshing; it was straight for him. Simon threw himself to the ground just in time for the branch to not smash his head right off his shoulders. When he realized he was okay, he quickly got up on his feet again, covered in grass and seeing how yet another of its many branches came swinging like a fist, but this time towards Irina. She seemed to keep her eyes fixed on another branch above them so he quickly pushed her to the ground, landing over her. The red banner left her hand.

@Simon Tilia

As Irina stared down at the sign, all elation and excitement seemed to seep out of her, seep into the very ground beneath her, leaving only fear. An echoing groaning, so deep it seemed to fill every bone in her body, reverberated around the grounds, causing her head to pound and her ears to ring. The ground began vibrating beneath her and Irina looked down, the banner still clutched tightly in her hand. She could taste fear coating her tongue and a the cold hand of dread tracing her back. Immediately, her mind snapped into fight mode, bracing for any danger, her senses becoming both more aware and overwhelmed simultaneously.
'This is bad,' she thought, heart racing and eyes wide. Almost as if he were confirming this thought, she heard Simon shout, "IRINA! Watch out!"

Despite the fact his voice sounded like it was coming from a long distance away, Irina reacted immediately. She trusted him completely and dove to the left, hitting the ground and covering her head. But the whooshing sound of a branch didn't seem to be anywhere near her. She looked up from the floor and saw Simon dive to the side as well, as a knotted branch flew past the place his head had recently been.
Irina quickly stood, looking around for a way out through the wall of flying branches. Before she could run forwards to Simon and get him out of there, she saw a branch soaring towards the two of them. She braced, ready to leap out of its way.

The next moment she was lying spread-eagled on the ground, Simon landing over her, his blue eyes staring into hers. She hesitated, unsure of what was happening. There was a resounding crash somewhere nearby and she realised he had just knocked her out of the way. Under normal circumstances, she would hav felt annoyed at his heroic effort or at least made some cheeky comment. But the adrenaline was still coursing through her blood so, after a small pause where she recollected her thoughts, she shoved him off, got hastily to her feet and dragged him up beside her.

"Thanks," she muttered, as she quickly let go of his arm, her eyes darting around for any incoming branches or (if possible) an escape route. She saw one.
"There!" Irina bellowed, pointing to an empty space. She ran forwards grabbing hold of Simon's arm to help drag him along.

And then she looked up and saw knotted branch coming right for them.

He opened his eyes and looked at Irina, realizing they were being uncomfortably close to each others' faces. At least he had got her out of the way. She pushed him to the side, got up on her feet and as another ground-shaking growl was heard, Irina lifted him up with immense force.

"There!", she said.

Simon saw it too. The moving shadows on the ground gave an idea of where the branches were going to strike next, but there seemed to be an opening as the tree gathered momentum for its next strike. They ran – but did not get far until Irina's figure darkened in another shadow closing in.

"Watch out!", yelled Simon and jumped to the left as Irina threw herself to the right before one of the knotted fists slammed into the ground between them in an explosion of grass, dirt and rocks. The area was literally raining with leaves from the enraged willow. As it lifted its branch again, Simon looked back and saw Irina's wand laying in the grass, near the trunk.

"Your wand!", he quickly exclaimed. (This was not the time for being very specific).

He hurried back to get her wand – with Irina not far behind him – and picked it up. Then another whooshing sound was heard from above and they had to jump backwards to dodge the branch. They took a couple of wobbling steps before their backs hit the trunk. Simon jumped a little by surprise and they both looked at each other with a look of What do we do now?

"Here", said Simon and climbed over the massive root that almost reached up to his chest, before turning around to help Irina, but he did not need to; Irina had already got up on the root by herself and jumped down, landing on her two feet. They continued their path, tumbling over the roots and moving so instinctively it was almost impossible to keep up with who was dragging who and who was pushing who. When they finally reached the other side of the tree there seemed to be an opening where they could escape.

Interacting with @Irina Shevel

"Watch out!"

Irina dived to the right as an explosion of dirt and leaves sounded beside her. One of the twigs from the branch caught her face, sending a shooting, sharp pain across her cheek. Suddenly, there was a metallic smell in her nose and the taste of blood in her mouth. Ignoring this, she scrambled up, grimly continuing her search for an escape.

Then, Simon yelled 2 words that sparked the most fear in her yet. "Your wand!" The driving fear that was ruled by determination suddenly evaporated, leaving raw panic. She felt small scared as she looked across the scarred grass to where her wand lay, thin and fragile. Her mind seemed to freeze, silence replacing the bombardment of noise that had previously assaulted her ears. The possibility of her being injured suddenly seemed obsolete compared to the idea of her wand being destroyed.
Irina was pulled from her frozen state as she saw Simon sprinting towards it. The noise returned along with the grim determination of survival. She sprinted after him, hot on his heels and watched with a miniscule sense of relief as he scooped it up. Despite the fact they were still in the middle of the fire, she felt a small weight leave her mind. She ducked backwards as a torrent of sir passed behind her and after a small stumble, she felt rough bark against her back. Looking sideways at Simon, she saw the same look of fear in his eyes.

'Nope,' she told herself firmly, 'We are not going to die.' Looking around, she saw a root almost taller than her! She ran towards it and scrambled over, hardly even aware of Simon clambering over next to her.
Together, they ducked and dodged their way around the trunk, Irina constantly looking around for some path that could lead them to safety. And there it was! A path to safety. Possibly their only chance at escaping.
The next few moments were a rush of branches snapping and thudding near them, groaning roots, shouts and yells from the two of them as they ran forwards, fell backwards, lept to the side.
After a while, the infuriated roars of the tree dimmed and it's murderous branches were no longer any danger to them. The pair had run and slipped, stumbled and tripped their way out of danger, emerging next to the Great Lake.

They eventually got a glimpse of the Great Lake before they tripped and rolled down a hill, passing many trees and bushes before he landed on his back. Seconds later, Irina landed on top of him and the air left his lungs.

"Got your wand!", Simon said with a strained voice and held it up for her. "Okay. Get off, get off", he said, realizing he could not get any air in his lungs before pushing her to the side.

It was nearly dark outside. The blueness of the night had almost completely smothered the fire red horizon and crickets sang around them. A bird flew from one tree top to the other above them. He turned his head to the right and met Irina's eyes. For a moment that felt like forever, they starred at each other, trying to comprehend what they had just been through, and the fact that they seemed to have escaped the whomping branches of the enraged willow.

Then he burst out laughing. And then Irina laughed too. Simon had never felt so relieved and at the same time so alive in his whole life. The emotional reward of their encounter with the tree was immense, to his own surprise. When his laughter finally faded and he looked at Irina yet again, he realized that she was hurt.

"Hey", he said and put his hand on her cheek where dried blood mixed with mud had been pouring down her jaw to her throat. "You're bleeding."

Interacting with @Irina Shevel