}Playin 2 much gee-tar}X&M{& listening 2 Jazz}

[Xavier Anthony Blake]

Xavier walked along the very edge of the Whomping Willow's territory, his brown eyes intent on the large, violently twisting tree. He had never before spent this much time around it, believing it to be little more than a plant. Flora ouldn't want wants, or thoughts, or even awareness, but, the second he had stepped too close, Xavier had nearly been crushed by it's strong limbs. It was definitely worth seeing, even if it had almost killed him.
"Hmm..."
He frowned, studying the large beast of a tree, and wished he had brought his book of drawings, and a quil. It was more complicated than he had thought, and, even if people were his specialty, it would be at least good practice to draw.
Difficult at the least, though, as the thing never stayed still.
The tree had only let out one or two shudders to show it was more than just decoration, but it suddenly smashed it's crown off the rock, below, scaring away the fox that had been trying to catch a nearby sparrow.
"I'll never understand magic" Xavier said, aloud, the sound of his voice making him jump, a little. He had never been superstitious before, but this thing was making him more jumpy than usual. Though, he refused to return to the castle and put up with more of his friends crooning about his new girlfriend. The Slytherin suddenly wished they would just go blow something up like they did before Xavier had an actual steady girlfriend. But, as usual, that was probably too much to ask.

[Marie Devereaux]

<sub>Ever since the French girl had been shown the vast library at this strange, foreign school, she'd spent practically every free moment there. It simply made her happy to be within the staggeringly tall shelves, looking through musty volumes. She was beginning to get used to the dusty smell of the place. In fact, it was even starting to grow on her.

At the moment, she was tramping around the grounds, her nose stuffed into the thick volume about the history of merpeople that she'd picked that morning. Already, she'd finished the lion's share of the book and was simply wandering around the place, trying to finish up the rest. It wasn't really her fault that she ended up near the most deadly part of the Grounds. But the Whomping Willow wasn't terribly easy to see when one's face was concentrated entirely on the page of a book in front of them.

It wasn't until she noticed a rather fast movement by above her head that she looked up, and noticed a rather large group of club-shaped branches hurtling down towards her. "Oh mon Dieu..." She trailed off, diving to the side and landing on her front, the book had been knocked out of her hands and landed far away, out of the reach of the tree. She sighed, before remembering that she was in the presence of a MOVING TREE.

The French girl smelled something sickly sweet and felt a stinging sensation on her cheek. She reached up, pulling her fingers back to reveal a line of scarlet blood. Her cheek had been sliced across the side, where her high cheekbone and thin jaw line met. Terrified, she looked up at the tree, which seemed to be revving up for another attack.

Oh Lordy.</sub>

[Xavier Anthony Blake]

Xavier turned, just in time to see the tree dive at a girl. The foreign girl. With the speed only someone terrified can muster, she dove out of the way. He flinched as she began to bleed. Must've hit a rock during her dive.
It was a shame to see a pretty faced marred, but ths this thought was only in the back of his mind, as Xavier broke into a run, trying to get to -Marie! That was her name- before the branches did. A feat that most would find nigh impossible, Xavier included. And, he realized this, as he reached for the wand that had saved his life many times since he had bought it five years ago.
He sent out a stunning spell, slid infront of the french girl. A slide that would make a baseball player proud. "Uh...not to point out the pbvious, but you might wanna take a few steps back" Xavier pointed out, hovering protectivley, and eyeing the still-stunned branch of willow. It could rear up at any moment, this he knew for a fact.
Never trust a tree He thought to himself, and the branch began to stir. "Stupefy!" he cried out, hoping to stop it for a few more moments, so that Marie could escape. "Crawl, girl, crawl!"
This day was turning out a little more interesting that he had originally thought.

[Marie Devereaux]

<sub>Marie didn't really know what to do, so frozen she was by terror in that moment. And she would have been crushed into a pulp in a second had it not been for the boy that had expertly slid in front of her and shot some spell at the tree. He turned around and shouted something at her, but at the momemnt, in her fright, the translator in her head wasn't really working out too well.

Finally, she figured out what he'd said and nodded vigorously to him, her limbs shaking like mad as she crawled an awkward sort of crawl away from the tree. Every sense in her body was alert. She could have lifted a car at that moment, so much adrenaline was pumping through her system. It was crazy, this feeling of being invincible, yet so fragile at the same time. Eventually, when she deemed she was out of the tree's reach, she stopped, breathing hard, before remembering that her savior was still in the way of danger.

"I-i-immobulous!" The French girl pointed her wand at the tree, and immediately, the thing stopped moving. Her hand dropped limply to the ground and she beckoned the boy over. "Get out of zere. Dépêcher!" Her expression of urgency seemed to be lost on the boy. He didn't know French, so she doubted he'd understand. But anyone would have noticed the sense of urgency in her voice, and she doubted he would ignore that.</sub>