The Whomping Willow

...

Hannah was walking calmly across the grounds when she got hit in the back of the head by a stick. She looked around, but couldn't see anyone in either direction. Then she noticed the Whomping Willow. Frowning, she picked up a good sized rock and threw it at the tree, hiting it squarely in the center.

Rolf was walking the grounds when he noticed a girl throwing a rock at a tree. Seeing as Rolf loves nature and creatures and living things in general, he can't help but stop and look at the girl curiously. "You know, that could almost be classified as abuse," he said, a smile on his face because he knew that the girl didn't actually hurt the tree.

Hannah turned to look at the newcomer, and pointed at the tree, "It hit me first." She then realized how very childish this sounded and a smile spread across her face. She put her hands on her hips and gave him a inquiring look. "I'm Hannah Abbott. You are...?"

"That's what they all say," he said with a wry grin. "Name's Rolf Scamander," he replied he began to step forward before freezing. "Wait," he said, placing his hands in the air as if surrendering. "If I come too close to you, are you going to start throwing rocks at me too?"

Hannah narrowed her eyes, "I don't throw rocks at unsuspecting strangers. I swear it hit me." She turned her back on him to give the tree a dubious look. "I don't know why. It's not like I was being mean or anything." Looking back at Rolf she realized she must sound crazy, "Just go up to it, you'll see what I mean."

He took a step forward when she claimed she wouldn't throw rocks at him. He briefly considered this girl to be out of her mind, but then again...this is Hogwarts. Anything is possible. He glanced at her, raised an eyebrow, then took a hesitant step towards the tree. Nothing. He then took another step...and then another one. After four steps, a branch came flying out of no where and he had to duck so he didn't get hit. "Alright," he said, getting out of the way as quickly as possible. "I believe you."

Hannah nodding. "Now next time you accuse a girl of abuse, remember this moment." She laughed, "Otherwise I may resort to throwing rocks at you. I have very good aim."

"Apparently," he laughed, moving to walk over to where she was. "Though I still think that throwing rocks at that poor tree was a bit uncalled for. You're in Hufflepuff?" he questioned, glancing at her tie.

Hannah shrugged, "Justice was needed and I don't know of any courts that consider trees that hit people worthy of a trial." She nodded to confirm that she was a Puff and glanced at his tie. Blue for Ravenclaw. "Loyal and hardworking, that's me. Well, more so loyal, I guess. And you're a Ravenclaw." She stated, "I guess that makes you smart, huh?" She glances at the tree and could hold back a smile as she thought that he didn't look so smart when he almost got hit in the head by a branch.

Rolf would like to point out that Hannah told him to go near the branch. Otherwise he wouldn't have gone near the damn thing in the first place. "Well, loyalty is a great trait to have," he replied. "Definitely something that many people around here lack. As for being smart, I'd like to think that I try harder with my classes than those in other houses. I mean, unfortunately one of the stereotypes that us Ravenclaws have is that we live in the library. I will neither confirm or deny it," he said with a grin, though the aforementioned option was partly the truth.

Hannah smiled, "Yeah, loyalty definatly is a rare trait around here." She laughed when he mentioned living in the library and leaned in to whisper, "I heard a rumour that there's a part of the library that's all set up for Ravenclaws to sleep in. They have, like, hammocks set up and everything." She stepped back smiling and looked around. It was a nice day out. "Of course," She added, "There are also rumours that Hufflepuffs get roasted by Slytherins. But that hasn't happened since last year."

"It's right behind the shelf for magical creature books," he said with a grin, playing along with her comment. "The hammocks are quite comfortable. Even have these nice little pillows. I've heard about those roasts," he said solemnly. "You better watch out for those. Would be quite the shame if you did get roasted. Makes me wonder who the first Puff of the year is going to be."

Hannah shrugged, "I don't even know if they're going to happen this year. We've got more numbers and a better strategy." She spoke as if they were fighting a war, "I'd like to we chosen first. I'd take as many of them as I can down with me and go down in history as the litte Puff that could." She smiled, "People would write ballads about me. And maybe even a play!"

"Seems like quite the mission that you're going to be facing," he said with a light laugh. "Though, something tells me that your determination will really take you far. Well, I'm sure a ballad would be nice, but maybe an epic poem would be even better. I mean, could you imagine? Having someone write about your fight and struggle...something that's nearly as long as the Odyssey? It would really show that you've accomplished quite a bit regarding those Slytherins."

Hannah nodded, thinking that Rolf seemed to know quite a lot about this, "Alright, then. If I die, you're in charge of writing about it. I would write the song, but hey, I'll be dead. We'll just have to find someone else who's up to it."

"Got it," he said with a grin. "I'll make sure that it's on the best seller list of the Daily Prophet. You write songs?" he questioned, because it was quite refreshing to meet someone around here who did other things besides read, shag, eat, or play Quidditch 24/7 like most of the students.

Hannah shrugged, "I try to write songs. That's gotta count for something, right? There always seems to be something missing." She smiled, "That, and the fact that the only instrument I play that allows me to write songs is the piano. It's rather more challenging on a bass."

"That's neat," he said grinning widely. "Two instruments? Seems like you're quite the talented girl then. I don't think I've ever met a girl who plays bass before. Hell, most people I've met that play instruments don't play the bass. It's an important instrument though and sadly, is easily forgotten."

Hannah nodded, pointing at him for no good reason, "That's exactly what I think! Without the bass it's just noise. The bass turns it into music. Well, the bass and the drums, but I'm going to go ahead and take all the credit." She smiled, "So you don't play any music? You know, people say that we learn to live but we live to be creative. That's why I'm so creative. My mom was pushing me to take school more seriously, but I want to be an artist." Her face fell, as it usually did when she talked about her mom, but she plowed on in her little rant, "I could teach you music? I'm a great teacher."

Rolf couldn't help but smile as she talked. She sure was quite the nice girl and easy to talk to. "I've never tried to play any sort of instrument," he replied. "My family wasn't quite into that sort of creativity. When I was younger, we'd travel around a lot to study magical creatures, so I started to draw. I mean, I'm not good in the slightest, but that's the only creativity I really have. It'd be nice though...trying my hand at playing an instrument. I'm sure you're a great teacher," he grinned.

"Don't worry about drawing, you can't do everything. I don't draw, I only play music, sing, and dance." Hannah ticked them off on her fingers, "You should definitely try, it's well worth it. What should we learn? I could teach you piano," She reached for his hands and held them up to get a good look at them then dropped them, "Maybe not.... Well, if all else fails, there's always the kazoo." She told him brightly.

Rolf watched as she held up his hands to get an idea of how big they were. Apparently too big of for the piano. Just like how he has big feet. Just like how he has a big WHAT WHATTT. Sorry. Dear gods. Couldn't resist that time. "The kazoo?" he questioned. "Is that really the only thing you think I'll be able to do?! I mean, those things are horrible annoying. Do they even really count as instruments?"

Hannah gave him a disbelieving look, "I was kidding. I could teach you how to play bass. The only downside is it wouldn't be very loud. There's no electronics at Hogwarts, of course, so I don't even bring my amp. Still, if we practice somewhere quiet, it could work. What do you say? I bet the Ravenclaw in you really wants to learn something new, yeah?"

"Definitely sounds good to me," he grinned. After all, it would be nice to learn how to play the bass when the future love of his life plays an instrument as well. How sweet. "We could even practice in the Room of Requirement," he suggested. "It would be really quiet in there and I'm sure we could somehow get the room to have books of music appear."