Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter…if I did Tom Bombadil would have been part of the fellowship.
March of the Ent's
Once upon a time…but that is a hasty beginning. It really all began when the Entwives went extinct. Many still seek them to this day, especially the Ents that still roam Middle Earth. This is the tale of Treebeard and his quest to find love.
This, of course, would not be possible if it were not for Gandalf the White repaying the Ents for guarding Isengard and taking care of dear Pippin and Merry. Gandalf opened a portal that let one Ent into the world of wizards. The portal would be opened directly onto the Hogwarts grounds, forever changing the history of Hogwarts.
Treebeard knew he was being hasty agreeing to go to another world in search of Entwives, but in reality he had been planning to find one for a thousand years. Still, the other Ents thought he was being quite hasty by going through the portal after only six months of knowing about it's existence; they refused to go with him.
Once he was through the portal, he looked around and saw a castle surrounded by trees. He then realized that a year could not possibly be long enough to find all the Entwives in the forest but he realized it was too late and he had to start the search. He told himself "The Entwives did not die!...We lost them and we cannot find them."
Treebeard stopped as suddenly as he could when he saw a giant willow tree with all the branches swatting at a man. It was a bit hasty of her, but it was obvious she was not treeish so she might be an Entwive. He was so excited he was hasty and ended up putting his roots within a mile and a half of her. There he would stay for a month or two months before he would get closer. Now that he was closer, he knew the creature he had seen was not an orc. He was reasonably sure that this was a Hobbit or man so he was no threat.
The poor first year student was afraid out of his mind. He dashed back to the castle to get away in fear that this walking tree would get him.
Once he was safely in the Great Hall he ran to the Headmistress who sat at the head table enjoying her tea. He started talking a mile a minute trying to get his words out. "There's a tree that was walking and it's near the Whomping Willow. You have to see it!"
Headmistress McGonagall knew she had to deal with all the issues students had, but this was ridiculous. Seeing the panicked look on the distressed first year student she knew she had to check it out. Walking briskly out of the Great Hall out in front of Hogwarts, she saw there was in fact another tree a mile and a half away. Turning as fast as she could she went to get assistance from Professor Sprout to see what insight she could offer.
They did not approach the tree for some time instead decided to research and see if there were in fact trees that could walk. She soon passed a rule that no student was to go near the other tree and even made sure Hagrid would obey too.
Before she did anything she had to check and see if a certain Weasley was involved; after all he sold all those pranks that made her job harder than it should be.
George Weasley sat at a desk in the flat that he shared with Ron and Harry. They were all sitting around and enjoying a good game of chess—or rather Ron was—as he saw a letter from his mum that was a red envelope; a howler. He quickly checked it, hoping it was for Ron and not him. It was for him. Hesitantly, he opened it and it screamed "GEORGE WEASLEY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE NOW? I WAS CONTACTED BY HEADMISTRESS MCGONAGALL WHO SUSPECTS YOU HAVE BEEN CAUSING CHAOS AT HOGWARTS. YOU HAD BETTER NOT BE INVOLED OR YOU WILL BE DEGNOMING THE GARDEN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE."
George could only scoff at the thought of him being blamed for something he didn't do. This was a rare occurrence. He usually managed to shift the blame to someone else when he actually did do something. He really wasn't too worried as he always degnomed the garden anyway.
Filius Flitwick walked as fast as his little legs would let him to get a closer look at the tree. He wanted to see if the tree was charmed, and the Headmistress was with him.
As they approached the tree they could make out a face and couldn't help but think it looked as if it had a beard. They soon reached the tree and both set to work trying spells to make sure it wasn't cursed, transfigured or had any charms on it.
Treebeard finally stirred from his slumber as he heard noises coming from a man and what appeared to be a hobbit. Of course, it would be hasty of him not to make sure. "Are you a hobbit?" he asked.
Flitwick hesitantly answered, "No, I'm part-human and part-goblin."
Treebeard gave it a moment of thought (or minutes) before responding "Yes. Perhaps you're not a hobbit but let's not be hasty."
Hogwarts Headmistress snapped at the tree. "What are you doing here? That's all I want to know."
Treebeard was quite for a moment before speaking. "Men are hasty. Let's not be too hasty."
McGonagall was very much upset at being called a man. "I am not a man."
Treebeard, being the wise Ent he was, went through his list of species: "Learn now the lore of Living Creatures!
First name the five, the free peoples:
Eldest of all, the elf-children;
Dwarf the delver, dark are his houses;
Ent the earthborn, old as mountains;
Man the mortal, master of horses:
Half-grown hobbits; the hole-dwellers;
Beaver the builder, buck the leaper,
Bear bee-hunter, boar the fighter;
Hound is hungry, hare is fearful...
Eagle in eyrie, ox in pasture,
Hart horn-crownéd; hawk is swiftest,
Swan the whitest, serpent coldest...
The Ent responded "Are you a tall dwarf?"
She scoffed indigently at that and said, "I'm a witch; a human that can perform magic. You can call Headmistress McGonagall and the man next to me is Professor Flitwick."
"You are no dwarf, McGonagall the Black, and you should not be going and letting out your own right names so hastily."
McGonagall finally had enough and walked off only stopping briefly to tell Flitwick that lunch was almost over and they had to return to their duties.
Five hours later McGonagall and Flitwick returned with an additional professor; Pomona Sprout. Flitwick stepped forward. "Tree, if you have decided what I am, could we move forward with the discussion."
Treebeard said, "I'm not a tree; I am an Ent. You are not a hobbit so you must be a witch."
Flitwick looked slightly upset by this and corrected him with patience "I am a wizard; men are wizards and women are witches. What would you like us to call you?"
"You can call me Treebeard; but I will not tell you my full name as that would be to hasty. Do you know Gandalf the White?"
Flitwick shook his head he didn't know him. All the professors did not know how to respond to what he said about sharing their names so they all ignored it.
Treebeard looked thoughtful for a moment; a long moment "Would you like to come with me as proof you're not a hobbit?"
Flitwick politely gave it a moment of thought so he did not appear to be "hasty" before saying, "Thank you, but I'm afraid I can't leave work."
Professor Sprout looked thrilled at the prospect of seeing more of these "Ents." Headmistress McGonagall shook her head before she could even suggest going with Treebeard. Instead, she stepped forward to ask "Are there a lot of you?"
"Very few; most trees today are treeish," responded Treebeard.
McGonagall then asked the quesiton she hadn't before. "Why are you here?"
"To find Entwives," the Ent said as he closed his eyes, signalling that the conversation over.
All the professors soon went back to the castle as they had work to do and one even had a detention that night.
The next morning Headmistress McGonagall was seen walking outside to check on Treebeard. He had moved in the night and was as close to the Whomping Willow as he could be without getting thrashed. She moved close as she could without him noticing and she heard him speaking to the tree in a language she had never heard of that was very slow paced. After listening a minute, she was about ready to go back in and prepare for class when she heard another whispering voice coming from the Whomping Willow itself. She rushed in the Greenhouses, eager to speak Professor Sprout about this development.
Professor Sprout had been researching a good part of the night and she had bags under her eyes to prove and her work prevailed as she found information on Ent's. Of course she was hesitant to believe what she read as it came from the Quibbler. The fact that it had the same name, mentioned Entwives, and mentioned that walking trees were not hasty made it easier to believe the source was accurate.
Ents: The Shepherds of the Trees
By Xenophilus Lovegood
Ents are one of the oldest living races. They herd trees and it is believed that the elves taught them to speak. They look like ordinary trees; you may not know if a tree is an Ent unless it speaks or walks. Even then you can't be sure as you may be seeing an enchanted tree. Identifying traits that all Ents share, however, are that they speak very slowly and they are still trying to find Entwives, the females of the species, which went missing many years ago. They are very peaceful unless you try to cut them, or any tree, down.
Sprout couldn't help but be amazed at how well this article fit the creature outside. She was about to exit the room to find the Headmistress to show her, but she didn't have to. McGonagall came to her.
Sprout spoke eagerly of her discovery, handing the article over. Disbelief was on McGonagall's face as she saw the source but soon realized pieces of it were accurate. After reading the article she realized that there was nothing she could do with Treebeard and she could see no reason to do anything, as he meant no harm. Admittedly, the thought of the Whomping Willow being able to walk frightened her, as she knew how violent it could be.
A week went by and Treebeard had gotten the Whomping Willow, or "Angry Bark," her real name, to talk to him several times and even got her to walk a little. He knew he was being hasty in his actions with her but he knew there was not much time for them to find more Entwives.
"Would you like to find more Entwives with me?" Treebeard asked in Old Entish.
"Yes I would love to," spoke Angry Bark who despite her name was quite friendly at least to Treebeard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Days later two walking trees were seen marching away from Hogwarts…McGonagall would later deny knowing what these were as she did not want to acknowledge that her source was The Quibbler.
She wasn't concerned, especially after she realized she no longer had to concern herself with students getting hurt by the Whomping Willow. However, there was a chance that innocent muggles would get hurt, so she'd report it and be done. Perhaps she did owe a certainly Weasley an apology as well, though she knew she would never live it down.
She sat at her desk to write a letter to the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to alert them of their new problem.
To whom it may concern,
The Whomping Willow which has been on Hogwarts grounds for a number of years has walked away with another tree that also walks and talks. I fear they may alarm the public and compromise the secrecy of our world. I would suggest speaking with the tree known as Treebeard, who is accompanying the Whomping Willow. He doesn't seem dangerous.
Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Being Headmistress was turning out to be better than being Deputy Headmistress. No Fred and George Weasley, No Harry Potter, No Dark Lord; and now no Whomping Willow.
Ron Weasley was relieved to be at the Burrow for Christmas. The food was great and his old sweater was getting worn out. It would also be great to see his girlfriend again. She hadn't been able to leave Hogwarts even when she had the chance.
Ron and Harry were waiting for Mr. Weasley to bring Hermoine and Ginny back to the burrow. Bill and Percy were outside, trying to degnome the garden. Percy had missed his turn for four years in a row. He was lucky that Bill was willing to help him make them up. Hermione entered the room looking as if she had witnessed something in a "Hogwarts, A History." In fact, she had witnessed something that would later have to be added. She couldn't hold back her enthusiasm and blurted it out.
"You won't believe what I saw!"
Ron said, "Oh, what new pet has Hagrid got this year?"
"No, it's not Hagrid! The Whomping Willow just got up and walked away!"
The room was silent and Ron's face was slowly losing color. But Hermione had left out the best part. "It was talking to another tree as they left the grounds!"
George could only laugh as he realized this was why he was being blamed. His laughter was cut short as Bill and Percy ran in the house shouting about enchanted trees walking and possibly talking. The whole group ran outside and stared in shock. Hermione was the only one not in shock at this queer sight.
A couple of weeks later George was in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, framing a hand written letter. Most muggles would assume this was some kind of permit to run a business or some kind of award, but it was neither. It was in fact an apology from the Headmistress of Hogwarts. This one piece of paper was worth gold to him. He'd even gone to the cemetery and shared the letter with Fred. The letter read:
As you are probably aware, a tree appeared on Hogwarts on December 2, 1998. This tree kept getting closer to Hogwarts Whomping Willow and persuaded our Whomping Willow to leave with it. Given your record, I assumed you had something to do with this, so I sent a letter to your mother asking her to find out if you were involved. Please accept my apology for blaming you for one of the only cases of mayhem at Hogwarts in the last decade that you were not somehow responsible for.
Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
George couldn't help but grin at this letter; even after the fifteenth time. He smirked "Thanks to this letter, the student's will know that even the Head Mistress can be wrong."