Living A Legend
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 4- Willows and Snapshots
Lily awoke with a start. Looking up, she saw Ludwick's eyes gazing down at her. Potter was already standing up, stretching miserably.
It took Lily a few minutes for her legs to start working, all of her muscles were sore, and she felt as if she had been ran over by the Hogwarts Express.
"Well, well, well." Ludwick drawled. "What have we here. Sleeping on the job I see. Well everything looks clean enough. But where is all the soap? Where are the suds? And the ceilings look far too clean for me to believe you scrubbed them from atop a ladder. Give me your wand Potter!" he ordered suddenly.
The professor thrust out a hand and snatched James wand before he could protest. Touching the tip of the wand to his own, he muttered a charm and a faint shadow of clean walls glimmered from his wand.
"Ah ha," Ludwick tossed the wand back negligently. "It is as I suspected. the two of you purposefully went against my orders and decided to use magic. But I'm afraid you wont get off easily. Another detention for you both. And twenty points from Gryffindor. Each!"
Lily and James groaned simultaneously, and marched back to their dormitories to shower before heading off to breakfast.
They found that the rest of the Gryffindors were quite sympathetic to their plight. To spend a night in the dungeons with Ludwick, only to be given yet another detention! Sirius and Brittany both protested heavily, but in the end they gave up.
"Well, what can you do?" Remus muttered glumly.
It was good luck that Lily and James did not have potions that day, or surely they would have been punished further for their inattentiveness. Both students fell asleep often during classes, scarcely able to pay attention.
They received word of their detentions that night, they were to take place Friday with the gamekeeper Ogg. Though no one knew anything about this mysterious gamekeeper, it was relief to them both that it was not with Ludwick once again.
That night both students fell asleep as soon as they returned to their common room, eager for a good nights rest, and when they awoke, the old loathing of each other seemed to have been replaced by a loathing of all things Terrance and Malfoy.
Along with Sirius, Remus, and Brittany, the two former enemies plotted to get revenge on the troublesome Slytherins. Dora however, would have no part in their mischief.
"Gryffindor is already in last place, thanks to you five! I'm sorry, but I actually would like to win the house cup." Dora had protested.
It was true that the upperclassmen had taken a hatred to the four students for their excessive loss of points for their house.
Lily was dreading the second detention, convinced that it would be just as gruesome as the first, despite James' assurances that his first detention had not been quite so bad as the one with Ludwick.
Meanwhile, Lily, James and Sirius were still vying for the top marks in classes. Sirius had somehow gained the lead, closely followed by the other two. Somehow the competition was now friendly.
Lily couldn't quite pinpoint it but something had changed between her and James. While they were not friends by any means, they had become reluctant allies against the Slytherin house. the shared bad experience of the dungeon detention had somehow brought about a change in their relationship.
When James and Lily arrived at the Gamekeeper's hut, they were surprised to find two men, one of whom stepped forward and introduced himself as Ogg. the second man, towered over the first so high that he seemed a giant. It took a few minutes before James and Lily noticed that the giant was not really a full grown man, but only a teenager, some few years older than the students themselves.
"This is my assistant Hagrid," Ogg introduced the extraordinarily tall man without making reference to his amazing height.
Lily just stared, but James eagerly introduced himself and her, and stepped forward to shake both of their hands.
It turned out that the duo would spend the evening caring for a newly planted tree on the Hogwarts grounds, a tree that Ogg called the "Whomping Willow".
"You must be careful not to get in the way of the branches until I say. This tree is not an ordinary willow tree. When you invade it's space, it will defend itself vigorously," Ogg explained tersely as they headed towards the tree in question. "We will be adding fresh soil to the ground around the roots, as this tree requires a lot of care during times of change, and it has recently been uprooted."
Hagrid carried two large barrels filled with soil from the tree's previous home.
"Let me get this straight," James interrupted. "We will be putting soil around the roots of a tree? That's all? Nothing tedious or dangerous?"
Ogg grinned, "It's apparent that you have yet to be aquatinted with the Whomping Willow."
Indeed, it only took a glance for the students to see that the Whomping Willow was certainly no ordinary willow tree. First of all it was enormous, it's mammoth branches hanging down to the ground. When they approached, the branches began to swing wildly about as if they had a mind of their own, and the roots moved about trying to trip Ogg as he bravely walked up to it.
Lily gasped in horror when she saw it, the thought of digging up turf near the enormous and dangerous willow seemed quite unhealthy.
The groundskeeper picked up a long stick that was on the ground and prodded a root near the base of the tree and instantly the Whomping Willow stopped its deadly assault and lay still as a muggle portrait, only a slight breeze ruffling it's leaves.
After approaching the tree cautiously, Lily and James began to follow Ogg and Hagrid, loosening and turning the soil, adding a bit from the barrel every once and a while.
At one point James thought he saw an opening in the large tree trunk which almost looked like a passage, but Ogg told him to get back to work quickly, ignoring James' discovery.
A few minutes later, to the shock of the two students, the branches on the tree began once more to strike out at them. James took a branch to the head, and Lily had a near miss before Ogg tapped the root once more and explained that this would only disable the tree for a short time.
This revelation kept both students on their toes. It really was quite a challenge ducking the violent branches, and it would be a lie to say that James and Lily were not bruised and cut excessively in the process.
Both Ogg and Hagrid seemed to be very rustic wizards, and while they expressed their concern for the two students, they did not really seem to worry overmuch about their safety. It didn't seem to occur to them that the branches were a real danger.
And although Lily couldn't help being a little scared when the branches swung out unexpectedly, it did really seem more of an adventure than a horrible detention, and the two students laughed and joked freely.
Ogg and Hagrid were good company as well, cheerful and full of tips about dodging rogue willow limbs.
With the detention over, Lily and James returned to the castle both looking quite a mess. Aside from being covered in wet soil from head to toe, James was sporting a bloody nose and a black eye, and Lily's robes were torn and a cut on her forehead kept dripping blood down her face.
Still the duo were in a surprisingly good mood, and for once they were not fighting.
"I bet you could make a jolly game of that tree," James commented recklessly, in the safety of the castle corridors. "See who could get the closest to the trunk! Of course we can't let on to anyone about that knot that freezes it, that would ruin all of the fun."
Lily rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Boys," before commending James on his hotheaded stupidity.
James only laughed at her cynicism. When Dora ambushed them with a muggle camera in hand, he flung his arm about Lily's shoulders haphazardly and they both grinned exuberantly at the camera.
"You two seem to be getting along so much better!" Dora exclaimed, eyeing their dirty robes. "But what on earth happened to you?"
The photo popped out of a slit on Dora's camera, and James took the photo examining it closely. "We do look a mess, don't we?" he said, shoving the photograph into a pocket of his robes.
Lily shrugged, but insisted getting to their common room before Madam Klase might see them and forcibly escort them into the hospital wing.
It was not long before students had picked up on the Whomping Willow, and James was very eager to spread the word. He and Sirius along with many other students had quickly developed a ritual of spending their free time poking and prodding the massive tree.
He had made Lily promise not to speak of the knot which would freeze the tree, and many students were injured in this dangerous game. Lily and Dora both agreed that the game was foolish and unsafe, but Brittany had taken to joining in the game along with the boys and older students.
Madam Klase was horrified at the number of students sent to her with cuts and abrasions from the Whomping Willow and Lily even overheard a conversation between the nurse and Dumbledore in which Madam Klase seemed to be trying to persuade the headmaster to take the tree off of school grounds.
"It is dangerous having a monstrosity like that on school grounds! Why, it will only be a matter of time before someone is killed!" the witch had protested.
Dumbledore looked grave at her tone. "Yes, the tree can be dangerous, but you know just as well as I that it is necessary."
Lily had to move on at that point to avoid being obvious about her eavesdropping, but it seemed that Madam Klase had her doubts.
It seemed that throughout the following week, much of James and Sirius' time went into planning on how to best revenge themselves on the persons of Terrance and Malfoy. Lupin had been plotting as well, but had mysteriously disappeared. The teachers informed them that Remus's mother was ill and he was visiting her.
Lily too, was active in the planning of James's next prank. It was Lily who came up with the grand idea. She proposed hexing the two Slytherin's robes to bear the Gryffindor Logo.
James expanded on this, insisting that a message reading "Gryffindor for the House Cup" would improve their uniforms immensely.
The plan was executed one potions class by Sirius and James. Lily, Brittany, and Peter watched happily, but Dora muttered disapprovingly under her breath.
"The poor boys, that's really not very nice." Dora had protested weakly.
"They deserve it you know," Lily had defended the pranksters. "You would understand if you had been through what I have."
Potions went well that day. It was a while before any of the Slytherins caught on although the Gryffindors were all engaged in various degrees of hilarity.
Eventually a Slytherin girl noticed and pointed it out to the dismay of the victims. Terrance threatened, and Malfoy lunged at James, but he managed to dodge him.
Luckily for the brave pranksters, Ludwick did not know to whom to attribute the crime, but ten points were taken from Gryffindor. And best of all, both Slytherins went around school with the message on their backs for nearly a week before Ludwick came up with the charm to rid them of it.
One day, while Lily and Dora were taking a walk by the lake, they saw James escorting a boy back to the castle, with half of the school behind him gossiping eagerly.
the boy was clutching at his eye, and blood was streaming down between his fingers. Lily ran up anxiously, her heart beating quickly. This was no small injury, it seemed as if the boy had lost a lot of blood and possibly an eye.
"James!" Lily called, "What happened?"
He ignored her, but some of the following students were talking excitedly about the Whomping Willow. It seemed that it had finally claimed a victim.
"Oh, I hope it's not serious!" Dora cried, laying a hand to her mouth delicately.
"It serves them right for playing that stupid game. It was bad enough serving detention near the tree, I don't understand why anyone would seek out that sort of thing."
That was the end of the game with the Whomping Willow.
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 4- Willows and Snapshots
Lily awoke with a start. Looking up, she saw Ludwick's eyes gazing down at her. Potter was already standing up, stretching miserably.
It took Lily a few minutes for her legs to start working, all of her muscles were sore, and she felt as if she had been ran over by the Hogwarts Express.
"Well, well, well." Ludwick drawled. "What have we here. Sleeping on the job I see. Well everything looks clean enough. But where is all the soap? Where are the suds? And the ceilings look far too clean for me to believe you scrubbed them from atop a ladder. Give me your wand Potter!" he ordered suddenly.
The professor thrust out a hand and snatched James wand before he could protest. Touching the tip of the wand to his own, he muttered a charm and a faint shadow of clean walls glimmered from his wand.
"Ah ha," Ludwick tossed the wand back negligently. "It is as I suspected. the two of you purposefully went against my orders and decided to use magic. But I'm afraid you wont get off easily. Another detention for you both. And twenty points from Gryffindor. Each!"
Lily and James groaned simultaneously, and marched back to their dormitories to shower before heading off to breakfast.
They found that the rest of the Gryffindors were quite sympathetic to their plight. To spend a night in the dungeons with Ludwick, only to be given yet another detention! Sirius and Brittany both protested heavily, but in the end they gave up.
"Well, what can you do?" Remus muttered glumly.
It was good luck that Lily and James did not have potions that day, or surely they would have been punished further for their inattentiveness. Both students fell asleep often during classes, scarcely able to pay attention.
They received word of their detentions that night, they were to take place Friday with the gamekeeper Ogg. Though no one knew anything about this mysterious gamekeeper, it was relief to them both that it was not with Ludwick once again.
That night both students fell asleep as soon as they returned to their common room, eager for a good nights rest, and when they awoke, the old loathing of each other seemed to have been replaced by a loathing of all things Terrance and Malfoy.
Along with Sirius, Remus, and Brittany, the two former enemies plotted to get revenge on the troublesome Slytherins. Dora however, would have no part in their mischief.
"Gryffindor is already in last place, thanks to you five! I'm sorry, but I actually would like to win the house cup." Dora had protested.
It was true that the upperclassmen had taken a hatred to the four students for their excessive loss of points for their house.
Lily was dreading the second detention, convinced that it would be just as gruesome as the first, despite James' assurances that his first detention had not been quite so bad as the one with Ludwick.
Meanwhile, Lily, James and Sirius were still vying for the top marks in classes. Sirius had somehow gained the lead, closely followed by the other two. Somehow the competition was now friendly.
Lily couldn't quite pinpoint it but something had changed between her and James. While they were not friends by any means, they had become reluctant allies against the Slytherin house. the shared bad experience of the dungeon detention had somehow brought about a change in their relationship.
When James and Lily arrived at the Gamekeeper's hut, they were surprised to find two men, one of whom stepped forward and introduced himself as Ogg. the second man, towered over the first so high that he seemed a giant. It took a few minutes before James and Lily noticed that the giant was not really a full grown man, but only a teenager, some few years older than the students themselves.
"This is my assistant Hagrid," Ogg introduced the extraordinarily tall man without making reference to his amazing height.
Lily just stared, but James eagerly introduced himself and her, and stepped forward to shake both of their hands.
It turned out that the duo would spend the evening caring for a newly planted tree on the Hogwarts grounds, a tree that Ogg called the "Whomping Willow".
"You must be careful not to get in the way of the branches until I say. This tree is not an ordinary willow tree. When you invade it's space, it will defend itself vigorously," Ogg explained tersely as they headed towards the tree in question. "We will be adding fresh soil to the ground around the roots, as this tree requires a lot of care during times of change, and it has recently been uprooted."
Hagrid carried two large barrels filled with soil from the tree's previous home.
"Let me get this straight," James interrupted. "We will be putting soil around the roots of a tree? That's all? Nothing tedious or dangerous?"
Ogg grinned, "It's apparent that you have yet to be aquatinted with the Whomping Willow."
Indeed, it only took a glance for the students to see that the Whomping Willow was certainly no ordinary willow tree. First of all it was enormous, it's mammoth branches hanging down to the ground. When they approached, the branches began to swing wildly about as if they had a mind of their own, and the roots moved about trying to trip Ogg as he bravely walked up to it.
Lily gasped in horror when she saw it, the thought of digging up turf near the enormous and dangerous willow seemed quite unhealthy.
The groundskeeper picked up a long stick that was on the ground and prodded a root near the base of the tree and instantly the Whomping Willow stopped its deadly assault and lay still as a muggle portrait, only a slight breeze ruffling it's leaves.
After approaching the tree cautiously, Lily and James began to follow Ogg and Hagrid, loosening and turning the soil, adding a bit from the barrel every once and a while.
At one point James thought he saw an opening in the large tree trunk which almost looked like a passage, but Ogg told him to get back to work quickly, ignoring James' discovery.
A few minutes later, to the shock of the two students, the branches on the tree began once more to strike out at them. James took a branch to the head, and Lily had a near miss before Ogg tapped the root once more and explained that this would only disable the tree for a short time.
This revelation kept both students on their toes. It really was quite a challenge ducking the violent branches, and it would be a lie to say that James and Lily were not bruised and cut excessively in the process.
Both Ogg and Hagrid seemed to be very rustic wizards, and while they expressed their concern for the two students, they did not really seem to worry overmuch about their safety. It didn't seem to occur to them that the branches were a real danger.
And although Lily couldn't help being a little scared when the branches swung out unexpectedly, it did really seem more of an adventure than a horrible detention, and the two students laughed and joked freely.
Ogg and Hagrid were good company as well, cheerful and full of tips about dodging rogue willow limbs.
With the detention over, Lily and James returned to the castle both looking quite a mess. Aside from being covered in wet soil from head to toe, James was sporting a bloody nose and a black eye, and Lily's robes were torn and a cut on her forehead kept dripping blood down her face.
Still the duo were in a surprisingly good mood, and for once they were not fighting.
"I bet you could make a jolly game of that tree," James commented recklessly, in the safety of the castle corridors. "See who could get the closest to the trunk! Of course we can't let on to anyone about that knot that freezes it, that would ruin all of the fun."
Lily rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Boys," before commending James on his hotheaded stupidity.
James only laughed at her cynicism. When Dora ambushed them with a muggle camera in hand, he flung his arm about Lily's shoulders haphazardly and they both grinned exuberantly at the camera.
"You two seem to be getting along so much better!" Dora exclaimed, eyeing their dirty robes. "But what on earth happened to you?"
The photo popped out of a slit on Dora's camera, and James took the photo examining it closely. "We do look a mess, don't we?" he said, shoving the photograph into a pocket of his robes.
Lily shrugged, but insisted getting to their common room before Madam Klase might see them and forcibly escort them into the hospital wing.
It was not long before students had picked up on the Whomping Willow, and James was very eager to spread the word. He and Sirius along with many other students had quickly developed a ritual of spending their free time poking and prodding the massive tree.
He had made Lily promise not to speak of the knot which would freeze the tree, and many students were injured in this dangerous game. Lily and Dora both agreed that the game was foolish and unsafe, but Brittany had taken to joining in the game along with the boys and older students.
Madam Klase was horrified at the number of students sent to her with cuts and abrasions from the Whomping Willow and Lily even overheard a conversation between the nurse and Dumbledore in which Madam Klase seemed to be trying to persuade the headmaster to take the tree off of school grounds.
"It is dangerous having a monstrosity like that on school grounds! Why, it will only be a matter of time before someone is killed!" the witch had protested.
Dumbledore looked grave at her tone. "Yes, the tree can be dangerous, but you know just as well as I that it is necessary."
Lily had to move on at that point to avoid being obvious about her eavesdropping, but it seemed that Madam Klase had her doubts.
It seemed that throughout the following week, much of James and Sirius' time went into planning on how to best revenge themselves on the persons of Terrance and Malfoy. Lupin had been plotting as well, but had mysteriously disappeared. The teachers informed them that Remus's mother was ill and he was visiting her.
Lily too, was active in the planning of James's next prank. It was Lily who came up with the grand idea. She proposed hexing the two Slytherin's robes to bear the Gryffindor Logo.
James expanded on this, insisting that a message reading "Gryffindor for the House Cup" would improve their uniforms immensely.
The plan was executed one potions class by Sirius and James. Lily, Brittany, and Peter watched happily, but Dora muttered disapprovingly under her breath.
"The poor boys, that's really not very nice." Dora had protested weakly.
"They deserve it you know," Lily had defended the pranksters. "You would understand if you had been through what I have."
Potions went well that day. It was a while before any of the Slytherins caught on although the Gryffindors were all engaged in various degrees of hilarity.
Eventually a Slytherin girl noticed and pointed it out to the dismay of the victims. Terrance threatened, and Malfoy lunged at James, but he managed to dodge him.
Luckily for the brave pranksters, Ludwick did not know to whom to attribute the crime, but ten points were taken from Gryffindor. And best of all, both Slytherins went around school with the message on their backs for nearly a week before Ludwick came up with the charm to rid them of it.
One day, while Lily and Dora were taking a walk by the lake, they saw James escorting a boy back to the castle, with half of the school behind him gossiping eagerly.
the boy was clutching at his eye, and blood was streaming down between his fingers. Lily ran up anxiously, her heart beating quickly. This was no small injury, it seemed as if the boy had lost a lot of blood and possibly an eye.
"James!" Lily called, "What happened?"
He ignored her, but some of the following students were talking excitedly about the Whomping Willow. It seemed that it had finally claimed a victim.
"Oh, I hope it's not serious!" Dora cried, laying a hand to her mouth delicately.
"It serves them right for playing that stupid game. It was bad enough serving detention near the tree, I don't understand why anyone would seek out that sort of thing."
That was the end of the game with the Whomping Willow.