Chapter 13: Playing Games
That weekend, Jeff insisted that Alice get out of the castle to get some fresh air along with Kingsley, Flavius, Travis, Sturgis, Luke, and himself. This sounded like a great idea to Alice, who had missed playing outdoors with Jeff more than she had realized. She wondered what they would do, however, because many of their favorite Muggle pastimes would not be possible at Hogwarts.
Jeff, however, did not take long to select an activity. "Hey, look at that tree over there!" he called out loudly. "It's tall and it looks great for climbing. Come on!"
The other boys did not seem so eager. "Um, Jeff, that's the Whomping Willow," said Kingsley slowly.
"The Whomping Willow?" said Jeff in confusion. "What a brilliant name! What's wrong?" he asked when he saw that the other boys were staring at as if he had suggested storming into a lions' den. Alice just smiled. She knew what the Whomping Willow was.
"That tree will smash to pieces," warned Luke with wary eyes.
"What are you talking about? It's a tree," said Jeff, not understanding their hesitance.
"Not just any tree," countered Sturgis. He paused, obviously wondering how exactly to phrase the "Why don't we go over there and show you?"
The boys and Alice made their way over to the tree. Flavius seemed down-right excited. "I've only ever heard of the Whomping Willow," he said in awe. "I've never actually come near it..."
"That was probably a good thing," said Travis quietly. Alice just shook her head, smiling in amusement.
They arrived at the tree and halted. Jeff didn't seem to understand why they had stopped. He continued making his way toward the tree, albeit a little cautiously.
Out of nowhere, a branch smacked Jeff in the chest and threw him back about ten feet. Alice ran toward him in concern, but he was already getting to his feet. "Wow, you lot were not joking," he said, staring in wonder at the tree. Alice looked at it as well. She had heard stories about the Whomping Willow, but she had never actually seen it attack people.
"Hey, I have an idea," squealed Flavius, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "We should all try to touch the trunk! Wouldn't that be a great game?"
"Sounds a bit stupid to me," murmured Travis, but no one was listening.
"It would require skill. And daring," said Kingsley with a smile. "We should do it! We could tell those third year boys who think they're so cool that we actually touched the trunk!"
The rest of the group put in their assent. Alice was inclined to be on the same page as Travis, but she did appreciate how potentially fun and challenging this new game could be. Besides, she knew that if Jeff wanted her to do this, he would find a way to compell her to do it regardless of her misgivings.
It didn't take long before a large crowd of first and second years had lined up to try their turn at the tree. Alice and everyone in Jeff's dormitory received large purple bruises, but they had so much fun trying to touch the trunk that it didn't matter. The game soon became a hit at Hogwarts, and after lessons each day the queue for the tree grew steadily longer.
Alice wrote letters to her family about her experiences at Hogwarts (excluding the Whomping Willow game) every few days. She realized with amusement that Peggy had, indeed, not succeeded in writing Alice every day as she had said she would. Instead, she usually scrawled a tiny note at the bottom of her parent's letters telling Alice that she missed her and wanted to hear about Hogwarts.
The next few weeks, Alice went to her lessons, did her homework, and tried to avoid her dormitory mates and Valeria Avery's group. She read some defense texts and played with the boys at the Whomping Willow, and occasionally skipped rocks at the lake with them.
One day, in mid-October, Alice was walking back toward Gryffindor tower after spending two fruitless hours in the library trying to work on an essay for Professor Slughorn. She was feeling very defeated indeed, since the essay was due the next morning.
When she reached the corridor that led to the Fat Lady's portrait, a loud noise made Alice jump. She turned, but saw nothing.
Boom! This time the sound seemed to have come from a suit of armor. Boom! Alice turned and saw a suit of armor several feet away jump into the air slightly.
"I can't believe those Marauders!" cried a voice. A freckle-faced girl with long, wavy red hair crossed her arms and scowled. "You'd think they'd have better things to do than disturb the peace of the castle constantly!"
"You believe it is the Marauders that have caused this?" Alice asked her, her brow creased.
"Who else," scoffed the girl. She was pretty, and Alice thought that she might be nice. She thought, or at least hoped that she was not simple-minded like the girls in her dorm were.
"I'm Alice," she said politely.
"Lily Evans," she replied, with the cheerful air of one who enjoyed meeting new acquaintances.
As the girls made their way back to the common room, Alice asked Lily, "What year are you?"
"Third," she responded. "Unfortunately in the same year as those Marauders. I must say, you have it so good not having to attend classes with them."
"Why, do they pull pranks during class?"
Lily chuckled darkly. "You have no idea."
There was a slight pause. "What year are you?" asked Lily conversationally. "Pixie," she added to the Fat Lady, who swung forward to admit them.
"First," responded Alice. She colored slightly as she said, "Well, I'd better get working on my potions essay that's due tomorrow."
Lily immediately looked interested. "What is it over?" she asked. "May I see?"
Alice did not like the idea of letting this older girl look at her sloppy essay that she was attempting to write. She just shrugged. "It's about the theory of producing sleeping draughts and their use in society."
Suddenly, Lily snatched the essay from Alice, causing her to instinctively cry out and grab for it back, but Lily was already scanning it with a critical eye and shaking her head.
"No, no, no," she said. "You would want to use lavender. Where on earth did you get flobber worms? And this paragraph here is poorly written. You look as though you merely copied the book..."
Alice immediately looked abashed and let her head sink down in humiliation. "I'm not very good at Potions," she admitted in a small voice.
Instantly, Lily's eyes filled with sympathy. Then, her face lit up with an ambitious smile. "Come on," she said, jerking her head toward a cushy sofa near the fire. "I am about to help you ace this essay."