Chapter Three: The Whomping Willow

Reagan woke up amidst the snoring room full of smelly boys. He had not slept well, being used to sleeping outdoors. With a heavy sigh, he slipped out of bed, still fully dressed, and crept down to the common area. There, he took note of two boys playing an odd sort of game. They appeared to be tossing what looked like a potato back and forth between the two of them while singing,

"Hot potato! Hot potato!"

At some point the potato began to flash fluorescent yellow. Upon this, the two began passing it even faster than before.

"I'll beat you this time, Harry!" The redhead grinned.

"Name one time you've ever beaten me at anything, Ron." Harry replied.

"Oh…" While Ron paused to think, the potato ran out of time.

It exploded in Ron's hands, propelling him several feet in the air and dying his hair green.

"Oh man, Fred and George said that it would spurt water! I'm going to get them!" Ron yelled, running up the stairs to the boy's dorm.

"Hey! You're that foreign exchange student!" Harry noticed Reagan and blushed. "I saw you at the sorting with those crazy girls. My name is Harry." He paused, a dreamy look on his face.

"How nice. I'm Reagan." Reagan sighed inwardly.

"Did you sleep well? I hear that it's difficult to sleep in the girls' dorms, what with all the pillow fights and…" He trailed off, eyes rolling back into his head.

Reagan missed that Harry seemed to believe he was a girl.

~Good lord. So this bag of hormones is Harry Potter, eh?~

"As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I have to go find my friends. You wouldn't happen to know where they are, would you?"

"Uhh…no I-"

"They left in the middle of the night to go sleep outside and haven't returned since." Hermione popped out of nowhere.

"Whoa! Uh, thank you." Reagan started with a yell, more afraid than annoyed.

"Well," Hermione said huffily, "I'd find them if I were you. Breakfast starts soon and if they're late for that, they might miss classes!" She looked horrified, as if it was the most terrible thing she could imagine.

"Yes. Horrors." Harry tried to show off.

"Laugh now, but if they're late, they'll have detention." Hermione stomped off.

"Well, I guess I'll go find them." Reagan sighed, once again delegated to being the mother hen.

Cora felt herself being shaken. She groaned and rolled over in her sleep. The shaking continued and she blearily opened one eye.

"What?"

"Rise and shine!" Sammy said brightly.

"Cut that out, you moron! I wanted to sleep in."

"You're not allowed to sleep in. You have to look after the Potter kid." Sammy said.

"And be nice to him." Reagan, who was now there, added. "He's a very confused young man going through some difficult changes."

"Whatever." Cora shrugged.

"What do you mean 'confused'?" Bridgit asked.

"It's not my place to say." Reagan decided to keep his belief that Harry was struggling with homosexual urges to himself.

"Anyway, we've got to go for breakfast." Sammy muttered. "You can meet him then."

"I guess so." Bridgit looked supremely uninterested.

"Better hurry," Sammy made a face, "we have classes to go to."

Everyone groaned, but hurried off to the great hall. Once there, they looked around in astonishment at the huge room with huge tables with huge amounts of food.

"I've never seen this much food in my life." Reagan breathed. "Well…except for that feast we had yesterday. Is this what it's going to be like all the time?"

"Mmmmmm...yummy." Cora said.

"This might be worth guard duty." Bridgit was warming up to the idea.

They followed Sammy to the Gryffindor table and began gorging themselves on the food that appeared on the plates before them.

"You realize we're going to be so fat when we get back home." Reagan sighed.

"Whatever." Cora snorted between mouthfuls.

Hermione flounced up to them, Harry and Ron in tow.

"And a balanced breakfast is healthy and integral to learning!" She finished whatever horrid lecture it was she was giving.

Slightly nauseated at noting the piles of greasy bacon and sausages being consumed by them all, she started to introduce them to each other.

"Oh, hey Harry!" Reagan waved.

Harry waved hurriedly back and the three friends moved closer.

"Harry, this is Bridgit Firecatcher, Cora Willowstaff, and Sammy Hellstorm." Reagan said.

Harry blushed a bit and Bridgit could tell he liked Reagan, which explained his earlier comment. This gave her the sneaking suspicion that the sorting hat wasn't the only one who was bad for mistaking genders. Sammy noticed him blushing too and stiffened a bit. No one noticed.

"These are my friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."

"We already know Hermione. Hi Ron." Cora extended her hand.

Ron sniffed indignantly.

"What sort of barbaric greeting is that?" He growled.

"It's called a handshake. You speak English?" Bridgit asked.

Ron stormed off to get ready for class.

"I'm glad we don't have to guard him." Cora muttered to Bridgit.

"Oh dear, seems like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Reagan laughed nervously.

"In case you three haven't noticed, the wizards here a bit prejudiced against you."

"I think a bit is stretching it." Sammy muttered.

"How sad." Reagan's face fell.

"I'm not prejudiced!" Harry exclaimed.

"Good for you." Bridgit gave her weak congratulations, fighting her natural urges to comment on his pride.

Reagan smiled warmly and Sammy looked like he wanted to kill Harry.

"I think it's time to get to class." Sammy said curtly.

She took Reagan by the arm in a gentlemanly fashion and led him away.

"Methinks Sammy has the hots for Reagan." Bridgit whispered to Cora.

"How very interesting." Cora laughed. "What do we have first?" She changed the subject to something they could discuss in front of the others.

"Umm, first is divination with professor Trelawny." Harry muttered. "She's always predicting my death."

"You mean she's trying to kill you? Where is she? We'll get her for you, Harry!" Cora piped up instantly.

"Well, she's right over there." Harry pointed.

"No!" Hermione restrained Cora. "Violence is not the answer. Besides, she's not actively trying to kill him. She's really quite harmless, except for the unimaginable damage she causes your brain.

"Do we have to protect his brain?" Cora whispered to Bridgit.

"I don't think so." Bridgit whispered back. "Reagan and I were pretty good at divination back home, so we got to skip taking the last two years because we passed a test." Bridgit covered for the continued whispering, speaking aloud.

"Really? It's unfortunate we don't have that here. Anything to get me out of that stupid class." Harry muttered.

"Umm…you're the one that picked it. Remember?" Hermione poked him.

"Only half an hour left before class, Hermione! You'd better get prepared!" Harry almost sounded like he meant what he said.

"Oh my gosh! Time really does fly!" Hermione ran to go prepare her things.

"Well, I guess I'll see you there." Harry said as he left.

"But we don't know where it is!" Bridgit realized after he had left.

Cora looked at her schedule in confusion.

"What? What's a loft? And where do we find it?"

"Umm…excuse me." A familiar voice interrupted their mass panic. "I couldn't help but overhear that you don't know where your first class is. I have divination first as well, so I can show you where it is if you meet me by the fat lady in five minutes." Neville offered with a smile.

"What? Which fat lady? That one?" Bridgit pointed at Professor Sprout.

"Umm…let's go this way now." Neville ushered them away before Sprout could figure out what had happened. "That's what we call the portrait in front of Gryffindor, by the way."

"I knew that!" Cora looked haughtily at Bridgit.

"Yeah right! You were the one running towards Professor Sprout yelling 'last one to the fat lady is a rotten egg!'" Bridgit shot back.

"Damn. We do need diplomacy." Cora sighed.

They all went back to their dorms and got their stuff for the next few classes. Neville led the way to an attic in the school. One by one, everyone climbed a silk ladder. When Bridgit and Cora entered, they wrinkled their noses.

"Why is she burning sleepsage? Does she want everyone to fall asleep?" Cora asked.

"Welcome, my pupils." A misty voice said from an undisclosed location.

"You know, it's said that too much exposure to sleepsage is addictive and intoxicating." Bridgit said quite loudly.

"I am Professor Trelawny." The voice ignored them. "Please seat yourself at a square table."

"Uhh, they're round." Cora said.

"Of course, but tomorrow they'll be square." The voice explained.

"Oooooh! She's so mysterious." Said Violet.

"Oh please. What kind of lame-ass prediction is that? You ordered square tables yesterday with built-in crystal balls because today Neville here will somehow break every single one simultaneously." Cora said, reading a stray receipt she had picked up from the floor.

"You lose ten percent for accuracy." The voice said.

"So?" Cora muttered quietly, having committed herself to insubordination.

"I have a prediction," Bridgit began, "the mysterious voice will fall from above due to termites."

Suddenly, there was a loud crack and something fell from the ceiling. Everyone snickered at the antics Bridgit and Cora in amusement. It was a welcome change from when it was aimed at them.

"Very well, you shall not lose ten percent for accuracy, Bridgit. Your friend, however, still loses her mark."

"Damn. If I don't pass this course, I'll have to get a real job." Cora moaned sarcastically.

Everyone laughed.

"Don't feel bad. It takes time to become an expert like me!"

Suddenly, Professor Trelawny sneezed.

"Geshuniet!" Neville said. "Ooops! I accidentally cast a spell!"

Suddenly, all of the crystal balls exploded, sending shards of glass all over the place.

"Oh yeah, still got it!" Cora crowed, ripping up the receipt.

"I would ask all injured students to..."

Professor Trelawny was interrupted by Reagan.

"Sorry, I was brushing up on my divination skills and foresaw that the crystal balls would explode. I would ask all injured students to stand over there." He said.

All of the cut students stood in a circle and Reagan cast a healing spell. Bridgit and Cora simply pulled out the glass shards and ignored the cuts, pretending to be macho.

"Are you guys okay?" Asked Harry.

"They're not that bad, especially compared to what a Displacer beast can do to you." Cora said in an offhanded manner.

"It stops stinging when the blood stops bleeding." Bridgit added brightly.

The two, secretly pansies, cried on the inside.

Harry looked blankly at Bridgit.

"Don't worry about it." Cora said.

Professor Trelawny was extremely angered at how these children were better than her.

"Class is dismissed. I have foreseen that you need the extra time." She said in a somewhat less misty voice.

"Sure do after all that crap." Bridgit muttered.

"But what will we do with the extra time!" Violet cried. "I know! Cora! Bridgit! Teach me your secrets."

However, Cora and Bridgit had, without the advantage of divination, foreseen that and had jumped down the ladder and run away.

"That was so good!" Harry laughed.

"No it wasn't! It was mean and uncalled for!" Ron snapped.

"What do you have against them?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. All I know is they're evil savages from the colonies!" Ron said.

"They're not evil, and they're not savages. As far as I can tell, they're nice, smart polite, strong, beautiful, talented..." Harry got a dreamy look on his face. "Especially that Reagan."

Ron gave Harry a strange look. "You sure that you like Reagan, the one from Canada?"

"I never said I liked her!" Harry said defensively.

"Just asking." Ron put up his hands.

"You know, it's not easy being singled out. It makes you feel alone." Harry brushed away a tear, "So alone. Let's go make them feel welcome."

"Fine, whatever." Ron was obviously in ill humor.

Ron and Harry searched throughout the entire school, but couldn't find them. Harry got an idea and took out the Marauder's map.

"It says here that they're…*gasp!* Oh no! They're all under the whomping willow!" Harry exclaimed.

"They must have been pummeled to near death already! We have to get help!" Ron said.

"There's no time!" Harry, ever the one for heroics, pulled Ron after him.

They ran all the way outside towards the tree.

"You know, you guys should really be looking after Potter." Sammy said.

Bridgit and Cora had gone off to the whomping willow only to discover that Sammy and Reagan were also there.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching the school?" Cora shot back.

"Yeah…and we are. It's right there, see?" Sammy pointed.

"A-OK." Reagan added.

"Back to Harry…"

"I know, but it's the first day. How much trouble could he possibly get into? And besides, I thought you had classes!" Cora shot back with another accusation.

"I guess I was mistaken." Sammy grinned.

"We have a spare." Reagan explained.

Cora pouted and Bridgit looked confused.

"A spare what?"

"You know what? On second thought, that Potter kid's got a bad track record for luck. I have a bad feeling all of a sudden. I'm going to go find him." Cora suddenly felt uneasy under Sammy's blistering glare.

"I agree…let's all go with you." Reagan, in the interest of policing Cora into actually doing what she said, put a firm hand on her shoulder.

When they had walked twenty feet from the tree, they heard screams. They turned around and saw Harry and Ron being waved through the air being held by Wally, the whomping willow tree.

"Ahhhhh! I'm going to be sick!" Ron screamed.

"I'll save you!" Harry cried in response.

"You idiot! You're in the same pickle I am!" Ron shouted back.

Cora snickered. "Heh…pickle."

"I like pickles." Bridgit went all watery-eyed, suddenly wanting for a pickle.

"Uh, you guys? We have to save him!" Sammy pointed out. "And I suppose the other kid, too."

"Do we have to? Bridgit whined.

"Do you want to face Trex for failing your mission…after one day?" Reagan gave them an exasperated look.

Bridgit' eyes went wide. "I don't wanna be held back a grade!"

"Enough of that! Let's save them!" Cora leapt into action.

They all started sprinting towards the tree. Cora and Reagan were ahead of Bridgit and Sammy.

"Stop Wally!" Reagan yelled.

But the willow was in too much of a frenzy to listen.

"Quick, Cora! We need to cast a sleeping spell at the same time!" Reagan began.

"And.." Cora and Reagan were grabbed around the middle and lifted into the air before they could complete the spell.

"Reagan!" Sammy screamed.

"Sammy!" Reagan yelled.

"Cora! You okay?" Bridgit cried.

"Ack!" Cora wheezed.

The tree began to squeeze them, preventing any further spells. Without thinking, Bridgit cast the first spell that came to mind.

"Shrinkus!" She yelled.

The tree began to shrink, but that caused the constrictive branches to become even tighter.

"Reverse the spell!" Sammy yelled.

The tree stopped shrinking and grew back to its normal size. It then whacked Bridgit with one of its leafy branches sending her sailing through the air, through the attic window, into Professor Trelawny's classroom. She landed on the drugged Professor who smiled knowingly.

"I told you we would have a visitor." She said.

"No you didn't!" Draco Malfoy snorted.

"Well, I meant to." She said. "Draco, please assist this young lady to the infirmary."

"Fine." He muttered.

Using a levitation spell he led Bridgit' still form to the infirmary, not being the least bit cautious to prevent her head from bumping into corners and walls as he went.

The whomping willow began to constrict its branches again, causing much pain to its prisoners.

"Sleepamus!" Sammy yelled.

The whomping willow suddenly went limp and its prisoners fell to the ground. Sammy ran straight to Reagan.

"Are you alright?" She asked, cradling his head.

"Mederi." Reagan said.

His body glowed blue and his strength was restored. Sammy let go and stepped back. Reagan stood and cast a group healing spell and everyone else stood up.

"It's nice to know our leader cares about us too." Cora said. "Do you even know where Bridgit is and whether or not she's dead?"

Sammy's face turned white. "We'd better hurry." She said tensely as she began to run towards the building.

Everyone started running as well…even Harry and Ron.

"What were you guys doing there anyway? You almost got everyone killed." Cora snapped as they were running.

"Harry has a habit of doing that." Ron muttered.

Harry smacked him up-side the head. He permitted little back-talk from his underlings.

"Uhmm…never mind what we were doing there." Harry muttered, not wanting to reveal his ultimate secret… of love!

The group of five ran upstairs to Professor Trelawny's classroom.

"Ah. I had foreseen your arrival." She said in a misty voice. "You are looking for your shoes."

"No we're not! What did you do with Bridgit?" Sammy demanded.

"Who?"

"The girl who came flying through the window?"

"What window?" Professor Trelawny asked sleepily.

"What's the matter with her?" Sammy whispered.

"She's high on sleepsage." Cora whispered back.

"How about we just follow the trail of blood?" Reagan pointed at the ground.

"Oh, I hope she's okay." Cora wrung her hands nervously.

"Probably not." Sammy said. "We'd better hurry!"

They all followed the thin red line until they came upon Blindie who was wiping the trail up with a mop.

"Quick! You need to tell us where that trail of blood ends!" Sammy demanded.

"What trail of blood?" Blindie asked.

Before anything else could be said, a Chihuahua trotted up to Blindie. It sniffed at the tiny elf and began to growl viciously and started gnawing on Blindie's leg.

"Oh! It's Blindie's faithful Seeing Eye dog, Chewy! He is so playful and loyal."

All of a sudden, Chewy grabbed blindie's leg and tossed him up in the air. With a mighty gulp, the tiny dog ate the even tinier elf.

"Oh no. Now Blindie cannot finish mopping the floor." Said a voice from the dog's stomach.

"Uhhh…we'll worry about that one later." Cora muttered.

"Ehh, Harry, you go tell Dumbledore about his loss of a staff member while we find Bridgit." Sammy suggested.

Harry and Ron took off to go find Dumbledore while the others began to decide where to look next.

"Uh… Harry? Wouldn't she be in the infirmary? Shouldn't we tell them?" Ron asked as they ran down the opposite hallway.

"Not now Ron!" Harry snapped in response. "Reagan sent us on a mission, and God help me I'll see it through to the end! Or die trying!"

"Okay, where's the most logical place to look for Bridgit." Reagan asked.

"Well, she likes dark places. Maybe she's in the basement!" Cora said.

"She's unconscious and I doubt they'd put her in the basement." Sammy snorted.

"What about the infirmary?" Reagan suggested.

"Does this place even have one?" Sammy asked.

"Yes?"

"Well, where is it?" Cora asked.

"What are you students doing in the hallways during class time?" A cold, malicious voice snapped.

Everyone turned around to confront an unhappy man with greasy hair and sallow skin with a hooked nose.

"We're..."

"Ten points from...uhhh..."

"Ravenclaw." Sammy supplied a name.

"Right. Now what was it you were going to ask me?" He asked evilly. "And five more points for not knowing it."

"We need to know where the infirmary is." Reagan said.

"It's that way!" He screamed in rage.

"Thank you." Cora said sweetly.

"You're welcome." He hissed.

The man stormed off and kicked the prone form of Chewy into a wall. The dog groaned and rolled over.

"Well, you heard the emotionally disturbed guy, to the infirmary!" Sammy said.

They all ran off in different directions because when Snape had pointed, he was whirling around in circles. After ten minutes, Reagan was trapped in a room with thousands of doors on the wall, one of which opened up to the exit. Sammy had managed to end up in the teacher's lounge, which was lucky for her. Cora, however, was luckiest of all and had chosen the direction that did lead to the infirmary. Before she could walk in, Bridgit shuffled out.

"Remember to eat lots of raw turnips!" A voice called after her.

Bridgit threw up on the floor and the vomit mysteriously disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"COOL BEANS!" Bridgit' eyes went wide and she attempted to induce vomiting so she could see it again.

"Hey! You're okay!" Cora said, gently restraining her stupid friend.

"Well, I am now that crazy turnip woman is leaving me alone."

"So you're alright then?"

"Yes. Is everyone else okay?" Bridgit asked.

"Well, I think so, but some grouchy guy called Snape gave us mucked up directions and I lost everyone else. Except for Harry and Ron. They went to tell Dumbledore that Blindie was dead."

"What? What happened?"

"Oh, his seeing eye dog, Chewie, ate him."

Bridgit followed Cora in silent shock down the corridors as they searched for the others (except for Harry and Ron.) Finally, they caught up to Sammy.

"Hey! Where've you been?" Cora demanded.

Sammy stuffed the rest of a piece of pie she had been eating in her mouth and washed it down with a glass of rootbeer.

"Y'know, they have it a lot better than us. I went into the teacher's lounge and all of a sudden, house elves were all over me."

"Were they attacking you?" Bridgit asked in alarm.

"No, they were waiting on me hand and foot. It was awful! Except for the pie. They make better pie than anyone I know." Sammy said happily.

"Well good for you." Bridgit said bitterly.

"Let's find Reagan." Cora said.

"I'm right here." Said a tired voice from behind.

"Why bother looking for people when they just appear out of nowhere?"

"Actually," Reagan said. " I just opened the right door and I fell out of the wall."

They all stared at him in confusion.

"Never mind." He muttered.

"I think we should get to class now." Cora said. "That feels so weird. "

"Oh, thank you." Bridgit said sarcastically. "Now I have no excuses for missing the next boring and pointless class."

"Hey! We've got a class with that emotionally deranged guy." Cora exclaimed, looking at the schedule again.

"What emotionally deranged guy? How much stuff did I miss?" Bridgit asked.

"Enough."

"We ran into Snape in the hallway." Reagan explained.

"Hey! Potions might be interesting…we never learned that." Cora offered.

"Thank you Hermione." Bridgit said dryly.

"You're welcome!" A chipper voice perked up.

"WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Bridgit screamed in alarm. "Hermione? When did you get here?"

"I'm on my way to potions, silly. You'd better hurry, or we'll be late."

"Well, have fun." Sammy said. "I've got history with that dead guy. See 'ya later."

She and Reagan walked off arm in arm.

"Oooohhhh," whispered Bridgit, "methinks two little lovebirds have the hots for each other."

"Oh, I'm sure it's something else. Reagan couldn't like someone like Sammy, could he? He'd want someone who would go shopping with him and could braid his hair."

"And Sammy would want a guy made of bricks that eats shell casings for breakfast." Bridgit rolled her eyes.

"They couldn't hook up…could they?"

The girls looked at each other uncertainly for a moment. Then they broke out in laughter.

"Like that would ever happen! They're like night and day." Bridgit said.

"And Sammy is night, of course." Cora added. "C'mon, let's get to potions."

Hermione hadn't understood the whole exchange, but she smiled all-knowingly.

"Right. It's this way!" She led them through the hallways.