A little bit of action for you all.
Thanks Zoe tabby & BottledGreenFairy for favoring/alerting.
Disclaimer: I'm not J. K. Rowling
The next few weeks went by in a blur as Ginny and Annabelle got settled into their classes and before they knew it, Halloween was just around the corner. As expected, Annabelle was excelling at most of her classes, especially Charms, Transfiguration and Potions. She also had a certain knack for Herbology that Professor Sprout could not get over. The teachers were beginning to like Annabelle, even though Snape would certainly deny it. Things seemed pretty normal and Annabelle was beginning to like it here. It was becoming somewhat of a home to her.
One day, however, Ginny and Annabelle were walking the school grounds and spotted the Whomping Willow. Annabelle was holding her wand in her hand and as her eyes met the glorious tree, her wand shot out little sparks. Not even noticing the sparks, Annabelle turned off course and began to run toward the willow, not hearing, or perhaps ignoring, Ginny's shouts of disapproval as she followed, close on her heels.
The tree was swinging dangerously back and forth as she neared it. Suddenly, she glanced down and saw the little red sparks that were shooting from the tip of her wand, and it clicked. Mr. Ollivander had mentioned the willow tree, the Whomping Willow. How had she not thought about that? She knew the name of the tree and everything, yet she failed to make such a simple connection. She raised her wand and pointed it at the tree, watching as the sparks stopped. Confused, she looked back up at the tree to see it stood perfectly still too.
Time seemed to halt as the realization of her actions took over and Annabelle took another step forward as a hard weight pressed against her back, forcing her to topple to the ground with the weight still pressing against her.
Annabelle's mind shut off as she began to fall. She wouldn't be trapped again. She wasn't defenseless to him anymore. She wouldn't let them touch her again. Pushing up against the weight, she cried out and suddenly the weight was gone. She collapsed where she was and braced herself for the blow…that never came.
Still paranoid, but calming down slightly, Annabelle's mind finally cleared enough to hear the voice of her attacker.
"What the hell, Belle? You were walking toward the bloody Whomping Willow. What the hell were you thinking?" The voice shot through her skull and straight to her brain, penetrating what composure she had as tears began to fall.
The voice softened and it was suddenly closer, as well. "Annabelle, what's going on? I'm not mad."
Annebells' mind was racing and all she could muster was a soft, low whimper. The voice was Ginny and she wasn't going to hurt her. Had she hurt Ginny when she tried to pull away? Looking up, she caught a pair of worried brown eyes staring into her own green ones. "I'm sorry. I, uh, overreacted."
Seeing that the blonde was okay to talk, Ginny decided that she wasn't reigning in her temper any longer. "You did more than bloody overreacting. How am I going to explain a black eye to Madame Pomfrey? What were you doing?"
Annabelle flinched at the harsh words, but slowly pushed herself into a sitting position where she quickly pulled her knees up to her chest. "I said I overreacted. I'm sorry." She laid her head on her knees, sighing. "The tree and I react strangely. I was testing a theory."
Ginny accompanied her on the ground and began to pluck grass and tear it apart. "Yea, well next time tell me when you're going on a suicidal experiment mission, okay? I won't jump you." She attempted a grin, but became slightly frustrated as it turned to a grimace. "What kind of bloody theory were you testing anyway?"
Annabelle couldn't help a small smile as she recalled her wand's reaction to the tree. "My wand's from the Whomping Willow, and they seemed to react to one another. I wanted to see just how much and if it would let me get close without trying to take me out." After a moment's pause, Annabelle's grin grew wider and she continued. "However, you seemed to be more eager to take me out than the Whomping willow anyway."
Ginny nodded, chuckling as she did so. "Yea, well, I'd rather be the one to take you out. Anyway, what was the whole panic attack about? You freaked out on me a minute ago."
Looking down, Annabelle took notice of her mud covered jeans and tee shirt. "Right…that… I guess I was scared of who might be tackling me. I mean, I've heard some horrible stories about the Slytherins." She trailed off and bit her lip, knowing Ginny would see right through her.
Ginny huffed and scanned the area around them. "Annabelle, look around. Tell me. Do you see any Slytherins?" As the blonde witch shook her head, Ginny pushed on. "There weren't any out this way when we came out either. Therefore, I doubt it was Slytherins that scared the bejesus out of you."
Annabelle stared past her, to the Whomping Willow and sighed. "Ginny, it's not like I can just tell you all my secrets. I mean, I just met you a little under two months ago."
Ginny's eyes turned a darker shade of brown in rage and she moved to stand up, but the same eyes pleaded with Annabelle to make her stay. "You can't tell me all your secrets, but I told you all of mine. I told you about Harry. I told you about Quidditch. I even told you about the bloody diary that no one else knows about. Bleeding hell! I even showed you how it worked, yet you can't tell me your secrets." She waved her hands in the air, dramatizing her next statement. "No. Annabelle's secrets are too big for Ginny. Ginny can't handle Annabelle's secrets." Her eyes turning cold after the fire that they had just unleashed, Ginny set her gaze on Annabelle again and scowled. "Fine. If that's what you'd prefer, I'll just make my way up to Madame Pomfrey and get fixed up."
Annabelle rubbed at her eyes, forcing herself not to let the tears fall. She wouldn't let them fall. At least, she wouldn't until Ginny made to get up again. Now the tears began to overflow and instead of jumping up to stop Ginny, she let her go. Belle let her best, and only, friend walk away over a secret. Not only was it a secret, but it was one she never wanted. It was one she never deserved, but now it was hers to keep.
She tore off towards the Whomping Willow, no longer caring how it would react. She pointed her wand at it and prayed that she'd find a way to climb onto its massive limbs. To her surprise and amazement, the tree lowered a rather large limb to the ground for her to climb onto, and once she was securely on it, lifted itself back into the air. She settled deep into the branches and stayed there, crying silently among the branches.
What Annabelle didn't know is that Ginny hadn't gone to Madame Pomfrey at all. After a short time of deliberation and deep thought, Ginny had decided to talk to Professor McGonagall about her paranoid and closed off friend. She made her way to the stern professor's office and prayed that she would be there on a Saturday afternoon. She knocked softly, and her scowl deepened
Now, Ginny banged on the door and cursed aloud as she heard footsteps. Professor McGonagall would be rather displeased that she was banging on her door. Finally, the door swung open and Professor McGonagalla stood on the other side, looking very unimpressed with her young student.
"Miss Weasley, I take it there was a reason that you're pounding on my door."Minerva sighed and finally took a good look at the young witch in front of her and noticed the rather large bruise that was beginning to gain color. "Miss Weasley, I demand you tell me where you got that black eye." If one of her cubs was getting into trouble, she wanted to know why so she could punish the other offending party, too.
Ginny shrugged and glanced up to meet her teacher's searing, yet worried eyes. "Professor, it's not me that I want to talk about. You see, there's another student who might be in more trouble than I am right now." As her professor's hand twitched toward her wand, Ginny foolishly reached out and gripped her professor's wand arm. "Professor! They're not in immediate danger, but I need to talk to you."
The professor looked down to the small hand now gripping her wrist and slowly lifted her eyes to the pale brown ones looking at her inquisitively. "Of course, but if you ever raise your voice when speaking to me again, you will find yourself in detention. Am I clear, Miss Weasley?" At her pupils nod, she opened the door further and turned around. "Come sit down, Miss Weasley. Would you like some tea?"
Ginny shook her head as she sat down in the chair across from the professor's chair. "No thank you, Professor." Suddenly, Ginny seemed nervous and concentrated on a stray hair that had fallen onto her pants until Minerva's voice jolted her out of her reverie.
"Miss Weasley, you said you wanted to discuss another student with me. I'm not one to listen to gossip, but I gather that what you have to say is relatively important if you're willing to take time out of your Saturday to come and speak with me?" The deputy headmistress raised an eyebrow at the red-headed witch. Why did students seem to be so tight lipped around her?
"Well, you see, Professor. I don't think this person will want me to talk to you about her. She's already mad at me for trying to get her to talk to me, and I'm her best friend." Now that Ginny had begun to talk, she didn't seem able to stop herself. "Professor, I don't know what to do! I'm worried about her, but she won't tell me what's wrong." Ginny balled her hands into fists and rubbed at her eyes with frustrated tears beginning to flow down her cheeks. "Professor, something's wrong with her and I don't know what it is. How can I help her if she won't tell me what's wrong?"
Minerva was practically stunned into silence as the girl began to ramble and slowly push herself into hysterics. "Miss Weasley, are we talking about Miss Wyte?" Though Minerva knew it couldn't be anyone else, she wasn't sure she wanted it to be true either. Surely, Miss Wyte wasn't having such issues. She was fine, right?
The ginger witch nodded solemnly and tugged at her hair. "Professor, I don't really have anything else to tell you. I just… well, I hoped you might be able to get to the bottom of this. I'm…I'm really worried about her, is all."
Minerva gave the witch a small smile and clasped her hands on the desk. "Of course, Miss Weasley. I'll do my best to figure out what's going on. Now, I recommend you run along. Dinner will be starting soon, and maybe Miss Wyte will be there."
As the student left, Minerva couldn't help but sigh. She'd been trying to hold back her worries since she'd met the girl, but now they were brought to the surface again. She doubted that Miss Wyte would be at dinner, but after a few minutes, she decided to head down there anyway.
Her wand was tucked safely up her sleeve and she sat at the head table, scanning the Gryffindor table for any sign of the all-too-familiar blonde hair. Though her composure seemed perfectly calm, her eyes betrayed the nerves and worries that she was beginning to harbor again.
She had barely touched her food when a warm hand lay gently on her thigh, bringing her out of her thoughts with the simple touch. "Tabby, if you're so worried about your cub, go find them. The whole castle won't crumble if you're not at dinner, you know." As perceptive as Albus was, he hadn't figured out that she was looking for Annabelle. To him, she was simply worried about a lost cub.
Minerva nodded, deciding she would do just that. She slowly got up and exited the great hall, making her way up to the seventh floor, where she hoped a certain blonde would be hiding. Arriving at the Fat Lady's portrait she rolled her eyes and spoke, "Fibbertigibbet" and the door immediately swung open with the Fat Lady cackling behind her.
The elder witch stalked up to the first year girls' dormitory and knocked on the door. Again, she sighed when she heard no response and carefully opened the door. All the bed curtains were pushed to the side, and the room's only inhabitant was Sylvanna. Kneeling down, she pet the cat, who had begun to warm up to her over time before leaving the dormitory in search of her student.
Making her way outside, Minerva cast a patronous, asking it to guide her to Miss Wyte. The tabby cat began to float off into the distance, but stopped short and darted away once it came into sight of the old Whomping Willow.
Minerva was puzzled and began to make her way toward the tree, which began to sway dangerously, and more violently with every step she took.
Annabelle had simply wanted to be alone, so she had hidden herself within the branches. Over time, the Whomping Willow had even gone so far as to wrap branches around her, making a hallow that could not be seen from the outside. She felt the tree begin to sway, and was surprised when her compartment stayed practically still.
Minerva walked just out of reach of the deadly tree and cast another patronous, asking it to do the same thing that she had asked her previous one for. Again, the transparent cat no more than took a step toward the tree, than it disappeared into thin air. "Bugger," Minerva whispered under her breath and sighed. She couldn't see Miss Wyte, but what if she'd found out about the Shrieking Shack? What if she had located the passageway? Oh, this was not good at all.
She transformed into her cat form, hoping to make it to the passage without running into trouble. However, the tree reacted strangely today. It swung toward her, preparing to smash her when she looked up and spotted a small, wooden cave. She took a step back, and somehow knew.
Miss Wyte was hiding, and she would not be smashed by the willow just to get to a forlorn student. She and Miss Wyte would discuss this later, and it would not turn out well for Miss Wyte.