Skyler wasn't exactly sure when the idea had developed. Or how. She just knew that it had. For someone who was as prone to finding trouble, or causing it, as the Slytherin was, it really was surprising that the idea hadn't occurred to her before. But, really, how many people could say they had carved their initials into the trunk of the whomping willow?

It had started out simple enough. Just a random thought really, the teen had one day while staring out a classroom window when she was too bored to really pay attention like she should have been doing. It was only History of Magic anyways. Nothing too important like. It was then that the movement of the tree caught her attention, and Sky had spent a good ten minutes simply watching it before turning to ask someone about it.

That had been the start of what would become one of the Slytherin's most favorite of friendships, and probably one of the worst ideas between the pair. Oliver Adams, now one of her most favorite of Gryffindors, and easily dubbed Olli, had helped develop the plan during that day in History of Magic. Now, with the seasons changing and the cold setting in, they had decided that unless they wanted to wait months for spring to arrive, now was the time to act.

Hence why Skyler was heading out into the crisp, cool air one afternoon in a pair of dark skinny jeans and a black hoodie that read 'Bring Your Own Swag' pulled on over a white tank top, her traditional black and white hight top Converse sneakers on her feet. Her hair, for once, was done in french braids on either side of her head. This was to make sure it wasn't whipping in her face in the wind and hindering her vision around the massive and aggressive tree. Her lips wore a giant grin that spread from ear to ear as she strutted across the grounds with an excited bounce to her gait.

The brunette hadn't told anyone about this particular plan. Especially not Harry or Draco. Either was likely to give her an hour long tongue lashing about how much of an idiot she was for doing it, and one was likely to tie her down to a chair until the snow set in good and deep and she had no possible way of actually carrying out her plan. Thankfully, Olli was a good sport about not spilling their plans, and the brunette was sure Ginny had overheard, but had pretended not to so that she couldn't be held responsible when Sky eventually ended up getting her hide torn apart by her boyfriend. The teen definitely loved her friends.

Either way, there was no turning back now as she trudged along, anticipation filling her body and excitement gleaming in her violet eyes. She wouldn't have turned back anyways. Skyler lived for doing things like this. After all, what was life without a little danger? Her brain tried telling her she already got enough of that without actively seeking it out, but that voice didn't sound much like her own, so she easily ignored it as she strode over to the figure that she knew even from behind was Oliver.

Skyler sidled up next to him, bumping his shoulder in a friendly manner with her own. "Ready to take on the Willow?"

So, most people would probably call this really stupid, but Olli was known to do a lot of things people would call ‘really stupid,’ so that didn’t exactly bother him at all. He had his khaki cargo shorts on and his bare chest was painted in camo-style splotches of green, black, and brown. His face was striped under the eyes with the same color scheme, and his hair was full of leaves. He was in the zone, ready to sneak up on that monster tree and mark it for OLA! Or maybe he’d just carve Olli into it instead, since he didn’t really like his initials. They seemed like some misspelled Spanish of sorts.

Olli bounced on the balls of his feet, shadow boxing the air until his friend bumped him in the shoulder and he shot her a joyful grin. ”Oh, am I ever! I’m gonna sneak up on that tree so fast it won’t know what’s going on until I get half my name into its bark. Now, once I get half way in we might be in a little bit of trouble, but… That’s not happening right away, so I’m not too worried about that yet.”

He bounced again, preparing to make an attempt at the tree, handing his wand to Riddley and wielding his pocket knife in its place. All he needed was the knife and his own guts to succeed at this, so he figured he was pretty well prepared for the endeavor. Olli took a deep breath and bounced forward, running in a zigzag pattern toward the massive beast of a tree with his face screwed up in a determined expression and a battle cry falling from his lips.

”Ai ai ai ai yaaaaah!” he yelled as he charged, ducking and weaving, doing a barrel roll at one point, anything to avoid those meat-hammer branches that were swinging hard at him. Apparently his camouflage wasn’t quite as good as he had thought, since it was only a matter of seconds before a heavy branch hit him right in the gut and stole the air from his lungs.

Olli let out a low grunt as he flew back toward his co-conspirator. The brunette boy landed heavy on his back and let out a little cough, wheezing in a fresh breath of oxygen. ”Well, I think we figured out what not to do, Riddley. That is not getting hit by the brute of a tree. And avoiding flying through the air afterwards is probably preferable too.” he flashed her a winning grin and tried to think of some idea involving actual success in reaching the trunk, but came up dry. ”You got any good ideas then?”

Skyler was once again floored by the raw amount of energy Olli always had. Even in her best of times, her hyperness has nothing on the energetic lion. And the brunette loved him all the more for it. Of course, she couldn't help but laugh when she finally got a look at his face, amusement clear in her bright eyes at the almost war paint he had done in an attempt to somehow camouflage himself.

He was obviously pumped for this adventure though, and as excited as she had been already, the teen became twice as much now that she was in the presence of her friend. A genuine laugh bubbles up out of her as he practically bounced with enthusiasm and his description of how he was going to accomplish their planned out feat. Not that either had actually come up with an actual plan. The actual planning had gotten them as far as deciding to do it. The rest they apparently mutually agreed they would work itself out, since neither had really thought about how they were going to do it. They just seemed to decide it was something they should do.

She took his wand when he handed it over to her, watching him pull out a pocket knife he was apparently going to tackle the tree with. The simple action had a revolting shudder coursing through her, but Sky took it with a grain of salt. Of all the people she knew, Olli was the last person she would ever think would take a knife to her, so she didn't even think twice on it, and her grin, she was proud to note, only faltered for a second. It grew to an all new level as the Gryffindor took off toward the tree, and her laughter rang in the air at his battle cry as he did.

She watched his efforts to get to the trunk with anticipation, yelling out in a cheerleader like fashion to spur on his success. "Almost there Olli!! You got this!!" The Slytherin was jumping around, face completely open in her excitement and joy as she proceeded to call out things like duck, roll, right, left, to her friend in attempts to help him reach their goal. And then he took a mean hit to the gut, which had him flying back and landing on his back, and Skyler watched in both surprise and concern as he sailed through the air.

The brunette rushed over to her friend, concerned etched on her face even as she grinned. Atleast he was still moving and breathing. Those had to be good signs. And he was talking. That was definitely good. She pulled up next to him, standing above him and looking down with her widest grin plastered on her face as she laughed at his words, eyes sparkling.  "You almost got your block knocked off Olli!! It was awesome!!" So maybe anyone with half a brain would be a bit more concerned and a good deal less ecstatic about their friend taking a brutal hit from a raging tree, but Sky was too pumped with adrenaline to think in normal terms.

The witch returned his grin with a sly one of her own, reaching a hand out to help him get back to his feet. "Boy do I ever." She replied to his question, purple eyes sparking as she turned to the tree, taking off towards it with a whoop and fist pump, running up on it at full speed. The tree seemed to know that it was under attack, and as a large, thick branch sailed towards her Skyler propelled herself off the ground, leaping over it and immediately falling to the ground to duck the next one it sent for her.

Scrambling back to her feet, the brunette continued to duck, jump, and dodge with the agile and quick reflexes of a cat, grinning from ear to ear and panting slightly as she tried to draw all it's attention to one side. "GO OLLI GO!!" She yelled out to the Gryffindor, and her plan to distract the tree while he carved into it was clear, as she ducked another large branch.

Having a cheerleader was definitely fun. Olli decided as he lay there with Riddley looking him over, that he would always have someone to play the role. Yep. Maybe he’d even get some pompoms. Ooo, better yet, he’d steal some of the Willow’s smaller leafy branches! Then Riddley could use those as her pompoms and cheer him on for everything. And he could borrow them when it was her turn to be cheered for. It would be magical.

Olli grinned like a complete idiot, then watched the Slytherin take off for the tree as he jumped to his feet and started yelling after her. ”Oi! Riddley! You aren’t supposed to get knocked out! That’s my job! That’s why I have the knife!” But then he realized she was trying to be a distraction, since she yelled for him to go, and go he did.

The Gryffindor took off once more, dodging here and turning there, yelling out his battle cry just as strong as before. He ducked a branch and noticed how the tree seemed less capable of defending itself properly now that both of them were coming at it. He hoped his friend didn’t find herself in too much trouble while he stumbled over a small root and nearly slammed his face into the massive trunk.

The brunette boy somehow managed to reach out a hand and catch himself on the bark, scraping his palm instead of his face, and let out a whoop of excitement. Yeah! His pretty face was safe! That was always good. Chicks dug the face. The boy composed himself as much as he could and found a good spot on the trunk, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he leaned into the tree and started scratching away at the bark. Apparently the touch of the blade was a bit… noticeable to the tree, though, as he was only three quarters of the way through his ‘O’ when a strong arm-like branch wrapped around his middle and literally lifted him off the ground.

”Whoa! Dude, I’m bloody flying! Riddley, did you bring a camera? You gotta take a picture of this!” The excitement didn’t last, however, as soon he felt himself flying upward and the branch suddenly leaving its place around him. Uh oh. That was so not going to be good for the idiot boy.

As he flew into the air, Olli thought about his life and what he’d done so far. Damn. There was still so much left to do! He hadn’t managed to surf with the squid yet. Peeves wasn’t admitting he was as cool as the Weasley twins and he hadn’t even figured out how to convince two girls to go to bed with him at once! He couldn’t die yet! While he was contemplating potential ways to avoid such an early death, Oliver fell into a nearby bush with a loud ‘Oof’.

The boy rolled out of the bush, pulling leaves and sticks out of his hair and shorts, trying to figure out how to do the etching without getting grabbed again. ”Hey! Riddley! Where’d you go?” he finally called, looking around for the girl and not quite finding her. Oh, he hoped she hadn’t gotten hurt. Or run off. He was still determined to get the full ‘Olli’ written on the damn tree. And he’d even put ‘Ridz’ on it too, if she came up with a good way to stun the stupid thing so it could be done successfully.

”We gotta figure out how to freeze that crazy beast of a bush before it kills us! We are totally not giving up on this expedition without success.”

Things seemed to going well, and looking up for the pair as Olli headed for the tree. Sky was too busy trying to dodge everything the willow was sending her way to really keep tabs on the Gryffindor, and the brunette had been doing a pretty good job at it. She supposed it paid off in situations like this to have such excellent reflexes, both from the mighty panther she was and due to her years of seeking in Quidditch. It wasn't exactly easy though, and the teen was panting hard, pushing herself to continue in her endeavor so her friend could get the job done.

The only thing that let her know that their luck with this plan B of theirs had run out was the sudden yelling of Olli, and purple eyes widened as they caught him flying through the air. His yelled out words had her laughing even as her eyes filled with concern. It was just so typical of the Gryffindor. One had to be completely insane to be so happy flying through the air without a thought as to how they were going to land. Or if they'd be in one piece when they did. Skyler actually snorted when he asked if she had her camera.

Unfortunately, the tree seemed to take her own distraction as an opportunity, and suddenly a thick branch caught her in the middle with a force that would have had her flying back. As it was, all the air was knocked out of her. Merlin! That had been worse than taking a bludger! However, in instinct, the Slytherin had taken hold of the branch as it made contact with her so that she didn't go flying to who knew where. It had seemed like a good idea at the time to do so, but quickly she doubted it, as the branch she climbed to lifted off higher into the air, and taking her along for the ride.

Suddenly, the thing was whipping through other branches, and Sky could feel the small scrapes and cuts this was leaving to her face as she was unable to block it from damage because her arms were holding on to the branch with a grip that told she was hanging on for dear life. "Olli!! I'm up here!!" The brunette yelled to her co-conspirator, the tree branch now taking her straight up in the air. "Freezing charm Olli!! Freeeeeeeziiiiiiiiiing chaaaaaarm!!" The girl shouted, words being dragged out thanks to the branch now shaking back and forth wildly and harshly, in an effort to throw her off no doubt.

The Slytherin used all her strength to get herself wrapped around the branch, so if it ever leveled out, she would've been laying on it. That was the best she could do to hang on, as the branch took her for another wild ride, this time it swung itself with a speed that had wind whipping her face roughly and stinging the cuts on her cheeks as it propelled around the trunk. Merlin. If she lived to tell this story she would wear it like a badge of honor.

Olli heard her voice, but he couldn’t figure out where the hell Riddley was speaking to him from. She almost sounded like she was… up. He looked up then, staring into the branches only to jump as she went screaming through the air attached to a wildly waving one. Oh. That really wasn’t good. Not good at all. ”Not good, not good, not good!” He started to panic, remembering he’d given his wand to her for safe keeping and having no clue where it was now.

”Oh balls, where did she put it? RIDDLEY! Where’s my bloody wand, you crazy witch?!” he screamed, searching around and quickly giving up in favor of saving his friend before her life could be put in any more danger. Of course, this was probably pretty damn stupid of him, since his plan now was to attack the tree with brute force.

The small boy jumped at the massive attacking mound of wood and rage, his knife held fast in his hand as he started slashing. ”You let her go, bloody tree monster!” He’d managed to slice quite a few marks into random branches at this point, and he ran at the one that was swinging her wildly around, kicking it before he grabbed on and started hacking at it with the knife as if he could use it as a saw. ”Let her hop down or I will cut your bloody arm off, tree!” he threatened. So, maybe he was a bit crazy, talking to a tree about its ‘arms’ and how he’d chop them off with a little pocket knife, but he didn’t have any better plan. Plus, if he pissed it off enough it might stop its thrashing long enough for Riddley to hop off and find their wands. Then they could actually freeze it and get the carving done.

That was a good theory, in his head at least, as the boy stabbed at the scratchy bark of the tree. ”Jump off, Ridz! It’s the only way!” Olli was being ridiculously dramatic, acting like he was some sort of sacrifice so she could be safe when really he just wanted her to hop off and freeze the overgrown weed so he could carve it up properly.

”Know a spell like the water one, but where the wand spouts weed killer? That would be hella useful right now…” he muttered as the tree got closer to the ground and he wedged the knife in deeper, hoping it would give Sky a chance to free herself from the thick club of a branch.

"Fuckity fuck fuck!!" Skyler swore out loud at Olli's yelled out question regarding his wand. It was then she realized she had both his and her own wand in her hoodie pocket. It was a relief, because it meant she hadn't dropped them somewhere in all the excitement, and yet a hindrance, because the tree branch she clung to was moving too fast for her to relinquish the hold on it with even one hand to grab her wand. So maybe they would've been a tad better off if they had frozen the tree first instead of attacking the thing without magic. But that would've completely taken out all the fun!!

Of course using magic would've been the smart route, but the battle was the fun part. It's what would make getting their names on the trunk so worth it. Any idiot with a wand could freeze the willow. It took a special kind of idiot to tackle the thing with nothing but nerve and a pocket knife. Which the Gryffindor was currently doing. For a brief moment, Skyler wasn't sure whether to laugh or be concerned. One thing was for sure. Oliver's mind had to be the scariest place on earth of thoughts of hacking a raging tree with just a pocket knife flowed through it.

At the same time, it was one reason the Slytherin seriously loved her friend. Who else would tackle the tree with her? Especially in the insane way they had done it. No one but Olli, that's who. The teen had already been sure her life would never be boring, what with everything going on in it, but her friend only cemented that fact more permanently. In any case, she seriously doubted threatening the tree was going to do them much good, so the brunette needed to get herself moving before the both died an early death. And she was SO not dying before she got her name on that damn tree.

Unfortunately, Olli's chopping and theatrics seemed to only piss the tree off more, and a particularly vicious and forceful swing from the branch she was on had her grip on it slipping. This meant the small teen went sailing through the air, hitting another thick branch on the way, which changed her direction of flying altogether. "AAAAHHHH!!" Skyler yelled through the air, seeing the ground coming up at her and hoping she didn't splatter on it. She seriously doubted Harry or Draco would be thrilled if she managed to get herself killed by the whomping willow. Merlin. There would be no peace, even in death.

"Oompf!!" The teen landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. It took a moment for her to gasp in the air the landing had knocked out of her, and she coughed on it, groaning. Oh jeez. She hoped that wasn't another cracked rib or two. Pretty soon she would have a bed with her name on it in the hospital wing. Good thing she had taken up learning healing crap. No one but Olli would ever need to know about any of this. Speaking of which, where was that crazy lion? "Oh right!!"

Skyler scrambled back to her feet as fast as possible, stumbling a bit and wheezing in breaths, but otherwise ok. Pulling her wand from her pocket she aimed it at the tree. "Immobulus!!" The brunette cried out with force, hoping that it would work and they could win the battle with the tree once and for all. Otherwise, they were going to need a plan F, since plans A thru E had been complete busts.

Well, he could hear her screaming, so that meant she hadn’t died. Yet. That was good! They both were still alive and conscious! Score for team Rolli? They needed a different team name. Most definitely. He’d have to get Ridz to figure that out. So long as he ever saw her pretty purple eyes again, that was. It seemed his silent prayer of sorts was answered as the tree shuddered to a slowed movement and he was able to leap to his safety, running over to the Slytherin with a giant grin on his face.

”Merlin, Riddley! I thought we would never see each other again. I was gonna be so sad if the tree made you into Riddley mash!” He grinned lopsided at her and then snatched his wand, holding it in his left hand and the knife in his right. Good thing he was ambidextrous. Good thing he knew what that word meant, too!

Olli stood with his legs apart, feet braced and arms up and at the ready, wielding his weapons. This stupid tree was going down. ”Well, that spell at least slowed it down, even if it didn’t actually freeze it like intended…” The fifth year looked at the slow-motion tree, coming up with a plan even as he watched the branches lurch about as if they might actually hit their marks… eventually… maybe.

He bounced a bit on his toes as the idea formed fully in his brain, then he turned to grin at his friend. ”Okay. So. This is what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna go in together, and you’ll cover me while I make for the trunk to write ‘Olli ‘n’ Ridz’ on it real nice and thick. But you gotta keep the imobulus charm on it so it moves real slow, then hit it hard with a flippendo when it tries to club us. That way, the branches are knocked away. Makes sense, right?” He was grinning so wide it seemed his face might break.

This plan was foolproof! The boy bounced again, then stowed his wand in a deep cargo pocket and grabbed Riddley’s hand, pulling her along at a jog behind him as he headed straight for the almost ‘O’ he’d gotten in before getting whacked last time. So far, so good. He just hoped she could handle the knock-backs and freezes while he got the rest carved out. This was perfect! Oh, he was going to brag so much, people would be so jealous!

”Alright. I got the OLLI ‘n’ R done. So only a couple more minutes and it’ll be absolutely perfect, Ridz! We so got this! Chyea!!” He was so excited, he managed to knick the hand that was bracing him against the tree, dousing it in crimson blood as he continued his work. It was pretty deep in reality, but he ignored the light-headedness and kept chiseling away, muttering something about ‘just a flesh wound’ as bits of bark spotted with blood fell to the grassy ground.

Skyler couldn't contain the grin that spread slowly from ear to ear, even as she wrapped an around her middle, hissing through her teeth a bit. Merlin. That tree had a ruthless streak. Her breaths came in short pants, and each one hurt a bit, so she was fairly sure something was definitely broken on the inside. But the teen couldn't bring herself to care much when faced with Olli and his excited, lopsided grin. His energy was almost contagious, so it made it fairly easy for the brunette to push away everything else but what they were there to accomplish.

Besides, the rest could be taken care of afterwards. And it wasn't like she was going to die from a few broken ribs. Unless she punctured a lung or something. Then they might be in a bit of trouble. She didn't really know a spell to fix that yet. Felicity hadn't gotten to organ healing just yet with her. Then again, the Slytherin wasn't spitting up blood yet or anything too serious, so she figured she was good to go still. After all, no pain, no gain. Right? Right. Sky was sure Olli would agree. Crazy kid he was. Well. So maybe they were crazy. It definitely took a certain kind of crazy to do what they were doing.

"Nope. No Riddley mash here. I can take a hit." She replied in amusement, and pride. Skyler was especially proud of the fact that she wasn't some prissy girl who did such things as cry over a broken nail. Thank you very much. He took his wand back and she grasped her own with a firm grip, looking over the still thrashing willow with a bit of defeat for a moment. Her spell hadn't worked. But it only lasted a moment because she realized the tree was moving rather sluggishly. Which her friend pointed out, making the teen perk up. So maybe it hadn't worked as well as she had meant it to, but she would take what she could get.

She wasn't really sure how she managed to grin any wider than she ready was, but somehow she did. His plan was perfect!! So there was no hesitation in the brunette when he grabbed her hand and hauled her back towards the willow. Oh, they were SO going to pull through this mission of theirs. She could feel it in her bones. Broken ones and all. The adrenaline pumping through her bloodstream meant that any pain or discomfort she felt was the last thing on her mind. Or maybe she was just too excited to really thing outside the fact that they were really going to succeed. Either way, it worked for Sky.

Once they reached the trunk, the Slytherin Prefect met the Gryffindor handle the carving, while she stood with her back to his, eyes darting this way and that as she casted the spells that would keep them safe enough repeatedly. Her panting became heavy, and her casting a bit more sluggish the longer it was necessary though. Ok. So maybe the draw back of Plan F was the strain on her magic. Really should have expected that though. Especially considering she was running on mostly adrenaline now. But they were so damn close!! Olli said so!! There was no way she was going to give up now!! She just needed to suck it up and push through.

Of course, it didn't take long for the scent of blood to reach her heightened senses, but she was too busy with keeping the thrashing branches away from them as they reigned down at the pair wildly from every which way for her to make sure the boy hadn't cut off a damn finger. The strong smell of blood though told her it wasn't just the 'flesh wound' he muttered it was. Which her heightened sense of hearing also picked up. In spite of it all, the teen laughed. "Flesh wound my ass Olli. Merlin, what a pair we make." Yea. Because laughing in the face of danger and immanent death was clearly Team Rolli's catchphrase now.

So, the ‘Z’ was a bit wonky, and might look more like a crooked ‘N,’ but who really cared, right? Everyone would know who the named belonged to… It wasn’t like anyone but the two fifth years and maybe the Weasley twins were batshit crazy enough to take on the Willow on purpose! As it was, his work was done, and Olli was quite proud of himself. Sure, he couldn’t exactly see straight at the moment, and he was pretty sure his hand hadn’t been so pale before… nor had the uninjured one been so very pale… but that wasn’t for worrying about at the moment! Riddley was getting tired, if her sluggish casting had anything to do with it.

Ollie jumped in front of her with his knife pocketed, wand now shooting off spells even as he felt like he might fall over from the dizziness. Whoa. Blood loss was a funny thing, dude. He needed to tell Riddley that when words and spells didn’t clash so badly. For now, however, he focused on casting and reaching back with his injured hand, grabbing at her and tugging her along away from the tree that was still insisting on trying to kill them.

”Almost there, JUMP!” he yelled as he finally lost the ability to focus enough of his magic through his wand and at the tree. They’d have to leap out of the radius and save their asses, then deal with whatever injuries they’d suffered. Fortunately, both of them were rather skilled in the jumping department, and neither seemed to have any ankle or leg injuries. That was something, really. He grinned foolishly and fell back on the ground, head spinning in a tingly sort of way.

Olli was so damn happy, even as his vision clouded rather darkly. That was new. ”We did it, Riddley! We really, really did it! We’re on the Willow!!” Merlin, was he ever dizzy. Was his speech slurring? He thought it was. That was odd. Usually he only slurred when he had been partying really hard. He closed his eyes for a minute, and the world spun so badly that he rolled over and upchucked right there on the lawn. ”Oh, man… Dude, I’m sorry, Ridz. I dunno what’s wrong with me. I’m so dizzy. Dude. I can barely see you!”

His face split into a laugh while he looked at her and blinked a few times, black spots clouding over her face in awkward positions. ”Dude… Is this what blood loss does? This is crazy. It’s like that time I took a pill that Tobes gave me… I don’t think he meant to give it to me, but still… I’m like… whoa. I think I might be gonna passsss-“ with that, he fell heavily right in the puddle of sick that he’d just created, completely and utterly unconscious, hand still bleeding at an alarming rate. It really was a wonder Olli had never passed out from blood loss before.

At least he had someone with him to make sure he didn’t manage to die from his utter stupidity…

The plan actually worked!! Of course it worked!! Team Rolli didn't lose!! Especially not to a tree!! But it wasn't without it's costs. Sky was taking in ragged breaths by the time Olli jumped in to save the day, and she was ready to collapse then and there. Her adrenaline rush was fading now, and the pain it had been covering was grabbing her attention with both of it's grimy little hands. Absently, the brunette found herself amused by the Gryffindor. Did all the lions have a hero streak?

The smell of his blood was nearly overpowering by this time, which was making her a bit lightheaded. Clearly just from that she could tell he was losing a terrible amount of the liquid his body needed. They really needed to get out of there before they really did die for their mission. A voice laughed in the back of her head. What a way to go though. Her headstone would read 'death by willow'. The Slytherin couldn't figure out if it was better or worse that she think of worse things it could read.

Thankfully, Olli seemed to be thinking along the same lines, and grabbed her, pulling her along with him as they bobbed and weaved their way through the branches that were still trying to pummel them to death. As if she really needed telling twice. That tree seemed doubly pissed now that it was carved up. Sky supposed if she were a tree she wouldn't be too happy about that either. But she was also sure it would survive the tiny blow. Maybe it just had a bruised ego now? Right. Because trees had egos.

The teen jumped on command, the yell leaving little else for her to do as far as reactions. It was pretty much automatic as she leapt after her friend to what could only be called safety. Finally!! They had survived!! It only took a split moment for her to really grasp the actual danger they had just slipped out of. After running head first into it on purpose. And then she was laughing, some kind of strange, wheezed, pained laugh. But a laugh nonetheless. Something about escaping sudden death made a person laugh insanely apparently.

Her grin spread from ear to ear as Olli took the words out of her mouth. They really had done it!! Their names were carved into the trunk of the whomping willow!! They should get awards or badges of honor or something!! Then again, she wasn't sure she wanted to explain the award or badge to Draco or Harry, so maybe not. Then again, what could they really do? They couldn't stop her now could they? She had already taken on the willow. So maybe this accomplishment could be shared.

All she needed to do was get them fixed up and good as new. But Olli's incessant chatter was making it abundantly clear that he was in dire need of medical attention. Skyler struggled to sit up so that she could examine him properly, and by the time she managed it he was talking about pills and being woozy and dizzy and then passed out. "Fuckity fuck fuck!!" The brunette swore. So maybe that was her own personal catchphrase now.

She forced herself crawl over to her friend, wand in hand, and casted a diagnostic spell Felicity had taught her. Ok. So other than the blood loss, her friend was relatively ok. That was good news. The bad news was the cut to his hand was definitely not a damn flesh wound!! Damn Gryffindors. No sense of self preservation. The lot of them. She conveniently forgot she seemed to lack in that same department at the best and worst of times. "Dammit Olli!! If you die I will bring you back to life just to kill you again myself!!" The Slytherin witch grumbled, almost panicking, but shoving it down so that she could concentrate on healing her friend.

Skyler waved her wand in a complicated way over his hand, watching as the wound closed up to stop the bleeding. That was the major concern. She continued to wave her wand in complex patterns over it until it was healed completely, biting her bottom lip in her concentration as her dark brows furrowed. She checked his pulse and was happy to see he was still breathing, and his heart beat was relatively strong. So at least he wasn't dying. That was cause for relief, and she slumped back onto the ground with a wince.

By this time, she was too exhausted from all the excitement, adrenaline, physical activity, and wand work to really give it a go and heal herself. But she was sure she was fine and in no immediate danger, so a bit of a rest while she waited for her friend to wake back up shouldn't be a problem. A blood replenishing potion would've been ideal, but the hospital wing was miles away, and she wasn't going to risk getting so magically drained that she managed to accidentally drop Olli down a staircase or something.