The Chase (OPEN)

With her legs crossed and her hair up in a bun, Victoria flipped through the last few pages of 'The Healer's Helpmate'. The weather was finally warm enough for her to sit comfortably on the grass and enjoy the view. She positioned herself in alignment with the Whomping Willow, so she could glance at it in between the pages. To most people, the Willow was just a dangerous and ugly tree but Victoria was very found of it. She saw it as a symbol of perseverance and history. The tree was planted in 1971 and it still stood tall on the grounds without a scratch on it's bark. Not a lot of plants, or people, had that ability.

She pulled her blue and silver scarf tighter as the wind started to pick up. Suddenly the little warmth that the day brought had disappeared. Victoria stood up to wrap her black coat around her and the scarf slipped of her fingers and flew up into the air. It took her a few seconds to realize where her scarf had gone, until she started running towards it. The wind picked up speed and before she knew it, her scarf ended up wrapped around the Willow's branches.

Pulling out her wand, she tried to get her scarf with a clumsy 'Accio' spell but that only further tangled it around the branch. "No, no!", she shouted angrily at the tree, as if that would help. It had to be her favorite scarf and not just a random piece of clothing. Her father gave her that scarf when she got sorted into Ravenclaw and it has been her favorite ever since. She wasn't planning on just giving up on it. With slow and careful steps, she started walking towards the Willow, trying not to get hit by a branch.

Persephone was walking the grounds, just enjoying the day. She had a book on Potions in one hand, and her slightly full bag in the other. Once she felt far enough from the castle she plopped down in the middle of the grass and began reading.

Persephone had been reading for about twenty minutes when she looked up and saw a girl about her age getting awfully close to the whomping willow. Not sure if she needed help or not Persephone got up and slowly made her way to where the girl was at. As soon as she got over to the tree she could see the scarf the girl was mostly likely after.

Persephone analyzed the situation before coming to the conclusion that just walking up to the branches and trying to take the scarf was probably a death wish. Not sure how she could help the girl, but not wanting to just stand there and watch her struggle Persephone yelled, "Do you need any help?"

With her wand now out out her pocket and in her hand, Victoria was ready to dodge tree branches and run as fast as she could. And yes, possibly take a few hits as well, but she was not giving up on her scarf. Damn the wind and damn the tree. With her first few steps towards the Willow tree it sensed her presence and one of it's branches came to life, snapping at her with impressive speed. Victoria rushed to the side as quickly as she could, but the branch managed to hit her heel. This whole mission seemed rather reckless and stupid from the very beginning.

A voice in the distance distracted her and she turned her head, searching for a source. She saw a Slytherin girl with a book in her hand, shouting at her from a distance. "Umm... I'm fine. Thanks!", she responded at first. Then after a moment of thought, she said shouted something different. "Do you know how to stop this thing?? I need to get my scarf from it's branches!", Victoria shouted hoping the girl would have some idea that was better than hers.

All the spells and charms that she knew ran through her head and she was no closer to figuring out how to get her scarf back. She needed to paralyze the tree with something, but it was too big to stun with her limited knowledge of spells from that area. Perhaps if she could distract it in some way.

ooc: So sorry I took so long, I was terribly sick forever