Probably Henry had got a bit carried away by the prospect of exploring Hogwarts together with two friends. For his whole life he had dreamed of the castle and had read and heard so many countless stories. He knew where Ravenclaw tower was, and that a riddle asking door knocker was guarding it so that students sometimes formed groups discussing the question to enter the common room. Henry loved to picture himself standing there and helping to figure out the solution. Or he would be somewhere in the basement in the cozy Hufflepuff common room. He didn’t know a lot about it as he only had his Ravenclaw aunt as a source, but she had assured him that, according to what she had heard, it was very snug so that he was quite torn as to where he would rather be. He knew less about the other common rooms, but the important point was that there was more than enough place for four common rooms. The castle was huge. And full of secrets. Therefore, it was perfect for exploration and adventures, two things that Henry loved to do - even when they were not linked to a tree.

There was also the Forbidden Forest. Henry knew, he was not allowed to enter it, but it couldn’t harm to amble along the border. And get up into one or the other tree. In fact, Henry firmly counted on climbing every single one, going systematically from one to the other. But he’d stay nicely out of the woods because it was against the rules to enter. He didn’t want to break the rules. Theoretically. The forest was dangerous, that much he had been taught, therefore he understood that he couldn’t enter it without permission and felt no inclination to disobey. But other proscriptions like curfews, what were they good for? It couldn’t really harm to break them once in a while. At least, when he would be a good boy for most of the time because he wanted to make his aunt proud of him by behaving well and achieving good marks. But it wouldn’t make him bad if he broke one or the other minor rule. Because Lizzy was of his opinion, and she certainly wasn’t a bad person.

He nodded forcefully to her words. Yes, that was exactly what he wanted too. Hidden passages were exciting, and he was more than ready to join Lizzy in any exploration of this kind. Plus of course his other friend, Carin. He hadn’t met… them (that was what Lizzy had said and he wanted to remember it correctly) yet, but he was determined to be best friends - or muscat-something. What had something as disgusting as muscat to do with friendship he wondered briefly. But he was too busy agreeing with Lizzy for pondering too long on this problem. "We’ve got seven years," he said happily. "And the castle is so big. I bet we won’t run out of discoveries too soon. I hope we’ll find us on the Hogwarts Express so that we can share a compartment. I can’t wait to meet Carin." He leant back and let himself dangle upside down from the branch.

Her brother had silly rules at times, and even though Lizzy knew that they were going to help her in the long run that didn't stop them from being ridiculous. Nick didn't want her to wander after hours, because there was a curfew. She knew there was a curfew, she was just choosing to use it as... Well, use it as a recommendation and not as a requirement. She knew that there were ways to get around it; he had accidentally stated as much. She just didn't know how to beat them, but she knew that there was a way... She was going to figure it out, because she wanted to know. She wanted to be able to wander Hogwarts at all times, it was fun, it was exciting. She was tiny enough to avoid problems, wasn't she? Lizzy recognized that her friends might not want to get in trouble like that, that they might not want to break the rules all the way. She personally didn't mind, she was fine with breaking some rules if she got to do fun things. She knew that it bothered her mum to no end, but she was fine with that. There were some parts of breaking the rules that was fun. She got to find new things, she got the adrenaline rush... She was already planning on breaking the rules, anyway. First years weren't allowed brooms, and she was going to get Nick to bring hers for her.

Maybe she should keep the rule breaking down until she knew how her friends felt about all of that. She could just explore, which was just as exciting. She knew that there were enough secret passages to occupy her for a year, and with the reconstruction of Hogwarts after the war, she knew that it would be just as exciting. There had to have been new places, new things that cropped up... Hogwarts was magical, she knew that. She was excited to see how many secrets were wrapped up in there. She wanted to know, she wanted to find out... And her mum wouldn't be there to tell her not to rip her clothes and wreck her shoes. She could look around for everything without someone looking over her shoulder, and she would have friends to do it. That would be nice. They were going to find these passages together, they would explore everywhere... Maybe they could make friends with the Giant Squid, or they could run around the edges of the forest...

She liked the fact that Henry was excited for Hogwarts, too. It was going to be the three of them running around the school, learning new things and finding out everything that they could. "I hope we can find each other, too," she said brightly, holding tightly onto the tree. "And we can find Carin, and we can all hang out together." It was going to be awesome!

It felt so good to know that once he got to Hogwarts, he would have two friends - or muscat… whatever that had been. Together they would explore things and have adventures. It would be so great, it would be living a dream. If they would now only all be in the same house - that would not only be great fun, it’d be also easier to make plans. They would have to come up with some strategy to step by step investigate every crevice of the castle. Thinking of the vastness of Hogwarts, seven years suddenly didn’t seem that much time to Henry anymore. There was just too much to do. And in addition to all the adventures, they would have to study because Henry was very determined to have good marks to make his aunt happy. She had been good at school as he had seen when he had stumbled across her old OWL result. And, of course, she was a Healer, and these were very clever people. Henry had no idea what he would do once he’d leave Hogwarts - Healing was certainly something good, but it didn’t interest him that much (that was no sign of him having a bad character, was it?). What he would like was to have adventures on a larger scale. Finding real secrets no one had discovered before and making them known to everyone. That sounded like a good and useful thing to Henry. By exploring Hogwarts, he would have the perfect preparation.

Ever so happy that Lizzy agreed with him, Henry hung free in the air. He looked at the ground below him and enjoyed the view. It was always so funny to watch things from the wrong perspective. He caught a glimpse of his friend’s mother. Did she look worried? It was hard to tell from this high above and with his head the wrong way. Just in case she needed reassuring, Henry waved at her. Doing so, he felt the book slide down from his lap towards him. Clasping his hands against his chest, he caught it just in time though he swayed around a bit more than was comfortable. It might be better to sit up properly again. Lizzy’s mom had already these strange muscle ideas, probably she had also something against hanging from a tree. Adults tended to have weird conceptions of what was dangerous.

Swinging back and forth to gain enough impetus to propel himself upwards again, he returned to sitting beside Lizzy. Firmly holding the book with both hands to prevent any accidents, he grinned at her. "Hanging out sounds good! We can start planning then how we want to organize the exploration of the castle. And there’s so much we have to tell each other. Like what’s our favourite food, or - and I have to introduce you to Gunther! I just hope Auntie lets me take him. He can climb with us, I learnt it mostly from him!"

She really wasn't as organized as her brother was; Nick had had a schedule for studying for his O.W.Ls since the beginning of the year, and he certainly didn't see the problem in all of that. Lizzy personally thought that it was a bit too much; he already knew he wanted to be a Healer, and she thought that was generally enough. What did he really expect to do now? He had been studying since October, if she remembered correctly, and she didn't think that any more studying was really going to help him. He had done enough, hadn't he? She knew that she would never be as organized as he was, she didn't collect planners and write in them all the time... She generally relied on her mother to tell her what was going to happen, but she knew that she wasn't going to have that at school. It was just going to be her, she was going to have to figure out how to organize her own life. She supposed that she would make an exception and actually try for the year, because they were going to need to organize everything for the exploration. She could try to figure out how to split up in the school... That would be amazing, fantastic.

They would need to put together a diagram, or something like that. Hogwarts could easily be split up into parts, right? She wondered if they gave the first years maps or if they just had everybody hoping for the best. Nick said that the stairs moved, and that there were trick stairs that you needed to watch out for. As fascinating as that sounded, she wanted to make sure that they had a fail safe for if they did get lost... On the brightest side, it would make the most sense for them to chart out Hogwarts and all of the passages, because otherwise it might get too confusing. She wanted to make sure they figured out every little inch, especially with the way that the portraits talked to one another... She wondered if they would be chatty. None of the portraits at her house were chatty, and the one's at Ah Ma's were even quieter. They would talk to Nick, of course. Everyone was fine talking to Nick. 

"That sounds amazing!" she chirped, nodding. They did still have a lot to talk about. She hadn't mentioned much more than Nick, and she wanted to talk about the sorting more... Because she was terrified of that, she hated the fact that it was going to look inside of her head. And their favorite foods were important things to remember, so they did need to talk about that... And favorite colors and the like for birthday presents and holiday presents... "I'm really excited now. We're going to have so much fun!"

Aunt Gigi didn’t have to scold Henry very often, and not only because she had a very soft heart. No, on the whole, he was a well-behaved boy who really didn't want to cause his aunt any trouble. Of course, there were occasions when Henry’s opinion on good behaviour differed from his aunt’s. He loved to explore and tended to run into the direction that promised the most excitement. And when he found that someone looked nice, or lonely, or sad, he’d try to talk to them like he had done with Lizzy. And as the present moment proved, this was a very wise strategy. He had made a friend, a friend who would grow up with him, learn with him. Was it not said that the houses at Hogwarts were like family? If Lizzy, Carin, and he were in the same house, they would be family. And after having only ever had Aunt Gigi as sole family member, admittedly the best family he could think of, it was exciting and comforting to picture himself having a large family. Merely thinking about this, he felt protected and safe. Hogwarts had corrupted his father (or so Henry conjectured), and he was a bit scared of the repetition of this process with him. But now that he would have many, many people to love him, it seemed far more unlikely. Henry felt like he was able to breathe more freely.

The day was beautiful in itself, but with these new bright prospects, everything had turned even far more serene. He almost jumped on his feet and started to hop up and down the whole tree. But he guessed that this might frighten Lizzy, and he forced himself to keep sitting still, turning the book excitedly in his hands. ”Yes,” he chimed in excitedly. ”It’ll be so exciting. There is so much to discover. And Gunther is really smart, I’m sure he can help us a lot. And Auntie will certainly let me take him…” Henry chewed his lower lip. His aunt would be lonely without him, and then he would also take Gunther from her. If he thought about it like this, it seemed hardly fair. But he so much wanted Gunther to be with him - especially in the night when it was dark. That would be so scary, but with Gunther by his side, it would be easier.

He checked where the sun stood with unease. His reading seemed to have taken longer than he had expected. He didn’t want to already return on the ground, and most importantly he didn’t want to part from Lizzy. What if he came to the Hogwarts Express on the first of September, and he couldn’t find her? So much could happen until they would see each other again. He overviewed the lawn whether his aunt was looking for him anywhere. Not seeing her, he eyed down to Lizzy’s mother in case she showed any signs of ordering them down.

She had never had an animal, nor had she really held the belief of a self-made family, but Lizzy was quickly adapting to the idea of both. She loved the family that she had, truly; she loved both of her parents, her grandparents, and her brother. There was a bit less of that adoration held towards her many cousins and aunties- save for her Auntie Cho, of course- but it still occasionally spread, mainly because she was stuck with them. But she realized that at Hogwarts she would be gaining more than she already had, and these would be people that she selected herself, a thing that was actually rather exciting for the young girl. She couldn't wait for the opportunity to meet new people, all the while holding close Henry and Carin as those she was closest to. She thought that was a brilliant idea, and she was already excited about adding a cat to the mix, especially one that Henry had proclaimed to be extra smart. She could probably learn a lot from a cat, because cats were very knowledgeable about certain things, like climbing and napping and sneaking around places that they didn't quite belong. At least, that was what she thought that cats were great with... She had no personal experience with them, which was rather sad.

"We'll have a fantastic time!" she proclaimed, not at all solemn in her words but serious nonetheless. Lizzy was already overflowing with excitement, and she was quite certain that she was already trembling with anticipation. Very soon they would be wandering around the vast grounds of the school, they would be able to look around and find secret passageways and little corners that nobody else had. And they could disguise it as doing homework, too, which was something she was ultimately excited for. She knew that she would, sadly, have to do homework; she would have to write out essays and figure out what to say, she would have to pretend like she really cared for anything but Quidditch... That was sad, but she was sure she could manage, at least for one year.

Lizzy peered down for a moment, noticing the waving of her mother and assuming that it had to mean that their time was slowly coming to a close. She didn't particularly want to go, not now that she had found Henry. Giving up a friend so soon seemed too daunting, like they wouldn't find each other at all. "We're gonna have to meet up on the train, pick a fun spot... My brother can help us! And then we can meet, and plan, and everything will be great." She cast a sad look down at her mother, and then towards the book. "Do you promise that we'll find each other?"

Almost, almost, he groaned audibly when he caught sight of Lizzy’s mother waving in a way that could mean little else but that Lizzy should return to the ground. It was impossible, had he not only left his aunt a few minutes ago? Henry wished he were able to lie to himself, but he saw where the sun was in the sky. They had been up in that tree for over an hour, the sun couldn’t alter its course just to spite them. And Lizzy’s mother had apparently noticed that they had noticed her. That didn’t leave them much time to continue ignoring her. which would be anything but advisable. Henry didn’t want to leave a bad impression with the mother of his new friend. If she wouldn’t like him, she would have months to convince Lizzy that it would be wrong to be around him. He usually trusted his aunt’s judgement, therefore it would only be reasonable for Lizzy to rely very much on her mother. And there was the elder brother who would certainly not like him if he was being talked of as a disobedient child. And that would not be fair. Most of the time, Henry was perfectly obedient. But he just preferred to know why he should be.

The time he had spent with Lizzy was so little, and yet, he had the feeling that he knew her perfectly well. They seemed to think alike on most questions that mattered, and they had common goals, the most important of course, getting to know their school in detail. Sitting here, up in the air in the middle of the park, it seemed surreal and far too perfect. The castle of his imagination, the castle of adventures, secrets, discoveries, and mystery, felt so close at the moment, and yet so far away that he feared it would slip away all of a sudden like a dream. He might wake up any moment and realize that there was no Lizzy with no friends and brothers to make Hogwarts into everything that his fantasies had constructed. But he was awake, Lizzy was real, and they would be three friends to explore everything together, surrounded by loving family. This was true. He would remain himself, and his aunt would never have to suffer because of him.

”I’ve never been to King’s Cross before,” he admitted. ”I so do hope we’ll find each other. Have you ever been there when your brother went on the train? Is it large? Because it would be really stupid if we walked up and down the train for the whole journey and always kept missing each other. And I don’t even know what Carin looks like.” He bit his lip and squinted down at Lizzy’s mother again. ”I think your mother wants you to return to the ground,” he said grudgingly. ”Can you jump down by yourself?”

Ignoring her mother generally only led to worse things, and there were times where she did have to admit that the witch knew exactly what she was talking about and why. It wasn't fair for her to ignore her when she was often more correct about the things in life, even if Lizzy didn't want to get out of the tree. Going to the park very rarely left her with such a promising day, it generally just left her with homework and far less interesting things. Homework was fine in small amounts- well, not really. She hated every moment of homework, even when it was done in the park, out in the sunshine. It was still hard for her, it was annoying and difficult. But homework was something that she had to do, she had to work on school before going to Hogwarts so she had the same grasp as everyone else. It was still boring, though, it wasn't work with a wand. She wanted to work with a wand, she wanted to be able to do real magic... But for now she had to read her history book, and then at school she was going to be able to have fun and use magic, she would have help, she would figure everything out.

Henry had said that they could study together and explore together as well, that was an exciting thought. She couldn't wait to wander around all of Hogwarts and figure out the secrets, she couldn't wait to be able to play Quidditch with her friends and not by herself... She was excited, she was looking forwards to having a future at Hogwarts. Climbing a sentient tree was going to be exciting, too, so she knew that they were going to be able to do it. It was exciting, it was a fantastic thought... But her mother was taking that away from them already by making her go home, or at least go back to her work... They might end up just going home, and she would have to study with her mother paying more attention to her. She couldn't just read quidditch books, then; she was actually going to have to try, and that wasn't really as much fun. It was worse, really; she hated sitting with the books in front of her and the words spinning around in her head.

"It's pretty big," she admitted, wrinkling her nose. "Maybe we can meet in the third carriage. That way we won't miss each other!" She smiled brightly at that. Of course it would work! They weren't going to wander around and miss out on anything. Everything was going to go perfectly. "And Carin's super tall with red hair. But we'll all find each other!" It took a few moments before she looked down at the ground, her lips pulling into a frown. It was going to be fine, she could make it down. "Yeah, I think I can do it." She hoped that Henry would hold onto the book for her, though. It was going to take a bit more effort than she really thought. 

If there had been any way known to Henry to stop time, he would have done so to do not lose his friend just as they got to know each other. But it was not possible, and they would have to say good-bye. But they would see each other again, they had to. ”Third carriage,” he repeated. A carriage was certainly easier to overview than a whole platform. Inside one carriage, they couldn’t miss each other. ”So, that means the steam engine, then two carriages, and then the third.” He would write this down and tell his aunt. He nodded. It made sense that Carin was tall, considering they were both a boy and a girl. But finding Lizzy would surely mean finding Carin, and if they were all meeting at the third carriage, they couldn’t miss each other, could they? From a rational perspective, he knew there was no risk. They would find each other. Still, he couldn’t completely suppress the hint of a doubt, but he wouldn’t voice it. He had found this wonderful friend entirely by accident, he couldn’t fail when he was looking for her on purpose.

”It’s better if we stand,” he said. ”And you must slightly flex your knees. And spread your arms, I can take the book.” He got to his feet, securely holding A History of Magic against his chest. ”Just concentrate on the air around you,” he added. ”Stay calm, and it will make you sink slower.” At least it worked with him, had already worked when he wasn’t concentrating at all. But with time and experimenting he had gained a good feeling as to how he could control his fall. ”If you’re unsure, you can hold my hand,” he offered when he saw Lizzy’s doubtful expression. He didn’t want her to sprain an ankle or anything. Her mother would be angry with him and rightly so. And not leaving a bad impression with Lizzy’s mom was an important issue. He took a deep breath and jumped.

Over three months, that was Henry’s first thought as they hit the ground, it would be over three months until they would see each other again. But he wouldn’t worry now, because no matter how long these three months would be, at the end, he would meet with Lizzy. And he would get to know Carin. Then they would be the best three friends, exploring together and having adventures. He had three months of anticipation, and that was also wonderful. At least Henry had the impression that it should be. After all, the time before Christmas was beautiful too, and going to Hogwarts for the first time was better than Christmas. There was still so much to do. They would have to buy books, and a uniform, a cauldron, a wand! He only hoped that it wouldn’t cost too much because that would cause his aunt trouble. But to go to Diagon Alley for his school supplies was a too wonderful prospect to allow his mood to sink. He handed the book to Lizzy and turned to her mother. ”We’ve read the Goblin rebellion chapter,” he said as politely as possible (because he so much wanted her to think well of him) before he turned back to Lizzy. ”Third carriage. And Carin is the tall, red-haired one. This is going to be so great!” But until then, they had to wait, and he had to return to his aunt who hopefully had had no reason to worry about where he had been. He had so much to tell her.

She knew that it was going to be quite some time until she and Henry saw each other again, but Lizzy was also aware that they were going to be busy with Hogwarts preparations and other such things. They could send each other owls, if they wanted. Her father had a brilliant one that knew exactly where to go and when. But what if Henry's cat ate birds? How big was Gunther? Since she didn't have her own animals to match to size she was thinking on the more fantasy side of things, and although she knew that it likely wasn't true, it was still scary to think of. "Third carriage," she repeated, attempting to vanish all thoughts of mutant-sized cats from her mind. She knew that it was illogical, she was certain that she could just send over an owl and they could talk about everything and anything that came to mind. Then when they got on the train, they would have even more to think about, and then they wouldn't get bored. It only made sense, and she was sure that Henry would agree with her if she voiced her opinion... But it was also exciting to get owls without expecting one, that generally made her really happy. "And Nick can make sure that nobody takes the carriage away from us."

Lizzy listened seriously to Henry's suggestions, a bit nervous with the whole climbing down the tree aspect. She knew that she would be fine; she had fallen from her broom before, hadn't she? And it was an athletic thing, and she liked sports and broom racing... Everything was going to be fine in the end. She followed his advice the best that she could, but there was no doubt that her descent was far less graceful than her new friend's. She needed more practice and would have to get some later in the week; she had three months to prove to Henry that she was ready to climb the willow when they had time. "I'm sorry for taking a while," she said to her mother, attempting to charm the woman with a sweet smile. She knew that it wasn't as believable, so she turned to Henry and gave him a brighter grin. "Yes! I can't wait for school to start!" 

(OOC: wow i am so so sorry that took so long!! you can wrap it up or we can archive here, either is fine with me!!)