Azalea Evans °Marauders Era°

Chapter 8 - Whomping Willow

"Lily, get up! It is our birthday," Azalea screamed in Lily's ear, beginning to sing, "It is January the thirtieth and it is a special day! It is January the thirtieth and it is a special day! I bought you a chicken who wears a hat! I bought you a gift with ears like a bats! I bought you a..."

"Be quiet!" Lily screamed, throwing a pillow at her sister, "Why do you sing that stupid song every year? It makes no sense."

"Becauase we deserve a special song for our birthday!" Azalea spun in circles, giddy for their special day. She ran into the four poster bed, falling down on the floor.

"Owwww...this is your fault, bed! Stuoud piece of junk!"

"Azalea! Stop screaming at the bed! It's your fault, not the bed's," Lily interrupted Azalea.

"Ahh! You took the beds side! Traitor!" Azalea ran out of the dorm, heading to the common roomroom.

"Siri," Azalea yelled, spotting him walking down the stairs. Azalea ran and jumped into his arms, sending them tumbling down the stairs.

"Ugh," Sirius groaned from under Azalea, "What is important enough to break my bones?"

"I might have broke some bones, too," Azalea pointed out, "And I have horrible news."

"What is wrong," Sirius asked worriedly. He was afraid that someone tried to hurt her somehow.

"Lily betrayed me," she bellowed.

"Well, that busted my ear drums," Sirius murmured as Azalea rolled off of him. He stood, holding out a hand to help her up.

"I would say it is probably your fault, too." Azalea gasped in horror.

"Traitors! And to do it on my birthday! How rude!"

"It's my birthday, too," Lily sang from the stairs.

"It is your birthday," James asked, "I need to get Lily-pad a present!"

"Are you betraying me, too? Traitors! The whole lot of you!"

"I'm not a traitor," Remus started, looking up from his book.

"Is it my fault I ran into the bed," she asked.

"Well, yes, probably, but...," he started again.

"Traitor!"

"Azalea, no one is a traitor," Lily said, "You ran into the bed. Deal with it!"

"Fine ," Azalea yelled grumpily, "I will forgive you all since it is a special occasion. You people bore me, however. Lily, I want to go find Severus!"

"Happy birtbirthday," the three boys screamed as the two slipped out of the common room.

"Hey, Severus," she said innocently, "It is a fine day today, isn't it? Is there anything you should remember about today?"

"No, not that I know of. Why," he raised an eyebrow.

"It is something we have every year! You memorized it," Azalea screamed.

"Oh, you mean something like...your birthday," he smirked. Azalea screamed in delight as she hugged him.

"Okay, okay," Severus murmured as he began pushing Azalea off, "Get off please. I don't like being squished to death." Severus rolled his eyes and walked to the slytherin table, saying a quick goodbye to Lily and Azalea. Azalea hopped to the table, with Lily following behind her.

"Siri! Do you want to listen to my birthday song," Azalea asked as she sat down in her usual seat, "I sing it every year! Lily loves it!"

"Sure, I guess."

"It is January the thirtieth and it is a special day! It is January the thirtieth and it is a special day! I bought you a chicken who wears a hat! I bought you a gift with ears like a bats! I bought you a chimpanzee who knows how to finance! I bought you a lamp that knows how to dance! Again now!"

"No! No, no, no, no, no! No more singing,Azalea," Lily screamed, "After nine years of hearing that song, I do not want to hear it again!" Azalea pouted while Sirius laughed. 

"What do you want to do to celebrate your birthdays," Sirius asked the two girls. He instantly regretted it as the two began arguing.

"I want to go see the Whomping Willow," Azalea yelled. Lily argued and said the day would be much better if the two went to the library and studied. Also, the Whomping Willow could hurt her.

"It won't hurt me," Azalea argued stubbornly, "It will be fun! I can get closer to it than anyone else! Live for once ,Lily!"

"No, Azalea! You could loose an eye! You might even break some bones! Don't do it," Lily argued back. She knew it wasn't a good idea.

"Fine! Come on, Siri. Let's go to class," Azalea screamed, dragging Sirius out of the Great Hall.

"We are not going to classes, are we," Sirius asked with a smirk on his face. Azalea shook her head and continued dragging him to the Whomping Willow.

"Look! There is a hole in the tree! Let's crawl in it," Azalea said excitedly, "We could have a tree house!" Shs took a couple steps towards the tree. Sirius grabbed Azalea's wrist and pulled her back quickly. A branch hit the spot she was just in.

"You have to be careful! You can't just go to it," he exclaimed.

"Fine. You distract it, and I will jump at the hole and crawl in. Simple as that," she stated as, preparing herself to jump.

Sirius began getting close to the tree. The closer he got, the more branches swung at him. Azalea jumped towards the hole and missed. Instead of jumping through, she hit her head on the knot above the hole. A branch swung down at her as Sirius yelled her name. He stopped when realized he was going to be hit as well. The two had their eyes closed, expecting pain to come at any moment. When they didn't feel a branch hitting them, they opened their eyes and gasped. The branches were frozen, not moving. Azalea had stopped the tree.

"You did it," Sirius laughed as he walked towards her, "You actually did it!"

"I sure did," Azalea said proudly, "Now, let's go in and see what's in there!" She crawled in, surprised to see a tunnel ahead of her.

"Ow," Azalea exclaimed as she hit her head, "Wait a minute..." She had entered a room. She looked to her side to see stairs, making the decision to go up.

"Wow," Sirius said as he looked around the room they found theirselves in. Boards were rotting, furniture was clawed to pieces, ane wallpaper was ripped to shreds. The whole place was a wreck. Sirius looked out of the window, his eyes widening. He knew exactly where they were. He just didn't understand how.

"That's Hogsmeade...," he murmured, and then began laughing, "That's Hogsmeade! We are in the Shrieking Shack Azalea! This place is awesome!"

"What's Hogsmeade? What's the Shrieking Shack," she asked, confused. She ran her fingers over the ripped curtains, wondering what could have done it.

"Hogsmeade is a town. It has candy stores, joke shops, the Three Broomsticks, all kinds of things! It's amazing! The Shrieking Shack is haunted. The rumors have been passing around for a couple of months. They say they hear howling and screams, things like that. Even Dumbledore agrees with the rumors!

"I don't think ghosts do this," Azalea murmured as she ran her hand over the curtains again, "I wonder what actually lives here..."

"I don't know, but I don't want to stick around and find out," Sirius said as he pulled on Azaleas arm. He did not want to find any ghosts, or whatever it was that lived there.

"Yeah... I guess you are right," Azalea murmured as they walked back towards the tunnel.

"Today is January thirtieth and it is a special day! It is January the thirtieth and it is a special day! I bought you a chicken who wears a hat! I bought you a gift with ears like a bats! I bought you a chimpanzee who knows how to finance! I bought you a lamp that knows how to dance!"

"Not again," Sirius groaned as they headed towards class. Why did she insist on singing that song all day?