Has anyone seen a more unusual, mysterious and at the same time aggressive magic tree? Professor Snow claimed that this is the rarest specimen of the weeping willow subspecies of the wizarding world of Harry Potter. What does rattling willow conceal, and why did they plant such an evil plant on the territory of a magic school?
Appearance
The appearance of an explosive willow is not much different from an ordinary tree. The willow has a rather thick trunk, from which there are the same thick branches, and already from them thin rods with leaves. Explosive willow comes from the family of weeping willow, the one that people most often find near the river.
What distinguishes rattlesnock from ordinary willow is that its branches are directed upward, and not traditionally downward. Willow has a small knot, pressing on which temporarily soothes, paralyzes the evil plant. Specifically, in the willow that grows in Hogwarts, at the foot is the entrance to the underground tunnel.
Place of growth
Where this plant was brought to Hogwarts from is unknown; this has never been mentioned in history. The region in which rattles willow is common is also unknown. The only known specimen grows near the school for young wizards.
Magical properties and protection
The tree is a great watchman. Willow feels when a living creature approaches her and attacks him. Tree branches are always ready to drive away potential offenders and overly curious students. At the same time, the willow clearly does not understand whether the approaching object carries a threat or not. Both living creatures and objects can suffer from an aggressive plant.
According to Ron Weasley, this is the only tree in the world that can give change to the offender.
Harry Potter Story Appearance
Explosive willow is the only such plant in Hogwarts. The reason for the appearance of a dangerous and aggressive tree on the school grounds was that security was needed to enter the Shrieking Shack. After all, the students who got there could be torn to pieces and killed by a werewolf. It was in the Shrieking Shack that every full moon Rimus Lupine sat out, then a student at Hogwarts School, and the willow was needed in order not to let the pupils get to the werewolf.
Lupine was escorted to the place of his monthly compulsory detention. Madame Pofrey, a school nurse. Each time she had to “turn off” the tree by clicking on the knot. Subsequently, Lupine's best friends, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black, also learned about this process. In the future, young men also turned off the willow to stay with Remus on the full moon, but already in the form of animals (Lupine's friends were animagus, like Professor McGonagall). Peter Pettigrew was engaged in calming the willow, being in the form of a rat.
Harry's school years
The fan of the saga gets acquainted with such an unusual tree as a rattleshell willow during the second year of Harry Potter training at Hogwarts. In the summer, before the start of the school year, Harry went to the Weasley family, where he spent the last two weeks of vacation. The head of the family - Mr. Arthur Weasley - had an old Ford, on which he then brought all his children, his wife and Harry himself to the station. But bad luck - the portal was blocked just before Ron and Harry entered it. Then the friends decided to go to school by Arthur’s car, which, in addition to all its Muggle properties, could still fly and disappear if necessary.
During the flight to the Ford school, it became completely uncontrollable and at the end crashed into a rattling willow growing on the school grounds. The tree didn’t leave this act unpunished, but it began to shake the car with the students. Several times the branches even pierced the windshield, almost crippling the boys. Towards the end, the willow still threw the car with Harry and Ron to the ground. Unhappy guys rushed to school.
These events in the book "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" are devoted to a whole chapter, which is called - "Rattling Willow."
After this incident, Professor Sneg said that they caused irreparable harm to this rare tree, and Professor Stable had to lay bushes on the most damaged cars and bandage them. Based on this, it becomes clear that Professor Stem knew how to calm the willow.
The next appearance of explosive willow occurs already during the third year of training of the protagonists at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Then an unknown dog, who later turned out to be Harry's godfather and escaped criminal Sirius Black, grabbed Ron by the leg and dragged him into the tunnel at the foot of the willow.
After that, Harry and Hermione made an attempt to get to the entrance, but the willow immediately hit and knocked down Harry with its branches, and Hermione managed to jump over the branch. But her success was short-lived. The girl hung on one of the branches, and the willow shook and circled all over her, then Harry was waiting for the same fate.
In the end, the students managed to jump from the branches of a tree right into the entrance that was at the foot of the willow. Once inside, students saw stone steps leading up, and after walking through them, they were in the Shrieking Shack. This episode shows that the willow reacts negatively not only to those who crashed into it and thereby injured, but also to all who are close, indiscriminately.
At that moment, Rimus Lupine, who knew how to calm a crazy tree and where to find the desired knot, and Professor Severus Sneg, who spied on how to stop the willow while still a student at the school, came up to the willow. These events could be seen by Harry and Hermione when they returned to the past with the help of the Time Flywheel.
In addition, in the third year, the explosive willow is mentioned again. After Harry fell off his broomstick during a Quidditch match due to dementors who came after him, his broomstick flew away and fell into a willow. Nimbus 2000 could not survive such a collision and was broken by an aggressive plant.
The next and last mention of the rattling willow in the story of the boy who survived happened when Harry was 17 years old. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione “paralyzed” rattling willow to make their way to the Shrieking Shack, where Lord Voldemort and his last remaining crucifix, Nagaina, were located.
Role in the wizarding world
Appearing in Harry Potter adventure stories, the rattleshell willow is a dangerous plant that is best avoided. By curious situations arising through her fault, the willow revives a rather dull landscape, rather boring and mundane. She becomes an important element of the magical world.