#16 Tree Time

Tom noticed the twitching in certain branches of the Willow, keenly aware that whatever magical force animated it could sense his presence and was ready to attack. Was it the folly of youth that preventing him from being overly concerned, or was the frigid cold affecting his reasoning abilities in some way?

Tom perceived that the tree was very large and he was very small, comparatively speaking. He understood that getting hit with its branches would be an exceptionally unpleasant experience, but that understanding seemed partitioned off in his brain and overpowered by some unfounded assurance that nothing really bad could happen to him. The staff wouldn't let a truly deadly tree in a place accessible to students, would they?

Still, Tom had no death wish. How convenient would it be to use magic to help him right now! Still, Tom could think of no appropriate candidate in his Rolodex of spells. Surely he had learned something in the last four years that could be helpful? His eyes more on the tree itself than the ground below him, Tom stepped as close as possible to the tree without (to his knowledge) stepping on the root system and did his best to kick the snow at the base of the tree around, trying to reveal any hidden Windroot.

His kicking wasn't working. He was going to have to go all in and get close enough to the tree to use his hands... he shivered at the thought. Just then, out of nowhere, he had a eureka moment and his mental Rolodex brought him to the exact spell he needed. He pulled his wand out of his inner robe pocket and pointed it at the lower tree limbs.

"Arresto momentum!" Tom cried at the lower tree limbs, confident his slowing charm would slow down the limbs long enough for him to run in, brush away the snow, and harvest any Duskap available. Maybe he had 10 seconds before his spell wore off, maybe 15, but he didn't plan on being slow enough to find out.