SOURCE: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (1998) and sequels.

DESCRIPTION: "Ron gasped, stared through the windscreen, and Harry looked around just in time to see a branch as thick as a python smash into it. The tree they had hit was attacking them. Its trunk was bent almost double, and its gnarled boughs were pummelling every inch of the car it could reach." (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling)

NOTES: The Whomping Willow is a dangerous tree that lives on the edge of the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts School. It attacks blindly anything that goes near it. Madame Sprout is required to bandage the tree after its attack on Ron and Harry. Under its massive roots is a secret tunnel to the Shrieking Shack at Hogsmeade, where Sirius Black drags Ron Weasley to lure Harry Potter. The Whomping Willow was planted the year Remus Lupin came to Hogwarts as a student, to guard this passage. Touching a special knot on the Williow's trunk with immobilze its deadly attacks.

HISTORY: The inspiration for the Whomping Willow is most likely Old Man Willow and the Ents from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.

---