Le Jardin Extraordinaire (Dino)

Honoré wasn't really a fan of student service. At home he didn't have to do any chores. He lived at a hotel and there were house elves that did everything that had to be done.  His parents never really spent enough time with their children to actually assign them proper household tasks either and he assumed that they wouldn't do so even if they had the time.

He found it rather silly that doing chores around the school the students took away work from the elves at Beauxbatons but, truth be told, he was getting used to the duties. Sometimes it was rather relaxing to deal with some gardening after classes had finished for the day but he would never admit this publicly.

He had chosen school beautification for exactly this reason – it was relaxing to cut back some flowers, water plants, mew the grass or pick up dry leaves or whatever. However, just because it might be relaxing, did not exactly mean that he was looking forward to fulfilling his duties. As he reached the greenhouse where Monsieur Alejandro García would assign him with his task for the day, he spotted Dino there, waiting already.

“Salut,” he said, not overly enthusiastically. “Doing school beautification this year, too?” he asked, looking around for Monsieur García. “I wonder...” his voice trailed off as the groundskeeper approached them. He didn't feel like smiling at the man, didn't really feel like actually listening to his instructions. As Monsieur García asked them if they understood what needed to be done, the boy shrugged. “Prune that old tree there,” he muttered and nodded at the old tree not far from the green house.

He picked up some of the tools the groundskeeper had put out for them and looked at Dino questioningly. “Are you ready?” he asked, looking at the Papillonlisse. “I guess putting it off any longer won't make it any more fun, right?!”

@Dino Caviezel

Dino had been a little disappointed to be told he wasn't allowed to choose stable service for the first term this year. Spending half the time grooming his own pony wasn't in the spirit of student service, especially if his little brother Silvan was helping. He hadn't protested, because even though he'd only done that once, on the very last session of the year, he knew that it had been a bit naughty and at least the only punishment had been his Head of House saying how disappointed in him she was. At least he'd been allowed to pick what he did instead, on the understanding that he would be matched up with another student rather than running off with his younger brother again.

School beautification seemed reasonable. He'd be outside and wouldn't have to clean out dusty cupboards or repair library books, and it wasn't as if students were supervised aside from being issued with the initial instructions and having someone coming back to check how they were getting on a couple of times. Keen to make a good impression after last year he arrived a little early and had already asked what they were doing when his work partner arrived. Dino grinned as the other boy approached. Honoré Boisbouvier was in his own year and they'd sat near each other in a couple of classes last year. This was far better than being paired with a total stranger and chances were they'd even have something to talk about as well.

"Yeah, I fancied a change" he fibbed, falling silent as M. Garcia reappeared, this time bringing a selection of tools that they would be using. He listened to the instructions and almost asked if they would be allowed to use magic as well, but then decided not to mention it. The answer might be no, and it would be a lot better to apologise after the job was done well than to ask permission now. "Take out the dead wood, and stack it behind that shed" he agreed, adding the second part of the instruction they had been given.

"Sure, I'm ready now" Dino said, looking over the tools. Most of them he'd used or at least seen before, though he was faintly disappointed that they hadn't been left with an axe. That might have been rather fun to swing around. He picked up a small handsaw and some pruning shears and carried them over the the base of the tree, which looked rather larger than it had appeared from a distance. They would be able to make a start from the ground but sooner or later one of them at least would have to climb into the tree to get the job done. Hoping he sounded more confident that he felt, Dino glanced from the tree to Honoré. "How are you with climbing trees?" he asked, only a little uncertainly.

“Climbing trees?” Honoré raised an eyebrow at Dino's question. “I am actually not sure,” he admitted, feeling somewhat embarrassed. The Papillonlisse probably found it quite strange to get such an answer. In fact, Honoré could have said that he had never really tried climbing a tree but he felt that this would sound really silly. It was the truth though. He had had other things to do when he had been little. His parents had sent him to dancing lessons rather than let him play in a forest or a garden with trees he could have climbed.

“How do you feel about it? I mean,” he looked at the tree and began walking into the direction, carrying some tools, “I guess to get to the dead wood we'll either have to use our wands and try and levitate the twigs out of the tree or climb it. Not sure it's even possible to precisely levitate them through the healthy branches that we can move them down...”

As he reached the tree, he looked up the trunk and frowned. The tree was quite old. Its trunk was so thick that he could not wrap his arms around it if he tried (what he didn't want to do). “I guess one of us should climb and the other one can then try and pick the dead pieces up and stack them? Or do you have a better idea?”

Honoré clearly hoped that Dino would be eager to climb the tree. He'd totally pull out his wand and use it to stack the dead twigs and branches then. That was, without a doubt, the less dangerous part. After all, Honoré didn't quite see the sense in injuring himself now. He didn't want to end up in the hospital wing if he could help it. However, if Dino would suggest that he should better climb the tree himself, the Ombrelune felt that he would not back out. He didn't want to look like a coward. He wasn't a coward anyway, just sensible or so he thought anyway.

The Ombrelune's slight reluctance totally passed Dino by. All he heard was that Honoré wasn't sure about climbing trees, and even though Dino was frankly terrified of heights that meant he didn't have an easy get-out clause for the task. He'd hoped that he would be able to graciously pass over the more 'fun' task to his companion, even if that meant doing more of the less interesting and physically demanding work on the ground, but he wasn't about to admit that he was scared. Honoré had always seemed like a decent enough person, but he was from the same house as Dino's older siblings, the ones who hadn't even acknowledged him for his first two years at school, and the boy couldn't help but view all Ombrelunes with a vague sense of suspicion.

"Well, it's not my favourite thing, but sure, I can climb" he said. It wasn't exactly a lie, he told himself as he walked round the base of the tree thoughtfully, stalling for time. Already he could feel his heart beginning to beat faster and the palms of his hands becoming clammy and cold. It's okay. I can do this he told himself firmly, trying not to look up into the branches and work out how high it was up there. He realised Honoré was speaking again and mumbled a noncommital response as he processed the words.

It looked like the other boy was right. Trying to levitate branches down would make it difficult to avoid getting them caught in the rest of the tree. But while he was thinking that, a new idea came to him. "Wait - how about if we prune the lower branches first? That way we can clear out the dead wood and we won't get the higher branches caught on it, and we won't risk stepping on a branch that might break later on" Dino made it sound like the only reason he was making the suggestion was to make the task easier, not because he was putting off the scary part for as long as possible. He glanced briefly at the sky in hopes that it might rain, but it was a perfect September day, sunny with just a hint of a breeze coming in off the Mediterranean sea.

To prove he wasn't the least bit afraid of heights or climbing at all, Dino set to work right away, standing on a conveniently-placed stump about 20cm off the ground so he could reach and cut away a section of obviously dead branches, letting them fall to the ground all around him. 

“Ah,” Honoré said, sounding neither relieved nor impressed but basically just acknowledging that Dino said he could climb. “Well, I can climb rocks,” he said, thinking of things he had actually climbed in his life. He could not look back to an impressive experience when it came to climbing but at least he was not an entirely unathletic or clumsy boy.

“I guess that makes sense,” Honoré responded thoughtfully, looking up at the tree. “We're only supposed to remove the dead branches, right? Not cut it back in general?! We can deal with a few branches from down here but I guess, sooner or later, we'll have to get up there.” He was not impressed that they were facing such a task and felt certain that his parents would write to the school if Netta had been in his shoes. His sister would totally throw a tantrum and would refuse to climb the tree. However, this realisation made Honoré suddenly feel determined that he would not back out of this task.

Honoré watched as Dino stepped onto a stump and began to cut out some dead branches that were easy to reach. As soon as a few had fallen on the ground, the Ombrelune got out his wand and flicked it so the branches piled up nicely.

“So,” he began, examining the trunk. “Shall I try and get up there?” he asked, not sounding eager but unwilling to act as though felt above such menial tasks. He almost hoped that his little sister would come by and witness that he was not as conceited as she was.

"Rocks?" Dino was curious now. In his mind, he was working with someone who climbed mountains in the holidays and thus wouldn't be afraid of heights at all. Probably Honoré just hadn't climbed many trees before and felt that by holding back he was being kind and allowing his companion the oportunity. Dino felt slightly relieved. He wasn't going to have to climb up somewhere he didn't want to after all.

With that thought in mind he began cutting out the dead wood with enthusiasm, working so hard that he soon got himself out of breath. When he looked down, expecting to see a pile of branches of varying sizes gathered around his feet, he was pleasantly surprised to see that the other boy had collected up the deadwood while he'd worked. "Hey, we make a good team!" he exclaimed cheerfully, hopping down from the stump and only stumbling slightly.

Dino walked round to the other side of the tree and looked up. This side had much less deadwood, and he could reach the only obviously damaged branch simply by reaching above his head. With that already in his hand, he didn't see much point in using magic to add it to the pile Honoré had created and thus he simply walked over and laid it on top of the rest of the branches they had already pruned.

"Sure! Now we've got rid of the dead branches on the lower part of the tree it should be pretty safe. Just don't step on any branches that don't have leaves growing on them" he added, a little unnecessarily "did you want a hand to get up there?" Dino wasn't thinking of magic, not for something as advanced as levitating a person. Instead he laced his fingers together and held them out for the other boy to step into so he would be able to get higher into the tree.

"Yeah, well, small rocks... not mountains or anything," Honoré admitted, feeling the need to clarify as he thought that Dino had got a wrong impression. 

Honoré offered half a smile as the other boy said they made a good team. He assumed that this was just how people usually worked together and didn't consider it a real accomplishment. However, it was nice to see that the Papillonlisse was happy with how the student service was going so far. 

Honoré frowned slightly as Dino claimed that it should be pretty safe to climb the tree after the little pruning he had done so far. He looked up, not really feeling eager to climb the tree but at the same time feeling obliged to do so. He thought of Netta and the rest of his family again and of how they'd feel about this task. Once again this thought was sufficient to motivate him. 

"Are you sure?" Honoré asked, looking down at Dino's hands. He most certainly did not want to step onto Dino's hands. Firstly, he felt he might be way too heavy for the other boy and, secondly, he was afraid of injuring Dino. He clearly could imagine better things than going to the hospital wing with the Papillonlisse boy to explain that he had broken his fingers because they hadn't come up with a better way to get up into a tree.

He glanced up at the tree again and pointed out a thick branch that he figured he might be able to reach if he just jumped a little. "I'll try something else first," he explained. If he could grab the branch, he could try and swing his legs to reach the trunk and then, somehow, pull himself onto that branch. It did look like an athletic kid could do this, anway. However, Honoré wasn't entirely convinced he was athletic enough for this.

After jumping up twice without being able to actually get a proper hold of the branch, Honoré tried again. All good things came in threes, anyway. He indeed grabbed the branch but now he was dangling there, trying to swing so he could position his feet on the trunk. Before he succeeded, though, the boy's grip loosened and he fell into the grass. His palms were covered with small bits of tree bark now and slightly scratched. Honoré wrinkled his nose before rubbing his hands off on his sweater. "Well," he muttered, "I thought this would be easier." 

Small rocks? What did that mean exactly?  Like the ones you found on a beach, or little cliffs..? "That's still cool though" Dino confirmed, not wanting to say the wrong thing. As he wasn't allowed to work with his brother, the last thing he wanted was to end up doing student service in a sort of sullen, barely-co-operative silence with someone who couldn't wait to get away from him. Plus he was a bit confused that Honoré apparently had a different way of getting into the tree.

Dino followed the other boy's gesture and nodded, his smile faded. He wasn't sure why his offer had been rejected, other than some people just didn't like to accept help, so he said nothing, just waited and watched. Okay, so that did seem like a reasonable way to get into the tree he thought, though apparently Honoré couldn't jump quite high enough to grasp onto the branch. Dino was about to call out a suggestion when he grabbed hold, but then fell down to the grass. He couldn't help himself, Dino let out a snort of laughter which he tried to turn into a cough.

"Are you okay?" he asked, holding out a hand (that the other boy would probably reject, on second thoughts) to help the Ombrelune to his feet. he gave Honoré a moment or two to recover himself as he looked from the boy to the tree and back again several times.

"Did you want to try again or shall we, uh...try the hand thing?" he suggested, a little more tentatively than before "I won't drop you or trick you, I swear..." he hesitated and then added "I've got my first black belt in karate - that's a muggle martial art - and I'm pretty strong. You just put one foot on my hands, then when you say go, you step up and I push you up at the same time, so you get a better grip on the branch. That makes it a lot easier to swing into the tree, see?" If the boy refused for a second time, Dino resolved that he would have to be the one to climb up there, no matter how nervous he felt.

Honoré shrugged in response to Dino stating that his climbing experience was still cool. It didn't matter if the Papillonlisse thought so, especially because he hardly had an idea what kind of climbing Honoré did. He usually really just climbed onto 'his rock' in the Mediterranean Sea.

He had a feeling that Dino felt somewhat affronted by the fact that he hadn't chosen to step onto the other boy's hands but, honestly, that had not seemed like a good plan at all. Unfortunately the alternate plan wasn't going too well either though. It was a shame that the moves that Honoré had pictured did not seem quite so easy when he tried them.

“Yes,” Honoré said in response to do the question if he was okay. He hesitated for an instant looking at Dino's hand. He didn't need help to stand up again and he didn't want help either. It was not like he was a little damsel in distress. The boy got to his feet, pretending not to have seen the other's boy's outstretched hand.

The Ombrelune hoped that Dino would understand that he did not like the idea of accepting help. However, Honoré also didn't want to step onto the other boy's toes. Dino had done nothing wrong, after all. “I wasn't worried that you'd trick me,” he muttered. “Just that it might hurt if I stepped onto your hands… and that I'd be too heavy,” he explained. Honoré took a deep breath now, still not liking the idea at all but if the other boy was so insistent then he could hardly tell him that he'd try again what hadn't worked before.

“Okay then,” he said, “we'll try it once. If it doesn't work we go back to my original plan.” He paused. “Are you ready?” He put his foot slowly onto Dino's hand, still pretty worried that he'd break his fingers. “Go!”

A moment later Honoré hang in the tree and pulled himself onto a thick branch to sit there properly.

Okay, so either Honoré didn't like him or just had a problem with accepting help. Dino decided that. as they had to get this student service done one way or another, he would just overlook his own discomfort, assume it was the latter, and carry on until the wretched tree was pruned. He set himself to stacking the few small branches that had already fallen from the tree while the other boy made up his mind.

Maybe it was going to be a bit harder than when he helped Silvan to get up high (naturally his little brother loved climbing while Dino preferred to remain on the ground, pretending that he was being the honourable big brother and making sure nothing went wrong, but the fifth year was confident he would manage. He just nodded at the Ombrelune's explanation and felt rellieved that his plan was belatedly acceptable, then laced his fingers again.

"Ready when you are..." he braced himself, but really, the other boy wasn't so heavy, and it was only for a few seconds and then Dino pushed upwards, propelling Honoré towards the overhanging branch with a lot more force than previously. He let out one small grunt of exertion but when he looked up, already his work partner was pulling himself into a more comfortable position on one of the lower branches, though still a good way above Dino's head. "Okay, give me a minute..." he said, ignoring the way his heart was beginning to pound with anxiety as he tried not to think about what he was going to do.

A little further around the tree there was a similar overhanging branch. The trunk had a scarred lump on it a couple of feet off the ground, presumably from an earlier pruning. Dino looked from that to the branch a couple of times, then took a few steps back. Judging the distance, he took a running leap, put one foot on the trunk and pushed off from that, easily grabbing the branch and swinging himself into the tree. His climb onto the branch was done with less ease, for now Dino was struggling not to look down. He really didn't want to think about how high up he was.

"Okay, now we can...uh..." he trailed off, realising their mistake "uh...summon the tools..." he finished lamely, reaching for his wand.

As Honoré tried to get into a position that was safe and comfortable enough to work from, he wasn't quite sure why Dino now also wanted to climb the tree. He thought that it would maybe be wiser if one of them stayed on the ground to hand devices and clean up the mess that was bound to come up when the dead branches fell down. In fact, he had no idea why he had bothered to climb the tree if his companion was now getting up there as well.

Dino looked like he was quite athletic as he managed to climb the tree on his first attempt. Honoré almost felt bad that he had not done equally well. However, he reminded himself, his parents had sent him to ballroom dance lessons instead of letting him play outside with other kids. By now he was not doing anymore what his parents expected of him but it still felt that he had missed out on some fun when he had been younger.

"Hm," Honoré said as Dino spoke of summoning the tools. That did sound like a risky endeavour to him. These tools were meant to cut branches and thus could also damage other things or hurt people as well. Clearly this was nothing that one could summon up to where they  It sounded like something his sister or an adult would say. He was a teenage boy though, and if Dino thought this could work then he'd give it a try at least. "Just make sure to find a safe position first," he advised, shifting on his branch some more before pulling out his wand.

"Accio loppers," he said, still unsure how he'd manage to put his wand away in time to have a free hand to catch the tool. He was right to worry. The loppers were up to him and he tried to shove the wand back into the pocket of his jeans while eyeing the flying loppers that, quite unnecessarily, were opening and closing as the soared through the air as they needed to cut their way free. Realising the imminent danger, Honoré dropped his wand in panic, trying to reach out for the safe end of the loopers. He barely managed it and almost lost his balance. However, he now sat there in the tree and his wand lay a few feet below him in the grass.

"That did not work so well," he muttered, feeling both relieved that the loopers had done no real damage and irritated because he felt he would need to jump down to secure his wand and then climb up again..

Well at least they were both in the tree. Dino felt a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought to tuck the secateurs into a pocket before he climbed into the tree, and belatedly he realised that actually only one of them really needed to be up here already. This sort of thing wouldn't have happened with Silvan. He and his little brother were always of a similar mind. He wouldn't even have needed to say anything, the smaller boy would have scrambled into the tree, trimmed off the parts that needed to be trimmed and then they would be stacking the dead wood together in no time. But Dino never felt quite as confident expressing his ideas to people he didn't know well. He was annoyed with himself. If he'd had the nerve to say 'you go up there, I'll work as a guide down here and stack the branches you throw down' they wouldn't be in this position.

Still, at least Honoré didn't seem to openly blame Dino for this mess. In fact, he was even willing to summon the tools, though the Papillonlisse wasn't sure that the loppers were the best thing to summon. He'd have gone for something smaller in case "Look out!" he cried, ducking backwards a little himself even though it was quite unnecessary. Reflexively he closed his eyes not opening them again until he heard Honoré speak and judged that the other boy had survived the flying blades.

"Oh.' Dino glanced down and immediately realised the problem. That wasn't such a major issue though, because he still had his wand and besides, the concept of jumping down to fetch his companion's wand didn't even cross his mind, because what teenage wizard ever passed up the opportunity to cast any sort of spell? "Accio Honoré's wand!" he cried, summoning it with a little more enthusiam than was strictly necessary. A moment later, he had a wand in each hand, and grinned proudly.

Sticking his own wand back into his pocket, Dino carefully climbed to his feet and clambered through the branches to where Honoré was waiting. "Here, now we can..." he began, but then made the mistake of looking down. When there had been something else to think about he had been okay and not thought about the fact he was off the ground, and in a tree, and that when he'd been a much smaller boy his older siblings had stranded him in one that was much higher and he'd thought he was going to die if he dared to move. He'd managed to summon Honoré's wand and that hd been fine but now he froze and made a shameful whimpring noise.

Still clutching the other boy's wand he clung to the nearest, thickest branch, barely breathing as he suddenly realised that he was far too high off the ground. All thoughts of the task they had been set - indeed all thoughts at all - had left his mind.

Truth be told, Honoré wasn't too happy with the fact that Dino summoned his wand. He knew the other boy meant well but somehow he didn't like the idea of anyone but himself holding his wand. He'd much rather have jumped down to get it but it was too late to even suggest that. At least his wand was secured and did not get lost in a pile of cut off branches.

The Papillonlisse tried to climb through the tree towards him and Honoré merely watched the other student, neither starting to work with the loppers nor approaching his companion. The whimpering sound that Dino made was registered, of course and the Ombrelune raised his eyebrows. They were really not exactly experts when it came to the task at hand. Dino now seemed unable to move further and he was still holding Honoré's wand.

For a moment Honoré wasn't quite sure what to do. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he went through the options he had. He was tempted to ignore Dino and just start working on their task. Surely the other boy would get a grip sooner or later. However, the fact that the Papillonlisse held his wand meant that Honoré did not want to risk anything. What if Dino fell off the tree and broke his wand? That would be inconvenient.

“Don't move,” he said unnecessarily as he looked for a place nearby in the tree where he could safely put the loppers so he wouldn't have to drop them again. When he found a place to put them, he climbed the last bit over to Dino.

“Right,” he said, pulling his wand out of Dino's hand and putting it safely in his pocket. “We're not that high up,” he said in an attempt to calm his companion. “Give me your hands and then you can slide down to the ground. I'll hold you so you don't fall all the way,” he offered, thinking that if he positioned himself safely and helped Dino down neither of them would get injured and it was probably more sensible if only one of them was climbing the tree while the other could hand the devices and collect the fallen branches.

Dino didn't hear the other boy's words. The ringing in his ears was too loud, coupled with the knowledge that if he moved he would fall. They weren't even particularly high and the absolute worst that could happen might be a broken leg which would be fixed in a day, but that logic didn't reach the Papillonlisse's mind which was crowded with terror. How could he have been so stupid as to think he could do this? He knew he was still gripping Honoré's wand and he hated that, it was fine to hand it to someone but actually holding it for more than a few seconds was rude, and he should hold out his hand, offer the wand and apologise...

Except he couldn't make himself move. Then Honoré was next to him and Dino let out a pathetic little fear-noise because for a moment it wasn't his yearmate, it was Andrina laughing, and she was going to fly away and leave him there, and all he could do was scream. He wasn't going to scream, though. He wasn't six years old any more, and he was just going to hold on, and sooner or later someone would come along and rescue him and then he would never be so stupid as to move more than a foot off the ground ever again.

The wand was moving in his hand. Dino turned his head to look, and that was a mistake because he realised that Honoré had pulled his wand free. He should have been pleased, but now he wasn't clutching anything in that hand and he felt even more vulnerable. He flailed with his hand and accidentally grabbed onto the other boy, which unwittingly was exactly what Honoré had in mind. He looked at his companion for the first time in what felt like hours and was amazed by what he saw.

Honoré wasn't laughing at him, didn't even seem angry and certainly wasn't treating this like it was some big game. And...he was going to help? Dino couldn't believe that. If he put his trust in someone else they would betray him, would pretend to let him drop to the ground but would just let him go and... would that be so bad? He'd at least be back on the ground, then. It was just a case of allowing himself to move. Except he couldn't. He knew he couldn't even as he clung more tightly to Honoré's hand and forced his numb fingers to let go of the branch and take hold of his companion's other hand. Now they were both stranded, he thought helplessly.

"Sorry...I thought I could...this time..."

As Dino took his hand, Honoré offered a small but encouraging smile. However, judging by Dino’s overly tight grip this was not going to be easy. The Ombrelune wondered if he should have just pulled his wand out the other boy’s hand and left it at that. After all, the Papillonlisse would have to move one way or another to get out of this situation.

Yet, the only movement that Dino made was to grab Honoré’s other hand as well. This was awkward. The Ombrelune frowned slightly, wondering how they were going to get out of this predicament when neither of them had a free hand to actually hold on to the tree. He was sitting quite safely on the branch now but Honoré wasn’t sure if that was still the case when one of them attempted to move.

“Right,” he muttered, trying not to let Dino hear that he was not quite so pleased with the situation. “We’ll manage this. Somehow.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek again, contemplating what he should suggest to end this drama. Quite unnecessarily the thought of his sister came to his mind and how she’d probably find it quite amusing that he was sitting in a tree holding hands with another boy. No, he needed to get Dino down to the ground, one way or another, to avoid being seen like this. The last thing Honoré needed were rumours spreading about him liking Dino.

“Okay,” he began, attempting to sound positive and encouraging now, “we really aren’t that high up. Let me get into a slightly different position so you don’t drag me down with you.” It was hard to shift his position as long as Dino clung to him for dear life. However, at least to some degree, Honoré managed to find a position that seemed safe enough.

“Look at me,” he demanded, “do not look down. Now let one leg hang down towards the ground. I hold you and I’ll let you down slowly. I promise. Just… let yourself glide down?” Well, ‘glide’ was probably not quite the best choice of word but Honoré wanted to make it sound like an easy task. In the end Dino would not glide but either dangle in midair still holding on to Honoré’s hands or he’d fall or… the worst case scenario was that he’d drag Honoré down with him.