Arm's Length

[Remy Lagowski]

Remy wasn't used to having spring in September, but he wasn't complaining about it either since it meant he had the possibility to experience two whole summers that year. Winter was fun over christmas, but Remy always grew tired of the constant cold and hated having to trudge through snow to get around the farm. It was nice to know that he would be spending his first semester at Hogwarts feeling warm and wanted to make the most of the weather while he could, which was the reason he walked out of the castle and to the great lawn that day.

The ground was slightly squishy, and the grass was covered in a layer of dew but even the annoying feeling of his shoes growing slightly damp with each of his steps was better than being in Autumn back home. Remy paused when he reached a tree, then began to climb it with an absence of anything else to do. It gave him an excuse to stay outside rather than returning to the castle so he was happy to climb the tree even when his height (or lack thereof) posed some difficulty in reaching the first branch.​

 

[Leila Walden]

It was a beautiful day and the last thing that Leila wanted to do was to spend time inside when the outside was so inviting. She threw on a hoody and a pair of denim shorts and skipped out of her dorm room, all the way out to the great lawn. There was still a slight chill in the air but it was comfortable enough when the sun peeped out from behind the clouds. Leila paused for a moment as she savoured the feel of the sun on her face but was distracted soon after as she heard grunts from someone behind her. She turned around and saw that a boy, who looked around her own age, seemed to be having trouble with climbing the tree. Leila wandered over to the tree and looked it up and down and then turned to the boy. "I think we're going to struggle a bit with this one" she commented with one hand on her hip while thinking about what to do "want me to give you a leg up?" she offered.

 

[Remy Lagowski]

At first Remy attempted to jump from the ground to the branch, hoping that by a stroke of luck his fingers would reach, and when that failed, he tried to prop himself up by clinging to the tree trunk. Each of his plans worked to no avail and he was left standing with his shoes digging into the slightly damp soil. That was until an unfamiliar voice sounded next to him, and Remy looked to the girl curiously. He nodded in agreement that his chosen tree would be a problem to climb, then nodded with more enthusiasm when the girl asked if she could give him a leg up. Someone's help would be exactly what he needed to kick start his tree climbing endeavor and though he was worried he might hurt the girl by letting her help him, he wasn't about to deny himself such a useful opportunity, either. "I'd love a leg up." He said. "How do you think we should go about this?" He then asked, stepping back from the tree to give the girl more room if that was what she needed.​

 

[Leila Walden]

Leila grinned and jumped up and down when the boy agreed to her plan. "Okay, great. I've done this before so don't worry. It's easy enough!" she said encouragingly. The amount of times that Leila had given a leg up to one of her siblings when they were climbing trees and running around in the garden. "hmmm..." she murmured as she stepped back and looked up at the tree and at the boy who was trying to climb it. "Okay, i'm going to put my hands like this" she said interlocking her fingers "and you need to put your foot on top of them and i'll push you up and you'll have to grab the nearest branch. Okay?" she said to the boy, confidently. "Are you ready?"

 

[Remy Lagowski]

Remy looked to the girl as she explained her plan, then nodded in agreement. "Sounds good." He said as he took a step closer to her. When her hands were properly interlocked, she asked if he was ready. He nodded again in response before stepping onto her hands and reaching for the branch as she pushed him up. His fingers locked around the branch and he pulled himself onto it with the leverage. After getting comfortable, he looked down at the girl "You're really strong!" He said. "Do you want me to pull you up now, too?" He then asked, thinking that she might have wanted to join him in the tree. Now that the obstacle of reaching the first branch had been crossed, Remy could easily get to the rest of the tree, but he wanted to see if the girl would join him first.​