#6 Pumpkins All Round

Oscar was used to weeding from helping his Nanna in her garden, so when he saw the sad state of some of the pumpkins and how they were being overrun, he knew what he should do to help.

He was aware how annoying of a job it could be though, especially if he wanted to get it done without damaging the pumpkins. That meant that he was likely dooming himself to a long morning.

Resigned to that fact, Oscar placed his bag down by the fence after he had pulled out his gloves. He had seen that some of the weeds looked of a prickly variety, so gloves once again seemed like the right choice to him.

He had managed to avoid injury in the student greenhouse, where he had been dealing with actual dangerous plants, so after all of that he would rather not be taken out by a prickly weed.

With his gloves tugged securely on, Oscar moved over the first struggling pumpkin that he could see. He looked over the plant to see the extent of its problems, then crouched down to get started.

As he worked on the pumpkin’s, carefully reaching around vines to wiggle and pull weeds from where they had bedded themselves down, Oscar couldn’t help but miss the sound of his Nanna pottering around the garden with him. Nanna Tinkle would often hum or talk to the plants while they gardened. It was never loud, but it was something.

Working with plants outside rather than in the greenhouse like he normally did at school, Oscar found the lack of Nanna noises more noticeable than usual. It left him feeling slightly lonely.

Well, not that he was actually alone. He had noticed his little feathered friend watching him. Oscar was happy to leave the creature to its seeds though, rather than risk scaring the bird away. It was not like it was doing any harm.

All thoughts of his Nanna and birds were pushed from his mind when he was confronted by a particularly stubborn weed. One that did not seem to want to be pulled.

Oscar frowned down at the little criminal and shuffled closer to where it had made its home.

“A stubborn one, eh?” he muttered as he used one of his gloved fingers to push some soil away from the base in an attempt to loosen its hold. He carefully wiggled the weed about as he dug around it, wary of any pumpkin roots that might be caught up.

Once he was sure that it was safe, he moved to grip the weed once more and then gave it a hard tug.

“Got you.” He stood up with the weed as soon as he had it free. It was almost as if he was worried that the thing would come to life to burrow itself back in against a poor pumpkin.

Since he was stood up though, Oscar opted to check on his progress while he stretched. Crouching down to weed was a bit of a pain in his back, so surely he had to be close to done.

As he looked over the state of the patch after the work that he had put in, Oscar also kept an eye out for any clue on what Hagrid did with his weeds. Did he have a compost pile hidden away somewhere?

While he was checking over his work on the patch Oscar noticed the compost area that he had hoped for. That was a relief, he didn’t want to be the annoying student that left weeds lying about for Hagrid or anyone else to deal with.

“Sorry, Birdie,” he said as he moved to gather up his pile. He had noticed the bird swooping at the weeds a few times, so he felt a little bad about taking away something that seemed to have caught its attention. But the weeds could not stay.

Oscar moved the weeds over to the compost, careful not to trip on any stray vines as he walked. He did not want his careful work to be for nothing by damaging the pumpkins.

The weeds dealt with, he turned back to the pumpkins.

They definitely looked better, healthier, without the weeds. That was nice to see. It meant that the slight ache in his back wasn’t for nothing.

Content that his work on the patch was done for the time being, Oscar moved to the back of the patch where he could see a perfect looking pumpkin. He hoped that Hagrid would not mind if he took it.

Oscar knew that students could supposedly claim a pumpkin, but there was something different about knowing something and actually doing it. So he could not help the part of him that worried.

Maybe he could take it and just be aware that he might have to apologise?

That helped a little, so with that in mind he set to work on trying to free the pumpkin. Something that proved harder than he had thought it would be. Apparently his pick of all the pumpkins had particularly tough vines.

Unwilling to attempt a spell that might damage the pumpkin, Oscar decided that the muggle way was the way to go about it. With that decided, he began the long task of twisting and tugging at the vines that held the pumpkin prisoner.