Wesley Blackwell had quickly learned that Hogwarts was never truly quiet.
The castle breathed with noise; distant laughter echoing through corridors, suits of armour clanking at odd hours, ghosts drifting through walls mid-conversation, and the constant buzz of students who already seemed to know exactly where they belonged.
Wesley didn’t.
Not yet.
So when the castle became too loud, too crowded, or too overwhelming, he found himself wandering farther and farther from it without really meaning to. Today had carried him all the way down to the duck pond, where the world finally seemed to slow down enough for him to think.
Or at least try to.
The cool autumn air nipped at his cheeks as he sat beneath one of the old trees near the water’s edge, one knee pulled up while a thick book rested forgotten across it. He’d originally brought it with every intention of reading, but the page had remained untouched for nearly twenty minutes now.
Instead, his eyes followed the ripples spreading across the pond as a pair of ducks drifted lazily through the darkening water.
Canada felt impossibly far away tonight.
Ilvermorny. Familiar faces. Familiar skies. Home.
Everything here still felt strange in a way Wesley couldn’t quite explain. Hogwarts was impressive. It was enormous, ancient, alive in ways he’d never expected, but stepping into a school where everyone else already had history together was like arriving halfway through a story everyone else understood.
He exhaled quietly through his nose, rubbing absentmindedly at the corner of the page with his thumb.
Maybe that was why he liked it out here.
The pond didn’t expect anything from him.
No introductions. No questions about why he transferred. No awkward conversations where people tried to place his accent. Just cold air, rustling trees, and enough silence for his thoughts to untangle themselves a little.
One of the ducks suddenly let out an aggressive quack near the shoreline, causing Wesley to blink before a short laugh escaped him unexpectedly.
“Yeah,” he muttered toward the bird. “You get it.”
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