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**Wilber Winterbottom** · #1 (**permalink**) 12-27-2022, 12:45 AM

Image Credit: Felixir

Every 1st September, new first years arrive at Hogwarts via boat, traveling from the outskirts of Hogsmeade, across the lake, and into the boathouse. This structure stands, logically enough, at the edge of the lake, and can be reached via a pathway from the courtyard, consisting of a long and winding stairway down the cliff face. A hidden passageway accessible from the inside of the boathouse leads up through the cliff itself, and emerges onto a patch of lawn which lies in the shadow of the castle.

All of the Hogwarts boats are stored here when not in use. You are free to take them out onto the lake, as long as you have permission from the groundskeeper to do so. Everything you might need for a trip out in the boats is hanging up around the walls, including oars and life jackets. Be sure to put everything back where you found it once you're done with it. Including - and especially - the boats themselves.

sweetpinkpixie · 09-29-2025, 05:18 AM

The boathouse creaked around him in a way that might have been eerie if he wasn't already wallowing in self pity and drowning in intrusive thoughts. Nyle had wedged himself into the bow one of the smaller boats, tugged the canvas cover over his head, and declared it his private bunker of shame for the...well...how many times had Hufflepuff had Herbology thus far this term? It was a far cry from the cozy retreat of a blanket fort in his dorm, but at least there weren't any plants here. Not unless you counted the odd bit of algae clinging to the wood or the occasional bits that washed up on the deck when the water lapped just right. Those he was aggressively ignoring. Land and aquatic plants were vastly different, after all. He was also ignoring the truth that was his sprint across grassy fields to get to the boathouse in the first place.

Herbology textbook open across his knees, pages illuminated by the narrow strip of light seeping through the canvas flap, the fourth year was determined not to fall behind on theory... even if the idea of setting foot in Greenhouses made his stomach twist itself into knots. Every line he read seemed to throb with irony, jerring at his cowardness, as though the text itself was mocking him for hiding from the very subject he loved.

Skipping class wasn't exactly a badge of honor, and he knew it. He knew a reckoning was coming and it was only a matter of time before he was going to have to talk about it all... but at least here, tucked beneath the boat cover like a hermit-crab impersonator, he couldn't hurt anyone. At least here he could pretend he wasn't utterly humiliated by his naivety. At least here he didn't feel small... and that was purely because his growing limbs had a real heck of a time cramming into the small space.

So far he had gotten away with it all. So far he hadn't been forced to explain his curious habitat during certain hours of certain days. But, if anyone asked, he'd just say he was conducting an "independent study on nautical environments."

Perfectly academic.

Perfectly legitimate.

Perfectly pathetic.

WhittyBitty · 09-30-2025, 09:54 PM

Aurora was running slightly behind schedule, which was unusual for her, but she had gotten a little distracted. Fortunately she shouldn’t be late for class despite this.

She had stepped outside and started making her way towards class when she noticed someone who looked like Nyle running across the grounds in what looked like the direction of the boathouse. She blinked. What could he possibly be doing there? Was that where he was going when he skipped class? Obviously she had noticed that he was never in Herbology though she never asked him why he was skipping because she didn’t want to make him feel awkward. And she already felt really bad for having him help her in her greenhouse when he couldn’t even stand to be in the lessons. She felt like she made things even worse for him instead of better.

She wasn’t one to like following people, but she also wanted to check on him. So she made her way after where she had seen him go. And she wasn’t too surprised when she entered the boathouse and didn’t see him anywhere. Was he hiding in one of the boats? Aurora didn’t think she had imagined seeing him.

”Nyle?” She wasn’t sure if he would answer her or not. If he didn’t. She could just pretend that he wasn’t there and leave. If he wanted to be left alone.

sweetpinkpixie · 10-07-2025, 10:13 AM

Dung. Dragon dung. Big stinking pile of dragon dung.

The reckoning was upon him.

Of course it was. He'd known from the moment the boathouse door creaked open that his fate had arrived... but could it have just waited a little longer and not arrived this fast? He froze beneath the boat cover, every muscle locked in a posture that could only be described as guilty garden gnome and absolutely as uncomfortable as it sounded. He wasn't stealthy at the best of times, and the sudden THUNK of his knee connecting with the hull certainly hadn't improved the illusion that he maybe could be if he really tried. Not that he'd ever harbored any aspirations about being an Auror or a Hit Wizard where such traits were essential. He didn’t have the stomach..... or the balance.

Relief and mortification hit at once when he heart her voice, tangling like vines around him. At least it wasn’t his Head of House, the headmaster, but a part of him almost wished it was the jolly old man who found him hiding in a boat like some tragic swamp creature.

Nyle cleared his throat, smacking his lips against one another while trying to make some moisture because it felt like he had a mouthful of sawdust in the way. "Ah... uuuuuuuh… your eyes must be mistaken," he called weakly. "There's no Nyle here, only a....uuh....a very... VERY rare breed of grindylow that's taken a liking to academic reading." The cover rustled slightly as he peeked out after a rather looooooooong pause, his cheeks pink and his whole posture trying - and failing - to look casual while clearly hiding in a boat. "You, um... weren't supposed to see the grindylow."

WhittyBitty · 10-09-2025, 09:51 PM

Hearing a THUNK, Aurora made her way over to the boat she thought the noise had come from. And moments later she heard Nyle speaking. Though apparently it wasn’t Nyle. It was a very very rare breed of grindylow. Despite how worried she had been about him, she couldn’t help but smile at how endearing it was. But then he was a very endearing person. ”I see. And what has this very very rare grindylow been reading?” A Herbology book?

Aaah, there he was peeking out from under the cover, trying to come across as casual. Aurora sent him a reassuring smile, trying to show him that she wasn’t judging him for hiding out in a boat. ”And now that I have, can I stay? Or should I leave and pretend I never saw the grindylow here?” She had wanted to check on him, and would be happy to keep him company, but she would understand and respect his wishes if he wanted to be left alone.

sweetpinkpixie · 10-12-2025, 10:12 AM

Nyle blinked up at her, hair mussed and himself doing plenty of judging for the both of them. There went any remaining hope of dignity - not that he had all that much left. "Ah, yes, well...uh...this particular grindylow has been doing some very intense reading on, um…" he glanced down at the open Herbology textbook collywobbles in his lap, "...aquatic plants of the Coral and Tasman Seas...I ... er... the grindylow was just tucking into some of the finer details of Coral Acropora Tenuis...."

The words tripped over themselves on the way out the same way he almost tripped over his own limbs as he tried to sit up and cower less in his sorry excuse for a fort. Aurora's smile did something uncomfortable to the knot of panic sitting in his chest - a good something, but also a something he wasn't convinced he deserved.

He hesitated only long enough to look down at the mess of parchment spread over the hull beside him plus a couple of ink stains the wood had earned from him dipping his quill into the inkwell and fumbling around to find a decent position to write in. "It’s, uh… not much of a classroom...or greenhouse...if, you know, you were heading towards a lesson or something," he mumbled. "But, I do have it on good authority that the grindylow wouldn’t mind company. So long as you’re not here to report them to a professor for loitering where they maybe shouldn't be."

...and he felt positively awful for saying that, effectively making her an accomplice in his cowardice.

Still, he shifted over slightly and pulled his legs in so they did not dominate the hull and she could join ~~him~~ the grindylow. It was surreal recalling how big this boat had seemed when he was a first year, Iris right beside him rambling off facts about stars and something about light refraction while they made their way across the lake. So much had changed since then.

WhittyBitty · 10-16-2025, 05:16 AM

So it WAS a Herbology book. Aurora was happy that he was still able to read his Herbology books even if he wasn't ready to work in the greenhouse yet. She did feel really guilty thinking that she had made that stuff worse for him this summer, but that was something that she wouldn't mention at the moment. It could wait until that was something that could be discussed. "I see. And can I look at this book with the grindylow? I was needing to read it for OWL studying." So why not do some of that now?

Glancing down, she saw the parchment spread out everywhere and even some ink stains. "Oh, it's fine. This works." It was Nyle, and she was happy to stay here and keep him company so he wasn't all by himself. She wondered if he had come here every lesson and that thought made her sad. Hopefully one day he would be ready to talk to someone about everything. And he would get to the point where he was ready to be with the plants again.

Report him? That hadn't even occurred to Aurora, because why would it??? "I would never report the grindylow. Or tell anyone about seeing him here." So he need not worry about that. Her lips were sealed.

She grinned and slowly made her way into the boat, sitting down cross-legged and getting as comfortable as she could.

sweetpinkpixie · 10-29-2025, 01:02 PM

He tried to push it all down, the guilt, as she settled herself into the boat beside him. OWL year, that meant she had really important classes and studies she should be focusing on. He felt positively awful that she was here. He was the distraction, the dead weight, the cautionary tale hiding under a boat cover. The guilt pressed against his ribs until he could almost feel it sprouting tendrils, wrapping tight around his lungs. He told himself he was fine. Functioning. Managing perfectly well as long as you ignored the bits where he wasn't attending Herbology and was actively avoiding people who might notice and drag him to class. Eventually the headmaster would catch on, but that was a problem for Future Nyle. Present Nyle was faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar too busy pretending this patchwork routine counted as recovery.

His chest began to tighten in a way that had nothing to do with Aurora. His own OWLs, coursework, expectations... all the things he’d once been good at. Now they loomed like overgrown thorns, each thought snagging on another until he couldn’t tell where to start untangling and prune. Missed lessons became missed weeks and suddenly he was standing at the edge of failure with dirt under his nails and nothing to show for it. It didn't matter that his own were a year off, the idea of sitting for his exams felt impossible...how could someone so completely unraveled ever be ready for that?

"NotevenIris," he erupted - not entirely of volcanic, but enough to echo off the boathouse walls and startle even himself. Iris had already taken it upon herself to help Aurora with her OWL studies and he didn’t need that connection used against him too. He exhaled, the sound shaky and thin, then scrubbed both hands down his face as if he could smooth away the evidence of his fraying composure. "Sorry," he muttered after moment. "Didn’t mean to bark. Just—" he gestured vaguely at the boat, the books, the chaos of ink-stained parchment around him, "—mid-grindylow existential crisis, you know how it is. Or maybe you don't because you're....perfect"

Like a camelli, everything in the right place and not a petal out of turn Meanwhile, here he was trying to photosynthesize in the dark.

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