Closed I Hear It Calling

[Weston Stirling]

Obsidian Harbour wasn't quite the same as bustling Auckland, but Weston was still enjoying himself. This was the first time he had visited, and he was relishing the chance to explore a new city. Though it wasn't very big, he liked that there was one main street where all the action was happening. It made it much easier to engage in his favorite pastime — people watching. And there were certainly a lot of interesting people here. Wizards could dress very strangely, and half of them were accompanied by animal familiars. He'd had to dodge a swooping owl more than once.

The sound of music caught Weston's ear, and he followed it to a small crowd of people gathered on the side of the street. He had to jump up and down a couple of times — being short could be so annoying — before he finally got a good glimpse of the source. A witch was playing a clarinet while an enchanted accordion floated next to her, playing on its own. The song was winding down, but it didn't take long for Weston to get caught up in the energy of the crowd. When the song ended, he burst into enthusiastic applause, accidentally jostling a nearby person in the process.

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

Isaiah and his family weren't unknown to obsidian harbour and especially not with the new schoolyear coming up. His dad had taken him with him multiple times when he had to get some supplies for the kids he would be teaching after the break and Isaiah was happy with every chance he got to go somewhere else. His dad had made his way into the book shop and had allowed him to stay outside after he had heard music coming from down the street. Isaiah had made his way over, trying to slip past a couple of adults so he could get a better view of what was going on only to realize the song was pretty much coming to an end. Nevertheless he was ready to join the others in clapping for the musician when he got hit in the side by an elbow. He turned to the side to notice another boy close to him which had to be the culprit because he was the only one who's elbow would reach that height. "Dude, I get that you're loving it but you gotta watch that elbow of yours." Isaiah laughed as he turned to him.

 

[Weston Stirling]

The sound of a voice beside him got Weston's attention, and he looked over, a bit startled to see another boy. "What? Oh, sorry," he said with an apologetic smile. He'd felt something brush against his elbow but had barely registered it. "Guess I got kind of caught up in the music." Weston turned back towards the musician, standing on his tiptoes to try to get a better view. It was hard to tell what was going on. "Can you see anything? Do you think she's done?" The other kid looked like he was a couple of inches taller; maybe he had a better view. "I'm Weston by the way." Despite the height difference, the other boy looked like he could be the same age. Maybe he would also be going to Hogwarts in September? It wasn't like there were many other well-known magical schools around.

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

"Nah, no worries." Isaiah gave the boy a shrug when he apologized. He didn't really care being elbowed by him, but he reckoned an adult might have a different reaction to it and he'd want to spare him that. He nodded when the kid mentioned getting caught up in the music, something he could totally understand even if he had been a bit late to the party. "Dunno," He replied at the next question, standing up on his tiptoes to see if he would have a better view at things than the other kid had. He seemed to be a bit taller than him at least, so maybe that would just make the difference. "I think she'd packing up dude." Isaiah replied as he wiggled from left to right for a second in an attempt to see what was going on. For as much as he could see it looked like the woman wasn't preparing to play another song. Lame. If only he had noticed it earlier he could've at least heard the full song. Isaiah smiled at the boy when he introduced himself. "Cool. I'm Isaiah, but Zay is fine as well." He introduced himself in return, quite pleased with how many other kids he seemed to be meeting during his school shopping adventures. If he wasn't going to have loads of friends at school by now then he didn't know what was going on. At least he figured this kid would be attending hogwarts as well.

 

[Weston Stirling]

"Awww, really?" Weston said when the other boy mentioned she was packing up. He jumped a couple more times to try and see for himself but finally gave up. It definitely didn't sound like she was about to play something else, and a couple of people were starting to walk away.

Weston beamed when Isaiah introduced himself. "Zay is a cool nickname." Creative, too. He wouldn't have thought to shorten "Isaiah" that way. "Should I go by Wes?" he mused aloud. He wasn't really sure how the whole nickname thing worked and whether you could give yourself a nickname. He sure hoped so because the only nickname he'd ever gotten from someone was from his grandmother, and it was embarrassing.

The music still hadn't started back up yet, and Weston was forced to accept that the mini-performance was over. He glanced around, trying to see if anything else interesting was happening. "Are you from around here?" he asked Zay. "Do you know if there are usually street performers working in Obsidian Harbour?" Maybe they could try to find another one.

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

Isaiah nodded to confirm he was pretty sure the woman was packing up which was a shame really. Her music had sounded nice and he wished he could've heard more of it. "Thanks." He smiled when the other boy complimented his nickname, always considering it to be pretty cool himself as well. "Yeah dude, totally!" He replied enthusiastically at the mention of calling Weston 'Wes'. "I'm for sure calling you Wes from now on." Isaiah grinned. He had a certain love for nicknames and had yet met to meet someone who didn't like them. Now that it was clear there wouldn't be any more music he shot a look at the book shop to see if his dad was still in there or whether he was already outside waiting for him to return. He didn't spot the man yet so he figured he'd be good to talk with this other kid some more before he had to move on. "Nah, but I come here quite a lot." Isaiah answered his question. His family lived quite a while away from obsidian harbour but with both his dads jobs they'd often have little day trips there. "I've never noticed too many though." He added with a little shrug, before smiling at the other boy. "There should totally be more though!"

 

[Weston Stirling]

Weston grinned. He felt at least ten times cooler now that he had a real (and non-embarrassing) nickname. It was a bit strange to think of himself as Wes, but he was sure he would get used to it soon enough. And the timing was perfect. A new name for a new school year.

Zay explained that he wasn't from the area, causing Weston to frown slightly. Did that mean Zay didn't go to Hogwarts? Weston had so been hoping that he had already met one of his future classmates. Though he was confident he would be able to make friends at Hogwarts, it definitely wouldn't hurt to start off school with a couple already made. "Where are you from?" he asked curiously. "What school do you go to?"

At Zay's last remark, Weston nodded eagerly. "Let's go find some!" If he was a street performer, he'd definitely choose to work a day like this when the streets filled with families doing their school shopping. "I think I saw someone doing tricks with their owl over there," he pointed toward one end of the street. "Either that or their owl was trying to attack them." Wizards were an interesting bunch, and it was fun being in the middle of so much chaos.