The humans were gathering together for some sort of celebration, a carnival, I believe - that's what they call it. There were small humans, tall humans, fat humans, humans with painted faces - How could I resist? All it took was to take a human form and I could easily blend in.
Wendy Ropper struggled to carry her cauldrons, she saw a dark-haired boy by the bushes, he watched everything in wide-eyed wonder. She doubted that the lad would be from around here. She would recognize anyone from this small town of Middleham. Yet the fact that he could see the carnival and was not affected by the Muggle-repeling Charm meant this boy was definitely not a Muggle. “Hello there.”
The boy jumped at her voice and whirled around.
“You don’t seem to be from around here. Where are your parents?”
“My father's at the river,” was his quiet reply.
“Oh,” her brow furrowed for only ignorant and foolish tourists would dare venture to that river to fish either that or representative of the Ministry from the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. “You’re not from around here are you? That river is quite a dangerous place. What's your name?”
“Seidon, I just got here yesterday, but my father has been around that river forever - ” he eyed the cauldrons curiously. “What are those for?”
“I plan to sell them,” she answered. “Why don’t you give me a hand and I’ll take care of your entrance fee to the carnival, and pay you a few knuts for your effort as well.”
The boy continued to stare at her blankly.
She stifled a sighed. “Well? These cauldrons are heavy, I could use an extra hand.”
He turned around and headed towards the direction of the river.
Wendy sighed wearily and struggled with her load. She was surprised when the boy returned and offered her an item; it was dirt covered off-white thing with brown stains, the length was about eight inches long. She blinked and after a closer look, she reeled back and screamed; dropped her cauldrons in the process, a couple of which landed on her foot.
The boy cocked his head to his right. "You said you wanted a hand, would you prefer a fresher one?"
"Where in Merlin's name did you get that?" she screamed at the boy, her heart still pounding as she stared at the bony remains of what seemed to be a human hand.
Seidon was feeling mightily proud of himself, for he had managed to scare a human without meaning to. Seidon held his head high for he was on his way to become one powerful kelpie indeed. "Near the river, there's plenty more hands there if you want some more."
She gritted her teeth for her foot throbbed from the weight of the falling cauldrons, She wouldn't be able to carry the cauldrons properly now. This boy obviously was a slow-witted one, but she now truly needed his help. “I meant that you help me carry these cauldrons to my booth.”
The boy immediately picked up the cauldrons; she was amazed at his strength. “So, how long has your father been with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?”
The boy looked at her blankly.
She sighed, obviously he’s not a smart one, but at least she got someone to help her with those cauldrons.
That very first time I mingled with humans, I was elated by the fact that they accepted me as one of their own. I could see why my father perceived them as weak. Even up-close and my obviously confused state; they could not even tell that I was not truly one of them. These creatures rely too much on what they see, they could not sense danger and deception - it was no wonder that my father viewed them as the ideal prey.
The strong stands and the weak falls. This had always been the relationship between humans and kelpies. I had never realised that this would relate to the human relationship with their own kind as well. With kelpies, although we prefer some distance from one another, we would never hesitate to help our own kind. With humans, they will clump together to either protect themselves or prey on their weakest members. Not only were these creatures strange, they were unpredictable as well.
Her vision blurred by the fact that they took her glasses also due to her own tears. She wondered why won't they just take her money and leave? Why do they have to taunt her as well?
They suddenly stopped, for their attention was turned towards another boy who watched them from the shadows.
John and Mark were just a couple of local bullies. They would be starting in Hogwarts the next year; the boy who watched them from the shadows appeared to be eight years old. Definitely someone they could handle, "What are you looking at?" John signaled for Mark to join him as they approached the new boy.
Seidon's eyes narrowed, he could easily read the humans' intent, they wished him harm. Briefly he showed them his cat-like kelpie eyes, sharp teeth, and gave a low growl.
The two boys backed away and ran screaming about vampires.
The kelpie felt quite proud of himself, he managed to scare a couple of humans, he neither took the form of a sea serpent, nor did he had to tear these humans from limb to limb. Scaring humans was far easier that he thought it would be. He eyed the young girl on her hands and knees; he decided to try his hand at scaring her as well. He crept closer and tried the same trick -
"If you're trying to scare me with that stupid vampire act, it won't work," the girl sniffed as she struggled to find her glasses. "Please help me find my glasses and you can take my money."
The kelpie blinked, he was surprised that his tricked did not work on this frail little girl when two obviously stronger boys ran away screaming with the same trick. "Why wouldn't it work on you?"
The girl sighed. "First of all, the sun's up and shining; any idiot should know that vampires don't walk around at this time of the day. That silly trick of yours would probably work better at night." Elisabeth finally found her glasses, she put it on and discovered her money and some extra was scattered on the dirt. As she went about to gather her belongings, she noticed a dark-haired boy; the boy who probably rescued her, sat atop a rock, sulking. She suddenly felt bad, for he just rescued her from those bullies and she told him that his little trick was silly.
Elisabeth slowly approached the strange boy. "Look, I'm sorry I was rude, you only tried to help me. How about I make it up to you? My mum has an ice cream stand nearby, I'm sure I could convince her to give us some free samples."
"I'm busy," was his curt reply.
She stifled a sigh, for it looked to be like he was holding a silly grudge over this. "Doing what? Waiting for the sun to go down, so you could pull your stupid vampire act all over again?"
Seidon blinked at this, he began to wonder if humans were mind readers, "How did you know?"
Elisabeth wondered about this boy, something about him just does not seem right, yet she doesn’t think that he’s dangerous. “That’ll take hours, why don’t you just join me for some ice cream now?”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I want to properly thank you for helping me awhile ago,” she threw her hand in exasperation and wondered if all boys were this difficult.
Curiosity got the better of the kelpie, so he followed her. As they walked he once again got a glimpse of those strange stone monuments he spotted when he first arrived. “Can you tell me what those are for?”
Elisabeth looked towards the direction he pointed and smiled enthusiastically. “They were created by Druids, a long time ago “ much like Stonehenge. No one’s really sure on their purpose, but they did serve for something once.”
The kelpie shook his head at the silliness of humans. He could not imagine toiling over something that magnanimous and forgetting about the purpose of its construction on the first place. Humans are strange creatures indeed.
Elisabeth was the first human I came to know, knowing her made me realized that humans were nothing like our kind perceived them to be. They were neither simple prey nor were they monsters. One thing I never took into consideration was the fact that humans fear us, that humans in general were ruled by their fears. I had thought that Elisabeth did not fear me, but that was only because she did not know that I’m a kelpie.
She laughed as her new friend scared another one of those wizards dress as werewolves. She had thought the haunted house attraction to be too cheesy and silly, yet Seidon wanted to see some scaring tactics and dragged her in with him. So far her friend had startled three people. She figured that Seidon must be one of those Metamorphmagus, this would explain his ability to change his appearance at will.
Seidon was enjoying himself; given the number of humans he scared this day, he could definitely say he’s on his way to become an extremely powerful kelpie. He stopped his scare-capade as he noticed that Elisabeth has gone quiet; she eyed a group of girls, some distance away. “Something wrong?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, that’s just Mary and her friends.”
“Shall I scare them next?” His eyes brightened at this prospect.
Her eyes widened in alarm, “Don’t do that!”
“Why not?”
“Because then, they’d hate me and would never speak to me again.”
He shrugged. “So? Why would you need to speak to them?”
“They’re the coolest girls around,” she explained exasperatedly.
Seidon scratched his head in confusion. “Is this something like the social order of chimpanzees? Where the ones on the higher social standing gets their lice picked and be groomed by those on the lower order?”
Her eyes narrowed towards her so-called new friend. “I’m not a chimpanzee and I don’t have lice!” Her eyes widened as she realized that she had said it aloud.
The moon shone brightly above their heads. Seidon wondered as to why he was crouched behind some bushes under a window with Elisabeth standing on his back. “Why am I doing this again?”
“Because the reason that I got uninvited to this slumber party, is due to your stupid chimpanzee joke, I do want to know what’s going on in there.”
Seidon frowned. “What chimpanzee joke?”
She rolled her eyes. “Quit playing innocent…”
“May I suggest an alternative?”
She stared at the puddle in fascination. She did not know how he did it, but it was amazing, she doubted that even crystal balls would offer images of this clarity. She was suddenly startled by a sound that seemed to come from behind them. She turned around and gasped. It was Mark and John and they each carried a wooden bat and didn’t look happy.
“Well look who’s here. Our so-called vampire, we have a score to settle with you.”
Seidon’s eyes narrowed. “Elisabeth, you better leave.”
“I’ll go get help…” She ran towards Middleton as fast as her legs could carry her; she needed to get help quick. It had taken awhile for no one had wanted to venture near the river without some significant back up. Elisabeth had pleaded for them to hurry.
That was the last I saw of Elisabeth, to keep my father away from her, I needed to stay away.
Unfortunately, the men from the small town came too late. The villagers shook their head and mumbled about kelpies and the need for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to take action.
All that was found by the riverside were blood stained grass and a couple of livers.
Next Chapter: Final Chapter with a little bit of Lockhart.