August 16th, 1894 — Lugnasadh Festival

A merfolk race! Her aunt brought all the children that Friday, complete with a picnic basket — Kaatjie had grabbed a handful of the raspberries from the pint, and was wandering near the shoreline, trying to get a good look at the kelpies. She had seen sirens in the Mediterranean a few years ago while traveling with her Mama, but was still fascinated by their ugly cousins, the Scottish mer. And kelpies! This was the first time Kaatjie had been anywhere near a water demon.

She popped a raspberry into her mouth. Kaat was standing near another girl — another girl who looked just as curious about the creatures in the water as she is. She held her handful of raspberries out, an invitation. "Want one?" she asked.

Ramona Pendergast Daffodil Grimstone

  

Now here was something Mo could get interested in! Why was it even a thing? She didn't know, but she was interested to find out how it went. After dragging her father through the park toward the lake, Mo wasn't even sure what she would see, but she wanted to investigate as closely as possible. Her father saw an old quidditch friend and was standing nearby chatting while Mo inched closer to the water.

"Oh! Yes, thanks!" Mo took a couple of the offered berries with a smile. "I've never seen anything like this, have you?"

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Kaatjie smiled back at the girl. She ate another raspberry and shook her head before replying. "No, and I am so very excited," Kaat said. "I have never seen a kelpie at all!" She had lived in Hogsmeade for nearly two years, but the kelpies were more elusive than other creatures — or perhaps they just enjoyed deeper water. She wished Care of Magical Creatures was available earlier at Hogwarts, but had heard from her cousins that it was only for later years!

  

"Me neither come to think of it, and I've lived here my whole life." Perhaps they didn't spend as much time at the Lake as Mo had originally thought. They had their own, fairly expansive estate with a pond of its own, maybe that was why. "Have you ever seen the squid? I've only seen a tentacle or two but it must be huge!" How did something like that even fit in the lake!?

'I'm Ramona by the way, but Mona or Mo is fine too." Hardly anybody ever called her by her full name... usually only Mama when she was in trouble.

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She shook her hand. "I want to see the squid," Kaatjie said with a wry smile. Sure, it was huge and probably frightening, but wouldn't it be fun to see the thing creeping its way out of the water?

Maybe some of the mers would tell her about the squid, if she asked nicely.

She stuck her hand out for Mona to shake, like they were businessmen. "I'm Kaatjie — or Kaat. It's good to meet you!"

  

Mo shook Kaat's hand enthusiastically. "I'd really like to see the whole thing, but it must be impossible. I wonder if I flew over the lake at Hogwarts, if that would work." She mused as she popped the last of the raspberries in her hand into her mouth.

"I like your name," it sounded different, but Mo liked the way that the other girl said it. "Are you from here?" She didn't mean to be rude by the question, but she was curious.

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Kaat shook her head. "Oostvert," she answered, "In The Netherlands." It was not the first time she'd been asked, and most of the time it was people asking about her accent rather than her skin color — and she did not mind as long as it was the former and not the latter.

"You can fly already?" Kaatjie asked. She had never actually been on a broomstick, so was impressed.

  

Mo wasn't sure she knew where the Netherlands was, but she did like the name of the town Kaat was from too. "That's really neat." She added after a moment of trying to puzzle it out.

Flying was a much easier subject though. "Yeah, my papa played professional quidditch and my mum played at Hogwarts too, had a broom since before I could walk I think." She hoped that didn't sound like bragging, because she really had been flying for about that long. Regan and Aoife Pendergast were not messing around when they decided to raise their girls. The twins had been raised to be strong, confident, resilient young ladies of good manners (mostly, more Stella than Mo) but quidditch was in her blood.

"Have you never tried?" It occurred to Mo just a fraction of a second too late that this girl might be muggleborn, but she was in Hogsmeade, so she had to have some knowledge, right?

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"Oh, that's exciting!" Kaat said. Even if she'd never been on a broom, she had been to a Quidditch match — and so she was particularly impressed by Quidditch players, who made flying look easy.

Kaat shook her head. "I haven't," she admitted, "My mama always had us take portkeys." Hopefully when she got on a broom she would be decent at it — but she was really worried that she wouldn't be.

  

"Portkey's always make me feel yucky." Like she would throw up anything she'd eaten that day. Mo much preferred flying if given the option. Sometimes when they went to visit Mama's family in Ireland though, it was the only way to get there.

The fact that Kaat wasn't really from around here had Mo questioning, "Will you go to Hogwarts then? If you're from the Netherlands? I'm off in just a couple weeks myself." It was so close now!

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Kaat shook her head again. "I live in North Bartonburg now," she said; she didn't want to tell Ramona about her dead mom, though. It was sad to talk about Ana, and having to live with her uncle.(Her uncle had told her to always say North Bartonburg — it was so people near her knew she was from a respectable family.)

She forced herself to brighten: "So I will see you at Hogwarts! Do you want a specific house?"