Fallen Witch

A/N

Welcome to the second chapter of Fallen Witch!

I'm sorry about keeping it a bit vague in the first chapter... Of course, Camilla and her folks are Merpeople.

And please, review!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own them. This is just for fun; I am not making any money with it.

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Chapter 2 – New Neighbours

It was Eldersday, and preparations for the feast were running high. The huge skeleton of a shark in the centre of the village had been polished to gleam and sparkle by the light of the lucines, those small red fish with forked tails and bubbles of light all over their tiny bodies. Six-year-old Vanilla loved to chase after them. Today, however, she was confined to the kitchen. Her mother had drawn up a long list of meals she wanted to cook for the Elder's birthday. Although quite a few villagers had come to help, Vanilla had also been asked to lend a hand, which she grudgingly did. "I mean, I am a child", she told Ben, her invisible friend, in confidence, "but Mum would not listen, so I guess I have to grit my teeth and bear it." Ben nodded his approval as she wiped the inside of the rusty pot her Mum just would not throw away.

After a while, during which nobody paid attention to the pair, Ben grew bored and directed Vanilla's attention towards a small group outside the window. There was the Elder – and three people Vanilla had never seen before: a man, a woman and a scowling boy, all three of them with bright green hair.

Vanilla turned towards her Mum. "Muuum? Who are they?"

Camilla sighed. "I believe I have told you many times before that these are our new neighbours, Hermione. They are from . And please don't stare. You're still on your first pot."

"Why did they emigrate?" Vanilla asked stubbornly. Camilla did not reply.

At the feast, Vanilla did not eat much, but spent most of the time watching the new family. They were sitting with the Elder, which was an unusual honour. The Elder was clad in white, and for the first time in years, his face was not the happy one Vanilla knew.

Without warning, he got up and made a sign towards the orchestra. Immediately, the music stopped and everyone turned their faces towards the tall figure. The Elder looked at his villagers serenely.

"My dear people", he said, "it is my pleasure to introduce to you our three new arrivals. Gillius –" He indicated the young man. "Plethora, his wife – and Flux." The villagers applauded politely. Vanilla stared at the boy, who was now eyeing the Elder in an almost suspicious way. "Please treat them with respect and kindness. Gillius has also told me he would like to speak to you about a few things." And he bowed to the young man, allowing him to stand up and sitting down himself.

Gillius cleared his throat and smiled vaguely. "Dear neighbours, thank you for the warm welcome. I do hope we are going to get along well. However, I must speak to you on a serious matter. You know that my family and I came from . And the reason for that is –" He paused. Vanilla watched him anxiously. Was she imagining this, or had his eyes just grown darker?

Gillius continued, although it seemed difficult for him to speak now. " does not exist anymore. A few days ago, it was attacked. My family and I were on a hunt at that time... We are the only survivors." Several people gasped at the news. Pasha asked warmly, "What happened? Who attacked you?"

Gillius smiled sadly. "We are not sure. They had left no traces except... When we came back, we found a sign between the... remains." His voice failed.

"What sign?" Pasha urged him. Gillius shook his head. His eyes were blank. Plethora patted his shaking hand. Vanilla was awed at the emotions that raged in the couple's faces. She had never seen her parents gaze at each other like that.

"It was a skull", the boy named Flux spoke up. "A human skull, with a snake protruding from its mouth." He looked frightened as he said it.

The villagers exchanged urgent whispers as the Elder got to his feet and called for silence once more.

"You may have heard of that sign", the Elder said. "It was used a lot when a certain Lord Voldemort was still at large. He was, as we know, defeated by a small human boy. And yet, we do not know what happened to him after that. Whether he truly died is still an open question. He also had a lot of followers. I hoped he would not come to the bottom of the sea. There is no telling what will happen from now on. Please be prepared for the worst."

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The huge skeleton in the centre of the village had never looked less scary. Indeed, now that it was time to part, Vanilla more than once glanced at it fondly. She knew it had been placed there the day she was born; it had always frightened her. Today, she half wished she knew how to shrink it so it would fit into her trunk.

Half a year had passed since the arrival of the new family. Since then, more nasty pieces of news had reached the village. Being a child, Vanilla had not heard too much about them, but Ben had advised her to speak to Flux about it, who seemed to like her in a very disgruntled fashion, and so she had got the gist of what was going on. The old hag living seven rocks away had apparently turned strange and would not see visitors in a while. Calypso, who had been the hag's student, had taken this recent strange behaviour seriously and gone to see her mentor almost every day.

Once, Calypso had come back bruised and bleeding – the hag had attacked her.

Pasha, Gillius and a few other volunteers had then taken their spears and set out on a mission they still did not speak about. The tip of Pasha's spear was no longer shiny, but Vanilla knew that if she asked, she would receive instant rebuttal from her mother. She therefore had no-one to discuss with except Ben and Flux; and both were not very insightful on the matter.

A few days later, a shoal of lucines had come floating past. Vanilla had of course darted after them instantly, only to shriek in horror when she discovered all of them were dead.

The evening of that day, the hunters had come back empty-handed.

And yesterday, the Elder had called his villagers to make his grave speech.

"My dear villagers, it is time for us to come to a decision. The hunters have informed me that they at last found prey today. It was a baby whale; usually, we do not attack the young ones, but under the present circumstances, our hunters decided to attack. The moment their spears pierced the whale, however, a ghastly spectre emerged from it. I believe this is what remained of Lord Voldemort."

The villagers had been aghast at the words. Merpeople did not possess any magic. There was no fighting the evil wizard for them.

And so, they had decided to leave. Apparently, there was a fathoms-deep lake right next to a wizard school; they would be fairly safe there.

Pasha called from outside. Heaving a sigh, Vanilla closed her trunk and dragged it outside.

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Several undisturbed years passed.

"Hermione! Hermione! Where has that girl gone to!" Camilla stepped out of her hut, looking around irritably. "Good morning, Camilla", Plethora called cheerfully. "Flux left earlier with your daughter. I think they wanted to visit the Giant Squid." Camilla frowned. "It's almost lunchtime", she told Plethora. "And Hermione has not done her reading exercises again. Instead, she ran off with your son again."

Good-natured Plethora was not deflected. "Yes, isn't it sweet? Flux has been very talkative lately about how much fun it is to be with Vanilla."

Camilla sighed.

"Look", Plethora continued, "I do think you are a bit too strict with your daughter. If Vanilla and Flux have formed an attachment, why discourage them?"

"You don't understand", Camilla said heavily. "Hermione is... well... different."

"If you mean to say, she is cleverer than others, that is certainly not an obstacle –"

"Oh, stop it", Camilla snapped. "Just tell your son to stay away from her, okay?" Plethora gaped at her in disbelief. "Are you that proud of her?"

Pasha chose that moment to appear behind his wife. "Well, hello", he said. "What is going on?"

"Hermione has left with Flux again", Camilla said bitterly.

"Good", Pasha said distractedly. His face fell at the reprimanding glance his wife shot him. "Erm, can I talk to you? In private, no offence meant", he added hastily with a smile at Plethora, who smiled back. "Only I just received this from the Elder..."

And he held up a thin envelope. A green seal was stamped onto it.

Camilla blanched.

"I – I'll talk to you later", she said vaguely and dragged Pasha into the hut. Plethora stared. "Wonder what she's on about", she muttered.

She did not have to wait long for Camilla to resurface.

"Our children have not come back?" Camilla asked with a titter. "They certainly are having a good time together."

It was Plethora's turn to give a backhanded answer. "Oh, probably." Camilla moved closer. "Flux comes of age in a few months, doesn't he?" Plethora nodded, wondering where this was headed.

"What do you think if he and Vanilla got engaged then?" Camilla asked happily. Plethora noticed the different use of the name. She decided not to comment about it.

"Engagement... Isn't it a bit early for that?" Camilla shook her head. "Like you said, they seem to have formed an attachment."

"Well, but you did say your daughter was different. What was that all about?"

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Next chapter: Bottles and Scars