Over the summer, Harry had learned from watching Muggle science documentaries that there was an enormous breed of horse in the United Kingdom called the Shire, whose back stood as high as an adult human.
It looked very imposing, but that kind of horse was not good at running fast. It was simply very strong and was used to pull carts.
Harry had thought that was already the largest horse in the world, but it still paled beside the great creature before him now.
A true behemoth stood on the water near the shore of the Black Lake. Its back was nearly three meters high, and its long body had sleek contours. As a horse, its body alone was magnificent enough to make any knight drool.
The only slight flaw was the waterweed draped over its head and neck in place of a mane.
Its tail did have some hair, but it did not seem quite like an ordinary horse's tail either.
"A Kelpie. Well? Isn't it beautiful?" Hagrid happily patted the head of the horse beside him-only someone of his height could have done such a thing.
"Ordinary Kelpies aren't this big. They're usually about the size of ordinary horses, or even a little smaller. So most of the time, when they want to trick people, they only form a head and part of a body, keeping everything else hidden underwater."
The youngsters seeing such a creature for the first time all had shining eyes. Even the few young wizards who had seen Kelpies before had certainly never seen one this big.
"Kelpies are very difficult to deal with. They hardly ever leave the water, and many spells are affected underwater. They're astonishingly fast in the water, too. They can also blend into the water itself.
"That makes it