That Fateful Night
Inside a seemingly average iceberg sat Erlin. It was a mediocre night. The hearth burning away, warming the iceberg palace. The welcoming sweet earthy scent of burning alder logs wafting throughout the living room. He drank his homemade butterbeer while thinking of his past.
His wizard father had disappeared a few years after he was born, and his muggle mother died giving birth to him. The rest of Erlin's family is his pureblood stepfamily. They tend to avoid him. To them, he was just a memory of death. Being a half-blood didn't help either. The only one he had left was his pureblood step-mother. She despised him with passion. The half-blood was a disgrace to her, so she sent him off to school as soon as she could. She didn't want to see his face for longer than required. She was rather pleasant for a pureblood. She hadn't left him beside one of the many streets in London, as the rest of the family suggested. After finishing his last year at Hogwarts, he sent a letter to his step-mother and disappeared.
Dear Ms. Amnagreth,
I'm sorry that I have been such a burden. To relieve you of your suffering, I shall leave. I will return when I have become a wizard you might be proud to accept into your family. I might as well be a stranger to you until then. When I return, the public will call me by my birth name. I won't be a stranger, as the name Erlin suggests. I hope you like the name Asra.
Sincerely,
Erlin Leveret
Suddenly, Erlin heard a deafening crash followed by a crack. He brought his lantern to the window and placed it on a hook. As he stared into the blue abyss, he spotted a massive ship in muggle terms; a cruise ship. It had crashed into one of the icebergs nearby. There was no amount of magic he could conjure to save all of the muggles. After thinking for a while, he got straight to work. Erlin took a bit of gillyweed out of the jar and swallowed it. Gills appeared on his neck, his hands became webbed, and his feet stretched into a flipper shape. He stuffed the jar of the gillyweed into his satchel and went to find a fantastic beast. He found Pickett, a rather charming kelpie, grabbed her mane, and set off. A few minutes in, a group of kelpies was following Pickett and him. They had come to assist Erwin and Pickett on their mission. Erlin led the kelpies to one of the nearest ships. They start pushing the vessel towards the sinking ship. They guided the ship so it wouldn't get lost. It took hours, but they eventually got to the shipwreck and rescued the muggles.
It was the best approach since he didn't want the muggles to discover the wizarding world and its secrets. He also didn't want to be known as their savior with his face all over the muggle newspapers or as a mythic being that saved thousands of lives. His step-mother would surely find out about his whereabouts. Not that she would try and find him, but his comeback would surely be less compelling. He left the scene without a trace.
At least that's what he thought as a wide-eyed child saw him and the kelpies glide through the water, slowly disappearing. She had told her dad she saw a merman, but the father just shook his head. The father had whispered to the child, "Fantastic beasts are not for us, muggles. Those creatures are for witches and wizards like your mother and brother. Maybe once you get into Hogwarts, we can discuss more on the topic of this merman." The child that had never thought of attending now had a sudden desire to go to Hogwarts. She thought, "If I go, I can meet the merman again." The child's thoughts would have appeared absolutely absurd to both muggles and the wizarding world alike. However, her assumption wasn't entirely wrong.