Aquatic Nursery Ⅱ

Gazing out at the loch, Ondine can seem to see the waters of his home. "My father was born to the Uira (merfolk) tribe. He was a forger, a horticulturist for a lack of better words. He never held any true interest in the surface nor in the land dwellers that dwelt up above."

"Yet one day while forging, he came across a land dweller, a witch with golden hair, olive skin, and bright honey-colored eyes," Ondine smiled recalling the face of his mother. "I suppose, he never stood a chance really. My mother persistently continued to visit him and like the nature of all things, they fell in love."

"In time, they wished to build a home," Ondine quietly said, "but my father's people would not accept his lover nor his choice to mate with a surface dweller. And so, he was mercilessly cast out of the tribe for his choice. The same can be said for my mother as she too was cast out of her pureblood family for selecting a nonwizard to be her spouse. Thus, two outcasts made their home in a marsh on the edge of the land and the sea."

"Our home at the edge of the marsh was full of laughter and joy," Ondine longingly recalled as his face darkened with old grief. "Yet all too soon a dark cloud was cast upon our home. Shortly after my 12th birthday, my mother passed away in an accident leaving only my father and me behind. My father did his best to raise me, yet he could not reside on land, and so he provided for me by forging for aquatic plants in the sea. He sold rare aquatic plants to pave my education at Castelbruxo and my apprenticeship after graduation."

"The danger of forging took a heavy toll upon my father's health," Ondine confessed in a broken voice. "My father passed away two winters ago," he quietly said. "I buried him next to Mother just as he had always wished."

"I am sorry for your loss," Eponine sincerely expressed her condolences.

Ondine sadly smiled. "Thank you, but they are together again never to part evermore."

"Yes, but you are alone."

"Only physically, not in Spirit," Ondine sincerely responded with a warm smile. "Though, I hope to one day be as fortunate as my father and find my own mate."

Unable to scoff at the pure, but sincere naivety of the mermish professor, Eponine returns to putting the lily pads on the surface of the water. Sensing the end of the conversation, Ondine slipped back into the water and returned to the floating plant tray. His calloused hands carefully took out an aquatic fern native to his homeland of Brazil.

The Kariba Weed is a free-floating plant. Its fronds are long and broad with a bristle surface caused by hair-like stands that intertwine together. It could be invasive, so he would be sure to limit the size and feed the rest of the plants to the Grindylows residing in the merfolk village at the bottom of the lake.

Setting the plants to float carefully on the water, Ondine works and ponders deep in thought. He remembers holding the weak figure of his father in their underwater cave residence. With his last breath, his father touched his face and said in mermish, "Go and find a new home, my son. Live and be happy," before his hand fell back, and he passed away from this life.

Two winters had passed since his father's death and Ondine continued to reside in his childhood home, a cave (with a dry and underwater portion) on the edge of the marsh. After completing his apprenticeship, a winter ago, he barely had enough to get by. Not many would hire him as they saw him as a half-breed. He would have starved if not for having learned from his father how to forge for aquatic plants. Most he sold for coins, but a few others he kept for himself to prepare potions and salves should he fall ill or be injured during his forging.

Yet not long ago on an unexpectedly warm day, Ondine received a letter from an old friend, Francesca De Leon. The two of them had met during their 5th at Castlebruxo, Francesca De Leon had been a transfer student from Hogwarts. She had been one of the few friends he had made during his time at Castlebruxo. He had not made many friends as even the muggleborn students upon learning he was half-mermish had looked down on him as though he were less than human.

Still, Ondine was happy to learn that his friend had earned a prestigious position as a member of the Hogwarts Board. Much to his surprise, he had been informed that the Hogwarts Board was seeking a tenured Mermish Professor. If he was willing to come to Hogwarts, the position was his.

 Ondine had not instantly replied nor accepted the generous offer from his friend. He had been torn about accepting the post and neither did he desire to leave his native homeland for it was all he had ever known. Yet he could not forget his father's last words and he knew that his parents did not wish for him to continue to be alone. He would always belong to two worlds, one foot on land and one in the sea. There was no place for him here, not with his parents long gone.

 With trepidation and hope, Ondine accepted the offer from his friend to teach across the great waters on the other side of the world far away from everything he had ever known. He had carefully packed his mother and father's belongings along with his own. He had knelt in front of their tombs with tears in his eyes and promised them he would be happy. He vowed to visit them every year until they were reunited as a family in the great beyond.

The land Ondine was to travel to was extraordinarily far even with the use of a portkey. He knew it would be dreadfully cold. Far from the tropical warm climate of Brazil, he was used to. His only solace was that it was wet and wouldn't be dry. He had learned the hard way that he did not fare very well in dry climates.

Instinctively upon arriving at Hogwarts, Ondine could smell the waters of the lake. He could even scent the air and sense the merfolk village hidden in the depths of the water. He held some trepidation as he had always been rejected by the merfolk. He subconsciously touches the scar on his stomach.

 After settling down in the depths of the night, Ondine had dived into the lake to seek permission to reside on land from the Merchieftainess of the lake. He had not swum far when he had been immediately surrounded by a crowd of merfolk with alert yellow eyes. A powerful seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs pointed a sharp spear at Ondine.

Not wishing to be seen as a threat, Ondine held his hands up to show he was weaponless. Unlike most wizards, he could use a wand underwater with proficiency. He did not know if it was his mer-blood, but he could successfully cast spells underwater in mermish.

The crowd parted as the Merchieftainess approached. Her skin was gray and her hair was long, wild, and dark green. Hanging around her neck are thick ropes of shiny rare pebbles and shark fangs. Her fish tail is silver beating powerfully through the water.

"Wizard," Merchieftainess Murcurs began to say, before her nostrils flared, "no, a half-blood."

"Yes, Chieftainess," Ondine meekly bowed his head showing his neck in a form of submission.

"What tribe was your parent from?" Merchieftainess Murcurs sharply asked.

"My father was born to the Uira."

"A tribe far away across the great ocean," Merchieftainess Murcurs murmured as whispers of the merfolk filled the water. Holding up her hand, the village falls silent at her signal. "Why have you come here half-blood?"

"I have taken a post on the surface," Ondine pointed to the surface of the lake. "I shall reside at Hogwarts teaching young witches and wizards the language of our people."

Whispers erupt among the merfolk as Merchieftainess Murcurs narrows her yellow eyes. She had been warned as much by the Child of the Founders, but she had not expected the change to come so quickly. She stroked her strong chin in pensive thought.