Sickness Unto You [OPEN]

[blaise leo zabini]

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August 7th, 2027

Officially it had been two years since he had contracted Hag’s Fever and spent several weeks laid up in St. Mungo’s. There had been a constant reminder of it throughout that time though: a lingering cough that was easily treated with the correct potion concoction every morning. The suppressant had worked extremely well for the first year but started to wane following the destruction of Hogwarts. Numerous healers hypothesized that too much smoke inhalation while battling the fiendfyre was causing a block of sorts, the cursed fire still searing his lungs from the inside out, slowly. It wasn’t painful and all it really did was prevent the potion from doing its job fully, a deep cough escaping every now and then. Of all the life or death situations he’d been in throughout his numerous careers, it made sense that teaching at Hogwarts would be the one that finally took a piece of him. His time at school there should have reminded him that being Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was the single most dangerous job out there.

Blaise didn’t like rolling over and letting this sort of thing beat him down though. While fiendfyre was a highly untested and unknown curse because of its uncontrollability, he knew there had to be research on it somewhere. And if not in Diagon Alley, it would absolutely be in Knockturn. He disliked having to go here, the implications of being seen there often adding to the rumor mill. With his position at Hogwarts and his years of experience in the field of dark magic, it almost made sense for him to visit the alleyway often. How else was he supposed to come up with exciting classes? The students didn’t want to listen to his exploits as a hitwizard anymore. Those stories were already passed around and repeated so much that it was a messed up game of telephone now. The last one he had heard said he had killed four different dark wizards by himself in a duel, which was so far from the truth it was hilarious. A situation like that would constitute needing to incapacitate as many as he could, as quickly as possible. He’d only killed in one-on-one duels, and usually it was because the idiot blew themselves up with a spell they didn’t know how to use. He called that the trash taking itself out…

Turning into Knockturn immediately after leaving his most recent appointment at Mungo’s, Blaise didn’t even bother keeping his wand at the ready. No one here would be stupid enough to try anything on him, and it had gotten better over the years. There were less shady figures here and more illegal backroom dealings. The shops that tended to have the darker, cursed objects were what he was looking for, like Borgin & Burkes. The trick was finding them open first and making sure they didn’t shutter the second they saw him heading for the door. A cough escaped him as he stepped into the damp alley and headed towards a shop that seemed to have dim light coming through its front window.

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[ewan caelus mcgonagall]

the sharpest lives

are the deadliest to lead

August 7, 2027
blaise leo zabini

Ewan immediately noted the benefits of all that hard work to become an Animagus. Registered, of course, he’d never considered himself above the law, no matter how he might bend it nearly to the point of breaking. But no matter, it was all for a good reason. And many had joined in that journey. Much as he’d been recruited, Ewan did much the same. Although the few that he knew of the previous generation still taught him quite a bit. Wandering Knockturn Alley in this format was much easier and less unsettling. People avoided the dark alleyways and corners they couldn’t easily see around. And more than once, the lost student had jumped at the pair of glowing cat eyes in the dark. And from time to time, he noted someone he was acquainted with and not one of dubious character either.

No, nobody would dare tell Blaise Zabini to his face that he was shady or anything less than a man worthy of an Order of Merlin. Not only had he stopped a Ministry mole (and frankly, a significant security failure), but whatever untold additional collateral damage Asher Burke would have caused. Even though the Castle had burned to the ground, many had been safely evacuated thanks to the Hogwarts staff comprising former highly trained Cursebreakers and Law Enforcement. Making his way to the middle of a dark alley, Ewan resumed his natural form, adjusting his shirt collar and ensuring he didn’t look disheveled before exiting.

But the world had been quiet this year, which made Ewan a little fidgety. But the previous year had yielded good results for the shadowy organization, which Ewan was grateful for, but the cost had been high. The loss of Hogwarts in such a way was yet another event perpetrated by the Purifiers that they’d failed to stop. Not even all the careful pushing of valuable sources, aware and unaware, had been able to prevent it. Ewan had never managed to get the entire roster of The Purifiers or the Order of the Phoenix, or he would have certainly handed over that information to Bianca. But her painstakingly slow method of interrogating Asher Burke had worked. The once proud and arrogant man had broken. Bianca had won—or had she? Asher Burke walked free, a move that left Ewan wary.

But then they came to the man Ewan had just seen turn a corner. Once upon a time, Ewan received a message. A note as he put on his sock that morning. And Blaise had not been unknown at the time within the Ministry or in general. But Ewan had been surprised at how he’d connected as an ally to Ewan and his peers. Plus, allying with a highly trained Hit Wizard turned Obliviater seemed like a good move. And, under the guise of reviewing employee files, Ewan introduced himself. However, not even this connection could have stopped the infiltration of anything good in the Wizarding World. Figures like Burke and his cronies hiding in every corner of every department of every institution trying to protect everyone.

But the past year had been spent purging those characters, and Ewan began to feel hopeful again that maybe previous events could be prevented far ahead of time. Ewan walked casually. Despite his appearance obviously out of place in Knockturn, it didn’t give him the same chill up his spine as it had when he was younger. He’d spent far more time here than he cared to admit. That bloody Black Market was always moving. And so he turned a corner and waited, leaning against an old brick wall and facing a shop whose sign was barely legible. The cough echoing in the alley told him Blaise would exit soon, and there was a fifty/fifty chance the seasoned man might have already noted the figure waiting for him immediately to his left when exiting the alley. But Ewan kept his eyes ahead and to his surroundings, arms crossed.


”Preparing for the school year, I see.” Ewan spoke just loud enough. As Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, his presence here was not at all strange. But Ewan knew of other ‘upstanding citizens’ who preferred hobbies one couldn’t engage in public. And since leaving the Ministry and Ewan moving to the Portkey office, their paths had not crossed unless Hogwarts was involved. That seventh-year career fair was always an excellent place to converse. However, Ewan had questions about the year before regarding that now-famous duel. But everybody’s paths had crossed the year before.

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There were times where Blaise wished his senses were a tad jumpier. Where he felt like he used to, when an unknown figure was lurking around the corner and he just knew that something was to come of it. Maybe it didn't happen today because Knockturn gave off that feeling in general, or because he knew it was a friendly that was waiting for him. Certainly no nefarious figures would stick around if they knew he was coming. Masking his presence also wasn't going to happen with that lingering cough. So he simply walked as if he wasn't going to be impeded. Running into Ewan McGonagall of all people was definitely surprising despite it making the most sense when it really came down to it. Blaise had enough connections left in the Ministry to know who was a friend and who wasn't. McGonagall fell under the former.

"The students look forward to new lessons every year, and I'm not one to let them down," he called back as he finally fully saw Ewan. With the previous year off, he had some time to really think about how he wanted to go about things moving forward. The restructuring of Hogwarts meant he could push what was normally taught to the sixth and seventh years down into the lower years if they managed to get to it. After what had happened to all of them, he didn't see any harm in teaching them the realities of the world at this point. Children, contrary to some beliefs adults held, were not stupid. They knew when things weren't right and deserved to be prepared for what came next. How his generation had failed to prepare them after everything they had gone through was astonishing. His kids were absolutely equipped to handle anything that was thrown at them. And he was proud of that.

"I didn't know Knockturn had portkeys these days," Blaise commented as he held his hand out to McGonagall. "Is that your sister teaching in LIFE?" he added. He'd seen the roster of professors but hadn't had the time to introduce himself to all of them. So many familiar yet new names had been added.

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[ewan caelus mcgonagall]

the sharpest lives

are the deadliest to lead

August 7, 2027
blaise leo zabini

Expectantly there was no shock or surprise. Blaise continued a bit forward before facing him. And Ewan stepped forward. He wasn’t exactly trying to hide, but one didn’t go around yelling down alleyways if they recognized someone as they might do in Diagon Alley. Ewan remembered the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at school. They weren’t bad, but in hindsight, he considered the teaching and training to be average. What an opportunity these students had to learn from Blaise. But Ewan always looked at these things from a particular perspective. So many things would be different for everyone if they truly knew what happened around them.

Ewan smirked at the remark as he shook Blaise’s hand. No, portkeys were not commonly used by those who wished to hide their dealings. And tracking illegal portkeys was relatively easy, which pushed them to use different methods. ”Can’t say there is high demand these days.” As Ewan responded, Blaise threw another question at him. Of course, he was bound to receive this question from any school staff members. ”Yes, my younger sister.” He made a point to identify Juniper as his younger sister to not confuse her with his unfortunate older relation. Ewan was sure Juniper would appreciate that. ”Transfiguration.” Ewan added, a bit of pride in his voice. ”It's sort of a family tradition.” Not officially, but nobody would be surprised.

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Managing portkeys was an admirable job considering how often they ended up not going to where they were supposed to. The best part about finally having adult children was not having to deal with traveling with them in that manner. Of course there were the odd instances where side-along apparation still wasn't useful, or like when his wife had to travel back to the US for work. The international portkeys seemed to do rather well in terms of safety and accuracy though. There had only been one time where he tried to utilize the Hollywood portkey and ended up in Hollywood, Florida instead of California. Some new employee fumbled the bag big time, and it took Blaise several minutes to realize the mistake after being transported. Talk about a headache. He'd never been to Florida before, but decided to take a muggle flight to LA instead of bothering with magic for the remainder of the trip.

Blaise had known there were a few McGonagalls within the Ministry, none ever in the departments he worked, but the name went far. "Sounds like it. To have the aptitude to jump right to teaching LIFE must mean she takes after your aunt." Hopefully not in the scarily strict sense though. That sort of teaching didn't work with kids these days. He had tried it his first year, and decided at the start of spring term that scaring the first through third years wasn't the best approach to getting them to learn. Since then, he figured out a way to tailor his classes to each grade level. They weren't hit-wizards after all. "Speaking of Minerva, I saw her the other day walking around the new campus. I think she's learned of a way to recreate the Elixir of Life. Quite unbelievable. We should all aspire to be that sound of mind at her age."

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[ewan caelus mcgonagall]

the sharpest lives

are the deadliest to lead

August 7, 2027
blaise leo zabini

Even Ewan would begrudgingly agree with Blaise. Juniper didn’t simply have a knack for Transfiguration. She truly was gifted. Ewan was as well, but he’d never kept a singular focus on the subject as she did. ”Yes, animagus and all.” Ewan remarked. While neither he nor his sister took the form of a tabby cat, they were still cats. Juniper was a distinct black cat, while Ewan was a tortoiseshell cat. But they were all still young, and as Blaise remarked, their Aunt was likely to live forever at this point as well.

Unconsciously, Ewan stood a bit taller out of pride. There would always be pressure to exist and operate at a certain standard due to familial relations or a name. Somehow, Ewan didn’t think it was all bad. Although, in hindsight, perhaps it explained his older sister’s terrible decision-making. ”Indeed.” If only the same could be said of the aforementioned older sister, who was clearly not of sound mind at her current age.

”How do you feel about the other staff changes?” Ewan had heard whispers and seen for himself. Many familiar faces or names on a roster, but definitely many new ones. A new Head of House and many new Professors for the new subjects covered by LIFE. Ewan was still digging into what courses were added and who would be instructing students.

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"You don't say?" There was once a time where Blaise contemplated undergoing the arduous process of becoming an animagus. Upon researching it more, he had realized that taking a month out of work to do so would be difficult, especially as a young Hit Wizard. But Occlumency was acceptable to his boss at the time, they even went as far as to teach him. Picking up Legilimency all these years later was almost too easy. But the animagus never came back up again after that first thought all those decades ago. "So that makes at least two of your family. I'm sure there's some researcher out there trying to find out if human transfiguration comes easier to certain bloodlines..." In another life, such research sounded almost fun. Blaise found himself too busy to even entertain the thought past this though. Unfortunately.

Ewan then asked about the staffing changes, and Blaise shrugged. As much as he would have liked to continue to teach the older students, it did take a load off of his shoulders. Reallocating that time to beefing up his course schedule for the MAGIC students sounded like it would work a lot better than how it had been before. He would find out in a month. "From the few classes I've sat in on, I think a lot of the younger professors have a ways to go. There's an American auror teaching the intro classes for the new trainees...she barely seems old enough to do that. But who am I to judge? I'm just an old man now."

Blaise let out a low laugh that ended up turning into a brief fit of coughs. He held a hand up to Ewan before turning away to try and muffle it with the handkerchief he kept in his pocket. "Apologies," he wheezed after a moment. "I don't recommend getting personal with fiendfyre."

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[ewan caelus mcgonagall]

the sharpest lives

are the deadliest to lead

August 7, 2027
blaise leo zabini

The corner of Ewan’s mouth turned up. ”At least.” After Juniper’s successful process, Ewan researched and prepared for the process himself. And fortunately, he was successful. Naturally, Juni’s help was instrumental. Plus a welcome distraction for his broken-hearted younger sister at the time. ”Cats seem to run in the family.” Naturally, Ewan’s Animagus status was not a secret. They were all registered per Wizarding Law, which the Ministry of Magic required. He supposed nobody ever really gave members of the Portkey office a second look. In terms of hereditary traits—there was probably something to it.

”American?” Ewan asked curiously. That was a short list of individuals. ”I figured they’d all want to head home at this point.” Many Americans found the differences in their daily lives inconvenient. But, so far, the portkey requests had dwindled to that part of the world. But times were changing. No doubt his older sister would have loved to leave school two years earlier, but the matter was whether their parents would have let her. Naturally, Ewan wouldn’t have left, but again, when had the choice ever existed?

Ewan watched curiously as Blaise excused himself. ”I hope I never need to.” His jaw clenched slightly. Blaise was a hero and decorated as such. The handling of the rest was unfortunate, however. After a beat, Ewan spoke again. ”Have you kept tabs on him?” Ewan’s posture shifted to one more solid. ”Burke, I mean.” The facts were hazy, even to Ewan, and the past eight months he’d spent trying to learn more. But Bianca Rivera was proving to be a difficult ally. Though the Department of Mysteries was still firmly in Ewan’s crosshairs.

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Curious how different forms of magic stuck to one bloodline. Blaise had thought about such things frequently, and in another life he probably would have done well for himself as a researcher in that field. Whether it actually had to do with magic or if certain genetics were predisposed for these sorts of things was what he was really interested in. That was probably why the pureblooded families of old were so worried about letting others have a little splash of what their veins carried. A joke was somewhere in there though, because by doing so led to generations of inbreeding and narrowing of bloodlines, and now they were virtually all gone. The last few barely holding out, their values gone. How funny. Surely his own would disappear with his children, and for good measure. Nothing good came from being pureblooded. His Gringotts vault was already too full from his own hard work. He didn’t need any more.

“Aye. Still here,” Blaise confirmed. “Remember the one that took down the abandoned muggle building trying to capture a few of the Azkaban escapees? That’s her.” What a mess that had created too. Personally, Blaise had very little contact with the teams that cleaned that up, as he had been trying to figure out what the Purifiers were doing at Hermione’s behest. “I’m assuming something more than work is keeping her here. Or away from home,” he shrugged. He had been to New York City with his wife several times for her work. It was loud, obtrusive, and smelled, but a great city nonetheless. For someone as rough around the edges as the Nottingham girl was, it perplexed him to no end that she would prefer to skulk around Diagon Alley and the likes. He also wasn’t in his twenties anymore, so what did he know?

Oh Burke…Blaise hadn’t thought about him in quite a while, except whenever he unfortunately bumped into Hazel at Hogwarts. He had zero opinions on his colleague, just that they had wildly different opinions on how classes should be taught. Another age related thing, probably. “Not more than I need to.” When putting the entire night into perspective, Blaise had utilized more magic in the span of half an hour than he probably had in years. Battling the fiendfyre relentlessly, then right onto his duel against Burke, and ending the night by blasting that damned hole in the wall of the Great Hall. In any of those, if he was only a hair off with his casting, hundreds of students would have died. That thought made him feel sick, and his Order of Merlin, while a genuine gesture by the Ministry, was only a reminder that he couldn’t save all of them. “I know that type. Unfortunately, a second round isn’t out of the realm of possibility.” Blaise would not mind putting Asher Burke in his place for a second time. Permanently, if need be.

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[ewan caelus mcgonagall]

the sharpest lives

are the deadliest to lead

August 7, 2027
blaise leo zabini

A talent in transfiguration hardly made Ewan’s family famous or put the McGonagall name on the map. His great-aunt had taken care of that singlehandedly. Fighting alongside one of the greatest wizards of her time and manning the helm of one of the Wizarding World’s premier magical schools. These were no simple tasks to scoff at or take lightly. Ewan thought one of her greatest achievements was surviving the rumored four stunning spells at once, only to return and knock those attackers around silly. While Ewan’s personal career choices would not make him famous in anyone’s memory, he only hoped for an inch of the same influence his predecessor had.

”Yes.” Ewan responded a bit despondently. There was something to be said of those with great magical skill and power, but none of the finesse required at times. What an incident with the Prophet happy to cover all the chaos. ”The Obliviators didn’t sleep a wink that week handling all the witnesses.” What a headache. And leave it to an American to barrel through a literal building as if the ends always justified the means. But Ewan didn’t want to dwell on what could not be changed.

Ewan frowned, pausing to consider his current thought. ”I lost count how many were rounded up for their mere association to The Purifiers, and yet—Asher Burke walks a free man.” Naturally, he had lost his beloved Ministry position. And an important one at that. Oversight of the Department of Mysteries was limited except for the Department Head. ”What do you think she’s playing at?” Bianca Rivera was smart and driven. Ewan could commend all that but not this, and for the life of him, he could not figure out the story.

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”They did not. That was the one time I was glad to have gotten a new job.” Blaise had luckily changed careers just in time for that to happen, but had heard from his former colleagues all about the headache that it had created. The same thing had happened when he rejoined the Hit department briefly in 2024, missing most of the action before heading off to teach at Hogwarts that fall. It eventually caught up to him though a few years later. Because of course it would. He’d seen enough over the years to know that the end goal of this particular slice of dark wizards was going to be the school. They started and ended it there. Such a waste of talent too. If they had been right in the head and utilized their power and wits, they could have done so much for the magical world. He had similar sentiments on the Death Eaters back in the day. All of that control just to fail.

Why Burke ultimately got off scot free (if they could really call it that) was not information he was privy too. Blaise wished he had been brought in to talk about it, because it wasn’t difficult to tell that Burke had been at Hogwarts to disrupt and cause harm if necessary. He had failed to do so, luckily. ”I’m sure you know that there is a certain subsection of our community that has such deep ties that a prison sentence would cause irreparable waves in the government.” Blaise had the perfect word for it: bullshit. ”The same thing happened after both wars. Those with thin proof of allegiance claimed they were acting out of fear or claimed they were forced to. Obviously the ones with the connections and the money got off light.” It didn’t matter that everyone saw them at the battle, committing crimes against students and professors alike. The ones that had the means to avoid Azkaban did. ”He’ll eventually mess up again, and she’ll get him on it. They always do.”

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