How Many International Musicians Caught the Fever?! [Camila]

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

1 June 2025 

It had been a little under a month since the beginning of the quarantine, which had thoroughly interrupted Sienna's life in multiple inconvenient ways. For starters, her plan to visit her father for his birthday had been called off, and she'd since resigned herself to remaining stuck in England all summer. Business had picked up considerably around the preparation of Wiggenweld and Pepperup Potions (as if that could stop Hag's Fever) but still fewer people were entering the apothecary at all.

The illness appeared to have skipped Sienna over at the beginning, but she hadn't been able to focus on Aware Wolf potion testing or visit St. Mungo's. It had been unbearable to be separated from practically everybody important in her life. So it was almost a relief, one morning nearly a month since the first outbreak, when Si woke up sneezing fire and having to hastily put out her pillow. There had been no need to rush to the hospital – Si was able to calmly pack a bag and it felt more like suffering from a mild cold than anything serious. But the "highly contagious" disease still required Si to accept a quarantine in St. Mungo's, mild case or no.

Or so she was told by a Healer after being checked in, put in a disinfected hospital gown, and taken to a room of beds filled with other lightly affected patients. There was very little privacy, and Si was half-expecting her bag to be confiscated at any moment, so she grabbed it and slipped out quietly. She knew Gus had been here for some time, and was liable to get pouty shut in all day while sick, so she'd brought some hopefully comfortable and familiar things.

She managed to avoid any special notice by looking like she knew exactly where she was going, which was much less difficult after spotting Gus's room on a chart. Si was forced to stop briefly for a coughing fit, and to quickly Vanish the multiple batches of sunflowers she'd accidentally produced (thank Merlin she'd been allowed her wand) before finally finding the right room and hastily disappearing from the crowded hallway.

Maybe this is a slightly more serious case than I thought, Si was forced to consider as she sneezed again and felt the flames heat her face before receding. Her gaze locked on putting out her now lightly charred bag as she announced, "I hope you haven't been moody, Gus. You know how you can get--" Si abruptly cut herself off as she took in the room. There were two beds, not one as she'd suspected, and while one bore unmistakable signs that it was indeed Gus's, it was currently empty (was he out getting tests done?). Si felt her eyes widen and face redden (most likely not an effect of the fire this time) because THAT was Camila Calderón and how many times had she gushed to Gus about her latest album? "Um..."

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

If Camila had been as ill as when she had first arrived at St. Mungo's, she would have begged someone to put her out of her misery weeks before then. She knew that a case of Hag's Fever could last up to twenty-one days; she just hadn't expected hers to be one of them. More than anything else, she simply felt weak by that point, though the Healers had assured her that she was nearly free of her symptoms. The weakness, luckily, was simply due to her having been hospitalized for longer than she had been at any other time in her life.

She was young and had been doing intense choreography prior to falling ill, so Camila didn't want to imagine how things must have been for someone without such an active lifestyle. The good news was that it seemed as though she was going to be discharged from the hospital—possibly even later that day—and she was relieved. As she had gotten most of her strength back and her magical misfires had lessened, she had started songwriting again, and she was feeling more like herself.

It had been frustrating not to show significant improvement for what felt like an eternity, though having Auguste Courtemanche with her on the hospital ward had kept things interesting while they were essentially isolated from the outside world.

"I hope you haven't been moody, Gus. You know how you can get—" Camila overheard from the hall, only to watch as a young woman popped in their doorway.

In apparent embarrassment, the girl who had spoken backed away upon seeing her, and not Auguste, facing her. More than a few strange things had happened since Camila had been admitted to St. Mungo's, so she didn't think as much of it as she might have. In truth, it was a slight disappointment that she wasn't one of the staff telling her that she was free to leave.

"Hello?" Camila questioned, not sure what else to say at first, though she assumed that the young woman must have known—or at least known of—Auguste. "Auguste is not here," she explained, gesturing towards his hospital bed.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna's face was burning (maybe a little from the fever but probably almost entirely from embarrassment) as she stood by the closed door clutching her bag. She was simultaneously aware of two things at once – that she was unexpectedly in the same room as one of her favorite musicians, and that she looked an absolute mess since being diagnosed.

One might have thought, considering who Gus was, that Si would be desensitized to fame. But – maybe because they'd known each from school or because she usually only saw him in fairly regular scenarios when he came to see her – Sienna wasn't really sure what to do with herself. Back away slowly? Approach with caution? Both scenarios were perhaps better suited for a magical creature than a human being, so Si ignored both and edged over slowly to Gus's currently empty bed.

It took Camila explaining that 'Auguste' wasn't here for something in Si's head to click back into place. The snort that escaped was entirely involuntary, is that how Gus introduced himself to other singers? She sat down slowly on Gus's (unmade, of course) bed. Camila Calderón looked justifiably confused, so Si rushed to explain, "er, I swear I'm not a crazy fan or anything. It's just, well, Gus will probably be getting discharged in the next couple days and I haven't had a chance to see him before, well..." Si made a vague gesture to her clearly ill self. "And, I'm not sure how much time you've spent together, but Gus gets very sulky when he gets told what to do, so..."

I'm never going to live this down if Gus finds out, Si thought glumly as she replayed the last 30 seconds in her mind. "I'm Sienna, by the way. Again, not crazy, I promise. You're just...very talented..." It was a fittingly weak end as Si felt her voice trail off at the end.

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Rather than leave upon being told that Auguste wasn't there, the other young woman made her way into the room and sat herself down upon Gus's hospital bed. Camila watched her, wondering if she actually needed to call for a nurse, or security, or… something.

"Er, I swear I'm not a crazy fan or anything. It's just, well, Gus will probably be getting discharged in the next couple days and I haven't had a chance to see him before, well…" It was apparent that the young woman was also a patient, though Camila only then noticed that she, too, was visibly ill—likely also with Hag's Fever, from her appearance. "And, I'm not sure how much time you've spent together, but Gus gets very sulky when he gets told what to do, so…"

While Camila couldn't understand all of what had been said to her to explain the situation, she understood that the other girl wasn't a fan, which meant that she knew Auguste—whom she continued to call "Gus"—in some way.

"I'm Sienna, by the way. Again, not crazy, I promise. You're just… very talented…"

Camila laughed and shook her head, turning so that she was seated facing her. "Camila," she introduced herself, though it seemed as though Sienna already knew who she was. "You are a… friend of Auguste?" she wondered, trying to figure out what connection she had to her fellow musician. "Girlfriend?"

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

It was much, much easier to stare down at her bag than to confront how embarrassingly poor the last few minutes had gone. Si unzipped the bag slowly to avoid eye contact and reshuffled the contents inside that had shifted since she'd packed them.

Gus would likely be able to go home soon, so she'd packed some sweets, a knit blanket he seemed to favor, some Wizarding games (that Sienna continued to be completely enamored with as a muggleborn, even if the shock of Exploding Snap had faded in her third-year)...she absolutely hated the distance she'd been forced to maintain these last 20-odd days, and since Gus now had the easy ability to acquire anything he might want in the world, her gifts had to stay within the realm of personal or nostalgic.

"Just a friend," Si quickly corrected, cheeks turning pink as her heart dropped to settle somewhere around her stomach. "An old friend from Beauxbatons," she amended after a moment's thought. Camila was being...surprisingly cool, considering the intrusion, although as Sienna appraised her after the introduction she was surprised at how much younger the girl looked than expected. Of course, she must still be in her teens, maybe school-age, and as foreign to England as Si herself was...

"Pardon if my English is too muddled," Si said (her French accent wasn't terrible after 6 years in London, but...). "I speak very quickly sometimes, but I remember when I couldn't understand a thing. I'm surprised there hasn't been a spell invented for that yet. The wonders of magic, no?" As if to emphasize her point, Si sneezed again and felt her wand (which she'd been idly fidgeting with stowed in the front pocket of her bag) emit blue sparks.

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Sienna explained that she was "just a friend" of Auguste's, though she seemed even more uncomfortable with the suggestion that the two of them were in a relationship with one another. "An old friend from Beauxbatons," she added, and Camila nodded. It made sense, though; Sienna didn't sound completely British to her.

"Pardon if my English is too muddled," Sienna continued in apology, and Camila shook her head. As much as it frustrated her, she was learning to make do. "I speak very quickly sometimes, but I remember when I couldn't understand a thing. I'm surprised there hasn't been a spell invented for that yet. The wonders of magic, no?"

Camila picked out what words she could from what Sienna had said and immediately handed a tissue to the other girl after she had sneezed. "Salud," she smiled gently, understanding just how terrible having Hag's Fever felt.

Getting an idea, she took out her mobile phone and pulled up a voice translator. Translating via magic in real time might not have been as practical, but an enchanted electronic device that could still work around magic without malfunctioning? It would be much easier. "Here," Camila spoke, tapping the phone screen to test it out. She looked to Sienna. "You want English? French?"

Sienna Aurélie Linslee
Translation: Salud - literally "health" in Spanish, used as "bless you".

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna’s eyes lit up as Camila pulled out her mobile phone. As a Muggleborn, Si had never thought twice about all the things she’d taken for granted – TV, phones, pictures that captured and froze one moment in time. She’d begun to miss these things after starting school, but since living in an all-Wizard area it’d been years since she’d had the opportunity to enjoy technology as she knew it.

She moved across the room to examine the translating application Camila had just pulled up. “Brilliant,” Si said approvingly. Sometimes Muggle technology really was the simplest solution – although that was something most wizards would never really understand.

“French to Spanish,” Si confirmed, watching Camila fiddle with the translator. She remembered Camila’s first album had been in Spanish (she’d listened to it enough times to know). Maybe she should have been more embarrassed about whipping out knowledge like that casually, but Si figured she’d embarrassed herself enough already. Naturally, her entrance had been awkward enough that anything else she could say or do would be an improvement. And...she’d been around Gus often enough and long enough to know that there were some things you just had to give up as you accrued more fame. Privacy, unfortunately, was number one.

Sienna gazed at the phone speculatively and wondered if Camila was also Muggleborn or if she was simply a witch who liked to follow Muggle fads (some Muggle things did catch on in the wizarding world occasionally). That could be a dangerous thing to talk about, so Si said instead, “Must be useful when you’re on the road so much. Probably more of a hindrance for most wizards.”

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Sienna seemed pleased to see the translation application on her mobile phone and confirmed that she wanted it set for French to Spanish.

Camila nodded, adjusting the settings so that the app was on Sienna's language of choice as well as her own.

"Must be useful when you’re on the road so much. Probably more of a hindrance for most wizards."

It was useful, though she knew that not all witches and wizards approved of the changes that had been made to allow for them to purchase non-magical devices that worked in the magical world. She tapped at her phone a few times.

"Uno, dos, tres," she spoke, and waited. After a pause, the stiff, almost robotic voice produced by the application returned her words—except in French: "Un, deux, trois."

Camila grinned. It could only handle one translation at a time, so they would have to take turns more consciously than in a "real" conversation. That, however, was a small price to pay for actually being able to speak with someone.

She spoke in Spanish again, just to test it out, and waited as the translation emerged in French. "My father is not magical," she explained, "so it's easy to use the mobile phone."

Sienna Aurélie Linslee
Translation/OOC: "One, two, three," in Spanish and again in French. I'm not going to keep going with the foreign languages at this point because it'll get messy, but fully italicized lines of English dialogue are my stand-in.

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

I need to get one of these, Si thought as she watched Camila test out the translator application. She'd been surviving without since starting school at age 11, but the absence of technology still left a very tangible gap in her life.

There were still many many things about the magical world that were old-fashioned, but the effort to integrate periphery communities and acknowledge the benefits of Muggle ways of life at least seemed to be marginally improving. And anyway, wasn't that what her whole potion-making endeavor with Jamie was about? Starting these efforts from the bottom-up?

Si sneezed again and gave up on entertaining such philosophical thoughts. She smiled as the first translation came through (it actually worked!) and nodded slowly. Sienna made a small motion towards the phone to show she was going to take it, then thought for a moment before switching the languages.

"My father too," she said in rapid French. "I might have cried when I had to start Beauxbatons without one. And now I work in a very magically dense area, so...nothing new at all." She listened to the translated version in Spanish, and had to suppress a giggle which still came out as a small snort. Despite the phone being intended for use by wizards, it still translated every word literally and Beauxbatons had come out as 'beautiful sticks' (she at least knew enough rudimentary Spanish for that).

The laugh changed into a small coughing fit so Sienna quickly put the phone back in Camila's hands before hunting for the nearby box of tissues. Camila seemed down-to-earth and friendly, and Si would hate to end the conversation by setting her covers on fire.

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Sienna told her that her own father was also non-magical. "I might have cried when I had to start Beauxbatons without one," she continued. Though "Beauxbatons" didn't translate properly, Camila had recognized the name as Sienna spoke in French. By "without one", Camila gathered, Sienna had meant a mobile phone, like the one that she was using. "And now I work in a very magically dense area, so...nothing new at all."

It was frustrating that it had taken so long for the magical community to figure out how to enchant non-magical items so that they wouldn't malfunction in the presence of magic, never mind adding enchantments that could enhance the features of the same things. There were still enough people who felt so horribly offended by the idea of anything non-magical in their presence, Camila supposed, to have kept it from becoming a reality.

She took the phone back from Sienna as she began to cough. After another moment, realizing that it was probably tissues she was looking for, Camila switched the app back to Spanish in order to point them out to her. "The tissues are over there," she told her, gesturing in the direction of the box.

"This illness is horrible," she added. "Oh my God, I could barely raise my head for a few days."

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna had stood up immediately when she began coughing, and at Camila’s directive (even if it came out in the cold robotic voice of the app) quickly grabbed the whole box. Better safe than sorry. Thankfully, there were no flames this time (maybe they only accompanied the sneezing? She’d be an expert by the end of this). Even as the coughing subsided, she still felt ghastly and sniffled miserably. Her head felt stuffed and Sienna already felt much worse than when she had come in.

“Pardon et merci,” Si replied once she felt certain the coughing was gone for now. Something that simple didn’t need a translation. She sat back down gingerly near Camila and gave a small exasperated laugh in sympathy with Camila. Taking the phone back, Si asked, “How long have you been here? I haven’t seen Gus in almost a month…” Regardless, Camila seemed to be absorbing the whole situation gracefully, and she actually looked almost healthy (perhaps a little tired and pale).

The thought settled in her head that perhaps Si would be stuck in quarantine at St. Mungo’s for days or weeks and she sighed. She said out loud in English: “I might miss the Quidditch final.”

camila calderón
Translation: "Pardon et merci" = 'Excuse me and thank you' in French

[camila calderón]

Sienna apologized and thanked her in French as she took the tissues; what she said was apparent enough without needing the phone to translate it. Once she had sat back down, she took the phone again, however, to ask a question: "How long have you been here? I haven’t seen Gus in almost a month."

How long had she been there? Too long. She took the phone back from Sienna.

"I've been here for… about a month," Camila explained into the translation app. "I was brought here on May 11, and Auguste was here the next day." She couldn't wait to leave the place, though her unlikely roommate had made her hospital stay more bearable, strangely enough.

"I might miss the Quidditch final."

Camila frowned. "I'm sorry," she apologized, knowing that her team had reserved a seat for her if she was well enough to be in attendance. And, by all indications, it seemed likely that she would be out of there, which made her feel a little guilty. Seeing that Sienna didn't look to have the same energy as she had upon entering the room, Camila spoke again before handing the phone back over to her. "You should rest," she urged her gently. "Do you want me to get a Healer?"

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

It wasn’t hard to do the math as Camila explained that she had arrived on May 11. 21 days. Si couldn’t imagine spending 21 continuous days anywhere, much less quarantined in a hospital with nothing to do but wait to get better. The math sounded about right for Gus’s admission too, as it had been around a month since they’d last seen each other and now, which would probably be longer.

Si shook her hand at Camila’s suggestion (which was probably a good idea but Sienna was not being ruled by good ideas right now, she was sick). She took the phone to speak. ”I want to wait for Gus if I can.” She stopped to let the phone translate, and looked over at Gus’s empty bed. In another circumstance, it might have been concerning, but most likely he was out for tests or perhaps even being discharged. It was hard to know, but as Camila had pointed out, Si was not feeling up to another journey.

“I can return to my room if you need to get ready. I just hate the thought of staring up at the ceiling for days.” Si offered the phone back to Camila, then grabbed a few more tissues to be prepared for the next wave. It was true that she felt significantly worse than she had some hours ago, but she hadn’t heard of any deaths from Hag’s Fever. It would just be a miserable experience.

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

“I want to wait for Gus if I can,” Sienna replied to her via the translation app. Camila understood, and she didn’t mind it if Sienna wanted to wait until he came back from wherever it was that he had gone. Her primary concern had been in making sure that Sienna still felt well enough to hang around. Being in the company of someone else was preferable to bring completely alone, though Camila knew that she hadn’t been the most enjoyable company when she had first arrived to the hospital. It was bad enough that they had to be kept away from most of the public and that the Healers had to take so many precautions to keep the fever from spreading. To be stuck in total isolation from the world would have been even worse, and at least conversation was possible through technology.

Speaking of which, Sienna offered to leave if she needed to get ready. There was no point in her doing that until she was certain that she would be discharged, Camila thought, and shook her head. “I just hate the thought of staring up at the ceiling for days,” Sienna explained.

It had felt a little bit like prison on occasion, Camila granted her, or at least as though hospitalization had been some sort of punishment for no reason at all other than her terrible luck. Sienna gave her the phone again and then hurried to grab some more tissues.

“I don’t mind if you want to stay here for now,” Camila responded. If any of the Healers took issue with her being there and not in her own bed on the ward, she would deal with that as it came. “If you feel too sick,” she advised her, “tell me.” She wouldn’t be offended. It was draining, and she would let Auguste know that Sienna had stopped by. “Don’t worry about me,” she added. “I'm okay, and I will tell Auguste that you are here if you need to go back. I promise you." She smiled at Sienna in reassurance and passed the phone back to her once again.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Camila’s answer was more relieving than Sienna cared to share. She just…hated being alone. Absolutely hated it. Si had always been the kind of person most comfortable around other people, in rooms that were noisy and full of life. Even in their shared workspace, Jamie was always present and they would make conversation as they chopped up ingredients or waited for potions to come to a boil. It was rarely ever silent in Sienna's life, and she rather made a point of keeping it that way.

True, Si hadn’t been assigned to a private room, but she’d gotten a peek at the atmosphere when she’d been assigned her bed. It had been…very quiet. Uncomfortably so. The Healers moved efficiently from bed to bed, and there had been no conversation among the other people already present. Sienna was already starting to dread waiting out her quarantine in silence before she could return to everyday life.

So she gave a weak smile and a nod at Camila’s reassurance that she could stay for now (at least through the robotic voice of the app). The thought occurred to her that perhaps Gus had already been discharged, although his personal things were still here. After Camila passed the phone back over, Si thought silently for a moment before responding.

“Thank you,” she started simply. She gave a small laugh at Camila’s continued use of ‘Auguste.’ “It shouldn’t be such a big deal, but I miss him. I barely see him enough as it is, and this quarantine has been very strict. You understand that better than anybody, I suppose.” Si sighed a little, and let the phone play out the translation before tapping to add one last thing. Hag’s Fever was starting to prey on her mind slightly and she was getting worried. “The symptoms weren’t too bad for you, no? You look almost completely cured.”

camila calderón