[attr="class","backgde"]

[attr="class","lyric1de"]turn to dust

[attr="class","lyricbgde"]

[attr="class","lyric2de"]Just one mistake
Is all it will take
We'll go down in history

[attr="class","textbodde"]Nikolaj was honestly ready to call it a day--and the day had barely just begun. But work had been hectic lately. They had been lucky in the Department of Commerce. They didn't really need that much magic to thrive. The bulk of their slowness in the past had been due to people calling in sick because of the epidemic. But, the rest of the magical world, and the rest of the Ministry, quite obviously depended on magic. The Auror Office, the Obliviator Headquarters... so many things in the massive building relied on the very thing all of them had been born with. While the Department of Commerce might have been getting back on its feet, the others were struggling--and it was all too evident in the numbers. Because that was what Nikolaj did from the day to day. He got to see the magical world in numbers, and this sickness had done more than just strip away people's magic. It had stripped away the strength of their world as a whole. They were all struggling, and by most accounts, the vast majority of people were... as good as Squibs. Or would it be as bad as Squibs?

Not that it mattered, considering the fact that there seemed to be no end to this in sight. His magic wasn't returning, as was no one else's. They were all going to have to find a way to adapt to this new world, unfortunately. At least, until the Healers figured out a way to solve this conundrum. Nik... he was holding out hope for that. There was no way something that was their birthright could just be taken away by a silly fever. He refused to accept that possibility, so Nikolaj had taken to throwing himself into his work for now. Anything to take away from the feeling that he was losing his sanity, one day at a time. This all still felt like a horrible nightmare. Getting back into the groove of work helped bring a sense of normalcy to his life. Something routine and expected--something similar to before everything had turned so horrible. Unfortunately, and rather ironically, work also happened to be a jarring reality check that everything was in fact... happening.

Perhaps it would have to be an early day. Nik knew he could delegate a fair amount of his tasks for the day, and take a break. One he had earned, after all. Picking up the pieces on his end had not been easy, and the Ministry was starting to feel horribly stuffy. The other day, he had gone all the way to Galway. Driven, actually. But that had only reminded him even more of his current state, so Nik would have to do something differently today. It was eating away at him, so Nikolaj had wrapped things up in his office and started heading for the Atrium, his sights set on one of the Floos. The only way he could truly travel now--efficiently, anyways. His gaze was redirected as he walked by a familiar face, and Nik slowed down for a moment, a small smile appearing on his face as he nodded in greeting. "Carlisle--it's nice to see you," he started. "How are things?" The Lord Rosier was someone with whom Nik was familiar. A man of higher status, but someone that Nikolaj felt was trustworthy--at least, in the context of their line of work. In the context of the shared tattoo on their forearms.

@carlisle | 577 words | outfit

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF GS + WW

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turn to dust

Keep your beady eyes on me

To make sure I don't turn to dust

There were occasions that had him in the Ministry, and he knew that it didn’t happen very often, but there were times when they were all called in. The Wizengamot was not small. The heads of all of the pure families. Anyone that’s family styled themselves Lord and Lady. They had seats on the Wizengamot under his cousin. And Carlisle was still very thankful that he had made the choice to only be doing this. He didn’t think that he needed an actual job, and he was sure that Sloane preferred him to be home, and only acting as the Head of the Family, instead of away in that school, teaching. It didn’t escape his notice that his cousin had changed the subject back, and Sebastian had appointed his nephew to teach it. Carlisle wished Draco all the luck in the world, but he envied him nothing.

Teaching had not been something that Carlisle had been well suited to. He didn’t like children, at least children that he didn’t have to like. He didn’t mind his own children. And Draco had never bothered him. Andromeda and Rodolphus’s sons, and Ava didn’t bother him. But other children? Carlisle was not a children person. He was not going to think that that was in any way necessary. He thought that it was much better to just leave them all alone. They could do what they would, and if they survived, that was great. If not, then they didn’t need to worry about it. He could have done without children around him all day long. Much preferring the company of grown-ups.

He thought that his daughter was less than pleased with that decision, but he knew that she would get over it eventually. She would stand on her own two feet and be stronger for it. She didn’t need him there to be powerful. She was a Rosier, she could do it all on her own. She was his daughter, but in that respect, Carlisle was near certain that Maddie took after her mother. And for everything that Genevieve was, he was sure that she was strong enough to survive nearly anything. That much had been proven. He knew that she had raised their daughter in her image, and she had done a good job. Maddie was strong. She would do just fine at Hogwarts on her own, with her aunt watching over her.

Because she was not alone. He hadn’t left her there. Her aunt was the Head of Ravenclaw, and her cousin was her new professor. Heading out of the chambers and back upstairs, he was again thankful that he wasn’t his cousin. He didn’t think that he wanted to be her when she had to go back upstairs and deal with the rest of her day after something like that. They could at least leave after that was over, she had to go back to work, and he wasn’t thrilled with that notion. A voice pulled him from his thoughts as he headed across the room towards the Floos. Nikolaj. He knew the man from the mutual marks on their arms. But he also knew him because Ares knew him, and there had been a time when Carlisle had worked for their previous Minister. One before he had decided to choose Blood.

Nodding to the other man he changed directions a little bit and headed towards him. “Nikolaj.” He came up beside him and offered him his hand in greeting. “Things are well enough, given the circumstances. Yourself?”

@ nikolaj • 588 • carlisle's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[attr="class","backgde"]

[attr="class","lyric1de"]turn to dust

[attr="class","lyricbgde"]

[attr="class","lyric2de"]JUST ONE MISTAKE
IS ALL IT WILL TAKE
WE'LL GO DOWN IN HISTORY

[attr="class","textbodde"]Nikolaj was, in part, fortunate to be working in the Department of Commerce. They needed very little magic to function, aside from the few Arithmancers they would commission every now and again. The department kept going, even through the epidemic. Things had been tough when everyone had checked in, but Nik had been understanding. He, himself, refused to be subjected to that horrible building, or the poking and prodding of Healers. He was sure that Dani would've rolled her eyes at that statement, but that was beside the point. Nikolaj had been needed in the Ministry. He was the head of the department. And now that people were no longer coughing and sneezing, they were functioning relatively well, once again. The one downside to the department, though, was the one thing people hadn't had time to think of: economy. Because as people were losing their magic and businesses closed, the economy had suffered--and Nikolaj had to helplessly witness that.

He didn't blame people for overlooking this. Everyone was in a panic. It was irrational, yes, to not think of how the economy had suffered--but it was also human. And humans were, very rarely, of rational mind. People had been preoccupied with their loved ones, and cures. Nik had been, too, but he had just managed to juggle an immense amount of worry, apparently. Obviously, he had been concerned for his nephew and brother-in-law. It seemed that Dani had escaped the epidemic unscathed--mercifully. If there was one silver lining, it was that his sister hadn't fallen victim to whatever freak of nature was going around and stealing their magic. And, of course, the fact that Karel was safe, too--but this hadn't seemed to be affecting younger people, anyways.

The scarier thing, though, was how... non-specific it seemed to be. Purebloods, halfbloods, muggleborns, part-veelas--all of them lost magic. And all of those groups had some immune members. Nikolaj wanted to look at the numbers, to see exactly what the trends showed. He would have to confer with Fer on that front, to get access to a full database of magical creatures. From anecdotal evidence alone, though, it seemed that the epidemic hadn't been the least bit picky. It stole magic from anyone--whether it was people that had long been pureblood, or the mudbloods that had been subjected to Kolna. And it left people unharmed in an equally haphazard way.

Nikolaj shook Carlisle's offered hand with a nod. "Just about the same. Doing well, relatively speaking," he replied with a light scoff. "Everything is a little more bleak when you get to see the epidemic in numbers."

@ carlisle | 434 words | outfit

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF GS + WW

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TURN TO DUST

KEEP YOUR BEADY EYES ON ME

TO MAKE SURE I DON'T TURN TO DUST

The choices that he had made that had led him here were not the choices that he would have made if circumstance would have been different. If he hadn’t been the Head of the Family, if Evan wouldn’t have died. He thought that his entire life would have been different. He wouldn’t have been married to Gen in the first place. He wouldn’t have had the kids. He would have had an entirely different life. And a different wife. And different kids. Because he would have done that part. Carlisle would have filled that roll like he was supposed to, but he would have done it as the younger son.

And maybe his choices wouldn’t have changed all that much. Maybe he still wouldn’t have loved his wife. Maybe he still would have cheated and ended up with Sloane in the end anyway. Because marrying Sloane back then wouldn’t have been an option. Of course, he probably could have gotten his father to try and talk to his now father-in-law about it. He could have made it happen if he had wanted to, but he hadn’t known that he had wanted to. And in the end, it really didn’t matter. Because what had happened had happened and this was where they were now.

He was the Head of the Family, and he had gone from being married to Genevieve, to being married to Sloane, and in a way, he was starting over. Of course, there were still the kids to think about, and Edmund was still always going to be his priority when it came to the kids, but he couldn’t deny that Maddie had him pretty wrapped around her little finger. Life had been okay, normal as it could be really, until things had changed again. Until the epidemic had struck, and they were all looking in the eyes of an unknown monster. One that had impacted his wife in ways that he couldn’t begin to explain.

The headaches that had caused her to ask to sleep. To ask for a comatose state. And he hadn’t wanted to agree to that. But he hadn’t known what else to do. He hadn’t known how to deny her that, because she had seemed to think that it was the only answer. And the healers hadn’t been able to say that it was going to be negatively impactful in anyway… So, he had relented, and he had hated every minute of it. “I’m sure it is…” Carlisle nodded when the other name spoke of the numbers of the thing. “I don’t envy you knowing those things. It can’t be good.”

Too much had changed, too much was at stake. The world as they knew it had changed, and he thought that there was going to have to be something done if they were going to want to keep on top of the changes. On top of everything that was happening, and how they were going to face this new world that they were living in, without magic.

@ nikolaj • 505 • carlisle's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0