umm... Why the Blue Face? ((Miguel))

[phantomlynx]

Things had changed a little at the Willis house ever since Skyler had learned that his mother was a witch. He had always thought she was a little weird and was not really taken aback when he learned that she possessed magical powers. What had really shocked him was when he found out that he had magic. It explained why he felt slightly out of place with the rest of his peers in Grammar School. He wondered how his parents hid it from him all this time, but he supposed living in the muggle world didn't require a lot of magic. He had just learned the truth this past summer when he had received a letter from Hogwarts informing him that he had been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He remembered being perplexed that an owl would deliver a piece of mail. While his dad had pretended not to be surprised, his mother had acted as if it was perfectly acceptable and natural to receive mail by owl. "Oh yes," she had told him, "It's much more civilised than getting mail through a slot in the door." At the time, Skyler didn't agree with her. However, after a semester at Hogwarts, it did seem barbaric to get mail through a slot in the door. As if the door was alive and could feel pain by having things shoved through it. After all the strange things that Skyler had seen, he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

So when Skyler returned home his mother had decided to start using magic around the house. Skyler wanted to protest and tell her that his younger brother Chase had not been exposed to it yet but his parents curbed his fears by telling him that they had to explain to Chase where his older brother went to school. Skyler was a tad jealous that his younger brother got to learn about magic at such a young age. That meant that when he went to Hogwarts, he would be prepared for the strange events that would happen there. Oh well, that's what it meant to be the older brother. Skyler went first so that the experience would be easier for Chase. Why couldn't Skyler be the youngest? That was just another thing that made Skyler angry.

Chase got to see their mother prepare dinner using magic every night. Skyler noted that she cut the carrots with a lot of flair as if she wanted to show off her culinary magic skills to her offspring. Almost like she was saying that if they studied magic really well than they would be able to chop carrots with that certain flair that she had. Tonight was a special day. Tonight was the first day of the holidays and the family was celebrating the first family dinner since Skyler went off to school. His mum said she was going to cook a witch special: Pork Roast. Skyler had just rolled his eyes when she had said this to him. Being home was bringing out his anti-social behavior. He had been so good this past semester to be more social. He actually had made a really good friend. Unfortunately, all that gained social experience seemed to be slipping out of his head.

This all lead up to Skyler sitting with his family at the dinner table. His mother had served her infamous Pork Roast and was fawning over it like it was a new born baby. But it wasn't a new born baby. It wasn't even alive. In fact Skyler was trying his hardest to think of it as meat that was going to be in his stomach in a few moments and not as a something that used to or still was alive. But still his mother rambled on, "Oh yes, I know that this is a muggle dish but I spiced it with wizard spices. Let's see what did I use? Skyler use your napkin please. I put, ginger root, kneazle liver and a pinch of ghost tears. And then, Chase please take your elbows off the table. Thank you. I used magic to combine them all. Well, not really magic, for you see that most magic is just a short cut for the muggle way. In fact..." But Skyler never did hear what the fact was. He turned out his mother ramblings as he ate the meal in front of him.

It wasn't until his mother stopped talking that Skyler noticed that his entire family was staring at him. His father's mouth was open and his brother's fork was stuck in his mouth as if he had been in the process of pulling it out. Only his mother seemed to be able to move. As soon as Skyler looked up and saw that they were all staring in awe at him his mother jumped up and put her palm against his forehead. "Well he doesn't have a fever. Oh yes, we'll have to take him to St. Mungo's. That's the wizard hospital," she answered even though no one asked a question. Skyler had no idea what was going on. He felt absolutely fine. Why was she talking about taking him to the hospital and why were they all staring at him dumbstruck? His right hand placed his fork down on his plate and out of the corner of his eye he noticed something. His hand was neon blue. Neon blue! He quickly looked at his left hand and it was the same colour. He twisted away from his mother and ran to the nearest mirror. What he saw terrified him. His entire face was the same colour and even his hair had turned from the brown to neon blue. What was going on?! "Come on," he felt his mother pulling his hand leading toward the fireplace. "We'll go by floo powder. Luckily I had this fireplace opened to the network just for emergencies like this one." Skyler had no time to react before he was spinning in the green flame and arrived at what could only be St. Mungo's.

They walked up to the witch behind the reception desk. "In here, they're called healers not nurses or doctors," Skyler's mother whispered to him.

"May I help you?" the witch behind the desk asked.

"Oh yes, I would like to see someone about my son here," his mum responded. The witch leaned over the desk to inspect Skyler further.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"Umm... he's blue," she said shortly. Skyler could tell that her temper was starting to flair. Skyler would love to see his mother blow a fuse.

"Follow that healer there," she told them and they followed her gesture to see a nice young witch smiling back at them. "By the way what's his name?"

"Skyler Willis," his mother answered. She was done with this rude witch and could not wait to be helped by the smiling healer.

"Hi Skyler," the nice young witch said. "I'm going to take care of you. Could you answer a few questions for me?" Skyler nodded his agreement, afraid to talk. What if his colour was contagious? "Great. If you two would step in here with me?" They followed her into a small room and they sat on the chairs she conjured. "Do you feel dizzy?" He shook his head. "Feverish?" Shake. "Is your nose clogged?" Shake. "Can you hear all right?" He nodded. "Are dogs attracted to you more than usual?" He started to shake his head but stopped looking at her for a hint of sarcasm. She smiled but seemed serious so he shook his head. "All right. I think we'll take you to see Miguel Taveras. He should be able to tell us what seems to be troubling you. Follow me please."

She lead them out back into the corridor and led them away from the reception desk deeper into the bowels of the hospital. They quickly came to an office that had a glass door. A man was inside. That must be Miguel Taveras, thought Skyler. Whoever that is. They entered the room and the young healer said to the man, "Excuse me Mr. Taveras but this is Skyler Willis and he could use your help."

[Miguel Malave Taveras]

Winter holiday meant more cases than normal at St. Mungo's. Lucky for Miguel though, being a diagnostic specialist didn't necessarily mean more work over the holidays. Many of the holiday accidents were simple things that required a Healer who was quick and good at mending the common things like cuts, broken bones, and burns (all of which were common with the icy sidewalks and extra dinners that needed cooked). For Miguel, he was given the 'odd' cases for lack of a better term. He was in charge of the cases that just weren't normal. Most of the time, he was a last resort if the case seemed normal at first and then later ended up being difficult to solve. Only on rare occasions were patients brought straight to Miguel. All of the Healers and other assistants in St. Mungo's knew that Miguel was a busy man who was not to be bothered with something like a silly case of Dragon Pox. No, he was hired at St. Mungo's to solve the most unpredictable of cases. Today would be one of those days, though Miguel didn't know it until two people were escorted to his office.

He had been working on a stack of paperwork from his last case when he heard his door open and saw one of the Healers bringing in a woman and a child. It didn't take more than a second for Miguel to see that the child was blue. Bright blue. Had Miguel not been accustomed to seeing strange cases like this, he might have starred for a moment, but he didn't. He merely summoned a book from the top shelf of his wall and flipped through the pages with his wand. Who would have thought that blue skin was a symptom of more than three dozen possible magical illnesses and maladies! At least that was what his notes had said. Miguel kept a log of all possible diseases and cases that he had worked with, careful to log everything that was necessary. He had only been a Healer for a short time, but with the way he worked long hours, devoting his life to his job, he had managed to put together a rather extensive notebook. That was why he was here though. Soon, Miguel would have the list narrowed down to one, and hopefully this young chap would be well on his way out of the hosptial... without blue skin and hair, of course.



Miguel nodded to the Healer who had brought the woman and the child. "Healer Miguel Taveras," he said, greeting them with a kind smile before kneeling down to the boy's level. There was no need for him to ask why they were there, as it was quite obvious. "What's your name, son? Here have a seat." Miguel pulled one of his office chairs over for the boy to sit down in. He motioned for the woman, who Miguel assumed to be the mother, to take a seat in the other chair. "So... Skyler. Can you tell me if you did anything out of the ordinary today? Were you around any magical creatures?" Miguel proceeded to both check over the file that the Healer had left when brining Skyler in and examine his blue skin with a few simple tests of his wand. First up, Miguel wanted to rule out the solutions that had to do with magical creatures. Many of the cases he had worked with or read about that involved blue skin were the result of people getting involved with a magical creature known as a Terrabin. Terrabins were small insect-like creatures that were harmless for the most part. However, like fireflies, Terrabins were luminescent and often attracted the attention of young kids. When touched, however, Terrabins left an invisible powdery residue on one's skin that, when not washed off, was known to turn the skin blue. It was nothing serious really, and in most cases, nobody had ever turned this blue, but Miguel wanted to just double check. There were quite a list of other possible Magical Creatures that could cause blue skin, though none of them seemed to fit exactly. He would rule them out rather quickly though with Skyler's simple answer. From there, he would address the issue of misfired spells, but first up, he wanted to start with the simple things.

[phantomlynx]

Mr. Taveras' office was very nice, Skyler concluded. Although he was not sure why anyone would want a glass wall that led out to the corridor. Anyone walking by could see in and watch you work. But he supposed that was a two way process. While they could watch you work, you could stare at them looking at you. Like a mirror. How weird would that be? The idea just didn't sit right with Skyler. Maybe Mr. Taveras had a stronger personality than Skyler. Maybe he didn't mind being examined under a glass microscope. That's what this reminded Skyler of. The cages at the zoo where only one of the walls was see through so that all the spectators could sit and watch the animals sleep. But this wasn't an animal! It was a living, breathing, human being! What was he doing in this glass cage?

Mr. Taveras summoned a notebook from the top of his book shelf and it seemed to be quite in depth. In fact most of the books and notebooks that Skyler saw around the office seemed to be huge. As if Healer Miguel Taveras had to have every bit of information he possibly could get his hands on. Skyler sat in the chair that Mr. Taveras provided for him and waited to see what would happen. The Healer checked some things in his notes and then asked if Skyler had been around some magical creatures today. The first thought to run through Skyler head was, That's ridiculous! Why would a magical creature turn my skin blue! but he didn't answer that way. He didn't want to offend this man that he had just met. He revised the answer in his head and with a nervous look at his mother he began to answer. However, it was not him who spoke first.

"We live in the muggle world actually," his mother spoke before Skyler could. "Oh yes, in fact his father is a muggle while I'm a witch. A talented one too I might add. When I married his father the first thing I told him was that I was a witch and did not live in the muggle world. Of course he didn't believe me. Oh yes, not until he met my parents. And then he had to believe. He had to believe that there was a whole 'nother world separate from his. Poor soul. It was easier for me to integrate into the muggle world rather than he come into the wizard world so that's where we decided to stay. We lived in London with Skyler until Chase, that's his brother, was born. Then we moved just outside the city and that's where we lived ever since." She nodded as if she had answered the Healer's question with her rambling.

Skyler gave the Healer a look that said, I'm so sorry about her. Then he answered the question, "I think what mum is trying to say is that since I live in the muggle world, I haven't had any interaction with magical creatures recently."

[Miguel Malave Taveras]

Miguel went back to his notebook as he waited for an answer about the magical creatures. It wasn't long before the mother spoke up. Only a sentence into her speaking, Miguel could tell that she was one of those mothers who felt the need to explain things in the longest and most drawn out way possible as they felt every little detail might be needed to help find the solution. In Miguel's case, sometimes the smallest details were quite useful, but he had learned that ninety-nine percent of what came out during these long spurts was useless in helping him to solve the case. Therefore, Miguel let his mind naturally listen for relevant words as he thumbed through some more pages, looking for the next most probable route that he could take if it wasn't a magical creature. "I'll take that as a no then." Miguel scribbled some notes, making sure to eliminate all possible causes that had to do with magical creatures, though at the same time realizing that even though they said that there were no magical creatures involved, it technically didn't mean that he might not find himself back at the possibility in the end. Often times, people thought they were answering truthfully whenever they were simply ignorant to what the truth really was. That often put a damper on Miguel's ability to diagnose successfully, but he managed to usually find their error in knowing the truth when it all came down to it. At some points he was half tempted to use a version of Veritaserum that he had modified to help gain the truth from some patients, though truth potions in general were ethically bound by many different Healing oaths and Miguel figured that in this case he was safe to assume that they really were telling the truth. The possibility of Terriabins inhabiting a muggle area were unlikely, due to the fact that they were, for unknown reasons, attracted to areas high in magical presence.

"Alright then," he said, moving onto his next set of possibilities. "Could you please remove your shirt, Skyler? I'm going to need to inject a serum into the skin on your back to help run some allergen tests that can help look for certain allergies that are quite rare. "I'm skeptical that this is an allergy though, as many of these rare allergies can be fatal. The odds of you not having already lost the ability to breath due to the closure of your trachea are quite low. Unless your body is only affected partially by the allergy, then I think we are safe to rule out allergies as well. Plus, I only have three of the eighty-six rare allergies listed to produce skin coloration. One is even most known to turn the skin a shade of pale pink, barely noticeable, and obviously you are not pink and you are quite noticeably blue." Miguel offered a small sort of smile at his own lighthearted statement. He wasn't the best when it came to bedside manner, but he tried. Especially with young kids, Miguel tried to make sure that they weren't fearful when he was working with them. Skyler seemed oddly calm though, so Miguel was quite sure that he wasn't too worried. If he was, he was doing well to conceal it.

Once Skyler lifted his shirt, Miguel took his wand and placed the tip of it into a vile of blood-red serum. He used the siphoning charm to load some of the potion into a bubble on the end of his wand that was able to stay in a solid-like form while he transported it from the vile to Skyler's back. "Just a little pinch," he said. "I never did quite master the ability to do the injection spell without causing the uncomfortable pinch." Miguel was simply being honest. There were some healers who had been able to master that spell good enough that when injecting something into a patient, the patient couldn't feel a thing. It took a skill that Miguel didn't have, but his injections would still do the same thing; they simply gave that uncomfortable pinch that was comparable to a muggle shot with a needle. "There, all done." Miguel observed to see if there were any obvious changes that might happen immediately. He was looking for one of two things. Either the skin would swell in response to the serum or the blue skin would fade. If either of these happened, Miguel would be one step closer to finding an answer. If neither happened, he'd still be a step closer, as he could eliminate some possibilities, but he'd still be quite a bit farther from an answer than if one of the two things happened. As he waited for the serum to work, Miguel figured he could move onto a third area. "Did you or anybody around you use any spells that may have backfired?" Miguel directed the question at Skyler, hoping that he would answer instead of his mother. Miguel wasn't really in the mood for another speech of an answer.

[phantomlynx]

"Could you please remove your shirt, Skyler? I'm going to need to inject a serum into the skin on your back to help run some allergen tests that can help look for certain allergies that are quite rare. I'm skeptical that this is an allergy though, as many of these rare allergies can be fatal."

Fatal? Those were the only words that Skyler heard Mr. Taveras say. Fatal? That meant that he might die. Die? Over this? Why? What had he done to deserve this? He just had blue skin and hair. There was nothing fatal about that. Sure, it wasn't normal, but was anything in the magical world? This was all his mother's fault. If she had taken him to a real hospital they would have known how to sort this out. They wouldn't tell him that he might die. Skyler was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't realise that his mother and Healer Taveras were waiting anxiously for Skyler to comply with his instructions. What were they again? Who cared what they were. Skyler might die. Skyler might die. Not faint, not bruise. Die. Right here in this glass cage that Mr. Taveras wanted to call an office. He imagined what it would look like for all the people looking into the glass cage. Healer Taveras and his mum standing over a dead blue corpse. Maybe when they buried him, the blue of his skin would transfer to the the earth. And then all the plant life that tried to grow around him would have a strange blue tinge to it. But then it wouldn't survive, Skyler learned that plants had to be green to absorb sunlight in order to live. Only magical plants would grow over his burial sight. They would scare the muggles and so none of his muggle acquaintances would come and visit him.

Skyler was torn from his thoughts by his mother waving her hand in front of his eyes and motioning for him to take of his shirt. Skyler blinked a little and realised he was still in the glass cage, St. Mungo's. Still alive. He took off his shirt and watched as Healer Taveras gathered some liquid in his wand bubble. Skyler was extremely nervous but was trying his best to hide it. He hadn't really been until Healer Taveras told him this might be fatal. Skyler was a very reasonable person and therefore usually kept his head in most situations. It would not help anyone if he panicked and made it difficult for the Healer to do his work. He tried his best to think this way when Healer Taveras delivered his news so conversationally. Like it was unlikely that this, thing, that had caused his hair and skin to change blue was nothing big. Skyler couldn't see what the Healer was doing to his back but he did feel the slight pinch that Healer Taveras mentioned. It was a sign that he actually was doing something.

Skyler felt the skin on his back slightly tighten so he assumed that that meant it was swelling. But what did that mean? Nothing to Skyler. He couldn't see his back so he didn't know whether the blue was disappearing or not either. He hoped it did. What if he had to go back to Hogwarts like this? How awful. He would never hear the end of if from Will. Will would think it was so funny but Skyler knew that Will would stick by him with blue skin and all. Williard was a true friend through thick and thin. Healer Taveras
was saying something but Skyler found it hard to hear him. It was sort of like his voice had become fuzzy. But that was ridiculous. How can a voice become fuzzy? But the whole room seemed to be fuzzy. What was going on? "Mr. Taveras, what's goin-" but he couldn't finish his sentence. His voice didn't come through. This is fun, was his thought. The rest was darkness.

[Miguel Malave Taveras]

The affects of the serum almost were noticed immediately by Miguel. Skyler's skin started to visibly swell, but none of the color faded. Miguel watched it closely, see how quickly and far the skin would swell. This was an obvious sign that an allergen was at least part of the cause for Skyler's blue skin. Miguel now just needed to find out if there were any other side effects; ones that Skyler might not have noticed yet or were impossible to notice without the right knowledge of how and where to look. He was about to use his wand to get a echo reading from Skyler's lungs whenever the young boy started to talk and then seemingly went limp right there in Miguel's office. Miguel practically caught Skyler from falling forward onto the ground. His mother almost instantly entered into a state of panic.

"What's happening!?" she shrieked. Frantic family was never a good thing. They only ever made the situation worse.

"Calm down please, mam," Miguel directed. "If you wouldn't mind stepping out of my office, I will be much more capable of doing my job." Miguel knew that he needed to get her out of there and determine why Skyler had lost consciousness. He could still feel a pulse, which meant Skyler wasn't dead... always a good sign.

"Leave?" she questioned with a protest of disbelief. "You expect me to leave him here? Why isn't he moving?!" Skyler's mother continued to pace frantically as she was obviously scared to see her son looking so lifeless as he rested with Miguel's support in the chair. By this time, another Healer had seen what was happening and she had entered the office.

"Leslie, can you please escort this woman to the waiting room. Then call for a Healing Assistant. I'll need to get this boy to a patient room." Miguel spoke with a sense of calmness that many might not have expected given the situation. Miguel was used to it though, the pressure and the unpredictability of his job. Once the Healer had escorted Skyler's mother away, Miguel laid Skyler gently on his back on the floor of his office. He finally was able to do an echo reading, which amplified the sound of Skyler's breathing so that Miguel could get a better listen. Sure enough, just as he had expected, Skyler was slowly losing the ability to breath, which explained why he had passed out. With a quick spell cast toward Skyler's lung cavity, Miguel had opened the passage a bit as he could tell by the increased sound of breathing. It was only temporary though. To be able to prevent it permanently, Miguel would need to identify the source of the allergen. Judging from his memory, there were at least a dozen that might fit the discoveries he had made so far.

Soon, the Healing Assistant came with a transportable bed to put Skyler on. Miguel loaded the boy's body onto the white sheets that covered the small cushioned bed. "He'll need regular respiratory charms every two hours. Be sure to check in on him, and make sure he is hooked up to a permanent echo reading and that someone is checking in on him at least every fifteen minutes. He should regain consciousness once the respiratory charms take full effect, though my guess is he'll be ready to sleep by that point. I don't expect him to wake up until the morning, but when he does, notify me immediately. Prepare him for a full set of level twelve allergen testing. These are the allergens I want him tested for. You can do that once you have him back in the room and hooked up to the echo reading. Again, notify me when you get the results.

With that, Miguel watched as Skyler was levitated down the hall on his temporary bed. Miguel then set back to work, researching each of the allergens that were on the list that he had given the Healing Assistant. Whatever it was that was causing Skyler to turn blue and lose his respiratory capabilities, Miguel was going to be ready to take care of it when the time came.

[phantomlynx]

That's odd, Skyler thought to himself. His eyes were still shut as he had just awoken from sleep. He was in that state of consciousness where the mind was aware there was an outside world but still unwilling to let go of the dream reality. The reason that his first thought was, That's odd, was that Skyler did not wear a watch. Nor did he wear a bracelet. But he could feel that there was something around his wrist. And that something was rather tight because he could feel the beating of his heart through the pressure it caused. Why would something be on my wrist, and why is it so tight? Skyler slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the sun shining in through the window to his left. The window in my room is behind my bed. Not beside it... The second thing he noticed was that the room that he was in was white. Very white. Almost too perfect. He looked down at his wrist and noticed that there was a black strip of cloth tied around his blue arm. BLUE ARM! That's right. Suddenly the past day's events flooded back to him. Something had happened to change the colour of his skin from its normal tone to blue. His mother had brought him to St. Mungo's. Mum! Skyler quickly looked around the bright white room and saw the slumped figure of his mother in a chair nearby. He figured that she must've fallen asleep there. It must be uncomfortable for her. Skyler was in a nice cushy bed. But it wasn't his bed. Immediately he wanted to get up.

Investigating his surroundings further, he saw that the black strip around his wrist was hooked up to some sort of device to monitor his heart rate as it would beep softly each time his heart would contract. He soon found that the noise itself had dulled into a rhythmic beat that he had finally adjusted to, making him forget it had ever been an annoyance in the first place. He tried to sit up but found that there were suction cups taped on to his chest that were hooked into another device. Skyler had no idea what that device would be for. He wanted to ask his mother how he came to be in this bed and this room but he thought better of it. She probably had a much worse night than she did. It was easy to be unconscious. It was hard to be the one worried. But he wanted answers. What happened? Where was he? Where was Healer Miguel? The last thing that Skyler remembered was that he was in Healer Miguel's aquarium of an office and that he was injecting some sort of liquid into his back. Skyler reached to his back and tried to feel the swell that the liquid had caused. All he could feel was a little bump so he figured the swelling must've have gone down. But that still didn't answer his question? What happened?

Just then a witch came into the room. Skyler had always been a little weary about talking with strangers but in this case he was willing to make an exception. Skyler opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything she spoke, "Oh good! You're awake. You gave us all a fright including your mother." At this point she must have either recalled or realised that his mother was asleep in the corner for she lowered her voice. "My name is Leslie. I'll be taking care of you during the day. Yes, day. You were unconscious for nearly eighteen hours. Oh your poor mother..." She clicked her tongue and looked over to the slumped form that was his mother. Skyler almost felt that this person was mocking his mother and he felt sort of defensive. He cleared his throat loudly and the Healer shook herself out of it. "You're skin still appears to be that colour. I wonder what it is. Well, let me do this and this I'll get Healer Miguel." She pointed her wand and his throat and muttered some words. Skyler felt his throat open and he realised that it had been tight. He reached up and rubbed his neck wondering why he didn't notice it before. "I'll go get him now. Be back in a few moments." And with that she left. Skyler was amazed that he had not been able to get a word in edgewise. But then he realised he did not want to talk with Leslie. He wanted to see Healer Miguel. Skyler sighed and leaned back in his bed and did the only thing he could do, wait.