A Birth day

"Oh, yeah, I'm definitely vaccinated with every freaking vaccine known to humanity, I think," Marcus laughed. "That was a condition of my 'international' employment," Marcus said.

"I know Fenrir mentioned once that it has been nigh onto impossible for the members of the pack to get any routine medical care," Angus said, "because they're so hated. You know werewolves always have been hated, but James has just made that so much worse for all of them. Maybe this will give us a means to get Fenrir convinced that we can help them get all their vaccines. If they are too afraid to go into St. Mungos, then maybe we can bring a little of St. Mungos to them. What do you think? I think Robert would go for it. I can only presume Jess would too, but you know how she'd feel about that more than I do."

"Ru, we need all our teens to be vaccinated if they haven't been," Angus said, thinking now about the kids. I honestly don't know about Ginger and Anise, but I presume you made sure the boys were when they were little, didn't you?"

Over at the main house, Robert had planned on going in to St. Mungos on time, but when Molly had gotten sick he had thought he would just check on her and then go to work. But then the diagnosis of mumps had derailed him. He had treated her but then he had taken a saliva sample and he had run a few tests on it in the work room upstairs. Now he went downstairs. When he found Jess, he motioned to her.

"A word, please, Jess, before you go to work," Robert said. He took her up to the work room and closed the door, not wanting to be overheard. "I ran some tests on a saliva sample I took from Molly. You need to know. I was sure it was mumps when I saw her, but something didn't ring right with me, and that's why I did the test. Jess, this has been genetically altered to not just affect the human bodily systems. Someone has tinkered with this to especially hit anyone hard who has magical abilities. It hits the human endocrine systems just as it does for muggles, but then it also infiltrates our magical systems--which muggles don't have--and it hits it again. Some dark arts criminal is spreading this purposely, so I'm betting it isn't just our lot who are going to be catching this. We're going to be seeing cases show up in St. Mungos. I'm going to have to get with Nigel straight away, and we're going to have to create a new vaccine as soon as possible. We don't dare let this news out until we have a vaccine ready to give."

"Well, that sort of illness would hurt Tom's trade," Robert said. "He can't risk his merchandise getting some new illness that we can't cure yet. That would put him out of business for awhile. Right now, I wouldn't put Tom on a list of suspects. However, Suzanne is a different story. We know she's very capable of this level of stupidity, and she certainly would do something like this. But, is she strong enough, by herself? No. This could well be the same person who was tinkering with my potions awhile back. We never did identify or catch that person.

"Jess, when you check on the pack, do get a list of who has been vaccinated and whether they're fully or partly vaccinated. I'm betting most of the pack has had absolutely no vaccinations at all. After all, they've been dedicated to living like animals, and Fenrir has been against them, by and large. Vaccinations are a human thing, and there are very, very few werewolves registered with the ministry who have any vaccines.. And, if you see Dennis, ask him if the girls are fully vaccinated. When I get that list. I'll send either Edward or Angus up to talk to Fenrir about overall medical care for the pack. If anyone can talk Fenrir into letting his pack get vaccinated, it will be Edward or Angus. Be careful with masking up. That will scare them. They'll see it as rejection. Just be aware of that. In the meantime, I'll try to talk to Nigel."

Robert bristled when Jack interrupted to move Jess along.

"Cool it, Jack," Robert said. "I'll let her go when I'm finished with her. She needs my instructions before either of you go up there. I don't have any idea of Cris was vaccinated. We had to declare Cris dead in order to save his life. Nobody asks about vaccinations on a corpse. I don't know if I could get them without sending Michael in to try to steal them. Tell Jessie for now not to get Cris vaccinated but don't let him go around Molly either."

Robert turned and looked at Jess.

"Now, listen," he told her. "The very best we have is our current vaccine, but that only counts for half the problem. It's better than nothing but we'll have to do better. As it is, I'm going to have to develop two different drugs. One for those who have the muggle vaccine, and one for those who have neither and need both parts."

"Jack," Robert continued, "get me a list for every single grounds crew or security crew employee. I want to know who has been vaccinated and who hasn't been. I need today. If either of you need me, I am willing to bet I'm going to have to go to my big lab at the farm. Now you're both free to go." He went to the floo and opened it. "Nigel, wakey, wakey, my friend. I need your help--stat."

"No. Once you have the list, you bring it to me and wait for further instruction," Robert said. "Maybe by then Nigel and I will have something. If I get something sooner, I'll let you know. We must avoid having to panic people by telling them, after they've been vaccinated that it's no bloody good and they have to come back for another. We have to do it right the first time if we can. At this point, we don't know how many we'll have at St. Mungo's. For all we know, we might only have a trickle of people. Let's pray for a miracle. At this point, even a little miracle would be good. For now, gather information. If you see people on the grounds who are already sick, then we'll have to make a shift. We have one workers' cabin that's vacant. Let's set it up as an isolation sick bay here until we can do better. If we do, we'll have to use isolation garb to protect staff then. Keep me posted. I've sent Shannon and Nicky to their apartment, and I've told them to stay there. Michael is going to take Nicky's shift in the kitchen tonight, and we'll have to do housekeeping tasks for ourselves til further notice. Everyone's going to have to pitch in..."

"Lupin. I'm here. What's the trouble?" Nigel called.

"I need you here straight away. We need to formulate two vaccines, and I needed them stat yesterday."

"Well, shit," Nigel sighed. "Give me five to shower and pack a bag and then I'll be there."

"Fine," Robert said.

"Come in, Jess," Robert said. Edward and Nigel were there, and Nigel had brought three young potions makers from New York with him. All them were working as quickly as they could. Nigel was taking the sample they had gotten from Molly, and he was working to identify the particular piece of the virus that was attacking the magical system. He wanted to identify it and isolate it so they could formulate both vaccines.

"Got it! Nigel, I have it," a young woman with chestnut colored hair called. "I have the virus that's attacking the magical system!"

"Splendid," Robert said, breathing a sigh of relief. "That's the first breakthrough we've had. Now, maybe Nigel and I can get to work on finding a vaccine that will protect people from it. And also a cure to help those who get it. This could be a very long haul. Thank you, Jess. I'll take the list now. Oh, if you lot are looking for Kate, she's here. She's setting up some guest rooms for this crew to sleep in, and then she's going to make coffee and sandwiches, I think. Can you get me a crew together to set up that empty workers cabin as a potential isolation cabin, just in case? And then you lot need to get some rest while its' quiet. I hope it'll stay quiet, but, of course, I don't have any way to know that."