Minerva mcgonagall woke on a cool October morning with a cough and a sneeze, she groaned out loud. She knew she was probably sick but she had classes to teach and a stupid staff meeting this morning, she simply didn't have time to be sick AND she added as an after thought she just wasn't the type of person to get sick. She got out of bed and glared at her alarm clock that read 5:45. She immediately felt very dizzy and feel forwards into the wall head first. Ugh this is going to be a long day she thought rubbing her now aching head. She slowly made her way to the bathroom she thought briefly of going to poppy in the hospital wing but thought better of it, she did not need poppy fusing over her. Got ready and stopped to look in the mirror she looked horrible her eyes were glassy with dark circles under them and her cheeks were flushed but also quite pale as well as a huge lump on her forehead from where she had fallen into the wall. She sighed, a glamour charm would be needed today to avoid Poppy's fusing. As she pulled her hair into its customary bun she noted her symptoms, she had a strong headache but that was presumably from hitting her head and, she thought she may have a slight concussion as well as a sore throat and a cough. She put on her robes and grabbed her wand, hat and applied a quick glamour charm. She then headed for the staff room. All the staff were already there except Albus which she was secretly thankful because of all the staff he most likely to see through her glamour. "Having a good morning Minerva?" asked Professor Snape with a sneer. She just ignored him. He glanced at her curiously as she usually had a smart retort ready. Just then Albus Dumbledore headmaster of Hogwarts and a close personal friend to Minerva walked in. "Ah good everyone is here!" He said brightly looking around his eyes rested on his deputy a little longer than usual but he said nothing. "I called you all here to tell you that staff will know be patrolling the hallways at night, two staff members per night just as a caution until Sirius black is recaptured and safely in Azkaban once more" there was a collective groan at this news. "I will let you know what night is yours, however tonight it will be Minerva and I" Minerva registered what he had said and just barley held back a groan her head was pounding hard now and she was barely resisting the urge to cough so hard she would fall over. "Do you have any idea how long this will be for?" Asked prof sprout. It was filius Flitwick who awnsered "I expect it won't be long they will probably catch him soon the dementors are very angry" "Alright" said the headmaster "does anyone have anything to add?" No one said anything. "Alright then meeting dismissed" everyone got up to leave for breakfast including Minerva however she suddenly became very dizzy and had to grab the coffee table for support. "Minerva dear" said a voice in her ear she recognized as Albus "are you alright?" She had quickly regained her composure and was now trying to think up an explaination to fool Ablus dumbledore the greatest wizard of potentially all times. "Yes yes I just got up too fast" she replied using her teaching voice that indicated this conversation was over. However Albus noted that she was slightly Hoarse. And with that she walked out swaying slightly as she walked towards the Great hall. She noticed that she was having trouble walking straight but she dismissed it as a side effect of hitting her head. She sighed she felt absolutely awful as though she had just flown in a 3 hour quitich match in the rain and she was freezing. She groaned and proceeded into the great hall and up to the teachers table. A few staff cast her curious glances as it was not normal for her to be late or to not have said anything in a staff meeting. Upon sitting down she wished she hadn't at the sight of food her stomach began to roll over and over but she knew she had to eat as Albus was watching her closely so she picked up and piece of toast and noted she was now very hot. She ate it slowly her stomach feeling worse by the minute finally she finished it and her cup of tea and rose slowly muttering something about planning lessons to Albus and pamona who was on her other side she got up and walked out as fast as she could without running. She half ran back to her quarters and promptly threw up her stomach contents into the toilet after about 15 minutes she got up and looked at the time "Damn" she said out loud she only had 5 minutes till her first class of second year ravenclaws and slitherins she half heartedly got up and walked back into her classroom. The morning past in a haze, her headache kicked up a notch. She didn't want to go to lunch as she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it down so she just sat at her desk with her face in her hands until someone came in. It was the weasley twins they didn't seems to notice her at first then finally she looked up they were decorating her whole classroom in pink wall paper. Then all of sudden Fred Weasley noticed her and jumped about a foot in the air and his brother followed suit. "What are you doing Mr. Weasley's?" She asked cautiously in a hoarse and tried voice. "We were just-" started Fred weasley but his brother cut him off "are you feeling alright professor?" Questioned George clearly confused as to why they didn't yet have a punishment and that they hadn't noticed her sooner. Also noting her pale face and flushed cheeks. "Yes I'm fine" she replied quickly. 10 points each from griffendor for this charade, you may go" the twins looked at each other and left. Minerva went to her quarters and in a desperate attempt to feel better took some pepper up potion but was not ready to go to poppy yet there was too much to do. After the pepper up she felt a bit better but still felt nausea and had a horrible head ache and prersiant dizziness she checked her glamour was still in tact. With the help of the pepper up she got through her last classes but by the end she felt even worse and relized with a loud groan her and Albus had guard duty and she had to go to dinner as she had missed lunch but first, she has to mark some essays she stood up to go back to her quarters but was extremely dizzy and fell backwards against the desk and had to wait a few moments before she could move again as she proceeded back to her quarters. She noticed she still couldn't walk straight which meant she couldn't be too close to Albus during there rounds or he would notice. Maybe, she mused she could take the bottom floors and him the top that way she could be alone to deal with her condition. She sat down at her desk to mark but noticed how bad her headache had gotten and how dizzy and feverish she felt she quickly looked down at a fourth year essay but the words kept moving all over the page and after a quarter of an hour she gave up and just decided to go back to the great hall. On her walk there she started coughing hard and was having trouble stopping, once she regained control she realized she couldn't eat like this and decided she would have to get a headache potion, the only problem was if she went to poppy she would insist on doing a scan and would see that she was ill. There was nothing for it she would have to go the Severus, she slowly and resolutely made her way down to the dungeons she entered dungeon 5 and found Severus snape sitting at his desk marking papers "ah Minerva come to complain about my treatment of your cubs again?" He asked snidely "oh can it Severus" she said in a very dangerous voice. However it lost some of it effects and she started into another coughing fit. Severus's face turned from a sneer to slight concern as she regained her composure "are you feeling well Minerva" he asked sourly but it didn't disguise the worry in his voice "of course I am Severus and since when do you care?"she asked snidely. "Why are you here then?" Drawled serverus with a sneer. At that moment she decided it wasn't worth it and turned on her heel and walked right back out of the dungeons. Well this wasn't good she felt like she was dying but she had to go to the great hall and dinner started in 20 minutes. Suddenly she had an idea and went back to her quarters. Once there she knelt infront of the fire and put in some flop power before sticking her head in and yelling "headmasters office" he was sitting at his desk and got up when he saw her "ah min what can I do for you today?" He asked "I came to inform you I will not be at dinner tonight Albus I have essays to mark for my newt class and if I wait another day they may drive themselves insane. Oh and what time is guard duty?" She questioned "very well Minerva I'll see you at 10:30 for guard duty" he replied and then quickly surveyed her "are you sure your feeling alright min?" He asked "of course Albus" she said reassuringly even though her voice was hoarse. She pulled her head out of the fire place and went into her room where she collapsed on her bed and fell asleep. She was woken much later by a series of raps on her door she wished whoever was doing it would stop her head hurt so much! She coughed lightly and tried to stand up only to fall back down. She tried again more carefully this time and succeeded in walking to the door but not in a straight line. She realized it might help if she took off the heels she was wearing. As she walked past the mirror she noted that her hair had come down and her eyes and skin looked horrible. But there was no time to fix it now the person was now rapping extremely hard on her door. She opened it only to find Albus "Min dear you look terrible! He gasped "and you never late" he added "its 10:45". She gaped at him but then realized what he meant and hurriedly said "I'm so sorry Albus one second!" And she hurried inside she put her hair up, smoothed her robes and applied a simple glamour charm. "Alright let's go" and she motioned towards the end of the hallway. However after a few step Albus realized she couldn't walk straight. "Min?" He said quietly "hmm?" Was her only reply as she checked a broom closed for kids out of bed after hours. "Minnie dear I'm taking you to the hospital wing" she started to protested but he pressed on "you can't even walk straight Minerva! And he said resting a hand on her forehead "your burning up with fever" before she could say anything he had scooped her up and walked her to the hospital wing. "Poppy" he yelled as he put Minerva down on a bed. "Yes headmaster" she replied coming out of her office she caught sigh to Professor mcgonagall and hurried over. "Oh no min hold still let me run a diagnostic spell" stated the healer. "This is unnecessary I'm fine" she tried to protest but ended up in a coughing fit. "105 degree fever, cough, headache, nausea, dizziness and a concussion! Merlin Min I don't even want to know how that happened! Minerva cut in "just a slight altercation with a wall" she stated firmly but the medi witch continued "You must have been ill for a day at least! Next time come to me!" She sounded half exasperated half worried "Will she be okay?" Asked Albus "of course" replied the medi-witch "but" and here her eyes gleamed "she is in bed rest until further notice" Minerva groaned, this was going to be no fun at all.