Mala Tempora 17th January, 2004 Something wasn’t right. Nigel paused, hand on the doorknob of his front door, unable to shake away the sense of unease that struck him suddenly nor explain it. Rationalising that the best solution was to press on until he encountered the problem, he swung the door op...

The barest hint of a smile tugged at Nigel’s lips. Anything vaguely related to time was confounding at best, but Rhysln was already starting to wrap her mind around the subject and think along the correct lines. “Correction: it’s not whether or not it’ll have an effect. As of this moment and to the ...

As Martin settled into the recliner, the professor flicked his wand with at the door of his office with a whisper, setting up a privacy charm that would dull noises from the outside and indicate to anyone approaching that they were not to be disturbed. Once that was done, he moved over to the reclin...

Rhysln’s request was simple and fair enough. “Very well,” Nigel said, and turned to Louis. “Jaywick was a straightforward assignment. A fugitive sighted at a location, the intelligence was sound, and no expected complications. A textbook arrest procedure: Apparate to the village, then surround and s...

“Dead on,” Louis nodded, confirming what Rhysln had said about the role the Room of Requirement played in the Second Wizarding War. “Can I leave you to check it out?” he asked sheepishly as he habitually scratched the back of his head. “I only managed to find the Room twice, and twice it appeared a...

The process of becoming an Animagus was essentially a personal journey into one’s psyche, and as such Nigel had always liked to tailor his guidance to suit each student’s needs and preferences. Thus was the reason why he had posed his question to Martin, whose thought process became apparent as he a...

Nigel’s tacit admission that he was a good deal older than Bishop was backfiring when the latter jokingly addressed him as his elder. Shaking his head ruefully in resignation and defeat, the Transfiguration professor begrudgingly accepted the label. “Think nothing of it,” Nigel replied when Bishop t...

“I already noted one potential difference, though it is not a body marking but a possession,” Nigel said as he pointed to his wristwatch. “His is of a slightly different make and appears much simpler than mine, though I know not the circumstances that led to such a disparity.” Unclasping his watch,...

Though Nigel grimaced and nodded as Morgan said that they had been blindsided, the brief flash of self-directed anger in his eyes betrayed how he felt that he could have done better. After Morgan covered up the mirror and promised to lock it away, they apprised him of what his reflection had reveale...

The surprise on Morgan’s face told Nigel’s reflection that he had been right: they had been unaware of the nature of the reflections that had crossed into this world from the mirror. Of course they were unaware – they had but just witnessed what the artefact they had created could do. Compounding th...

Nigel’s reflection tensed up slightly as Morgan pointed their wand at him. Knowing the Unspeakable’s combat prowess, it was unlikely that his reflection could hold his own for long in a fight against Morgan, especially since much of his attention was spent on maintaining the Time Bubble. “Touché,” h...

“ Gu cinnteach ,” ¹ Nigel replied, heartened that Astrid’s spirits weren’t dampened despite what had happened. He observed carefully as she managed to imbue the statuette with a small reservoir of magic – on her first try no less – and subsequently cast the Draconifors spell. Immediately, the statu...

If Bishop had anything to say about Nigel’s seeming lack of care about his condition, he wasn’t saying it. Such a response – or more accurately, a lack thereof – wasn’t too uncommon. “Not used to seeing someone being so nonchalant about their injury?” Nigel asked. “Don’t worry. This doesn’t happen t...

Nigel’s eyes lit up when he heard that Erynhil was a fellow motorcycle enthusiast. “Does two count as a collection?” he returned the question to the younger professor. “For the longest time I’ve been riding a 1976 Honda Gold Wing. Managed to restore a vintage Royal Enfield recently, but she’s not ru...

Homework was a stress-inducing thing, not just for students but for teachers too. Nigel massaged his temples before picking up his quill again. The essay before him was… a catastrophe. The first sentence was already fraught with errors, and as he was about to correct them, he realised what a Hercule...

Nigel’s reflection winced as Morgan knocked the daylights out of their reflection with a single, well-placed punch. “Remind me not to get on your bad side,” he gulped, subconsciously backing away from the Unspeakable. “Although something tells me that might already be a foregone conclusion.” Any out...

A smile hovered over Nigel’s lips as Erynhil offered to teach him about plants. “I’ll gladly take you up on your offer, Professor,” the Scotsman said. And he nodded as the younger man revealed that he had a map, though he did not think it was useful unless he had personally walked the castle and the...

“Let us agree to disagree,” Nigel’s reflection shrugged as he stepped back, content to let Morgan’s reflection do as they pleased. Upon seeing the drawn knife, Nigel prepared to intervene with a Disarming Charm, but his spell bounced harmless off a glittering shield conjured by his reflection. “Rel...

With a wordless wave of his wand, Nigel locked the doors of the room and mirrored Morgan’s movement to physically block the reflections from the avenues of egress. Unbothered by the less-than-friendly welcome, Nigel’s reflection tilted his head slightly to acknowledge Morgan’s greeting. “Yes, we hav...

The topic of Nigel's werewolf-inflicted injuries was not one he enjoyed discussing, and one he avoided dwelling too much upon as far as possible – though Bishop could not have known about this and thus could not be faulted for prolonging that conversation. To Nigel, it was an unsolvable problem, one...

To understand the glory of what one is trying to restore… Erynhil’s words were more profound as they seemed at first. “I have but hazy, rose-tinted memories of my days as a student here to draw upon,” Nigel replied with a half shrug. “Quite an impossible standard to measure up to, in my opinion. I c...

Nigel’s brow creased in both concentration and worry as Morgan described their reflection. Unlike his, theirs was completely different from what they were like, and he wondered what exactly it was that the mirror had shown them. Was it showing them an alternate timeline instead, one that was randoml...

Given the sensitive nature of what they might see in the mirror. Nigel gave Morgan some personal space so that they might behold their reflection in peace, and without any interference from his own reflection. Unable to see what was in the mirror, he instead cast his gaze towards Morgan, curious to ...

Imbuing a magical artifact of that size with a new set of enchantments, especially one that involved numerous complex mathematical calculations, took a great deal of concentration. So engrossed was Nigel in his work that he didn’t realise that he had company until the younger professor spoke up. Loo...

The reason why Bishop halted his experiments became clear to Nigel when the Alchemy professor mentioned the word “safety”. Safety was always of paramount importance – it had been drilled into Nigel’s head even before he started his career as an Unspeakable, and any lingering doubts would have been w...