Minutes Before Colin Wakes Up

Ginny walked around on the third floor. She had a note in her hands. She stopped to look around and then looked back at the note. It said to come to the abandoned third-floor girl's bathroom and had directions leading her. It also said to keep the note in her hands. She resumed her steps and scratched her head.

"What do they want? In the first place, why did I come here just because of a note? I swear to God if this is a prank..." She walked through the halls and turned a corner. There were no paintings or portraits on the walls neither were there any ornamental armor stands. After turning another corner, there was a straight hallway leading to a bathroom. There was a creepy ambiance in the atmosphere. Ginny grew warier as she slowly walked towards the girl's bathroom, step by step. As she entered through the door, she saw it. A dark abyss-like hole in the middle of the sinks. Ginny's eyes widened in shock.

Something like this was in Hogwarts? No, wait, there's something wrong here-!

Ginny suddenly had an ominous feeling. She turned around and wanted to run. Before she could run out of the door, a hand grasped her head. She looked back to see a pair of cold-blue eyes before she was consumed by them.

Ginny woke up with a start. She looked around and saw one of her fellow first-year girls.

"Are you okay?!" the girl ran up to her and sat down beside Ginny on her bed.

"Y-Yes, I mean no," Ginny felt cold sweat drench her back. She looked at her friend, clearly unsettled.

"Don't worry," the girl took a napkin from her pockets and used it to wipe the sweat off from Ginny's forehead. "It was just a nightmare."

The girl looked at Ginny's eyes, "Do you remember anything?"

"I-I..." Ginny tried to remember but could only draw blanks. Still, she had a bad feeling. "Did I leave the room?"

"Huh? No, you were talking to the second-years in the common room before you came here. You were sleeping when I found you."

"I see...how long have I been sleeping for?"

"Not long, only been half an hour."

"That short of a time?" Ginny wondered feeling something was off.

"You shouldn't think about these right now. Go change if you don't want to get a cold. It's still in the middle of January." the girl smiled at her and walked off. Ginny got up from her bed and saw her pajamas drenched and sticking to her body. Shaking the bad thoughts out of her head, she began changing her clothes.

Minerva McGonagall was the transfiguration professor of Hogwarts as well as the house head of Gryffindor. On this weekend, the trips to Hogsmeade finally began. After checking her houses' students for their permission slips, she let them go on their merry way. They had a supervising professor with them so she wasn't particularly worried about the students. Well...one of them came back well ahead of time. But considering his personality, it wasn't all that problematic. Right now, she was having tea with the resident herbology teacher and Hufflepuff house head, Professor Sprout in her room. They were chatting merrily discussing the affairs of daily life accompanied by the occasional jokes and laughter when...

"-ofessor!" an illegible voice sounded.

"Did you hear that Minerva?" Professor Sprout asked. She set down the teacup and looked at Professor McGonagall with a questioning gaze.

"I did though I don't what it was," she also set her cup down and got up. Looking at Professor Sprout, she gestured her to stay here. Professor Sprout simply nodded and went back to drinking tea.

Professor McGonagall opened the door to her room and looked at the classroom in front of her. She was in her room which was joined together with the Transfiguration classroom.

"Professor!" she heard the voice again. It was full of urgency. Before she could ponder over it, the doors of the classroom swung open.

BAM!

Inside came a disheveled youth. His clothes were wet with some black grime on them. His hair was in disarray. His blue eyes were now filled with panic. The sleeves of his sweater and the shirt underneath were shredded. His arms which had numerous cuts and a decaying hole were visible.

"Mr. Balor!" Professor McGonagall gasped. "W-What happened to you?" the professor went up to him and held his hands up, her face became pale as she saw his injuries.

"Professor now's not the time!" Sol said, trying to shift her attention.

"Then when is the time?!" Professor McGonagall retorted.

Sol couldn't find his words for a second there. She's kind of right, isn't she? "Professor, it's Colin!" he added more urgency to his voice.

"What about him?!" Professor McGonagall was dumbfounded. This is the time to be worrying about yourself, right?

"I can't explain. Please follow me, Professor!" Sol urged her. At this time, Professor Sprout came out from the room at the back, "Minerva, what's wrong- Mr. Balor, is that you?!"

Professor Sprout threw the other professor a questioning look. "I don't know. I'll follow Mr. Balor here, you go ask Poppy to come with some healing potions!"

"Is there something wrong?" Professor Sprout asked worriedly. Professor McGonagall wanted to explain but since she didn't know what was going on herself and that Sol had run out of the room, she said, "I don't know." And then she left the room following Sol closely. As Sol ran through the halls, the blood dripped down from his arms and created a trail on the floor. Professor McGonagall saw an already existing trail of blood on the floor. She guessed that it was from when Sol ran here. Soon after, the two of them entered the third-floor girl's bathroom.

"W-What's this?!" Professor McGonagall asked in disbelief as she gaped at the hole in the middle of the sinks. Sol looks at her but doesn't answer her question, "Professor, now's not the time! We need to go in there!"

Professor McGonagall felt exasperated. When is the time?! "In there? Did you go down there yourself?"

Sol nodded and said, "I did. I followed Colin down there after I left the infirmary. He seemed to be in a daze as he came."

"So is he still in there?" Professor McGonagall started to become more frantic by the second.

"Oh, um..." Sol hesitated. He didn't know how to tell her.

"Spit it out, Mr. Balor," the Professor had an ominous feeling.

In a solemn tone, Sol replied, "C-Colin died down t-there."

Professor McGonagall froze. With a deathly white expression, she asked, "S-Sorry, I didn't hear right. What did you say?"

"Colin's d-dead, professor..."

There was a grim atmosphere and silence between them. Be it Sol who felt regretful of Colin's death or the petrified Professor McGonagall who was unable to comprehend what she just heard, both of them stayed dead silent.

After a while, Sol's lips moved, "Professor, I'm afraid we shouldn't tarry any longer. We still need to-"

However, the professor cut him off, "I-I understand but we need to call the Headmaster for this. Wait here, I'll-"

An aged voice full of the vicissitudes of life rang out from behind, "No need, Minerva. I'm right here."

Both of them turned to look at the Headmaster who had a rare frown on his usually calm face. He put a hand on Professor McGonagall's shoulder to reassure her and glanced at Sol. His eyes moved towards Sol's arm which had the decaying hole and black blood flowing out of it. Sol understood what the Headmaster wanted and raised his injured arm. The Headmaster raised Sol's arm with one of his hands and adjusted his spectacles. As he identified the source of Sol's injuries, the frown on his brows tightened.

"Mr. Balor, now I'm going to have to ask you a very important question." Seeing the serious expression on the Headmaster's face, Sol became equally as serious.

"Did you happen to encounter a Basilisk down there?" Sol became stunned upon hearing the question, not expecting the Headmaster to know at a glance. Professor McGonagall looked at the two in disbelief.

Sol broke from his stupor and answered, "Y-Yes, headmaster. But-" The Headmaster raised a hand to stop him, "The Basilisk's venom is spreading through your veins and decaying them. But it seems to have minimal effects on you."

"I drank some antidotes and pain-reducing potions. I'm using a bit of magic power to stop the venom from spreading." Sol patted his satchel to reinforce the truth.

"I see..." the Headmaster had an understanding expression on his face. He then turned to Professor McGonagall who was standing there dumbfounded, "Minerva, may I ask you to take young Mr. Balor to the Infirmary Wing?"

"C-Certainly!" Professor McGonagall came back to reality and agreed. She then looked at Sol, "Mr. Balor, come with me." With that, the Professor and Sol left the girls' bathroom and headed towards the Infirmary.

Inside the girls' bathroom, the Headmaster watched them leave. As they turned the corner, his eyes left them and focus on the hole in front of him. With a mixture of intrigue and worry, Headmaster Dumbledore stroked his long, white beard.

"So this is the Chamber of Secrets..."