LISTEN I haven't read OotP in like two years I'm not even kidding if I mess up,, PM me and tell me what to fix, I really appreciate it!! Also, I literally just went on Harry Potter Wiki for stuff I couldn't remember. Thanks :)) Also, happy holidays! 🎅

"Daniel, would you like to . . . Be attended to?"

"A little bit, yeah," said the younger boy, sarcasm practically dripping off his words.

The headmaster's lips straightened into a single, wrinkly line but wordlessly made a Patronus and sent it to Madam Pomfrey so as to avoid making Dan take the long walk to the Hospital Wing.

"Would either of you care to explain what happened?"

"Okay, um," started Phil, his voice still shaking because of what happened. "We were in the abandoned girl's lavatory," - McGonagall's eyebrows flew up her forehead - "then we slid down a slide and we were in another room - it was like a whole another part of the castle itself and it was huge and there was water everywhere. Then we were talking to Dan's ghost dad... okay, yes, this is weird but bear with me, we go to Wizarding school this isn't that bad. Anyway, we were talking to him then I had something of a panic attack and we left him but then this huge snake came and we saw it's reflection in the water but then it bit Dan on the leg and I tried to distract it then Dan climbed on top, sort of, and blinded it - which was disgusting, by the way, I almost threw up," he added to his boyfriend, who tried to chuckle but wound up coughing. "Anyway, it took me TWO killing curses to kill it! Oh damn, am I in trouble? It was hurting Dan! Surely that mustn't count." Phil was quite out of breath after all this rambling, and took a moment to compose himself.

McGonagall's eyes were wide and she seemed to be lost in thought after listening very intently to every word of Phil's rant, and it took a minute for her to respond.

"No...You're not in trouble, Mr. Lester. That was very courageous of you. Someone your age shouldn't have to use that curse at all, it must have been too weak the first time...You said, a 'big snake?' It can't be..." She murmured to herself more than anyone. "What color were it's eyes?"

"Yellow."

"I'm afraid you've just been attacked by a basilisk."

"Like the one Harry Potter killed?" Phil asked happily.

"That's the problem, Mr. Lester," stated McGonagall, her face wrinkling as she paced around the large room. "Harry Potter and company were supposed to have killed the basilisk twelve years ago, in their second year. The room you were in is a Hogwarts myth - proven real, I suppose - called the Chamber of Secrets. Salazar Slytherin placed the basilisk there when Hogwarts was just being founded. Only a Parselmouth can control a basilisk...See, what's odd about your situation is...Boys, you're both supposed to be dead."

Phil gasped and Dan laughed.

"Thanks, Professor, I think I'll get to that."

The headmistress' lips were thinning dangerously and she narrowed her eyes, but said nothing of the matter. Dan made a mental note to not cross this woman. If looks could kill...I'd definitely be dead then.

"Basilisk venom is extremely venomous. And by the depth of your bite marks, you should have died the second the poison and your blood mixed. But," she gestured to the blood stains leading into her office, "this is obviously not the case. And Philip, you said that you looked into it's eyes?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"The Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death."

Dan and Phil glanced at each other, wondering why in the world they were still alive.

McGonagall took a deep breath.

"Merlin, I should have told you too earlier...Do forgive me... Follow m-"

At once, a panting Madam Pomfrey burst into the office.

"Did you really have to change the password?" The nurse asked, taking deep breaths, then gasping when she noticed all the blood. "Goodness, first Phil, now the tall one." Nonetheless, she got on her knees to inspect his wound. She choked on her own breath when she noticed how spaced out the piercings were. "Minerva, it can't be..."

"Poppy, I think it was."

The two witches looked at each other long and hard, wondering how these two boys managed to stay alive.

"Well, I guess I'd better begin," said Madam Pomfrey reluctantly, and took a clean rag out of her fanny pack and made water appear out of her wand as she muttered "Aguamenti."

Dan winced as the water hit his wound but knew it was best for the bite to be clean rather than dirty. He held on to this thought as best as he could as the nurse applied Muggle disinfectant.

"Turns out Muggles are good for something," said Phil, trying to break the awkward silence that had overtaken the room, and Dan smiled weakly. The latter was reminded so strongly of when Phil was attacked by that damn vampire and was literally lying in a pool of his own blood, yet still managed to make a joke. A dark one, but a joke nevertheless. The memory was so fast and fresh in his mind that it was almost like a slap in the face.

Finally, after she had bandaged Dan's leg several times, she pointed her wand at the now drying blood on the floor and said very clearly, "Tergeo." As the blood siphoned, she smiled at the headmistress and apologized. "Just for coming in so late."

McGonagall thanked the nurse curtly, obviously dismissing her. The short witch left the office, remembering all the patients she had yet to heal.

When the door creaked shut, McGonagall took a deep breath and said, "Take my arm."

"Excuse me?"

"Take. My. Arm," She said sternly, glaring at Dan.

They obeyed silently, each grabbing hold of one of her arms. At once, they felt as though their ears were being tugged backwards at the speed of light.

"Merlin, I really shouldn't be doing this, but you two deserve it."

Once the boys opened their tightly shut eyes, they were taken aback with how dark the room was, aside from blue flamed branches of candles that hung in between doors. They had no handles.

"How many are there?" Asked Dan.

"I counted twelve," Phil whispered back. They didn't know why they were whispering, exactly, but it was so dark that if only felt right to whisper.

Dan looked down at the ground, and thought for a second they were standing on water because of how highly polished the floor was. It was black, just like the rest of the room. My aesthetic, thought Dan.

McGonagall studied the doors intently. Phil wondered why, because they were all completely identical. At least as far as he knew.

"There," she whispered, pointing her wand at the eighth door's cracks. There was a bright blue light shining behind the door. They had no idea what the source was, but the two pupils followed their guide silently.

She pushed the door open easily, with confidence. As the handleless door creaked open, both boy's mouths gaped as they looked around the grand room. It was just as dark as the Room of Doors, but it was twice as luminous because of the thousands of glowing blue crystal balls placed on hundreds of bookshelves. McGonagall walked solemnly through rows and rows of shelves until she was near the very back of the room. As the boys followed her, they glanced around at the crystal balls. They had initials, dates, and strange words on them, and the boys could not decipher their meaning.

The headmistress finally turned to her left and entered a row that had significantly less glowing orbs, supposedly the most recent - the dates were getting closer and closer to '04.

The old witch sighed heavily and handed a small orb to Dan.

"This is a prophecy. The room you are in is the Room of Time, located inside the Room of Doors, in the Department of Mysteries. Daniel, I'm so sorry, but this prophecy has been around since before you were born." She sighed again and read off the crystal ball. "'S.P.T to M.Q.M: A boy born on the
11th of June will be able to finish Lord Voldemort once and for all.' I should have told you this earlier, forgive me, boy -"

Dan didn't know how to feel. He felt numb, like the was being called to his execution. Because he knew that there were still people who believed Voldemort would rise again, Phil had told him, and they would not let anyone get in their way.

"But," pleaded Phil, "wasn't Voldemort defeated years ago?"

"Supposedly, yes. But that backfired horribly. Now that Harry Potter is dead -"

"Harry Potter is dead?!" Screamed Phil.

"He was killed just yesterday." Dan noticed there was a steady stream of tears rolling down the thick creases on the professor's face.

"Now that Pot - Harry is dead, a loyal Death Eater has announced that there was a eighth Horcrux."

"Horcruxes are objects that can hold a part of your soul," Phil explained to Dan, who was thoroughly confused, listening silently.

"Yes, very good, Lester. There is a eighth horcrux that Voldemort attempted when he first killed - he was nineteen, although he could not love, and never did, he felt a hair of remorse for killing the woman afterwards so that horcrux did not function as well as the others. However, in recent discoveries, Death Eaters have come to the ever so fortunate realization that with a bit of Dark Magic," she explained, sarcasm coating her words, "you can strengthen a Horcrux by ways I will not repeat, to you at least. Dark Magic is very dangerous...In any case, Daniel, this prophecy is obviously about you, and you are in grave danger."

At the last word, tall, official-looking wizards burst through the door.

"Hide," hissed McGonagall.

"Who's there?" Shouted a deep voice. "Homenum Revelio!"

"Grab my arm," whispered the headmistress severely, and the boys did not hesitate.