A boy with dark hair stood in one of the school's bathrooms. A girl's wailing carried through a stall door. He ignored the high pitched wailing with a cold indifference. Walking in front of one of the sinks the boy spoke in a series of hisses. The sink sinks down into the floor. A moment of pause and silence filled the room. Slowly a frighteningly large snake makes it's way out of the hole. A long slow creak echoed off the walls as the girl with tear stained cheeks peered out. Her eyes met that of the snakes. Before even a scream could sound she stood frozen, petrified. The boy who had stood eerily calm even in the presence of the gigantic snake now smiled absentmindedly running his fingers over the black book he held in his hands.
Vivian jerked awake. Breathing heavily she laid there a moment overwhelmed by fear. She'd heard of that bathroom. The one with the moaning ghost that all the girls avoided. Her throat felt dry as she tried to swallow down her panic. The bedside drawer had to be wiggled several times in order for her to finally pull it out. She had to resist the urge to throw the drawer on the floor in her fear driven frustration. Quickly she pulled her notebook and jotted down the details she could remember. The black book…she'd seen it before. Flipping through the pages she came to one of her more vivid dreams. There had been a boy who'd defeated the snake. There! She frowned, scanning through her notes. The boy had used the snake's fang to pierce the book. But why and where was the boy who'd killed the girl in the bathroom? Why destroy the book? Vivian closed the book running her hands over her face in frustration. The dreams just left her more and more confused. The school's clock tower chimed 5 times in the distance. No one else would be awake yet. The bed seemed to beckon to her with its warmth, but sleep would mean the possibility of another dream and she wasn't ready for that just yet. Her frustration was demanding answers and laying around wouldn't get her anywhere. There was only one place she might find a clue.
A chim lightly sounded signaling another hour had passed. Before her were piles of books. Most were on mythical animals, a few on possession, and one on the history of Hogwarts. Surely the student had somehow gotten caught for his horrid deed. A shiver passed through her causing goosebumps to erupt across her arms. She rubbed them as if trying to warm herself. Thankfully there weren't a crazy amount of snakes. The moment she laid eyes on one of the pictures her breath quickened, a cold sweat breaking out down her back. Basilisk.
"Vivian?" A voice called out. The fear left as if a spell had been broken. Remus stood in front of her staring at the stack of books. "Sirius has been looking everywhere for you. You missed breakfast."
"Oh.." She glanced at a clock, "I hadn't noticed the time. I didn't realize you'd gotten back already." He shrugged moving behind her.
"I like a couple days to adjust before everyone else comes. Did I miss an assignment? I don't remember learning about snakes yet."
"No this is just some…light reading?" Remus raised his eyebrow at her, but didn't press for more.
"Let's go find Sirius before he storms Dumbledor's office." Vivian rolled her eyes.
"As if anything could happen to me here." The moment the words left her mouth she felt a rock settle in her stomach. Was Hogwarts really safe?
Her stomach growled as she followed him down the corridor back to the Gryfinndor common room.
"But I'm still hungry!" Peter whined as they entered. He pulled on Sirius's arm to continue whining when Remus laughed. "You'd have better luck asking Professor McGonagal to prolong the break for another week."
"I would have gotten you some too if I'd known." Sirius patted Peter's head with one hand while holding a napkin full of odds and ends of breakfast in the other. "Here. Figured you'd need something when you didn't show." He offered the food to Vivian while also suddenly finding something utterly fascinating in the newspaper laid out on the table next to them.
"Thanks! I was worried I'd have to survive on chocolate frogs." Sirius grunted and quickly placed the food in her hands before grabbing the newspaper and sitting on what appeared to be his favorite armchair next to the fireplace. Vivian raised an eyebrow. Lupin just shrugged before making his way up to the boys rooms. His skin was rather pale and she swore she saw sweat on his forehead.
"Is Remus alright?" She asked.
"As alright as he ever is. He has some hereditary thing where he gets sick easily." Peter answered. He was eyeing her napkin while nervously chewing on his thumb nail.
While a bit worried for Remus, she had heard the hospital wing at Hogwarts had the best staff. The staff and boys knew him best. Neither seemed concerned so she tried her best to ignore it for now. She carefully sat down on the couch placing the food on her knees. The silence was a bit awkward, but warm. Back home she'd often eaten alone and since coming to Hogwarts she'd come to understand the comfort in eating with others even if they were bluntly ignoring her as Sirius was. She started at the last sausage a moment. She was at the point of being overly full, but the thought of wasting something someone had put so much effort into getting for her made her determined to finish it. Just then a short and plump finger reached out to snatch it from her lap. Peter seemed to swallow it whole with the speed he ate it. Relieved that her stomach would be spared, she stood throwing the napkin away before picking up her book titled "The Monster Book of Monsters". Grabbing a few cushions she settled into the window nook. She gently stroked its spine before flipping through the pages. A simple paragraph outlined the basics of the monster that haunted her dreams. A book could only provide her with so much information. If she was going to face the Basilisk up close she'd need someone with experience. Feeling frustration bubbling back up she slammed the book closed before resting her head against the icy cold of the glass window. Just then she noticed a large burly man making his way down a path to a hut.