Disclaimer: Never owned anything and never will... well... except for events described in this story which weren't in the books!

A/N: This little ( okay, I will be honest with all of you; I really don't have an idea how long this story will turn out) story was inspired when I recently reread COS and a really cute, but very big plotbunny jumped out of my book and forced me to write this.

The story begins in chapter 10 of COS and from there on develops into an AU story. And I took the liberty to change the order of petrifactions. You'll see what I mean! ;)

And now: On with the show!

The Basilisk's Unknown Victim

The Attack

It was late and it was dark in Hogwarts – School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Minerva McGonagall had yet to patrol the corridors as was now customary for every teacher one night or another.

As she left her quarters it seemed to be even darker than usual around this time of night.

"It surely is just my imagination playing tricks on me!" she thought "With all the horrible things happening at the moment it's not astonishing!"

Nevertheless Minerva decided to head to the kitchens first to get a cup of tea with which she wanted to calm her nerves.

As she emerged some minutes later with a steaming cup of her favourite blend, she felt indeed a little better and confidently strode through the so well-known halls of the castle that had been home to her for so many years now.

Professor McGonagall's mood changed drastically however as she reached the staircase leading down to the Hospital Wing.

Up to this moment everything had been remarkably quiet and she hadn't noticed anything unusual so far. Which was quite extraordinary when there constantly were attacks and students were found petrified throughout the castle much too often. In fact it was too quiet for her liking...

Walking the first floor corridor Minerva thought she saw something lying on the ground near the steps.

As she approached this something she noticed a body lying at the foot of the stairs.

"No! Not again!" she mumbled and stopped dead in her tracks as she recognized the little boy as Colin Creevey.

"Another Gryffindor! Why do so many students from my house, so many of my lions, get petrified? He is petrified! He has to be! There couldn't have something graver happened!" she mused.

Then another thought struck her like a bolt of lightning: "He can't be here for long! The last one to patrol the halls didn't report anything out of the ordinary and that was just about an hour ago. But when he was just recently attacked there's the possibility that the monster, whatever it may be, is still around here somewhere."

At this precise moment she heard swishing and sliding sounds somewhere near her. Minerva took notice of the strange sounds getting closer and closer.

While turning around she spilled some of her still very warm tea and burnt her now slightly shaking hand. As she directed her gaze to her hand she looked across her cup. And the last thing she saw, before everything went black, was a pair of giant, piercing, yellow eyes reflected off the liquid's surface...

TBC

A/N 2: Hope you enjoyed reading! If you feel like reviewing please do so as this is my first multi-chapter story.