Strange. It feels strange and off. Lances of ideas and thoughts race through.

"Please, no, not Harry, I'll do anything!"

Lost in worlds.

"Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery…"

Finding nothing in them.

"One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode."

What can be seen?

"I mean, it's sort of exciting isn't it? Breaking the rules."

Rules break.

Roaming in these shadows of words, of ideas, of thoughts, of memories. There is this space and like it many others and none at all. Nirvana and damnation are knocking.

Some thing stands - exists - moves - stays - no, stands, It He She We They Flickering. It is being yet nothing. Hands - hands? - hands behind, clasped. Looking away.

Worlds within worlds within worlds within worlds.

A likely story - fact - tale told. Telling.

Soft.

#

You woke up from what felt like the nuttiest fever dream imaginable. You put your hand on your head to stave off the headache that was building up. You looked around and somehow, you were in a Gryffindor dormitory with multiple beds instead of your singular Hufflepuff dorm.

"Wake up mate! Happy Christmas!" A familiar-looking redhead, about your age, burst through the curtains of the four-poster bed you were lying in and sat down while eating a chocolate frog. He had a bit of dirt on his nose.

He looked up at you askance and tilted his head in confusion at your expression. He looked down at his half-eaten chocolate frog and then back at you. "Did you want one?"

"I-"

#

With a groan I came to. My head was pounding. There was a sharp pain in my left leg and arm. I was suspended in the air. It was damp.

Who - what - who was that?

I squinted in the dark and coughed. Right, I was inside the basilisk and presently, stuck to its rib. The basilisk was no longer flailing about or moving. I turned back to look at its heart. The ugly oblong thing was no longer pulsing. I hoped that meant that I had succeeded.

I coughed and spat out some black bile and a little bit of blood. It was a testament to how exhausted I was that this sight only caused the mildest of alarm bells to go off in my head. But, I was alive, inside a dead vampire basilisk's body, but alive nonetheless, for now.

My arm felt as heavy as an anvil, but I laboured through the motions of the general spell nullifier to undo my sticking charm. It took a few tries as my wand movements were sloppy, but finally I said, "Finite Incantatem." The adhesive disappeared and I slid off the rib and fell down a few metres onto the basilisk's hide.

I groaned as I thwacked onto the inner surface of its hide. I tried to get up but my legs gave out and I fell back down. I could feel the venom was coursing through me. I looked up ahead in the darkness. I didn't even have the energy to cast a lumos right now, let along run to the basilisk's mouth and escape and survive. Besides, who knew how long I had been unconscious while stuck to its rib? Perhaps, it was time to give up and just drift off…

That's when I felt an odd sensation. I was on all fours and I felt my body slowly sink into the basilisk's skin. I looked down in wonder and idly thought if it was possible for a dead vampire basilisk to still somehow digest me?

What am I forgetting?

Vampires…so tired…vampire upon being staked begin to…what was it again? Deteriorate? Desiccate? Turn to dust.

My eyes snapped open despite the lulling embrace of unconsciousness. The basilisk was desiccating now that it was dead. Could I then…?

I pointed my wand at the basilisk's skin and, hoping against hope, incanted. "Incendio."

Fire sprouted from my holly wand obediently and somehow seemed to pierce through the basilisk's skin...insides…corpse…whatever. Maybe, just maybe, I might survive this.

Emboldened by my latest discovery, I pointed my wand at the patch of skin forming a wall to my side and said louder, ironing my will and throwing everything I had into the spell. "INCENDIO!"

The basilisk's insides were ablaze and the skin wall melted away. Slowly, but it did. I threw the spell at it a few more times and it was seemingly flaking away. With each invocation of the fire spell, my breaths grew more laboured and my body tired. The adrenaline had left my system and I now acutely felt the abject pain in my ruined non-wand hand.

I threw the fire spell maybe five or six times at the same spot when a hole the size of a fist was left behind. A stream of light came shinning into the basilisk's inside. Through the hole, I vaguely made out the inside of Slytherin's cursed Chamber of Secrets.

One more fire spell and the hole had expanded from fist-sized to face-sized. My hand fell down next to me like lead. I couldn't even hold it up to point anymore. The basilisk venom had seemingly taken over it as well and there was no more pushing it.

This can't be it. I can't be this close and…come on, Harry. Come on!

I roared and lifted my arm, fire burnt through every fibre of my being in protest. I pointed the wand at the basilisk skin wall and yelled angrily. "INCENDIO!"

I missed my intended target area of the skin wall by a huge margin, my aim was completely off. I screamed in anger as my body burnt and my vision swam.

But somehow, the face-sized hole in the basilisk's side opened up rapidly, seemingly of its own volition. Light streamed into the dead insides of Slytherin's beast. My eyes stung with the sudden onslaught of light and I closed my eyes and looked away for a moment. I knew then that I would likely fall asleep and succumb to the venom if I kept my eyes closed any longer. I forced myself to look back.

From the light, I saw two figures emerge with wands raised.

"H-H-Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

I coughed and looked right at him. "Help." I whispered.

#

What happened next was confusing for me. I couldn't recount the details if I tried. There was a flurry of motion. I was moved out of the basilisk and brought into the light. Dumbledore and Sirius kept talking to each other but it was hard for me to focus on what they were saying for longer than a few seconds at a time. I did pass out a few times, but Dumbledore or Sirius kept using a spell to wake me up. That made sense, falling unconscious would only speed up the venom's effects.

At some point I was moved to the Hospital Wing and I was certain I heard Madam Pomfrey yelp. I assumed that was when she got a look at me.

I had brief moments of lucidity. Time seemed to stretch on. Sometimes the pain was so bad it blocked out all other conscious thought. At one point, when the pain seemed to reach its zenith, my mind was snapped into laser-focused attention. I heard distant screaming. I couldn't move. My eyes roved from side to side of the hospital. They landed on the Headmaster. He was sat next to me. He was crying while he held my hand. I then realised that the distant screams I had heard were my own. Idly, I was almost impressed by my own lung capacity.

After a point, I stopped having conscious thoughts and there was only pain. Truthfully, that was the loveliest time of this experience in its own way. After a while, the pain seemed to recede into the background and my mind…wandered.

There were no thoughts, nothing intelligible. I saw colours, some shapes, a lot of light followed by long moments of darkness as the pain reasserted itself, almost as if punishing me for daring to ignore it, if only momentarily.

Eventually, I was allowed to pass out. That was the moment I believed that there was something in this world that could be true bliss.

#

My vision swam as I slowly came to. A part of me instinctively tensed up expecting the pain to resurface. But mercifully, it seemed to be over. I sighed in relief and opened my eyes completely.

I was definitely in a hospital bed - a private one. The door to my room was closed and sunlight came streaming in through the window to my right. I could see the world beyond and it definitely didn't look like the Scottish highlands.

The door to my room opened and a team of doctors came trotting in, led by a middle-aged woman who had a light soft brown hair and wide, kind brown eyes. She regarded me with a nod and a small smile.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter," she said. "My name is Healer Tonks. These are my colleagues, Healers Kirby, Law and Perry." She individually indicated the three healers in her retinue who gave me small smiles in turn.

I nodded. "Where am I?"

Healer Tonks blinked and answered without missing a beat. "You are currently at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. You were initially being treated at Hogwarts School, however, once you were stable enough to travel through the Floo, we moved you here for your longer term care."

"Where's Dumbledore?" I was beginning to feel tired and a huge yawn seemingly involuntarily escaped me. "I'm sorry," I said and covered my mouth.

"We have informed him that you woke up. But we told him to come by tomorrow, you're unlikely to have enough strength to meet with him pre-"

Her words faded out and my eyes shut.

#

When I woke up next it was to the sight of Dumbledore reading a book in a chair next to me. I felt stiff and parched. It took me a few seconds but I managed to eke out a word.

"H-Headmaster," I said.

Dumbledore turned to me in a second and put away his book on the table next to my bed. He leaned forward, his hands placed over each other and resting on the bed next to me.

"Har- Mr. Potter," he said. "I cannot describe how happy I am to hear your voice."

I tried to smile but I'm not sure I pulled it off. "Call me Harry."

He nodded. "How do you feel?"

"S'okay, a little pain, but…not like…before."

He immediately looked stricken at the mention of it, but wiped that expression of his face. "I am sure you are feeling disorientated right now. We can discuss the full particulars of your choice of letting yourself be eaten by a basilisk in the future-"

I winced.

"-for now, you should know that you are under the effects of some powerful potions to help keep you calm and aid in your recovery. Mr. Potter - Harry, the venom had spread through your leg and into most of your body. It took the healers the better part of a fortnight to drain it out of you and get you in the clear. However, the attack has left its mark."

I looked up at the ceiling and breathed deeply. "How long's it been?"

"Since the incident in the Chamber, it has been more than a month. The school reopened as planned at the end of the Yule break and has been in session for nearly a month now."

So that brought us somewhere to the end of January. A whole month of my life was gone, that was…very unsettling.

"Harry, there has been…you must understand that your body has been through an unimaginable trauma in its fight against the venom that infected you. Your leg…"

I turned my head to look at him. I then tried to feel my leg-

-And couldn't.

With effort, including Dumbledore's help, I managed to sit up in my bed. I then slowly placed my hand on my left leg. My hand went right through the space my left leg should have occupied and pressed on to the soft mattress.

"Where is it?"

I was glad that in that moment my mind was fuzzy because of all the potions I had been fed. Yet despite them, I felt the telltale moisture of tears accumulating in my eyes. I knew then that my task, my burden, my destiny, had now gone from unbearable to impossible.

#

"That's good, Harry. A few more steps," Healer Perry said.

He was certainly my favourite healer at St. Mungo's. Ever since I had woken up at the hospital, he had been placed in charge of my daily schedule and my rehabilitation.

I took a deep breath and let it out as I tried to balance on my legs and take another step. My new left leg, the prosthetic one, was versatile enough and looked a lot like my old leg at least in size and shape. Healer Tonks assured me that with time and practice, it would feel like I had never lost my leg at all.

Every day I aimed to walk a little more with the assistance of Healer Perry within the walls of St. Mungo's. I was promised that I would be allowed to return to school after I could walk unaided for longer than an hour. They predicted it would take me six to eight weeks to get to that point. I was determined to be out of St. Mungo's before the end of February if I could help it.

That meant pushing myself, and darn it, it was hard!

"Alright, Harry, this brings us back to your room. Well done, you managed to make it all the way round the ward in record time without any breaks. Keep this up and you will be out of here sooner than you think." He laughed.

I tried to smile but couldn't manage it through my heavy breaths and the sweat dripping off my forehead. The mechanism of the prosthetic leg was such that they had rigged it into my central nervous system or at least, that's how Healer Tonks had described it to me. My body, though, was rejecting the fake magical nerves as unnatural. Hence, the physical rehabilitation and constant practice was to slowly get my body to accept the magical nerves created to connect my new leg to my body as if it had been there all along.

"Hello, Harry."

I was stumbling into my room, one arm rested on Healer Perry for balance and the other on the door when I looked up in surprise.

"H-hello, Mr. Moody," I said.

The grizzly Auror was as terrifying as ever and his magical eye rotated in circles constantly as he regarded me with his one normal eye. He looked down and surveyed my leg.

"Matthew," he said in greeting to Healer Perry.

"Ah, Mr. Moody, good to see you. Do you need me to oil up your leg again?" He asked cheerfully.

Moody grunted. "I'm here to talk to the boy."

Healer Perry nodded and exited, reminding me to drink my potions and that he would be back to see me in the evening.

I hobbled over to my bed and sank with relief. It was nice to be off my prosthetic after all that practice.

"It will take a while, but eventually, you will adapt to it," he said.

I nodded. There was a pause when neither of us spoke. "Is there is something you wanted to say to me, Mr. Moody?" I finally asked.

He stood up straight and regarded me closely. "The healers are going to tell you that the new leg is going to be as good as new, that in time, you won't be able to tell the difference between this one and the right one. That is an exaggeration. Make no mistake boy, you are disabled, but there is no reason for you to ever feel handicapped."

I gulped and looked down. It had been eating me up on the inside for some time. I hadn't really stopped to think about it, being singularly focused on my discharge back to Hogwarts, but I wondered what life would be like back at the school and considering…the prophecy. Moody seemed to know what was going on in my mind, well, that made sense, give he too had a prosthetic leg. I eyed it speculatively. Once I got to know Moody, I did forget about it altogether. He was simply that good, despite his limp.

"I have spoken with Dumbledore and Longbottom and they have asked me to give you some additional lessons in mobility once you're back at Hogwarts."

I was surprised by this. "Thank you, Mr. Moody. I- Thank you."

"You will need time and therapy. I will be receiving updates from Healer Tonks and Madam Pomfrey and when they deem you ready, we will begin your lessons."

I nodded appreciatively. Mr. Moody had lost his leg during the last war with Voldemort, but he had continued to serve as an Auror for more than a decade after. His disability had not held him back from catching dark wizards and acquiring his most fearsome reputation. In that sense, magic was a great equaliser.

"We will be in touch, lad." He departed with those words.

As I rested my aching hip and drank my potions, for the first time since encountering the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, I allowed myself to feel a small spark of hope.

#

I didn't manage to get back to school for the entire Winter Term despite my best efforts. But by the end of Easter Break, Healer Tonks finally discharged me. I couldn't describe to you what that feels like. Aside from the few trips I made to the enchanted garden within the hospital, I had not left the hospital premises a single time.

At the very least, I was grateful that a teacher from the school came to see me at least four times every week and go over my lessons with me. Their combined efforts ensured that I had not fallen behind at all during my convalescence. Cedric had come to meet me a few times, along with Patricia and Maggie Taylor and even Roger Davies. Those short visits were definitely the highlights of my time at St. Mungo's.

Having donned by school robes, I was a bundle of excitement as Dumbledore came to collect me from St. Mungo's. We apparated to the gates of the school. At the sight of the Castle, my heart swelled with joy. It look luminous and warm in the cold night sky. I felt like it was calling me home.

Flitwick was waiting on the other side of the gate. He squealed upon seeing me and favoured me with a bright grin.

"It is wonderful to have you back, Mr. Potter." He undid the latch at the gate and creaked it open to let us in.

I confidently walked in. The gate creaked close behind me. The Headmaster remained standing there. I turned around to give him a curious look.

"Professor?"

Flitwick gave Dumbledore a sad smile. "Thank you for bringing him, Albus."

"I was more than happy to, Filius," he responded. "Take care of yourself, Harry."

I was very confused. "Professor? What do you-"

With a crack of apparition, he was gone.

I blinked in consternation and regarded Flitwick, the question clear in my eyes. "What did I miss, Professor?"

Flitwick hemmed and hawed uncomfortably. I could tell he was emotional about the topic. "Mr. Potter…" He trailed off uncertainly. "I take it you have not been keeping up with the latest news?"

I blinked. "Umm… I don't really read the newspaper, Professor." I shrugged.

"Ah, I see, I see…" He scratched his little beard. He started walking towards the castle and I followed. After a moment, he came out with it. "Well, Dumbledore had to shoulder a lot of the blame for the fallout of the Chamber business. It was one thing to lose an experienced and respected Auror like Shacklebolt, but, well, for the Boy Who Lived to also suffer near-fatal injuries and be well…permanently affected by the incident, well… Albus, you see, he had been on thin ice for some time now, but this whole affair was the last straw that broke the camel's back and the Board of Governors, well, they encouraged Albus to retire…"

With every word spoken by eyes grew wider in shock. Dumbledore had been…sacked? "I see. I'm-I'm sorry to hear that."

Dumbledore had only been my Headmaster for a very short period of time. But even then, I knew in my bones, it was a monumental shift. I also resolved to read the newspaper more often. Clearly, I had been out of the loop for far too long.

"So who is the Headmaster now?"

Flitwick cleared his throat and chose his next words carefully. "The Board asked Professor McGonagall to step up. She had been the Deputy Headmistress for two decades now. But she declined. As did the entirety of the senior staff when asked. So the Board is on the hunt for a new Headmaster or Headmistress even now."

As we stepped up to the Great Hall, Flitwick kindly helped me up the stairs from the main courtyard into the Entrance Hall, my mind was awhirl with the various changes.

Flitwick opened the door and I got my first good look at the Hogwarts population. All conversation stopped and every eye turned to regard me. It was extremely nerve-wracking. My footsteps echoed in the silence as I made my way to Cedric, who was near the front of the Hufflepuff Table. Slowly, conversation resumed, but I could tell every eye was on me, trailing my path.

I gave Cedric a genuine smile upon seeing him and he gave me a warm one-armed hug as I sat down. The benches were a little difficult to navigate. I was still not as good at lifting my prosthetic leg up, but practice made perfect after all.

"What was that about?" I asked Cedric.

He quirked an eyebrow.

"The silence when I walked in. It felt…I don't how to describe it."

Cedric blushed slightly and cleared his throat. "Ah that...There are some people in some of the other Houses who are upset about Dumbledore's removal. Those articles in the Daily Prophet also didn't help…"

"Do people blame me for him getting sacked?"

Cedric shrugged. "Not everyone mind, just…a lot of the Gryffindors."

I turned in incredulity to the House of the Bold who were sat at the table at the far end behind me. Indeed, now that Cedric had pointed it out, it seemed that I was receiving a few hostile stares from the Lions. George Weasley in particular favoured me with an especially angry scowl.

I quickly looked away. My heart sank.

This was shaping up to be an interesting term at Hogwarts.