A/N: Phew! This is the second story in my challenge (see the bottom of my profile for more info =). I'm so glad to be done with this one. It gave me a great deal of trouble, and it's not my best work, but I've been working with it for a week, and I'm finished with it. I need help coming up with a creative title. Let me know if you have an idea! Anyway, please enjoy the second installment in my Object challenge: Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom. =)
All credit goes to JK Rowling, brilliant author of the Harry Potter Series, and Warner Bros.
Hogwarts is a strange school where strange things happen. Being a room of Hogwarts, the girl's bathroom on the second floor, I'm often a part of these happenings. The Chamber of Secrets being in my little bathroom would probably be the strangest. Everyone learned the entire legend after the Chamber was opened and closed for the second time about six or seven years ago. No one saw Salazar Slytherin create it, though; Only I did. Of course, legend was passed down, and the heir arose. A young man named Riddle.
I remember the day Myrtle died. Honestly, how could anyone forget such a thing? The girls would often come in flocks, giggling and chattering. Myrtle never came with a group of friends. She was always alone, and some days, if not most, the other girls in her dorm would tease her. I felt sorry for her, but she was awfully sensitive and immature. The fault lay on both sides. Either way, I saw Myrtle weeping in her stall and I saw the passage slide open. I saw her look up, straight into the eyes of the beast, and die, quietly and quickly. The beast looked at her for a minute, but slithered back into the chamber. I was in shock. A young girl had just died!
Her roommates were used to her pouting, but eventually a search party was created. When they found the girl dead there was screaming and shouting and uproar. She was lifted out and carried away. But that wasn't the end of her. She came back as a ghost and chose to haunt my bathroom instead. I'll try to remain neutral on that subject, but I have to say at least one thing: Myrtle is definitely irritating, and no one visits anymore because of her, and I have to hear about all the gossip from the other girl's bathrooms. So Myrtle remained in my bathroom when she wasn't chasing down Olive Hornby, who had, according to Myrtle, caused the whole thing.
And you all know the rest of the story: Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter had the chamber reopen in their second year and the first two returned in their seventh during the Battle of Hogwarts. I'm sure it'll all be in the biographies. I heard Hermione and Ron destroyed a horcrux in the Chamber. I wish I could have seen that. I saw Ron try to speak Parseltongue and I saw Ron helping Hermione out of the Chamber, and they left with the cup and fangs. There is one little secret about the three, though. Hermione Granger brew Polyjuice Potion in my bathroom her second year! She really is brilliant. One of the most brilliant witches I've seen.
Few other things have happened here, besides the Chamber. Many of the girls who come have come in here simply to be alone. A few have simply broke down crying. They, however, had legitimate reasons, unlike Myrtle, who's simply selfish and overdramatic. There was a Gryffindor fifth year one time. It was a while ago, a bit before the second opening of the Chamber. I had heard she had been deeply struggling with the other girls in her year. She was best friends with a Slytherin boy who was mercilessly picked on. After trying to help the Slytherin once when he was being bullied, he lashed out at her and called her a "mudblood," which she took to heart. She had been worried over him for quite some time, and I think that was the last straw. She came running into the bathroom later that day and collapsed in a heap near the sinks, crying. She had few others girls in her year who were decent to her, and now her best friend had turned on her, headed for trouble. All I'll say was that Myrtle had no sympathy. Then again, she never does.
Actually, I have to take that back. There was one time when Myrtle actually reached out to someone in kindness. About four, five years after the second opening, Myrtle befriended another tragic Slytherin, a sixth year. She actually listened to him and gave him advice. And he would break down crying often, even at 16. A war was rising, and the boy was deeply conflicted. Now, I can't for the life of me fathom why Myrtle was so uncharacteristically kind. Maybe she was tired of being sarcastic and belittling. I don't know. But the Slytherin came often and the two would talk.
Oh! And the duel! Oh, the duel! That was about when I realized exactly how dark the Slytherin was. He tried to use an Unforgiveable curse on a fellow student! I could hardly believe my eyes! He had run into the bathroom one day, and started weeping. I'm not sure what happened, but another student followed and the two dueled. The Slytherin tried to use the Cruciatus curse on the other boy, a Gryffindor! He was interrupted, however. It was a nasty spell that Gryffindor cast. Sectumsempra, I believe. Blood everywhere. It was horrible. At least the Slytherin lived, however. It was nothing short of a miracle.
Those weren't the only two boys to come intruding, however. The nerve of some of these male students! There were two Gryffindor twins that came into my bathroom quite a bit, practicing pranks! Fireworks and swamps and snacks that caused sickness and oh! Such a mess! The two became very proficient at cleaning spells. I can hardly believe my little bathroom survived those two. I did hear, however, that it was the same twins that defied Professor Umbridge during her "reign" at Hogwarts. If that's true, I can almost forgive them.
Umbridge! I loathe that woman! Firing teachers and torturing students! I remember that little Ravenclaw, Cho. I heard that there was a resistance movement called Dumbledore's Army. Cho invited her friend, who eventually ratted out the entire thing. Poor Cho was dating Harry Potter, and, especially after the death of that Hufflepuff, Cedric, the year before, the whole relationship fell apart. She came in here to be alone, too. Just to sit sometimes. She stuck with her friend, Marietta, but the rest of the group hated her.
There was another Ravenclaw, one time. Luna Lovegood, I think it was. She's very pretty, but I've heard she's strange. She was trying to comfort Hermione. I heard the whole conversation. Hermione burst in, sobbing, and locked herself in a stall one time in her sixth year, and Luna, gentle as anything tried to talk to her. "Oh, he's just horrible!" Hermione kept sobbing. I learned it was because Ron had found out she kissed Viktor Krum and then Hermione and Ron had fought bitterly. Luna tried to calm her down. "He's just jealous. He really loves you." Myrtle kept quiet this time, remembering what happened the night of the Yule Ball. Eventually Hermione was reduced to hiccupping, and Luna escorted her out of the bathroom. Oh! Harry Potter asked Luna Lovegood to Slughorn's Christmas Ball then! Just outside my bathroom! I was so excited for her.
What happened to Myrtle at the Yule Ball? Hermione Granger can racing in here, an utter mess. Oh, I heard she looked so pretty beforehand. When she came in, her hair was frizzy and her make up running from crying. I heard from the other bathrooms that Viktor Krum, a Durmstrang, asked her to the ball! Ron, of course, wasn't too pleased about that and the two had fought again. Myrtle, of course, started teasing Hermione, and Hermione had had enough. She obviously wasn't thinking clearly, but she tried to hex Myrtle. Since Myrtle was a ghost, of course nothing happened, but Myrtle was shocked enough to retreat and throw a fit from her stall.
Last year was the worst. Rather, nothing could be worse than the year Snape was headmaster. I know now it wasn't all Snape's doing, but the Carrow's were . . . beyond words. Dumbledore's Army set up a . . . hospital of sorts in here. They did all sorts of research about charms and such. They convinced Myrtle not to say anything, and cast protective enchantments and curses around it. Anyone who left had to make a vow that they wouldn't tell anyone. It was mostly Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley. They healed scars and got extra food from house elves and comforted those who were tortured. They eventually were found out. I'd rather not talk about it.
Looking back, a lot has happened. It's not the big things that count, like the Chamber of Secrets, something that'll go down in history. It's the little things. It's the little things, I think, that make Hogwarts a fun, quirky place and the little things that make us smile and the little things that mean the most. Hogwarts is still getting back on its feet. There was a lot of death last year. But, there's always tomorrow. I can't wait to see what new students I'm going to find in my little bathroom this year, and the next and the one after that. I just pray that I don't get any more pranksters like the Weasley twins. I don't think I can take one more year like that.