Chapter 19: Myrtle's Reminiscence
Ron, Harry, and Neville carefully made their way back to the castle and up to Gryffindor Tower. Something was bothering Neville as they got ready for bed. However, as Neville started to drift off to sleep, it occurred to him.
"Guys, wait." Neville said urgently, sitting up in bed.
"What?" Ron groaned sleepily, sitting up. He looked at him. Neville could see Harry was watching him from his bed.
"Aragog said that a girl died the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, right?" Neville asked, looking between them.
"Yeah, why?" Ron asked, slowly.
"What if she never left the bathroom?" Neville asked.
"Are you thinking it's Moaning Myrtle?" Ron gasped in surprise.
"What are the odds that a girl died in a bathroom and Moaning Myrtle haunts one?" Harry pointed out. "My mum always says there's no such thing as coincidences."
"She was three stalls away, why the bloody hell didn't we ask how she died?" Ron muttered.
"We should go now." Harry said at once.
"What?" Neville asked, while Ron exclaimed, "Are you mental?"
"With the teachers escorting us between classes, we have no chance of sneaking away. If we take my dad's cloak, we can go there and be back before anyone notices." Harry pointed out.
Ron glanced at the two sleeping forms of Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. "Okay, but we need to be careful."
Harry pulled out his Invisibility Cloak from his trunk and threw it over the three of them. They snuck out of the dormitory and through the portrait hole, trying to keep as quiet as they could. They made it to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom without being caught and slipped inside. They could hear Myrtle sobbing from a nearby toilet. "Myrtle?" Neville asked, pulling the cloak off themselves.
The ghost shot out of the toilet stall, hovering above the floor in a sulky pose. "What do you three want?" she asked, gloomily. "You shouldn't be out this late at night."
"We wanted to ask you how you-" Harry looked at Ron and Neville.
"How you died." Neville finished, pink coloring his cheeks.
Myrtle's transparent face lit up, as though excited to have been asked the question. "No one has ever asked me that before. It's a dreadful tale, and none too happy."
"Is there any happy death story?" Ron muttered, but Neville ignored him.
"Please tell us." Neville persisted.
"Very well, then. I was in here crying one afternoon after Potions because Olive Hornby made fun of my glasses. While I was sitting in the stall, someone came in and I heard a boy say something in a strange language. I didn't understand it, but I knew he shouldn't be here. I opened the door to tell him off for being in a girl's bathroom and-I died."
"Did you see anything?" Ron asked, excitedly.
"There was a pair of giant yellow eyes, coming from that sink over there." Myrtle pointed to a nearby sink, situated in front of the stall she occupied.
Harry hurried over to the sink to study the sink closely. "There's a serpent there! This must be it!"
"But we still don't know what is down there." Ron pointed out, nervously. "It could be an-"
Ron was interrupted by a noise outside the bathroom in the corridor. Neville waved frantically to the other two and they ducked under the Invisibility Cloak. They waited until the noise had faded away before sneaking out of the bathroom and back up to their dormitory.
"We better go to sleep. We will have to keep an eye out for more clues." Harry said, nervously, as he climbed into bed.
"Fair point, that's really all I can do." Neville sighed, crawling into bed. "We'll have to be on the lookout."
The next day wiped all thoughts of keeping a lookout from the boys mind. Once the Transfiguration class had settled in their seats, Professor McGonagall announced, "Madam Pomfrey just informed me this morning that the Mandrakes are ready to be stewed. The poor Petrified will be revived tonight."
Excited murmurs rumbled through the classroom and Professor McGonagall's glasses flashed. "Now, I know we're all excited to get the students back, I must warn you that they may very well point the finger at the culprit. For now, we must get back to our lesson."
Harry, Ron, and Neville sighed and set to work on the practice Professor McGonagall assigned them. After class, she escorted them to the Great Hall for lunch.
As Ron, Neville, and Harry ate lunch, Ginny settled down beside them, looking nervously. "I need to talk to you." She whispered, looking urgent.
"What is it?" Harry asked, anxiously.
Ginny looked around, fidgeting nervously. Percy interrupted them by sitting down across from them. "I absolutely cannot believe that the prefects are still having to do guard duty at night. I am ex-hau-sted." Percy yawned. "Pass me the roll, Harry."
Ginny jumped up at Percy's arrival, scurrying off with a backward, anxious glance.
"Why did you scare her off like that?" Ron demanded. "She was about to tell us something important!"
"I'm sure it wasn't that important." Percy dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Pass me the rolls."
"What was she going to say, Percy?" Neville asked.
After a dull lesson where Professor Lockhart read from his books, he escorted them to Potions. "I don't see why the teachers have to escort you to your classes. The attacks have stopped, so clearly the guilty has been caught." Professor Lockhart rambled, as he walked them down the corridor.
"I totally agree, Professor." Neville nodded, startling Ron and Harry.
"So you wouldn't mind if I leave you hear to find your way? It's just around the corner after all. I have to get my lesson plan ready." Lockhart bustled away, touching his hair anxiously.
"More like crimp his hair." Ron muttered, as Lockhart disappeared around the corner.
"We better go check out the bathroom again." Harry told the other two quietly. "Might as well take advantage of being free of Lockhart."
The three boys snuck away from the group, heading toward Myrtle's bathroom. As the rounded a corner, Professor McGonagall spotted them on her way down the hall. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Longbottom. What are you three doing here? Why aren't you in Potions?"
"We, um…" Ron floundered for an excuse.
"We wanted to go see Hermione. With the restrictions on visitors at the hospital wing, we haven't seen her for ages." Harry piped up, thinking quickly.
To their surprise, Professor McGonagall's expression softened. "Of course, it must be hard on you not having Hermione with you. Yes, go ahead. Tell Poppy I've given you permission.
Unable to believe their luck, the three boys hurried away. Before they rounded a corner, they heard Professor McGonagall sniff.
"I don't see why you would want to talk to Hermione. Petrified victims can't hear you." Madam Pomfrey insisted, but reluctantly let them in.
Ron moaned a little as he sat in the chair beside Hermione's bed. "Hermione…"
"I wonder if she saw her attacker." Neville sighed sadly.
Harry caught sight of something in Hermione's hand and caught their attention. "Look, she was clutching something when she was attacked." He pointed out.
Ron and Neville blocked the door. "Go ahead and see if you can get it out." Ron urged.
Harry struggled to get the object out, taking care to not tear it. Finally, he pulled free a piece of parchment, which came from a book. "It's a page from a book." He told them, unfolding it.
"Read it!" Neville and Ron urged.
Harry read it out loud to them, eyes widening at the implications. "She figured it out! It's a basilik! Everything that has happened this year fits! Spiders flee from it, roosters been killed. Hermione, you're a genius!"
"Wait, if it's a basilisk, how's a giant snake been getting around all this time?" Ron asked, confused. "You would think someone would have noticed a great serpent slithering through the castle."
"Hermione figured that out too. Pipes." Harry pointed out, indicating the note at the bottom in Hermione's handwriting.
"Wait, that's why I've been hearing it!" Neville said excitedly. "It's a snake, and I'm a Parseltongue. I've been hearing it through the walls!"
"We've got to go let the staff know, they should know what is down there." Harry said urgently. "Let's go wait in the staffroom in case they go there."
The three boys hurried out of the hospital wing and down to the staff room. The room was empty and they waited for the bell to ring. None came. Instead, a voice announced over the intercom. "All students report to their common room. All staff report to the staffroom at once."
The boys exchanged looks. "What is going on? Something else couldn't have happened, could it?" Ron asked, anxiously.
"They're coming here, we need to hide!" Harry pulled them toward the cabinet that stood in a corner. They slipped inside and closed the door as the staffroom door opened.
"What's happened, Minerva?" Professor Flitwick asked, in his squeaky voice.
"A girl has been taken by the monster. A note was left on the wall outside the first attack. Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever." Professor McGonagall's voice responded, though it shook slightly.
"Who is it?" Professor Richman asked.
"Ginny Weasley." Professor McGonagall responded grimly.
Neville felt Ron sink to the bottom of the cabinet with a little moan.
