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Part 19

Donovan met them inside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and was having a chat with Myrtle. "Oh, hello, Harry." She said smiling. "What do you want?" Erin grinned a little when she noticed that Myrtle had a crush on Harry and so it seemed on Don.

"To ask you how you died."

"Oh! It was dreadful." Myrtle said with relish. "It happened right here in this very cubicle. I was hiding because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying and I heard someone say something, sort of like a made-up language. I realized it was a boy speaking so I opened the door to tell him to go away and I died."

"Just like that?" Ron asked.

"Who was it, Myrtle?" Harry asked at the same time.

"I don't know, I didn't see them. I just remember a pair of great big yellow eyes."

"Where?" Erin asked.

"Oh, over there by the sinks on the right side." She said vaguely and looked back at Don waiting to see if he was going to say something.

"I promised to help them." He said apologetically.

"Go on, then." Myrtle said.

Harry was looking at a sink while this exchange was going on. "I've got it." He said. "There's a snake etched onto this faucet."

"Harry, say something in Parseltongue." Ron said. "Go on."

Harry looked at the snake and imagined it was real and then something hissed out of his mouth. The sinks started to move. The top went up and the circle of sinks went outward and sunk down into the floor. The one in front of them sunk down also and a grate slid over it. A gaping hole appeared in the middle of the bathroom. "Very well done." Lockhart said. "Well, then I'll just…"

"You first." Harry said.

"What? There's no point." He said trying to get away.

"Oh, yes there is." He and Ron pushed him back toward the hole.

"To what will point though?" He asked.

"Better you than us." Ron said.

"Ah yes." He said looking down into the hole. "Do you suppose we ought to…?" Erin rolled her eyes and then in one swift movement she planted her foot on his backside and pushed. He fell in yelling. After a moment they heard his voice. "Really, quite disgusting down here."

"Let's go." Harry said.

"Oh, Harry…Don…" Myrtle said. "If you die down there you're welcome to share my toilet." She giggled.

"You've competition, Erin." Ron said.

Erin just shook her head and then jumped. She heard Harry, Ron and Donovan follow. It was actually quite fun sliding down the twisting pipes and then she landed…on rat bones. "Ick." Erin said standing up and getting out of the way.

Harry lost no time. "Let's go." He said and led the way into a larger pipe.

It was dark down there and Ron grasped Erin's hand. "Don't leave me alone down here."

"Oh, but Ron, Harry and I were planning on running off and getting married and leaving you all by your lonesome down here." Erin said sarcastically.

"Funny." They wandered through and then they noticed something on the ground. "Is that a snake?" Ron asked.

"No, it's a snake skin." Harry said examining it.

"That's got to be fifty feet long or more." Ron said and then Lockhart fainted. "Heart of a lion this one." Ron said kicking him.

Suddenly Lockhart was up and he had snatched Ron's wand. "The adventure ends here, boys." He said. "But don't you fret, the world will know our story, how I was too late to save the girl and how you tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body…"

"You expect them to believe that of an Auror?" Donovan asked him. "Or of these three? Dumbledore will skin you alive." He said threateningly. "And that's nothing compared to what my mother will do to you."

"Or my godfather." Erin said. "He'll rip you to shreds…oh and Hagrid, once he gets out of Azkaban they'll be no stopping him."

"Hagrid is behind this!" Lockhart shouted.

"Oh, yes." Erin said. "He was able to control the basilisk from Azkaban. Good one let us see how long that story will hold up."

"Enough…" He yelled and whirled the wand around his head. "Obliterate!"

The wand backfired and hit the ceiling. Rocks started fall all around them. Don pulled Ron out of the way shielding him from the rocks and Erin looked up. "HARRY!" She yelled. He turned to her as she pushed him out of the way and fell to the floor the rocks falling down around her.