Harry Potter and the Night Moaning Myrtle Came Back to Life

Part I

Harry glanced over his shoulder. The coast was clear…

He dived through the door on his right, shutting it quickly behind himself.

"Myrtle?" he said softly.

No one answered.

"Myrtle, it's me," Harry paused, carefully lowering his voice to barely a whisper. "Heartthrob Harry."

There was a whooshing sound, and water slapped over the floor of the bathroom.

"Oooooh, it's you, Harry," Myrtle said, zooming right through Harry.

He shivered. "That was pleasant."

"I'm sure," Myrtle said with a seductive giggle. She looked impatiently at him. "Have you got it yet? I can't wait much longer."

"I'm working on it," said Harry. "I'm anxious too."

Myrtle grinned. "Excellent."

Ginny Weasley looked both ways before ducking behind the portrait of Olga Aboca, the legendary witch who created the love potion. Once safely inside, she threw off the invisibility cloak. She had stolen it from Harry the previous night, while skillfully distracting him with her…charms.

Ginny looked around. Where was he? As if in answer, the portrait flew open, and a red-faced Anthony Goldstein stepped inside.

"Sorry I'm la…" He was silenced by Ginny's scorching gaze.

"Shut up and kiss me." He obliged.

Malfoy sauntered through the doors to the Great Hall. He headed towards the Slytherin table, noting that Potter and the Weasley girl were conspicuously absent.

"Draco! Draco, over here!" Pansy stood up and waved for him, nearly knocking over her glass of pumpkin juice.

Oh Merlin, Malfoy thought, rolling his eyes. He obligingly sat down next to her, ignoring her flirtatious glances.

"Oh Malfoy…" she cooed.

"What?" he said, shoving a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"Want to go somewhere… later…" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

Malfoy thought he might be sick. "No. I've got private lessons with Dumbledore."

"Oh." Pansy looked momentarily heartbroken, but quickly recovered, picking up her act just where she'd left off. "How about after that?"

"I'd love to," Malfoy lied, "but I'm meeting up with Ginny Weasley. Special invitation and everything, you know."

"That slut!" Pansy spat.

Malfoy put down his fork. "Yes, that slut. Now if you don't mind…" He stood up abruptly and left the hall, not heading anywhere in particular but needing to escape Pansy.

He went through the doors again, almost running into Ginny Weasley. Her red hair was all over the place, and her face was flushed.

Hm, smirked Malfoy. Maybe he would be meeting up with Ginny Weasley later…

Harry sat, idly drawing a picture of Moaning Myrtle. Ron sat across from him, scrawling out his Charms essay.

"Where's Hermione when you need her?" Ron said, angrily scratching out yet another illegible sentence.

"In which way?" Harry muttered under his breath.

"What?" Ron said, looking up.

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all…" Harry said, smirking to himself.

"No, really, where is she?" Ron said, appearing to be on the verge of tears as he crumpled up the entire essay and threw it into the fire. "I need help…"

"I'm not positive, but I think she went to Hagrid's again," said Harry. "You know, his hut."

"We just saw him last night, why would she want to go to Hagrid's hut again?" Ron said confusedly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "When I say 'Hagrid's hut,' I'm not talking about the building…. I mean Hagrid's hut."

Ron looked baffled for a moment. Then it dawned on him. "Oh." He promptly stood up and ran out of the common room.

Harry shrugged. He'd already learned to block out the mental images.

Ginny waited behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy. She checked her watch again, and once more. He was awfully late…

Ginny had already had it up to here with him. He always failed to show up on time, and when he did, he clearly wasn't interested. She couldn't have that, now, could she…

She stormed off down the hallway, passing by bunches of first and second years. Finally, Ernie Macmillan came the other way.

"Hey, you, over here," she said, grabbing the sleeve of his robe and dragging him to a nearby bathroom.

A miserable-looking ghost of a girl floated towards them, sobbing quietly.

"Have you seen Heartthrob Harry?"

"What?" snapped Ginny. "Heartthrob Harry?"

"Yes," Myrtle simpered. "He was supposed to meet me here approximately ninety seconds ago."

Ginny shrugged. "Not my problem." She stared vindictively at Myrtle. "Then again, it might partially be 'cause he's probably still recovering from last night. With me."

Myrtle gave a loud sob and dove into her toilet.

Harry walked through the door.

"Oh, hi, Harry," Ginny said sweetly, coming over towards him and wrapping her arms around him.

Ernie shifted uncomfortably. Something told him he didn't want to be witnessing this right now…

Harry gave Ginny an odd look. "Right, well…" He disentangled himself from her and stepped over to Myrtle's toilet. "Where's Myrtle?"

"Who knows? Who cares?" Ginny came over to Harry again. "She seemed a bit miffed about last night."

"Last night?" Harry looked perplexed. "Oh… oh, yeah, last night… Did you say something to her?"

"Maybe I did," she gave Harry one last coquettish glance before dragging Ernie out of the bathroom.

Harry sat down on the floor. "Myrtle." When the only answer was a loud sob, he let out a loud sigh. "Myrtle, c'mon. Gin's all talk."

And a lot of action, he thought, grinning.

"You can't get mad over this petty stuff, Myrtie. We need to concentrate on our goal. I know how badly you want it, and you're never gonna get it if we can't get this done."

Myrtle gave one last drawn-out sniffle before zooming out of her toilet. "Fine," she said begrudgingly. "How's it coming?"

He shot her a grin. "I think it's almost ready. Tomorrow could be the day, Myrtle."

She smiled. "Really! Oh, Heartthrob!" With an enthusiastic giggle, she shot straight through his mouth.

Harry bit back the urge to shudder.

"Cold?" Myrtle simpered. Harry nodded. "It'll get better . Tomorrow…" She shot Harry a seductive look from behind her glasses. Harry thought she must be the most attractive ghost he had ever laid eyes on.

"Tomorrow," Harry confirmed. He blew Myrtle a kiss and exited the bathroom.

Malfoy threw glances over his shoulder as he walked towards the Slytherin common room. Fortunately, no one was pursuing him. He had been just joking about the private lesson with Dumbledore, but Dumbledore had been showing up everywhere. He was beginning to get worried. He gave a delicate shudder. He had heard what really went on in those "private lessons."

Now, onto Ginny Weasley…

He stepped into the common room and threw himself upon one of the couches.

Crabbe and Goyle sat down in front of him, waiting for Malfoy's orders.

"Crabbe, Goyle," Malfoy snapped. They stood up at once. Malfoy wouldn't have been surprised if they'dhave bowed down to him, as though he were a king. "Go find the Weasley girl and bring her back to me."

They grunted their response and lumbered out of the common room.

Malfoy laid back, waiting.

Harry slid off his invisibility cloak, which Ginny had been so kind to return as soon as she'd finished with it. He hadn't been stupid; he'd known all along why Ginny had been so keen on getting him alone in his dorm last night. She hadn't needed to be so persuasive, but hey, whatever she'd wanted to do worked for Harry…

Slughorn's office was just around the corner, and Harry tried to think of the best way of asking him. He still hadn't come up with a plan when he burst into Slughorn's office.

Slughorn turned around. "Oh, hello, Harry! What a nice surprise! My favorite student, here to visit me!"

Harry decided to cut right to the chase. "I need—" He leaned over and whispered something to Slughorn. "It's a matter of life and death."

Slughorn's eyes widened. "Oh, of course, my boy!" He handed a bag that contained it to Harry, winking lavishly. "Use it wisely."

"Don't worry, sir," Harry said, a big grin spreading across his face.