All Lily had wanted was to take a quick trip to the toilet between lessons. Nothing about it was supposed to be noteworthy. She'd pop in on her way to Transfiguration and be out in less than two minutes. That was generally how things worked, but one thing she'd learned in the few months she'd been at Hogwarts was that things didn't always work out how she thought they would. The castle had a number of surprises up its sleeve, and somehow, each time she thought she couldn't be surprised anymore, it would show her something new.

She certainly hadn't expected to hear wailing while she was in a toilet stall. The second the noise started, she sat frozen on the toilet, trying to figure out where it was coming from. No one had entered the room as she was sure she'd have heard them come in, but she'd been positive that the room was empty when she entered.

Overcoming her shock, she hurried to finish and pushed her stall door open, looking in the direction of the sound.

Though none of Hogwarts' surprises had been sinister so far, she was on alert as she took several steps forward. The Whomping Willow was on Hogwarts' grounds after all. The new tree was all the older students could talk about—or complain about was more accurate. None of them could understand why Dumbledore would let such a tree be planted, but if he would, there was no telling what else Lily might have stumbled upon.

Whoever was wailing certainly didn't sound happy.

It didn't take long to pinpoint which stall the wailing was emanating from. Lily took a deep breath, raised her hand, and knocked on the stall door. Except she didn't knock at all because the door hadn't been locked to begin with. Instead, the door swung open, revealing an empty stall.

Lily took a step forward in confusion and realized the wailing was coming from inside the toilet itself. With an audible gasp, she back away until she hit one of the sinks, wincing at the impact that had likely formed a bruise. Her pain had just about distracted her from her fear when a ghost shot out from the toilet and came to hover above her head.

With another gasp, Lily stared at the ghost. She still wasn't used to them when they appeared out of nowhere, even though most of them she'd met had been friendly, especially Nearly Headless Nick. This ghost didn't look much older than Lily herself, but her face was contorted in a scowl that left Lily feeling like she was on the receiving end of something nasty.

"What is your problem?" the ghost demanded.

Her voice sounded like a typical girl of her age, not a monster, and Lily's fears lessened, though she kept her back pressed against the sink to keep her distance.

"I'm sorry," she began. "I didn't mean to do anything. I only wanted to use the toilets."

The ghost zoomed closer, stopping right in front of Lily.

"They all say that," she said, her voice sadder than it had been moments ago. "Then they laugh at me. It's always the same. Everyone laughs."

"I wasn't going to laugh," Lily stressed, her heart hammering in her chest as she stressed the words. "Really. I don't even know who you are. Why would I laugh?"

A strange look passed over the ghost's face, and Lily couldn't tell if she was relieved or upset that Lily hadn't heard of her. Perhaps she was both. It was quiet for a second before the ghost let out a choked sob.

"I'm Moaning Myrtle," she cried suddenly, making Lily gasp again. "That's what they all call me, so you might as well call me that too."

"If it upsets you, then I don't want to—"

Myrtle cut her off with a wail so loud it was nearly a scream. Lily winced, covering her ears as Myrtle zoomed around in the air and went straight back into the U-bend without a glance over her shoulder at Lily.

Lily stared for a moment as the water in the toilet bowl bubbled up and nearly splashed over the sides. A few seconds later, water began shooting into the air, and Lily realized that Myrtle intended to flood the entire room.

She turned on her heel and ran, determined not to get blamed for the actions of a ghost. The Transfiguration classroom had never felt farther away, and she had no idea if she was late or not as she hurried. All she knew was that she was never using that lavatory again no matter how badly she needed to go.

Prompts:

Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments

Seasonal Challenge - Audrey's Dessert Challenge: birthday cake - Lily Evans

Seasonal Challenge - Ravenclaw Prompts: Moaning Myrtle/Myrtle Warren

Seasonal Challenge - Autumn Astronomy: Leonids Meteor Shower - (word) frozen

Button Bonanza: blue - empty

Word count: 781