A/N: I would like to apologize for the amount of time that has gone by since my last post. I meant to get something out last Friday, but it didn't quite work out like a planned. With a bit of luck, I'll have the next one out faster
And I swear, this will be the last one of people running away.
They so were being followed.
Despite Parvati's assurances that they weren't, Lavender knew that there had to be at least three people chasing them. Lavender could tell by the noise of their footsteps, a gut feeling, and their shouts echoing off the walls.
Also, she had turned and looked over her shoulder a few minutes earlier.
Lavender really hoped that their pursuers would give up soon. Her breath was coming in gasps, her legs were begging her for a rest, and her heart was beating so fast that Lavender thought that it might give up. Hot on her heels, Parvati didn't sound much better. Lavender knew that would have to find some place to hide; they couldn't keep going like this for much longer.
"Lavender," gasped Parvati suddenly, breaking up the steady rhythm of gasps that Lavender had heard for the past couple minutes. "In here."
Lavender skidded to a halt, glancing back at Parvati, who was already halfway through the door that led to the girl's toilets.
"Parvati, we can't go in there, that's where Myrtle lives," said Lavender, hurrying over nonetheless.
"Would you rather get caught, or talk to Myrtle?" hissed Parvati, her voice lowered, glancing toward the end of the corridor, where the sound of their chasers could be heard thundering toward them.
Lavender hesitated, considering the question carefully.
"Seriously?" asked Parvati, her voice incredulous. When Lavender didn't answer, she reached out and yanked in her into the room, shutting the door quietly behind them. Lavender turned her back on the door, fighting the instinct inside her that was telling her to leave the bathroom before it was too late.
The bathroom was unchanged from when they had last visited it four years ago, with the notable exception that everything was still dry this time, and that there was no sign of Myrtle in the room.
On the other side of the door, she heard the three Slytherins ran past, not even hesitating at the door. The noise they were making quickly faded as they got further away.
"See," said Parvati, looking relieved. "I told you that this was a good idea."
"I know," said Lavender, and some of the tension she had been holding trickled away. "But I'm still worried about Myrtle showing up again."
Parvati nodded, casting around for any sign of the ghost. "Yeah, that probably wouldn't end well.
"It's not like I did anything to annoy her either," said Lavender, eyeing the stall where Myrtle lived nervously. Though four years had passed, the memory of Myrtle's overreaction would never leave Lavender, no matter how long she lived.
"You only told her she should lose some weight," Parvati rolled her eyes. "I don't know why that would offend her at all."
"How was I supposed to know that ghost couldn't lose weight," Lavender giggle slightly. "It was an honest mistake."
"How could you not know that," said Parvati, grinning slightly. "Everyone knows that."
"My mom was always scared of ghosts, so we didn't really talk about them much," said Lavender, then looked around and adding in an undertone, "and besides, it's true."
Instantly, there was loud, horribly screechy sob as Moaning Myrtle herself flew up from her usual stall at the end, cutting Parvati off mid-giggle. Water splashed all over them, the taps, and the floor, so they were standing in ankle deep water.
"Speaking of the devil," said Parvati, in a falsely cheery voice, throwing a worried look at Lavender.
"Oh, it's you two," said Myrtle, gloomily. "Talking behind my back again,"
"No, Myrtle," said Lavender quickly, knowing that it was best to interrupt her before she could build up too much steam. "We were just, um, saying how nice you look these days."
"How I look," howled Myrtle, much louder then Lavender liked. "How I look! As if. I heard you talking about how fat I looked."
"No. I mean, I would never be so tactless," said Lavender, slightly hurt by this unfair accusation. "I mean, yes, you could be slimmer-"
"A tiny, itsy-bitsy bit slimmer," put in Parvati.
But you look fine now," finished Lavender.
Myrtle gave a dramatic sob so loud that Lavender was sure half the castle could hear. "I get it, I understand now. Just because I'm dead, it means that everyone can insult me, because there's no way that I can still have feelings."
"Excuse me," said Lavender, drawing herself up. "I know perfectly well that you have feelings, but I have feelings too, and I'm sorry that your feelings were hurt, but it's the truth. You can hardly blame me for that. And besides, you're the one who attacked me last time."
"Lavender," said Parvati warningly, but Lavender plowed on.
'It's all your fault that I can never use any bathroom on the first floor. You know, I was perfectly happy to, until I visited here.
"Myfault," huffed Myrtle. "I was here long before you were. And you called me fat."
"I did not call you fat," said Lavender.
"You did too," said Myrtle, acting as though Lavender's denial was the worst thing in the world and sniffing tragically. "I heard you."
"Haven't we just had this conversation?" asked Parvati, twisting a bangle around her wrist idly, her dark eyes moving from Lavender, who knew she looked defiant, and Myrtle, who was too busy giving howl of outrage and making a show of wiping her eyes on her robes to notice.
"Really," said Lavender exasperatedly, rolling her eyes at this latest show of "tragic misunderstanding."
A new voice from outside the door joined conversation. "Do you hear something in there?"
Lavender and Parvati looked at each other, their faces stricken. Myrtle gave another howl, louder than before, pausing only to blow her nose.
"Myrtle, shut up," hissed Parvati. Lavender didn't expect this to work, and unsurprisingly, Myrtle didn't even pause in her wailing.
"I definitely heard something," said a new voice, female, the excitement in it easily heard even over Myrtle.
"In here," said Lavender, crossing the room and wrenching open a door to a stall and speaking in a undertone so that she wouldn't be heard, though she doubt anything would be heard with Myrtle still weeping loudly. "Parvati, quick!"
The door handle was being turned as Parvati rushed toward the stall, and they were only saved from being discovered by luck, as the door suddenly stopped being turned, and different voice, this one male, exclaimed, "I can't go in there, it's a girls toilets!"
Parvati squeezed past Lavender as Myrtle abruptly stopped her moaning, looking interestedly at the door, seemingly only now noticing that there were more people outside her bathroom.
"Myrtle," whispered Lavender, waving her arm to get the ghost's attention. "Please, please don't tell them we're in here."
Lavender had one last glimpse of Myrtle's face before she swung the stall door shut, and she was not reassured by what she saw. Myrtle, at least in comparison her usual glumness, seemed positively radiant as she glared at Lavender. Lavender wasn't sure what that meant, but was sure that it didn't foretell anything good for them.
"C'mon you big twit," said one of the female voices loudly, and Lavender could hear the door flying open, and the sound of people moving through the water-covered floor.
"You, ghost," came the sneering, slightly reedy voice of the male — Lavender thought that it might have been the Nott kid, from Slytherins, — but one of the female voices quickly cut him off.
"Myrtle, right? Has anyone come through here recently?"
"Oh, maybe," whimpered Myrtle. "I was just sobbing in my toilet just now, and I thought I might have heard someone."
"Who was it?" asked the other female voice eagerly, and Lavender exchanged a glance with Parvati; now that there wasn't a door between them, she could clearly recognize the voice of Millicent Bolstrode. "Who came in here?"
"I thought I heard two girls," said Myrtle, and though the tone was the same as her usual dejection filled one, Lavender thought she could hear the a happier note beneath it, as though Myrtle was enjoying keeping Lavender and Parvati in suspense.
"Which stall?" asked Millicent and Nott at the same time.
"Do you see any legs?" asked the other female voice. Quickly, Parvati climbed up on top of the toilet, crouching slightly so that she couldn't be seen over the top of the stall. Lavender reached up and, taking Parvati's proffered hand, hoisted herself up, settling in a slightly hazardously position on the wet toilet seat. From her new vantage point, Lavender could look down into the toilet itself, noticing for the first time just how much extra water Myrtle managed to fill these toilets, with her sulking.
"I don't see any," reported Nott, crashing through the water, and Lavender sent out a quiet prayer of thanks for him starting on the opposite end of the bathroom. "Not a pair of legs anywhere."
"Which stall?" asked Millicent, not sounding disappointed. If anything, she sounded more eager than before, like this was only a setback. . "Which stall are they in?"
"Well, let me think," Myrtle sighed, floating upward, so Lavender could see her. For someone who sounded so glum, her expression was quite cheerful. When she caught sight of the two witches perched precariously on the toilet, her face broke into the first smile that Lavender had ever seen.
Five pairs of eyes followed Myrtle, as she floated toward the far end of the bathroom, peering down into the first stall.
"Nobody's in this one," she said, quite cheerfully.
"You're going to look in every single one?" asked Millicent in disbelief.
"Well, I think that they are in this one," said Myrtle, floating so that she was over the next one on line. "But I guess not."
"I could do this faster," grumbled Nott. "We don't even need the ghost."
"Don't say th—" began the second female voice, but it was too late; Myrtle had heard. With a wail, she started to sob loudly, floating to the top of the room.
"Don't. Say. Anything." said the female voice. Lavender felt her eyebrow furrowing as she tried to remember where she had heard that voice before.
"But," began Millicent. Before she could get any further, the second female voice cut her off.
"Not. One. Word. Let me handle this."
"You don't need me," gasped Myrtle, pearly tears streaming down her face. "You just want to tease me like everyone else."
"No, no, that's not what he meant," said the second female voice soothingly. Lavender almost made a loud exclamation in triumphant as she recognized it as Tracy Davis. Fortunately, she remembered that this wasn't the time for yelling, and instead resolved to tell Parvati later.
"He wants to leave," said Myrtle, pouting. "He doesn't even know my name."
"I know," said Tracy sympathetically. "But do you know what he why he really came in here?"
"Why?" said Myrtle, without enthusiasm.
"Well," said Tracy, lowering her voice, so that Lavender had to strain to hear her. "I heard that he wants to know you died."
"You do?" said Myrtle, obviously flattered.
"Wha—," began Nott, before letting out a slight grunt, and Lavender guessed that someone had elbowed him in the ribs. A moment of silence filled the room, then "uh, yeah, I do."
'It was absolutely awful," said Myrtle happily. "I was sitting right in the stall, down at the end when—"
Lavender groaned silently, hoping that Myrtle would hurry up and tell the story. For one thing, her legs were getting tired of crouching. Even through the pain shooting up from her legs, Lavender could appreciate just how cunning Tracy Davis had been to head off Myrtle, and felt a little grudging respect for her.
"Olive Hornby had teased me dreadfully for my glasses," prattled on Myrtle, oblivious to Lavender's discomfort. Looking around for something to distract her, Lavender noticed Parvati had one hand in her pocket, slowly pulling out her wand.
Lavender reached up and gently nudged Parvati, raising an eyebrow in.
Parvati finished pulling out her wand, nodding toward the ghost and mouthing "for Myrtle"
Lavender shook her head, mouthing "It's not going to do anything."
Parvati looked at her blankly for a moment, before shrugging, obviously not understanding.
"Anyway, I ran in here, since Olive wouldn't leave me alone in my dormitory," Myrtle continued her story, completely unaware of the non-verbal conversation taking place just feet from her. Lavender took a moment wonder at the Slytherin's patience, before turning her attention back to Parvati.
Parvati was still staring at her, a bemused look on her face. Lavender slowly mouthed the words "It is not going to do anything."
Lavender sighed silently as Parvati shrugged again, mouthing "is is not. what?"
Lavender rolled her eyes, raising her eyebrows trying to say "really?"
Parvati raised her eyebrows right back, and half shrugged, a typical expression when someone was trying to say "what?"
"And that's when I saw it," said Myrtle dramatically. "Two, great, big eyes."
Lavender shot an exasperated look at Parvati, before very slowly and carefully mouthed the words, "going to do anything,"
Parvati thought for a moment, then shook her head, mouthing, "It's not going to what?"
"Do anything," Lavender completed the sentence as empathetically as possible while still remaining silent. Parvati just looked more puzzled, so Lavender reached up and grabbed her wand, yanking out of her surprised gasp.
"And that's how I died," sighed Myrtle, sounding almost content as she floating upward, drawing Lavender's attention. Parvati used the distraction to grab at her wand, almost yanking it out of Lavender's grasp before Lavender even noticed it. A silent game of tug of war ensued, made only more dangerous by them both standing on a wet toilet.
"Can we search yet?" whispered Nott, though he was still clearly audible in the quiet room.
"What's that?" said Myrtle, abruptly reverting to her usual attitude.
"He's just eager to catch the people who ran in here, that's all," said the female voice. "A little overeager."
At the mention Lavender and Parvati, Myrtle suddenly brightened again, as though the thought of Lavender and Parvati getting caught warmed her heart. Floating back toward the third stall, she chirped, "This one's empty too."
Lavender looked at Parvati. Parvati was wearing a slightly panicked expression, but at last managed to yank it out of Lavender's hand. Lavender grabbed her arm as she made to aim.
"No one in this one either," said Myrtle's voice, temporarily out of sight again as she peered into another stall."
Lavender heard the water ripple as the three Slytherins outside the stall shifted slightly. Parvati was throwing Lavender a questioning look. Lavender wished that she could just tell Parvati to give it up, but she contented herself with a warning look and a shaking of her head.
Myrtle came back into view as she looked into the next stall, only three stalls where Lavender and Parvati where crouching on the toilet.
"There's someone in here," Myrtle shrieked suddenly, making Lavender jump and Parvati flinch so badly that she shot a few sparks into the stall wall. Luckily, the Slytherins running forward were so focused on Myrtle that they missed both the faint light of the sparks and the sound of Lavender's knee hitting the wall.
Oh, wait, never mind," said Myrtle, looking gleeful she had caused such a reaction. The three Slytherins, muttering to themselves, sloshed back to where they had been before. Still smiling to herself, Myrtle floated into view, now only two stalls from view.
"I don't see anyone in there," announced Myrtle, her eyes traveling over to Lavender and Parvati. Lavender threw her a pleading look, rubbing her knee where it had hit the stall wall with one hand. Beside her, Parvati clenched her hands together, silently begging for Myrtle to leave them alone.
"Nothing here," called Myrtle, sounding happier by the minute. Her eyes never left Lavender, who was now shaking her head, giving Myrtle the puppy eye treatment.
Myrtle cheerfully ignored this, gliding over to their stall, looking down on Parvati, who was begging more empathetically than ever, and looking very odd with a wand sticking out of her clenched hands. The ghost opened her mouth, and Lavender knew that she was going to rat them out. A plan, one of the most desperate Lavender had ever come up with, came to mind, no doubt borne out of the hopelessness of the situation.
"Myrtle," hissed Lavender, so quietly she wasn't sure the ghost could hear her. "Your fat."
With the loudest shriek yet, Myrtle dived through Lavender, into the toilet. Lavender gasped loudly as Myrtle flew through her, feeling as though she had just been thrust into a cold shower. The feeling was only amplified as Myrtle splashed into the toilet, throwing water all over Lavender, Parvati, and well over the stall door, flooding most of the bathroom. With cries of rage, the three Slytherins blundered toward the door, cursing loudly.
"She tricked us," yelled Nott, and Lavender heard him crash against the door; it slammed against the wall with a resounding crash. "She was going to do that all along,"
"We had to make sure, didn't we though," said Tracy, sounding rather disgruntled herself.
Nott's reply was lost as he closed the door with much more force then he need to. As though this had been a cue for them, Lavender and Parvati both came to life. Lavender gasped again, then hopped down to the ground, her robes completely soaked. Behind Lavender, Parvati started to splutter and cough, wiping water off her face.
Lavender groaned softly as she straitened her legs at last; she had been holding it much too long. She still felt cold, as though a part of Myrtle was still in here. Staggering to the stall door, she pushed it open and walked splashily to the middle of the room, deeply thankful that Myrtle was finally gone.
"I've always wondered how she manages to get so much water everywhere" said Parvati lightly, following her. Lavender turned to get a good look at her. Her friend looked horrible; her long black hair was plastered to her back, and her makeup had smudge spectacularly. Lavender knew that she couldn't look any better.
"At least we got out, didn't we?" said Lavender, shivering slightly and squeezing as much water as she could out of one of her sleeves.
"What were you trying to tell me?" asked Parvati, pointing her wand at Lavender and muttering under her breath. Lavender's robes suddenly warmed up though they remained wet. "That better?"
"Loads," said Lavender. "I was trying to tell you that it wasn't going to do anything."
"Oh," said Parvati, comprehension dawning on her face. "That's what you were trying to say."
Lavender just sighed, as the sound of Myrtle sobbing filled the room once more. "Let's get out of here.
"Yeah," agreed Parvati, splashing her way toward the door.
Wet and bedraggled, the two witches walked out into the corridor, closing the door after them.
'Let's hope no one sees us like this," said Lavender, as they started walking down the corridor. Parvati nodded silently.
"And at least we didn't get caught," said Parvati after a while. "That was great thinking on your part,"
"I know," said Lavender, proudly. "Though that was a little too close," she added quickly
"It was kind of fun though," said Parvati, smiling.
"Yes it was," admitted Lavender, a grin spreading over her face. "We need to do something like that again.
"Not the exact same thing," said Parvati immediately.
"All right, not the same one," allowed Lavender. "But something like that."
"All right," said Parvati, and still grinning slightly, the two soaking wet witches mounted the marble staircase, already planning what they could do to get Millicent back for almost catching them.
A/N: I'll admit, I'm not sure that I did justice to Lavender's character, so I would appreciate if any of you guys could tell me what you thought. After all, we'll probably be seeing more of her, even if it's not from her point of view.
And if you've gotten this far, thanks for reading.