Chapter 8: Moaning Myrtle
The next morning, the Great Hall was filled with happy students, though more than one person was gazing at their breakfast rather nauseously due to all the candy they had eaten the night before, or, for the Slytherins, due to the Toadstool Tales. Despite the general feeling of illness many of the students were suffering, the Slytherins were all very happy due to the return of their Head of House. Alea Malfoy was seated at the High Table in her proper place, currently deep in conversation with Neville Longbottom. Albus noticed that the two looked far more serious than everyone else in the Hall. In fact, Malfoy appeared upset about something. Given the surveillance and treatment she had suffered, this was not entirely unexpected.
Albus watched Alea Malfoy leaving the Great Hall, Neville looking after her worriedly. "Where is she going?" Albus asked himself quietly. He glanced at his friends. "I'll be right back," he said, getting off the bench. "Drank too much pumpkin juice."
Albus left the Great Hall just in time to see Professor Malfoy turn into the grand staircase. Albus peeked around the corner and watched Malfoy go up the stairs. He pulled his head back just in time as Malfoy looked back down toward the ground floor from where she stood near the entrance to the second floor corridor. After a few moments, Albus risked a glance back around the corner. Malfoy was gone.
"What are you doing, Albus?" Albus nearly jumped out of his skin as the voice sounded from behind him. He turned to see Professor Longbottom. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Neville looked around the corner. "Looking for someone?" He looked down at Albus curiously.
"No, Professor."
"Then why are you here?" He looked back up towards where Albus had seen Malfoy.
"I was watching Peeves, Professor," he said, saying the first lie that he could come up with. "I think he's planning…" Neville's face suddenly changed, and Albus had the distinct impression that Neville knew who Albus had really been watching. "I think he may be setting a trap, sir." Albus paused. "On the second floor."
Neville's eyes flashed towards the second floor, and then he looked back down to Albus. His eyes showed that he somehow understood completely. "Thank you, Albus. I'll look into that." Albus was nearly knocked aside as Professor Longbottom quickly began to ascend the stairs. Albus bit his lip. He wasn't quite sure why Neville seemed so alarmed by the fact that Malfoy had probably gone to the second floor. That was where Nott's murder had taken place, but surely Neville did not believe that Malfoy was a murderess with intent to kill again.
"Albus?" He turned to see Aries coming out of the Great Hall. "What's going on? You left so suddenly, and then Professor Longbottom followed you…"
Albus put a finger to his lips and motioned for the blonde to come closer. "Come on," he whispered. Neville had vanished into the second floor as well, and Albus and Aries quickly made their way up the stairs.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" she said as they neared the second floor.
"Shh!" Albus hissed. "I think that we may find out something about the murders," he whispered in her ear.
Aries' eyes widened. "How?"
Albus shook his head, his fingers to his lips. He slowly looked around the corner. The corridor appeared completely empty. He began heading down the hall. Aries grabbed his hand as they tried to move in silence. Her grip tightened when they heard a sudden scream coming from the girl's bathroom. The two froze, hearts pounding in fear.
"Neville!" they heard Malfoy say, almost in anger. "He didn't mean it Myrtle," she continued.
"He did!" Albus heard an unfamiliar, high-pitched voice cry. "He did mean it!"
"No, Myrtle, I'm sorry, I didn't…I didn't mean it like that, I was just…" Albus heard Neville say desperately. But this seemed to make this 'Myrtle' feel even worse, for she screamed even louder, her voice echoing down the corridor for a few moments. Albus then heard Neville give a cry of pain. "That hurt!"
"Good!" Malfoy exclaimed. "You deserve it! Honestly, asking if she was sure she was wearing her glasses…"
"Well, if she wasn't she could have missed something," Neville said.
"I don't care!" Malfoy exclaimed. "Neville, she's the only one who could know anything; she's the only one who's ever in here." There was a brief silence. "I'm sorry, that was…harsh." Albus and Aries were once again creeping along, inching closer to the bathroom.
"That's all right," Neville said quietly. "I know…well, it must be very hard, having the Ministry keep accusing you of these murders…the interrogations, the rumors…" Albus dared to look into the girl's bathroom. He was very fortunate that the two were not facing the door.
Neville had his arms around Malfoy and her face was buried in his shoulder. Her arms were folded determinedly across her chest, as though she had been attempting to avoid physical contact. Neville was stroking a hand through her hair, letting her cry. "Everything will be all right. I promise," he whispered to her.
Malfoy pulled away from him and wiped the tears from her face, looking into the mirror. "I'm being stupid," she said to herself. "Crying doesn't help anything."
"Don't be so sure about that."
Albus and Aries were both just as startled as Malfoy and Neville appeared when they heard the voice. The ghost of a young girl drifted into view. "This bathroom seems to draw many who are sad. And coming here seems to help them. Even Slytherins," the ghost added.
Malfoy smiled slightly, her eyes still red. "Thank you, Myrtle."
"If I remember anyone going into the Chamber in this year, I'll find you," Myrtle said, and the ghost disappeared from Albus' view.
"Moaning Myrtle seems…not so moaning anymore. Ow!" Neville exclaimed as Malfoy whacked his shoulder. "Stop that!" But when Malfoy began to laugh, he smiled. "Come on, let's go back to the Great Hall."
Albus and Aries ran down the corridor. Aries grabbed Albus roughly by the arm and shoved him into the Charms classroom, quickly following him in. The two hid out of view of the door as they heard the two professors go down the hallway.
After a few minutes, when they were sure that the professors were gone, Albus made to go back down to the Great Hall, but Aries headed to the girl's bathroom. "Aries?"
"They asked her about the Chamber of Secrets, Albus, didn't you hear?"
"But she said that she couldn't remember—."
"Couldn't remember anyone going there this year, I know. But that does mean that she knows where the Chamber of Secrets is, how to enter it, and maybe even who went in there before!"
Albus followed as Aries ran down the corridor to the bathroom. She entered and said, "Myrtle?" Albus felt very self-conscious as he entered the girl's bathroom. "Myrtle?"
At first, no one seemed to have heard, but then the pale girl appeared, coming through the door of one of the stalls. "Do I know you?" she asked, looking at Aries curiously. She looked at Albus. "Harry?" she said, suddenly smiling broadly.
"Er—no, I'm Albus," he said, running his hand through his hair. "Wait…Harry? Harry Potter? That's my dad! You knew him?"
"He…he never mentioned me?" Myrtle asked, her face crestfallen.
"Um…no, not that I can remember," Albus said, feeling suddenly guilty, although he wasn't sure why.
Myrtle started sobbing and screaming, and she dived into one of the toilets, causing it to overflow. Aries punched Albus in the shoulder. "That was nicely handled," she said sarcastically. "Now we won't find out anything!"
"I see that you take after your mother," Albus said with a smirk, rubbing his shoulder. Aries hit him again, but in a more friendly way as the two laughed. "Let's go back to the Great Hall."
"Wait," Aries said. She walked through the water, wrinkling her noise. "Myrtle? Myrtle, do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?"
Myrtle's head popped up from one of the toilets. Albus had a hard time suppressing the urge to laugh at the sight. "The Chamber of Secrets?" She rose into the air. "I know a lot about the Chamber of Secrets." Albus noticed that her eyes were not looking at either him or Aries, but at the sink behind him. Albus turned as Myrtle continued. "Harry Potter went into the Chamber before and killed the beast inside it," she said with awe.
"If he killed what was inside of it, then why would my mum think that someone had entered it?" Aries asked herself under her breath. Albus found an engraving of a snake on one of the sinks. He was about to mention it when Myrtle spoke.
"Because Alea Malfoy knows something Harry Potter knows not," Myrtle said mysteriously. Aries looked shocked, probably partially because Myrtle apparently knew that Aries' mother was Professor Malfoy. "There is another monster in the Chamber. One Harry Potter never found out about." Myrtle sighed. "I would have told him if he had visited me more like he said he would," she said sullenly.
"What else is in the Chamber?" Aries asked. Absentmindedly, Albus ran a finger along the engraving of the serpent.
"A basilisk, of course," Myrtle said with a laugh. "That is all there has ever been."
"But you just said—," Aries interrupted.
"Don't interrupt me!" Myrtle exclaimed. Albus and Aries exchanged a nervous glance. "Harry Potter killed the basilisk that Salazar Slytherin left there." She lowered her voice. "But another was born after." Myrtle came closer to them. "Another was born and raised in there. That is the one that Alea worries about."
"Raised there?" Aries said in surprise. "Someone raised another one? Why would anyone want another monster like that?" she asked eagerly.
Myrtle frowned. "You do not know?" Myrtle began whispering sinisterly. "The one who put the toad on the chicken's egg, the one who raised a new monster for the Chamber…" She lowered her voice even more, forcing Albus and Aries to move closer. "…was Alea Malfoy."
