Part 32 – Eavesdropping Again

Several minutes passed before Severus felt well enough to stand up. He still felt shaky as he leaned over the sink to wash his mouth out. He looked into the mirror to see that his pale features were even whiter than usual and although the shock was starting to wear off he knew that he couldn't go back and eat breakfast, nor could he bring himself to face his classmates right now.

He ran cold water into the sink and splashed some more on his face. Then, taking a deep breath, he turned to leave the room. It was only then that he realised that he'd made a mistake.

In his rush to leave the Great Hall he had somehow got turned about and was now standing in the girls' bathroom instead of the boys. The furnishings were the same although it didn't look as clean as the boys' and some of the paint work was starting to look rather worn. Even so Severus didn't realise he was in the wrong room until he turned around and saw the ghost of a young girl glide out of one of the cubicles and rise up finally perch on one of the sinks.

Even though Hogwarts was full of ghosts, Severus jumped back in surprise at seeing an unknown one at such an embarrassing time. The girl had clearly been a Hogwart's student, although Severus could tell from some slight differences to her uniform that she hadn't been a recent pupil. With dark hair, worn in bunches and glasses she had a mousy, studious look about her. It was a look that her frown of annoyance only helped to complete.

"You're not meant to be in here," the ghost pointed out to him. "This is the girls' bathroom. You're going to get into loads of trouble."

She smiled slightly at the thought as she glided towards him.

"Who are you?" Severus asked, curious to know who would haunt a bathroom when there was the whole of Hogwart's School available to them, most of the rooms being far more pleasant than the one he was in.

"Typical," the ghost snapped. "I was ignored in life and now in death no one even remembers my name."

She gave a loud sniff as she glided on past him and back into one of the cubicles. Severus followed after her. He had just reached the door of the cubicle when he heard the sound of the bathroom door leading to the corridor opening. Quickly ducking into the cubicle he shut the door to hide until the room was empty again.

"You can't let her push you around," one of the girls who had entered the room said in a loud voice that had the tone of someone who had been repeating themselves for a considerable amount of time.

"Shhh Beth," the second girl hissed. "There might be someone in here."

"No one comes in here," Beth replied. "Everyone keeps out of here 'cos of Moaning Myrtle."

"Who's that?" the second girl asked. Severus realised as she continued to speak that it was the Hufflepuff girl who he had seen with Bellatrix and the others the previous day.

"She's a ghost of a student," Beth answered. She paused a moment before continuing. "Looks like she's not here at the moment. So come on Daisy, what happened yesterday that you won't tell us?"

Severus listened in silence as Daisy relayed the events he had witnessed the previous day to her friend. He noticed that Daisy was careful not to mention names as she told of what had happened, she only referred to the bullies as being in Slytherin House. He was no longer worried about Myrtle giving away the fact that he was there as he could see that she too was enthusiastically eavesdropping from her seat on the cistern.

"You've got to report her to Professor Sprout," Beth insisted once Daisy had finished speaking. "Or Dumbledore himself."

"I can't," Daisy sobbed. "She'll know I told and then it'll be even worse."

"I'll bet she's been pushing about a lot of the students. She won't know it's you who told," Beth pointed out reasonably. Severus chanced a quick look out of the cubicle door and saw that Beth was clearly an older student who had taken the youngster under her wing. She sounded fairly sensible though Severus wondered at the wisdom of getting on the wrong side of Bellatrix Black.

"What can Dumbledore do though?" Daisy asked with a sniff. "He can't see everything that goes on in the school."

"Not much gets past Dumbledore," Beth pointed out.

"I don't know," Daisy hesitated. "You saw the paper this morning didn't you?"

"You mean the murder?"

"Yes. Did you see who the victims were?"

"Muggles weren't they?" Beth sounded confused as though she could not see the connection.

"Muggles with a son who's a wizard," Daisy explained. "What if my parents are next?"

"There are hundreds of muggle-born witches and wizards," Beth sighed. "Just because a couple are killed doesn't mean they're being targeted. It might be a coincidence."

"But if it isn't…" Daisy hesitated. "If it isn't then everyone says the murderer was probably someone like the Slytherins. What if…?"

"I don't think any of the students here were out murdering people last night," Beth replied. "The Aurors are already looking for the killer. They'll catch him soon enough."

"I hope so," Daisy replied before giving one final loud sniff and after taking a deep breath she turned to wash her face before Beth led her back out into the corridor.

The last thing Severus heard as the door swung closed behind them was Beth once again urging Daisy to report the bullying to the Professors. A part of him hoped that she would report them but another part dreaded the possibility of Bellatrix being brought before Dumbledore but remaining in the school anyway. Life would be unbearable if that happened.

Opening the door Severus stepped out of the cubicle and moved towards the door, eager to get out of the bathroom before anyone else came in.

"It's starting again," Myrtle sighed dramatically.

"What's starting again?" Severus asked, curiosity again stopping his leaving the room.

"The bad things," Myrtle replied before turning to glide into one of the cubicles. Severus looked inside but saw nothing but the splash of water as Myrtle disappeared out of sight. He wondered what she had meant but didn't like the idea of waiting around for her to reappear.