Disclaimer: Everything you know is J.K. Rowling's. Except for Jamie, Luka, and Ariana.
Sorry for the delay in updates. College takes a lot of time out of writing. Thanks for sticking with this story!
Chapter 22-The Egg and the Eye
So finally Harry decides that he should probably do something to figure out the clue that his golden egg holds, now that the second task is coming ever closer. Cedric Diggory had ended up giving Harry a vague clue about taking a bath with the egg, and gave him the password to the prefect's bathroom so that he could have plenty of space and privacy while figuring this clue out.
Harry had been agonizing over whether to trust him for days before, I had finally hit him over the head demanding him to just go and take the bloody bath already. Little did I know that Harry would think it a good day to bring me along as well. To say that I was mortified of the thought was an understatement.
It took him about ten minutes to calm me down before Harry hastily explained that we would both be clothed in bathing suits so there was no real need to freak out. I hit him again because he had scared me, after that we both settled down to figure out the best way to sneak into the prefect's bathroom without being seen. It was decided that we would go at night with the invisibility cloak, and the Marauder's map.
That way we couldn't be seen and we wouldn't run into any unsuspecting people or evil cats that can survive paralysis. Hermione was very much against this whole plan. Well at least the part that involved breaking school rules, and involving me in the whole thing.
So it was pretty safe to say that she flat out refused to speak to me the whole afternoon leading up to the night in question. Ron was going to help in a small way. He wanted to come along as well, but Hermione had gotten on his case about the essay for Transfiguration that he still hadn't completed, and that she would help him with it, if only to keep him from going along with us.
So on Thursday night I slipped on my ruby red bathing suit, and slipped my school clothes over it, while stuffing a towel into my rucksack. Hermione gave me one last pointed stare, and then with a harrumph she left the room. Quickly I shouldered my rucksack and bound down the staircase to the common room so that I could meet my friend.
When I finally stumbled into the common room I saw a nervous Harry shuffling his feet. I made my way over to him, and he threw the invisibility cloak over us without saying a word. I guess that Harry is anxious to get this all over with so that he can finally known what the second task is going to be about.
We made our way to the portrait hole, and this time it swung open because someone on the outside had given the password, giving us a plausible reason for the door opening, instead of invisible children. No, we couldn't be having any of that could we? Ron was on the other side of the portrait looking rather morose while carrying the huge textbook that was needed to in fact write the Transfiguration paper.
I'm very pleased that I had succumbed to Hermione's incessant warning to actually write the paper earlier now. Ron stares at the spot where he thinks we are, and mutters 'good luck' as we pass by. It is very awkward going tonight for Harry thrusts the large golden egg at me to carry, and holds up the map so that he can figure out where to go, and who to avoid.
I can't help but grin when I spy Fred and George's names in the kitchen of the castle. Luckily for us though, the moonlit corridors are silent and empty so we don't have to worry too much about being caught. Finally after quite a long and silent journey we make it to the statue of Boris the Bewildered wearing his gloves on the wrong hands.
Harry yanks my arm to a door nearby, almost causing me to drop the bloody egg on my foot, and with a few muttered curses I manage to escape the possible life threatening injury. You wouldn't want to be dropping solid gold on your foot now would you?
Harry takes a deep breath and mutters, "Pine Fresh." We wait in baited breath for a few moments until the door swings open. Harry and I slip inside, and I throw the invisibility cloak off of me, for I'm afraid that I'm going to suffocate. We're getting too big now to be sharing the cloak when it's only just the two of us. It's kind of sad when I think about that.
I take a look around and determine that becoming a prefect would be a great thing, if only to just use this bathroom. Though I can always worm the password out of Hermione, since I know that she's going to become the Gryffindor Prefect.
"Can you believe this place?" I ask Harry softly, almost afraid to break the peaceful quiet.
"No." Harry responds breathlessly. The bathroom is softly lit, by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything is made of white marble, including what looks like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stand all around the pool's edges, each with a differently colored jewel set into its handle.
There is also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hang at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sit in a corner, and there is a single golden-framed painting on the wall. It features a blonde mermaid who is fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It flutters every time she snores.
I don't think that I'm going to ever want to leave this bathroom again. Maybe there's a nook in which I can fit a camp bed around here somewhere? "Come on then. We best not waste anymore time." Harry says seriously. With a sigh I nod my head, and pass my friend the golden egg.
Harry stares at it for a moment like he can make it reveal all its secrets without him having to go for a dip in the luxurious bath. "This bathroom is amazing though. This is like the king of all bathrooms. I need to try a few of those taps." I say moving over to one of the blue taps.
"Jamie!" Harry says grabbing my arm and steering me towards the other end of the bath. "We're here to solve the egg, not play around in the bath. Besides… I'm not so sure about this."
I heave a sigh and roll my eyes at him. "Seriously Harry, I don't think that Cedric has anything out for you here with this one. It's just water. Honestly, what could it hurt to try at this point? You haven't figured out any other way on your own." I tell him, and Harry's scowl deepens further.
"Now come on let's try it." I say and pull Harry over to one of the taps. I turn open the nozzle, and suddenly hot soapy water starts pouring into the large bath. It no regular bubbles though. Huge pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs begin to fill the tub. Harry turns on another with fascination as thick white bubbles like snow pour into the mixture as well. With a shared grin, Harry and I run around turning on different taps for different mixtures and smells, until the giant tub is all filled.
"Well I think that it looks rather brilliant don't you?" I ask him. Harry laughs and nods his head. With unspoken word we each turn to a different corner to start shedding our clothes so that we can get in. Once my shirt is folded, I run over to the diving board, and jump into the bath. The warm heavenly smelling soapy water surrounds me, and I want to sigh.
Once I surface in a cloud of bubbles I see Harry standing on the side of the tub in blue trunks looking at me with an amused grin on his face. "Having fun are we?" Harry asks me. My only response is to splash him with sudsy water. Harry narrows his eyes at me, though he could be squinting for he doesn't have his glasses on.
Suddenly he's flying through the air, arms wrapped around his legs cannonballing into the water beside me, drenching me. When he surfaces I'm still sputtering. "Jerk." I growl at him, splashing water in his face. We splash around for a few minutes forgetting all about being quiet and working on the egg. Boy is Ron going to be sore when he finds out all that we are getting to do tonight while he writes his paper.
Finally we calm down, and make our way over to the ledge where Harry left his Golden egg. It seems to be gleaming with hundreds of shiny lights now that it's reflecting the water. "So… what do we do now? I mean, technically we're taking a bath with the thing now." I say moving a strand of wet brown hair out of my face. Harry bites his lip and grabs the egg, turning around to hold it out over the water.
"Well there's only one real way to find out now." Harry says opening the golden egg one again. I have only half a second's warning before the wailing, screeching sound echoed off all the corners of the lofty bathroom. If Filch hadn't managed to hear us before, he was bound to now.
"Close the bloody thing!" I shout trying to be heard over the god-awful noise. Harry scrambles for a second before finally managing to shut the lids again. We both heave a sigh of relief once the terrible noise is gone, only to be filled by the ringing of my ears. That's another thing to add to my list of dangers at Hogwarts, loss of hearing due to mystical, magical eggs.
"I'd try putting it in the water if I were you." A voice says causing Harry and I to jump practically a foot out of the water, and lose the egg. There's the very glum looking ghost sitting cross-legged on top of one of the taps. What on earth is Myrtle doing here, and why does she know what to do with the egg?
"Myrtle! What are you doing here? I could be naked!" Harry cries trying to move more of the bubbles over his pale chest, and I can't help but snicker a little bit at the action.
"You're not though are you? You wouldn't be with her in here." The ghost says casting a disdainful look my way. I roll my eyes at her. Is this seriously how its going to be between us again. I thought that we had actually been able to make some headway through the whole 'I'm a ghost and cranky' thing.
"Besides, you haven't been to see me in ages." Myrtle says in a pouty voice her gaze still fixed firmly on my friend. I have to snicker that that though. Harry has an admirer and that admirer is Moaning Myrtle the ghost. Even I can figure that out and find the hilarity of the situation. To cover my laugh, I pretend to choke on some bubbles, but Harry still glares at me.
"Yeah . . . well . . ." says Harry, bending his knees slightly, just to make absolutely sure Myrtle can't see anything but his head, "I'm not supposed to come into your bathroom, am I? It's a girls' one."
"You didn't used to care," says Myrtle miserably. "You used to be in there all the time." Well that's an over statement in my opinion. It was only a few times in second year and that was only because we were trying to figure out who was the heir of Slytherin.
"I got told off for going in there." Harry says desperately. That's actually true for I'm sure that if Percy were still here that he would have still been on Harry's and Ron's cases for even walking near a girls bathroom.
"Oh . . . I see . . ." says Myrtle, picking at a spot on her chin in a morose sort of way. "Well . . . anyway . . . I'd try the egg in the water. That's what Cedric Diggory did."
"Have you been spying on him too?" says Harry indignantly. "What d'you do, sneak up here in the evenings to watch the prefects take baths?"
"Sometimes," says Myrtle, rather slyly, "but I've never come out to speak to anyone before."
I can't help but gag into the bubbles of the thought of Myrtle watching all the prefect boys in the bath. A shiver runs down my spine and I shudder. "I'm honored." Harry says darkly, before turning to look at me. "All right then… lets give this a go."
I watch as Harry lowers the egg under the water. Instead of the horrifying screech that I was expecting, a gurgled melody was heard. "You need to put your head under too you know." Myrtle says with a grin. I might be seeing things, but I think that she's enjoying bossing Harry around a little too much.
With a glare at Myrtle, he turns to me, and counts off with his fingers. On two I take a deep breath and submerge my head underwater with him.
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour — the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
A shudder runs through me, and I kick up through the water to get away from the creepy voices calling out to me from the water. That does not sound good, not at all. What in Merlin's saggy pants is coming up now? Harry surfaces inches away from me and I bite my lower lip in worry, seeing the dark look on his face.
"I'm going back down again… I need to have this thing down." Harry tells me before gulping air, and diving back under. I tread in my spot next to him, not wanting to go back down again, and listen to the ghastly message.
"He has a rather cute bum— don't you think?" Myrtle says suddenly, and I choke. I can feel heat racing to my cheeks. I really rather not think about anything of Harry's down there. Myrtle cackles at the embarrassed look on my face, and I know that she partially said it just to make me feel uncomfortable.
"Honestly Myrtle I don't need to hear about your creepy fascination with my friend." I moan into my hands, attempting to wish away the awkward situation that I suddenly find myself in. A few minutes later and about four go arounds for Harry, he finally surfaces for the final time, snapping the egg shut when he does so.
"I've got to go and look for people who can't use their voices above the ground. . . ." he says slowly. "Er . . . who could that be?" I scoff, and role my eyes at him, I've had some time to think this all through.
"Come on Harry, the question obviously has to do with something underwater. Think lake." I tell him, sending an annoyed splash his way. Harry glares at me while Myrtle laughs again.
"That's what Cedric Diggory thought as well." She sighs. Harry grabs his glasses, and shoves them onto his face, before turning to look at the ghost head on.
"Myrtle does anything else happen to live in the lake aside from the giant squid?" Harry asks her. Myrtle heaves a dramatic sigh.
"Oh all sorts," she says. "I sometimes go down there . . . sometimes don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it. . . ."
Harry and I share a shudder, and I wait for him to figure out what I finally had. I watch with a triumphant smirk as he finally looks up at the painting of the slumbering mermaid on the wall.
"Myrtle, there don't happen to be merpeople in there are there?" Harry asks her half sounding like he doesn't want the answer to the question.
"Finally." I mutter swiping at some of the bubbles.
"Oooh, very good," she says, her thick glasses twinkling, "it took Diggory much longer than that! And that was with her awake too" — Myrtle jerks her head towards the mermaid with an expression of great dislike on her glum face — "giggling and showing off and flashing her fins. . . ."
"That's it, isn't it?" says Harry excitedly. "The second task's to go and find the merpeople in the lake and . . . and . . ." I watch as Harry's face falls, and fills with dread.
"Jamie, how am I going to breath under water?" Harry demands panicking. I bite my lower lip and swim a little closer to him.
"Breathe Harry, we'll figure something out. I promise you, there's no way that I'm going to let you down. I've invested way too much time in keeping you alive in this thing for that to happen." I tell him. Harry glares at me.
"Well bathtime's over. You best not be looking Myrtle even if I'm in trousers." Harry calls out to her. I roll my eyes and clamber up out of the tub reveling in the still warm, and heavenly smelling.
"Will you come and visit me in my bathroom again sometime?" Moaning Myrtle asks mournfully as Harry picks up the Invisibility Cloak.
"Maybe." Harry tells her noncommittally once we both have our clothes back on, and we're slipping into the empty hall to get away from her. We both heave a sigh of relief, that is until a loud intake of breath breaks the silence. I swing around an excuse fit for a professor on my lips, but freeze when silky blond hair meets my gaze.
I have no idea why Ariana Dumbledore is out of her dormitory at midnight, but the hurt, accusatory look on her face as she looks at the two of us who are still wet is enough to make my heart constrict painfully.
"Ariana…" I start but she puts up her hand to stop the explanation.
"Save it. We were never here got it?" She snaps, and with a tight spin she disappears down the hair with her blond ponytail being the last thing that I see. Harry scratches his head, and glances back at me.
"You have any idea what all that was about?" Harry asks me confusedly. I bite my lip and shake my head, allowing him to throw the invisibility cloak over us so we have no more problems like that.
"Whatever it was she's not very happy with me." I mutter sadly. I never can seem to do the right thing whenever Ariana is involved can I? Harry pulls out the map, and we look to make sure that no one is near us. The closest is Peeves bouncing around the trophy room a floor above us, but something strange catches my eye.
"Why is a Bartemius Crouch wandering around Snape's office?" I ask quietly not liking what that was all about. I knew no one of that name, and I happen to know a lot of names around here.
"I don't know but I need to find out." Harry says. I sigh and bite my lip.
"I think that I'm going to sit this adventure out Harry. I've got some thinking to do about the whole can't breathe underwater thing. You go. I'll be fine making my way back to the common room. Don't worry about me." I tell him quickly slipping out of the cloak, and darting off through the halls without giving him a chance to call for me.
As much as I may care about Harry, I've had enough adventure and rule breaking for one night. As I make my way back to the tower, I can't help but mull over what exactly had gone down with Ariana. She was acting so strangely. The last time she caught me lurking in the halls after hours, she had just teased me some. Now it was like I had personally transfigured her grandfather into a toad!
With a sigh I give the Fat Lady the password, (ignoring her disapproving look) and climb into the common room. I have to bite back a grin at seeing an increasingly frazzled Ron scribble furiously onto his paper, while Hermione reads her own textbook, looking at him every once and a while.
Maybe I can save Ron by making them focus on something else, research about mermaids and ways to survive without air underwater. No thinking about Ariana Dumbledore… yep, definitely no thinking about her. Merlin's pants I'm screwed.