AN: I understand the plot in this is something that happened to Harry Potter, but I swear the others are more original. I just needed a plot to set the story up. R&R!
6 -The Bathroom
"I still don't believe that Thad turned down the offer. That would have been awesome! We would have won for sure!" Levi complained, trudging along beside Julian, Sean, Liz and Asher.
"Well hey, at least they have Sean as a Chaser. We really needed one." Asher quipped, receiving a thankful look from Sean.
"Erm, I need to use the little girl's room." Liz said suddenly, turning around to look for the nearest bathroom.
"There's one right there," Sean pointed out, pointing down the hall. Liz ran off in the direction of the bathroom, the other following.
"Ew, I'm not going in there, that's the girl's bathroom." Levi snapped, looking back and forth between each of them for support.
"It's deserted anyways… something about a ghost." Julian waved Levi off, stepping into the bathroom.
"Why is there a hole in the floor?" Sean asked, pointing toward a hole in the center of a large circular room. "And where are the sinks?"
Asher walked over, and looked into the hole. It was dirty, like plumbing, and was very long and winding. IT looked like a safety hazard if he'd ever seen one.
"Hello?"
Asher looked back down at the hole. It was speaking.
"Hello?" It spoke again, and it sounded feminine… and familiar.
"Hello? Is anybody up there? I fell in the hole, my ankle is twisted…"
Asher gestured for the others to come over, and they all leaned in toward the hole.
"Hello? Is anybody down there?" Sean asked, and there was a squeal from inside the hole.
"I fell in, there's stuff down here, come down! I need help!"
Asher shared a look with the others, before swinging his legs over into the hole. Slowly, he raised his body up, and dropped into the hole. Thankfully, the sides of the piping acted as a slide, and he didn't fall to his death.
Upon reaching the bottom, he landed on a pile of what appeared to be bones. Sitting in front of him, was Elizabeth.
"Asher? Is it safe?" Came from the pipes, and he poked his head back in. It smelled of rust, and was slightly wet.
"Yeah, it's like a slide."
Shortly after, Asher was joined by Julian, Levi and Sean. They all looked around, and took in the 'scenery'.
"Well this is kind of depressing."
"What is it?" Julian asked, kicking at the bones with his foot.
"I reckon it's some sort of passage out of the castle, let's go check it out." Levi was smiling, and he ran past them toward the opening in the wall.
They followed, Asher supporting Liz and her ankle, into the next room, where there was what appeared to be a large amount of snakeskin.
"This is sweet! It's huge!" Levi shouted, pointing franticly at the snakeskin.
Following the energetic Levi into the next room, they were stopped by a large door covered in snakes. However, it was already opened, and Julian assisted Levi in pulling it open all the way.
"This is a lot of trouble for a secret passage…" Sean murmured, glancing over at Asher and Liz.
In the last room, there was a long, tile walkway, leading up to a large stone face protruding from the end of the wall. There were snake statues lining the walkway, and water lining the creases in the tiles.
"DUDE! That's a skeleton!" Levi shouted, running over to a large snake skeleton lying belly-up on the tile in front of the face statue.
"I thought snakes have teeth?" He pointed out, gesturing to the jaw of the snake, where there were no fangs.
"I don't think we should be here…" Sean stated, looking over his shoulder.
"I think Sean is right, I have a funny feeling about this place…" Liz murmured, attempting to stand on her ankle, with little success.
"Fine, let's get out of here." Levi's shoulders dropped and they turned to leave.
"So you're saying it was in the second floor's girl's bathroom?"
"Yeah, it was like a secret passage, and super sweet! There was this snake skeleton and everything!" Levi explained to Thad in the Ravenclaw common room. Thad was reading through a textbook that he hadn't seen before.
"Sounds like the Chamber of Secrets." Thad mumbled, flipping the page. From over his shoulder, Asher could see funny-looking symbols written across the page. Thad's attention was fixed on them, and there was a crease in how brow.
"Chamber of Secrets?" Levi asked, just as Chase and Damon walked through the door.
"I've heard of that. My dad told me about when he was at Hogwarts, there was this big scandal that one of the students was setting a basilisk on the muggle-borns. Harry Potter stopped him, of course."
"A basilisk is a snake, right?" Julian added in, looking up at Damon and Chase.
"Yeah, a big one. If I remember my Care of Magical Creatures classes well enough, they kill you if you look in their eyes."
"Did anybody die?"
"No, they got petrified. They never actually looked directly into the snake's eyes. The last time someone died from it was fifty years before then. Ever heard of Moaning Myrtle?"
Thad nodded, but the others shook their heads.
"She's the ghost from the girl's bathroom on the second floor. Nobody really sees her anymore since McGonagall banned the use of it."
"But we were in there today. There was this hole in the ground."
Chase looked at them funny.
"A hole? The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is hidden. Only 'true Slytherins' are supposed to be able to get in."
"But we're not Slytherins" Levi pointed out.
"Which is why you guys shouldn't go looking for trouble! Problem solved!" Chase beamed, and the others laughed.
"Oh, Sean." Damon started, "We have practice tonight, don't forget." Sean nodded. "And Thad, if you change your mind about joining the team, let me know."
Thad nodded sheepishly, and Damon and Chase left toward the dorms hand-in-hand.
"I want to go check out the bathroom on the second floor." Asher stated to Thad, Sean, Julian and Valerie, who were all sitting in the Great Hall. Thad was beating Julian in wizard's chess, and Julian was scowling. Valerie was eating Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans with distaste, passing some to Sean occasionally.
"Why?" Thad asked, without looking up from the board.
"Something isn't right. But we're going to need Valerie's help. She's a Slytherin."
They all glance up at Asher.
"You guys can go, I think I'm going to go back to the dorm and read my book," He moved one final piece, "Checkmate, I win again."
Julian frowned, "What is it you're reading anyways?"
Thad stood from the table and grabbed his books from beside the chess board.
"It's an Ancient Runes textbook, for your information."
"Ancient Runes is a second-year elective. Why are you reading its textbook?" Valerie pointed out, and Thad blushed.
"It's interesting." He began walking away, "and it wouldn't be the only second-year textbook I have…" he murmured quietly, but Asher still caught it.
"Leave him be, he's just shy." Sean said, after spitting out a bean, "Ew, sand."
"Where's the hole?" Julian asked, as he stepped into the bathroom.
Sure enough, the hole wasn't there. Instead, there was a large group of sinks sitting directly overtop of where the hole was.
"Very funny… a hole, what was I thinking believing you guys… Why would they put a hole in the middle of a bathroom?" Valerie rambled, turning to leave.
"No, there was a hole. Elizabeth fell in it. That's why she's at the hospital wing." Asher said, and Valerie turned around again.
"Alright then, where is this hole?" She gestured all around the bathroom.
"It is there, you know."
They all turned toward the toilets, where a girl who looked around her teens was floating above the stalls.
"Moaning Myrtle?" Valerie asked, and the others perked up.
"It is there. I go in it all the time, now that the snake it gone. There was a boy in here yesterday, he knew how to move the sinks." She stated, slowly floating down toward them.
"What did he look like, Myrtle? He might be putting people in danger." Asher said, stepping forward. Myrtle only looked at him.
"He was young, your age. And he was a Slytherin, of course. That how he spoke snake."
Valerie looked up at Myrtle warily. "Nobody has been a parseltongue in years. The last known one was-"
"Harry Potter. I know, he came in here too. With his ginger friend and stupid teacher. They went down there, and they killed the thing."
Asher looked between each of his friends, who were all shocked.
"Did he say his name?"
"No, he didn't realise I was there. I was sitting in the u-bend, like I always do, and I heard someone come in, so I watched from my stall."
"Thank you Myrtle, you've helped a bunch. Lets go guys."
"No."
Valerie crossed her arms, and glared back at Asher and Julian.
"But Valerie, you're the only Slytherin in our group! All you need to do is bring up the Chamber of Secrets and see who is suspicious!" Julian's arms flailed as he shouted, and Thad was laughing from his spot on the bench.
"Look, I came down to watch this practice, so I'm going to watch the practice. I don't want you guys bugging me about my classmates!" She gestured to the Ravenclaw Quidditch practice that was happening on the pitch in front of them, and Asher smiled.
It was Sean's first practice, so a majority of the first-year Ravenclaws showed up to support him. He was catching the ball, the Quaffle, successfully. He managed to make a couple goals, and he got congratulatory claps on the back afterward.
"You know, it's actually a good thing Thad didn't join the team. Well, for my house anyways." Valerie sneered, and Julian instantly shut up.
"You play unfair," Julian's eyes squinted.
"Slytherin, remember?" She gestured to herself, and Asher laughed.
"Thaddy-kins, you'll tell her to do it, right?" Levi asked, from his spot beside Julian. The two of them gave him their best 'kicked puppy' look, but he didn't notice. He was too entranced by a Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook.
"He's too busy researching for that Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment." Asher pointed out, and Levi and Julian scowled.
"I've been betrayed," Levi sniffed,
"I thought you loved us, Thaddy-kins?" Julian added, sniffling for added measure.
Thad glanced up from his book briefly, before snapping it shut and leaving the stands. Levi and Julian shared a sideways glance, "What's up his butt?"
"Something is wrong." Liz stated as she sat down beside Thad in Charms class. He looked up at her briefly from his textbook, then turned his gaze back to his text.
"I can see it, you know. I know about your crush." Thad's eyes snapped up from his book, as he snapped it closed. His mouth forming a perfect 'o'.
"It's not a crush." He blushed, turning back to his feather and swishing his wand. Just as he made progress, and the feather floated slowly upward, there was a loud 'BOOM' from the other side of the room, and everybody's gaze turned on it.
Sitting behind a layer of ash, were two students. One, vaguely seen as Flint, was laughing, while the other, Levi, had a look of total shock on his face.
"I… I just flicked…"
The entire room burst into laughter, while Professor Flitwick ushered the two of them from the room. Charms was more fun when the Gryffindors were with them, and Liz couldn't help but notice that Thad was always happier when they were around.
"Thad has a crush on one of the Gryffindors." Liz walked up to Asher, Julian and Levi, who were sitting in the library working on their Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment.
Levi and Julian instantly broke out into grins, while Asher leaned in to whisper in Liz's ear. "You shouldn't have told them that. Now they'll never leave him alone."
"Which one?" Levi asked, grinning wickedly from ear-to-ear.
"I don't know, but he's always happier when they're around. And I confronted him on it in Charms and he blushed and denied it. I think it's one of the girls you two hang out with, because he's angry when you're there."
Levi and Julian's smiles shattered.
"Thad? Angry?" Julian mutters.
"Impossible." Levi added. Asher shook his head.
"It would explain why he didn't defend you guys when you wanted an answer from Valerie. And he seems more distant that usual."
The two of them looked sad, and they slowly slumped up from their spots in the library and up to the common room.
Asher and Liz shared a look, as Valerie burst into the library, running.
"I did it, I asked them. I think I know who Myrtle was talking about."