I decided the best time for me to use the prefect's bathroom, would be late at night when most students were asleep. The problem with my plan was that I would have to be out of bed past curfew, a fate that didn't easily scare away a Potter. I gladly took to the challenge with the Heavy golden egg in tow. Covered in my invisibility cloak I made my way to the fifth floor using the Marauder's Map which Harry had agreed to let me borrow. I located the fourth door from the left of the Statue of Boris the Bewildered, and used the password Cedric had given me. Technically the Prefect's bathroom was considered "out-of-bounds" to any student who was not a prefect. So being caught out of bed in a place like that was certain to get in trouble if I wasn't careful.
The door to the bathroom creaked open; I slipped inside easily and bolted the door behind me. The bathroom was softly lit by a candle-filled chandelier and everything was made of white marble. In the middle of the floor I found a rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pools edges, each with a differently colored Jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden-framed painting on the wall. It was a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. I would have loved nothing more than to walk around the pool and turn the nobs on each one of the taps to find out exactly what they contained, but I decided it would be best to get started on the egg for now.
I placed the map, the egg, and my invisibility cloak on the side of the gigantic bath. Hmmm now how to fill it. I thought to myself as I glanced around. I found a silver tap near my feet easily enough. I turned it on, and the water began to fill the bath surprisingly quick. It looked as if it would take a awhile so I started filling with the nearby golden taps. It soon became clear to me that the different golden taps carried varying types of bubble bath. One tap gushed pink and blue bubbles the size of quaffle balls; another poured ice-white foam so thick they looked as if they could support my weight, a third sent heavily perfumed purple clouds hovering over the surface of the water. It surprised me how quickly it too for the deep pool to fill with water, foam and bubbles. I undressed and slipped into the warm water. Once in the water I took to staring at the golden egg, unsure of what a bath was supposed to do for me. After several minutes I still had no stroke of genius. I began swimming laps around the pool. When that still failed to inspire me, I opened up the heavy golden eggs again. The wailing, screeching sound filled the bathroom, echoing and reverberating off the marble walls, but it sounded just as incomprehensible as ever. I snapped the egg shut, ridding the bathroom of the horrible sound.
"I'd try putting it in the water, if I were you." A voice spoke from behind me.
"AHhh!" I screeched tossing the egg across the room. I launched myself under the bubbles looking around for the voice's source. Sitting cross-legged on top of one of the taps was Moaning Myrtle.
"Hello Myrtle." I said relieved that it was at least a female ghost.
"You haven't been to see me for ages." She whined.
"I'm sorry Myrtle, I've just been very busy, and I don't have many classes on your floor this year."
"Oh ... I see ..." Myrtle said placing her chin in her hands. "Well... anyway... I'd try the egg in the water. That's what Cedric Diggory did."
"Do you, sneak up here in the evenings to watch the prefects take baths?" I asked her.
"Sometimes, but I've never come out to speak to anyone before."
"I'm honored." I responded sarcastically.
"Try opening it underwater." Myrtle repeated tossing the egg in my direction. Surprised by my own dexterity, I caught the egg without difficulty. Below the surface of the water I could clearly make out the words being spoken, no sung, from the egg.
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
When the song finished I bobbed up to the surface, hoisting the egg up with me.
"Hear it?" Myrtle asked curiously.
"Yeah, hang on." I quickly wrapped my hair and body in towels so that I didn't drip too much. Finding the jeans I hand been wearing, I pulled out a piece of parchment and the quill I had brought with me. Placing them next to the Marauder's Map, I tossed the towels aside and jumped back into the pool. After several dips and bobs, I was able to write down the song in it's entirely. I read it back to Myrtle out loud.
"So I've got to see something that lives underwater something that can sing. I wonder…" I sat in the warm water, silently listing off creatures I knew lived underwater.
"Well, that's what Diggory thought." Myrtle replied. "He laid there talking to himself for ages about it. Ages and ages . . . nearly all the bubbles had gone. ..."
"Myrtle, what lives in the lake, other than the giant squid?" I asked.
"Oh all sorts," she answered. "I sometimes go down there. Sometimes I don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it..."
"Myrtle, are there, Mermaids? In the lake I mean. Do they have merpeople in the lake?" I asked my eyes falling on the mermaid painting.
"Oooh, very good," She commended me. "it took Diggory much longer than that! And that was with her awake too." Myrtle nodded her head towards the paining with an expression of great dislike. "Giggling and showing off and flashing her fins…"
"That's it then? The second task is finding the merpeople in the lake. But how and I suppose to breathe?" But at this Myrtle's eyes filled with tears.
"How dare you!" she gasped.
"Sorry what?" I looked up surprised.
"Talking about breathing in front of me!" she said shrilly, and her voice echoed loudly around the bathroom. "When I can't. . . when I haven't. . . not for ages ..." She buried her face in her handkerchief and sniffed loudly. There were hundreds of ghosts at Hogwarts, but none of them seemed to resent being dead quite as much as Myrtle did.
"I'm sorry. I just forgot…"
"Oh yes, very easy to forget Myrtle's dead," She wept. "Nobody missed me even when I was alive. Took them hours and hours to find my body - I know, I was sitting there waiting for them. Olive Hornby came into the bathroom - Are you in here again, sulking, Myrtle?' she said, 'because Professor Dippet asked me to look for you -' And then she saw my body . . . ooooh, she didn't forget it until her dying day, I made sure of that... followed her around and reminded her, I did. I remember at her brother's wedding-" But I had given up on listening to her rants half way through my first year. I dried myself while she talked. Once I was dressed I stored away my parchment and quill, and scooped up the Maurader's Map and the golden egg.
"Myrtle! Myrtle! I'm sorry I've got to go now, but I'll come visit you in your bathroom soon alright?"
"Yes, alright. Bye-bye." She said gloomily as I pulled the invisibility cloak over my face. I checked the Marurader's Map to make sure I could make a clean getaway to the Slytherin common room. Everything checked out except for one single dot moving in Severus' office. The strange thing, was that the dot wasn't Severus, it instead belong to Batemius Crouch. Mr. Crouch was supposed to be too ill to go to work or to come to the Yule Ball, so what was he doing at Hogwarts at one o'clock in the morning? My better judgment failing me, as it usually did, I headed down toward Severus' office. Distracted by the map, I forgot about the trick step that I had watch Neville trigger several times over the years. The golden egg was too heavy to balance in one hand, so I had no chance to use my hands to get my foot loose from the step. I pulled at my left foot trying to free it. My center of gravity compromised because of the heavy egg, I lost my balance and fell backwards. I instinctively I threw my arms back to catch myself. The egg took this as the perfect opportunity to not only fall from my grasp, but also to bang and clang its way down the entire flight of stairs. The backwards fall caused me to twist my ankle, my foot still buried deep in the step, my body twisted the opposite way. I was in pain, but the sounds of the egg falling down the steps were sure to attract some attention. I threw the invisibility cloak over myself praying I had covered everything. I reached out for the Mauarader's Map to see if there was anyone in the area. It was only then that I realized that the map had fluttered down six steps from me and there was no way I'd be able to reach it. I thought briefly that maybe no one had heard the egg fall, that was until the egg made contact with a wall one floor below. The golden egg had opened and was once again making its loud wailing screams.
Immediately, I heard soft footsteps come from down the hall. "PEEVES!" It was the unmistakable voice of Filch. "What's this racket? Wake up the whole castle, will you? I'll have you, Peeves, I'll have you, you'll... and what is this?" Filch's footsteps halted, there was a clink of metal on metal and the wailing stopped. Filch had picked up the egg and closed it. I had no choice but to wait. But he paused at the very base of the stairs. "Egg? This is a Triwizard clue! This belongs to a school champion!" My heart began to race; I'd be discovered there for sure. All Filch had to do was pick up the map and he'd see my name printed right across the step. "PEEVES!" Filch roared gleefully. "You've been stealing! Hiding, are you? I'm coming to get you, Peeves. . . . You've gone and stolen a Triwizard clue, Peeves... . Dumbledore'll have you out of here for this, you filthy, pilfering poltergeist. ..." Filtch started to climb the stairs, his dust-colored cat at his heels. My heart was pounding fast with each step Filtch took.
"Filch? Whats going on?" I breathed a sigh of relieve at the sound of Severus' deep voice.
"It's Peeves, Professor. He threw this egg down the stairs." Severus climbed up the stairs quickly to stand beside Filtch.
"Peeves?" he repeated taking the egg from Filtch."But Peeves couldn't get into my office…"
"This egg was in your office. Professor?" Filtch asked suspiciously.
"Of course not," Severus snapped. "I heard banging and wailing -"
"Yes, Professor, that was the egg -"
"- I was coming to investigate -"
"- Peeves threw it. Professor -"
"- and when I passed my office, I saw that the torches were lit and a cupboard door was ajar! Somebody has been searching it!"
"But Peeves couldn't -"
"I know he couldn't, Filch! I seal my office with a spell none but a wizard could break! I want you to come and help me search for the intruder, Filch."
"I - yes, Professor - but -" Filtch looked up at the stairs yearningly.
"The thing is, Professor, the headmaster will have to listen to me this time. Peeves has been stealing from a student, it might be my chance to get him thrown out of the castle once and for all -"
"Filch, I don't give a damn about that wretched poltergeist; it's my office that's -" But the two were interrupted by the step-clump that followed Professor Moody everywhere.
"Pajama party, is it?" he growled up the stairs."Professor Snape and I heard noises, Professor," said Filch at once. "Peeves the Poltergeist, throwing things around as usual - and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his off -"
"Shut up!" Severus hissed at once. Moody took a few more step-clumps to the foot of the stairs. From there his magical eye swiveled around wildly at first, then between Severus and Filtch, before finally focusing on me under my invisibility cloak. It was only then that I realized that Professor Moody could see through invisibility cloaks.
"Did I hear that correctly, Snape? Someone broke into your office?" My heart began to race again. Moody would rat me out for sure.
"It is unimportant," Snape answered coldly.
"On the contrary, it is very important. Who'd want to break into your office?" Moody growled.
"Perhaps a student with a grudge. I'm sure it has not escaped your notice Alastor, but I am not exactly the most popular professor at Hogwarts."
"Reckon they were after potion ingredients, eh? Not hiding anything else in your office, are you?"
"You know I'm hiding nothing, Moody." Severus answered almost threateningly. "As you've searched my office pretty thoroughly yourself." Moody's face twisted into a smile.
"Auror's privilege, Snape. Dumbledore told me to keep an eye -"
"Dumbledore happens to trust me," Severus barked through clenched teeth. "I refuse to believe that he gave you orders to search my office."
"Course Dumbledore trusts you," Moody growled. "He's a trusting man, isn't he? Believes in second chances. But me - I say there are spots that don't come off, Snape. Spots that never come off, d'you know what I mean?" Sev didn't say anything. Instead he clenched his left forearm, which I knew was where his dark mark tattoo was. Severus' expression flickered as if he was in pain. He'd never let anyone else seem him that way though, and his face quickly rearranged itself to hide his discomfort.
Moody laughed. "Get back to bed, Snape."
"You don't have the authority to send me anywhere!" Severus hissed dropping his arms to his side. "I have as much right to prowl this school after dark as you do!" Under any other circumstances I would have laughed. If anyone of the Hogwarts staff "prowled" the hallway after dark, it would be Severus, Moody, and Filtch.
"Prowl away, I look forward to meeting you in a dark corridor some time... You've dropped something, by the way. ..." My eyes grew wide when Moody pointed at the Maurader's Map. Severus and Filtch both looked down to see what he was pointing at. Severus reached down for it, know exactly what it was. But Moody got there first.
"My mistake." Moody said as he watched Severus's reaction. "It's mine, must've dropped it earlier." But Severus knew. He looked from the egg in Filtch's hands to map in Moody's, and cast a dark angry look up the steps. Of course he couldn't see exactly where I was, but he knew I'd never leave Harry's map out in the open like that.
"Allison." he whispered.
"What's that?" Moody asked folding the map up and putting it in his pocket.
"Potter!" Severus snarled turning away from the stairs. "That egg is Alice Potter's egg. That piece of parchment belongs to brother. I have seen it before, I recognize it! Miss Potter is here in her Invisibility Cloak!" Severus began marching up the steps, probably hoping he would step on me.
"There's nothing there, Snape! But I'll be happy to tell the headmaster how quickly your mind jumped to Alice Potter!"
"Meaning what?" Severus asked turning to face Moody.
"Meaning that Dumbledore's very interested to know who's got it in for that girl! And so am I, Snape . . . very interested..." Of course Severus had no reason to worry. Never in a million years would Dumbledore believe that Severus was the one who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, but of course Moody had no way of knowing that.
"I merely thought," Severus answered now speaking directly to me, but looking at Moody. "That if Miss Potter was wandering around after hours again, it's an unfortunate habit of hers, she should be stopped. For her own safety of course."
"Ah, I see. Got Potter's best interests at heart, have you?" Moody asked softly. There was a long pause as Severus and Moody stared at each other face to face.
"I think I will go back to bed," Severus finally said coldly. He turned on his heels and stalked off.
"Best idea you've had all night," Moody called after him. "Now, Filch, if you'll just give me that egg-"
"No!" Filtch barked, clutching the egg as though it were his firstborn son. "Professor Moody, this is evidence of Peeves' treachery!"
"It's the property of the champion he stole it from. Hand it over, now." Filtch looked longingly at the egg again before handing it to Moody and stalking off.
"Close shave. Potter," Moody muttered to me as I pulled my invisibilty cloak off. There was no point in keeping it on.
"Yeah…Thanks." I said finally able to twist my ankle free of the step.
"What is this thing?" Moody asked pulling the map from his pocket.
"Map of Hogwars." I answered, hoping he'd leave it at that.
"Merlin's beard, this is some map Miss Potter."
"Yeah it's pretty useful; it's actually my brother Harry's."
"Potter, did you happen to see who broke into Snape's office? On this map I mean?"
"Potter ..." he said slowly, "you didn't happen, by any chance, to see who broke into Snapes office, did you? On this map, I mean?"
"No." I lied, rather convincingly.
"Do you think your brother would mind if I borrowed this?" I knew the true answered to that question. Harry would mind if Professor Moody borrowed his map. Harry relied on that map for so much, he'd never forgive me for losing his map.
"Well like I said really it's Harry's so…I suppose you'll have to ask him." I made to reach for the map but Moody pulled it out of my reach.
"Yes well I'll hold on to it until I have the chance to ask him. If it's all the same to you." It wasn't all the same to me but it didn't look like I had much of a choice in the matter either.
"Sure." I responded trying not to sound bitter. "Right well I guess I should head off to bed." I told him walking off.
"Miss Potter." I turned back to face him again. "You almost forgot this." He said tossing the egg in my direction. I caught it avoiding a shining golden egg to the face.
"Goodnight Professor." I said as I walked the rest of the way down the stairs.