WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎
🔥 30→2ch | 60→5ch | 100→8ch | 200→15ch | 400→25ch
⏰ Resets Monday!
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
His office corridor had become a vast ocean. Spectating students gathered at the corridor entrance. Filch stood on the stairs furiously shouting, but no one cared what he was yelling about.
The only dry place in the entire corridor was outside Quirrell's office door. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had clearly spent some effort on his office protection—not a drop of water could penetrate within a meter of his door. He stood on that dry island, cowering as he watched a toothbrush spin past in the current.
"Professor Quirrell." Anthony smiled and greeted him. "Glad to see you're alright."
"Professor Anthony, you'd better worry about your own office!" A student shouted from afar. Quirrell was startled by the shout and nearly fell into the water. Pale-faced, he wished Anthony good luck before returning to his office.
Anthony cast a waterproofing charm on his clothes and shoes, carefully stepping into this river originating from the girls' bathroom. The Fat Friar led him to the bathroom entrance, then hesitated, unwilling to enter. Anthony felt somewhat awkward too.
"Go in, Professor!" The spectating students jeered.
A girl said kindly, "It's alright, Professor. This is Moaning Myrtle's territory. Usually no one goes there."
"Haha, everyone hates you!" Peeves' voice came from the bathroom. "No one wants to see you! Ugly! Crybaby!"
With a loud sob, the water surged more violently.
Anthony hesitated no longer. He knocked on the door and stepped into the bathroom.
A wave crashed down on him immediately. He reacted quickly with a Shield Charm, avoiding being drenched like a drowned rat.
Peeves floated in midair, grinning at him, malicious light flashing in his eyes. Above the toilet sat a sobbing ghost, repeating Peeves' words through tears. "Everyone—hates—me—"
"Hello, Myrtle." Anthony cleared his throat.
Myrtle briefly stopped crying, looked up at him in surprise, then burst into even louder wails. "You're a boy!"
"Uh, I suppose so." Anthony said. "I'm... well, your neighbor, just arrived at Hogwarts. I'm visiting friends living around me, so I took the liberty of coming in."
Myrtle sobbed. "Did... did you knock?"
"I did." He didn't mention how Myrtle's crying had completely drowned out the knocking.
But Peeves leaned close to Myrtle's ear. "You were crying too loudly."
Myrtle's eyes widened in distress. She took a deep breath. Anthony immediately said, "No!"
Just then, Nearly Headless Nick floated straight through the wall. "Go away, Peeves! Stop bothering Myrtle! I'm going to call the Bloody Baron!"
Peeves considered, then angrily raised a huge wave that crashed against the bathroom walls before rushing out. "My regards, nasty professor!" He shouted at Anthony, splashing muddy water on spectating students all the way, cackling as he vanished amid panicked shouts.
This commotion seemed to interrupt Myrtle's mood for a good cry. She buried her face in her arms and asked in a muffled voice, "We're neighbors? Where do you live?"
"Um, right next to you. Second office on the right outside." He answered carefully.
"He's the new Muggle Studies professor." Nearly Headless Nick added.
Anthony tried to smile at her. "Henry Anthony. Pleased to meet you."
"Lies!" Myrtle cried angrily. "No one—no one is pleased to see me! Everyone hates me!"
"Professor Anthony is pleased to see everyone." Nearly Headless Nick vouched. "He's even pleased to see Filch and Professor Snape."
That was indeed a lie. Anthony thought silently, not exposing it.
Nearly-crying Myrtle raised her head and examined him carefully. Only then did Anthony discover she was a very young girl in student attire. Behind thick glasses were eyes swollen from crying. Her face had acne. She looked about the same age as his own students.
Anthony couldn't imagine how she'd become a ghost at this age. She should have been like his students—worrying about homework essays, walking on the lawn outside the castle, or teasing an unfriendly cat in the sunshine.
He blurted out, "Young lady, how did you die?"
Myrtle stared wide-eyed in shock.
"I mean, you look very young..." Anthony quickly explained. "Too young. I can't think why you would..." He couldn't continue.
Myrtle gasped. Her milk-white ghostly face suddenly glowed. She announced proudly, "I died right here."
She suddenly became talkative, describing in detail how a girl named Olive Hornby had mocked her glasses that day. Nearly Headless Nick left halfway through, bored. Before leaving, he quietly pointed at the water pooling on the bathroom floor. The water was rapidly retreating back into the toilet Myrtle sat on.
Myrtle described in detail to Anthony how sad and upset she'd been, how she'd walked into the girls' bathroom knowing no one would notice her because no one cared about Myrtle. How at her saddest moment she'd heard a boy's voice, gone out to angrily tell him to use the boys' bathroom, then gloriously died.
"Wait." Anthony asked incredulously. "So a boy broke into the girls' bathroom, and just because you tried to maintain bathroom order, he killed you? Who was it?"
"I don't know, Professor." Myrtle said enthusiastically. "I didn't have time to see who he was. I only remember seeing yellow eyes—like these, but much, much bigger, frighteningly big." She pointed at the cat in Anthony's arms. "Then I died."
Anthony frowned. "You saw... a large cat? Someone brought a lion into the girls' bathroom?"
"No." Myrtle shook her head. She seemed to very much enjoy discussing details of her death. "My body was completely intact. I stayed right here, waiting for them to find my body. They took so long to find it... Actually, they weren't looking for a body. No one thought I'd actually died. Olive Hornby came to tell me Headmaster Dippet was looking for me—she knew if you wanted to find me, the best place was to check if I was crying in the bathroom—then she saw my body. Oh, that expression on her face." She giggled. "She'll never forget it."
Nearly Headless Nick came in and told Anthony all the water had receded.
Anthony thanked him and walked out of the bathroom thoughtfully. Myrtle sat on the sink, contentedly reliving her death.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (30+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here: patreon.com/GoldenLong
Happy reading, everyone!