The Second Year: Part Three.

- Eight -

"Ha ha ha, awwwww", squealed Moaning Myrtle as she emerged from the nearest toilet, splashing large amounts of water onto Harry's robes in the process. "Nobody chased after me when I came in here! What a cute boy you are!". Her face suddenly turned sour, "It took them hours to find my body!".

Harry felt genuinely shocked, "A student died at Hogwarts?".

'Myrtle blushed. Perfect', thought Harry slyly. Well, if ghosts could blush she certainly would have. He knew ghosts had been around for long enough to know more secrets than anyone else. He also knew that Myrtle was certainly naive and insecure enough to tell him anything - with some persuasion.

"Ooooh, it was dreadful, it happened right in here. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny, a different language, I think it must've been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then... I died", though Myrtle looked terribly upset she also looked gleeful that somebody was finally paying attention to her.

"Oh my, that is dreadful!", exclaimed Harry. He feigned sorrow but, inside, he was incredibly excited. The time was the same, and - as Harry now suspected - Tom Riddle was involved. "Did nobody ever discover who or what killed you?".

Myrtle considered this for a moment, she seemed hesitant, but then she answered sadly, "Nobody ever asked me. Nobody seemed to particularly care".

Harry walked closer to Myrtle, he was mere centimetres away from physical contact when he responded, "Well, I care! How unjust is it that they never investigated? You should tell me more so I can try to figure it out".

Myrtle went into great detail, remarking upon every small detail of her death. Admittedly, Harry found the majority of it to be useless - but there was certainly some interesting things he had learnt.

He was now certain that the culprit was a parselmouth, however, Myrtle was killed by 'something with creepy yellow eyes'. He could only imagine that it was a snake, but no snake was so large!

'This may be more difficult than I anticipated'.

- Nine -

"Harry, there you are! I was terribly worried for you!", shouted Malfoy as he practically threw himself - through the doorway - to Harry's side.

"Wow! Pretty Potter has a handsome friend!", Myrtle squawked.

Draco was utterly mortified. 'Had Harry been flirting, and with Moaning Myrtle of all people?'. He did not know why, but the idea made him feel sick.

"Pretty... Potter?", snarled Draco, raising his left eyebrow as he did so.

"We are beautiful, Draco", Harry sniggered.

"Myrtle, I have something incredibly special to show you", Harry uncertainly proposed, he didn't know how he could get away with this. "I think... I think I can find the thing that hurt you and... and I'm not certain of what I'll do from there".

'Is Myrtle... swooning?', questioned Draco. He had no idea what Harry was doing; he wasn't even entirely certain if he wanted to know.

Harry continued, suppressing a smirk, "You will have to keep it a secret, can you keep watch for teachers and possibly keep them away from the bathroom?".

Myrtle floated slightly before regaining her composure, "Of course I can, Harry! I'd do anything for you!".

"Awesome!", Harry laughed.

He then circled the room. "It was this one?", he asked with certainty.

"How did you know?", she asked in disbelief.

"It has a serpent, look", he replied bluntly.

She leaned closer, peering over Harry's shoulder, "Wow, brave, beautiful and bright? You are perfect!".

Harry hissed, in a language Draco recognised and - based on the strange way she gasped - so did Myrtle.

"Open", Harry willed, focusing on the serpent as he channeled his magic into his words.

The pipes shifted themselves aside as the sink parted away from itself. A dark slide-like entrance revealed itself and Draco knew instantly where it led to.

"Merlin! This is absolutely filthy, Harry!", wailed an absolutely horrified Draco Malfoy.

Harry hissed again and a steep set of stairs formed themselves from the former slide.

"We can't have my delicate little prince getting dirty now, can we?", Harry drawled, the amusement on his face evident.

"Well, we all know that you and I are both far too stylish to use something so undignified", Draco retorted, with a playful smile dancing upon his lips.

"You are right, as always", Harry said, sending a mockingly suggestive wink in Draco's direction.

Descending the staircase, Harry turned to face Myrtle and blew her a cheeky kiss, as the two boys disappeared into darkness.

Author's Note: Sorry that this isn't very long. I have somehow managed to catch the sniffles in the summer and I have had a lot of homework to catch up on. I also didn't want the chapter to be overly long.

I really hope that you enjoy this. Tell me what you think will happen next and I look forward to surprising you all next week!