Ch 64 – Jealous of Ghost
But, Harry came to his friend's rescue, “Oh, Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from? Someone's mopped it up.”
"It was about here,” Lucifer said, he is feeling a little weird, especially after noticing....“probably came from that bathroom.”
He looked up and saw a sign that read 'Out of Order' so, Harry reached for the Brass doorknob.
"Can't go in there!" Ron said quickly.
"Why not?" Harry asked, turning around.
“That's a girls' toilet, Potter”
“But, there won't be anyone in there," Hermione said, walking past Lucifer, opening the knob, "It's Out of Order, plus, this is where Moaning Myrtle resides. Come on, let's have a look."
Lucifer was about to dash in there, when Hermione grabbed his arm tightly, “Actually, you'll stay outside. Harry, come with me!”
“Wait, what? Why am I staying out here?”
"This is Myrtle's bathroom!", She said growling. "What, you jealous?" Lucifer joked.
"Yes." Hermione said bluntly and walked into the bathroom.
Lucifer ignored her warning and entered with Harry, Ron moving behind him.
After seeing him entered the bathroom, Hermione tutted at him, "You made quite the impression on her, if you're here, maybe she won't be so moody," she said grumpily.
It was the gloomiest, most depressing looking bathroom any of the boys had ever laid their eyes on or set foot in.
Under a large, cracked, and spotted mirror were a row of chipped sinks.
The floor was damp and reflected the dull light given off by the stubs of a few candles, burning low in their holders; the wooden doors to the stalls were flaking and scratched and one of them was dangling off its hinges, "I can see why it's Out of Order," Lucifer whispered.
Hermione placed a finger on her lips to shut him up and set off towards the end stall.
When she reached it, she stopped, turned to face inside it and said, "Hello, Myrtle, how are you?"
The three boys went to look.
Myrtle was floating above the tank of the toilet, looking miserable as ever, "This is the girls' bathroom," she said in an almost embarrassed voice.
"They're not gir-" she stopped herself when she saw Lucifer, "Oh, Lucifer.... I-I didn't know you were stopping by, l-I'd have made myself a bit more presentable," she said with a ghostly giggle as she turned away, bashful all of a sudden.
"Maybe you should do the talking," Hermione whispered to him but was seriously thinking about exorcising her.
"What are you whispering for?" Myrtle asked, staring at her.
"We were just wondering if you'd seen anything out of the ordinary lately?" Lucifer quickly diverted her attention back to him.
She smiled at him, "You're going to have to be a bit more specific...”
“On Halloween night, a cat was attacked and petrified right outside your door over there," Lucifer pointed to the entrance of the bathroom, making sure she knew what door he was talking about.
"I wasn't paying attention," she suddenly said in a dramatic tone, "but I did hear someone stomping around outside."
"Anything else?"
"No, sorry. Maybe I could help with something else though..."
"We're good, Myrtle!" Hermione interrupted. She gripped Lucifer's forearm and dragged him out of the bathroom.
Harry and Ron walking behind them.
The door had barely closed when a loud voice rang out, startling all four of them, "RON!" Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, Prefect badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face, "That's a girls' bathroom!" He gaped at his brother, "What were you-"
"Just having a look around," Ron answered without thinking, "Clues, you know-"
"Get-away-from-there!" Percy yelled, looking flustered for even catching his brother in the act of leaving the girls' bathroom.
He started to bustle them along to the Great Hall to eat dinner, "Don't you care what this looks like? Coming back here while everyone else is at Dinner-"
"Why shouldn't we be here?" Ron asked hotly, stopping short and glaring at his brother, "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"
"That's what I told Ginny!" Percy said fiercely, "but she still seems to think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out, you might think of her, all the first years are thoroughly over-excited by this business-"
"You don't care about Ginny!" Ron shouted, whose ears were now reddening. "You're just worried I'm going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy-
"Five Points from Gryffindor!" Percy yelled in the most frustrated and angered tone Hermione had seen thus far from the eldest Weasley still at Hogwarts.
Percy was fingering his Prefect Badge, "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work, or I'll write to Mum!"
Percy strode off angrily. The back of Ron's neck was as red as his ears.
*******
Lucifer, Hermione, Ron, and Harry chose to sit as far away from Percy Weasley as possible that night in the Common Room after dinner.
Ron himself was still quite obviously in a very bad tempered mood and kept blotting his Charms homework.
When he reached absent-mindedly for his wand to remove the smudges, it ignited the paper.
Fuming almost as much as his homework, Ron slammed The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 shut.
Hermione shut hers almost immediately afterwards.
Lucifer glanced at her homework and saw that she was done, 'How coincidental,' he thought to himself.
He was also nearly finished with the Grade 4 book, but decided to close his as well, since it seemed like a conversation was going to start, and Lucifer felt like he'd have to give his own input.
"Who can it be, though?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they'd just been having. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggleborns out of Hogwarts?"
"Let's think," Ron said in a mock puzzlement.
Lucifer crossed his arms, wondering where this was going, "Who do we know who thinks Muggleborns are scum?"
He looked at Hermione, who looked back, unconvinced, "If you're talking about Malfoy-"
"Of course I am!" He almost yelled, "You heard him - ' You'll be next, Mudbloods! ' - come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him-"
"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" Hermione asked skeptically.
"Look at his family," Harry said, closing his books as well, "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough."
"They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!" Ron said, "Handing it down, father to son..."
“That's completely absurd,” Lucifer said, causing them all to look at him, waiting for him to continue, "Come off it. Draco Malfoy? He'd be boasting about it, probably none too quietly either, and do you really think he wouldn't have already let this monster out to attack everyone? Not just Muggleborns, but anyone he disagrees with. Based on the Legend, he wouldn't be carrying out Salazar Slytherin's will, would he?"
"I guess when put that way, it makes sense..." Hermione said slowly, "but... what else do we really have to go on?"
Lucifer sighed, realizing they had no other lead.
__________
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