Welcome to the Rest of your Life

Hermione Plays with Fire {year 1}

About a week or so after the troll incident, I was walking along the corridors, having had just finished dinner after a long day. Of course, something had to get in my way.

"Well, well!" cackled Pansy Parkinson out of nowhere. Turning my head, I saw her and Millicent Bulstode leaning against the wall near a window. "If it isn't Leo-weo!"

I rolled my eyes and walked past them both. I could sense them following me close behind.

"Why so lonely, Leonora?" Pansy asked.

"Yeah, did your dear little Gryffindor friends leave you?" Millicent laughed.

"Go away." I hissed back. "Unlike you both, I'm not immature enough to go around pestering people on the daily."

"Uh oh." Millicent theatrically gasped. "Is the ickle Leanora getting angry?"

"I believe she is!" Pansy walked up in front of me and stopped in my path. "So, tell me, what about that idiot brother of yours? How are you two even related?"

"They're not, Pan."

"Oh?"

"She's adopted, remember?"

Pansy laughed and leaned in closer to me, a cruel smile on her pug-like face. "Well, if I gave birth to this, I'd probably leave her on a bench to die in the cold as well. No wonder you're mummy didn't want you."

I couldn't help but feel taken aback. Tears burning at the back of my throat, I just pushed past her without another word, earning laughter from her and Millicent as I rushed off. Turning a corner at the end of the hall, I was happy to see a sanctuary near the end – a bathroom. Not wanting to see if Pansy was about to follow, I just ran towards it and went inside, slamming the door shut behind me.

Until I had gotten to Hogwarts, I hadn't had very many friends outside of my family. Because of this, I wasn't quite adjusted to just how mean people could be. On top of that, though, my upbringing had never been the point of an insult; never once had it been used to make me feel so upset. Having had grown up with such a happy family, it only felt like a simple little story to tell – that, yes, I had been left on a bench to be found by Augusta Longbottom.

Feeling annoyed, I made to reach back to the doorknob and leave; before I could, though, I noticed a head floating above one of the stalls, staring down at me. I met the young girl's eyes with a frown, wondering how she'd gotten in there, then sighed as I realized that she was one of the many Hogwarts ghosts. Though, I thought, I didn't recognize her.

"What do you want?" the girl asked squeakily, floating further above the stalls.

I wiped the stupid tear that had slipped out of my eye with the back of my sleeve. "I'm sorry, I thought no one else was in here. I didn't know that I shouldn't be ... I can go if—"

"Oh, it's not that you shouldn't be here." The ghost said with a nonchalant shrug. "It's just that no one really comes here except to be mean."

"Really? Why?"

"Because everyone things I'm annoying and ... and loud and..." she started to sob. With a start, I realized that I must have known who this was – Moaning Myrtle, the ghost that all the girls warn against interacting with. According to the tales, she flooded the bathroom constantly and pestered anyone who entered. Really, though, she seemed harmless.

I released the doorknob and walked forward. "I don't think you're annoying."

"You don't?" she giggled bitterly, her sobs almost immediately ending. "Well, that's a first."

"What's your name?"

"Myrtle. Everyone usually calls me Moaning Myrtle."

I nodded, feeling a sense of confirmation. "I'm Leo." I put out my hand for a shake. She looked like she was going to cry again, making me wince in realization. "Right, you can't ... well, we can just pretend we're shaking hands. It's the thought that counts."