The Young Padfoot *Book One*

Into the Darkness

With a terrified Lockhart trapped in between the three of us, we made our way out of his office and down to Myrtle's bathroom. Feeling that it was only fair to do so, we made sure Lockhart went in first and it brought a worrying amount of joy to me that he was physically shaking with fear.

When the rest of us entered, Myrtle was sat at the cistern of the end toilet, quietly humming an eerie tune to herself. How fitting is that?

"Oh, it's you," Myrtle said when she noticed Harry. "What do you want this time?"

"We've come to ask you how you died," Harry requested nervously.

Instantly, Myrtle's face lit up and I could've sworn I had never seen her this happen. If anyone had just come in they would think that Harry had just asked her an incredibly flattering question.

"Oh, it was dreadful," Myrtle reminisced dreamily. "It happened right in here. I died in this very cubicle. I remember it so well. 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 have 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."

"Just like that? How?" Harry asked.

"No idea," Myrtle shrugged before she looked over near the sinks just behind us. "I just remember seeing a pair of great big yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away... And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was so sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes, Myrtle?" I inquired.

"Somewhere there," Myrtle gestured over to the sinks.

Moving away from us, Harry went to go and inspect every nook and cranny of the sink as Ron and I were left in charge of making sure Lockhart didn't try and run. A few moments passed before Harry attempted to turn the sink on, twisting the faucet and causing a painful screech of rust as he did so.

"That tap's never worked," Myrtle informed us as she watched Harry intently. I would bet anything that Myrtle had a thing for Harry, I am sure of it.

"Harry, say something. Something in Parseltongue," Ron suggested, making Lockhart tense up even more.

"But—" Harry cut himself off, nervously staring down at the tap. "Okay." He closed his eyes for a moment before opening his mouth. "Open."

He looked over to us for confirmation that he had been speaking in Parseltongue but we both just shook our heads.

"English," Ron told him.

Sighing, Harry turned back to the tap and stared at it with even more intensity than he had been before. The next time that he opened his mouth to speak, the strange hissing sound from before came out. Then it all moved; the stone above the sinks began to lift itself up, freeing it from the rest of the structure while every single sink pulled itself apart from the ones beside it so that there was a gap large enough for us to fit through.

"Oh, my Merlin," I muttered with wide eyes.

I glanced over at Ron and saw that he had the exact same expression on his face. Lockhart, on the other hand, looked like he was about to piss himself.

"I'm going down there," Harry decided, turning to face us.

"Me too," Ron agreed.

Hesitantly, I glanced down the hole to see it was another dark drop that I would have to fall down; Another fall into darkness and the unknown. But then we had come so far and poor Ginny needed our help. I couldn't not go down there just because of a stupid fear. Imagine how scared Ginny is right now. No, I have to go.