𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐞 | 𝐇.𝐏.

𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝟐 - 𝟗

Potter, Weasley, and I led Professor Lockhart into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. I had no idea what we were going to do if Potter's hunch was wrong, but we had to try.

"Oh, who's there?" Myrtle asked at hearing our footsteps. Then she smiled flirtatiously and crossed her arms down in front of her. "Hello, Harry."

"Looks like you have an admirer," I whispered in his ear.

"Shove off," he grumbled. 

"What do you want?" She asked, serious now.

"To ask you how you died," he answered simply.

Myrtle seemed to swell with happiness. "Oh, it was dreadful! It happened right here, in this very cubicle," she pointed down to the space underneath her. 

"I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying... and then I heard somebody come in."

"Who was it, Myrtle?" Potter questioned.

"I don't know," she said loudly, suddenly sounding offended. "I was distraught! But they said something funny. A kind of made-up language, and I realized it was a boy speaking, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away... and I died."

"Just like that? How?" I asked, confused.

"I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes over there, by that sink," she said, turning to me and then gesturing to the sink closest to her. And with that she gave a wail, going back to slowly floating around the ceiling.  

Potter stepped up to the sink and felt around the sides of the mirror, the porcelain, and even the handles. He tried to turn one, and no water came out. Then he bent down, running his fingers over something on the faucet.

"This is it," he said suddenly.

"How can you tell?" I wondered aloud.

He motioned for me to come next to him. I observed a small snake carved into one side of the faucet's base. I looked at him in surprise, and our noses were almost touching. I quickly stepped back to Weasley's side.

"This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets," Potter confirmed, coming back to us.

"Say something," Weasley instructed. "Harry, say something in Parseltounge."

He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing his mind I assumed. He hissed. There was a click, and then a rumble from deep underground, and then the sinks separated. The sink with the serpent on it lowered into the ground, creating an opening to the gaping hole in the floor. 

Professor Lockhart exhaled. "Excellent, Harry. Ah, good work. Well, then, I'll just be, um... there's no need for me to stay." He tried to run back to the door, but the three of us caught him around his arms. 

"Oh yes there is," Potter grunted, and pushed him towards the opening. He extended his arms, just barely catching himself. We all pointed our wands at him again.

"You first," I said, flicking my wand in encouragement.

"Now, children, what good will it do?" Professor Lockhart asked. 

"Better you than us," Weasley responded.

"Um, but... obviously. Yes," Professor Lockhart sighed, turning so he was now facing the hole.

"Sure you don't want to test it first?" He asked hastily.

I kicked my leg out, pushing him forwards. He fell, yelling, through the ground. There was a crash, and then an annoyed, "It's really quite filthy down here."