The puzzle of the soul 1: The black book

8: Moaning Myrtle

The news of Harry Potter being a parcelmouth spread like a walking fire trough the school.
Fortunately the library was big and empty from people. Considering the breakfast was only just started, (Or so Lilac thought) and the students after that would go to class, it wasn't a surprise to see so little students.

Lilac had been here before. Whenever she wasn't hanging out with her... friends, she'd be here.
Right now it was different.

"No, no, no, no..." Lilac scrolled trough the books, catching more dust than answers.

Grabbing a book about magical creatures she sat down. Suddenly she noticed she sat close to the restricted section.
She wondered... looking around there was still a big chance she could get caught, which wouldn't be good. Maybe later tonight when everyone would be in bed?

In class she ignored the voices of the teachers. She already knew what they were teaching anyway. She scrolled trough varius books about invisibly charms and magical creatures. Finally her plan was complete, yet she couldn't figure out what the monster was. She sighed as she closed her books and put them in her bag. Classes were over and she wasn't close enough. There were spells that could have caused the state of the student but it didn't make any sense for her to hear the voice.

That night Lilac cast an invisibility spell, making her invisible for the most part. In the dark it surely would work.

She walked into the restricted section without much trouble and found various books about magical creatures. One about something called becoming animagus, and many more. What caught her eye was something about dark magic.
With slight hesitation she grabbed a book and decided to read it later.

As she opened another book suddenly a scream filled the library. In alarm she dropped the book and made a run for it.
Once she was back in the common room the spell started to wear off so she quickly headed to the dormitories where she fell into her bed and quickly fell asleep, the books still in her arms.

The very next day, Lilac found herself back with her nose in a book.

"A basilisk...?" Lilac stared at the text in front of her as slowly her eyes widened and some parts of the puzzle clicked together, "A basilisk!" She cheered. Her two friends shot her a warning look as Madame pince, the librarian made her way to them.

"Keep it down!" She hissed.

"Sorry." Lilac apologised quickly, before she got up, ignoring the woman who kept glaring at her.

Lilac ran trough the halls and almost got detention before she got to her dormitory and snatched the book that lay under her pillow.

"Where is it?" Lilac grumbled as she pulled the pages from one to the other.
"There!" She almost forgot to keep her voice down.

Grabbing her wand she was about to do a spell, but then someone walked in. Lilac pushed the book underneath her blanket before she turned to the person.

"Hey." It was one of the other girls who slept here.

"Yeah, hi." Lilac still was weary of the other kids of the dorm.

"So... sorry if we got off on the wrong foot, I didn't really know how to stand up to a random person... if you know what I mean..." The student sat down on her bed and went to read a book.

'Adding to the possible friends list, a random dormitory person' Lilac's thoughts called out in her head.
"Right." Lilac nodded. She looked around as she thought of a more private place to sit to do the spell.

"You need anything?" The girl looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

Lilac sighed and got up. She wouldn't find it here, clearly.

Walking trough the hallways she found a trail of water leading away from somewhere. Lilac was about to step over it, but then stopped. A theory entered her head before she looked at where the water came from. Would the snake fit in the pipes at Hogwarts?

Filled with hope, Lilac followed the trail and made her way into the girls bathroom.

Sobbing filled the air. Lilac frowned but kept walking inside, her feet splashing the water everywhere on the floor.

A ghost suddenly jumped from the ground, "Come to throw another book at me!?"

Lilac's eyes widened, "What?" She stepped back as the ghost sobbed and started explaining.

"I was just here, minding my own business, thinking of death," She starred up dreamily before she went on, "When suddenly someone threw a book at me!!" She screamed and threw herself at something, splashing water everywhere.
Lilac dodged the water and looked around uncomfortably. She didn't want more water thrown around, but thinking about the words made her understand her own feelings.

"I'm so sorry that happened," Lilac couldn't help but understand the ghost. Her eleven year old started showing as she frowned sadly, "To be fair, I understand the feeling of that kinda thing..." Lilac's eyes were trained on the ground.

The ghost floated towards her slowly, "Really, and why do you decide to tell me? Weeping, moaning Mirtle!?" Again the ghost screamed.

Noticing this wasn't going anywhere Lilac sighed and kicked the water in frustration. Taking a breath she returned to reason. Why would someone throw a book at a ghost? Because they didn't want it? Looking around she found a small book on the floor. As she grabbed it, despite the wet floor, it was dry. Lilac smiled slightly as that might be because of a spell.

Once Lilac made her way back she found the two idiots she hung out with walking away from the common room.

"Hey, sup?" Lilac asked Tyran and Shane.

"We were trying to find you, obviously," Tyran was annoyed, "You left us to deal with that old hag!"

"Oh I'm sorry, did she hurt your feelings?" Lilac didn't let them answer as she held the black book up to them, "Also, I've found what might be a magical book!"

"Awesome, now please can we go back to studying? You still need to explain a load of stuff, you know." Shane crossed his arms.

"Fine..." Lilac sighed as she put the black book in her robes. She'd look at that later.