Lost. Harry Potter's sister

chapter twenty

I braved the warm water three more times, listening carefully, and memorising the words that were sung. Myrtle was still watching me contently, making me highly uncomfortable, I had to keep checking that my whole body was covered in the thick foam. I lie back in the water, lost in deep thought. What did it mean?

"I've got to look for something that can't use their voices above the ground?" I say, aloud and realising how stupid it sounded. "Er... what could that be...?"

"Slow aren't you?" Myrtle said, leaning her chin on her hand and humming to herself quietly. I stare blankly around the bathroom. If the song could only be heard underwater, it would make sense for them to belong to some sort of underwater creature, right? I ran this theory past Myrtle, who giggled in delight.

"Underwater creatures..." I ponder about all of the books I've read about magical creatures, with Hermione, trying to pick out any of the ones that live underwater. I think hard, for a second, before my eyes sweep over the picture of the sleeping mermaid. I quickly do a double take and realise something, snapping my head up abruptly. "Myrtle, there aren't merpeople in the Black Lake, are there?"

"Oooh, very good!" She says, shrilly, clapping her hands in excitement. "It took the Diggory boy much longer than that!"

"So..." I say, leaning my back against the cool marble surface of the bath, "I've got to go into the Black Lake and find the merpeople, that's the second task isn't it?"

"Seems like it," She says, giggling.

"Thanks for your help, Myrtle!" I say, placing the egg on the side of the pool and pulling my pyjamas closer to me. "Oh... Er do you mind turning around, while I get out?"

"Well if that's all I'm needed for, I might as well go. Bye bye then, say hello to your brother for me." She says, gloomily, before zooming back up the tap. I look around, confused and then pull myself out of the bath, wrapping one of the fresh, fluffy, towels around me and drying myself. I then pull my pyjamas and slippers back on, pinning the egg under my arm and cautiously enter the deserted corridors, once again. I quickly, but carefully, make my way towards Gryffindor tower and give the password to the Fat Lady, who gives me a miniature scolding for being out of bed and I climb through the portrait hole, entering the slightly cold common room. The fire had been put out, leaving the remaining wood and coals glowing and burnt. I scramble up the stairs and quietly push open the door to my dormitory, knowing the other girls would be asleep. I look over at Hermione, who is fast asleep, her hand hanging slightly over the edge of the bed. I'll tell her in the morning.

I grab a piece of parchment and scribble down the song, while it's still fresh in my mind, so I won't have forgotten it by the morning. I slip the egg back under my bed and slide, myself, under the warm, red covers. I lie back in my bed, slightly more relaxed then I was before. But I falter. There was so many things that could go wrong. I'd never had any swimming lessons before, because I grew up in the orphanage. Don't get me wrong I could swim, but I wasn't exactly good at it. But the lake was huge - and deep - and dark... and the merpeople would surely live right at the bottom. Never mind that! How was I supposed to breathe? An hour underwater is a long time, when you think about it. Oh god this is a disaster.

It was around three in the morning when I finally managed to drift of to sleep, after a long and hard hour of lying and thinking about ways that would help me breathe underwater for an hour. It wasn't a very enjoyable sleep, either, I kept waking up every hour with worry, it was one of the longest nights of my life.

The next morning, I was shaken, gently, awake by Hermione, who was holding up the piece of parchment, of which I had hastily scribbled down the song on, last night. She was looking at it with intense curiosity, her eyebrows furrowed. "What's this?" She questions, inquisitively. I prop myself up, on my elbows, excitedly, before hurling myself out of bed and grabbing some clothes out of my wardrobe. She begins to be impatient and she questions me again.