It was the gloomiest, most depressing bathroom that any of them had ever stepped into, both of the boys moved closer to the girl subtly, ready to protect her from anything that would jump out.
Under a large, cracked, and spotted mirror were a row of chipped sinks. The floor was damp and reflected the dull light given off by the stubs of a few candles, burning low in their holders; the wooden doors to the stalls were flaking and scratched and one of them was dangling off its hinges.
Kirra put her fingers to her lips and set off toward the end stall, the two boys shared confused looks before looking back towards the girl.
"Come on Little badger, I think we should just leave," Mattheo said, his voice was demanding and had no fear, but she couldn't care less, they had gotten this far and she was curious, too curious for her own good.
"You can go if you want, but im staying," she told the two boys and continued on her way to the stall. Kirra had never been in these toilets, but she had read all about them and there was something about them that seemed so familiar. When she reached it she said, "Hello, Myrtle, how are you?"
The two Slytherin boys went to look. Moaning Myrtle was floating above the tank of the toilet, picking a spot on her chin.
"This is a girls' bathroom, there have already been two boys in here tonight, they just left with that frizzy-haired girl," she said, eyeing Theodore and Mattheo suspiciously. "They're not girls."
"I mean you never know," Kirra joked and chuckled a little bit but decided to shut up when she caught the looks that they were all giving her, "awkward..."
Myrtle then gave her a strange look and turned her head to the side and then began to look the girl up and down "I know you, i've met you before, it was a long time ago. Are you dead like me?" Myrtle asked her and Kirra felt a confused look instantly go on her face, she had never met the ghost before and she had only been at the school for a little over a year, and as far as she was concerned, she wasn't dead
"You must be mistaking me for somebody else," Kirra said and offered the girl a small smile but Myrtle's eyes only seemed to widen as a look of realisation made its way onto her face
"It's you, you're the girl. The one that keeps coming back," Myrtle exclaimed and all of the second years were giving the ghost a weird look
"Look im sorry but I don't know what y-" Kirra started but was cut off by myrtle
"You were 2 years above me when I was alive, you and those boys, but there was one that you were with the most, " Myrtle explained and looked towards Mattheo Riddle, "you stood out in your yellow robes mixed among the green ones.
Your boyfriend, that smart Slytherin boy, the scary one that everyone talked about... I can't remember his name or yours, sad about what happened to you though after it happened he came in here every night and cried before he disappeared near the sinks"
Kirra and the two Slytherins were beyond confused and were almost certain that the girl in front of them was craz,y "he finished school and left and I never saw him again, your death really changed him, he got really angry. Then about 3 decades later I caught you sneaking in here with another Slytherin boy, not as handsome as the first I must say, but still very handsome. Then you were gone again. And here you are just over a decade later. But this time with two new Slytherin boys," Myrtle then let out a giggle "looks like its fate"
"Just ask her if she saw anything and then we can get the hell out of here," Theodore mouthed at Kirra and she nodded her head softly.
"What are you whispering?" said Myrtle, staring at him.
"Nothing," said Theodore with a scowl "i wasn't talking to you so how about you mind your own business."
"We wanted to ask —" Kirra started
"I wish people would stop talking behind my back!" said Myrtle, in a voice choked with tears. "I do have feelings, you know, even if I am dead—"
"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you," said Kirra softly and tried to assure the girl. "Theodore only —"
"No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!" howled Myrtle and Mattheo pulled the small Hufflepuff behind him as she flinched from the large wail. "My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!"
"We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately," said Mattheo with a blank expression on his face. "Because a cat was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween."
"Did you see anyone near here that night?" said Nott
"I already told the last 3. I wasn't paying attention," said Myrtle dramatically. "Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm — that I'm —"
"Already dead," said Theodore sarcastically, not having the attention span to deal with the ghost that had just said a bunch of crazy stuff that clearly traumatized his best, and only friend. Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.
The two Slytherins looked absolutely disgusted as they looked at their soaked robes "Come on, let's go." Kirra had barely closed the door on Myrtle's gurgling sobs when a loud voice made all three of them jump.
"You three!" Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, perfect badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face. "That's a girls' bathroom!" he gasped. "What were you — ?" He then looked between the girl and two boys and a look of disgust made its way onto his face "Wh-"
"We were just having a look around Ginger," Riddle sneered. "Clues, you know —" Percy swelled in a manner that reminded Kirra forcefully of Mrs Weasley.
"Get — away — from — there —" Percy said, striding toward them and starting to bustle them along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what this looks like? Two Slytherin boys and a hufflepuff girl. Coming back here while everyone's at dinner —"
"Why shouldn't we be here? Have a think against people who arent in your own house?" said the two Slytherin boys hotly, stopping short and glaring at Percy.
"Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!" Kirra tried to explain
"20 points from Slytherin and 10 from Hufflepuff. That's 10 points each!" Percy said tersely, pointing his finger at his prefect badge.
"We can count" Nott sneered and then he grabbed Kirras hand and tugged her away from the Gryffindor with Mattheo right next to them.
"Who can it be, though?" Kirra said in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having as they walked down the hallways towards the bottom of the castle where their two common rooms were. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"
Theodore sent a look over at Mattheo and Mattheo glared in return and shook his head "surely it's not a student I mean, how can somebody be so cruel, this isn't a prank. This is just horrible" Kirra exclaimed sadly as they got closer and closer to the end of their nightly stroll
"So what do you think about what that ghost girl was saying to you before?" Theodore asked her suddenly and she shrugged her shoulders as she looked up at the boy
"I have no idea" she responded but she couldn't help but feel like it was a lie as she thought back to the visions that she had had. The first boy that myrtle was talking about fit the description of the boy she had been seeing in her visions and she saw herself in the visions and it was clear the two were together.
She then thought back to the mirror of erised and how Mattheo, the Slytherin from her visions and one more Slytherin was there. Maybe that was the second boy that Myrtle was talking about.
No that would be impossible, there was no way she had been going to Hogwarts in different lifetimes. It just wasn't possible.
They made it to the Hufflepuff basement and said goodbye before Kirra walked into the common room and then to her dorm. She sighed softly as she pushed the door open, the other three girls were already in there, getting ready for bed. Kirra and Maxie made eye contact for a short moment before Maxine looked away and continued to get ready for bed.
Kirra got changed and laid down, pulling the blankets over her body and snuggling deeper into the bed, all she could think about was what myrtle had told them.