The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 246 Weeping Myrtle
In the girls' bathroom, Myrtle Warren's shrill, piercing voice echoes, and she seems to be getting angrier (sader) and more and more sewage is overflowing from the stalls.

Myrtle disliked Ada very much, which was just a euphemism; to say she hated her would be an understatement.

Apart from the fact that Ada once robbed the bathroom, both girls came from the Muggle world, but their lives in school were very different.

After entering Hogwarts, Myrtle was sorted into Ravenclaw. Here, Myrtle did not make any friends, not even anyone she could talk to. Instead, she was often laughed at and bullied by others because of her short and fat figure, ugly glasses, and acne on her face, and perhaps even isolated and bullied.

On the last day of Myrtle's life, she was mocked by Olive Hornby, who thought she looked ridiculous for wearing glasses. It was because of Hornby's mockery that Myrtle hid in the bathroom alone, and her life was cut short.

For fifty years, the ghost of Myrtle has been staying in the bathroom. Even as a ghost, she still cannot escape the fate of being bullied. Peeves always teases her and the students don't like her.

It seemed as if nothing had changed, the only thing that had changed was that she no longer had the right to live.

In contrast to Myrtle, Ada was smart and pretty. She met the twins right after she arrived at school and had several good friends to keep her company. She was the only one who bullied others in school, and no one dared to bully her.

This year, Ada also wore glasses, but no one laughed at her or insulted her because of them. On the contrary, because the sharpness in her eyes was reduced, she became more popular among her classmates.

Ordinary Myrtle Warren met Ada, who was completely different from her. The contrast was obvious and the comparison was strong. Jealousy, Myrtle envied everything that Ada had that she had never had; resentment, Myrtle resented her own weakness and inability to do anything.

"Myrtle, I'm just here to ask you something. I won't compete with you for the ownership of the bathroom." Ada knocked on the door of the cubicle again and added, "I'll leave after I've asked you something."

After hearing that Ada was not here to steal territory, Myrtle calmed down a lot and did not continue to yell at Ada to get out. She just did not respond to Ada's words, but drove her away silently with silence.

"I just want to know what happened to you in your life." Ida tried to make her tone sound less harsh, "This is very important to me."

Ada's gentle plea did not get a response from Myrtle. After all, being asked about the cause of death was not a pleasant thing.

Myrtle's tone was a little bit sharp. She said, "You want to know the cause of my death?"

"Uh... yes, I want to know why my senior sister died, and why she chose to stay here." Ada said. She didn't expect Myrtle to be so direct, and she was ready to persuade her with soft and hard methods.

"Everyone wants to know the cause of death of 'Crying Myrtle', because there is nothing worth talking about in her short life. Knowing the cause of her death, people can laugh at her and insult her at will! She was just a four-eyed dog who could only hide in the bathroom and cry secretly!" Myrtle said sarcastically, and she also rushed out of the cubicle and floated in front of Ada.

When you have a serious illness, you may not want to recall the suffering you went through during your illness, let alone let the ghost tell you about your death.

This was by no means a pleasant experience, and was equally distressing to the Ghost as to the listener, and even more so to Myrtle, for this was the most important and interesting subject of her short life.

"I'm sorry to bring up your sad story, but it's really important." Ada said, "I'm investigating something related to the Chamber of Secrets, and your cause of death is the most crucial part of it."

The milky white, translucent Myrtle slowly rose up, floating in the air above the bathroom. She said, "I don't know what secret room is, let alone what you are talking about. Myrtle is just Myrtle, the funny Myrtle."

When she was alive, no one cared about her. All she got was ridicule and insults. After she died, people began to care about Myrtle, but what they cared about was the cause of her death. What a sad life.

The door of the girls' bathroom was opened again and Dumbledore walked in. He looked at the floating Myrtle, and his blue eyes behind his half-moon glasses showed a bit of sadness.

"Myrtle, please give us some help in any way you can," said Dumbledore, "Let us join hands and put an end to all this horror together!"

Seeing Dumbledore coming in, Myrtle stopped wandering and tilted her head to look at the headmaster, as if thinking about something. After a while, Myrtle slowly spoke, "That was terrible. It happened right here. I died in this bathroom."

Fifty years ago, the then headmaster Armando Dippet asked Oliver Hornby to look for the missing Myrtle, and eventually, Hornby found Myrtle's body in this bathroom.

Translucent Myrtle's expression became painful, and she continued, "That day, Olive Hornby laughed at me for wearing glasses and looking like a four-eyed dog, so I hid here. I locked the door and cried inside, and suddenly I heard someone come in. What they said was very funny. I think it must be another language. But what annoyed me most was that I heard a boy's voice talking. So I opened the door and yelled at him to go away and go to his own boys' bathroom!"

Dumbledore and Ada looked at each other, and they were both certain that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was hidden in the girls' bathroom.

"And then..." said Myrtle, "and then I died."

"What did you see?" Ada continued to ask. She needed more details now.

Myrtle lowered her voice, and death brought her a feeling of fear. She said: "I didn't see anything clearly, I just remember seeing a pair of scary big yellow eyes. My whole body seemed to be grabbed, and then I floated away and became what I am now."

The eyes of the basilisk are yellow, and it is clear that Myrtle's death was caused by the basilisk. She looked directly into the giant yellow eyes of the basilisk, so she did not turn to stone like Colin Creevey and Justin Finch-Fletchley, but died directly.

It is not clear whether Myrtle died accidentally because she saw the Heir of Slytherin and the Basilisk, or whether the Heir of Slytherin planned a murder against her.

The truth was before her eyes. Ada's tone became a little excited. She asked again: "Where did you see those eyes?"

Myrtle thought for a moment, then pointed to the pond and replied, "About there."

Dumbledore and Ada walked to the pool. The pool looked very ordinary and it was hard to associate it with the Chamber of Secrets.

Dumbledore checked the sink from top to bottom, inside and out. Finally, his eyes stopped on a faucet. On the side of this copper faucet, there was a lifelike little snake carved.

The symbol of Slytherin is the snake!

But no matter what method Dumbledore used, the faucet and the little snake remained indifferent. He even cut his palm and smeared his blood on the faucet, but there was still no change in the bathroom.

The secret room was hidden under this ordinary sink, but they were blocked outside by this small faucet.

"Maybe because we are not the heir of Slytherin, even if we find the Chamber of Secrets, we have no way to get in." Ida touched her earlobe and said, "Maybe we need a Parseltongue."

Dumbledore nodded, agreeing with Ada's opinion. He said, "I think we may need Harry's help. He's the only Parseltongue I can think of."

Since he couldn't enter the Chamber of Secrets now, Dumbledore decided to take a long-term approach, so he and Ada left the girls' bathroom together.

As soon as the two of them walked out of the bathroom, Myrtle chased them out. She cried and asked, "Professor, will you come back again? Can I still stay here?"

"We meet each other often, don't we?" Dumbledore said kindly, "Hogwarts will always be a home for students, and you will always be my student. However, I suggest that you go out more often instead of staying here all the time and being saddened by the sight."

(End of this chapter)