After Our Eyes Met

Chapter Thirty-Nine

They all walked into the bathroom and found Moaning Myrtle mopping around.

"Oh, who's there?" When she saw the group she smiled. "Oh! Hello, Harry. What do you want?"

Hollyn wasn't entirely sure ghosts could blush, but it they could, Myrtle definitely was.

"To ask you how you died." Harry told her. 

"Oh, it was dreadful. It happened right here in this very cubicle. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying...and then I heard somebody come in." Myrtle explained. 

"Who was it, Myrtle?" Harry asked. 

Myrtle gasped. "I don't know. 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?" Harry asked. 

"I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes...over there by that sink." She pointed towards a random sink that didn't stand out from the others.

Hollyn looked at the sink closely. She noticed a bump when she ran her fingers over the faucet. She looked down and saw a snake. 

"This is it." She said, stepping back. "I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets." 

"Say something." Ron said. "One of you, say something in Parseltongue."

Harry spoke a few short words and then the sinks all started to move. The top lifted and the sinks separated. The one in front of them sank into the floor, giving them an entrance.

"Excellent, Harry. Ah, good work. Well then, I'll just be... There's no need for me to stay." Lockhart tried to run away but the students stopped him once again.

"Oh, yes, there is." Ron pushed him towards the tunnel.

"You first." Harry told him.

"Now, children, what good will it do?" Lockhart asked, holding onto the sinks so he wouldn't fall. 

"Better you than us." Hollyn said. 

"Um, but... Obviously. Yes." He turned and faced the pit. "Sure you don't want to test it first?" 

Ron poked him with his wand and he fell down the hole yelling. 

"It's really quite filthy down here." Lockhart said. 

"All right. Let's go." Harry said. 

"Oh, Harry?" Myrtle said. "If you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet." She giggled.

"Uh... Thanks, Myrtle." Harry jumped in. 

"As if giant spiders weren't bad enough." Hollyn groaned. 

Ron grabbed her arm, stopping her from jumping. "What if there are spiders down there?" He asked. 

"Last one down has to kill them." Hollyn jumped in. 

"No." Ron yelled as he jumped in behind her.

Hollyn jumped off the floor. "Oh, gross." She cringed as she found herself standing on a floor covered in bones. 

"Ugh." Ron said. 

"Now remember, any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away." Harry said and jumped into the first tunnel.

"Go on." Ron told Lockhart.

"This way." Harry led them down different tunnels. Hollyn was starting to think he didn't know where he was going.