A Soaked Book
The next day, after a not-exactly-legal deal with Mark, Hermione had to remain in the hospital wing. The potion she needed to return completely to normal would take a couple of days to be ready and, honestly, she had absolutely no intention of letting the rest of Hogwarts see her like that.
Tyson offered to stay with her in the meantime.
To everyone's relief, he was probably the best person for the job. Her new appearance didn't seem to bother him at all. He even seemed to like it, as if the cat version of Hermione felt completely natural to him.
Which was much better than leaving her with Ron and Percy, who could barely hold back their jokes, or with Harry, who, no matter how good his intentions were, didn't seem particularly talented when it came to comforting a girl about her appearance either.
Sirius and Mark's appearance had also drawn quite a bit of attention around Hogwarts. Especially Mark, who quickly earned more than a few looks from the female students. He was elegant, far too handsome and, judging by the way he dressed, probably quite rich.
Many had already figured out that Sirius and Mark had been called in to investigate the attacks.
Though what was much stranger was that Snape never seemed to leave either of them alone for even a moment.
And, for some reason, Gryffindor's points began dropping to ridiculous levels, even when it seemed like no student had actually done anything.
Even worse, Snape had started assigning so much homework that Percy was convinced they'd still be finishing it by their final year. And, curiously enough, the amount increased every time Sirius opened his mouth.
Something that was already making Sirius's popularity among the Gryffindors plummet simply because he existed inside the castle.
"It's not that I dislike Sirius, but having him inside the castle is becoming a real pain in the ass," Percy complained as he carried his backpack stuffed full of homework. "Because of him, Snape won't stop taking points from us and giving us homework. As if we didn't already have enough with continuing to investigate Cedric."
"Well... it's not like Snape was that different before, but ever since Sirius arrived, he definitely got worse," Percy added.
"That's not as bad as seeing our hourglass so empty. It looks like my older brother is about to have a heart attack at any moment," Ron let out.
Harry was walking right beside him and nodded every now and then, though he didn't actually seem to be listening. His attention was still completely focused on the green key he held between his fingers.
"Find... the door."
"Find it..."
"You must... find it."
"You must free her..."
"Harry?" Ron asked, noticing his friend was distracted.
"Yeah? What is it?" Harry asked, shaking his head and returning to normal.
"Are you still listening to what the key says?" Percy asked with a frown. "I already told you, if you keep obsessing over that thing, you're going to go crazy."
"Oh, maybe that's how that thing turns you into the real Heir," Ron added. It certainly wouldn't be the first time a cursed object messed with someone's head.
"No, it's not that. It's just... what it says still feels strange to me," Harry said, understanding his brother's concern when it came to these weird magical things.
"Find the door, find it, you must find it, you must free her," Percy said in a ghostly voice before smiling. "Sounds pretty simple to me. It wants you to find the Chamber of Secrets and free its monster," Percy said sarcastically.
"Besides, it's not like it tells you where that door actually is," Ron added.
"No. I mean... well, yeah. But I don't think that's what it means. I mean, I can't explain it, but I think it's talking about freeing someone, not something," Harry said with a serious expression.
"Oh, yeah, just what we needed. Freeing someone who's probably locked up somewhere in the castle for who knows what reason, while there's already a monster turning students into lovely statues," Percy added sarcastically. "You'd better stop thinking about it and think about the deal you made with Mark. Are you sure you want to help him? You're probably going to get yourself in trouble," Percy said, looking seriously at his brother.
"If I was afraid of getting in trouble, I wouldn't have infiltrated Slytherin House and stolen Malfoy's key. And one of our friends wouldn't be transformed into a cute little kitty in the hospital wing right now," Harry said seriously.
"Well, I just wish we weren't risking getting expelled. Mum would kill me," Ron quickly added.
Though Percy tilted his head slightly with interest after hearing the last part of Harry's words.
"So you think she's cute like that?" Percy asked with amusement, as always focusing on something completely random from what Harry had said.
Harry could only roll his eyes and quicken his pace.
"Hurry up. We have to bring Hermione her homework or she'll get mad," he said, walking faster.
"We wouldn't want her growling at us or scratching us, right?" Percy said with an amused smile.
"Or coughing up hairballs at us," Ron added, joining in on the teasing.
Harry let out a sigh and kept walking.
He finally put the key back into his pocket.
But even from inside there, he could still hear that whisper.
"Find her..."
As they continued forward, an angry outburst reached their ears from the floor above. The three looked at one another for a moment before running toward the stairs in that direction, recognizing Filch's voice and, at the same time, worried that it might be another attack.
"Even more work for me! Cleaning all night as if I don't have anything better to do! This is the last straw! I'm going to see Dumbledore!" Filch shouted, absolutely furious. Ever since Mrs. Norris had been petrified, he seemed to lose his temper much more easily.
When they heard Filch's footsteps fading away, the three of them finally poked their heads around the corner of the corridor.
It was the same place where Mrs. Norris had been attacked, where Filch had been keeping watch ever since it happened. The difference was that now the corridor was completely flooded, and water was still gushing out of the nearby girls' bathroom.
And Moaning Myrtle's screams seemed to echo off the walls all the way to them.
"What happened to Myrtle this time?" Ron said with a frown. Offending Myrtle was pretty easy, but for her to go as far as flooding the entire bathroom seemed to mean that this time she was actually quite upset.
"Come on," Harry said with interest, which Percy seemed to share.
They splashed through the water and entered the girls' bathroom without hesitation. By now, the three of them walked into the place as though it were their own common room.
Moaning Myrtle was crying harder and harder from her usual toilet, while every faucet on the sinks and the water from the toilets gushed out everywhere, extinguishing the torches and candles and making the entire place look darker and gloomier, with barely any light coming in through the high windows.
"Eew," Percy let out when he realized the water he was stepping in seemed to be coming from the toilets.
But Harry hit him to make him shut up as he approached Myrtle's toilet.
"What's wrong, Myrtle? Are you okay?" Harry asked in the softest tone he could manage as he approached her.
"What is it?" Myrtle asked, her voice breaking. "Did you come to throw something else at me?"
"Why would we do that?" Harry asked, confused.
"I don't know," Myrtle said as she floated out of the toilet, causing another wave of water to gush out toward the boys' feet, making both Ron and Percy take a step back with the same disgusted expression. "Here I am trying to deal with my own problems, and there are still people who think it's funny to throw books at me," she added sadly.
"But that can't hurt you," Ron said with a confused expression. "After all, you're a ghost. They'd just pass right through you," he added.
But the moment the words left his mouth, he realized he'd screwed up.
Myrtle shot toward him at high speed, stopping right in front of his face with an expression of deep anger that, on a ghost, only made her look even creepier.
"Of course! Why not throw books at Myrtle if she can't feel anything?" she roared right in Ron's face, making his eyes widen slightly when she suddenly appeared so close.
"Ten points if you hit her in the stomach!" she shouted as she shoved her hand through Ron's stomach. "Twenty if you hit her in the mouth!"
Then she passed straight through Ron's face, making him feel the cold of death run through his entire body, and he couldn't help shivering slightly.
Percy, who really wanted to ask how many points they'd get for hitting her in the forehead, covered his mouth to keep the words from slipping out, since he wasn't particularly interested in finding out what it felt like to have a dead person pass through his forehead.
"Hahahaha! What a fun game!" Myrtle said, laughing like a lunatic, while Ron seemed to be starting to fear this ghost a little more and took a step back. "But it's not fun for me!" Myrtle let out before starting to cry again.
"I was just sitting in the U-bend thinking about death. Why can't they just leave me alone?" she said, turning around before diving into her favorite toilet and disappearing, leaving only her sobs echoing through the bathroom.
Harry followed Myrtle with his eyes as she disappeared into the toilet.
Then he noticed something lying off to the side.
A dark book.
Soaked, just like everything else in the bathroom.