Chapter 37: The Prefects' Bathroom and the Tsunami Tap part-1
The gossip mill at Hogwarts operated faster than a Firebolt. By breakfast the morning after the Yule Ball, Hermione Granger had acquired a new, unofficial title. She was no longer just the "Brightest Witch of Her Age." She was now "The Girl Who Flashed."
Whispers followed her everywhere.
"Did you see the back?" "I heard it was charmed to fall off." "Potter certainly didn't seem to mind."
Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table, creating a barricade of toast and jam jars around her plate. She looked like she hadn't slept. Her eyes were red and she was wearing her school robes with the hood pulled up, despite being indoors.
"Ignore them," Harry Potter muttered, buttering a scone with aggressive force. "They are just jealous. You looked... great."
"Great?" Hermione hissed from within her hood. "Harry, my dress was around my navel. I was exposed. I am a scandal."
"You were a victim of... aggressive physics," I offered helpfully, piling sausages onto my plate. "And terrible seamstress work. I told you, dragon-hide is heavy. Gravity always wins."
Hermione shot me a glare that could have curdled milk. "I am never wearing a dress again. From now on, I am wearing jumpsuits. Welded shut."
"Speaking of tasks," Harry said, desperate to change the subject. "I still haven't figured out the egg. Cedric Diggory told me to take a bath. In the Prefects' Bathroom."
"A bath?" Hermione lowered her toast barricade slightly. "With the egg?"
"That is what he said. 'Mull it over in the hot water.'"
"Well," Hermione's academic curiosity flickered to life, overriding her shame for a moment. "If Cedric figured it out, we should try it. Tonight. I will come with you."
"You?" Harry blinked. "Into the bathroom?"
"I will sit on the edge!" Hermione snapped. "Fully clothed. I am not letting you drown, Harry. And frankly, I don't trust water anymore. If I am there, I can cast drying charms if... if anything happens."
I chewed my sausage slowly, hiding a grin.
(The Prefects' Bathroom,) I thought. (A swimming pool sized tub. Lots of taps. Soap bubbles. Slippery tiles. It is the perfect stage for the next act.)
(System check.)
Active Skills: Liquids Manipulation (Minor), Poltergeist Proxy, Telekinesis, Illusion.Goal: Trigger an incident in the Prefects' Bathroom.
That night, under the cover of Harry's Invisibility Cloak, the three of us sneaked up to the fifth floor. I claimed I was coming along to "keep watch" outside, but in reality, I cast a strong Disillusionment Charm on myself and slipped into the bathroom right behind them before the door locked.
The Prefects' Bathroom was magnificent. It featured a soft, white marble floor, a chandelier of candles and a rectangular bath the size of a swimming pool. Along the edge, there were hundreds of gold taps, each capable of dispensing different colored bubbles and scents.
"Right," Harry said, stepping out from the cloak. "Turn around, Hermione."
Hermione turned her back, facing the door. She was wearing a thick, yellow, rubberized raincoat over her pyjamas. She looked like a fisherman prepared for a hurricane.
"I am ready," she announced. "I have friction-proofed my boots. I am waterproof."
Harry quickly changed into his swimming trunks and splashed into the water.
"It is deep," Harry commented, treading water. "Okay. I have the egg."
He placed the golden egg on the side of the pool.
"Open it," Hermione instructed, still facing the door. "But do it underwater. That is usually the trick with these things."
Harry took a deep breath and submerged. He opened the egg.
A choir of merpeople voices filled the water, muffled but melodic. Harry resurfaced, gasping.
"I heard it!" Harry said, wiping water from his eyes. "It is a song! 'Come seek us where our voices sound...'"
"Brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed. In her excitement, she forgot her rule and turned around.
She saw Harry in the bath, surrounded by pink and blue bubbles.
"So, it is the Black Lake," Hermione deduced, stepping closer to the edge of the pool. "The Merpeople are in the lake. They are going to take something..."
She leaned over the water, peering at the egg Harry was holding.
(Target acquired,) I thought from my perch atop a stack of towels in the corner.
Hermione was safe inside her raincoat. But raincoats are designed to keep water out. If water gets in...
I looked at the row of golden taps behind Hermione. One of them was shaped like a serpent.
(Liquids Manipulation: Pressurize the water line.) (Poltergeist Proxy: Turn the Serpent Tap.)
I focused my will.
Creak.
The tap behind Hermione turned.
It didn't just trickle. Thanks to my pressure manipulation, it blasted.
A jet of high-velocity, purple, lavender-scented water shot out of the tap. It hit Hermione directly in the back of her knees.
"Ah!" she screamed.
The force of the water buckled her legs. She fell forward.
Into the bath.
Splash.
She hit the water hard. The heavy rubber raincoat, which was meant to protect her, instantly became a liability. It acted like a parachute, catching the water and dragging her down.
"Hermione!" Harry yelled, paddling toward her.
Hermione surfaced, sputtering. "My coat! It is heavy! It is filling up!"
She was thrashing. The raincoat was filling with water, weighing her down like an anchor.
"Take it off!" Harry shouted. "Unbutton it!"
"I cannot!" she gargled, sinking again. "My hands are slippery!"
Harry dove. He reached her underwater. He grabbed the front of the yellow raincoat.
He pulled. The poppers snapped open.
He ripped the heavy coat off her shoulders to stop her from drowning.
Hermione broke the surface, gasping for air. The raincoat sank to the bottom of the pool.
She was safe.
However, she had been wearing silk pyjamas underneath. Thin, pale pink, silk pyjamas.
And she was now currently soaking wet in warm, soapy water.
Silk, when wet, becomes practically invisible. It clings to the skin like a second layer of epidermis.
.....
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