//------------------------------//
// Ch. 21 — Unexpected Activities 
// Story: The Triwizard Pony 
// by tkepner 
//------------------------------//




Ch. 21 — Unexpected Activities




The girls and fillies were surprised when they entered the Great Hall for lunch to find Harry sitting at the Gryffindor table with the two aurors and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Hesitantly, the Gryffindor fourth years seated themselves around them.

“And these three young witches are your . . . herdmates?” Bones said as Apple Bloom sat beside Harry while the other two jockeyed to sit across the table from him. 

Harry introduced them. 

She nodded to each, murmuring her own greetings.

“And the reason they don’t retain their appearance as you do is that this . . . God of Chaos changed them? Whereas, you were brought here by the Goblet?”

They all nodded.

She looked at the three witches. “Have you tried to change back?”

They exchanged glances. “We don’t know how,” Sweetie Belle admitted. “Or even if he made it possible.” She sighed and looked up towards her own forehead. “I miss my horn,” she said dejectedly.

“And I miss my wings,” said Scootaloo, crossing her arms grumpily.

Apple Bloom was just looking at her hands and flexing her fingers.

The director nodded. “I don’t doubt it.” She smiled tersely. “And you have no problems with magic?”

The three promptly pulled out their wands and cast lumos.

Bones nodded again. “Well, it was nice meeting you,” she said, climbing over the bench. “You should probably consider yourselves as unofficial ambassadors from your world. If you have any difficulties that I can assist you with, please contact me, Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry.” She turned to Harry. “Thank you for your help, today, Prince Sparkle. I will keep you updated on our progress.” She looked at the table beside theirs. “And, I think I’ll join my niece, Susan, over in Hufflepuff, for lunch.”

She turned to the two aurors. “Shacklebolt, Williamson, when you finish lunch, head back to the Ministry and start the paperwork.” She headed off around the table.

The grimace the two Aurors shared indicated that they expected that to be a lot of paperwork, all of which they expected to be tedious in the extreme. Harry empathized with them. He had seen the mountain of paperwork involved in running Equestria. It amazed him that there were still trees left in the countryside considering the quantity of paper consumed on a daily basis just for the bureaucracy, never-mind the paper used, and discarded, in commerce.

The two aurors had a “working” lunch as a steady stream of students came over to talk with them about their jobs.


۸-_-۸


 

That evening, as they walked back to the common room after dinner, Sweetie Belle gave Harry a hard look with narrowed eyes. “When was the last time you had a good brushing?” He had spent the afternoon and last two hours with his tutors, practicing on the fifth year DADA spells as the six girls watched. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna, naturally, copied what they were watching as well as they could. 

Hermione was there because she wanted to get ahead of everyone. Ginny, because Hermione was her best friend. Luna, because that’s where Harry was.

He shrugged. “Not since arriving here.”

The three fillies gave him incredulous looks, the others were merely curious.

He gave then a wry smile, “Didn’t trust anyone when I first got here, and then I was too busy to take the time.”

They slowly nodded.

“When we get to the common room, lose the armour and robe and we’ll give you a thorough brushing. There are probably snarls and shed everywhere!” Sweetie Belle said firmly. Jonathan and Liza were kind enough on conjure pony brushes for them, based on Harry’s projected illusions. Harry was a bit tired from the nearly non-stop magic practice and wasn’t sure if his conjuration skills were up to the task. It would be annoying if he conjured the brushes and they disappeared after a mere three minutes.

Ten minutes later, the six girls were taking turns with the brushes, and Harry was in heaven. Five minutes after that, he was asleep.

It was the first night since arriving that he slept without the armour. And the fillies never did return to their beds in the witches’ side of the dorm.


۸-_-۸


 

Harry counselled against letting Sweetie Belle take the Potions class with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo the next day. Unfortunately, Sweetie Belle was anxious to prove them wrong, and the professors didn’t take the warnings issued by Harry and the other the Equestrians seriously. 

Harry thought they had dodged that arrow when he met the girls at lunch without hearing an explosion, screams, or the forced evacuation of the castle. Her “potion” still was a failure, though. At the end of the class it seemed to have vanished and turned the bottom of her cauldron into a fire-proof rubber-like substance. It wasn’t until that night, at curfew, that they discovered the First Year students for both Slytherin and Gryffindor, as well as the two Equestrians, couldn’t get to sleep — they were wide awake. The entire group, in fact, were very hyper, to the dismay of the rest of each House, especially the House Heads. They all finally fell asleep at dinner on Thursday, and the fifth years got to practice their mobilicorpus to get the out-cold sleeping Firsties back to their dorms.

Before then, however, they went through almost all the practicals for the entire first year. The third, fourth, and sixth year students worked in rotation as tutors in sheer self-defence — no one wanted to see what hyper first-years would do if left to their own devices in the wee hours of the morning, or even broad daylight. 

Parents rightly looked at hyper-active and curious eleven-year-olds with horror. 

They finished all their pending homework, worked their way through the textbooks for the entire year — and several had mastered the Hayscartes’ Method by then, too. Not for very long, only a minute or so at a time, but, still, they could quickly build a lead on their peers in the other two Houses, if they wanted.

The rest of the exhausted Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses, except the fifth and seventh years, followed them to bed almost immediately.

Sweetie Belle was banned from the potions classroom by popular acclaim.

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom was disgusted at Professor Snape’s lacklustre teaching methods, and considered him far inferior to Zecora. Scootaloo participated just to keep Apple Bloom company — who . . . blossomed under the regular lesson environment.


۸-_-۸


 

Complicating that last day of hyper firsties for the upper years, however, was Professor McGonagall making an important announcement at the end of Transfigurations. “Christmas Day is approaching, as is a Tri-wizard Tournament tradition — The Yule Ball,” she said. Then described how it was limited to fourth year and above students, with exceptions for the younger years if they were asked to attend by an upper year.

It was set in the Great Hall to start at eight o’clock on Christmas Day, and end at midnight. Naturally, it required dress robes, which explained her insistence in Diagon Alley that he acquire a set, and that the fillies do so, too. He should have suspected something was up with that.

She stopped and took a long, slow look around the class.

Then she issued the warning that they had better behave themselves at the Ball, regardless of the fact that it otherwise allowed them to relax and enjoy the company of others at a festive occasion.

The class had broken out into excited chatter almost immediately. The boys looked appalled while the girls were excited and giggly. Then the bell rang and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone grabbed their rucksacks and headed for the next class. For most it was Charms. Harry and Hermione, however, would head to Runes.

“Sparkle,” the professor said, “A moment please.” 

Harry headed for the front of the classroom.

“I wanted to warn you that the tournament champions and their partners traditionally open the ball,” she said sternly.

Harry sighed, dejectedly. He had attended quite a few balls with his mum in Canterlot. Most had been boring beyond belief. And he had no idea how to dance on two legs. And neither did the fillies. Which, now that he thought about it, was a reason to begin to panic.

At lunch, he told them what Professor McGonagall had said. And confirmed that, of course, he would be taking all three, or not going at all.

That evening, they cuddled with him on a couch, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom on either side while Scootaloo settled on the floor between his lower legs. They noticed that the rest of the Gryffindor students, or at least those above third year, divided into two camps, the wizards and witches. Both groups watched each other closely.

It was actually quite an interesting dynamic. And completely unlike Equestria where the fillies asked the colts for dates! Although, as the days progressed, Harry did confirm that the mannerisms he was used to seeing between the two sexes in Equestria were reversed. 

Here, it was the girls who travelled in packs so they wouldn’t be cornered by an unsuitable admirer. And the boys who were uncertain and hesitant to approach the one they fancied.

Harry and the fillies were soo glad they were beyond that.

Unfortunately, the Ball scuppered his plans to visit the dragons over the holidays.


۸-_-۸


 

For the first years, the classes turned into lecture nightmares. They could wand the practicals quite well, but now the professors wanted them to show that they understood why the spells worked. In an usual turn of events, many were actually looking forward to Potions simply due to its lack of lectures!

The Gryffindors and Slytherin first years were going to be extraordinarily well-versed in the fundamentals of magic.

As thanks for teaching them how to dance on two legs, Harry taught his tutors and his friends how to record audio and video with their wands, and then play them back like a projector.

There was a minor problem with the officials when he stated he would only attend with all three fillies at Ball or not at all. The Headmaster and Percy managed to convince the other judges that denying his request could be seen as insulting the nation of Equestria. After considering the rather frightening implications of a creature capable of tearing a hole in the fabric of space being the three girls’ friend, and that he might be offended if the judges said no, the judges decided the better part of valour would be to agree.

“Breezies!” Scootaloo exclaimed on first seeing the holiday decorations going up in the Great Hall. She hurried over to a fairy-bedecked garland, followed closely by the other two.

“Sorry, Scoots, but those are fairies,” Harry explained as he trailed the others. They had been covered in one of the Care of Magical Creature texts he had read. “And they are not like parasprites,” he reassured them.

“They’re so pretty!” Sweetie Belle said admiringly.

There was much giggling from the garland and the glow became a bit brighter. By the end of the day, the fillies and Luna had fairies riding around and peeking from within their hair.


۸-_-۸


 

According to Harry’s wizard and witch friends, Hogwarts was usually almost deserted once the term ended. Not so this year. Most students, except the first, second, and third years, remained at the school to participate in the Ball. Which meant that the common rooms, Great Hall, and corridors were always crowded. And while many students went outside to play in the snow, that didn’t last long considering how cold it was.

Unlike the others, however, the Equestrians spent most of their time learning magic instead of playing. When they weren’t “reading” the books and trying to extend their Hayscartes time, they were practicing the spells. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, especially, were intrigued at using wands to cast magic, and wondered if they could do the same back home. And it was too good of an opportunity to pass if they could.

The novelty of actually casting magic like a unicorn just never seemed to wear off for the two. They threw themselves into task of catching up with Sweetie Belle, and then Harry with a dedication that they heretofore had only been shown in their Cutie Mark Crusades. Harry and Sweetie sharing the spells directly, at times, certainly helped. 

Their practice rooms took on a great deal of damage that made them all very proficient in the reparo and fail safe spells. And kept the fillies too occupied to get into the sort of scrapes they did in Ponyville. Although they did manage to coat the room in tree sap one day. But, Harry reflected as they worked the sap out of his fur, at least it hadn’t been in the Common Room or Great Hall.

Still, why the flipendo, locomotor mortis, petrificus totalus, reparo, scourgify, hot air charm, and hair-loss charms would combine like that when shot simultaneously at a chair left them all scratching their heads. Especially Professor Flitwick when they told him about it.

By the time Christmas Day arrived, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had conquered the First Year wanded courses and had started on all the Second Year textbooks. Sweetie Belle was already well into Second Year course-work.

That day, however, they decided to relax for the morning. The atmosphere was quite like Hearth’s Warming back in Equestria, and they had been rather nostalgic. They didn’t have presents for each other, but having each other together was all they really wanted.

They had intended to do the same for the afternoon, but Parvati and Lavender, and the other witches, had had different ideas. They dragged the three Equestrians upstairs at noon to “bring out their inner beauty.”

Harry decided that for the sake of public relations he should attend the Ball as a person. All it took was modifying the Breezie spell. And being intimately familiar with the human form made that rather easy, as he had discovered earlier in the year. 

Adjusting his robes for the new-old form was easy, but leaving off the armour that was “frozen” in its shape by spells made him feel more than a little vulnerable. However, at the Ball he expected everyone to be on their best behaviour, so he should be safe. On the other hoof, his appearance as a person would draw attention from the girls, so there was that, as well, to consider.

Harry had never before seen how makeup, applied with a light hand, could turn an average appearance into a picture of perfection. The three fillies, when they came down the stairs, left him breathless.

The fillies had been almost as impressed, themselves. Which had led to a Harmony Song — with the theme of “I feel pretty!” — to take over the entire Gryffindor House. And led to them dancing to the Great Hall, pulling many couples from other Houses into the mix.

Seeing several Gryffindor and Slytherin girls complimenting each other and promenading down the corridors arm-in-arm, with their dates on the outside of the two-by-two witches, left many students wondering if they had dreamed it all, later.


۸- ̬ -۸


 

He was gratified to see that Percy was wearing a robe with the same Equestrian flag symbol on it as on his and the fillies robes, with the name of the school circling around it. The young wizard really was taking being the judge for Harry’s school quite seriously. Harry made sure to thank him for that.

After being at Princesses Celestia’s and Luna’s dinner parties and balls with important nobles in Equestria, the fillies were not awed by their dinner associates. They were more than happy to talk with the various dignitaries. Which mostly centred on how different the magic was between the worlds, and the political makeup of Equestria. That Canterlot, alone, had as many unicorns as all of England had wizards and witches left the magical humans breathless. That the population of the country, itself, was nearly twice that of the entire wizarding population of the world, and growing, left the wizards speechless.

And, the Equestrians discovered that, unlike the Canterlot Balls they had attended, this Ball was actually fun! Well, at least it was fun once they got to the dance floor. It was refreshing not to have nobles coming up and trying to engage them, or, at least, “Prince Harry,” in conversation while trying to assert their own importance to their friends. 

The four decided to take a walk through the gardens just outside the entrance hall to cool off after dancing for a long time. There were winding, ornamental paths, with large stone statues to either side of the front steps. They could hear the splashing water of a fountain and see, here and there, people seated on curved benches. There were fairies scattered throughout the gardens who fluttered, winked, and twinkled among the rosebushes and gave them a truly enchanted feeling.

Harry couldn’t help but smile as they walked a bit farther into the gardens. They hadn’t gone far when Harry heard a silky and unpleasant voice. 

“. . . don’t see what there is to fuss about, Igor,” Snape said evenly.

“. . . cannot pretend this isn’t happening!” came the low and urgent response from Karkaroff. “It’s been getting darker and darker for months. I am very concerned, I can’t deny it —”
 
“Then flee, run away and hide, if you think you can escape so easily,” Snape’s voice was brusque and dismissive. “Flee — Never fear, though, I will make your excuses for you. However, I intend to remain here at Hogwarts.”
 
Harry had no idea what they were taking about, but if it was enough to make the head of Durmstrang worried, then it made him worried. He pulled the fillies back, and they ducked into another path. Taking the cues from Harry, the girls pressed to the bushes and held still as he cast don’t-notice-me spells on them all. Frequent visits to the Everfree Forest had taught them all about the value of holding completely still and not being noticed.

The students taking advantage of the darkness of the bushes to snog were not so lucky, as Snape rapidly chased them out of their hiding places, with much glee at the points he removed. Once he and Karkaroff were past, the four resumed their meandering.

As they approached the fountain they had heard, the four had the misfortune to overhear Hagrid and Maxime. The inept half-giant managed to offend the headmistress of Beauxbatons, both of whom stalked off in different directions.

The number of student pairs they kept meeting quickly set the mood, and Harry found himself in the middle of the trio, a situation he had frequently encountered in Equestria. A girl to each side and one in front as they nuzzled and kissed him. It was something they hesitated to do in the castle, as there was almost always someone watching and making them uncomfortable.

They didn’t dare keep it up for too long, as someone was sure to find them. But it was enough to keep them happy.

They finally headed back into the Great Hall and returned to the dance floor. 

It was disappointing when the band, the Weird Sisters, finished their last set and started packing up. The Equestrians had been having fun. And seeing who had ended up with whom as a date had been rather instructive. Harry expected most of the couples to break up fairly quickly in the next few weeks. He knew that many had been “forced” together by the circumstances of not wanting to be seen as “lame” for not having a date.

Harry and the girls were part way up the marble staircase when he heard, “Harry! Harry!”

It was Cedric Diggory at the bottom of the stairs with Cho. He quickly climbed up to meet Harry, leaving her behind.

“Yes?” Harry said, curious.

Cedric looked nervously at the girls, then took a breath. 

“Listen,” he lowered his voice after a second anxious glance at the girls. “Have you opened the egg, yet?”

“It just screeches when I open it,” Harry said frowning.

He looked around. “I owe you for the dragons . . . take a bath with it, okay?”

“What?”

“I find that a nice hot bath helps me think. . . .  Just, bring the egg for inspiration. . . . It’s water-proof. . . . Trust me,” he said reassuringly, and patted Harry on the shoulder. 

Harry stared at him. There weren’t any bathtubs in the dorms. Surely the Prefect knew that?

“The prefects’ bathroom is on fifth floor,” Cedric whispered, “It’s behind the fourth door on the left of Boris the Bewildered’s statue. Password’s ‘pine fresh.’” He gave Harry a grin. “Well. See ya,” He turned and headed down the stairs to where Cho waited impatiently. He stopped partway, turned enough to wave genially, and then continued on down.

Harry was perplexed at the wizard’s actions, but just shook his head and re-joined his herdmates. It could wait until tomorrow, he decided.

Wanting to have the most time to prepare, Harry and the girls, plus Hermione and Ginny, snuck into the Prefect’s bathroom early the next day. Given that all the prefects were at home and only a few students remained in the castle, it wasn’t that difficult a task.

The bathroom, when they entered it, clearly demonstrated that being a Professor’s favourite was well worth the effort. A marble interior with candle-lit chandelier, white linen curtains hung over the wide windows, doors to changing rooms and toilets at the side, and an enormous swimming-pool sized tub as the centre-piece. The tub was empty at the moment, but had a hundred or more golden taps around the perimeter, with a diving board at one end and steps at the other.

Decorating one wall was a blonde mermaid sleeping on a rock, her long hair covered her face and other salient features.

They quickly began experimenting with the taps, getting bubble bath foam from many in a variety of pleasing scents. The bath filled extraordinarily fast, considering the size of the tub. The girls were in it before it was even half full, thoroughly enjoying themselves. Hermione had quickly transfigured their robes into “appropriate” swimsuits. They spent some time, far more than they should have, just enjoying the warm water, splashing each other and swimming. Ginny and Hermione had a good laugh watching them “dog-paddle” as they called it. They spent the next hour showing the three Equestrians and Harry how humans were supposed to swim, and them putting their instructions into practice.

Harry noticed that the mermaid was awake and watching them, smiling. Eventually, Harry retrieved egg and the six of them gathered around. It still made the shrieking noises when he opened it, with even the portrait mermaid wincing at the sound.

“You should try putting it in the water,” said a nearby voice.

Startled, Harry dropped the egg, which sank to the bottom rather rapidly. Afraid it might be damaged, even though Cedric had said it was water-proof, he immediately dove under water to retrieve it.

And stopped.

He heard a chorus of eerie voices singing.

He popped back up to the surface, “Listen to this! Listen to this!” he exclaimed and ducked back under the water.

After several minutes’ intense discussion, they decided that whatever it was that would be taken, as the song said, it would be in the lake by the castle, and it had something to do with merpeople. It would be in the lake by the castle because all events had to be here. And the ghost who had spoken, Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, was more than pleased to tell them of the merpeople in the lake. And the mermaid in the portrait was nodding and giggling, watching them.

It took Harry and Sweetie Belle only a few moments to remember the fins and gills spell that his mum had taught them last year to explore Ponyville lake. They had had a lot of practice for it, too, considering that every other student at the Ponyville School wanted to explore with them. It was now considered almost a rite of passage for any unicorns in Ponyville to be able to cast that particular spell not only on themselves, but their friends. Even if it was only for a minute, at first. But, like any spell, the more you used it, the easier it became and the longer you could make it last.

The six were soon zooming around the pool underwater.

They made plans to explore the lake come tomorrow. Getting familiar with the bottom of the lake would be crucial to navigating through it. And improving Harry’s stamina so that his spell would last longer than the short thirty minutes it currently held.

Later, they half-leaned, half-floated against the side of the pool. “So,” Harry said, “You’re Myrtle? A ghost?” Myrtle was a squat ghost, still in her school uniform. Her complexion was marred by pimples and thick glasses.

The Equestrians looked nervous. They had met Nearly Headless Nick and Professor Bines, but this was a bit different. She had sought them out.

“Oh, yes,” Myrtle said. She seemed quite happy for the attention. 

“And,” Harry said to Myrtle and then glanced at a sombre Hermione and Ginny, “You used to be a student here?”

“Uh, huh!” she agreed. “I first attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1940. I was a muggle-born.” She looked down for a moment. “I died on June thirteenth, 1943.” She sighed. Well, she looked like she had sighed, ghosts don’t actually breathe. Her chest and shoulders had risen and dropped. “In the last stall of the girls’ toilets on the second floor.”

Hermione and Ginny exchanged dark looks.

“You died in a toilet?”

“Oh, yes,” Myrtle said proudly.

Harry and the girls exchanged incredulous looks. Apparently, not even Hermione and Ginny had known this fact.

“How?” Scootaloo blurted out, staring at the ghost incredulously.

“Well, it was in my third year,” Myrtle said with relish, building up to her story. “Olive Hornby had once again made fun of my glasses and pimples — she was always picking on me and telling me I would never amount to much.” Myrtle rolled her eyes. “She was just jealous because I always got better grades than she did, and she was a pure-blood.” The ghost wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue. She sighed, “It didn’t help that it was that time of the month.”

Ginny and Hermione nodded their heads in commiseration.

Harry and the fillies were confused. 

“What time of the month?” Harry asked.

The ghost and two girls looked at the other four.

“You know,” Myrtle said, “that time of the month,” she repeated, her ghostly face turning a bit darker.

The four shook their heads. “Uh uh,” Apple Bloom said. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Hermione sighed. “She means she was having her period,” she said and blushed a bit.

That was when Harry realized that Myrtle’s darker face meant she was blushing.

“Period?” The three fillies and Harry looked at each other, mystified.

“You know,” Hermione repeated, and blushed a deeper red. “Your Aunt Flo, monthly visitor, on the rag, moon days, red tide, . . . .” Her blush deepened with each phrase.

The four looked at each other, then back to her. They shook their heads.

Finally, with a deep red blush, she said, “Menstruation . . . .”

Sweetie Belle frowned a moment and she slowly shook her head. The others echoed her movements. “Still not getting it.”

Hermione huffed, looked at Harry, then moved a few steps away, motioning the three Equestrians to follow her. After a short whispered conversation, Harry heard Apple Bloom exclaim, “Oh! You mean you were in season!” Then she frowned again. “But what does that have to do with anything?” The other two fillies appeared similarly enlightened and puzzled.

It was Harry’s turn to blush as the four looked over in his direction. He moved to the shallow end of the giant bathtub and began to study the wall decorations.

The incredulous cry of, “Every month!?” had him look at the five girls, briefly.

Five minutes later, shaking her head in surprise, but also slightly annoyed at the interruption, Myrtle waved Harry to come back, and continued her story. “Anyway,” she said in a long drawn out manner, “I had gone there to hide and have a good cry over my unfortunate situation at the moment. So I hid in the last stall and locked the door. Then,” she paused dramatically, “I heard someone come into the toilets.” Myrtle’s expression had changed, now she was frowning. “At first I thought it was Olive, but I could tell it was a boy!” She paused, waiting.

“How did you know it was a boy?” Hermione prompted.

“Well, he spoke, didn’t he?”

“What’d he say?”

“I don’t know, do I? He didn’t speak English, he just hissed in some foreign language,” Myrtle said, and shuddered. “It sounded scary.”

“What’d you do?” 

The six of them were listening closely, perhaps the first audience Myrtle had had in a long time.

“What really got me was that it was a boy speaking! A boy in the girl’s toilet!” She rolled her eyes and looked outraged. “I unlocked and threw the stall door open and directly across from me were a pair of giant yellow eyes! It was a basilisk!”

They listened, eyes wide.

“And then . . . I died,” she said dramatically. She gave them a triumphant look, but it rapidly faded. “Nobody missed me even when I was alive. Took them hours to find my body — I know, I was sitting there, waiting for them.”

“But I didn’t let that stop me, oh, no, I didn’t,” Myrtle continued nastily. “I decided I’d haunt Olive in revenge. It was her fault I was there in the first place!” She grinned proudly. “I stalked her wherever she went, I never let her forget that it was her fault I was dead and how horrible she was.” She snickered gleefully “I even interrupted her brother's wedding.” She sighed disconsolately. “Olive, the coward, complained to the Ministry of Magic. They demanded that I stay here at Hogwarts, or else.” She looked away for a moment, but then gave a sly grin. “I didn't let Olive forget me.” She looked around the bathroom. “I had a house-elves send her anonymous owls reminding her she was the cause of my death, at least once a year. And because I wasn’t haunting her, no one could complain. I kept it up until her dying day,” she said proudly.

She giggled. “And I might even have accidentally visited her every few months and passed through her in the middle of the night while she was in a deep sleep.”

After glancing at Hermione’s and Ginny’s shaken expressions, Harry decided to stay on her good side. Waking in the middle of the night in bone-chilling cold that would take a long time to fade was not something he wanted to experience — it was bad enough when a ghost flew though you by accident during the day!

And a sneaky trick, too. Olive never saw the Myrtle, and by the time anyone was awake enough to look for her, Myrtle was long gone. The witch knew the ghost was responsible, but had absolutely no proof.

“Why are you still here?” Scootaloo asked, and tilted her head curiously.

The others all nodded and looked at the ghost.

Myrtle crossed her arms and looked at them grouchily. “Well, he’s still alive, isn’t he? The one who killed me. Olive has had her punishment. He hasn’t. I can feel that he’s still here, he hasn’t passed on yet.”

Harry nodded slowly. Wizards had very long lives.

Sweetie Belle had a puzzled look. “But,” she said hesitantly, “A basilisk only turns you to stone, doesn’t it?”

Hermione shook her head. “No, a basilisk kills you instantly. It was only after the opening of the Chamber of Secrets that anyone discovered that if you saw a reflection of the basilisk’s eyes that you’re only petrified.”

“Then” said Sweetie Belle, “how do you know it was a basilisk?” She looked at Myrtle.

Myrtle took a deep breath — well, a pretend breath, seeing as how ghosts don’t breathe — and then slowly let it out. She looked over at Ginny. “That’s her story,” she said pointing.


۸-ꞈ-۸