"Because, over the course of the year, she's been looking more and more haggard," he replied. "Like she's carrying a great deal of stress. Like, maybe, she's possessed, or something."
"Well, that's hardly grounds..." started Susan. "No," interrupted Harry. "I also remember her walking towards the second floor bathroom as if she was in a complete daze. Like she was a zombie, or something. I just know I'm right. I can't explain it any other way."
"Let's go talk to Myrtle and see what we can do from there," said Neville.
The four continued to move down to the second floor corridor.
With a final mirrored look around the corner, the four entered the corridor with the entrance to the girl's bathroom. They walked towards the door and Hannah gave a little scream as they passed the message that was still scrawled on the wall.
Turning to look, Harry and the others saw there was now a new message underneath the first. The Heir of Slytherin had left another message. 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever'.
Susan suddenly grabbed Harry's arm. "Harry - her skeleton..."
"I know," said Harry. "We need to talk to Myrtle."
Rushing in to the bathroom, they heard the ghost wailing in the end cubicle. With the girls leading they approached.
"Myrtle!" called Hannah. "Myrtle! We need to talk to you."
There was a few moments before there was a big splash. Suddenly a ghost of a girl in old fashioned Hogwarts robes came through the stall door.
She looked at Hannah and asked, "Yes?" Before she turned and saw Susan, Harry and Neville. "What are boys doing in here?"
"They're here at our invitation, Myrtle," said Susan. "We need to ask you a couple of questions."
"Well, you better make it quick," said the ghost with a bit of a huff. "I don't know when she'll be back." She'd sneered on the word 'she'.
"She?" asked Harry.
With another huff, Myrtle replied, "The little red haired girl in Gryffindor robes."
"She teases you, or something?" asked Harry.
"No, she comes in and hisses at the sinks over there!" she replied, pointing to a circular set of ceramic sinks in the middle of the floor away from the stalls. "A red haired Gryffindor? The only one I know of is Ginny Weasley," said Neville. "It seems Ron was right to panic."
Harry turned to look and walked over to them, walking around them. "She hisses at them, you say?"
"Yes, hisses!" replied the ghost, affronted as if Harry dared to question if she was telling the truth or not. "It scares me," she continued in a little voice. "So I run back to my stall and hide."
"This means," said Harry, "I can't be the only Parselmouth in the school. The Heir of Slytherin's one, too. That's how she's been controlling the basilisk."
"What're we going to do?" said Hannah. "Should we go straight to McGonagall?"
"Was she here a little while ago?" Susan asked the ghost. "Yes," replied the ghost. "It must have been about fifteen minutes ago, or something."
"Give me a second," said Harry, before he ran out of the room.
He rushed over to the message and stuck the point of his left index finger into the scrawl of the second message. When he pulled his finger away, the tip was coated in a red, slightly sticky substance. When he smelled it, it gave off a faint coppery smell. Blood.
He ran back into the bathroom and said, "The message is written in blood. I doubt we have much time. Have a look around this sink-thing and see if you can see anything out of the ordinary."
The other three joined Harry at the sinks and were looking all over it. There seemed nothing out of the ordinary until Neville spotted something scratched on the side of one of the copper taps. It was a tiny snake.
"Here!" he called. "There's an engraving of a snake."
The other three gathered around and saw it.
"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as Neville tried to turn it.
"She hisses at it," mumbled Harry. §Chamber of Secrets§
"Woah! Harry," said Neville, stumbling back. "Give someone a warning before you do that."
"What does it sound like to you?" asked Harry.
"Hissing. Like a big snake," he replied. "I thought it must've been in here with us, now." "Sorry," said Harry. "I didn't know. To me it sounds like normal talking but with added sibilance on the 'S's."
With a sigh, Harry stood up and the others followed. Moving back he said, "Alright, everyone. Back away. I'm going to try a few words to see if I can open it."
With the others standing away behind him, Harry focussed on the snake engraving. He was running through his mind what words to try when they were interrupted.
Echoing through the corridors came Professor McGonagall's voice, magically magnified. "All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."
Harry wheeled around to stare at the others. "Not another attack? Not now?" asked Susan.
"No, I think Mister Weasley has finally alerted the staff his sister is missing," replied Harry. "Or someone else has seen the message outside."
"What'll we do?" asked Hannah. "Go back to our dormitories?"
Frowning, he replied, "No. I'm going to continue to try and get this hidden entrance, if that's what it is, open." Looking at the others he said, "Hannah, Susan, please go to the staff room and let Acting Headmistress McGonagall know where we are; and why.
"Neville, I'm going to get this entrance open. When I do, are you still willing to follow me down?" Bracing himself up, the other boy replied. "I meant what I said, Harry. Where a Potter goes, a Longbottom will be with him."
"Be safe!" said Hannah, before the two girls ran out of the bathroom.
"Good man," said Harry to Neville. He then reached into his bookbag and pulled out his mirrored sunglasses. Using a spare scrap of parchment he copied the scrap into a matching pair of glasses, and offered them to Neville.
"I don't know how well they're going to work, but I think they may stop the basilisk from killing you," said Harry. "However, you will probably still end up petrified."
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