Tears From the Toilets: Moaning Myrtle’s Confrontation With Draco Malfoy

I sat there in the u bend, moping as usual. I looked at the graffiti that was on the stall, the aged and the most recent. Some, I recognized, were of me. Myrtle is a lesbo. Oh yes, how perfectly funny to write nasty things about me! I scrubbed at the aged writing on the stall, and realized with a jolt of disappointment, that I was dead, and had been dead for more than fifty years.

I remembered clearly how it had all happened. I was walking to class one day, and Olive Hornby, who thought she ruled the school and enjoyed making me feel miserable, cornered me. She took my glasses, threw them on the floor, and stomped on them. “Four eyed dyke,” she sneered as I searched for my glasses blindly. “God, you are such a waste of space at this school. I wish you would just die already.”

I couldn’t stop the tears as I continued to search for my glasses, and then finally, I fixed them with my wand after several attempts, and ran as fast as I could to the girls bathroom. I slammed the stall door behind me, and sat on the toilet lid, crying and sobbing. What did I ever do wrong? What did I do to deserve this?

I gathered up some toilet paper, and blew my nose loudly. I choked and gasped as I tried to calm down. I looked at my watch after throwing out the snotty toilet paper, and saw that class would be starting in a few minutes. If I didn’t calm down soon, I was going to be late and earn a detention. All because of that Olive Hornby!

Just as I reached for the lock on the stall, I heard a strange voice, a male voice speaking in a strange language. A language I did not understand; it consisted of hissing noises, and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. “THIS IS THE GIRLS BATHROOM!” I shouted, finding my confidence at last. I opened the door, and then… I died.

I’d only gotten closure from my death a few years ago, when Harry Potter first entered my bathroom. Tom Riddle had set loose a Basilisk in the school, and I was most unfortunate to have been in the place where the Chamber of Secrets, the place the beast called home, was. And I also discovered that the boy that was once Tom Riddle had now become the most feared, most powerful dark wizard in the world: Lord Voldemort.

I screamed as loud as I possibly could, and then dove into the toilet, splashing water all over the floor. I went through the pipes of the school, leading to various locations to the bathrooms, and paused midway in a pipe leading to the sewers. Crying. Someone was crying, and for once, it wasn’t me. I followed the sound to the boys bathroom in the dungeons, and slithered up the pipe, popping up in a urinal. I dusted myself off, and hid behind a stall.

There stood a handsome young boy with blond hair and tear strewn ice blue eyes. His tie, stating his Slytherin occupance, was open and disheveled as he stood gripping the sink on either side, his head bowed low. I floated a bit closer, and saw the pain and misery in the boy’s face, the same feelings I once had when I was alive, and still continue out at present. He was breathing heavily, and he bit his lip to suppress a loud sob that began to echo in the empty bathroom.

“I know how you feel,” I said in a soothing voice. The boy turned around, and wiped his face.

“You wouldn’t understand,” said the boy. “How could you possibly feel anything?”

“I was alive once,” I said bitterly. “And I thought ‘big boys don’t cry!’”

“I was not crying!” scowled the boy. “I had dust in my eye, and a massive migraine!”

There was silence between us, and I floated to sit on the sink that was right next to him. “Flush your face with cold water, you’ll feel better.”

He sighed, and did as I told, splashing cold water on his face, neck, and hair. I began to giggle a little at his hair, which stood up wildly like he had been electrocuted. He in turn began to laugh, and smooth his hair down. “I’m Draco Malfoy,” the boy said as sat on the window ledge. “Thanks for trying to comfort me…”

“You probably know me already,” I said, floating towards him. “Moaning Myrtle, they call me. Haunt the girls bathroom upstairs.”

“Seems as though you aren’t restricted to one bathroom,” said Draco as began to take out his wand. “Well, I wanted to do this alone, but oh well… Guess I will just have to deal.”

“Do what?” I asked, and then with a jolt of horror, I watched as he held his own wand, pointed at his heart.

“AVADA-”

“NO!” I cried, and with all my ghostly being, I threw his wand across the room. “Draco, why would you even THINK of doing something like that! Believe me, it’s no fun being dead… or a ghost.”

“I c-can’t do it anymore Myrtle!” he sobbed as he fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands. His back heaved with heavy sobs that echoed and bounced around the tiled room. “I-I have this task… The D-Dark Lord wants me to k-kill, but I think… I think I’m just going to d-die in this attempt!”

“Kill?” I whispered, shocked and nervous. “Who does he want you to kill?”

“D-Dumbledore,” sobbed Draco. “He just wants me to f-fail! I’ve tried to do everything in my p-power, but I’ve only just ended up almost killing several innocent students!”

I was at a loss for words. The boy in front of me did not look like a cold blooded murder, in fact, he looked as if he were a downright coward. But the fact that he HAD attempted to kill the Headmaster several times and all attempts were deflected on fellow students made everything worse. “Draco, how? How could you hurt innocent students? How can you even TRY to-” Draco raised his sleeve, revealing his Dark Mark and I screamed, backing away from him. “YOU! YOU’RE ONE OF THEM! But why? Why would you join them?”

“I didn’t have a choice in the matter,” Draco said, shaking down his sleeve over his arm. “It was payback… Payback for my father’s mistakes…”

I glided and knelt in front of him, putting a hand on his cheek. “You shouldn’t have been forced into this. This is just cruel and vile, forcing a young boy to kill… It’s so disturbing.”

“I’m just a lowlife to even think anything I tried would work,” said Draco as tears slowly started to form. “Mistake after mistake… I’m the mistake here. I should never have been born… All I ever do is fuck up people’s lives, and all the lives of those I care about!”

“You are not a mistake,” I said, holding his face in my hands. “The only mistake on this earth was that no one yet has had the balls to conquer Voldemort once and for all. You are not a killer Draco. I don’t believe it, even for a minute…”

“Thanks for making me feel better,” said Draco as he got up from the floor. “I’d best be getting along. Don’t want people to think I died in the bathroom.” He got his wand, and flashed me a small, grateful smile before leaving.
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“I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!” he wailed, punching the wall. Several tiles broke off and shattered to the floor. “I CAN’T BE THE MURDERER! BUT IF I DON’T DO THIS, I’M GOING TO DIE!”

“Shhh,” I soothed. “It’s going to be okay, I promise. And if you do end up dead, I’ll share the bathrooms with you, if you like.”

He laughed bitterly. “Great, something to look forward to…”

“The only thing you can do is prepare yourself for it,” I said. “Listen, I never saw my death coming. At least you have had a clear and concise warning. Make a run for it, get special enchantments put on you to hide you away…”

“He’d still find me,” sobbed Draco. “He’d know where I was…”

There was a loud gasp from behind us, and Draco and I turned around. There was Harry Potter, listening to our conversation. Draco’s tears and anguished turned into rage and hatred, and he whipped out his wand, casting spell after spell at Harry. “DON’T!” I wailed. “STOP IT!”

Spells were flying in every direction, and I was powerless and unable to stop it. I felt useless, as useless as I had been when I was alive. “SECTUMSEMPRA!” I heard a voice call out as it echoed throughout the bathroom. There was a loud thud, and I flew off to see what had happened. I screamed and screamed, the site too gruesome and unbelievable.

Draco was on the floor, covered in many deep and rapidly bleeding cuts. He lay there, shuddering and gasping in a pool of his own blood as Harry backed against the tiled wall, spattered in Draco’s blood. I screamed with all my might, “MURDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Professor Snape came in running, and sobbed, praying that Draco would be okay. He had been the only friend I’d ever had. I watched as Snape glided his wand over his wounds, healing them as she muttered the spell. “STAY!” he snarled at Harry as he picked up Draco and carried him to the Hospital Wing. After he had gone, I looked at Harry.

“How could you?” I asked. “HE COULD HAVE DIED!”

“I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THAT SPELL WOULD DO!” shouted Harry. “And anyways, he’s up to something! Both him and Snape!”

“What exactly do you suppose that is, Potter?” snarled Snape. He looked at me, and I knew he wanted me to leave, so I did without question.

From that day on, I never saw Draco, or Harry again.