Chapter 19: Myrtle's Guests
As usual, Myrtle was sitting on a broken toilet in the innermost cubicle of the girls' bathroom on the third floor, whimpering and sobbing, complaining about the unfairness of fate and the damned sarcasm of Olive Hornby every day for fifty years.
Suddenly, there was a gentle knock on the door of her cell. She looked at the door warily, wondering who was so bold as to disturb her daily crying.
"Hello? Is anyone there? Are you okay?" A girl's voice hesitated outside the door. "You sound distressed. Do you need help?"
"Who's out there?" Myrtle asked with a sob, feeling a little curious about this sudden friendly voice.
It had been a long, long time since anyone had spoken to her so gently and kindly.
People stayed away from her, fearing that they would be associated with the "weeping, complaining" Myrtle.
"I'm Hermione Granger. You can call me Hermione. My friends all call me that." There was a hint of concern in the girl's tone. "Did anyone bully you?"
Myrtle was very surprised.
Hasn't this ignorant girl heard of the great name of Myrtle?
—The ugly, pathetic, dejected Moaning Myrtle, who lived in the abandoned ladies' room on the third floor of Hogwarts... Everyone looked down on her, and Olive Hornby always laughed at her...
"Olive Hornby... she said I looked like a four-eyed dog with my glasses on..." Myrtle cried, touched by the hint of concern in Hermione's voice. "She laughed at my glasses... and my acne... she was so mean!"
"Oh... she really shouldn't say that." Hermione's voice came from outside the door, and she seemed a little angry. "I can understand how you feel... I was in a bad mood a while ago, and I also hid in the bathroom... Sometimes they say things that are too inappropriate..."
Myrtle sobbed, "I hope people won't talk about me behind my back! I have feelings too! Although..." She suddenly couldn't continue. She didn't want to admit the fact that she was dead.
"Which house are you from?" Hermione asked her, with a hint of curiosity in her tone.
"You're probably not from Gryffindor. I've never heard of an Olive Hornby in that house."
College? Myrtle searched desperately in her distant memories and finally picked up the name of her college.
"I'm from Ravenclaw... I think so..." Her light voice came through the door. She felt a little happy to be asked. For a moment, she felt that she was still a living girl, talking to another living girl through the door.
"I'm from Gryffindor." Hermione stood outside, looking worriedly at the scratched, paint-peeling wooden door. "Listen, I think Olive Hornby might not be a good friend. You could make some other friends... the kind that won't make anyone sad."
"No one wants to be my friend," Myrtle said sadly, "They all love to laugh at me and bully me... My life here is not joyful, but only sad..."
"I can be your first friend. I haven't had the chance to make any Ravenclaw friends yet." Hermione looked at the gloomy candles, dirty old mirror and damp floor in the bathroom and wrinkled her nose. "This is really not a good place to chat. Why don't you come out? We can find someplace else to chat..."
"Anywhere else?" said Myrtle, excitedly. "I can't go anywhere but here..."
"Okay, don't be angry, let's stay here and talk for a while." Hermione sighed, "What's your name?"
Myrtle didn't want to tell her her real name. Once she did, the little girl might avoid her like the other students.
Then she would be stuck here again, bored, with nothing to do except cry.
She coughed lightly and cleared her throat, "Elizabeth, please call me Elizabeth."
Myrtle's full name is Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, and telling others her middle name is not considered deceiving.
Now that she had stopped crying, the ghost rose from above the room and curiously peeked at the girl named Hermione Granger.
She was holding several thick books in her hands. She had thick long brown hair, a rosy face, and bright brown eyes that flashed with worry, as if she was very worried about Elizabeth behind the door.
This girl seemed to like reading, which was very similar to her. Myrtle immediately had a good impression of Hermione.
"Nice to meet you, Elizabeth. Some people even make fun of my front teeth. If I care about these things, it will never end... You know, no one is perfect." Hermione said to Elizabeth behind the door with a smile, completely unaware that there was a female ghost above her head looking at her carefully through the crack in the door.
"You're right," said Myrtle. She was a little shy—sharing little girls' secrets was a new experience for her.
When someone is willing to tell you about the things that make fun of her and show you her scars, a close sense of trust and emotional connection will be created between you and her. This is the beginning of friendship between girls.
From the time Myrtle came to Hogwarts till now, she had never made a single friend.
Everyone laughed at her and no one showed any kindness to her, but this girl was willing to talk to her and even be her friend.
If only I had known her earlier—
"Nice to meet you, Hermione." Myrtle sniffed, her tone somewhat happy, "I'd like to be your friend."
"Great. Are you feeling better now? I have to go to class soon. Do you still need me to stay with you for a while?" Hermione heard the change in her tone and immediately felt relieved.
"Go to class, and come back here to chat with me when you have time," Myrtle said happily. She was floating in the toilet tank, habitually pulling at her chin, feeling proud of having made her first friend.
"Okay." Hermione's tone was a little confused. She didn't understand why they had to meet here, it was dark and gloomy.
But time was running out, and her next class was about to start. Hermione hurriedly said goodbye to the mysterious Elizabeth and trotted out of the abandoned girls' bathroom.
Just when Myrtle stopped crying and quietly recalled the conversation with her first friend, there was another sound of footsteps outside the door of the single room.
It seems like a few people ran in, and they were boys. How rude! This is the girls' bathroom!
Myrtle suddenly floated up and began to peek outside furtively again - there were two identical red-haired boys and a boy with platinum hair.
They were all very good-looking, and Myrtle was suddenly too embarrassed even to scold them.
Were they here to make friends with her, too? She suddenly had a fantasy, so instead of running out and shouting, she shyly and quietly eavesdropped on their conversation.
Apparently, neither the Weasley twins nor Draco realized they were being spied on by a female ghost.
"Try it." The Weasley twins mysteriously took out a box of custard biscuits. They looked at each other maliciously and handed it to Draco.
Draco took the biscuit and looked at the Weasley brothers suspiciously. "Before I try the biscuit, please tell me why you brought me here?"
It was just after the Easter holidays when Draco was kidnapped by the Weasley twins who were coming towards him. He was taken to the abandoned women's bathroom on the third floor of Hogwarts without any explanation.
If Draco remembered correctly, this was Moaning Myrtle's territory.
"We need to be stealthy." Fred winked at him. "These are no ordinary cookies."
"It'll have unusual consequences after you eat it," George said maliciously. "You'd better do it in front of the mirror, or you might miss the fun."
Draco stared at the box of cookies. "Do you think I would eat something so suspicious without any precautions?"
Fred shrugged. "I remember someone saying they appreciated our sense of humor."
"You gave us the inspiration for this," George said with a smile. "We spent quite a while on this."
Draco rolled his eyes and picked up a random custard biscuit and put it in his mouth.
BANG! A large canary appeared in the mirror opposite Draco. The Weasley twins laughed.
A minute later, when Draco returned to his normal form, the twin brothers were still holding their stomachs and unable to straighten their backs.
Draco wanted to act more mature, but he still couldn't control his expression and glared at them.
"Dad never dreamed that we would let a Malfoy become like this." Fred managed to hold back his laughter and said to George seriously.
Draco gave up trying to control his expression and puffed up his face like a guinea pig. "Why can't you just tell me what this is?"
"We just want to make sure you really appreciate our sense of humor." Fred patted Draco's shoulder, "and to see if you are sincere about your cooperation."
George said, "Oh, don't be so serious. You're so young, and you keep a stern face all the time. You'll scare all the girls away!"
"We've been lenient. You haven't tried the nosebleed nougat yet..." Fred grinned.
"Very efficient." Draco snorted. "So, what do you think about the cooperation?"
"Of course we will cooperate." Fred shrugged.
"Mom and Dad will be shocked when they find out," George said casually.
"Please keep it a secret! I don't want my dear father to break my legs." Draco said in a pretentious tone.
"Okay." "Okay." George and Fred said a little disappointedly.
Just as they were about to continue discussing the details of their cooperation with Draco, they noticed that he greeted indifferently in the direction of the last private room in the bathroom: "Hello, Myrtle. A considerate girl like you, I'm sure you wouldn't mind giving us some private space for a conversation?"
Draco had heard some rustling noises in the compartment a long time ago, and he even heard a burst of suppressed laughter - when he turned into a canary.
As he scanned the bathroom, he was quite sure that Myrtle's silvery-white face flashed through the crack of the door of the last single room.
George and Fred looked towards the bathroom stall in surprise. They heard a girl's scream, and then something rushed into the toilet, making a splash.
"It's okay, she's always like this." Draco shrugged and said to the twins.
He waved his wand, and a magical agreement was quickly written.
The agreement stipulated that Draco, as Party A, would invest 2,000 Galleons in Weasley's Joke Shop, making him the majority shareholder holding 51% of the Joke Shop's shares.
Twin Brothers Technology holds a 49% stake and will serve as the store manager as Party B, responsible for specific matters such as product development, raw material import, production and sales.
Party A and Party B will each receive half of the store's dividends. Party B must keep the identity of Draco's major shareholder strictly confidential.
There were many more detailed instructions as supplementary information, densely packed with them, occupying several sheets of parchment. Draco and the Weasley twins took a look at them, and seeing that there were no problems, they quickly signed.
"We're working on some new stuff..." said Fred.
"...some are still under experimentation," George added.
"We want to test whether it's popular among students first..."
"...or sell it by owl mail."
"Place an ad in the Daily Prophet..."
"…advertise in the Daily Prophet every day."
Draco was gradually getting used to his twin brothers singing in unison.
"Taking it step by step is a good approach, and you still have school to complete. In short, take it one step at a time. I trust your judgment."
Draco glanced warily at the bathroom, watching for Myrtle to return. Then, he pulled out a heavy purse filled with gold Galleons from his dragonhide pouch.
"Cool!" Fred glanced at the small dragonhide bag with envy. "Extended Stretching Charm! There should be quite a lot of space inside, right?"
Draco smiled lazily and handed the purse to them. "It's dozens of square meters, enough for people to live in. When the store makes money, I'll give one to each of you."