They reached the girls' bathroom on the second floor.
The door creaked open as they stepped inside, and the sound of dripping water echoed faintly across the cracked tiles.
From one of the stalls, a voice drifted out.
Myrtle was singing again.
The moment she noticed them, the singing stopped.
A second later, she burst out of the stall and floated straight toward them, her expression shifting instantly when she saw Victor.
She hovered in front of him, peering closely.
"Hey… why do you have a body?" Myrtle asked curiously.
Hermione blinked, thrown off by the question.
"Why would you think he doesn't?" Hermione said. "That's a very strange thing to ask."
Myrtle didn't even look at her.
"Because the last time I saw him," she said, still staring at Victor, "he was a ghost. A handsome one, actually. He didn't have a body then. And he was rude—he disappeared while I was talking."
There was a pause.
"Victor… ghost?" Ron repeated, blinking.
They had come here to deal with one mystery.
Now there was another.
Hermione turned slowly toward Victor, her expression sharpening.
"What does she mean?" she asked. "When did you come here before?"
Harry looked just as confused, glancing between Myrtle and Victor.
Ron, meanwhile, had gone unusually quiet, his thoughts clearly working through the problem.
How can someone be a ghost… without dying?
Victor, however, didn't look bothered in the slightest.
Internally, he was already done with this.
This girl really has nothing better to do than talk, he thought. Then again, she's a ghost. Talking is probably all she can do.
Outwardly, he remained calm.
"Myrtle exaggerates," he said evenly. "What she saw was not a ghost."
Myrtle huffed immediately.
"It was too a ghost!" she insisted. "You floated! And then you vanished! That's exactly what ghosts do!"
Hermione didn't take her eyes off Victor.
"You were here before," she said. "In this bathroom."
It wasn't a question.
Victor met her gaze.
"Yes," he said.
Harry frowned. "Why?"
Victor didn't answer that directly.
Instead, his attention shifted toward the sinks.
"Because this is where the entrance is," Victor said calmly.
Ron stared at him, clearly not understanding.
"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets… in a girls' bathroom?" he asked, his confusion obvious. He looked around at the cracked sinks and damp tiles as if expecting the answer to suddenly appear in front of him. "Why would anyone hide something like that here?"
Victor didn't look bothered.
"Do you really think anyone would search for the Chamber's entrance in a place like that?" Victor said, his tone edged with quiet certainty.
"It's connected to the castle's plumbing system. Hidden, practical… and overlooked." His gaze shifted slightly, as if already tracing the idea in his mind. "No one would think to search a girls' bathroom for something like that."
Hermione glanced around slowly, her mind already working through it. The logic made sense, even if the location didn't.
Before she could respond, Myrtle drifted closer, clearly interested in the conversation.
"There was another first-year girl who came here before you," she said, as if it were just an afterthought. "Do students your age always wander around at night like this?"
Hermione turned sharply toward her.
"Wait," she said. "Someone came here before us? A student?"
Myrtle nodded without hesitation.
"Yes. Not long ago."
Hermione frowned. This bathroom was barely used, mostly because Myrtle haunted it and made sure no one stayed long. Anyone coming here at night had a reason.
"What did she look like?" Victor asked.
Myrtle pointed directly at Ron.
"She was a first-year Gryffindor," she said. "Red hair. Like you."
Ron went still.
For a moment, he didn't react, as if his mind refused to connect it.
Then it clicked.
"First-year… Gryffindor…" he repeated slowly.
Ron's expression changed.
"…Ginny?"
The name seemed to settle heavily in the room.
"Why would Ginny come here?" Ron said, his voice tightening as worry crept in. "And where did she go?"
Myrtle floated a little higher, thinking back.
"I don't know," she said. "But she was carrying something… nasty. It gave me a horrible feeling. She came in, looked around the sinks for a while, and then… she disappeared."
Ron's unease deepened immediately.
Victor had already stepped toward the row of sinks.
"Well," he said, "that's exactly why we don't have time to hesitate. Harry, I need your help."
Harry looked at him. "What do you mean?"
Victor pointed at one of the sinks, the one with a small, barely noticeable engraving of a snake.
"The entrance to the Chamber is hidden here," he said. "It's been sealed so that no one can find it. It only opens for someone who can speak Parseltongue."
Harry frowned. "So… that's why you were reading about it?"
Victor nodded slightly.
"Yes. And right now, you're the only one here who can actually use it."
Harry hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward.
Victor's voice lowered slightly.
"Say anything," he said. "Just speak. We don't have time to be careful."
Harry looked at the sink, focusing.
He didn't know how he knew what to do—but something about it felt familiar.
Then he spoke.
A strange, low hissing sound slipped from his mouth, the words twisting into something none of the others could understand.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then—
The sink shuddered.
Hermione stepped back instinctively as the pipes beneath it began to grind and shift. The porcelain twisted unnaturally, folding inward as if being pulled apart from within.
The entire structure collapsed into itself.
With a deep, hollow rumble, the floor opened.
Where the sink had been, there was now a wide, dark hole, stretching down into complete blackness. No bottom was visible—only a deep, endless drop.
Cold air rose from it.
Ron stared.
"Blimey…" he muttered.
Hermione looked down into the darkness, her voice quieter now.
"That's it…"
Victor stepped closer to the edge.
"The Chamber of Secrets."
*****
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