Never a Dull Moment PV Lettie Lancaster Closed

Wand ready, Lettie prepared for the worst as they approached the door to the bathroom. When she noticed it was a girls bathroom, her jaw dropped as she pointed an accusing finger at her friend. "Benjamin Hugo Addington, did you only want to go in here because it was a girl's lavatory?!" She had always thought of Benji to be above such distasteful fantasies, but as they were getting older, she supposed boys only got more and more susceptible to that kind of stuff.

Before she could raise any more objections, Benji had already opened the door, and Lettie had no choice but to follow after him with her wand raised and ready to strike. The adrenaline strengthened her senses, as if they were on high-alert. Just as they cleared the entryway, the most deafening scream Lettie had ever heard pierced through the air.

The First Year immediately whipped her body around to find the source of the screaming, only to find it was nothing more than a mouse. She let out a sigh of relief before addressing her friend with a raised eyebrow. "Aww, is the big bad wizard afraid of a little mouse?" she teased. "Maybe we are in the right bathroom for you after all, Benji."

Nevertheless, Lettie continued to grip her wand tightly in her hand as she went deeper into the washroom. The source of the tapping sound soon became clear, as she noticed some water dripping from a leaky faucet on one of the sinks.

Eager to practice one of the spells they had learned, Lettie focused on the faucet head and said "Reparo." To her surprise, nothing happened. "What?!" she exclaimed. "I performed that perfectly in class! This must be rigged," she said as she bent down to examine it more closely. The fact that it didn't respond to Reparo was slightly concerning, but she supposed it would explain why nobody had repaired it already. It was almost as if there was a non-magic force causing the water to drip.

"Eeeeeh Aaaaaaaaah!" A horrendous moan suddenly filled the air, causing the hairs on Lettie's neck to stand straight up.

Benji jumped at the sound, stumbling to draw his wand, but mostly just trying to hide behind Lettie who had the sense to take hers out before they entered. Benji was not often described as a brave young man. Benji knew that Lettie knew more spells and that in general, she was often not afraid of a challenge and was much braver than he.

From behind a stall, the two saw a figure emerge. There was a wispy air filled with a chill as they saw a very indistinct figure approaching. The noise had reduced and it now sounded as if a small animal were sobbing or making a slight whimper. The figure drew closer still, and Benji realized it wasn’t an animal. In fact, it appeared to be a child wearing Ravenclaw robes. The child floated through the air towards them with feet that never touched the ground. “A ghost?” Benji asked. Benji wasn’t sure if he was asking the ghost itself or asking his friend to confirm his suspicion.

Now, only a few feet from the pair, Benji could identify that it was what appeared to be a ghost who resembled a young girl, right around their age. He had seen a few ghosts around the castle during his short time at Hogwarts and so far, and each one had been friendly. He relaxed his shoulders some and let go from clutching Lettie in fear.

Finding a small amount of courage, Benji made (what seemed to be) an incredibly loud gulp in the back of his throat and said “Hello?”.

When Lettie had first heard the moan, her mind immediately thought of all the worst possible scenarios in which they would be attacked by some sort of horrible dark creature, so she was extremely relieved to find that it was just some ghost.

The ghost presented itself as a girl who couldn't have been much older than Benji and herself. She had long, dark hair and hideous round glasses. She also was sporting Ravenclaw robes, so Lettie supposed she must have died while she was a student here. However reluctant she had been to come along with Benji in the first place, even she had to admit that the thought of a student dying was intriguing, to say the very least.

"A ghost?" Benji said. Lettie rolled her eyes and shot her friend a look before turning back to the ghost, which appeared to be in quite a state. She was whimpering almost as much as her cat, Atlas, did when he wanted to be fed.

Benji was the first to break the silence with a rather timid-sounding "Hello?" The ghost continued to whine softly before turning to him and saying. "GO AWAY!" the ghost screeched. "I suppose you've come to have a laugh, have you? All anyone ever does is laugh at poor, pathetic Myrtle."

Judging by the way the ghost was conducting herself, Lettie was not surprised in the least to find that other students had laughed at her before. "Er, no. That wasn't our intention at all. We'd heard that a famous witch had been dwelling down here and we wanted the chance to see for ourselves."

Myrtle picked her head up from between her hands, which appeared to be drenched in weird, misty ghost tears. "Oh?" Lettie swore she saw a small glint of hope travel across her face before it turned into a suspicious scowl. "Well, why are you here, then?! Why don't you just leave me alone, and GET OUT!"

Colette slowly shook her head. "No, Myrtle, we would never make fun of such a kind and lovely Witch as yourself." An utter lie. "We were only hoping to, er, ask you a few questions." She shot a meaningful look at Benji, hoping he would back her up.

God-Modding approved by Lettie Lancaster.
Benji was on the spot. “ummm, yeah. Uhhh, how long have you been dead?” Benji stuttered.

Myrtle let out a sob. “I knew it! You have come here to torment me,” she let out a wail before burying her face and her hands again, flying quickly through Benji, and into the nearest stall.

Suddenly, Benji felt a distinct pain in his ribs as Lettie elbowed him and gave him a stern look. “You can’t just ask a woman how long she’s been dead for, Benji!” she whispered scathingly.
Benji stammered to collect himself “That…came out wrong. That was. Rude. Um. So, you were in Ravenclaw? That’s brilliant! I’m in Ravenclaw too!”

A bit of suppressed sobbing, then Myrtle quietly replied. “Yes, I was,” she gulped. “That was.. before it happened.” Myrtle burst into tears once again and began flying around the room moaning at the top of her lungs until she came to a stop back in the stall in which she appeared. “It’s not fair! I was the smartest witch in my year!”. Faucets began pouring uncontrollably and overflowed the sinks causing a small puddle to fill the floors. Myrtle gave a loud shriek “EEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAEEEEEE”. The water splattered the room in explosive fashion, covering the walls and shooting upward as high as the vaulted ceilings. Myrtle then stopped and sobbed quietly as the room became still again. “Just leave! Go away like all the others.”

Benji felt horrible and didn’t know what to do to cheer her up and was afraid of making things worse. Now, completely drenched, he looked at Lettie and shrugged his shoulders clueless of what to do next. He gestured his hand towards the stall at Lettie hoping she might be able to say something that could help.

Lettie gaped at Benji in disbelief. Had he really just asked her how long she had been dead for? What kind of idiot opened with a question like that?! Unsurprisingly, Myrtle did not take kindly to the inquisition and flew into hiding at once.

Lettie immediately elbowed Benji in the ribs and shot him a caustic glance. “You can’t just ask a woman how long she’s been dead for, Benji!” she whispered scathingly, shaking her head and motioning for him to go fix it.

Unfortunately, just when Lettie thought the conversation had started to look up again, Myrtle went completely ballistic. She wailed about in what Lettie could only describe as a temper tantrum; she had certainly never seen anything like it in anyone over the age of 5. Much to Lettie's dismay, water began to spew everywhere. She instinctively covered her head with her arms, but she quickly learned that this was a moot effort; she was completely soaked in the matter of seconds.

Lettie absolutely hated the feeling of being wet. Burning anger started to well up inside of her, and she was incredibly tempted to hex the place in oblivion and then do as Myrtle had said and get right up on out of there. However, her increasing curiosity prevented her from being able to do so.

Benji shrugged and gave her a defeated look, and Lettie knew that it was up to her to get the girl to cooperate. She let out a deep sigh and started to walk up to the girl slowly. She gathered all the patience she had mustered from when her sister was young and prone to tantrums and lowered her voice into the most reassuring tone she could manage.

"Myrtle? I don't know what happened to you, but I'm really sorry it did," she filled her eyes with false empathy. "I can tell that you were a brilliant witch, which is why we wanted to talk to you and gain some of your knowledge." It was a straight-up lie, but Lettie didn't care as long as it worked. "I know it's really painful, but we would love it if you could talk to us."

More than a few seconds passed, and the flow of water slowed as Myrtle's sobs gradually turned into hiccups. Just as Lettie began to consider throwing in the towel and heading back to the library to study, Myrtle finally said something.

"No one is ever interested in what I have to say," she sniffled. "I'll talk to you, but you'll have to do something for me first," she said.

Lettie was incredibly hesitant, but she knew there was no turning back at this point. "Sure. What is it?" she asked reluctantly, bracing herself for the worst.

"It's dreadfully lonely, living in a toilet." Myrtle put the back of her hand over her forehead in despair. "It would make me feel so much better if you would come and visit once in a while."

Benji was impressed. He had no idea if what Lettie said to Myrtle was going to work or whether they were going to be sprayed with another heaping dose of Hogwarts’s plumbing system. In the time he had known Lettie, he had seen her calm her sister down from several tantrums; he knew she had the capability. However, he had also seen those times when Lettie loses her temper with her sister and was suddenly very glad it didn’t go down that road.

Feeling some force in Lettie’s tone, Benji jumped back into the conversation to aide his friend. “We will. We’ll come and visit all the time! Err- well, we will come visit when we can!” not thinking of the amount of homework they will have nor how Lettie felt about visiting ‘all the time’.
Myrtle sniffled. “Really? You will?”. Benji nodded to her. Myrtle’s sniffling slowly subsided, and she finally wiped away her tears and stood up straight. “That would be okay, I guess.” she shrugged, but Benji could sense a small hint of a smirk. “You two wouldn’t be my first choice, but since you’re my only choice, I suppose I’ll make do.”

It felt good comforting Myrtle. Benji relaxed in his posture and leaned against a nearby wall getting more comfortable. He realized that he was still holding his wand, so he tucked it away into his robes.
Myrtle looked at Benji for a long moment and said, “I’m not sure how you ended up in Ravenclaw… bit of a dull one, aren’t you?”. Benji shrugged, feeling slightly embarrassed as his face flushed with color. “Thought I was a bit more Hufflepuff myself, but the sorting hat knows all, right?” he chuckled nervously. Myrtle giggled and then turned to Lettie “Right. Now what did you want to ask me?”.