Stardust

Chapter 9

As Stella had no idea how long a bath would need to work out the secret of the golden egg, she decided to do it at night, when she would be able to take as much time as she wanted. She also decided to use the prefects' bathroom; far fewer people were allowed in there, so it was much less likely that she would be disturbed. She didn't want to get caught by Flinch, the two of them had a really strong hate-hate relationship. She talked with ghosts and all of them were more than happy to help her out.

She got ready when everyone was already sleeping and sneaked out. The moonlit corridors were empty and silent, and by checking around the corners, Stella was able to ensure that she wouldn't run into anyone she wanted to avoid. When she reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered, a lost looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, she located the right door, leaned close to it, and muttered the password, "Pine fresh". The door creaked open. Stella slipped inside, bolted the door behind her and pulled off her hoodie, looking around.

It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pool's edges, each with a differently colored jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single goldenframed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It fluttered every time she snored.

Stella moved forward, looking around, her footsteps echoing off the walls. She put one of the fluffy towels, her hoodie, and the egg at the side of the swimming-poolsized bath, then knelt down and turned on a few of the taps.

She could tell at once that they carried different sorts of bubble bath mixed with the water, though it wasn't bubble bath as Stella had ever experienced it. One tap gushed pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs; another poured ice-white foam so thick that she thought it would have supported her weight if she'd cared to test it; a third sent heavily perfumed purple clouds hovering over the surface of the water. She amused herself for a while turning the taps on and off, particularly enjoying the effect of one whose jet bounced off the surface of the water in large arcs. Then, when the deep pool was full of hot water, foam, and bubbles, which took a very short time considering its size, Stella turned off all the taps, pulled off her clothes and slid into the water.

It was so deep that her feet barely touched the bottom, and she actually did a couple of lengths before swimming back to the side and treading water, staring at the egg. Highly enjoyable though it was to swim in hot and foamy water with clouds of different-colored steam wafting all around her, she knew what she came to do.

Stella stretched out her arms, lifted the egg in her wet hands, and opened it, just wanting to hear that terrible sound again. The wailing, screeching sound filled the bathroom, echoing and reverberating off the marble walls, but it sounded just as incomprehensible as ever, if not more so with all the echoes. She snapped it shut again, worried that the sound would attract Filch — and then, making him jump so badly that he dropped the egg, which clattered away across the bathroom floor, someone spoke. "I'd try putting it in the water, if I were you." Stella had swallowed a considerable amount of bubbles in shock. She stood up, sputtering, and saw the ghost of a very glumlooking girl sitting cross-legged on top of one of the taps. It was Moaning Myrtle.

"Myrtle!" Stella said in outrage, "I'm — I'm not wearing anything!" The foam was so dense that this hardly mattered, but she had a nasty feeling that Myrtle had been spying on her from out of one of the taps ever since she had arrived. "I closed my eyes when you got in," she said, blinking at him through her thick spectacles.