They called her the Queen of Hogwarts at school. Not because she had any real authority over them, but because she carried herself as if she did. As if she ruled.
She was pretty, one of the prettiest girls that ever came to Hogwarts. At least, she seemed that way. Few people remembered her features after talking to her. But they all knew one thing: she was popular. Everyone wanted to be on her side.
Everyone except Myrtle.
Myrtle was the freaky girl from Ravenclaw. She didn’t follow the Queen’s rule. She hid behind her books and glasses.
The Queen laughed at her. As did all her subjects. “Moping again, Myrtle?” they’d asked teasingly. “Crying again? Oh, don’t take it so hard. You’re only the ugliest little girl who ever came to Hogwarts.”
“Spotty,” the Queen muttered every time Myrtle walked past. “Freak.”
There was no escaping her.
“Why wear glasses?” the Queen asked. “You can fix your eyes with magic. They make you look stupid.”
Myrtle started crying again.
The Queen and her subjects laughed and walked away.
Nothing stopped them from teasing Myrtle. Not even the attacks.
“Olive!” one of the subjects said. “We have Transfiguration next. You know… with Riddle.”
All the subjects started giggling. Tom Riddle was the best-looking boy at Hogwarts and the Queen was determined to win him.
Myrtle turned and stalked into a nearby bathroom, the place she went whenever she was upset.
*
Tom wasn’t in Transfiguration that day. The Queen was massively disappointed, but got over it quickly. Best-looking or not, Tom was rather strange. It was something the Queen intended to change as soon as she had snared him.
She ate dinner with her subjects as usual. She saw neither Tom or Myrtle, but that didn’t bother her. In fact, she barely noticed that Myrtle wasn’t there.
“I wonder where Riddle is?” she said aloud.
“Maybe he’s snogging someone,” Sarah Jane said. “I bet he has a new one every week.”
“He’s never had a girl before,” Nancy pointed out. “He won’t even look at half of us. Not even Olive.”
“Don’t worry,” the Queen said. “I’ll get him eventually.”
Just then, Professor Dippet passed by. “I say, Miss Hornby,” he said. “Have you seen Miss Carp? She was missing from all her classes this afternoon and Professor Dumbledore saw you talking to her just before she didn’t show up.”
“She’s probably crying again,” the Queen said indifferently. “She’s always doing that.”
“Well, go find her and tell her I want to see her,” Professor Dippet said.
The Queen let out an exasperated sigh and stomped off to find Myrtle. Why did she have to disappear and miss classes? And if the reason for it was explained to Professor Dippet, Olive would get in trouble.
She knew where Myrtle’s favorite hideout was. Really, it was stupid to hide in a bathroom. The Queen pulled open the door to the bathroom on the second floor. “Are you in here, sulking again, Myrtle? Professor Dippet sent me to look for you…”
Then she saw it. Myrtle’s body. Dead with not a mark on it.
No… that stupid girl was just pretending…
“Get up, Myrtle. That’s not funny.”
Nothing.
“Myrtle!”
Nothing.
Olive screamed.
*
Queen of Hogwarts or not, finding a dead body on a bathroom floor was too much for Olive Hornby. She was pale, quiet. Her eyes were wider than they used to be. And as if that wasn’t enough, Myrtle decided to haunt her.
As soon as Myrtle came back as a ghost, the Queen’s subjects started their teasing again, but Myrtle ignored them and concentrated on Olive. Olive didn’t tease the ghost. In fact, Olive didn’t tease anyone. She no longer desperately flirted with Tom Riddle. Even when that stupid boy was expelled over Myrtle’s death, Olive didn’t seem any better.
Myrtle was relentless. “What’s the matter, Olive? Why aren’t you blushing? Did you run out of makeup?”
And even when Olive left Hogwarts, it didn’t stop. Myrtle stuck with her.
“Are you really wearing that?” Myrtle asked. “It looks awful… just like you.”
Olive had started to regain a bit of her confidence, though she still couldn’t carry herself like a queen. “Haven’t you tortured me enough, Myrtle?” she asked. “I broke that day. I’m a wreck. I’m barely twenty years old and I look like I’m fifty because of you. Can’t you go away?”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easy,” Myrtle said. “You were the queen. You had your subjects and your peasants. Now I’m the queen. Now you’re mine to torment. Because you can’t tease me now. After all, the last time led to your destruction.”
Olive began to cry. The Queen of Hogwarts… she was no queen and Myrtle knew it.
With a ghost around, there was nothing. No one wanted to marry someone who was relentlessly haunted. Her brother’s wedding had been a disaster because Myrtle made a point of wailing through the whole thing. All of Olive’s friends”all her subjects”had deserted her. In fact, after finding the body, Olive had given up being the Queen and Sarah Jane had taken the spot. Tom Riddle never had noticed her.
She’d had enough. Olive stood up and grabbed her cloak.
“Where are you going?” Myrtle asked.
“The Ministry,” Olive said. “You’re not going to follow me forever.”
The Ministry agreed with Olive. Four and a half years was quite enough time to be haunted.
“You’re ordered to Hogwarts,” the Head of the Beast, Being, and Spirit Division said. “And you are not to ever speak to Miss Hornby again.”
Myrtle immediately returned to Hogwarts even though she didn’t want to be there. She wanted to keep reminding Olive what had broken her, what had shattered her throne.
But Olive didn’t forget it.
She could still hear Myrtle everywhere, mocking her, taunting. Even without a ghost, how could she forget the body on the bathroom floor?
How could she forget that she had been the queen and had been overthrown?