moaning myrtle

Moaning Myrtle is a ghost that haunts the first floor girls' lavatory at Hogwarts. True to her nickname, she has a tendency to moan, sob, whine, wail and complain, especially when death is mentioned. Her constant moping and wailing causes plumbing problems in the lavatory she haunts. Rowling revealed on her website that Myrtle was in Ravenclaw House and on Twitter that her full name was Myrtle Elizabeth Warren. In Chamber of Secrets, it is established that the character is the ghost of a Muggle-born witch who died while a student at Hogwarts, fifty years before the events in the book. Myrtle was hiding in the first floor girls' lavatory to elude Olive Hornby, a classmate of hers who perpetually tormented her about her glasses, when the Chamber of Secrets was opened and the basilisk emerged and killed her. Tom Riddle used her death to create his second Horcrux: his diary. After death, Myrtle haunted Olive everywhere she went, until Olive complained to the Ministry of Magic, which ordered Myrtle to return to Hogwarts. Ever since then, Myrtle has sulkily haunted the same lavatory where she died. Despite living up to her name, she is flirtatious with Harry, especially during his bath, and also makes lascivious comments regarding Cedric's bath suggesting voyeuristic tendencies. Myrtle also helps Harry with his second task in the Triwizard Tournament, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Myrtle tells Harry how to solve the puzzle of the golden egg that he retrieved in the first task, by opening the egg underwater. She is far less miserable, and enjoys having Harry briefly to herself to boss around. He later meets her in the lake where she directs him to the merpeople's village and says they don't like her. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she comforts Draco, who is worried about the task Voldemort assigned him. After Harry injures Malfoy using Sectumsempra, Myrtle quickly spreads the news throughout the school, screaming, "Murder! Murder in the bathroom!" Shirley Henderson portrays Myrtle in the film versions of Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire.