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"He reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly withdrew his hand as though he'd been burned. 'What's the matter?' said Harry. 'Can't go in there,' said Ron gruffly. 'That's a girl's toilet.' 'Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there,' said Hermione. 'That's Moaning Myrtle's place. Come on, let's have a look.'"
— The Trio enters Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom for the first time.[src]

This girls' toilets is situated on the second floor of Hogwarts Castle, just above the Great Hall.[1] It has been out of order ever since a student named Myrtle was killed there. Myrtle has haunted the bathroom ever since the Ministry of Magic stopped her from haunting Olive Hornby who had been teasing Myrtle just before her death, leading it to be a place most students do not want to enter. This bathroom holds the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. To get in the Chamber, a person needs to say "open" in Parseltongue. This will cause the tap with a snake on the side (a tap which incidentally, never worked) to move into the floor, revealing a tunnel which leads downwards into the Chamber.

History

Founding of Hogwarts

Myrtletower

The tower where it is located

Hogwarts Castle and, consequently,this bathroom were built by Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin. It was built inside a turret.[2] According to ancient legend, Salazar Slytherin was responsible for the construction of the Chamber of Secrets beneath Hogwarts dungeons. The Chamber contained a Basilisk which could only be controlled by Slytherin's true heir, and use it to purge the school of all muggle-born students. Slytherin hid the entrance to the Chamber behind the sinks in this lavatory, and bewitched the sink so that it could be only opened by someone who spoke Parseltongue. For centuries, the Castle was thoroughly searched and no such Chamber was found until one of Slytherin's descendents set foot in the Castle in the late 1930s.

Chamber of Secrets openings (1943)

Myrtle

Moaning Myrtle haunting the bathroom.

In 1938, Tom Riddle (best known by the alias "Lord Voldemort") started his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In his fifth year, he learned of his Slytherin ancestry and discovered the existence and entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and tamed the Basilisk which dwelt within. As the Heir of Slytherin through his mother's family, Tom was able to open the Chamber of Secrets and started purging the school "of all those who were unworthy of study magic" - in Riddle and Slytherin's eyes those were Muggle-born students. Many students were attacked in 1943. The attacks eventually stopped with the murder of a student named Myrtle inside this bathroom.

Myrtle's ghost

After her death, Myrtle's ghost (or Moaning Myrtle, as the students usually call her) haunted Olive Hornby, the fellow student who caused her to be in the bathroom that evening. When the Ministry of Magic refrained her from doing so, Moaning Myrtle returned to the bathroom, haunting indefinitely.

Chamber of Secrets openings (1992-1993)

File:3748.jpg

Hermione Granger brewing Polyjuice Potion in 1992.

On Hallowe'en night, 1992, Tom Riddle's Diary (one of Voldemort's Horcruxes), possessed student Ginny Weasley and forced her to open the Chamber of Secrets (which had been closed since 1943).

Hermione Granger brewed Polyjuice Potion there in her Second year, in 1992. She, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley used it as part of their unsuccessful plan to question Draco Malfoy about the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. Later in the school year, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley discovered where the entrance to the Chamber was and they, along with Gilderoy Lockhart, then-Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, entered the Chamber of Secrets via this bathroom.

Behind the scenes

Lavgirls

Appearances

Myrtle's

The bathroom in films and video games

Notes and references

  1. Pottermore - From the story: Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom
  2. See this image.
  3. Despite it's locked, there is a doorway on the second floor with pavement around it and is flooded. The same doorway serves as the entrance to Myrtle's Bathroom in the next instalment.
First-floor of Hogwarts Castle
Bathrooms
First-Floor Girls' Toilets
Classrooms
Advanced Arithmancy Studies classroom · Class 1 · Classroom 1A · Classroom 1C · Classroom 1D · Classroom 1E · Classroom 4F · Classroom used for storage · Classroom with maps of Great Britain and Ireland · Muggle Studies Classroom
Corridors
First-floor corridor · Library corridor · Passage of the Fouls · Tapestry Corridor
Halls and rooms
Detention Chamber · East Wing · Great Hall gallery · Hospital Wing · Library · Hogwarts Library secret room · North Hall · Portrait Hall · Rear Hall · Restricted Section · Torture room
Offices
Matilda Weasley's office · Minerva McGonagall's office · Poppy Pomfrey's office
Other locations
Minerva McGonagall's bedroom · Stone Bridge · Vault of Fear
Portraits, statues and other artwork
Affpuddle of the Cheerful Countenance · Bearded man · Elizabeth Burke · Count · Fat Friar · Female nurse · Male nurse · Beaumont Marjoribanks · Hengist Rawkes · Scholar · Sleeping dragon mural · Google Stump
Staircases
Faculty Tower staircase · Grand Staircase · Secret shortcut to the third floor · Staircase to the second-floor corridor · Staircase to the Serpentine Corridor · Staircase to the library corridor · Turris Magnus staircase
Storerooms
Hospital Wing stores · Potions Storeroom
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