Author's Notes: For the canon-keepers, this is an AU story, blending at least two story lines (Harry Potter and Ranma) without care for their original timelines. Essentially, this would be located in the Harry Potter canon somewhere around the second half of August, 1995, but I'm going to be ignoring the canon. Apologies to everyone for going off-canon and keeping characters around who might be dead, injured, obliviated or otherwise incapacitated.

AN Supplemental (MAY 2, 2015) - I've been getting "where's Ranma?" reviews, both signed and "guest" (or rather possibly trolls since they didn't post under their account names and allowed me to respond. So I'm responding to the profane trollsters - As the story developed from original concept, Ranma and the NWC have always been planned to be part of the story. As the chapters came, it is now that Ranma and crew are really secondary characters. For those who can't stand this, my apologies and suggest that you read "Desperately Seeking Ranma" for a Ranma-centric story. In this story, Ranma and crew are Hogwarts staff and assist the students develop skills needed to put you-know-who in his justely-deserved desserts. Troll reviews will not speed up my writing and you can just go away... Those who do post reviews under their name will get replies and serious discussion of the story and its underpinnings.

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Harry sat on the tile floor of the massive tub and leanded back against the walls, and turned his head to look at Myrtle, who was trying to swish her feet back and forth in the water. Trying was the operative word as, being a ghost, the water disn't swish around her legs. Of course, still wearing shoes and stockings that were still effectively dry didn't add to the illusion.

"Cat got your tongue?" he asked.

"Hunh?" went Myrtle as she looked down from the stained glass mermaid to look down at Harry, then noticed that he was naked under the foam and soap bubbles. She blushed furiously, her face going a faint pink instead of the usual grey that she normally had. Looking frantically around, she focussed on the ceiling and took a deep breath.

"I... I was thinking about how I d-d-di ... b-b-b-became a ghost."

"Oh, what were you thinking about?" he asked quietly, moderately surprised that Myrtle wasn't moaning and groaning like her usual self.

"This is really stupid, but I think that something else happened in the bathroom besides my being a blubbering idiot about being teased by Olive, and then getting stoned by the basilisk. I mean, it seems to me that if I was making so much noise wailing like I usually did, Tom Riddle would have known that I was there. So why did he not wait until I left and then opened the Chamber? It doesn't seem to add up."

Harry thought about it. "OK, I've seen enough murder mysteries on the television at the Dursleys to throw out a possible theory. Why was Tom Riddle in the bathroom in the first place if he wasn't opening the Chamber in the first place, and what was he doing?"

Myrtle opened and closed her mouth several times. "Damn and blast! Something is just sitting there and it all snaps to me kicking the door open and yelling at Tom about the basilisk."

"Sorry," interrupted Harry, twisting around to get a good look at Myrtle. "You kicked the door open? The bathroom stalls open inwards."

Mytle looked down at him and her jaw dropped open. "Merlin's Beard and snapping snap-dragons! You're right, But all I can see is the door banging open and Tom's face... It's gone. All I can see is the the basilisk looking at me."

"Myrtle, something's not right. Close your eyes and don't think about it just answer my questions with whatever comes to your mind. OK?"

"Ok, here goes", she said as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Go ahead."

"What were you wearing that day?"

"That's easy, my school uniform with the heavier tights - it was cold that day, plus I had my favourite sweater on. The grey one with the little ducks that my Mum knitted for me. I can still remember how pleased she was when she gave it to me. Next question?"

"What did Olive say to you that had you crying?"

"The usual: my hair, my glasses, my deportment, my poor scores, my going to be expelled..."

"Expelled? For what?"

Myrtle kept her eyes closed and twisted her fingers and hands. "I couldn't do a spell if my life depended on it, and I had an exam that day and I had to get a pass somehow."

"How were you going to get a pass for the exam?" popped out of him before he planned on saying anything.

"Get the answers from Tom in return for a blow..." Myrtle went a solid shade of red and looked at Harry. "Job," she finished and looked away.

Harry looked down into the water at his lap, and his now rampant member. "Sorry, Myrtle. Did I hear you clearly? You were getting answers in return for ahem favours?"

Myrtle look at Harry and laughed. "I don't know where that came from, Harry, but I know that it's true, even thoguh I don't know why as I keep seeing me kick the door. No. I'm not kicking it open. I'm kicking it closed and Tom's pushing it wide open so I can see the bas..."

Myrtle started crying, deep racking sobs as she wrapped her arms around herself. "He's waving his wand and yelling something. Explo...explodium... no, explodium cadaverous reducto! And I can rember flying apart. That's it, but what spell is that?"

Harry pushed himself out of the bath and down beside Myrtle. Placing his arms around her and finally holding his arms in the right position and willing them to actually hold Mytle. What was amazing was that Myrtle did feel solid to him as she turned in towards him and wailed unto his chest, tears running down her cheeks and off unto him.

Several minutes went by as Myrtle wound down from a full-blown wailing to hiccupping and sniffling and then pushed herself off of Harry.

"Thanks, Harry. I haven't had a cry like that in a long, long time..." The words faded as she realized that her hands were resting on Harry's chest as opposed to being in his chest.

Harry was looking at Myrtle's hand, which like the rest of her was still translucent against his very solid flesh.

They looked at each other. "What did we do?" "I don't know, do you?"

Harry swallowed. Myrtle swallowed. Harry looked down at Myrtle's hand and squeezed it lightly and she responded with a squeeze herself. They then looked at her feet which were still in the bath. She kicked her feet and they still were ghostly and without creating ripples or splashes. She then pulled her hand from Harry's grip and swirled it into the water. No new ripples and when she pulled her hand back, no water dripped off of it. She then pinched Harry's cheek.

"Ow!" went Harry as he rubbed his cheek and looked at her.

"Sorry, Harry," Myrtle whispered as she looked in his eyes. "What did we do?"

"You remembered a spell, and a really nasty one - a death curse, one of the disintegration ones from the use of reducto. I think that remembering it seemed to have broken it at last partially. I mean that you're still a ghost but you can remember the curse that killed you. Um, wait, you were petrified by the basilisk. If you were hit with a reducto curse, then there couldn't have been anythign to petrify."

"Myrtle, what do you remember next? No matter how crazy or stupid. Close your eyes and try."

Myrtle shifted a bit away from Harry so that she could sit upright and closed her eyes. "I seem to be thinking 'I'm not all here' and hearing Tom saying 'something something something ressurect something something imperio'. Does that make sense?"

"Imperius curse defintiely, but ressurect..." Harry had a wild thought occur to him. "Oh my, if he did that back then... I think that Tom put his feet very firmly into the Dark Arts and brought you back from the dead, not as a zombie but actually brought you back so he could smack you with an Imperius curse. It had to be that way because a zombie wouldn't be petrified by a basilisk. Petrification works on living createures with eyes and a working brain. Did he say anthing else?"

Myrtle frowned, closed her eyes and her lips moved as she tried to remember what Tom Riddle had said before she looked at the basilisk. Harry watched her mouth and thought that she was really cute when she wasn't wailing and moaning. He shook his head to drive the thought out.

"He's saying something about enough being there for him to control and that I would never tell anyone about what we were doing and that I was to look past him and into his pet's eyes. That's it, I think."

She opened her eyes and looked at the hand that Harry had been holding then held it up at shoulder level, palm facing away from her and Harry. "That's wrong. Something's missing. No, not right, I've got something HERE that shouldn't be THERE."

She wiggled her fingers and then turned to Harry, holding up her hand with the pinkie finger curled in. "That's it, Harry! I was missing my pinkie! Could it not have been petrified? I mean, I have it now but didn't when I looked in the basilisk's eyes as I was trying to shield myself from it. That didn't work."

Harry shuddered, not from what they were talking about but beacuse his butt was on a cold tile floor and he was drying off.

"Let me get dressed and we'll go take a look at the washroom. If it got ressurected but hadn't had a chance to attach to the rest of you, it might not have been found when you were and it could still be there. No one would have thought of it. Tom Riddle's a nasty person - committing two crimes to cover another. What did you do that ticked him off like that?"

Myrtle shruggled. "Can't remember. It's a total muddle now with this and that bouncing around in my head, everything saying that it is a true memory. Come on, Harry, get dressed and we can solve this and maybe I can actually be put to rest. I'm fed up with haunting ... I want a real life or death."

She reached down and pulled up on Harry's hand dragging him towards his clothing. Looking down at his naked body, she snickered and then kissed his cheek. "You're pretty cute, Harry, even with your clothes off."