Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom

• Type: Girls' Lavatory
• Location: Second Floor, Hogwarts Castle, Scotland
• Owner/Residents: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; primarily haunted by the ghost of Moaning Myrtle
• Key Features: Gloomy and disused, often flooded; contains the concealed entrance to the Chamber of Secrets

Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom is a girls' lavatory located on the second floor of Hogwarts Castle. It is a dark, gloomy, and depressing place, with cracked and stained mirrors, peeling paint, and dark, rotting woodwork. Many of the cubicle doors are damaged, and the bathroom is frequently out of order, often due to Moaning Myrtle's habit of flooding it when she is upset. The bathroom's disuse by students makes it an ideal hiding place. However, its most significant feature is that it houses the hidden entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. One of the copper taps on a sink does not work and has a tiny snake scratched onto its side. Speaking the Parseltongue command “Open” to this tap causes the entire sink to lower into the floor, revealing a large, dark pipe wide enough for a person to slide down. This bathroom was the site of a pivotal event in Hogwarts history. In 1943, a student named Myrtle Warren was hiding in one of the cubicles to cry after being teased by Olive Hornby. Tom Riddle, the Heir of Slytherin, opened the Chamber of Secrets within the bathroom. Myrtle heard a boy's voice and, upon opening the cubicle door to tell him to leave, she came face-to-face with the Basilisk. She died instantly upon looking into its large, yellow eyes. Following her death, she returned as a ghost, now known as Moaning Myrtle, and has haunted this lavatory ever since.

Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom is a location of recurring significance throughout the series.

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The bathroom serves as a clandestine base for Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger to brew the Polyjuice Potion, as its disused state ensures their privacy. It is here that they first meet Moaning Myrtle. Later, by piecing together clues from Aragog and Myrtle's own account of her death, Harry and Ron identify the bathroom as the location of the Chamber of Secrets' entrance. Harry successfully opens the entrance using Parseltongue to rescue Ginny Weasley.
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: While not the primary location for the event, Harry encounters Myrtle here on his way to the Prefects' Bathroom. Myrtle provides him with the crucial hint that he should take a bath with the Golden Egg and listen to it underwater. She later joins him in the prefects' bath by traveling through the plumbing.
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The bathroom is the setting for a violent duel between Harry and Draco Malfoy. Harry finds a distressed Malfoy crying and, during their confrontation, uses the dark spell Sectumsempra, which he discovered in the Half-Blood Prince's textbook. The spell severely injures Malfoy, and Professor Snape is only alerted to the scene by Myrtle's terrified screams. It is later revealed that Malfoy had been confiding his fears and struggles to Myrtle in this bathroom.

• Entrance to the Chamber of Secrets: A specific sink with a snake-etched tap that retracts to reveal a large pipe leading down to the Chamber. It can only be opened with Parseltongue.
• Myrtle's U-bend: Moaning Myrtle's preferred toilet, which she often floods. She also uses the castle's extensive plumbing system, originating from this bathroom, to travel to other parts of the castle.

• In the film adaptations, the bathroom is depicted as a much larger and more ornate set than described in the books. It features a large, circular island of sinks in the center of the room, a design likely chosen for cinematic framing and to accommodate the action sequences, such as the reveal of the Chamber's entrance and the duel between Harry and Malfoy (film).