Moaning Myrtle looked at him suspiciously and shouted, "I won't leave! This is where I died, this is my home!"
Williams tried to speak gently, "But you do occasionally go to other places, don't you?"
"I just need you to temporarily leave for a few months, so we can all avoid a lot of trouble. Once the storm has passed, you can move back."
"I see other ghosts are quite free, why do you confine yourself?"
Moaning Myrtle couldn't answer that question, she paused and angrily said:
"Other places make me feel uncomfortable! If I move somewhere else, then... then no one will listen to me talk! And no one... no one will remember who Moaning Myrtle is!"
Tears welled up in her eyes again, and her voice was tinged with sobs.
"I'm sorry, I know my request is audacious and requires a significant sacrifice from you." Williams sighed sympathetically and said, "So in exchange, I brought you a gift."
"...A gift?"
Moaning Myrtle's tearful eyes peeked through her thick hair.
"Yes, a gift."
Williams said as he reached into his robe, pulled out several photos, and handed them to her.
Moaning Myrtle looked down.
The photo showed a woman, aged, with gray hair, hunched over as she sat on a shabby chair, expressionlessly fiddling with the lettuce in her hands.
In another photo, the same woman was the subject, wearing a grayish-white old robe, sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, holding a mug of the cheapest beer, and longingly licking her lips while watching someone else's amber-colored drink.
In the third photo, Moaning Myrtle saw the woman's other side of the face — marred with terrible scars, as if it had been mercilessly torn open by a hand.
She looked at Williams puzzled, not understanding what kind of gift this was.
Williams calmly explained:
"This woman in the photos, when she was young, had a falling out with her only relative — her brother, and they never spoke again."
"At the age of twenty-seven, she had a lapse of concentration at work, causing a serious magic accident that destroyed her proud appearance."
"She had three marriages in total, each more disastrous than the last, with the final marriage lasting less than two months. She had two children, but they left her as they grew up."
"As you can see, she now lives in poverty, facing dissatisfaction everywhere. So even though she's a wizard, she aged as if she were a hundred in her sixties."
"And all her misfortunes began with her ignorant cruelty when she was young — she continuously bullied a girl in the school, indirectly leading to that girl's death."
Moaning Myrtle suddenly realized something, she raised her head, staring at Williams, her mouth slightly agape.
Williams nodded and said, "The person bullied was you — Moaning Myrtle. The woman in the photos is Oliver Hongbei."
Moaning Myrtle looked at him, then at the photos, and even leaned in close, repeatedly examining them.
Finally, she spotted some familiar traces from the woman's expressions.
Moaning Myrtle was dazed for a while, then she laughed.
"Ha ha... heh heh... ha ha ha... ha ha ha ha ha..."
Her laughter grew louder, sharper, and more manic!
Soon, Moaning Myrtle's laughter echoed through the entire bathroom, making the window panes tremble and groan.
"Serves her right!" she shrieked, "Serves her right! Serves her right! Serves her right!"
Water splashed everywhere!
The water in the toilet gurgled and churned, and droplets of water pattered from the ceiling, hitting the already damp floor.
Williams took two steps back, almost pressing against the bathroom door.
Moaning Myrtle laughed so hard she doubled over, holding her stomach and rolling around midair:
"Ha ha ha... ha ha ha ha... she's not having a good life! She's not having a good life at all... ha ha ha..."
She laughed for a while, then her voice abruptly stopped.
Moaning Myrtle's expression changed from ecstatic to blank, she paused for a moment, drifted back to the stall, sat on the toilet, and started to sob.
Williams stood at the door, not moving, patiently listening as the crying lasted a long time, gradually subsided, and finally fell silent.
"Miss Moaning Myrtle." he said softly.
Moaning Myrtle did not look up, her thick hair covering her eyes, she spoke in a muffled voice:
"Thank you for your gift, this is the best gift... I've ever received... I can move from here, go anywhere..."
A ghost never needs to be trapped in one place.
Like Madam Grey, Nearly Headless Nick, the Bloody Baron, and the Fat Friar, the places where they died are far from Hogwarts, but because of their attachment to the school, they returned here after death, crossing mountains and valleys.
Williams smiled.
He didn't leave right away, but instead took a few steps forward and stopped not far from Moaning Myrtle.
"No rush to move, Myrtle."
Williams said gently, "Before you leave, can we chat for a bit?"
"What do you want to talk about?" Moaning Myrtle asked in a hoarse voice.
Williams looked intently at Moaning Myrtle and said:
"You've been at Hogwarts for decades; you must know many things that others don't."
"Those secret passages, the places students sneak off to... and behind the portraits, in the pipes, deep underground... you know all those hidden places, right?"
His tone was light and slow, with a hint of coaxing.
Moaning Myrtle blinked and looked at him, asking:
"Why do you want to know these...what are you planning to do?"
"That's not important," Williams smiled and said, "What's important is—I can let you see Oliver Hongbei, who is now extremely destitute."
"Do you want to see your enemy's current state with your own eyes?"
"The Ministry of Magic has forbidden you from approaching them, right?"
"But she's now very old, and if you miss this opportunity, you may never have the chance to see the fate of the person who caused your death."
...
On the other side, Hagrid was sharing a bone with Fang when suddenly he heard footsteps coming from the other side of the cabin.
He looked up and saw a woman approaching with purpose, striding towards him, unfamiliar in appearance.
Hagrid stood up and asked, "Madam, you are...?"
"Rubeus Hagrid?" The woman approached, took out a parchment from her pocket, and unfolded it, saying, "I am Marina Evans from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Fantastic Beasts, and this is an authorization document from the Ministry of Magic."
Hagrid's mouth opened slightly as he looked at the red stamp on the document. He blinked a few times and said nervously, "Department for the Regulation and Control of Fantastic Beasts? What's the reason for your visit?"
Marina put the document away, smiling:
"Don't be nervous, Mr. Hagrid. I was once a Gryffindor student too, although I was quite inconspicuous at the time, so you probably don't remember me."
She glanced around and smiled:
"You're still living in this cabin... Who would have thought a gamekeeper could become a professor at the school? Mr. Dumbledore always has such a unique way of employing people."
Hagrid's throat felt dry, his beetle-black eyes filled with unease.
"The Ministry of Magic... Are they here to evaluate my qualification to be a professor? My position was authorized by Dumbledore, and the students... the students don't have any objections either..."
Marina said in a relaxed tone, "Oh, I'm not here for that, although that matter does need attention..."
"I'm just conducting an inspection—for the safety of the students—to see if there are any dangerous magical creatures around Hogwarts and confirm their level of danger."
Hagrid stared at the woman in front of him and stammered, "The creatures in the Forbidden Forest are all safe, and Dumbledore has an agreement with them... Besides, if you've stayed at the school too, you should know, we've always... always coexisted peacefully with them..."
"Yes, very friendly."
Marina said, "Although my former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, oh, Mr. Cooper, he was bitten to death by a Nundu that came out of nowhere while picking Magic Potion materials in the Forbidden Forest, but I believe the Forbidden Forest is safe most of the time."
Hagrid: "..."
Marina's gaze circled his face, thoughtfully saying, "You seem to be injured too, Mr. Hagrid... Surely it wasn't the Protecting Magical Creatures class, where you were scratched by those Thorny Guys or Loba Worms?"
Hagrid instinctively tried to cover the bruises on his face, but it was too late.
Marina stepped forward, saying, "It's just a routine inspection, Mr. Hagrid. Are you going to obstruct the Ministry of Magic from performing its duties? Besides your 'belief they're harmless,' do you have any legitimate reasons?"
She looked up at him, her sharp gaze reversing the momentum and stature entirely.
Hagrid's forehead was dotted with beads of sweat, completely clueless about what to say.
Marina's smile deepened as she walked past Hagrid, heading down the path towards the Forbidden Forest.
Suddenly, she turned her head abruptly, catching Hagrid still staring anxiously at her, the guilty look almost oozing from his eyes.
Marina smiled, turned around, and continued walking, a hint of certainty in her eyes.
——There's definitely something in this Forbidden Forest...something that cannot be discovered!