Myrtle's Case: Why Her Ghost Never Helped Investigate Her Own Death?

A long time ago, one of the Founders got a tiny bit upset with the others allowing Muggle-borns to study magic, so he decided to have some revenge on the future generations and hid a basilisk there… But you all know this story already, don't you?

You also know that the basilisk was set loose at least twice in the 20th century. We had quite a good view of what was going on during the second time because that's when Harry was studying in Hogwarts, but the first time…

We don't have that clear of a picture — only Tom Riddle's memories and tales.

However, we do know for a fact that there was at least one victim back then: Moaning Myrtle, who we primarily know as the ghost of the girls' bathroom.

The basilisk killed Myrtle at Tom Riddle's order, and she tells Harry all about it in The Chamber of Secrets. Of course, she didn't know the whole picture back then: she described being in the bathroom, hearing a male voice speaking in an unknown language, and then seeing yellow eyes and dying… Not a full picture in the slightest.

But wasn't it crucial information that could've influenced the investigation dramatically? Of course, it was.

So the real question is, how come this investigation ended the way it did?

There are a few explanations.

First of all, Myrtle herself claims that "no one asked her." This sounds dumb but can be a valid reason: she was still a 12-year-old, and she was likely afraid of authorities and getting in trouble, so she didn't speak up herself.

Second of all, admittedly, Myrtle didn't even stay in Hogwarts after her death.

She was busy haunting and turning Olive Hornby's life into a living hell for her bullying — and since Myrtle claims that she kept doing that until Olive's death, we can assume that she was far from Hogwarts for many years.

Third of all, and this is the most important point… It was convenient for Hagrid to be the murderer. The prejudices of the wizards demanded it: of course, the guilt was on the half-giant kid just because they're so cruel, those giants!

No one tried to look deeper into the issue as the most convenient answer was conveniently served by the best student — Tom Riddle.

We can't stress enough how doomed Riddle would've been if detective Weasley was on the case back then; unfortunately, he wasn't.

He still managed to expose Riddle many years later, but it didn't help since Hagrid was already expelled, and the real murderer, Tom Riddle, got an entire award to his name by pinning the blame on the poor half-giant.

Since Ronald Weasley wasn't there, we only have one question: why did Albus Dumbledore not do anything about this?

Was the wisest teacher (who was also the most suspicious of Riddle) very busy with something more important than the murder of his student in his school?..