Universal Displacement

An Unexpected Revelation

"Ok, I must have come from the...lef-right?"

Neither corridor was spiking any memories, so Sutton tentatively continued on towards the right.

"Right-handed, right direction, right?"

But she may have made a few wrong turns before this moment, honestly. It wasn't as warm or as well lit were she was now. And none of the doors she passed even resembled the grand doors that opened to the Great Hall.

But surely she couldn't run into too much trouble; not in a school. Not with the Dark Lord vanquished?

Oh gosh, she couldn't even think that with a straight face!

Sutton didn't think she could continue on much further in her current state. She was shivering in her Tatooine clothes, horribly hungry, and physically and emotionally drained. Just for a bit, she decided to rest against the stone wall to her back. She tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and sighed.

"Wonderfully smart," she admonished herself. "Just think you can run around a magical castle, that's probably bigger on the inside, and not end up dying in some dark corner."

She was just considering settling down for the night and trying to escape the next morning when she heard a 'pop' and startled into a standing position.

"What?"

Her eyes roved around the corridor until they landed on a small figure by her feet. Sutton could feel her own eyes bulging as she realized that she was looking upon a small house-elf. Her mouth hung open as she stared down at the creature, taking it in. It was a small thing, hardly reaching her knee, which was really saying something because Sutton's knees weren't high off the ground as it was. It had what looked like an old hand towel wrapped around itself like a toga, and a strand of twine to cinch it in at its waist. Besides the typical large ears on the sides of its head, it also had large doe-like eyes and small tufts of hair on its head that made it appear more feminine.

"Um, hello," Sutton finally managed to say.

The house-elf blinked owlishly up at her.

"Hello indeed." Its voice was high and squeaky, almost youthful sounding. "Flipsy heard a voice and came out to see who it was. Young Miss is out past curfew!"

It thought she was a student! And it was going to tattle on her!

She was not going to be obliviated tonight!

Sutton sucked in a worried breath and dropped down to one knee in order to be more at eye level with the tiny thing.

"Oh yes, about that, you see, it's actually an accident. I got separated and a bit lost, I'm afraid!"

The house-elf gave an 'ah' of understanding and nodded her head. Her ears flopped back and forth as she did so.

"Flipsy will go fetch a professor!"

Sutton threw out both hands, palms out in a placating gesture, as the house-elf moved to snap her fingers.

"No, no, no, no! Hey, Flipsy is it? Flipsy, it's my first day here and I don't want to cause a fuss. It's hard enough making friends transferring so late in my education, you know? It would be wonderful if you could maybe just show me how to get back to the Great Hall? You seem like the kind, understanding sort, aren't you?"

Flipsy didn't quite know what to do with that statement, if her blinking and hand-wringing were any indication.

"My name is Sutton," she offered.