STARS AND MAPS
Andi thought she'd had enough sun for a while and decided to stay indoors for the rest of the afternoon - but what to do?
There was a soft knock on the door and a house-elf entered.
"I is Lollie your house-elf, Miss," she said, meekly. "I have Miss Carver's clothes from yesterday."
She walked over to the bed and laid Andi's white cotton dress and G-string on the covers, along with the silver-grey dinner dress she had worn the previous evening. The elf had to stand on tiptoes to reach.
"Th..thank you, Lollie," said Andi. Would she ever get used to seeing these beings?
The little elf picked up the silk dress and carried it to the wardrobe where she climbed up and hung the dress reverently on the hanger. Then she returned and did the same thing with Andi's white dress.
When she came back a third time, she picked up the G-string and was making her way to the wardrobe drawers, when she stopped and turned to look at Andi.
"Please Miss, but may Lollie be so bold...Lollie is never seeing such clothing before," she held up the G-string. "And wonders what it might be?"
Andi couldn't help smiling.
"It's called a G-string...a thong." Then seeing the blank look on the little elf's face, "It's...knickers," she indicated her lower-half, to illustrate.
Lollie held up the item and stared at it, her eyes wide.
"Muggle-ladies is perhaps being made different to wizard-ladies?" she said.
Andi laughed.
"Nothing would surprise me," she said.
Lollie left and Andi sat smiling on the bed until, without warning, a sudden realisation sent a feeling of horror cascading through her veins.
Sweat-glands blasting on all four cylinders, she ran to the wardrobe drawer and wrenched it open.
There, folded neatly, was her G-string, the three little rhinestone stars twinkling up at her. She put her hand to the top of her buttocks where the dolphin was tattooed onto her skin.
"...I love fish...how did you guess?"
"I saw it in your stars, Miss Carver..."
O H M Y G O D!
How much had he seen while she'd been lying unconscious on the grass yesterday? Obviously if he'd seen the stars and the dolphin, there wasn't a lot more to see.
Oh, this was bad news.
Cancel dinner; cancel ever coming face-to-face ever with him ever again.
Ever.
On fire with embarrassment, she sat on the edge of the bed and rocked back and forth, her head in her hands.
Fuck!
Fuck!
Fuck!
She went to the bathroom and splashed cold water over her face. Looking up into the mirror at her stricken face, she groaned and splashed again.
She had to get out, try and escape this awful cringing embarrassment - but where?
Walking out of the bathroom, patting her face dry with a towel, wondering if she could put it over her head permanently, she spotted the piece of paper Dumbledore had given her yesterday. It was lying, still folded, on her bedside table.
She picked it up and opened it. There was a gorgeous ink-drawn map, with lots of squiggly writing and beautiful drawings on it. It started in the Dungeons ('your room'), and ended on the first floor ('green door - silver doorknob - turn anti-clockwise).
Well, concentrating on following this map should take her mind off...Oh, God, she didn't want to think about it...
She walked down the corridor, shivered as she passed Snape's door and hurried along to the staircase. In the Entrance Hall ('lots of black and white tiles and plants') she found the staircase easily ('an armadillo on each side of the bannisters, my dear) and went up. Turning right ('two Ali-Baba urns - under no circumstances remove the lids'), up the corridor and a left turn ('statue of Horace the Heavy'). She walked along looking for the portrait of Lady Evelyn McGraff.
"Need ye help, Mistress?"
Andi turned, looking for the owner of the voice, but found no one.
"Who...who's there?"
"'tis I, Jane, the milkmaid...on the wall..."
Andi looked up at a portrait of a rather pretty, fresh faced girl, carrying a milk-yolk around her neck.
"Need ye help?"
"HA!" Andi blasted in astonishment. "This place gets weirder by the minute." She looked up again. "You're talking!"
"Aye."
Well, she supposed, it wasn't much different from a tv set...
"Aye...I mean, yes. I'm looking for the portrait of Lady Evelyn..."
"My Lady Evelyn be over there, four portraits down."
"Th..thank you."
The milkmaid curtseyed.
The fourth portrait down was a beautiful lady in a white flowing gown and a tiara in her gorgeous built-up hair. She peered coquettishly from behind a fan.
Underneath her portrait was the label 'Lady Evelyn McGraff'. The lady bowed her head, and Andi felt obliged to nod back - feeling very foolish as she did so.
Opposite the portrait was the green door, as promised. Andi took hold of the silver doorknob and gave it a turn anti-clockwise. The door opened....