"You alright?" Jack asked Sam after dinner. The students were dismissed, and after a brief chat with the headmaster, they had decided that Sam would bunk with Rose for the weekend and Jack could have a private room.
"Yeah Dad," she said. "I'm really excited to check this place out."
Jack smiled. It had been a tough year for Sam, losing her mother to cancer and then moving to a new school. She didn't have many friends, and Jack knew that she had been putting on a brave face just for him. He couldn't take living in the old house in London any longer and decided a move closer to the sea would do them both good. He hoped he was right. "Well off you go then," Jack said, and gave his daughter a quick hug as she ran off to join her new friends.
"She'll be fine," Neville said. "No worries."
"I'm trusting you," Jack said. "I don't know why, but I am. How can I get in touch with her if I need to?"
"Easy, just summon a house-elf," Neville said as though it was the most natural thing ever. "Winky?" Neville said.
There was a "pop" and a small creature, or person or…something appeared at Neville's side. She was dressed in a simple white tunic and somehow Jack understood that she was female, not because of any outward appearance, her long nose and pointy tipped ears didn't give it away, but there was something about her wisdom that radiated. Jack knew that she was very wise.
"Hello," Jack said as he extended his hand. "I'm Jack."
Winky cocked one eyebrow and slowly extended her hand. Neville had a broad smile as the two shook hands. Two complete strangers, beings from different worlds really, making the slightest connection. That was what Neville wanted.
"Hello," the house-elf said. She looked at Neville as if asking for the formal instruction on what to do next.
"Winky, will you please escort Jack to his guest room and make sure that he is comfortable. He'll be staying the weekend with us and I would like him to enjoy himself," Neville said.
"Are you sure sir?" Winky asked.
"It will be fine, Winky. Just help him find his way in the castle, please?" Neville said with a hint of exasperation.
Winky nodded and took Jack's hand and led him to the staircase. The students had already retreated to their chambers and there was no one around. Well, almost no one. Jack was taken aback as a man in a painting near the stairs turned to watch the pair and called out to another painting further up.
"Look! A muggle in Hogwarts. I never thought I'd see the day," the man in the painting exclaimed.
"What is Longbottom up to?" a witch said with a scowl as Winky and Jack walked past.
Jack was upset and mystified at the same time. Talking paintings that didn't want him here?
"That's enough," Winky said as she snapped her fingers. Jack could no longer hear what the paintings were saying, but he could tell how unhappy they were by their gestures. They stopped abruptly at the next landing as the giant stone staircase moved. It swung to the right and made contact with a different landing.
"Does it always do that?" Jack asked.
"Not always," Winky answered. Once they got off the stairs, she released his hand and stepped in front of him, leading the way.
"Excuse me," Jack said. "Can I ask you a question?"
Winky nodded without turning around or stopping.
"Are there more people like you here?" Jack asked.
"House-elves are not people," Winky said over her shoulder, "and yes, there are many. We cook and clean and serve the people of Hogwarts."
"Is that how the food shows up?" Jack asked. "Like how I got that beer?"
"An unusual request, but not hard," Winky said.
"How about my daughter Sam," did she ask for anything special?
"She didn't ask, but I gave her sour gummy worms. She needed them," Wink said as she stopped at a doorway. The door opened and a giant four-poster bed with curtains was revealed, lit by giant candles.
Jack got a little choked up inside. The sour gummy worms were the thing that Sam and her mom enjoyed together. He changed the subject. "Winky, where could I go take a shower?" The room was just a room, the bath had to be somewhere else.
"Follow me," Winky said, and padded down the hall.
Hogwarts was large. Jack was sure that he could get lost here very easily. Those moving staircases were confusing, but at least he knew how to get down somehow. Fortunately, Winky led him straight down the hall to an archway that led into a giant shared bath. There were stalls for toilets on one side and other stalls for showers on the other. In the middle a giant sink structure. There were pegs on the wall and benches to store clothing, and an abundance of white, fluffy towels.
"Here you are," Winky said. "Do you require anything else," she asked.
"I can't think of anything," Jack said.
With a "pop", Winky was gone.