Lies, Buried and Bound - A Dramione Story

Part Eighteen

Charlotte was utterly alone again. She had been looking for a chair, a step stool - anything to help her stand and wash her hands. There was a short cupboard about her height, and upon stepping on a tile to its left, the door slid open just for her. With the spirit of inquiry building, she found no reason not to investigate.

However, the moment she stepped inside, the door shut behind her. "No!" she cried. "No, no! Let me out!"

She faced the dark interior, deciding nervously that this was no ordinary cupboard but a tunnel stretching far in multiple directions. She pushed and fought the door to open again, but it wouldn't budge.

What would Mummy do?

She didn't know where to go, yet it reminded her of her colouring sheet. Drawing random lines within strange walls and only one correct path to reach the center. She and her mother would finish mazes together, though it usually ended with Charlotte giving up and leaving the rest for Hermione to finish.

Charlotte walked to the right and immediately came to an extremely narrow set of stairs. Naturally, she climbed it. But it only led to another, highly complex maze with cold tunnel walls that seemed to offer her no sympathy.

"Hello? Can somebody help me? I'm lost!"

She felt a tug on her sleeve and turned around.

"Um, hello. I can help missy."

Charlotte's big blues widened in absolute terror, and she let out a terrible scream that could've woken the dead. A strange, pale brown-skinned creature stared back at her with big green tennis ball eyes and a lopsided pink bow.

"No! Leave me alone!" she cried.

"Oh no, Winky never meant to frighten young missy! No, Winky only wants to help missy find her way out of the tunnels made for house elves."

Charlotte covered her eyes, hoping the image would dissipate behind her closed eyelids, "What are you? Why do you look like that?"

This creature, seemingly named Winky, took her hands and held them. The air became heavier in Charlotte's chest, and she wanted to run away. Though Winky seemed kind, she looked like a character plucked straight from her nightmares. She wanted nothing to do with the terrors that lived on in her dreams.

"I am called Winky," she said in a demure, soft, and child-like voice. At less than a metre tall, the two came very close in height, Charlotte being a few inches shorter. "Winky is a house elf, and Winky wants to help you find your friends."

"My friends?"

"Your friends! They're all looking for you."

"My mummy, too?"

"I don't know missy's mother. But Winky hears the master's friends and his mother all calling missy's name!"

Suddenly, Charlotte began to warm up to this funny-looking creature. Though, upon seeing Winky, she regarded her with a peculiar stare. "I thought elves were small. You're too big."

"Oh, house elves are small, and Winky is very much the smallest. But missy is also extraordinarily tiny!"

"But elves are cute, and you're not. My mummy puts one on a shelf at Christmas."

Winky's long ears fell to the sides of her head in horror.

Sensing the house elf's fear, she clarified. "But it's a toy."

"Oh."

The two started to walk forward. "Why does Winky work in walls?"

"Winky is one of ten house elves that serve the Malfoys!"