"That'd be fine, but what wouldn't be fine would be changing the rules because it doesn't want us to understand them."

"...what would you do about it if it did that anyway?"

"Build a better castle that doesn't do that."

"I think most castles don't move around at all."

"I like that the castle moves around! I just wouldn't like it if the castle cheated you when you tried to learn about it!"

"I wonder if the house elves know useful things about how it changes."

"Oh, good idea, we should go ask. Though Timothy says I can't treat these ones like the ones at home, they'll get upset."

"He did mention that yours are used to being asked lots of questions."

"Well, yeah."

"I haven't met a school elf yet."

"I saw one! It was collecting laundry, it was mortified that I spotted it, poor thing."

"You can find them in the kitchens, I think - Aaron -"

"Yes, there's a portrait, you tickle it."

"You tickle it?"

"I didn't make this place!"

"I do actually wonder if there's a way to make the portraits attached to the architecture - the paintings can't all be as old as the castle, can they?"

"Ooh, depending how that worked you could just go around with a portrait that liked you and attach it to doors and get in wherever you liked."

"Or it might mean hallways are fixed points but paintings aren't, and if people use the paintings for landmarks they'd miss that the hallways are..."

"But like the Gryffindors get into their common room by telling a portrait a password."

"Huh, really?

I bet common rooms stay put more than the rest of the school, they'd kind of have to..."

"Would they? Why?"

"Well, you'd at least have to have enough space to fit all the dorms in, unless space doesn't matter at all..."

"Space probably doesn't matter very much... and we already know it can twist around and pinch without people noticing..."

"And the house elves need to be able to find the dorms any time, but I guess they might have magic for that..."

"They probably do! House elves are really magical, they seem sort of underused to me honestly."