Chapter 14: Mansion for Two
When they arrived at the location for the Mansion all they could see was an old broken down farm house, as soon as Harry dragged Draco over the property line it became clear that it was protected similar to Hogwarts. The mansion was actually three stories high made of some kind of dark stone that made it look like a medieval castle, the front lawns were well kept and there was a rose garden which were in brilliant condition.
The two approached the front door which was made from solid oak and had the Black coat of arms embedded in silver on them. As they got close the doors opened themselves before them. Inside the house was spacious and light unlike Grimmauld Place which was closed in and dark and had a built in sense of dread. This place had a great light feeling to it. Suddenly a small army of house elves appeared in front of them.
"New Master Black, it is an honour to welcome you to the first Black home on English soil. My name is Poppy and I am the head house elf here. If there is anything we can be getting for you or your friend just snap your fingers and we will be there. Now is there anything you be needing?" Poppy a smartly dressed elf said standing in front of the rest.
"Actually yes, could you please make up two rooms for myself and my friend and could you please prepare something for lunch?" Harry asked.
"Of course Master Black, Minky is an accomplished cook. Do you have a preference for lunch?" Poppy asked.
"Something simple, thank you. We're going to start looking around, could someone come find us when lunch is ready." Harry replied.
"Of course Master Black, we'll be going now to keep working." Every house elf popped out as Poppy said this.
"Ready?" Draco asked as Harry took a deep breath to steel his nerves.
"Yeah, guess I'm just a little nervous to be in a house that belonged to Sirius. But it helps that I never saw him in this house." Harry replied as they walked to the first room on the right of the main entrance. Draco stayed quiet as they approached the room in quiet support for whatever Harry needed.
The first room they entered was a sitting room done in pale purples and cream and the furniture was all beige colour with a dark wood highlights. The room was light and airy the room was very relaxing.
"This is an informal sitting room, it's where you would greet friends and family, kind of like the common rooms at school." Draco explained. "There is probably a more formal sitting room around here for less personnel guests."
The next room they entered was huge with beautiful patterned marble floors, marble pillars and at least a dozen huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling spaced so they would light the whole room.
"Even I know this is a ball room," Harry said a joking tone in his voice.
They moved onto a formal dining room with a table that could seat 40 people but could be expanded to seat more.
"Master Black, lunch is served in the informal dining room. Would you like Poppy to show you the informal dining room?" Poppy asked have entered the room with a quiet crack.
"Yes thank you Poppy." Harry answered.
After Poppy had left Harry and Draco in the informal dining room to eat their lunch in peace the boys chatted about innocuous things until Draco asked, "Harry why are you always so polite to house elves?"
Harry's spoon full of soup stopped half way to his mouth staring stunned at Draco. It took Harry a few minutes to formulate a reply, "Just polite I guess."
"Harry, don't lie to me please. Tell me you don't want to talk about it or tell me it's none of my business but please don't lie to me." Draco replied kindly but fiercely. "I have been lied to for so long by my family I would just like you to be honest with me, even if it's to tell me to back off."
"I'm sorry Draco, there's things I'm just not used to saying or being asked about. Until my Hogwarts letter came I...I lived in the cupboard under the stairs at my aunt and uncles house. By the age of four I was being taught to cook, age five I was cooking all of their meals. When I was in muggle primary school I was not allowed to have better marks than my cousin. If I did...Uncle Vernon wasn't happy and when he wasn't happy...he beat me. I lived as the equivalent of a house elf, beaten and starved regularly. One of the first things I learnt when I found out I was a wizard was how to hide the abuse I suffered every summer." Harry explained never looking at Draco. "I still wear glamour charms all the time."
"Why didn't you tell one of the professors?" Draco asked concern tinting his voice.
"I told Professor Dumbledore, he just told me to stop exaggerating and that one or two missed deserts aren't starving a child and a smack on the bum isn't abuse. He didn't care so why would any of the other teachers?"Harry spat out angrily.
"Harry, Severus can help, he is a registered medi-wizard as well as a potions master and he can help heal whatever still hurts." Draco said trying to help Harry however he possibly could.
"He doesn't like me, you know that. Severus Snape may not be evil but he hates me all because I look like my father." Harry replied. "People just can't seem to see me as Harry, they see me as my father or as the boy-who-lived or a lying little attention seeker or the saviour of the wizarding world but never just Harry. The boy who wants nothing more than somewhere he belongs. Even Sirius-as much as I loved him-never saw me as Harry, he saw me as James' son. Remus was the only adult I ever felt saw me as nothing special-just another student-he treated me like I was normal." Harry explained tears in his eyes.
"Harry, let me get you help." Draco begged. If Harry was wearing glamour's there was no way for him to know just how bad this could be.
"No, Draco. For the last time no. I don't need help, I've been taking care of myself for as long as I can remember and I'm still here." Harry replied. "Now please can we drop this, finish eating and get on with the tour?"
"I want to take a look at them later Harry, your wounds. I need to see just how bad this is and if there I anything I can do to help and you are not turning down my help got it!" Draco picked up his sandwich and took a bite, effectively finishing the conversation.
As they continued touring the house things just seemed to become more and more beautiful, they found a conservatory with a glass roof, a sun room mad almost completely of glass, and a library with was three stories high and the shelves were almost over flowing with books and each section was labelled and sorted into sections so that it was easy to find whatever you happened to be looking for.
From the back patio they could see three huge green houses and a set of stables. The greenhouses seemed full of life from where they were but the stables looked empty. There was also a forest area behind it all. Poppy had mentioned that the second floor was all bedrooms and their bathrooms and the third floor had store rooms of different kinds.
"Poppy?" Harry called gently.
"Yes Master Black?" Poppy asked appearing in front of them.
"Could you please show us which rooms you have gotten ready for us?" Harry asked.
Poppy led them to the right and to two doors bedside each other. "This is the master bedroom," Poppy indicated to the room furthest from the stairs. "It is your rightful room Master so we have set it up for you. This one is the secondary master room; we thought it'd be a good place for your friend to stay."
"Thank you Poppy. We can take it from here." Harry said needing some time to breathe.
Poppy disappeared as Harry removed Draco's trunk from his pocket. Enlarging it he left it sitting beside Draco. "I need some time to let everything sink in, okay?" Harry said as he entered his room.
"Harry?" Draco called before he could close his door. "I'm here if you need me, for anything."
Harry nodded and closed his bedroom door. The master bedroom was done in soft shades of green and warm browns. The bed was cover in dark green bedding and a very thick comforter. There was a large walk in closet on one side of the room and on the other was a huge bathroom, inside was a large shower a huge bath tub and a large vanity with a built in sink large mirror and a toilet. The towels hanging from the towel rack were huge and fluffy. Harry took his new trunk out of his pocket and enlarged it. Grabbing out his toiletries he went to the bathroom and locked the door behind him. Stripping off his clothes he lowered his glamour charms and looked at himself in the mirror. The bruises were still dark and sickly looking the belt wounds he had kept hidden from Albert were starting to show signs of infection and his ribs were still very obvious and you could see which ribs were broken. Harry was in a bad way and he knew it but he couldn't bring himself to ask anyone for any help. Out of his toiletries bag he pulled some heavy duty disinfectant and sterile wipes. He began cleaning the wounds which was terribly painful but Harry continued determined to keep taking care of himself. Once the wounds were cleaned out as best as he could manage he stepped into the shower and let the water wash over his unglamoured body for the first time in a long time. He spent at least an hour under the hot water relaxing his sore and tired body, by the time he got out his fingers were starting to prune.
Pulling on a pair of boxers Harry lay down on the bed just enjoying the feather softness of it all, the soft bedding made his injured back hurt a lot less. So he just lay there enjoying the peace and tranquillity of the room before he had to deal with the rest of the world once again. At some stage Harry must have dozed off because the next thing he knew someone was shaking his shoulder gently.
"Harry, wake up please." Draco called softly trying to wake Harry who had been sealed up in his room for the past four hours and Draco had started to worry.
Harry awoke slowly sitting up he stretched gently and looked at Draco who was doing his best not to stare at the marks covering Harry's body.
"You said you wanted to look and see if there was anything you could do to help so look." Harry said in a monotone voice, obviously trying not to think about it.
"Harry we really need to have a healer look at you. You need potions to help you put on weight and some of your ribs look broken and need to be healed not to mention some of these wounds need to be healed before they get infected. Please let me contact Severus, I'll ask him to swear a wizard's oath so that he doesn't reveal anything to anyone." Draco begged wanting nothing more than to help Harry.
"I just don't want people to know Draco, just having you know makes me uncomfortable and having Professor Snape know would be even worse, he hates me and what's to say he would help even if we did ask him to come here. It'd just be a waste of time," Harry said standing and going to his trunk to get clothes even as the glamour charms unconsciously fell back into place.
"Just think about it Harry, think about the benefits of having a healer fix you up." Draco replied as they both exited the room.