Harry stretched out his arms, popping his back. He had woken up a few minutes before, thanks to Severus rousing him, Dudley, and Nagini with no explanation. He grabbed his wand on the side table and cast a tempus. Seven o'clock.

Joy.

Harry practically rolled out of bed, catching a glimpse of Dudley, who was sitting up. The poor guy looked like he was about to fall asleep again. Nagini raised her head, blinking blearily.

"Army-Leader…" she complained. "What time issss it?" Harry answered the question. The snake hissed a sigh in response. "It isss too early for whatever Sssevere-Ssstern has planned."

Harry wholeheartedly agreed. He stumbled over to his traveling case, pulling out a pair of black trousers and a white button down shirt. The day before, Severus had told them to pack all of their items in their suitcases. Harry didn't know why. He put those on, and went over to a different part of the case, choosing an emerald cloak to wear. Not that he'd ever say it out loud, but his favorite color was actually green, not red like everyone assumed. It just sounded too… Slytherin to admit. He slid his wand into an inside pocket on the robes.

"Come on, Nagini," Harry said, making Dudley jump a bit in his bed. He quickly got up to get dressed, because no one wanted to incite the wrath of one Severus Snape.

The snake slithered around the still-warm blankets, sighing. "Okay." She was so long, she had to unwrap herself from the sheets and the bed frame before being able to follow Harry out of the room. If someone with malicious intent had come into his room at night and had seen that sight, they would have been terrified out of their minds. The dark lighting put Nagini in high relief, and just seeing a snake that large without recognizing it would be strickening.

"It issss sssstill cold," Nagini complained. Harry had instructed Severus to heat up his quarters more, to prevent the serpent from going into a frozen state again. But, of course, she protested about the chilliness of the dungeons on more than one occasion.

"I would recommend moving around more, but you aren't warm blooded." Harry chuckled while entering the lounge. He could just see the potions master around the corner of the room, at his table. He had a cup of steaming tea in his hands, and was taking small sips out of it with his eyes closed. He was probably meditating.

Harry crossed the room to the fireplace and grabbed floo powder. He threw it into the fireplace, called out "Hogwarts kitchens," and ordered some breakfast. After the fiasco with the house elf named Juggle, he always had ordered food directly from the kitchens instead of calling for one house elf in particular.

Slowly, but surely, his appetite had been returning. Harry couldn't remember the last time he had felt hungry for more than a few bites of any meal. Of course, when he had the chance to eat more, he did, but it always made him feel a bit sick. Now, he could eat more and more food without worrying about throwing up.

Not a minute after he had ordered the food, a tray that had cereal, toast, and milk on it appeared in the fireplace. Somehow, ash never got on the food.

He picked up the tray, and headed over to the dining room table with Nagini. Severus had opened his eyes, and was watching him.

As Harry set down the tray, Dudley came crashing into the room. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He seemed slightly out of place with his Muggle attire, amongst Harry and Severus's robes.

"Morning!" Harry greeted him.

"Morning," Dudley replied, almost breathless.

Harry started to head over to the fireplace again. "Whaddaya want for breakfast today?"

Dudley, surprisingly, said, "Just an orange." When Harry raised an eyebrow, he elucidated. "I need to lose some weight, obviously. I'm trying to take my diet seriously. Well, more seriously than I have been over the past few years."

Harry nodded, understanding. He ordered an orange, and two seconds later, one appeared in the hearth. Now that he thought about it, Dudley had been eating less than usual. Good for him.

Harry settled back down at the table, across from Severus. "So… why did you wake us up this early? Are we going somewhere?"

The man had closed his eyes again. He opened them and simply replied, "Yes." Harry twisted his wrist, asking for more of an explanation. "I have made plans to relocate for the rest of the summer."

Out of all of the things Harry was expecting, that was a response that was lower down on the list. He poured his glass of milk over the cereal. "...What? Where?" he finally asked.

"I inherited a domicile from my deceased mother." Severus finished the last of his tea before continuing. "It's official name is Prince Manor, but everyone that knows of its existence calls it Haven."

Harry wondered about that. Why was it that almost every home in the wizarding world had a name? The Weasley's home was called the Burrow, the British school of witchcraft and wizardry was named Hogwarts, and Malfoy's home was simply called the Manor. He voiced this question, genuinely curious.

"Any building that houses a great number of magical beings or items imbues some of the magic itself. That being said, Hogwarts has an aura of learning, and the Malfoys' Manor has an aura of Dark magic. This gives the dwelling a bit of a personality. Grimmauld Place used to have a name, but the Blacks didn't like the idea of their house having a 'personality.'"

That really didn't make sense to Harry, but he nodded anyways.

"What issss happening?" Nagini asked curiously.

"Apparently, Ssssevere-Sssstern hassss a home that isss called Haven, and we're gonna ssspend the ressst of the ssssumer there."

The snake looked thoughtful. "He never told my previoussss massster about thisss houssse."

"Gee, I wonder why," Harry hissed sarcastically.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

Not for the first time in his life, Harry thanked the heavens above for shrinking charms. This allowed him to fit his trunk into his robe pocket instead of lugging it around. Nagini partially curled around his ankles, preparing to be stuck on Harry's body.

Severus stepped into the fireplace first. "To enter Prince Manor, you must speak the words 'the Haven.' I have rearranged the wards to recognize the both of you, so you should not have any difficulty arriving at your destination." When both Harry nodded, he grabbed a handful of floo powder and vanished in a pillar of green flame.

Harry turned to Dudley, who looked perplexed. Then, he remembered that his cousin didn't know how to move along the floo network. Could Muggles even use the floo? Apparently Severus thought they could.

Stepping over Nagini's numerous coils, he led Dudley over to the hearth. "What you need to do is simple. Just grab a pinch of this gray powder here," he gestured to the floo powder, "step into the fireplace, and throw it down. As you throw it, you say 'the Haven' really clearly. Easy as pie, right?"

Dudley looked petrified. "Easy as pie," he murmured. He let himself get led into the fireplace, and Harry handed him the bowl of floo powder. He tentatively picked up a handful of the powder, and he took a deep breath. He threw it down, while bellowing, "THE HAVEN!"

Harry flinched involuntarily. Why had he reacted like that? He shrugged it off, not really wanting to dive deep into the reasons.

"Well, I can't fault him for hisss enthusssiasssm," Nagini snarked.

Harry laughed. "Come here, you." Putting the bowl down on a side table, he walked into the hearth. Nagini wrapped as much of her body around his legs as much as she could without crushing his bones. He threw the floo powder down. "The Haven!"

He got ejected into a plush carpet, 100 kilos of snake following. Safe to say, it wasn't very comfortable. Harry groaned with face pressed to the floor.

Nagini untangled herself from his legs as fast as she could, all the while hissing, "Sssorry," over and over.

"It'sss okay, Nagini," he moaned.

A hand from above got presented before him. Without thinking, he took it. Severus huffed out a breath as he hauled Harry to his feet. "Thanks," Harry said sheepishly.

"Both you and Dursley leave much to be desired in the category of gracefulness."

"Not everyone can be as refined as you, Severus," Harry retorted playfully.

Severus humphed.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The Haven was very large, with numerous rooms. But, this was nothing compared to the yard. The house easily had five acres of cleanly-kept lawn. Harry figured the house elves cut and tended to it, but it couldn't have been an easy feat, even with magic.

When he had first seen the grounds, he was stunned. Severus had explained that he was planning to have Harry experiment with his parselmagic out on the expansive yard. Harry couldn't help but be impressed - he didn't think that Malfoy Manor even had this much lawn. The rich green grass was a beautiful shade of emerald, almost like his eyes.

He had already put his belongings into the hands of the house elves. Like almost any other house elf, they had instantly taken a liking to him as soon as he had said 'thank you.'

At the moment, he was outside deliberating what spell he would test out. Severus hadn't seen a reason why they should wait to start experimenting with the magic, so they had almost immediately gone out to the lawn. Dudley was over on the porch, anxiously wringing his hands while Severus and Harry were over near the middle of the grass.

Harry shook himself out nervously. He wondered what on earth would happen, now that they had finally gotten to a place where they could test out his spells.

Severus seemed to notice his indecision. "I shall lay down protective shielding spells around the yard, so if a spell goes awry, it will do no irreparable harm." He lifted his wand, and began to do so. About half a minute later, he turned back to Harry sharply. "Why don't you try your trademark incantation - the disarming spell? Attempt to demobilize me."

Harry nodded and raised his wand. He glanced over at Nagini, who was wrapped around one of the house's pillars, observing. "Exssspelliarmussss!" he shouted, pointing his wand at the potions master.

Unexpectedly, a large, glowing, scarlet light burst from the tip of his wand. Severus called out the jelly-legs jinx at him, but his crimson gleam seemed to expand and envelop the curse. Suddenly, Harry realized his radiant glow was taking the form of a phoenix. In his shock, he just stood by as the vibrant red bird came down upon Severus, who brandished his wand in what looked like panic.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, he said "Finite incantatem!" in English. Of course, nothing happened. The silent, ruby phoenix was still assaulting the poor wizard. He shook his head frantically, and then shouted, "Finite incantatem!" but this time in parseltongue.

The phoenix paused in its assail against Severus. While it was still, Harry got a good look at what the bird looked like.

It - of course - was completely red. Unlike Fawkes, the phoenix was perpetually in flames. Even though flames were licking over its entire being, you could somehow see every feather in high relief. Somehow, even though Dumbledore's phoenix was a glorious sight to behold, the flaming bird that Harry's wand had produced was even more spectacular.

It obediently came back over to his wand, and with a protective look in its beady eye, tapped the tip of its sharp beak to Harry's wand. Severus, who was sprawled on the ground, pushed himself up on his elbows. His robes were partially shredded, and he was exuding a faint smell of smoke.

He grimaced. "Observation: Never again cast a spell at someone who is using parselmagic."

Nagini slithered over, hissing a laugh. "I have never sssseen Sssevere-Ssstern so disssheveled even after a torture sssessssion with The Forsssaken One!"

Harry shot a raised eyebrow at her. "That'ssss not very funny." Then he grimaced. "You know, I'm not very sssure whether I ssshould asssk him if he needssss help or not."

Nagini was writhing on the grass, almost in hysterics.

Severus managed to pull himself to his feet. "What is wrong with your snake?" he asked snidely.

Harry shrugged. "Note to self - don't even pretend to attack me while I'm doing this."

"Hear, hear!" Dudley shouted from the porch, laughing.

Severus only sighed, brushing himself off. "What do I do next?" Harry, asked sheepishly, twisting his wand in his hands. He scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Whatever you think is prudent," he replied longsufferingly. Severus quickly backed away from the range of the wand.

Nagini had recovered from her hilarity, and was coiled up next to Harry, head up. Her shrewd yellow eyes were watching him, interested. "What ssshould I do now?" he asked.

"Perhapssss the 'levitating charm' that I ssssee many humansss doing."

Harry nodded. "Ssssoundsss good," he responded. "I'm doing the levitating charm, Severus."

The potions master only nodded. He backed away even further, beginning to reparo his torn and singed clothing.

He chuckled a bit, and lifted his wand once more. He focused his attention on a decorative log bordering one tree on the lawn. "Wingardium leviossssa," he hissed.

Immediately, a black, crackling electrical mass exploded from the end of his wand and shot over to where he was pointing his wand.

The winged frame somehow expanded with a tremendous crack and picked up the log. The bird turned to him, awaiting further instructions. Starting, Harry lifted his wand up in the air. The black bird followed his wand, raising the log in the air.

Relieved that this was a more peaceful spell than the last, he lowered the wand and the electrified bird landed on the ground, placing the log down. It shrank down to the size of the average crow. In fact, it did look a bit like a crow.

The bird flapped back over to him, landing in front of his feet. Sure enough, it was a crow, just made of pure black. And with electricity arcing around its body.

"Thank you," Harry automatically said, and the crow bowed its head and dissipated in a cloud of black smoke.

He turned around and saw Severus coming back over. His eyebrows were raised. "Your parselmagic seems to have a bit of the flair for the dramatic," he commented.

"Yeah," Harry said. "It wouldn't be that great for an incognito mission."

Severus sniffed. "You will not be going on any 'incognito missions' while you are under my care, do you understand? I think you learned your lesson with your invisibility cloak."

Harry was still kind of peeved from that little incursion. He hadn't expected to get caught, and Severus still hadn't explained what on earth he and the rest of the Order were doing in Hogsmeade in what seemed to be an eventless night.

He didn't ask about it then, however. It would just be added to his ever-growing list of questions.

"Yes, I did. No need to rub it in," Harry said, crossing his arms.

Severus gestured to his wand. "I think we have done enough today. Come back inside." He started walking back over to the Haven.

"I take it we're done with exxxpirementing for now?" Nagini asked. Harry answered yes. "Can you assssk if I can go hunting? I haven't eaten in weeksss."

"Of courssse." He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Severus! Can Nagini go hunting?"

"Yes!" was the terse answer he got back.

"Let 'er rip," he said to Nagini, who only looked confused.

"Issss thisss a human exxxpresssssion I do not know of?"

Harry facepalmed. "I guesssss ssso. Jussst go eat."

HPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Gah!

I feel so guilty!

Now, I do have some valid reasons for not updating for, like, a month. First of all, I had my wisdom teeth removed. Yeah, ouch. Second of all, midterms have been looming over my head for a month now. I am almost done with them, but I still have a few more to go.

Lucky me!

Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter, albeit shorter than usual. I've just not had a bunch of time on my hands. I expect that to change soon, though! I'll be looking forward for that.

Also, thank you so much for all of the favorites and reviews. It really makes my day to see everyone liking my stories.