The moment they arrived, and Ash released them, Fionn dropped to his knees. His head remained bowed down, hands resting on his knees. It was eerie how silent he was, he hadn't made a single sound since the moment he answered Pepper's call. Harry took a moment to look at the room, it didn't look like any kind of clothing store he had heard of before. But nothing he had seen so far in the Realm really matched up to the Wizarding or Muggle counterpart, so that didn't really mean much.
They seemed to have arrived in the front hall of what he would have thought was someone's home. The walls were a very pale blue, with white designs just barely visible painted on them. The floor was polished wood, and there was a mirror on one wall with a small table beneath it. Two archways led off into the rest of the building.
"Ash? Where are we? This doesn't look much like a clothing store..."
"This is my home Harry, and yours as well until you decide to get your own house. Considering how much you've already been through today, and the state of your new pet, I thought it might be a better idea to come here and get some rest first. You don't know how he's going to react to being taken out in public, or how to treat him."
"He's not a pet! He's a person Ash. Just because someone is a slave doesn't make them lesser than anyone else." Harry glared angrily at her, wings half-raised in his anger, but he tried to keep hold of his temper. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened at Gringotts, or anything worse.
Ash raised a hand in a placating gesture and shook her head. "I don't think they're lesser creatures Harry. And they're not slaves exactly. More like indentured servants. They all get freed someday, it just depends on the price they were originally sold for and how long it takes them to work it off. No one is born indentured, every single one of them either sell themselves into it, or someone in their family does it to them. I'm not saying that makes it much better, or that I approve, but that's how it's always been. Those who can't afford to feed themselves or their families, or those who have no skills to get better jobs and can't afford to pay for training, go this route. The families get a lump sum for them, and once the indentured person pays it all back, they can either stay with the one who bought them, or they are free to go their own way. That said, I've never seen one act the way Fionn does. This isn't normal, and that is why I objected to you buying him. There's something seriously wrong here, and you have enough to deal with already. But what is done is done."
Harry frowned, so slavery wasn't exactly the case. It was still wrong to him, no one should be sold and forced to do another's will. He glanced down at Fionn and saw that the Fae hadn't moved at all from what he could tell. He was still kneeling on the floor in the same position he had assumed upon arrival. But Harry could see goosebumps on his skin and a very faint shiver. After all, Fionn wasn't wearing more than those tiny shorts, so it wasn't surprising that he was cold. He shook his head, explanations could wait, right now he needed to get food, clothes, and a bed for Fionn, not necessarily in that order.
"He's not much taller than I am, some of my things may fit him well enough for now. He certainly can't stay wearing only those."
"We can put him in the room next to yours if you wish, or he can stay with you. It doesn't matter to me either way. The bedrooms are this way."
Ash headed through the archway directly in front of them and down the hallway. Harry took two steps to follow her and then stopped, turning back to get Fionn he saw that the Fae had stood and was following him. Though he was still keeping his head bowed and his eyes trained on the floor. Holding back a sigh, he turned and continued to follow Ash.
"This is your room Harry, Fionn can have the door on the right, and my room is at the end of the hall. I'll go see what I can make for dinner, and bring it back to you. But only tonight! There's a dining room we'll use for the rest of the time you're here." She laughed and headed off again, leaving Harry to get Fionn settled.
He decided to go into his room first and unshrink his trunk so he could find some clothes for the Fae to wear. Opening the door, he barely glanced around, but still noticed a large raised bed in the corner near a bay window, a dresser and wardrobe opposite, and a desk with bookshelves on the third wall that didn't have the door. There was another door near the desk that he assumed led into a bathroom. He set his trunk near the dresser and tapped it with his wand, then rummaged inside it once it had returned to it's normal size. Pulling out a simple black t-shirt and pair of loose red sweat pants, he dug a little deeper and came back up with socks and a pair of underwear. He wasn't going to think about how weird it was to share underwear, especially with someone he didn't even know. When he turned to see where Fionn was, he noticed the Fae back in his kneeling position just inside the door. Approaching him, he held out the clothes.
"Here, these should fit you well enough for now. And they're a lot warmer than what you're wearing, go ahead and put them on and we'll see about going shopping later for clothes that actually fit you."
Fionn didn't move so much as a muscle for a long moment, so long Harry was beginning to wonder if the Fae was deaf, except that he had answered when Pepper called him. Finally he reached out and very tentatively took the bundle of clothes from Harry's hand, and then he stood up and stripped the shorts he was wearing off without any warning or outward show of embarrassment. Harry was embarrassed enough for the both of them as he realized Fionn wasn't wearing anything at all under the shorts. He blushed brightly and turned quickly away not having expected Fionn to just strip like that. He listened to the sounds of fabric rustling and when all was finally silent again, he dared to glance back to see if the Fae was dressed. He was, and back to his kneeling position on the floor. Harry supposed that he had been trained to assume that position when nothing was required of him, it didn't look all that comfortable to him but he wasn't sure how to go about getting him to realize he was safe here. Shortly after that, his door opened and Ash breezed through with three plates.
"Hope grilled cheese sandwiches are okay with you, I didn't feel like doing any real cooking tonight and thought since I didn't know what either of you liked, that these would do." She put two of the plates on Harry's desk and then wandered back out the door, calling over her shoulder as she left. "I'm heading for bed, you can leave the plates on the desk when you're done and we'll deal with them in the morning. Night!"
Shaking his head in amusement, Harry approached the desk and got one of the plates. "Ready for dinner Fionn? Hope this is okay since Ash didn't give us much choice." He held the plate out and waited a moment. Finally the Fae stood and approached, only to sink back to his knees beside the chair. He didn't look up, or even attempt to take the plate from Harry. Frowning slightly, Harry sat down in the chair and held the plate directly in front of Fionn's face. Did he not like grilled cheese? Fionn still didn't move, but now Harry could hear the Fae's tummy growling softly.
"Go on, it's safe, Ash wouldn't poison us. And it's hard to ruin grilled cheese, so even if she can't cook it would be edible..."
Fionn still didn't move, though Harry could see his hands clench slightly where they rested on his knees, as though he wanted to take it but didn't quite dare. Utterly confused by this point, he wondered if perhaps Fionn hadn't been allowed to use plates? Putting the plate back on the desk, he took one half of the sandwich and held that out to Fionn and waited to see if he would take it now. Instead, the Fae lifted his head a little and leaned forward, taking a small bite and chewing before swallowing and looking quickly up at Harry through his fringe as though for permission to continue. Anger smouldered in the back of Harry's brain, to have so degraded another person as to make them only eat from your hand... he just couldn't get his mind around it. Shoving the feeling back down until he could deal with it later, he held the sandwich out again, watching as Fionn repeated his careful movements and ate the rest of the half. Harry fed him the other half of the sandwich, and then half of his own as well before the Fae turned his head away. Harry was no stranger to hunger, and he had wondered when Fionn had last been allowed to eat, which is why he decided to offer his own meal as well. Quickly finishing the last cold half a sandwich, he stood up.
Fionn backed away hurriedly, and then followed Harry to the door by the desk. It was indeed a bathroom. He quickly washed his hands and used the toilet and then went back out into the bedroom, where Fionn was kneeling beside the door.
"You can use the bathroom Fionn, and you don't need to ask, it's right there so go ahead." He was a little surprised when Fionn actually did stand up and enter the bathroom, but pleased that he had gotten some kind of reaction out of him. Heading over to examine the bed and view out the window while he waited for Fionn to come out again, he was slightly disappointed to see that it was now dark out and he couldn't really see anything outside. Turning around, he saw Fionn had managed to silently return and was now curled up on the floor at the foot of the bed as though he was going to spend the night there.
"You can't sleep on the floor. There's a bedroom with a bed next door that's for you, come on, I'll show you." Harry was almost to the door when he realized that Fionn hadn't moved from the foot of the bed. The Fae was actually curled up in a tight ball with his face buried against his knees as though he was about to be punished.
"Er...or you can stay here I guess? But you still can't sleep on the floor. I guess... the bed looks more than big enough for two..."
Fionn peered out through his hair as if judging whether or not he could trust Harry, but not knowing what was being looked for, Harry just looked at him a little helplessly and tugged at his own hair a moment. Turning back to the bed, he pulled back the covers and patted the mattress lightly.
"Come on, the bed's much more comfortable than the floor I'm sure."
Very slowly, Fionn uncurled and crept to the bed, before moving quickly and getting in. He was so quick, Harry almost missed seeing him altogether. One moment he was a few steps away from the bed, and the next he was buried under the blankets with only his white-blonde hair and one golden eye visible. Getting in on the other side, Harry used his wand to turn out the lights and then put the wand on the table beside the bed.
"Goodnight then." No answer, not that he had expected to hear one. He was curious about what the Fae would sound like when he finally did speak, and he hoped he would get to hear him soon.