Growing sunlight creeping in through the windows around him teased Harry's mind awake. He snuggled further into his pillows and blankets, thinking he was in the midst of a fantastic dream. He wasn't in any pain, the bed he was laying on was far softer than anything else he had ever slept on, and he was actually warm. He was enjoying it so much he didn't immediately recognize when his eyes crept open and he actually started seeing his surroundings. Noticing he was awake wasn't helped by the fact that a small wrinkly creature with large eyes and pointed ears, wearing what appeared to be a clean, white toga of sorts, was stoking the fireplace and opening the curtains in the room. But the clatter of the fire irons and the bright morning light convinced him that he was in fact awake and not dreaming.
"Good morning, masters guest sir, I is being Dobby and is taking cares of you," the strange creature said.
"Umm…" Harry was very confused.
"Breakfastses will bes served in masters dining room in 30 minuteses. Masters guest sir should be washing and being dressed sos Dobby can bes taking him down," it continued.
"Uhh… Thank you?" Harry said, still rather confused.
"I's bes coming back in 25 minuteses for you, masters guest sir," Dobby finished with a bow.
"Thank you, Dobby? Was it? I will be ready." Harry finally managed a complete sentence and the small creature...Dobby… vanished with a quiet pop.
Harry sat for another moment, eyes glazed to the world around him, taking stock of his situation. It appeared that he had not in fact dreamed of the two men taking him away from the Dursleys, and he was in fact somewhere in...Well, he didn't know exactly where, but it certainly wasn't anything like his cupboard. Having now left the Dursleys with near perfect strangers, he decided he should take a look around and try to get his bearings.
Harry got out of bed and took a look around the room he had woken in. It was a large room, bigger than the entire second floor of the Dursley's house at least, maybe bigger than their entire first floor. Part of the room was clearly to be used as a sitting area as there were a couple of squashy looking armchairs in an inviting light grey plush sitting before the fireplace with a low table in between. The chairs had inviting deep blue pillows, and he nearly stepped towards them before remembering he hadn't taken a look at where he had slept.
He turned back towards the bed, taking in the black wrought iron scrollwork head and footboards with posters which had deep blue velvet curtains to help block out the light if needed. The sheets were a silvery grey, and the bedspread was white with intricate deep blue patterns which were similar to the scrollwork of the bed and matched the color of the curtains perfectly. The walls were a very pale blue, the carpet a slightly darker grey than the chairs, but very soft on his feet, and a few rugs were scattered about with grey, blue, and white patterns.
Harry spun slowly in a circle, taking in the entirety of the space. The table in the seating area, his bed, and two bookshelves were black, though his bed appeared to be the only thing in iron. He had the seating area to one side of the bed, and the bookshelves and a work desk with desk chair in light wood, with grey leather upholstery to the other. The bed was stood on a platform, which he had thankfully noticed before taking too many steps away from the bed and falling flat on his face, and possibly breaking his glasses. Since he didn't know where exactly he was, he wasn't too keen on trying to figure out how to get his glasses fixed.
After a thorough perusal of the space, Harry wandered over to a wall that had two doors. The first he opened appeared to be empty, possibly a closet or dressing room as he did see a few shelves and racks. The second door was much more inviting as it led to a large bathroom. Harry stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway, mouth dropping open at the sight before him.
This bathroom was glorious. Amazing. Fit for a king! The floor was tiled in a patterned grey, black, and white marble, sparkling and polished. The walls had been done in an odd sort of white iridescent or pearlescent sort of finish, he thought it might be tile as well, but if it was, it was sheets the size of the entire wall as he couldn't see any lines for seams or grout. There were plush deep blue rugs in front of the sunken tub, done in the same marble as the floor, which was the size of a small swimming pool, and the sink, which was pure white marble basin on top of black cabinets.
A set of shelves built in to the wall next to the tub held an assortment of bathing products, shampoo, conditioner, several varieties of bubble bath, containers of what he thought were bath bombs, and jars of other things he couldn't name with little scoops that were clearly meant to be added to the bath, or perhaps to the other products. On the other side of the tub was another built in area for shelving which contained stacks of deep blue towels and washcloths. When Harry finally decided to move out of the doorway, that shelf of towels was the first thing he went for, and upon reaching up to take a towel, noticed that it was warm, all the towels on the shelves were warm, and the shelves themselves were as well.
Stumbling slightly as he stepped away from the tub, he spun around to continue his investigation of the bathroom to find another door, which led to a room with a toilet. Harry nodded at this. No worrying about someone walking into the bath while he was in the toilet, it had its own little room! Harry made use of the facilities quickly, set his glasses next to the sink, and dashed over to the tub to begin filling it. The water gushed out quite warm, not hot enough to scald, but oh, he had never had a fully hot shower at the Dursleys and the opportunity to wallow in the hot water of this bath as long as he wished was intoxicating. He opened the various bottles and jars taking a sniff of each before deciding on a refreshing citrus and mint bubble bath. He added it to the bath water and replaced the bottle. He pulled down the shampoo to find it had a very pleasant citrus scent, and then the conditioner, which smelt quite minty. He didn't know how he had managed to pick the bubble bath to match, but was grateful he wouldn't be going about smelling of the horrible floral smells his Aunt Petunia favored.
He spent nearly 15 minutes in the bath, splashing, playing with the bubbles, and just generally enjoying the hot water when a pop sounded, and the strange little creature from earlier appeared next to the tub.
"Masters guest sir should bes getting outs bath now," Dobby said. "Master bes sending these clothes for Masters guest sir to bes wearing for breakfasts," he finished, holding a small pile of clothes.
"Oh!" Harry said with surprise. He reached down to try and find the drain for the tub, when Dobby snapped his long, thin fingers and the water and bubbles were gone. Harry shrieked, trying to cover himself when Dobby snapped again and one of the large bath towels settled down around his shoulders, covering him from neck to knees.
"Thank you, Dobby," Harry said politely as he began to dry himself off.
Dobby popped out of the bathroom to put the clothes in Harry's room. Harry finished drying off and grabbed a smaller towel to dry his hair. When he went over to the sink to retrieve his glasses, he noticed a jar that said Hair Tonic.
As Harry reached for the tonic, Dobby popped back in to say, "Three drops only masters guest sir. Three drops and rubs in hair. Hair bes looking styled not likes mop."
"Ok," Harry replied, uncorking the bottle and carefully letting three drops fall in his hand. He rubbed his hands through his hair, and looked in the mirror. Dobby was right! His hair, which usually stood out all over the place like some unkempt, unruly mop now looked pleasingly tousled, or slightly windswept rather than like he had stuck his finger in an electrical socket like the cartoons on TV that Dudley liked so much.
"Thank you, Dobby," Harry said with a smile.
Dobby bowed and made a shoo-ing motion with his hands, wordlessly telling Harry to get dressed so he could get to breakfast. Harry smiled and took the hint, walking out into the bedroom and straight over to the bed which was now fully made, and his clothes laid out upon it. Harry dropped his towel and began to dress. As he was finishing Dobby popped back in with a pair of shiny black shoes to go with his black pants and green silk shirt. Harry had never been so well dressed in his life.
As he finished he took Dobby's hand and said, "Please lead the way to breakfast, Dobby."
Dobby sniffed and big fat tears started rolling out of his eyes. "Masters guest sir bes taking Dobby's hand...like Dobby bes...bes...bes a friend!" he wailed.
"Well, I can't be sure since I've never had one, but I think you're my friend, Dobby. You came to take care of me this morning, brought me clothes to wear, and are taking me to breakfast. II think that's what friends do," Harry said.
"But Dobby bes a servant," he said sadly.
Harry squeezed the small hand in his, "well, you can be my friend, even if you are a servant. And as my friend, you should call me Harry." Harry nodded confidently at his pronouncement, and gave a little tug on Dobby's hand to remind him they had somewhere to be.
"Breakfast?" Harry asked.
"Yes, yes. This way master Harry," Dobby said, nodding as he tugged Harry out into the hallway. A short few minutes walk landed them outside the dining room.
"Breakfasts bes served, Master Harry," Dobby said, opening the door.
"Thank you, Dobby," Harry said kindly, smiling at his new small friend. Dobby nodded and popped away.
Harry took a tentative step into the dining room, not sure what he was expecting to see. But really, though it was larger than the dining room at the Dursleys, it was still homey. There was a small-ish 8-person table with a plain white cloth. A pretty flower arrangement stood in the center, with breakfast dishes and serving utensils to one side. The side with the food also had four place settings. Lucius was seated at the head of the table, Narcissa on the side to his right. Draco was to his left, and there was an empty plate and chair, which he could only assume was for him when Lucius waved a hand to indicate it as such.
"Good morning, Harry," Lucius said as Harry sat and began to fill his plate.
"Ah… Good morning, Mr. Malfoy," Harry responded nervously. He had been alright with Lucius and Severus the previous evening, but his nerves were reasserting themselves and he was no longer sure what proper behavior would be in these new surroundings.
"Oh, Harry, I thought we passed this last night. Please, when we're in private, you may call me Lucius."
"Okay, Mist… I mean, Lucius," Harry got out.
"And I'm sure you remember my lovely wife, Narcissa," Lucius continued, laying a hand on Narcissa's knee.
"Please, we are cousins, you must call me Cissa. None of that formal nonsense when we're at home," Narcissa said quite happily. She was so pleased they had gotten the poor child out without issue, and she had always wanted more children at some point, but it was just so difficult.
"Good morning, Cissa," Harry responded politely.
"And this is our son, Draco," Lucius pointed to the near copy of himself, only younger. "He has been present at several of the little...get-togethers... for which you made such wonderful food, but I'm unsure if you ever actually heard his name."
"Hello, Draco," Harry said hesitantly. He had never had much opportunity to interact with other children his age, Dudley had seen to that. He hoped his freakishness didn't scare this boy off. He'd like to have a human friend as well.
"Hello, Harry, I'm very pleased you could be here with us," Draco said quite formally.
Narcissa chuckled quietly, "Draco, you needn't be formal this morning. Consider the remainder of the week a holiday, informal manners are acceptable while we're at home."
"Yes, Mother!" Draco said quite excitedly. He had been learning proper etiquette since he was five years old and rarely got days off...now he had nearly a full week!
"How is your breakfast, Harry?" Narcissa asked.
"It's great, Cissa, French Toast is my favorite!" Harry responded with a bit of excitement. He was finally starting to relax around the Malfoys seeing that nothing bad was happening.
"That's good. Now, I know you've been attending muggle school, but Draco has tutors," Narcissa continued. "We thought, as you'll be staying with us for some time, you might like to study with him. His tutor is coming this afternoon to do a few placement exercises with you so he knows where to start. Does that sound acceptable?"
"It sounds fine to me. My teachers at school were always worried I would be bored, so maybe this will be more of a challenge for me," Harry said guilelessly.
"Oh?" Lucius asked intrigued. "And why would you be bored at school?"
"Well, the books they had weren't very hard. Lots of pictures, not enough words. I learned to read from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's books before I started primary, and they didn't have any pictures, and the words were way longer. So reading was pretty boring at school," Harry stated. "And I think I was just good at maths because it was never hard. And my printing is pretty good, so they didn't have to worry about not being able to read my classwork," Harry shrugged. "School was pretty easy."
"I see," Lucius said. "Well, perhaps we will have something new to teach you."
"I know of at least one new thing," Draco jumped in. "His family history!"
"Yes, but we don't have his family grimoire or any specific books or documents that would enable us to teach his family history," Narcissa said to Draco.
"Once we can get your inheritance test at Gringotts when you turn 10, Harry, we can get the documents then," Lucius commented. "Until then, it might be best to study ours since we are right here to assist you with it. And it will still give you the basics of how a magical family works, how it moves up or down in ranking, and other things like that."
"That sounds interesting," Harry said.
"I did our family first. I'll be working on 15 generations of the family this year," Draco said proudly. "And the past three generations of all the current ranked families."
Harry's eyes grew larger. "That sounds like a lot…"
"You won't have that much to start. Mr. Morgan will start at the beginning and work at your pace, Harry. Don't worry," Narcissa put in soothingly. "Now boys, I'll be out in the Rose Garden for a bit, but I expect that you play nicely together. If you have any difficulties, get Tansy or Dobby to find me."
"Mother, could I take Harry to the pitch?" Draco asked.
"Why don't you have Tansy bring your broom and one of the extras to the Rose Garden so I can supervise. Harry has never flown a broom, remember?" Narcissa instructed.
"Yes, Mother!" Draco said happily. He turned to Harry, "Flying is the best! My broom goes to 30 meters and I've started learning some Quidditch moves. Maybe you can learn them, too!" He said to Harry excitedly, and with an imploring look on his face.
"That sounds great, Draco!" Harry hadn't ever done anything with a friend, so anything would have sounded amazing to him. But flying, that just sounded so much cooler than anything Dudley and his friends got to do together. The closest thing he could think of was his skateboard, and Dudley hated that because it involved exercise.
"Can we be excused, Mother, Father?" Draco asked hurriedly, clearly ready to be outside playing.
"You may," Lucius responded.
"Blessed be!" Draco shouted as he grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him from the room, headed to the Rose Garden.
"Tansy!" Draco called once they were seated in the gazebo in the Rose Garden.
"Yes, Master Draco?" Tansy said with a bow as soon as she popped in.
"Tansy, this is Harry, he'll be living with us from now on," Draco said imperiously. Tansy nodded. "Go to the broom shed and bring my broom and another similar broom for Harry."
"Yes, Master Draco," Tansy said, popping out to do as instructed.
Tansy popped back in holding two brooms, which Draco immediately took from her. He handed one to Harry and started explaining how to ride. Once Narcissa arrived, she allowed them to fly around at low heights where she could watch them while she pruned her roses. They flew around letting Harry get used to flying and the basic maneuvers.
Narcissa called them down for a break after about an hour. She called her house elf, Tink to provide drinks and a light snack for the boys. While they were resting, Harry asked Draco about the house elves.
"Why are you so mean to your house elves?" Harry asked curiously.
"What do you mean?" Draco questioned. He treated the elves the same way his parents, and all his friends and their families did. He had no idea what Harry was talking about.
"Well, earlier when you called Tansy to get your broom, you didn't say please or anything, just 'get my broom,'" Harry said the last with an exaggerated, stuck up impression.
"That's how everybody treats house elves," Draco responded.
"Not me," Harry replied. "I made friends with Dobby." He shrugged. "I know I did all the work for the Dursleys and they were never nice. It would have been great if anybody had thanked me for all the things I did."
"Why?" Draco asked, not understanding what Harry meant.
"I don't know, but it would have been nice I think," Harry replied. They both shrugged and Narcissa sent them back to their brooms, thinking about what Harry had said.
"Tink?" Narcissa said quietly.
"Yes, Mistress?" Tink popped in.
"Could you take the tea things away, please?" Narcissa put Harry's thoughts into immediate action.
Tink's eyes grew wide at the kindness in Narcissa's tone. "Tink will bes getting rid of them now, Mistress, yes," Tink said, nodding furiously, ears flapping.
"Thank you, Tink," Narcissa said as Tink popped out.
Interesting. Perhaps something she would discuss with Lucius. Just in that one short interaction, Tink was far happier, and all she changed was saying "please" and "thank you" while using a slightly less haughty tone. Harry might be on to something with that.
Narcissa finished her pruning and called the boys back down after another hour. It would be lunchtime soon, and she wanted them to be inside during the heat of the day. Harry and Draco had apparently continued the house elf discussion because when they landed, Harry called for Dobby.
"What can Dobby bes doing for Master Harry?" Dobby squeaked.
"Dobby, could you return our brooms to the storage shed and bring some water to Draco's room for us, please?" Harry asked politely.
"Yes, Master Harry, Dobby will bes doing that right now," Dobby said with a boy, took the brooms and popped away.
"I'm taking Harry to my room to play now, Mother," Draco said to the Malfoy Matriarch.
"Of course, dear," Narcissa approved.
"Blessed be, Mother," Draco offered.
"Blessed be, Cissa," Harry parroted.
"Blessed be, boys," Narcissa returned with a smile. "I'll send an elf when it's time for lunch."
The boys nodded and Draco grabbed Harry's hand to lead him off.