"Talking"
"Parseltongue"
The first thing he saw was two large, apparently glowing eyes.
Chapter 5: Settling In
"Ahhh!" Harry quickly scrambled backwards away from the eyes that were staring at him.
"Ouch! Alex! Watch where you're stepping!"
"Nagini? Oh, right, your invisible. Wait, Alex, I'm not Alex, I'm Harry."
"Because, Alex is your name, you father didn't name you Harry Potter, James Potter did.
"Umm...Oh, okay."
"From now on I will call you Alex. Your name is Alexander Marvolo Riddle. This is your home, Riddle Manor. Until your father returns you are the master of the house."
"It is Master Alex, it is! Oh master Alex is home! Elf is so happy. Elf is being so, so happy."
"Huh? Who, what are you?"
"Me? I is Elf? I is being your servant."
"Oh, um... Nagini?"
"Elf is a house elf. They are creatures that serve witches and wizards. It will do whatever you wish. There are more of them around, but Elf is the only one who will answer a summons. Unless, they've all taken the name of elf and all look alike...I guess that's possible...hmm, I wonder..."
"Nagini! Nagini!"
"What? Oh sorry."
"So what do I do with it now?"
"Ask it where your rooms are and leave your rucksack here. Better yet, get rid of the clothes in it. Throw them in the fire. Oh, and before I forget, never ever give Elf an article of clothing. Giving a house elf clothes would be dismissing it from service. You need houselves if you are going to take your place in society after your father returns. Besides, most houselves consider being dismissed as the worst punishment possible. Dismissed houselves cant' get work."
"The houselves the live and work here live under a set of rules. You need to understand what they are so you don't counteract it and so that you can punish them when they disobey. First, they are to come, only when called. Second, they must stay out of sight unless they are actually being given instructions and when first called. Third, they are to carry out orders as silently as possible, no unnecessary talking. Last, they are to stay nearby, but out of sight unless given a task or dismissed."
OK Alex emptied his rucksack into the now cheerily burning fire in the fireplace. (AN: Harry will be called Alex until he goes to Hogwarts. It might make him appear to have split personalities, but I promise, he doesn't.) Wait, where did the fire come from? Oh well, Elf must have lit it. "Elf! Where are my rooms?"
"Elf will take Master Alex to his rooms, Master Alex will please to follow me."
The house elf led Alex into the entrance hall and up the grand staircase. They turned left at the top and walked down a hall to pass through two large oak paneled doors. "This be Master Alex's wing." They had stepped into a medium size study with a fireplace, a couple pieces of furniture, and a desk. Behind the revolving fireplace was a round living room of sorts with stairs on the left and right leading to a landing with doors evenly spaced around it. There were two, slightly hidden doors on either side of the fireplace. Elf led Alex through the door to the right of the fireplace. The door led into a dimly lit hallway. They turned left and stopped in front of another pair of ornately carved oak doors. The doors opened onto a large bedroom, complete with fireplace, sitting area, king size bed and canopy, walk in closet (empty), and wardrobe (also empty). Once inside the room, a door on the right hand side led into a large bathroom. The bathroom's main feature was the swimming pool size tub. On the other side of the room, across from the bathroom door was another door. This door led into a private study. The study contained the normal furnished study, large bookcases, portals to all over the manor, and a small, sunken potions lab in the corner. The lab was the only area not covered in soft plush carpet and was sunken by three steps.
Alex went around exploring his rooms and the connecting rooms, even going through the transport doors into, the Master suite, only briefly; the various training rooms; the potions lab, where he saw all kinds things floating in jars and various potion ingredients; and the library, where he picked up a couple books on beginner magic and general theory. He was in awe of all of the books in the library.
Finally, his exploring had worn him out, and without even thinking about the fact that he hadn't eaten all day he crashed onto his new bed and was asleep within seconds. Nagini, curled up at the foot of his bed, happy to be home once more, even though her master was still gone, it would be nice to have someone else to talk to and to mother.
AN: This is to describe the manor. Hopefully you'll be able to understand its layout. It probably won't be very good; this just is not my forte. Use your imagination where you find me lacking, and if you need more detail, ask for it specifically in your review.
The entrance way and such is similar to Hogwarts, only on a grander scale. The ground floor contains the Great Hall, which doubled as a formal dining room, a ballroom, a formal parlor, a large study, a large room used as a meeting hall and throne room, and a private dining room, slightly hidden behind and under the pair of spiraling staircases leading to the first floor.
Under the ground floor, in the basement, was the dungeon, which had a large capacity for prisoners and could be expanded from time to time. There was also a large kitchen for the feasts, banquets, and dark reviles. The entrance to the kitchen was a hidden staircase, currently hiding behind a picture in the Entrance Hall. The entrance to the dungeons was a small staircase in the corner of Lord Voldemort's meeting room.
The house had three wings on the first floor. The guest wing was straight ahead from the top of the staircase and was used for visitors and such. The wing to the left of the stairs was the master wing. It was where Lord Voldemort and his wife had lived. Voldemort had also received the inner circle in the formal living room/ study here from time to time. His elite, and personal guards had lived, and still lived, in the rooms directly above and encircling the private living room. This living room was reached by going through the revolving fireplace in the formal living room. The wing to the right of the staircase was Alex's private wing. It was laid out almost identical to the master wing. It too had a few rooms that could be used for guests or guards encircling and above his private living room. It also had a large bedroom, a private, luxurious bathroom, and an extensive study. It too had a formal living room for receiving allies, servants, and friends that weren't particularly close. It also had a private living room, also entered through a revolving fireplace. The style of this living room was the comforts of the Gryffindor and the colors of Slytherin common rooms.
On the second floor were some training rooms. The training rooms were each dedicated to different things. There was one for hand-to-hand combat and muggle fighting techniques, one for fencing and old fashion weaponry, one for dueling and elemental control, and one which had various terrains which could be adjusted for different levels of simulated combats against various types of opponents with different skill levels.
On the third and top floor were the potions lab and the library. The potions lab was huge and at one time had contained almost every potion ingredient. Some of those ingredients were now worthless, but most of them were preserved and usable. It had some of the rarest and most valuable ingredients used for potions and there was also a large list of suppliers who could get any ingredient at any time, for a price of course. The library contained entire sections of muggle literature (fiction and non- fiction, classical and modern), dark arts, light arts, black magicks, runes, magic taught at the various magical academies, and theory, both general and advanced, and languages. It was also, self-updating and whenever a new book was published, it was added to the library and money taken from a Gringotts vault, used only for the library's upkeep. Because of the updating charm, the library was one of the most complete in the world because it also had some of the rarest and most expensive books too. The library contained an index book, sorted by topic and crossreferenced by any relevent lesser topics.