Waking up without Nagini wrapped around his legs was disconcerting. He had grown used to her winding her way around his legs, and hissing in her sleep quietly. Sometimes Harry would just lay there and watch her. It felt quite lonely now. Sighing dejectedly, the teen sat up. He could tell just by feeling it, that his hair was an absolute nest today. He wasn't given a comb in the bathroom, so it had been wetted and dried without a brush for so many days. He practically had an afro.
Scratching his scalp, he quietly made to scooch off the bed. His feet touched the carpet and his robes pooled on the floor as he stood. He was hesitant to ask Voldemort for clothing that fit, he had a feeling that the man wouldn't take too kindly to Harry if he started to demand things right after being given the ability to roam free. He would try to hint at it today if he got a moment. He didn't know if he'd even see the Dark Lord.
He had said that Nagini would be showing him around. If a house tour from a killer snake wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever done, then he wasn't too sure what took the cake. His fork throwing wasn't that odd, Voldemort never had fun in his entire life.
Harry groaned as he reached up and stretched his arms. He would have a quick shower and then wait for his breakfast. Looking over to the desk he noticed no blurry boxed object, a book was not left for him. He doubted Voldemort did something as plebeian as forgetting. Would there be a library? Would he even be allowed in it?
There wasn't any way he'd be allowed in all the rooms. There were rooms he wasn't interested in seeing anyways. Like Voldemort's bedroom and bathroom. Shaking the thoughts from his head, Harry started stripping before entering the bathroom. He dropped the robe just outside the door and took his pants off after closing it. He blindly felt up for the hilt of the handle and turned on the shower.
Baths were out of the question apparently, because the plug for the drain never reappeared, and Harry was lucky to be allowed towels still. He washed quickly with the bar of soap, it smelled like nothing and rinsed himself off. He turned the water off and stepped out of the tub. He reached for a towel and dried his body off. Kicking the dirty pair of underwear away, Harry opened the bathroom door to the chilly bedroom. There was a dark figure on his bed, and he could tell it was long. He was glad he had wrapped the towel around his waist.
"Hello, Nagini." He greeted, and she hissed back incoherently. She was slow to wake in the morning, if Harry wanted to he could push her and she'd get grumpy. He turned to his left and headed for the dresser. By now the routine was pretty straightforward, pants and robe. Still no socks, he checked the second small drawer every other day. Just in case Voldmert remembered that he was a normal human who felt things.
Harry put on the robe first, that way he could put on his underwear without flashing Nagini. Not that she'd take offense, she technically was always naked. His breakfast appeared and he decided to go grab his glasses, tired of looking at the world through his broken eyes. He plopped them onto his face and reached over to the bed to pet Nagini briefly.
"Let's sleep." Harry scoffed.
"I just woke up from a very good sleep, I don't need to sleep for a while."
"A nap then."
"You can nap while I eat my breakfast, then you have to let me out of here." Nagini simply blinked at him, and he took it as a deal. He couldn't feel impressions from her like he did with Voldemort, but she was pretty simple. Sitting down, Harry ate his omelet. The juice of the day was apple juice, and he had a couple of links of sausage on the side of his plate. He'd feed them to Nagini, but his stomach was bothering him from not eating enough the night before.
He did spoil her. The clinking of the fork against the plate was the only noise made in the room for a couple of minutes. Harry ate quickly, wanting to see the rest of the house as soon as possible. He decided to not lick the plate clean and placed the fork onto the plate. It vanished, and Harry spun around in his seat.
"Time to go!" He clapped his hands. Nagini lifted her head, and her tongue ducked out. She sluggishly began to move and Harry watched in amusement as she made a very dramatic slide to the end of the bed, and then kind of fell off it. Her body made a solid noise as it hit the floor.
"You must tell the door to open." Harry's eyebrows furrowed, he stood from his seat and followed her to the door.
"What do you mean, tell the door?"
"Just speak to it, and it will open." Harry looked to the door and thought back to the Chamber of Secrets.
"Open." He hissed, and the door trembled slightly. A small noise along the seam of the door clicked, and the handle dropped by itself. The door swung open, and Harry stared dumbly into the hallway. "That… wouldn't have worked before, right?"
"No." She hissed back to him and started out the door. "Master did that while you slept. Only speakers can open it." Harry felt dumb to not even think about trying to use parseltongue to get the door to open before. It wasn't like he'd never done it before. Harry followed a couple of paces after the snake, he peered around the corner of the door into the hall.
It was very… normal. No blood on the walls, or even any paintings that he could see. The walls were a creamy yellow color and held no decoration at all. It was very boring for the home of the Dark Lord.
"Where are the chains and whips?" He asked jokingly, forgetting about her straightforwardness.
"There is a dungeon in the basement, but you aren't allowed down there." Harry grimaced, he hoped no one was being tortured right now. He was a bit surprised that he had never been sent down there.
"Okay… how about we start with the places I am allowed to go then."
"Nagini will show you." She slithered to the left, and Harry trotted after her. Doors were lining the hallways, three on the wall opposite Harry's room. Along the same wall were five doors, his being the fourth in sequence. The hall continued around the corner on both sides. Both doors to the immediate sides of Harry's rooms had closed doors. The furthest two were open, lines of sunlight passed through the doorway. They reached the first one.
Harry peeked around the corner to find a small room with light green walls. There was a cream-colored rug and furniture for sitting. It looked to be where someone might have tea with family or an intimate get-together. Nagini kept going, and Harry decided he could come back and take a closer look later. The next room was exceedingly more interesting, as it held floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with books. A small library in itself.
"Some of the books bite," Nagini said as she passed the door.
"I'm sorry- What? What does that mean?"
"Master said there are mean books. That they will bite," That wasn't terrifying at all. Harry looked back at the shelves and eyeballed them carefully. They had The Monster Book of Monsters for Hagrid's class, he hadn't been aware of other sentient books with teeth. "Just bite them back to show you are meaner."
"I don't think your master would be very happy with me biting his books. But thank you for the advice,"
"You're welcome," Harry gazed at the rest of the room. On the far wall was a similar window to the one in his room, this one was longer, however. Underneath the window was a long bench. All the remaining walls were covered with books. There was a small couch in the middle of the room, and a coffee table in front of it. On the other side of the table sat two very comfortable-looking armchairs, between them, was a taller circle table, probably for tea or other drinks for when you're reading.
"Does your master come in here often?"
"Master is your Master too," Nagini replied, not answering his question. Harry shook his head and scoffed.
"No. He's really not,"
"He is Master, we are precious,"
"I'll stick with calling him his name,"
"Then I will call you 'stupid boy who smells like cheese'." Harry snickered, that was pretty good.
"Wait- I don't smell like cheese!" Or at least he was pretty sure he didn't. He showered not fifteen minutes ago.
"But you are stupid," Harry frowned and held his hand over his heart. He sucked in a loud breath and then whispered dramatically.
"Wow. That's hurtful."
"Stupid boy doesn't call Master, Master." She grumbled but continued. "The closed doors are all more nesting rooms." Harry glanced down the hallway, there were six bedrooms in total then.
"Which one is His? That way I can avoid it."
"Master sleeps in the room at the very end. He likes the corner one, it gets an extra window." That meant Voldemort slept only two rooms away from him then. That thought gave him the creeps, Voldemort sleeping? Monsters didn't sleep. Nagini disappeared around the corner, it turned to the right. Harry sped up to catch her. "There is a potions room, you are not allowed inside. Master says you make messes."
"I only make messes when I'm bored." He countered.
"You are always bored." This was very true, besides, he was a very messy potions worker. He didn't have the coordination of Hermione or the accuracy of Snape. Around the corner was another hallway, this one ended at a set of double stairs. Before the stairs, there was one lonely closed door on the right. He assumed it was the lab because it was the room Nagini brought up.
"I'm guessing all the doors closed are the ones I'm not allowed into?"
"Yesssssss." Harry nodded to himself. That made it easy for everyone, and then Nagini wouldn't get in trouble if she accidentally got a room wrong.
"Did He say what would happen if I tried to go into one of those rooms?"
"...Cursed floor."
"What?"
"Master told me to remind you about the cursed floor...Nagini does not know..." The cursed… Oh. That was after he tried the door for the second time. Magical shock collar it was then. Approaching the stairs, Harry rubbed his eyes. Hopefully, he wouldn't accidentally go for a door thinking it was a different room.
"That's alright, I understand." The downstairs was a normal type of foyer, there were four large quadrants on this floor. The entryway, a large dining room, a sitting area meant for larger groups, and then a kitchen area that he wasn't allowed to see. The entryway/foyer was a spacious open concept that had walls covered in unmoving paintings of random boring things, muggle art, he realized. There were standing suits of armor, just like at Hogwarts, four in total.
Along some of the walls had short benches. The dining room didn't have a door, just a big entrance with a gorgeous archway. The room was a warm burgundy color, which made Harry think of Gryffindor. The table was skinny and very long, with seven chairs on each side, plus two chairs at the head of the table. It had flowers in a vase and placemats. Harry doubted this table had ever seated anyone except the Dark Lord.
In each corner of the room, there was a matching side table with more flowers, Harry could smell them from the doorway, they were freshly cut, or perhaps magically kept alive for dinner parties to never occur. Even though the room had no windows, it was still bright. There was a crystal chandelier above the table, and Harry wondered about how beautiful it looked when lit. He'd have to try it.
The sitting area felt more like a stuffy pureblood house than any other room. It had a deep green theme, and all wood was dark, almost black. There sat a large ornate fireplace, the teen knew already the Floo wouldn't work. He would still try of course, once he found the Floo powder. There was no way there wasn't any in this house, he'd find it.
There was a decently sized window against the front of the house, and when Harry peered out of it, he wasn't surprised to see the same damn scene from his window. The exact same scene. He was going to name that bird Voldemort because of how annoying it was.
"Why aren't I allowed in the kitchen, Nagini?"
"...Messy boy."
"Is it because there are house-elves?" The snake remained silent. Harry knew he had been right to guess there were some, but unless he could convince them to go against direct orders he didn't think he'd even see one. "Not so stupid now, huh?"
"Yessss." She hissed back, and Harry chortled. Nagini was getting sassier and he took no responsibility. The rest of the house was simply half-bathrooms, a locked door beside the kitchen area that Nagini said led to the basement. There was a skinny set of stairs around the other corner upstairs that led to the attic, it had a scary black door that was locked. Harry was not permitted to go into it. There was one more door that was closed that was around the hall from the bedrooms, Nagini said he was allowed to enter should he have permission.
"It is the Master's study room. He stays in there mostly." The snake slithered up to the door and hissed at it. Like his own door, it opened by itself. Harry hesitated to follow her when her tail disappeared. It would be weird to just go in there, right? Oh well. Digging up his courage Harry stepped in after her. The Dark Lord had been home this entire time because he was sitting at his massive desk.
There were scrolls everywhere, and stacks of books towering tall enough that it would make Madam Pince weep. Harry stood in the doorway, and Voldemort didn't acknowledge that he was there. He knew that the man knew, however, because he had stopped writing for a split second and an impression of annoyance fluttered through their link. It went away, and the Dark Lord continued his writing. Harry took that as a sign that it was safe for him to continue.
He walked further into the room and looked around. There weren't dead bodies, or blood dripping down on these walls either. There were two armchairs in front of the desk, which was extremely large, excessively. No one needed a desk that big. Except Voldemort did apparently because the majority of its surface was covered. Being a Dark Lord came with a shit ton of paperwork it seemed. That, or he was writing a novel with three rough drafts.
Harry almost wheezed with terror when his eyes saw the fork, his fork, sitting innocently near the inkwell Voldemort was using for his quill. What the fuck was that doing there? Voldemort finally got tired of his gawking, because red eyes flickered up to meet his. This was awkward.
"So…" He started. His brain offered up 'you come here often?' but that was a pickup line, and obviously the Dark Lord came to his study often. What could he bring up that wouldn't end with him being impaled with the fork? "Kill any babies lately?" That was not the thing to say if you didn't want to be stabbed. Voldemort raised his non-eyebrow, then went back to work.
"Considering you are alive, that means I have yet to kill a single baby." They then lapsed into a weird silence, and Harry took a seat in one of the chairs in the room. He watched Voldemort work, the man meticulously writing, grabbing different books, and turning to specific pages. He'd often grab a scroll and gaze at it for periods at a time, then place it back in its spot. After a while, Harry grew restless and sagged in his chair. He let himself slide down until he was practically lying in the chair. "Must you sit like that?" The Dark Lord sighed.
"I guess not. Why?" He asked cheekily.
"Because it is extraordinarily annoying." Harry sat up a bit, but not all the way. He could see Voldemort's eye twitch from here.
"I've been told that's something I'm especially good at. The whole annoying thing."
"I can't see why." Back to their silence once again. Harry looked over to his left, there was a shelving unit with glass doors. Inside there were three different types of silver masks. One looked very similar to the one Lucius worse in the prophecy room. The other two were distinctly different. He wondered which one Bellatrix would wear, probably something that wouldn't ruin her lipstick. Harry snickered to himself, remembering her bloody nose.
"How's Bellatrix's face?" He asked with a fiendish smile. Voldemort looked up to him again.
"For the golden boy, you sure take a lot of pleasure in her pain." Harry stopped smiling. That wasn't the reaction he wanted at all. It was like that. Sure-Yeah he enjoyed it, but she deserved it. It was different than torturing people or hating an entire group of people. But was that not what he was doing with purebloods or Slytherins? How was he any better? You aren't better than anyone else.
"I'm not like you," Harry whispered.
"I didn't say that, Harry." But he knew the man was thinking it. He could almost hear the others' thoughts. Harry didn't respond to him, instead, he stood up from the chair and walked as fast as he could out of the room. He wasn't running away.
That night Harry had nightmares. He watched his older self hold Deatheater's under the cruciatus until they screamed no more, and no matter how much he begged, he wouldn't stop.