Groomed

(Pt 4)

Speech;
"talking"
'thinking'
Parseltongue

Harry didn't know when he woke up or how, but when he did open his eyes he had to shut them almost instantly. The room looked so much brighter, and his body felt like fire.
Sweat dripped down Harry's forehead as he struggled to push himself from the bed. His body ached, every muscle screaming at him to lay back down. But his body hurt even if he laid down.
Pushing his bangs back, Harry tried to open his eyes again but the brightness of the room was too much.

He didn't understand what was happening. He'd been able to blink just fine yesterday with the sun gushing through the windows of Potter cottage.
But now Harry found it impossible.
He palmed his eyes, pressing his hands into the sockets. His eyes stung and burned as if the sweat had seeped in in the few seconds he had his eyes open.

There was the noise of a door opening and of curtains shutting.

"The Dark Lord has asked for your presence Potter boy. I'll wait outside— don't make the Dark Lord wait too long."
The door shut, and Harry pulled his hands from his eyes. Squinting and blinking Harry wiped the sweat from his forehead. He leaned over to find his glasses, but completely missed the side table and fell out of the bed.
Millions of needles throbbed through Harry's back to his entire body. He hissed and held his shoulder where the pain was concentrated. He shuddered by the mere contact of his hand to his own shoulder.

"Ugh... god." He breathed.
"Making so much noise is pesky of you human~."

Harry jumped and fell into the washroom. He slammed the door to the washroom behind him on the Burmese python.
He sighed and laid on the cool floor. Unfortunately his body heated and burned quickly after. Harry whimpered and rolled onto his front where he pushed himself onto his shins. Grabbing for the counter, Harry found it after a minute of searching and pushed himself up. He held onto the counter for support as the water behind him gushed into the bathtub.
Stupidly Harry tried to search for his glasses, but was unsuccessful in finding them. Forgetting about the glasses for the time being, Harry stripped of his soaked clothing.

He sunk into the water when the tub finished filling up. Harry sighed and shuddered at the feeling of the hot water soothing his tensed muscles.
Sitting up, Harry washed the sweat off of his body and dunked his head a few times to rid his hair of the soap before climbing out.

Harry wrapped a towel around himself only for the feeling of scales to run by his feet. Nagini hissed as she left the washroom and slithered like liquid into the room. Harry used his outstretched hands to maneuver himself around before he found his glasses and put them on.

"Take longer boy. My master won't like you much then~."
He ignored the snake and wiped himself of the water. Though a pain still lingered within his muscles it was bearable now.

He pulled on the clothes left on the bed for him and ran the towel through his hair once more. The snake snapped her tongue behind Harry, finding his untamed hair a disrespect to her master.
She made a snapping motion at Harry's ankles and he squealed. A nasty laugh came from the snake as Nagini watched Harry patter his feet and jump onto the bed.

"Simpleton human."
Harry clenched his teeth at the sound of Nagini teasing him. I hate snakes. He clenched the freshly laid out comforter in his hands.

The door opened and appeared Avery.
"The hell are you doing?"
Harry glanced down at the snake peering up at him. Avery must've taken it as a sign of Harry's submissiveness because he sighed and scratched the back of his neck.
"Get down from the bed and follow me."

Cautiously Harry slipped off the bed. Nagini followed the boy, just barely out of reach to snap at his ankles. Harry slipped on the boots beside the door and Avery slipped a cloak onto his shoulders.
Harry would be lying if he said Avery's actions didn't take him by surprise. Grabbing Harry's shoulders, Avery apparated from the Riddle manor and into the warm Apparation room of Malfoy manor.