Anima Concordia

Chapter III

Harry said there for a while, looking wide-eyed at the door, which closed behind Voldemort. Going out of his stupor, Harry looked around him, taking in the minor details of the small room he was in.

All the furniture and doors were made from dark and expensive looking wood, as well as the bedding, canopy and curtains. The room in general was nicely-looking and, what surprised Harry a bit, it was made not in Slytherin green and silver colors, but quite neutral dark-blues, dark-grays and rich browns. The sheets were made of silk, which was not strange for such person as Harry perceived Voldemort to be, and curtains around the bed and on the windows were made of rich velvet. There were no other decorations aside from that, although Harry noticed a brass candelabra on the shelf above the fire place, with the remains of six candles in it. The fireplace itself was lit, despite the warm mid-Summer temperature, and the flickering flames made the room seem even more comfortable, adding homey tint to the neutrally-pleasant atmosphere of the place.

Harry once again found himself looking at his own reflection in the mirror between wardrobe and the bathroom door. He still looked a wreck, though now some color returned to his cheeks, probably because of potions and the broth he consumed earlier.

Harry quickly glanced at the door, behind which Voldemort disappeared, before slowly standing up and going to the bathroom.

There he once again was frozen in surprised stupor: the bathroom was huge in size, almost as big (or maybe even bigger) as the bedroom outside, and most of the space was overtaken by the enormous bathtub, looking rather like the one in Prefects' Bathroom at Hogwarts. Also there were big shower cubicle, sink and toilet. All of these were made of dark blue and gray marble. There was of course another mirror above the sink, which frame, too, was made of dark blue marble. Several hooks along the walls were occupied either by dark-blue towels and fluffy bath-robe, or by some wizarding clothes (robes, slacks and such). Several pairs of shower slippers were lined up along one of the walls. Which surprised Harry even more, there was laundry basket with something in it and several wash-basins, both small and big, were occupying the little space of the floor left around the borders of the bath. Two of them even had some pieces of clothing soaking in them.

Harry blinked slowly, processing the view. For a moment there he thought he had seen this pinkish water somewhere -

Shuddering, Harry turned to the shower pensively. He would rather like taking long and steaming hot shower, washing away everything, as was usual, almost ritual for him for the last sixteen years.

He didn't even managed to remove the bandages from his chest, when he heard an annoyed growl behind him:

"Just what do you think you're doing, Potter?!"

Jumping on the spot, Harry turned around to face angry-looking Voldemort.

"I wanted to take a shower. If I'm allowed to, of course," Harry quickly added.

He'd got furious hiss as an answer to that.

"No shower, then," Harry sighed and tried to go past Voldemort to return to the bedroom.

"Potter, stop!" came harsh command.

Harry flinched, but not at the tone, as he was used to getting the same quite often, while being at his relatives'. It was just that Voldemort grabbed his wrist, when Harry passed him, and Harry was anticipating the inevitable pain, which usually followed any touches of him by the Dark Lord in the past. Only, this time there was no pain. Confused, Harry looked at the man in front of him, who was still holding him by the arm.

"What now?" Harry grumbled. "Are you going to -?"

He was interrupted by abrupt movement of Voldemort: he pushed Harry towards the bathtub.