Love and Monster Ch. 2 (Patreon)

When Harry saw Blaise a few days later, the boy turned away and pretended he wasn't there. The same happened when he bumped into Malfoy when he and Rosie took a trip to Madame Malkin's out in Diagon Alley, except Draco was actively glaring at him.

Harry didn't care one bit. He'd had fun with the other kids, but he'd never felt like he belonged. He knew it was through no fault of their own, they'd always tried to include Harry in their games. He'd just always carried an innate sense of otherness.

Now though, Harry had completely separated from them.

Thankfully, they hadn't told their parents about the incident. Or, if they had, their parents hadn't believed them.

Harry and Rosmerta had gone to Malkin's after they received an owl with a letter from Fawkes, inviting them over to Castle Black on the 20th of October.

Rosmerta had closed up shop, something she did regularly. Hogsmeade was a very small village, and it was expected that stores and restaurants would be closed at the owner's behest, especially during the summer.

Harry was wearing crisp black dress robes and Rosmerta was wearing a simple cream colored dress that struggled against Her considerable bust.

They were standing in the middle of the empty pub. Rosmerta had a hand on Harry's shoulder while Harry held Fawkes' feather in his palm.

He'd taken to staring at the bright red feather over the past few weeks, watching in fascination as it glowed lightly.

"Fawkes." Harry whispered, and in a burst of flame, they were gone.

…

They appeared in a grand looking drawing room. It was decorated in gold and silver finery, with plush sofas and chairs adorned with ornate, hand-carved wooden frames. The walls were covered in rich purple and gold wallpaper and from the ceiling hung a huge chandelier filled with candles spelled to be everlasting.

Harry had been in Malfoy Manor a few times, the opulence on display here blew that out of the water.

Harry shifted about nervously, suddenly feeling underdressed in his simple black robe.

"Harry!"

His head snapped over to see Vulpecula heading his way, dressed in a puffy pink dress and wearing a pink bow on top of her lush white hair.

"Vulpie!" Harry called out to her with a grin.

Behind Vulpie was Ms. Fawkes. No longer restricted by the narrow passages and rooms of The Three Broomsticks, she had her wings spread wide behind her, and their wingspan must have been at least eight feet. She wore a loose white toga, and Harry had to admit that while she looked elderly, the way she carried herself made her appear much more youthful.

And next to Ms. Fawkes was someone who could only be Vulpie's mother. Well, she had to be, her facial features were too similar to Harry's young friend for them not to be related, though there were some differences.

Her eyes were a bright yellow, her hair was blonde instead of white, and most confusingly for Harry, she wasn't a fox lady.

No, this woman was feline. Her ears were smaller than Vulpie's, and her long tail was nowhere near as fluffy as the young girl's. Her arms and legs were covered in persian blue fur, and she had paws in place of hands.

She was wearing a tight black dress that showed off her womanly curves. While she wasn't as voluptuous as Rosmerta, she had a more slender waist to go along with her large chest and shapely behind.

"Welcome to my home, I am Narcissa Black, Lady of House Black."

“It's an honor, Lady Black.” Rosmerta bowed her head, well versed in dealing with nobility in the wizarding world. Harry bowed hastily as well, and he heard Vulpecula giggle at his gesture.

“I see you know your place, Harry.” she teased.

Harry’s cheeks reddened as he straightened back up, glaring at the young girl who stuck her tongue out in a very unladylike manner.

Narcissa was observing all of this with clear interest. “Vulpecula, why don’t you show young Mr. Potter around.”

“Can I take him to the forest, mother?” Vulpie asked in an excited tone.

“You may, but try not to scuff up your pretty little dress.”

Vulpecula seemed not to care much about the fate of her stuffy dress. The girl ran over to Harry and grabbed him by the hand, pulling him away as Rosmerta was left alone with the two other women.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

Rosmerta’s cheeks flushed at the faux pas. “My apologies. My name is Rosmerta Cooper, I’m the owner of The Three Broomsticks over in Hogsmeade, and I’m Harry’s guardian. Not exactly a diplomat, I’m afraid.”

Narcissa chuckled, “That is to your benefit, we haven’t had the best experiences with diplomats.”

“Shall we?” Fawkes gestured in the direction of the dining room. Rosmerta followed behind the other two women as she wondered just what exactly she’d gotten herself into.

…

Harry chased after Vulpie as they made their way through the dense forest.

From the moment they’d stepped out of the castle, they’d been in the midst of thickly packed trees. Harry hadn’t been able to see past a few feet in front of him.

Just as she’d said, the trees bore leaves of different colors. From autumn colors of orange and yellow to strange ones like purple, white, pink and blue.

“Hah! You’re never going to catch me, Harry!” Vulpie yelled over her shoulder as she expertly hopped over a root, ducked under a branch and circled around a tree.

Harry followed, but he tripped on the root, smacked his head on the branch and stumbled the rest of the way, right up until he crashed against the tree.

The boy groaned as Vulpie’s giggles filled the air. The girl had climbed the tree and was now sitting on one of the branches, looking down at him from above.

“What a clumsy creature you are.” She taunted.

Harry grumbled. He got back onto his feet and leapt in an attempt to grab her, but Vulpie was gracious in a way he wasn’t, and she yanked her feet away before climbing up to a higher branch.

“Vulpie, get down here!” Harry didn’t even try to climb after her, knowing that by the time he was even halfway to a branch, she would have probably leapt down and ran off into the forest.

Vulpie stuck her tongue out once more, “Make me, wizard!”

Harry’s eyes narrowed as he suddenly wished he could just bring the stupid girl down to his level.

“Whoah!” Vulpie stumbled slightly as the branch she was on wriggled. She managed to regain her bearings, and shoot Harry another superior smirk, when she suddenly felt herself being pulled downward.

The kitsune squealed as she flew, faster than a freefall, directly towards the raven haired boy who’s eyes suddenly widened in shock. Harry held his hands out defensively, which ended up working to help him catch Vulpie as she fell onto him.

Harry tumbled backwards, ending up flat on his back as his face was covered by a curtain of snow-white hair.

During the fall his hands had groped out in a desperate attempt to grab onto anything that could stop his fall. His right hand ended up wrapping around something soft and very fluffy.

“L-Let go, you brute!” Vulpie was looking down at him, her face completely flushed red.

Disoriented, Harry wasn’t sure what was going on until an involuntary squeeze from his hand forced a whimper out of the kitsune. That was when Harry realized the wonderfully soft thing he’d been holding onto was Vulpie’s tail.

“Sorry!” Harry yelped as he let go. Vulpie leapt off of him, and Harry stumbled awkwardly back up to his feet as both of them avoided eye-contact.

“That’s not fair. I didn’t know you could do magic without a wand.” Vulpie said, eyes still downcast as she patted down her dress, which was now littered with twigs and bits of dirt.

“I can’t.” Harry said, also trying his best to forget just how soft her tail felt, and how much he would love to just stroke it.

Vulpie glared, “Don’t mess with me, Harry. You sent that idiot flying the other day, and now you pull me down like a savage. You can definitely control your magic.”

Harry rubbed the back of his head, wondering how he could explain to her that he couldn’t actually do wandless magic. He’d never been able to before, and what he’d done to Flint and just now were nothing but accidental magic.

They had to be… right?

“Vulpie! Is this the wizard you told me about?”

Harry’s head whipped over in the direction of the new voice.

At first, he wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him. It seemed as if a flower had uprooted itself and was walking towards him.

As she drew nearer, he realized that that wasn't far from the truth.

This girl, who also looked to be the same age as Vulpie and him, had green skin, a light green in contrast to the dark green of her bikini top. Her long flowing hair was dark green as well, and she had a large violet flower sprouting from the side of her head. She had vines wrapped around her torso and wore a wide skirt of pink petals just below the line of her hips.

She was barefoot, and Harry could see roots sprouting from the soles of her dainty green feet as she walked

The girl, who was a few inches taller than him, stopped right in front of him, poking him in the chest with a curious expression on her face.

"Wow, so interesting." She brought a hand up to touch his face. Her fingers felt soft to the touch.

"Err… hi. My name's Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter, what a cute name." The girl tilted her head as her light red eyes took him in. "You're cute. He's cute, Vulpie."

"Lavender." Vulpie marched over, pulling the girl's arm back. "You decided to come?"

"Well, you said he'd be here today, and I was really curious." Lavender redirected her gaze towards Harry. "My name is Lavender, Lavender Brown, I'm the princess of the forest."

"Princess?" Harry's eyes widened. He fell down to one knee, like in one of those chivalric tales he'd read.

Lavender looked more than flattered. She covered her mouth as she giggled. Vulpie looked incensed, and she pulled Harry up to his feet.

"You don't need to bow to her. Besides, I'm a princess too."

"Oh, and what are you a princess of, Vulpie?" Lavender asked cheekily.

Vulpie sniffed. "I am the princess of Black."

"That's not a real title."

"So you own the entire forest?" Harry asked.

Lavender giggled again. "No one owns the forest, the forest if for everyone! But I am its princess, and when I take over for my mum, I'll have to take care of it."

"Wow! That sounds really cool." Harry said.

"Hmph. She's going to be making compost heaps and pruning shrubs. What's so cool about that?" Vulpie crossed her arms.

Lavender's expression turned even more delighted as she slung an arm around her friend's neck and brought her close enough to whisper. "Gaia! Vulpie, are you jealous?"

The kitsune glared at her friend, who just smiled smugly as she pulled back.

"Do you want to play with us, Lavender?" Harry asked.

"I actually came to see if you wanted to meet the others."

"The others?"

"Vulpie didn't mention our friends?" Lavender sent the kitsune an exaggerated pout.

"I haven't had the time to," Vulpie answered in an irritated tone.

"No biggie, we can fix that! Come on!" Lavender turned around and began to march off. Vulpie snatched at Harry's hand, gripping it much tighter than necessary as they followed the princess of the forest.

…

After a lovely meal and some fine wine, Rosmerta found herself sitting across from Lady Black and Fawkes.

The dinner had been very pleasant, but the barmaid couldn't help but feel an underlying tension. There was a very serious conversation to be had, and she couldn't help but feel like she had waded into much deeper waters than she would have liked.

"I'll admit, I was rather skeptical when Fawkes brought it up to me, but seeing the way my daughter and your son interacted…"

"Harry's not my son." Rosmerta corrected.

"My dear, he is your son in all ways that matter." Fawkes assured her. "And Narcissa, I'm glad you are willing to go down the path of reconciliation."

Narcissa frowned. "I wouldn't go that far, Fawkes. For it to be considered reconciliation, there would have to have been something to reconcile. Tell me, Rosmerta, do you think our peoples were ever on good terms?"

Rosmerta cringed. "I'd be lying if I said yes, Lady Black. Though I personally had no quarrel with you."

"Yes. I looked into you, you know, you were one of the few witches to offer our people lodging. A great act of kindness. But your kindness is a drop in the buck when measured up against the rest. Do you know that I've lost my entire family to the war? Vulpecula and I are all that remain of the great House Black."

Rosmerta bowed her head. It was a harsh reality on both sides of the war. The death toll had been enormous, and while the ministry would not like to admit it, the current wizarding population was on the verge of collapse. All it would take was a moderate outbreak of dragonpox to tip things over the edge.

Rosmerta remembered the family lines that had been completely wiped out. She distinctly remembered the twisting sensation in her gut when she'd heard that the entire Weasley family had been massacred. Arthur, Molly and their seven children, including a barely month old infant.

"It is only due to how dire our situation is that I will even begin to consider following the path Fawkes has set forth. For now, just know that we will gladly accept continued visits from you and your son, though no one else."

Rosmerta nodded easily. "There is no one else, so that's fine."

"Also, the next time Harry visits, the entire council will be present."

"Council?"

"It's our governing body." Fawkes explained.

"Its all that remains." Narcissa said morosely. "Fawkes, myself and four other clan heads. We are all that remains to govern this forest we call home."

Rosmerta tried to keep her expression even. For all she'd said she wasn't a diplomat, she damn sure felt like the fate of the wizarding world now rested on her shoulders.

…

Lavender led the way as they made their way through the forest. They passed by several small clearings, but at no point did the dense cover of trees break enough for Harry to be able to see too far ahead.

Not that he wanted to anyways. He kept glancing at Lavender, who's plant/human hybrid form fascinated him to no end. Vulpie would squeeze his hand whenever she caught him looking, digging her claws into his palm, though Harry found he didn't mind. He'd take time to look at Vulpie next to him as well, and the girl would blush slightly whenever she found herself under his emerald gaze.

Her grip on his hand never lessened, and Harry had no complaints about that.

"We're here!" Lavender exclaimed, twirling around and sending Harry a bright smile. "Welcome, Harry, to the Black Lake!"

They stepped through a final line of trees and emerged onto by far the biggest patch of flat grassland he'd encountered here, a large circle of gently sloping hills surrounding a truly massive body of water.

It was the largest body of water Harry had ever seen. He couldn't fathom how deep it was, but his mind conjured up images of sunken ships and giant squids, though at the moment, the waters of the lake were calm.

At the edge of the lake there were four figures, and as they approached, Harry saw that much like Vulpie and Lavender, they were girls that looked to be right around his age.

"Hey girls! Look, Vulpie brought a cute wizard! His name's Harry Potter."

Vulpie's ears pinned back at her friend's loud exclamation. She let go of his hand, though she still remained close to him.

The girls were looking at him with as much curiosity as Lavender had before, but Harry doubted they were as taken in as Harry. The four of them looked so different, and so interesting at the same time.

First, there was a short girl with silvery blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes. She bore aristocratic features and looked like the ideal image of a fairy tale princess. At first, Harry thought she was a witch, but upon closer inspection, he could see a faint golden halo around her head. Then, the girl unfurled a pair of small wings, covered in pristine white feathers.

She was a veela. Now that he was conscious of it, Harry could feel a sort of magnetic aura emanating from her. A small part of him wanted to lean into it, to let himself be swept away by its promise of pure bliss, but he easily managed to set that aside.

"This is Fleur Delacour! She's the veela princess." Lavender introduced.

"Hi Fleur."

Fleur was looking up at him with narrowed eyes. "Mother said you would be a drooling mess."

Harry grinned sheepishly. "Sorry?"

Fleur shook her head as she smiled. "No, I like this much better. Now I can tell mother she's wrong."

"And this is Susan Bones, the dragon princess."

Vulpie glared at Lavender. "So everyone's a princess but me?"

Susan was a big girl. She was taller than him, and her frame reminded Harry of Rosie a bit. She had a bit more fullness to her, with a cute little gut and the slightest bit more development than the other girls. Susan was wearing a black and gold breastplate that functioned more as a bra, as well as a black and gold loincloth.

She had very large coal black wings with intricate crimson patterns lining their leathery interior. At the farthest apex of each wing was a sharp, curved spike. Two curved, onyx horns also protruded from her forehead, with some of her fiery bangs falling around them.

Fiery was the best way to describe her long red hair, because it legitimately looked like it was made of living fire. Deep reds and oranges danced up and down her tresses.

Swinging behind Susan was a thick, scaly black tail. It was covered in spikes all the way down to the tip, which was dense and club-like.

Susan looked more like a warrior than a princess. She had her hands at her hips, with a pair of fangs protruding from her closed mouth as she sized him up.

"So, you're a wizard, huh?" Susan punched him on the shoulder. Her touch was light, but the force she produced was not, and Harry stumbled back as his hand went to his now throbbing shoulder.

"Hey!"

Susan seemed impressed. "You didn't cry like Lav does. I like you! You can play with us."

Harry was left confused as Susan was now smiling broadly at him while he rubbed his shoulder.

The next girl had a weird aura about her. While Fleur's promised Harry pure nirvana the nearer he drew to her, this girl's aura seemed to put a damper on Harry's mood with each step he took towards her. For a moment, he felt a fog of sadness overwhelm him.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When next he opened them, it was like the fog had lifted. He could still see the dark, gloomy aura surrounding the girl, almost as if a raincloud was following her around, but it didn't affect him.

A pitch-black robe covered most of her body, though the hood was pulled back, allowing him to see her face.

She was as cute as the other girls, with steel-grey eyes and silky black hair that was somehow even darker than Harry's own. Her skin was a pale blue, edging into grey, giving her a corpse-like appearance, along with her bluish-purple lips.

"This is Daphne Greengrass. She's the Dementor Queen's daughter." Lavender made exaggerated hand gestures as she introduced Daphne, "She's real scary."

If Daphne was irritated by Lavender's introduction, she didn't show it. The girl didn't seem to show much emotion at all, as she greeted Harry with a neutral expression and a soft, slightly raspy voice.

"Greetings, Harry Potter."

"Hey!" Harry grinned, "I'm sorry, but with your last name, I would have thought you'd be the forest princess."

Daphne blinked. The other girls giggled as the dementor girl's lips formed a thin line.

"Sorry, I'm bad at jokes."

"You are very bold." Was Daphne's response, "And you are not affected by me."

Harry glanced at her cute features and, without thinking, spat out. "I wouldn't say that."

His jaw snapped shut. Daphne seemed to have caught his meaning, and while she didn't blush, Harry swore he saw a slight shift in her cold grey eyes.

"And last but not least, we've got Delphini Gaunt!" Lavender said with a flourish. "She's… err…" the girl turned silent as she stopped halfway through her usual introduction.

The other girls seemed uncomfortable too, and none more so than Delphini.

Delphini was clearly a very shy girl. She had shoulder length raven black hair, just a shade lighter than Daphne's. Her skin was milky white, and she had large yellow eyes with vertically slit pupils that sat behind the thickest set of horn-rimmed glasses Harry had ever seen.

Delphi wore a silver tank top and skirt combo. But instead of legs, Delphini’s lower half was composed of a thick snake body with black and yellow scales that glistened under the sunlight. It seemed that her underside was yellow while her top scales were black, and her body was coiled under her in three concentric circles. Harry figured her lower half was at least six feet long, but as she stood now, she was Harry’s height.

“Hi, Delphini.”

“H-Hi.” Delphini sounded nervous, and the overall atmosphere was tense.

“I’m sorry, is something wrong?” Harry asked.

“Harry,” Vulpie stepped up next to him, “The thing is…”

“My mum is Voldemort.” Delphini squeaked out. She covered her mouth afterwards, her wide eyes looking gigantic through the thick lenses of her square glasses.

“That.” Vulpie finished, cringing as she glanced at Harry.

It made sense. Voldemort had been the leader of the creatures during the war, and while Harry had never even seen a picture of her, everyone knew she was a lamia.

There were stories about how terrifying Voldemort had been during the war, about the atrocities she had committed and the power she wielded. Many said that it was only due to Dumbledore that the wizarding side didn’t fall. Voldemort was so feared, that she was currently kept imprisoned in a secret location, designed by the unspeakables and known only to select individuals.

Voldemort had also personally killed Harry’s parents during the All Hallow’s Eve Massacre.

Harry reached out and touched Delphini’s shoulder. The girl gasped in surprise, but Harry kept her in place with his gaze.

“I really want to be friends with you, with all of you guys. And just like I hope you guys don’t blame me for what a bunch of wizards did during the war, I’m not going to blame you for what someone else did.”

Harry’s words instantly lightened the mood. Delphi smiled at him, Vulpie was looking at him with a strange, yet heartwarming expression, and Susan was grinning ear to ear.

“Alright, now that we’ve got all that out the way, you’re all gonna wrestle me!” The dragon yelled.

…

June 10, 1991

Harry had long since mastered the art of keeping his mind blank while the teacher droned on and on about nothing.

In the three years since that fateful summer, many things had changed for Harry. His life had become much more exciting, but unfortunately for him, he never was able to convince Rosie to pull him out of school.

He didn't get the point of it. They were never going to use any of this once they entered Hogwarts. The ministry grammar school was really nothing more than an extended day-care program.

At least Umbridge was no longer there. Miss Rowle wasn't great, but she was a big improvement over Umbridge nonetheless. Ever since she'd become their teacher a year ago, Harry noticed that the hateful rhetoric against creatures had simmered down immensely. Harry saw it everywhere, really. There had even been a poster up on Diagon Alley showing a furry hand shaking a human one. It had disturbed many of the wizarding folk that had seen it, and Harry was sure that the furry hand had been transfigured for the poster and wasn't genuine, but it was clear that the Ministry was trying.

They weren't trying nearly hard enough for Harry's liking, who in the past three years had shed any of the little attachment he'd had to his wizarding peers. Really, Rosie was the only person in the wizarding world he genuinely cared about.

He had long since stopped caring about his peers. The other boys had gone from shooting him glares to ignoring him, and all the other kids followed their lead. Harry had been a pariah for the past three years, and he was absolutely fine with it.

Once school was out, Harry ran off to the pub. He dropped his things in his room, grabbing the feather that lay next to his nightstand.

With a whispered word, he disappeared.

…

Harry found Vulpie sitting on a tree branch just outside of her manor. He hadn't seen Narcissa, which surprised him, as he almost always saw his best friend's mum when he arrived. He always arrived here around the same time every day when he was in school, and Narcissa was always waiting in the drawing room, having some tea.

Harry had ingratiated himself with all the ladies of the council. Even Amelia, the dragon queen who was most skeptical of allowing a human in their midst, now greeted him with a bone crushing hug.

Well, he wasn't a hundred percent sure that Lady Greengrass liked him, since the woman never spoke nor took her hood off, but Daphne assured him that her mother approved of him.

Apolline, Gardenia, Fawkes, they were all like aunts to him.

Aunts that he found to be rather sexy, but then again, he'd been having strange thoughts about the woman he considered a mother, so that was par for the course.

Vulpie hadn't spotted him. Harry had silenced his footsteps and masked his scent. He crouched down, pushing magic down onto the soles of his feet.

Over the years of running around in the forest with the girls, Harry had learnt that he could, in fact, control his magic. He hadn't been able to make it do anything too complicated yet, but he could push and pull things, as well as give it simple commands like silencing his footsteps. The more instinctual the task, the easier it was for him to shape his magic into executing it.

Like right now, where he took a single leap and exploded upward. He'd measured his power just right, the result of many failed attempts, and landed on the tree branch right next to the startled fox girl.

"You idiot!" Vulpie raked her claws down his arm.

Harry had gotten used to being scratched and bruised up by the girls. His body had grown even more solid, he was far too densely packed now to be a seeker.

"I missed you too, foxy." Harry scratched at the back of her ears. Vulpie flushed red as she pulled her head away.

"What a crass creature you are." She complained, though from the way her fur had bristled up, Harry knew she'd liked it.

Vulpie had grown from the small girl he'd met to a cute teenaged fox. Harry tried hard not to sweep his eyes over her chest, which while still small, had already begun to show signs of development.

"I didn't see your mum when I arrived."

Vulpie sniffed. "Do you come here just to see her?"

Harry grinned. "Of course not, I also come here to catch a glimpse of that sexy Madame Delacour."

Vulpie's eyes narrowed. "Dirty bastard. Mother is meeting with the council, they've been meeting a lot lately."

"Is it because of that?" Harry pointed down towards a patch of forest that had been cordoned off. More and more of these patches had been made off limits for the children over the years, and the adults never really explained why.

Vulpie shrugged. "Maybe. I'm not sure, though, I feel like its something else."

Harry noticed Vulpie's eyes drifting downward and he followed her line of sight down to his forearm, which was lightly bleeding from her scratches.

"You want it?" Harry asked with a chuckle.

Vulpie clicked her tongue. "You know the rule, I drew it. I earned it."

Harry lifted his forearm up and Vulpie held it between her hands, her grip delicate as her eyes focused on the small rivulets of blood dripping down his arm.

Vulpie's eyes almost glazed over as she leaned down and licked at Harry's forearm, lapping up the blood with her silky smooth tongue.

Harry was always mesmerized when Vulpie, Susan or Delphi did this. The three girls seemed to have a fixation on his blood, and whenever their play got too rough, they would scramble over each other to lap it up.

It was such a bizarre yet extremely intimate situation. Harry's eyes were locked on Vulpie's own as the girl cleaned up the little bit of blood that had trickled down.

Vulpie pulled back with a blush. "You don't have to stare at me, you know."

"You're drinking my blood. I think I have a right to look." Harry loved teasing Vulpie. He loved teasing all of the girls, but there was an added pleasure to seeing his best friend's cute face flush red.

"Hey! Guess who can fly now!"

Susan's yell startled them out of their moment. They looked over to see a rapidly growing dot swoop at them from the distance.

Susan was flying.

Her leathery wings were spread out, her movements were a bit wobbly but her aim was true, as she stopped in front of their tree, her wings flapping as she hovered in front of them.

Susan had grown a lot. Her chest struggled against her new breastplate. Her cute little belly, her primordial pouch, as Lavender jokingly called it, was still there, her legs were thick as trunks. Really, her entire body was thick, she was built like an amazon.

"Your aunt finally taught you? I thought she was going to wait until you started learning magic?" Harry asked.

Susan shrugged, an act that made her lose altitude. She rapidly flapped her wings to regain height. "Auntie has been acting weird lately. Anyways, the others are at Daphne's, wanna go?"

"You just want to fly there, you show off."

Susan smirked at Vulpie's words before she turned around, thrashing her spiked tail in front of them before she began to fly off.

Harry and Vulpie hopped off the tree, following Susan who was high above the canopy.

Harry waved at the centaur tribe when they passed by their territory. The centaurs were always aloof, they had not involved themselves in the last conflict, they weren't a part of the forest hierarchy, they just lived in the forest and tended to their own.

Spending so much time here, Harry had made two observations that he'd kept to himself. Despite how at home he felt here, he knew the war was an extremely sensitive subject to the elders, and he tried his best not to dig any of it up.

His first observation was just how small the population of the forest was. The centaurs were barely over a dozen in number. Daphne had said that the acromantula, who had also refused to be a part of the council but were under the purview of Lady Greengrass all the same, numbered about the same. The mermaids in the lake were at an even dozen, and Fleur had said that there was a sole unicorn, but no one had seen her in years.

Vulpie and Narcissa were all that remained of their clan, which used to include lycans, werecats and all other felid/canid beings. Besides Susan and Amelia, there were only three other dragons, all Amelia's loyal guards. Fleur, Lavender and Delphi were on the same boat as Vulpie, and Delphi's mother was imprisoned for eternity. The dementors were the most resilient of the bunch, and even they only numbered a paltry two dozen or so.

Harry knew the wizarding world had suffered a collapse. Rosmerta had shown him pictures of her graduating class, and when he compared it to the trickle of students they'd receive during Hogsmeade weekends, it was a joke.

The other observation, and the one that left Harry the most curious, was the fact that all the creatures he'd seen in the forest were female.

He'd never once bumped into a male of any species. Harry also never saw babies or younger creatures of any kind. In fact it seemed that his friends were the only children around.

He knew it all must tie back up to the war. He was desperately curious about it, but the girls knew nothing of it either.

Greengrass Manor was a tall, thin, spiraling tower that stood high off a cliff face. It was a dark obelisk looming ominously over the valley below. Above, as always, there was a dense collection of thick grey clouds, which rumbled with thunder and misted the tower and grounds with an eternal stream of pouring rain.

Susan landed just before where the rain started. Harry grabbed one of the many umbrellas that were sticking out of a specific tree trunk. He and the girls had set it up for whenever they visited Daphne’s home.

It was a tight fit for him, Vulpie and Susan under the umbrella, but Harry didn’t mind it at all. Susan pressed in behind him and Vulpie shot him a glare before squeezing in on his front, and the trio made their way to the gates.

There were two dementor guards at the front gate. They didn’t have names, none of them had names outside of Daphne and her mother, who’s name Harry had never been able to learn.

They also never pulled their hoods down. As the trio walked by the silent guards, Harry stared into complete emptiness, part of the dementor’s magic. Thankfully, adults were able to control their terrifying aura, and there was only a slight hint of gloom as the trio stepped on sopping wet grass.

Harry had been able to overcome Daphne’s aura, but it hadn’t fully developed yet. He’d wanted to try his luck against an adult dementor, but Daphne had warned him off, saying it could cause irreparable harm to his psyche.

Susan pushed the heavy castle door open and Harry and Vulpie followed behind. Harry left the umbrella leaning against the door as they made their way up a narrow spiral staircase.

There were only two rooms in this tower. Dementors had little need for amenities and comforts once fully matured. There was Daphne’s room, and there was the meeting room.

Harry wasn’t sure if Daphne’s mother even slept.

They passed by the floor with the meeting room and reached the topmost point of the spire, where another heavy wooden door was pushed open by Susan.

The girls inside yelped in surprise. They had clearly been up to something, as seen by the guilty looks on Lavender and Delphi’s faces.

“Oh, it's only you guys.” Fleur’s voice was relieved.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked, the four of them were huddled against the sole window in the room.

“They’re holding the meeting here, and we really want to know what they’re talking about!” Lavender said.

Harry, Susan and Vulpie approached the window to see the set up the girls had come up with.

There was a vine protruding from Lavender’s hand, with a flower at the end aimed squarely at the window of the room below.

"That worked?" Vulpie asked.

The girls shook their heads. "It didn't. They put up privacy wards."  Delphi said sadly.

Harry chuckled. "Well, what did you expect?" He plopped down onto Daphne's bed, "Whatever they're discussing, we'll find out soon enough. I think we need to just drop it."

"That is what I told them." Daphne said in her emotionless voice. "But they are far too childish."

"We're just curious." Delphi defended. "Do you think it's about those weird parts of the forest that are sectioned off?"

"I don't think so." Fleur echoed Vulpie's earlier thoughts. "Maybe it's a part of it, but I think it's something else, something bigger."

"Whatever, if we can't eavesdrop, then let's have some fun." Lavender plopped down on the bed next to Harry. After Susan, she and Fleur had developed the most over these three years. They already looked like they were in the middle of their teens.

Harry blushed at the thoughts that quickly invaded his mind.

There was a sniffle, and everyone's heads turned to see Delphi's lip quivering. The girl's yellow eyes, magnified as always by her glasses, were beginning to well up.

"What's wrong, Delphi?" Fleur asked.

"It's just, this might be one of the last times we hang out like this, isn't it?"

"What makes you say that?" Harry stood up from the bed and made his way over to the lamia, wrapping his arms around her waist. Out of instinct, Delphi's body partly coiled around him.

"You're going off to Hogwarts, you won't have time to come over here. Meanwhile, all of us are going to start learning magic too,"

Creature or Wizard, eleven was the age where someone's magic had matured to the point where they could safely begin practicing it. All of the girls expected to receive instruction from their mothers or guardians. Since Delphi lived with the Bones ladies, it was expected that Amelia would teach her along with Susan.

"Listen, Delphi, I don't care how much work they try to pile onto me at Hogwarts. If you don't think I'm going to keep coming back here almost every day, you've got another thing coming!"

Delphi's sad face morphed into a bright smile as she pulled Harry into a hug. Harry tried not to think too much about how her lithe torso was practically naked, with only her tank top between him and her budding chest.

"Good, because I'm going to need a practice dummy when I work on my allure." Fleur said. Harry's words had buoyed the other girl's moods as well.

"It would be beneficial for us to compare notes. The wizarding education system surely differs from mother's methods." Daphne droned.

The settled down. Vulpie pulled out a pack of exploding snaps, and the friends allowed their minds to wander away from serious topics.

…

Downstairs, the Council was holding a very pivotal, very heated meeting.

It was heated, despite all members knowing deep down that the outcome had long been decided.

"And we're just supposed to trust them, Fawkes? Send our girls off to that school with no way to protect them?" Amelia's voice was full of fire and brimstone.

The dragon-woman stood at eight feet tall, easily towering over the rest of the council. Her green and white wings were completely spread out as her tail swished dangerously behind her.

"It is a diplomatic gesture, Amelia." Gardenia Brown said gently in defense of the elderly Phoenix.

"Its a hostage situation! Clear and simple!"

The other women remained silent, but they could not fault Amelia's logic.

"The wizards have been trying to make amends," Narcissa spoke in a diplomatic tone. "They see the writing on the wall as well. While we may be in a worse position, they know theirs is not tenable either."

"Still, to leave our children among such savages." Apolline Delacour spoke up, her angelic voice sounding like a beautiful song.

"You said the same about Harry." Fawkes pointed out.

Apolline scoffed. "Harry is the exception that proves the rule."

Fawkes sighed. "The truth of the matter is, we have no choice. The wards will fail, and there is not enough magical power left on either side to keep them standing. The forest will rejoin the castle, and if we want to avoid another conflict, our best way forward is reconciliation."

Amelia grumbled while Apolline rested her chin on her closed fist. They were not happy, but they knew this was the reality.

"I've talked to Dumbledore, measures will be taken. I will also be there for them, to make sure things go smoothly."

Lady Greengrass' soft, raspy breathing could be heard through the silence that stretched on over the next few minutes.

"Fine, we'll play this your way, Fawkes. But if anything happens-"

"It won't, Amy."

"If anything happens." Apolline picked up where her friend had left off, "There comes a time where he have to choose our dignity, even over our own survival."

The veela's words hung heavy in the room as Narcissa took a sip of her wine. This situation was so fucked, there were so many ways it could go wrong.

But Narcissa agreed with Fawkes. This was the best course of action. Not because she was a pacifist like Fawkes, but because she was a realist. The status quo saw them on the fast track to extinction. As difficult as it was to swallow, they needed to survive, her daughter needed to live.

"Let's hope it doesn't get to that." Narcissa finally said.

…

Harry returned home late after another day of being with his friends. The council meeting had adjourned. The ladies had promised they would inform them about what was going on soon, leaving Harry tingling in anticipation.

The pub had long since closed. Harry made his way upstairs, heading towards his room.

He'd stopped sleeping with Rosie a few years ago. But tonight, something made him pause at her door.

He'd not spent much time with her recently.

That was his justification for opening her door and creeping into her room.

"Harry?" A voice called softly in the dark.

"I'm home, Rosie." He said.

"Did you leave something here?"

Harry shook his head before realizing she couldn't well see him with the room being completely dark. "Can I sleep here?"

There was a pregnant pause where Harry wondered if Rosmerta would reject it. There'd been no issues when he'd slept in her bed before, but Harry was very aware that he wasn't the same innocent boy he'd been back then.

He felt a ruffling of bedsheets and then Rosmerta's voice once more. "Come on in, sweetie."

Harry gulped back the knot forming in his throat as he absently shed his clothes until he was left only in his boxers, which were completely tented up.

He knelt on the bed, groping around in search of his mother when his hands touched soft, jiggly flesh.

Rosie giggled. "That's my side, Harry. Now come on, scoot on in."

Harry did just that. He hesitated for only a second before he pressed himself against Rosmerta's back.

She was wearing her usual nightgown, which meant that his hard cock pushed up against her soft ass and became lodged within her buttcheeks.

Harry waited, he waited for a reprimand, but it never came.

Rosmerta sighed softly. "Harry? Promise me you won't leave me behind."

Harry breathed into her back. "I promise, Rosie. No matter what."

"I think we can go back to sleeping like this, at least until you go to Hogwarts. Would you like that?"

Harry's cock pulsed. "I would."

They drifted off to sleep. Harry dreamt, of Vulpie on that tree, sucking on his arm with hooded eyes. He dreamt of Susan and Fleur and the others. He dreamt of Amelia and Narcissa. He dreamt of Lady Greengrass, who's face he'd never seen but who's body couldn't be hidden, even by her thick robes.

He dreamt of Rosie, and he continued to dream, until he saw things that didn't make sense, even in a dream. Things he would forget in the morning. Things that were omens of things to come.

Let me know what you think of the girls. Also, it seems I can't help myself sometimes and the horny leaks in, but still, I'm committed to keeping the smut at bay for a while longer, though there'll probably be little stuff like this last scene smattered in.