Whispers in the Woods; Chapter 05: False Identities, Safe Locations

Author's Note: Hello there, this is chapter 5 of Whispers in the Woods.

This is a commissioned fic by Guildmaster RyanMK666. Hope you like it too. . The fic will be updated once a month and Patreon will stay a month ahead.

Also, many thanks and congratulations to our first seven holders of the Guildmaster tier: Camo, I am Lord Dems, StormFox, RyanMK666, Lyrical, Tyler and HadesReynes! 😇🥰

Now, without any further ado....Let's begin!

Author Out!

“I am Talking.” 

‘I am Thinking’ 

Spells

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Whispers in the Woods

-Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 04~~ 

~~False identities, Safe locations~~

.

Crimson eyes shone in the darkness of the vast hall as their owner glared at the man who was groveling at his feet, begging him to spare his life again. Usually, something like this would have ended with a killing curse to the man’s heart. But, Lord Voldemort was in a much better mood than that, besides the fact that the man was quite useful as well. 

“Rise, Severus.” The Dark Lord ordered, “You, for one, have the luck of being in a position where I could not place anyone else, not now at least. Your loyalty has been tested, and the results are not for those who are faint of heart. You shall live today, and if worthy, then tomorrow as well.” 

The potions professor of Hogwarts bowed deeply as he kissed the hem of his master’s robe before he took his place among the individuals that stood in the large hall of Malfoy manor, waiting for their Lord to give them instructions regarding their next task. And they knew that they would do their best to get the job done, if only to earn their lord’s forgiveness. 

“We need to bolster our ranks, and unfortunately, due to Dumbledore and the Ministry, my loyal friends are trapped in that filthy place which is only suitable for breeding worms, and pests. Not pureblood mages.” He sneered. “But we must not hasten. The ministry is yet to learn about my reincarnation, and I would like it that way till we have achieved a few goals.” 

He looked at Lucius, the man whose manor he had been occupying for the time being, and said, “Send word around the houses that were allied with us before; the Parkinsons, Greengrasses, Carrows, Rosiers and the likes. Tell them that it is time for everyone to prove their loyalty with more than just their words, and take note of the ones who did not stand with us, we shall… worry about them later.”

“It will be done, Master.” He nodded.

“Also, I want you to do something about Harry Potter,” Voldemort frowned. “That boy’s luck has helped him tremendously against us, but I am quite sure that it will end one day when he faces me. I want to know things about him like the place where he lives, who he lives with, whether the old fool trains him or not…anything that you deem important.”

“Dumbledore has hid him well, Master.” Malfoy nodded. “But I remember that he’s somewhere in the muggle areas because there have been a few… incidents, my Lord, where he has been apprehended for cases of accidental magic. I am sure that the Ministry still has the address, so it would be easy to procure.”

“I don’t care how you do it, Lucius. As long as it is done perfectly.” The Dark Lord murmured. “And I am quite sure that Severus here — and your son, of course — could tell me quite a lot about how he performs in school.”

Snape sneered a bit at the reminder of Potter in his class but outwardly he just gave a small bow while Lucius immediately nodded, “It would be his pleasure, master, to be in your esteemed company. I will send him to you whenever you wish to know more about Potter.” 

The Dark Lord nodded before he remembered something else, “Also, I seem to remember you saying something about House Black? What was it?” 

“Surprisingly, master, it was also about my son, Draco, being the heir to House Black.” Lucius gave a proud smile when his master raised his browsing surpris. “Arcturus, Orion and Walburga are dead and the only remaining male is Orion's son, Sirius Black, who is currently living as a fugitive on British isles.” 

“And your son gets his title from his relation with Narcissa, I presume?” Lucius nodded. “Excellent. This means that the complete power of the Most Ancient and Most Noble house of Black is with us now. You have indeed brought some good news, Lucius.” 

“I live to serve, master.” The elder Malfoy smiled. “Although, the goblins at Gringotts do not consider a wizard’s word unless it has been made official with the House seal, therefore they are being a thorn in letting Draco claim what is rightfully his.” 

“Did Arcturus not remove Sirius from the family?” Voldemort frowned. “I remember Walburga being quite... exuberant when she told me about the removal of her eldest son. Her youngest was to become the next Lord, was he not?” 

“The old bastard didn’t officiate his announcement with the goblins, my Lord. I think he foresaw the outcome and therefore took measures to appease Walburga at that time while securing his house later. Therefore, those filthy bankers still consider Sirius Black as the heir to the house even though he hasn’t been around any of the Black businesses for more than a decade.”

Voldemort leaned back on his throne, contemplating the consequences of the last Black’s presence in the world. He knew that the man was a fugitive, and was often believed to be his right-hand man, even though Sirius Black was as far away from being one of his Death Eaters as Dumbledore or Potter were.

“And where is this… fugitive of ours living?”

“We don’t know, my Lord.” Snape finally spoke and signaled Lucius to stay silent. “Dumbledore seems to be of the opinion that Black is quite worried about the Potter boy, and would therefore be somewhere near him. However, there have been no such occurrences to my knowledge as Black had not been seen in the castle’s premises since the time he escaped a few years ago.”  

“And what about Potter?” Voldemort smirked. “Tell me about him, Severus. I wish to know about the boy who has been fated by the gods to stand against me, and die by my hands.” 

~o}{o~

Albus Dumbledore sighed when he looked at the minister and her undersecretary who looked more like a product that was the result of a botched experiment between a human and a frog — with the frog part being more prominent. And don’t even get him started on that overly pink dress of hers, complete with so many frills and pearls that it made his robes seem dull.

“Are you sure about this, Cornelius?” The old man asked him once more. “You know I will be able to—”

“You have been doing that for decades, Dumbledore!” The minister banged his fist in an exaggerated show of exasperation. “We need a firm hand now, and as good as you are, I don’t think you have what it takes to choose a suitable professor for DADA. Which is why, this year I will personally see to the education in that subject and Hogwarts shall receive a ministry appointed DADA instructor.” 

“But Cornelius, you know how they say that the position is cursed, right? No professor, who had been asked to hold it, has held it for more than a year. And it has been like that for more than a decade.” 

“And it will stop soon!” The minister thundered. “In the last few years, your professors have left their post due to unforgivable reasons! And I believe it is the continuous change in curriculum and teaching style which has created a lack of prodigious talent from Hogwarts! Not to mention that almost all of our departments are devoid of younger individuals! Not to mention the last professor you hired was a Death Eater!” 

“How can you, of all people, blame me for a mistake that I didn’t even do, Cornelius? Or should I remind you of a certain fugitive of ours?” The old man frowned a bit. “You are accusing me as if I had purposefully chosen the impersonator. It was an accident, who would have guessed that Barty would have kept his son with him all this time?” 

Fudge looked like he was about to agree when the woman beside him interrupted them with a practiced clearing of her throat. 

“Hem hem,” She gave a sickeningly sweet smile, “Headmaster, I apologize that I have to intervene in this but I sensed a bit of hostility there. Now, I might be wrong but did you probably accuse the ministry of harboring criminals? If so, then this might be considered as a serious accusation coming from someone like you.” 

“My dear, Dolores,” Dumbledore gave a tight smile. “It seems like you are still a bit behind in language arts and their interpretation, because I don’t think that any of my words had — as you helpfully pointed out — accused the ministry, or Cornelius. I was simply stating that I am not at fault for what happened with Alastor, or Bartemius senior.”

“But according to our reports, Mr. Moody had been replaced since the first night, and surely someone who knows him as intimately as you might have suspected some of your friend’s erratic behavior?” 

“Anyone who knows Alastor could say that it would be more erratic if he didn’t behave erratically.” Dumbledore sighed, “Though I must admit that it was quite shameful of me to not guess that in the first place. I had just presumed that the changes — which I had noticed later, of course — were more of a matter of his personal suspicion regarding anything living.”

“Which means that you were indeed at fault, were you not?” She smiled again before she turned to Fudge. “Minister, now that I have heard him, I think it is even more imperative that the ministry oversees the next DADA professor at Hogwarts instead of our esteemed Headmaster.” 

Said Headmaster just gave a tired look to the insufferable toad and the gullible goblin minister, he knew that the case was now out of his hands and there was no way that Cornelius would lose this chance to send someone strong enough to control Hogwarts. He just prayed that this year things would be tamer than the last few, but for some reason he doubted that it would be the case considering that Voldemort was actually back. 

Fudge on the other hand smiled gleefully. He remembered Lucius’ suggestion that the man had given the night before, and it looked like Dumbledore couldn’t do anything this time to stop him this time. Now all he needed to do was get the child-celebrity Harry Potter under his thumb, and for that he had a solid plan in mind.

He still remembered his first official meeting with the young lad when he had run away from his home after a bout of accidental magic. It was a tedious task to get the boy’s aunt, Major or Marjorie or something, to return back to normal and then obliviate everyone who had seen that floating piece of muggle meat.

Young Harry had been afraid that he would be detained by the ministry for something like that. Thankfully he had forgiven the boy at that time and the relief on his face was imminent, it was as if he had stopped the boy from Azkaban itself! 

‘What if another incident like this had to take place…’ The minister smiled as he thought about the plan while Dolores kept on pulling the Headmaster through hoops. ‘What if Harry is forced to use magic once more? And this time it’s something big enough to warrant Azkaban yet small enough to be forgiven by the generous Minister. That would certainly put Potter in my debt, wouldn't it? Especially since this will be his OWL year!’ 

He looked at Dumbledore, the man was trying his best to get out of Ministerial interference but everyone sitting in that room knew that the old man had been cornered. The plan was perfect, and he would have to thank his friend Lucius for this. In fact, he would praise himself for the small additions that he did with the plan. 

In Fudge’s mind, the plan was quite simple; Force Potter to use magic, then pardon him after some time which will put the celebrity in his debt. After that, the ministry instructor whom they would choose would give favorable treatment to the boy at school which would cement the lad’s friendly relation with him. 

And just like that, Cornelius Fudge would have the complete support of the youngest and most famous celebrity of not only Magical Britain but also the Magical world! It was a long term plan, and there were definitely more than a few variables, yes, but the end results were damn lucrative. And Fudge would be an idiot if he didn’t make use of the opportunity that has fallen in his lap. 

~o}{o~

“See you later.” Harry said from the doorway, his hand was on the handle as he remembered something. “So, are we meeting tomorrow at the library or the park? I’ve told my guardians that I’ll be out longer than usual, so we can… uhh… I mean, if you want to, that is, go on a small outing or something like—” He stopped when the beautiful lady started to giggle at his expense. 

“Harry, we’ve been having sex for almost a month now. I’m quite sure we’re way past the silly stutters.” She giggled when the young man averted his gaze and his cheeks turned  a soft shade of rose. “Or maybe you’re only confident in the bedroom and otherwise you’re a wimp?” 

“A wimp that fucked you unconscious about two hours ago, and then sodomized that bouncy rump of yours.” He smirked when he saw how his gorgeous fuck-buddy looked down at her flip-flops. “Who’s being the wimp now, Mandy?” 

“Shut up, Potter.” She giggled. “And yes, we’ll meet tomorrow at the park first, then the library, and if you behave we might even take that corner seat you love most.” She had to bite back her laughter at the way his green eyes practically sparked in excitement at the thought of that secluded area in the library.

“Then it’s a date!” He announced happily, and leaned towards her to give her a tight hug, his hand involuntarily moving towards her bubble butt as his lips kissed her swan neck that made her clench her legs. She took the bait, deciding to play along and licked his neck a bit, knowing quite well that it was one of his erogenous zones that he still hasn’t been able to control. 

Harry was about to raise the stakes, his fingers playing with the hem of her cream colored camisole when she decided to push him away, her face red and her eyes sparkling with lust. She controlled herself and then gave him a small peck on the cheek. 

“Can I ask one more, please?” He said, and his tongue rolled over his lower lips. “And this time, I want to taste you as well.” 

For a moment she raised herself onto her tip-toes and leaned in a bit, her soft pink lips slightly parted with the tiniest hints of tongue peeking out from behind her perfect rows of pearly white teeth. It seemed that she was about to fulfill his wish to have her lips over his, but then just as they were about to meet, she turned her face and planted her lips onto his strong jaw instead. 

He opened his bright green eyes and they fell on the insidious curve of Amanda’s lips, the woman was smiling at him while looking from beneath her long eyelashes as if she was waiting for something. The poor lad couldn’t help himself anymore and asked, “What was—” He began only to stop when the girl burst out in laughter, clutching her stomach as she chortled delightfully.

“Oh that was so good!” Mandy spoke between her giggles, “I-I can’t even think of anything, Harry!” She cried in joy, droplets of tears forming in her eyes as she made fun of his anticipation to get what he so desired. 

Unfortunately, for her, instead of blushing a bit and then leaving the room — and the house, obviously — Harry chose to do something opposite to what he would have done if this had happened a few months earlier. 

The young man gently grasped her hand, he unlatched her fingers as he rested his hand on her waist, his calloused fingers sinking in her supple flesh as he ignored her gasp of surprise and pushed her against the wall of the living room. 

“Harry, what are you…” She stopped when he placed his finger over her lips, successfully silencing her query as he dipped his face, his eyes devouring her pouty lips before they traveled up to look into her wide blue eyes. 

He smirked at her surprised visage and softly whispered, “Stay silent, Mandy, because I think it’s time for me to finish what you started.” And with that he slowly removed his finger from her lips which were quickly replaced by his own soft ones as his right hand caressed her waist while his left traveled up the small of her back.

Mandy moaned in his mouth, her thin arms latching onto his larger frame as they ventured all over his back and into his messy black locks before she parted her lips, their tongues mashing together in a frenzy of lust that stoked their hunger for each other as the two lost themselves in the heated kiss. 

After what felt like eternity, the two individuals separated, a blush on their cheeks and flames burning in their eyes as they held each other close, not daring to say anything in fear that their magical moment would shatter to pieces. 

Finally, Mandy was the one who couldn’t keep her eagerness and spoke earnestly, “So…” She grinned, her baby blue eyes sparkling with lust for her man, “Do you want to take this upstairs or does the couch look perfect to you as well?” 

Harry gave a low chuckle, the sound emanating from deep within the confines of his throat as his hands dipped a bit below and grabbed onto each of her soft arse cheeks, fingers sinking in the supple flesh of the clothed delicacy as he lifted her up, going straight for the couch while she squealed with joy. 

~o}{o~

It was late in the evening, the last of the summer sun dropped beneath the horizon as birds returned to their nests — to their waiting hatchlings and unhatched little ones still protected in the comfort of their shells. 

Even the number of cars on the street as well as the tired pedestrians traversing on the pavement started to dwindle out under the soothing shade of the Sycamore and the Silver birch trees that shadowed the roads under their thick rustling canopy of leaves. The warm breeze of early August had started to cool down so as to welcome the beautiful autumn season that would cover the landscape in a dazzling display of colors, more prominently, orange with dashed hints of red, yellow, and brown.

“See you later, Potter.” 

The young man smiled, his emerald eyes shined with mirth as he picked up his bag full of books, notes, and several other assorted items. 

“Good day to you as well, Eren.” He grinned, “Say hello to Teddy from my side. How old is he, by the way?” 

“Eight, and the little tyke is as full of energy as his dad!” Eren exclaimed, joyfully pumping his fists in the air. “You should visit him some day, he misses you a lot.” 

“I so want to, but… well, you know how they are, right? They don’t want me to go anywhere else other than here in the library and the park.” Harry shrugged, only to notice the frown on the old librarian’s forehead, “But, you don’t have to worry, I’ll surely visit Teddy and you before I have to leave for school again.” He nodded, encouragingly. “Actually, how does Friday sound? I’ll be free and my relatives are going out as well.”

“That sounds good.” Eren nodded, “Also, how about we surprise Teddy? He’ll open the door and find you on the threshold.”

“He always loved surprises like that,” Harry nodded, remembering the little boy who used to come to the park with the librarian, Mr. Eren, and how the two played together. 

“Alright then.”

The two men shared a small nod of mutual respect and polite fondness as the old librarian went back to filling records of the books that had been returned, and the small number that had been borrowed. He sighed despondently when he noticed that more and more people were leaving the knowledgeable sanctity of the book house as the wave of modernisation complete with the computers and their games and the televisions had started to occupy the young minds of children who preferred the loneliness of their homes more than the company of the books. 

He prayed that his son Teddy would not disappoint him by becoming a product of the social recluse, and would rather be an outgoing boy who actually lived with his head held high and full of actual knowledge from the books, rather than the moronic sitcoms that were aired on the television, and the computer games which were, in his opinion, corrupting the soft and malleable minds of the younger generation.

Eren saw the broad back of his favorite patron who closed the door behind him as the young man left the library. Oh how he wished that his own son, Teddy, would one day become a young and handsome gentleman like him with almost no flaws, and a perfect politeness to his words. 

Yes, he knew what the neighborhood rumor mill said that the poor lad was actually ‘A criminal!’, but that was all, in his opinion, an utter load of crap since he had witnessed the young man from the day he used to be his Teddy's age and never once had the boy stepped out of line. Not even when that dumb cousin of his picked on him with his group of hooligans. 

‘Such a simple boy with so much pain in his eyes.’ Eren thought as his eyes fell on the green poster that the boy had gifted a few weeks ago, the words said what he wanted every young reader to live by: Each time you open a book and read, a tree smiles knowing there’s life after death.

Indeed they were the words that every young reader should live by. 

.

Harry was walking on the pavement, his boots making a soft ‘clack’ sound as they hit the rough asphalt beneath them. The young man looked around himself at the empty street near the Magnolia crescent which was completely devoid of any other human. 

It was understandable since no one wanted to dawdle when they could simply rush to the comforts of their homes and families. After all, not everyone was as ‘fortunate’ as him, right? Yet, he didn’t let that rather depressing thought bother him at all as he whistled a famous wizarding song called ‘This is the night’ by The Weird Sisters as he walked around the bend.

He looked up at the clear night sky that showed a plethora of twinkling stars smiling merrily on the passersby beneath them, the light from the half-moon, the stars and the street lamps illuminated the path ahead of him. He could smell the rich aroma of the soft pink flowers of Dahlia and the star-shaped blossoms of the Clematis mixed with the ever pleasing scent of the lilies and roses. 

It was pleasing, soothing and at the same time fascinating how nature bloomed around them. Even when they didn’t pay it any heed, not even when the fresh and crisp floral scent filled the air around them.

Harry took in another deep breath and once he felt that he couldn’t inhale any further, he released it all as slowly as he had inhaled it. To his surprise the air that came out was slightly more foggier than the last one which he had released a couple steps back. He knew that the seasons were slowly going to be colder, and that the nights are obviously more cold than the days, still, the speed with which the air was cooling around him was quite shocking. 

He looked down at his hand, and noticed that his fingers were shivering a bit, which was surprising considering the fact that he was sweating just five minutes ago when he had left the library, he touched the back of his shirt and found that the wet sticky cloth was not only dry but frigid to the touch.

His breath started to fog more, and he could feel the cold slowly seep into his bones through the thin layer of his cotton clothes and the warmth of his skin. It felt as if someone was sucking in all the warmth, as if someone was deliberately releasing the coldness into the atmosphere around them. 

The young mage frowned when he found that the aroma of flowers that he had been enjoying a while ago had disappeared completely, and, in its place was this dense cloud of… something… that he didn’t like at all. The cloud made him feel awful, as if there was no joy in the beautiful world. The daisies were dead, the roses rendered useless and the lilies had lost their beauty altogether. 

It felt as if he was being burdened by the monsters of his past, the vengeful claws of his memories ripping his happiness to shreds. The stench of piss from his old cupboard, the feel of flesh burning under the palm of his hand when Quirrell died, the hopelessness when he stood and watched as Voldemort was resurrected and the fear of death as he embraced the Killing Curse. 

He could feel it all.

Feel every single one of them separately, and together at once.

It was as if hopelessness had embraced him, as if the world was about to die and there was no happiness or joy left in its useless existence. It was as if his whole life was a lie, or a false truth made of delusions and he was just really sleeping inside his cupboard waiting for his aunt to wake him up for his cousin’s eleventh birthday. 

The feeling was quite unique, and yet he felt as if, once upon a time, he had been quite intimate with this particular sense of depressing self. In his relatively short life, there had been more than a few instances where he had to learn something the hard way — particularly during his years under the guardianship of the Dursleys. But there had only been a few times where he had felt those emotions be strong enough to make him shiver in misery and disgust.

Most prominently was the time during his third year at Hogwarts when he came to learn of the existence of one of the worst creatures in the magical world that fed off the emotions of happiness and, in its place, left utter sorrow, hopelessness, and self-hatred. 

The gatekeepers of Azkaban, or commonly known as — Dementors.

But how did he know that the cause for this abrupt change in his mind was because of a Dementor of all things? Simple, because the said thing was floating above the ground just a few meters away. 

His emerald eyes bulged in fear, his hands began to twitch, grasping for his faithful holy wand. He looked back at the thing that was slowly approaching him, as if it was playing with its prey, toying with him before it would feast on his soul.

‘What is a fucking dementor doing in a muggle area?’ Harry thought as he started to sprint towards his home, ‘And that too, so far away from Azkaban?’ He chanced a look at the floating creature once more and saw that the Dementor had also decided to stop playing around and had sped up as well. 

He crossed the crescent turn, and sprinted towards the small tunnel which would bring him closer to his home. He was immensely grateful for his quidditch as well as personal training that he had done during the past few months. It had highly increased his stamina as well as strengthened his legs enough for him to make a run.

Harry knew that if he wanted to, he could simply call prongs and then the Dementor would be forced to scram, but that came with its own problem of doing magic outside school. It would not only break the Statue of Secrecy, but he remembered the warning letter that he had received during his second year when Dobby had used magic at Privet Drive. 

The letter had explicitly stated that the next time they found out he did magic, he would immediately be expelled from Hogwarts. Something that he didn’t want happening, which meant that all he could do, at that moment, was to run as fast as he could towards Privet Drive and then lock all the door and windows so that the Dementors could be kept while he called for Dumbledore or someone else to deal with them. 

He looked back once more and was surprised when he noticed that the Dementor following him had come to a halt, he frowned at that because as far as he knew a Dementor’s thirst for emotions and souls was never quenched on its own. Which meant that there was something else that he didn’t know or he was missing it completely.

Unfortunately he didn’t need to ponder for long as the answer to his query floated in front of him in the shape of a skeletal figure covered in black tattered robes, its face nothing but an open mouth with eyeless sockets that started into a void which would consume anyone if they were foolish enough to get trapped within. 

Yes, there was a second dementor that stood at the mouth of the empty tunnel, waiting for him to come to it while the first one chased after him from behind. 

The tunnel was a trap, and he had blindly walked into it. There was no way he would have ever thought two mindless creatures such as dementors being able to plan a trap like this. 

He looked back and saw that the first one had started to move once more, while the second one hovered in front of him at the mouth of the tunnel. It was as if the latter was smart enough to realize that the prey was bound to run towards it as there was no way he would let his soul get sucked by the approaching Dementor. 

Harry felt his right hand heat up. He glanced down to see his wand was vibrating as it let out an angry stream of crimson sparks. He knew that the wand couldn’t speak, but, for some reason, he knew that the wand wanted him to use it. To use the magic inside of him, push it out of the wand’s mouth in the form of the Patronus charm so that it could save him from the two soul eaters that had decided to trap him in the tunnel.

He thought about the consequences once more, the letter of expulsion, the statue of secrecy and his mind supplied the images of Hogwarts, his teachers and his friends. Finally, when the Dementor was just a few meters away from him, he pointed his wand at it and said, “Expecto—”

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!” 

A flash of blinding white light followed the female chant of the spell, and he looked behind himself as the Dementor waiting for him at the mouth of the tunnel howled in pain and discomfort while it was being pushed away from an almost opaque white shield of the Patronus charm. 

Within seconds the dementor fled from its position and the caster came into view. The woman’s face was etched in worry as she sprinted towards him, meeting him halfway while her wand — and the shield stayed fixed between them and the other Dementor. 

“Are-are you alright, Harry?” She asked, “I’m so sorry! I should’ve never left you! It was that fucking Dung’s duty to escort you today, but it seems like he ran away to get a drink or probably sell something in Knockturn. If Dumbledore spares him then I will kill him for this, I guarantee you!” 

“Wha—” he blinked, then he looked towards the wand that was shielding the two of them from the Dementor, and then back at the beautiful blonde girl with baby blue eyes whom he had been fucking for the past month. 

“Ma-Mandy?!” He squeaked in shock, “What…what is the meaning of this?” He pointed at her wand, “Are you a—”

“ —witch? Yes.” She nodded, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. “But I will tell you about it in a few minutes because right now there is something else which is more important.”

“What?” 

“Your safety.” She said, and pulled out the thin silver chain with the locket from beneath her T-shirt and showed it to him. “Hold the locket tightly,” she told him, and he did. “I suppose you know how a portkey works, right?” 

He nodded in consent. 

“Perfect.”  She smiled and the Patronus shield disappeared from behind, “Sanctuary.” 

The moment she said the word, he felt a harsh tug at the back of his navel and he felt the familiar feeling of being squeezed inside a thin tube while the two of them vanished from the tunnel with a loud ‘POP’. 

The next time when Harry opened his eyes, his face was planted into the familiar softness of  the couch of number-eight—Mandy’s home. While the girl in question rushed over to the hearth. 

Harry watched her as she ignited the logs within before she opened out the drawer over the fireplace and threw a pinch of something — most likely, floo powder — into the fire.

As expected, the orange and yellow flames of the hearth turned bright green when the connection was established to wherever she wanted to talk to, and then Mandy pushed her face inside it, probably conversing with them.

Throughout this Harry could only watch as he sat on the very couch that he had fucked Mandy on yesterday night. He was utterly flabbergasted at the quick realization that Mandy was a fucking witch! And, for some reason, she knew Dumbledore as well as some ‘Dung’ guy who was supposed to escort him in the evening. 

Before he could think more on it, the beautiful woman came and sat beside him on the couch in complete silence. 

“Mandy…..what?” He whispered. “What is….I don’t understand anything.” 

The woman gently took hold of his hands in hers and released a deep breath, as if readying herself for saying something that would either make complete sense to him or shatter his mind to pieces. 

“You’re currently in the seventh, and the most important as well as protected safehouse of the Order of the Phoenix,” She said, with a completely straight face. “I am your Auror escort and temporary magical guardian, Hestia Jones. You, and the neighborhood of Privet Drive, know me by my pseudonym, Amanda Jane Hudson, or Mandy.” 

Harry blinked once more, and he knew that he had been correct. The information she had just revealed completely broke him, and all he could say was just one word that he had been repeating a lot more than usual in the last ten minutes…

“What…”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ending Note: There you have it fellas, chapter Five of Whispers in the Woods, hope you liked it.

This fic is commissioned by Guildmaster RyanMK666. And it will be updated once a month. Every month.

Liked it? Loved it? Needs some changes? Please, do tell.

I am waiting for all your comments. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Those who have joined my discord server, please tell one of the mods or me about it in the server to get the patrons role, I am most active in my server so you can freely ask anything there.
Link: https://discord.gg/Gcbcv4dxGx
Name: Dev Black's Empire

Thank you for reading and comments.

With regards,
Dev Black