31Harry paused for a few moments as he contemplated Dudley's request to join him at the park. He had to admit, Dudley's actions to help with his chores were certainly unexpected, but could he really trust his sudden change in behavior or was he just trying to lull Harry into a false sense of security with a nasty surprise waiting for him at the park? "Give it some thought. You are welcome to come," Dudley told Harry, then he turned to his friends. "Be right back guys, just grabbing something for lunch," Dudley said before going inside.
Harry followed Dudley inside. Dudley pulled out a very good-sized picnic basket and loaded it up with sandwiches, fresh fruit, crisps and snack cakes. "Nora said she had a talk with you. What did she say, exactly?" Harry asked.
"Ah!" Dudley paused in thought. He blinked several times and looked down at the basket. "She, ah, just pointed out," he paused again. "what, ah, terrible cousin, I've been, and she is right."
"That's it?" Harry questioned.
"Yeah, I am hoping we can bury the hatchet." Dudley put out his hand to shake Harry's hand. "Be more like friends. Please?"
"Ok." Harry gave a quizzical look. He didn't believe that explanation for one minute, but reluctantly he shook Dudley's hand.
They returned outside to Nora and Dudley's other friends. "Are you coming? There is plenty of food for everyone?" Dudley repeated his offer.
"Are you sure you want to go to the park. You could come over to my place instead?" Nora smiled at Harry.
"Looks like you got a better offer," Dudley said what his friends were thinking.
Harry stared at Nora. "Wait, earlier you wanted me to go to the park with you," Harry began to say. Were it not for the fact that he now suspected Nora used an imperious curse on his cousin, he would have agreed with Dudley, but this was shaking his trust in Nora.
"Well that was before," Nora stopped talking and breathed deep. She bit her lip realizing no she couldn't blurt out that this was before she realized her crazy aunt might be lurking around at the park. "I mean, a girl has a right to change her mind, right?"
"How about you come with us instead," Harry offered. He knew Nora didn't want him dead. She could have achieved that the very first day he met her. She obviously did something to Dudley, that at least for now, was working in his favor, but something was off about her. Clearly, she was hiding something, so until he was sure what that is, he felt it best to be cautious.
"Definitely ok with me." Dudley nodded. "We would love to have you come."
"Sure, I would love to," Nora lied, while shaking her head side to side.
As they went, Nora remained focused on looking out for her crazy aunt. She wanted to be sure Harry would be safe. They brought several large blankets and spread them out on the ground under the shade of a tree.
Nora and Harry sat on one of the blankets next to the big picnic basket. Harry could tell Nora was preoccupied as he had to repeat himself three times before he got an answer from her to even the simplest of questions.
Then Nora spotted her crazy aunt approaching the area and almost had a panic attack. If Bellatrix were to see and recognize Harry, it would be a disaster. She had a split second to think of something.
Nora pushed Harry down onto the blanket perfectly, so his head was behind the picnic basket. She saw the confused expression on Harry's face, and obviously he was going to stand up and ask why the heck she had pushed him... but she needed him to stay down, out of Bellatrix's sight. Again, she had another split second to decide how to do that, and the first thing that came to her mind was leaning down too and planting her lips on his in a long and slow kiss.
'Do whatever it takes to keep Harry safe,' Nora thought to herself as she kissed Harry.
Nora came back up first. She looked around very quickly and saw no more sign of Bellatrix. Harry sat back up again. "I don't know what got into me. Sorry. I was way out of line," Nora apologized to Harry.
Harry stared at Nora trying to contemplate her motives. Was she using a love potion on him, or was his feelings natural for an attractive girl? Harry wasn't sure.
Later that evening, Dudley's odd behavior continued. He set the table, helped with serving the food and even helped do dishes. He even invited Harry into his room, and they played Mortal Kombat. Dudley played Sonya Blade and Harry played Subzero.
"Looks like you got a girlfriend," Dudley said with a bit of a snicker.
"Maybe, I am not so sure. What do you think of Nora? Do you think she is pretty?" Harry asked.
"No," Dudley said.
Harry looked at Dudley, which disrupted his concentration on the game. He was very surprised at Dudley's answer. Now he was starting to wonder if Nora was just an average looking girl altering his perception of her by using magic. Sonya Blade blew a kiss.
"Gotcha!" Dudley snickered. "Pretty is way too weak of a word. Nora is gorgeous. I will bet her kiss was way more pleasant than that one." Dudley pointed to the television screen.
"Definitely!" Harry nodded as he watched his character in the game's flesh burn away revealing a skeleton underneath.
"Sonya Blade wins. Fatality." The videogame declared.
"Nora is clearly into you. You should ask her out already," Dudley said
"I am not so sure," Harry said. She seemed too good to be true and it still bothered him that she was hiding something.
"You know I used to joke about you being gay, but I never really believed you were. Now I am not so sure," Dudley said.
"Thanks a lot," Harry scoffed at that.
"Just kidding, of course." Dudley chuckled. "Let's play again. I would like this to be a little more of a challenge though." Dudley took the time and taught Harry how to trigger the special moves. They played a few more games before Vernon finally broke them up and sent them both to bed.
Meanwhile, Nora drew the curtains again and reverted her appearance back to Tonks and contacted Professor McGonagall. "My aunt is still snooping around the park. Harry was there too," Tonks explained.
"Is he ok?"
"Yes, don't worry. I, ah," Tonks paused and looked away knowing that she could be seen on the other end. She blushed then explained slowly and deliberately with a lack of detail. "I made sure my Aunt didn't see Harry."
"Excellent." Professor McGonagall nodded in approval. Tonks breathed a sigh of relieve that she didn't ask exactly how she managed that. If Professor McGonagall knew exactly what Tonks did, she would probably assign someone else for this task, so of course, Tonks realized she needed to be careful.
"You certainly came a long way from your carefree, irresponsible days at Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said.
"Right." Tonks gave a cheesy grin. Of course, this wasn't exactly an epiphany for her, since she always knew she enjoyed misbehaving and this incident with Harry was no exception. She knew it was wrong and perhaps that made it even more exciting to her. Not only did she enjoy that kiss, she wanted to kiss him again. She did her best to clear that thought out of her head. "We need to do something about Bellatrix." Tonks changed the subject.
Professor McGonagall agreed and they began discussing a plan.
That evening, Harry couldn't sleep. All he could think about was Nora and that kiss. Of course, being a teenager with hormones, he wanted to kiss her again. He very much enjoyed it, but the rational side of him wasn't sure he could trust her. She was definitely hiding something.
The next morning, Harry told Dudley that he was going out for the day but didn't tell him where he was going or why. He only stated that he had something important to do and he wasn't sure how long it would take.
Half an hour later, someone knocked at the door of Dursley's house, and Dudley went to answer.
"Hi, Dudley," Nora said, "Is Harry here?"
Dudley didn't respond at first, drooling at the sight of Nora, until she snapped her fingers near his face.
"Oh, Harry? No, sorry, he will be gone all day. But maybe I could keep you company instead of him," Dudley said in a flirting tone. Where the day before Harry said he wasn't sure he was going to ask Nora out, Dudley himself wouldn't lose the opportunity if given the chance.
"Oh, no, that is ok. It's something personal with Harry," Nora said with a small smile.
"You like my cousin, right?" Dudley asked, half of him disappointed because he realized he had no chance while the other half was happy for Harry.
"Of course, I do," Nora answered without giving it much thought. "I just hope I didn't scare him away."
"Not at all. He really just had his own stuff to solve today, but definitely will be here tomorrow," Dudley said.
Nora returned home, took on Tonk's appearance and contacted Professor McGonagall immediately. Since they knew Harry would be out for the day, this created a perfect opportunity to lead Bellatrix away from that park once and for all. Tonks altered her appearance again, this time to look like her other Aunt Narcissa.
She went to the park and looked for her crazy Aunt. She was there about two hours before she finally spotted her. "Hello," Tonks approached Bellatrix looking like Narcissa. "I hoped I might find you here."
"What are you doing here?" Bellatrix asked.
"We did find out where young Mr. Potter did live, but they since moved."
"Young Mr. Potter?" Bellatrix narrowed her eyes and looked her over. "Any idea where to?"
"Yes. I can give you the address." Tonks handed her a slip of paper with a phony address written on it.
"So, how did it go in Germany? Were you able to recruit the witch?" Bellatrix asked.
"Of course." Tonks answered, having absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "But it is not important we discuss that now. I will meet you there."
"Oh, no, will go together," Bellatrix insisted. She grabbed Tonk's arm.
Tonks shook her arm free of hers. "I would prefer to meet you there."
"You either come with me or we are not going," Bellatrix laughed.
"Fine," Tonks let out a sigh, getting that itchy feeling she was making a mistake.
Bellatrix led Tonks away to a secluded spot. They were soon joined by three other death eaters.
"Mrs. Malfoy, what are you doing here," one of them asked her.
"She is a spy," Bellatrix declared. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Tonks.
'Crap,' Tonks thought to herself.
A/N
I would like to thank everyone who favorited, followed and – or reviewed this story. I would also like to thank CSGT and Chaos Snow Kitsune for his help with this story.