"So, any changes in plans?" Jacklyn asked in a hopeful tone. She still wasn't a fan of the original plan as she would be running away with the others from the action, especially when Harry finished telling her about the Malfoys probably being involved in the attack and the man hiding under the invisibility cloak. It wasn't her fault that she wanted to kick some asses and take names.
"Right now, no. We will proceed as planned, which means you won't be staying back with me…" Harry pointed out with a roll of his eyes. "You need to take them to safety… You are the only one who I can trust this with" Harry said passionately as he patted her shoulder.
"Ugh!! Fine! I will do it, but you need to plan something better for me the next time" Jacklyn demanded as she poked at his chest with her finger. She narrowed her eyes at him when she didn't receive an immediate answer from him.
"Alright! I promise" Harry promised her some action with a nod of his head. Then all of a sudden, he raised his finger to his lips… Jacklyn immediately understood what Harry was talking about and moments later, someone knocked on the door. He flicked his Wand to open the door, only to reveal Tonks standing on the other side of the door.
"Wotcher!!" Tonks waved at them as she walked in. "What are you guys talking about?" Tonks asked as she summoned a chair from the side and plopped down with a tired look on her face.
"We are talking about the money we won" Harry easily lied… It was getting easier and easier for him to lie with a straight face.
"Ohh… So, how much did you win?" Tonks asked curiously as she remembered that Harry never told anyone how much gold he was betting.
Harry thought for a moment before he decided to answer her truthfully. "3000 Galleons" Harry answered. He had some gold left from his last trip to the Diavik Diamond mines…
"3-3000 Galleons!" Tonks choked when she heard the amount. It would take her more than two years to earn that amount of gold and the boy was betting that much when he was yet to start his fourth year… 'Why is this world so unfair to poor old me?' Tonks sobbed inside her mind as there was no way she was going to break down in front of a 14 year old, no matter how much she wanted to cry… She had an image to maintain.
"Wow… That's a lot of gold. You better buy me something nice" Jacklyn breathed out with a grin on her face.
"Don't worry" Harry simply agreed as he was already planning to buy something nice for her and Brittany. "By the way, is there something you wanted, Tonks?" Harry asked as he turned toward Tonks, who was still wallowing in her misery.
She blinked when Harry called her out and it took her a moment to register his question. "Uh… yeah. There was something I wanted to talk about, privately" Tonks said as she glanced at Jacklyn with a meaningful look on her face while putting more emphasis on the 'privately' part. "Sorry, Jacky, but I promise I will make it up to you and this is really important" Tonks apologized with a pleading look on her face. Jacklyn was a nice girl who didn't hate her, so didn't want to ruin their friendship.
Harry turned toward Jacklyn and gave her a nod… She stood up and smiled at Tonks… Harry had told Jacklyn everything except about Lily, but Tonks didn't need to know that for the time being as Harry had no idea if he could trust her completely…
After Jacklyn was finally gone, Tonks whipped out her Wand and cast a Locking Charm and Privacy Charm on the door… Harry was a bit surprised when he saw the Spells Tonks used… The Spells she used were probably Auror grade Spells as her Locking Charm and Privacy Charm were probably the strongest Locking and Privacy Charm he has come across.
"It must be something very important" Harry pointed out loud and Tonks nodded her head with a grave look on her face. Her usual playful look was nowhere to be found, instead, she was looking serious… dead serious.
"Why did you act like that in front of Arthur Weasley?" Tonks asked in a formal tone. Harry could feel the tension in her voice.
"Are you interrogating me?" Harry asked as he raised his eyebrows. He might like her, but he wasn't going to play ball if she was hoping to interrogate him… Laying low has its uses, but laying low could get fucked from nine ways to Sunday if someone was hoping to make Harry do something against his wishes.
"No. Not yet, but you have to understand that Arthur and Molly aren't like other people… The two of them are Dumbledore's followers and they obviously report back to him… There is a chance that their children are already Dumbledore's followers, can't say for sure, but the thing is that they report back to Dumbledore… If you had slipped then they would have reported back to Dumbledore. There is always a chance that they might have already" Tonks explained gravely.
"Yes, I already know that… That is exactly why I acted like that and regardless of your belief, I do know what's at stake. After all, it is me who he is after" Harry answered coolly.
Tonks stared at him for the next few seconds before finally releasing a sigh… She leaned back in the chair with a tired look on her face. "...Maybe you understand, I can't be sure… Nobody can, except for you. Though 'we' can't stop worrying… We don't know what exactly Dumbledore has planned for you, but it isn't anything good" Tonks said while shaking her head.
Alastor had brought her into the fold after making her swear a bunch of Secrecy Oaths… The Oaths would protect the secrets in case she got caught and they tried to rummage through her mind using Legilimency. Tonks knew what she was getting into and while she was nervous, she was excited too… She was getting to be a part of something big and important and even though she was probably being involved because she already found out some things and her Metamorphmagus ability, she couldn't help but feel that she finally achieved something great on her own.
"I see… I will keep that in mind. Was there anything else?" Harry asked, making Tonks frown at him.
"You haven't answered my question though" Tonks pointed out. Harry was a bit surprised that she remembered that… Harry made a note in his mind that Tonks probably wasn't as dumb as he was thinking her to be. He might even need to reevaluate her threat level.
"I knew that he would probably report back to Dumbledore and I don't want to spend time with anyone who might be reporting back to him, so I had to improvise as I couldn't outright declare that I don't want to do anything with them… That would have raised flags of another kind" Harry answered with a shrug.
He could have refused to answer, but that would have made Tonks and whoever she was working for wary and Harry wanted to avoid that at this stage… He only needed to wait until Dumbledore's awesome plan to bring him back to Britain fails spectacularly and after that, he could finally start showing his true colors… For the time being, he was going to let all the chess masters think that they had an advantage. Though he wondered how they were going to react when the truth was finally revealed…
"By the way, who did you mean by 'we'?" Harry asked. Alastor was pretty vague about that, so he wondered if he could skim anything from Tonks.
"I can't tell you that even if I could have told you… We can't have Dumbledore realize that some are working against whatever he is trying to do" Tonks answered with a conflicted look on her face and Harry realized that she was probably under Oaths from her words. "Oh and please be careful around Molly Weasley, she practically worships the ground Albus Dumbledore walked on" Tonks warned Harry with a look of concern in her voice.
"Thank y…" Harry couldn't finish his words before explosions shook their tent followed by loud screams. "What the hell?!" Harry blurted out with a surprised look on his face, even though he knew what was happening…
"Wait here!" Tonks exclaimed hurriedly as she flicked her Wand to unlock the door and ran out. Moments later, Sirius rushed into the room, looking frantic and worried.
"Harry, we need to leave" Sirius blurted out, unhelpfully before he started to drag Harry out of the room. Harry started to act like he was supposed to be…
"What is happening, Sirius?" Harry asked worriedly as they could still hear the screams and explosions from the distance, but they knew that the explosions and the screams were getting close.
"I don't know, but someone is attacking the campsite" Sirius explained hurriedly before they arrived in the hall area of the tent. The others were there too, except for Tonks and everyone was looking tense and worried.
"Where is Tonks?" Sirius asked Andi, who simply stared toward the tent exit.
"Andi, I am sorry, but we can't wait. We need to get out of here!" Sirius explained with a hard look on his face. He was no longer acting goofy, but he was acting like a man in charge.
Andi wanted to protest, but Ted pulled her into his arms. "Andi, Sirius is right. We need to leave. She is a big girl and she is an Auror. She can take care of herself… I am worried too, but staying here isn't going to help her" Ted explained as he decided to be the voice of reason. Andi meekly nodded her head, she was completely out of character and now Harry could see that she might have named her daughter Nymphadora, but she loved her daughter to death.
"What about the stuff and tent?" Richard asked worriedly as he looked back toward his room.
"I will ask Doxy to get the whole tent after we leave" Sirius hurriedly explained and started to lead them out of the tent. While the house elves were free to travel through the Wards of the campsite, they couldn't take or bring any human along with them… Though a house elf could bring someone outside the Wards and then they could walk in…
As soon as Harry and the others ran out of the tent, he felt several hostile gazes focus on him. The game was finally on and Harry was going to face the challenge head-on…
========================
If you appreciate and love my work, then you are welcome to donate to support me and keep me motivated.
My P A T R E O N link is:- https://www.p a t r e o n.com/IngloriousMe
========================
My Discord Server- https://discord.gg/zdUqAGKrkm