A nurtured secret

AU: I WILL be deleting the Author's Notes when I post the next chapter so chapter numbers will go back to five so please - TAKE NOTE!!! lol.

A Niggling idea


Harry put the finishing touches to his outfit with the concealment charm he needed for his nether regions. Taking a deep breath he perused his outfit, the skirt suited him perfectly and the strapless gel bra Celia had given him was not as much of a pain as he first thought it would be.

The shoes however were a worry, being high heels they made it hard for him to walk and he wobbled noticeably whenever he took a step.

His door opened as he examined this new problem and Bennie slipped in with a cute little yellow zip up case.

“Hmm” Said Bennie critically as he shut the door, “See I knew you’d have trouble with them, oh well it can’t be helped now. Walk up and down the length of the room for me.”

Harry did so almost tripping up on himself several times and having huge problems in turning round.

“Right ok, do it again but this time walk heel first, allowing your toe to quickly follow, keep your strides short and keep your back straight. If it helps swing your arms a little for balance and keep your legs together.”

Harry did this walking up and down the room again a couple of times, after awhile it did get easier. As he did so Bennie gave him tips for walking up and down stairs and on dodgy surfaces such as mud and slush.

He found, as he got into the swing of it, that the heels made him feel incredibly sexy and made his legs look a lot longer than they actually were.

“Right, enough of that, I have to do your make up; we’ve only got ten minutes you see.”

Harry sat down on the bed as Bennie indicated, and watched as he pulled out a beige looking tube.

“Aren’t you going to be dressed as a girl?” He asked realising Bennie was in suave yet distinctly male clothing.

“No, you’re going as my date.” He said, squeezing some beige creamy stuff onto the back of his hand and dabbing it with a sponge.

Harry nodded, even more apprehensive now he knew he was the only one going ahead with this crazy scheme.

“This is foundation,” Bennie said, up tilting Harry’s face and getting ready to apply it to his forehead.

“Usually girls use it for evening out the skin tone but you don’t need it for that, I’m using it to cover up your scar.”

Harry’s eyes widened. “What? You can do that?”

Bennie chuckled whilst inspecting his handiwork and then reaching for what looked like a very puffy paint brush, “Yes of course you can, did you never try it before?”

Harry shook his head and watched in apprehension as Bennie dabbed the brush in a pot of powder and then blew on it.

“This is blusher, for highlighting the cheek bones and putting colour in the cheeks, I thought I’d use Egyptian rose for you, seems to be working quite well. Sometimes girls use bronzer for this but that suits someone with my skin tone more than yours although you might want to try it if you get a tan.”

Gently he applied the blusher to Harry’s cheeks and then blended it in a little.

“Right, for eye shadow, which is the stuff girls put on their eyelids by the way, I reckon pearly white with dark green at the edges will look good on you. Close your eyes.”

Harry did so, enjoying the feeling of the applicator smoothing powder onto his skin.

However when he opened his eyes again and saw what looked to be a mini loo brush coming towards them he reared back.

“What the fuck is that and what do you plan on doing with it?”

“It’s only mascara, you stroke it onto your eyelashes to make them darker and longer, come on I’ll be careful, it won’t hurt a bit, just blink when I tell you to.”

Warily Harry submitted to Bennie’s ministration’s with the black loo brush thing (which he later discovered was called a wand ironically) and on his instructions tried very hard not to close his eyes or blink for the few seconds it took to dry.

“Is that stuff all muggle?” He asked indicating the make up bag and slowly daring to blink.

“Yeah, witches usually just apply it with their wands but it’s not half as much fun and tends to look a bit…I dunno, fake I suppose. I only do it that way when I’m in a hurry, but when you get really good like I am you can apply it in a couple of minutes.”

Harry nodded slowly, resolving to get some make up of his own, just to cover his scar if nothing else.

Excepting Bennie’s proffered hand, Harry stood up carefully and walked to the mirror, the change was amazing, he really did look stunning, his eyes looked darker and more mysterious and his lips fuller due to some kind of gloss Bennie had applied earlier.

“When you learn to do it yourself I’ll show you how to do eye liner too, now did you wash your hair like I asked?”

Harry nodded as Bennie lifted clumps of it with a critical expression on his face.
“Well we’re going to have to get you some better shampoo then and you’re going to have to start washing it at least every other day, tomorrow if all goes well tonight we’ll get it cut nicely and you can just wear it up when you’re a boy. For now all we can do is scrape it back with some gel and a couple of pretty clips or something.”

He left to secure these items and a brush, returning swiftly with a little red clutch bag in his hand.

“Really this should match the shoes but it shouldn’t matter tonight, it’s only a boxing match.”

Harry nodded taking the bag and admiring it as Bennie cruelly pulled back his hair into a pony tale, gelling the rebellious bits down and leaving a wispy fringe at the front. Securing it with a silken white hair tie, he beamed.

“There you are, all set. Dump your stuff in your bag and let’s go.”

Harry did so, taking some change out of his wallet as Bennie said not to bring it as it looked far too manly, and remembering his fags and lighter.

A few sprays of perfume later and he was carefully tottering down the stairs after Bennie, trying to avoid Dudley’s flabbergasted gaze.

“They were right, you really do look like a girl Harry, are…are you sure you want to go through with this?”

Harry nodded shyly and they stepped out into the cool night air to climb into Bennie’s metallic black Peugeot 206, Harry liked the black leather seating with silver leather piping within, very swish.

“So who are you fighting Dudley?” Harry asked quietly as they sped out of number four private drive and onto the main road.

“One of the opposing school’s, it’s not an official match as it isn’t at either of the school’s but my coach has arranged a number of them for me, it’s good practice for both sides you see. You know, get to know your opponent.”

Harry nodded and after a bit of an awkward silence decided to stick to looking out of the window.

***

Harry walked only marginally unsteadily, into the packed hall on Bennie’s arm, he couldn’t help but be pleased at the number of appreciative stares he was getting from a large percentage of the males…and the jealous glares from a fair few of the females.

Hanging onto Bennie’s arm he let himself be guided to the front row of seats, crossing his legs prettily as Bennie had told him to do, he sat with his back straight and his fake bosom sticking out just a tad and excepted a drink of coke from a passing admirer.

Bennie leant over and whispered, "Doing well ay Hal?"

"Yes, I'm really enjoying it!" Harry said with an exited smile, turning his eyes to the ring before them in anticipation of the upcoming match.

It wasn’t long before he saw Dudley clamber between the ropes, a towel around his neck and a cheer went up from the crowd, obviously he was well liked.

Another cheer went up from the other side of the room as the other boxer, a heavily built black boy, also entered the ring.

Harry’s attention wavered as he caught sight of a dark eyed gaze upon him. A rather attractive man was eyeing him up from across the room and Harry felt heat pool in his groin as the eyes slid down his legs like an intimate caress.

However he looked back to the ring as a loud groan went up from the crowd and Dudley fell after a particularly heavy jab to the side of the head.

His moment of concern was needless though as Dudley arose in seconds and delivered an equally nasty jab back.

Things went on in this vein until with one last powerful smack the black boy was down and the match was over.

Bennie leant over him to say something but Harry wasn’t paying attention; the atmosphere of the crowd on the other side of the room had changed. An evil mood was lurking over Dudley’s opponent’s supporters.

All his senses were on red alert and he felt his hand inching for his wand…but it wasn’t there. He’d left it on the bed in his room because currently his outfit didn’t accommodate it!

Spinning in his chair his hand dove inside Bennie’s jacket to grab the other man’s wand…but it was too late. With a roar the room exploded into an inferno of arms and legs, bodies all desperately trying to get to each other, hurt each other and Harry couldn’t breathe!

Suddenly strong arms were about him, warm and close and he was lifted into the air and taken at a very fast pace to the doors.

The air was cool and fresh as they burst outside and Harry gulped in huge lungful of it as he was set onto his feet.

“Ye alright now?” an Irish voice muttered close to his ear, and looking up Harry saw a dark gaze looking him over with concern.

Nodding in response he watched as the man smiled and said, “Good, couldn’t leave a pretty little lass like you in that bedlam, now if you’ll excuse me I have a little score to settle.” And with that he disappeared back inside.
Not a moment later Bennie and a black eyed Dudley rushed out the doors, “Hal, you alright?!” Bennie asked worriedly.

“You know, I think I like being a girl.” Harry said breathlessly, leaning back against the wall with a dazed smile on his face.

He continued to smile as their amused and relieved laughter washed over him.

***

“That’ll be three hundred galleons then Hal.” Celia said ringing up the total and handing him the remaining shrunken bags that held his new wardrobe.

Harry handed over his money bag with a large smile. He was very pleased with days shopping, and particularly with the gorgeous corset Bennie had suggested for evening wear, it was cream with sparkly gold lace covering it, ribbons of lighter cream lace hung strategically diagonally under the breasts and once more under that.

There was a whole host of other gorgeous things, shoes, dresses and even a coat. Harry was very much looking forward to wearing them.

After having pocketed his items he and Bennie strolled out of Diagon alley and into muggle London where Bennie proceeded to lead him to his favourite hair salon.

Before entering Harry changed into a suitable outfit in some public loo’s across the street, not wanting to have to answer any challenging questions about his gender. He chose a brown felt ¾ length sleeved shirt in loose cotton and a Beige skirt with brown lines criss crossing over it in a floaty material. For shoes he wore, muted gold/beige medium stiletto heeled courts with gold thread patterns and gold and bronze sequins, Faith of course.

Holding his gold sequin clutch bag close to his side Harry walked confidently across the street on Bennie’s arm, well as confidently as he could in heels anyway.

Entering the salon, Bennie explained what his rather ‘shy’ girlfriend wanted done to her hair and also enquired after ear piercing whilst Harry was guided to a chair.

Once his hair had been washed so that it was sleek and smooth, the lady attending to him began shape his hair into the style Bennie suggested.

He watched in amazement as gradually his previously ragged locks turned into layered, graduated, shiny tresses before his eyes. The Hairdresser had obviously put a die in his hair whilst she had washed it, because after she’d expertly cut it, she rinsed it once more and dried and straightened it. His hair now sported a red tinge under the lights and Harry smiled as he saw the opened mouthed look on Bennie’s face.

However his smile wavered when he saw the piercing gun another assistant was wheeling over on a tray.

“Oh no, I’m not having that evil looking things punching holes in MY flesh!” Harry squealed as she began to ready it with simple gold studs (as Bennie later informed him they were.)

“You’ve no choice now,” Bennie smiled evilly; “I’ve already paid for it.”

Harry squeezed his eyes shut in terror as he felt the marker pen touch his ears lightly. Painstakingly slow seconds went by before, with a sudden pinch the right ear was done, and then before he knew it the left was done to…and it was over.

“See, told you it would be ok.” Bennie said, gesturing for Harry to get up and follow him to the counter where the lady behind the desk informed him that he should clean his ears twice daily and twist the earrings regularly. Then handing him a leaflet telling him the particulars in more detail she then went on to recommend several top quality shampoos and hair conditioners designed to preserve hair colorant and to keep hair soft and shiny, of which he brought about twenty along with the ear cleaning product.

“Now,” Bennie said rubbing his hands as they walked out of the door, “Make up and a hat to hide your hair when you’re a boy and we’re done.”

***

Harry blew smoke out his nose agitatedly, glaring at the new make up set before him as Dudley bustled about cooking up them something to eat for tea.

“So this brush is for blusher, which is applied directly to the line of the cheek bones?” He said pointing to a large brush to the left.

“Correct in the last bit but no, that brush is for face powder, these are for blusher,” Bennie said indicating several different sized brushes on his right. “Now which eye shadows best suit your eye colour?”

“Brown and Green with a touch of gold, pearlescent white can also be used to make them stand out, best used with green eye shadow and black eye liner.” Harry repeated like a mantra, agitatedly stubbing out the butt of his cigarette in the ash tray and rubbing his eyes with a sigh.

“Look let him have a break now Bennie yeah, he’s got forever to learn this stuff, don’t over tax him.” Dudley said clearing a space before Harry and setting down a bowl of penne pasta and cheesy sauce.

“Alright, I just want him to know the basics is all.”

Harry ignored them as they argued good naturedly, his mind returning to the idea that had been nagging at him ever since the match last night.

Sure, it was crazy and probably not doable… but it was the solution to all his problems he was sure, it had to be worth some thought at least.

*

After dinner Harry and Dudley sat on the new veranda at the back of the house, whilst Bennie washed up the pans used for the pasta and sauce in the kitchen.

Apparently Petunia had thought a veranda would be the perfect accessory for her sterile garden, so Uncle Vernon had happily provided it for her.

Lighting up a cigarette Dudley set down his lighter and stared at Harry quizzically.

“There’s something up isn’t there Hall, you’ve been distant ever since you came back with Bennie this afternoon…he’s…he’s not pushing you into this is he? Because I know how driven he can be.”

“No, no it’s nothing like that, just an idea I’ve been dwelling on.” Harry said quietly.

“Care to share?” Dudley said with a raised brow.

Harry sighed and sparked up his own fag, taking a deep drag, he blew it out and gazed into the garden. His eyes flickering from the tiny ornamental fountain to the corner gazebo, finally they skittered back to Dudley and with a deep breath he said.

“Dudley…I think the end has come for Harry Potter.”

***

Hehe, reveiws would be appreciated, author is FAMISHED!