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A/N People seem to be demanding more Transformers in the reviews. I can understand that but for the time being I'm trying stick with the whole "Robots in Disguise" concept. No worries though. The Transformers will reveal themselves very soon and the majority of this fic will feature them extensively alongside the Harry Potter characters.
Chapter 3: Happy "Family"
"Harry? Are you in here?" Harry woke up to the sound of insistent knocking. Realizing that he had fallen asleep on his living room couch, he hurriedly adjusted his glasses and made his way toward the door. To his delight he found two of his favorite people standing there: Hermione Granger and Ted Lupin.
"Haaaaawwwwyyyy!" Two year old Ted Lupin waddled over and Harry scooped him up.
"Heeeey! How's my godson?" said Harry. He cuddled Teddy closer causing the two year old to laugh.
"He's been behaving like an angel," said Hermione as she walked into the flat. The bushy haired buck toothed girl had grown into a lovely woman with flowing brown hair and chocolate colored eyes which sparkled with gold. "Haven't you Teddy? You were an angel for Auntie Hermione right?"
"Yaaaay!" said Ted. Harry had to laugh at that.
"Thanks for looking after him over the week," said Harry. He sobered. "I'm not sure if now was a good time to return though. You've heard about what happened at Diagon Alley yesterday right?"
Hermione frowned. "Actually I haven't. Attending muggle university at Cambridge sometimes places you out of touch of the Wizarding World. Why? What happened?"
Harry sighed. "I hate being the bearer of bad news," he said. "Come on. I'll show you in my pensieve."
* * *
About fifteen minutes later Hermione sat in stunned silence, the pensieve's image retreating back into the basin. "I-I can't... believe it."
"It's all true," Harry said gravely. "Most of the buildings have been repaired and the debris cleared up but nothing can hide all those deaths."
Hermione nodded solemnly. "And this was done by those... robots?"
"Yeah, that's what it looks like."
"B-but robots?" exclaimed Hermione. "How is this possible? There's nothing on Earth that advanced. The level of artificial intelligence is astounding; I mean it looks like they're sentient. I can't even begin to comprehend the amount of RAM required for the DATA processing alone as well as the requirement of a CPU and Operating System that could withstand this much information. This is a level of advanced quantum physics beyond anything I've ever seen."
Harry stared at his best friend incredulously. "OK, you lost me there." He shook his head and said, "Never mind, I think I get the general idea." He then voiced another possibility he had considered: "Do you think a dark wizard or witch is behind this?"
Hermione frowned. "It's possible. I mean, I wouldn't dismiss the idea. But then, why use robots who transform into muggle mechanics? That just doesn't strike dark wizard to me. And the level of sentience they displayed seems too advanced, even with magic."
"Hmm, a sentient robot. Sounds like something out of a Sci-fi movie," said Harry. "Or maybe like that author. What was it, Asimov?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "This is nothing like Isaac Asimov. He wrote the 'three laws of robotics'. If these robots lived by the laws they wouldn't be able to harm the people in the first place." She paused before saying, "Have they identified what was stolen from Gringotts yet?"
"No. The bank is completely trashed and a lot of goblins were killed."
Hermione sighed and said, "If we could find out what was stolen, we might be able to figure out what they are after."
Ted toddled up to Hermione and started tugging on her skirt. "Hewme," he said, not yet being able to say 'Hermione', "Hungwwy. Hungwwy."
Hermione chuckled and said, "You wouldn't mind continuing our discussion over lunch, would you?"
"Of course not," said Harry. "Come on, I know a good place nearby where we can get some Chinese."
* * *
It wasn't the first time Harry had gone out on an outing with just Hermione and Ted. In fact it was one of the favorite things he liked to do. During those days just barely after the war had ended Harry and Hermione had spent many a weekend together in Hyde Park with the infant Ted in a stroller. Those were peaceful days, away from the hustle and bustle of the Wizarding World, away from the flashes of magical cameras and Daily Prophet reporters. There, Harry could simply be Harry, not Harry Potter the Boy who lived, the Chosen One, the vanquisher of "You-Know-Who".
Inevitably, being a young man and a young woman with a baby in the stroller led to various misconceptions. People often came over to them saying what a lovely family they made. Saying they weren't married in response often led to disdainful or disapproving looks from the patron while saying they were only babysitting led to looks of disbelief. Eventually, Harry and Hermione decided to simply play along and pretending they were married became something of an inside joke and hobby between them. Still, the patrons were sometimes bewildered whenever they noticed neither one was wearing rings.
The number of weekend outings decreased after Hermione moved to Cambridge and Harry joined the Auror Program. Therefore, the two spent almost all of their free time together during these outings. The result of this was that almost their entire relationship now consisted of the flirtatious dialogue and interactions they maintain whenever they were pretending to be a married couple. This had led to many an argument between them and their Weasley significant others.
That day was no exception as the two took little Teddy Lupin out to the nearby Chinese restaurant. Ted was shrieking in laughter as he walked in between Harry and Hermione, both of his hands in each of theirs. Harry and Hermione smiled over Ted's face. Hermione's smile however quickly turned into a frown when she saw something on the street. "Are those driverless cars over there?"
Harry looked toward the street and was surprised to see the same yellow Camaro he had seen yesterday, only it was now accompanied by two more driverless cars: a silver Pontiac Solstice GXP and a Ford Mustang Police Car. The three cars drove past Harry, Hermione, and Ted and disappeared down the street. "Yeah, it was," he said.
"Oh honestly, some wizards just have no sense," said Hermione, shaking her head. "The stature of secrecy exists for a reason. Charming cars to drive around on their self is just asking to get us noticed, meaning more work for the obliviaters. Furthermore, I think that police car was an American model, not a British one. That's bound to be even more noticeable."
"Well, I didn't quite notice the model of the police car," said Harry. "The yellow one though: I saw the same car just outside of my flat yesterday."
"Maybe they're drawn to magical power," said Hermione. "Perhaps we should tell Arthur."
Harry snorted. "Fine with me. But knowing him, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who charmed them himself." This prompted a laugh out of Hermione. Though Ted didn't understand what Harry and Hermione were laughing about, seeing them laugh was a delightful experience for him and he started shrieking in joy.
Not too long afterward, the three were sitting in a local Chinese restaurant enjoying their meals. Ted seemed to want to wear his food more than he wanted eat it as Hermione gently scolded him for that. Harry was amused by the exchange and chuckled.
"Boy, if you're like this with him, I wonder what you'll be like with your own children someday."
Hermione looked somewhat surprised. "Where did that come from?" she asked.
Harry frowned before saying, "From some strange and weird dreams I've been having. Maybe it's a possible future from a parallel universe or something. But then, for all we know our universe might be the alternate one and that one might be the 'real' one. Who knows?"
"What's it about? Anything horrible?" asked Hermione.
Harry snorted. "That would depend on your point of view. You're married to Ron with two kids named Hugo and Rose. I'm married to Ginny with three kids: two named after my parents and one named after Dumbledore and Snape."
"Snape? As in Severus Snape?"
Harry chuckled. "Don't get me wrong. I may have a lot more respect and admiration for him now then in the past but I'm not about name a kid of mine after him."
Hermione also chuckled before her face turned downcast. "Well I guess that really would be an alternative universe. I don't think Ron and I will be happening."
"What? Why?"
"Because we barely have any time to see each other and whenever we do all we ever do is argue. We have practically nothing in common: all he ever talks about is Quidditch and he never listens to a word I say about my studies at Cambridge. The only topic we ever really can talk to each other about is you."
Harry had never been comfortable with the idea of Ron and Hermione dating due to the possible aftermath of a breakup. Now it looked as if that was only a matter of time and he didn't know what to say. Deciding to veer the topic off a little he said, "Well if there's anything that I do want to see happen for real from my dream that may be seeing Teddy here going out with our dear Victoire Weasley." He ruffled his godson's hair.
"Oh that would so cute!" said Hermione, a large grin forming on her face. Ted looked up at them with innocent eyes not comprehending the fact that his godfather and his best friend were mapping out his future love life.
Hermione was about to say something else when she stopped midsentence. "Oh my, it's them again."
Harry looked behind him to see the Camaro, Pontiac, and police car they had seen earlier drive past the window. He frowned and said, "Do you think they're stalking me?"
"It... might be possible," said Hermione. "We really should check it over with Arthur; see if there are any records of somebody charming cars."
"Good idea," said Harry. He was about to stand up when a silvery mist shot toward them, invisible to the surrounding muggles. Ted tried to grab at the mist only for his chubby hands to pass through.
"A patronus message? From Kingsley?" said Harry. "I better get to a Flew and contact him right away."
"All right," said Hermione. They paid for the tab and left for a secluded alley whereupon they Apparated to Harry's flat. Harry hurriedly threw some Flew powder into his chimney and stuck his head inside. Several minutes later he emerged with a troubled look on his face. "There's... been another robot attack."
"Oh my God!" gasped Hermione. "W-where was it?"
"Well... that's the thing. I don't know if you're going to believe this," said Harry, looking even more troubled. "Malfoy Manor."
A/N: Muhahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!! Cliffhanger ending! I mean, you do consider it a cliffhanger ending right? Ah, the lovely thing about cliffhangers is that your readers will scream and yell "bloody murder" for not revealing more until the next installment while the author can display his/her talent with the evil laugh since he/she knows what's happening next. Muhahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!