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A/N OK, I confess. I sped read Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows. As such I might get a few facts from the last two books mixed up as a result. I'm sorry. If anybody catches such mistakes I'm going to explain them away as AU (as in this fic the epilogue doesn't take place). Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 6: Robot Heroes
"Harry, it's not like it's the end of the world," said Hermione. She was enjoying a picnic in the vast plains near Canterbury with Harry and Ted the following day: her suggestion in an attempt to convince Harry, and herself, that everything was going to be all right.
"Hermione, they stole an inventory of my family's holdings along with the Malfoys'," said Harry. "Next thing we know Malfoy Manor is attacked, Lucius and Narcissa are dead, most likely Draco as well. That doesn't bode well with me. If I was actually living in one of my magical estates, like Grimmauld Place, I'd probably be dead now."
"But you don't live in one of your magical estates!" said Hermione. "You live in a nice flat in downtown London which isn't listed in any parchment-work that has to do with the Wizarding World. So if the only information they have is from the parchment they stole from Gringotts then you're safe for the time being."
Harry felt quite agitated. He could tell that Hermione was terrified as well and was trying to reassure herself along with him. "Do you think the Fidelius could hide me?"
Hermione thought for a minute before saying, "I wouldn't bet on it. The Fidelius affects the observational processing area of the brain, telling it that something isn't there despite the fact that the eyes can see it. To the best of our knowledge these robots don't have organic brains so they wouldn't be fooled by the Fidelius, nor by something unplottable."
"This is just great," muttered Harry. He pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich and started gobbling it down, trying to get his mind calmed down.
Nearby, Ted was laughing as he chased butterflies around, completely ignorant of Harry and Hermione's dilemma.
"We shouldn't be talking about this," said Hermione. "We came out here today to just forget all of our problems if only for one day."
"Wish I could," said Harry, flopping down on his back. "If it isn't about first evil wizards and now evil robots after my life it's about my relationship with Ginny and how that's starting to slide into the mud."
Hermione contemplated something for a moment before saying, "You know, I think you're actually avoiding Ginny."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, you haven't written to her at all while she was away on the internship. You haven't gone to visit her while she's in St. Mungo's."
"Fine, just list all the reasons why I'm a bad boyfriend," Harry said dryly.
"Why Harry? What happened?" asked Hermione, truly concerned. "I thought you were happy with her."
Harry blew out a long breath. "I was, at first," said Harry. "During the war she was my escape. She was a symbol to me that I could achieve a sense of normalcy away from the horror that Voldemort was constantly raining down on me. Then, after the war things weren't all that simple as I thought. After everything with the horcruxes, the Hallows, being 'killed', being with Ginny just didn't feel like the right thing anymore." He looked up at Hermione and asked, "Does that make me a horrible person?"
"No Harry," said Hermione, laying a hand on his shoulder in reassurance. "It just means that you're only human."
Harry sighed and glanced up at the sky. He noticed three planes flying overhead and frowned in confusion. "Hey, I'm not exactly an expert on muggle military aircraft but aren't two of those planes American while the third one is Russian? Why would they be flying together..." In a split second, Harry suddenly realized the reason for the unusual grouping. "Oh no! RUN!"
Harry just barely managed to grab Hermione and Ted and duck out of the way as the two "American" F-22 Raptors and the "Russian" MiG 35 swooped down and opened fire. Harry managed a silent Protego just as the explosions rocked around them.
"Oh my God! Harry!" moaned Hermione while Ted started crying: both of them completely terrified. Harry pulled Hermione's head down as the three planes swooped over them again raining down more explosives. Harry's shield flickered but managed to hold.
"We have to get out of here!" yelled Harry. "Concentrate! We have to Apparate!" Just as Harry was shouting this, the Russian MiG 35 touched down on the ground and transformed. Only instead of a humanoid robot it transformed into an American M1 Abrams Tank. 'OK, that was unexpected,' Harry thought.
The tank opened fire on them. Though all three of them were unharmed due to the shield charm, to Harry and Hermione's horror Ted was blown away because of his light weight. "TED!" they both screamed.
Harry and Hermione tried to pick themselves up and make a run for where they could hear Ted crying. Unfortunately for them, the two F-22s touched down and transformed into the two robots Harry recognized as the ones whom had attacked Malfoy Manor, standing in between them and Ted.
The black humanoid looked down upon Harry and Hermione. "Which one was it again, Thundercracker?" he asked.
"The male," said the blue one, Thundercracker.
"What about the female and the offspring?"
Thundercracker scoffed. "No need for them. Just do as you please."
"Excellent," said the black one as he pointed his firearm straight at Hermione.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Hermione stared up at the barrel of the firearm in shock, Harry desperately trying to shove her out of the way, the click of the firearm as the trigger was squeezed...
WHAM! The black robot was thrown off balance as something rammed itself straight into his legs, the shot firing away into the sky. To their surprise, Harry and Hermione realized that it was the driverless, yellow Chevrolet Camaro they had seen yesterday that was now placing itself protectively in between them and the robots. The next instant, the Camaro literally stood up.
The Camaro too had transformed into an eighteen foot tall robot, this one with bright yellow armor. Various parts of the Camaro's outer frame formed the robot's armor, from the front vents on the chest to the two doors sticking out from the shoulders. The yellow robot held his arms out in a battle ready stance, facing up at the black robot. "Think twice, Skywarp!" he said, a youthful and excited voice.
"Bumblebee!" exclaimed Skywarp. "Curse you, Autobot!" Skywarp charged straight at the yellow robot, Bumblebee, knocking him down. The two robots rolled around ramming their fists into each other before Bumblebee managed to gain the upper hand and rolled to his feet while at the same time grabbing hold of Skywarp and slamming him onto the ground. Skywarp leapt to his feet and started swinging his fists at Bumblebee. The yellow robot skillfully managed to dodge each one of the punches before grabbing his chance and ramming his own fist into Skywarp's face.
Thundercracker and the tank had been momentarily stunned by the sudden appearance of Bumblebee. Before they could regain their senses a series of missiles rammed straight into them causing explosions all around. Being in his humanoid form, Thundercracker was knocked down.
Harry looked up and saw the driverless Pontiac Solstice GXP and Ford Mustang Police Car from yesterday. 'Why didn't I even consider the possibilities that those cars might be robots?' he thought. 'Because all the robots witnessed so far have been planes and I've had dealings with enchanted cars before, namely the Weasleys' Ford Anglica.'
The Pontiac drove straight toward the tank and transformed into a robot. This one had a pair of small horns on his helmet and a visor over his eyes. The front tires and doors formed his shoulders and the back wheels formed his heels while the entire front portion of the Pontiac formed the robot's torso. Using the momentum of his speed while he was still a car, the Pontiac robot leapt up, flipped forward on his right hand, and landed right on top of the tank. "Come on, let's dance Blitzwing!" he said, his deep voice sounding like a hip-hop artist's.
The tank, Blitzwing also transformed into a robot, the MiG 35's wings forming the shoulders and the tanks' gun barrel pointing up from the back. "Get off you filthy Autobot!" he hissed as he struggled against the Pontiac robot who was throwing punches onto his head while mounted on his right shoulder.
"Prowl! A little help!" shouted the Pontiac.
The Ford Mustang Police Car also transformed into a robot, having a very similar design to the Pontiac: the front side of the car formed the torso the same way and the front wheels and doors formed the shoulders. The main difference was that instead of a visor, he had a crest on his forehead and a pair of missile cannons on his shoulders. "This did not go as we planned, Jazz," he said in a calm, clear voice. "The sudden attack of the Decepticons was unexpected."
"Well then improvise!" yelled Jazz as he struggled against Blitzwing.
"Improvise?" said Prowl as if the concept was utterly foreign to him. When Blitzwing managed to fling Jazz off of himself, Prowl appeared to come to his senses and fired his shoulder cannons at him. Blitzwing tried to draw out his firearm only for Prowl to shoot him straight in the hand. Prowl then shot him in the face for good measure.
"Hey, not bad," said Jazz.
"Yeah, I guess this improvising thing can work out," said Prowl. "Still, it's not quite in protocol."
"Oh will you forget protocol for once? Just roll with it," replied Jazz. "And feel it!" As he said the last sentence, Jazz spun around and kicked Blitzwing (whom had been attempting to stand up) in the face.
Harry and Hermione were completely stunned to say the least. "I-I guess robots must have factions as well," muttered Harry.
"I-it looks that way," said Hermione. She suddenly came to her senses. "Oh no! Teddy!"
Ted was still in the middle of the field crying. Harry and Hermione hurriedly made their way over toward him. Hermione cradled Ted, gently whispering to him that everything was going to be OK.
"Look out!" exclaimed Harry as he saw a blast of plasma energy flying their way. Harry had just managed to pull Hermione down when Bumblebee leapt toward them in a motion of catching the energy ball, shielding Harry, Hermione, and Ted. Bumblebee caught the energy ball in a catch that would've made Baseball Outfielders jealous.
"Whoa, that was close," said Bumblebee, his right hand singed but otherwise unharmed. "You guys might want to put up that magical shield of yours. Things could get uglier."
"Uh... right," said Harry.
Thundercracker had just managed to stand up at this time. "Damn Autobots!" he muttered. He fired at Prowl and Jazz only for the two to easily dodge the projectiles. Prowl fired his own cannons back at Thundercracker blasting him with powerful, well calculated explosions.
Blitzwing had finally managed to stand up. "Urgh, I've never received such a severe beating!" he hissed. "Why I ought to... Oh no. No. No! NO! NO!"
Annoyed, Thundercracker yelled, "Blitzwing, get over..." his line of sight faced the same direction as Blitzwing, "No! It can't be!"
Skywarp took a break from brawling with Bumblebee to say, "Hey! What do you... wha... it's him!"
"RETREAT!" yelled Thundercracker. He, Skywarp, and Blitzwing instantly transformed into their plane modes whereupon they took off into the sky as fast as their engines could take them.
"W-what in the world was all that about?" asked Hermione.
"I'm not sure," said Harry. "It was like they just saw something that terrified them so much that..." It was then that they both felt it: the presence of something, pure benevolence and pure strength.
Harry and Hermione slowly turned around in time see to a large semi-truck slowly drive up to them. It was a red Peterbilt 379 semi-truck but the way Bumblebee, Jazz, and Prowl stood around it obviously meant that it was in truth another robot, and a special one at that.
The truck transformed standing up on blue legs with the truck's tires adorning the outside of each leg. The main red portion of the cab became the torso with the windshield forming the chest. The smokestacks were now on the shoulders of powerful red arms that formed out of the cab. The head consisted of a blue helmet with horns on both sides and vents on the forehead. Blue eyes shined compassionately above a full faceplate: Harry couldn't tell if the faceplate was covering the lower portion of the face or was the lower portion of the face.
Standing thirty feet tall, the robot kneeled down so that he was closer to eyelevel with Harry. Harry was amazed just how much the robot reminded him of all of the good qualities of Albus Dumbledore without any of the flaws that he had come to learn his late mentor had.
"Are you Harry James Potter, the one they call 'The Boy Who Lived'?" His voice was deep and strong yet gentle and kind.
"H-he knows who you are..." whispered Hermione, completely stunned.
Harry took a moment to answer, "Er... yes."
The robot nodded in acknowledgement. "My name is Optimus Prime."
A/N Hallelujah! Hallelujah! (breaks out into the chorus from Handel's Messiah) I mean seriously, that's THE moment of the fic that everybody's been waiting for wasn't it? Yeah! Stand by for the next chapter so you know what happens next!