Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I do not own the mecha featured in this story, respectively they belong to J.K. Rowling and Banpresto.
This work is also - in essence - a collaborative effort from the courageous /m/en and wo/m/en of /m/; the few, the brave, the proud, the Ryusei.
(Beta by Linux Black Sarena, this revision is hereby dedicated to the people of /m/.)
Harry Potter and the Divine Crusaders
Chapter One
Fate (eleven years ago)
The young woman named Bellatrix Lestrange was suspended in what seemed like an empty black void. Blackness surrounded her as her heart pounded in her chest, pumping blood through her body - proof that she was still alive.
Alive.
The thought fluttered through her mind.
Death would be a better state than what I am in now.
If Bellatrix had her way she would still be Bellatrix Black, a raven-haired girl who didn't have to worry about fighting a war or mastering all manner of Dark spells in the service of her master.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, resigning herself to reality. As sure as she was here, she was Bellatrix Lestrange, the right hand of the Dark Lord Voldemort and the pilot of the Elemental Lord of Darkness, Shurouga. It made for an imposing sight to any onlooker, with its slender humanoid figure clad in black armor on an indigo-colored body and a pair of sleek and sharp black wings extending from its back. Purple lenses were studded in threes on the shoulders and upper thighs and bright green crystals adorned its hips and legs, providing a stark accent to its trimming of red and gold.
At first glance, the Shurouga took plenty of design cues from Muggle aircraft, but it was much older than those toys. It was an A-Class Lord of Elemental - a relic of a bygone era. Bellatrix would have called the machine a 'friend' but that was a lie. The symbol of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black should never have ended up in her hands, because she did not desire power. And yet, that power sought her out, grabbing onto her and shaping her into... into...
Her eyes snapped open, and she was still in the blackness of Shurouga's cockpit, gazing into nothing. Soon, she would forget everything - and pour her everything onto the battle that would unfold shortly.
"Shurouga, awaken," she commanded in a whisper, the purple eyes of the Lord of Elemental, The Dark One, flashing, acknowledging her as its wielder. The darkness ended and she felt her feet touch the cockpit floor as she was engulfed in a sphere of blue light. Runes in ancient and arcane languages flashed across as the Elemental Lord began its startup sequence. The blue flash subsided, and Bellatrix allowed herself a small comfort as she gasped.
The world around her had become the airspace over Godric's Hollow. As she was ensconed within her machine, she could see the lights of the town below and a jarring mix of the stars above and the clouds so eerily tinted by the moonlight so clearly. For a brief moment, Bella felt her eyes tear up from the tranquility, and in one fleeting moment of sanity, thought about flying away - away from the conflict, the pain, the killing - forever.
But as soon as her mind entertained the thought, the madness set back: she was the Dark Lord's servant, his most loyal and faithful weapon. She would rend the bodies and minds of countless others asunder for him and eventually, she would die for him.
Yet, even through her predatory grin, tears ran down her face for reasons she couldn't fathom anymore.
She was staring at the emerald bodies of the hulking Zechariah that had come with her, 25 in total and each brandishing a smooth, black gun that looked alien in design, but in-fact the whole machine looked alien. Whereas the slim figure of the Shurouga indeed looked gracefully humanoid, the Zechariah reminded those who saw it as a hulking brute, as it had a visor instead of eyes, and a head like a helmet with no neck on a circular frame with thick arms and legs. On top of its thick shoulders were modules of jacket armor that each carried a Photon Vulcan unit, and the space underneath the skirt armor served as storage for its various weapons.
These colossal figures were the stormtroopers of the Death Eaters, sent after families who had found ownership of an Elemental Machine - or even more unlikely, an Elemental Lord - and decided to oppose the Dark Lord.
But at this moment Bellatrix found herself curious. Why twenty-five? Why was she accompanying them? Yes, the Potters had been famous all throughout the war but they had gone into hiding for a reason, right? To protect their son, and that protection would be a weakness tonight when they attacked in force. However, Bellatrix needed to confirm that the Potters were there, because she would not waste resources in bombarding an area only to discover that her prey had already fled.
Or maybe, they didn't?
"Zechariah Units!" she shouted frantically into her wand and her voice boomed across the night sky, "cast detection charms, are the Potters anywhere below us?" She felt her subordinates quickly cast their spell at her order, with twenty-four negative and one delayed response.
"That's strange," the Death Eater said as he flicked his wand and cast Homenum Revelio again.
"What's strange?" Bellatrix asked in near hysterics, unable to disguise her panic as her mind began to put two and two together. Twenty-five Zechariah units filled to the brim with magic with a Lord of Elemental leading them, being entirely undetected by two powerful wizards on alert? If it had been Bellatrix she would have...
"My last read on the charm had movement somewhere above-" the Death Eater began, his report interrupted as a black and purple beam ripped right through him, blowing the Zechariah up. Bellatrix was staring in horror as it happened, her mind's eye seeing the brilliant flash of light, and the gradual disintegration of the Death Eater pilot. She immediately turned her eyes skyward, focusing on the navy and bronze unit staring down at her forces, toting a black rifle and finally letting its magic flow free.
The Gespenst Type-R resembled both the Shurouga and the Zechariah. Though it looked nearly as bulky as the Zechariah because of its design, it still retained the features and line of the more humanoid Elemental Lords like the Shurouga. On the Personal Trooper's back were a pair of wing stabilizers attached to a thruster module - usually a Gespenst couldn't fly under its own power, but could maneuver in the air for short periods of time. However, Lily and James must have customized their Gespensts for sustained flight through use of a flight charm.
As if to break the silence another black Gespenst - this time with yellow trim - crashed through the clouds, cutting right through a second Zechariah as the first one lined up another shot with its Neutron Rifle, firing at the Shurouga.
Stop standing there gaping like a novice and fight! Bellatrix thought, her training taking over as she and her Elemental Lord rolled to the side, avoiding the beam of destruction. Unfortunately, one of her minions couldn't follow suit in time and was obliterated by the blast. Even before the smoke cleared, Bellatrix looked up to see the second Gespenst take a protective position in front of the first, Plasma Cutter held out like a magic wand.
"Hello there, Bella; you're looking as evil as usual," James Potter's jaunty voice echoed through the night air, as his smiling face appeared on her monitor.
"James," Lily Potter's voice soon replied in a pouting tone, "are you flirting with the enemy again?" The anger at the nickname-slash-insult given to her by her cousin and later inherited by his friends being mentioned vanished as Bellatrix could scarcely believe what she just heard. The Potters were smack dab in the middle of a battle - and bickering like children!
"Sorry, darling; how can I ever make it up to you?" James asked as a Zechariah charged at him. Turning to the machine, he continued with a laugh, "Your mistake, my good friend: Blaster Cannon!" With the voice command, a small compartment slid open on his Gespenst's chest area, revealing a built-in cannon. It briefly pulsed with the same purple and black energy that the Type-R's Neutron Rifle had before firing a beam whose sheer strength forced it towards the ground despite the strain of its boosters fighting to remain in position. The Zechariah simply disappeared as the beam enveloped it, with no trace remaining when the black Personal Trooper's main weapon finished firing.
"I can think of one thing," Lily said as she took another lower-powered shot at the Shurouga and the Death Eaters that were still, maybe due to the intimidation factor of numbers, clumped together. "We haven't done 'it' since Harry was born." Bellatrix could have sworn she heard crickets chirping and the other Potter sputtering in his cockpit. What.
"But Lily, we just haven't had enough time... or the appropriate amount of participants." What?
"Well... I'm sure all these Death Eaters will suffice for now." WHAT? It was then that Bellatrix felt the crackle of magic in the air, the hairs on her neck standing up as she realized that the Potters' whole talk had been a big distraction.
"Scatter!" Bellatrix shouted as she quickly backpedaled from their formation. "Don't ask questions, just get out of their line of fire!" she added, her eyes going wide as she recalled the reputation the Potters' had. These weren't a pair of goofy wizards who would treat the life of their only child so lightly. They were famous for being innovators and creators, modifying spells for various situations, and creating new ones from wholecloth should the need arise!
"Accire Spiritum!" Lily shouted, her combination of a summoning spell and a wind spell creating a ball of wind in her Type-R's hand, shooting it towards the Zechariah that were still clumped together.
"Accire Ignis!" James shouted back, as his combination of a summoning spell and a fire spell had created a huge pillar of flames, engulfing the group.
The effect was as devastating as it was beautiful. As soon as the flames roared, the ball of wind exploded outward into a raging hurricane, fanning the flames even further - melting the armor of the Zechariah, while the superheated gusts roared and tore right through the armored plating, the cockpits and their hapless pilots.
Bellatrix Lestrange could not believe it. It only took several minutes for the Potters to spring their trap, have some small talk, and reduce her twenty-five minions down to three.
The Potters' reputation was entirely well-deserved, a dispassionate part of her said. You walked right into that one.
"You aren't normal," Bellatrix started, shaking her head as she tried to keep her vision focused on both Gespensts, "you aren't normal, so I should stop treating you normal."
"How cute, I suppose you're going to say something like 'it's time to get serious' and then beat us both," Lily responded as she flicked her wand and split one of the last Zechariah charging at her in half by her spell-enchanted Plasma Cutter, letting the remains harmlessly bounce off her shield.
"No, I'm out of practice when it comes to dealing with multiple powerful enemies, so I'll take you on, Lily Potter, as I notice you never move forward to engage, while my subordinates shall engage your husband at a distance, since he always prefers to come charging forward." And with a loud 'Pop' Bellatrix Lestrange apparated right in front of Lily Potter, taking a swing at her Gespenst with the Shurouga's Discalibur, Lily quickly bringing a Plasma Cutter up for a parry.
"It seems you aren't entirely useless at close range." Bellatrix said, her morale returning as she swung the Shurouga's sword once more.
"And it seems you aren't as weak as you made yourself out to be." Lily said, taking a step back from the swing that would have lopped her PT's head off, dropping her plasma cutter into the left hand and drew a second one with her right.
"Augere Fulmine!" Lily declared as lightning cracked around her blades - the spell would take quite a bit out of her, but it was well worth it for the extra bite.
"Augere Tenebris!" Bellatrix responded as her own machine's blades were surrounded by waves of necrotic energy. As the shocking edge of Lily's Gespenst clashed with the death-enchanted sword of her Shurouga, Bellatrix found herself reminiscing - the memories of encouraging her little cousin when they had found out he couldn't fly on a broomstick yet...
"Sirius," she began, "There are three things you can never trust in this world. Lies, damned lies and statistics. Even if everyone else in the family could fly at your age, it says nothing about you." Of course, she had been a lot more optimistic back then, believing in things that she would laugh at now. She used to laugh when she felt happy, but Voldemort had always made her laugh after killing, or while she was in pain, or while she was causing pain - and so the happy memories faded into the background as if a Dementor was sucking them from her...
Bellatrix fought with Lily Potter for what seemed like an eternity, hurling a stunning hex alongside a killing curse while firing a barrage of Reductor curses, a fearsome combination, but altogether futile as none of those shots found their mark. Lily danced through the air, dipping, weaving, flipping upside down and spiraling, casting Finite Incantatem whenever Bellatrix tried to buff her weapons, the Shield of Winds charm which displaced her every time a weaker spell hit it; she had even found a way to use the Accio spell in the heat of combat. And the entire time she never tried to take the fight into range, perfectly content with engaging Bellatrix where the terms had been set.
"Crucio! Crucio, damn you! Why don't you fall? Why don't you break? Crucio!" Bellatrix cried in frustration, sending Cruciatus Curse after Cruciatus Curse at Lily Potter, but the Type-R was having an easier and easier time dodging while Bellatrix kept , tiring herself out and sluggish while her opponent was crisp and fresh.
"Crui-"
"Alis Aureis!" Lily shouted as eight golden wings erupted the back of the Type-R as it blew right past the Shurouga, knocking the Discalibur from its hands, no... Bellatrix had dropped the blade in despair, nothing she tried worked, nothing she attempted fazed the woman she was fighting. This was her battleground, she was piloting the Elemental Lord of Darkness, a relic of a most Nobel and Ancient House; for Merlin's sake, she was the one who had been tasked with piloting the Gigan-
Suddenly Bellatrix wasn't Lestrange anymore, she was 15 year old Bella who was being sent to try out a new revolution at a school over in Italy. As she sat down in the cockpit of the crisp red machine and lifted off successfully, her heart soared and her mind went to the stars, awash with hope.
Then everything went to hell.
She was surrounded by fire as the Giganscudo had taken on a life of its own - destroying the entire school, killing all the students, the faculty, the headmaster, even the school mascot. And while the carnage was ongoing, she was shivering in the cockpit, tucked in the fetal position, hands to her ears so she would not hear them screaming..
A curse, some had said, the machine had been cursed and it wasn't her fault.
It was Black, the rest said, she had turned the machine on the school and killed them all out of curiosity.
Soon the stories took on a life of their own: she had murdered everyone and cursed the Giganscudo, it would be kept sealed in Hogwarts until an appropriate counter-curse could be found. They had blamed her for it, but she hadn't done anything wrong and she never wanted to kill anyone. This was all irrelevant to them, as because she was a 'Black', that meant she had to have done it on purpose.
Then she was seventeen, it was little Sirius' eleventh birthday, her little cousin would finally be heading off to Hogwarts for the first time, and she would be there in her final year to help him adjust to life as best she could. He would need her because he was going to inherit the Shurouga, the Black family heirloom, it was a terrible weight but she would make sure he didn't have to bear it alone.
"I'm taking the Cybuster." he had said plainly to the assorted guests. The Cybuster, the Lord of Elemental Wind. The machine no Black had ever used successfully, yet in front of Narcissa, in front of Regulus, in front of her, the Cybuster opened its eyes, bowing to Sirius Black, first of his line to ever bear the blessing of Cyfis.
"You can have the Shurouga, Bella!" he had said with the widest of smiles, as if he was giving her the greatest gift in the world. Maybe he thought he did. He had no way of knowing the future, but it still ranked as one of Bellatrix Black's most painful memories. Even after taking on the name Lestrange through marriage, even after joining the Dark Lord Voldemort, even after everything she had gone through after that - it had not taken the place of the day her entire life was pulled out from under her. She would have suffered any abuse standing by Sirius as he dealt with the burden, but when the time came to accept it he simply... ran off.
Bellatrix became cold, her blood froze, her eyes became sharp and he teeth bared.
"Die." Bellatrix spoke as the Shurouga began exuding a purple miasma from the crystals on its shoulders and thighs. "You should just die!" her hands shook with anger, her nails bit into her palms. She was going to carve this pain into Lily Potter. She was going to carve this pain into James Potter. She was going to carve this pain into the world.
"Tragic Genocider!" Bellatrix roared in her rage. Black bats of sorrow and hatred erupted from the miasma, tearing through the single remaining Zechariah, tearing the landscape of Godric's Hollow apart. There had been magical folk watching the duel in the sky, and the tortured memories of what had once been a quiet girl descended upon them, inflicting more suffering than the average magical layman could.
Some of these folk, of course, had been hiding deep within there houses begging for the fighting to end. But they also suffered worse as the descending miasma became their own fear incarnate. Not even children were spared as the tortured darkness that was the Shurouga's deadliest attack passed through the mist, leaving behind a trail of spent corpses whose final moments were forever fixed in so many silent screams. The earth cried at this desecration, the universe cried out for a savior, for justice, but all that was left was a giant scar where Godric's Hollow had once been, nothing left but death.
Bellatrix Lestrange felt the tears flowing freely, as she let out a maniacal laugh. She laughed as hard as she could until she could feel her throat tearing from the pain, because she hoped that laughing would make everything alright again, that if she laughed she would never have to use that attack again, and she would never have to cause herself as much pain. Until her lord ordered her next time.
But as she surveyed the ruined landscape that was once Godric's Hollow, her laughter died down when she caught sight of the Type-R and Type-S. They were broken, the cockpits had been torn open, the pilots looked all the worse for wear. But unharmed, covered in his mothers arms was a baby boy. Harry Potter.
And then Bellatrix knew she could fight no more, because the pain was not stopping. A loud crack filled the air as the world seemed to warp, a pale man that looked like a snake, dressed in black and looking very displeased appeared out of thin air. Bellatrix could fight no longer because her Lord had arrived, and he was going to be very displeased. All she could hear however was the voices of Lily and James.
"Lily, grab Harry and run! I'll hold him here!"
"James, you can't possibly-"
"I said, run!"
The Potters were going to die tonight, and Bellatrix Black was most likely to be included.
"Impressive," the Dark Lord said honestly as he surveyed the wound on the world where Godric's Hollow used to be. He let out a deep and terrible laugh as he breathed in the echo's Bellatrix left in her wake, because he didn't simply enjoy the suffering his right hand woman both inflicted on herself and others, he reveled in it.
Voldemort turned towards James Potter who had remained behind, his Gespent's right arm useless, the chest cannon burned off and left arm torn off completely. The man himself wasn't faring much better as his legs had simply given up where he stood and blood pooled on the cockpit floor.
James tried to heave himself off the floor and to his feet, to face the ultimate evil in the world.
"Oh dear, are you still trying to win?" Voldemort asked scratching his head with confusion. James Potter recited the two oaths he had taken, the Oath of Hufflepuff and the Oath of the Marauders.
Rules #1 and #3 Respectively. Under no circumstances was a member of Hufflepuff House/The Marauders allowed to EVER just 'give up.' not while they could still fight. So James with nary a drop of magic nor aid stood up and raised his fists, his Gespensts mimicking his actions as best it could with one arm missing and the other arm broken.
He stood face to face with the man he knew in his soul would kill him, with only a wand and a nearly totaled-Gespenst - but he would not give up, even in the face of his inevitable death.
"I hope you aren't going to try to convince me to run away and leave my wife and kid to you Voldy," James spat along with a tooth, "Because I have no intention of losing to a snake-headed Dark wizard who thinks he's this world's newest God." Voldemort had to laugh at this man's guts. Defiance in the face of death, strength where there shouldn't be any. The next thing you know, the Potter fellow was going to start throwing spells without magic.
"You managed to defeat my soldiers, my lieutenant and survive not only the annihilation of an entire settlement but still have the strength to stand up and fight! Never let it be said that Lord Voldemort didn't recognize true strength when he saw it. So, I offer you a chance to join me as my new lieutenant, in place of this... failure, Bellatrix Lestrange." And with that, Voldemort turned to his faithful servant and gave her a reassuring smile.
"You know what the punishment for failure is, don't you, dear Bella?" he asked.
She fearfully nodded, and a distance away, James was aghast.
"Crucio," the Dark Lord whispered, sending Bellatrix Lestrange's world into an explosion of pain, tears streaming from her eyes as she convulsed and whimpered and cried.
He had heard stories about just how depraved the Dark Lord could be, but he did not believe it completely... except now.
The snake-faced bastard was laughing as the Cruciatus Curse slowly but surely chipped away at whatever was left of Bellatrix's sanity. If he wasn't stopped, the woman wouldn't even have a chance to die properly - Unforgivable Curses had that kind of effect when used in prolonged periods.
"Enough! You monster!" he found himself crying out loud as he urged the Gespenst to move. He would not stand for this anymore - not just as James Potter, not as a Hufflepuff or a Marauder, he would not stand for this as the last one here. If he ran now, while Voldemort was distracted, there was a chance that he could survive. But he knew deep down inside that he would never forgive himself if he did. He could survive with Lily and Harry, watch his son grow into a man, but he would never be able to look him in the eyes knowing he had left someone, even an enemy, to suffer such a fate.
"Divinum Fortis: Finis!" A bolt of magic shot up into the sky, past the Shurouga and the clouds, high into the stratosphere. The Type-S turned on the last of its rocket boosters, propelling it into the sky as the heavens parted and a brilliant gold phoenix descended and enveloped the Type-S. Somehow, all the damage the Shurouga's final attack inflicted wasn't there, the injuries James sustaining, gone as he was filled with one last wind.
"ULTIMATE!" James cried as he punched his fists together, the phoenix sparking as its golden wings unfurled in preparation for its finishing move.
"GESPENST...!" He focused everything he had into this final attack: the last remnants of the Gespenst's reactor, the energy of the golden phoenix that even now was following suit in preparing for this all-or-nothing move; his love, his anger, and all his sorrow.
In the split second between the focus finishing and the attack beginning, James made his decision. He would not let this snake take one further step towards his wife and son... even at the cost of his own life. The phoenix glowed even more brilliantly as he began burning not only his magical core, but his life-force as well.
Now... the finish.
"...KICK!"
Everything sped up again as James Potter's Gespenst-S descended from the sky like a golden comet, the phoenix's wings fluttering from his PT's shoulders and the force of a thousand suns gathered in the machine's extended foot.
"Crucio!" Voldemort cried, throwing the Curse towards the golden light that was quickly converging on him. As the spell hit its mark, the phoenix cried out in fury and shone even brighter. Voldemort wasn't fool enough to try the same thing twice as he began throwing up every shield spell he knew in rapid succession. By force of habit, the Dark Lord always carried a shield around, because it would simply be embarrassing to be stunned or hexed during his daily activities. But this was everything else, and the black sorcerer called on everything he knew - even 'Scutum', the old buckler spell he learned as a child for practice duels.
"My kick is not strong enough to destroy the world," James Potter cried, as he could feel the limits of his physical body fading, his wand cracking and the communication module of his PT already broken from the sheer volume of his scream a moment ago, "but it can certainly destroy you!"
"Maledictus Scutum Ultimum!" a desperate Voldemort commanded as a large barrier of black runes arranged in circular formation appeared before him. This was his ultimate shield spell - designed to defend against the force of a nuclear weapon in case the muggles decided to fight him - as it fed on destruction and decay, there was enough from the Shurouga's final attack for it hold against anything and everything. This was the culmination of every shield charm Voldemort knew, every bit of defense he had invested in. Theoretically, the spell could defend against a high-powered Avada Kedavra - though he had yet to see if that was the case.
The machine's foot descended, crashing into the giant shield that had been conjured, piercing it an instant. As soon as he felt the construct shatter, Voldemort did the one thing he hadn't done since he was 13 years old - he physically dodged out of an opponent's way as the impact of James Potter's final attack erupted outward in a brilliant plume of light and phoenix song...
As the dust settled and the gold light finally faded, James Potter was again a half-dead, bleeding and broken wreck in the ruins of his Gespenst. The spell, it seemed, had worked.
Voldemort pulled his aching body up from where he had landed and began to take slow steps towards the crater the crazy Hufflepuff created. To think this man had actually managed to break every shield spell he had known! Voldemort thought, I could have layered my ultimate spell thirty times over - and it wouldn't have stopped that kick.
Several agonizing minutes later, he had made it towards the ruined machine, wand in hand and prepared to deal the finishing blow to this upstart.
"Impressive, Mr. Potter," the Dark Lord declared, his victory all but won, "but your magic is exhausted, your machine is-"
"Ultionem Decuplo," James whispered. Severus Snape had once cast this - one of his created spells - after a brutal battle with a Dark Wizard. The tortured noise the recipient of what Snape called the "Payback Curse" made from his mouth caused even his enemies to feel pity for him even as his heart exploded. The spell drained every bit of pain, suffering and negative thought, shooting it as pure magic into your target. It would drain its user of any and every chance to defend him or herself, but the enemy would know pain.
Right now Voldemort was clawing at his face as he felt everything James had gone through this night, the very center of his being rocked with the torment Bellatrix had unleashed upon Godric's Hollow.
And then, the Dark Lord stopped - and started to laugh. He brought himself easily to his feet, and he stared down and pointed his wand at a very surprised James Potter.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The green bolt tore James' soul from his body - destroying it - but there was no joy in that kill. Voldemort knew that if that story ever got out - that he could suffer pain - who knows what else he could lose in this war. But then, as he looked at the crater that was once Godric's Hollow, he decided then that anyone who dared call him out on his invincibility would suffer the same fate.
"Well that's one down, now onto-"
"Neutron Beam!" a shout echoed as the Gespenst Type-R's Neutron Rifle unleashed a torrent of black and purple death as it crashed against the Dark Lord's hurried Shield Charm. Despite it being enough protection from the beam's damage, Voldemort could feel his skin melting, his flesh cracking and blood seeping out of his wounds as he could feel Lily Potter's determination. The Dark Lord cried out as he was buried underground by the blast, Lily Potter struggling over to her husband and crying as she held him.
Bellatrix, meanwhile, was more preoccupied with what was approaching, because the wind had become hot, comforting. She could hear the flapping of wings and see the pale blue glow of a Lord of Elemental as her heart rate began to pick up and her mind returned to its usual focus. She was going to forget the war, her Dark Lord, and she was going to forget the Potters - for the only one she truly wished to face had finally arrived.
"You've finally arrived, little Sirius," she said, her voice returning to her, "no, I should call you the Lord of the Wind, Cybuster!"
Bellatrix' heart was now pounding in her chest, her eyes fixated on the silver machine in front of her. The Shurouga was made sleek like a Muggle airplane, the Cybuster had a more avian inspiration in its design. Just like the Shurouga, it too was a creature of the sky, with yellow talons for feet, a tail, red crest, and - like its brethren - green focusing crystals were scattered about it. Its head looked feathered, with three pairs of wings extending from its back. In its hand it carried a silver knight sword with a gold hilt - the Discutter.
The maniacal grin - and also her second wind - returned as she willed the Shurouga to stand up once more, taking its Discalibur in a combat stance, facing off against the Shurouga's exact opposite - the two Elemental Lords had been blessed (and cursed?) by the same spirit, Cyfis the Saint of the Wind.
"Bella, get out of my way!" Sirius shouted back. For a moment, Bellatrix wondered what her little cousin went through, as through the pilot communication screens, she saw him looked ragged and panicked, his hair drenched in sweat and his eyes burning with determination. But she put that thought out of her mind and focused on finishing her rivalry with her beloved cousin, as Bellatrix charged forward, slicing downwards with the Discalibur. Sirius spun the Cybuster out of the way, swinging his sword to the side aiming at the Shurouga's cockpit in a counterattack. Bellatrix, however, parried the incoming blade with the Shurouga's left palm, kicking the Cybuster in the head and sending static into Sirius' main camera and cockpit.
"Sirius, I'm not interested in just getting out of your way, so let's carve one another up until we're exhausted!" she cackled, the battle mania washing over her once more. Purple blood oozed from the Shurouga's left hand - one of the signs that it wasn't just a machine. Bellatrix giggled girlishly as she coated the Shurouga's blade with its blood as magic began flowing through the Discalibur.
"Rumbling Discalibur!" Bellatrix shouted as the Shurouga shot forward, the blood enchantment causing the sword to begin glowing with a sickly purple. Sirius Black didn't remain idle, however, as the Cybuster held the Discutter out and wind began swirling around the blade causing it to sparkle green.
"Discutter," Sirius cried as he blocked the first strike. "Dancing Sword of Divine Wind!"
The Discutter was surrounded by violet magic as the 3 pairs of wings opened up, the Cybuster parrying the Shurouga's overhead swing. The two mecha met in mid air as their swords clashed. In an instant, they had turned and clashed again and again, as their battle raged on, all over the sky, the two machines equally matching one another in speed and power. Any observer who lived through the holocaust unleashed could easily tell that the two owned the skies.
A slash went across the Cybuster's shoulder, the silver armor flaking and tearing off. Another slash tore across the Shurouga as a small stabilizer on its arm was torn off and sent spiraling into the distance. The Cybuster fired off a series of rapid-fire thrusts intended to confuse any enemy, finishing it with a lunge at the cockpit of the Shurouga. The thrust went wide, catching the black machine's upper arm. Now that it was in range for its own attack, the Shurouga retaliated with a slash aimed to decapitate the Cybuster - it was only a last-minute evasion that saved Sirius' hide, but he did not escape unscathed, the swing caught a section of the Cybuster's head crest and part of a wing.
"Bella! Enough! I don't want to kill you... and you can't kill me!" Sirius shouted as the two broke, both damaged, hearts resonating from the exhilaration of combat that Sirius tried to ignore.
"Kill you? Sirius..." Bellatrix replied, her voice reverting to a child's, "why would I want to kill you?"
"I want to feel alive again!" she roared madly, and with a laugh, Bellatrix resumed her attack, the green jewel on her head firing a pulsing beam at the Cybuster which responded by shooting several high-powered Caloric Missiles, balls of magic that exploded on contact.
The Lord of Divine Wind and the Lord of Dark Wind continued their dance in the sky.
Meanwhile, Lily Potter stared down a resurgent Voldemort, as she was hurting badly both physically and mentally. She was on her last legs - her husband's dead body lay peacefully within the cockpit of the Type-S, her son Harry was crying behind her - but she tried her best to keep herself on her feet. To collapse would be to fail Harry - and make James' death meaningless.
"You don't have to die, Lily Potter," Voldemort's voice cut into her mind, targeting her fears. "If you just hand over the boy, you don't have to die," he added, taking calm and confident strides towards his quarry.
Lily could feel herself trembling and her will begin to give, and shouted back in retaliation. "Don't give me that! You killed my husband, you might as well kill me, and you want to kill my son! How dare you think for one second-" Lily had started to say.
"Oh, but I know that you're frightened, you fear death just like anyone does. Right now, your mind is screaming for you to run, the basic self-preservative instinct I admire in all human beings." He was only ten steps away now, and Lily Potter could feel her will swaying like a flower in a hurricane, "I offered the same courtesy to your husband, you know, and he brought his own death onto himself. You don't have to blame anyone but him, you don't have to die too." The Dark Lord, the Scourge of Britain was smiling as his Legilimency exposed her deepest thoughts to him. He was now only 5 steps away and enjoying every moment he spent inside Lily Potter's head, breaking down her mental barriers.
And then, something he hadn't expected happened, something that had never happened in all his years at the top, Lily Potter turned her wand on her own son, flashed a dangerous smile, and cast a spell that would change the world.
"Fervor, Spiritus, Sensu, Celeritate: Amor!"
Red flames bathed the baby boy followed by a green light, a flash of blue lightning and a yellow eye, a gale of silver wind surrounded his legs and he was bathed in a golden glow as Lily Potter turned to the Dark Lord, her mind closed now, her eyes fierce and her wand at the ready.
"I am not going to run, I am not going to be seduced to your side, I am going to make you experience pain beyond 'payback'." Voldemort felt his face contort into rage, he hated more than anything else to lose a new potential toy, raising his own wand as the tip lit up green.
"Avada Kedavra!" he bellowed with hatred as the green bolt struck straight and true, Lily Potter smiling as she went down, collapsing next to her son as he cried out in rage. Voldemort spat in anger as he did not confidently stride towards Harry Potter, he did not decide to gloat or revel in the moment. He seethed with anger at the game ending so quickly as he pointed his wand at the baby...
"Your parents died for nothing... boy."
"Avada Kedavra!"
A green flash of light and a scream echoed through the night, followed by a rainbow exploding outwards and covering the globe...
The era called the Summer of Love and Despair began on October 31st.
The next day, Dr. Kirk Granger surveyed what had once been a thriving community. Troopers, pale brown humanoid working machines with claws used for construction work were lifting a silver birdlike machine from the ground. Dr. Granger marveled at its atypical design, its cockpit unlike anything Granger had ever seen before, it seemed to be able to transform and sustain flight and its power source was out of this world.
Dr. Marion Granger, meanwhile, was overseeing the excavation of the utterly broken Troopers. They seemed humanoid - like the ones they were using now - but had a more squat line, with thicker arms and legs. She was also bouncing a baby girl in her arms in an effort to stop her crying as she called for two Troopers to help excavate the Gespenst Type-R and Type-S. As the Troopers painstakingly hauled the wrecked machines, she wondered exactly who the red-haired woman and dark-haired man they had found dead in the cockpits had been.
Hermione Granger, the baby resting in Marion's arms cried as she felt the echo's of the night's battle. She would carry those feelings deep inside her for the rest of her life.
In a not-too-far distance away, Petunia Dursley was taking in the bombshell that had just been dropped on her. Her sister and brother-in-law were dead, the magic world she had despised for so long had lost their connection with magic - and she was to take care of Harry Potter.
She cursed Lily for dying, for leaving her with the burden of trying to raise two children, of trying to explain all this to her husband who had turned out to be just like that Babbitt in the plays she acted in so long ago. She looked down at the dark-haired boy and his lightning-bolt scar, his green eyes just like her sister, and she felt the tears well up. She would just have to hope that someone eventually came to take Harry to the magical world, or that they never came and he got a chance to grow up as just another fellow.
Vanishing Trooper. (seven years ago)
Dr. Kirk Granger was currently staring at the RTX-008R Huckebein, a prototype humanoid machine, the product of his research with his wife Dr. Marion. It wore orchid armor over a black body and featured a red cockpit hatch and a red chin, along with a gold V-fin. The machine wasn't equipped for combat right now, as this was simply a test to see if the engine would function and if the unit would move.
Kirk had been amazed when he found her four-year-old daughter Hermione perched over his desk one night, furiously scribbling in a sheet of papers. She had always been a fast learner, but it went way beyond smart. Somehow, some way, she had found the missing link to design a Trooper that was combat-capable. No, beyond that, Hermione had apparently solved one of the Granger's biggest dillemas.
While the eponymous Black Hole Engine existed, Earth's greatest scientists and weapons developers couldn't design a Black Hole Engine that could power a Trooper, and they certainly hadn't made headway in using it for military reasons.
Hermione's scribbling, when her parents had looked at it, had been the list of theoretical components required to miniaturize the Black Hole Engine for a Personal Trooper.
This went beyond belief, as she had solved the problem teams of researchers, scientists, and enough cash to run several countries for decades could not. Had she received the idea from someone else? This was unlikely, as Hermione kept to herself, and she couldn't have gotten the designs from them because they weren't even involved in the creation of the first working Black Hole Engine. This was Extra-Over Technology at its finest, as the finished product had looked somewhat like the reactors the salvaged EOT-1 and EOT-2 seemed to have. But they had detected no trace of fuel inside the engine chambers and they didn't understand what powered them.
Hermione herself was standing next to him, clutching a notepad to her chest tightly, she seemed normal as far as he could tell, well, normal for Hermione. Her eyes were focused on the Huckebeins, green meeting brown as Hermione sort of smiled shyly at the machine, like she could understand its feelings. Kirk had heard about people who could 'hear the voices of machines' but he had always written it off as mechanic superstition.
"Beginning the test, 008R start up!" the lead mechanic declared as the Huckebein's green eyes flashed on as steam flowed out of its exhaust ports, head turned from side to side, arm raised and waved to the doctors, it moved forwards and backwards with no trouble whatsoever.
Just a basic demonstration of a prototype Personal Trooper.
And then... as it is wont during these events... everything went wrong.
It began when the Huckebein's eyes flashed from green to red.
It then tore itself off the cabling that was meant to support it should it fall.
And then, it grabbed onto a supply truck, hoisted it above its head, and with a mighty roar, threw it onto one of the compressed gas tanks to the side, causing a massive explosion.
The Huckebein continued its rampage, destroying everything around it, smashing its own cockpit hatch before destroying the research area, charging at the protective walls, scratching and clawing to get at Hermione - or so it seemed. It leaned back and punched right through the wall the arm missing the Grangers by a mere 30 centimeters, the machine then began to retract. If the Black Hole wasn't contained... it could kill everyone.
Please, God, Kirk Granger begged as he hugged his daughter close as the Huckebein prepared to charge at them again, please save my daughter, she's only four, she has so much to do with her life, please! Hermione looked at her father, hugging him close.
And in a single 'pop', they were gone.
Dr. Granger awakened far outside the facility. As he opened his eyes, he realized Hermione wasn't in his arms anymore, she was standing next to him, staring at the Huckebein a distance away. As it staring back, it reached a hand up to its head and tore itself a mouth. The red eyes were tinged with rage, and the machine let out a terrible howl it should not have been able to make, and then...
...it was gone. It vanished.
The lab was... a wreck, all the scientists and staff inside were dead, except Dr. Kirk Granger and his daughter Hermione. His daughter collapsed to the ground, a look of terror in her eyes as she shivered at the carnage. This would be dubbed by the press as the 'Berserk Trooper' incident, but scientists called it the 'Vanishing Trooper'.
It was during the time that the press was having a field day over this incident that a greasy haired man with a hook nose showed up at Kirk and Marion's doorstep to inform them that Dr. Kirk and Hermione Granger had not been saved by an act of God, she had somehow Apparated - she was a witch.
That quiet declaration had sent both scientists into more turmoil than all the press coverage of the incident ever could... but circumstances being what they were, the Grangers decided to stick out whatever their daughter Hermione's new aptitude implied together.
It was a small silver lining in what would otherwise be the darkest of clouds.
Right and Kind (five years ago)
Neville Longbottom hit the ground hard once more, blood pouring from his nose as two second year boys from Hogwarts drove boots into his sides. He struggled to pick himself up before tackling one of the boys himself. However, Neville had no strength left in his arms and thus bounced harmlessly off before being kicked to the ground again. Neville was about to peel himself off the ground once more, but two brutish looking kids his own age stepped in front of the two students. Both of the new arrivals carried beater bats, causing the two assailants to back down.
"You really shouldn't pick on the weak, especially a pair of Ravenclaws like yourselves." came a sneering voice as a blond boy came into view, wagging a finger in disappointment.
"Oh, go jump in a lake, Malfoy, what do you care if we pick on Longbottom for a bit?" Neville's head was swirling in confusion as he managed to bring himself to his feet only to be grabbed by the front of his shirt by Draco Malfoy and inspected.
"Wow, they really did a number on you Longbottom. What are you doing in a fight anyway?" Draco asked curiously as his subordinates smacked their bats against their meaty palms eagerly.
"They insulted Susan," Neville answered simply as Draco stared at him, waiting for the punch line that would never come... and then burst into laughter.
"Bones? You got into a fight for Bones' sake? Man, Longbottom, you really are headed to Gryffindor if you aren't careful," Draco said before turning back to the bullies with a small glint in his eye.
"You don't get to hurt Longbottom," Draco declared, "that's a task appointed to me, and me alone. Normally, I'd stand for you doing this, but that means you would be stepping onto my turf. And since I don't need you moving in on my territory... if you don't understand any of that - which I hope you do since you wear the blue - then Mr. Vincent and Mr. Gregory would be more than happy to show you."
The two boys had remembered that their fathers told them never to mess with a Malfoy unless you wanted the world to know you had somehow attempted to break into your own Gringotts vault. And so, the two boys ran for it, mentally swearing to not goad Neville Longbottom into a fight again.
Once they disappeared around a corner Draco, burst out laughing and let go of Neville.
"Really, Nev, I wont always be around to save you. Sometimes the smart thing to do is to let it happen and then go comfort the girl after she's been traumatized. Father says you get more 'sandwiches' that way - whatever that means," Draco said as he motioned to Crabbe and Goyle, who put down their clubs and helped dust Neville down as Draco handed him a handkerchief which he could clean up the blood with.
"I'm just not like you Draco, I can't stand around while something bad happens... but... thank you for helping me." Neville said, smiling at the Scion of Malfoy, who rolled his eyes and flicked Neville right in the center of his forehead.
"I meant what I said, only I get to bully you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make arrangements." Draco said as he walked away, Neville never really quite understanding why someone like Draco Malfoy was even slightly nice to him... and to think that it actually began as a fight at St. Mungo's.
Draco had been at the ward due to a broken arm and had wandered to the 4th floor, where he had seen Neville visiting his parents. One careless remark later, and the fight was on. But even with the broken arm, he was beating up the teary eyed boy badly. Neville hadn't given in, though. Maybe he'd impressed Draco that day, earning his respect. Maybe Draco felt bad about insulting his parents.
Maybe...
Neville didn't know what the answer was, so he put that thought aside as he picked up the yellow ribbon that had fallen on the floor and walked over to Susan Bones with a smile.
"Here you go," he said with a smile as he handed it back to her and stood there, wounds and all, "If anyone picks on you, you can just come get me again." Susan had given him a dazzling smile before running off, which made Neville tap dance his way into the Malfoy manor, where Lucius had invited them...
Dark Knight (three years ago)
Draco Malfoy felt the impact across his rib cage, followed by another strike across his back. This wasn't torture; if his father had wanted to torture him he would simply have cast the Cruciatus Curse and be done with it. No... this was training, training to become a powerful Dark Wizard, training to strengthen his magic to the point he stood head and shoulders above every other debuting student.
Draco couldn't hate his father for this as much as he wanted to, even as the pain he was in was pounded further into his bones, his brain, and his magical core. It became unbearable during some days, but Draco would not stop here. He wanted to prove himself to his father, he wanted to prove himself as strong, capable and responsible; and he wanted to carry on his father's legacy. Deep down, though, he thought about how at a party at this very manor two years ago, Neville Longbottom had been beaten down and got back to his feet every time. Draco's pride would not let himself lose to Neville Longbottom.
"Ossa Frangere!" Lucius roared as several bolts of silver magic erupted out of the tip of his wand and targeted Draco's joints. The spell would strike where he was weakest in an effort to break his bones. That was how, long ago, he had wound up in St. Mungo's with a broken arm.
"Animas Protegit!" Draco shouted, calling from his subconcious a spell his mother had created to defend him from a Chimera while taking a holiday in Greece. The tall blue man had struck down the beast who ran right into it, and struck back, knocking it unconcious. Right now, though, a white man had emerged, fists flying and striking every bolt of the curse right back into Lucius Malfoy. But Draco wasn't going to lose the advantage now.
"Ventus Finis!" he followed up. This had been a spell his father used when surrounded by a pack of werewolves led by the infamous Fenrir Greyback. The beasts had wanted him back then to add to their tribe and Lucius had simply drawn his wand and whispered the incantation. By the end of it the werewolves were gone and the part of the forest had been torn to shreds. A blast of wind erupted from Draco's wand and roared throughout the room, ripping up the walls and floors, splintering all wooden objects and grinding stone into dust. Draco could feel his control on the spell slipping until-
"Finite Incantatem!" The wind stopped and Lucius Malfoy rushed over to support his son before he fell from exhaustion. He had just cast two very high level spells: Soul Protection and End of Storms. The latter had been compared to Fiendfyre in that if you didn't have the will to control it then it would simply not end. Thankfully, it was cast by a young Draco Malfoy, thus it wasn't powerful enough to resist Lucius's counter-charm.
With that, training had ended and Draco was taken up to his room to rest, his house elf Dobby tending to his wounds and using magic to ensure he wasn't permanently injured. Draco's thoughts were conflicted as he felt disgraced for having to be carried to his room, when Neville would have stood under his own power, and being taken care of by his house elf. But then he also felt gratitude to Dobby for caring for him when he was a right old prat some of the time.
He looked to a potion the House Elf had brought to him and drank it deeply, nodding his thanks before falling into a dreamless sleep.
Rushing Dandy, The Flapper Girl (two years ago)
Ronald Weasley was buried inside his father's Ford Anglia as he tried to understand the concepts behind an internal-combustion engine. Ron, for the longest time, had kept himself isolated from machines and had considered his dad a bit kooky, but right now, he found himself digging deeper and deeper into the car to understand its secrets. It was a rather odd sight, seeing a freckled 9 year old with blazing red hair covered in smog and soot.
Arthur Weasley had always told Ron to never touch anything unless he was there to supervise, but Ron had taken a page from his twin brothers' books and decided to ignore him. His father always stopped him right as he was about to learn something new, something important, something vital! Honestly, he thought as he inspected the fuel lines. You turn one pair of exhaust pipes, a tub of gasoline and a lighter into a makeshift flamethrower so you could set fireworks off at a distance and suddenly everyone thinks you can't be trusted around-
"What the hell are you doing?" Ron's head slammed into the bonnet off the car as he turned around to look at his younger sister Virginia Weasley. His mother had wanted to name her only daughter Ginevra until Bill and Charlie came home from their travels, hearing about their mother's plans. They quickly disabused her of the notion by showing her that what she thought was a unique-sounding name had sounded like - and was one letter away from - a brand of alcoholic beverage sold in an island archipelago Bill stopped by during his world tour. Right now, however, she was standing there with a scowl on her face and her hands on her hips.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Ron asked as he grabbed a wet cloth and cleaned his face, "I'm messing with the car." Ginny made a clicking noise with her mouth and prepared to shout to their mother before Ron leaped towards her and clamped his hand over her mouth with startling speed. "No screaming, otherwise you're going down with me, I'll tell mum all about the ghoul, the three wands and that Reducto spell you tried," Ron whispered to her sister, who nodded as she stopped squirming.
"So why do you even want to mess with Muggle technology, isn't that dad's thing?" she asked after some time had passed as her brother buried himself deep in the engine's inner workings again.
"Well you know what they say about the Summer of Love, never hurts to be prepared. Besides, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree," Ginny looked at him quizzicly and her silence made him sigh, "It's a Muggle expression Gin, means I'm not all that different from Dad." Ron pulled himself from the car and shut the bonnet, turning to his little sister.
"So you're just content at being in Dad's shadow, is that it?" Ginny asked. In a small family your quirks were something to laugh over, but for the Weasleys, your quirks were all that made you... you. Bill was the 'cool' one, Charlie was the dragon freak, Percy was uptight, Fred and George were the pranksters... Ginny was afraid she would just be defined as 'the only daughter'.
"Ginny, I chose to start doing this," he wiped his face again and smiled at his little sister, one year his junior, "because Dad just wants to see how it works. I like to think of how I can make it better... without magic. Always do what you want, the way you want to."
Ginny stood there for what seemed like hours letting her brothers words sink into her... do what you want, the way you want to. She wondered, when did Ron grow up from being the stupid little kid he had been only 2 years ago? Was it because of the time he saw a Gespenst? Ginny walked outside the Burrow's garage and looked up at the Burrow and then at the night sky.
"I want to fly in the sea of stars," she muttered under her breath, wondering if anyone else was staring at them like her.
Moon Knight (one year ago)
She lay on the grass, her eyes taking in the star-filled skies...
Luna Lovegood spent some time nearly every night staring at the stars.
Her father Xenophillus had told her that her mother had come from the stars - that she had descended like an angel to him one day, and that after giving birth to Luna she had returned to the stars. Maybe that was what fueled Luna's desire to some day reach the moon on her own.
Luna herself was a very curious child - too curious, in fact, that when she was seven, she had opened a secret antechamber underneath their basement and stumbled upon what looked like a Personal Trooper - not that she knew what that meant then, only that the white machine somehow reminded her of her mother. Upon her touch, the machine had started up, filling her mind with all sorts of knowledge, knowledge about the stars, about the people who came from to Earth from distant worlds. She saw the past, present and future of this world and others. Boys-Who-Lived. Dark Lords. Children of Prophecy. A sword to smite evil. The guardian of the Earth awakening, sealing the world to save its inhabitants from themselves... among many other things.
Her father only found her the next day, nearly in a panic, but understood as soon as Luna led her there.
"I slept... inside that thing..." she had told her father. "Father... what's wrong?"
Xenophilius could not have missed his darling wife more at that moment.
"I'll tell you when the time comes. Now let's leave this guy behind and get you ready for school."
Since then, Luna knew what she had seen while sleeping in that strange chair was real, but everyone except her father called her 'Loony' or 'Loopy' - assuming that she ignored reality to find something to fill the void in her heart that was her missing mother. They made up hurtful lies about her father and lies about her, how she was in a lucid state due to being drugged by Centaurs at a young age. All because - like her - Centaurs also liked to look at the stars.
She could see that Mars burned red tonight, and that meant war was about to begin. A war so terrible it would reshape the world, just like the Summer of Love had, a war so fierce that it would shake the foundations of every living being.
"I'll see him soon." She told her father who had come up to her, an extra coat in hand and a cup of hot cocoa - the summer nights in this part of the country were comfortably cold due to the blowing winds.
"And who would that be?" He asked though he already suspected her answer.
"The prince of the world, who is coming to carry me away," she answered as she stood up. She then did something her father had never seen her do - she pointed up towards the moon.
"Up here... all the lights in the sky... are stars."
"Stars where all our friends wait," she said before sighing whimsically and spinning around, dancing as if a partner was with her. She rested her head against a nonexistent chest as she fell back onto the grass and looked up at the stars again.
"Why does my heart pound so on this night I'm alone?"
"Why is it? Please tell me why."
"You, with your strange smile, my strange lover..."
The night echoed with Luna's song, her heart guiding her towards the melody her mother once hummed to her as she slept, her father watching his daughter stumble onto the trail her mother blazed.
You would be proud of your daughter. She has your looks, your strength...
...and she's growing up so fast.
Over the Time Flow (Present Day)
Harry Potter's eleventh birthday was coming soon. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal since his birthday was rarely celebrated and Uncle Vernon would most likely just force him into his bedroom - or heaven forbid, the cupboard under the stairs - again. But this time, Harry had a chance to watch his Uncle Vernon suffer humiliation - and that made any day better.
Vernon had thought himself a shoo-in to acquire the vaunted Personal Trooper Theater Defense contracts when he submitted the designs for the Randgrith - a huge block of a PT armed to the teeth with ballistic weaponry and looking more like a walking tank than a Personal Trooper. Unfortunately, Kirk and Marion Granger had come in at the last minute with a nearly-completed Huckebein Mark II, a much more stable sequel to the Vanishing Trooper. While the choice seemed obvious, Vernon Dursley looking like he only cared about weapons and nothing about practicality while the Grangers were famous for making leaps and bounds in technology with the EOT... Harry knew from his occasional peeking through his uncle's work that the Randgrith was deceptively agile.
So rather than getting free tickets, a chance to gloat about his success and exposure on world wide television, Uncle Vernon would have to pay full price for four tickets as Aunt Petunia had insisted he be brought along. As he watched his uncle being subject to the derisive looks from the military and scientific sector, he knew better - Uncle Vernon was already making plans to take the fruits of his labor elsewhere, he was that determined, sometimes bordering on obstinacy.
Even then, Harry was just a little bit happy that even though this was for Dudley (and not him), he could be able to consider it an early birthday present. He would be sent to boarding school soon anyway, and wouldn't have to put up with his horrible uncle, no matter how bad the school was. And that, to Harry, was a victory he could live with.
However, Harry would not be going to boarding school, he would not have a cheery normal day of watching his uncle's face contort with rage, he would not be afraid of being thrown under the stairs or starved for revelling in it...
...because a greasy haired man with a hooked nose stood next to a gray tabby cat with spectacle spots over its eyes as they watched him from afar, ready to change his life.
A/N:
~Ginny became Virginia because of a suggestion from my beta who has always had a problem with her name (It reminds me of a brand of gin back here - LBS). Considering I'll be calling her Ginny 99% of the time, if it bugs you that much you can copy and paste the chapters into Word and Find-Replace all instances with Ginevra.
~Kirk and Marion are the names of two PT scientists in the Super Robot Wars universe. Specifically, they are the designers behind the Gespensts (both), the Huckebein (Kirk), and the Gespenst Mark III (Marion). In the SRW universe, they had divorced, but here, the Grangers won't be following their lead.
~The spell Lily casts on Harry translates to 'Hot Blood, Spirit, Sense, Speed: Love' This is what the 'Love' Spirit Command does for you in the Super Robot Wars games. Except Speed would be 'Accelerate'
~Each seperator is a theme song from the SRW universe: Fate - Theme of Touya Shiun, Vanishing Trooper - Theme of the Huckebein, Right and Kind - Theme of Hikawa Ryoto, Dark Knight - Theme of Axel Almer, Rushing Dandy - Theme of Kitamura Kai, Flapper Girl - Theme of Lune Zoldark, Moon Knights - theme of the Raftclans and Over the Time Flow - Theme of Raul Gureden
~If your curious about any of the machines exact looks, Google is your friend, just type 'Gespenst - Super Robot Wars' for example to see the Gespenst
~Special thanks to Less Wrong, the good ladies and gents who helped me discuss this in detail, and anyone else I forgot to mention.