Christmas Day: a great day of merry making, and family. Despite the cold making his joints ache and the snow irritating and causing a few of his sensors to act up, Burnout was even a little less cantankerous than normal. Drift told him that the only reason his joints got stiff was because he was old.
"Merry Christmas" someone called out over the din of merriment.
Harry sat in a corner, not isolated but just enjoying watching others enjoying themselves. He took a sip of the Butterbeer he was holding before taking a bite out of some turkey.
'I think I can say without reservation this has been a great few months' he smiled and gave a chuckle.
He surveyed the room and took note of all the people there making merry. Mr and Mrs. Weasley were drinking a wine and kissing just about every thirty seconds. Ron and Hermione were sharing a couch in front the fire, Fred and George had somehow managed to get Angelina and Katie to come around since their parents were out of town due to some absurd work commitments.
'I wonder what was so important that she had to go into work on Christmas Day' Harry wondered to himself as Katie came and plonked herself on his lap.
"Hello Harry" she said brightly.
"Hello Katie, what are you doing on my lap?" Harry got a feeling of impending doom when Angelina sidled up on the other side of him.
'Oh I'm gonna get played' Harry thought.
"There is this rumour going around, purely rumour of course, that you're dating and older woman" Angelina smiled in the sort of predatory way a cat might play with a mouse before delivering a coup de gras.
"Rumour, well, you know what rumours are like. Remember that one about me being responsible for all that shit in second year?" he tried to sound as firm as he did then, however the obvious truth caused his voice to falter.
"Now see what I mean, Ang, he's a great seeker, according to Cho a half decent kisser and an all around hero. Despite that, he's a shitty liar" Katie said with a syrup filled smile.
"George. Fred. Remove your girlfriends please before the poor boy has heart failure" Remus chortled seeing the look of abject terror on Harry's face.
Remus smiled as Fred and George did as they were asked, both women protesting that they weren't done grilling Harry like bacon yet. Remus was no fool: some of the supposedly private looks Harry and Tonks had given each other didn't go unnoticed by the older man and despite initially needing a few minutes alone to truly sit and contemplate it he decided to leave it be: after all if that had flourished under the watchful eyes of Harry's otherworldly friends, there was no way he wanted to involve himself.
'Where is Rally?' he wondered.
Among the 'new Muggle friends' present for the party was 'Derek Drifter' a young man and his uncle 'Patrick Burns'. Remus had searched her out, his only clue being she'd be the only female he didn't recognise. Luna and her father were in attendance while their home was made safe and secure once again, although Remus had a feeling that larger Cybertronian, Vortex would be keeping a watchful…
'Optic, that's what they call them. Yes, a watchful optic on the place' he gently swirled the brandy balloon in his hand.
"Remus, how are you?" an Irish drawl brought Remus's attention back to the present.
"Patrick, hello, how are you?" Remus snickered as Burnout bristled at his human alias.
"I'd be more comfortable if you didn't have to call me that name" he groused as he sat beside the man.
"We all have our crosses to bear" Remus countered, taking a sip of the brandy he'd received in Sirius's will: a very nice, smooth Napoleon.
"What does that mean?" Burnout asked, the finer points of earth religion escaping him.
"It means suck it up like a man" Remus sniggered.
"So, how did those two find out about Harry's girlfriend?" Remus asked, taking another sip: this brandy was bloody good.
"I don't know what you're talking about?" Burnout denied it flatly.
Remus had to admit that Burnout was a good liar, a truly exceptional one in fact. And although his holographic face betrayed nothing of what he may or may not be feeling: Remus knew he was lying although he appreciated Burnout's discretion for Harry and Tonks' relationship.
"You won't be telling me anything I don't already know" Remus said smugly.
"Oh yeah?" Burnout didn't mind this man prying, but there was no way he wasn't going to have fun with Remus here.
"So you know that while they were together at our base in Hogsmeade they had, what did Tonks call it again…on yes 'Hot, oily jungle sex' for about three hours and that Harry has an eight inch-" he was cut off by Remus gasping and spluttering.
"What??" the man hissed; clearly horrified and possibly traumatised.
"I'm kidding Remus. They did nothing of the sort: they've fallen asleep on the couch a few times and it's very cute and all, but they're not stupid" Burnout laughed raucously at the man's scathing look.
"That isn't funny" he groused.
"It was Pit funny from where I was sitting pal" Burnout retorted.
"Remus, a word please?" Drift's voice beckoned him over to the front door.
"We'll discuss your brand of funny later" Remus muttered and got up, the brandy hitting him.
"Oh wow, I'd forgotten old Padfoot liked his liquor strong" Remus, to avoid an accusation of hypocrisy from Burnout, simply held his head up and marched proudly towards the front door.
"Yes, Derek, what can I do for you?" he asked, pointedly ignoring the strange look he was getting.
"Rally wants to see you, over in the Quidditch Pitch…alone" Drift stressed the word.
"Really, I was wondering where she had gotten to" he muttered.
"Indeed" Drift's tone was dry.
"Well, I'll see what she wants then" Remus said and went out into the sun.
'Oh Primus I hope this goes, well, not badly' Drift thought as he closed the door.
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Over the other side of the room, George and Fred had been cajoled into a poker game with their father and older brothers. This left Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Angelina and Katie and the more social (but still wary) Harry to themselves while Drift stood and thought.
"Ginny, who is that young man?" Katie asked, setting an approving gaze on Drift's Holoform.
"Yeah, he's been making eyes at you until that chat with Remus" Angelina said.
Ron and Harry both exchanged a look of equal parts dread and curiosity. Hermione merely blinked a few times before taking a very long drink of her Butterbeer. Ginny on the other hand was not phased and merely offered up an explanation.
"He's a friend of Harry's, they met in Surrey and he wanted to meet his other friends" she said confidently.
"Well, being here must know about magic and what not?" Angelina asked.
"Yeah, he's got a wizard in his family so he's very much aware of it all" Harry quickly jumped in; building off the lie.
"Wait, what do you mean making eyes?" the words finally processed properly in her head.
"You know, goo goo eyes, hungry eyes or whatever" Katie smirked, feeling particularly predatory today: must have been the nips of Firewhiskey George had used to liven up her drink.
"He's just being friendly" Ginny said, enjoying the twitching and growing red on her brother's face.
"Trust me darling, that's not 'friendly' swimming around his face, that's attraction" Angelina concurred after she too took a look.
"She's torturing me isn't she?" Ron whispered to Hermione.
"I'd say so" his girlfriend agreed.
"Harry, where did that shirt come from?" Hermione asked to change the subject.
Harry got a sort a look on his face that at one point could be confused as pure contempt but there was an affectionate sparkle in his eyes. The shirt in question was a white one with an illustration of a blue round bodied man on it with a bright read nose and several squiggly lines across the forehead. It was then captioned in large, bold black letters 'MR. WORRY'.
"That was a present from a friend of Remus's whom I met this year during some legal proceedings" Harry told a covert lie: no need to let them in on the secret, besides, they'd never leave him alone.
"That was nice of him" Angelina said smiling widely.
"Her, and yes it was" Harry agreed.
There wasn't much response to that other than Hermione humming 'Mrs. Robinson' under her breath while Katie and Angelina agreeing again how it was for one of Lupin's friends to give him a gift.
"Stop humming that song" Harry gave Hermione a half hearted glare.
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Remus enjoyed the crunch of the snow beneath his feet and the crisp and clean smell of the air around him, air unmarred by Muggle pollution. He made quickly his journey from the house and through the orchid that hid the makeshift Quidditch field. Once he cleared the last of the trees, he saw Rally.
'What she doing?' he wondered.
Rally was going through some kind of ritualistic movement similar to the Judo that Tonks showed him once only it was much more vicious. Some of the movements of her hands looked like they were tearing something and powerful, thrusting strikes with the palm and fist that looked like they'd break an oak tree in half.
"Rally!" Remus called out.
Rally heard Remus' voice and stopped suddenly. Unfortunately for her, the sudden stop made her unbalanced and she rather unceremoniously and gracelessly fell over and landed on her side. Remus of course thought this was very funny and burst out laughing.
'Oh Primus how very embarrassing' Rally thought as she picked herself up and wiped the grass and dirt off her face.
"Drift said you wanted to see me" Remus was still smiling.
"Yeah, I did…um…sit down" Rally nervously pawed the ground with her foot.
Remus conjured himself a chair and sat down, becoming a little perplexed by the giant robot's behaviour. He'd seen Ginny do the same thing around Harry a few times although Remus doubted it was for the same reasons.
"Remus, I've not been on this planet that long and as a result some human behaviour is still…bizarre to me" Rally began.
"I've been alive for over thirty years and most human behaviour still astounds me, I honestly wouldn't worry about it" Remus said with a chuckle as Rally sat herself down.
"Remus, Harry told me that you have Lycanthropy…some kind of monthly genetic mutation…is that right?" Rally looked very embarrasses to be asked the question.
"Yes. The, mutation or condition if you will causes me to, transform, into another creature called a Werewolf. In that form I'm a base and instinctual creature with no knowledge of who I am" Remus found it oddly soothing to talk with someone who wasn't so judgemental.
"That reminds me of some of the Autobots…in a way" she said softly.
"Really…how?" Remus asked, clearly curious.
"There aren't many of them left now, but there was a faction of old, old Cybertronians who lived in the wild areas of Cybertron. They joined the Autobots because Megatron killed the last of their femmes when they refused to join him" Rally explained, stopping to gauge Remus' reaction.
"Go on" he prompted.
"Although when in robot mode they function normally, whenever Grimlock and his followers transformed to their alternate modes, a more primal part of them took over: they became rampaging titans of fury. You see unlike me or Drift, their alternate modes were animals that existed on Cybertron before us" she finished.
"Were they shunned in public, abused or discriminated against?" Remus asked
"Ironically no, but being so large and powerful, none of them were afraid to visit violence on anyone who sought to wrong them…but I still think it hurt them, up here" she paused and tapped her cranium case.
"It does…I assure you it does" Remus agreed with an understanding nod.
"This brings me to my next point, sort of. I'll be blunt: you seem lonely" Rally said.
"It does tend to repel most women, I must admit. A bit like some other diseases in the world. Why do you ask?" Remus was getting that odd feeling again.
"A few months ago you met a woman in a bar…she identified herself as Raelene…" she let it trail off.
A series of synapses in Remus' head suddenly snapped to full attention, pushing past the alcohol induced fuzziness and suddenly he remembered. A bar, a few beers and a lovely looking young soldier with caramel coloured skin and eyes as blue as the Mediterranean ocean flirting with him in the bar.
"That was…you?" he asked.
Rally said nothing and transformed back to vehicle mode. In a shimmer of light the very familiar woman appeared, wearing jeans and a tank top and her striking black hair in a long ponytail. A pair of woman's runners adorned her feet. Sheepishly she raised her head and smiled a little sadly at Remus with those blue eyes he now remembered so vividly.
"Hello again" she said softly.
It was all a bit much for Remus; the combination of alcohol and shock was just too much for his already exhausted psyche and his body's natural defences kicked in and he passed out. Rally gingerly leaned over her bonnet to look at him and felt that there was only one appropriate comment.
"Slag" she snapped.
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Auror Headquarters:
Tonks stood unobtrusively to the side in a large room. Aside from those working on the 'Black case', every spare Auror was assembled in this room. Tonks saw Kingsley across the room, talking to Dawlish and another Auror called Steamvault. The newer recruits were not present, having now sufficient experience to go about their duties without a wet nurse (or risk of blowing something up) they were attending to the more minor incidents while the experienced crowd remained here.
"Attention!" someone called as Gawain Robards strode purposefully into the room.
"Stand easy" he growled.
The Aurors all stood a little more relaxed, although most kept their hands close to their wands as a force of habit, many of them developing the habit from training under Alastor Moody.
"Approximately one week ago, there was an occurrence. The old Riddle house, as many of you know, is the ancestral home of the family of Voldemort" he paused to allow those of lesser grit to get over their shudder.
"Although details are sketchy, we can confirm, before the story breaks in the Prophet, that a Muggle Military strike force entered the building and with surgical skill and maximum prejudice did eliminate the Death Eater presence" he finished, carefully scanning the crowd for their reactions.
Most of the assembled Aurors gasped audibly, some of them even screaming in indignation. After a few minutes of allowing them to express their thoughts, Gawain used his wand to create a loud whistling noise.
"Okay, now that you're all finished. It has long been assumed that this day would come. The Muggles have been in one way or another, the victim of everything from a malicious prank to outright genocide…it seems they will take it no longer" Gawain zeroed in on Tonks for a second, taking in her worried look.
"What possible damage can they do though?" Dawlish asked.
Gawain said nothing but instead motioned for an assistant to bring in an old reel video projector. Conjuring a large white screen and charming it to float in mid air, Gawain walked over to the projector and pressed the play button.
The images that played over the screen would haunt and stay with the Tonks the rest of her life. The video was a short educational film that recreated the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, interspersed with smaller clips of the effects of smaller military arms. When it was all over, Gawain again addressed his assembled troops.
"That is the damage they can do, Dawlish. That weapon, the first one is called a Nuclear Bomb and when it exploded, every living creature in a 1,200 foot radius was reduced to dust" he said.
"Are they likely to use that weapon?" Kingsley asked, looking decidedly nervous.
"No. That film was just to demonstrate the point: Muggles fight ferociously in wars. They will show no quarter against an enemy" Gawain let the reality of their situation sink in.
"What does this mean for us?" Tonks asked, trying her best not to look guilty.
"It means we're in it now. This is, as far as I am concerned a point of no return. Okay, those not rostered on, dismissed" Gawain nodded sharply and left the room.
Tonks leaned against the desk behind her, her features becoming very drawn. A quick glance at her hair saw that it had become blacker than her aunt Bellatrix's. All of a sudden Tonks felt a bubbling sensation in her gut and bolted for the female bathroom.
Once in there she kicked open a cubicle, fell to her knees and vomited up whatever she'd eaten that day as well as some bile, coating her tongue and lips in it making for a foul taste in her mouth. Once she'd finished dry heaving, Tonks washed her mouth out.
'I need to get out of here' she thought as she dried her face.
Walking with purpose guiding her every step, Tonks made it to the Apparating point in record time, ignoring anyone who tried to speak with her, even Kingsley. It occurred to her, just before she Apparated away, that she didn't trip over anything.
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Harry was still sitting in front of the fireplace in a chair, nursing a Butterbeer at the Burrow. Mr and Mrs. Weasley had long since retired to bed, soundproof charming their room to allow festivities to continue. Fred and George had disappeared with Angelina and Katie already, while Alicia had disappeared to either home or another house, no one was sure.
'Oh they're so cute' Harry thought smugly of his two friends, asleep on the couch: though Harry knew Ron would pay to all merry hell when Hermione saw that he'd been groping her in his sleep.
Luna was no where to be found, but then again neither was Burnout so he assumed that the cantankerous Cybertronian medic has escorted her home. What also made Harry sit and think was that he'd seen Ginny and Drift's holoform disappear upstairs some time ago but then again, with nature itself working against them, no real shenanigans would occur.
"Merry Christmas indeed" he muttered, clutching a sack that held Tonks' gifts in them.
Harry and Tonks had agreed to a three gift limit for each of them. The first had been a sort of easy gift that could be exchanged in oblivious company: Harry had gotten the titular 'Mr. Worry' tee and got Tonks a retaliatory 'Little Miss Clumsy' tee as well. Harry's second gift to her had been picked out with some subtle help from Charlie: a dragon leather jacket, the advice being sought under the guise of getting one of his own.
'Merlin it was a drama getting her size without letting on what I was doing' Harry smiled as the thought swirled around his head like a fine brandy.
The third gift however he'd had to seek a professional craftsman. It was a statue of a Stag, his Patronus. As befitting the spell's avatar, the statue was fashioned from pewter. The best part though, was that when touched it would light up like a lamp.
The door squeaked open, making Harry look up with hand on his wand; only to relax when his girlfriend walked in the door. He smiled and waved to her and was a little perplexed when she didn't wave back. Tonks saw him and once again, purpose clouded her mind and she strode powerfully over to him.
"Tonks are you-" Harry was cut off when she grabbed him and waved her wand, creating a temporary break in the wards and then POP, they were gone.
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Harry focused back to the present as soon as he realised that he was in Tonks' flat: in her room, on her bed. Also propelling him quickly into action was Tonks herself, who had somehow managed transfigure her clothes from whatever she had been wearing into a tank top and her underpants.
'Oh shit' Harry thought: he could tell by the feel of Tonks' breasts that there was no bra on underneath that top.
"Tonks…Tonks" Harry shook her and spoke, as she now had her head buried on his chest rather than creating a vacuum seal on his mouth.
"Yeah" she whispered back, too shakily to be seductive.
"Not that I don't appreciate this, but are you okay. You seem shaken" Harry ventured, embracing her and caressing her hair.
"No, I'm not. I saw, something…something terrible. So after that, I just wanted some closeness" she paused and looked up at him, eyes a cloudy grey.
"What the hell did you see?" Harry asked, increasing the tightness of his embrace.
"It was a video of something…the Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki…people just…dissolved like dust" she said between sobs.
"Oh" Harry, having seen the bombing a few times already from television specials that had covered the Second World War, wasn't as affected by it.
Tonks slid up him and kissed him again, although this was much softer, less desperate than before, Harry still felt a sort of yearning from her. That and the feel of her tears didn't help any. Satisfied that Harry wasn't going anywhere; Tonks repositioned herself so she lay next to him.
"Stay here with me tonight?" she asked, starting to nod off, feeling a little exhausted.
"Sure. I need some different clothes though" Harry pointed out.
Tonks waved her wand and muttered something, and Harry's good trousers turned into light cotton shorts and his shoes and socks flew from his feet. Shrugging, Harry removed his jumper, now clad only in a tee shirt and the shorts. After some fidgeting about with the doona and their own bodies, Harry and Tonks now lay together, clothed but still intimately close in the bed.
"Open your presents tomorrow huh?" Harry whispered.
"Yeah, for now…this is fine" she mumbled.
Harry just smiled and closed his eyes; feeling very sleepy himself and closed his eyes. The gentle contact between their legs and arms creating warmth felt both in the heart and skin. Slowly, but surely they both fell into a deep slumber under the watchful, impassive face of the full moon.
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While most of London slept, deep within the Ministry of Magic, Vector Sigma stirred. Although he realised that he'd been essentially imprisoned, he lacked the ability to move a great deal on his own. He set about scanning the large room they'd stuck him in.
'Fools, nearly nothing is beyond my influence…now, what can I use?' Vector Sigma scan stopped and on an object his scanners deemed compatible.
Focusing his power, he imbued the lifeless object with the power and spark of a Cybertronian. Mending its damaged panels and internals, strengthening and converting it to suit his needs. The object in question was the now impounded, enchanted Ford Anglia that had belonged to Arthur Weasley, removed from the Forbidden Forest and discreetly placed there by some of Dumbledore's contacts.
"Arise and be born, Altenator" Vector Sigma spoke as the Anglia transformed from its now fully restored and improved car form to that of a Cybertronian warrior.