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Chapter 7
Halo was changing, her skin becoming panelled and metallic, with wires underneath the panelling.
"Ratchet? What's happening?" Optimus asked.
"She's transforming into a sparkling! The other energy inside her is spiking, forcing her body to change." Ratchet said. "But this is giving me time to help her. I'll be able to stop her from off lining."
It was a tense fifteen minutes after Halo had finished the transformation, but then Ratchet said; "She's stable. She'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Ironhide asked, still worried.
"Positive." Ratchet said.
Optimus turned to Barricade. "Why did you help her?"
"Because if it wasn't for her, then I wouldn't have gotten a second chance." Barricade answered.
"Second chance? What you talking about?" Jazz asked.
"She stopped me from off lining, and then pointed out why what I believed was wrong. She has quite an explanation."
"Well, we'll have to wait and see if your story checks out when she wakes up." Optimus said.
"You're going to trust him?" Lennox asked.
"If it wasn't for him, Halo would have died." Ironhide said. "The least we can do is hear him out."
Lennox and Epps were stunned. If Ironhide was willing to 'hear him out' as he put it, then the Autobots were seriously considering that the Deceptacon was going good.
Draco, Hermione, the twins, Luna, Neville, Bill, Fleur and Charlie had managed to track Halo's last position down to a burnt down shed. Her car was there, but Halo wasn't. Apparently, she had managed to get a call through to someone in the army, so her call had been on the emergency list, allowing it to work on no signal. The guy she had called had contacted Sam, and Sam had come over and asked Draco, not knowing the others were in the house.
So, when Draco had found out about Halo being in trouble, he had told the others, and they had preformed the modified tracking spell that the group had come up with so they could track each other. It was a spell that would allow them to track each other's magical signature step by step, but it was quicker than the usual tracking spell, which took hours to perform, especially if you didn't know the magical signature well enough.
The shed had burnt to the ground, but they still did scan's, to see what had happened. They caught hold of a magical signature that only Draco could identify.
"It's my father's. He did this." Draco said.
"We have to hide, now!" Hermione hissed, seeing dust rising into the air a little way down the road. The dawn light was just enough to see by, so, they all quickly disillusioned themselves and hid in the long grass, keeping still.
A yellow Comero with racing stripes pulled up at the shed, and two people got out.
"That's Sam and Mikayla." Draco informed the others, just before they all gasped in shock as the car transformed into a giant.
"Is there any sign of what happened Bumblebee?" Sam asked.
"I can see no signs of any means to start a fire. However I have been able to detect a strange energy reading. There are several." The robot, Bumblebee, answered, but his voice kept switching. Hermione recognised that he was using the radio to speak.
"Could the energy be a part of it?" Mikayla asked.
"It seems to be the only option." Bumblebee answered. "I don't recognise it though." Bumblebee gave out an upset sound, and his shoulders slumped. It was as if he were sentient. Suddenly, the Robot looked at them, before his head snapped up to the sky where several black funnels of smoke were heading for the ground. He grabbed the two humans, hid them up in the large tree, and then he hid behind it, as the smoke tunnels landed and dissipated.
There were seven people, Voldemort, Pettigrew, The Malfoy's and the LeStrange's. Hermione saw Bumblebee, Sam and Mikayla watching them cautiously.
"I won't believe it until I get a body." Voldemort hissed, his voice high, and cruel. The Death Eaters set to levitating the burnt timber and tools in the shed, looking for evidence that Halo had perished in the flames. When they found none, Lucius threw himself at his Master's feet, and kissed his robe.
"Master, the girl's body is not there. I beg your forgiveness for my idiocy."
"You have failed me again Lucius. Is there no end to your incompetence? Because of you, the one prophesised to be able to defeat me still lives. Crucio!"
Lucius let out a pained cry and the other Death Eaters fell to their knees, in terror of their Master's anger.
Voldemort let go of the curse, and began pacing. "I thought I was finally rid of the girl when she fell through the veil, but it did not lead to death as everyone thought, it led here." Voldemort said. "So, even though she is here, she is still alive. She could still get back, and be a thorn in my side once more. Get up! All of you! Find her!" The lot of them disapparated. For several long minutes, no one moved, before Bumblebee lifted Sam and Mikayla from the tree and placed them on the ground.
"What the hell was that?" Sam asked.
The group of witches and wizards looked at each other, before standing, and disillusioning themselves. The other three stared at them.
"Those were Voldemort, and some of his inner circle Death Eaters." Draco said. "They want Halo dead."
"We gathered. How did you hide? We never saw you." Mikayla asked.
"Disillusionment charm." Hermione said. "We're witches and Wizards. Like those you just saw, but they are evil."
"Magic?" Sam asked. "Are you kidding?"
"No, she isn't." Charlie said, raising his wand. "Expecto Patronum!" A small dragon shaped patronus burst from his wand. It was the size of Halo's stag patronus.
"Believe us now?" Bill asked.
"That's a dragon." Sam said.
"It's a patronus, made to ward off creatures known as dementors; they'll suck out all happiness and eventually, your soul, if they get the chance. Each patronus takes the form of an animal that means something to the caster." Neville said.
Charlie let go of his patronus, and it disappeared.
"Is Halo a witch too?" Mikayla asked.
"She is." Luna said. "The strongest of all of us."
"Her magic is the reason for her… less than satisfactory childhood." Draco said, wording his statement carefully.
"Less than satisfactory?" Hermione screeched. "Those animals tried to beat her magic out of her!"
"We're missing a lot of the story here." Bumblebee said.
"Yeah, and the others will want to know too." Sam said.
"Can you lot drive?" Mikayla asked.
"No." They all said, shaking their heads.
"None of you?" Mikayla asked incredulously.
"Well, one of us could drive Halo's car down to the base, and we'll all squeeze into two cars. It'll be a tight fit, but it can be done." Sam said. "What do you think Bee?"
Bumblebee nodded, and transformed.
"How will we do this then?" George asked.
"Well, you, Fred, Luna, Neville and I will be in Halo's car. Luna can sit on Neville's lap, I'll sit on Fred's, and George can sit on his own, or I'll sit on my own, and one of you can sit on the other's lap." Hermione said to her boyfriend's twin. "Then, Bill, Charlie, Fleur and Draco, you can go with, Bumblebee, is it?"
"Yes." Bumblebee answered through his radio.
"Fleur, you can sit on Bill's lap, Charlie and Draco, you can have a seat to yourself." Hermione said.
"That'll work." Sam agreed.
They all squeezed into the two cars, it was a tight fit, but they managed. And then, they were heading for the Autobot's temporary base, Sam and Mikayla briefing them on what the Autobot's were.
Ironhide hadn't put the sparkling down since he'd first picked her up. She was obviously in her first frame and very close to the beginning of her first frame at that. That meant that she was very vulnerable. Every sparkling in their first frame was vulnerable to harm from even the lightest of human attacks. Ironhide's arm was large enough to cover her, and hide her from view at the same time.
Ironhide was watching the Deceptacon wearily. While he had saved her, and had talked about second chances, he was still a Deceptacon. And that meant he could be a threat to the sparkling Ironhide was so protective over.
Jazz looked at Ironhide, and now he and the others were over the shock the human gone sparkling had given them; he found it in him to joke about the situation.
"Aw, Papa Ironhide." He said, laughing.
Barely aiming, Ironhide growled as he loaded one of his cannons on his free arm, and shot at Jazz, only just missing the mech. Jazz quickly ducked for cover, knowing that the weapons specialist hadn't even tried to hit him.
"Sorry! Sorry!" He said, from behind the crates.
Ironhide said nothing to the other mech. What Jazz had joked about was true. Ironhide had taken on a parental role when caring for the sparkling.
"Bumblebee is approaching with Sam, Mikayla and some others." Optimus said, entering the hanger. "It seems that the others have an idea of what happened to Halo."
"They'd better not be the cause of what happened." Ironhide growled.
"Apparently, they are not." Optimus said. "But they know who is."
"What do we tell them about Halo turning into a sparkling?" Jazz asked.
"Until we know the whole story, nothing." Optimus said. "Bumblebee already knows, as to Sam and Mikayla, but the others, well if we can leave it out completely, that's good, but I doubt it. For now, we'll just tell them she's resting."
The others nodded in agreement at that. The less these new people knew the better until they knew if these newcomers could be trusted.
Soon, Bumblebee and Mikayla in Halo's Impala were parking in the hanger.
A/N: Please Review! And thank you to all who have done so far!