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Chapter 12
Halo looked round at her strange surroundings. The room was dark, and musty, with only an old bed, with a thin mattress pushed to one side and a mirror. She had received a hell of a shock when she'd looked at herself in the mirror. She was older. How was she older? She looked to be sixteen now. Last time she checked, she had just turned eleven. Hadn't she?
Halo sat down heavily on the bed. What the hell was going on? How was she here and what was she missing? How many years had actually gone by since Hagrid had taken her to Diagon for the first time? She heard the sounds of footsteps and walked to the door, and pressed her ear against it, and heard the sound of voices.
"But mum, we've been waiting since first year! Why can't we have the rest of her fortune now?" A boy's whiny voice asked.
"Because, Ronniekins, Professor Dumbledore has to make it look like the order rescued her from Voldemort, and then she'll do anything for us, and the love potions can be slipped to her. We can't get her money unless it's legalised. The goblins won't let us near it." A woman's simpering voice (which reminded her of her Aunt speaking to Dudley) replied. "Now, shh, she may wake up and hear us." The voices faded, as they walked away.
Halo walked to the bed, and sat down to think over what she'd heard. They'd mentioned Dumbledore. Wasn't he the headmaster of Hogwarts? Hadn't Hagrid spoken highly of him, even defended him by giving Dudley a pigs tail? So why was such a great man planning on using her?
The door opened, and in stepped the strangest thing Halo had ever seen. It was short, with wrinkled skin, a large nose and big ears.
"Mistress is in need of Kreacher?" It asked, in an old, croaky voice.
Hermione watched as Remus came out of headquarters, and headed into the park. He quickly found her.
"Well?" Hermione asked.
"They're in an uproar. Halo's disappeared. I need you to track her, and then contact me and the others. You remember how to send a patronus message, right?"
"Yeah." Hermione nodded, before performing her version of the tracking spell, and apperating, like Fred had taught her.
Ironhide paced angrily in the warehouse. They should be out there already. They should be doing something to get Halo back. He was just about to head out, no matter what Optimus said, when the sound of apparition reached his ears. He looked and saw Remus enter the warehouse.
"Well?" Optimus asked.
"She's gotten out, somehow. Hermione's on her now. The whole Order is up in arms, wondering how she escaped, but I seem to be the only one who noticed that Kreacher, the Black family house elf is missing too."
"But, Kreacher helped the Death Eaters set up the trap at the Ministry!" Tonks said.
"House elves can't deliberately harm their masters or mistresses. When Kreacher told Halo Sirius had been taken, Halo hadn't inherited the Black family estate from Sirius, but now, Kreacher is her elf. And he cant deliberately hurt her. Now, he's no fan of the order. If she was out in the open then…"
"Anyone could find her, but it could also be helping her." Bill said.
"While putting a spanner in the Orders works." Charlie added.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ironhide asked. "Let's go find her."
"Hermione will send a message back with her location." Remus said. "Just be patient."
"Don't tell me to be patient!" Barricade said. "My sparkling's out there, in danger, and you're telling me to be patient?"
Just as the ex-Deceptacon began stalking towards Remus, a silver otter appeared in the warehouse.
Halo looked around at the rubbish tip, and her nose wrinkled. "Where are we?" She asked Kreacher.
"The tip, nearest your old muggle home, Mistress."
"Why do you call me that?"
"Because, when your godfather, my last Master, died, he left everything to you, including me, his house elf." Kreacher explained. "I know that the old wizard wiped your memories, but Kreacher knows a spell that will help you unlock them."
"Can you do that for me please, Kreacher?" She asked, kneeling down.
"The memories won't come for several hours, and neither will they come out in order, but slowly, they will come. They'll just need triggers. But after I cast the spell, it will take several hours."
"Please Kreacher, do the spell."
The old elf nodded, and clicked his fingers. Anything to stop the annoying old goat. Luckily, the spell would work, because she seemed to be something other than human now. And she wanted to go back to that other universe; with her there, he could go to Mistress LeStrange.
Halo's eyes closed, and she felt something wash over her. When the sensation faded, it felt like there was something chipping away at a barrier of sorts. She sat back on her heels and looked at Kreacher. "Thank you Kreacher." She said.
"Kreacher must go now, Mistress, before Order peoples find out he's gone, and know he's helping you." With a 'pop!' the elf disappeared. Halo stood. She had to find somewhere to stay for the night, and she most certainly wasn't going back to the Dursley's. She began walking through the piles of rubbish, looking for somewhere to stay, at least for the night, when she heard several sounds that reminded her of gunshots. She ducked behind a large pile of rubbish, and held her breath.
"Spread out! Find her!" A deep voice said. "We may need to Obliviate her again."
"Err, Kingsley?"
"What is it, Arthur?"
"I know I love Muggle gadgets, but I've never heard or seen anything like tha-" The man was cut off by a large explosion, and Halo looked up and could see several robotic giants. She heard shouts from people, and saw several gets of light, magic, she guessed, shot at the robots. Seeing her chance, Halo ran for it.
The moment the portkey's deposited them, Ironhide's Optics zeroed in on the wizards that were swarming the area. Some of them he'd caught brief glimpses of back at the service station. He loaded up one of his canons, and fired, not caring that they didn't harm human's, only caring that these human's wanted his sparkling dead. It was a testament to just how precious Halo was to them that Optimus didn't reprimand him. In fact, he had his own weapons out, ready to fire.
Halo's friends were already casting curses and hexes at the order too, not caring that some there were either members of their family, or old friends. All they cared about was getting to Halo. She was here somewhere, so they had to find her first. But Ironhide was also determined to take out the threat to his sparkling. So, he loaded up his canons and fired.
Halo was running, trying to get as far from the sounds of fighting as possible. She was running out of breath quickly though. Some kind of spell had come out at her, and she raised her hand instinctively, and some sort of shield protected her, reflecting the spell. She just kept running. Something caught her leg, tearing into the jeans she was wearing, and her leg, and she fell over. She looked round to se a long, jagged piece of metal. She hurriedly set to work, unhooking her jeans. Just as she got free, a giant black and silver metal hand wrapped round her, and picked her up. Panicking, she started to struggle, only to be brought close to the chest of the giant robot.
"Calm, sparkling, I'm not going to hurt you." A deep voice said.
Halo looked up and her eyes met concerned blue optics. She gasped and brought her hands up to her head as a memory hit her. She thought Kreacher had said it would take hours. She remembered this robot, Autobot, holding her close, promising to protect her. She saw herself, as a robot, but still her same height, calling the Autobot Papa, and another one daddy.
"What's wrong, Halo?" he asked.
"I- I think I just remembered something."
"Well, that's good, what did you remember?"
"You saying you'd protect me, and then me, as a smaller Autobot calling you Papa and another daddy."
He chuckled. "I'm glad you remember me, sparkling." He turned, suddenly, and Looked down at the ground, so did Halo. She saw an old man, with a long white beard before her Papa's (she found she had no trouble calling him that, it sounded right) hand covered her from view, forming a barrier that kept her against his chest, and kept her from seeing anything, and anything from seeing her. But she could hear.
"I do not believe you understand the consequences of what you're doing, giant." The voice of the old man said.
"I know exactly what I am doing. I am protecting my sparkling from harm." Ironhide informed the human, already with a good idea of who the human was. "But do you?"
"Of course I do. All I do is for the purpose of the greater good. Avada Kedavra!" The green light shot at Ironhide, and bounced harmlessly off his chest plates.
"Was that supposed to tickle?" Ironhide asked. "You will no longer harm my sparkling, Dumbledore." He kicked, and sent the old man flying into a pile of rubbish. He promptly rolled down the pile of rubbish, to the floor. The old man lay there, coughing up blood. Ironhide saw Ratchet approach.
"Ratchet, I think he's dying." Ironhide pointed to the old wizard.
Ratchet scanned him. "He's bleeding internally. He'll die. Very painfully too. What did you do?"
"Kicked him." Ironhide said simply.
Other humans from the order were running towards them, wands drawn. Ironhide loaded the cannon on his free arm, and fired, effectively blowing them away, all the while, leaving no gap for any spells to get through to Halo.
"Do you have her Ironhide?" He heard Barricade call.
"I have her. She remembers us two, Barricade. Just." Ironhide turned his attention to the dying old man, just in time to see Ratchet scan him again, and the old man's eye's closed.
"I've put him into a coma, he'll last longer, but won't survive. You'd best get her back to the warehouse." Ratchet said, picking the old man up. "I'll examine her there."
Ironhide said nothing, he just activated the portkey, happy to see Ratchets vindictive streak come out.
A/N: So, what do you think? Please review!