Hogwarts: Chill, I’m Not That Tom Riddle

(300 PS bonus)

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After kicking Gryffindor off the pitch, the Slytherin team was riding high.

They soared through the air on brand-new Nimbus brooms, pulling off flashy stunts as a warm-up before getting into their real training.

And Slytherin's warm-up was just the beginning—because their next training was something no other house would dare to do: full-contact combat.

Except for Malfoy, every Slytherin player was big and broad-shouldered, so Tom had given them a little suggestion.

"You know Mamba Mentality? Use those big arms, those elbows—make them afraid of you. Break their will. Destroy them! Go! Go! Go!"

That one sentence was like unlocking a whole new skill tree for Flint. Elbows were perfect—small movements, hard to spot, but if you caught one, you'd be sore for ages.

From that day on, Flint had a lot more respect for Tom, even invited him to join the Quidditch team. But Tom turned him down flat.

Quidditch was boring, and it ate up too much time. He'd rather spend it telling Daphne the next part of his story.

They were on Kung Fu Panda now. And honestly, sharing these stories made Tom want to start his own magical animation studio—not to make money, but just to bring movies like this back to life.

...

Next, Tom took the girls and left the Quidditch pitch.

They wandered to a wide clearing on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Hermione, curious as always, asked, "Yesterday you said you had something new to show us. Can we see it now?"

She'd been wondering all night. He'd said it couldn't be used in the Room of Requirement, that it had to be outdoors, and—mysteriously—that it might make them cry.

Daphne and Astoria were both looking at him expectantly.

"Prepare to be amazed," Tom said smugly, folding his arms. "This is my masterpiece from the whole holiday. I guarantee you'll love it."

"Isn't your 'masterpiece' supposed to be that notebook?" Daphne tilted her head.

Tom waved her off. "The notebook is just work. This—this is life. Watch closely."

From the seemingly bottomless pockets of his robe, he pulled out a box made of dragonhide and dragonbone. The girls leaned in as he flipped it open.

"Is that… a fighter jet?" Hermione blurted out before Daphne and Astoria had finished puzzling over it.

"Ohhh," Astoria said, realization dawning. "No wonder this toy looks like the Muggle planes I've seen—only prettier."

"And?" Hermione pressed. "Your big project isn't just a model, is it?"

Tom tossed the model into the air. Halfway up, it began to grow, until it was about a third the size of a real fighter jet.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Before their stunned eyes, the jet went through a complex series of transformations, parts folding and shifting until a towering metal figure—nearly two meters tall—slammed into the ground, sending up a spray of dust.

"Opt… Optimus Prime?" Hermione stammered, finally realizing what Tom had made. He'd built a Transformer?

But Tom looked mildly offended. "Optimus Prime? Please. This is Megatron—Optimus's arch-nemesis."

Hermione just stared. Honestly, to her they all looked like giant walking tin boxes.

"Megatron? My Megatron?!"

Hermione: "…"

The girls turned to see a group of students hurrying over. The fastest among them was Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff—who just shouted.

Justin circled Megatron several times in awe, running a hand over the cold, solid metal.

"This is insane—it's so much better than the toys in the shops! Riddle, I saw him transform in mid-air just now. Did you really make this?"

"Yup. And the transformation mechanism was a nightmare to get right. Took me half a month to figure it out," Tom said, pleased that someone appreciated his art.

More and more Muggle-born students gathered, buzzing with excitement. The pure-bloods looked confused—until Tom transformed it again, and even they started to see the appeal.

"Riddle, what else can Megatron do besides transform?" a Ravenclaw asked, eyeing the intricate magical runes etched into its plating.

"Transformers are made for battle," Tom said. He tapped his wand against Megatron's head, and two golden lights flared to life in its hollow eyes, making several students jump back.

"Alright, everyone—if you want to watch, stand well back. Don't get in the way of our training."

The crowd obediently stepped back. Tom pulled Astoria to a safe distance, leaving Hermione and Daphne standing awkwardly in the open.

"Hermione, Daphne—attack him with spells. That'll activate Megatron. He's on the lowest safety setting, but he will fight back. If you can't keep up, just drop your wand. He'll recognize it as surrender and stop."

"Got it?"

"Got it!" they said together.

"Flipendo."

Hermione raised her wand and fired a Knockback Jinx.

Megatron instantly raised both arms to block before charging straight at them.

"Split up!" Hermione yelled, darting left while Daphne ran the other way.

The spectators leaned forward, wondering which girl Megatron would target.

He chose Hermione, chasing after her while flinging a Knockback Jinx at Daphne with his free hand.

Luckily, Daphne had spent a year under Tom's training—throwing up a Shield Charm was second nature. The jinx hit her barrier and rippled harmlessly away.

"He can cast spells?" Hermione gasped. She'd fought plenty of enchanted dummies in the Room of Requirement—stationary targets, armored knights with swords—but never one that could actually duel like a wizard.

"Expelliarmus!" she cast a Disarming Charm, half hoping a wand would fly out of Megatron's chest.

But the metal giant was more agile than he looked, twisting aside to let the scarlet beam flash past.

"Daphne, stop standing there!" Hermione called as she flung another string of spells. But Megatron either dodged them or absorbed them with his armor, and the gap between them was closing fast.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Daphne just… watching. Like she was part of the audience now. Hermione's heart sank.

Come on, princess, remember whose side you're on—you're not here to watch.

"Huh? Oh—right!"

Snapping out of her daze, Daphne finally whipped out her wand and fired an Impediment Jinx, slowing the golem's advance.

With numbers on their side, Hermione kept Megatron's attention while Daphne, now focused, cast spell after spell—only occasionally having to block a counterattack.

They'd already figured out the pattern: Megatron seemed to have a cooldown on his magic. He never fired off two spells in rapid succession.

Unfortunately, his defenses were another matter entirely—utterly unbreakable.

Hermione even tried a Transfiguration spell to alter his armor, but a built-in anti-transfiguration enchantment shut her down cold.

More and more students gathered to watch. Hagrid, who had been weeding slugs out of the vegetable patch, assumed some kids were sneaking into the Forbidden Forest. He dropped the bucket of slugs and hurried over. Thanks to his towering height, he could see everything even from the back of the crowd.

One look, and he was hooked—so much so that he didn't notice the slugs wriggling out of the bucket and returning to devastate his garden.

"Tom, you're not trying to wear us down to exhaustion, are you?" Daphne called over her shoulder, starting to look bored.

"Guess we'll just have to turn it up a notch."

Tom smiled, sending a beam of light straight into Megatron. The golem froze for a split second; then the golden light in its eyes shifted to an ominous red.

Both of Megatron's arms came up, and after a brief charge—two spells blasted out at once.

CRACK! CRACK!

The Shield Charms on both witches shattered. Before, Megatron had needed three or four spells to break Daphne's shield; now the power was on a whole other level.

Tom's voice drifted lazily into their ears. "The earlier mode was the lowest energy setting. Every spell was triggered by absorbing stray magic from you two. Now it's on normal mode. Be careful."

"That is so cool—it's just like the real Megatron!" Justin Finch-Fletchley yelled. A bunch of Muggle-borns nodded enthusiastically.

After all, these were peak years for sci-fi films, and Megatron's futuristic design and attacks made them forget they were in the middle of the wizarding world.

"Riddle, does Megatron have any other modes besides those two?" a curious Ravenclaw called out.

Tom's grin widened. "There's also Elite Mode and War Mode. Each jump is… significant."

When he told Hermione this was his magnum opus, he wasn't exaggerating. "Budget cuts" might apply to his other projects, but for Megatron, he'd gone all in—no corners cut, no expenses spared.

Megatron could absorb ambient magical energy from young wizards just like Hogwarts Castle or Nicolas Flamel's manor, store magic in a Philosopher's Stone (empty core), and its armor—mithril mixed with magically black steel—was covered in defensive and offensive runes. Over ninety percent of its body was forged from self-repairing metal.

When Flamel saw the material list, he'd stared at it for a long moment, genuinely wondering if Dumbledore had sent Tom to financially ruin him.

If they made a few hundred of these things, Flamel would be bankrupt. The only part that really impressed him was the transformation feature; the rest was just high-level craftsmanship—proof of Tom's skill.

Back on the field, Hermione and Daphne were barely holding on. In normal mode, Megatron moved faster, drawing on its own magic to cast spells. The repertoire escalated from Knockbacks and Stunners to Blasting Curses, Firestorms, and General Counter-Spells.

One Counter-Spell broke through Hermione's hastily raised shield, and the flames that followed nearly singed her hair. She stumbled back, heart pounding, and dropped her wand.

Sure enough, Megatron immediately switched targets to Daphne.

Daphne's transfiguration was sharper than Hermione's, and she had a lot more magic. She conjured thick earthen walls, which Megatron's spells blasted into cratered ruins. She kept repairing them—until the golem simply charged and smashed the whole thing apart with its fists.

She froze for half a heartbeat—then tossed her wand aside with a loud, dramatic, "I'm done! Tom, you cheat! No wizard fights with their fists! That's bullying!"

"Pffft—"

Astoria snorted with laughter, and soon the whole crowd was in stitches.

"Hey, that's not on me," Tom said innocently, then he said to the study space. "Blame my teacher. Right, Andros?"

Daphne stomped over and started pummeling him with her tiny fists.

"Ahem..."

"Riddle, can I have a go? I've always wanted to fight Megatron," Justin asked eagerly. Dozens of others looked just as hopeful.

"Fine," Tom said after a pause. "Five at a time. Help me test Megatron's limits. Finch-Fletchley, pick your team. Everyone else, line up."

"Got it!" Justin pumped a fist and was instantly mobbed by volunteers. He chose two from his own house and two Ravenclaws, and together they stepped up to face Megatron.

Up in the tower, Dumbledore stood at the window, watching the lively scene on the lawn with a faint smile.

"Nice."

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