"Lys!" I yelled as I pounded on the door to the Room of Requirement, "Come on Lys! What's the damn holdup!?" I demanded loudly.
When I got no answer I took a step back and crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the door. I could go in. Lys didn't have the magical know-how to be able to lock the Room in a way that I couldn't circumvent fairly easily. But she'd threatened my giblets if I entered uninvited, and had done it in such a way that I was hesitant to test her on it. I hadn't got any use out of them yet, technically, and didn't want to risk the possibility. She'd been in there all morning, supposedly adding the finishing touches on what she'd been working on for the last month and change, though it had been far longer in subjective time thanks to the time compression generated by the Room.
Summer was here, school was out, and it was time to answer the summons of Lys's parental overlords. I admit I was feeling a bit impatient to get it over and done with, as well as a bit curious about what sort of people could have given birth to someone like my lovable little grump. In short, I really wanted to get going.
"Lys! I'm getting gray hairs out here." I yelled at the door. This was true, even if the waiting wasn't the cause for it. It was fortunate that a bit of transfiguration was enough to handle it. I wasn't beyond a bit of vanity. I'm only human after all.
As if on cue the door to the Room burst open with such force that I think I'd been seriously hurt if I'd been standing closer to it. "Hey! Watch it you crazy...!"
What came out of the Room wasn't Lys. The floor shook and splintered as a great metal foot slammed down as the great form beyond the door crouched down to fit through the doorway. I naturally backed away rapidly to gain some distance as the thing carefully maneuvered itself trough the door before rising to its full height.
"...oooh balls..."
It wasn't as tall as Hagrid, but if I was to guess, then I'd say that it stood at around nine feet and change. It was a robot. A very large and... gaudy robot. It honestly looked like it came right out of some sort of Victorian inspired anime. Its basic design reminded me of a fantasy knight or a paladin. The impression was likely influenced by the fact that it looked to be made mostly out of Orichalcum and decorated with what I assumed were Adamant accents. The head actually reminded me a bit of Optimus Prime from Transformers fame, as it had a similar mouth grill, but the head was more elongated and brought the mind towards a ceremonial helmet.
Its shoulders were in the shape of giant pauldrons that looked like they were inspired by Samus Aran's armor, which was actually true for the rest of the shape of the robot I noted, particularly the torso if you excluded the giant hood ornament that looked like it might have come from Captain Nemo's car. The hips and legs were more bulky, giving it a more masculine look than the aforementioned hero. The forearms were particularly interesting as they supported some kind of mechanism that I had no idea what to make of by sight alone. Looked like a pair of exhaust pipes in the shape of a V with some kind of gauge in the middle of them, it was directly connected to the hand by a pipe that glowed a dull but familiar blue.
It also had some kind of device on its back that I couldn't see clearly, but I did see another set of downward pointed exhaust pipesand a pair of thick pipes that ended in two pairs of what looked like old car horns, but from the blue glow I saw coming out of them I was fairly sure that they had nothing to do with making sounds.
There were a lot of blue glowing things, I noted. The most intense which was coming from under the torso. Probably what was powering this thing, and I had a fair idea of what it might be.
"Oh my god." I breathed, impressed despite myself. How on earth had she done this!?
"Well look at that." Came Lys's voice from behind the behemoth, followed shortly by the woman herself, who happened to be sporting a supremely smug expression on her face. Actually, smug might be to mild a world, I think I needed to invent a whole new word to describe the level of smug she was exuding. "I don't think I've ever seen you like this before."
"Lys!" I exploded on her. "What in the actual hell!?"
Despite the fact that it shouldn't be physically possible Lys managed to look even smugger then she had previously.
"He's nice isn't he?" She said and gave the giant robot an affectionate pat on the leg. "This is Gond, Hammer of the Dwarves!" She proclaimed grandly while gesturing to her creation, which stood up straighter and seemed to puff out its chest with pride. "Say hi, Gond."
[GREETINGS!] The damn thing boomed. It even sounded robotic!
"Wha..." I said in awe, at an actual loss for words. While I hadn't known what she'd been working on in there, this was so far beyond anything I'd even remotely expected. It wasn't even on the list. How in the hell?
"What in the hell?" I choked out, "I... what... how!?" I finally managed. "Jesus Christ, Lys! How the bloody hell did you make something like this?!" I exploded. "It shouldn't even be possible!
Lys flinched back in surprise for a moment before the familiar disgruntled expression she usually wore reasserted itself and she crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you talking about, you've eight of your own. I might not be as good at enchanting as you are, but that doesn't mean I can't do this much."
"That's not the bloody point!" I yelled in exasperation. "How in the hell did you go from making swords and armor to making..." I stopped as words failed me for a moment and I just ended up stabbing a finger at the mechanical man just standing there and observing us. "...that!?"
Lys squinted at me before snorting. "You were with me when I bought all those books."
"I bought those books, me!" I stressed. "And I'm damn sure there weren't any books on robot design in there. How did you even think to do something like this?"
"Oh." She started like she just remembered something before disappearing behind her creation for a moment before reappearing holding a pocketbook with a colorful cover depicting a young boy with a large gray robot in the background along with some bold Japanese letters with the English title below it. Giant Robo.
It was a manga.
I felt a bit faint.
"This still doesn't explain how you got from this..." I snatched the manga out of her hand and waved it at her before throwing it at the robot. It bounced off its expansive chest, and while the robot followed its trajectory with its head it didn't react beyond that. "...to that."
Lys shot me a glare before walking over and snatching up the book from the floor. "I told you, I used the books I got. Simple as that."
"Those books were on vehicles and basic mechanics, not advanced robotics!" I pointed out. You don't go out and pick up a manga and then suddenly get the ability to actually build the damn thing! At least... at least not if you were normal. I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that I might have to reevaluate Lys level of intelligence. I took another look at the robit and the intricate interactions of parts as it moved a bit. Holy christ that looked insanely complex.
Lys waved it off. "Same basic thing. A crane is just like an arm or a leg and a camera is just an eye and so on. I just had to make it smaller and more human-like." She explained airily before pausing for a moment, thinking something over. "The only hard part was the hands and the hips, lots of fiddly stuff. But I just had to keep in mind how the human body moves and design things that do something similar. It's very straight forward when it comes down to it."
"It doesn't look very much like the robot in the manga." I noted carefully, mostly to see what she would say.
"Of course it doesn't! The design was entirely impractical. If I did it like this..." She waved the manga at me. "...then Gond wouldn't even have been able to bend over, let alone walk. Do you see these hips?! They are solid! The damn thing would have a hard time waddling let alon walk! And don't get me started on the joints!"
"Uh-huh..." I told her articularly.
"I mean, the concept is good, but the design and esthetics are horrible. Much too simple. And do you know how stupid it looks trying to make a human face out of metal? Really damn stupid! And those feet! What the hell was the artist thinking!? With those hips! It would fall over the first time it tried to walk!" She rambled.
I looked over the robot again. "Well, it's not simple I guess."
Lys eyes snapped to me with a glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"
I winced but continued never the less. "Well, its a bit... busy? You know? A lot going on... What I mean is... it might be a bit... gaudy..."
"Gaudy!" Lys yelled. "How can you... Its a work of art!"
"But a gaudy one, I mean, what up with that thing on its chest?" I asked, warming to the subject. This was familiar ground. Lys was irritated and I was teasing her.
I needed a brain reset. Good lord, Lys could build robots! And she had done it in a few weeks, just under a month. Okay, a magical robot, probably powered in some way by my plasma core, by the looks of all that blue glowy stuff. She had managed to do this from things she had learned from reading dimestore books on various mechanical principles and a fucking manga. There was probably a cool german word to describe something like this. Personally, I was going with unbelievable. This was Luke getting good enough to kick the crap out of his dad, who had mowed through Jedi three times his age like a fat guy at a hot-dog eating contest, it was that level of bullshit.
Lys looked up at the ornament with a frown. "What about it? I worked hard on that, do you know how hard it is to get something like that perfectly symmetrical? Particularly when working in adamant? That's master quality work right there."
I rolled my eyes and huffed. "Fine! Forgot I said anything."
Lys frowned at me. "You know what I think? I think you're jealous."
I looked up at the ceiling for a moment before chucking. She had a point, I was a bit jealous. I couldn't have created something like that. Not just from a few books. Not without cheating. Which by what I could see when Gond moved about, Lys had not done. It was damn impressive work. Far beyond anything, I thought she could have accomplished. By a very wide margin too. By all that is holy, she might have stumbled onto her true calling here.
"Yeah, I suppose I am," I admitted a bit grudgingly before giving her a smile. She looked a bit floored at my admission. "You really managed all this alone with just a few books? That's a bonafide miracle."
Lys flushed lightly before reaching into her robe and pulling out the Eye of Hades. "Well, I had some help." She mutterd grudgingly. "The dwarves were trying to do something similar when... yeah... anyway, they hadn't gotten too far but they showed me some stuff that helped push things along. I had to use some old fashion wizard magic to give it a mind of course."
I nodded thoughtfully. That made sense. The dwarves had started to dabble in clockwork before the fall, amongst other things. I wonder what the wizarding world would have looked like right now if the attack against them had failed. I sighed sadly. I supposed it didn't matter, the world was what it was. I looked over at Lys again.
"Damn cool. You stole my plasma core for it though, didn't you?" I said with a teasing smile emerging on my face.
Lys suddenly looked embarrassed again. "No, I didn't! I made one of my own, I've seen you make them plenty of times, it's not like it's really all that hard."
"But it's my design, you didn't even ask. That's kinda hurtful." I mock-complained with a pout.
"I'm sure it is," Lys said, her voice dry as a desert.
I moved in closer and started to inspect her big creation closer. I was no expert, hell I wasn't even an amateur, but even I could see that this was good work. Everything fit together perfectly from what I could see and the robot seemed the have the same range of motion as a human for the most part. Which I thought was damn impressive. "I'm guessing you want to take it with us?"
Lys gave me an unimpressed look before stomping over towards the exit wit Gond following after her like a loyal puppy. if puppies were two-ton mechanical behemoths that is. "Of course, what other reason would I have had to put a rush on it?"
"How would I know? You're a girl."
"What's that suppose to mean!"
I chuckled; all was right in the world again.