I suppose since everyone else is saying it... All characters in this story (besides the ones made by me, like Draco's wife and Mr. Donavin) are owned by JK Rowling. I do not claim to own them (though I do claim to own the tiny piece of Hogwarts that I changed... :) )

From the Author: This is a story that takes place after Deathly Hallows. This chapter actually occurs before DH's Epilogue, but right before, so Harry is 36 and not a teen. I just hope that I'll go somewhere with this story... Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – The Mischievous Muggle

Harry coughed as he stepped through the front door, waving his hand aloft in an attempt to clear the smoke.

"Mr. Donavin?" Harry called, coughing a little, "Mr. Donavin, are you alright?"

Harry stepped over the threshold, which was made considerably higher since a toppled grandfather clock added to its height. He picked his way through the smoking rubble that littered the hallway and found the smoke emanating from the basement door. He opened it and a blast of thick black smoke caught his face. Harry bent over and coughed. He pulled out his wand and waved it slightly; the smoke thinned considerably. Storing his wand back in his jeans pocket, he worked his way down the wooden steps into the basement.

The basement, which was usually a mess from the different times he visited, was now blasted clean; only smoke and blast marks littered the place. In the center of the concrete floor, an older man laid, sprawled on the floor, black from the blast. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would have been comical from the way the man's front was black and the little amount of hair he had was blasted straight back.

"Mr. Donavin!" Harry shouted, coming down the stairs. He kneeled beside the man and put his ear to his chest. Still beating…

Harry sat up and looked down at the man on the ground. He shook his head in disbelief and glanced over at the wall where the blast came from. And he stared.

Against the wall was a strange mechanical contraption, a machine of sorts. The machine was blasted apart in places, sparking in others. What caught Harry's attention though was the thing suspended within the machine.

A blue jumper (which is all Harry could describe it as) that was entirely made of metal plates hung perfectly untouched in the center of the blackened machine. It hung there with its gleaming arms outstretched to the side and its helmet with tinted glass perfectly unscathed.

Sirens. Harry was brought back to his senses as he heard the squeal of fire trucks. What was I thinking? Surly the fire department would see the black smoke rising thick from the house. After all, I heard the blast loud and clear from next door and Ginny looked out at the house and screamed to me to do something. Why would no one else see it? I'm not the only one around...

He looked down at the man lying prostrate on the floor in front of him. Surely the ambulances were coming as well? But Harry felt compelled.

He pulled his wand from his jeans again and waved it in front of the man, muttering, "Rennervate".

The man jumped alive, his eyes shooting open, and yelled, "EUREKA!!!!"

Harry, startled, jumped back and landed on his behind. The old man shuffled to his feet so quickly that Harry thought he might have did the wrong spell.

"It has worked!!" The man shouted, "My invention is nearly complete!!"

"Uh, excuse me…" Harry asked, feeling oddly like he was in class again. "What invention?"

The man spun around and saw Harry on the floor. "Mr. Potter!" the man shouted, happily surprised to see him there, "I have made a most interesting discovery!"

"What?" Harry said, unable to resist, "that you can nearly kill yourself? Or that you can blow your house up?"

The man stood, smile wiped suddenly from his face, as he realized the results of his discovery. Then, he too heard the sirens, so close they could have been parked in his front yard.

"Quick! My boy, I must ask something of you!"

"What?" Harry asked, annoyed, as he pulled himself up off the floor, "Another spell, I suppose?"

"Just a tiny one!" Mr. Donavin said, pinching his fingers together to illustrate.

"You realize that this is why the bloody Ministry of Magic instituted the Statute of Secrecy! I might get tossed into court for this!"

"My boy, you haven't yet, have you?"

"Probably because you live so bloody close to me…" Harry said, eyeing the man.

The fire men could be heard shouting from outside.

"Please…" Mr. Donavin pleaded, "If you could just hide my contraption from the men upstairs?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "As long as you remember that you won't be able to see it either…"

"Yes, I understand!"

Harry sighed again and turned his wand on the machine that held the strange suit. Making a single sweeping motion, he cast an Invisibility charm on it and the machine disappeared.

"Thank you, my boy. I will repay you someday for your generosity..."

"You keep telling me that, Mr. Donavin, and that day has yet to come…"

"Hey!" a fire man called down the stairs, "Is anyone injured down there?"

Harry quickly stowed his wand away as Mr. Donavin called up, "We're fine!"

"Well get outside then! This house is on fire!"

Mr. Donavin, shocked now at the news, hurried up the stairs as Harry followed behind, staring at the spot where the strange machine was once visible.