"And that's how it ended up on my desk." Harry finished.

Hermione and Ron both gave him fish-eyed looks.

"That's.. quite the story." Ron added.

"So what do you want me to do with it exactly?" Hermione asked.

The object which they were talking about was whirring innocently on Harry's Auror Office desk, twirling a little blue wheel around a small blue globe. It didn't make too much noise, and if you weren't paying attention you probably wouldn't even hear it.

"Analyse it. Figure out what it does. Why they wanted to use it so badly."

Hermione hesitated. "Are you sure you want me to do this, and not someone more qualified at the Department of Mysteries?" Harry rolled his eyes.

"Yes." He replied curtly.

Before Hermione could reply Ron beat her to the punch. "Office politics. It's complicated." Harry inclined his head to him.

"And you're sure this won't blow up in my face? Or set something else off? Or-or curse me into speaking only Zulu for the rest of my life?" Harry and Ron snorted.

"Not as far as we know. And believe me we've checked, Hermione, this thing doesn't have a single trace of dark magic or enchantment that we know of. And we know a lot." Harry chuckled. "Hell last week Moore told me he knew how to check specifically for sexual hexes, D'ya remember?"

Ron laughed uproariously. "Yeah. Said he found a way to reverse a Penis Growth Hex. Why you'd want to reverse that I—"

"BOYS!" Hermione shrieked desperately. "Focus. Please." During these times she missed the days when they willfully played ignorant about these topics around her. Ever since fifth year however..

"Right. The point is, according to everything we've tried there's not a single trace of magic involved on the thing. Nothing. Zero." Hermione furrowed her brows.

She timidly waved her wand around it, and when nothing happened, she narrowed her eyes. "Well, alright. I'll look into it. Stand back, please."

Harry stood up from his desk to stand next to Ron on the other side while Hermione circled the object with her wand pointed at it. Muttering every so often.

"Doesn't have batteries… no solar panels either… not electrical then?.."

"So I know why Hermione's in my office. What made you decide to swing by?" Harry asked.

"Umm.." Ron hesitated. He couldn't exactly tell him he was quitting the Auror force now that his wife was in the room. He knew she wouldn't agree with his decision, no matter how he argued, so he would tell Harry first, and then hope he could help deal with the fallout.

It's been just two years since the war ended, and only now were things finally stabilizing. Truly, Ron liked the work he did with the Aurors. But it took up much of his time. Too much, sometimes. He dreamed of one day starting a family with his wife, and he knew he couldn't always be there for them if he was gone for weeks on end. So he had decided to quit, even if he knew the decision wasn't going to be popular.

"Just wanted a change of scenery. See how you were doing." He lied. Harry didn't buy it, but didn't say anything.

"Well it doesn't seem to have any obvious power source. It's not anything alive either, so that can't explain it either." Hermione concluded after her fifth loop around the desk.

"Do you at least know what's it made of?" Harry asked.

"It seems to be some sort of iron alloy, but that's just it. I know it has iron, but everything else comes back all jumbled up."

"Strange." Ron commented.

"The only thing that gives back any notable response is when you try to put an anti-apparition ward around it."

"That's oddly specific." Harry remarked, suspicious.

"Yes, let me show you." She waved her wand around the globe, then frowned when nothing happened. "Huh. It worked before."

Harry stepped up. "Here, let me try."

Just as Harry's wand finished it's loop, the globe starting glowing. A strong blue light pulsed as it became bigger and bigger.

"Harry what did you do?!" Hermione screamed.

"I don't know! Make it stop!" He screamed back.

"Too late! We gotta run!" Ron yelled.

They were, in fact, too late, as just when they reached the door, the blue light became blindingly big, swallowing the entire office. Swallowing them.

The only thing from the office left when the light vanished was half a door, still on its hinges.

New fic. Yeah it's basic. Still wanna do it. Mostly cause I wanna see how a third-person perspective's gonna go for me. Might get a lot of updates. Might get like two or three. We shall see.