Written For:

QLFC / Round 7: Captain - Muggle Me This: Write about the conflict within wizarding society, between those who want to study Muggle technology in order to understand it better and those who think it's a bunch of garbage.

Word Count: 924

AN: Thanks to Sophy, Jade, and Jill for beta-ing!

"There's just one more present for you to open, Hugo," Hermione announced excitedly as her youngest child sat in the middle of his accrued birthday presents—a new broomstick, a homework planner that had been barely glanced at, several pairs of socks, sweets and chocolate from Honeydukes, and a Lunascope from Uncle Harry. "Then we'll go up to the Burrow for birthday tea."

"What is it, Mum?" Rose asked curiously as Hermione handed Hugo a slim, neatly wrapped package.

"Wait for him to open it, and you'll see," Hermione said with a grin.

"Come on, Hugo, we're all dying to see what Mum's big surprise was this year," Ron gave Hugo a playful nudge.

Hugo picked at the edges of the tightly wrapped present, finally ripping the bright paper away from the box.

It was a small black device pictured on a box which read 'E-book'. Hugo slipped it out and held it in his hands carefully, admiring the sleek tablet. "What is this, Mum?" he asked, pressing the button at the bottom of the screen. It glowed dimly, showing a long list of all Hugo's favourite Muggle books.

"It's called an e-book," Hermione explained. "They're very popular with Muggles these days. You can store hundreds of books in that little device and read them whenever and wherever you want!"

"Is it...was it made with magic?" Rose asked with bright, eager eyes. She peered over Hugo's shoulder to get a better look as he nudged the cursor button through the list of books slowly.

"No, honey," Hermione replied with a chuckle. "It's electronic. A Muggle machine. Normally you have to plug it in to charge it, but I've played around with it a little, so the battery should never die."

Ron stared down at the device in Hugo's hands, looking flabbergasted. "You bought our son a Muggle toy?"

Hermione scoffed. "Don't act so medieval, Ron. It's not a toy."

Ron snatched it out of Hugo's hands and started to press the buttons haphazardly. Hugo blinked up at his father, his mouth open in a letter-box shape, as though he was getting ready to scream at any given moment. He was a quiet, sensitive child, and he didn't like his things being messed with.

Especially not new things.

"This is pointless," Ron grumbled. "Why would he need all these books in one place? You have a whole library of books in your bigger-on-the-inside library upstairs."

Hermione leaned forward and grabbed the e-book from Ron, glaring at her husband. "You are ruining Hugo's day," she hissed, giving the device back to her son. "And anyway, you're one to talk about Muggle things being pointless—I seem to remember you and Harry choosing to fly to school in your father's enchanted car rather than waiting for a more appropriate method of transportation."

"Didyou really do that, Dad?" Rose queried, her eyes glittering.

"You've never told us about that," sniggered Hugo.

A blush spread across Ron's face, right up to his earlobes. "That was an emergency, and it did turn out to be pointless, since the car crashed into the Whomping Willow and went mental."

"That's because your father meddled around with that car. If it had just been driven the way it was meant to, there'd have been no issues." Hermione paused. "Though, you seem to have forgotten that the car saved you from a nest of gigantic, man-eating spiders."

"What?!" Hugo and Rose chorused, though they were ignored.

"How did you expect us to drive a car into Hogwarts? Paddle across the Black Lake in it?"

As Hermione and Ron argued, they didn't notice Rose and Hugo roll their eyes and sneak upstairs, out of the way. They were far too used to their parents bickering.

"I thought the e-book would be something good for Hugo," Hermione snarled. "It may have escaped your notice as you're always too busy messing around in that shop with George, but Hugo has a lot of your father's traits—he very much likes to play around with Muggle technology and seeing how it works, especially electronics. One set of his grandparents are Muggles, after all. It's perfectly acceptable for him to have an interest in it."

"I just think it's a waste of time. Muggle technology isn't going to help him through school. It won't even work if he takes it to Hogwarts. There were plenty of other things that he enjoys—why didn't you get him one of the racing broomsticks we saw in Diagon Alley, instead of just the regular Nimbus?"

"Because he doesn't play Quidditch!" snapped Hermione. "He has no interest in playing for sport. He likes to fly just for the fun of it. It's Rose who is on the Gryffindor team, not Hugo."

"Well, maybe if he had a proper broomstick, he might change his mind and join the team."

"Oh, shut up, Ronald," yelled Hermione, climbing to her feet. She pulled her wand out of her cardigan sleeve and waved it wordlessly in the direction of the scrunched up wrapping paper on the carpet, and the mess jumped up from the floor and began to make its way to the recycling bin in the kitchen.

"Are you using magic?" sneered Ron, under his breath. "Why don't you just get on your hands and knees and pick it all up, seeing as you enjoy Muggle things so much."

"Oh, grow up, Ron!" hissed Hermione, aiming her wand at him. A ball of wrapping paper hurtled across the room and bounced off his head, and Hermione smirked triumphantly.