Hello!

J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, so...yeah.

A few days after last week's class, Hermione was about to enter the art class again.

The door was closed. Was she late for class?

No, she glanced at her watch. Fifteen minutes early.

She knew that the doors automatically opened fifteen minutes before class, and closed five after it started, and her watch wasn't wrong.

Nothing to do but go in, right?

She pushed the door open, gently and slowly, examining the room for any dangers before slipping in.

Or, I should say, try slipping in, because blocking her way was none other than Draco Malfoy.

He held the door with one hand and the doorframe with the other, blocking entrance to the room with his body.

Instead of trying to wrestle her way through, she cast the Jelly Legs Jinx on him.

It actually worked!

"It seems that only the caster has to be outside the room," commented Hermione.

Draco said desperately, "Unjellify!"

And it also worked!

They exchanged a knowing look.

Hermione was the first to state the obvious, saying, "Albus lied! This isn't a nonmagical room! I spent my entire weekend in the library looking for something about that!"

"So now we're calling Dumbledore that even when he's not-"

Like a muggle loudspeaker, Albus's voice rang through the room.

"Detention, Draco!"

"First names are tabooed, I guess," said Hermione.

They both sat in the back this that time, next to each other, feeling quite at ease.

Draco chuckled, and Hermione turned to look at him, a little confused.

"Do you think that when he was 'hypnotizing' us, he was just using a nonverbal happy charm?" she suggested.

"Most likely," he conceded. "After all, how else could we have been that...mellow?"

She laughed. "Mellow?"

"Calm? Peaceful?" Draco added. "Any of those, take your pick."

"Hello, class!" Albus strode into the room cheerfully, as usual.

In his hands was a familiar-looking plastic bag, and a pack of muggle permanent markers.

"What are those?" asked Draco quietly, looking at Hermione with a confused expression on his face.

"Balloons," she replied, "Duh!"

"What's a balloon?" he whispered frantically.

"You don't know?" she chuckled.

"Obviously!" he retorted.

"A balloon," Albus interrupted them loudly, walking between their desks, "Is a peaceful magical creature that survives on breaths."

"Er, actually...Albus, a balloon is a-" Hermione started to say.

"You simply take one out of the bag, place it to your mouth, and blow air inside of it!" continued Albus.

He then went on to blow up a purple plastic balloon, tying it closed when he had finished.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Draco's trusting expression, how could he be so gullible?

"Hey, Draco!" she hissed.

"What?"

"Did you know that if you say the word 'chocolate' really slowly, it sounds like 'gullible'?" she asked with a fake smile.

"Hermione, I'm not the kind of idiot that would be as gullible as to actually try that," he groaned, oblivious to the fact that Hermione was about to burst into laughter.

He was the one who believed that a balloon was a magical creature! she thought.

"Why are you grinning?" he asked her.

"...Because I'm having fun!" she blurted out.

"You're having fun-"

"CLASS!" shouted Albus in a voice that they had never heard before. "Pay attention, please. Now, each of you can have one balloon. I named mine Bob, and I suggest you name yours also."

They each got up and took a balloon out of the bag, not looking at the color until they sat down.

"What color did you get?" asked Draco.

"Green, how about you?"

"Red, wanna switch?"

"Not really. Pay attention, Albus is talking to us," Hermione gestured to the front of the classroom, Albus was uncapping one of the black markers.

He continued his speech, "Then all you have to do is take your marker in your hand, draw a face on the balloon...and WALA! You have your own pet balloon!"

Hermione smiled, trying not to laugh.

Draco was cradling the balloon in his palm, gently stroking it and whispering words of comfort to it.

"Are you going to blow it up or fall in love with it?" she asked him, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Er...yeah."

Draco pressed the balloon to his lips, filling the balloon with air, only to have it quickly shrink back to its original size.

"What the- mine's dieseased!" he exclaimed.

"Draco, it can't be- you just aren't blowing hard enough!" Hermione sighed.

"Oh, really?" Then why don't you blow it up, then?" he challenged, handing her the scarlet rubber. "Huh, huh?"

"Fine." she groaned, taking it, then paused. "You put your mouth on it!"

"So? Only for a second!"

"Whatever."

Hermione blew up the balloon flawlessly, tying it and placing it on his desk.

"How did you do that?" he demanded.

"I've done this before," she explained, internally groaning at Albus.

"I thought muggles didn't know about magical creatures," said Draco.

Are you kidding me? she thought irritably.

"I did this at...at the Burrow, with Ron for his seventeenth," she lied.

"Ah," he replied shortly, picking up a marker from his desk.

"EMERGENCY STAFF MEETING!" yelled someone, and it sounded as if it was coming from everywhere.

Albus rushed out the room, telling them something about class being dismissed until next time.

The two students pressed their hands to their ears, looking quite alarmed.

The loud voice abruptly stopped as soon as Albus swept out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

"You want to finish this one?" asked Draco hesiantly, handing Hermione the marker.

"Sure," she replied, her hand brushing his warmly as she took the permanent marker from him.

She drew a smiley face on the balloon, but as soon as she was drawing the arc of a smile, the balloon popped.

"You. Killed. Mufasa," stated Draco, glaring at her, fists clenching.

"You seriously named your balloon after a lion? From a muggle movie?" she asked, not sure whether to laugh or be really confused.

"I've only seen one movie," he said quickly. He added, "Besides, The Lion King is awesome."

"I would have thought you as more of a How to Train Your Dragon guy, actually," replied Hermione.

"That one's good too- Whatever! You murdered Mufasa!" he yelled.

"It was an accident!" she retorted angrily.

"If not for you, it wouldn't have happened, so it's your fault."

"It's not even a magical creature! It's a muggle party decoration! Surely you've heard of them!"

"I thought those were called malloons, that's what Mum told me," explained Draco awkwardly.

"You mum is a...So, is class dismissed now? It's time."

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered.

Hermione quickly left the room, and he just sat in his chair for the longest of times, imagining that she was still there.