Candy Floss: A Drabble Collection

by bravenclawesome

The International Statute of Secrecy is under threat. The percentage of the Muggle population who know about magic is continually growing. To prepare the wizarding world for inevitable future challenges, there is only one option – to familiarize wizards with all things Muggle. This is exactly what Hermione Granger does... with exceedingly hilarious results.

25. Pencil

Pencil

"But there's no ink! How is that even possible?!"

"It's graphite rubbing onto the paper, and it leaves a mark."

"It's what?"

The strangely-shaped writing utensil resembled a short, thin stick, yellow in colour with a curious pink thing on the tip of one end, and a very, very sharp black point on the other to write with.

"It's not like one of Umbridge's quills, is it?" said Ron warily. "If her quills use blood, what does this thing use?"

Hermione sighed. "Muggles use this every day, Ron," she said. "It doesn't hurt them, and it won't hurt you. This is a pencil. The black thing you see here – " she held the pencil up to show him the pointy end, " – is graphite, which is a soft material that rubs off when in contact with paper, or anything really. The one disadvantage is that the pencil gets blunt easily, so you have to sharpen it again."

To demonstrate this idea, she began to scribble furiously on the page until it was covered with a black metallic layer. Ron touched the shiny surface with his forefinger and was surprised to see that it came off on his hands. "Ugh," he said, wiping it on his pants.

"You can rub it off with the eraser, see?" said Hermione. She turned the pencil the other way round, and began to rub at the black sheen. Ron watched in wonder as it disappeared into thin air. "Look!" he said excitedly. "It's gone!" Hermione shook her head and smiled.

"Here's my sharpener," she said, taking out a small machine. It was very simplistic, small enough to fit in his palm, a tiny rectangular object with a cone-shaped hole in its side. "You hold it over the bin, here," said Hermione, kicking the wastepaper basket over to sit between her legs. "And you hold the sharper and pencil over it, then you put it in." She did exactly as she said, and began to turn the pencil. Almost like magic, brownish shavings began to come out of a little slot in the sharper, crumbling of their own accord into pieces and disintegrating into the bin. Ron also noticed fragments of black dust floating downwards into the bin, shimmering as they reached the bottom. After a few turns, Hermione pulled the pencil back out again. The black end was sharper than before, and gleamed as it caught the light. "You try," she said invitingly, taking his hand to hold the pencil. "Hold it just like you normally do for a quill – firmly, but not too hard. It's just as breakable as the nib of a quill, you see."

Ron experimented with a new sheet of paper underneath Hermione's blackened one. The graphite rubbed off easily, and soon he was tracing random lines on the page with a stupid grin on his face. "It doesn't run out!" he said. "It just goes on forever. This is so convenient!"

Hermione grinned. "Just wait until you see my ballpoint pen."

"Your what?"

Author's Note:

Thanks to feminist4ever for this hilariously simple idea! The next chapter is easy to guess if you look at the end of this one.