Disclaimer: Fanmade by fans for fans. Please don't sue.

Title: Stolen From Granger Dental

Summary: When Ron breaks his quill, Hermione hands him a pen.

Genre: Friendship

Rating: K+

Characters: Ron Weasley & Harry Potter & Hermione Granger

Day 26: Character action: A character must use a Muggle artifact

Thirteen-year-old Ron Weasley laid out on the floor in front of the Gryffindor common room fire. He and his best mates, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were all working on various assignments that were due the next day. Frustrated with yet another Potions essay, Ron shook his spell-checking quill and jabbed it violently into his parchment. The nib broke off and in his anger, he squeezed too hard and snapped the malfunctioning quill in two.

Ron swore out loud, throwing the broken feather into the fire. Huffing, he began to rummage through his schoolbag, but he couldn't find his spare quill. Sighing in defeat, he turned to his left and looked at the dark-haired wizard reading his Potions textbook.

"Harry, do you have a spare quill I can borrow?"

"Sorry, mate. I'm on my last one. Ask Hermione," he replied.

Ron turned to his right and asked the witch beside him, "Hermione, do you have a spare quill I can borrow? I'll return it after I get a new one at Hogsmeade, promise."

The bushy-haired brunette set down her Ancient Runes textbook and said, "I'm sorry, Ron. I only have one left and I'm use- Oh wait..." Hermione began to search her bookbag, muttering to herself, before pulling her arm out and handing a thin object to the redhead. "I keep a spare pen, just in case. Here," she said, before grabbing her quill and returning to her essay.

Ron looked at the stick Hermione had given him. It was rounded on both ends, with one end having a small hole and being a bit more pointy than the other. Along the side was a bit of text; "Stolen from Granger Dental" he murmured out loud. Not wanting to look foolish in front of his friends, who assumed he knew what the object was, he started to shake the stick, then pretending it was a quill, dipped one end into his inkwell and tried to continue his assignment. Instead of the smooth line of ink he was expecting, blobs of blackness dripped off the stick, staining his parchment.

Ron groaned out, "Hermione, it's not working!"

Harry and Hermione both turned to look at their redheaded friend, finally noticing that he had ink all over his hands, parchment, and his borrowed pen. Harry stifled his laughter while Hermione, with an amused look, used her wand to clean up Ron's mess.

"Here, let me show you how it works," the bespectacled boy said as he took the now clean pen from his friend. "You press and release this end here to get the tip out," Harry explained, clicking on the less pointy end. He then pressed the now exposed tip to the inside cover of his book and wrote his name. "The ink is inside the pen and comes out this tip here; it doesn't need to be dipped in the inkwell. Once you're done, you click the end again," he said, pushing the end, "and the tip goes back inside the pen."

"Blimey! Muggles come up with the strangest things," Ron said with wonder in his voice, as he took the pen from Harry. He began to click it over and over, the tip going in and out in a rapid fashion.

"They probably had to because they don't have magic to clean up the mess that quill and ink sometimes create," Hermione stated as she returned to her essay.

"Hermione, can you help me get some more of these thingies?" Ron asked. "I think Dad would love to have a few for Christmas. You know, a useful muggle thing that doesn't need eckeletry."

Smiling, Hermione replied, "It's electricity, Ron. And yes, I'll help you find your father a pen for Christmas."

"Thanks, Hermione. You're the best." And with that done, a much calmer Ron got back to work on his Potions essay.