I Was Younger Then

I Can't Take It Back

Sleep came much easier for Penny since Snape removed the memory from her head. His help could not have come at a better time seeing as second term started and Penny had much to catch up on. While some of her professors, like Professor Binns, did not even notice Penny's absence, most already decided on some way for her to make up missed work. Her professors for Arithmancy, Astronomy and Potions settled for a, very long(in Snape's case), essay on the material she missed, which would be due by the end of the month, while others decided she need to find space in her already full timetable for remedial lessons because they needed to be able to evaluate how well she performed the magic. They did not specify for what length of time, but said "until they felt she was sufficiently caught up on material." Penny thought they were looking to keep an eye on her per Dumbledore's orders, but she could not be certain.

Including her other commits, Penny's timetable was now insane and just looking at it made her feel exhausted. Even Professor McGonagall gave her an apologetic smile when she stopped by the Gryffindor table to hand them out.

Monday: Herbology with the Hufflepuffs; remedial lesson with Professor Sprout; Care of Magical Creatures; lunch; Arithmancy; dinner.

Tuesday: History of magic; remedial DADA lessons with Professor Moody; lunch; double Potions with the Slytherins; dinner; Quidditch.

Wednesday: Charms; break; Astronomy.

Thursday: Transfiguration; remedial Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall; lunch; double DADA; dinner; Drama Club; Astronomy.

Friday: History of Magic; remedial Charms with Professor Flitwick; Charms; lunch; double Potions with the Slytherins; dinner; torture lessons with Snape.

Needless to say, the week did not get off to a great start, which was only exacerbated by an article published Monday morning about Hagrid admitting to being a half-giant. It seemed the Skeeter woman somehow overheard a conversation between Hagrid and Madame Maxine, a conversation Harry also overheard. Penny agreed with Harry, she did not understand why being a half-giant was noteworthy, Hagrid was a great, honest person and would never hurt anyone. Ron, seeing it as his duty, took it upon himself to explain how and why the larger wizarding community would respond. His explanation caused Hermione to click her tongue impatiently before going headlong into a rant about Elf rights.

In all fairness, while everything Ron said was abominable, he was correct. The Slytherins relished making sneering remarks to irritate Harry in their first Care of Magical creatures lesson, which was taught by Professor Grubbly-Plank because Hagrid did not show. Draco took special enjoyment in talking down about Hagrid, demonstrating how, even if he was quite like-able sometimes, was still the child of Lucius Malfoy. Penny, irritated, refused to speak to the boy.

By quidditch on Tuesday afternoon, Penny was in a sour mood. She'd suffered through a remedial lesson with Professor Moody, who'd taken a keen interest in her expression and deemed it necessary for her to learn to perform magic with her wand without the assistance of her expression. Moody was ruthless in his approach, which did not help Penny's frustration. Not reaching for her expression proved to be an incredibly difficult task. How Moody knew the difference, Penny did not know, but she suspected it had something to do with the magical eye of his. When she finally did manage to only use her wand, the actions felt awkward and the magic produced was feeble.

"It's a start, Potter. But you'll need a lot more practice if you are to have any hope. The effort is worth it, you don't want to be caught in a situation where your enemy knows this reliance on this expression of yours is your weakness,' he growled, patting her roughly on the back before sending her on her way. Too irritated, Penny refused to see the wisdom of Moody's words, and repressed the thought of how useful a wand would have been while attached to that cursed collar.