Penny Potter may be the twin of Harry Potter but she does not share his proclivity for a hatred of the Potions Master, Severus Snape. Likewise, Snape finds, despite his better efforts that Penny has become dangerously intertwined in his life. Given...
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WARNING: SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL AHEAD
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At the bottom of the stairs that led to Grimmauld Place, he stood, the stupid hat he'd gotten in the Christmas cracker Penny had made him pull with her clutched so delicately in his hand Penny couldn't help but wonder if he did not dislike the thing as much as he tried to make her believe he did. Watching those slim hands hang onto the colored paper, it caused the side of her mouth to upturn in a smile; made her wish they could have lingered at Earl's convenience store just a bit longer. But it did not matter what either of them wanted because life had other plans, and as hard as they would try to resist it, they would forever be at its mercy; Penny's heart still never getting used to the back of him.
Behind her the door opened, noise engulfing her, but still black held green and Penny felt there was something he wanted to say, but Severus Snape would never be a man to linger or bemoan a missed opportunity, and those words Penny wished so very much to know, they would fly past her like a shooting star headed onward into the unknown, leaving Penny wondering if they'd ever been there or not. And now, where he stood, she only found the imprints of his shiny shoes so she allowed herself to be pulled inward thinking how different it was—his life from hers. For a moment there under the umbrella she'd forgotten who she was, what would be waiting for her back in the loud house full of so many bodies, of the endless questions she knew would be coming.
It was Sirius who greeted her, seemingly disgruntled and confused by the fact it was Snape who had returned her and not Lupin. Snape did not bother to respond to Sirius' questions, apparating away, Sirius almost slamming the door and catching himself when he realized it would only set Mrs. Black off, he turned to Penny and asked her something she did not hear because her brain refused all functions that were not devoted to looking at him, really looking at him.
He stood tall, taller than both Snape and Remus, but Penny wondered if James wouldn't have been almost as tall. His hair, though shaggy and speckled with grey, was well kept, making him look as though he should be in a shampoo commercial. His face still bore the marks of his time spent at Azkaban, being thinner than one would expect for a man his age, but was nonetheless angular with high cheekbones and beautiful eyes that made Penny feel he must have been absurdly handsome once in his life. What had he been like in his youth? Had he always been in love with Remus or had he dated around? How had he and James ever managed to cross paths?
"Why did you end up in Gryffindor, Sirius?" Penny asked, confusing Sirius when she did not answer whatever he had asked her.
"Because the sorting hat put me there, same as you," he blinked.
"But your family were all in Slytherin?"
"Yep, the whole lot of them," he scowled, sticking his hands in his pockets and glancing toward the room his mother's portrait hung.
"Were-were they upset about that?"
"Course they were, think I still have the mark my father left me. But with their perfect son, Regulus, to carry on the family values they realized it was a wasted battle."
