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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Happy update day!! We are rounding the bend on the events of the Half-Blood Prince and I feel so sad and excited at the same time. I wanted this chapter to be a bit quieter (f thats the right word) just a moment at Hogwarts as the clock ticks against them all and sends them spiraling into chaos and hard choices. I wanted Penny to work through a few things, especially with Harry before we get to the 7th year when Harry and Penny will be separated.
Also, a couple of the scenes are taken/altered from Rowling's actual writing.
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With the start of February came the horrible wet weather Penny hated because it made her come up with all sorts of excuses not to take her normal runs which made her more irritable than she already was. These days she was too despondent and discontent. Nothing was keeping her attention, unless it was obsessing over Regulus Black.
She finally put her foot down one afternoon with about an hour and a half to spare to curfew, and just to cover her bases, checked with her head of house about going out for the run. While Professor McGonagall wasn't enthusiastic about the idea, she gave Penny leave to go under the condition she checked back in with her when she returned.
The rain stopped half-way through her lap around the black lake, but she was already drenched by this point and covered in mud. The sky was dark and Penny knew she should head back, but she decided to do her last leg through the edge of the forest before making her way back to the castle. Her watch told her that if she hurried, she would make it with time to spare.
The cold air searing her lungs and intoxicating her senses was a welcome escape. While running, her brain could not think, wallow, or ponder; it was free from the confines of itself, from the obsession of Regulus and the guilt that never gave her peace.
It wasn't until she tripped, face first into a bog of mud that she came spiraling back to reality. Cursing the root that caught her foot and trying to futilely remove mud from her face with muddy hands, she caught the sound of voices approaching somewhere just beyond the trees.
Peering through the branches, Penny saw two tall figures coming to a stand still some 15 feet where she was stuck in the mud, not seeming to have noticed her,
"What are you doing with Potter, all these evenings you are closeted together?" It was Snape's voice, Penny realized, now recognizing the familiar silhouette.
"Why? You aren't trying to give him more detentions, Severus? The boy will soon have spent more time in detention than out," replied the familiar tones of Dumbledore.
"He is his father over again—"
"In looks, perhaps, but his deepest nature is much more like his mother's. I spend time with Harry because I have things to discuss with him, information I must give him before it is too late."
It was at this point, looking around nervously, Penny realized this was a conversation she was likely not supposed to be privy to. But the mention of Harry kept her from announcing her presence. So Snape also knew about his secret wanderings that were apparently orchestrated by Dumbledore? Like Snape, Penny also wanted an answer to this question, and perhaps why Harry had taken such pains not to share the information with her.
