If someone had called Penny Rider and Sirius Black Hogwarts' "power couple", they wouldn't be entirely wrong. Except that Sirius might send a hex in their general direction. The term "couple" wasn't the word that the two preferred to use. It was too… teenage. Innocent. Girly.
Penny Rider and Sirius Black's relationship formed more of an infamous duo. Throw in the rest of The Marauders and the result was a Professor's nightmare. Potions essays were bound to be cheated off of. Charm spells were going to be faked. It was only a matter of time until Greenhouse Number 5 lost a number of mandrakes to a particularly purple fire, much to Professor Smeortan's terror. Those plants were like her children to her.
The two had appropriately met in detention their Second Year at Hogwarts. Professor Spinney, only in her first year of teaching, had naively planned together the detention dates of two of the worst behaved students at the school. The detention veterans had heard rumors of each other and decided to make acquaintances.
In the brief minutes that Professor Spinney took to write on the board (she was muggle born and still preferred to write with her hand), Sirius Black has noticed the girl sitting a desk away from him. She was slouched back in her desk, her long black hair flipped onto the desk behind her. Her knees were crossed and jammed into her own desk, and her hand stroked the feather of a quill she was holding. The quill was purple.
"Oi, stalker." She turned and noticed Sirius. He too had black hair, although his was a great amount shorter than hers. Their equally brown eyes looked at each other. "What do you think you're looking at?"
Sirius slouched back in his chair. "So you're the famous Penny Rider, huh?"
Penny tilted her head. "Sirius Black, I take it." She stuck out her hand to him, her chewed nails rather short and messy. "Nice to finally meet you. " The two shook hands like adults do. "I've heard great things, Mr. Black."
"And you, Ms. Rider."
Since then they were the Bonnie and Clyde of the school. The audacity and nerve of the Gryffindor and the order and focus of the Ravenclaw made a dangerous combination. What made things worse for Hogwarts' professors was the bond that Penny soon made with the other Marauders. It would never be admitted aloud by the administration, but it was rumored that other students' class schedules were planned around The Marauders' so that they would never all have a class together. Or too many of them at once, anyway.
Among the quintet, their previous six years in school held nearly 50 detentions, 41 Quidditch match wins, and 18 hospital wing trips when a prank spell went wrong. Remus Lupin added a few extra hospital trips to that number, but his friends wouldn't know that for a few years.
Now entering their Seventh Year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Penny and The Marauders showed no signs of holding back their troublemaking and knack to annoy their least favorite professors. Already, in a compartment in the back of the Hogwarts Express, the mischief had begun.
"Sirius, give it back!"
"Kiss me for it." Sirius taunted his girlfriend. The girlfriend he'd had since he was thirteen. The girlfriend his parents would never know about.
"I don't kiss guys who are twats to me."
"Then you'd be a virgin." Sirius smirked. The compartment erupted with shouts of "Merlin, Penny!" and "Sirius! C'mon, man!" Peter squeaked in the corner.
"You," Penny lowered her hands and gave up reaching for her wand in Sirius' grasp, "are the biggest," she reached her arms across his shoulders, "blithering idiot I've ever met." She smiled and ignored her friends rolling their eyes at her.
"I don't know," Sirius shrugged, "James is pretty dim."
"Oi."
The ragtag group of friends continued to annoy each other and pick up their antics as if summer had never happened. As if they hadn't been forced to spend an entire two months apart.
Sirius's family was run by his manipulative and practically evil parents. His mother treated him like a curse that she hadn't signed up for, but kept him on a tight leash. Once she found out that Sirius had started sneaking out at night to floo to the Potters', their floo powder supply was locked up under a tight spell. Thankfully, they hadn't discovered the small mirror that Remus had charmed for James and Sirius to talk to each other through.
Penny was in a similar situation at her house. Her mother died when she was thirteen, and her father grew afraid that he would loose his children too. So he began to demand attention from Penny and her brother and convinced them to stay at home with him at all moments possible. He reminded them that while they were off at school, having fun with their friends, he'd be waiting home for them alone. The summer was their only time together.
Remus suffered from lycanthropy. His case was very much common knowledge to his closest friends, except for Penny. She was more of Sirius' girlfriend than someone in his tight knit group of people who he could trust. He trusted her, of course, but he wanted minimal people to know his secret. So when school was out for the summer, and there was no Shrieking Shack to hide in, Remus kept to himself the best he could. He might hurt someone. It was enough of a danger going to school for 10 months of the year.
The Potters' house was always open to James' friends, of course. If only his friends knew that. He'd invited them over monthly throughout the school years, but they'd yet to comply. There had been a trip or two with Sirius when his parents had grown sick of him, and maybe Remus would tag along if the moon cycle was aligned accordingly.
As for what Peter did during his summers, well… No one knew for sure. Remus may have asked Peter once or twice, but he'd never given a straight answer.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" The glass door to the 6 people's compartment slid open.
Penny was first to stand up and walk to the cart of food. "I'll have five Chocolate Frogs, a Pumpkin Pastie, three Cauldron Cakes…"
"Damn, anything else?" Remus asked.
"I'm fucking hungry." Penny insisted as she pulled out a few sickles and galleons in her robe pockets. Her dad had insisted that she and her brother changed into their robes while they were still at home.
"Get me a Cauldron Cake too, while you're at it." James held out money to Penny. She took it and traded it with the lady for James' food.
"How about a few Jelly Slugs for you favorite, extremely handsome…"
"I'm not your cashier, Sirius." Penny sat down with her food in her lap.
Lily stood up and walked to the Honeydukes Express herself. "Do you have any Licorice Wands? I remember that you were out last year."
"Yes, dear. They've restocked it with new flavors this year, too." The kind lady lifted a jar with several pieces of candy sticking out.
"No offense, Lily," James said, "but Licorice Wands are disgusting. I'm surprised in you."
"They're delicious, Potter." She sat down next to him after she'd paid for her candy. "You're mental."
"Sticking to the last name still, are we?" James stole one of her Licorice Wands from her grasp and handed one to Sirius.
"Yes," Lily said shocked, "give me back my Lico…" Peter reached across the compartment and stole the wand out of Sirius' hand. "Peter!" Lily begged. Peter replied by taking a large bite out of it.
"Oi, Peter." Sirius snapped, "That was mine. James took it for me." Peter seemed to regret his decision to play along.
"Are you lot seriously fighting over food?" Remus asked from the corner.
"What else is worthy of fighting over?" Penny asked.
Peter laughed a bit. "I'd imagine a bit more than food."
"Like people, for instance." Lily added.
"I'd fight for you." James smiled flirtatiously at an unfazed Lily.
"Aww!" Penny and Sirius cooed.
"Sure." Lily shrugged off James' arm that had tried to snake its way across her shoulders. The fact that she was sitting next to him was a miracle in it of itself. She'd been a little lonely lately, and he was the only person who seemed to want her attention. Her best friend Severus had betrayed her last year, and since then, she had been feeling a little alone. Being the brightest witch with the highest OWLs didn't guarantee having extra friends.
Penny stood up and reached for the luggage rack above her head. She strained and tried to pull her trunk towards her but it was difficult for her to reach.
"Need some help, shorty?" Sirius stood up behind her.
Penny slouched down. "Yes."
Sirius reached and pulled down her trunk for her and set it on the ground. He flipped the latch and pulled it open. "Let's see what's in Penny's…"
"No!" Penny slammed her foot on top of her trunk to hurry and close it. Unfortunately, Sirius's finger was already in the trunk and had gotten slammed.
"Shit, Penny!"
"Merlin!" Penny hurriedly reached and held Sirius' finger in her hands. "Sirius, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…"
"Watch it, will you, Penny?" Sirius said defensively.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know that…" Penny stuttered.
"It's fine, love." Sirius apologized, "It's not broken."
"You okay, Sirius?" Remus asked shocked.
"It's fine." Sirius said. "Now I know that Penny has serious privacy issues."
"Do not! I just didn't want you going through my stuff."
James sighed. "Looks like we're going to have to cancel that knickers raid, Sirius."
"Potter!" Lily shrieked as everyone laughed at James.
"It's ok, James," Sirius continued, "we'll just have to find someone else." He winked at Lily.
Lily jumped up. "No!" she threatened James. She turned to Sirius, "No!"
Penny laughed at Lily's fear as she knelt down and reached into her trunk. She made sure to only open it a few inches.
"What do you need, anyway, Penny?" Remus asked.
"I was going to go find Taylor and Amelia. I haven't seen them in a while."
"Oh, I see." Peter teased. "You're 'other' friends."
"That's right." Penny confirmed.
"Right, but what do you need in your trunk?" James asked.
Penny stood up and closed her trunk. She was holding a small bag. "I'm still hungry, and I knew that if I left my food with you lot I'd never see it again." She pushed her remaining food off of her seat and into the bag.
"Smart." Remus said.
"So you are a Ravenclaw, after all." Sirius pondered.
"Shut it." Penny smacked Sirius with her bag. Being a Ravenclaw wasn't something that she liked to talk about often. It was a complicated situation for her.
"Oi, you can't hit someone you've just injured." Sirius whined and held up his hand. "I think it's broken."
"You twat." Penny smiled and kissed Sirius. She walked out of the compartment and then peaked her head back in. "Sirius, love…"
"I'll put your trunk back up, shorty." Sirius sighed.
"Thanks." Penny slid the door closed and wandered down the hallway, looking for her best friends Taylor Parish and Amelia Cooper, both Gryffindors. She didn't have anything against Ravenclaws, it was more of what they generally thought of her. It was very possible that she was the lowest scores on her OWLs out of the entire school, next to Sirius, of course, but most definitely out of the Ravenclaws. If they didn't win the House Cup, it was most likely Penny's fault. She simply wasn't Ravenclaw material and that was a fact. She didn't belong with her house.
At last, she spotted a compartment on the train that had to be the one and only Taylor Parish's. There was a scent of roses emitting from behind the semitransparent door and a piece of pink fabric was sticking out from underneath. Penny saw Taylor's long blonde curls falling neatly down her back through the door. She slid open the door and was greated by a squeal.
"Penny!" Taylor hugged her, bouncing up and down.
Amelia waved from her seat. "Hey, Penny. How was your summer?"
Penny and sat down. "Normal. Nothing really special. How about you lot?"
"Taylor got accepted into some muggle program. What is it that you called it?" Amelia asked.
"It's a film program." Taylor explained. "Have you heard of that?"
Penny shook her head.
"Well whatever. It's basically my dream! And I got accepted!" Taylor bounced in her seat, beaming with excitement.
"That's great, Taylor!" she was happy for her friend. At least one of them knew what they wanted to do with their lives.
"And I was thinking about going into a healer program next summer at St. Mungo's." Amelia added.
Make that two of them.
"I didn't know that you wanted to go into that." Taylor said interested.
"Well, my dad's a healer, so I guess it just sort of…"
"Fell into place?" Penny asked.
"Basically, yeah." Amelia said. "What about you, Penny. Have you thought about it yet? What you're going to do after Hogwarts."
Of course Penny had thought about it. She'd thought about it practically everyday for the past few years. The problem was that she still had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Truthfully, her future scared her to death. She had no plans whatsoever.
"Nah." Penny answered nonchalantly. "I've got time."
"Are you sure?" Taylor pressed, "It's our seventh year, and we've got to…" Taylor suddenly stopped and grabbed Amelia and Penny's hands. She gazed eagerly at her friends. "Merlin, it's our seventh year!"
"It is, Taylor." Penny said slowly, "Congratulations."
Taylor frowned at her friend's skepticism. "You're supposed to be excited, Penny. This is exciting! It's our last year at Hogwarts."
"Now, that," Penny leaned back, "is something to be excited for."
Amelia rolled her eyes and smiled at her friends' polar opposite personality traits. They'd all grown so much since their First Year, but two things would never change: Taylor's rose colored glasses and Penny's realism. Amelia forever sat somewhere in between. But their strange trio had somehow stayed together since their Third Year.
"By the way," Penny bent down and picked up the pink fabric off the ground, "what's with the clothes on the ground?" Taylor's room was always neat and clean. It was unlike her to make a mess.
"Oh!" Taylor grabbed her shirt from Penny's hand. "That's my new shirt! Look…" Taylor bent to the side and began to dig through her trunk.
Amelia said "Her mom took her on a Goodbye To Hogwarts shopping spree."
"Ah." Penny understood.
Taylor held up a stack of neatly folded clothes and plopped them on her lap. She held up a black leather jacket with several zippers on the front.
"Ooh." Penny reached forward for the jacket, suddenly interested. "I like that."
"Isn't it cute?" Taylor agreed, "It's a new muggle style. Well, it's not exactly in yet, but it will be."
"Show her the purple shirt." Amelia encouraged.
"Oh, yeah!" Taylor searched in her clothes and held up a long-sleeve shirt with several shades of purple scattered across it. The cuffs and collar were long and pointed.
"Oh, I like that!" Penny said.
"That one's my favorite." Amelia agreed.
"The pattern's called 'paisley'." Taylor explained, "It's the biggest thing in muggle fashion right now, and I'm in love with it! Bright colors are coming next. Just wait."
"You and your muggle fashion." Penny sighed, smiling.
"What?" Taylor asked innocently, "Muggle fashion is way better than wizards'. Their clothes are so… unflattering."
"Oi, that's my entire wardrobe you're talking about." Penny defended herself.
"Sorry." Taylor laughed. Sometimes she spoke before she thought.
The three girls stood up as the train began to stop and blew its whistle. They were at last almost to school.
"I'll see you at school." Penny told her friends as she walked out their compartment. "I have to go get my trunk out of The Marauders' compartment."
"Seriously?" Taylor asked, "You're referring to them as 'The Marauders' now?"
"What?" Penny asked, "James came up with the name."
Amelia rolled her eyes. "You two kids have fun," she said, referring to Penny and Sirius.
"We will." Penny smirked and closed the door.
