In retrospect, Penelope would realize that the only mistakes had been her own.
The problem was that she'd spent so much time taking the easiest path, trying not to disappoint anyone, trying not to be a mistake that she'd allowed her own mistakes to slip by. All of her intentions to be good, to be great, had ended with the realization that she hadn't been a mistake, and she hadn't made a mistake for anyone other than herself.
It had all started with Percy.
"The Ministry would be an excellent choice for someone of your caliber," he'd told her so many times, so after graduation, that was where she applied, straight away. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement snapped her up immediately, and within the month, she was an employee of the Ministry of Magic.
Within two weeks, she was thoroughly dissatisfied. Percy had spoken so highly of the Ministry that she'd been ecstatic to become a part of it, but now that she was part of it, she couldn't help but wonder what Percy was thinking. Granted, he'd spent the last year in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, while she'd just joined the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but she still thought that he'd have to be absolutely mad to fully subscribe to the Ministry's general policies.
"It's the right way," Percy insisted, when she questioned him. "You're either with us, or with You-Know-Who."
She believed him, or at least tried to, because she wasn't about to be a mistake. And she was on his side, because she certainly wasn't against him.
"I don't think there's just two sides," Oliver Wood said, when she confided in him. He'd been Percy's best friend at Hogwarts, which had eventually made him her friend as well, and the most logical choice to discuss Percy and the Ministry. "You said yourself that the Ministry hates Dumbledore, these days. And obviously he's not with You-Know-Who, so maybe it's not as simple as right as wrong."
"Maybe not," she replied softly. "But even if it's not that simple, there is a right decision somewhere, and I don't think I've made it."
"I don't think you've made any decision, Penelope." He smiled at her, with a tinge of sadness that she could clearly see, even if she couldn't place its origin. "But when you do choose, I think you'll choose well enough."
"We're a good match, Penny," Percy said, when she asked one night what he thought of her, of them. "You love the Ministry as much as I do."
"I like the Ministry, as a job. That doesn't mean I subscribe to every one of its policies."
"What's there not to subscribe to, Penny?" he asked, looking positively aghast at her statement. "Fudge is a brilliant leader, and we're lucky to have him."
The subtext of that statement, of course, was that they were lucky to have Fudge as Minister of Magic, instead of Dumbledore. Penelope tried not to look overly offended by that insinuation. "Well, I suppose you would know, Percy," she said carefully.
"I do know. I am Junior Assistant to the Minister, after all."
When Percy pulled job titles into the discussion, she knew it was time to drop the subject. She'd learned at least that much, from nearly three years as his girlfriend. As much as she trusted Dumbledore, and as leery as she was of Fudge, it wasn't worth a fight with Percy, right now. She'd just started at the Ministry, and the last thing she wanted was to incur anyone's wrath.
On some level, she knew that while she loved Percy, she couldn't possibly subscribe to all of his ideals. At some point, she'd have to choose between her boyfriend and her beliefs—and she knew she would have to choose, because he'd already walked away from his family. She couldn't possibly be treated any differently.
"I don't mean to fight with you, Penny. It's just that I thought you'd understand how important this is to me," he said softly, and she did understand, because it was important to him, and she loved him. And she never once stopped to think that she was suddenly putting his needs ahead of her own.
It wasn't about her needs, anyway. Not then. It was about not being a mistake.
"But you're not a mistake," Oliver said. "You never could be."
"I could be, if I ruined Percy's career for him," she protested quietly. "He'd never forgive me. I should just leave now, so I'm not sacked later."
"I honestly don't see why you're still there, especially when you don't even like it. How many times have they asked you to apply for Auror training, and you've refused?"
"Last Thursday was the seventh time," she said, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. She shrugged. "Kingsley Shacklebolt is determined to see me as an Auror, but…I just don't know."
"Well, if you're not happy where you are, and you're not interested in advancing…" He shrugged. "I don't think there's any shame in deciding it's just not right for you."
"But you—"
Oliver rolled his eyes. "Can you honestly see me not playing Quidditch? Look, if you're seriously unhappy with the Ministry, I can always have my mum put in a good word for you at Dust and Mildewe. You'd be perfect for it."
"Well, you can't just leave your job, can you?" Publishing did sound infinitely more appealing than anything in the Ministry ever had, but—
"Penelope, are you sure you're not just staying at the Ministry because you don't want to lose Percy?" he asked, with such genuine concern that she just wanted to throw her arms around him and unload all of her concerns. Instead, she settled for a simple nod. "Are you sure you haven't already lost him? He's not the same as…"
"I know," she murmured, really looking at him for the first time, and realizing that she wasn't the only one losing someone. "I'm sorry, Oliver."
"So am I," he whispered, and then he kissed her.
It was sudden, and unexpected, and not at all unpleasant—and it took her a few minutes to realize just what she was doing, and a few seconds after that to stop. "This is wrong," she said somewhat breathlessly, as she pulled away. "This is…it's just wrong."
"The whole world is wrong, Penelope. But you can't deny this is the best you've felt since June." He kissed her again, and she didn't resist, because he was right, and she couldn't deny it.
It was an odd sort of comfort as she lay with Oliver that night, in an embrace stronger and more secure than Percy's had ever been. She didn't love Oliver, and he didn't love her—or rather, they did love each other, but only as friends, and anyway, it was Percy who bound them together.
But Percy wasn't there, and even when he was, he wasn't the same. It was his fault, anyway, Penelope realized later. Percy, intentionally or not, had put a growing hole into each of their hearts, and they were the only ones who understood what it meant. The Weasleys had the entire family to fall back on, but Penelope and Oliver only had each other.
They only had each other, and only for that night. The next morning, it was over, and they acknowledged it wordlessly, instinctively aware that they didn't need to discuss it. Then Oliver gave her a hug, kissed her forehead, and sent her off to confess to Percy.
"Well, that's no surprise. I honestly thought you'd have been shagging before now," Percy said, almost tiredly, when she told him. Then he made a great show of shuffling a stack of Ministry parchments. "And have you gotten past this ridiculous allegiance to Dumbledore, or do I have to write you off as a mistake, like my father?"
In a moment of stunning clarity, Penelope realized that the mistakes she was so afraid of being had kept her from seeing the mistakes she was making, and the things she was so afraid of losing, she'd in fact already lost. "There's no allegiance I'd rather have than one to Dumbledore, Percy," she said quietly, then turned on her heel and walked away from him.
She left the Ministry that day, and in doing so, she left behind her job, her boyfriend, and her future security. But she also left behind the lies and pretenses she'd had to construct since she'd started work there.
And most importantly, she left behind her mistakes.