disclaimer: disclaimed.
notes: i have this weird fascination with penelope that even i don't understand. also, no capitalization. just a warning if that bugs you.
summary: she expects the worst, but hopes for the best. / penelope, just being.
come at me
ϟ
sometimes, all penelope will do is remember.
x
she is four when her father leaves. her mother cries, cries, cries, while she stares innocently up at her and ask, "when will daddy come home?", which sends her mother back into crying.
she doesn't stop hoping that he'll come back until she turns eleven, and gets on the hogwarts express for the first time.
x
percy is smart, percy is cute, percy is wonderful. she writes PC + PW on her notebook during all of her classes and tries not to stare at him when they share one. he is something wonderful, and right now it feels like that's her little secret - but she knows that, eventually, everyone will agree with her.
x
they start going out in fifth year. their first kiss is in the snow, and she feels like she's flying, higher than she's ever been before. when they are both made prefects, they get partnered up together for patrols. she tries to hide her smile, and glances at percy. he glances back, and smiles.
x
she is sixteenseventeeneighteen, the war heating up again. her father is gone, her mother is a muggle - she has no proof that she is a halfblood. she doesn't even know for sure herself, honestly.
she expects the worst, but hopes for the best. it's what she does, now.
x
percy promises that she will be safe. percy promises that they'll be together after all of this. percy promises that someday, they'll look back on this time and be grateful.
x
(he lied.)
x
she gets sent to azkaban. she gets tortured and starved and feels like she hasn't drunk anything in a week. the cell next door holds a boy not much younger than herself. sometimes, she can hear him mumbling about potter and rebellion and army. most of the time, though, he doesn't make much sense to her.
x
when they are released, she sees the guy next door for the first time. he has dark hair and dark eyes and pale, pale skin. he looks more like a skeleton of a boy than an actual boy, but when she looks around and sees everyone else, she realizes that they all do. but he turns to her and smiles, holds out his hand and says:
"hey. i'm justin, i'm a muggleborn, and i'm finally free."
she smiles back.
"penny. pleasure to meet you."
x
percy comes and leads her out of the ministry when she arrives from prison. technically, they are still together. but she knows the ropes can only be held for so long.
"listen, penny, i hate to do this to you but - "
the ropes break.
x
justin and her become great friends. and it's just that - friendship. it's refreshing, if she's being honest. he has his eye on a girl from hufflepuff that he knew ages ago, while she doesn't have her eye on anyone. she's just being, and right now that is perfect.
x
she makes a list of things to do in a year and a half. kiss under the eiffel tower. go to moroco. live like a muggle for a week. pay for someone's coffee. go to a concert. her goal isn't to complete all of them - it's just to live.
x
sometimes, all penelope will do is sit back and smile.
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