I've been getting so many favorites/follows, so hello to you all! I love reviews *wink wink*, even if they're short. Here is Penny's chapter! Hope you all like it.

Chapter 7

Alright, Watson, don't be an idiot. Penny thought to herself, hoisting her rucksack higher up on her shoulders. The little kitten inside shifted in panic with the movement but Penny otherwise ignored her. She held Doyle's cage carefully in front of her as she wound her way through the throngs of students on the train, looking for at least a somewhat familiar face. The older kids ignored her as plainly as she ignored them, and for that she was grateful; Sherlock and Mycroft had been in the papers enough through the years, it wouldn't take much for people to recognize her family. She once again counted her blessings of having Holmes as a middle name, and Watson as her last. She was clever, but too much attention made her feel awkward and uncomfortable.

She had nearly walked straight past the compartment, barely catching a glance of the round-faced boy within as the train set into motion. She sighed in relief and gently pulled open the door; there were two other girls with him, first years by the look of them. "Do you mind if I join you?" she asked tentatively, looking at Neville Longbottom, who instantly flushed.

"P-Penny! Hi! Yes, come in, we were just introducing ourselves." Neville stammered, slightly red-faced. She smiled and entered the compartment, carefully shutting the door before putting Doyle up on the shelf above them and setting her rucksack on the floor by her feet as she sat. She looked up at the other two girls: one had a mass of fluffy, dirty blond hair and a smug expression. Her clothes were bought from a muggle shop, and she kept a grip on her wand despite the fact that none of them really knew how to use it. Muggle-born, clearly. The other had long, pale blond hair and wide blue eyes that stared off into the distance dreamily, a vague smile on her face. She was harder to read, Penny realized, or maybe she was just vague to begin with.

"You two know eachother?" the muggle-born girl asked, raising a brow at Neville, who nodded.

"Yes our…uhm…parents know each other." Neville muttered, lowering his eyes, and Penny frowned. John was still Neville's parents head doctor, but she'd hardly seen Neville outside of the hospital when both of them went to visit their parents; her, more often than not, to have lunch with John, or to tag along with Sherlock when he needed to consult him about something, Neville to see the poor, mad shell of a couple that was once his family. The girl slid her brown eyes from Neville to Penny in confusion.

"I'm Penny, Penny Holmes Watson." She said quickly, avoiding a question, sticking out her small, dainty hand. The girl took it and shook.

"Hermione Granger. Did you say Holmes? As in, Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes?" Her face lit up with the discovery, and Penny's stomach dropped. So it began. She sighed and nodded. "I've read all about them. What's your relationship to them?"

Penny raised an eyebrow, "Sherlock's my dad."

"Oh," Hermione blinked, obviously surprised, "I didn't know he had any children. Or that he was married for that matter."

Penny sighed; she and John so often flew under the radar, especially when standing in Sherlock's shadow after some big case he'd cracked. "He's been married to my dad John for nearly fifteen years, and they adopted me when I was a baby. My parents were killed by you-know-who's followers." She swallowed and leaned back against the plush seat, deciding now was the best time as any to get out the truth before rumors started. She wasn't in any way ashamed of her parents, and her fathers had always been very honest with her about her birth parents. The truth was she didn't really care much about them; of course she often wondered what they were like, how much of them came out in her, but she had had John and Sherlock since infancy. They had taught her to read and write and walk and talk, and to her those things meant much more than the blood in her veins.

"Are you quite sure you were adopted?" the other girl asked suddenly, wide eyes on Penny, who blinked at her, not sure if she was kidding. "My daddy did some research on creatures that come from other planets disguised as wizards who bear children, only they don't know gender distinction, so it's very possible for two seemingly human men to procreate."

Hermione snorted, biting her fist to keep from laughing, and Penny cleared her throat, "I'm, uh, quite sure, thanks. Sorry, I didn't get your name…"

"Luna." The girl said with another vague smile, not offering her hand. Penny glanced at Neville, who had regained some amount of control over himself and shrugged.

"Do you have a surname, Luna?" Penny pressed, her hands folding together subconsciously in front of her face.

"Yes, of course." Luna replied calmly, taking a magazine from her bag. "The Quibbler" the cover proclaimed on the front in brightly colored letters.

"Well…what is it?" Penny fought a smirk. She liked this Luna girl; she was odd, but not in a show-offy way.

"Lovegood. Luna Lovegood." Luna rang, opening up the magazine and turning her attention to it.

Penny laughed quietly, shaking her head before turning to the other two, "So what do your parents do, then?" she asked of Hermione, who straightened, obviously eager to have someone to talk about herself to.

"My parents are dentists. Muggles, you know." She shifted her weight in her seat, uncomfortable.

"Yes, I know." Penny replied before stopping herself. Stupid, what did daddy always say about letting people know you're deducing them? Hermione looked taken aback.

"What do you mean, you know?" She asked, and Nevile cleared his throat, moving to look out the window. He knew perfectly well how Penny and Sherlock were able to look at a person and know their entire life story.

"I, uhm, know that you're muggle born. Not the bit about the dentists. That's neat, by the way. Dad's a healer, but he knows a lot of muggle medical stuff too." She was trying to change the subject, but Hermione was quick-witted, that much was obvious.

"How could you possibly know that?" She scoffed, crossing her arms. It was clear she didn't believe Penny, and Penny's stubborn nature nagged until finally she sighed, giving in.

"You're wearing muggle-made clothes, not a dead give-away but it means you don't live in a wizard community. Your bag there, on the floor, is open. I can see you have books that aren't required for our lessons, including Hogwarts: A History. If you had wizard parents you wouldn't need that book for anything other than research, but you've obviously read through it multiple times because many of the pages are dog-earred, probably marked with notes on the pages as well. You keep your wand in your hand whenever possible, and when you set it down to pick something else up you keep glancing at it. You could be concerned that it will get lost or broken but you seem to be a fairly careful person of average intelligence, which means you keep tabs on it because you are most likely concerned that this is some sort of dream, which, for the record, it is not." Penny leaned back, smug smirk on her face at the mix of shock and awe on Hermione's face.

"How did you…" she shook her head quickly, as if clearing water out of it, "Of course. Deduction. Sherlock's trademark." Neville chuckled, glancing at Penny, who shrugged.

"How do you know so much about my dad anyway?" Penny asked after a pause, "He hasn't been in the papers much in years…not since the fall of you-know-who."

Hermione flushed a light pink, "Well when I came across mention of you-know-who I did some digging, found old articles, you know."

"How resourceful…" Penny grumbled, turning her attention to her bag. She leaned down and scooped the little kitten out of it, setting the tiny thing in her lap. Hermione's eyes slid from the cat to the owl.

"You aren't allowed two pets." She said haughtily, crossing her arms. Penny gave her a scathing look but otherwise ignored her, scratching the cat under her small chin.

"Oh, she's lovely. What's her name?" Luna asked, setting down her magazine and scooting to sit next to Penny, letting the cat sniff her hand before petting her.

"I was thinking Mary. But I only just got her, she was a going away gift from my uncle." She shot a look to Hermione, whom she was sure would pick up on what she was trying to say. Mycroft's name was often more highly regarded than the minister's, considering it was he that usually cleaned up government messes. She realized she was abusing her uncle's power, but at this moment she didn't much care. The girl was annoying to say the least.

She and Luna played with Mary for a long while, no one saying anything, when Neville suddenly ripped open his bag, digging through it desperately, checking his pockets. "Oh no, not again." He groaned, and the girls looked up at him confusedly, "I've lost my toad, Trevor. He must have jumped out of my pocket. Merlin's beard, I hope he's on the train." His eyes looked panicked, and Penny and Hermione instantly stood up.

"I'll go look for him." Hermione said at the same time as Penny. They looked at each other disdainfully, scowling. Penny took Mary out of her lap and set her gently in Luna's. "Will you watch her for me?" she asked, and Luna smiled and nodded, stroking the white fur. Penny followed Hermione out of the compartment, neither of them speaking unless to ask someone if they had seen the toad.

They went to a compartment that was nearly empty aside from two boys, one of which had his wand pointed to a rat in his lap. The boy had shocking red hair and his clothes were worn; Penny recognized him as one of the Weasley kids, as she had seen photos of her fathers, usually John, with other members of the Order, but she'd never met any of Arthur's children, so she wasn't sure what his name was. The other had messy, jet-black hair and glasses that were held together with tape. There was something vaguely familiar about him, but she didn't know what.

"Has anyone seen a toad?" Hermione asked, sounded exasperated. At this point finding Trevor was proving to be impossible, "A boy named Neville's lost one." She added.

The Weasley boy looked at her like she was mad, "No…" he answered, and the black-haired boy shook his head.

"Oh, are you going to do magic? Let's see then." Hermione put her hands on her hips, waiting expectedly, and Penny rolled her eyes at her tone, crossing her arms and leaning in the doorway. Ron said a ridiculous little rhyme, jabbing his wand in the direction of his rat. There was a little puff of smoke but the creature stayed the same. Hermione scoffed, "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it?" She then proceeded to brag about how she had been practicing a few spells, and pointed her wand at the black-haired boy's face, making Penny stand straight, fearful. Everyone knew not to point a wand right at someone's head, it was common sense. She did a spell that repaired the broken frames, and the boy looked extremely pleased, grinning as he looked at them. Penny rolled her eyes once more.

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes, "You're Harry Potter!" she exclaimed, and the boy looked up at her with surprise that matched the one on Penny's. Of course, she knew she should have recognized him. How many times had she seen the photo that Lupin kept on his desk at the Auror's office, or the images of James Potter in the Order photos? He was a spitting image of his father, really. "I'm Hermione Granger," she added, interrupting Penny's revere, "and…you are?" she turned to the other boy with a look of slight disgust and obvious superiority, and Penny felt herself ruffle a little; this girl was so conceited.

"Ron Weasley." He mumbled, looking to Harry, who shrugged. Both boys turned their gazes to Penny, who cleared her throat.

"Sorry. Penny Watson. My dad works with yours, Ron." She smiled kindly at them, using every ounce of her will to not shoot a glare at Granger.

"Oh! Sherlock's daughter. I haven't met you yet, I don't think." He held out his hand, which she shook. Harry did the same.

"Well," Hermione stood, obviously sick of being left out of their friendly greeting, "You two better put on your robes, I suspect we'll be arriving soon." She strode out and Penny gave one last wave before following her. Hermione turned back around and stuck her head into her compartment to say one last thing, but Penny kept walking, not waiting for her. When she got back into the compartment she changed into her house-neutral robes, knowing that by the end of the night she'd trade her black tie for a colored one. The thought made her stomach flutter in anticipation and excitement.

I love being an ass to some of these characters. Hermione/Penny frenemies! Whee! Please leave reviews! -xo

EDIT: I've gotten a couple of notes on Luna. I upped her age intentionally, it isn't a mistake :) Also, I stuck to the films more than the book in the Hermione exchange, mostly because I don't live at home anymore and I don't have the books on me to research small things. Don't shoot me!