The next day everyone in the school had somehow found out about Penny's attack. Of course the details were rather sketchy, as no one knew exactly what had happened, but there was talk that it was the monster from the Chamber of Secrets, someone else suggested that it was a malevolent ghost and others believed it to have been someone in Slytherin. Yes the rumours were flying stronger than a nimbus on the quidditch field.
Penny felt a lot better than she had done the previous night once she was fully rested and the potions Madam Pomfrey had given her had taken affect. Dumbledore had kept his word and had watched over Penny throughout the night, whilst Minerva had slept in the bed beside her; but nothing further happened and they were all able to sleep undisturbed.
Although she was well rested Penny was still quite sore. The bruising on her face was becoming much more prominent and she discovered her ribs were bruised now too. However, she still wanted to go to her classes.
'I don't know if that's a good idea Penny.' Minerva said with great concern. 'I'm sure you should be resting. I'm certain Madam Pomfrey will agree with me when she returns.' She added sternly.
Penny opened her mouth to protest when a blur of mousy brown hair came running towards her, throwing her arms around her friend.
'Ow Dora, watch the ribs!' Penny said with a small giggle as she hugged her friend back, who was also closely followed by Katie, Olivia and Jessica.
'We just heard about your attack!' Tonks said as she immediately let go of Penny as if she was hot coals, afraid of hurting her. 'What happened?'
But before Penny could explain to them exactly what had happened, Madam Pomfrey came storming in.
'Miss Johnston get back into bed, I want you to rest!' She exclaimed, sounding particularly harassed, especially since it was only the second day of term.
Minerva raised her eyebrows and looked at Penny with an I-told-you-so look before helping her get back into bed.
'Madam Pomfrey can I go to class today please? I don't want to be stuck in bed all day.' She pleaded as Madam Pomfrey began to scoop a thick brown liquid onto a spoon, which didn't look particularly appetising to Penny.
'Certainly not! You had quite an ordeal last night and you need to rest.' She replied, putting a particular emphasis on the last word as she forced the spoon into Penny's mouth, preventing Penny from speaking further.
'Right come along you four, as Madam Pomfrey says, Miss Johnston needs to rest.' Minerva said quietly as she ushered the other four girls out of the room.
'Bye Penny.' Tonks, Olivia, Katie and Jessica said in unison as they left the hospital wing and headed down to their first class.
'I'll come and check on you later on Penny.' Minerva said as she then also exited.
Before long Penny was bored sitting on her own with nothing to do. She kept trying to find things to do to entertain herself. First she counted the panes of glass in the windows and then how many tiles there were on the floor, before realising how bored she really must be if that's what she'd resorted to. She then began wishing she had a book or something to read and as soon as that thought had struck her she heard a rattle from the case near the door to the hospital wing.
As she looked at it she saw the door spring open and one of the books was trying to wiggle free from its place on the shelf. Realising it was her making it happen, she tried to control her power as she had done the previous night. She squinted her eyes in concentration and raised her right hand, aiming it at the book. At first nothing really happened, except that the book felt to vibrate further until it eventually wiggled free. It fell to the floor and Penny had to concentrate once more. Eventually she managed to lift the book into the air and watched it as it slowly flew towards her before landing on the bed.
She smiled as she leant forward to retrieve it and jumped a little as she heard someone begin to clap. She'd been so busy concentrating on the book that she hadn't realised that Dumbledore had been standing in the doorway watching her.
'Congratulations, it would seem that you're getting the hang of that power.' He said with a smile as he walked towards her bed, drawing a chair for himself with a flick of his wand.
Penny blushed a little at his words, not entirely sure whether she was going to be told off or not; but almost as if Dumbledore had read her mind, he smiled more broadly at her.
'It's good for you to practice.' He said and she relaxed more readily.
'Well it feels to be getting easier Professor. I mean, I was able to repel, through choice, whoever attacked me last night, but I wasn't able to control where he went easily. However, today I managed to control where this book went.' She said as she held up the book with a smile, feeling proud of her achievement.
'Well it stands to reason that that would be the case Penny. You see your powers are still growing, which means you will be getting more control over them, but that also means that the size of what you can control will grow along with your powers. Therefore, last night you were able to control your power, but not quite the object, whereas today you aimed for a much smaller object and could control it well.' He explained wisely and was glad to see that Penny understood this. He was also glad to see that she no longer seemed to fear her powers, but was now aiming to embrace them.
'Professor, what was it that attacked me last night?'
'Unfortunately, by the time I got to the corridor in the dungeons, whatever or whoever it was had long since gone. Therefore, I am still uncertain at this time. However, Penny, don't for one second think I'm not looking into it; I will continue to investigate until I can come up with a definite answer, but for now I do not know.' He said.
'It's going to come back though, isn't it?'
'I think that is one thing that we can guarantee; however, your aunt and I are already putting things in place to keep you safe and other students as well of course.'
'Professor, does the attack have anything to do with me being the Angel of Adustum?' Penny asked after being silent for a few moments. It had been a thought that had occurred to her almost immediately after the attack, but one she hadn't felt ready to voice until then.
'Yes I believe it does.' Dumbledore replied honestly. 'You see Penny, by most in our world, the Angel of Adustum is thought to be a myth, an urban legend; however, not all evil believes this to be the case and fears you above most others because of what you stand for.
'Whilst your grandmother was alive you were protected by an ancient kind of magic from all of the evil lurking in our world, but since her death, regrettably, that protection has been lifted.' He continued, choosing his words carefully.
But there was no need to choose carefully anymore, as Penny seemed ready to deal with more than she'd ever had to deal with before. Something was changing in her that made facing up to her destiny much more possible. She now had a determination to embrace everything that was happening to her, rather than to try and fight it.
'What's so important about me Professor that makes evil fear me? Surly evil doesn't fear anything?' She asked.
'Oh on the contrary; you see fear is one of the things that drives evil and what makes them fear you is that you are everything they aren't. As you grow you are going to have more power than you can imagine. Being able to freeze things or move objects with your mind, these are just a mere fraction of the powers you possess. But unlike evil beings, who covet that power, you have a good heart and a power of strength, so will only ever choose to use your powers for good.' He explained with a smile.
'But how do you know I'm good? What if I become evil?' She said with a pang of fear.
'Well the answer to that is simple. When you first became aware of your powers, when you first started doing "odd" things, you were afraid of them. Instead of embracing them at first you tried to ignore them and tried not to use them. Now someone of ill intentions wouldn't have done that.'
Penny smiled at Dumbledore's words, relieved that she wasn't going to become evil. However, she now wanted to learn how to hone her skills and control her powers more readily.
'Professor, will you help teach me about my powers? I mean, about how to control them.' She asked, a little more timidly than she'd intended.
'I think, with what's happening in the castle, that that is an excellent idea. I also want you to make me a promise Penny.'
'Of course Professor.'
'I want you to promise that when you learn to control your powers that you will not use them against another student.' Dumbledore replied sternly, not that he needed to really and he did realise that. Penny was never going to use her powers incorrectly.
'I promise Sir.' She said with an encouraging smile.
'Jolly good. Well I'd better leave and let you get some more rest. I can feel Madam Pomfrey's eyes boring into the back of my head.' He replied with a smile and sure enough, when Penny glanced round she could see Madam Pomfrey staring at them both.
For the rest of the day Penny sat quietly ready the book she'd chosen – Wood nymphs and Porcupines: A wonderful tale of adventure and woe – and was occasionally visited by Minerva in between classes. Once over Tonks and Olivia managed to sneak in for fifteen minutes, before Madam Pomfrey caught them and chased them out.
Occasionally Penny would drift off into a restless sleep, dreaming of red eyes and strange shadows tormenting her, before waking with a start and with Madam Pomfrey beside her with yet another dose of potion.
Eventually the school day ended and at last Minerva was able to join her properly, much to Penny's delight and relief from the boredom. She told her great aunt about what Dumbledore had said to her and about how he had said that he was going to help teach her about her powers.
Minerva agreed that this was a great plan of action. She didn't want to admit it to Penny, but she was fearful about what their future held now that Penny's grandmother's protection had been lifted. The more Penny could control her powers the better protected they would be.
Although she was delighted to see her Aunt Minerva, she wasn't delighted to receive a mountain of homework that Minerva had collected for her and she insisted that Penny make a start on it there and then. She did, however, help Penny with it, first tackling the foot long assignment Snape had issued regarding the bezoar, then they started practising the skurge charm for Professor Flitwick and then finally they worked on her transfiguration homework. Penny noted that Minerva was more lenient with her on this, more so than she expected at any rate. She was used to her aunt being somewhat of a perfectionist, but on this occasion she allowed Penny to stop after being almost able to do the spell she had taught in class that day.
Finally, on Friday morning, Madam Pomfrey allowed Penny to be discharged, but Minerva saw no point in her going to her classes for just one day. She allowed Penny a final day of rest on the condition that she didn't leave the common room. She had also exempt Penny from her further detention, much to the displeasure of the Barton girls.
An argument had ensued between Snape and Minerva as a result of this decision after the Bartons went to him. He had argued that it was favouritism, both Minerva and Penny knew that that accusation was going to raise its head one day, but Minerva had stood her ground and had defended her niece fiercely.
'Penny is in my house Severus and therefore it is my decision what punishment I give!' She shouted at him. 'I think after all that she's been through that that should serve as punishment enough. And with regards to the Barton girls if I hear of one more incident of bullying by them, I will do everything in my power to have them removed from this school!' She spat angrily.
Snape swept out of her classroom in anger and she was certain that it wouldn't be the last she heard of it. However, it'd certainly be some time before he would dare broach the subject again; whilst he knew Minerva had no authority over his students as a fellow head of house, she certainly had more power than him as the deputy headmistress and her influence with Dumbledore was strong.
So this change in events now meant that Penny was free to do with her evenings as she pleased, although Minerva implored her to be careful when wandering the castle. In fact, she even tried to persuade Penny that it wasn't a good idea to go wandering the castle at all. That was until Penny reasoned with her; she couldn't keep her locked up for ever.
So now Penny found herself sat in the Gryffindor common room, alone and bored once more by the fire. It was a lovely sunny autumn day outside. There was a light breeze blowing and the Black Lake was shimmering in the sunlight, with the giant squid occasionally raising a tentacle or popping its head up to the surface.
She was at a complete loss as to what to do with herself. She still couldn't get the images of her attacker out of her head and, as yet, Dumbledore hadn't come up with an identity as to who it had been. Penny's mind began to wander up to the library and to the many books that were there. She was certain that there must be a book up there that could explain to her what was going on; but her Aunt Minerva had instructed her to stay in the common room, although a few minutes away couldn't hurt, could it?
No, Penny's mind was made up. She was going to go up to the library, just for half an hour or so, and see if she could find some information herself.
She gathered her things, bag, quills and parchment, and left the common room through the portrait hole. The corridors were fairly quiet, with the distant sound of teachers talking to their students, Peeves cackling somewhere down one of the corridors and what sounded like Filch shouting at him. Penny headed in the other direction when she heard this. The last thing she needed was to get on the wrong side of Filch.
He, like Snape, thought Penny should continue with her detentions and do extra since she abandoned her post the first time and failed to even complete her detention that night. So he would certainly do anything to get her into further trouble.
Once in the library Penny felt comfort in the sanctuary of the books. Surrounded by thousands of books on all sorts of subjects, containing all sorts of spells and incantations and information on the weird and the wonderful in their world.
Taking a seat by the section of books regarding dark creatures and demonic beings, she took out the first book that grabbed her attention and began to read. She had the creature that attacked her clear in her mind as she thumbed through two or three books, finding nothing that even closely resembled her attacker.
Eventually she came across a very large, thick leather bound book, with deep ridges in the cracked surface and its pages were yellowing. The dull red writing on the cover and spine were faded, but Penny could still see enough to indicate that the book was titled Demons of the Underworld.
She carefully turned each page, reading about all the different evils of their world; fire demons, warlocks and other demonic beasts, of which the drawings looked most nasty. It wasn't until she caught the sight of two very red eyes on one of the pages that she stopped flicking through the book, nearly missing the page on shadow demons altogether.
The picture on the right hand page showed a semi-transparent being, shapeless and barely recognisable as a human form, except for the eyes. To see the being without the eyes, one could be forgiven for mistaking the shadow demon as mere smoke or fog; however, the shadow demon was one of the most dangerous demonic beings in the wizarding world.
Penny ran her eyes down the information given on the page opposite the picture. It read:
"Shadow demons are one of the most feared beings in our world, as they are very powerful in the dark arts. They possess the power to hide in the shadows, often stalking their victims for lengthy periods of time before attacking.
Few witches or wizards have survived an attack from a shadow demon once it's decided to attack, as there is no known counter jinx to vanquish this being, although you can repel it with a light charm, but it is believed that this only works in the short term."
Penny read on about the non-corporeal nature of the shadow demons and how they are believed to attack by suffocating their victims. Reading about how the shadow demon kills its victims sent a shiver up Penny's spine and she felt the hairs on the back of neck suddenly stand on end, she felt as if she was being watched.
She quickly turned round, almost as if she expected to see something hovering over her and waiting to strike; but there was nothing there except the bookshelves and she mentally scolded herself for being so jumpy. However, she decided that she might be better placed seeking sanctuary in the Gryffindor common room once more. She closed all of the books and put them neatly back where she'd taken them from, but she carried Demons of the Underworld to Madam Pince, the school librarian, and took the book out.
As she turned out of the library and into the corridor she began to think about what had happened that night. Whilst many of her attacker's qualities matched that of a shadow demon, some of them did not. For one thing the book said that the shadow demon is non-corporeal, whereas her attacker had physically hurt and grabbed her.
As she turned down another corridor, still lost in thought, she felt the same cold feeling as before and the hairs on her neck were on end again. This time she definitely felt as if she was being watched. She looked around again to see if she could see who was stalking her, but once again there was no sign.
She began to walk faster through the corridors and gave a great startled jump when a voice behind her called her name. She felt her heart thumping painfully beneath her rib cage as she turned round to face Professor Dumbledore.
'Shouldn't you be in your common room Penny?' He asked her over the rim of his moon shaped glasses.
'Yes Sir, I was just heading back there now. I just wanted to get a few books from the library.' She explained quietly, still looking around her.
'I see. Were you up there for anything in particular?' He asked with a knowing tone of voice, almost as if he was imploring her to reveal what she had found out.
'Well I wanted to do a little research into what attacked me Sir. Since Tuesday night I haven't been able to get the sight of him out my head and I was hoping to get some answers.'
'And did you find what you were looking for?' He asked.
'Well I think so, sort of any way. I found a chapter about shadow demons Sir, which looks a lot like what attacked me, except for the fact that whatever attacked me became a physical being during my attack, something I don't think shadow demons can do.' She replied.
Dumbledore began walking away from the corridor with Penny by his side; she was looking up at him intently and with many questions clearly burning in her eyes.
'I believe you may be correct in thinking that it was a shadow demon Penny, although, as you say, that suspicion may not be exact since it was able to physically attack you. Therefore, for your safety, your aunt and I have decided that it best you remain in the company of a teacher at all times between classes.' He advised as they reached the gargoyle which hid the passage to his office.
'I also think it wise that you remain in the common room from now on and do not go wandering the castle. I think we have dangerous times ahead of us Penny and I do not wish to put you in any further danger.' He added as they entered the warm room together, which was wiring with the sounds of the silver instruments around the room.
'I believe that there is no time like the present Penny to start your lessons to assist you in controlling your powers. Hopefully we can develop them enough for you to protect yourself and, in time, others too.' He said as he flicked his wand to produce a long table from thin air, on which were placed several items of varying weight and size.
Starting with the smallest item he taught her about where her power came from, making her realise that to make anything happen she had to produce a particular feeling in the pit of her stomach; a feeling not too dissimilar to anger.
He showed her that the best way to get control of an item was to guide her power through her index and middle finger outstretched. With a flick of her hand she was able to guide a small box from the top of the table to the bottom, some six feet in front of her.
As the items got heavier and bigger her power became more difficult to control though. When she tried to telekinetically lift a cauldron with a few stones in the bottom, she raised it an inch from the table surface before it toppled over, spilling the contents on to the floor.
'Not to worry Penny, it'll come in time. You need to keep your hand steadier though.' Dumbledore encouraged, just as his office door burst open and Minerva came hurrying in looking harassed.
'There you are Penny, thank God!' She exclaimed.
Penny had been so busy concentrating on what she was doing that she hadn't realised the time. She and Professor Dumbledore had been working for almost four hours and the school day had finished ages ago.
'I've been looking all over for you Penny, you had me worried sick! What did I tell you about leaving the common room?!' She barked as she held her niece close, much to the surprise of Penny. Minerva wasn't one to often show her emotions in such a way.
'Sorry Aunt Minerva…I was just…'
'It's my fault Minerva.' Dumbledore interrupted Penny's complete loss for words and Minerva turned to her friend. 'I thought it a good idea that Penny start to learn about her powers; however, I didn't intend to keep her this long.'
For a moment Minerva looked at her niece and then at Dumbledore and back again. She still felt mad at Penny for the worry she'd just put her through, her heart was still racing, but she was so relieved to find Penny safe.
'Well, be that as it may Penny you still shouldn't have disobeyed my order. I should really take points from you.' She said sternly, although she didn't really mean it.
Penny glanced at Dumbledore and they both gave each other a small smile, both repressing a giggle. Although there were times Minerva's sternness could be terrifying, there were also the occasions when she could be funny without intending to be.
'Would you like to see what I've been doing Aunt Minerva?' Penny asked after a few minutes silence, once she was certain that she wouldn't be getting shouted at again.
Minerva gave a curt nod and looked expectantly at the table in front of them and was amazed to see Penny lift and move several items from one side of the table to the other. She was even able to lift the cauldron more easily and move it a few inches forward. She was still a little disappointed at not being able to completely move it, but it was a vast improvement.
After a couple more hours of chat and sharing a meal together in the privacy of Dumbledore's office, Minerva led Penny out into the school corridors once more, heading back to the Gryffindor common room.
As Penny had expected, Minerva gave her another lecture about not disobeying orders and ensuring that she remained in the common room when not in classes. Once she ensured Penny was in the safety of the common room she made her way back to her own study.
