The next morning, the girls were surprised to see, despite her curtains being closed, Penny was already up and dressed and smiling.
"Hey." The girls said simultaneously and carefully.
"Morning!" Penny chirped.
Lily didn;t get what was going on. Her friend was never this pleasant. Especially in the morning.
"Ready for breakfast?" Penny smiled as she asked.
"We just got up." Alice said slowly.
"Well hurry up. I'm starving!" The other girls glanced at each other as they got ready.
Penny had gone down to wait in the common room while the girls finished getting ready.
Alice glanced up as she slipped on her shoes. "Does anyone find Penny…"
"Weird?" Stella finished.
"Beyond so." Lily said suspiciously. Her best friend was the queen of avoidance, but even this was odd for her.
The boys were surprised when they went do to the common room and saw Penny smiling, talking to a girl in fourth year. She never talked to anyone outside her immediate social group. It took her four months to speak to Alice and Stella and half way through second year to allow the Marauders to befriend her.
"Good morning, Penny." Remus greeted carefully as the three others stood shocked.
"Morning, boys!" She got up and kissed Remus on the cheek. "Bout time!" She said seeing the girls come down the stairs. "Last day of classes before the weekend!" She laughed. She headed to the portrait hole, the others trailing after her.
Lily, flagged by James on one side and Remus and Sirius on the other shook her head.
"What is happening?" James questioned.
"I have no idea. But I'm going to find out." Lily narrowed her eyes. "She did something." She shook her head. Something was going on.
In Defense class, Lily had resumed her normal spot next to Penny with the boys seated behind her and Alice and Stella at the table next to them.
Cole was surprised to see that Penny was holding no ill will towards him, and was actually participating. Based on what he knew of the girl, he knew something wasn't right. Something was off. Penny wasn't acting like herself or a Halliwell. He had heard gossip from his teachers about her.
"Miss. Perry, do you have a moment?" He called as the class was filing out.
"Sure, Professor." Penny smiled at him.
Cole lifted his eyebrows, surprised at not only her willingness, but her cheeriness. "What is going on with you, Penny?"
"Professor, I don't know what you mean."
"You can come to me, if you ever need help. I…I loved your great aunt. But, for whatever short amount of time, Halliwells were my family. I want to help you."
Penny's smile tightened. "Professor, that's lovely."
Cole realized what had happened. She was a Halliwell. "You cast spells. Didn't anyone teach you about personal gain?" He held onto her shoulders.
Penny's smile dimmed. She didn't think anyone would notice. And even if they did, they'd have no way to know what spells were used or how to break them. "Professor." She took a step back, breaking his hold. "Cole." She added. "Even if I performed spells, what could happen that could punish me? I am my ideal self. This is who I'd be if I wasn't hunted by demons and plagued with powers I don't want. The only thing the Powers can do to me is force me to be who I was."
"Your powers don't plague you! They're a gift!"
"Gifts should be returnable!" Penny cried. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to compose herself. She glued a smile back on and opened her eyes, looking at Cole with an odd, empty look. "If that will be all, Professor, I'd like to drop my books back in the Tower before dinner."
"You can't run from who you are."
"But I can try."
The week had continued with the Gryffindors worrying for Penny as she acted completely out of character.
"Is there a problem, Miss. Perry." Professor McGonagall asked when he heard Penny snort for the umpteenth at a part of her lecture.
"Not at all, Professor."
"Then I should ask you to refrain from interrupting in the future."
"Then I should ask you to refrain from using words that could easily be misconstrued."
"Penny!" Lily hissed from the seat next to her.
"Ten points from Gryffindor Miss. Perry. Get out."
"Happily." Penny shot back fearlessly.
Penny stormed back to her dorm, angry at the audacity of McGonagall. "She thinks she has a right to kick me out? I don't need her to teach me. What use is transfiguration?" She tossed her bag at her bed, her curtains moving aside once hit with the bag.
Lily stormed in ten minutes later, closely followed by Alice and Stella. "What the hell were you thinking, speaking to McGonagall like that."
"She needs to learn to take a joke, Lil." Penny smiled darkly.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"What is wrong with you, Lily? Lighten up, have some fun."
"This coming from the queen of sullens-ville."
"Real original, Lily." Penny got up from sitting on her bed but Lily pushed her back.
"No you listen to me, now." Lily's chest heaved. "You have been acting like an…a…..out of character for a week! What is going on?"
"Like you care. Miss Lily Evans, always riding on the coattails of others."
"Penny!" Alice tried to stop the fight.
"I don't need you Lily. So drop the holier than thou attitude."
Lily raised her eyes to look at the curtains. "You spelled yourself."
"And if I did?"
"Personal gain ringing any bells in that thick skull?"
"Shut up." Penny said dangerously. "I am tired of being told how to act, what to do, et cetera. I am going to stop being Penny Perry or Penny Halliwell and I'm just Penny for now on."
"Oh, don't know who you are."
"I know exactly who I am and what I can do. Don't push me." Penny stormed out of the dorm.
Penny orbed to the Underworld, wanting to take her anger out on some demons. She couldn't understand Lily's outrage at her spells. It wasn't her business! She walked into an alcove and smirked when she saw demons. She swiped her hand sending three flying back into the stone of the wall. She was going to make sure the Underworld knew that she was unforgiving and to be feared. They killed her family and she wasn't going to be stopped in her retribution.
She walked through to another cave entrance, dripping with blood and goop from various vanquishes.
"A Halliwell." A demon smiled when Penny tried using her powers. "An unprepared Halliwell." He amended when her powers didn't work.
Penny wasn't prepared for an upper level demon, but she narrowed her eyes. She tried blowing up the demon, but he deflected it. He smirked and through a fireball at her, knocking her back into a wall and unconsciousness.