Author's Note: Okay, so Penelope is a 5th Year Gryffindor for the purpose
of this story. Thanks for correcting me on that but I have written half the
story and don't feel like changing it so just pretend it's a different
Penelope Clearwater or something. I didn't do a proper background check and
relied on my memory which has just been proven incorrect. Sorry.
Chapter Two... 'First Match, First Love'
Penelope stared across the table at Percy. He suddenly looked up from his bowl of cereal and she quickly looked in another direction, conscious that he may have seen her staring.
"Penelope, are you all right?" asked Oliver who was sitting on her left. "May I have the maple syrup?" he added.
She passed it to him. "Everything's fine," she replied. "Why do you ask?"
"You just look a little off colour, that's all," explained Oliver.
Michala who was sitting next to Percy, opposite them, grinned at Penelope. Penelope grinned back. They knew what each other was thinking.
"You should be the one looking off colour," said Penelope after a moment, now back talking to Oliver. "After all, it's the big game today- I shouldn't have to remind you of that."
Oliver smiled and looked down at his pancakes mischievously. "Ah, I'm not worried about the game. Not to get too cocky but Slytherin have to watch out a bit more this year and that's starting from today!"
"Really?" asked Michala, joining in the conversation. "Why's that?"
Oliver swallowed a mouthful. "Because, we have Harry!"
"Yeah?"
"And he is the greatest Quidditch player to have ever graced Hogwarts! Even better than Charlie Weasley!" he added, looking at Percy.
Percy grinned. "Harry seems to be a bit of a legend eh? I mean, he's a famous celebrity who can defeat dark wizards during infantry and also ride a broomstick."
"Yep," grinned Oliver.
Penelope laughed and playfully gave him a whack over the head. "You're such a dag," she said.
"Dag?" Percy burst out laughing.
"Yeah!" Penelope smiled. "A DAG!"
They all erupted into fits of giggles and then sat quietly once the laughing was over.
"So..." said Percy at the same time as Penelope said "Hmm..."
They looked at each other and grinned. Michala grinned at Oliver who obviously had no idea what was going on.
"Morning everybody," said Luke, who had now stopped trying to chat up a couple of Hufflepuff girls and was sitting back with them.
"Hi Luke," they all returned.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking around at them.
"Nothing, nothing at all," said Michala.
"What?" Luke eyed her suspiciously.
Penelope gave Michala a good kick under the table. At least she thought she did.
"Yowch!" cried Percy, leaning under the table to rub his shin.
"Oops," mumbled Penelope as Michala struggled to hold back her giggles. "Wrong person."
Luke was definitely suspicious now. "Nah guys," he said after a minute. "What is going on?"
"Nothing!" denied Penelope, slightly more convincing. Percy was still rubbing his shin. Oliver still had no idea what they were all on about.
"I was just about to ask Penelope... and the others, who they fancied," Michala said. "And Penelope was just about to--- OUCH!" Penelope had got the right person this time. Michala also leant over to run her shin.
"Penelope wasn't about to do anything," Oliver said, saving Penelope even though he had no idea why.
"Yeah see," said Penelope, smiling angelically at Luke who was completely lost now.
"Okay then..." he said, backing away from the table. "I'll uhh... see you guys later then," he said, disappearing from the Great Hall, closely followed by a couple of giggling girls.
Back at the table Penelope was fuming. "How could you?" she yelled at Michala, who was beginning to realise she was serious. "How could you?" she repeated.
"Sorry," Michala said sincerely. "Really, I didn't think you would get so upset Pen. I'm really sorry."
"Yeah whatever," Penelope waved her off. "Sometimes you just don't think do you Michala?"
Percy and Oliver were watching the two girls carefully. It was not very often that Michala and Penelope fought with each other. Infact, it was not very often that they fought with anyone let alone each other. They looked at each other and then back at the girls- what had upset Penelope so much? Michala hadn't done anything wrong as far as they could see. Shrugging, they continued spectating.
"Look Pen," Michala put down her fork and the dirty plate vanished. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean to upset you- I only meant it as a joke. I never wanted to make you feel hurt," she added, placing a hand over Penelope's.
Penelope sighed and realised that Oliver and Percy were watching her intensely over this. "It's all right Mic, I didn't mean to get so jumpy. It just surprised me that's all. I didn't want anyone to know."
"Nobody does know," Michala assured. "Not even these two."
They looked at Oliver and Percy who were both now leaning forward in their seats as if they were watching a very suspense-filled play.
Penelope gave a small laugh. "Yeah, well I'd rather be alone right now," she said standing up. Her plate also vanished. "I'm just going to go for a walk," she left the table.
"Penelope!" Oliver raced after her.
"Oliver!" Michala called after him. "She wants to be-" she watched him leave the Hall. "left alone," she finished quietly and to herself.
"What was that about?" Percy asked. There weren't very many people left in the Hall now, most had left to go and get ready for the weekend activities- especially the Quidditch match. They were the only Gryffindors sitting at their end of the table.
"Ah don't worry Percy," Michala replied, feeling rather guilty. "I said something I shouldn't have, that's all."
"What? You mean with the whole sarcasm in your tone of voice before with Luke?" Percy asked in amazement.
"Yeah," Michala nodded.
"Haha," Percy smiled. "Whatever it was you were you talking about no one else understood, only Penelope so there's no need for her to get worried. I still don't know what you were on about."
"Thanks Perce," Michala gave him a quick hug. "Just try to tell Penelope that."
* * * * *
"Pen! Wait a sec!" Oliver sprinted out of the Great Hall and followed closely after Penelope who was walking very, very quickly out of the school building. She hesitated for a moment after hearing his voice but kept walking. Though Oliver was her dearest friend, sometimes she just needed to be left alone. Like now.
"Pen, wait!" he didn't give up and managed to catch up to her. He placed a warm hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her.
She turned and faced him. "Oh Oliver..." she murmured. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a big bear hug. She nestled in comfortably and sobbed into his chest.
"What on earth is the matter?" he asked when she had calmed down.
"Let's walk and I'll explain," she sniffled and led him outside to the big green pastures of the school.
Once outside, they stuck close together as it was getting quite chilly. Walking slowly, Penelope took a deep breath and tried to explain her strange behaviour.
"Lately, I don't know... I've been acting rather unlike myself I know," Penelope started contradicting herself on the first sentence. Oliver rubbed his hands over her cold arms. She smiled gratefully. "It's just that... I have been developing feelings for this guy," she whispered. Oliver stopped rubbing her arms. They dropped beside his body.
She looked up into his eyes. "Ol, I think I might just happen to have a crush on Percy," she confessed, feeling afraid of releasing her feelings but at the same time relieved of not having to hide them any longer.
"Per-Percy?" stammered Oliver, completely bewildered.
"Percy," confirmed Penelope.
"But... but..." Oliver tried to gather his thoughts. He looked down at Penelope and her genuine, sincere eyes. "But... that's fantastic," he said eventually.
She positively beamed. "Oh Oliver!" she said, grabbing him into another tight hug. "You have no idea how good that is to hear coming from you! I've spent so many nights trying to convince myself that I didn't fancy Percy because I was afraid you might not approve but now that you said that... oh goodness Oliver, you have no idea how happy that makes me feel!"
Oliver forced a smile. "I think I do Pen, it's written all over your face. However, why did you think it would bother me that you liked someone? I mean Percy is a great friend- it doesn't make sense. I think Percy is a great guy!"
"But last time I fancied someone you beat them up," Penelope reflected on their third year when Oliver who was very proud to have Penelope as a friend, beat up a poor Ravenclaw boy because of a rumour that Penelope fancied him.
"You know I was afraid of losing you," Oliver said.
"And you're not afraid of losing me now?" asked Penelope.
"No because I know I never will," he answered.
"Of course you won't," Penelope smiled, taking his hand in her own. "Because we're going to be friends forever."
Her voice echoed in Oliver's head. Though he tried to fight it he couldn't. Of course he was going to lose Penelope. It was bound to happen. He had just hoped it wouldn't happen so soon. And not to Percy. Because Percy was one of Oliver's greatest friends and he didn't want Penelope to come between them.
They made their way back to the school as the outdoors became too cold for them to stand idle in for too long.
"You know what?" said Penelope as they walked to the Gryffindor Tower.
"What?" asked Oliver.
"You don't have to worry about ever being lonely."
"Why's that?"
"Because you're so damn popular!" Penelope's point was proven as they walked past a small group of Hufflepuff Fourth Years who all giggled and smiled at Oliver. As he smiled back and kept walking, Penelope could hear them all whisper to each other about how envious they were of her. How completely naive Oliver could be sometimes.
"I am not," he protested, honestly.
"Come off it Oliver," Penelope laughed. "You just wait until after today's Quidditch game. When you beat Slytherin, the females of the school will be completely over you. Just you wait."
"Uh-huh," Oliver replied sarcastically. "That I highly doubt."
They returned to the Gryffindor Tower to find a very nervous Harry Potter waiting for them. As Oliver introduced him to a rather star-struck Penelope, Harry began confessing to Oliver just how nervous he was.
"Off you go," said Penelope, giving Oliver a shove on the back. "Go and get ready for the game, we'll be cheering for you."
So Oliver took Harry, who he was treating like a younger brother, and they marched with the heads held high into the Boys' Dormitory. Penelope almost felt sorry for Harry- it was bound to be time for one of Oliver's highly annoying 'pep' talks.
* * * * *
The stands were filled to a brim. Luke and Michala kept glancing below them at the shaky wooden boards afraid that they'd give way any second. The game was going to start any second and the whole school had turned up to watch it, mainly to get a glance of Harry Potter.
On the other side of the Quidditch pitch were Percy and Penelope who were seated on one of the less crowded stands. Luke spotted them and waved frantically, Michala joining in. She was about to let out one of her killer wolf whisltes but stopped herself just in time. The last thing she wanted was another argument with Penelope.
But Penelope didn't look like she was in the mood for an argument. She was sitting there deep in conversation with Percy who didn't appear to have noticed a thing about Penelope's odd behaviour. For one thing, though they were deep in conversation, there was at least a metre of empty space between them and Penelope had crossed her legs so her body was turned away from him because she didn't want to look like she was flirting. She was bright red in the cheeks and she was gripping on so tightly to her Gryffindor scarf that her knuckles were white and small holes in the wool were appearing where her fingers were.
Percy continued rabbiting on though, oblivious to everything. He discussed everything from the weather, to politics, to the Ministry of Magic while they waited for the game to begin. At last a whistle was blown, a voice came over the pitch and the game started with each team zooming out into the sky, flying to the sounds of students screaming and cheering.
Penelope and Percy spotted Oliver and rose to their feet, clapping their hands above their heads and Michala and Luke did the same. Oliver who had made a tradition out of searching for his friends at the beginning of every match, was looking around for them. He first spotted Michala and Luke, who were easy to find because of their huge 'The Wood is on Fire!' banner that they'd concocted earlier that day. It was being waved madly above their stand and the Slytherin students nearby were pointing and frowning at it.
It took him quite some time to spot Penelope and Percy and when he did he was mighty surprised to see them together. But as Penelope was staring at Oliver, waving her arms around like a bird, so genuine and so sincere, all he could do was grin, wave back and wait for the whistle to be blown.
It was and so began the Slytherin versus Gryffindor game!
At first, Harry looked a little stunned by the size of the game. Though that was hardly surprising seeing as it seemed to be the biggest turn-out since the final the previous year. But after a bludger closely scraped by, he managed to knock some sense into him and began searching for that ever so hard to see Golden Snitch.
Oliver was doing a mighty fine job guarding the goal hoops too. Twice the Slytherins missed and Oliver who was particularly cocky today, winked at one of them in his sarcastic manner.
The game progressed and still the Gryffindors led. Slowly their lead grew and grew until they were so far in front that it wouldn't have mattered anyway if the Slytherin seeker had caught the snitch. Oliver was gloating up there and dared to sneak a glance at Penelope to see if she was still watching. He took his eyes from the game for a split second and saw Penelope and Percy sitting much closer together. The sun was bright and he squinted his eyes. Was he seeing right? Were they... were they kissing?
He didn't see much more because the moment he drew his eyes away from them and tried to concentrate on the game at hand, a stray bludger came flying towards him and knocked him completely off his broom, sending him spiralling towards the ground.
Author's Note: So what do you think? I'm having so much fun writing this fanfic, I'm actually writing it ahead of posting it up. If I do get any reviews for it, thank you so much and keep reading and writing - fanfiction rocks!
Chapter Two... 'First Match, First Love'
Penelope stared across the table at Percy. He suddenly looked up from his bowl of cereal and she quickly looked in another direction, conscious that he may have seen her staring.
"Penelope, are you all right?" asked Oliver who was sitting on her left. "May I have the maple syrup?" he added.
She passed it to him. "Everything's fine," she replied. "Why do you ask?"
"You just look a little off colour, that's all," explained Oliver.
Michala who was sitting next to Percy, opposite them, grinned at Penelope. Penelope grinned back. They knew what each other was thinking.
"You should be the one looking off colour," said Penelope after a moment, now back talking to Oliver. "After all, it's the big game today- I shouldn't have to remind you of that."
Oliver smiled and looked down at his pancakes mischievously. "Ah, I'm not worried about the game. Not to get too cocky but Slytherin have to watch out a bit more this year and that's starting from today!"
"Really?" asked Michala, joining in the conversation. "Why's that?"
Oliver swallowed a mouthful. "Because, we have Harry!"
"Yeah?"
"And he is the greatest Quidditch player to have ever graced Hogwarts! Even better than Charlie Weasley!" he added, looking at Percy.
Percy grinned. "Harry seems to be a bit of a legend eh? I mean, he's a famous celebrity who can defeat dark wizards during infantry and also ride a broomstick."
"Yep," grinned Oliver.
Penelope laughed and playfully gave him a whack over the head. "You're such a dag," she said.
"Dag?" Percy burst out laughing.
"Yeah!" Penelope smiled. "A DAG!"
They all erupted into fits of giggles and then sat quietly once the laughing was over.
"So..." said Percy at the same time as Penelope said "Hmm..."
They looked at each other and grinned. Michala grinned at Oliver who obviously had no idea what was going on.
"Morning everybody," said Luke, who had now stopped trying to chat up a couple of Hufflepuff girls and was sitting back with them.
"Hi Luke," they all returned.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking around at them.
"Nothing, nothing at all," said Michala.
"What?" Luke eyed her suspiciously.
Penelope gave Michala a good kick under the table. At least she thought she did.
"Yowch!" cried Percy, leaning under the table to rub his shin.
"Oops," mumbled Penelope as Michala struggled to hold back her giggles. "Wrong person."
Luke was definitely suspicious now. "Nah guys," he said after a minute. "What is going on?"
"Nothing!" denied Penelope, slightly more convincing. Percy was still rubbing his shin. Oliver still had no idea what they were all on about.
"I was just about to ask Penelope... and the others, who they fancied," Michala said. "And Penelope was just about to--- OUCH!" Penelope had got the right person this time. Michala also leant over to run her shin.
"Penelope wasn't about to do anything," Oliver said, saving Penelope even though he had no idea why.
"Yeah see," said Penelope, smiling angelically at Luke who was completely lost now.
"Okay then..." he said, backing away from the table. "I'll uhh... see you guys later then," he said, disappearing from the Great Hall, closely followed by a couple of giggling girls.
Back at the table Penelope was fuming. "How could you?" she yelled at Michala, who was beginning to realise she was serious. "How could you?" she repeated.
"Sorry," Michala said sincerely. "Really, I didn't think you would get so upset Pen. I'm really sorry."
"Yeah whatever," Penelope waved her off. "Sometimes you just don't think do you Michala?"
Percy and Oliver were watching the two girls carefully. It was not very often that Michala and Penelope fought with each other. Infact, it was not very often that they fought with anyone let alone each other. They looked at each other and then back at the girls- what had upset Penelope so much? Michala hadn't done anything wrong as far as they could see. Shrugging, they continued spectating.
"Look Pen," Michala put down her fork and the dirty plate vanished. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean to upset you- I only meant it as a joke. I never wanted to make you feel hurt," she added, placing a hand over Penelope's.
Penelope sighed and realised that Oliver and Percy were watching her intensely over this. "It's all right Mic, I didn't mean to get so jumpy. It just surprised me that's all. I didn't want anyone to know."
"Nobody does know," Michala assured. "Not even these two."
They looked at Oliver and Percy who were both now leaning forward in their seats as if they were watching a very suspense-filled play.
Penelope gave a small laugh. "Yeah, well I'd rather be alone right now," she said standing up. Her plate also vanished. "I'm just going to go for a walk," she left the table.
"Penelope!" Oliver raced after her.
"Oliver!" Michala called after him. "She wants to be-" she watched him leave the Hall. "left alone," she finished quietly and to herself.
"What was that about?" Percy asked. There weren't very many people left in the Hall now, most had left to go and get ready for the weekend activities- especially the Quidditch match. They were the only Gryffindors sitting at their end of the table.
"Ah don't worry Percy," Michala replied, feeling rather guilty. "I said something I shouldn't have, that's all."
"What? You mean with the whole sarcasm in your tone of voice before with Luke?" Percy asked in amazement.
"Yeah," Michala nodded.
"Haha," Percy smiled. "Whatever it was you were you talking about no one else understood, only Penelope so there's no need for her to get worried. I still don't know what you were on about."
"Thanks Perce," Michala gave him a quick hug. "Just try to tell Penelope that."
* * * * *
"Pen! Wait a sec!" Oliver sprinted out of the Great Hall and followed closely after Penelope who was walking very, very quickly out of the school building. She hesitated for a moment after hearing his voice but kept walking. Though Oliver was her dearest friend, sometimes she just needed to be left alone. Like now.
"Pen, wait!" he didn't give up and managed to catch up to her. He placed a warm hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her.
She turned and faced him. "Oh Oliver..." she murmured. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a big bear hug. She nestled in comfortably and sobbed into his chest.
"What on earth is the matter?" he asked when she had calmed down.
"Let's walk and I'll explain," she sniffled and led him outside to the big green pastures of the school.
Once outside, they stuck close together as it was getting quite chilly. Walking slowly, Penelope took a deep breath and tried to explain her strange behaviour.
"Lately, I don't know... I've been acting rather unlike myself I know," Penelope started contradicting herself on the first sentence. Oliver rubbed his hands over her cold arms. She smiled gratefully. "It's just that... I have been developing feelings for this guy," she whispered. Oliver stopped rubbing her arms. They dropped beside his body.
She looked up into his eyes. "Ol, I think I might just happen to have a crush on Percy," she confessed, feeling afraid of releasing her feelings but at the same time relieved of not having to hide them any longer.
"Per-Percy?" stammered Oliver, completely bewildered.
"Percy," confirmed Penelope.
"But... but..." Oliver tried to gather his thoughts. He looked down at Penelope and her genuine, sincere eyes. "But... that's fantastic," he said eventually.
She positively beamed. "Oh Oliver!" she said, grabbing him into another tight hug. "You have no idea how good that is to hear coming from you! I've spent so many nights trying to convince myself that I didn't fancy Percy because I was afraid you might not approve but now that you said that... oh goodness Oliver, you have no idea how happy that makes me feel!"
Oliver forced a smile. "I think I do Pen, it's written all over your face. However, why did you think it would bother me that you liked someone? I mean Percy is a great friend- it doesn't make sense. I think Percy is a great guy!"
"But last time I fancied someone you beat them up," Penelope reflected on their third year when Oliver who was very proud to have Penelope as a friend, beat up a poor Ravenclaw boy because of a rumour that Penelope fancied him.
"You know I was afraid of losing you," Oliver said.
"And you're not afraid of losing me now?" asked Penelope.
"No because I know I never will," he answered.
"Of course you won't," Penelope smiled, taking his hand in her own. "Because we're going to be friends forever."
Her voice echoed in Oliver's head. Though he tried to fight it he couldn't. Of course he was going to lose Penelope. It was bound to happen. He had just hoped it wouldn't happen so soon. And not to Percy. Because Percy was one of Oliver's greatest friends and he didn't want Penelope to come between them.
They made their way back to the school as the outdoors became too cold for them to stand idle in for too long.
"You know what?" said Penelope as they walked to the Gryffindor Tower.
"What?" asked Oliver.
"You don't have to worry about ever being lonely."
"Why's that?"
"Because you're so damn popular!" Penelope's point was proven as they walked past a small group of Hufflepuff Fourth Years who all giggled and smiled at Oliver. As he smiled back and kept walking, Penelope could hear them all whisper to each other about how envious they were of her. How completely naive Oliver could be sometimes.
"I am not," he protested, honestly.
"Come off it Oliver," Penelope laughed. "You just wait until after today's Quidditch game. When you beat Slytherin, the females of the school will be completely over you. Just you wait."
"Uh-huh," Oliver replied sarcastically. "That I highly doubt."
They returned to the Gryffindor Tower to find a very nervous Harry Potter waiting for them. As Oliver introduced him to a rather star-struck Penelope, Harry began confessing to Oliver just how nervous he was.
"Off you go," said Penelope, giving Oliver a shove on the back. "Go and get ready for the game, we'll be cheering for you."
So Oliver took Harry, who he was treating like a younger brother, and they marched with the heads held high into the Boys' Dormitory. Penelope almost felt sorry for Harry- it was bound to be time for one of Oliver's highly annoying 'pep' talks.
* * * * *
The stands were filled to a brim. Luke and Michala kept glancing below them at the shaky wooden boards afraid that they'd give way any second. The game was going to start any second and the whole school had turned up to watch it, mainly to get a glance of Harry Potter.
On the other side of the Quidditch pitch were Percy and Penelope who were seated on one of the less crowded stands. Luke spotted them and waved frantically, Michala joining in. She was about to let out one of her killer wolf whisltes but stopped herself just in time. The last thing she wanted was another argument with Penelope.
But Penelope didn't look like she was in the mood for an argument. She was sitting there deep in conversation with Percy who didn't appear to have noticed a thing about Penelope's odd behaviour. For one thing, though they were deep in conversation, there was at least a metre of empty space between them and Penelope had crossed her legs so her body was turned away from him because she didn't want to look like she was flirting. She was bright red in the cheeks and she was gripping on so tightly to her Gryffindor scarf that her knuckles were white and small holes in the wool were appearing where her fingers were.
Percy continued rabbiting on though, oblivious to everything. He discussed everything from the weather, to politics, to the Ministry of Magic while they waited for the game to begin. At last a whistle was blown, a voice came over the pitch and the game started with each team zooming out into the sky, flying to the sounds of students screaming and cheering.
Penelope and Percy spotted Oliver and rose to their feet, clapping their hands above their heads and Michala and Luke did the same. Oliver who had made a tradition out of searching for his friends at the beginning of every match, was looking around for them. He first spotted Michala and Luke, who were easy to find because of their huge 'The Wood is on Fire!' banner that they'd concocted earlier that day. It was being waved madly above their stand and the Slytherin students nearby were pointing and frowning at it.
It took him quite some time to spot Penelope and Percy and when he did he was mighty surprised to see them together. But as Penelope was staring at Oliver, waving her arms around like a bird, so genuine and so sincere, all he could do was grin, wave back and wait for the whistle to be blown.
It was and so began the Slytherin versus Gryffindor game!
At first, Harry looked a little stunned by the size of the game. Though that was hardly surprising seeing as it seemed to be the biggest turn-out since the final the previous year. But after a bludger closely scraped by, he managed to knock some sense into him and began searching for that ever so hard to see Golden Snitch.
Oliver was doing a mighty fine job guarding the goal hoops too. Twice the Slytherins missed and Oliver who was particularly cocky today, winked at one of them in his sarcastic manner.
The game progressed and still the Gryffindors led. Slowly their lead grew and grew until they were so far in front that it wouldn't have mattered anyway if the Slytherin seeker had caught the snitch. Oliver was gloating up there and dared to sneak a glance at Penelope to see if she was still watching. He took his eyes from the game for a split second and saw Penelope and Percy sitting much closer together. The sun was bright and he squinted his eyes. Was he seeing right? Were they... were they kissing?
He didn't see much more because the moment he drew his eyes away from them and tried to concentrate on the game at hand, a stray bludger came flying towards him and knocked him completely off his broom, sending him spiralling towards the ground.
Author's Note: So what do you think? I'm having so much fun writing this fanfic, I'm actually writing it ahead of posting it up. If I do get any reviews for it, thank you so much and keep reading and writing - fanfiction rocks!