Recovery was not a pleasant experience for Penny. The fury of Madam Pomfrey was more than the Hospital Wing could contain. It almost made Penny wish she had been left with Snape, he was reasonable compared to her new prison guard, who declared she would need to stay in the Hospital Wing for at least a week, and was, under no circumstances, to get out of bed. The first few days weren't bad because of all the sleeping draughts she was given. Snape showed up with a freshly brewed batch of them. Naturally, he had no sympathy for Penny.

"The potions master uncertain of his own work? I don't buy it, you must have missed me," Penny said, when Snape waited for her to take her prescribed draught..

"Don't flatter yourself, I brewed this one as a double dose and am curious to know if there will be any adverse side-effects," he smirked.

"Well, you know I missed you. There isn't any stimulating conversation here, no one likes to argue like you do," Penny hiccuped, suddenly feeling strange.

"Is that so," he said quietly, looking more amused than Penny had seen him before.

"Why yes, it is. Who wouldn't miss those scowling cheekbones and emotional deflections," she giggled.

Whatever else had transpired in the exchange, Penny could not remember. The thought of it mortified her when she woke several hours later. The man would have expected the loopy side effects and clearly had remained for the show, likely to torment her at a later time. He was horrible and would probably not let her forget the exchange. Penny doubted anyone had ever told Snape they missed his company, so it was probably the highlight of his life, she thought to herself in an effort to stop obsessing.

Her injuries were a good distraction, they required a lot of care. Some ribs were cracked and her shoulder was in horrible shape, but Madam Pompfrey was most worried about the state of her internal organs, insisting she needed to remain long enough to allow her remedies to promote cell repair and prevent any internal bleeding that could occur. This required frequent checks of the coloration of Penny's abdomen. Half of which, erupted in the most horrific bruise Penny had ever seen, with blue and purple extending over more skin than she thought possible.

Admittedly, the severity of her injury unsettled Penny, especially when she saw herself through the eyes of her twin. The worry in Harry's wide eyes was unmistakable. This quickly devolved into rage and hatred for Viktor Krum and the other Durmstrang students. The recounting of the story already made it through the entire school, and, to Penny's pleasure, it actually remained quite accurate. Her fellow Hogwarts students were enraged about the attack, and relations quickly became tense. It did not matter that mere days before they had been saying Penny was a freak, she was their freak, and the idea that the fall could have killed her shook them to their core.

Harry, like Snape, was not amused that Penny had been so reckless and refused to confirm her play was brilliant. He demanded she be more careful, and all but banned her from being alone. It became a school mission, with visitors constantly rotating from her beside, ensuring no one had the chance to 'finish the job.' At least they brought her a lot of gifts, but Madam Pomfrey felt like Penny was not resting enough with so many visitors, which is why she recruited Snape and his sleeping draught.

Penny lost her patience with her bed rest near the end of her stay when she found out that the Triwizard champions had been chosen. Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacor and Cedric Diggory were all chosen, which was well and fine. But then the cup did a peculiar thing and spat out a fourth name: Harry Potter. After interrogating him, Penny believed Harry did not put his name in the cup, but the question remained, who did? It was deeply unsettling, and Penny was very worried for her brother. The tasks were going to be difficult and an easy opportunity to harm Harry, but once entered, Harry was bound to the tournament, and the judges agreed he had to compete. It was a horrible mess and Penny was full of anxiety over it. To make matters worse, Harry and Ron got into a horrible fight over it because Ron actually believed Harry put his name in the cup. Harry being Harry had zero patience for such an absurd idea and wasted no time telling Ron he was an idiot if he thought Harry stupid enough to do such a thing. If Ron had reacted like such a git, Penny did not want to know how the rest of the school was responding. It would be a tough thing to share the role of champion with Cedric Diggory, he was very popular.

On the Wednesday that Penny was finally released from her bed, she was still wearing a sling on her right arm and was not looking forward to brewing anything without the use of her arm. It did not help that Snape assigned the most meticulous piece of work for the day, the Swelling Solution. Penny was back to her normal seat in the front of the class beside Malfoy, who still seemed unsettled whenever he looked at her. It didn't help that the bruise on her neck was still a blackish purple and very prominent against her fair skin.

"Malfoy, do help Ms. Potter with her chopping before she takes her fingers off," Snape said dryly as he watched her struggle to accomplish anything productive with her left hand.

Malfoy obeyed and began carelessly hacking at her boomslang causing Penny's eyes to nearly bulge out of her head

"What're you doing, it says to dice, not hack," Penny hissed.

"I am helping you, you don't get to complain," Draco replied incredulously..

"This explains the mess of your own cauldron," Penny quipped, glancing at his, "the dicing should be uniform."

"Okay, know it all."

With a dirty look, Draco hacked her boomslang into slightly more proportionate chunks (that were still abominations to Penny) and slid them toward her, returning to his own work.

"I can't work under these conditions. Professor, I need a spell for knife work," Penny said loudly, turning around to catch the attention of Snape.

She winced when her arm bumped the table, jarring her shoulder. It was going to be a very long recovery that would likely drive her insane.

"What seems to be the problem, Ms. Potter, not had your fill of attention-seeking while in the Hospital Wing?" Snape said silkily, striding towards their table.

The Slytherins snickered loudly looking up to enjoy the scene. Watching the Potters suffer seemed to be a favorite sport in this class.

"I know it must have been difficult for you, to teach so many classes without my stimulating presence, so I'll take that as your way of saying you missed my classroom contributions," Penny replied coolly.

The corners of Snape's mouth twitched slightly and he looked down at the mess of her boomslang, cringing ever so slightly at the sight of the disproportionate lobs of ingredients.

"SEE. IT IS ABOMINABLE. You must tell me a spell for knife work and I'll fix it myself."

"Do I look like a housewife to you?"

"You would make a lovely housewife, I didn't know you were dating," Penny said in mock surprise.

It was the Gryffindors turn to snicker, eliciting the displeasure of Snape, who's eyes narrowed and lips turned into a fine line.

"Perhaps if you paid more attention in charms class, or hadn't fallen off your broom, like a dunce, you would not have this problem," he replied lazily, making to leave.

"One spell, you are the potions master, you know that I simply cannot produce anything with this!" Penny said desperately.

"You are correct, I am the potions master, but potions masters cut their own ingredients, we do not use magic for things that require a delicate hand," Snape said, lips curled into a cruel grin.

"If you will not tell me, then hold that so I can cut it more evenly."

"I care more for my fingers than your tantrums," he drawled.

Snape was being vindictive, but Penny did not have the time for it, the clocking was ticking by and she still needed to begin brewing. The look on his face made Penny fearful he would actually force her to continue to suffer, and she refused to let him. Setting her jaw, her eyes flashed fiercely and she whipped her hair over her shoulder and said, "I will not forgive you if you make me use this," so quietly only Snape could hear her.

Thankfully, the rest of the class was used to tuning out Snape and Penny, and the difficulty of their potion made it extremely easy not to notice. Malfoy, cursing under his breath ran back to the cupboard in search of an ingredient he overlooked. Snape stared down at her, his expression faltering. Without a word, he pulled her ingredients to him and began cutting with expert skill. Penny couldn't help but admire the work.

"It's so beautiful," she said, sticking her face near the boomslang.

Snape's palm pressed against her forehead, pushing her face away, his eyebrow raised. "Do you want to lose your nose?"

"Is this what swooning feels like," Penny sighed dramatically, pouring the ingredients Snape passed to her into her cauldron.

"I would not know, I have never experienced such a ridiculous emotion," he said impatiently, moving onto the next item.

"Doesn't it just make you so happy."

"I have spent more years than you have been alive trying to teach imbeciles, like you brother, rudimentary skills. No, I would not say it makes me happy," Snape sneered, glancing at Harry.

Penny could not help but roll her eyes, the man was always such a willful belligerent, he could never just be a pleasant participant for any conversation, but that was precisely what Penny liked about him, She could not help but smile into her cauldron listening to him.

"How can you say that in my company, I have only ever produced excellence for you, you're welcome."

"Ms. Potter, I am sorry to be the one to inform you, but not everyone is as obsessed with you as you are with yourself."

"That's fine, I'm content knowing you are," Penny replied smugly, glancing to watch his face contort.

It was as satisfying as she knew it would be. He floundered for words, his face refusing to settle on an expression.

"It was a compliment, you're the one who refused to take it" Penny said unapologetically, "Professor," she added quickly when his eyes flashed in her direction.

"I have no use for compliments. Your flirting is better wasted on one of the many boys you keep to stroke your ego," he said, reaching over her and brushing the contents of his cutting board into her cauldron.

He fixed her with a hard stare, searching for the fruit of his labor. He found what he was looking for almost immediately. Penny's irritation was written all over her face, it was one of the down sides of being the sort of person who liked to act, she had zero control over her facial expressions, leaving her emotions always on display. It made life difficult sometimes, but generally people found her more trusting because of it. With Severus Snape, however, it was awful, and often resulted in him being the winner in their game of tit for tat. His thoughts almost always remained fortified behind his mind and face, with very little ever slipping through the cracks.

"Because my love for potions must be about some sex appeal you're hiding in that overcompensation for lacking masculinity," Penny said sardonically, turning decidedly away from him to busy herself with the rest of her instructions.

"Careful Penny, your insecurities are showing," he said in a sharp whisper, purposefully slowing at her name before leaving her to stew in her irritation.

He only used her name to annoy her because he refused to ever just be pleasant, still, the sound of it on his lips sent her stomach into an annoying flutter of butterflies. She had spent over a week in the Hospital Wing and had quite looked forward to her potions lesson. Why, she knew not. Things never went as she hoped and she was not certain why she kept coming back for more. The only consolation was, so did Snape. For all his calloused language, he still did as Penny asked And what was that expression about when she told him she would not forgive him? In truth, she had not expected him to give in, instead she thought he would call her on her bluff and leave her to her own devices. But he had obliged her, cut all of her ingredients. They had been such beautiful cuts too, he didn't even need to glance at her book to know what he was doing, his hands just worked. Recalling it made her swoon all over again, why couldn't any of her peers in her year do things like that. Anything potions related stirred her to her core, and it was sad that most of her classmates just didn't care. Penny loved reading and learning about the subject. The thought of teaching it, getting to do it daily, it greatly appealed to her, but she dare not tell Snape that. Imagining the kind of response he would have caused her to cringe inwardly, but it did make her wonder how and why he had become the potions master. One day she would ask him.

"Why is it pink!" Malfoy raged beside her.

"Because you don't read," Penny said, amused.

"What's the supposed to mean," he said, turning his pretty eyes on her, narrowed in irritation.

"If you ask nicely I'll tell you."

The grin that slid across his full lips made Penny immediately regret her decision. His hand reached out and stroked her arm gently. He looked at her through his long, dark lashes, tilting his head ever so slightly. He was charming and Penny could feel her blush shoot into her cheeks.

"Tell me, please" he simpered.

"You forgot the last step," Penny said quickly. She shook her head, turning away from him when his eyes lit up. Her gaze mistakenly fell on Snape, who sat at his desk observing their interaction with a wry smile on his face.

He was enjoying the front row seat to her fumbling humiliation. Penny was not made for these kinds of interactions. It was part of her nature to want to poke, prod and joke, but Malfoy seemed to take it to another level, a level Penny was not interested in. She narrowed her eyes at Snape and looked down at her beautiful potion. A few minutes later Snape made his rounds, scratching their grades on his clipboard, dismissing them.

"Excellent work, Mr. Malfoy," Snape said smoothly.

He moved to Penny's, barely glancing at the solution before turning to leave.

"Hang on, are you really going to say nothing? It's perfect," Penny complained.

"Of course it is, I did all the knife work," he said, looking down his hooked nose at her with disdain.

Too angry to respond, Penny began jamming her items back into her bag. With her cauldron emptied, she gathered her ingredients and made to put them away, but oddly, her foot caught on something she did not see, and she tripped. With her arm still in a sling, she tossed everything she was carrying in an attempt not to re-injure her shoulder. Hitting the cold cement floor was still as awful as she imagined and she groaned. She rolled over floundering like a turtle stuck on its shell, in too much pain to want to try and get up.

"Ms. Potter, do try to be more careful, those items are fragile," Snape said sleekly, not bothering to help her from the floor.

The pain in her shoulder made her grit her teeth in agony. She was thankful that her twin ran to her aid and distracted her from wanting to kill her professor.

"I wish we could hex him" Harry whispered through gritted teeth.

"Maybe we could accidentally spill my swelling potion," Penny replied, darkly.

Setting her upright, Harry tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at her apologetically, straightening her sling for her. Their display of affection, unfortunately, was not private, and was more than Snape could handle for the day,

"Potter," Snape hissed, intending to deliver punishment on Harry.

"Go, I'll pretend he meant me," Penny whispered. Heeding her warning, Harry turned tail and was out of the classroom before Snape could stop him.

Penny turned back to Snape,"Chill out, I'll clean it up, I needed a moment to get off the floor," said Penny as she purposefully blocked Snape's path

"Not you, the other one!" Snape fumed.

"Oh, well, if you listened to me and referred to me as Penny, like I prefer, there would be no confusion," Penny pointed out, rubbing her sore shoulder.

He glared down at her, unamused.

"What's that? Why yes, professor, I am alright, thank you for asking."

The comment seemed to jar him back to the reality of the emptying classroom, and he turned away from her to call out to Neville just as he reached the door.

"Mr. Longbottom, take Ms. Potter with you, she seems to be dreadfully incapable today and could use some assistance to get to her next class."

"I don't need-"

"You are not the authority here, you will do as I say," he said. And with an angry flick of his wand, her mess returned itself to the cabinet where it belonged.

Towering over her he pointed to the door, Penny made to reply, but was saved by Neville.

"I will not-" she began, Neville grabbing her by the hand and cutting her off. "Penny, let's go!" he said desperately, pulling her, more forcefully than she would have expected, to the door.

Nose in the air, Penny allowed Neville to guide her out and away from a weeks worth of detention she would have likely gotten herself into if she had been allowed to finish her retort. Snape was definitely more sour and did not seem to mind taking it out on her.

"Thanks, Neville," said Penny when they reached the stairs.

"He's in a really bad mood lately, you should be more careful," said Neville. He glanced down at her neck, his face turning green.

"Yeah, you're right, all of this," she gestured to her injuries, "is not how I imagined this year going," she admitted.

Shadows from the top of the dungeon stairs distracted them from their conversation and they looked to see a group of Durmstrang students, accompanied by a couple of 7th year Slytherins walking towards them. Penny stiffened when one boy pointed at Penny and called to the others in Bulgarian. They made a bee-line for her and Neville, who squared his shoulders.

The heavy-browed Durmstrang boy stepped in close to Penny in a clear attempt to intimidate her.

"Heretic," he breathed, his face merely inches from her own.

"Don't call her that," Neville said, his hands balling into shaking fists at his sides.

"Or vat?" the Durmstrang student snickered.

"Do you think class is on the stairs today? Because if you would like to receive a grade, I suggest you get inside, now, " came the quiet voice of Snape from below them.

"You got lucky, this time," the heavy-brow boy whispered, and then pushed past Penny, jarring her uninjured shoulder aggressively as he went. The others spat "apostate," and "heretic," under their breath at her as they too moved around her.

Penny glanced at Snape before she bounded the rest of the stairs. His eyebrow was raised in an I-told-you-so expression. Penny conceded, begrudgingly, Snape and Neville were right, she needed to be more careful.