AN: There are depictions of sexuality in this chapter and other sexually suggestive material!
Hello my loves! Another update JUST FOR YOUU. This chapter was way too fun write so I really hope you enjoy it because I know i did! BWHAHAH. After this I only needed to address the prefects and we are on the train back to HOGWARTS! I can't believe the summer vacay basically became it's own book... but it is what it is and I loved it the entire way through! Today I didn't get dressed or leave my house at all...HAHAH I totally lost track of time, but who cares IM ON SUMMER BREAK. Boy it felt damn good.
Alright, have a great weekend and enjoy! Sending all my lovee
"Wait, Dumbledore? He was here?" said Harry, filling in the empty space Sirius had left in the warm, soft bed that was still tempting Penny back to sleep.
"Yeah? I assumed he would have spoken to you with your hearing tomorrow and all," Penny said, sleepily.
"Well, he didn't," Harry replied, unable to hide the bitterness from his voice. It was only this that roused Penny into wakefulness as she turned to survey her twin.
"When was the last time you two spoke?"
"Right after-before we returned to the Dursley's," Harry said, catching himself before he said Cedric's name, which Penny appreciated.
"But hasn't he been in and out of here? I mean, this is headquarters. . ."
"He has, but apparently he doesn't have any interest in seeing me," Harry said, his tone unusually biting.
This information was very unusual to Penny, who quietly wondered if Dumbledore was avoiding Harry, but why? Apparently Harry was thinking the same thing, his angry thoughts intruding on Penny's. He was very upset with the way Dumbledore had sent people to tail him, gave him zero information all summer, and then refused to speak to him now when the possibility of being expelled loomed so near. These were all valid, in Penny's opinion, and very out of character for Dumbledore, who most knew definitely favored Harry. The bitterness and trepidation in Harry's thoughts told Penny it was probably a better idea to try and take Harry's mind off the topic.
"Don't you want to know how it ended with Sirius?" she said, blatantly changing the topic.
"I already know?"
"How!"
"Erm, you're in his bed, Penny," Harry said, grinning.
"Oh, right. . ." she said, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. "If you do get expelled, hypothetically, and not that it'd ever happen. . ." Penny said, catching Harry's gaze just as he rolled his eyes at her. "Do you think Sirius would let you live with him, or would he make you go back to the Dursleys?"
The thought made Penny want to gag, there was no way she'd let Harry be alone with their miserable aunt and uncle while she was at Hogwarts.
"I asked him, he didn't want to give me an answer," Harry said, miserably.
"He probably doesn't want to get his hopes up. Nothing would make him happier than to have another fugitive in the house," Penny said, smiling at the thought of the pair of them.
"Maybe. . ." said Harry, sounding very unconvinced.
"Oh cheer up," Penny said, whacking him with her pillow.
"Easy for you to say," Harry said, scowling at her from behind the pillow.
"Is it though," Penny said, darkly, subconsciously touching the scar on her stomach.
Harry reached into her mind, expressing the apology he was too awkward to say out loud, engulfing Penny in the comfort of his warm presence. It made her drowsy again, the two of them getting groggy eyed together, but they would not be allowed a peaceful sleep-in because the door burst open and Fred and George let themselves in.
"Oi you two little weirdo's, Sirius says get out of bed," said Fred, plopping down on the bed and pinching both of Harry's cheeks.
"And do it quickly because mum already had an aneurysm about Penny 'starving to death' and a go at Sirius for sending you to bed without dinner," George added, helping Penny straighten her hair as she hopped out of bed.
She did not require asking twice, her stomach was screaming with hunger so she sprinted for the kitchens before Harry even stood up. Her lead counted for nothing though, because she was intercepted by Mrs. Weasley, who wanted to torture her with the tantalizing smell of bacon, which she'd recently been able to coax Penny into eating again, while giving her a physical while entire room watched.
"When did this happen?" Mrs. Weasley said, her eyes bulging as she inspected Penny's neck.
"It really doesn't hurt," Penny said, avoiding looking at Sirius whom she knew was watching the exchange from over his mug of black coffee.
"More injuries than Fred and George put together" Mrs. Weasley sighed, brushing the hair out Penny's face and clasping her cheeks in both of her hands as she stared down at her with that worried maternal look of hers.
"Good job Penny, keep up the good work," George grinned, slapping her on the back as he passed.
"And still pretty as a peach," Mrs. Weasley went on, giving Penny's cheek a little pinch before leading her to the table and filling her plate with an inordinate amount of food.
Penny inhaled three pieces of bacon before even sitting down, Sirius shaking his head in amusement at her. She moved onto three pancakes next, deeply regretting her decision as the capacity of her stomach caught up with her. However, Mrs. Weasley did not seem to believe in it, and hovered over Penny, shoveling more food onto her plate, insisting she needed her strength, ignoring Penny's protests. Sirius finally had to step in and suggest Molly get started on one of the lower bedrooms because it was full of some strange pest he'd never seen before.
The day passed quickly, too quickly for anyone's liking, the tension in the house becoming palpable by the time dinner was served. Harry kept to himself, eating very little, while everyone tried their best to give him words of encouragement. But it did not help that dinner was very reserved, with only muttered conversations that gave the impression Harry was dying rather than attending a hearing the next day. Thankfully, Mrs. Weasley ended dinner early and sent everyone to bed, Penny catching Harry on the landing to give him a kiss and tell him not to worry. He didn't look convinced, but he gave her a hug back before trudging off with Ron.
The next morning no one bothered to wake Penny, not even Harry, so the room she shared with Hermione and Ginny was full of sunlight when her heavy eyes finally opened in the late morning. With a shriek, she alerted everyone to her displeasure at not being woken to say goodbye to Harry, who'd apparently left a couple hours prior with Mr. Weasley.
Because of this, Penny stalked around the house in a foul mood, her anxiety doing back flips in her empty stomach, which she refused to fill. When she couldn't handle Sirius whistling happily a moment longer, she locked herself in the attic with Buckbeak, who watched her suspiciously, but otherwise left her alone. This proved to be a mistake because Penny was so far from the front door that she did not hear Mrs. Black's screams announce Harry's return, and remained completely oblivious until he poked at her mind.
Not bothering to respond to him, Penny bounded downstairs, following the sound of chanting that she could not quite make out. When she was a few steps from the kitchen door she thought she heard "He got off, he got off," which sent a spark of hope into her worried heart. When she flung the door open and found Harry's grinning face looking back at her, Penny knew, jumping into the air with a yell of triumph.
The festivities lasted into the late afternoon, until Mrs. Weasley could not handle the raucous a moment longer. Penny did not complain, she was not feeling very well and was glad for an excuse to leave without announcing to everyone she wasn't feeling well, knowing full well they would subject her to a full examination rather than just letting her sit in peace for a half-hour. Wanting to avoid prying questions, Penny made for Fred and George's room, sneaking in behind them just before the snapped the door shut.
Racing past them, she dove onto their bed and grinned up at them.
"Penny you vixen, I knew you were adventurous, but mum could walk in at any moment," George said, sitting down beside Penny and giving her a seductive arch of his brow.
"And you know, you can't have both of us, you'll have to pick," Fred added.
"How could you make me choose? No, no, you'll have to decide who's leaving," Penny said, biting her lip.
The both of them did a double take, their eyes wide, clearly uncertain if she were being serious or not. With a loud laugh, Penny smacked them both upside the head. "Get your heads out of the gutter!"
"I always forget how good your acting talent is," said Fred, rubbing his head.
"We are healthy 17-year old boys, you can't scold us for dreaming!" protested George.
"Right," Penny said with an eye roll. "I need a place to hide out, any chance you'd let me crash whatever it is you two have been doing in here," Penny added, looking at the piles of junk they had strewn everywhere.
"You must be sick, you haven't come to see our progress since you returned from your honeymoon with Snapeypoo," simpered Fred, dodging out of reach of her swinging arm.
"As a matter of fact, I do have a horrible headache and would prefer not to be accosted because of it."
"A headache, she says," George said, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"It turns out we have just the thing for a headache," Fred said, pulling out his wand and waving it rather gracefully.
Penny took one look at the bag of cursed green stuff and shook her head. "No, no, no. The last time I partook in your drug trade, Snape nearly killed me!"
"That was truly unfortunate, Malfoy told us all about it. But it's only right we make up for that and allow you to enjoy the pleasures of your hard efforts!" George said, taking the bag from Fred and dangling it tantalizingly in front of her face.
"Your mum will kill me if I get high, and I've never been high!"
"Don't worry, we have perfected the dosing so you can choose your high, and we all know she won't be coming near us after the afternoon we've had."
"But we can apparate you to your bed if she does come looking," Fred added, looking like a desperate puppy dog.
Penny's head throbbed horribly, blurring her vision and confusing her. Throwing caution tot he wind, she gave in, allowing Fred and George to debate the best method to get Penny high, deciding giving her one of their edibles was the best option, and the least identifiable if Mrs. Weasley were to stop by.
"This is a thousand times better than firewhisky," Penny giggled, running her sensitive fingers against the pumps on the wall.
"When did you have firewhisky and why weren't we invited?" demanded George.
"With Malfoy. He got me drunk after I ran into Cho kissing Cedric," Penny replied, suddenly fascinated with the old stuffed dragon she found beneath the bed. "Can I have this?" she said, rolling off the bed and crawling further beneath it.
"Have at it, it was here when we got here," George said, Fred cracking up beside him as they watched Penny.
"Listen mate, since we're on the topic of Cedric," the two said unison, hanging upside from the bed to peer at Penny, who was basically fully dungeon diving by this point. "We wanted to talk to you after. . ." George said, glancing nervously at Fred. "he passed," Fred continued, pausing a moment to see how Penny would react.
"I was trying really hard to avoid everyone at that time," Penny said, conversationally, searching for the source of an odd hissing noise.
"We noticed. But our point is, Cedric was a really good guy, he would have made a really great dad," they finished, rather dramatically.
"I'm sure he would have," Penny said, finding what they said so strange, she could not help but begin to laugh, inhaling dust as she did.
"We're sorry you have to go it alone, and even though you're not telling anyone, you'll be a great single mum," they went on, sounding oddly sincere.
"Single mum?" Penny choked, smashing her head on the metal bar when she whipped her head around to stare at them, certain they must be messing with her.
Obliging her curiosity, they took her by the ankles and pulled her from out beneath the bed, propping themselves on their elbows to watch her dust herself off.
"You're our third, did you think we'd care about something as minor as baby-making out of wedlock?"
"I mean, it will make things more complicated because we were hoping we could hold off paying you until we had premises, but don't worry, we won't let baby Pendric starve!"
"Baby Pendric? What are you two on about?" Penny said, completely bewildered, her urge to giggle disappearing completely.
"C'mon Penny. Did you really think we hadn't worked it out? You refused to see anyone; hid at Snape's; come back with some mysterious wound on your stomach that you always absentmindedly stroke; you only wear giant sweatshirts, and go from either refusing to eat or eating your weight in bacon," Fred said, rolling his eyes in exasperation.
"And let's not forget Sirius's peculiar behavior," George pointed out, Fred nodding in agreement.
"So we have concluded Cedric knocked you up, and you couldn't terminate for obvious reasons!"
"You're kidding, tell me you're kidding," Penny said, looking between the pair.
"The others agreed."
"What others?" Penny demanded, jumping to her feet.
"Who do you think? Hermione said we couldn't bring it up, but we decided we couldn't ignore it forever," George said, looking proud of himself.
"I'm not pregnant! Why didn't Harry tell you?"
"Tell us what? He was convinced too, went on about that weird twin shit connection of yours, which I will add, isn't twin shit, as twins, we can confirm," George replied, looking at Fred. "You really should open to Harry more, I think he's secretly really into the idea of being an uncle," Fred chimed in, standing up to place a reassuring hand on Penny's shoulder, George follow and clasping the other.
"It's not even possible for me to be pregnant! We never-never got that far," Penny fumed, her face flushing with embarrassment
"Right," they laughed, grinning at each other. "No need to play coy."
"I'm serious! We only ever kissed. I'm not pregnant!" she pressed, completely flustered now.
"He waited so long for you, there's no way. . ." Fred said, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at Penny,
"Prove it then," George demanded, the hands on his hips terribly reminiscent of Mrs. Weasley.
Staring wildly around, her high making her bolder than she normally would be, Penny tore the large jumper from her head, wearing only a bra beneath. Both sets of eyes bulged as they unashamedly looked at Penny's chest first before scanning downward to the large, ugly scare just below her rib cage.
"That's not a baby!" Fred accused.
"I know!"
"Okay, so you actually got stabbed and that's pretty crazy, but it's honestly more insane to me that Cedric didn't tap that when you've been hiding that amazing rack from us all this whole time," George said, stroking his chin with one hand in appreciation, Penny realizing he was staring at her chest again.
Picking up the first item she found, Penny lobbed it at him, turned on her heel and marched out of the room, tripping over herself on the stairs as she tried to get her jumper back on. At the bottom, Penny steadied herself, her high making itself very known now that she'd calmed down a bit, the idea of her being pregnant making her giggle again.
A strange stirring in the hallway behind the stairs caught her attention. Naturally, she followed it, remembering that Sirius had mentioned a couple of unused rooms and his parents bedroom existed in the direction, which made her curious as to who or what she'd find.
"Miss me did you?" Sirius said, his voice lower than normal.
"Do you even have to ask," the familiar tones of Lupin replied.
Peering just through the crack in a door that stood ajar, Penny saw Sirius, his back pressed up against a closet, Lupin just before him, his hands tugging at Sirius's hair aggressively to give him easy access to Sirius' neck.
The two re-entangled, kissing each other rather roughly, their hands feeling every piece of the other it could reach. Low, growl like moans wafted through the air, Lupin grabbing Sirius's shirt and pulling it off of him to give himself access to Sirius' chest. Lupin moved without hesitation to his knees which gave Penny an unobstructed view of Sirius, his head looking down at Lupin, eyes full of desire.
"We should go upstairs, Moony, if someone finds us-" he said, breathless.
"I've waited long enough," Lupin said, a note of uncompromising authority in his voice.
Sirius, looking conflicted but bucked his hips involuntarily as Lupin's lips trailed across his hip bone, biting down on the tender flesh just above his pants.
Penny face flushed, she was completely unable to take her eyes from the scene before her. The way Lupin touched Sirius and elicited such noises of pleasure from him, it intrigued her, and selfishly, she wanted to see the exchange to it's finish, being reminded of what she'd seen Malfoy doing, which had made her intensely curious how such exchanges went; part of her wishing she'd been less reserved with Cedric and explored a little more.
In reality though, it hadn't just been her, Cedric too, stopped himself whenever the two of them got very heated, disentangling himself from her and forcing them into a calmer, less arousing activity. They never spoke about the subject, Penny assuming it would come up when they were both ready for it, but watching the passion, intimacy and sheer pleasure being exchanged between Lupin and Sirius made Penny feel remorseful for that choice, knowing she would never get the chance to make Cedric feel such pleasure, or to know what it would be like to receive it in return.
Stuck in limbo, knowing she should leave the pair to their privacy, Penny stared transfixed as Lupin yanked Sirius's belt from his trousers and tossed it on the floor.
"Moony. . ." Sirius tried one last time, being completely ignored as Lupin un-did the zipper.
"Enjoying the show?" a cold voice hissed in Penny's ear.
It took everything in Penny not to give herself away with a yell of surprise. She whirled around to face the damning expression of Snape, the one of cruel delight Penny often saw when he caught students breaking the rules at Hogwarts. He was still leaning toward her, his face only inches from her own, hot spearmint swirling over her humiliated cheeks. His eyes looked lazily past her into the room where Sirius wasn't bothering to quiet his moans, Lupin having succeeded in moving his pesky pants out of the way of what he wanted.
Wanting very much not to be caught by them as well, Penny grabbed Snape's arm and dragged him down the hallway as quickly as possible, feeling utterly relieved when he did not resist her. At the other end of the hall, she shoved him into one of the dark rooms, shutting the door as silently as possible before rounding on Snape.
"Don't you have anything better to do than ruin all the fun," Penny huffed before thinking about the words that blurted from her mouth.
"Trust me, you didn't miss much," said Snape.
"Says you! A-a. . ." Penny spluttered, stopping and realizing she probably did not want to continue down this path.
"A what," Snape said softly, sending light into the room from the end of his wand as he stepped closer to her, his dark eyes daring her to try and hide the truth from him.
"An adult with more experience than me," Penny said, dubiously. "I do not have parents, I need to get my sex-ed from somewhere."
"Yes, because two men having sex is going to teach you a lot about preventing pregnancy," Snape said, sardonically.
"What? No, I already know how to not get pregnant, I've been brewing and selling the stoneseed potion to the boys at Hogwarts for years," Penny said, waving away Snape's suggestion as though it were absurd.
"Is that so," Snape said, sounding suddenly irritated.
It was a this point that Penny realized how freely she'd been speaking, her normal filter completely lost in her high. Snape seemed to have noticed as well, sending another orb of light from his wand to get a better look at her, his eyes scanning her from head to toe.
Realizing she needed very much to pass his once over, she tried to stand very still, but for some reason kept tilting sideways, the silence spanning between them so painfully she burst into a fit of laughter so strong, she ended up on the floor in tears.
"Tell me, Ms. Potter, how is it you managed to put your jumper on inside out and backwards ," Snape said, delicately.
"Did I put it on backwards? I was in a hurry," she said between stitches in her side.
"A hurry to do what. . ."
"I was leaving Fred and George's room before Mrs. Weasley found us," Penny said, realizing too late how that sounded.
"And pray, tell me, what were you doing that required you to take off your shirt and made you feel as though Mrs. Weasley could not be present," Snape pressed, his voice getting steadily lower.
"I plead the 5th," Penny said, stopping her laughing fit to look up at Snape.
"Am I supposed to know what that means?"
"Don't you watch American crime shows? My aunt and uncle loved them. The 5th amendment states: no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, excet-"
"This isn't American history class, get to the point!" he snapped.
"It means I refuse to tattle on myself," Penny said, defiantly, rolling onto her knee's and crawling toward the couch, clawing her way onto the musty, cold thing. Penny rolled over and closed her eyes, feeling rather drowsy.
"What do you think you are doing," Snape said, his voice annoyingly raspy.
"Going to bed, so pipe down."
"What did those two give you?" Snape demanded, suddenly sitting beside her and prying her eyelid open to evaluate her pupil.
"Hey! You made me miss out on free porn and now you're interrogating me? I won't stand for this. I'm fine, now leave me alone!" Penny argued, kicking at Snape.
"You don't smell like booze, tell me what it is, now."
His arms were upon her, subduing her with little effort, his eyes boring into hers an an attempt to steal the truth from her, but Penny knew better than to hold his gaze.
"You have trust issues, you know that, right?"
"And you have stupid issues! I will give you a last chance to answer," he said in a dangerous voice.
Penny almost blurted out 'or what' but thought better of it at the last second.
"They gave me an edible to help with my headache!"
"And what happened after you ate the edible," Snape said, his body going suddenly rigid, as though worried he would spook her out of finishing her story.
"I hope you know you and Sirius are exactly the same," Penny said, eyes narrowed. "Fred and George thought I was pregnant with Cedric's child this entire time and that you were some saint hiding me in my shame!" Penny laughed thinking of the absurdity. "So I showed them the scar."
"Because merely lifting your shirt wouldn't have sufficed," Snape said, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.
"Oh, good point. . ." Penny mused out loud. "I probably should have done that. Now I'll have to listen to them commenting on my boobs for the next year," Penny groaned, trying to tug her hands free of his grip.
"What did they say," Snape said in a waspish voice.
"They actually said they liked them, which was quite nice, isn't it? I'd always wondered, you know, Cedric never mentioned what he thought, so I figured. . .But maybe Fred and George were just being nice. I know, how about you tell me what you think of them!" Penny giggled, breaking free of Snape's snare and reaching for her shirt.
He responded with a pincer-like grip that secured both of her hands again, more painfully this time, before she made it, his form shaking with rage, "You will keep your shirt on and show no one else! EVER," he spat, furiously.
"That's a little harsh," Penny said, pouting like a three year old.
"Men like-men in general-nothing from you but-You will never do something so foolish again, do I make myself plain?"
"No! What am I supposed to be, a nun now?"
Snape's face contorted several times as he tried to form words and failed.
"It is not my job to explain this to you, take your problems to Black!"
"I wa-"
"Penny?" said a voice form the door.
Snape and Penny froze where they were, both of them glancing toward the door where Lupin entered, his brows furrowed in concern as he took in the scene before him, which included Penny flat on her back, Snape perched beside her, pinning her hands to her side, their faces inches from each other as they argued.
Releasing her arms, Snape straightened up.
"What's going on here?" Lupin pressed when neither of them replied.
"Professor Snape here was demanding I become a nun," Penny accused mutinously, a grave mistake on her part.
"Ms. Potter here decided to get high and then stumbled upon you and Black in the next room over. It seems she's quite interested in the logistics of using that unassuming equipment of yours," Snape said, treacherously, getting to his feet. "Seeing as I have much more pressing things to do, I will trust you to explain the finer details to her, though I can't imagine there are many, Black always was a bore. But while you're here, see that she takes this before bed," Snape said, his lips curling in cruel delight at the look of mortification on Penny's face.
Snape handed a very taken-aback Lupin a vial, his eyes never leaving Penny's flaming green eyes.
"You'll pay," she mouthed before he whisked from the room, leaving her with Lupin, who seemed stunned into silence.
"Well, that's a lot to unpack," Lupin finally said, running a hand through his brown hair.
"I'm too high for this. I just wanted my headache to go away. Why am I cursed this way," Penny agonized out loud.
"I'm going to assume it's safe to believe at least some of what Professor Snape said was true," Lupin said, trying hard not to sound amused when he sat beside Penny.
"No-yes. . .maybe."
"It's probably my fault, I let Sirius convince me we didn't need to officially address the topic after you found us in his bed," Lupin said, sounding suddenly tired.
"So you are dating then?" Penny said, suddenly nervous for some reason.
"It's been a long road getting here, but yes, you could say that."
"So it's more than-than just. . ."
Filling in the word she was too nervous to say, Lupin nodded.
"I have loved Sirius in some manner for most of my life, so yes, Penny, it is more than the physical attraction," Lupin said gently, reaching to touch Penny's cheek affectionately.
The words coming from Lupin made what Penny had know in her heart suddenly real. A chasm seemed to suddenly separate her from him, and the heart in her chest throbbed painfully at his admission, though she did not understand why. His warm hand that she normally loved to hold, she wanted to escape from it, to hide from it so it would not expose her.
Some part of Penny knew being in love with Lupin had always been a child's fantasy, a silly crush that she'd have to grow out of. But she couldn't help hating the idea of there being someone else, that she now had to share his love, that the dynamics between them would change and Penny would have to say goodbye to the days where it was just her and Lupin.
"What are you thinking?" Lupin said after a minute when Penny made no comment.
"Nothing, I'm happy for you both, I just don't feel well," Penny lied, not meeting the warm brown eyes that were searching for hers.
"I see. Well if that changes, you can always come talk to me, you know that, right?"
"I know," Penny replied, sitting up, rather abruptly. "Sorry, but I think it'd be best if I head to bed now."
"How about I help you get there, hmm?"
"No, that's alright, I'll be just fine on my own," Penny said, hurriedly, reaching for the medicine Snape left her.
She glanced momentarily at Lupin, who looked distinctly upset by her response, but Penny could not let herself stay, not when her heart felt so close to shattering. She wanted to be alone, far from his knowing eyes and the humiliation she felt at the silly hope she'd held in her chest for so long.
Without a look back at him, she whisked out of the room much like Snape had done not too long before her.