Hallow friends! I'm late again, apologies! I was sick and then celebrating my birthday! Yay, another year older! I had a good, quiet birthday with a really yummy cakee. But I got sick and didn't want to make others sick so I stayed home and worked on some cosplays and plotting some plants !
We have made it to the end of SUMMER VACATION! It's really a bittersweet moment for me because so much changes now for Penny. I know that Cedric dying changed a lot for her, but I just feel like her crossing into the 5th year is like crossing the bridge into a dark forest where too much hardship waits for her, and these sweet moments of summer will be longed for memories. WAHH Why do I have to write hard stuff :( maybe i'll just turn this into a full fluff story, except I've already committed! hahah.
Love you all, hope you are having a fun weeek!
The last week of the summer holidays was full of commotion and many members of the Order of the Phoenix coming and going. Mrs. Weasley made some of the best meals during their last days at Grimmuald Place, which Penny, annoyingly, found herself unable to ever feel satiated from.
As the days progressed and the night of the Midsommer festival became an afterthought, Penny could not help but notice small, yet strange changes in herself. Snape had successfully come up with a regimen to help her manage the pain, which required him to administer it to her every three days or so. He made sure to brew his version of ditanny en masse and forced Penny to always carry a vial of it around her neck, for worst case scenarios. Penny did not complain, wanting very much to never endure the pain of that wound opening ever again.
Unfortunately, the obvious symptoms were not what were bothering her. Being unable to feel content after a meal became a common occurrence. For several days Penny ate herself sick until she realized she simply could not feel satisfied by the act of eating, something that was annoying, but she did not think much of, until it started to seep its way into other aspects of her life.
Soon, Penny found little to no pleasure in the majority of things she loved and even had to resort to asking Hermione to force her to finish the piles of homework she still had not started. Her anger at the situation boiled over when she could not accomplish anything and was agonizing about her unproductivity at the same time. It wasn't until she burst, spewing forth her frustrations on Snape that she received her wake up call, far from offering her any sort of comfort, he chastised her for being 'mundane enough to believe getting some self-satisfaction from accomplishing something was the only reason good enough to warrant doing it.'
While she was annoyed at the time, she could not help but admit later that he had an annoyingly good point, but at the same time she had not missed the worried expression that flitted across his face when Penny confessed the finer details of the experience. While she was in no way going to complain, she was starting to worry that breaking the curse might prove to be an impossible task without the help from Carrow, whom they could hardly ask for the counter-curse.
Her worries were only exacerbated by the headaches that she started having, which made her prone to snappish behavior and feeling rather sour about things. As a result, Sirius and Penny were in a competition for who the grumpiest, sulkiest person in the house was. Currently, Sirius was winning simply because Penny was able to find some relief every few days when Snape showed up. Sirius on the other hand, had been wholly committed to being irritable since Harry learned he would not in fact be expelled, Penny suspecting Sirius had secretly hoped to have Harry living with him. After staying in the dank, dark house for a couple of weeks, Penny certainly understood why Sirius was in such a bad mood. The atmosphere in the house was awful and Penny often found herself longing for Snape's house, which, even though it was just as dark, had an air of warmth and welcome that Penny missed. When she'd sit alone in the lounge room staring at the empty fireplace, she often thought of the nights she spent side-by-side with Snape, reading and arguing well into the late hours of the night.
She had to chuckle every time she caught herself admitting that living with Snape had been nice, something everyone else refused to believe. Snape was a man of his rituals, and it was true he did not much care for small talk, but he was always present. He made a point of inhabiting the rooms Penny occupied, he also ate his meals with her and forced her on evening walks (which Penny always thought he was un-necessarily aggressive about, seeing as Penny was always excited for them.) Regardless, in many ways, Snape had been more available to Penny than her own godfather, who tried very hard to avoid Penny of late..
It was awful timing, really, what with her awkward exchange with Lupin, guilt about it, and desire to hear Sirius's perspective on the relationship. Penny just wanted someone to admit her selfish feelings to without facing the sad expression she could imagine on Lupin's face. But as it stood, Sirius had no desire to speak to anyone, and even told her to go away when she did go in search of him. As a result, Penny was very, inelegantly, avoiding Lupin, because she was afraid he would broach the subject. Lupin, being the only emotionally competent person in the house, obviously noticed and after several evasions by Penny, opted to let her have her distance, though he never failed to give her a sad smile when their eyes did lock.
The stupidity of the situation was eating Penny alive, she hated hurting Lupin more than anyone else. He was always there for her and she knew he did not deserve it, but Penny felt too self-conscious, and was still unable to work out why his admonition had saddened and angered her so much. Lupin deserved happiness more than anyone, Penny felt that with every fiber of her soul, so why couldn't she be happy for him?
The thought made Penny even more irritated than she already was. Her head pounded annoyingly, making her feel very much like she'd like to hit something, but she knew better and instead rolled off the sofa and made her way toward the commotion she heard upstairs. By the sound of it, their Hogwarts letters had finally arrived, though they were unusually late. Something about Dumbledore being unable to find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher seemed to be the issue.
On the second landing, Penny found Fred and George cajoling a rushing Ron who seemed to be very pink in the face.
"What's 'up?" Penny asked, intercepting the twins.
Ron shot her a nervous glance but continued on his path downstairs, evidently determined on accomplishing something.
"Our brother bringing shame to the family name and being made Prefect," George said, looking disgusted.
"Mum is so proud another one has been lost to rule abiding, lucky we believe family is made and not born," Fred said.
"Glad you know what's important and caused good trouble," George added, admiring her.
"How do you know I wasn't made a prefect?" Penny challenged, her mind suddenly drifting to Harry, who she was certain must be shocked by this turn of events. No doubt the news would likely only make his feelings towards Dumbledore worse.
"Oh Penny, even if Hermione hadn't already told us, we all know no one stood a chance against her," they said in unison, giving her a pitying look.
"I always forget she's in my year, it feels like she should be a teacher," Penny grinned. "But Hermione and Ron Prefects? I suppose that means they will be spending much more time with each other."
"You can't be suggesting. . ."
"She's way out of his league, did you forget that Viktor Krum took her to the Yule Ball?"
"She was never all that interested in Krum though, they seemed much more like friends to me. I'd be willing to wager a couple of galleons those two end up dating before they graduate," Penny said, her eyes glinting mischievously
"Alright, and I bet 4 that action between you and her will happen long before that," George said, extending his to shake on it. Stifling a laugh, Penny accepted, feeling confident in her bet.
The rest of the day did a wonderful job of distracting Penny from her irritation. Mrs. Weasley decided to throw an impromptu party for the two prefects and had invited several members of the Order, so Penny spent the better part of the afternoon cleaning up the kitchen and putting up decorations with Ginny while Mrs. Weasley was collecting their books from Diagon Alley.
At dinner, Penny was relieved that Harry seemed almost his normal self, although somewhat reserved, which Penny decided to take as a good sign he'd come to terms with Ron being made prefect over him. Though, Penny did notice how he stiffened when the real Mad-Eye Moody brought up the topic, suggesting Harry was the better pick. It was strange for Penny, finally meeting the real version after spending all year in the presence of someone pretending to be him. It left Penny not knowing how to act, so she opted for trying to sit away from him, but was also trying to avoid Lupin.
Thankfully the arrival of Tonks saved her, Penny throwing her arms around their petite form as soon as their spiky blond hair appeared in the doorway, a grin on their face.
"Sorry I haven't come sooner, with Sturgis being a giant pain in my you-know-what, I've had to take night duty," Tonks yawned, throwing their arm around Penny and dragging her to the table.
"So fill me in on the details already," Tonks demanded, piling Penny's plate with food.
"What details?"
"About living with the surly Potions Master!" Tonks replied, giving her an expression that said 'duh'.
"Oh that, I forgot about that with everything else," Penny smiled, sheepishly.
"So I've heard. You are quite the magnet for trouble, as Remus tells me," Tonks grinned.
"He talks about me?" Penny asked, glancing around nervously to ensure he didn't overhear them, but he was currently in a very heated discussion with Mad-Eye.
"'Course he does, pretty sure he doesn't know how to shut up about you. Mind you it's all good."
Penny felt her cheeks going red and took a large bite of the shepherd's pie as an excuse to delay her response.
"He likes to over exaggerate about me. My new curse proves I'm as incompetent as ever," Penny muttered.
"I know Amycus Carrow, he was younger than me when I was at Hogwarts, he's pure evil Penny, and damn talented, the fact you got out alive speaks volumes; I imagine he's furious," Tonks said, their normally bright and handsome features becoming dark and angry.
"I only got out because Snape showed up," Penny said, images of the twisted smile on Amycus's face playing across her mind.
To shake herself free, Penny focused on the beautiful golden orbs looking back at her. Today Tonks had opted for bright blond hair, cut short and spiked which showed off the hard angles of their face and made the unnatural color of the eyes looking back at Penny even more startling. Their blazer was neat and plain but the entire aesthetic together was very cool and stylish.
"That's the strangest thing, in my opinion. I mean we've all heard the rumors, but for Severus Snape to actually like a student, I'll admit I didn't believe it. He was truly the most grumpy and vindictive of creatures when I was at Hogwarts, and he certainly did not like me."
"I don't believe it, it is impossible to not like you," Penny grinned.
"Don't tell, but I make sure to only attract the brilliant," Tonks winked. "But seriously, Penny-"
"You can be serious?" Penny interjected, her brow raised.
"Not in the least, life is too short for being serious," Tonks sighed. "Just try to stay out of trouble this year, won't ya?"
With a roll of the eyes, Penny agreed. Why did everyone seem to think she got herself into all the stupid situations on purpose. She'd much prefer her normal life back, but it seemed she'd collected some bad luck and there wasn't much she could do about it except roll with the punches and irritate Snape by complaining about them endlessly. He seemed to think luck didn't exist, and everyone was accountable for their own actions, something Penny would never accept. . .
The night's festivities were loud and fun, and even Sirius came around a bit, sitting and laughing beside Lupin, their hands intertwined. Penny forced herself to smile when Lupin finally succeeded in catching her eye, but it was evident he saw right through it, so Penny busied herself with clearing up, but was quickly intercepted by Mrs. Weasley who refused to let Penny lift a finger. Citing her lingering headache, Penny asked Mrs. Weasley to make her goodbyes for her so she could get an early night, and escaped without notice.
Snape was technically due to administer her regimen, but he had not shown up at the time he typically did, making Penny figure he would likely wait until the following day when they were both back at Hogwarts. He was a busy man, Penny knew, but the agony of enduring the Hogwarts express with a headache she knew would only be worse the following day, sounded miserable to her. But perhaps it would give her the excuse she needed to avoid the Feast and facing that empty spot at the Hufflepuff table and all the students she knew would be gauging her grief based on how she looked, which recently was terrible. Dark circles beneath her eyes were just a permanent feature these days and she really did not have the energy to care. While sleep came easy to Penny, her dreams remained restless.
The morning rose in utter chaos, Mrs. Weasley was frantic and angry because Fred and George nearly killed Ginny with their overuse of magic and they were all running late because Harry needed a guard to escort him to Kings cross but all volunteers were not accounted for. To make matters even more annoying, they could not all leave together as they would draw too much attention, therefore they needed to be split into groups with specific escorts.
Harry had already left with Mrs. Weasley to meet his, meanwhile Penny was hiding out in the upstairs lounge with all the lights off, trying to avoid being put into Lupin's group, foreseeing him capitalizing on her inability to escape to tell her something annoyingly wise and warm that would make Penny feel even guiltier for the terribly selfish human she was. With her raging headache and irritability at its peak because Snape never did show up to give her relief, Penny did not trust herself in his presence and knew only snark and words she would later regret would leave her mouth.
Because her thoughts drifted back to her first play with Cedric, Penny did not notice how silent the house became until the absence of such commotion brought her attention to a new sound, a low whispering that felt eerily similar to something Penny could not pinpoint. She sat up, her brain suddenly ignoring it's pain and focusing wholly on the sound. For some unbeknownst reason, Penny was certain the noise was coming from another room, so she made her way to the landing, stopping there. The only other two rooms were Sirius' and on the opposite end from his stood his brother, Regulus Black's room. Penny strained her ears for a moment, determining the whispering was coming from the direction of Regulus' room.
Sirius didn't like to talk much about his brother, who apparently died young in the service of Voldemort. Penny stopped at the door, uncertain if she should proceed, staring at the "Do Not Enter Without the Express Permission of Regulus" sign that hung above the threshold. The whispering getting louder made the decision for Penny, so she pushed the door open, finding a dim, musty smelling room in which emerald and silver draped the walls and windows like a true zealot's. Above the bed and painted to the wall was the black family crest, the same one Sirius loathed and defaced any chance he got.
Whatever else hung around the room was lost to Penny who was intent on the whispering which seemed to be coming from a cupboard to her right. The voice was so familiar and unusually enchanting. Though Penny could not make out the words that were being muttered, she felt them tugging her legs forward against her own hesitation. While Penny knew she should not continue her prying and needed to be downstairs before she missed the train, her feet were taking her forward and her hand was already clasping the doorknob. She stepped inside, the little light peaking through the hole in the hangings casting a jagged line of light through the center of the very large closet.
With unnerving purpose, Penny moved forward, kneeling down before a box that appeared to be vibrating. Penny knew whatever she heard was within. The curious whispering, upon her entering the closet, oddly became a low humming, the tones of which were low and reminded Penny of a males voice. The tune felt familiar to Penny, but her brain was too preoccupied to give a name to it, but she found herself humming it in unison without even realizing she was consciously doing so.
It needed her, how could she ignore it? It was good because nothing evil could make such a pleasant tune, Penny felt certain, so she reached out, intending to free whatever lay trapped inside, but managed to stop herself just before she free'd the last corner of the lid. The voice within became frantic at her pause, as though it was yelling at her now, angry almost. Remembering Mr. Weasley's warnings about never trusting magical objects, which he'd directed at Ginny Weasley after she'd allowed Voldemort's diary to possess her, Penny decided it was better to leave this mystery unsolved. But as soon as she pulled her hand away, the whispering stopped, and a horrible chill rolled up Penny's spine. The box shook violently, Penny springing to her feet , turning on her heel to leave.
The motion was poorly thought out, Penny smashing her head on the shelf above her, which sent her tumbling to her side, knocking the box over as she went.
"God dam-" she yelled in irritation, but the voice in her throat stopped dead as something icy wrapped itself around her neck, strangling her.
Screaming out in a choked sob, the pain in Penny's head became infinitely worse, feeling as though something was trying to slowly drill their way out of it. She reached for what held her, her fingers finding a cold chain and something fat and oval attached to it. Utterly bewildered, Penny rolled over, expecting someone to be there, surely holding the chain around her, but all she found was the wall. And yet the chain continued to tighten around Penny's neck, cutting off all her ability to breathe.
Frantically, Penny tried to reach her fingers beneath the chain to rip it off, but she was fighting a losing battle. She tried to yell, kicking at several boxes that fell over with a loud clatter. Her hope was that it would get the attention of someone else who might be able to help her. Unfortunately, Penny's vision was fading fast, though she knew she could hold her breath for at least a minute, so she could not yet be in danger of passing out due to lack of oxygen. The pain in her head was beyond any she could bear and it took all of her focus from her as it consumed her.
"What's the cursed wench doing in master's room, putting your filthy hands on the master's things."
Penny turned to the voice, desperate for help, still clutching hopelessly at her neck. In the doorway was the outline of a decrepit house elf Penny knew was called Kreacher and served the Black family, though he hated Sirius for his rejection of his mother's ideologies. Kreacher spent most of his days trying to hide dark items before Sirius or Mrs. Weasley could throw them out, cursing them all while pretending he did not know they could hear him.
"Kreacher should let her suffer for her insolence, for daring to stick her nose where it does not belong, but master made Kreacher promise and Kreacher must not let the cursed item have its host. . ."
He snapped his fingers and the horrible thing left Penny's neck and was now dangling in Kreacher's hand, who held it at a distance with a look of disgust on his face, but Penny was not sure if it was directed at her or the cursed object.
The throbbing subsided slowly, Penny gasping in air between coughing fits, her eyes watering horribly.
"What is that?" she choked, trying to get a better look at it.
"She speaks to us, the boy's freak twin, unnatural she is, Kreacher should ignore her, yes, she is not worthy our thoughts. Kreacher must find a better place for the cursed item. . ." Kreacher muttered, turning his back on her and leaving.
More unnerved than annoyed, Penny did not bother to follow Kreacher, the Black's home was full of cursed items, there was no need to figure out the details of this one, and Penny did not much fancy getting anywhere near it again. Her experience had been a close enough call, and as vile as the house elf was, Penny owed her life to Kreacher.
Brushing herself off, Penny remembered the urgency of the morning and rushed downstairs, preparing to spring out the door, but the clock chimed it's eleventh chime just as she reached the bottom, finding it utterly empty.
Kicking the first thing she saw, Penny yelled out in annoyance, she'd missed the Hogwarts express. But how? Why had no one called her down? Had they really forgotten her? Surely Sirius must have noticed she was there, but upon further investigation she found Sirius was also missing, Penny deducing he must have said fuck you to Dumbledore's verdict and chanced a little jaunt.
Being dramatic and more irritated than she knew what to do with, Penny plopped herself on the floor in the hall and let out an exasperated sigh, trying to work out what she was meant to do. She thought of Harry in their second year and how he'd driven the Weasley's Ford Anglia with Ron to Hogwarts and crashed into the whomping willow. Snape nearly expelled them that day, but of course Dumbledore was never going to let Harry be expelled so long as he was alive. Penny decided she was the smarter twin and would just wait, annoyed, on the floor until they returned and apologized profusely for their mistakes.
It didn't take long for the front door to creak open, Penny perking up from her spot on the floor. In the dark hallway she could not make out who it was, but they sounded alone, making Penny assume it was Sirius.
"About time you remembered me! How nice of everyone to think Penny doesn't need to go to Hogwarts this year," she said, indignantly.
Stepping from the shadows, Snape's tall figure loomed over her, looking, if possible, more irritated than Penny felt.
"Do you have legs, Ms. Potter?" Snape said, silkily.
Penny's eyes bulged when she realized who she'd snapped at, this was not what she bargained for nor wanted to deal with at the moment, so she kept her mouth firmly shut, not trusting herself to reply.
"How about eyes, Ms. Potter, do you have those?" he pressed, "And while we are at it, what about a brain, hmm?"
Penny looked away from the probing dark eyes that sought to humiliate her further by stealing the irritation she felt from her mind. She remained defiantly silent, denying him the pleasure.
"Come come, Ms. Potter, term has started and your Professor has asked you a question, you wouldn't want me to be forced to give you detention for insolence, would you?'' The words were like velvet, each sliding from his tongue with an extravagant ease, their only purpose to mock her for the power imbalance between them.
"Yes," Penny muttered, pissed off by the fact his threat worked just as he knew it would
"Yes. . ?"
"Sir," Penny practically spat.
"Good." he said softly, stepping closer to her, casting his shadow over her.
"Now, explain to me, in light of these things, how is it you have come to be sitting on this floor like some over-indulged brat throwing a tantrum, when it is the Hogwarts Express you are supposed to be on?"
"This isn't my fault, they forgot ME!" Penny exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
"It's curious to me how you seem to be arguing you do not know how to leave the house when you are meant to; yet you demonstrated several times this summer how proficient you are at leaving when you aren't, " he said, an air of contempt in his voice as he looked down his hooked nose on her.
"This was different , the entire mess of a guard," Penny ranted.
"Oh yes, precious Potter can't do anything alone."
"Well, it made everything stupid, so we had to be split into groups and obviously I needed to avoid Lupin's group, so I was upstairs."
Penny very much regretted blurting out this information when the malicious glint in Snape's eyes caught her attention.
"And why would you be avoiding the half-breed?" he said, almost tenderly.
"That's none of your business," she scowled.
"Uh, uh Potter, did I not just warn you, term has started."
"Okay, that's none of your business, sir, " Penny corrected, suppressing the smug grin she knew would land her detention.
Ignoring his jab, his eyes trapping her own he said, "Don't tell me you're jealous," a cruel grin spreading slowly across his thin lips.
"Don't-" Penny said through gritted teeth, his words cutting at her chest.
"Don't like playing second fiddle to Black? Or is it you can't handle the reality that you just aren't the center of his universe. Really, Potter, it's written all over those sad features of yours," he pressed, cruelly.
"You don't know anything," Penny replied, childishly crossing her arms and turning away from him.
"Don't I? You really aren't as complicated as you like to fancy you are, in fact, I find you rather shallow-"
"SHUT UP YOU SADISTIC BASTARD!" Penny bellowed, grabbing the nearest vase in her right hand and raising it, wanting nothing more than to smash it into those stupid, smug features of his. "What would you know of it you miserable man! Are you just hell bent on making me as miserable as you? What's the matter, are you lonely, Professor?" Penny yelled, barely stopping herself from hitting him with it.
The side of her head was throbbing uncontrollably, almost like it was pumping rage and adrenaline into her heart, demanding she make Snape hurt, to make him bleed. Reaching for her head, she dropped the vase letting it break into several pieces beneath her.
A loud, angry yell escaped her lips as she shook her head, trying to force whatever was trying to claw its way inside of her away.
"As I suspected, your curse begins to progress after the 72nd hour," Snape muttered, yanking her into an upright position to examine her pupils.
"You can't be fucking serious, you mean to tell me you purposefully didn't show up because you wanted to experiment with my misery?" Penny said, flabbergasted.
"Don't be so dramatic Potter, we need information-"
"I've told you everything I've experienced, how is that not information!" Penny said, biting her lip so hard in an effort to distract herself from the pain that it bled.
"Stop doing that, it won't help,"
"NO IT WON'T, ONLY YOU CAN DO THAT, BUT APPRENTLY LAST NIGHT YOU FELT LIKE YOU'D SEE HOW LONG PENNY COULD LAST WITH HER HEAD SPLITTING OPEN, YOU KNOW FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES."
Penny yanked herself away from him and stumbled backwards, clutching the walls.
"Point taken," Snape said, stiffly.
A particularly horrible throb finally sent Penny into tears, a warm ooze coming from her ear. Penny touched it and then brought her fingers to her face, finding them blood laden.
"Come here girl, before any permanent damage is done," Snape commanded, his eyes scanning Penny severely.
Penny merely laughed, giving him a scathing look.
"Oh I don't know, Professor, don't you want to see just how bad it gets, you know, for science' sake? I've already been in agony for the last 24 hours and you weren't expecting to see me until later tonight, right?
"You are being hysterical, don't waste my patience on such stupidity," said Snape, his voice in the low danger zone.
"Hysterical? Is that right? Had a cursed wound before, have you? No? Well let me tell you about it. Right about now, my skin is crawling, I can feel my blood forcing its way through every vein in my body, and it makes me want to claw them out of myself one by one and watch them shrivel up. And my head? It's like something is trying to carve a path across it with a dull knife, one nerve ending at a time. At this point, I honestly wonder if It'd be more relieving to just bash my skull open against this wall."
Snape advanced on her, his features pale, his skin so cold it burned her. He pushed her against the wall, knocking the table the vase had rested on over as he went. One hand holding a hand full of her shirt to keep her in place, the other retrieving several vials and uncorking them with his mouth, not taking his dark eyes from her the entire time.
"Open," he said, and Penny knew by the tone that refusing was not an option who's consequences she wanted.
Blood running from both nostrils now as well, she opened her mouth and he poured them down her throat, one after the other, Penny coughing several times. When he'd finished, he reached back into his pocket and retrieved a handkerchief, with a good shake he opened it and then reached for her nose, wiping the blood from it.
He didn't meet her eyes, rather he focused on what he was doing, moving to her ear and finally her lips, where, very softly, he wiped the blood from them as well. Before he pulled away, his dark eyes strayed to Penny's confused ones. Her head was suddenly clear, the throbbing gone and the anger and fury she'd felt before a distant memory, as though they were someone else's. The regret and worry in his eyes made Penny feel guilty for her behavior. She wished she had better control of her mood, but it seemed to run away from her lately. It wasn't Snape's fault she was turning into a raging psychopath, he was helping her, doing everything he could.
He'd even showed up looking for her when everyone else forgot her. He'd only made her wait because he was trying to ascertain exactly what she'd be experiencing, and when they absolutely needed to give her the next dose.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. When my head gets like that, it's like I become another person. Thanks for coming," Penny muttered, searching the features before her.
He searched her back, but she could tell he was lost in thought, in that place she could never peak into. He saw her, she knew he did. He did not have that same distant look he did when he was looking past her. No, he was looking at her and thinking something he would not share with her, his secret thoughts tantalizing her and making Penny wish she could shake them out of him like change from a piggy bank.
"How'd you get here so fast anyway?" Penny asked, when the silence continued.
"I was at the station and it quickly became evident you were missing," Snape said, absentmindedly.
"Of course you were," Penny sighed. "Because you weren't going to make me suffer and I'm just an idiot."
"You have many character flaws, Ms. Potter, which I will gladly list if need be, but being an idiot is not among them," he said, putting his handkerchief away and placing his fingers on her neck to take her pulse.
"That's a compliment coming from you," Penny shuddered, the mixture of his cold fingers and electric vibrations sending a chill through her.
"I don't give compliments-"
"Except to me, I guess that makes me special," Penny said, finally releasing her smug grin.
Snape considered her for a moment, but did not disagree with her. He seemed to be conflicted for a moment, as though the reality of her statement were just sinking in, but he was much too quick for Penny, and turned away, taking a hold of her wrist as he went, tugging her toward the door.
"Where are we going?" she asked, stumbling to keep up.
"Hom-Hogwarts."