Making up for lost time here fam! Tomorrow is my last day of freedom and then I embark on my last semester of my degree!( Don't make mee!) lol
So I've been watching the Witcher and I kind of became obsessed with the idea of some Geralt/ Ciri dynamics-ish for this chapter lol. It wholly fluff and amusement. I greatly enjoyed writing it! But I regret nothing, these moments are why I wanted to write this and I love me some good Penny Sirius bonding. SO ENJOY! May your new week be better than mine! Some guest has been harassing me because they hate Snape and called be the c word and told me go back to a03? lol. COOL. Or just dont read my fic? So here, HAPPINESS FOR ALL US
love you all.
"Up and at em, kid!"
The much too loud voice pulled Penny from the pleasantness of her dream, scaring away something Penny felt sure she wanted to hang onto and replacing it with a blaring light that made her eyes water.
"What's going on?" Penny said, groggily, squinting up at her godfather.
"It's time to start the day," he answered, pulling an oversized hoodie over her head.
"The sun hasn't even risen!" Penny complained, looking at the window. She liked to leave the hangings open so could watch the moon as she faded to sleep, and currently, the world outside was pitch black.
"The day waits for no one," Sirius said, shoving a large cup into her hand when she'd managed to extract her arms from the hoodie.
"What is this?" Penny said, giving the brown-tinged beverage a disgusted look.
"Breakfast."
"Is that a raw egg?"
"You need the protein, now drink!" Sirius said, pushing the beverage to her lips and tilting the glass, forcing Penny to open her mouth and drink the contents or end up with them all over herself and the bed.
She nearly spewed a few times when the slimy texture of the egg met her tongue, but she managed to get it all down wishing very much she hadn't. Eyeing the inside of the cup to be sure she'd finished it, Sirius then took her by the wrist and dragged her down the stairs. While stumbling after him down the several flights of stairs, she realized he was dressed as though ready to go for a jog, wearing a grey sweatsuit and a pair of very expensive looking joggers.
Sirius only stopped when they arrived in his dark, jungle-like backyard. Penny had spent little time here, mostly because had warned her of things lurking in the unkempt garden, Ron swearing he'd seen a dugbog living in the small pond at the far end of the magically enlarged yard. Though Grimmauld Place was set in a busy urban neighborhood, its yard felt very out of place, reminding Penny of the Burrow, which was set in the countryside on a large plot of land. It was apparent to Penny that the jungle used to be a very pretty garden that had been neglected. Perhaps the Black's had held garden parties with other pure-bloods while they'd been alive. Now, it looked better to be avoided, except Penny noticed, squinting in the darkness, something akin to an obstacle course had recently taken up residence.
"We'll warm up first, so we'll do ten laps, 50 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and then repeat 5 times," Sirius said, cracking his neck before he pulled his hood over his head.
"It's like 5 o'clock in the morning, Sirius, are you insane?" Penny said through chattering teeth, staring dumbstruck at her godfather, willing him to be pranking her.
"I've got you for four weeks at most, we aren't wasting a minute of it, kid. Just looking at you, it's evident I've got my work cut out for me," Sirius said, giving her a very critical once over.
"Cut out for what? What are you on about?"
"Use that brain your dad gave you. We're at war! I'm not going to let you sleep pretending we aren't when you can bet the other side is preparing. You have a bad habit of attracting bad luck, but a little training can be the difference between being helpless and getting out of a bad situation."
"I have a wand, Sirius, I don't see the point-"
"The point!" Sirius said, grabbing Penny gruffly by the upper arm. Then he used his foot and hit her in the back of the shins and drove her to the cold, wet grass.
Caught completely off guard, Penny landed hard, the breath knocked out of her and Sirius pinning her hands above her head before she'd even registered what happened.
"What would you do now?" he said in an irritatingly smug tone.
Penny struggled, trying her hardest to squirm free of his hold, but it only served to prompt him to tighten in, making it hurt worse.
"Point taken,"Penny growled, the cold only adding to her irritability.
"You have all of my strength plus gravity working against you. Once you're down like this, I can do whatever I want because your biceps are the size of my wrist. That's why we're doing this, I'm going to teach you how to hold your own."
He got off her and then offered his hand and pulled her from the ground, almost sending her flying from the force of it. "And how to eat properly," he added, setting her upright.
"I appreciate the thought, but Sirius, do you really think this is necessary? I've managed so far, fighting off the Durmstrangs and McLaggen myself," Penny said, defensively as she tried to wipe the mud from her butt.
"Those were children! You're not even 50kilo's these days, what do you think you can accomplish against a full grown man or Death Eater?"
To Penny's irritation, she had to admit Sirius had a point. Since Cedric's passing, Penny had lost a lot of weight, even her Aunt and Uncle had commented on it, and she remembered how feeble she'd felt in the clutches of Yaxley. Yaxley, who was at least a head shorter than the average man. And of course, there was every time she'd tried to make Snape feel her fury but her actions felt as useless as if she were trying to move a brick wall. Though it sounded like slow torture, Penny not only knew Sirius was right, but the opportunity to build the bond she wanted with him was literally staring her in the face, so she sighed in resignation.
"You better be joining me and not just spectating."
"A good coach never sits on the sidelines," he grinned.
Pulling her own hood over her head, Penny followed after Sirius, embarking on the most painful hour she had ever experienced in her life. She knew how out of shape she was, but what she hadn't realized was how insanely fit Sirius was, which annoyingly prompted him to push her beyond any reasonable expectation. Penny had only made it through one rep when she felt she wanted to die, but Sirius would not let her so much as rest as he badgered her through the rest of the reps. By the end of them, Penny had collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, when, to her horror, Sirius described how, after a two minute break, the real training would begin.
For the next two hours, Sirius took Penny through his obstacle course, which was complete with practically skinning her hands while climbing a rope, wading through freezing water and trying her best not to succumb to her claustrophobia as she crawled through the mud, certain she was being buried alive. Just before Sirius started a third trip through, having more energy than any old man should be allowed, Lupin showed up on the porch, shirtless and shoeless, holding a steaming mug of coffee.
"I think she's had enough, Sirius," he said firmly, Penny feeling as though she could cry from relief. She would need to tell him how much she loved and appreciated him later.
Sirius begrudgingly agreed and then snatched the warm mug which Penny had reached for and made his way inside, leaving Penny alone with Lupin, who helped her pull off her soaking shoes and clothing because she no longer had control of her arms.
"Just leave me here to die," she said, dramatically when she could not even find the strength to pull her own socks from her feet.
With an amused grin, Lupin knelt down and pulled her socks and wet pants off, moving next to her hood, leaving her shivering in the shorts and sports bra she'd worn to bed. Then he'd offered her his hand, but Penny had flopped backwards onto the freezing cement, unable to hold herself up another moment, uncaring that she was sure to get hypothermia at any moment. Fully committed to just passing out on the spot, Penny yelped in surprise when Lupin's strong arms scooped her up into his warm, much too muscular chest.
His warm brown eyes watching her with great amusement, he carried her up the stairs to the bathroom, where he set her on a warm chair and began filling the tub which was actually much closer to a jacuzzi in size. Almost instantaneously, Penny's eyes lulled into the back of her head and she began dozing, barely aware Lupin was speaking to her.
"Penny, the bath is ready," he said, softly, caressing her cheek tenderly.
"Right," she replied, automatically, her eyes fluttering open for a moment only for them to fall shut again.
Again she was lifted from her place, and he carried her, stepping into the bath, allowing her to rest against his chest as he slowly poured warm water into her matted hair. The warmth at first was painful, searing her frozen flesh and startling her back into wakefulness.
"It's alright, you'll get used to it in a moment," he said, squeezing a decent amount of shampoo into his hand before massaging it into her scalp.
"He's insane, Remus. He means to kill me," Penny said, thoroughly enjoying the bliss of someone else washing her hair.
"He just gets a little carried away."
"A little!"
"He's been doing that course for months now, I think he forgot what the first month is like."
"And you? Have you done it?" Penny asked, turning around to face Lupin. She got onto her knees and forced his head forward so she could wet his hair, and then began repaying the favor, scratching her long nails along his scalp as she rubbed the bubbles through his pretty brown hair.
He sighed in content before answering. "I managed to talk him down to only making me do it four times a week with him."
Her arms remembering how they'd been brutalized, Penny turned and sunk back into his chest, allowing herself to recline against him. Him, wrapping his arms around her.
"Any chance you can talk him into not including me on this torture quest?"
"I know these first days are rough, but I really think it would be good for you to stick with them," Lupin said, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Not you too," Penny almost cried, wishing very much she were capable of denying Lupin anything he wished of her, but she knew it was a losing battle.
"What if, for every hour you work with Sirius, I read to you for an hour?" Lupin offered, knowing exactly how tantalizing his offer was.
"That's decidedly cheating," Penny said, sourly.
"How's that?" he said, sounding very much like he knew what he had done.
"Because I am convinced I could find nothing that brings me more happiness than the prospect of you reading my Sense and Sensibility."
"So we have a deal then?"
"Yes," Penny said begrudgingly, the door bursting open as soon as the words left her mouth.
"Your break is almost up. I was thinking next we could work on your tactical skills, like breaking out of a crate, I've. got that old one up stairs; after that we'll work on the homework your professors sent, the pile is quite considerable seeing as your OWLs are coming up, so that'll take most of the afternoon, but there should be enough time for Moony to go over what commonly comes up on the DADA OWL since that hag won't teach you anything, leaving this evening free for when Mad-Eye comes by, he can help with your wand work," Sirius said, removing his horribly dirty sweatsuit until he was standing only in his boxers and joined them in the jacuzzi-tub.
Very slowly, Penny turned on Lupin, horror struck, finding Lupin trying and failing at not cracking up so abysmally that he had to dive beneath the water, pretending to rinse his hair.
"And what about eating?" Penny said, weakly.
"You're hungry again? Good, I made you another smoothie," Sirius said, finally looking at Penny as he settled down across from them. And before she could stop him, he flicked his wand and a second, disgusting smoothing appeared, which he handed to her just as Lupin rejoined them.
Penny shoved the smoothie into Lupin's chest, and the sank beneath the water, fully intending to drown herself, but Lupin pulled her back up before she accomplished the goal, Penny catching the end of Sirius's musings to Lupin, "What do you think, Moony, should I make her liver and onions for dinner tonight? She's so pale, I wouldn't be surprised if she were anemic."
One look from Penny convinced Lupin to draw the line there."I think it would be better if you left dinner to me, Padfoot."
"I don't Moony, you like the carbs and-"
"Carbs are good!" Penny interjected.
"-I really think it would be better to-"
"Sirius," Lupin said, trying to be stern and failing abysmally.
"-focus on the protein. I mean, we can hardly deny she has like zero muscle mass at this point and Molly tells me she's been eating a mostly plant based-"
"SIRIUS," Lupin said, resigning himself to that commanding tone of his, finally securing Sirius' attention, who looked mighty surprised to find them sitting across from him for a person who was supposedly having a conversation with them.
"I'll do the cooking."
Unfortunately for Penny, Lupin lost that battle, turning Sirius into the calorie tyrant, whom Penny had to beg to allow her to have a single cup of tea. It wasn't until she threatened to runaway that he relented, but forced her to drink it black. Two weeks into this hell, Penny had snuck into the kitchen when Sirius had gone upstairs to feed Buckbeak and was stuffing her face with the coffee cake Lupin had baked the previous day.
But for Penny, there was no escape because Sirius, the treacherous psycho, had apparently commanded Kreacher, the vile house-elf that hated her, to ensure Penny followed the rules.
"In her Mistresses cupboard, stealing like a thief the nasty half-blood is," Kreacher said, Penny whirling around to find him standing at the cupboard door. Then he snapped his fingers and the cake in her hand vanished and reappeared in his. "I hopes he punishes her, yes, lashes, many lashes for the filthy little-"
"Give that back you wretched little-" Penny yelled, bounding toward Kreacher, fully intending to strangle the vile thing. He turned and scurried away, slamming the door shut behind him and locking it.
It took several minutes of banging and yelling before the door opened, Lupin's concerned features appearing before her.
"What are you doing in here, Penny?"
"I'm here because Kreacher locked me in!" Penny fumed.
"I thought you were in the study working on your homework?"
"I needed a break so I came looking for the cake you baked, alright. I can't do it, Remus, not another minute. Snape wasn't even this bad! He even has Kreacher following me!" Penny said, allowing all her frustration to burst free. "I just want to eat a potato!"
"I hear you, I promise I do. Let's have some coffee and talk about it," Lupin said, giving her a pitying look as he brought the kettle to the table. He poured a cup, but instead of accepting that, Penny snatched the kettle from him and began to guzzle it before Lupin pulled it back from her.
"Penny," he said, reproachfully.
"Don't look at me like that!" Penny said, incredulously.
"Is it really that bad?" he said, sounding like a mother trying to convince her child to eat peas.
"HE LOCKED UP THE BREAD!" Penny yelled, jumping to her feet and pointing to the padlocked food case.
"I suppose you have a point," Lupin conceded, waving his wand and sending a basket of rolls zooming to the table. He passed them to Penny, looking conflicted. "I'm sorry, Penny, I just wanted to support him and he has been so happy lately, but I should have done a better job of paying attention to your needs."
Three pieces of bread wedged into her mouth, Penny suddenly regretted her decision, and tried to pry two out so she could respond, feeling bad for causing Lupin to feel guilty but the door to the kitchen burst open and Sirius burst in, an accusing fingers pointing at Penny.,
"Kreacher-"he began, his eyes narrowing on the basket of bread. Looking furious, he marched over and tried to snatch the basket away, but Penny dove on top of it yelling, "No! I won't let you. Remus gave me this and you aren't taking it!"
A tug of war ensued, Sirius determined to stop Penny from eating more of the bread. "These are empty carbs-"
"I don't care! I'm through with this insanity, if you don't want to eat bread, be my guest but I can't live like this anymore!"
"You're being ridiculous!" growled Sirius, pulling the basket free with one good yank.
Hot, angry tears on her cheeks and chest heaving, Penny's blazing eyes fixed on Sirius, she no longer cared about keeping things nice between them, Sirius had declared war and Penny did not intend to lose.
"Are you crying over bread? She's crying over bread!" Sirius accused. "See, Moony, this is why I told you it was necessary, she has no discipline!"
Sirius, apologize, now. You have no right to make her feel ashamed for crying, she is allowed and should be encouraged to express her emotions however she sees fit. It is evident this has gone on long enough. While I know your intentions were well meaning, it is time we listened to Penny-"
"Oh don't be so dramatic, I've given her an optimized diet, not tortured her!"
"She's fifteen! Do you recall what you ate at fifteen, because I sure do. You and James both should have been well over 300lbs because of those choices."
"That was different, I knew how to take care of myself," Sirius replied, stubbornly.
"And so does Penny, and I'd remind you she's done a brilliant job of it for fifteen years, so please, I implore you-"
But too late, Penny had already seen the unwavering resolution in Sirius' handsome features and she knew there was only one way to end it. Springing to her feet like a cat, Penny two took long strides across the table and then leapt at Sirius. Foot stretched out in front of her, Penny watched as Sirius, much too late, registered what Penny intended to do. Her foot connected with his nose a moment later, the blunt force of it not only knocking him to the ground, but sending blood bursting from it.
Straightening herself midair, she landed with cat-like reflexes, catching the basket of bread he'd tossed, several other things happening in quick succession. Lupin yelled, "Sirius!"; Sirius cried, "She broke my nose!"; and applause and laughter broke out from the door. Penny didn't even bother to look, turning instead and intending to feast but to her fury found the bread covered in Sirius' blood. She lobbed the basket away in her anger just as an arm wrapped around her.
"Keeping busy while I've been gone, have you? I think I need you to teach me that one," said the cool tones Penny recognized as Tonks'.
"You were lucky to be successful, girl, next time aim lower, if he'd been a more sensible opponent, you would already be dead," said Mad-Eye, making his way toward them.
"Come off it, Mad-Eye, she's got the makings of a future auror and you know it," Tonks said, giving an eye roll they knew only Penny could see.
Lupin had Sirius were at the table when Tonks pushed Penny towards it, Penny going only reluctantly, very worried what the repercussions of her actions would be.
"I don't know what possessed me. I'm sorry.", "That was bloody brilliant, kid, you've made me so proud," she and Sirius said in unison.
Penny gave a double take, flabbergasted. Her godfather was holding his nose still, covered in blood, grinning widely at Penny.
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Penny said, slowly.
"'Course I didn't. You're of thicker make than I gave you credit for, James' through and through," he said, barking with laughter and causing a fresh gush of blood to splatter to the floor.
"Sirius, please," Lupin said in concern, trying to get a look at the damage.
"Allow me, Remus. I got top marks in mending on my auror exam, just ask Mad-Eye here," Tonks offered.
"About as stealthy as an elephant this one, but they're good in a pinch if you happen to lose a limb,"said Moody, a horrendous gravelly sound coming from him that frightened Penny until she realized he was trying to laugh.
Once everything was cleaned and Sirius mended, he gave Penny a kiss on the head. "How's curry sound? You've earned it!"
Penny was so happy she could cry, her eyes turning to the warm brown ones she loved, which also made their way toward her, kissing her cheek before moving onto help Sirius. Penny, Tonks and Mad-Eye discussed and practiced some of what the aurors deemed were the best practices of dueling before they sat for lunch. Afterward she was kicked out because they had business for the Order of the Phoenix to discuss and she had a large pile of school work to attend to.
She'd completely lost track of time when Lupin arrived in the dimming room, taking up residence behind her where he began to put her hair into two braids as she worked on her essay for Professor McGonagall. When she'd finished, she leaned her head back and smiled up at him; him tapping her nose affectionately as he looked back at her.
"What are you thinking?" Penny asked after they'd spent a long moment just examining the other.
"I was thinking how full my day-to-day life feels with you around, and eventful," he said.
"Is that a good thing?" Penny asked, scrunching up her nose because she was not sure of his meaning.
"Absolutely. With you I feel perfectly content."
With a smile, Penny reached up and caressed his jawline, his 5 o'clock shadow in full force.
"Why don't you come up here and I'll read to you, hmm?" said Lupin, lifting her into his lap.
She reached for their book and then curled herself beneath his arm, snuggling close, her head resting on his chest as he began to read, "It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;—it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others."
"I agree with her," Penny mumbled, her exhaustion finally catching up with her, his warmth and smell intoxicating her.
"Why is that?" he asked, softly.
"Because I knew I loved you the first day you walked into our class. You were wearing that blue shirt of yours that I love, your sneakers were grey, and you asked me what I thought of marshmallows in my hot chocolate," Penny said, a smile forming sleepily along her lips. "All I could think that day was, why me? Why did you single me out? And now, I can't help but think how miserable I'd be right now if it hadn't been me."
"I asked you back the day because I knew as soon as I saw you, Penny, that a lifetime would be insufficient to spend with you because I wanted to know it all, every thought in that brilliant head of yours, so I determined not to waste it," Lupin said after a moment's pause, his warm hand rubbing her head soothingly. "Do you want to go to bed?" he asked when her breathing had slowed and she hadn't responded, her consciousness hanging on by a thread.
"No, I want to stay here with you."
"That's lucky, because I'd have been sorely disappointed if I couldn't rub your angelic head a little while longer." There was no tease in his voice, only a genuine contentment the made Penny reach up to cling to his shoulder and if possible pull herself closer to him. "Sleep well my little love," he whispered, his lips blissfully tickling her ear as she fell into a dreamless sleep.