WARNING MILD VIOLENCE.
GUESS WHO IS GRADUATED! MEEE. Ahh, feels good. Been being lazy, not doing home, and enjoying life! So glad to have this time and was even able to spend all day today writing and editing this so I hope you enjoy!
This chapter marks the point of no return for this book :( The first half I tried to give some lighthearted moments, fun, and just life moments. Now we turn to the much darker realities of Penny's story. Many questions will be answered and new ones formed. Between Yaxley and Umbridge it's hard to know who to hate more, you'll get to cast your votes soon! Enjoy the extra Snape this chapter, he will be absent for a few after this one :(
"I'm fine," Penny insisted, sitting up.
"You most assuredly are not fine, Potter, you're bleeding."
"I've got 5 liters of the stuff, I'm sure I'll survive without this bit," Penny said, wiping her nose absentmindedly.
Her head was still throbbing but the weird vision was gone, and she could use her limbs again, a great improvement as far as she was concerned. What wasn't working as well as she would like was her brain, it was moving as slowly as a turtle and was reluctant to allow her to recall any details of what she'd just witnessed. But what was actually concerning Penny was why she had the vision in the first place. Normally, Penny and Harry had to consciously open the connection between them for anything to be shared, but this time was different. She'd known it was Harry, she'd sensed him as though he'd been sitting right beside her, but he didn't seem to have noticed her, it was almost as if he'd been a bystander to another. But how could they have entered another consciousness? Part of Penny almost felt like Harry's mind had wandered too far out of his own and the tether that connected his to hers had run out of proverbial rope and ultimately ended up dragging Penny along into the eye of that snake.
The snake! That snake hadn't just been any snake, Penny was sure of it. She knew that snake, it was Nagini, Voldemort's pet, an awful beast that had eaten that man alive. But what was Nagini doing at the Department of Mysteries, and better yet, why and how did Harry end up in her mind? These were all perplexing questions that Penny wanted the answers to, so she made to get to her feet, but a well placed hand on her chest by Snape forced her back down again, reminding Penny a very disgruntled Snape had no intention of letting her go.
"Can we not do this right now? I need to find Harry," Penny said, impatiently, her thoughts far from the man before her and the dim chambers they currently occupied and instead trying to locate Harry, which was proving a much harder task than she anticipated. Her head gave an angry throb in protest, sending another stream of blood down her nose.
The pulsing vein in Snape's neck and the stiff hand that offered her something to stem the stream told her she'd been carelessly rude and that there was a better chance of hell freezing over than Snape letting her run off to her brother's waiting arms. Perhaps it would have been wiser not to mention Harry, but she could hardly take it back now.
"If you didn't want to do this right now, perhaps you should have thought about that before whoring yourself out to the entire Slytherin common room!" he said, furiously.
"And how exactly did you come to the conclusion that any whoring was going on much less that I was the perpetrator? All we were doing was having a bit of innocent fun!" Penny argued, feeling disgruntled by the unfounded accusation.
"The various states of undress I walked in on! One look at you, Potter, tells me exactly the kind of 'fun' you were having," he fumed as his dark eyes twitching compulsively when they inevitably looked again at the tie hanging loosely around her neck and her unbuttoned shirt that flagrantly stopped just shy of revealing all of her cleavage. A part of Penny could understand how it might look, but she'd hardly been the only one, and yet he'd selected her to single out because he was always holding her to some impossible standard, one she was not inclined to bend to at this moment.
"If you hadn't noticed, I, unlike your precious Slytherin boys, retained all of my clothing! So I refuse to let you try and fabricate some reason for why I am responsible for Nott's desperate need to feel important by showing everyone his dick. If you want to punish someone, go talk to Nott, or any one of the other dozen people who were with me in that common room and conveniently not here!"
"It is not for you to tell me how to do my job, Potter," Snape said in a dangerous voice.
"Oh I see, you want me to shut up and say yes master like you do, is that it? Be a good girl, Penny, don't have a brain or you know, a qualm about the absurd way you've singled me out," Penny said, her voice dripping with derision.
"Ah yes, precious Penny pathetically grasping for anything to absolve herself of any responsibility. Perhaps if you shut up long enough to take even the merest of glances at the state of your pathetic life you'd conclude the misery you so love to court is entirely of your own making, and the rest of us are bored cleaning up after it!" he spat, the hand still on her chest shaking with rage.
"I'm sure that must have felt good to say that, and perhaps I would have listened to you and considered some self-evaluation if you hadn't decided to start this absurd argument over me having a bit of fun with my friends!" Penny said, coldly, pushing his arm off her and clambering to her feet, Snape following her so they now stood, squared off.
"No self-respecting Slytherin would be friends with a Gryffindor!"
"Yeah? Did you come to that conclusion before or after my mum died?" Penny said, her face going stony.
"You're nothing like her," he said in a steely voice, his features draining of all their color.
"Oh I don't know if that's true, we were both dumb enough to waste our time on you weren't we?"
This argument was quickly reminding Penny exactly why she was still angry with him and all the secrets he liked to keep.
"And yet you somehow managed not to inherit enough self-respect to stop yourself from throwing yourself at any creature who pays you the slightest bit of attention," he snarled.
"Except she, didn't she go and throw herself at the one creature you hated most, the one who gave me his last name. So why don't you admit that's what this is really about, it's not that I'm a Gryffindor, or Lily's daughter, it's because I'm a Potter, and nothing will stop you from resenting me for that name."
She watched him, the way the words collided with that wall with his and sent a fissure down its length, revealing the memories hiding beneath, the ones he refused to share with her; all the truths he kept to himself; the reality only he was privy to and made her suffer for. Seeing it crack, it gave Penny all the satisfaction in the world. It was not only her who suffered, who was forced to bend to the volatility of their relationship. Snape was not the immovable, unfeeling creature he wanted her to believe he was.
"I would spare little thought to your filthy name if you did not try so hard to live up to it! You are just like him, just as eager to accuse me of ill intent. It doesn't matter to you what I say or do, Penny Potter will never be satisfied!"
"When was the last time you said anything nice to me that wasn't laced with derision or positioned after some critique," Penny scoffed as she tried hard not to roll her eyes at him.
"I told you I'd die for you!" he all but screamed, his thin lips disappearing completely into a fine line.
He looked beside himself, livid with her, but at the same time Penny didn't miss how his eyes kept finding her bleeding ears and nose, concern etched into the lines of his face and battling against his impulse to berate her. Even if he wanted to strangle her, he was worried, and that look more than anything made Penny regret her callous, dishonest words but she could not turn back, could not convince her angry hurting heart to stop pushing, because he had made it too wary of trusting him.
"And then you pulled my hair and pushed me to the floor! If we can agree on anything it's that people who care don't do that!" she screamed right back.
"I shouldn't have—I let my anger—I'm sorry," he said, his tone and countenance doing an about face.
Penny blinked, her brain trying to register what she'd just heard. For a long moment she gaped at him as though expecting something else to follow, for him to invalidate the apology. But he never did. It just sat in the air between them, having slid so easily from that devilish mouth of his, the same one that had been berating her not but seconds prior. He looked as calm and resolute as Penny would have expected any person who was apologizing to be, any person other than Severus Snape. And yet, here he stood before her, offering her his genuine apology. But then his brows furrowed, his black eyes becoming more attentive to her as though something alarming had just appeared before him, and then all hell let loose.
"You stupid jerk!" Penny shouted, reaching for his book hanging off the side of the sofa and lobbed it at him, unable to find the words to truly convey how much she disliked him at this moment. Expletives would not get at the heart of her fury, so she stumbled over every word she could think of in search of the right one.
He managed to block the attack with little effort but Penny had found the next item, his mug and was already throwing that before he could respond. "After everything—the refusal, the arguments, my suffering! And you want to—" Penny heaved, marching her way toward the small desk and grabbing the ink pot to chuck at him, "—apologize now like it's nothing! ALL I ASKED FOR—BUT NO!" she fumed, grabbing his paper weight next.
But nothing she threw at him phased him. He did not look the faintest bit irritated and dodged her throws with ease, making her, if possible, even more furious. The least he could do was allow her the satisfaction of hearing something collide with him. He simply stood there, allowing her to continue throwing things at her as he watched her; black eyes fixed on her face, unperturbed by her outburst, unmoved by her fury. This response did not placate Penny, how dare he not even have the decency to lose his temper too? Instead he intended to show her he meant his apology, the apology she didn't even want! This apology was an insult and a further humiliation for the apology she'd all but begged him for and he'd refused to give. How could she make him understand? Would she need to destroy everything in his living space? It was a prospect she felt prepared to commit to, but unfortunately, the quest was cut short when a painful throb to her head that reminded her that she'd basically had a seizure not but ten minutes earlier.
She swayed on the spot, clinging to the side of his desk for support.
"Now, if you're finished with the theatrics perhaps we can return to the more pressing things at hand," he said, somewhat unkindly, but Penny could tell he was straining to keep his tone in check.
"That's all you care about isn't it?"
"We have already established I care for—"
"No you don't. You only care if I'm alive or not, nothing else matters so long as I'm breathing and retain more or less all my other functioning parts, except you know, my emotional wellbeing. I don't need that for you to check all your boxes," Penny said, seeing a glass of water before her, not caring whether Snape had had drank from it or not and downing it in two gulps.
On top of still being lightheaded, Penny felt as though she'd just run a marathon, and the aftermath was catching up with her. Her dry mouth was demanding liters of water, the glass not even touching her thirst, and the rest of her feeling weak and shaky.
"Can you ever try not being so ridiculously melodramatic!" he sneered, his attempts at getting a handle of his anger fading fast. "No one is capable of keeping up with your emotional whims and if you hadn't noticed, considering your suicidal tendencies keeping you alive is a fulltime job!"
"Feel free to hand in your resignation at any time," Penny glowered, pulling the chair out and seating herself upon it.
Her struggle must have been apparent in her movements because he was beside her in a moment, the back of his cool hand pressing against her cheek. It felt blissfully relieving and Penny couldn't help but close her eyes and lean into it.
"You're burning up," he said, stopping just shy of an accusation. He made to reach for her pulse next, but Penny's hand caught him. "Just a moment longer, "she breathed, not wanting to lose the blessed relief his frosty hands offered.
She felt the reverberations of his other hand moving, and a moment later a pitcher of water and a glass appeared before her as well as a wet washcloth.
"I thought you didn't want my help," he said, not bothering to keep the smugness out of his voice.
"A day will come when you're the one dying and I'll be sure to make you suffer before saving your life," Penny said, pushing his hand away begrudgingly and reaching for the pitcher with a shaking hand.
Snape intercepted her efforts, relieving her straining and pouring her glass before offering it to her with a raised eyebrow. "I look forward to the day," he said with an eye roll.
"I hope you feel bad this Christmas, when you think of me being stuck with Yaxley as you have your Christmas tea and remember how mean you were to me during my last day of freedom. I hope you feel so guilty for this that everything you eat tastes bitter," Penny said, making to snatch the cup from him, but Snape's grip tightened on the glass, leaving Penny looking childish.
"What do you mean, stuck with Yaxley," he said in a low, measured voice.
"I am surprised that hag hasn't gloated to you about it yet."
"What does Umbridge have to do with this?"
"Who else would be dragging me to the Ministry! After she ran out of whatever it was she milled from me during that detention, she's now hellbent on getting more and her brilliant plan is I have all the spare time now that we are on break so why not a field trip? Or, if we're being honest, she knows she has to get me out of this school in order torture me, because, you know, no one will question what she's doing to a child if we're at the Ministry," Penny said, the bitterness ripe in her tone.
"And what would possess you to be stupid enough to dream of going with her!" he hissed.
"Don't act like I have a choice," Penny scoffed. "She already told me what happens if I'm not amenable."
"Why didn't you come to me!" he seethed, slamming the glass back down on the table.
Penny watched the contents splash over the sides and soak the parchment beneath it, making the ink of the scrawling letters bleed together before she turned to meet his blazing eyes. His anger was back, but it did not match her own which flared up at his words, at his assumption after all he'd put her through he still expected her undying allegiance to him.
"I'm sure if you thought about that statement a half of a second longer, you'd have realized how stupid it was. But for the sake of not prolonging this discussion, I'll remind you, it was you who dangled me like a carrot before Yaxley, and if that wasn't enough, your blatant disdain for my feelings made me realize you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to ask for help!"
Snape looked down on her with an expression of mingled incredulity and frustration. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but no words came out. Evidently, he had no defense, nothing left to argue, leaving Penny feeling vindicated. His emotions warred with each other for dominance of his features, making it plain as day that he was searching for some way to return the discussion back to the point he wanted to address, but even he knew he could not simply ignore her scruples. Perhaps somewhere inside of himself he felt guilt for what he had done to her, but he was nowhere near admitting it.
So with a great effort she pushed herself to her feet, knowing sticking around any longer was not only pointless but possibly worse for her health. The pain in her body was at such a point that she would willingly walk into Madam Pomfrey's clutches and resign herself to finding Harry later.
"I didn't say you could go," he said, but all the fight had gone out of his voice.
"I'm through going in circles with you. I have more pressing things to do with my time."
"Need I remind you that you were found out of bed past curfew, engaging for the third time, in drinking on Hogwarts grounds? You will not simply be walking away—"
"No, only Slytherins get to do that. If you want to punish me, then the least you can do is escort me to the Hospital Wing first. I don't care how many years of detention you give so long as you stop yelling for a while," Penny said, the exhaustion plain in her tone as she tried to rub it from her eyes.
Snape's hand grasped her wrist in a surprisingly gentle manner, and coaxed it away from her face so he could better see her. Penny, startled by the gesture, met his gaze, her mouth slightly ajar with surprise. He looked uncertain of himself, as though he had not expected to actually grab her hand and was now trying to figure out what to do next. In their moment of stillness, where black eyes frantically tried to remember their intent, and green waited, she looked at him without looking for what she wanted or expected to see, and what she found made her sad. The fireplace crackling behind him, sending flickers of light across the walls, she saw a desperate man looking back at her, one clinging onto four years shared between them. He wanted to go back, he wanted something that had long since departed but Penny wasn't sure what that was.
What she had refused to see and pretended was the fault of the dim room was now impossible to ignore, the unbridled emotions seeping through without his knowing were full of trepidation. His features were stony and serious, as though he were afraid any display of emotion would discredit what came next, and as they settled in determination to share this thought that consumed him, his mouth finally moved. But what he'd wanted to say, Penny would never find out because the fireplace behind him turned green and in a puff of smoke something came soaring out of it and Snape had let her go and was reading the note before her brain could catch up. She wanted to hit the rewind button, to return again to whatever he'd felt was so pressing, but she could not, and whatever he'd just read would not allow him to entertain such things any longer.
Cursing under his breath, he tossed the note into the fire and turned back to Penny.
"Come, we need to get to the Headmaster's office. But fix your clothing first," he said, looking down on her rather severely.
"What? Why?" she asked, quickly buttoning her shirt, feeling as though she should have probably done that a long time ago.
"Because whatever happened to you also happened to that brother of yours, he said, pushing her toward the door rather unceremoniously."
"I know, I told you that—"
"And the Headmaster deemed whatever he saw problematic enough to send you two and the Weasley brats to your dear godfather's house. We do not have long before the portkey leaves," he went on, the sneer evident in his voice as he whisked his way down hall after hall.
"That man, it was Arthur Weasley!" Penny said more to herself than him, a sickening feeling sweeping over her as the urgency of the situation pressed in against her already sore consciousness. How hadn't she realized? The snake had bitten him so many times and there had been blood, too much blood. Surely someone could not survive such an attack, not for very long. But if Harry. . . her brilliant brother always being a better thinker, better at taking action, of course he had run to the headmaster's office and told the one person who might be able to help Arthur Weasley—Albus Dumbledore!
"But why did the Headmaster call for me and how did he know I was with you?" Penny said, glancing up at Snape.
"I assume he deduced as much when you were not found in your bed."
"But I can't go with them, Umbridge said—"
"I do not care what that wench said, Potter! You need to get off these grounds, once you do that she cannot touch you," he spat, vehemently.
Penny was caught between feeling wholeheartedly relieved and horrifically scared. She wanted to believe Snape, to run away, but she did not believe Umbridge would give up so easily, and if she came looking for Penny, would the others end up getting involved, would that put Sirius in danger? It was a fear she knew better than to voice to Snape. He'd sacrifice Sirius for her without a second thought. Despite her turmoil, her feet moved without her consent until they reached the corridor with the stone gargoyle, and Professor McGonagall stopped them.
"Severus," she whispered loudly from the hall behind them before he could give the password. "It's too late, Dolores just went up—what in the name of Merlin happened to you, Miss Potter?" she continued as she ushered them away from the passageway, eyeing Penny critically before shooting Snape a severe look.
"I imagine it was the same as whatever happened to the other," Snape said, stiffly, not bothering to meet Professor McGonagall's gaze or to hide the sneer the thought of Harry evoked.
"I will not bother asking how it is you came to be out of bed at this hour and in Professor Snape's company," Professor McGonagall said, tersely, turning back to Penny. "Because we do not have much time, Umbridge seems to think you are with your brother and the Weasleys, and the Headmaster did not bother to correct her, so you would do well to get you into the Hospital Wing and stay there so she does not come to realize otherwise."
Snape gave Professor McGonagall a curt nod before again pushing Penny again down several corridors, neither saying anything until they arrived at the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey seemed to be expecting Penny. It amazed her how much Dumbledore knew, he truly was a bizarre creature and she wondered how often he was aware of her movements without her ever knowing. For a moment the thought made her feel guilty for what she'd been getting up to in the Slytherin common room but then she reminded herself she was not Harry and therefore did not need to worry about impressing the Headmaster.
After several exams, tut tuts, and rants about the way others seemed to handle Penny's 'delicate health,' Madam Pomfrey left her alone in one of the private quarters Dumbledore had told her to have Penny stay in, lest Umbridge go looking for her. The room, however, did not stay empty long, and the door opened again almost as soon as it shut.
Snape swept in, stepping up to Penny who was seated at the edge of her bed.
"If you are lucky, she will remain ignorant to your presence here until Friday. But you will not be safe until you are off these grounds, do you understand me?"
Penny stared at him, uncertain how she was to respond, she was exhausted, confused, and not keen for another argument. He seemed to sense her hesitance, so both of his hands took up residence on her shoulders and shook her, "Acknowledge that you understand the danger you are in!" he demanded.
"I-I understand," she stammered.
His shaking ceased, but his hands remained, the grip almost painfully tight.
"Swear to me that you will not leave these grounds unless it is with me."
"Why would I—"
"We don't have time for your questions, Potter, if she finds me anywhere near this side of the castle, she will know you're here! Swear it, swear you will not go with her willingly, that you will be here when I come for you," he said, almost angrily, as though he expected Penny to betray him.
"I swear it," Penny said, surprising even herself.
As much as she hated to admit it, Snape's help relieved her. She wanted to run away, to be as far away from Umbridge as possible, to enjoy her Christmas like every other normal kid. She wasn't brave or selfless, not in the ways Harry was, and though she knew it would inevitably cause problems for others, for Snape, she greedily accepted his help—sought freedom. He perceived this nature in her and seemed satisfied by it, the tension releasing ever-so-slightly from his posture. He released her left shoulder, his right hand lingering long enough for him to squeeze it and say, "Get some rest," before disappearing from her sight as quickly as he appeared. Too overcome with exhaustion, Penny flopped back onto her pillow and allowed herself to fall into a careless sleep, far removed from everything else.
"This child is unwell, you cannot just remove her from her bed, Dolores," The shrill tones of Madam Pomfrey argued.
"She will have access to the finest care at the Ministry," replied the sickly-sweet tones, but there seemed to be a slight edge to them, one of warning.
"The Headmaster will not allow this, I will not allow it, this is a school and you cannot simply take this child without her consent!"
"This order comes directly from the Minister himself, it does not matter what the Headmaster allows. But I am surprised, Poppy, I rather thought you were dedicated to the wellbeing of all the children of this school, I'd hate to see such a successful career end early for a mere understanding."
The voices were blaring in Penny's ears, but she felt so far from them, the gears in her brain squeaking loudly as they tried to remember how to open her eyes, fighting hard against the drowsiness trying to pull her back to sleep.
"What is going on here, who allowed them onto school grounds," a third voice added, having just entered the room.
"I did, Minerva," Umbridge said, as Penny blinked, the dark room slowly coming into focus.
"And why would you do a thing like that? What reason could you possibly have for bringing a half dozen brutes from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement into this school, Dolores?"
It was at this point that Penny's eyes found a pair of blue ones that sat beside her, watching her as she slept and the others argued. The leathery skin wrinkled at the edges of his eyes as he watched confusion turn to horror on Penny's face. And then, baring his yellow teeth, certain she was awake enough to understand what he was doing, he popped open what he was holding, placed it around her neck and pressed the button again, the cursed collar securing closed so tightly around Penny's neck that she choked momentarily.
"Sorry to wake you, love, but it's time to go. Your friends at the Department of Mysteries made some upgrades, let me know if you like them," Yaxley said, only loud enough for her to hear him.
Penny bolted up like a startled cat and rolled off the other side of the bed as she groped at the cursed object around her neck, her heart pounding in her ears. Tugging uselessly at her neck, she looked away from Yaxley and at what was ensuing around them. Like a wall barring Penny from escape, was Umbridge, Yaxley and six or so Ministry officials. Opposite them were an enraged Madam Pomfrey and a very still Professor McGonagall.
"I do not think it is a stretch to assume there would be opposition to us escorting Penny from the premises."
"Certainly. I do not think there is a real teacher in this school who would stand aside and allow you to take Miss Potter so you can continue your gross abuses from last year, what is your point, Dolores?" Professor McGonagall said, her voice a deadly calm.
"That you forced my hand, so I made arrangements, Minerva. I'm sure the Headmaster would want—"
"Don't tell me what Albus would want, when it was your doing that sent him to the Ministry not but 30 minutes ago because you are too cowardly to attempt such a thing in his presence," McGonagall cut across in a biting tone. It was at this point that her Professor turned to her and said, "Come, Miss Potter," offering her hand.
Without hesitation, Penny made for her head of house, but Yaxley blocked her path.
"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's me you'll be leaving with," he said, looking down on her with an expression that told Penny she needed to run.
"No I won't. I refuse to go," Penny said so loudly, there could be no debate what her opinion on the matter was.
With a smirk, he took a hold of her, Penny yelling loudly as she tried to yank herself free of him.
Behind her, Professor McGonagall had her wand out, which meant every official from the department of magical law enforcement also had their wands out and pointed at her. Yaxley forced Penny around, his thick, orange forearm pressing securely against her and pinning her to his chest. She coughed slight from the pressure but she could still breathe.
"Look what you've done, now she has to get hurt," he cooed in her ear.
Madam Pomfrey took one look at Professor McGonagall and rushed into the room behind her, where she could be heard calling to her other patients, the sound of them scrambling from the room reaching her ears. Penny's heart filled with dread, it was one on eight, and still her head of house stood, unwavering, all for Penny. It made Penny want to scream, but instead she yelled, "Professor it's one against eight!"
"While I feel a tad guilty for how poor their odds are, I will do what I must if Mr. Yaxley does not remove his hands form you," Professor McGonagall said with the utmost confidence.
"Now, now Minerva, it would be unwise to start such a fight, and before the students have gone home," Professor Umbridge said, in her highest pitch, as though Professor McGonagall were a toddler throwing a spoon and not one of the best witches in the country, fully prepared to strike down the person who would drag her student from the room.
"Finally Something we agree on, Dolores. Now if you would kindly tell your men to stand down, none of them need to get hurt," McGonagall said.
"Oh just stun the bitch already," Yaxley yelled exasperation, an order Umbridge clearly did not agree with. But her protest was drowned out by the loud explosions from six stunning spells ricocheting off of the protection spell McGonagall had cast.
Dust filled the room, making it harder to see anything except the flashes of light that seemed to have blown a hole in the wall and were now moving out into the larger room Pomfrey had just evacuated.
"You two with me, they'll be fine against her," Yaxley barked. With a good yank he began pulling Penny with him toward the door, however his current hold made it too awkward so he took a fist full of her hair instead and began dragging her down the hall.
"No!" Penny bellowed. "Get off me, I'm not going!"
"Oh, but love, don't you want to see what I have in store for you?" he cackled.
He was making progress much too fast. The sound of fighting behind them was growing distant. Fear was filling her stomach, the collar around her neck reminding her of how each step took her closer to that room, that chair, the endless agony. But her efforts to fight him were useless, she hadn't even recovered from the vision, and could feel the weakness in her body. So she did the only thing she could do, "SNAPE," Penny yelled at the top of her lungs, praying against all odds that he would somehow hear her. "HELP ME!"
"I do hope he comes out to play, I do look forward to seeing the moment he realizes there is nothing he can do to stop me from taking you," Yaxley replied, giving her head another particularly mean yank so as to elicit a yelp of pain, but a low hissing drowned her out. Yaxley stopped and considered the creature below him before straightening Penny so she could see it too.
"Fleamont!"
"Tell your valiant cat to get out of the way, or these two nice gentlemen will make him," Yaxley said, and from the corner of her eye Penny couldn't help but notice how wary Yaxley seemed of Fleamont, and how the two beside him shifted uncomfortably before the cat.
Not wanting to see the cat injured on her account, an idea came to Penny.
"Fleamont, bring Snape!" The cat considered Penny, appearing to feel her idea was worse than his own. "Please, Fleamont, hurry!" Penny begged. The cat begrudgingly and then disappeared with a soft poof.
As soon as he was gone, all three men burst into rough laughter, Yaxley resuming his tug-of-war with her head.
"You have a Sphynx and still don't know what it can do?" he said between laughs.
"Bloody lucky for us," one of the other men added.
They'd reached the entrance hall, students scurrying out of their way and pointing as they passed. In her struggle with Yaxley, which Penny realized she was losing, she caught Draco's eyes. He was standing just inside the Great Hall, watching the fiasco with a look of the utmost pity.
"Good to see you, Draco," Yaxley nodded, as though pulling a screaming girl by her hair was any other everyday activity.
"He won't be far behind me, tell him where we've gone, please Draco," Penny pleaded.
The blonde-hair boy scowled momentarily at the two guards beside her before giving her the faintest of nods. Before she could even feel relief she was forced over the threshold and down the steps. Though she had little energy left, Penny resisted Yaxley with newfound fervor, she just needed to stall him long enough for Snape to show up. Every fiber of her being knew if he could only reach her in time, she would be okay. None of them stood a chance against his skills, this she did not doubt, and clearly neither did Yaxley, because he seemed uneasy for the first this evening.
The night was dark and cold, and the frozen ground beneath Penny's bare feet had already made her toes painfully cold. If only she'd had her shoes on, it might have been easier to dig herself into the hard dirt. As it stood, Yaxley simply shredded her feet instead, pulling her along, having little care for the way her struggles mutilated her feet, or that she shivered violently. He merely whistled an infuriatingly pleasant tune, giving her an unkind yank whenever he felt she was moving fats enough.
They were halfway down the slope leading to the barrier of Hogwarts, when Penny realized that this slope was all that stood between safety and Yaxley apparating away with her. She could not let him get her any further, so floundering for ideas, she fat down. It was much harder to drag a sitting person than a standing person. And sure enough it forced him to stop.
"Get up, love, I assure you, you won't like it if I make you," he said, something behind her getting his attention.
Penny turned her head and saw the dark grounds flood with light as the doors swung open and a lone figure followed after them.
"Stop him, and don't get cocky, he's better at dueling than either of you."
The two men disappeared into the darkness, heading for Snape.
"SNAPE, LOOK THERE ARE TWO MINISTRY OFFICIALS," Penny bellowed at the top of her lungs. A hard kick to her side, however, stopped her from yelling anything more, Penny falling sideways into the snow, clutching her ribs. She gasped for breath and blinked against the pain as thick arms picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
"Oh, Penny, Penny, Penny, look at this mess you've made? And after you were given such a nice offer. I think Umbridge honestly expected you to accept it, but I knew better. I knew my Penny would fight like the moron she is, in fact that's the only reason I agreed to the deal. Because I knew once you'd ruined it, Umbridge wouldn't care about what methods I employ. So, thank you, Penny, for giving me exactly what I wanted."
Behind them, Penny saw sparks of light, gold, green, and then a burst of red. They were close, much closer than Penny expected. It gave her hope. Yaxley may be strong, but he was not much taller than Penny and could not lug her like this with as much ease as a normal sized man might. He was slowing down, and Snape was gaining.
Several more flashes of light and several groans before the night air was silent.
"I'M OVER HERE, PLEASE PROFESSOR, PLEASE HURRY," Penny screamed, thrashing on top of Yaxley, not caring about the pain in her ribs.
Grunting in irritation, Yaxley put on a burst of speed before tossing her to the ground, where the impact knocked all the breath from her. But her training with Sirius had taught her not to remain motionless. While Yaxley shot several blind curses into the darkness, Penny rolled onto her belly and tried to scramble to her feet. Before she could get herself clear of Yaxley's reach though, his hand was in her hair again, yanking her backward into his chest, just as a tall dark frame came into view.
It was the look in his dark eyes, which she could only make out due to the light beaming from Yaxley's wand that she realized it was too late. She stood on the wrong side of the barrier, and though she reached for the dark hair man regardless of how pointless it was, the man whom she wanted so badly to somehow miraculously make things better like he always did, she knew he couldn't. "I'm sorry, I swear I tried, I swear," she yelled to him, her the corners of her eyes burning.
In the instant their eyes met and her words found his ears, everything around Penny became a blur of light, disgust, pain, noise and misery.
Penny watched as Snape raised his wand, green light streaming from the tip of it, making for them; felt as Yaxley yanked her head backward to free her neck to nuzzle in a grotesque fashion; heard as he gloated, "Too late, Severus, should have kept a tighter hold on your toy"; screamed as a pair of claws sunk their way into her chest, embedding themselves so firmly that the creature did not even budge when with a loud crack dragged Penny away from Snape and Hogwarts, and straight into the depths of hell.
I'm curious to know who you'd prefer to see getting revenge on Yaxley, Penny or Snape? I also promise Fleamont's secrets will be made known one day soon!