Heyoo,

No idea why this chapter took me so long to write. Maybe it was all the dynamics? dunno, but this spring weather (rain) is ruining my motivation. But I managed to finish, so here you are: ME BEING NICE TO PENNY! It's a bloody miracle. Also, I give you Snape/Penny/Lupin/Sirius dynamics lol ENJOYY

ALSO, Sirius is the best boy 😭 I'm listening to the very end of the OotP and it's hurting :(

"It's an enchanted sleep, Molly, I assure you she is fine."

"A week, I hardly think—"

"I know that it's hard, having her and not really having her back at the same time, but after what she's been through, her body and mind needed some time to heal if she is to have any hope of coming back from this."

"What she needs is to eat!"

"We've lifted the enchantment, and I promise to personally oversee that she does as soon as she wakes. But we want to make sure she does so on her own so as to avoid triggering anything by foricbly waking her."

"Fine. I need to go visit Arthur, I've left some sandwiches downstairs, but if she wants something warm, the peasoup is there as well. I should be back before breakfast, so if she wants something else, I can also—"

"I'll let her know, Molly. Give Arthur my best."

The door shut softly, Penny rolling to her side and squishing her face deeper into the softness beneath her, her fingers clutching a wad of black robes in her hand for dear life. Eyebrows furrowed, she twitched, murmuring words that were incoherent.

"Even in her sleep she still looks afraid," Lupin said, his face creased with worry as he rubbed the leg that was draped over his lap.

"Yaxley would have ensured she never had a moment of peace. Frequent wakings are an effective tactic for breaking someone's mind," Snape said, dully, his eyes never leaving the head of red hair in his lap.

"Speaking from experience are you?" Sirius said, an obvious edge to his voice.

"Sirius—"

"It does not surprise me that you are not familiar with what being a useful member of the Order entails, Black, seeing as you conveniently remain locked in this house and therefore never need worry about getting your feet dirty, but some of us do not have that luxury."

"Except you've never minded it, get off on it don't you? You always were a greasy little thing with your nose in the Dark Arts."

"Whatever, Severus once was is irrelevant now—"

"No, it's not, Moony. He's got my goddaughter in his lap—James' daughter—who he handed over to Yaxley. Whatever your delusions about him once were, how can you still defend him now?"

"I would suggest you reconsider your verbiage, Black," came Snape's cold reply.

"Or what, you'd like me to make the right cheek match the left?"

"Are we really doing this again? She's back, right there, wouldn't our efforts be better spent helping her instead of bickering?" said Lupin.

"Precisely, Moony, you read my mind, and getting rid of Snivellus here to make sure he is never given another opportunity to hurt her—"

The hand that had been entangled in Penny's hair was in the air, Snape's wand pointing at Sirius. "Falsely accuse me of ever laying a hand on her again and you will find I no longer care what's left of you."

"Oh?" said Sirius, springing to his feet.

"For Merlin's sake, both of you put your wands away, you're hardly going to duel with her between you, unless you don't mind adding a few more injuries to the plethora she already has," Lupin said, sounding angry now.

"Yeah, yeah, Moony," Sirius said, lowering his wand. "But tell me, Snivellus, for the record, what'd Yaxley promise you, that you'd get round two with her?"

"Sirius!" Lupin moaned, but it was too late, Snape had sent several jets of light spiraling at Sirius, who deflected them, sending one smashing into a vase while the other two completely destroyed a bookcase, debris flying through the air.

Snape was on his feet, Penny's still slumbering form rolling from his lap. Lupin followed after her, diving on top of her in order to protect her from the rogue spells above them. Muttering his own, a barrier sprung up around them just as Penny's own eyes snapped open, unseeing.

A body pressed on top of her, loud noises all around her sending adrenaline pumping to her heart and brain, panic ensued. She did not remember where she was, had she been in the middle of a session and passed out? Was more pain imminent? Her every nerve seemed to think so. Struggling against the person pressing her against the floor, Penny yelled, her chest constricting from fear.

"No, not again, please not again, I'll do whatever you ask!"

Her head exploding with pain, Penny clutched at it, closing her eyes shut in an attempt to stem the tide of images. Flashes of red, gold, and orange blinded her but they could not dull the vivid blue in the horrid blue eyes looking back at her. He was laughing at her pleas, her pain and her misery. But the worst part was how they glittered with excitement, promising to continue, never intending to give her freedom. There would only be more pain in store for Penny and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it

The weight on top of her shifted, allowing her to curl into a ball, in an attempt to shut him out, but she could still feel his filthy hands on her, grasping her tightly, shaking her as though to wake her from a dream. But the voice that followed was not Yaxley's, his tones were much softer, less vile.

"Open your eyes, Penny, just open your eyes."

Her heart heeding his call, her eyes opened, searching for the source of the voice.

He was looking down on her, his hands on his shoulder, dust swirling around him. Though the room was dim she counted every line of his beautiful face just to be sure it was him.

"R-Remus," she said after a moment, some of the horrible disorientation melting away under the gaze of his brown eyes.

One hand reaching down to cup her wet cheek. "Yes, it's me, it's Remus. You're safe, safe Penny. You're no longer at the Department of Mysteries, you're at Grimmauld Place, no one will hurt you here."

Eyes darting around, heart pounding and still breathing very fast, Penny reached for Lupin's hand feeling as though she were teetering on the edge of a very large precipice and could not help but feel someone was lurking somewhere behind her, ready to push her over, but she could not see from which direction they would do so, leaving a huge knot of anxious anticipation welling in her chest.

"I believe it's you, but something feels so wrong, Remus, and I don't know how to make it stop?" Penny said, tearfully.

"That's alright, Penny, what you're feeling is a panic attack. This fear you have welled up inside, it served an important purpose, but now it's more like a false alarm, one we need to teach is okay to turn off now."

"H-how?" Penny said, her chest tightening and making her feel on the verge of hyperventilating.

"We're going to count, 5-4-3-2-1, now you."

"5-4-3-2-1."

"Now, tell me five things you can see."

"What, why?"

"I will explain after but for right now focus on counting."

"I see you, the ceiling, lots of dust, Sirius and Professor Snape," Penny said, glancing around.

"Four things you can feel," Lupin continued.

"Your hand, the cold carpet, my heart, something poking me in my right side."

Before continuing, Lupin looked over Penny and pulled a few shards of glass out from beneath her. "Three things you can hear."

"Your heart beat, my breathing, someone upstairs."

"What about two things you can smell?"

"Mildew and bergamot."

"And lastly, one thing you like about yourself?"

Staring stupidly at Lupin for a long moment Penny finally said, "Nothing."

A small frown forming tightening his lips, Lupin pressed gently, "I know that it's hard right now to see any good, but perhaps if you to take a moment and think, while remembering—"

"There's nothing, I hate being me. What's to like?" Penny blurted out, turning away from Lupin as a fresh wave of tears embarrassing her.

"Do you feel up to sharing what makes you feel that way?"

"How can you sound like it's so surprising? There's no pretending I can escape what I am and what I am now cursed to be. Countless people will suffer—have suffered because of me!"

"Penny life is complicated but—"

"It's not that complicated, Remus and you know it. The fact is life is made worse by me. I don't deserve to—"

"I won't hear another word of this," Sirius growled, stepping forward. "If you let these feelings consume you, you'll never be able to move forward from this."

"That's easy for you to say," Penny scoffed.

"Yeah, it is, because I lived trapped in my own self-loathing for 13 years in Azkaban so I think I know a thing or two about it. I could have just given up, it would have been a hell of a lot easier, but if I had I wouldn't be here right now. You think I don't know what it's like to feel that kind of guilt? I got my best mate killed, now get up, we're going outside," Sirius said, his tone not harsh, but it was evident he was not going to hear any arguments against his request.

Lupin helped Penny to her feet, Penny still avoiding his gaze as Sirius threw open the curtains and forced open the window. Levitating a blanket behind him, he then climbed through the window and disappeared into the back yard.

For a moment Penny stared at the empty space, uncertain if she should follow, but Lupin nudged her gently, so she climbed into the window, finding Sirius waiting below, ready to catch her. The cold air reminding Penny's senses that she was in fact alive, she leapt, Sirius catching her with ease. Then he led her toward the middle of the yard and climbed onto the large wooden frame he used for his daily exercise regime. At the top there was just enough room for the two of them to squeeze together.

Wrapping the blanket around her first, he looked up at the starry sky, letting out a long sigh before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cigarette.

"I didn't know you smoke,"Penny said, watching him place it into his mouth and then lean into his hands to light it.

He took a long drag, letting it linger in his chest before blowing it out and turning to her. "I picked the habit back up again recently. Mundungus brings them for me, but don't tell Moony, he always did disapprove when James and I would smoke."

"My dad smoked too?" Penny said, feeling oddly more connected to her dead father by knowing this detail.

"Of course," Sirius laughed, considering the cigarette in his hand for a moment before offering it to her. "It'll help take the edge off," he added, when she gave him a skeptical look.

"I've never—" Penny said sheepishly, feeling suddenly nervous to look lame in front of her godfather.

"We all cough the first time," he shrugged.

Placing it between her lips, Penny inhaled deeply, trying to hold it a moment like Sirius, but she burst into a fit of coughing. Grinning, he took it back from her as she tried to calm her lungs.

"It must have been the summer of '76, I was living with your dad by then. Your grandparents were busy in our last couple years of Hogwarts because of the war, so that summer was just me and James. He got the bright idea to go into muggle London, wanted to find some record for Lily or something. Saw all these muggles smoking, so I naturally had to investigate. We brought loads back to Hogwarts and made a fortune selling them, but Moony got them banned once he realized how addictive they were. Damn prefects," Sirius said, shaking his head fondly as he reminisced.

Wanting a second try, Penny reached for the cigarette and took it slower this time. She coughed less, the motion of releasing the smoke relaxing her. She took another drag before handing it back to Sirius, trying to imagine him and her father sitting much like this, best friends doing what they do best. But she couldn't help but feel such a deep sadness at the thought of the kind of loneliness Sirius must have felt all these years without him. Penny knew the kind of agony she endured, thinking of the father she never knew, wishing every time she saw a shooting star that she could have but a moment with him. And here sat Sirius, having known and loved, in Penny's opinion, the best man that had ever existed. How much harder was it to have gone from seeing his messy head of hair; laughed with him, spent long nights together thinking about a future they'd never get to see together, only to find empty space where he once existed? It felt too cruel that Sirius would have lost his best friend at only 21, and then of course he lost everything else soon after.

With a pang of regret, Penny realized how intimately familiar she was with that feeling. It'd only been seven months since Cedric had passed—Cedric who had been 17, taken much too soon like her father, and yet it felt like an eternity. So much had changed and she often caught herself thinking she should tell him about it, but the thought filled her with too much pain, so she pushed it away.

"Listen, kid, Remus told me what they did, don't hold it against him for doing so, I made him. But I imagine what you did share only scratched the surface of Yaxley did to you in there," he said, his voice lower, the strain evident in it.

"I don't mind that he told you. I just can't explain it all again," Penny said quietly.

"You don't have to, not for anyone, not if you don't want to," he said sternly, dark eyes demanding a response.

Penny nodded her head, thankful for his support on the matter. It made her feel a little less guilty about keeping her mark from him.

"In life, there are some things we can't control, and it's a waste of energy wishing we could. Your time is better well spent on those you can. I'm not saying there hasn't been and won't ever be something you are guilty of, but this, you can't bear responsibility for what others would do with the gift you have. Yes, it's a burden, your burden, and it will be up to you to guard it one day, but right now you're just a kid, you're allowed to be a kid, and there was nothing you could have done. Nothing"

"How do I live with it though? I can't stop thinking about them in that cage—worrying about Remus—"

"You let it go and do the right thing if you ever get the chance. As for Moony, let me look after him. I promise I've gotten pretty good at it after all these years. Him being so easy on the eyes makes it easy," Sirius winked.

"Thanks, Sirius."

"Nah, don't thank me. I'm the reason you're an orphan, if James had been here, none of it would have happened to you," Sirius said, and for the first time, Penny heard sadness in Sirius' voice.

"I don't think he blames you. . ." Penny whispered, inhaling another deep breath of smoke, not even coughing this time.

"I suppose I can't disagree with you until I get the chance to ask him. Gotta admit, nothing about death scares me more than the thought of him. . ." Sirius started, but he quickly cleared his throat, turning away to pretend to fiddle with something, but Penny knew he was wiping his eyes. "But that's a long way off, you're stuck with me until I'm an old man and it'll be you who has to take care of me."

"Me? Why not Harry?"

"Just between us, his cooking is awful, and it'd keep Moony happy if you were around. You have no idea what a little killjoy he can be," Sirius said, his eyes narrowing dubiously toward the quiet house.

At this Penny burst out laughing, wrapping her arm around his waist and leaning into him.

"Alright. I'll take care of you when you're senile, and I'll even sneak in a pack of smokes when Remus isn't looking," she smiled.

Wrapping his own hand around her, he leaned down and kissed the top of her head, "I look forward to it, kid."

Because Sirius was apparently a chain smoker, he smoked three more cigarettes, the two of them sitting in silence as they watched the sun rise in the sky. By the time it had turned a brilliant red and gold, he led her back into the house where they climbed back through the window they'd come, finding the room put back together and Lupin waiting with a steaming pot of coffee and a table full of food.

Eyes darting around, Lupin answered the question before she could ask it.

"He went for the plates," he assured her.

Clambering through the window very ungracefully, Penny seated herself before the decadent feast just as the door swung open. A thin hand offered her a plate, Penny looking up into the dark eyes that were watching her. As she expected, his thoughts were hidden behind that wall of his, there would be no reaching him when Sirius was present.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

Surprisingly, Snape took the seat beside her, Sirius looking daggers at him from his seat across from them.

"That's a lot," Penny said, weakly when Lupin piled her plate with food.

"Molly will have my head if I do not properly insist on at least two helpings," Lupin said, the corners of his lips upturning in amusement.

Reluctantly, Penny she did not feel hungry, the taste was marvelous, reminding her of how much she missed Mrs. Weasley's home cooked meals, they warmed her right into her soul. She had to force herself to slow down and drink the tea Lupin offered her, her stomach very wary of all the contents being shoveled in.

"The snake eats after all? Aren't you going to decline and make excuses for why you need to be on your way to some Death Eater soiree? You'd find none of us would mind seeing the back of you," Sirius said, casually, filling his plate with sausage links.

"I wouldn't want you to get bored, Black, having nothing to do and all, so I figure I can do my part and at least leave some dishes for you to occupy yourself with," Snape said smoothly, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Beside Penny, she could hear Lupin give a quiet, impatient sigh, but he remained fixed on his food. Penny, however, shamelessly watched the bickering fools, who wouldn't so much as look at the other.

"Ah yes, Severus' one line. But you are a bit of a one trick pony, aren't you? Sniveling at the feet of more powerful men is your expertise at this point, isn't it." Sirius retorted, sipping his tea loudly.

"As opposed to what? I'm not sure I've heard of you having any talents now that I think of it. But I suppose gold compensates for a lot," Snape said, delicately.

It was at this point that Sirius started to look irritated, something Lupin also noticed and tried his best to divert.

"Isn't the tea marvelous? I asked Mundungus to get it for you, Penny. It's from Egypt and supposed to have amazing properties. Quite the different flavor profile, wouldn't you say, Sirius?"

"It tastes like rubbish, probably because Mundungus ripped you off, Moony. Haven't I told you not to trust him? He probably removed all the tags off some cheap store brand," Sirius said, dismissively. "I do have a talent, Snivellus, it's sniffing out rats," Sirius growled.

"Oh? That's news to us. I assume you acquired those skills after Potter's untimely death."

It was a low blow, but coming from Snape, not entirely unexpected. Lupin groaned inwardly, as he rubbed his temple, clearly lacking the energy to deal with another of their fights.

Sirius slammed his mug onto the table just as Penny burst into a fight of laughter, the sound startling all three of them. All eyes fixed on her, each looking anxious, as though uncertain if she had finally snapped or not.

"You sound like an old married couple," she said between stitches in her side.

"Sirius is taken," Lupin said, a distinct sourness in his tone.

"If I was not already all too familiar with your stupidity, Potter, I might have thought they addled your brain."

"Excuse me? Penny isn't stupid, she's as brilliant as James. And anyway, you can't call her stupid. He can't call her stupid," Sirius said, turning to Lupin for confirmation.

"Technically he can, but ethics would suggest that he shouldn't," Lupin frowned.

"Don't worry about it, he lies for a living, and we all know he would have never tolerated me this long if he actually thought I was stupid," Penny said, offhandedly, Snape not bothering to correct her. But neither Sirius or Lupin seemed that convinced, so Penny offered to fill up every's mug in attempt to steer the conversation away from the argument.

The meal proved to be very therapeutic, Penny feeling much more like a human being with her stomach stuffed. She was starting to feel drowsy again, but she brushed it away, too acutely aware of how her three caretakers were glancing at her every now and then like they expected her to self-destruct at any moment.

Much to her relief, a knock at the door sent Mrs. Black into one of her usual screaming fits, which forced Sirius downstairs to try and shut her up. Lupin followed suit, taking the dirty dishes with him and leaving the two on their own. Penny debated awkwardly within herself if she was supposed to slide away from Snape now that Lupin's absence left much more space open on the couch.

But just when she'd made her decision to slide inconspicuously away from Snape, a pincer-like hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled, causing her to fall into his lap. Uncertain what she was supposed to make of the gesture, Penny laid very still for a moment before rolling over to look up at the man. He was rubbing the bridge of his nose, pain evident in his features.

"Are you okay?" she said, tentatively.

"Yes," he lied, one eye opening to peer down at her.

Curling her lip in irritation she replied, "You could just answer truthfully, it wasn't a loaded question."

He didn't respond, but he continued to watch her, making what little annoyance she felt dissipate under the intensity of his gaze.

"You look tired," she observed, her eyes trailing over his face, his under eyes somehow looking even darker.

"How astute," he drawled.

"If you don't want company, I can go," Penny said, a bite to her tone as she tried to sit up, but he held her firmly in place.

"Don't," but when this did not garner the response he'd hoped he added, "Please," with an eye roll.

"Fine, but only if you get some sleep."

"I'm not tired—"

"And I'm the Queen of England," Penny cut across him. "I solemnly swear I won't tell anyone you eat and sleep," she said, sardonically.

He considered her for a long moment, his eyes trailing from her own along her cheek bones and down to where they both knew the mark on her chest was. He looked at it for several minutes as though he could see through her t-shirt before reaching for his wand. A second later a book appeared in his hand, which he shoved unceremoniously at her.

"Read," he said, before closing his eyes. When she hadn't opened her mouth but could be heard rifling through the pages, he added, "Out loud, Potter," impatiently.

"Oh! You could've just said that," she grumbled. "The Great Gatsby," she read.

She'd never read this book herself, but she knew enough of it to find it the most peculiar choice of his. Add to the mix that he was asking her to read it outloud to him like a bedtime story, and she found herself wondering if it was perhaps his brain that was addled. Surely this was not the same Potions Master who'd spent so much time sending her running in circles after him and never missed an opportunity to tell her to go away?

But as she read, his body relaxed, and before long she recognized the patterned breathing that indicated he was asleep. She stopped reading and waited to see if he would stir, but nothing happened so she quietly closed the book and rolled very slowly off his lap, pausing every fraction of a second, afraid of waking him. After a ridiculous amount of effort, she was on the floor, sitting up to look at the serene man sleeping. He even frowned in his sleep, she noted, causing her to chuckle.

Looking around, Penny agonized about whether or not she should leave the room or not. The door was a sure-fire way to wake him. But even if it didn't, there were several bodies existing on the other side, bodies that would ask her all sorts of questions. In here, she was safe from all that. Except there was one person she wished to see above any other—Harry.

Every atom in Penny was aching to see her twin, but she was much too cowardly to reach out to him with her mind, afraid of what he might find if he were to look into her mind. Penny didn't have much time to debate because something stirring just to her left distracted her. Stepping through the wall like he did at the Department of Mysteries, Fleamont entered, stopping just shy of Penny to give himself a big stretch and yawn. Then, purring loudly, he began circling her, smooshing his face against any piece of Penny he could reach.

"How'd you make it back here?" Penny whispered, marveling at the cat.

He looked up at her with his big accusing eyes, Penny relenting and patting him. "You are much too mysterious, you know that right? Can you do me a favor and take a message to Harry for me?"

The cat gave her a look that said "I am not an owl!" but he relented when Penny said "Please."

Scratching the message on a spare bit of parchment she found, Fleamont snatched the note and disappeared, Penny creeping toward the door. With some effort, she made it successfully out of the room without waking Snape and crept downstairs and straight into the closet by the front door she'd once been forced into with Lupin. Miraculously, she met no one along the way, and sat in the corner, tapping her foot nervously.

The creaking of the floorboards sent her heart racing, the door opening, and someone stepping inside.

"Harry?" Penny whispered, tentatively.

"Penny?" came the confused tones of her twin.

"Quick. Shut the door!"

"Alright. But why are you in here?" he said, stumbling toward her in the dark. She caught him, her hands searching blindly and finding his cheeks. Dragging him into her embrace she hugged him so hard his head could have popped like a tomato.

"You're choking me!"

"Sorry," she said, letting him go.

After a minute of readjusting so they were sitting face to face, not that they could see the other, their legs overlapping Harry finally said, "You didn't even recognize me. . ."

"I'm sorry—"

"Why are you apologizing, he did that to you," Harry said, sounding angry. "Penny, are-are you going to be okay? Like actually okay? And don't say yes just to say it."

"I-I don't know," Penny admitted."But if you can be okay after what happened in that graveyard, then I want to believe I can too."

"But Penny—what'd they do to you exactly?"

It was the question she'd expected, but that still had not made it any less daunting to answer. Penny knew it came from a place of care, worry, and the need to share her burden, but saying the words felt like an impossible task, and yet, she owed it to him to try. Taking a deep breath, she started on the venture of explaining exactly what had taken place, beginning with the Slytherin poker game.

"You were in their Common Room? Are you insane, what if they—"

"Snape already made that argument," Penny said, cutting him off before he could gain steam. The implied comparison to his most hated Professor seemed to be enough to shut him up.

From there she finally admitted to hiding what Umbridge had done to her during her detentions and the threat she'd made about the holiday, a fact that sent Harry on a tirade about not keeping things to herself, and that she should have told someone, stopping just shy asserting she should have gone to Dumbledore because he was still on bad terms with their Headmaster.

"Nah, McGonagall is fine. Everyone was talking about it at school, how she blew up half the Hospital Wing and took on 13 Ministry officials."

"13? There were six."

"You know how these things get out of hand. Still impressive but."

"What'd they say about me?" Penny asked, feeling morbidly curious.

"That Yaxley works for the Russians and you were to be executed," said Harry in amusement.

Penny couldn't help but laugh too. The thought of things as simple as Hogwart's gossip, it made it much harder for her to say what came next, but she somehow managed to force herself, each word feeling like something vile she was ejecting from herself. Much like the others, Harry remained silent, but she could feel the tension in his muscles.

"They can't get away with this. It's wrong, it's against the law!"

"They are the law, Harry."

"Well they shouldn't be. She's evil, we know this, why don't they see it! Making you do that to someone, how is it any different than what Voldemort does?"

Penny flinched involuntarily at the name, reaching for her mark, but stopping herself, suddenly worried Harry would notice and might ask her about it. Though speaking with him made Penny feel much better, her mark was different, it was such a deep violation of her person, that having others know, it felt like a continuation of that violation. She did not want to be pitied any more than she already was. And after re-living the horrors of the Department of Mysteries, she did not have it in her to recount what Snape and her had endured before she'd even made it there.

"I don't have any faith that anyone at the Ministry is going to do anything. If we want to get rid of her, we will have to do it ourselves," said Penny. "But anyway, what happened? I saw that vision of the snake but—"

"You saw it too?" Harry said, sounding utterly relieved.

"Yeah? I felt you there too, didn't you notice me?"

"No. . ."

"That was Arthur? Is he alright? And why was Nagini at the Ministry?"

"They got to him in time but there seems to have been a rather unusual kind of poison in the snake's fangs, something about the wounds reopening. Do you remember the 'weapon' Sirius let slip during the summer? Well we reckon it's at the Ministry and that's why Nagini was there."

"It makes sense. I suppose Arthur was on guard duty?" Penny said slowly, trying to imagine what kind of weapon the Ministry would have that the Dark Lord would want.

"But I don't understand, how did we have—"

But Penny did not get to finish her sentence, the door opening and blinding them with light. Mrs. Weasley yelped when she realized someone was in the cupboard, grabbing her heart in fright. "Harry, Penny what in the blazes are you doing in here?"

"Talking," they said in unison.

"In the dark?"

"It was the only place to find a bit of privacy," Penny shrugged.

It was at this point that Mrs. Weasley registered who Penny was, reaching into the closet and pulling her into a strangling embrace. She held her tightly, sniffling as she muttered several things, Harry looking away awkwardly. Then she released Penny, held her at arms length and said "Are you hungry? Of course you are, what would you like? I can make whatever you want," she said, before listening off an inordinate amount of possibilities.

Feeling overwhelmed, Penny defaulted to "Whatever is easiest," and made her way toward the kitchen where they found Sirius and Lupin also sitting, arguing about something, but both came to a sudden stop and looked up when they entered, Lupin looking surprised by Penny, but then his eyes found Harry and a knowing smile formed across his lips. Squishing onto Harry's chair because being in her own chair was even too far from him, Penny listened as the group talk jovially about Britain's most recent quidditch game, Penny smiling at the intensity with which her twin debated the topic and discussed the flying. He did love quidditch, if only Umbridge hadn't stolen that from him.

"Did Severus take his leave?" Lupin inquired as soon as he found an exit from the conversation and turned to Penny.

"Hmm? Oh, no. He fell asleep and I thought it better to let him rest."

"Ahh. I don't think I saw him sleep for more than a half-hour at a time for the last week," mused Lupin.

"Week?" Penny said in confusion. "Didn't we arrive yesterday?"

"Oh, we should have explained. We put you into an enchanted sleep because you were having so many, er, difficulties."

"I don't remember," Penny looking past him to watch Mrs. Weasley hummed merrily as she set several pots flying to the stove.

"Considering the amount of distress you were in, I'm not at all surprised."

"So I went to sleep in 1995 and woke up in 1996?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that," he smiled sadly.

"Any new year's resolutions?" Penny asked, looking back at him.

"Yes, actually. To take you on a day trip before the holiday ends."

"Really?" Penny said, her evident excitement at the prospect, making him chuckle. "Where to?"

"I don't want to ruin the surprise," he said, poking her nose affectionately.

Penny tried for some time to weasel the destination out of him, but he remained notoriously tight lipped. Finally, Mrs. Weasley ended their back and forth, announcing dinner was finished and asking Penny if she preferred to take hers in the drawing room. Knowing she would disappoint the hopeful faces around her, Penny took the plate and made her exit.

Though she felt much better than she had, Penny still did not feel able or ready to handle the onslaught of noise, commotion, and curious looks. There was still too much to process and Penny already felt exhausted by the little progress she'd made.

Doing her best to return as quietly as possible, Penny nearly sprang out of her skin when a voice spoke from the darkness behind her. "Don't bother. Those oafish footsteps of yours make it impossible to sleep."

"Good morning, nice to see you too," Penny said sourly, crossing the room and taking up residence in the chair Sirius had left to demonstrate her annoyance with him.

She set the plate down, not really feeling up to another meal, her fatigued brain wanting nothing more than to escape all the buzzing the talking had caused in her mind.

"Eat."

"I'll eat when you eat."

Reaching across the table, Snape picked up her plate, took her fork in hand and began to spin it into her pasta. When he had a decent amount, his eyes found hers, and he took a slow bite of her food, chewing purposefully before looking back down at the plate and spearing several carrots and consuming them next.

Passing the plate back to her, he arched his brow.

"It has your germs on it—you can't expect me—" Penny floundered, feeling unusually warm and flustered.

"Don't tell me you believe in cooties, Potter," he said with that "you're-so-juvenile" look of his.

"No-yes—so what if I do!"

"You should have stated the stipulations before striking the bargain, then. Now, eat."

Wondering momentarily what he would do if she refused, Penny opted for less conflict, knowing she did not have the energy to fight him. Unable to unsee the fork entering his mouth, Penny tried to push the image to the back of her head as she took a mouthful of pasta, knowing full well nothing about her eating was nearly as annoyingly alluring as him. Several bites later, she passed it back, and miraculously he accepted it. They continued this way until the plate was clean. Snape yawning and rubbing his tired eyes. He looked as though he needed another day's worth of sleep, and he seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he slipped his shoes off and did something Penny had never seen him do before—he laid down.

"Stop gawking, Potter and get over here. Merlin knows you could use more rest."

"You want me to lay with you?" Penny said, dumbfounded.

"Did I stutter?"

"I don't know anymore. . ." Penny admitted.

"If you prefer the floor, be my guest," he said in that husky voice she only ever heard when he was on the verge of sleep.

Getting up slowly, Penny made her way toward him, certain that at any moment the dark eyes would snap open and it would turn out he was joking. But he did not stir when she sat down in the space he'd allotted for her. Placing her head on the pillow, she laid down, her back toward him, trying her best not to touch him, but as soon as her body weight had connected with the cushion, a large arm reached over her and pulled her closer to him, his warm breath tickling her neck.

He held her tightly, as though afraid she would escape again while he slept. Penny couldn't help but smile, the gesture filling her with an odd sense of happiness. She stared at the hand resting just below her cleavage for some time before reaching for his hand and closing her eyes.

"Why'd you make me wait so damn long. It could have always been this nice," she sighed.