Hey all, I ended up getting sick :( so that sucks! But all the time in bed gave me time to focus on writing! I decided to name this chapter after the chapter in the book, so you might recognize it!
I hope you enjoy it, it's actually 10k long and twice as long as normal updates because I wanted to finish everything here instead of writing two separate chapters. I hope you enjoy it!
I have a few more things to say, but I'll send them in the notes at the end. ❤️
The end of the Easter holidays only brought Penny misery. Fred and George officially made their departure from Hogwarts in a most spectacular fashion that would go down in Hogwarts history. Penny must have been the only student in the entire castle who did not witness their great escape, but that was because she'd decided to take a long walk that day after they'd given her their goodbyes, informing her they were leaving that afternoon.
The goodbye was hard for Penny, who was not sure why she felt so emotional about it, but thankful her friends did not mock her for it; Fred adopting an uncharacteristically serious expression and pulling her into a tight embrace when she looked at the ground, her throat constricting uncomfortably as she tried to speak unformed thoughts.
"We'll be expecting you this summer, to decorate the flat, you know George has no taste," he said in her ear.
"And if I don't either?"
"Then you'll be relegated to the dishes," answered George, taking his turn to give her a hug when he'd finally pried a disgruntled Fred off her.
"You know just because I'm looking forward to our slumber party doesn't mean I've forgiven you for abandoning me."
"Well you know what that means," said Fred.
"What's it mean?" said Penny.
"You should have accepted my marriage proposal when you had the chance," grinned Fred.
"Oh? But Where's the fun in that? You of all people should know everything is made better with a little chase," Penny said with a sly smile that made Fred's cheeks burn red and George groan.
"Nope, we aren't doing this again," George said, grabbing Fred and trying to wrestle him to the door. "It's been lovely, Penny. Try not to miss us too much, and don't let Ginny run anymore of those boring romance columns, unless she finally adds the smut the audience wants and deserves," he added, glancing back at Penny.
"Will do," Penny laughed as she watched Fred splay out like a wet cat in a bathtub to stop George from pulling him from the room.
Finally kicking free of George, Fred straightened up and crossed the room, taking up residence much closer to Penny than he typically did, reminding Penny of the night of mayhem and how very near kissing they had come. He was much taller than Penny, but not as much as Cedric had been. Even still, she had to tilt her head to allow her eyes to take in his handsome freckled face, noting how much older he seemed. He'd been just a gangly 13-year old kid when she'd met him on the Hogwarts express on that first horrid day of hers. Somehow she'd gotten swept away in the crowd boarding the Hogwarts Express and lost Harry. Thinking Harry would search for her, she'd snatched the first empty compartment she found, but it did not stay empty for long because apparently it was a known fact that the compartment belonged to Hogwarts' resident trouble makers—the twins and their good friend, Lee Jordan.
These days Fred was much broader, but the most noticeable change was found in his eyes. He looked down on Penny with an intensity that she hadn't seen before, but as she watched him she began to wonder if perhaps it'd always been there and she'd just never taken the time to notice. It was a thought that made her feel ashamed for the careless way she'd almost kissed him that night. She also couldn't help but appreciate how good Fred was to her, because he'd stopped her that night because she'd been drinking even though everyone else around them did not seem to mind drunk snogging sessions. But not Fred, Fred did not want to do anything she'd regret, a fact that made her feel both like a very lucky and undeserving girl.
"There's no use pretending like we all don't know—I love you Penelope Potter, and even though you definitely chose the wrong Weasley and broke my heart, I don't regret it. But if somewhere down the line you finally get bored of all these undeserving chumps who definitely cannot even begin to fathom how perfect you are, give me a chance," he said, leaning down and placing a lingering kiss on her cheek that made Penny's face burn.
"F-Fred I-I don't know what to say—"
"No words necessary, my dear, rendering you speechless is enough," Fred said with a satisfied smirk.
"As adorable as the theatrics are, the real show awaits," George said, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Toodles, Penny. Until the summer then. I'll keep a place in my bed warm for you," Fred winked.
The pair of them were in the doorway when Penny finally found her voice. "It won't be the same without you," she called, her heart panging when they paused to look back at her. "I'm happy for you, I really am. So go knock it out of the bloody park."
"You got it coach," they said in unison.
And just like that, Penny's life became much emptier, though she found solace in the company of Lee Jordan who was also having a hard time with the loss of his best friends. Granted, Penny did not have all that much time to spend on sulking because OWLs were just over the horizon meaning the fifth years spent all their waking hours studying old notes in preparation or having anxious break downs, sometimes both in tandem. While their professors had stopped assigning them homework, Penny still had detention with Snape, which turned out not to be detention at all, but something entirely worse.
In lieu of her detention Snape had taken it upon himself to force her into hours of OWL preparation directed by him. Upon his proposal, Penny had figured it would be a fine idea, if not a great one that would surely assure she aced her exams. As it turned out, it was a giant nightmare because, while Penny met Snape's high demand for excellence in Potions, she apparently did not come close to that bar in any of her other work and especially not in defense against the dark arts.
"What do you call this?"
"My answer, obviously," Penny said, having no patience for his berating today.
"An answer to what? Certainly not the exam question."
"How is that not an acceptable answer, it's three paragraphs long!"
"Precisely! Are you answering the question or trying to convince yourself you know the answer? You must be concise!"
"It was you who told me to be more thorough!" Penny all but yelled, wanting to rip her hair from her head in frustration.
"How is it nothing penetrates that thick head of yours," he said, dark eyes flashing dangerously.
"Because you insist on being infuriatingly convoluted and then deludedly pretend you aren't."
"Alright, if you prefer I speak plainly, you need not waste energy on pitiful answers like these, you may as well leave them blank!" he said, slamming the paper back down before her.
"The only thing pitiful here is your attempt at instruction!" Penny fumed, picking up the paper and ripping it into shreds before throwing it onto the floor at his feet.
"Because you are a useless, lazy pupil!" he spat.
"Yeah? Tell me more," Penny said, getting to her feet and whipping out her wand before he could even respond. "Levicorpus!" The spell hit Snape and sent him into the air where he dangled upside-down, his face beet red. Before he could retrieve his own wand and jinx her back, Penny had already waved her wand for the second time. "Accio!" His wand slid from his fingers and landed smoothly in her own, Penny crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air as she watched him struggle. "See? And I only had that memory of my father to learn that one, so it seems the weak link here is you."
"POTTER!" he choked out in a scream, much too enraged to construct a sentence.
"Tut tut, professor, you might as well not waste your breath on such a pitiful attempt—"
"50 points from Gryffindor!"
"Bloody awesome, is that all you got? Should I tickle you while you're up there, or see if you have any lover letters hanging about?" she said nonchalantly, pretending to peer around the room in indecision.
"Let me down, NOW!"
"And if I don't?" Penny said, feeling much too rebellious than was good for her health and pulse.
"Another 100—" he started, but Penny relented not wanting to depress her fellow Gryffindors more by putting them in the negatives for house points. So with a flick of her wand he crumpled to a heap on the floor, Penny tossing his wand at him and not bothering to be gentle. Grabbing her things she turned and shamelessly ran for the door in fear of her life. She managed to skid out just before it magically slammed shut, Penny hearing Snape's cursing following after her. She would pay dearly for that later, but in the adrenaline of her anger, she did not care.
As her OWL's loomed closer, Penny found it harder and harder to sleep, which was not helping her anxiety around doing poorly, because being tired was a sure-fire way to fail her exams. Regardless, as the days drew warmer and June got nearer, it brought with it the one year anniversary of Cedric's death. With more and more frequency Penny found herself abruptly reminded of memories of Cedric, something that made it difficult for her to focus and destabilized her coping skills, or avoidance skills, as Draco liked to call them.
Soon, merely existing in Hogwarts castle brought Penny an agony she could not escape because she was seeing Cedric in every corridor; feeling him in every summer breeze, and hearing him in every quiet night in the library. There was no escaping the emptiness that absence brought, until Penny realized there was a refuge from the onslaught of emotions, and it was found in Harry's mind. Harry, being the marvelous being he was, knew she was suffering as June 24th loomed closer, and made a point of being with Penny wherever she went, something that also suited him because Hermione had turned into a certified maniac in her studies, so Penny and Harry were all too glad to study alone, not that Harry did much other than groan about studying.
When their exams began on that ugly, horrible, awful, life-deciding Monday, Penny was thankful to find her mind had managed to conquer itself and she was able to put Cedric aside and focus on the task at hand. Over the course of two weeks Penny would be sitting ten OWL exams, most having a written component which she would sit in the morning and a practical taken in the afternoon.
For the first time in Penny's academic career, she felt nervous sitting an exam. If Penny had any hope of even entertaining the possibility of becoming a teacher, she needed to achieve nothing below an E in all of her subjects, a foreboding task considering the difficulty she'd had over the course of the year in becoming competent with her wand. Standing before her examiner, Griselda Marchbanks, Penny took a deep breath.
"Just take your time, dear. When you're ready," the woman said, smiling at Penny with an unexpected kindness considering her severe features.
Transfiguration had been the subject that gave her the most difficulty since she stopped using her expression, and was the subject Penny knew would be most likely to make or break her chances of pursuing her desired career. With so much riding on this, Penny did as her examiner told her and allowed herself a moment to think through what she needed to do with a vanishing spell and then another to attune herself with her wand. Feeling it's core thumping in her hand, Penny waved her wand in the required motion, concentrated on the enchantment and on her first try vanished her tea cup, snails and iguana in a fluid motion.
"On the first try, and non-verbally!" said in awe. "Very impressive, Miss Potter. Very very impressive," she said as she scribbled something onto her clipboard.
Filled with such relief, Penny thanked her examiner and looked up as she made for the exit, her eyes finding Professor McGonagall standing stiffly in the entrance to the hall, her be-spectacled eyes watching Penny. She gave Penny a nod, the tiniest of smiles playing at the corner of her lips, and Penny knew she'd done it. A grin breaking out over her face, Penny skipped the rest of the way from the room and made for the library to study for the Herbology exam she would be taking the next day, Harry and Ron joining her sometime later, and informing her Hannah Abbott had turned her iguana into a flock of flamingos.
By the end of the first week, Penny was mostly happy with how she'd done, only feeling a little uneasy about a couple of questions in her ancient runes exam, a realization she only came to because of Hermione's incessant need to talk through all the questions, and Penny not taking pains to avoid her once the exam had finished.
While Penny and every other fifth year wanted nothing more than to spend their weekend recovering from the difficult week, they were all forced to resign themselves to using all that free time to continue studying, so that come Monday, Penny felt entirely too drained for an exam. Fortunately for her, she started the week with potions, and finished both her written and practical exam well before any of her classmates, Ms. Marchbanks clucking approvingly when she looked over Penny's offering. Knowing full well she aced it, Penny let herself have the evening off. Care of magical creatures and Arithmancy would not be hard, and as she predicted, they went accordingly, except, Penny remembered to make a break for the exit after Arthimancy to avoid Hermione unsettling her again. While Astronomy, on the other hand, took a turn for the worse when just over halfway through their exam, Umbridge and several ministry officials tried to ambush Hagrid under the cover of night. Blanketed by the darkness of the grounds, Penny's class could all hear the fight break out, their examiner trying to get them to focus on their exam, but it was a pointless endeavor because the encounter turned into an all out brawl that ended up with Hagrid fleeing Hogwarts and Professor McGonagall taking six stunning spells to the chest when she'd arrived to help Hagrid.
Watching her head of house go down had shaken Penny, but she'd forced herself to hastily scribble down the last of her star chart before heading back to the common room where everyone was discussing the events. Naturally, Harry, Ron and Hermione were furious about Hagrid and worried for him, but Penny's worries were for Professor McGonagall and whether or not Madam Pomfrey would be able to heal her.
Knowing worrying about it would do nothing for her, Penny resigned herself to a fitful night of sleep. Their last exam was history of magic, Penny's least favorite subject, and it was on the hottest day of the month too. Sitting in the blistering heat of the Great Hall while quills scratched around her, lulling her into a dazed stupor, Penny began answering questions and doing her best not to doze. A task that was not helped by the fact the Goblin riots and wand legislation of the 18th century was the most dull and monotonous piece of history to recount, so she tried changing questions, deciding she would get back to this one later. Looking at question ten about the creation of the international confederation of wizards and Liechtenstein's refusal to join, she decided to give it a go and began writing, remembering with a startling amount of details the events. But despite her memory knowing what she needed to do, Penny was still having trouble focusing, and the more she tried to concentrate, the harder it became to see the words beneath her quill.
Blinking in rapid succession to try to convince her eyes to start working properly, Penny looked up, the Great Hall distorting as she did so. For a moment she saw nothing as the head of black hair before her disappeared and became a long, cool corridor instead. A corridor Penny recognized because it led to the Department of Mysteries. Despite her trepidation, her feet moved eagerly forward through the door just ahead. Shaking her head, Penny tried a second time to bring the Great Hall back into focus and managed to succeed, but before she could so much as raise her hand and let an examiner know something was wrong, she was back, running down that corridor.
The black door opened to a circular room she had never seen before. Lining every wall was a series of doors, and while she tried to crane her neck to take in just how many there were, her feet began to move again, straight across the room and through a second door. Stepping through, Penny found a cathedral sized room full of shelves, upon which were a countless number of glowing spheres. Penny did not know what they were, but she still felt compelled to touch one, though she did not get the chance because she was moving along rows, searching for something. Slowing at row 97, she turned left, her steps only faltering when she arrived upon a large, groaning shape at the row's end.
"Take it for me," the voice that Penny feared most said. "I cannot touch it, but you can."
When the shape on the floor shifted but did not obey, "Crucio!" hissed through the air; the man on the floor letting out a cry of pain, but despite it he tried to lift himself, only managing to get a couple of centimeters up before he crumpled into a writhing heap. Cold laughter followed suit, the stillness of the man telling Penny the spell had been lifted.
"Lord Voldemort is waiting."
In what looked like a grueling effort, the man raised his bloodied face toward his captor and Penny could make out the defiance that seemed to emanate from it despite his obvious pain. "You'll have to kill me," whispered Sirius.
"Undoubtedly I shall, in the end," said Voldemort. "But you will fetch it for me first, Black. You think you have felt pain thus far? Think again. We have hours ahead of us and nobody to hear you scream."
And again, Sirius began writhing in pain, his yells drowning out Penny's own screams as she collapsed clutching her splitting head. Surely her consciousness was being ripped from her head. If there were any recourse, any way to take back her mind and place it where it belonged, Penny would not find it because in her agony she fell into darkness.
When she awoke next, it was to a lingering throbbing, horrible nausea in the pit of her stomach and something cold pressed against her cheek. Barely able to keep her eyes open against the light of the candle beside her, Penny blinked away the tears and focused on the dark figure looking over her.
With a loud gasp, she bolted upright, remembering the vision she'd had, feeling as though only seconds had passed since she entered the hall and it'd come over her. But glancing out the window, she could see the sky was darkening, sending her into a panic.
"If you do not want to pass out again, lay back down," Snape said in evident irritation as he tried to force her back onto her pillow.
"Harry, where's Harry!"
"You collapsed during your exam, Potter. Now is not the time—"
"No, you don't understand, we must find Harry. He'll go after Sirius!" Penny said, grabbing the arm of Snape's robe desperately, causing him to frown slightly before his dark eyes scrutinized her suspiciously.
"And what cause would Mr. Potter have for going after Black when Mr. Potter belongs here until term ends?" he said, clearly looking to gauge her response.
"I don't have the time to explain, but I saw it, like last time with the snake. The Dark Lord and Sirius at the Department of Mysteries. There is something there he wants Sirius to get for him and he said he'd kill him if he didn't!"
Penny watched as Snape's complexion visibly paled before her, worsening her anxiety. "You have to contact the order, send someone for Sirius and let me go find Harry, I have to stop him!" Penny went on, frantic now as she tried to climb out of bed, but Snape kept her where she was.
"I have already contacted Black and it seems he is sitting at home being useless like he always is while I am forced to chase after his brats."
"He is? And Harry, you told him that?" Penny said, relief spreading through her.
"As it stands, Potter went and got himself caught in Umbridge's fire and ventured into the Dark Forest with the headmistress and that Granger girl an hour ago and has not returned. So no, I have not told him," Snape replied tersely.
The world around Penny shifted jarringly as her head gave a particularly horrible throb, making her sway slightly before regaining herself.
"We have to go after him and tell Harry so he—"
"There will be no we doing anything, Potter. You will remain here and rest and I—"
"But, professor you know Harry, he'll go after Sirius—"
"—nevertheless," Snape said, squeezing her shoulder pointedly to shut her up so he could finish. "I will deal with Potter and if he really has proven himself to be stupid enough to walk right into the Dark Lord's hands, then the Order will handle it. But you will do as I say, and if you are fortunate enough they will allow you to resist your exam—"
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT MY EXAM. MY BROTHER, MY ONLY LIVING FAMILY MEMBER IS POSSIBLY HALF WAY INTO A TRAP AND YOU EXPECT ME TO JUST SIT HERE—"
"Yes. Potter I do, and you will do well to heed me, or risk my displeasure. Your interference would only serve to worsen the situation, so you will sit here and allow those competent to deal with precious Potter's petulance. But I will not tolerate you risking your own life for his lazy stupidity, because if he had any brain cells he would have learned to shut his mind to such obvious attempts to lure him from this castle! Now, go back to sleep, Potter, you will be locked in until I am satisfied that the foolhardiness that seems to run in your family has worn off."
And with that, Snape turned on his heel and walked briskly from the room, the locking clicking as soon as it snapped shut. With an enraged scream, Penny threw the vase from her bedside at the door, not caring when it shattered. Her mind racing with both fear and desperation, Penny closed her eyes and searched the grounds for even the faintest flicker of Harry's presence, but all she found was emptiness, a vast blanket of silence.
Unable to stand remaining still a moment longer, she got to her feet and started pacing, the worry in her chest making it hard to breath. "Please, not Harry, anything but Harry," Penny repeated as her eyes burned with tears. "I can't stay here," she went on, turning to the door and banging on it. "Let me out!" Penny yelled, not stopping her barrage until a small meow at her feet distracted her.
Purring as he pressed his face against her leg, Fleamont did little circles about her feet.
"Fleamont," Penny cried, picking her friend up and pulling him close to her face so she could kiss him. The overwhelming fear eased as she held him, but did not disappear completely. "It's Harry Fleamont, he's in danger. I have to go to him, I need to find Harry," Penny said into the soft cat, several tears rolling off her cheek and landing on him.
Turning his face toward her, he squished his nose against her cheek before wiggling violently, demanding release. Kneeling, Penny set him down and Fleamont looked up at her with his big eyes before making his way to the empty wall just across the room. Penny watched for a moment as the cat seemed to stare at the wall. But then she jumped when the lights above flickered and the air started to vibrate, the wall before Fleamont warping, almost as though it were now liquid instead of solid.
"Fleamont?" Penny called, racing toward the cat in fear, but he turned to her, meowing incessantly, avoiding her reach. "What did you do!" she said in awe, reaching toward the changed wall, uncertain if it was advisable to touch it or not. With a proud meow, the cat jumped through disappearing and leaving Penny too nervous to follow so he stuck his head back through and meowed impatiently at her, so with a deep breath Penny stepped through.
The world around her spun, but oddly, Penny's feet felt firmly planted on the ground before her and she merely continued on her way after Fleamont. Once or twice, she looked at the tunnel, or vortex around her, and found herself sickened by the way the world, or perhaps the universe spun around her, sometimes allowing her to make things out, but mostly blurring together in a mass of light and noise.
Turning to his right, Fleamont hopped off the path into that blender mess, Penny not at all keen to follow this time but she really had no choice, so for the second time, she held her breath and hoped for the best. Though she'd jumped, Penny found herself not falling, but rather moving through a doorway. As soon as she stepped through, the wall behind her returned to its normal function, Penny sliding her hand over it to be sure it was solid. Turning back, she peered down the dark hallway, a little ways down was the closet she'd lived in, but which direction would lead to Harry?
"Fleamont?" Penny whispered, a chill going down her spine as memories of her experience in this place returned, but the cat was nowhere to be found.
Annoyed the cat just left her, she sighed in relief when at least the decision about which direction to go was made for her, a loud commotion catching her attention from the far end of the hall just past her closet. At a sprint she took a right and slowed listening to footsteps trailing away from her, feeling it was better not to call out until she knew exactly who was lurking about. She was in a corridor she had never seen before, with doors leading off in every direction, confusing her. But she knew she had to choose a direction and just go with it, but she paused, her reeling brain finally catching up with what she'd done and what she was potentially walking into.
If Sirius was safe at Grimmauld Place then the vision Penny had seen would have been a fake, something to lure Harry out of Hogwarts, meaning there was someone here waiting for Harry. While Penny was certain the Dark Lord would not be stupid enough to walk into the Ministry of Magic, even for Harry, he undoubtedly sent his Death Eaters. Would Snape have known that? Was that why he'd locked Penny in her room? For a moment she felt guilty for her recklessness, for putting herself in danger once again, but her need to make sure Harry was safe overpowered any guilt that would have convinced her to turn back.
So Penny continued onward, slower now and as quietly as she could. Deciding the hall was leading to nowhere, Penny opted to choose a door at random, reaching for one to her left, her palm closed around it just as a door from behind her opened and someone said something that felt obscenely loud in the quiet corridor.
"Oi, Lucius, found one!" a deep voice yelled from behind her. Whipping around, Penny found two tall figures emerging from the door there, their faces hidden behind that grotesque flesh-like mask the Death Eaters wore.
"Why, if it isn't Penny. You weren't with the others, so what are you doing here, looking for Yaxley? I'm afraid he's already gone home," drawled Lucius, his grey eyes unmistakable, even behind the mask..
"Is this the Potter girl? The one Severus is so intent on?" the second said, looking at Malfoy who nodded, so he turned to Penny and took an appraising step toward her. "His taste hasn't changed, has it?"
"No, him and his love for dirty blood continue to be the ever present thorn in my side. But, alas, Penny isn't just any mudblood's daughter is she? No, no, our special Penny belongs to the Dark Lord, do you not, my dear?" Malfoy cooed, also stepping nearer Penny, whose mind having gone blank, reminded her she was a wizard, so she pulled her wand from her pocket, alternating between pointing at either of their chests', hoping to stop their advance.
"It does make me wonder, now that I think of it, why Severus hasn't learned to keep you on a tighter leash. . ." Lucius added, stopping as they both eyed her wand, but looked far too relaxed for Penny's liking.
Irritated by their evident amusement, Penny found her voice. "How adorable, Lucius feels left out. Miss being the one on the end of Snape's leash, do you? Tell me, because I've always been curious, was the marriage just a cover up or does that wife of yours just not know?"
The man beside Lucius broke into a cackle. "Who would have thought that bastard liked his bitches with a mouth on them."
"You should already know, Mulciber, his taste for indecency knows no bounds, but you would do well to learn to keep it shut, Potter, lest someone feel compelled to teach you some manners," Malfoy said, pulling the mask from his face and looking malevolently down at her.
"Surely it would not be you, seeing as it was Draco who taught me how to recognize vermin. Perhaps you'll have to reassess your parenting," Penny said delicately.
"I see why Severus wants to shove his cock down her throat. I'm getting hard just thinking about making the bitch choke on her words. Think Snape would mind if I had a turn?" Mulciber said, no laughter in his voice this time. A fact that made Penny recoil slightly from him..
"Really, Mulciber, must you insist on having such vulgar sensibilities, she is not Mary McDonald, and dirty blood or not, Severus has chosen her, so you would do well to learn from Yaxley's mistakes and leave it."
"Lucius Malfoy with something intelligent to say, I never thought I'd see the day," Penny said derisively, but her attitude was not so benevolently received this time, Lucius bridging the distance between them more quickly than she anticipated and striking her with the back of his hand across her face, the other knocking her wand effortless from her hand and sending it skidding along the floor where the man named Mulciber picked it up.
"I grow tired of your insolence, girl. And while Severus may be an old friend, you will find my hand all too eagerly tempted into violence if you provoke me. Come to think of it, with you out of the way, Severus may come to his senses and select for himself a wife that is worthy of him. So do me a favor, and continue," Malfoy breathed.
The force of his strike sent her stumbling, but Penny did not let out so much as a whimper, instead she spat the blood from her mouth onto his shoes and set her jaw, not liking where this night was going. Why hadn't she listened to Snape and stayed put?
"Since we both seem to detest our present company, I think I'll be on my way, things to do people to see, you know," Penny said more casually than her shaking legs merited. She took a deliberate step away from Lucius in an attempt to put distance between them and glanced down either end of the hallway for an escape, knowing full well the only way out was through the two men before her. She'd wasted far too much time with these two and still was no closer to finding Harry, she needed a plan—where was Hermione when she needed her?
"I can't let you leave so soon, not when I am ever so curious to learn more about my old friend's betrothed," Mulciber said casually, but Penny caught the threat. He stepped forward and continued to take careful steps forward, twirling her wand in his hand until her back collided with the door, causing him to pause, cocking his head to the side to observe her before pocketing her wand. His forearm taking up residence just beside her head, he leaned in, the horrid mask hanging slackly around his face and very nearly touching her own.
Dark brown eyes encased by long, beautiful lashes watched her friend behind it. "So why don't you come along and help us find your brother and then you and I can have some one-on-one time, hmm?"
"Yes, Potter, come make yourself useful by speaking some sense into that annoying brother of yours."
Penny looked away from Mulciber and pretended to consider the offer.
"You know, I don't think I will. I just don't find you to be all that interesting, Mulciber. Maybe try washing off some of that desperation first, you reek of it."
Pushing his mask back so it sat on the top of his head, he smirked down at her, Penny surprised to find that his features did not carry that characteristic hollow look as Sirius's did, though she knew he'd spent a considerable amount of time in Azkaban. Alarmingly, he looked unfazed, if not invigorated by it. He was rugged like Sirius to be sure, but his jaw was well defined and cheeks angular, full of life, and if he were not so vile, Penny might have thought him handsome.
"Come, Mulciber, we've wasted enough time on silly chatter," Lucius said impatiently, moving down the hall.
With his back turned, Penny felt this might be her chance, so as Mulciber reached for her hair ready to drag her with him like some stupid doll, she took it. Reaching for her magic, she concentrated all its energy into the palm of her left hand and released it on him. It sent Mulciber flying through the open door he and Lucius had entered from, Penny chasing after him, slamming and locking the door behind her as she went, barring a yelling Lucius entry. Inside, she found Mulciber smashed up against a bookcase, limp. So Penny made for him and took her wand from his pocket, turning on her heel and preparing to make for a different exit, but his hand grabbed at her ankle and sent her toppling to the floor.
"So you want to play do you? Alright, let's play," he said, giving a good yank and pulling her further into his reach.
Rolling onto her back, she kicked out at his face, but he blocked it with his arm, forcing her leg to the side as he climbed between them both, jamming his knee so hard into her clitoris that Penny thought it must be instantly bruised. With her momentarily preoccupation with her pain, he faced little resistance gathering her her arms and pinning them to the ground, his eyes fixed on her lips, his own plummeting towards hers without haste.
Just before he made contact, Penny gave him a good head-butt, connecting with his nose, making him grunt as blood spewed everywhere and his hands released her, instinctively reaching to stem the tide. Following up with an elbow to the side of his face, Penny almost wiggled free of him, but she did not have enough leverage to force him off her because he was too large and too heavy and he recovered much too quickly, turning back a moment later and punching her unmercifully in the head several times, causing little white dots to explode all over her vision.
Clutching her wand like it was a knife, Penny did the only thing she could manage in the onslaught and jammed it toward his eye, praying to Merlin she connected because she could not aim properly. The sickening sound that followed told her she did and as his furious yell filled the air, Penny yelled "impedimenta!" The purple blast sending him flying across the room.
Rolling over and stumbling to her feet, room still spinning from the blows she'd taken to the head, Penny only glanced back, finding Mulciber a motionless heap of blood. Putting as much space between them as possible, Penny unlocked the door she'd entered by, thankful that she only met shouts and not Lucius when she opened it. If her ears did not deceive her the shouts came from voices that were much more high pitch than the Death Eaters, so Penny chased the noise down the corridor, wiping blood from her face as she went, yanking at a door to her right and finding it locked, so she waved her wand over it and it flung over. Inside was a rectangular room that was dim, lit only by a few lamps hanging from golden chains. And except for a few desks surrounding an enormous glass tank of deep green liquid it held little else.
"Penny!" Turning to her right, Penny found Ginny's head of bright red hair. "How'd you—" she started, but stopped, reaching for her ankle in pain.
"Ginny! Are you alright? What's happened? Where's Harry?"
"I'm fine, I think I've just broken my ankle, but your face," she said, looking horrified as she reached for Penny's cheeks.
"Don't worry about me, it's only superficial. Where are the others, is everyone else alright?"
"We split up, but Ron, he's over there, he needs help," she replied, motioning to a struggling mass of red hair some feet away.
Without haste Penny made for Ron's side and found him entangled in what looked to be a brain, a brain that was suffocating him. Instinctively Penny tried to cut the weird tendrils that reminded her of ribbons of moving images, but her spell was ineffective except to make them tighten further around his chest.
"What is this?" Penny yelled at Ginny, feeling panic rise in her chest as she tried to figure out what to do.
"I don't know, Hermione said—she said something about them being thoughts, but I'm not sure. Please Penny, you have to help him," Ginny called back, her voice wavering.
Looking back at Ron she knew the situation was dire, he was turning blue and Penny was certain he would pass out soon if Penny wasn't successful. She could not just sit here and watch her brother's best mate die, so she forced her sluggish brain into motion. "Thoughts Hermione? Really a little more detail might have helped. What am I supposed to do with thoughts—thats it!"
Grabbing the tail end of one of the tendrils Penny tried to snap it in half, and to her immense relief it worked, the entire tendril disintegrating when she did so, so she moved to the rest, making quick work of them.
"What did you do?" said Ginny, crawling up beside Penny and looking down at her still dazed brother with immense relief.
"I broke the train of thoughts," Penny said, thanking Merlin for Hermione's brilliant mind and ability to make the connection between the disgusting slimy thing and thoughts.
Screaming from the room just beyond the one they were in jarred Penny back to reality.
"Harry?" Penny said to Ginny.
"He went that way and Neville too, but Penny there are nearly ten Death Eaters—"
Penny was already on her feet before Ginny could finish. As quietly as she could she entered the room, finding it to be the cursed place where that veil which housed all those whispering voices stood, swaying eerily in a wind that did not exist.
In the middle of the room standing on the dais was Harry, the sight of him filling Penny with such relief she nearly sprinted the length of the benches and flung herself into his, but reason returned and she paused, taking in the circle of Death Eaters who were closing in on Harry. A few benches down from Penny was Neville, who must have been the one screaming because he laid sobbing at a woman's feet.
"Now Potter, either give us the prophecy or watch your little friend die, the hard way," the woman said, Penny realizing she must be Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius' cousin.
There was no time to think, though her brain was all out of ideas anyway, so she simply moved. None of the Death Eaters had yet noticed her. They had their eyes fixed on Harry as he began lowering his wand, raising his other to offer a small orb clutched tightly in it. Taking courage from a single deep breath, Penny raced forward reaching for Bellatrix's wand arm and successfully knocking her wand from her grip before ramming her hard with her shoulder, sending her away from Neville with a screech of anger and tumbling down several benches, where she landed painfully. Still in motion Penny yelled, "duck!" and shot three successions of stunning spells toward the dais where Harry and a cluster of Death Eaters stood, hoping her brother and his quidditch reflexes had been smart enough to heed her warning.
The advantage of surprise now gone, the Death Eaters turned on her, the goliath of a man who had been standing beside Bellatrix yelling loudly as he shot a jet of green light at her that she barely managed to dodge by diving to the ground. Her landing knocked the wind out of her, slowing her so the man got a free swing, his boot slamming down on her left hand, shattering all the bones in it. The utter agony of it was enough to immobilize Penny, who devolved into a sobbing heap. There was no more thought to flee, to continue fighting, only shocked disbelief and pain as she stared at the member.
With a mocking snicker the man kicked her in the side, rolling her over so he could look at her while he tormented her.
"Liked that did you? Don't worry, there's plenty more where it came from," he grunted, his wand pointed directly at her face, Penny wishing very much that she had not been so reckless; that she had been better with a wand, like Harry, who she could hear shouting. Resigning herself to whatever came next, she gritted her teeth, the man waving his wand, "Cruci—"
But before he could finish his spell, five more people sprinted into the room, one of them hitting him in the chest with a well placed stunning spell that sent him tumbling down the room. Eyes burning with tears, Penny tried to sit in order to get a look at her mutilated flesh just as a large, warm hand connected with her back.
"Penny! Are you alright?" came Lupin's frantic voice as he kneeled down to examine her, his brown eyes creasing with ever more worry as he took in her bruised and bloodied face and then her mutilated hand.
"I am now," Penny said, her eyes full of relieved tears.
"Does anything require immediate attention? Can you walk?" Lupin pressed.
"No, and yeah, but Harry he's—"
"Don't worry about that, I'll go to Harry. You just focus on getting the others and getting out of here, do you understand me? Get as far as you can."
"O-okay,"Penny winced as she pulled her arm close to her chest and tried to stand.
Mercifully, Lupin set her on her feet, gave her a last look to be sure she could manage getting from of the free and ran down the stairs to join the others, Penny casting her eyes around for Neville and ducking for cover when several spells skimmed her cheek. Taking stock of the situation, Penny now saw that several members of the Order had shown up and were dueling the Death Eaters, among them was Remus, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley and Sirius. Penny watched her godfather for a long moment as he dueled with a man she did not recognize, marveling at how amazing his wand work was.
Another shot zooming past her ear, Penny remembered she needed to be leaving and cast her eyes out again for Neville, finding him near the bottom of the room to Penny's left, wrestling alongside Harry as a Death Eater attacked them. Doing her best to stay low, Penny darted from her spot and began weaving her way down toward her brother, but for the second time that night, someone grabbed her ankle, sending her faltering. Just before she completely lost her balance, Penny yanked her ankle free, the force sending her into some of the benches and saving her fall.
Collapsing onto the bench, Penny landed hard on her nose because her arm could not catch her, sending a gush of warm blood down her face. Spluttering, Penny let out a strangled yell as someone grabbed her hair from behind and yanked her to her feet. Hot breath on her ear, "Surprise," Mulciber whispered. "Let me show you why you should have finished the job properly,"
Exhausted, her body wracked with pain, Penny had not the energy to muster to fight off his strength, but she tried, feebly raising her wand, but he slammed her hand against the corner of one row of benches and sent it flying, laughing at how pitiful she was as he did so. Holding her in a crushing grasp against his body he whispered, "crucio" in an almost loving manner, sending waves of unbearable torment through her whole being. Her body going slack beneath him, Penny screamed, her sobs choking her as he held her upright, mocking her in a velvety whispers, Penny unable to process a single word of it. There was only her, pain and the unreasonable need to make it end.
And miraculously, as though answering her dearest wish, it did end, Penny collapsing to the floor, uncertain how she'd gotten there. Wiping sweat and blood from her face, chest heaving, she followed the sounds of Mulciber's grunts, finding him clutching his eye with one hand, blood dripping from it and aiming his wand at something just behind Penny. She followed his gaze turning and finding Fleamont, his large eyes glowing as he hissed and pitch black smoke began to swirl around him, making it impossible for Mulciber to stun him though he tried several times. Not but a second later, Fleamont disappeared, Mulciber yelling frantically almost as though he was terrified, confusing Penny. She had not expected a grown man, much-less one of Voldemort's Death Eaters, to express such open fear in the face of a cat. Nevertheless, he cast around in search of Fleamont, waving his wand back and forth like a child. "Where'd it go! Where'd that cursed beast go!"
But he would not receive the answer to his question because the door flew open again and Albus Dumbledore came striding in, emanating an aura of power and fury. His blue eyes found Mulciber, who shamelessly tried to run away as soon as he spotted the blue-eyed, bespectacled man. With a lazy wave of his wand, Dumbledore threw Mulciber down the rest of the benches, Mulciber being dragged to the center of the room as though something were tied to his ankle, and immobilizing him there.
Dumbledore glanced at Penny and the dark mist surrounding her caused by Fleamont and seemed to decide she was okay though his kind eyes shone with worry as he took in her appearance, and then whisked past her toward the other side of the room where he began rounding up other Death Eaters. Casting around yet again, Penny found Harry and Neville in the same place she'd last seen them, Neville looking utterly relieved while Harry was transfixed on something else. Following his gaze, Penny found what he was staring at on the dais; Bellatrix and Sirius, the last two left dueling, seeming so intent on their fight that they had not noticed the commotion around them had come to an end.
It was terrifying, the speed at which they threw and dodged spells, Penny understanding now exactly how talented of a wizard Sirius really was, and this was after being in Azkaban for thirteen years. Even against such a skilled opponent, Sirius was smiling, looking as though he was having the time of his life, mouth moving and making a joke Penny could not hear. Penny didn't like it, it filled her with fear and made her wish Dumbledore would stop dawdling and break it up already. But he didn't, he was on the opposite side of the room, not even looking at Sirius, not seeing or even feeling what Penny did. Something was not right, something had changed—was it the veil? Had it changed the direction of its billowing?
Before she could decide, it all stopped. The blaring sound of commotion disappeared, Penny's heart slowing to almost a stop almost in fear of being heard in the silence. The only thing left to be heard was the way the air stirred, sending goosebumps rippling up her spine. Penny sat there frozen, suddenly feeling deathly afraid, her eyes trying to see something that already saw her, like a gazelle, alert, but unaware of the predator already too near to escape, waiting for its moment to strike. And then the whispering erupted like a boom of thunder, but so near Penny felt sure she must be sitting inside the cloud. Reaching to protect her ear with her one working hand, she watched, transfixed as Sirius stood laughing, unaware of what was happening until that smile froze momentarily before fading into a look of shock mingled with fear as the jet of green light Bellatrix had sent flying at him connected with his chest. He was falling, Sirius falling, his back arching majestically like a ballerina's might, making his way toward that veil, and as he fell into it, his body touching that dilapidated material, he vanished, Penny waiting in gross anticipation for his lifeless body to hit the floor, but it did not. Instead a small object—a necklace—hit the floor and shattered, Penny recognizing it as the blood pact she and Sirius had made together, the one he'd carried with him for safe keeping.
Like being sucked through and dumped into a vacuum, the whispering stopped, and a horrific silence followed. Whatever was happening, whatever was being said, it was swallowed by that evil veil before it could reach her ears, deafening her. And so, like some old movie, Penny watched in disorientating silence as Harry got to his feet, mouth open as though screaming, chasing after Sirius, making to follow him into the veil, but he was stopped, grabbed by Remus, who came bolting out of nowhere, his face contorted in agony, eyes glistening as he wrestled Harry away.
The numbness in Penny's heart spread to her limbs, making her forget her broken body, letting her get to her feet; letting her move faster than she should have been capable of in such a condition—her feet pounding toward the veil, though she could not hear her footfalls or labored breathing. She had one chance, she knew this. She didn't know how she knew this, but as readily as she knew she was Penny, she knew she had to do this.
A glint of blue to her right threatened to stop her, Penny finally noticing Albus Dumbledore making to head her off. While he was old, Penny knew better to think that she could fight him off if he got a hold on her. She would lose that fight, no contest. So she decided not to rely on her own strength.
"Fleamont, we have to follow Sirius!" Penny screamed, and though she did not know what the cat would do, if he understood, or if it would even work, she ran headlong at her headmaster, preparing for an impact that never came. In a shroud of smoke, Fleamont perched on her shoulder, she simply passed through Dumbledore like one of the school ghosts through the walls at Hogwarts. Green eyes met the startling blue, and for the first time in Penny's life, she found shock and fear in them, but it was not enough to make her relent. Once on the other side of Dumbledore she made one good jump to get onto the dais and then without hesitation she leapt through the veil.
On the other side was some kind of vortex, Penny flopping like a dead fish as she was spun about in a circle down a drain. She couldn't see, breath, or even feel. She was a part of everything and nothing all at the same time, and for a moment, she lost any sense of self, her consciousness receding into the impenetrable darkness around her, but Fleamont's sharp claws on her shoulder pulled her back, as their descent began to slow, until finally Penny landed, in an unusually graceful manner, on the ground.
Bewildered, shocked, terrified and utterly uncertain what she'd just done, Penny blinked and looked down at her left hand. She flexed the fingers, finding them no longer mutilated. Touching her nose she found no blood, and when she thought about it she also didn't feel any pain other than that which was inflicted by Fleamont. Was this the afterlife, was she dead? Pushing the thought away, she looked sideways at the creature who made this possible, finding his back arched as he let out a steady stream of low hissing.
"Is Sirius here?" Penny asked the cat, trying not to be alarmed by his odd behavior.
The cat looked at Penny and then hopped off her shoulder, ears back, and started walking. It was at this point that Penny realized they were standing in what reminded Penny of an old castle, except it was far too vast and sprawled out more like a maze than anything else. All around them were old stone and brick walls, reaching as far up as Penny could see, all of it covered in overgrown weeds and ivy. Passageways branched off in every direction, giving them limitless options, Penny afraid to wonder how they were ever going to find their way out of this place, assuming there was any hope of that.
Fleamont, though very unhappy and stopping every so often to listen and hiss, seemed unperturbed by all the options and continued on a path he seemed to know, so Penny kept her mouth shut, afraid of what may be listening, and followed. They walked and walked, but Penny came to realize she could not comprehend any sense of time, even though she tried counting several times, never making it past 60 seconds without her brain forgetting what it was doing. Finally, Fleamont came to a stop at a door and looked up at Penny.
"He's in there?" Penny said, her heart racing, and with the cat's approval Penny pushed open the door, Fleamont scaling the wall with ease and taking up watch in the crevice just above the door. "Wait for us," Penny said and then stepped inside.
What Penny thought would be a room, became a large, much too familiar field when she crossed the threshold. The breath caught in her chest as she took in the beauty before her, wracking her brain to remember where she'd seen this place before. She knew it was a comfort to her, but she did not know why or when or how. And then her eyes, trailing over the golden field that shimmered in the evening sun, casting it in hues of pink and purple, found the head of shaggy dark hair just down the hill from Penny, standing in the middle of it and staring across it at something.
Her heart becoming lodged in her throat so she could not speak, Penny ran, sprinting with all the strength she had, forcing her muscles to move faster than they could. She had to make it this time, she hadn't been there when he fell, but she was here now and if she could just catch him, everything would be alright, none of it would matter. "Sirius, don't go!" she finally managed to yell when it seemed like he had not noticed her approach. And as she drew closer to him, only a few meters separating them, he turned, the wind blowing his beautiful locks of hair across his face and obscuring his features—Penny reaching for his arm and almost losing her balance. But it connected and she grasped it, pulling herself the rest of the way toward him.
"No, Sirius, come back with me!" she said, yanking him away and back toward the door, but he remained fixed where he was and instead he caught her, his free hand steading her shoulder.
Looking up she found those handsome features so customary to the Black's looking back at her, but something wasn't right. He was far too young, and his eyes—those were not Sirius' eyes.
"Sirius? Where is Sirius," she almost pleaded.
He furrowed his brows at her, Penny so distraught, so confused that she reached up and touched his face. "You look just like him, but you're not him."
"Haven't I heard that a time or time in my life, never thought I'd miss it," the boy before her said with a kind, almost nostalgic smile. "I'm Regulus, Regulus Black. But who are you and how—"
"You're his brother!" Penny said, the despair so evident in her voice it made the dwindling frown on Regulus's face deepen. "Sirius, where is Sirius?"
"Sirius is crossing over, you can see him just there," Regulus said slowly, pointing to the other side of the field where he'd been looking, at which stood a bridge.
Though he was far, farther than she would have liked, Penny could still make out the head of black hair, he had not yet made it to the bridge. Gasping in terror, Penny made to push past Regulus and start sprinting again, but Regulus caught her, pulling her away and restraining her much in the same manner Lupin had Harry.
"Let me go!" Penny yelled furiously, kicking at Regulus. "I have to stop him, I have to bring him back!"
"You can't, you have to let him go now," said Regulus, his voice pained.
"No I don't! I came all this way for him, I can do it, you have to let me do it," she raged, trying to bite him, scratch him, anything to make him release her. But he subdued her, holding her just out of reach, Penny making no progress.
"I know it's hard and it hurts, but you must listen to me. You don't understand—"
"Please!" Penny was sobbing now, her desperation quickly becoming hopeless sorrow as she tugged so hard against him that she was sure her arm would come free of its socket.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You can't, I can't—" was all Regulus could reply, his voice breaking as she continued to plead.
"He can't go, not like this. I need him, I can't do it alone. You don't understand, he's the only family I've got left," Penny cried, her sobs choking her as she struggled futilely against the boy, who was much stronger than he appeared.
Her heart was breaking, dying with every step that Sirius took, with every grunt that escaped Regulus's lips as he struggled to keep her where she was. Sirius was moving further and further from Penny, though she'd followed him, found him where no one believed he could be found. But she'd done it, she'd crossed the divide, and here she stood, unable to accomplish her goal because she was cursed to be a feeble girl, bested by a boy who betrayed his family and died a coward, according to her godfather. Regulus stood here, the guardian preventing her from giving Sirius a second chance at life, robbing her of the only parent she had left.
"Family? All our family is—hang on, you're the goddaughter, Penny Potter?"
"Please, Regulus, if there is any goodness in you at all, let me bring him back, there's still time, I can do it, I can, I'll show you—" Penny said, turning her bleary green eyes on him, her hands clutching his wrists and squeezing.
His handsome, youthful face fell, Regulus looking as though what he said next caused him a great deal of pain to say. "Penny, you have to understand, this is the plane of unfinished business, that bridge, it isn't the same as the last one you were on. This one is one way, and only those who let go of their unfinished business may cross—but once you step onto you, there is no coming back. Even if you were only to draw near it, you would forget who you are, your own name, and if that happens you will never escape this labyrinth," Regulus said, his dark eyes trying to make hers understand, to listen and believe him.
"So then I'll go with him, I am ready to die, just let go so I can go too."
"You know he wouldn't want that—"
"What do you know! You were just a Death Eater, a coward like the one who-who-" but Penny could not finish her sentence, the emotions in her chest overcoming her as she turned back to watch Sirius again.
"Listen, Penny. In life, I made all the wrong choices. At the end, I tried to do some good, and because of that I got to see my brother one last time, to speak to him—and I swear to you he is ready to move on. So let him go in peace, don't make him endure the guilt of bringing you with him."
Regulus' words, they pierced Penny in a way nothing else had, driving reality into her soul, filling her with a sorrow she thought she had escaped. In her desperate attempt to evade it, to so cowardly avoid this grief she gave it one last try. "SIRIUS COME BACK. PLEASE, SIRIUS. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW MANY OWLS I GOT, I NEEDED YOU TO TELL DAD. YOU CAN'T, SIRIUS, YOU SAID I COULD TAKE CARE OF YOU WHEN YOU'RE OLD. WHAT WILL I TELL REMUS—YOU CAN'T, HE'S ALL ALONE. SIRIUS, PLEASE," Penny screamed, her voice dying in her throat before she'd finished with all she wanted to say to him, her sobs winning the battle and stealing from her the ability to tell him she loved him, loved him with her whole heart; that three years was not nearly long enough, not when there was too much more she wanted to know, to do with him.
Despite her pleas, Sirius did not turn, he did not hear her, and instead, in that jovial manner of his, he walked toward whatever comes next with his hands in his pocket and his head bobbing from side to side, as though singing a tune to himself, Penny's agony more than she could bear, because one moment he was there—that familiar head of hair and broad shoulders, alive, real, able to be touched—and then there was nothing. Not a single trace of Sirius remained, except for the howling agony of the hole he'd left in Penny's heart. On her knees, Regulus holding her, coaxing her into his lap where his soft hands brushed her hair from her wet face and his soft palms clasped her cheeks, beautiful dark eyes, that were horribly reminiscent of Sirius' mesmerizing her as he whispered to her, she cried, screamed, and fell apart.
On this wretched plane between this world and the next, Regulus held her together, Regulus Black, the brother Sirius never seemed to like much; he told her, as one who also appeared to be suffering, that it would be alright. And so, desperate to cling onto any remaining fragments of Sirius, she just let herself crumble into his arms, turning back to the bridge where she stared, internally begging Sirius to turn around, willing him to appear, and making herself believe that any moment, if she just watched long enough, he'd relent in this joke of his and come back, barking with laughter and scoop her up in one of those bone breaking hugs of his.
But Sirius did not return, because, like Cedric, he'd gone around a corner Penny couldn't follow, taking a piece of her with him.
And here ends The Order of the Phoenix. What a crazy journey, beautiful, heart-wrenching journey it was to get here. I'm so happy to have had you all here to take it with and have loved all the kind words, discussions and inspiration you have shared with me. It really kept me going, and pushes me to keep us moving to the end of this story! It's absolutely crazy to me that I started this story two years ago with NO idea what I would be doing. I certainly never imagined writing the SLOWEST BURN FIC OF ALL TIME 😂 BUT HERE WE ARE. Ya'll are angels for sticking with me haha.
So, because this story started on A03 on that site I have broken the story up into three parts, so if you are curious, this chapter marks the end of I Was Younger Then in my series that I named The Ordinary Road. And the next chapter, which will be the summer of Penny's 6th year marks the beginning of book two, From Now On. But here on ffn, I will just continue posting here under I Was Younger Than. But if you swap websites, thats where you'll find this story.
I cannot thank you all enough! I am utterly spent, but excited to show you year 6! Alright, I'm off rest in peace, Sirius. ❤️