'Penelope what do you mean by getting a detention before you've even started back at school?!' Minerva barked at her great niece after receiving notification from Professor Snape, presumably on behalf of Sally-Ann and Laura Barton, about the incident on the train.
Penny stood in her great aunt's study the morning after their arrival and knew she was in big trouble, especially when Minerva called her "Penelope"; she was only ever called by her full first name when she was in trouble.
'Well I wouldn't have hit her if she hadn't been making fun of me just because I don't have parents and because Grams had died! Professor.' She replied angrily adding "professor" as an afterthought when she caught Minerva's look of warning.
'Be that as it may, you should have got a Gryffindor prefect or waited until you returned to the school and reported it to me; instead you chose to take things into your own hands and assaulted another pupil!' Minerva said before taking a deep breath and continuing. 'You know that I won't accept that kind of behaviour.' She said a little calmer than before and softened her tone further when she saw Penny hang her head and stare at the ground.
'As much as I will not tolerate one pupil assaulting another, I will also not tolerate bullying. I will be having words with Miss Barton with regards to her behaviour Penny. In the meantime keep your nose clean. I don't expect to hear of any further incidences of you picking fights with anyone else. Do you understand?'
'Yes Professor.' Penny replied quietly, not meeting her aunt's gaze.
'Very well, you may go.' Minerva said as she watched Penny leave her study.
She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do about Sally-Ann Barton and her sister, as they both seemed intent on wreaking havoc on Penny's life, amongst others. However, she was determined to nip any bullying in the bud this year, as she didn't want Penny getting into any more trouble and she knew that Penny also had more important things on her mind.
As the bell rang for the start of the school day, Minerva collected her things and made her way down to the classroom. The second year class of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were waiting outside for her, happily chatting to each other.
'Right in you go.' She said sharply as she opened her classroom door for them all.
Very noisily the students sat down at their desks as Minerva made her way to her own desk at the front of the class. She turned and faced them all, staring in a way that commanded their upmost attention and the class fell silent immediately.
She read the class register and made sure everyone was present before she began her lesson.
'Now that you're all back at school I expect you all to give my class your full attention and to work extremely hard. Miss Johnston if you could go round and collect the homework.' She said as she gave her instruction to Penny. 'Anyone who hasn't done their homework will receive detention.' She added, although she was pleased to see that no one had failed to do as instructed on this occasion.
'Right today you will be turning beetles into buttons as a gentle introduction into your second year; however, please note that lessons after this won't be so easy. Your second year will require more concentration and a lot more work than your first year.
'Miss Tonks if you could hand out one beetle to each student please.'
Tonks did as she was asked and took the box of large black beetles from Minerva and handed one to each student.
'Now the incantation is scarabaeus ipsum, which needs to be said at the precise moment you tap the beetle; like so.' Minerva explained as she proceeded to turn her beetle into a beautiful shiny black coat button.
She then watched as the class proceeded to mutter the incantation and try to transfigure their beetles, which was a difficult task, as the beetles kept trying to escape. She had to work hard to suppress a laugh when she watched Penny chase her beetle across the floor, although she could also see that Penny was trying desperately hard not to make any sudden movements that might freeze the room as she had done once before.
'Miss Johnston, you need to do it like this.' She said softly as she went up to Penny to help her.
She took Penny's wand hand and guided her wand over the beetle, pinning it gently down with the tip and then getting Penny to say the incantation.
'Scarabaeus ipsum!' Penny said and watched as her black beetle became a black button, but it still had legs.
'Well it's a start.' Minerva said as she then walked off to look at another student's work.
By the end of the lesson Penny had successfully transfigured five beetles into buttons, earning Gryffindor ten points. Some of the other students had also managed a button or two, but like Penny's first attempt they still had bug like qualities.
As the bell rang to indicate the end of the lesson and the start of the next, Penny waved goodbye to Tonks, who was now off to potions, and waited for the rest of Gryffindor house to join her for their study period. Although it did seem a little odd to them that they had a study period when they had only just had their first lesson.
Even though they had no set work to complete, Minerva still didn't allow them to rest on their laurels. She instructed them to all take out a text book from any one of their classes and begin studying it.
'Miss Johnston could you come up here please?' She said as she called Penny to the front once the others were busy reading.
'Right I have decided what your punishment should be for yesterday's performance. You will be doing your detentions with Mr Filch; however, I have decided to only give you two days detention as opposed to the week's worth given by Miss Barton. You've to go to Mr Filch at five o'clock this evening and tomorrow evening. Is that clear?' Minerva said quietly but sternly.
'Yes Professor.' Penny replied before returning to her seat.
The rest of the study period passed quickly without incident. Minerva took the time to do some marking whilst the students read quietly, before leaving for their first break when the bell rang. Penny joined Tonks outside, who was also joined by two of her Hufflepuff friends Andrew and Katie, as Olivia and Jessica joined them as well.
They all swapped notes about their classes and Olivia and Katie filled them in on their first lesson with Paton.
'It was…well…interesting, I guess.' Olivia said, flicking her long red hair out of her face.
'I don't know, I think he's creepy.' Katie said.
Penny told them about her experience with him a couple of days previous and agreed with Katie that he was creepy, if anything, he was beyond creepy. However, they couldn't discuss it any further as the bell rang and they made their way together to herbology.
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, with them repotting mandrakes in herbology and concocting a sleeping draft in potions. They received homework in charms and history of magic. By the end of the day Penny was ready for curling up in a corner of the Gryffindor common room and falling asleep, but as soon as that thought had entered her head, it soon had to exit since she still had to do her detention.
With a groan she headed towards Filch's office, dragging her feet and taking as long as she could to get there. Eventually though she did arrive at his door, although not before having a run in with Peeves, who attempted to drop a load of ink bottles on to her head. She knocked and waited for Filch's gruff voice to allow her entry.
'You'll be cleaning the dungeons today, just the corridor mind; Professor Snape doesn't trust anyone but me to clean the rooms.' Filch said with an aggressive scowl and with a slight air of self-importance as he puffed out his chest.
He led Penny down to the dungeons and handed her a bucket and mop and then she realised why. Several students appeared to have dropped a load of dungbombs on the floor and Peeves had then, thrown some more ink bottles, smashing them up the walls and over the floors. Someone had then also dropped some vials of potion, although Penny thought it may have been Snape trying to make her job harder.
With a deep sigh she began to mop the floor, which required a lot of pressure and scrubbing just to get a tiny amount clean, as Filch marched off in the opposite direction. Although cleaning the mess was hard work, she found there to be something quite therapeutic about it as well.
She had been cleaning for almost an hour when the already cold dungeons suddenly became ice cold, almost as if someone had doused the area in ice. For a moment she thought a dementor had entered the castle, but then she remembered all of the protection Hogwarts had and decided that was silly; but then she heard that strange swooshing sound she had heard the other day and she knew she wasn't alone.
She looked around for the source of the strange sound but could see nothing except the cold corridor around her; the cold was intense and she could barely feel her fingers until, just as suddenly as it had arrived, the ice cold lifted.
Just as she was beginning to push the experience from her mind she saw the shadow once more and instinctively followed it, feeling courageous as she almost ran down the corridor.
Faster and faster she ran, trying to keep up with the shadowy figure as it swept this way and that about twenty feet ahead of her, until she suddenly came to a very unfamiliar part of the castle. Very dark and cold she seemed to enter another room, but she couldn't tell as there were no candles lit or torches in the brackets. It was pitch black and she felt that biting cold begin to creep upon her once more.
'Lumos!' She whispered as she took her wand out from her robes and shone the slither of light around her.
The darkness was so oppressive that the light didn't make much difference; she could still barely see a foot in front of her. She wasn't sure what it was that made her do it, but she continued to edge forward into the room; that was until she saw two, bright red glowing eyes just a few meters from where she was stood.
Most people would have turned and run; however, Penny stood her ground, even when the figure in front of her lunged at her. She raised her arm before her, her fingers outstretched and as the figure lurched toward her she repelled it. The figure flew backwards, loudly crashing into something.
It seemed to be stunned for a few moments before gathering its senses and staggering up once more. However, this time, he caught her off guard when he disappeared for a few seconds, reappearing behind her and grabbing her.
She felt two strong, solid arms enclose around her, but she quickly remembered her grandmother's teachings about what to do if she was ever attacked. She stamped her foot hard on her attacker's foot and kicked him hard in the shin before ducking out of his grip. Once again though he was quick to regain his composure.
She felt his fist slam into the side of her face, colliding with her cheekbone and knocking her to the ground. For a few seconds she felt dazed, but she knew she had to shake the feeling quickly, otherwise whatever was attacking her was going to get her for good.
When she saw the demonic red eyes appear over her once more, she raised her hands once more in front of her and tried to remember how she'd done it in class. She flicked her hands and flexed her fingers, but initially nothing happened; the figure continued toward her. Obviously she was going to need more power behind it.
Please, please work! She thought as she tried again, flicking her hands upward and flexing her fingers, just as her attacker drew closer to her. She closed her eyes, expecting to be grabbed once more, but it didn't happen. When she opened them again, the glowing red eyes were a foot from hers, but frozen in mid-air. She had done it.
She scrambled to her feet and ran from the room, scooping her wand from the floor as she went. She continued running along the corridor, passed her abandoned mop and bucket, up the stairs from the dungeon and into the main hall. From there she used a concealed entrance to take her to the floor below Gryffindor tower, but she didn't return to the common room, instead she turned right and went straight to Minerva's office, where she nearly banged the door down to get to her.
'Penny, what are you…' She began to say as Penny almost knocked her over in her haste to get inside, but she stopped when she saw the state Penny was in.
Penny hadn't stopped to look, but her clothes were ripped, dirty and covered in blood, her face was very bruised and her lip was bleeding, as were her hands from where she'd grazed them on the floor. She was out of breath and exhausted from running, she hadn't even slowed down once after escaping, not even to glance back.
She explained everything to Minerva, who was trying to clean her cuts, about the shadow, the sound she heard and the attack. Considering what had just happened she seemed quite calm, but Minerva, on the other hand, wasn't quite as calm. She felt panicked at the thought of something going after Penny, that something was trying to harm her.
'I'm going to summon Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey; I think they both need to be here.' She said as she produced two patronuses, in the shape of cats, and sent them off to each recipient.
She continued to dab at Penny's bleeding lip when the knock came to the door, which she quickly opened and ushered her two friends inside.
Madam Pomfrey gasped when she saw Penny's face, as bruising was now forming on her cheek and around her eye. Penny was now clearly exhausted after the attack and because it was now nearly midnight. However, Dumbledore wanted to know exactly what had happened. So once again she had to go into detail about what she heard and saw, about the attack itself, in detail, and about how she'd managed to control her powers to repel him.
Once she had finished retelling the story, everyone fell silent. Madam Pomfry had bandaged Penny's now swollen ankle, which she must have sprained when she'd fallen over, but had not noticed whilst she was running; and her cuts on her face and hands were now clean.
'I want her to stay in the hospital wing tonight Albus. She could be suffering from shock and may have a mild concussion.' Poppy said as she turned to her colleagues.
'I don't know if that's a good idea Poppy. I think she should stay here with me until we can find out what attacked her.' Minerva replied with deep concern in her voice.
'I can appreciate that Minerva, but I can care for her better upstairs.'
'Penny how would you feel about staying overnight in the hospital wing if your aunt, Madam Pomfrey and myself watched over you?' Dumbledore asked.
Penny was too tired to argue and nodded her head, although she felt a little guilty that she would be disrupting their night's sleep, she was glad to have their protection. They guided her out of the room and up to the hospital wing, where she undressed behind the curtain and climbed into bed.
Like she had done the night after her grandmother's death, she drank the purple calming solution and drifted off to sleep.
Minerva watched over her for most of the night until she herself drifted off in the early hours of the morning, when Dumbledore came to take over after conducting a search of the castle. However, he found no sign of Penny's mystery attacker, there were no signs of a break in and the castle, as a whole, seemed perfectly undisturbed.