𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗘

ACT ONE, CHAPTER FIVE
quidditch, and lavender brown
. . . oh, this bitch is really trying it.

IF PENELOPE SAID that she hadn't been avoiding Ron the past couple of days, she would be lying.

It was nothing against him, of course — it was her own damn problem. Her mind was getting to her. All of her insecurities were pushing down the feelings in her heart, and she was trying to guard herself. Which, she knew, wouldn't be good for her in the end. But it was hard to listen to her heart when her mind was screaming at her.

Also, it certainly wasn't helping that sixth year was proving to be especially difficult — both in the sense of school and with the world around them. The free periods provided to the sixth years were now times to catch up with the fucking insane amount of homework that was given to them. Nonverbal spells were expected in Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration. As for the world, well . . . things were getting darker. People were being pulled out of Hogwarts for their safety, and Hannah Abbott had to be taken out of class so she could be told that her mother had been found dead — she hadn't been seen since.

That made her mind spin. It was always a possibility that Bellatrix could've done it — which was just another mess Penelope had to clean up.

Suddenly, it was the morning of the Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts. Penelope recalled over the summer promising Ron that she would come and watch him — she still wanted to keep her promise, but it would be a little strange just showing up to be a supportive girlfriend after days of ignoring him. Merlin, everything was just so fucking complicated.

"What's been going on with you?" Tracey suddenly asked, and Penelope's head snapped up from looking at her bowl of cereal to see her and Daphne staring at her. "You've been acting so weird. Not to mention Weasley looks like somebody kicked his puppy. Has something happened to you two?"

"More so like something happened to me," Penelope replied.

Daphne's eyebrows knit in concern. "What do you mean?"

"That boy's got me fucked up in the head. I was already fucked up enough, and then he just comes along and makes me feel things I've never felt before." She glanced at his figure over at the Gryffindor table before turning back to her friends. "One of the things I smelled in the Amortentia was him."

Tracey's eyes widened. "No fucking way."

Daphne gasped. "Oh my God, Penny, you love—"

"Shh!" Penelope scolded. "Nobody else can ever find out. Ever. Especially not Ron. I mean, what if he doesn't feel the same way? I'm not allowing my heart to be broken like that."

Tracey gave her a look that said seriously? "You'd be stupid to think that. Weasley literally sees you as the only star in the sky, which is saying a lot, because his best friend literally calls his girlfriend Star."

"You're scared," Daphne added. "It's okay to be. You don't have to say it now, but it's going to come up eventually." She then nodded her head in the direction of the Gryffindor table, and Penelope turned to see Ron, Harry, Venus, Hermione, Elijah, and Charlotte get up, presumably to go down to the Quidditch pitch. "Go tell him you'll be watching from the stands. And don't even try to say no."

Penelope stared at Ron for a moment before sighing. Daphne was right. She got up from the Slytherin table and waved goodbye to the two of them. Penelope felt her heart rate increase as she approached Ron, Harry, Venus, Hermione, Elijah, and Charlotte.

Charlotte was the first one to notice her. "Hi, Pen."

"Hey, Charlie," Penelope greeted.

Ron stopped in his tracks and looked down at her. "Oh. Hey, Penelope."

She offered him a small smile. "Hi."

Venus linked her arm through Harry's. "Hey, love, why don't we go look at the marble staircase for a moment. And . . . you know, appreciate the marble."

Harry caught her drift. "Great idea, darling. You want to come, Hermione?"

"Of course," Hermione agreed. "God, I — I just love marble. Elijah?"

"It's only my favorite . . . rock," Elijah added. "Come on, Lottie."

The five of them walked over to the staircase. Penelope stared at them for a moment longer until she turned back to Ron. He was looking at her expectantly — most likely wanting an explanation to her weird behavior.

"Uh, how's it going?" Penelope questioned, but then inwardly cringed at herself after she said it.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "You haven't talked to me for days, and that's the first thing you say?"

"I'm sorry," Penelope told him, and that wasn't a lie — she truly was. "Everything I keep seeing in the Daily Prophet as well as what happened to Hannah Abott's mother . . . it all became a little too much. The thought that Bellatrix could accelerate that even more made me paranoid. I thought with Harry being the savior of the Wizarding World, if I distanced myself from all of you, it would make you safer." She shrugged. "But now I've realized that mentality is really fucking stupid, because I missed you."

That whole thing she said wasn't a lie either. Sure, she didn't tell him about the Amortentia, but the possibility of her mother wreaking more havoc in the Wizarding World — which Penelope knew all too well that she would — was insanely terrifying. At any moment, Bellatrix could completely destroy a life, and all eyes would be turned to Penelope. She didn't want Bellatrix to destroy the lives of the people she cared about, and with Harry and Voldemort's Prophecy, the chances of that were high.

Ron's blue eyes softened. "I missed you too, P. And you're right, it was stupid. If you think I'm just going to let you get away that easily, you're horribly mistaken." He held his hand out to her, and Penelope laced their fingers together, making the familiar feeling of her heart beating against her chest arise. "You can always come to me when something's bothering you, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know," she replied softly. "So . . . Quidditch tryouts?"

Ron's face paled. "Merlin, I forgot about that for a moment."

"I would still like to come down to the Quidditch pitch to see the tryouts." She offered him a small smile. "You know, if that's okay with you."

"It would make me feel a lot better if you were there." He let go of her hand and slung an arm around her shoulders instead, Penelope now latching her hand onto his that was dangling by her shoulder. Ron then looked over at the group by the marble staircase. "Hey, are you guys done complimenting the marble yet?"

"Just a couple more minutes," Charlotte called back. "It's just too exquisite."

Elijah rolled his eyes and pushed her forwards a little. "Come on, let's go."

On the way down to the Quidditch Pitch, they passed Parvati Patil and Lavender whispering together in one of the window seats. They seemed rather distressed — which didn't really surprise Penelope, because apparently the Patil twins' parents wanted them to leave Hogwarts. However, what did surprise her was when Ron and Penelope drew level with them, Patil nudged Brown. Brown then looked up and gave Ron a wide smile with blushing cheeks but then glared at Penelope at what she assumed was supposed to be intimidating, but it didn't really faze her. She gave Brown a weird look before a smile appeared on her face from Ron kissing her cheek.

Penelope then turned to Ron once they reached the stadium, holding up the charm of her necklace, which was a crown that had three red gems on the points, which Ron had given her for Christmas. "Remember, use Weasley Is Our King to your advantage. You've got this."

Ron nodded, looking a little nervous. "I've got this. Yeah, I've got this."

She pressed up onto her toes and kissed him softly for a moment. "I'll be in the stands. Good luck."

Hermione, Venus, Charlotte, and Elijah all wished him good luck as well before finding a place in the stands to watch. The trials took most of the morning, which Penelope didn't mind. Half of Gryffindor House turned up (obviously because of Harry), from first years to seventh years. Among them included Cormac McLaggen, who was apparently trying out for Keeper.

It was obvious that Harry was keeping the trial of the Keepers for last so that Ron wouldn't have so much pressure on him. Unfortunately, an even larger crowd formed due to the rejected players and people coming down from breakfast sitting in the stands. Penelope fingered the crown necklace she was wearing as she looked down at her boyfriend. He was a delicate shade of green — which wasn't a good sign.

She sighed and looked back to Cormac McLaggen, who was on his last penalty. He had saved four so far. However, on the last one, he shot off in completely the wrong direction. Penelope raised an eyebrow. Huh.

Finally, it was Ron's turn. He looked about ready to pass out as he mounted his broom.

"Good luck!" another voice then cried from the stands.

Penelope blinked and looked over. The voice belonged to none other than Lavender Brown. Brown then averted her gaze from Ron to look over at Penelope, the expression on her face challenging. Penelope gave her another weird look, because uh, okay.

"You got this, baby!" Penelope called.

Ron then glanced down from his place at the goal posts. He waved to Penelope, who smiled and waved back.

Penelope held her breath the entire trial, but she really didn't need to be worried, because Ron completely blew it out of the water. He saved five penalties in a row, which meant he got Keeper. She was the first one of their group to leave the stands to go congratulate her boyfriend, hastily brushing past Brown on the stairs to get to him.

"You did it!" Penelope exclaimed. She reached Ron and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him quickly. "Merlin, you were brilliant."

"Thanks, P," Ron replied with a wide grin. "It helped that you were there."

"I'll always be there to cheer you on, you know that." She removed her arms from around him and opted to hold his free hand instead. "Got any plans for the rest of the day?"

He nodded. "We're all going to head down to Hagrid's to visit. You?"

Penelope sighed. "Yeah, I promised Daph we would do some Charms homework together. Well, I'll leave you to go to Hagrid's. Talk to you later."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Promise?"

"Yes, I promise." She pressed up onto her toes and kissed his cheek. "I l—" She quickly stopped herself. "Um, bye."

And with that, Penelope left the Quidditch pitch in the direction of the Slytherin common room, her heart beating against her chest at the thought of her almost actually saying those three words, even though she promised herself she wouldn't.

・゜・。・゜。・。・゜★

SO . . . EVERYTHING WAS pretty much going to shit.

Remember that pretty opal necklace Penelope had seen in Borgin and Burkes at Diagon Alley? Well, during the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, Katie Bell — resident seventh-year Gryffindor — had been hexed by that very same necklace. She had been moved to St. Mungo's due to her state.

Also, apparently Ron and Ginny had a fight, which caused him to be . . . well, fucking irritable. He was acting very aggressive and snappy — even towards Penelope, which wasn't good, since the first Quidditch match of the season was Slytherin versus Gryffindor.

Penelope walked into the Great Hall that morning of the Quidditch match. Breakfast was filled with the usual excitable air, the Gryffindor table a solid mass of red and gold and the Slytherin table a mass of green and silver. The sky in the Great Hall was also clear and a pale shade of blue, which was a good sign. Penelope, of course, was supporting both Houses that day, her red and gold necklace starkly contrasting with the Slytherin scarf around her neck. Penelope then spotted Ron about to sit at the Gryffindor table with Harry

"Cheer up, Ron!" Brown called. "I know you'll be brilliant!"

Ron ignored her.

Penelope then sat down next to him. "You're going to do great, Ron."

"How do you know?" Ron asked miserably.

She shrugged. "Because I know you. I've seen you play. You're good at Quidditch — you just have to believe in yourself." Penelope took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to the back of it. "You've got this, baby. Good luck."

Penelope squeezed his hand before letting go and leaving the table. She then headed back over to the Slytherin table, where Tracey and Daphne were sitting. The two looked at her expectantly as she sat down. Penelope glanced in between them for a moment with knit eyebrows before sighing.

"No, I didn't tell him," Penelope voiced, and the two of them groaned. "Guys, come on. I'm not ready, okay?"

Daphne's eyes softened. "And it's okay not to be."

"You'll do it on your own time," Tracey reassured her. "We're just impatient."

The three of them finished breakfast before heading down to the Quidditch pitch, the frosty grass crunching under their feet. They climbed up the Slytherin section of the stands and found some good seats. It seemed that the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken sides as well, so that the stadium was divided between solid red and gold or a sea of green and silver.

Both teams then stepped out, causing the crowd to cheer and boo for them. Penelope clapped her hands, but she frowned upon noticing that someone wasn't with the Slytherin team. She turned to Tracey.

"Where's Draco?" Penelope inquired.

Tracey shrugged. "Heard he was sick."

"Huh." Penelope's eyebrows knit in thought. "Weird."

"Captains shake hands," Madam Hooch ordered, and Harry and Urquhart obliged. "Mount your brooms. On the whistle . . . three . . . two . . . one . . ."

The whistle sounded, and both Quidditch teams kicked off hard from the frozen ground to get in their respective positions. Penelope kept her eyes locked on Ron. She knew he could do this.

"Well, there they go, and I think we're all surprised to see the team that Potter's put together this year. Many thought, given Ronald Weasley's patchy performance as Keeper last year, that he might be off the team, but of course, a close personal friendship with the Captain does help . . ."

This was met by jeers and applause from Penelope's fellow Slytherins. She turned to be met with the sight of none other than Zacharias Smith talking into the magical megaphone that was once Lee Jordan's. Penelope rolled her eyes. Smith absolutely got on her last fucking nerves.

"Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal, it's Urquhart streaking down the pitch and—" Penelope held her breath, but she soon cheered loudly at Ron scoring the goal "—Weasley saves it, well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose . . ."

Penelope scoffed. This boy was really testing her.

About a half an hour later, Gryffindor was winning sixty points to zero. Ron had made some really good saves, and Penelope felt a surge of pride flow through her with each one. Gryffindor was scoring goal after and goal and Ron was saving the goals with ease. He was actually smiling now, and when the Gryffindor side of the crowd greeted a good save with a chorus of Weasley Is Our King, he pretended to conduct them from above. Penelope couldn't help but smile, too.

"And I think Harper of Slytherin's seen the Snitch!" Smith announced. "Yes, he's certainly seen something Potter hasn't!"

Harry and Smith both chased the small golden ball, but in the end, Harry was the one to get it. A great shout went up from the crowd that almost drowned out the sound of the whistle that signaled the end of the game. However, Ginny didn't stop flying. She sped into the commentator's podium with a great crash, and Penelope's eyes widened as she started to laugh into her hand.

Tracey nodded in appreciation. "As she should."

"I'm going to go see Ron, all right?" Penelope told her and Daphne. "I'll be back later."

The two of them said goodbye, and Penelope pushed her way down the stands and through the crowd towards the Gryffindor changing room. She made it just in time for Ron to come out. Penelope smiled brightly, but it soon faded upon noticing the irritated and hurt expression on her face. She frowned slightly and crossed her arms.

"What's with the long face?" she asked. "You just won, and you did fucking incredible. This should be a time of celebration."

"Hermione thought I saved goals because Harry put Felix Felicis in my juice this morning, but he didn't," Ron explained as they both began to walk up towards the castle. "I can save goals without help."

"Hell yeah, you can," Penelope agreed. She nodded her head to gesture to the Quidditch pitch. "I wish you could've seen yourself. You were fantastic out there."

Ron offered her a small smile and put his arm around her shoulders. "Thanks, P."

"Want me to walk you to the common room and drop you off?"

"No way — you're coming inside for the party."

She raised an eyebrow. "You sure they're gonna allow me? I'm a bloody Slytherin. Merlin forbid I step foot in their territory."

"Charlie's coming."

Penelope shrugged. "Fuck it, I'll come."

The two of them climbed the stairs to the seventh floor. When they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Ron told her the password. Ron removed his arm from Penelope and grabbed her hand before leading her through a circular hole in the wall. On the other said, they entered the Gryffindor common room.

It was a cozy circular room filled with squashy armchairs and rickety old tables. The armchairs had been pushed aside and the tables were filled with drinks for the party, which was pretty much already in full swing. It was decorated with red and gold — duh — and pretty much screamed Gryffindor.

"Wow," Penelope commented. "You know, I still prefer the Slytherin common room."

"Of course you do," Ron responded. "Anyways—"

"Ron!" Seamus Finnegan then shouted. This caused a huge uproar from the crowd in celebration, and Finnegan waved him over. "Come over!"

"Go meet your adoring fans," Penelope urged. Ron hesitated for a moment. "I'm serious. Go. I'll go get some drinks."

Ron went over to the group, who all cheered and clapped him on the back. Penelope smiled to herself for a moment before pushing through some Gryffindors to get to the drink table. She picked up a cup and began to fill it with butterbeer. Once it was full, she turned to see Harry and Venus approaching the table with Charlotte and Elijah behind them.

"Hey, guys," Penelope greeted as she picked up a cup of butterbeer. "Congrats on the win, Harry."

"Thanks, Pen," Harry replied. "Welcome to the Gryffindor common room. How do you like it?"

She glanced around it for a moment. "It's certainly a change. Much different being in a tower."

"Where's the Slytherin common room?" Venus inquired.

"Underneath the Black Lake." She turned to see Venus blinking at her. "Oh, you think I'm joking."

Charlotte stared at Venus. "Dude, I'm literally a Slytherin. Your dad was a Slytherin. How did you not know the common room was underneath the Black Lake?"

Venus raised the hand that wasn't holding Harry's in surrender. "I don't know, it never came up in conversation. Sorry, I'll do my research next time."

"Um, Penelope?" Elijah cut in.

"What's up?" she replied.

He pointed. Penelope turned only to see that Ron was being cornered by Lavender Brown. Her eyes narrowed upon noticing Ron's uncomfortable state and how Brown seemed to be very flirty with him. Jealousy panged against her chest and she began to make her way over. The Gryffindors seemed to move out of her way as she did so. Maybe she had a stone cold expression on her face, but right now, she didn't care.

"Why don't we go find a classroom?" Brown was suggesting with a giggle, making Penelope's grip tighten on her cup of butterbeer as she stopped behind Brown. "Just you and me . . ."

Ron's face flushed a bit red upon noticing what she was insinuating. "Oh, uh, no thanks, Lavender. I actually have a girlfriend, y'know. Penelope? Ring a bell?"

Brown shrugged, and Penelope could practically picture her smirking. "Well, I don't see her here. Do you?"

"Turn around," Penelope stated firmly. Brown visibly froze up, and she turned to face Penelope only to be met with a glare. Penelope offered her a sickly-sweet smile. "Now you see her."

"This is the Gryffindor common room," Brown voiced bitterly.

"I've noticed."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Celebrating my boyfriend," Penelope answered simply. She walked around Brown and stood next to Ron, who in turn but his arm around her as he rested comfortably against his side. "You know, the same one who you just suggested that you two snog in an empty classroom?"

Brown turned as red as the common room. She let out a breath of frustration before storming off. Penelope rolled her eyes and turned back to Ron.

"Are you okay?" Penelope asked.

"Yeah," Ron responded. "It's a known fact that you and I are dating — not sure why she would try to make me cheat on you, because I'm not going to. Trust me, I only like you, Penelope."

Penelope took a step closer to him as she put her butterbeer on a nearby table, almost seemingly being drawn in like they were opposite ends of a magnet. "Yeah?"

Ron swallowed nervously. "Yeah."

"Prove it."

He leaned down and captured his lips with hers. One of his hands reached up to hold the side of her face while his other rested comfortably on her hips. Her arms wound around his neck and she pressed herself closer to him.

And let's just say that the two of them didn't really move from that same corner for the rest of the party.

☆ 彡

NOT WEEPING IN A PARTY BATHROOM SOME ACTRESS ASKING ME WHAT HAPPENED YOU THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED YOU

so as you can see I am still all too unwell about red (taylor's version) <3

and I say still because I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A MONTH 🏃🏻‍♂️🏃🏻‍♂️🏃🏻‍♂️ let's not talk about it I've been busy OKAY

again, as I stated in the first chapter, lavender's character in this story is prominent for dramatic purposes!