𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗘

ACT ONE, CHAPTER EIGHT
penelope lestrange's life is a
literal rollercoaster.

JUST WHEN PENELOPE thought things couldn't get any worse, shit had to hit the fan again.

Ron had finally woken up in the hospital wing, perfectly fine, although he seemed a little upset at the fact Cormac McLaggen had to fill in for him in the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff and that Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let him watch. Penelope decided to stay with him, and their conversation was going smoothly until an unconscious Harry and a very angry Venus Black came storming in. Apparently McLaggen had taken a Beater Bat and hit the Bludger, which then hit Harry and cracked his skull.

Let's just say that Penelope decided to leave at that time so she wouldn't hear Ron and Harry discussing how they wanted to kill McLaggen.

That Monday morning, both Ron and Harry had been discharged from the hospital wing, now at full health. Penelope was happy to have him back walking around the corridors with her again.

And now the part where everything went wrong — naturally.

It was many weeks later, now in the month of May. Penelope was sitting in the Great Hall at the Slytherin table for dinner, her chin in the palm of her hand as she read a new book Daphne had let her borrow. Daphne and Tracey were sitting across the table from her, discussing how Daphne was trying out this new hairstyle her younger sister, Astoria, had recommended to her.

All was well, and all was calm — until it wasn't.

"Lestrange!" the familiar voice of Pansy Parkinson screeched over the noise of the Great Hall.

"Oh my," Daphne voiced. "She looks livid, Penny."

"I wonder what she's mad at me about now," Penelope replied, completely unbothered as she turned a page of her book. "We haven't talked in months, but I guess she always finds a way."

"Where is he?" Parkinson demanded, Penelope now finally feeling her presence by her side.

Penelope sighed, her eyes still trailing across the words on the page. "You're going to have to be a lot more specific than that, Parkinson. He is a little vague, you know."

"I'm talking about Potter," Parkinson continued, her voice shaking from anger. "Since he's your best fucking friend, you have to have some idea where he is."

Penelope closed her book and finally looked up. Her eyebrows instantly knit in thought. Daphne was right — she did look livid. Parkinson's face was flushed a deep shade of red and her teeth seemed to be gritted. Her fists were also clenched at her side.

"I didn't realize it was my job to keep track of where Harry goes," Penelope told Parkinson. "Perhaps Venus does . . . why are you looking for him, anyways?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's because he just attacked Draco in the bathroom on the first floor."

Penelope froze for a moment — after being friends with Parkinson for a couple years, she knew when the girl was joking, and this didn't seem to be it. "What are you talking about, Parkinson? If this is just another way to print out Harry to be the villain—"

"I'm serious, Lestrange!" Parkinson insisted, her face getting redder by the second. "Moaning Myrtle just told me in the girls bathroom that Harry used a spell on Draco that made him cut open and bleed everywhere—"

"You're not lying?" Penelope cut in, her mind spinning. "Parkinson, please be lying."

"I'm not. Your Golden Boy doesn't seem so golden anymore, now does he?"

Penelope stared at the wood of the table for a second. It was evident that Harry and Draco hated each other from the very first year at Hogwarts, but going as far to use a spell that would literally cut someone open? She couldn't believe it . . . one, that a spell like that would even exist, and two, that Harry would actually use it. That took things way too far.

"Thanks for the book, Daph, I'll read it again later," Penelope said absentmindedly, handing the girl the book as she stood up from the Slytherin table, her mind all over the place. "I — um, I gotta go."

She quickly began to walk out of the Great Hall, ignoring the gazes from all the people who turned to look at their conversation. Penelope didn't really think at all — her body seemed to go in autopilot as she brought herself up the stairs and towards the hospital wing. Her mind was begging for her to not be true, that this was just another one of Parkinson's schemes to make everyone hate Harry, that this horrible spell didn't exist . . .

Penelope finally made it to the hospital wing. She paused outside the door, her hand hovering over the handle. Penelope closed her eyes and let out a deep breath before opening the door. She was met by the sight of Madam Pomfrey hovering over a bed that had Draco lying in it.

Madam Pomfrey looked up. She gave Penelope a small, sad smile before leaving Draco's side to go back to her office. Penelope walked up to Draco and immediately frowned. His skin was usually pale, but now it had a grayish tint to it, and it was covered in bandages that were dotted with blood. Her breath hitched in her throat.

Draco looked up at her weakly. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," Penelope answered quietly. "Parkinson told me what happened."

"I'd rather be alone right now, Penelope," Draco admitted. "I literally just got my skin ripped open by one of the people you consider your friends."

"I'm not agreeing with any of Harry's actions. He shouldn't have used that spell."

Draco moved his head so he was now staring at the ceiling. "Just go, Penelope."

"If you're trying to push me away, it's not going to work," Penelope stated strongly. "You're hurt. Whether you like it or not, we're family. You've cared about me since first year, and I still care about you. I want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine," Draco snapped. "Leave, Penelope."

She scoffed. "Wow. Merlin forbid I try to be a good person and make sure my cousin's all right. So sorry about that."

"That's the thing about our family. We're not good people."

Penelope blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Good night, Penelope. Go back to your blood traitor boyfriend or something."

"I hope you feel better," Penelope offered bitterly.

So much for that. She turned around and began to walk out of the hospital wing. All that concern, wasted on that? She couldn't believe how hostile Draco was being. It could've just been because she was friends with Harry, but Penelope had a feeling that it was something more than that. Something was going on, she just didn't know what.

"Hey," a voice then said, and Penelope looked up to see Ron leaning against the wall outside of the hospital wing. "I — uh, I came to find you. I heard what happened, so I assumed you would be here . . ."

"Draco's a dick," Penelope voiced, moving past her boyfriend and starting to walk back down the corridor.

"I thought that was already established?" Ron asked, turning around and following after her.

"All I wanted to do was make sure he was okay, and he just told me to leave. Multiple times. I don't get it." She then looked over at Ron when he caught up to her. "Harry's a dick for using that spell, too."

"I don't think he knew what the spell would do—"

"Are you seriously defending him right now?" Penelope demanded, anger flashing through her eyes.

Ron's eyes widened. "No, I'm just saying—"

"Because Harry is definitely in the wrong for this," she continued, tears of frustration and everything building up inside of her springing to her eyes. "They're both stupid—"

"Woah, woah, woah," Ron interrupted, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Come on, Pen, don't cry."

"Sorry," she immediately apologized, sniffling a little bit and regaining her composure. "I'm just frustrated. It's been a fucking year."

"Yeah, it has." Ron pulled her in for a hug, and Penelope let out a breath of content as she leaned her head on his chest. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "It'll all work out. Promise."

Oh, how wrong he was.

・゜・。・゜。・。・゜★

"I'M SORRY."

"OKAY."

"It was an accident."

"Mhm."

Harry let out a frustrated breath and turned to Ron. "Your girlfriend's not listening to me."

Ron raised his hands in surrender. "I don't control what she does."

It was a day after the incident and the same day as the final Quidditch match, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Ron had invited Penelope to sit with them during breakfast, claiming that it would make him feel better. Harry had already apologized multiple times to Penelope to get him to forgive him. Even though she was mad at Draco, what Harry did still wasn't right. It would take her a little time for him to forgive him.

"I truly am sorry, Penelope," Harry told her.

"Just give me some time, Harry, please," Penelope replied. "It's just all still a little crazy right now."

He nodded in understanding before turning back to Ron. "You ready for today?"

Ron shook his head, looking quite sick. "Nope."

"We're all rooting for you," Charlotte stated, who was there at the table as well with Elijah.

Elijah shrugged. "I'm good if Ravenclaw wins."

Venus nudged him harshly. "You are not helping."

"We'd better get going, Ron," Ginny then announced, who had walked up behind him. "Match starts soon."

Penelope leaned over and kissed him quickly. "You'll do great. Good luck, love."

Ron and Ginny left with the rest of the Gryffindor team. A little while after, Penelope, Venus, Hermione, Charlotte, Elijah, all went down to the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the crowd of students. When they sat down, the stands seemed to be split down the middle — bronze and blue for Ravenclaw, gold and red for Gryffindor.

Both teams walked out onto the pitch with roars of screams following in their wake. The match began, and Luna Lovegood began commentating. Penelope's eyes trailed across the field, absentmindedly running the crown charm back and forth on the chain around her neck.

There was goal after goal after goal. Gryffindor kept scoring, and Ron was doing an excellent job of being Keeper. She wasn't just saying that because she was his girlfriend, though — Ron had truly improved in his Keeper skills a lot.

Ginny was the fill-in Seeker since Harry was in detention for what he did to Draco, and she flew around the pitch with Cho Chang, both in search for the little golden ball that would end the match.

Penelope lost count of how many times she cheered. It seemed like she had been non-stop cheering, either because one of the Gryffindor Chasers scored a goal or because Ron had saved another goal to keep Gryffindor in the lead.

The score was three hundred to a hundred and forty. Gryffindor was well in the lead — even if Chang managed to catch the Snitch, Gryffindor would still win by ten points.

And then the chase for the Snitch began. Ginny dove, and Chang followed after them. The two zoomed by each other, their hands outstretched. Everyone held their breath as they watched the two Seekers go around the pitch. In the end, Ginny's hand clasped around the Snitch, and she flew back up, lifting the small golden ball in victory.

The Gryffindor supporters of the stands erupted in deafening cheers. Penelope started to push her way through everyone in effort to get to the pitch. Her only destination in mind was the boy with flamingly red hair that managed to capture her heart, who had landed to celebrate with his team.

After a lot of pushing, she finally found Ron. Their eyes locked, and Penelope's face broke out into a large grin. She ran up to him and launched herself into his arms. Ron dropped his broomstick and caught her, his arms securely wound around her waist as her feet lifted up off the floor. Penelope laughed as Ron spun her around in a circle.

"We won!" Ron shouted. "Pen, we won!"

He pulled back and immediately kissed her hard. Penelope responded with just as much enthusiasm as him, the crowd around them dulling to a faint buzzing noise. It could've been several long moments, half an hour, or possibly several sunlit days until they broke apart, but they didn't care.

Ron stared at her with so much adoration that her heart began to beat against her chest. He set her down, and with the rest of the Gryffindors, they all lifted up Ginny and gave her the silver Quidditch cup. They all marched her back to the Gryffindor common room, where a party obviously begun. Ron asked Penelope to stay, and seeming as the Slytherin common room would definitely not be that fun, she agreed.

The party was raging. Butterbeer was flowing, music was playing extremely loud, and Ginny was holding the silver Quidditch cup while talking to her fellow-house mates. Meanwhile, Penelope and Ron were in a quieter corner of the room, just the two of them, leaning against the wall.

"You guys did amazing," Penelope told Ron truthfully, a cup of butterbeer in her hand.

More cheers then erupted. She turned to look to see Harry coming into the common room. Ginny immediately ran up to him and told him they had won, four hundred and fifty to a hundred and forty. Harry's face broke out into a large smile, and he grabbed onto Venus who had approached him as well and kissed her hard. The room erupted in even more cheers as Gryffindor's golden couple embraced each other. Penelope smiled a little at the interaction.

"Ginny won us the match," Ron reminded her.

"Yeah, but you were incredible," Penelope voiced. "I'm not just saying that." She placed down her cup on a nearby table and wrapped her arms loosely around her neck. "Now I get to tell everyone that my hot boyfriend helped Gryffindor win the Quidditch cup."

Ron placed his hands on her waist, his face flushing as red as his hair. "Shut up, Penelope."

Penelope rolled her eyes. "You put yourself down too much. How about you shut up and kiss me."

Ron laughed slightly at her. "All right."

And as the two of them kissed in that corner of the Gryffindor common room, Penelope had absolutely no idea that everything was soon going to go so very wrong, and that the Second Wizarding World would be right around the corner.

☆ 彡

well . . . that was something

this chapter sucked I'm so sorry but NEXT chapter . . . oh man it's gonna be so good just you wait