I Was Younger Then

What This All Means

Penny did not know where her free time and weekend went. How it was already Tuesday again and how she was still behind on homework was beyond her. Lupin's letter also loomed on the outskirts of her mind on the pile of all-the-crap-need-doing, but she just didn't have the time to get to it. Talking to Harry Ron and Hermione had eaten up Friday. They found her in the common room and immediately barraged her with questions about what had transpired. Hermione had so kindly brought Harry and Ron up to speed on what expression was and how Grindelwald had been known for it. Ron didn't seem phased by the connection to such a dark wizard, he thought it was cool and wanted to test her abilities on any stupid little thing he could think of. He even fantasized about how she could help Gryffindor cheat in their quidditch matches because 'no one would know she was performing magic.' Harry, in an irritated voice, reminded Ron that the Gryffindor quidditch team performed perfectly well without cheating. The next brilliant idea of Ron's was to set up a cheating ring, to which Hermione thoroughly chewed him out.

On Saturday, Harry had convinced Penny to walk the grounds with him. It was nice to be alone with her twin, their minds at ease, and their conversation flowing like it had when they were children. Neither could finish a thought without the other one interjecting, already knowing the end of the sentence. It made them laugh and reminded Penny of simpler times. Of course, Harry had become obsessed with Snape's behavior with Mad-Eye Moody, he never really could believe Snape wasn't up to something. He was also convinced Penny would not be safe in his company. This was one of the only topics Harry and her diverged. Penny refused to hear it, she understood where Harry's anger and bias came from, and Snape deserved it for how cruel he often was to Harry, but things were different for her, she had known a Severus Snape Harry had never seen. It saddened her that the man spent so much of his time being cruel, but she, herself, was unable to hold it against him, or to stay away from him. It angered Harry, but that would not stop Penny.

Snape didn't show up to the Great Hall over the weekend, it concerned Penny slightly, but they had also parted ways on strange terms. The bruise on her upper arm was green and purple when she showered early Sunday morning. It took all of her resolve not to search out the man, but her homework being beyond the point of being able to ignore was a good incentive to stay on task. Harry was also in crisis and gave her the look he saves for when he is three papers deep and does not know where to start. All four of them sat in the common room reading and writing, Penny double checking many of the questionable facts Ron and Harry tried to insert into their papers. It was evident they had never listened to a thing in History of Magic. Their essay, which was mostly a review from the year before, was filled with confused, half-muddled ideas and some of the goblins Ron referenced were completely made up.

By the time Tuesday afternoon rolled around Penny's eyes were bloodshot from all the studying she had done. She rubbed them vigorously in an attempt to make them remain open long enough to finally respond to Lupin. The revisions to her essay were finished, well, she told herself they were finished because she needed to stop obsessing over it. Lupin would be able to help her with anything else she missed. Flattening her parchment to write to Lupin felt rather soothing, like her chest was finally releasing all that was trying desperately to stay inside. She looked down at his photograph that she kept with her and smiled. Dipping her quill she wrote,

Dear Lupin,

It's so good to hear from you. I liked the photos you sent, the sunflower suits you! Are you sure you want to enter my work? I just wrote you my thoughts and felt they were kind of all over the place, I hadn't written in any particular format. But I won't lie, I'd be ecstatic if the prophet were to publish it, and I thank you for your words of encouragement, they really mean a lot. My first week back has not been very good, so your letter was a welcome delight.