Somewhere In The Crowd There's You

Somewhere in the Crowd There's You

"I can't believe that this is our last year."

"Our last first-day of Potions."

"Our last new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Say, Hermione...who is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Ron asked, suddenly curious.

Hermione snorted. "Well, if you'd been at the Sorting Ceremony and banquet, you'd know, wouldn't you?" She turned her head, giving the boys a Look. "I'm not telling...it would spoil the surprise. Come on! We're late for potions."

"Yes Sir, Head Girl Sir!" Ron said, giving Hermione a mock salute.

She said nothing, merely rolled her eyes, and led the way to the potions classroom.

"We're not really late, are we?" Harry whispered to Hermione. "Not that Snape could hate me any more than he already does, but..."

Hermione's eyes lit up, and she shook her head, opening the door to the classroom, waving Ron and Harry through before following behind them.

Ron stopped dead in his tracks, suddenly, causing the others to run into each other. "You're not Professor Snape." He said, rather idiotically, looking into the room.

A woman was sitting, rather delicately, on the edge of the desk in the front of the classroom. A young woman, not-quite pretty, dressed in lovely new dress robes, turned her head at the sound of the newcomers. She tilted her head, brushing a fall of dark curly hair out of her face. Her eyes widened at the sight of Ron, almost as if she were seeing a ghost, almost as if...and then she relaxed, a small smile dancing across her face. It wasn't the Percy of her past coming back to her, no. It was his brother.

Still...still. She smiled again, taking a deep breath, trying to calm down the sudden frantic beating of her heart. It wasn't fair, really. She still did the same thing every time she saw Percy...and it had been ages and ages since...since Percy. One hand strayed up to brush against her cheek, idly, as she wondered if she were blushing. "No." She somehow managed to say in a polite, even tone. "I'm not Professor Snape. At least I wasn't the last time I checked."

Some of the other students in the class laughed politely at their new teacher's attempt at humour.

"I've...taken over this class. Please, come in...sit down."

Ron did, looking slightly stunned. Harry and Hermione followed, and all three sank into their seats together.

"Penelope..." Ron whispered. "I never thought to see her again, after what happened...what she did to Percy."

"What did she do to Percy?" Harry returned, suddenly curious.

"Shh!" Hermione hissed to the two of them, turning her attention to their new teacher.

Penelope leaned forward, shifted position slightly, re-crossed her legs. "I think...I think this is everyone. So I suppose I should begin. You're probably wondering what happened to Professor Snape...judging from the looks on some of your faces." She grinned suddenly. "No...nothing unfortunate has happened to the man. In fact, something quite fortunate has happened. He finally got promoted to instructor of Defense Against the Dark arts."

"Because no one else wanted to do it." One member of the class said in an exaggerated stage-whisper, causing the others to laugh.

Penelope smiled. "Yes...that's probably true. Anyway...for those of you who don't know me, I'm Penelope Clearwater. Formerly a Ravenclaw, formerly a Prefect...but please, say you won't hold that against me." Her eyes sparkled as she looked out over her class, although carefully...carefully not at Ron Weasley.

She spent the rest of the class there, perched on the desk, explaining things...the rules of the class, what they'd be doing for the rest of the year, typical first-day class. She even let them leave a little early, something that Snape never would have done, smiling at their happy whispers and giggles as they eagerly left the classroom in groups.

Ron was still shaking his head. "Penelope." He said.

"Yes, Penelope." Harry returned, catching up with him. "I don't think Hermione can justify yelling at me now...what happened with your brother and Penelope?"

The taller boy shook his head. "Not now." He said, looking around nervously. "She might be listening."

"Ron! She's not listening...she's still in the classroom." Harry said, looking all around too.

"Still." Ron was stubbornly silent, all the way back up to their dormitories.

"Now I'm curious." Hermione said as they walked into the Gryffondor common-room.

Ron sighed, and then finally sat down on the sofa, beckoning his two best friends closer. "It's...well..."

"Spit it out." Hermione ordered.

Ron turned, giving her his best impression of her famous Look. Unfortunately, it didn't have quite the desired effect - since both Hermione and Ron saw it and started hysterically laughing. "Okay, okay, okay!" Ron said, shaking his head. "When you're both quite finished, and want to hear the story, let me know."

"We're sorry."

"We'll be good."

"We promise."

Ron shook his head again, and continued. "Well...the story is...there is no story."

"What?" Hermione snapped. "You're not making any sense."

"I know I'm not. It's that Percy never told us. He never told us anything more than that Penelope left him. Once...once I overheard him talking to our mom about it." Ron bit his lip, looking a little embarrassed. "But all I heard of that was 'she told me that I couldn't love her and she was right'. Which doesn't make any sense to me, any sense to me at all."

"I think I understand." Harry said softly. Hermione turned to look at him, a question apparent in her eyes. Harry smiled slowly, shaking his head. The girl frowned, and turned back to look at Ron.

"I never thought I'd see her again." Ron continued, oblivious to the exchange between Hermione and Harry. "And now she's here."

"Maybe..." Hermione began hesitantly. When no one interrupted her, she continued. "Maybe you could ask?"

"I've tried asking him, and he refuses. He turns all pale and quiet and doesn't speak to me for the rest of the night." Ron said.

"Erm...maybe you could try asking her." Hermione said slowly and clearly, as if she were talking to an idiot.

"I could...couldn't I?" Ron said, amazed. "Then we'd know!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, grinning at his thickheaded-ness. "Yes, we would, wouldn't we."

"Hermione, you're a genius."

"I know."

Harry laughed at that, which caused everyone to turn and look at him strangely, and then the three of them fell into hysterical laughter again.

Meanwhile, Penelope reached into her pocket and made sure she had her keys before locking the door to the potions classroom. It had been...an incredible day, an absolutely incredible day. Her first day ever teaching, ever doing anything...anything real. As opposed to the years of school, the years of school she had been spending her life in. After graduating Hogwarts, she went to Muggle college, studied education, learning how to be a teacher. It was strange living like a Muggle, having a double-life. No one knew that she was a witch...life was easier that way. But still, having a double-life was draining. It caused you to forget who you really were.

Penelope gave Percy a lot of credit. Of course, Penelope always had given Percy a lot of credit; she gave him even more now.

Sighing, she closed the door behind her, heading off to her room. It was strange, being back at Hogwarts. Penelope automatically headed for the Ravenclaw dormitories, then remembered at the last moment she didn't live there anymore. It was bizarre, really. People didn't know how to treat her - as if she were a student or as if she were a teacher.

But it was better than Muggle school. Absolutely anything was better than Muggle school, Penelope thought, smiling. As much as she loved school, she was never ever going back to Muggle school. Ever.

She smiled at the portrait in front of the teacher's wing and recited the password, stepped through the passageway and made her way to her room. It was funny...she brought all sorts of things with her, both from her old room at Hogwarts and her dorm-room at Muggle university, yet her room still seemed unfamiliar, not like her at all. Of course, the fact that she still had things in boxes probably had something to do with that. Yes...she definitely needed to unpack.

Sitting down on her floor, she reached for one of the boxes and attempted to peel off the package-sealing tape. It wasn't working; she nearly broke a nail...and then she remembered she wasn't in the world of the Muggles anymore. With a grin, Penelope reached for her wand, whispering a word under her breath and laughing triumphantly as the tape unpeeled from the box. What did she put in this one? She didn't remember. Ah, yes. Decorations. A smile in her face, she reached in the box and pulled out a golden frame.

When Penelope looked at the photo inside, she bit her lip, feeling sudden tears spring to her eyes. It was a picture of her, a much younger her. Her and Percy. They were sitting together, keeping still at the moment, grinning and winking at the camera. Her head rested comfortably on his shoulder, his arm went possessively over her, his hand resting overtop of his. They looked very young, and very in love.

Of course, they never were, not really. Not like it looked in the picture, anyway. Penelope thought he loved her, at least at first. And she loved him. But Percy, no matter how much he tried, never could. Not really.

So why...why was she crying? Penelope wasn't sure. Perhaps it was because she had been alone ever since, ever since that fateful day when she told Percy that she was ending their relationship.

Perhaps it was because no matter how well she understood how things were, how things had to be, she still got light-headed and giddy every time she saw him. Percy.

Perhaps it was because she got the same way in potions class earlier that day.

Perhaps because she was alone.

And so Penelope sat on the floor of her room, surrounded by half-unpacked cardboard boxes and cried, still holding the picture of herself and Percy clutched desperately in both hands.

While Ron, off in the Gryffondor common-room mumbled some excuse about having to go to bed early and disappeared, leaving Harry and Hermione alone.

Hermione watched him go, and then quickly snapped her head back, looking at Harry. "Harry..." She said, rather nervously.

"Yes?"

"Earlier...when we were talking about Percy and Penelope...and you said you thought you understood. Can you clarify that cryptic comment for me, please?"

"Oh!" Harry grinned, blushing. "Just that...that I was once in the wrong place in the wrong time and...well, because of it it's quite obvious to me why Penelope and Percy are...are no longer a couple."

"Ooo!" Hermione's eyes lit up. "Harry...what is it?" She asked, quite enthusiastically.

Harry laughed. "Listen to you!" He said. "I never knew you had such a love of gossip! But Hermione...I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Her voice dripped with disappointment.

"Because it's not really any of our business. It's between Percy and Penelope and..." Harry laughed again. "And someone else, but who that someone else is also none of our business."

"Oh, phooey!" Hermione said, her eyes flashing. "But if Ron finds out...?"

"If Penelope tells him and he decides to tell us...well, yes, then it would be right. But I can't tell. It's not my right."

"Oh, fine." Hermione said, shaking her head. "I wonder what Ron's up to?"

"I wonder..."

What Ron was up to was pacing around the bedroom, thinking. Since none of the others would ever go to bed that early, he had the room to himself, which he was glad for. Quite glad for, actually; he knew he looked like a fool. But he couldn't help it. He just kept thinking about Percy and Penelope. But mostly, mostly Penelope.

By the time he heard the others coming back he was in bed already, thinking there. Thinking, and hoping to fall right to sleep and not have to think anymore, because his thoughts had begun to make his head hurt. Of course, because he wanted it to happen so badly, sleep evaded him for most of the night.

Days went by, in which Ron, Hermione, and Harry found themselves thoroughly buried in work. Being a seventh-year tended to do that. Hermione, as Head Girl, was exceptionally busy. Ron seemed quite preoccupied. Harry...well, Harry was just Harry. And Penelope struggled with things, with trying not to get discouraged by her job, her life. But...but she had trouble being happy, trouble keeping on keeping on.

And then Penelope had a bad day. A very bad day. It started with breakfast, and just kept on going. She was harassed by some of the sixth-year Slytherins who wanted Snape back in charge of their class - since he always favoured them, of course. It was to the point that when the seventh-years came that she just couldn't take it anymore.

She sat on the edge of the desk, as always...she had gotten into a habit of starting every class that way, and couldn't quite break it. Raising her hands for order, the students obediently quieted down. "I think...I think I'm going to let you go home early today." She said in a wearied tone. "Do your reading, be prepared. I'll talk about it next class." Penelope smiled weakly. "Just don't go telling everyone I did this, okay?"

Everyone stood up excitedly, talking about what they'd do with their afternoon of freedom. Ron felt himself poked in the side by Hermione.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Hermione gave him the Look. "I think you should go talk to her."

"What?"

"Ron!" She said, exasperated. "I think you should go talk to her. Ask her...ask her what you wanted to ask her." Hermione lowered her voice. "About...you know."

"Yes." Ron said, smiling a small smile. "Maybe I should. You're dying to know, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Hermione returned, her eyes flashing. She was dying to add 'especially since Harry knows and won't tell me!'; but somehow she managed to restrain herself.

Ron nervously approached the front of the classroom. "Erm. Penelope...that is, Miss Clearwater?"

Penelope looked up, startled. "You can call me Penelope, it's perfectly all right...we're not in class right now, and...oh, hello, Ron." She smiled at him, her first genuine smile of the day.

"Erm...hello. I was wondering if I could talk with you about something."

"About class?" She asked, curious. He was doing very well in her class, better than she had suspected given what Percy had always told her about Ron. Of course...there was no believing what older siblings had to say about younger ones, was there?

"Oh, no. Not at all." He replied, amazed at how much easier this was than he'd thought it would be.

"Good." Penelope's eyes lit up, and she grinned. "Then may we talk about...whatever it is you'd like to talk about...back in my room?" Her eyes widened as she realised what she was saying, and she quickly clarified. "That is...I've nothing to do here, and I've a great deal of unpacking to do, and...but if you'd rather stay here..."

"No, I'd prefer that, actually." Ron said, startled at that too. It was true; he'd hate for Snape or someone to walk in while he was attempting to ask her why she was no longer his older brother's girlfriend.

"Lovely, then." She smiled again, slipping down from her seat on top of the desk, reaching for her overcloak. "Do you think I can talk you into helping me unpack while we chat?"

"I...yes?"

"Wonderful." Penelope checked in her pockets, both for her keys and her wand, and then led the way out of the classroom, closing and locking the door behind her with both the mundane locks and a whispered spell.

"Where do the teachers live, anyway?" He asked, suddenly curious of that. No one knew that, not really...not that they'd ever gone looking for the teacher's wing, but...it was a well kept secret.

Penelope laughed at that. "In a hidden wing of the castle. It's not much, really...I'd almost prefer to go back and live with the Ravenclaws. It's rather...rather lonely." As soon as those words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. But she did not make that obvious, just smiled and led the way to the hidden teacher's wing.

"You've got company?" The giggly young woman in the portrait inquired of Penelope.

"Yes." Penelope replied, leaning in to whisper the password so Ron wouldn't overhear it.

"Have fun then! Tah-tah! Bye!" The young woman in the painting said, waving excitedly at Penelope and Ron, winking at them as they passed.

Penelope shook her head, a smile on her face, as she stepped through the doorway. Ron seemed intrigued. "I can't believe they'd give you a portrait person with attitude, you being the teachers and all." He commented.

"There are different paintings...well, it's the same painting, really. A family portrait. But there's a different person for each of us teachers. It's security of some sort. As to why I got the silly adolescent..." Penelope grinned. "Perhaps because I'm the newest one? I'm not sure."

"Probably." Ron grinned too. "I can just picture the portrait people being insolent to the teachers...it's very funny." He had a vivid mental picture of the portrait-girl teasing Snape...quite amusing indeed.

"Anyway...this is where I live." Penelope said, opening one non-descript door and stepping through. "It's a bit better than what the students get...and infinitely better than the dormitories at Muggle School."

"You went to Muggle School?"

"Yes." She rolled her eyes. "Never, ever go to Muggle School. I mean it...it was...not one of the most pleasant experiences in my life." Penelope closed her eyes, shaking her head. "Going from a place like this to a Muggle University...it's unbelievable."

"I can imagine."

"It's...so hard...living without magic when you're accustomed to it. Living a double life." She shuddered a bit. "It's not pleasant. Ah well...here." She pointed to a box. "I've...lots of things to sort out. That one's a hodgepodge, really."

"Ah, well...let's sort them out then!" Ron said cheerily. This was fun, it was. He loved this kind of thing...and you could tell a lot about a person from their collections of stuff.

"I'm glad to see you're so enthusiastic." Penelope returned, grinning. "I'm glad one of us is. Ah, well. What've we got there?"

"Photographs." Ron said, pulling out several, looking at them as he handed them to Penelope. The first bunch were Muggle photographs, showing a static beaming Penelope in black robes holding a diploma, first alone and then with her parents and then with a bunch of other girls in matching outfits.

"Muggle pictures." He said, smiling. "They're so...strange. How do they get the people to stay still?"

Penelope laughed. "You'd never believe some of the things Muggles do, you'd just never believe them." She replied, taking the pictures from Ron, using a simple spell to stick them to the wall. "What else is there then? And...while we're at it...what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Hmm?" Ron said, distracted as he found more photos, picking them out of the box. "Oh." It seemed a little silly at the moment. "Well...it seems a little silly." He told her, flipping one of the pictures over. A young man in wizard robes was in the center of the picture, beaming. He had hair just like Penelope's, although it was wilder than hers, and quite a bit shorter. His smile was contagious, it lit up his entire face...also just like Penelope's. He had dimples when he smiled, and Ron's mind wandered, wondering if Penelope did too. He never noticed. "Who's this?" He asked, knowing the answer, that it had to be her brother. But the others...

Penelope's brother - or who Ron assumed to be Penelope's brother -- was holding a little girl in a pink party dress in his arms, who also smiled, waving enthusiastically at whoever was looking at the picture. The little girl was very blonde, very cute, very precious. She was looking off to the side of the picture and seemed to be calling for someone. A blond man finally showed up in the background, rather reluctantly, but with a proud smile on his face.

"Oh!" Penelope grinned. "That's Gordon, my brother."

"Yes, I could tell. He looks just like you."

Penelope laughed. "I'll take that as a compliment, since people are always going on about how handsome he is. The other is his partner, Edgar, and the girl is my niece; their daughter Marilla."

"Oh. Wow." Ron breathed, handing the picture to her delicately. There were a million questions he wanted to ask about that, but...didn't feel that he should.

"Yes." She beamed too, smiling at her brother and his family. "I've always wanted to be an aunt, ever since I was little."

"Really?" Ron himself had never thought about it. Of course, with a family his size, he was sure that he would be an uncle many times over. "Is he your only brother, then?"

"Oh, yes...there's just the two of us."

"It must be terribly lonely." Ron said, without thinking.

"Hmm..." Penelope thought about that for a moment. "No. It's terribly lonely without any of them, without my mum and dad and Gordon." She shrugged that off, changing the subject abruptly. "What's next then?"

Ron grinned and reached into the box, pulling out a picture in a bronze frame, which currently was backwards. "Another picture." He said.

Penelope's eyes widened when she saw just which picture he had taken from the box and she turned around, flinging herself at him, attempting to take the picture away. "I don't think you should..." She began, reaching for the picture.

"Hmm?" Ron asked, casually turning it over.

"Oh...oh no." Penelope whispered. "He'll kill me. He'll absolutely kill me."

Ron said nothing, just...stared at the picture. It was a close-up on two faces, two people, kissing. His brother's face turned away from the kiss, looked out of the picture for a moment - and then Oliver Wood smirked, reached out with gentle hands to turn Percy's face back towards his own and they resumed the kiss.

Penelope took advantage of Ron's stunned silence to deftly reach over and snag the picture out of his unresisting hands.

After another moment of silence, Penelope spoke. "I told you I didn't think you wanted to see that one." She said calmly.

Another moment, more silence. Penelope sighed, looking over at Ron again. "You're terribly upset, aren't you?"

"Oh, no...not at all." Ron said, blinking. "I'm just...in shock." He smiled slightly. "Of course...you do realise...this has completely eliminated the need for the question I was going to ask..."

"Really?" Penelope said, a faint line appearing in the middle of her forehead. "What sort of question was that?"

"It's...silly really." Ron replied. And he certainly felt it was now, with the answer vividly staring him in the face. "I just wanted to ask you why you left Percy. Because he never told us, never told any of us. I remember someone asking about you and him smiling slowly and telling us that it was over between the two of you. But he never told us why."

"And you never asked?"

Ron laughed at that. "Of course not...he's Percy, you don't just...ask him that. So I've always been curious and now...now I'm understanding."

Penelope frowned. "He really never told you? Any of you?" Her heart was weeping for Percy, for how awful it must be to keep something like that from absolutely everyone. Hiding her magic was trying enough, and the people closest to her knew the truth.

"I think mum knows." He said softly. "But...I'd never have guessed. Never have guessed in a million years. He never even speaks Oliver's name around us. Never brings Oliver around for the holidays, never...anything. But I think mum knows." Ron grinned suddenly. "Yes, mum has to know. She's always after Charlie about finding nice girls in Romania, and she never says anything to Percy."

"Good." Penelope surprised herself by saying. "Quite good, indeed. I'm glad that he's told someone, if not everyone."

"I wish...I wish he had told me." Ron said suddenly.

Penelope turned her head, looked at Ron, met his eyes with hers. "I wish he had too." She said softly, and then reached into the box for another picture. "Oh!" She said, grinning.

"Who's that one of?" He asked, glad to change the subject.

"It's me. And my cat." Penelope laughed, turning the picture so that Ron could see it. The photograph-Penelope had an absolutely horrified look on her face as she attempted to hold the cat still; the cat was struggling and trying its hardest to be let go.

Ron laughed at that, it was absolute silliness, and the perfect thing to lighten the mood. Penelope laughed too, using the spell to stick the picture to the wall.

She did have dimples like her brother, Ron realised. But only...only when she was smiling.

They kept going through the box, talking about little things, and then Penelope looked up at the clock. "Oh...oh, my. Ron...you've missed your next class."

"Hmm? Oh. Oh...that's all right. Harry and Hermi knew I was going to conference with you, so I'm sure that they've covered for me."

"I think you should go soon, though."

"Yes. One more picture?"

She laughed. "All right, then, one more."

Ron reached into the box and took the last of the photographs out, one in a golden frame, with Percy and Penelope in it. "This one...it makes me sad." He said, passing it to her.

Penelope accepted it, and sighed, biting the inside of her lip to stop the sudden tears from appearing in her eyes as they had a tendency to do anymore when she saw that picture. "It makes me sad too." She whispered. "For...for lots of reasons."

He turned and looked at her, and became even more sad than he had been a moment ago. Ron wanted to help her but didn't know how, didn't know if he had that right. After another moment, he stood up. "I think you're right...I think I should go."

She smiled weakly at Ron. "Ron? Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled brightly at her. "I'll...see you in class tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course." Penelope returned his smile. "In class tomorrow. And Ron?

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Um...you're welcome?' He smiled again, softly this time. "Good night, Penelope." And he walked through the door, and away.

And Ron did see Penelope in class tomorrow. And the next day and the next day and the next. And he stayed after class, sometimes, talking to her and always had to hurry so he would get to Charms on time. They had good conversations. It was amazing, really.

"Ron? Why are you eating so fast?" Hermione asked, curious as ever.

"Um..." He paused to finish the bite of food he was on, dropping knife and fork on his plate. "Going up to see Penelope."

"Going up to see Penelope?" Hermione echoed, surprised at that. "Penelope, indeed." She muttered.

"Yes, well..." Ron stood up, carefully pushing his chair back in under the table. "Have a good time at dinner." He disappeared almost instantly, not waiting for any responses, just...leaving.

"Hmm..." Hermione said, watching him go. Then a thought occurred to her. "Harry?"

"Yes?"

"You don't suppose..." she dropped her voice conspiratorially. "You don't suppose he fancies her, do you?"

Harry looked around, to see if anyone was listening. "I'd guess so. He hasn't said anything, but...that would be my guess."

"Oh." Hermione looked dejected for a moment, resting her chin on her hands. "And here, all along, I thought he fancied me."

Penelope sat at her desk, reading a letter she had just gotten from Percy. He was writing and Oliver was dictating in the background, so it was really from both of them. It was quite lovely, quite cheery. The two of them were doing quite well. They were getting to see each other more often now because it was the offseason for Oliver's Quidditch team, and Percy's schedule was flexible. He'd become a journalist, a writer...and as long as his column was submitted on time every week, they didn't mind if he didn't show up in the office every day. They were doing quite well; they might come to Hogwarts for a visit. And perhaps something more...they were hinting that they'd like to have Oliver as the new flying instructor, since Mme. Hooch had been hinting herself about retirement.

It was a very happy letter, unfortunately, Penelope wasn't feeling very happy after reading it. It only served to make her feel all the more alone and restless. She did have one small consolation though...Ron had said that he might stop up and see her after dinner.

With that thought, she carefully stowed the letter from Percy away in her desk and stood up, walking around the desk and perching on top of it, picking up a potions textbook to read. It wouldn't do to see her like that...sappy. Ron...Ron. She felt a little guilty about him, she really did. The very sight of him caused her to become lightheaded, rather like Percy always did when he was her boyfriend. Only...different, a completely different giddy lightheadedness.

But she wasn't thinking about it. He made her feel that way because he reminded her of Percy. Because she was lonely. This is what she was going to tell herself, and this is what she was going to believe. She didn't need for it to happen again, she didn't need to lose her mind over another one; didn't need to lose her heart to Percy's brother.

Someone knocked lightly at the door, and Penelope jumped. "Come in..." She called, not wanting to get up. She'd suddenly lost the energy.

Ron obeyed, hesitantly. He was...nervous. Somehow nervous. Because at some point, Penelope stopped being Percy's ex-girlfriend; she'd stopped being the potions professor. She'd become just Penelope. Penelope. With fabulous hair and a lovely voice. Penelope. Who had begun to make him blush sometimes when she looked at him...the way she sometimes looked at him. Who was lonely, he knew...even if she wouldn't admit it.

Ron peeked his head into the room. "Penny?" He said softly.

"Ron?" She returned, her eyes lighting up as she smiled. "Ron..." She couldn't believe that she was about to do this, but...she had to be honest, she had to. Because she lost Percy and she couldn't help that. Because she could help this.

"What?"

"I think I've just figured something out."

He crossed the room, walking to stand in front of the desk, dazed, nervous. Hoping...hoping. "Really? What's that?"

"I think...I think I've been wrong. All this time...I think it was him...that was reminding me of you." She held out her hands, reaching out to him, imploring.

Ron smiled, stepping forward, taking them in his own. He couldn't let her be lonely anymore.