PENNY
It was early, when Penny Weasley woke up that morning.
It was no strange for her, she had never been a girl that slept that much. She liked to sit on the wooden swing, enjoying the morning wind moving her ginger hair. Her hands gripping at the ropes, preventing her from falling down as she moved her legs lightly back and forward.
It was the middle of July and she missed her friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, dearly. It seemed longer that the four of them hadn’t spent time together. Penny and Hermione wrote to each other daily; they told each other how their summer was going. Hermione often talked about homework, but Penny didn’t mind, she always talked about magical creatures. She had found a very dear friend in Hermione; sweet, smart and caring. Her friend had asked her how her elbow was going, since Penny had broken it during their exploration of the third floor, to find the Philosopher’s Stone.
Penny looked at her arm as she moved her legs. Thanks to Madame Pomfrey she had been able to heal very quickly. It didn’t hurt any more, it had been weeks by now. But she could still feel losing the control of her broom and herself hitting the wall. She closed her eyes remembering the sound of her bone break. It had been scary.
“Again Penny?” she stopped her movements when she heard Ronny’s voice. She turned her head to see her twin brother yawning just outside the door. His hair was messy from the sleeping hours, with a hand he was rubbing his eyes, walking tiredly towards her “It’s holiday. You sleep during holidays.”
“Oh wow” Penny muttered “I should, you’re right.”
“We even went to bed late tonight” Ron said.
It was true, but that night Ron had been the one doing most of the talking. It was about Harry. As Hermione and Penny wrote to each other every day, every letter that Ron had sent to Harry had never got a reply. Penny had written to him too, but she knew that if he hadn’t written back to Ronny, it wasn’t likely that he would have written back at her. Not that Harry and Penny weren’t friends, but it was so clear how Ron and Harry had become close. Like Harry was part of the family.
Penny had written to Hermione about it too; to ask her if she had got any answer from Harry, but nothing.
Ron was very worried; he didn’t like that his best friend didn’t give any hint about how he was doing. He didn’t like it at all.
“I just woke up and I couldn’t go back to sleep” she said with a little smile.
“Are you alright?” he asked with a little frown walking closer. She felt a bit strange; it had been like that since that night in the dark forest. Talking with Ronny, he had told her that probably it was because she had faced the darkest wizard of all ages from close. It had been only thanks to Florence that Penny and Harry managed to get out of there alive. Maybe it was that, it could be. She just felt jumpy sometimes. Not always just sometimes. But in the last days that feeling came back and when it was like that, she preferred to sit outside looking at the sunny landscape.
“Is it about your arm?” Ron said again “You can tell me, Penny” making the girl smile, shaking her head. Her siblings often asked her that, since she hadn’t gotten back on a broom. It was strange for a Weasley, since they all liked to fly, even her younger sister Ginny. So, since Penny had avoided doing that, her siblings got worried, or just telling them that she was overreacting.
“I was thinking about Harry” she said turning to her twin “I was hoping to see Hedwig flew to our house today” Ron observed her, not sure that that was the point of her behavior. But she wasn’t sure either.
“Yeah… me too” said Ron “I just don’t understand. He said I could write to him anytime”
“Well...” Penny said “Maybe we got his address wrong” Ron looked at her skeptically.
“He was the one writing it down” he said kicking some dirt on the ground “The address is fine.”
“Penny Weasley!” her mother’s voice made Penny jump down the swing with wide eyes, before turning to see Molly Weasley glaring at them from just outside the house with her hands on her hips “How many times do I have to tell you? No slippers outside”
Penny looked down at her feet, with the niffler-shaped slippers her mum had made.
“Oh wow” Penny muttered “I’m sorry mum” she said, making her mother shake her head.
“Get inside” Molly said “Breakfast’s almost ready.”
Penny and Ron looked at each other, before walking back to the house. Penny wondered if her father was home or if he went out early for work like he often did those days. Arthur Weasley worked at the Ministry of Magic, in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. Her father was so fascinated by Muggles and their ways, that made him love his job so much. He had even purchased a muggle car, a blue one, and he was working on it to make it fly. Penny didn’t know if he had managed to bewitched it, though.
“Morning” Penny smiled when she heard her sister’s voice. Ginny was helping their mother to put the plates on the table, as Percy was talking some glasses.
“Where’s dad?” asked Ron.
“Working” Molly answered as she moved her wand to turn the bacon over.
“I want to see the car fly!” they all turned when Fred and George entered the kitchen, making their mother take a breath.
“We could make it fly”
“Fred, I forbid you to go even near that car. Have you heard me?” Molly exclaimed pointing a finger towards her son, that raised up his hands trying to seem as innocent as possible. But it was Fred, so he surely wasn’t innocent. Whatever it may be.
“Alright, alright” he said ruffling Ginny’s hair, before sitting next to her.
“Already up, you two” said George sitting next to Penny, looking at her and Ron “We heard you talk a lot tonight.”
“It’s summer” Ron argued “We can stay up until late.”
“Ronny is worried about Harry” at Penny’s words Ginny’s head shot up.
“Harry Potter?”
“It’s always him, Ginny” Ron said rolling his eyes “If we speak about Harry, it’s always him.”
Penny giggled. Ginny had developed some kind of a crush on their friend, since she had seen him on the platform the year before. So now, every time they spoke about Harry, she would ask with a blush and wide eyes if they were talking about him.
“Ronny is worried?” asked Fred with a smirk making their mother slap him behind his head.
“Yeah” Ron answered drinking a bit of milk.
“He wrote to him, but he never answered back” Penny explained “I tried too, even Hermione.”
“Maybe he is studying” Percy said making George glare at him.
“For almost two months?” asked Ron with a frown.
“Then maybe he is just being rude” Percy explained.
“Oh wow” said Penny shaking her head “Harry is not rude, that’s why we are worried.”
“Or maybe he is just enjoying his holidays and he will answer you back soon” Molly said caressing Ron’s hair “Don’t worry, dear. I’m sure he is fine.”
Penny looked at her brother, that nodded his head without seeming convinced by his mother’s words. Penny wondered what was going on with Harry. They were really getting worried, about him.
Ronny didn’t say anything else during breakfast, taking a glance outside the window now and then, maybe trying to spot Hedwig’s white wings flying towards their house. But Penny decided not to push him any farther, and so they talked about Ginny and her first year of school and about when they would see Charlie and Bill. Penny hoped soon, they have been there at the beginning of the summer, but then they had to go back to work. She really wished to see Romania someday, and all the dragons Charlie was working with.
“Do you want me to play some music? I always feel better with a bit of music” Penny said as she and Ron were sitting on the grass. They have been helping their mother with her daily chores around the house, like they always did since they were younger. It was nice and funny, but it was also tiring, so Penny liked when she could lay down on the grass to rest for a bit.
“No, thank you Penny” Ron said pensively taking a breath.
Penny really wanted to make him smile, but she didn’t know how.
“Hey you two” George’s voice made them turn to see the twins walking towards them.
“No words from Harry, ah?” asked Fred crossing his arms over his chest.
“No” answered Ron, tearing off a few blades of grass.
“Don’t be like that Ronny” said George, bumping his shoulder against his brother’s.
“You’re lucky enough to have us as your brothers” Fred’s words made Ron frown.
“Am I?” Fred gasped dramatically before turning to his twin.
“Have you heard that, Georgie?” Fred said “He doesn’t appreciate us”
“What a shame, Freddie” George said shaking his head “And thinking that we had found the perfect way to understand what’s going on” that made Penny and Ron look at each other surprised by their words.
“And how?” Ron asked.
Fred shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, it’ easy” he said with a smirk “If you haven’t any news from Harry, we are going to find them ourselves” he then turned, making all of them do the same. Penny looked over George’s shoulder to see their father blue car and with wide eyes, both her and Ron turned to their brothers.
“You said he lives in Surrey, right?” asked George with a smirk.