omnia vincit amor.

“I don’t care about quidditch, or sports in general,” he explained, clearly losing whatever interest he had. He decided to give her one last chance to impress him, or even interest him in any way. “What’s in it for me? What’s my signature worth to you?”

        “There’s..... not a single sport you’re interested in?” Penny asked, frown deepening. She was starting to doubt just how badly she wanted the signature herself --- maybe she should just save herself the trouble and go ask someone else. Still, she couldn’t help but want to see it through. “Name your price. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”

“Don’t give me that look. You know you don’t have to ask twice.” That expression on her face was probably cuter than any puppy he’d seen. Most definitely. “No, but hopefully his forever family sends us updates every once and awhile. I’d love to keep him myself, but I have to wait until I have my own place after school before I start properly building my herd of fur babies. Speaking of, where is yours?”

        “What look?” Penelope tried to keep up an innocent expression, but she wasn’t sure how convincing it was, what with the wide smile she couldn’t quite keep at bay. “I don’t know how anyone who visits is gonna want to leave your home again after that happens. It sounds like heaven. Fair warning, you might find it hard to get rid of me.” Smile dimming slightly, she shrugged in response. “Oh, Psyche’s with my parents for now. After the explosion, I just figured --- in case something happens again, I don’t want there to be any chance for her to be caught in the middle of it, you know? Prue offered to take her too, but this way she’s close enough to visit, at least. You could come with me sometime, if you want.”  

“Coming from the Queen of Hearts herself, that’s quite the declaration. I love you dearly as well, ma chérie.”

       Penelope beamed at the compliment, linking their arms together. “Queen of Hearts --- I like the sound of that. You’re going to have to teach me some more French sometime; can I really claim that title if I don’t even speak the language of love? For now, though, I think there’s some ice cream calling our names in the kitchens.”

“Well this and my fabulous looks,” he tilted his head slightly, grinning now, “A little simpler and much more fun.” Nikolai nodded as he said teasingly, “I mean, I guess you’re a better option than suffering through classes.” 

         Penelope cocked her head to the side, tapping her fingers against her chin as she let her gaze sweep over him. “Hm, I don’t know about that part,” she mused, grinning slightly. “I’ve seen better. Fun, though, I suppose I can agree with.” She let out a mock gasp in response to his teasing. “I shouldn’t even be compared to classes. Unlike them, I do not have the habit of boring people to the brink of tears. I’m fun.”  

“No. Or, well, I don’t think so.” His head tipped to the portrait of the Fat Lady. There was a great deal of loud commotion coming from inside. “Pretty sure it’s just Valeria Carrow on another rampage, but.” James shrugged, not too fussed. There was never a dull moment in the Gryffindor House. “It’s never a bad time for a visit from you. What’s up?”

        Penny’s lips curled up in amusement. “Never a quiet time for you Gryffindors, huh? I hope all your belongings are safe from potential flames --- though not everyone seems to really mind it, so.” Her smile faded slightly as she came to the reason for why she was there, shoving her hands in her pockets. “I was just wondering --- could you maybe help me out more with my defensive spellwork? I know I’m not exactly the best student or anything, but after, uh ---”, she faltered slightly, “everything, I kind of realised I really need to get better at it. I’m not doing myself - or anyone else - any favours by putting it off.”

“If i didnt know any better i would say that you were trying to run away from me. I do hope that you arent since that really wouldnt be polite considering that i am trying to have a decent conversation.” Marzia said which was a huge lie. She really didnt care about talking to the other but she loved the fear that she saw on Penny’s face. “Besides i am sure that Alex will be able to find some help from someone else at this meeting.”

       “Right --- no --- of course not. That would be rude,” she agreed quietly, deciding to switch strategy. Maybe if she indulged Marzia in the conversation for a few minutes, she’d grow bored and let her leave. “I - I suppose you’re right. He’ll probably be okay. You were saying something about... uh, murder??”

Kit glanced to the screensaver on his phone with a wide grin. “That’s Sunny D.” The golden Labrador was photographed when he was sleeping, bundled in a pile of blankets. “We’re fostering him, so he’s only with us until he gets adopted. He’ll hopefully have a forever home before break.” 

         Penny leaned closer to inspect the picture. “He’s so cute I might actually cry. Can you send me that picture??” she asked, sending Kit her best puppy-eyes expression. “Aw, I won’t get to meet him then. --- I mean, I’m happy he might get adopted soon, he deserves a safe and solid home, but still. I wish I could adopt him myself.”

Marzia was enjoying this a bit too much. She moved just enough that she blocked the other’s escape. “Oh come now. Surely you can stay a bit longer. After all you werent in a rush at all before we started to talk about this.” She said smirking some. 

        Penny was growing more uncomfortable by the second, and she came to an abrupt halt when Marzia subtly blocked the exit, growing slightly paler. “Yeah, but then I didn’t remember the thing --- the meeting, but now I do, so I really should go. Alex --- he broke his arm in the attack, you know, and I promised I’d help him with something. I shouldn’t keep him waiting. I’m sure you have more important things to get to as well, so, if you’d just move...”

“I love you so much.”

“Of course not. I was not bound to kill him, he was bound to be killed. It just happened to be me that did it.” 

         Penelope honestly couldn’t tell whether she was being played or if Marzia was serious, but with the recent attack she wasn’t keen on sticking around to find out. “          Right. Uh --- maybe I should just leave --- I just remembered I have a... thing. With a person. Now. I’m late, actually. And it’s at the other side of the castle, so. I should get to that,” she said unconvincingly, and tried to move past Marzia to the door. “It was, uh, nice talking to you?”

“Is this a bad time?”

“Is that a puppy?!” 

“So, it’s a sport… to support another sport?” he asked, trying to understand. “You understand how ridiculous that sounds, right?”

Phoenix didn’t care about sports in general, but this one sounded like she had made it up.

         Penelope frowned, trying not to let the negative attitude get to her. She just had to explain it better, and hopefully he’d understand. “No --- it’s a sport of its own. It can support other sports by cheering for their teams, but that’s now what it’s always like. It stands on it own. A lot of routines don’t even include actual chanting or are meant to cheer for another sports team, but are competitions between different cheerleading teams --- kind of like quidditch competitions. It's just as valid.”  

“Dont sound so surprised. It was bound to happen sooner or later.” Marzia said with a smirk that didnt actually give away if she joking or not. 

         “You were bound to... kill someone?? This is a --- this has to be a joke, right? You’re joking with me.”