The Hidden Half-Blood Prince

Bonus #4: Telling Penny's Family

It's been weeks since Harry's final fight with Voldemort. We were very fortunate that we hardly had any losses.

None of Thalia's girls even got a scratch. I overheard one saying she was disappointed by the lack of challenge the Death Eaters presented.

Medusa had discovered during the fight somehow that she could use a wand. Not sure how that happened, but I'm honestly not complaining. She's been coming to me to repair her veils or rearrange her classroom with magic ever since school started. Now she can do it herself and leave me alone. Oh, and she saved Fred's life. That's nice too.

That does mean she needs to take summer classes until she is sufficiently up to speed.

As of right now, Penny and I were enjoying a nice picnic in the Astronomy tower. It was refreshing to have some peace and quiet for once.

"So this is where everyone would come?" I said, looking around. "Did no one ever run into each other because of that?"

"Oh, all the time." Penny said. "But Hogwarts has no shortage of broom cupboards and empty classrooms."

"About that." I turned to face her. "Why are there so many empty classrooms?"

"The population for the Wizarding World used to be significantly larger." Penny said softly. "At first, the idea of blood purity didn't seem to have an effect on it. Eventually, entire Houses had died out because they kept marrying each other and never having enough kids. Not to mention, the war that started before Harry was born had wiped out even more."

"That's terrible." I muttered. I felt a hot wave of anger build up from inside my chest. By now, I am very aware how the magical government runs. There are many empty seats on the Wizengamot that I haven't questioned until now. I am almost positive if more of those seats had been filled, many regulations would not exist. And others to build prosperity would. And people like Dolores Umbridge would have been caught long before they could have any sort of power.

I was brought out of my spiral of 'what ifs' by the last part of Penny's next sentence.

"...my parents meet Hecate."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Honestly, Percy, were you even listening?" Penny sighed in exasperation.

I smiled sheepishly. "Just the last bit."

"I was thinking about after we told my mom and dad about the world you are from." Penny restated. "That maybe they could meet Hecate. My mother would absolutely die, and my dad would have so many questions. He studied as much magical history as he could once he found out about my mom and he's told me about some of the gaps the magical world has left unanswered. It's almost as though they have no idea there are any gaps in their history at all. And I was wondering—"

"Penny!" I cut her off before she could really get going. "When were you thinking of telling them?"

"As soon as I can." Penny said. "I'm tired of hiding this from them. Now that Voldemort is gone and he won't be able to try and use it against you if he finds out—"

"You know," I interrupted again. I could tell she was getting nervous. "I was thinking of asking Philip a certain question anyways. How about killing two birds with one stone? We can invite them for dinner this weekend."

Penny's excited expression grew confused. "Two birds...?"

"Yeah, I was kind of hoping he would let me marry his daughter. Do you think he will?" I said, a crooked smile crept on my face. "Of course, I've yet to ask his daughter. Do you think she'd be okay with—"

"Yes! Oh, Percy, yes!" Penny threw her arms around my neck.

"Penny, I didn't even get to pull out the ring!" I cried, muffled into her shoulder. Indeed, my hand was now stuck halfway out of my robe pocket, the velvet box clutched in it.