Penny Haywood Imagines

Better Late than Never - Part 5 (Last Part)

"(Y/N)..." Penny called out to you gently. Right at that moment, Moonstone snorted once again. She nudged Penny's face gently before turning to you to do the same. "She's saying it's time for her to go," you explained to Penny as you gave Moonstone one last hug around her mane.

She trotted off as quickly and silently as when she came, leaving you and Penny alone in the clearing of the Dark Forest once again. That feeling of easiness and comfort you felt whenever you were with Penny was replaced by awkwardness. You had wanted to spend a day with your best friend, to help her escape her long line of suitors waiting for her back at the castle but now it would seem to her as if you'd just planned an elaborate gesture to ask her out yourself.

"Um (Y/N)," Penny called out to you once more as you both started to make your way back towards the castle. "Look Pen, I'm sorry about what I said back there. I didn't mean to... Y'know... Just throw that all on you, especially after what you said today about you being exhausted from receiving confessions. And I know there's no way you feel the same about me and it's really okay and I really don't want to lose my best friend so let's just pretend that conversation didn't happen okay?"

"(Y/N)!" Penny grabbed the sleeve of your robes, pulling you to a halt and snapping your out of your rambling. She pulled you around, making sure you were facing her, placing both of her hands on either side of your cheeks. "Listen to me, please," Penny said, her voice small and expression earnest.

The scattered thoughts in your mind and anxiety in your heart left all at once, lost in the sea of her eyes. This wasn't the first time Penny had done this to you. She'd hold your face in her hands whenever you were too stressed or whenever you started to have a nervous breakdown. Most of the time, they were induced from searching for the Cursed Vaults, when exhaustion would take over and start clouding your mind with endless negative thoughts. But the moment your eyes met hers, everything else would fade away. All that burden and stress would suddenly be lifted off your shoulders, and it'd feel like there was nothing else in the world that mattered, as if it wasn't gravity holding you to the ground anymore, just her. It amazed you every time, how she had this effect on you. You'd never felt this with anyone else, and you were sure you never would.

'Which is only gonna make this hurt a whole lot more,' you thought to yourself, bracing yourself for Penny's rejection.

.

.

.

.

.

"I'm in love with you too."

Your eyes widened, jaw dropping. "I- I'm sorry. W-what did you just say?" you asked again, not daring to believe what you just heard. Surely your ears were playing tricks on you. There was no way the Penny Haywood just said she was in love with you.

Penny's gaze dropped to the floor, her cheeks and ears bright red as her grip on your cheeks loosened. "I'm in love with you too, (Y/N)." It was barely a whisper but you were sure that you heard her right that time. Your heart was palpitating and your mind racing. 'Say something, say something. You have to say something,' but no words came to your mind. All you could do was stare at the blonde in front of you, the only thing you could hear was your heartbeat racing in your ears.

"3rd year, Halloween," Penny took a deep breath, exhaling shakily before dropping her arms to her side and continuing on. "I didn't know it then, but I think that was when I started feeling this way. You were the only one I trusted enough to tell about Scarlett. And when I left you that night when we saw Greyback, I... I don't know, the thought of you getting hurt scared me beyond belief. I thought maybe it was because of what I went through with Scar but, when I saw you getting patched up in the Hospital Wing by Madam Promfrey, something just clicked in my head. I realised it wasn't just the fear of losing another friend. When you smiled at me then, you weren't upset with me for leaving you behind at all, you were relieved and happy because I wasn't hurt and that Chiara was fine. In that moment I realised that I didn't want to lose you, not just because you were a friend, but because you were more than that."