Chapter Ten
The days passed and soon a new term started at Hogwarts. Penny whose personal lessons with Dumbledore, increased her magical knowledge exponentially. The two would for the most part discuss obscure branches of magic and how they can be applied to the more well-known forms of magic. This increased the number of composite spells that Penny created. Dumbledore became keenly aware that Penny's ability to memorize was entirely dependent on if she had read the information or not. Due to this he gave her written permission to enter the restricted section and their lessons were mostly just the pair talking about what she had read over drinks and snacks. To the pair the sessions became more stress relief than formal education. Dumbledore finding a kindred spirit whose intelligence matched his own would be more frank and open than he would with most. Granted he kept his secrets still but he was slowly beginning to lower his guard around this girl. The Professor even ordered many books from the Muggle world for the two to read and see what could be implemented into magical theory. Dumbledore began immersing himself into ideas that the majority of the staff and students believed him to have lost his mind. It wasn't until he displayed the benefits to a few of his closes aids that they reluctantly agreed with the possibilities.
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Other than this time at Hogwarts was relatively peaceful. Students were happily talking rumours such as the holy unbelievable one that the groundskeeper Hagrid was secretly caring for a young dragon. Lessons continued as normal, Penny without putting much effort into the classes was becoming to some teachers an annoyance. They felt she wasn't taking their subjects seriously. It wasn't until some tried to catch her out by quizzing her on the spot did they realize she already knew the lessons contents. Professor Snape found this incredibly irritating and started thinking of her as a know-it-all on a far higher level than Hermoine Granger. He even took points away from Ravenclaws house any time he felt she wasn't listening which resulted in her feigning interest specifically for his lessons. Penny however held Snape's potions expertise in high esteem. She even decided one night to use her "Umbra Mantellum" spell to sneak down into the potions classroom so she can read the Half Blood Prince's Advance Potion Making text-book. She committed ever single page to memory, this combined with the textbooks her Father had altered and her own composite magic made Penny's knowledge second to none among the students. In just a single year at Hogwarts Penny was voraciously devouring every scrap of information the school had to offer. She had read so much in fact that the sight of her without a book is thought of as strange at this point. It was during one of her sessions with the headmaster that he brought up an interesting proposal. "Say Miss Partridge are you familiar with the TriWizard Tournement?" Penny quickly explained what she knew about it. Dumbledore not shocked with the scope of her knowledge any longer continued "Hogwarts and two other schools are thinking about reviving the tournament in a few years. I was hoping that maybe we could send to as an exchange student next year to both of the schools in order to improve our relationship between schools". Penny thought about it for a while and quickly agreed. She wondered what kind of knowledge she could find in a school other than Hogwarts. "You see Miss Partridge, We have been communicating with thee possible schools , these are Illvermony, Durmstrang, and Beaxbatons. Sadly Illvermony have prior commitments so it falls to the other schools. I was hoping that starting in your second year we would be able to send you to the two schools for half the school year each. By doing this we would foster a better relationship and make them agree to join the tournament more easily". Penny thought about the dangers in Hogwarts in the second year. She decided it might be a good idea to get her Muggle-born friend out of the school just in case so she readily agreed as long as she, Agnes and Drew could go as a group. Dumbledore agreed and began communicating with the other schools to get their approval. after Penny returns back to the Ravenclaw common room she explained the opportunity to her two friends who excitedly agreed. "Can you imagine what we could learn in a new environment" said Drew happily. Agnes was a little taken aback and was worried about Drew in Durmstrang as they don't admit Muggle-Born students. Once she explained this his excitement quickly died down.
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The school year continues as it was intended in the story. As June is rapidly approaching the students at Hogwarts are preparing for their end of year exams. Penny who already memorized enough of the curriculum to be able to sit the N.E.W.T exams spends her time exploring the castle and generally just going about things as she wishes. Most students and some students think she isn't applying herself, but there are just as many who know she really has no need to. These people wondered if she was going to be allowed to sit the O.W.L exams and graduate early. If they were to ask Penny though she would refuse. in her mind there is more to learn in the castle than just whats on the curriculum. When the exams finally arrive Penny easily completes what each subject requires. To some students who look upon her performance it would appear she did the exams with the bare minimum of effort. None of these know just how voraciously she has consumed every scrap of knowledge since her entry into Hogwarts. With the Exams over and the school year drawing close to an end Penny ramps up her exploration of the castles mysteries. One Penny headed towards the seventh floor of Hogwarts. on the left side corridor is a special room that she finally decided to go explore. She deliberately kept in mind the idea of the room of hidden things. Soon a door appeared on the previously blank wall. This is whats known by the house elves as the Come-And-Go room or the Room of Requirement. Inside was mountains upon mountains of things that past students had hidden inside. Penny happily searched through the contents with a smile on her face. The reason Penny was so happy is because thee are thousands upon thousands of old books. She greedily placed many of them within her bag. They disappeared with beads of light within the gaping maw of the bag. Even Penny was unable to get through this many books quickly but she happily took them none the less. Knowing many of Hogwarts secrets in advance has proved invaluable to Penny. It is because of this knowledge from he past life that she found this room so quickly. Penny's mood quickly became sour. Her wand was making the warning song in her head far louder than she had ever heard it before. During her search she came across what she recognized as the Lost Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. She felt an immediate pull towards the object. It was almost as though something was calling out to her. The voice she hears was full of malice and so evil she felt her heart freeze. Just as she was about to touch the Diadem she sopped herself. Somehow her Occlumency skills were being bypassed. It took all the will and skill she could muster to rebuild her mental defenses. She looked at the diadem, its beauty seemingly captivating. The engraving of "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure" seemed to stir something within Penny. Penny felt a strength flood through herself as her mind suddenly became clearer. Her eyes flashed with determination as she simultaneously cast Occlumency and Leglimency at the same time. She felt her consciousness leave her body and flow into the Diadem. Inside the diadem was a pure white space with a single person standing before her. He was a tall dark slender figure with striking jet black hair upon first glance he seemed to be an incredibly beautiful person. There was however something not quite right. Under scrutiny there seemed to be something wrong with this person that only became more obvious the more you looked. His good-looking visage crumbles as his skin begins to appear waxy and ghostly pale, the most striking thing is his bright red blood like eyes. The figure smiles at Penny simultaneously bewitching and terrifying. All her survival instincts began screaming at once. "welcome, how are you? my name is Tom, Tom Riddle" the spectral figure seemed to say in a friendly air. Unlike his younger self as described in the novels this version of Tom was losing his youthful friendly appearance. It was almost like she was looking at a snake that is in the midst of shedding its skin. That didn't stop this version of Tom trying to affect a friendly, jovial atmosphere to lower ones defenses. There was something dark and terrifying creeping into Penny's thoughts. Even with his friendly appearance she could feel Tom trying to encroach upon her mind. She defended against Dumbledore's attempt as he attempted to use Leglimency with a great deal of finesse, Tom however is trying to gain entry by pure force. Whilst Dumbledore was picking the lock to her mind with a dexterous hand and the right tools, Tom's approach is more akin to chopping the door down with an axe. Toms smile quickly drops when he realizes his attempts are being resisted. He finds the thought of anyone resisting him to be the highest form of insult. How dare anyone stand against him. His eyes as red as blood flash with menacing glee. "So, you seem to have a little talent then". His cheerful voice now cold and full of contempt. Penny's mind pushes back against Toms. As to reflect this she pushes forward by two steps, it is almost like the physical act reflects what is going on within her mind. Tom doesn't back up at all in fact he takes two steps towards the young Witch. Penny feels her legs weaken momentarily. His grin twisted in a grotesque form of pleasure as he makes his way towards Penny. "Ah so you had a Muggle parent" Tom seems to have read a stray memory that Penny wasn't able to conceal. Although Penny is skilled and is pushing back against Tom, she can't protect every memory. "Its seems so did you" Penny bluffed. She knew the history of Tom Riddle the wizard who would go on to become Voldemort from reading the books in her past life. Tom was shocked, he was sure he kept complete control of his mind. Penny taking advantage of this, put on a composed and almost know it all expression. She pushed further into Toms mind. She purposely made her encroachment as unpleasant feeling as possible. The visage of Tom raised his hand to his head in pain. "What's this abandoned by your Father before you were born. Your Mother died and left you all alone. All that superiority is nothing but a cover. Your nothing but a weak scared little boy with daddy and abandonment issues playing pretend". Penny taunted the visage of Tom Riddle. She was pretending this knowledge came from her clumsy intrusion into his mind. As he couldn't tell how she was learning this he was becoming more and more frustrated. Penny was doing just enough to keep her bluffs hidden. He was losing confidence in his own ability to protect his mind which only exacerbated his situation. His guard was lowering and Penny was instead of focusing on his memories instead headed towards the knowledge this version of Tom had buried deep within itself. She knew doing this would cause him the most amount of pain. She kept up her bluffs making it easier and easier to siphon off his knowledge. "Poor little Tommy, All alone with no one to protect him. You got hurt didn't you. That's because you were weak, you will always be weak.". She pushed the knowledge of the weak pathetic Voldemort forced to be a parasite surviving in the back of Quirrell's head into his mind. Tom screamed in agony, the thought that his future self has fallen so low and that it drinks unicorn blood just to keep its fragile existence drove this version of Tom to despair. His hatred and wish to kill that weak version of himself drove his power to attack himself. Cracks began appearing on the spirit of Toms forehead, It looked suspiciously like a certain lightning bolt shaped scar. From this crack great stores of ominous green light flooded out of them. Penny now standing right in front of the wailing terrified Tom, with nowhere to go the green light is dangerously close to reaching her. Penny places her right hand over the crack. Penny then uses her Book Dwellers power for the first time since taking over the body of Penelope Partridge. She is more than aware the likeliness of escaping the diadem is impossible if left as it is. The light is obviously a defense mechanism Voldemort left behind that activates the killing curse, should anyone actually be capable of harming the spirits construct. Penny's hand absorbs a great deal of the flowing green light. along with large black serpent like specters that are absorbed by her skin like drops of ink on a page. Penny feeling now what dying feels like uses every ounce of her book dweller power in order to infuse her boundless imagination into purifying herself. Eventually the light subsides within the white space the version of Tom screams releasing the last of its power as he crumples to the floor, curled up into a ball Voldemort's eyes show a fearful gaze that until now was only reserved for Dumbledore. The remains of his Power expelled Penny from the Diadem at shotgun speed, it happened so fast her consciousness was unable to return any time soon, She is like wise shot out of the Room of Requirement like a cannon the weakened vestiges of Voldemort expelled her using the very last remaining ounce of his power. Eventually she is discovered unconscious on the ground by Mrs Norris, Filtch's cat. The act of using her book dweller abilities has left her dangerously close to death, but Penny calculated that it would be better be near death than let that killing curse actually kill her.
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Penny wakes up in the hospital wing. Her bed is surrounded by cards and flowers from other Ravenclaw students. Madam Poppy Pomfrey, the schools matron was a thin elderly lady with dark grey hair and blue eyes. She had a rather strict looking appearance that was similar to Professor McGonagall. Penny instantly knew to do exactly what she was told. Penny examined mental condition. She was well aware there would be a side effect of using her book dweller abilities, she is concerned it could possible destabilize the world she has chosen to live in. It seems that when she was absorbing the Killing curse with her book dweller abilities it had an unexpected side effect of combining Leglimency and Occlumency and for lack of a better word copied and pasted some of Voldemort's memories and knowledge into her own brain. Most of his memories are only within her mind on the surface level but his knowledge seems to be deeply rooted, there is no way of telling yet what kind of side effects this could have. Most of Voldemort's childhood memories and cruel deeds were now conflicting with her own memories. Suddenly a specific memory springs to Penny's mind. Penny begins to vomit uncontrollably, Madam Pomfrey quickly helps Penny and cleans up the mess with magic. Penny had just saw the memory of Voldemort creating his first Horcrux in her mind. She was aware it involved killing in order to split the soul but the rest of what the spell involved was the most disgusting thing she had ever known of. There was something not quite right within her mind, it was almost as though something deep within herself was rejecting these memories. The fact that they are so tainted with evil contradicts being within the mind of a person whose soul is complete. The feeling of nausea returns again like a tidal wave that washes away every fiber of her being. Madam Pomfrey quickly notices the pale look upon Penny's face, she rushes over and gives Penny a potion to quell the nausea. Luckily for Penny, Madam Pomfrey is a person of incredible ability and soon she starts to feel a little better. As Penny regains a bit of strength she asks "Madam Pomfrey can I have a container of some kind please?". Madam Pomfrey tilts her head in confusion but relents when seeing the determination within the young Ravenclaws eyes. Madam Pomfrey goes and brings back a small clear bottle with a rubber cork. "Will this do dear?" she asks politely to which Penny nods in agreement. She places the bottle in Penny's shaking hand. The colour has almost entirely drained out of Penny's skin but she is wet with sweat. It takes Penny all of her willpower to calm herself down. Flashes of memories constantly playing in her mind effecting her concentration. Penny bites her lip hoping that feeling the sting of her teeth will distract her from the memories. With a shaking hand she places her wand near her temple. Penny knows the theory around extracting memories but this is the first time she has attempted it. With all the concentration she can muster she exorcises all of the worst memories. Her wand pulls a rotting black string from her head. When most people perform this the memories are visually brilliant white, this just goes to show how disgusting the mind of Voldemort has become since splitting his soul. The disgusting black string seems to be fighting against her, It is devolving into a tug of war between Penny and the memories. Madam Pomfrey is in shock seeing what is before her. Never in all her years has she seen something like this, The young witch before her screams so loudly as a darkness envelopes the hospital wing. The air becomes so fridged that if one was to say a Dementor was near by she would have believed them. The black string is slowly being pulled away in a final act of desperation, the disgusting strings begin to form hook like protrusions that dig into Penny's temple. Penny's pain filled scream reverberates as the glass windows begin to shake. The hooked protrusions are being forcefully torn out of Penny's temple. Veins are pulsating on Penny's forehead as blood splatters with each and every separated hook. Penny grits her teeth with one final Pull the squirming black mass of memory is out of her head. Penny's focus and reason quickly returns as she places the evil memories within the bottle before sealing it. She now feels more exhausted than she has ever felt in her life but through pure willpower she is staying conscious. She quickly notices that the majority of Voldemort's memories are gone only leaving a few pieces behind too deep for her to recover them any longer. She was a bit worried but as the worst is now gone she felt truly lucky. Unlike those memories she could have just copied and pasted far more nefarious things such as his personality into her mind making her essentially a mental clone of Voldemort. The side effects of using her book dweller powers are far to random it's probably for the best if she doesn't have to use them again. An incredibly tired looking Penny then notices, in a bed on the opposite side of the Hospital wing is an unconscious Harry Potter. He is surrounded by banners, cards, and gifts from his fellow Gryffindores. She finds it amusing that both of them are in here due to battling the same dark wizard at the exact same time. Penny has been incredibly weakened by the whole ordeal and quickly falls asleep.
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When she wakes up again Professor Dumbledore is sat next to her bed. "Ah, glad to see you are awake Miss Partridge" said the headmaster. He was calmly looking at Penny, but she got the distinct opinion he was examining something about her. "Yes, thank you for your concern headmaster" replied Penny as politely as she could. Dumbledore came straight to the point. "Would you mind explaining the happenstance that resulted in your current condition? If you don't mind". Penny collected her thoughts and decided where to start. "I found a room filled with many things that seemed to be thrown away or hidden professor". The description of this room seemed to spark a memory within the headmaster. "Inside the room, I came across an object that appeared to be Ravenclaws lost Diadem. Sadly It seemed to have an incredibly Dark magic cast upon it". Dumbledore quietly listens to the explanation. His hands momentarily tighten around each other when he hears of the dark magic. "You see there seemed to be some kind of presence dwelling within that object. It attempted to use Leglimency on me but when it failed it violently turned its hostility towards me. The being dwelling within that object seemed to be more ferocious and evil than I expected. I believe it intended to kill me." Several forms of dark magic that can cast ones presence within an object flooded to Dumbledore's mind but only one seemed to match this description. "So you see Professor, this presence and I were caught up in a battle over each others minds. While I don't think I destroyed the presence within that object It should be far weaker than it was originally". Dumbledore was relieved to hear this. If his suspicion was correct then even weakening it can be considered a great victory especially for a first year student. Penny then handed over the bottle containing the memories she extracted. Dumbledore stared at the contents intently, his face seemed to hold a great deal of disappointment. Penny said to the Professor "These are a few memories of what was inside the Diadem, Just housing them inside my own mind for a while I feel was incredibly dangerous. I suggest they be destroyed immediately. If I hadn't extracted them when I did I dread to think of the consequences. Dumbledore put the bottle in his robe. The pair chatted amiably for a while after that before Dumbledore left to continue