the bright young things | penelope

[addilyn elara slater]

We know who we are

and what we want to say

January 13, 2026
penelope raisa bainbridge

Addy rubbed a hand on the back of her neck, she’d slept wrong somehow, and it felt a bit strained. It didn’t get in the way of her homework and classes. However—it would take much more than that to derail her. The last semester had been tricky enough dealing with the distraction of Cheese, but her grades had persisted, and overall she felt good about this term. It was their final term, and the gang was finally back together again. Per her usual routine, she entered the Great Hall for breakfast, walking past the Slytherin table and taking a seat at the table with the yellow banners. It was typical for breakfast. Not all students woke up early enough to attend or just simply chose not to, so one could see half the students in their uniforms and the other half in their pajamas still if they didn’t immediately have a class after.

Not that Addy would have worn her pajamas to breakfast regardless, but she did have a class right after breakfast. Her tie was neatly done, not too tight but too loose would look unseemly. She didn’t see Cheese, and her slight nervousness faded, but she hadn’t spotted Brigh or Dicky yet either. She did spot the familiar blonde head of her friend Penelope, and Addy took the seat next to her, carefully and neatly folding her cloak on the empty space next to her on the bench. ”Morning Eggy.” She spoke. Despite all her discipline in everything she did, Addy could never claim to be a morning person. She used the nickname the group had given her many years ago when Dicky misheard her name, and Brigh had made the executive decision that this was her name now, just as they had dubbed Raphael—Cheese. Addy grabbed a plate and a piece of toast to start. ”That Potions essay wasn’t too bad, finished it last night.” She fully expected either Cheese or Brigh to casually ask for her help later today as it was due the next day.

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

January 13, 2026

It was hard for Penelope to believe that she was really coming to the end of her magical education. Since the beginning of her seventh year, people had been talking about what their plans for the future were in more concrete ways, but NEWTs still felt so far away back then. After however many times she had had to stick a curved line on the back of the five while writing the year in order to turn that last digit into a six, the Hufflepuff was beginning to feel a little weird about it. Her NEWT examinations were only a few months away, and then what? She hadn't developed much of a plan for a future career yet, mostly because she knew that she wasn't predicted to get the sorts of marks required in order to become something like an Auror or a Healer. That had never really bothered her too much; she was still barely making it through Potions class, and she knew that. With the end looming, though? She wished that she had some idea of what she was going to be doing besides telling people that she still wasn't sure.

Penelope was glad not to have been sucked into one of those conversations by the person who sat down next to her at breakfast that morning, though, because it was Addilyn Slater. It didn't matter that Addy was technically in Slytherin; she was more than welcome at the Hufflepuff table, not that Penelope cared to uphold the House divisions so rigidly. Addy greeted her, calling her "Eggy"—perhaps the strangest nickname that had been bestowed upon Penelope by anyone, but she had gotten used to it. "Egg" had absolutely nothing to do with her name, yet she had ended up as "Egg" to a small group of people at Hogwarts and, really, had chosen to go with it rather than make a fuss about correcting them. Besides, she supposed, it was sort of cute, and there were worse things in the world than being called "Egg" or "Eggy" or whatever other variations of the nickname came about.

"Hi, Addy," Penelope smiled to her, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice while she spoke. Addy, meanwhile, was putting food onto her own plate.

"That Potions essay wasn’t too bad, finished it last night," Addy commented, though Penelope couldn't say the same. Potions was easily her worst subject, and trying to recall just about anything to do with it was always such a pain.

"Eurgh," Penelope replied with a groan. "Mine is awful," she told Addy, "but I've got maybe a paragraph left?" She hoped that the assignment would even make sense to Professor Courtemanche when she turned it in, and she would probably get Peyton to look over it for her before she submitted it. "It could have been worse, obviously, but…"

addilyn elara slater

[addilyn elara slater]

We know who we are

and what we want to say

January 13, 2026
penelope raisa bainbridge

Trying to fight Brigh on one of her ‘executive decisions’ was a battle that nobody had seemed to want to fight when a nickname was in play. Addy herself was shocked that one for herself had not been created at some point, whether on purpose or accident over the past seven years. She took a large bite out of her toast, suddenly realizing that she was starving. There had been Quidditch practice the night before, but she hadn’t had a chance to eat anything after. It had gone as she had expected, and really, it was more of a warmup to the real practices that were upcoming, but they had been mostly sedentary over the Christmas break, and even Addy hadn’t picked up her broom. As Eggy responded negatively to the mention of Potions, Addy put a bit more food on her plate. She never filled it up—she could feel her mother’s leering eyes at the thought of such a display.

While Eggy had never required her persistent nagging when it came to homework, she didn’t mind helping her either. Potions was one of those subjects that rarely had a gray area on whether a student liked it or not. ”I can look it over if you want.” Addy offered as she pulled her plate back towards her, so she could eat and not make a mess. ”I imagine Brigh will want me to look hers over as well.” After Penelope was done with the pumpkin juice, Addy proceeded to pour herself a glass. ”Do you think they’ll ask about Cheese-based potions in the exams? It was mentioned last year as well…” Addy’s expression shifted as she went into thought. Maybe she could ask Grey, or Claire although they might want her to figure it out for herself, part of this assignment had covered the topic again. It wasn’t what she expected to still be discussing in her final term at school. Then again, the thought of ‘Cheese’ brought more than the dairy product to mind. Shaking the ever-persistent thought from her mind, she began to eat her breakfast. ”I think we should be getting to Veritaserum soon.”

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

January 13, 2026

"I can look it over if you want," Addy offered her in reference to her Potions essay. Penelope wasn't opposed to that idea at all. The more eyes she had looking over that thing, she felt, the more likely she would be not to make a fool of herself. It wasn't that her writing itself was too terrible, because it wasn't. In Potions, however, she had always made it through on pure luck and continued to feel that she had only made it through to NEWT level by some mistake. She had no proof of it, of course, but she was sure that she had the lowest marks in the class. Addy's mention that she imagined Brígh would ask her to look hers over too helped with those feelings of inadequacy.

Penelope let out a giggle as Addy asked if she thought that the exam would ask about cheese-based potions again, because those had been mentioned the previous year. The cheese thing was probably the most amusing to their friend group, out of everyone in the class, given that they had been calling Raphael McLaggen by the nickname "Cheese" for years. The thought of putting him into a potion was a bit silly, true, and kind of gross to think about for long enough. Penelope did hope that the cheese-based potions would come up again. It had definitely lightened the mood of the class for her.

"I think we should be getting to Veritaserum soon," Addy continued shortly after that, and just the sound of that felt daunting to her. Wasn't Veritaserum supposed to be one of the more complicated ones? With how dangerous it was if mishandled, Penelope couldn't imagine that it was something that just anyone could put together in a few minutes.

"If we have to make Veritaserum for our NEWTs," Penelope complained, "I know I'll get a T…" She wasn't really one to whine, but that seemed like an enormous reach.

addilyn elara slater

[addilyn elara slater]

We know who we are

and what we want to say

January 13, 2026
penelope raisa bainbridge

Potions wasn’t a subject that Addy struggled in, she achieved high marks and understood the material and concepts, but it wasn’t a subject that she was passionate about either. Addy knew that Eggy, however, detested the subject, as did many of their peers. The NEWT level course was required for certain careers such as Cursebreaking or Law Enforcement, even if it wasn’t everybody’s favorite. Brigh never hesitated to ask for help since her dream was to work for Gringotts. Though she was intelligent in her own right, she was quick to get off task. Addy realized how ridiculous that would be on an exam, Cheese-based potions? It was hardly needed in life or death situations. ”I suppose they want to prepare us in the event of a cursed piece of cheese appearing during dinner.” Addy shrugged but spoke sarcastically—she preferred to learn about more practical potions.

Penelope’s expression quickly fell again when Addy mentioned Veritaserum—it was one of the most difficult potions to brew aside from Amortentia and a few others, but while Eggy might have felt fear Addy felt excitement for the challenge it presented. ”Hm…I doubt it's on the exam, maybe the Polyjuice Potion?” Addy mused out loud, drinking some pumpkin juice before returning to her breakfast. Taking a bite of her toast she finished chewing, cleaning her face of any possible crumbs before speaking again. ”Have you seen Brigh, by the way? The past two weeks she’s been appearing everywhere I am, but the one time I have a question she’s nowhere to be found.” Addy explained. But, she didn’t go into detail as to why Brigh kept appearing wherever she was. Still, she did have a homework-related question for her that she had to ask.

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

January 13, 2026

"I suppose they want to prepare us in the event of a cursed piece of cheese appearing during dinner," Addy shrugged in relation to the thought of having to cover cheese-based potions. If that were the case, Penelope thought, that was almost offensive to the elves who worked in the kitchens below. They were loyal to the school, she knew; they wouldn't intentionally curse a piece of cheese and slip it into the spread intended for the students' dinner.

At least Addy sounded a little more sure that Veritaserum wouldn't be on their exam, although she expressed that Polyjuice Potion might be more likely. Penelope hoped so. For one thing, the whole concept of it was much less daunting to think about. For another, she also knew that there was no way that she would get all of the ingredients wrong, considering that one of them happened to be part of someone else.

Penelope nodded and returned to her breakfast as Addy did. It was Addy, though, who spoke next. "Have you seen Brígh, by the way?" she asked her. She also mentioned that the Gryffindor had been appearing just about everywhere that she had been, minus when she actually had a question for her.

"No, I haven't seen her…" Penelope considered. Of course, it was only breakfast. "I mean, I haven't seen her this morning," she then clarified. "Have you tried texting her?" she suggested, not that that was a guarantee that Brígh would see it. "Or you could try the Gryffindor table?" That was probably the easier route, especially with so much noise.

addilyn elara slater

[addilyn elara slater]

We know who we are

and what we want to say

January 13, 2026
penelope raisa bainbridge

The topic of Potions seemed to weigh heavily on her friend. It was a common subject that students disliked, along with Divination or Herbology. While Addy had her career path almost set in her mind, she still wanted the NEWTs that made all the other choices possible. It was a personal goal more than anything at this point. But a thought came to mind. ”You know, I noticed that a lot of jobs—especially in the Ministry seem to require a Potions NEWT. I wonder why that is.” It hardly seemed relevant to most fields unless one worked at St. Mungo’s or as a Potioneer itself. But it was just a passing thought. ”Didn’t your sister take the NEWT level Potions class?” She recalled it was one of the twins, perhaps the quieter one.

The benefit of having been friends since their first year was that they were all familiar with each other’s siblings by this point. Brigh had her brother Bran, Penelope had all her sisters and a brother, Cheese his brother and sister, and Dicky his sister. They all knew her own older brother and sister. The trend still remained that they all seemed to be the youngest of their families. ”Yes, but she hasn’t texted back.” There was the possibility that she was simply still asleep. Unless she’d gone and dragged Cheese onto another adventure to the Forest’s edge, risking not only life and limb but also detention. Addy shook her head no but didn’t push the issue. Things had been a bit complex as of late.

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

January 13, 2026

Addilyn pointed out that plenty of jobs required a certain grade at NEWT level, even positions that didn't have anything to do with potions. Potioneering, for obvious reasons, required someone to do well at Potions, but there were plenty of jobs for which it really didn't seem very necessary at all. Penelope could only hope that it was just to make sure that applicants could do something at that level of difficulty if required of them, not that they actually had to know how to make such complicated potions all the time for every job out there. The importance of that made sense, but Penelope wished that it could have been more optional than it really was. Addilyn also asked her if her sister had taken Potions at NEWT level, and Penelope absentmindedly nodded without requesting specificity on which of her sisters she was talking about there.

When it came to their trying to find Brígh, though, Addilyn confirmed that she had tried to text Brígh but that she hadn't messaged her back.

"Hmm. Try the Gryffindors, then?" Penelope suggested hopefully. If the students who were in Brígh's own House didn't know where she had gone, then would be the time to panic.

addilyn elara slater

[addilyn elara slater]

We know who we are

and what we want to say

January 13, 2026
penelope raisa bainbridge

Unfortunately, Addy had much on her mind that was not Potions. Normally, it was easy to focus on school and her important tasks. Quidditch Practice, Chess club, and other things, but New Years was still fresh in her mind. There was that feeling of being pulled in multiple directions. What was she supposed to be doing? What did she actually want to do? Brigh had always made it look so easy to follow one’s heart and spirit, while Addy focused on her duty and goals. The ambitious side of her fit neatly with that, but now it hadn’t felt so much like that.

Her sister had always been far more ambitious than Addy, but how they approached situations differed. Hence why they’d been sorted in such different houses. It made Claire a natural for her career. ”Hm—I’d be more concerned to find her in the Library on purpose.” Addy typically drug her there to finish an assignment, but she would check anyway. She finished off her piece of toast, mentally tracking what she needed to do that day. ”Right—I need to go find a book before someone’s checked it out again.” Addy stood up, grabbing her bag and placing the strap on her shoulder. ”I’ll see you in class, Eggy.”

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

January 13, 2026

Addilyn remarked that she would be more concerned about Brígh to find her in the library on purpose, and Penelope smiled a little in amusement. She knew that Addy was concerned about figuring out where Brígh had gone, but it was true that their friend wasn't a Ravenclaw. At the mention of the library, though, Addilyn seemed to have been reminded of something else as she polished off her toast. "Right—" she started, "I need to go find a book before someone's checked it out again."

Penelope didn't mind that Addilyn had to leave so suddenly, considering that she was on a mission to find Brígh. Trying to track down library books could be similarly difficult, and Penelope didn't understand why they couldn't just make duplicate copies of some of the more popular books so that they didn't run into issues with having more students looking for one thing than could check out one book in a given period of time.

Standing from the table, Addilyn grabbed her bag. "I'll see you in class, Eggy."

"See you, Addy," Penelope smiled, glad that she had never had to refer to herself in conversation by the nickname that her friends had given her. "And good luck finding Brígh!"

addilyn elara slater
Fin!