teenagers | penelope

[evelyn rhea oliveira]

They're gonna clean up your looks

with all the lies in the books

April 20, 2026
penelope raisa bainbridge

Evelyn let out a heavy and frustrated sigh. She’d procrastinated her Charms assignment—instead opting to read. Reading in itself was not the problem, but it was the fact that she’d preferred to read fiction versus the studying she was supposed to be doing. As far as she knew, she was passing her classes and doing well enough. It wasn’t as if she needed stellar marks. But with the deadline looming, she walked slowly down the aisle ways and read the old and dusty bindings of the books. She was looking for one for her charms assignment. Evelyn pulled out one book and opened it to the table of contents. The pages felt as if nobody had opened it for years, and it was clear why this had nothing to do with her assignment or any she had done in the past six years, for that matter.

Other students looked for their own books, and others used the back of the library to hide away from others though only sometimes it was for studying. Moving to the next aisle, she saw a Hufflepuff standing there, though the blonde hair and familiar face gave her away. One of the triplets, though Ev couldn’t positively say which one it was. But, she didn’t bother her as she seemed focused on something in her book. Moving closer to her, she read the large print on the spine of a book that seemed to be next to the Hufflepuff’s head. Naturally. Of course. Annoyed, Evelyn walked over and reached for the book. ”Excuse me—sorry, I just need to grab—“ She half-heartedly muttered an apology and glanced at the girl, but then she happened to look down at her book and saw that her phone was, in fact, there. The brightly lit screen had words in large and bolded font, and Evelyn suddenly forgot about the book she was looking for. ” Is there a new chapter of Dementors in the Dungeons?” Evelyn asked, though in more of a hushed whisper—they were in the library after all.

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

April 20, 2026

Ever since her discussion with Cara and Diana at the pizza parlor two days prior, Penelope had been confused and intrigued by the existence of so much fan fiction on the WWWW. She had expected it to be confined to Vibe or something like that, but her sisters were right: There was a whole universe of the stuff out there. Not wanting her roommates—and least of all Peyton and Persephone—to catch her reading some of what she had found, though, Penelope had decided that the school library was a safer option than her dormitory.

She was a few chapters deep in some story called Dementors in the Dungeons, an intriguing piece of writing if not a little weird. She couldn't picture anyone seriously reading it; it was sort of laughable, and she really didn't know how her sisters would react to her mentioning that she had actually gone and found it on Pensieve of Our Own. (That the acronym for it was "POOO" wasn't lost on Penelope, either.) The comments, too, were amusing. People seemed to eat it up, and she guessed that she could sort of see why.

It was a long while before anyone even approached her, her mobile phone wedged inside a book so that it would look like she'd been reading something else. A younger Slytherin girl seemed frustrated with her, mentioning that she needed to grab the book that she was reading. Penelope, startled, jumped a little in her chair.

Suddenly, though, the girl brought her voice down to a whisper. "Is there a new chapter of Dementors in the Dungeons?"

Penelope blinked and looked over at the Slytherin. She had a good length of the story to go before the end, but she had seen that it was technically unfinished. The girl didn't seem to be judging her for her choice of reading material, though; she seemed interested in it.

"I-I'm not… I'm not sure, honestly," Penelope stammered. "Erm, I'm only on the fourth one." She didn't really care about hearing anything that might spoil the story for her; she didn't really know how long it would take her to finish what had been published already, and she still had assignments for class that she needed to work on.

evelyn rhea oliveira

[evelyn rhea oliveira]

They're gonna clean up your looks

with all the lies in the books

April 20, 2026
penelope raisa bainbridge

Evelyn would have loved nothing more than to sit in one of the oversized armchairs in the Common Room and read. Perhaps if she had spent half as much time studying as she did on Pensieve of Our Own, she would be top of her class. But Evy had always found comfort in writing and stories, like an escape from the reality she didn’t care to think about sometimes. The blonde seemed surprised as if she hadn’t noticed Evelyn approaching her until she had spoken. And it was also odd to her that she was hiding her phone like that. They were so commonplace at school now that there wasn’t a need. Then again, Dementors in the Dungeons was not for the faint of heart.

The girl blinked at her, confused for a moment. Oh, so she wasn’t caught up. ”Oh.” Evy spoke. ”You have a few chapters to go. That story is her latest one.” She’d just caught up the previous week when chapter ten had been posted. ”I didn’t think many others read her stories…they’re not for everyone.” Evy couldn’t remember the girl's name, unfortunately. Plus, she was sure she was a triplet like Luna was, but Evelyn had seen her with Slater and her friends around the castle.

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

April 20, 2026

"Oh," said the younger girl simply. "You have a few chapters to go. That story is her latest one."

Penelope hadn't really paid attention to how recent it was, other than that she knew that it couldn't have been that old; they hadn't had mobile phones with magical abilities in Britain for very long, and the spelling in the story wasn't American, at least. She nodded a little at the Slytherin, not sure if having multiple chapters left of whatever this was was supposed to be a good thing. Then again, different people had different interests, and a certain segment of Pensieve of Our Own seemed to… cater to that.

Even the Slytherin girl said as much. "I didn't think many others read her stories…" she admitted. "They're not for everyone."

Immediately, Penelope could feel her cheeks reddening and the compulsion to let her know that she really wasn't into Dementors in literal or figurative dungeons. She really didn't want her older sisters' teasing to be something that people took and ran with at school, too. She especially didn't want to be known around Hogwarts as "that girl who reads that stuff on the WWWW", and she was one head nod away from ending up in that position.

"Oh. I'm… er… I'm not really a fan?" Penelope explained, though she knew that that would be difficult to believe of someone who had found themselves four chapters into one of those stories. "Two of my older sisters"—luckily, she had had the ability to think enough to mention that they were older, keeping Peyton and Persephone out of it—"were talking about this stuff, so I looked it up, and…" It was more than she had bargained for, to say the least about it.

evelyn rhea oliveira

[evelyn rhea oliveira]

They're gonna clean up your looks

with all the lies in the books

April 20, 2026
penelope raisa bainbridge

The girl blushed, and Evy did her best to suppress the grin she felt creeping onto her face. She supposed that only helped solidify that innocent reputation that Hufflepuffs had. She doubted many who were on Pensieve of Our Own read anything that wasn’t rated PG. She stammered through an excuse, something about her sisters, and that was how she’d found the stories. It was probably true, but still just an excuse. ” It's nothing to be embarrassed about.” Evy responded, wondering why she was even comforting her at this point.

”What do you think of them?” Some of the other girls in her dorm talked about the stories, though nothing was really off-limits in the sixth-year girls' dorm conversation. Boys, girls, dating, sex, fanfiction—it was all spoken about so casually. But, what in the world did they talk about on the other side of the dungeons where the Hufflepuffs dormed? Maybe baking and things like that. Evy didn’t know as most of her friends were in Slytherin. The Oliveira girls weren’t exactly known for being natural social butterflies.

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

April 20, 2026

The girl who had approached her about her choice of reading material (not that Penelope had discovered Pensieve of Our Own willingly) reassured her that there was nothing to be embarrassed about it. Were that many people at Hogwarts actually reading that stuff? Penelope's mind went back to her conversation with Cara and Diana, and they had made it sound far more common than Penelope would have assumed.

Penelope wanted to yell that she really didn't read Pensieve of Our Own and wasn't making up excuses because she was embarrassed by the fact that she had been caught on the site. (She was more embarrassed by the other girl's thinking that she read it and was trying to cover it up.)

"What do you think of them?"

"Erm…" Asking who actually read the stuff was a moot point, considering that she was talking to someone who did and seemed like she might get offended if she were to say anything terrible about the stories that she had found so far. "I mean, I can't say they're the best things I've ever read…" Penelope whispered. She had to try to be nice about it. Someone, somewhere had put a lot of effort into writing and publishing these… tales. "Are they all so…" Penelope glanced around. The librarian did not need to pop in at that moment. "Are they all so… graphic?"

evelyn rhea oliveira

[evelyn rhea oliveira]

They're gonna clean up your looks

with all the lies in the books

April 20, 2026
penelope raisa bainbridge

Evy had to admit that this Hufflepuff’s discomfort was a little funny. The Oliveira household had always been filled with pranks, teasing, poking, and prodding until someone was upset. Mainly Callisto because she was trying not to get into trouble. All things Evy had watched curiously until she was old enough to join in on occasion. It reminded her of a time Mina had used Callisto’s bed for one of those “Hooked on Herbology” that used to be popular when they were young. And Mina claimed to have misheard the instruction to not use her bed.

She’d like to think that discussion of such fanfiction stories would have absolutely happened, though Callisto hastily covering young Evy’s ears in the process. Evy raised both her eyes slightly and then looked back at the girl. ”Some more than others.” She admitted. ”This one is pretty tame, actually.” This girl had obviously not gotten around to reading through ‘Bertie Bott’s Basic Instinct’. Evy would have loved to stay and introduce this innocent Hufflepuff to one of that author’s early stories: “The Beater’s Bat” but she did actually have to finish this assignment or risk detention. Plus, the Librarian just rounded the corner and eyed them suspiciously. ”Erm—i’ll just grab that book.” Evy grabbed the book she had been looking for. ”Enjoy.” She gave the Hufflepuff a knowing look and a slight smirk before walking past the Librarian.

[end evy]

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

April 20, 2026

Penelope had never thought of herself as prudish, but all of these stories that people came up with were making her reconsider that. They had to base them off of something, didn't they? She couldn't believe that anyone's mind would go to some of the places that these authors' minds obviously had. Everything was so… explicit, and it made her want to take a shower. Maybe she was the weird one for not wanting to think about some of that content, especially when she was told that what she was reading was "tame". Allegedly.

The librarian soon gave them a cautious look, however, and Penelope nearly let out a squeak. Getting caught reading Pensieve of Our Own by another student was bad, but getting in trouble for reading Pensieve of Our Own wasn't something that Penelope cared to explain to her family—least of all, to her parents.

Luckily, the Slytherin girl was able to cover for her quickly and mentioned grabbing the book that she had come there for. Penelope nodded, even as she was smirked at. "Enjoy," the brunette told her.

She wasn't too sure about that, but getting caught with that reading material in her dormitory was probably safer than getting caught with it in the library… for future reference.

evelyn rhea oliveira
Fin!