Anomaly
chapter one – what is in a house?

is there anyone going to listen to my story
all about the girl who came to stay
she's the kind of girl you want so much
it makes you sorry
still you don't regret a single day
-The Beatles, Girl

My name is Penelope Bennett, and I don't matter much. No, I am not one of those weird self deprecating people, and I'm not trying to be humble… but I do like to tell the truth. I am a hufflepuff, not a brave little Gryffindor, or an obnoxiously smart Ravenclaw, or even one of those blood obsessed Slytherins. Just a quiet little Hufflepuff, passing through Hogwarts and as inconsequential to the grand scheme of things as a leaf, blown along by an autumn breeze. We Hufflepuffs tend to be like that, no body really pays a lot of attention to us except other Hufflepuffs. Most people seem to think there were only three houses, and then there was an overflow of students, and the fourth house was created for those students who were left over; that didn't quite fit into any of the other categories.

Ironically enough, this seems to be why we were sorted into the least known of all the houses. Everyone in my dorm seems not to mind that no one really knows who they are. Everyone is at peace with who they are and their position in the school, with the fact that they were not exemplary enough to be in one of the other houses.

That's that makes us… us.

We try to be at least cordial to everyone, loyal to our friends (the most noted Hufflepuff trait), and quietly amiable while carrying on our daily activities. We don't like to get caught up in the drama of the rest of the school. It's not us versus them, or them versus us, but more them versus them, and we sit on the sidelines and watch.

I like to pretend that I am a simple, typical Hufflepuff. That the constant "Penelope who's" don't get to me. And to an extent they don't. I like to brush it off that most people know me as 'the Puff with the dark hair and long legs' and those who have a vague inclination of who I am think my name is Penny, a nickname I detest. But after a while, it begins to irk me.

This is another little thing that I like about my house; we know who people are. We are the quiet observers of the school, we notice everything that goes on around us. We don't find anything to below us to notice, and so we take everything in and store it in our minds. At least I do. I find myself remembering just about everything I see or hear. In spite of myself, I could tell anyone who wanted to listen who Sirius Black's latest fling was, who he cheated on her with, and how long she stayed with him while he was cheating on her with said girl.

I am not quite the typical Hufflepuff, though, no matter how much I would like to be.

I have most of the traits; I'm a nice enough person, I don't judge, and I don't think that my amounts of 'bravery' or 'intelligence' are any greater than anyone else's. I don't have particularly strong feelings about anyone at the school, no hatred, no pining, no limitless devotion. I'm pretty much neutral about everyone I come across, except of course, the members of my family. I have two at the school, my twin sister Prudence, and my little brother Edmund.

My twin and I really have nothing in common, except our looks. Our appearances aren't just similar, they're identical. If you thought people were confused when they first met me and had no idea when they met me, imagine the looks on their faces when they realize there's another one of me. If they took the time to get to know us, they would realize just how different we really are. Like yin and yang, peanut butter and jelly… we are so different, and yet we go together like peas and carrots. She's my best friend, and our differences only serve to make us closer. Most of the time.

She is much quieter than I am, truly a sweetheart, and cares for everyone as if they were her best friend in the world. I sometimes think she is in capable of thinking badly about anyone. She has this weird thing where she sees the good in everyone, no matter how impossible it seems.

And I… well I'm, as I said before, the complete opposite. I'm very outspoken when I don't like someone. I don't like to judge people unless they have done something to me personally, but when it just so happens that someone does get on my nerves, they will know it. I rant a lot as well, in case you couldn't tell, and only the calm and patient persona of Prue can calm me down. There are many times when I find myself growing jealous of her, the way that she doesn't hate people or feel the need to rant and punch pillows, but then I remember- I got the better name.

It's a small bit of consolation, but honestly; how much better is Penelope than Prudence? A lot, and that's what keeps me from resenting her perfect-ness.

We are the middle of four children in our family, our younger brother Edmund is in fifth year, and our older brother Louis. Prue prefers our younger brother, doting on him and helping him get along in the school as Hufflepuff. I, however, prefer my older brother. He was a Gryffindor like our father, but I don't see the arrogance in him that I see in most of the Gryffindors I know now. He is genuinely brave and virtuous, and while he is a little overprotective of me and Prue, I like the fact that he is looking out for me.

Currently he is in training to become an auror, a profession that scares our mother to death. She thinks that he is going to get himself killed fighting the forces of darkness, as I like to call them. That's another thing I admire in Louis, he doesn't fear death. He isn't afraid of anything really; maybe it has something to do with the fact that he's six feet tall, with arms thicker than my entire body (he's intimidating and he knows it). People take one look at him and run.

Just like I differ from my sister personality wise, me and my brother are complete opposites physically, and in more ways than he's a boy and I'm a girl. He's got thick, wavy, light brown hair, and I've got thin, bone strait black hair. He's one big muscle and built like a brick wall, and I'm nothing more than a waif with eyes. He's tall, and I'm on the short side of average. I look like my mother, and he's the spitting image of my father. We are as different looking as two siblings can be, but like with my sister, I love him more than anything. Now that he's graduated I don't get to see him much, but he does come to visit on Hogsmeade weekends, and he can even get away with coming up to the school every once and a while.

I have come to the conclusion that I'm really not like anyone. I can't find anyone to compare myself to, no one to relate myself to when describing who I am. I have to stick to what's different about me, how unalike me and my peers are. In a way it's nice, not fitting into a category means not having any guidelines that I have to follow. But there is a little part of me that wants to belong, that wants to feel like I am part of something bigger. Let the records show that Penelope Bennett is her own person. She is her own person, but sometimes she just wants to be like everyone else.

The first day of classes has always been my least favorite day of the entire school year. I don't particularly like sitting down in class on September the second, and seeing the look on the teacher's faces when they say my name during the role call. There's the classic bewilderment, occasional confusion, and even more rarely, recognition and a smile. This last one is usually from professor Sprout, my head of house and the only teacher who genuinely knows who I am and seems to like me. My favorite reaction happens when I get teachers who had my brother, and loved my brother, and then I am forever known as 'Louis Bennett's little sister. It's smashing.

The first day of seventh year was turning out to be exactly the same as every other year. First period on Monday morning, and the entirety of our NEWT Transfiguration class was lined up against the wall, waiting for our seat assignments. There were roughly fifteen of us from all different houses, and me, my sister, and Amos Diggory were the only Hufflepuffs. I was praying to sit with Prudence, or at least Lily Evans, the only Gryffindor who I had ever had a more than three word conversation with. She was very nice with a bit of a temper, which was why I liked her.

There were two people to a table, so Professor McGonagall was walking along the rows of tables and pointing to each table in turn, reading off the names of the pair that would sit there for the rest of the year. I sighed as Prudence was paired off with Narcissa Black, someone I had pegged for brain-dead in our first year. Knowing Prue when we left the class she would have something positive to say about her experience, like Narcissa has pretty hair, or something to that effect. Lily was put with Amos, and I was not the only one who looked disappointed.

James Potter, who has been head over heals in love with Lily Evans since first year, was glaring daggers at Diggory. I felt sorry for the guy; it wasn't like he had chosen his seat. The next table was directly behind them, and I heard my name. "Miss Bennett, and Mr. Lupin. You will sit here, if you please."

I looked around at Remus Lupin, who's face had turned even more pale than it usually was. He was sick more often than not, and every once and a while he looked as though he could drop dead at any moment. This was one of those times. I had no real opinion of Remus Lupin strictly because I knew very little about him. I knew that he was taller than his three best friends, that his mother was very ill and he went to visit her once or twice a month, pretty good looking, and that he was a prefect.

So basically, I knew nothing.

I sat in the seat that was assigned to me, then looked around to find that Remus hadn't moved, and was still standing against the wall looking pale and sickly. His hand was in the air soon, and McGonagall looked at him inquisitively. "Why haven't you taken your seat, Mr. Lupin?"

"I-I was wondering if I could switch places, professor, with Nott." His voice was smooth and deep, and under any other circumstances I would have found it very attractive. I saw him look longingly at the place where Theodore Nott was sitting, next to Remus' best friend James. It was understandable that he would want to sit by his best friend, but did he seriously expect McGonagall to let him move next to him. The two would be making things explode, vanish, or change color every day of the week.

"I don't think so, Mr. Lupin. Miss Bennett appears to be in perfect heath, completely free of any contagious or deadly diseases. I'm sure you will survive sitting beside her." The entire class was staring at either me or Remus as he walked slowly over to the empty seat at our table, looking as if he was making his final walk to the gallows. He sat in the chair and proceeded to move it as far away from me as possible, leaning away and scooting to the very edge of the chair. It was then that I realized that it wasn't that he really wanted to sit beside his friend, but that he really did want to sit by me.

Now, I have seen a lot of things in this school. Not a lot of recognition, and a lot of weird looks, but most of the people here seem to be indifferent to me. I'm a Hufflepuff, and it comes with the territory. Never, and I mean never, has anyone really shown a real aversion towards me. No one has ever disliked me without getting to know me… that is, until Remus Lupin came along.

I sat looking at him while the Professor finished the seat assignments, and every once and a while his gaze would flick to me as well. He would glare at me when this happened, and I couldn't help but notice that his eyes were an attractive shade of grayish blue. Once when he was looking in my direction I thought I saw them change color, turn a vicious shade of black. But when I looked again, they were that same blue color again. I brushed it off as my imagination, and turned my attention to the class, trying to ignore the fact that Remus was so deliberately ignoring me.

As hard as I tried, I couldn't concentrate on the lecture on different species transfiguration; turning one kind of animal into another kind. I kept looking over at the boy sitting next to me, at his left fist resting on the table; clenching and unclenching as he took notes. He never relaxed, I realized, his posture was stiff and rigid, and the muscles of his arms I could see because the sleeve of his robe fell back looked tense and perpetually flexed. I had always thought of him as a thin, lanky boy. But now that I sat next to him, I saw that this wasn't necessarily true. Remus Lupin could possibly be very powerful when he wanted to, and almost certainly dangerous.

His strange behavior continued throughout the rest of the class, he didn't give so much as a glance in my direction, no words of greeting, and when our hands accidentally touched when we were reaching for the mice we were supposed to be turning into peacocks, he pulled his hand away like I had burned it. His actions perturbed me; I was pretty sure I didn't smell, and I wasn't carrying some kind of fatal disease as Professor McGonagall so kindly put it, and while I wasn't a curvaceous blonde, I knew that I wasn't that bad looking… so why was he treating me as if I carried the plague?

I grabbed a lock of my hair a sniffed it discreetly. I smelled good enough, like the nondescript fruity shampoo that I had been using for years now. It was a subtle smell, and unless he was allergic to it, I wasn't sure how it could make him look as if he wanted to be as far away from me as possible; anywhere but where he was. Shaking my head, I resolved to stop thinking about it, if he had a problem with me that was something he would have to deal with, and I didn't have to think about it. I hadn't done anything to him, so why should I have to worry?

The bell to end the class came much too soon for me, and I gathered my things and hurried out without a glance backwards. As much as I hate to admit it, I was almost in tears as I made my way down to my underground common room. I knew that Prue was following me, but I didn't stop until I had given the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff the password and flopped down on one of the large couches that littered the common room. I closed my eyes, and heard her enter soon after I did.

She sat beside my head and started to stroke my hair, just like our mum did when we were little and upset about something. "So…" she started, as if unsure what she should say. I was sure she had noticed the exchange between Remus and I; the whole class had noticed. "Did you stab Remus with your quill or something? I've never seen him like that, he's usually so sweet." I shook my head and opened my eyes, looking up into the face that looked exactly like mine.

"I didn't do anything, Prue. Usually I open my mouth before people decide they don't like me"

"I don't think he hates you, Pen… he just doesn't know you." I sighed and closed my eyes. Prue had an annoying habit of thinking the best in every situation, and overlooking people's faults.

"You saw him, he looked as if he was being forced to sit beside a leper. I don't look like a leper, do I?" She laughed and continued stroking my hair. She was older than me by a few minutes, but there were times when I felt she was much older than that, certainly she was much wiser, more mature. Throughout all our years at this school I had always looked to her to be my guide, and to keep me from losing my head at people.

"Of course you don't look like a leper. Perhaps he was just angry that he couldn't sit beside James." I made a non committal noise in the back of my throat, somewhere between a grunt and a sigh. I didn't feel like answering her in words, mostly because I didn't want to disagree with her and start and argument. She always won our arguments. "We have Herbology in half an hour, and you'll be pleased to know that Remus won't be there." I was pleased, I had enough of him already to last a lifetime.

We sat on the couch together for a while in silence. I was brooding on my new found 'friend', and she was still stroking my hair absently looking into the fire. I couldn't help but think that he might not dislike me because of who I was, but rather because of what I was. He was a Gryffindor, easily the most famous and well liked house in the school, and I was a Hufflepuff… a left over. He had never seemed to be the type to look down on people because of their house, unlike a few people I could think of. I had always seen him as fair minded and kind, but perhaps I had been wrong.

Could this perfect prefect really be like all the other people I had come across in my years at this school; convinced that he was better than everyone else just because of where a hat decided he should go? If he was, then he wasn't worth my time or thought. But if this was true, then why, why couldn't I stop thinking about him?

A/N: Um, I'm pretty sure you recognized the elements of Twilight in this story, and if you didn't… go read the book, it's very good. Also, I don't own this book, or any part of Harry Potter, the only thing I own is Penelope and her family.

Please review, I don't really care if you don't, but it would be nice if you did.