She'd woken when it was dark with Oliver's arms around her and the first proper sleep in a week. Dreams of her family and Seth hadn't haunted her as she'd lain in the Scots embrace. Even when the owl had arrived, an eerie calm had descended on her as she'd prepared to go to the Ministry.
Minutes...hours..time seemed to flow past as Penny found herself in the thick of the battle at the Ministry. Years of duelling club couldn't have prepared her for the onslaught of people, cries and spells being fired from every direction but her offensive spells held up. Firing off hex after curse, Penny was soon engaged in a battle with a masked Death Eater; fear thrummed in her veins as she tried to remain steady and take the traditional attacking stance.
And that's where it went wrong; her need to follow the 'rules' let her down and a stinging hex hit her in the back of the knees and she fell forward into a wall. Dazed, confused and disorientated, she stumbled into the brickwork and only vaguely saw the masked DE fall after being hit with a bright purple light. The battle began to die down and Penny used the wall to steady herself as she tried to find her friends and help where she could.