Penny smiled sadly; she'd only noticed a worsening in the way Percy responded to criticism. He was definitely not on the same track Ron was. "He knows you're all joking some of the time, but he can't handle it constantly. Believe me...I listened to him complain about it for over two years." She'd never seen Percy cry over the matter, but was pretty sure she'd seen a few close calls; mostly it had been a lot of anger and pacing back and forth.
"I know," she agreed, nodding. "That's why I want to talk to him and see what's going on in his brain. If nothing else, I want to put it all out there so it's not weird or tense when we have to work together at the Ministry." Penelope sighed sadly. "You know we never broke up, right? Actually, I doubt Percy ever talked to anyone about it. He fell in love with his job and boss - which was creepy, by the way - and sort of forgot about me, which was okay because I left the country soon after that.." Talking about this with someone, even someone who had just pinned her to her own kitchen counter, was both a relief and somehow distressing at the same time.