Penelope Clearwater

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Character
Name: Penelope "Penny" Clearwater
Occupation: witch
Relationships: Percy Weasley (ex-boyfriend)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Other: born in 1975 or 1976
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Penelope Clearwater is a character in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, most notable as the girlfriend of Percy Weasley during their Hogwarts years.

In Canon

Penelope (also called "Penny" by Percy) is first introduced in Chamber of Secrets as a Ravenclaw prefect who gets petrified by the basilisk alongside Hermione. It is later revealed that she had been dating Percy Weasley in secret throughout the book.

Penelope also appears as Percy's girlfriend throughout Prisoner of Azkaban, and is shown to have an interest in Quidditch, as she admires Harry's new Firebolt broomstick and bets Percy on the outcome of the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw match. Nothing is known of Penelope's fate after Prisoner of Azkaban, although J.K. Rowling indicated in a post-Deathly Hallows interview that she and Percy eventually broke up, as Percy goes on to marry Audrey.[1]

Penelope was described in the novels only as having "long, curly hair." She was portrayed in the Chamber of Secrets film by Gemma Padley (whose hair was neither long nor curly), and Padley's portrayal influenced some fans to depict Penelope as blonde and blue-eyed, though she is also commonly given brown hair in fanworks. Official Pottermore art released in 2012 shows Penelope with blonde hair.[2]

Penelope's Age

In early editions of Chamber of Secrets, Penelope is stated to be "a fifth-year girl". However, in editions of the book published from 2004 onwards, this was changed to "sixth-year", placing Penelope officially in the same year as Percy.[3]

Even after this official correction, it was still common for Penelope to be depicted as a year younger than Percy in fanfiction, either because authors did not know the change was made or because they preferred the original version and did not wish to alter their fanon conceptions of Penelope and Penelope and Percy's relationship.

Muggle-born or Half-Blood?

Penelope's blood status is a contested topic in fandom, due to perceived contradictions in canon.

Because Penelope was a victim of Slytherin's basilisk, it was generally assumed that she was Muggle-born. However, in Deathly Hallows, Hermione pretends to be Penelope when captured by the Snatchers and claims to be half-blood. Some fans speculate that Penelope may indeed be half-blood and was only petrified by the basilisk because she had been with Hermione (a Muggle-born) at the time. In this case, when Riddle stated that the basilisk had been set on "four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat,"[4] the fourth Muggle-born may have been Nearly-Headless Nick (the other three victims were Hermione, Colin Creevey, and Justin Finch-Fletchley, and were all confirmed to be Muggle-born).

Others argue that had Penelope not been a Muggle-born, this would have been remarked upon when she was attacked in CoS, and that Riddle's and Lucius Malfoy's comments[4][5] imply that all the students petrified had been Muggle-born. They suggest that Hermione had given the Snatchers a random name (perhaps the first girl Hermione could think of that had recently graduated from Hogwarts) and lied about her being a half-blood. Alternatively, from a more Doylist perspective, some believe that the contradiction was simply an error on JKR's part.[6]

Some fans have developed theories or headcanons to reconcile these facts: perhaps Penelope was the daughter of two Muggle-borns, or had more distant magical ancestry, and therefore was considered a "Mudblood" by Tom Riddle but not Muggle-born by the Ministry's standards in Deathly Hallows.

Shipping

Het pairings:

Femslash pairings:

Notable Penelope-centric Fanworks

Fics

  • After the End by Arabella and Zsenya (2001-2003) — A post-GoF epic featuring an ensemble cast, including a widowed Penelope who lives at the Burrow with her infant son and must overcome her grief for Percy in order to help rebuild the wizarding world after the war.
  • Smart Girls Do by voleuse (2004) — An NC-17 Penelope/Hermione Granger short. between_names's rec states: "Ravenclaw Penelope shows her Gryffindor side to Hermione, who's definitely got enough Ravenclaw in her to find a great way to reciprocate. This story is hot and smart and funny, and gave me a wry sort of smile when I was done with it."[7]
  • Long Suffering Penelope by Crookshanks22 (2005, updated post-DH) — A look at Penelope's life after Hogwarts and her struggles as a Muggle-born to fit in to wizarding society. Penelope befriends Arthur Weasley, who asks her to help him reconcile with Percy.
  • Seen Clearly, For The First Time by cryptaknight (2010) — Penelope/Charlie Weasley, written for the HP Rarities Exchange. Penelope is writing a book on dragons and visits the dragon reserve where Charlie works. jaq_of_spades recs it as "a beautiful, slow-burn romance, sketching in one particularly fascinating aspect of the Harry Potter world in great detail".[8]

Art

Wrock

Links & Resources

Fanwork Resources

Meta & Discussion

Canon Resources

References

<references>

  1. ^ J. K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life, ITV 30 December 2007. On YouTube (c. 31:05).
  2. ^ See Penelope Clearwater at the Pottermore Wiki.
  3. ^ UK p190/US p257, "Madam Pomfrey was bending over a fifth-year girl with long, curly hair" was corrected to "...a sixth-year girl with long, curly hair". See Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Edits and Changes to the Text at the Harry Potter Lexicon. The master correction list was released by Bloomsbury in 2004.
  4. ^ a b Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998). Chapter 17, "The Heir of Slytherin":
    "'Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?' said Riddle softly. 'Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat.'"
  5. ^ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998). Chapter 14, "Cornelius Fudge":
    "'Dreadful thing, Dumbledore," said Malfoy lazily, taking out a long roll of parchment, "but the governors feel it's time for you to step aside. [...] How many attacks have there been now? Two more this afternoon, wasn't it? At this rate, there'll be no mo Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an awful loss that would be to the school.'"
  6. ^ For example, see this thread at FictionAlley Park, started August 2007.
  7. ^ between_names at crack_broom. Femmeslash Smart Girls Do by Voleuse, 21 May 2005. (Accessed 02 June 2015.)
  8. ^ jaq_of_spades at Het Reccers. Two recs, Being Human and Harry Potter, 27 February 2015. (Accessed 02 June 2015.)
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