Penny (house-elf)

Penny
Biographical information
Born	1890s or earlier
Physical information
Species	House-elf
Gender	Female
Hair colour	Grey
Eye colour	Brown
Skin colour	Light
Affiliation
Occupation	Servant of Cassandra Mason (formerly) Employee and later co-owner of The Haunted Hogsmeade Shop
Loyalty	Cassandra Mason (formerly) The Haunted Hogsmeade Shop Unidentified 19th-century Hogwarts student (possibly briefly: see note)

"- all Penny has ever wanted to do is run a shop with a friend - and sell to the villagers in Hogsmeade."

— Penny's ambition

Penny (fl. 1890) was a house-elf who worked for Cassandra Mason in the late 19th century. She lived in Hogsmeade.

Biography

"Hello! I was wondering if you would interested in having your own shop - and a house-elf to help you with it."

— Penny trying to sell her owner's shop.

Penny was the house-elf of Cassandra Mason who worked in her shop, the Haunted Hogsmeade Shop. She was a good employee who could sell anything. Cassandra was illegally pretending to sell her shop to unsuspecting witches and wizards. They were then lured into a chest in the shop which led to a dungeon haunted by a poltergeist called Fastidio. Driven to madness, they eventually abandoned the shop and resold it back to Cassandra at a discount. Penny was forced to help her lure people into the chest and keep her secret.

One day, Penny was sent to find a new buyer. They found an unidentified student of Hogwarts and persuaded them to buy the shop. If they did, they would also get ownership of Penny who pledged to dutifully work at the shop. When asked why Mason was selling her shop, she replied that her boss had some unfortunate bad luck with the shop's previous tenants. Fearing she would say too much, she kept holding her breath to remind herself when she had to stop talking, a habit the student found peculiar. She sent the student to speak to Cassandra who offered them the deal of buying and reselling it at a discount if they also failed to cope with the shop.

Penny took the student to the shop to help them repair and clean it. While there, she gave the student a key to the chest. They entered the chest where they successfully fought Fastidio and escaped the dungeon in good health. Penny was glad they survived and apologised for not telling the student the truth. She and the student realised that even though ownership of her was supposed to pass to the student, she still couldn't answer their questions. The student decided to tell the authorities, with Penny suggesting they speak to Ruth Singer.

Ruth arrested Cassandra and forced her to sign over ownership of the shop and Penny to the student. Penny was delighted, offering to keep working at the shop.

Personality and traits

"Penny promises to work as hard as she can for such a kind, new owner."

— Penny to the new shopkeeper

Penny was a kind, soft-spoken house-elf who felt guilty about helping Cassandra trick unsuspecting shopkeepers. Whenever she was about to betray her owner, she would hold her breath to remind herself to stop talking. She cared about the student she tricked and was grateful they survived Fastidio's dungeon. She was confident and loved selling things in the shop.

Behind the scenes

• Penny is voiced by Natalie Gray in Hogwarts Legacy.
• The student can possibly free Penny, or keep Penny under their service, depending on which dialogue choice they accept. Nevertheless, it can be gleamed that Penny "served" the student and recognised them as her owner for a brief moment.
• Her name was revealed in the subtitles of the official State of Play released on 13 September 2022.

Appearances

• Hogwarts Legacy (First appearance)