Penny Haywood

Penny Haywood
Biographical information
Born	between 1 September 1972 and 31 August 1973 London, England, Great Britain
Blood status	Half-blood
Nationality	English
Physical information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Hair colour	Blonde
Eye colour	Blue
Skin colour	Light
Relationship information
Family members	Mr Haywood (father) Mrs Haywood (mother) Beatrice Haywood (sister)
Magical characteristics
Boggart	Werewolf
Wand	Unicorn hair core, unknown length and wood
Affiliation
House	Hufflepuff
Loyalty	Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Hufflepuff Wigtown Wanderers Parkin family Circle of Khanna

Penny Haywood (born c. 1973) was an English half-blood witch who began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1984. She was sorted into Hufflepuff house and was noted as being the most popular girl in her year.

Biography

Early life

Penny was born in London, United Kingdom in 1972 or 1973, to a Muggle father and a Muggle-born witch mother. She had a younger sister named Beatrice, born four years after her.

Penny's family spent every summer in the countryside, where she also had a Muggle friend called Scarlett.

At some point in her childhood, her family lived in Wigtown, which lead to Penny becoming a lover of the Quidditch team Wigtown Wanderers. She owned posters of the team before she started attending Hogwarts.

Hogwarts years (1984-1991)

First year

In 1984, she began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Hufflepuff. She became popular during her first year at school.

She was known for her impressive academic performance in Potions and her talent in Potion-making. She later befriended Jacob's sibling and helped them create the Sleeping Draught they needed to break into the locked room, where they were looking for the Cursed Vaults.

Second year

Penny would help Jacob's sibling many times in their search for the Cursed Vaults, including potentially joining them and Bill Weasley in breaking into one at the end of their second year.

Third year

In the summer of 1985, a tragedy happened that would change Penny's life. Penny's family were spending their usual summer in the countryside. One night, at a full-moon, Penny and her friend Scarlett went exploring outside the house and found a werewolf.

Ignorant of what the beast was, Scarlett was fascinated by it and wanted to follow it to see where it might go. Penny had her wand ready, but when the werewolf finally saw them, she was at first unable to react, and when she finally did, it was too late already. The werewolf killed Scarlett, resulting in Penny blaming herself for the death of her friend.

From then on, Penny's boggart would change into a werewolf and she even went that far as to brew a Forgetfulness Potion in her third year, intending to clear her mind of the guilt and pain she felt over her lost friend.

Fourth year

Penny helped to teach Jacob's sibling Beautification Potion to distract a Red Cap in the Forbidden Forest, but she also fell victim to a Dementor.

Fifth year

Penny studied for her Ordinary Wizarding Levels this year.

Sixth year

Sometime during her sixth year, Penny became a founding member of the Circle of Khanna, a group devoted to avenging Rowan Khanna and locating the final cursed vault. It was at the groups first meeting in the Hog's Head Inn that she learned of the malevolent organisation "R" and it's motives to locate the final Cursed Vault before them.

Physical appearance

Penny Haywood, the quintessential Hufflepuff

Penny had blue eyes, pale white skin and long blonde hair with two thick braids over her shoulders, and a braid on her left side that formed a ponytail, giving her a half up.

Personality and traits

Penny was sociable, approachable, and pleasant; regarded as the most popular girl in her year while attending Hogwarts. As a result of her social standing and vast network of friends, she was also very well-informed about the happenings at Hogwarts.

She was known to value bravery and compassion greatly, thanking Jacob's sibling for having the courage to stand up to the school bully Merula Snyde. She even befriended Jacob's sibling shortly thereafter due to, in part, their kindness towards Ben Copper and their shared love for potions. She was also good friends with Liz Tuttle and Talbott Winger, who were both considered outcasts, showing that despite her popularity, she was still humble, decent and treated others very respectfully. This stood in direct contrast to Gryffindor Emily Tyler, whose popularity depended largely, if not solely, on her bullying and teasing of students she didn't like or who offended her and who only hung out with her so she wouldn't bully them.

Apart from her incredible popularity and kindness, Penny was also very intelligent and magically gifted, as proven by her talents in potion-making, which was rivalled by very few of her fellow students, and was also competent with charm-work.

She was an avid fan of Quidditch, especially Wigtown Wanderers, her adopted hometown team, to the point that she would paint her face to the same house colour as Skye Parkin, the new Quidditch Chaser from the fabled Parkin Family. Yet, her passion for Quidditch was never previously shown to Andre Egwu.

Magical abilities and skills

• Potions: Penny had proven herself to be very skilful in this branch of magic, as she achieved impressive results in Potions class and often enjoyed brewing experimental mixtures in her free time. She successfully brewed the Sleeping Draught in her first year and the Forgetfulness Potion in her third year, as early examples of her talent in potion-making. She was also capable of brewing the advanced Draught of Peace in her fifth year with the help of Jacob's sibling, which she did with success, showing her considerable proficiency in this subtle magical art and science. Other potions she made or claimed to make included Polyjuice Potion and the Animagus potion, both of which were highly advanced and further testament to her skill in this field. Indeed, Severus Snape himself openly acknowledged Penny to be his most gifted student in the subject, and deemed her the only one eligible to receive a private lesson from him on the highly advaced field of Alchemy.
• Charms: Penny was rather good with charm-work, as she was capable of successfully casting the Fire-Making Spell, Colour Change Charm along with the Knockback Jinx, showing she was skilled with the casting of such spells.
• Social Networking: Due to her remarkably pleasant and affable nature, Penny was able to easily befriend most people at Hogwarts and swiftly establish a rapport with them, which quickly earned her a long-standing reputation for being the most popular girl in her year, to the point that she is known for knowing all the gossip travelling at Hogwarts. This was notable through her awareness of the reason behind Merula Snyde's antics, Ben Copper's cowardice, Jacob's sibling's public scrutiny, and Albus Dumbledore's school departures. Despite being frequently well-informed and thus being renowned for knowing everybody at Hogwarts, however, Penny's network and social contacts were not always a perfect source of information, as she was unfamiliar with abrasive Quidditch player Erika Rath, and had never heard of famed Curse-Breaker Patricia Rakepick up until the latter's arrival at Hogwarts.

Possessions

• Wand: Penny owned a wand, which had a Unicorn hair core, but was of an unknown length and wood. She likely purchased her wand from Ollivanders in Diagon Alley, prior to starting her first year at Hogwarts in 1984, and wielded her wand throughout her school life.
• Advanced Potion-Making: Penny owned a copy of Advanced Potion-Making that Jacob's sibling and Aurélie Dumont borrowed to learn more about Alchemy and to help them in their search for Nicolas Flamel's artefact in the 1985–1986 school year.

Behind the scenes

Penny's potion belt

• In Herbology lessons, Penny shared that the Hogwarts greenhouses reminded her of Kew Gardens, where her father used to take her visit.
• In Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Penny is unlocked as a friend upon the completion of Chapter 7 of Year 1.
  • Upon reaching maximum friendship at level 10 with Penny, a unique clothing item is gifted to the player: a potions belt.
• In Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, the player controls the friendship between Jacob's sibling and Penny, including how to interact with her and what they share with her. They may decide whether to invite Penny with them to the locked room she helped create the Sleeping Draught for.
  • By year 5, the player is able to express romantic interest for Penny, causing Penny to promise to the player that they will discuss their feelings for each other after Beatrice is rescued.
  • The player can also do so in year 4 by confiding in Bill Weasley in the time-limit side-quest Celestial Ball. The requirement is for Jacob's sibling and Penny's friendship to reach at least a level 9 (max. L. 10).

Appearances

Original concept art of Penny Haywood

• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (First appearance)