Penelope Clearwater was a Ravenclaw prefect and Percy Weasley's girlfriend. She is described as having long, curly hair.
Penelope came across Hermione Granger, who had just deduced that the monster from the Chamber of Secrets that was hunting down Muggle-born students was a Basilisk. The two girls used Penelope's mirror to navigate the Hogwarts' hallways, but the basilisk spotted them through the mirror and they were both petrified. Penelope was eventually revived with a draught prepared from Mandrake roots.
She appears to be a serious Quidditch fan, having appreciated Harry Potter's new broom, a Firebolt, greatly, and betting on the outcome of the Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor match with Percy.
Little is known about Penelope's later life, but she did not end up marrying her Hogwarts boyfriend, as Percy eventually marries a woman named Audrey.
Behind the scenes
- In The Odyssey, Penelope was the wife of Odysseus. The poetic sense of the name is a faithful, clever, woman, particulary a wife.
- When Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are caught by Snatchers in 1998, Hermione gives Penelope's name as her own and identifies herself as a half-blood. This has caused some confusion over Penelope's blood status — she is most likely Muggle-born, considering that the aforementioned basilisk only targeted Muggle-borns, but it is possible that she simply got petrified because she was in the company of a Muggle-born. However, it is also possible that Hermione lied about Penelope's blood status knowing that the older witch would not have been on the Snatchers' list of truants, having already graduated from Hogwarts.
- In the film version of the chambers of Secrets she was not a victim of the snake.