Quick Study
Disclaimer - Any and all references made to the "Harry Potter" series creations belong to their creator and owner, JK Rowling, who is not, oh that it were, me.
(Just so that there are no nasty surprises, or nasty reviews, which would/will be ignored anyhow, this story has spanking in it, it is not hidden or implied but fully acted out and detailed. If you do not like reading spanking fiction or fiction that deals with non-consensual discipline then I give you the chance to back out now and leave before you get upset/disgusted, trust me I won't get offended.)
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"And what are you looking at?"
Tugging on the hem of the short robe that had been made especially for him in his current condition, he left it along and instead tried to tighten the belt at his small waist to see if that would help it hang more so on him properly.
"Nothing."
Replying in a nonchalant manner, the smile, part smirk, on his face spoke of a response different than the one he gave while looking back through the reflective glass at the diminutive individual who frowned.
"Need some help?"
"No."
"Are you certain?"
"Would you just, go away?"
"Only trying to help."
"You may help me by leaving me alone."
"You do realize we are going to be partnered together for the rest of the day?"
"Then let us not ruin things by starting off this early, shall we?"
Chuckling, he put up his hands in surrender.
"As you wish; call me if you should have need of me."
As he watched the man leave, his eyes drifted back up to the mirror in front of him and a scowl crossed his face.
He hated this.
Stuck-
Trapped rather, in a child's body.
It wasn't just the insufferable amount of pity he now received from those around him that frustrated him.
Or how they all seemed to look down on him; seeing nothing more than some cute little eight year old, and not the man he was still, in mind and spirit at least.
Didn't that count the most after all?
But while those factors annoyed him greatly, there was one that made him absolutely livid.
And it wasn't through the doing of others that he felt such detestation and anger.
It came from within.
It was a part of himself that wrought such havoc on his mind and heart.
A feeling of helplessness.
Of weakness.
Needy.
He needed things.
And even worse-
He needed people.
If there was one thing he had always prided himself on was his ability to depend on no one, no one thing.
He did for himself or didn't do at all.
A proud fact he could no longer hold on to.
He was dependent on others to do so much for him now.
Not even his magic was a comfort to him as it once was.
"We're going to be late Severus."
Speaking softly, with that sickening tone that he came to realize all adults used when addressing him now, one that is meant to coax and charm a small child, the man to whom the voice belonged smiled to offer him a bit of support.
Sighing, he made one last pass at his collar before going to hop down from the counter.
"Careful… careful!"
Feeling his right foot slip out from under him, he pitched forward with all signs pointing to him kissing the floor quite ungracefully.
But alas, bracing himself for an impact that never occurred, his eyes, shut, opened then to see that he was being held.
"Are you hurt?"
Shaken, he simply shook his head mutely before he moved, or squirmed even if you dared to call it that, in the embrace making him feel slightly claustrophobic.
"Put me down."
"Are you sure? Your cheeks are pale."
"I said I'm fine Remus. Just—anytime now."
"Maybe we should stop off and see Madame –"
"You dare take me there Remus Lupin and I will—"
"You will what Severus?"
Smiling now, he made no attempt to place the man/child he held down.
"You will find out exactly what if you do not put me down!"
"Someone is cranky."
Back on his own two feet, finally, Severus huffed indignantly.
"I will once again be my true age and size one day Remus—I suggest you do not forget that."
"Oh I assure you little one, I have not forgotten."
Patting him on top of his head, he got a glare and laughed.
#####
"I'm having second thoughts about this."
"I'd say fourth myself."
Looking down, Remus took in the expression on his ward's face.
"There is nothing to be fearful of Severus."
"I am not scared."
Staring at the man as if he just insulted his manhood, he glanced ahead to see the large groups of children filing into a classroom.
His classroom.
"We do not have to do this today."
"I told you—"
"Yes yes—you are steady as an willberry tree."
Placing a heavy hand on one slim shoulder, he pulled him aside.
"Do you believe that they will laugh at you?"
"Would you not?"
Stepping backward, his smirk was cruel and bitter.
"Look at me. Listen to how I sound. Would you honestly want to take your lessons from a mere boy?"
"You only look like one."
"That is enough."
"Are you expecting me to sympathize with this unnecessary plight you have concocted for yourself?"
"I do not expect anything from you Remus. Least of all understanding."
Rolling his eyes, he shrugged and scoffed.
"Severus, you agreed to continue to teach the children. If you lack the bollocks to now, fine. You do not have to. We can go and see Dumbledore and tell him to find someone else."
Looking down, he said nothing.
"Well...?"
#####
"Alright then, quiet."
Standing on a special platform that had been crafted for his specific use, he gazed over all of the students that sat at their desks and looked back at him attentively.
"I am certain that you all are surprised to see me here in this state."
Speaking with confidence that he didn't truly feel, he sought to make his pitch and tone deeper and profound as best he could.
"But since I am still, more than, capable of teaching, and we have finals coming soon, I decided that we could not afford to lose any more time waiting for someone to come and take my place."
"Uhh—sir?"
A tentative hand went up into the air once he had finished speaking.
"Yes?"
"Do you know?—well, what I mean to say is… how much longer are you going to—you know, stay like that?"
"If I knew that Mr. Davins, I might look a bit more chipper right now."
A few soft chuckles were heard before he cleared his throat.
"Let us begin. Open your books to page three hundred and fifty four."
Just tall enough to look up and over his students desktops, he walked up and down the rows as his objective was to make sure the material being covered was not confusing anyone too badly.
Hearing whispers coming from two girls that sat, hunched over together, he frowned.
"Is there something you would like to discuss with me ladies?"
Looking up suddenly, they book shook their heads as their faces flushed pink.
"No—no sir."
"Right then."
As he continued on his way, he could not help but notice that the duo he'd just interrupted weren't the only ones who were seemingly talking amongst themselves in secret.
A glare settled on his face as he knew the only plausible subject, clearly, of their main topic had to be him.
Sitting in the back of the class, so that he was not an impeding distraction, Remus quietly took in the situation and also how well Severus seemed to be taking it all in.
"Eyes forward!"
Obeyed immediately, he stared at them all with contempt prevalent in his expression.
"If you all are so eager to pair up into groups, so be it. I shall see how well you do in them while coming up with a potion using those very same items that we have just been discussing. I want one that is effective and suitable by tomorrow's class period."
"But Professor Snape!"
Speaking up, the girl known to all as the smartest of her age group, and many others, Hermione Grainger looked somewhat aghast at his order.
"There is no way that we could ever hope to—"
"Fifty points taken from Gryffindor."
"What!"
Shouting echoed across the room as the girl and her classmates of the same order all looked on in horror.
"Would you like to continue Miss. Grainger?"
"But I—"
"You're not being fair!"
On his feet next, Ronald Wesley had no qualms about taking over for his dumbstruck friend.
"We can not come up with a potion that quickly!"
"Then I would suggest that you first come up with a plan Mr. Wesley. And for your added comment, another fifty points has been taken from your house. Care to go on...?"
"You pathe!—"
"Ron, would you just sit down and shut up!"
Getting yelled at by a few students, including Hermione, the red head did as they wanted, though he fumed and seethed with head and eyes pointed down at the floor.
"For that half insult I'll be seeing you later on for a week's worth of detention Mr. Wesley."
As the entire room buzzed with fury, resentment, trepidation, and loathing, his young face seemed decades older as he suddenly smiled.
"Now-where were we?"
#####
"Professor Snape, your behavior in class today was utterly unacceptable."
"So was theirs. I simply retaliated."
"You are the teacher. You do not retaliate. You act like an responsible adult."
"Oh, but haven't you noticed yet? I'm not exactly at full adulthood at the present moment!"
Eyes narrowed, he faced off against the woman who sat at her desk.
"Severus—I know how very difficult this situation must be for you…"
"Do you?-well thank you for the sentiment Minerva. Why don't you now go and tell that to the faction of students who felt perfectly at ease mocking me in my own classroom? See if that does any good."
Sitting forward in her chair, she looked at him in a way that had him beginning to laugh out loud in a disgusted manner.
"Poor wittle Severus…"
Speaking in a way that was unpleasant to even hear, he went on.
"He can't handle it, being so young and innocent. Lets give him a cuddle and see if that'll help him to feel better."
Getting up from his seat, he sneered at her.
"Do not bother feeling sorry for me Minerva. You never did before, I see no need for you to start now."
Walking out of her office, he stalked down the corridor as best he could with such short limbs to contend with.
#####
"Have we calmed down yet?"
"Spare me your concern Remus."
Taking off his robe, he allowed it to fall down to the floor and land in a heap before he then gave it a good kick.
"Did that help?"
"Get out."
"These are my quarters you know."
"And for the time being, this is my room."
"Which is in my quarters—so that then makes it a moot point, does it not?"
"What do you want?"
"We need to talk about what happened today."
"No we don't."
Leaving his robe where it was, he went to remove his shoes next.
"I believe we do."
"I do not care."
"Severus, you were blatantly unfair with those children just because—"
"Just because?-because what, they were being rude to me first?"
Muttering, he yanked on a sock.
"All anyone around here ever cares about are those little, intolerable brats and their precious feelings…"
"Because we are the adults and their professors."
"And we discipline them in turn as well."
"Fairly, yes, we do."
"Your ideas of being fair are to scold them Remus and, perchance, frown."
Lifting up the shirt he wore, he pitched it off as he went to grab one he'd just gotten out of a dresser drawer.
"Are we done here?"
Dressed now in plain clothes, he looked up at him.
"No."
"Do you really need to drone on about this some more?"
"No."
"Then what, may I ask, is there left to talk about?"
"Who said anything about talking...?"
"What?-what on earth do you think you're doing?"
"Dumbledore, Minerva and I all had a little chat together after you decided to act like a petulant child this afternoon."
With Severus's right wrist clutched tightly, he tugged and pulled him along as they headed out to the front room.
"And we all came to the very same conclusion."
Sitting down in a chair, Remus stared at his charge with eyes bright and honest.
"Since you chose to behave like a brat, you shall be treated accordingly."
Unamused and bored with this game, Severus went to walk away now that he had been freed from the man's hold.
"When you come back to, what little there is of, your senses let me know. I am going—"
Cut off, he hadn't gotten but a yard or so before he, all at once, felt his feet leave the floor entirely.
"Remus! Put me down!"
Kicking, he fought for release but found that a body of merely eight years was not all that strong and powerful when compared to that of a thirty-four year old man.
"Stop fighting me Severus."
"Then let me go!"
Holding on to the feisty one, he sat back down in his seat, now with an eight year old frame held in-between his large hands.
"Are you going to listen to me or make this more difficult than it has to be?"
"You have no right to touch me."
Shooting, as it could be said, daggers in the man's direction, Severus refused his first instinct to try and wriggle free.
"I have every right. As long as you're in this condition, I am responsible for you and your wellbeing. This, unfortunately for you, includes what sort of manner you fancy to conduct yourself in."
"I have not done anything."
"That's where you and I will have to agree to disagree."
"Lupin, I will not stand for this. I am not a child!"
"Then you might want to stop acting like one."
Jaw set, Severus averted his eyes.
"Now look—this is not how I saw myself spending part of my Monday evening either. But you are the one who behaved badly and now it is up to me to ensure that what went on today does not ever have just cause to be repeated."
"In the mist of all of that, I am sure you intended to make a point?"
"You're going to be punished an—"
"I gathered that little fact already, thank you. "
"—and, I am going to spank you."
Finishing the sentence he'd already begun, Remus thought he'd prepared himself enough for the inevitable response but found out that there isn't much one can do to prepare for a direct hit to shins; twice.
"Owww! You little brat!"
"You are not going to hit me!"
"I said spank Severus!—"
Catching the little hand balled up into a fist headed straight for his private area, the pacifist grew eerily dangerous as he spoke in low overtones.
"Do that and you won't sit for a month…"
Unfazed, Severus shook his head.
"You haven't the right to—"
"I already told you that I do. And Albus and Minerva have both given me their own stamps of approval."
"I will not allow you to spank me Remus."
"You do not have to Severus. How you will be punished is never going to up to you. You may be my age still, but if you do not act decently and treat others in a way that you know is honorable and satisfactory then you are just as deserving of discipline as any actual eight year old."
"Send me to bed without any dinner then. Or ground me even. You do not have to—do that."
"I do not starve children, and I am not naïve enough in the slightest to believe that grounding you would, or could possibly, work."
"Then come up with some other option, because it'll be over my dead body first before I ever allow you to put your hands on me, you filthy werewolf."
Perhaps his words would have seemed a tad more daring and threatening if he wasn't slightly shaking, or if his eyes, still as dark as before, did not waver as well.
Remus had no reply to Severus's bold statement.
As least, not one that required him to employ the use of his voice.
Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack
Mouth partly open, Severus Snape was at a loss for words as his backend now stung some.
"I will only say this once: I am the adult and you, by your own choosing, are the child. You do not threaten me or make terribly ridiculous claims just because you are upset or angry. If you will not control yourself, I will be forced to do so for you. And that will mean you being put over my knee whenever I see fit, wherever. Do not test me on this Severus because I assure you, you will not like the veritable outcome."
Never having been spoken to so sternly, even when he was truly eight years old, he swallowed and still found himself unable to speak.
"Is that clear?"
"Yes…"
"Yes what?"
"You can not be serious—"
"Disobedient children respond to their elders with respect. Which do you happen to be in this instance?"
"Go to hell you sodding bastard."
Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack
"Wrong answer."
As a sharp prickle of salty tears stabbed at his eyes, from the immense embarrassment he felt and the fact that there was no seemingly feasible way he could get out of the hole that he'd dug for himself, he fought past every single layer of defiance and defense to just do as he was told before things grew worse.
"Yes sir. I'm sorry sir."
Hearing a change in Severus's voice and feeling as the slight figure seemed to grow limp and docile, Remus nodded.
"That is better. I do not mean to bully you Severus, but I did not agree to do this with the thought in mind that I was to be no more than some sort of glorified babysitter to you. This is real; my guardianship of you is real. And the sooner you accept that, the less likely we are to end up here again."
"Yes sir."
"So we understand one another then?"
"Yes sir."
Not liking how quiet and unresponsive Severus appeared all of a sudden, Remus wondered if that was only because he'd just never seen the man act so before.
"Good."
Waiting for further instruction, he reserved himself motionless with head bowed.
"Wait here."
"Yes sir."
Remus walked off and shook his head, unable to help the internal chill he felt at his ward's behavior.
Not moving a single inch in any direction, Severus kept his head down as he heard clamor nearby.
Wondering what Remus might have in store for him, as he had been very difficult and uncouth, his small body quivered as a few old memories, he'd spent many years suppressing and burying deep down, surfaced and made him bite his own tongue to keep from whimpering.
He was too weak to stop him anyhow.
A man alone was more than able to toss him about as a rag doll.
His father had proven that to him.
But Remus was a werewolf.
His power was unmatched and the damage he could inflict upon him at his own digression…
"Severus?"
Jumping at his name, his eyes moved side to side swiftly.
"Sir?"
"Look at me."
Hesitant in his actions, he did obey as soon as he found the courage to.
Spying the long strip of wood the man held, Severus felt his very soul bottom out as his heart sank.
"Do you see this?"
"Ye—yes sir."
"I would use only my hand, but I want to make sure that this is a one time occurrence, so to start off with you'll get a few whacks with this over your trousers. Alright?"
Smart man.
You're never likely to leave marks if you beat a child over his clothes.
Another little gem his father had imparted back then.
"Yes sir."
Nervous and scared, two emotions Severus despised like no others, he sought to not appear so and intended to be stoic and staid throughout the entire process.
Seated once more, Remus stared into his eyes and what he saw did little to dissuade his apprehension over what he was about to do.
Severus Snape was positively brilliant at hiding his true feelings, but his eyes still, no matter what, gave away something.
They were not known as the windows to the soul for no good reason after all.
But now they were vacant, blank and detached.
"Severus?"
"Sir?"
"You know why I'm going to do this?"
Because you can.
"Because I deserve it."
"Because I do not want you acting out so again."
"Yes sir."
Despite being inexperienced when it came to small children in general, Remus Lupin had absolutely no excuse for what he did next.
Every single fiber of his very being spoke out against it, but he still went ahead.
It would be a mistake he'd regret for the rest of his days.
Picking up Severus, having no trouble at all doing so, he placed him face down over his lap with nary a complaint said.
"I'm going to use the ruler now Severus."
"Yes sir."
He shut his eyes and breathed out deeply.
Whap Whap Whap Whap Whap
As the thin piece of cedar struck him again and again, Severus dared not even flinch though the burn grew after each blow.
Whap Whap Whap Whap Whap
Remus didn't spank naturally, but he had a good enough idea that an eight year old could only take so much at one time and so he decided ten swats would just cover it.
To Severus, the swats served only to take him back in time.
He could hear him.
Feel him.
Smell him.
Almost even tasting the rancid presence that had tormented him for years.
The pain was present in his mind as was he.
As it built, he saw him more clearly.
All realization of Remus vanished completely as Severus became lost in his mind and recollections.
Taking no note of what was happening, as he just wanted to get things over and done with, Remus put the ruler aside and went about taking down Severus's pants for the next step.
Feeling the soft material sliding over his legs, he gasped inwardly as he remembered when he'd first felt the hard lash of leather against the back of his legs and thighs.
Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack
Bottom already tenderized from the smacks before and the ruler, Severus gave a jolt as Remus used his hand to bring the pinkish flesh up to a redder, richer color.
Tears were shed silently as he could recall being beaten till screaming and then past.
Voice raw for days after, he could hardly speak, which normally earned him more of the same for insolence.
Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack
As the heat in his bottom swelled, the memories flooded him one after the other.
Each one more revolting than the first.
Shaking, not from the spanking he was getting but from all the brutality he'd suffered and bore in silence, his breathing became ragged and hurried.
"Please—please stop..."
When Severus finally did speak up, Remus did not hear the plea as it was meant to be heard.
Cries of which had come from a child in anguish and grief, and not one purely attempting to save his backside.
"I hope you're learning your lesson Severus. I will not tolerate naughty behavior."
Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack
The assurance put him into a tailspin as too much of it sounded like him.
Like something he'd have said.
Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack
"No—no please…"
He never begged him to stop.
No good ever came from it when he had and so he learned quickly to not waste his energy.
He needed all of it to just make it through the ordeal itself.
But this was different.
Over ten years worth of abuse heaped upon him all at once and it made him fragile.
Delicate.
Breakable.
"Stop—please stop!"
Remus did stop.
So that he could take down Severus's underpants and bare him wholly.
Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack
Once bare hand met exposed flesh, he failed.
Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack
When his small ward began to physically resist, Remus tightened his grip in reaction to the desperate alteration.
"Please!"
He could not stop fighting.
Not now.
He combated his haunting past.
His prevailing demons.
But he was losing and they were rapidly engulfing him.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, please! Stop please!"
He had to get away.
Get away before it killed him.
He killed him.
He comprehended nothing else but his imminent demise.
Smack Smack Smack Smack Smack
In the back of his mind was the old ache and agony and in the front was the new and as they blended, collectively, into a depraved and gratuitous union his persecution was complete.
"Daddy please!"
Preparing to deliver one hefty smack to a quivering left cheek, Remus's hand remained suspended in the air as his face blanched and stomach churned.
"Severus...?"
"I'm sorry Daddy! Please no more! I'll be good! I swear I will!"
He heard nothing.
He just wanted it to stop.
He shook and quaked and moaned as tears ran from his eyes without restraint and mouth hung opened as he sought after forgiveness.
Mercy.
Absolution.
"No…"
Frantic and panicked as he had no idea what to do, Remus was nearly hyperventilating while he drew up Severus to hold and tend to as best he could.
"I'm sorry—I'm so, so sorry…"
Now he said the words as he sheltered him tenderly.
"Please no more…"
Sensing amiability surrounding him but too afraid to dare and hope that meant it was all over, Severus wept with eyes closed and wounds entirely displayed and stripped wide open.
"Daddy, I can't take—please do not hit me anymore—please… I can do better, I can…"
Hearing him as if from afar, in the distance, Remus knew of nothing that could stem it.
Stop it.
Save him.
There was no cutoff for this.
Severus was virtually outside of himself and Remus knew neither parts well enough to be able to figure out how to get some semblance of the man back again.
As he looked down, the scene he perceived damaged and decimated all that he believed he knew about him.
He saw a human being aching as intensely and abundantly as one could without the benefit of death awaiting them.
And he'd been the one who brought him out.
He who had not the slightest clue of how to fix the unfixable.
Mend what had been broken too many times to fit back together again.
His costly mistake overwhelming him, Remus pushed aside his remorse and guilt to be dealt with later on.
"Severus?—can you hear me..."?
"Daddy...?"
It took a mere split second for him to respond.
"Yes-I am here. You are alright now Severus. Do you hear me? It is all over now."
"I'm sorry!"
Sobbing into the man's shirt, he clung to it with his little hands for security.
"Shhhhhh… no more of that—it is all forgiven now."
He never forgave him.
In his dreams only.
Perhaps this was one, but it didn't matter.
He needed it.
Needed him.
"Daddy I'll be good—I promise…"
Rocking the child and man and bleeding soul, Remus choked some on his words.
"Yo—you are-are already-good. You are always good Severus. Always…"
Delirious and exhausted, Severus held on to him and breathed shallowly as water now fell from his eyes of its own accord.
Remus cried mutely as tears painted ashen cheeks before then running down into the thick hair of the one he held close.
#####
Stirring slightly, he pulled his knees up to his chest and shivered.
When a warm blanket swaddled him unexpectedly, raw eyes were partly cracked open as he peered through eyelashes at the form sitting near his feet.
"Remus..?"
"Shhhhh-"
Shushing him straightaway, he tucked the soft flannel around the fetal positioned frame.
"But—"
"Go back to sleep Severus. We will talk in the morning."
"I…"
Lowering his eyes, he did not how to duly tackle what had transpired between them earlier.
"In the morning."
Expression on face a gentle, if not benevolent, one, Remus stood.
"I will be right outside if you should need me."
"Wait—"
Pausing, Severus's self-worth was sorely tested as he tried to find it in him to keep going.
"You know what?"
Shaking his head, he sighed and sat back down.
"I'm sorry, but I just cannot leave you in here all alone. I would not feel right about it. Not after all that-happened."
Eyes wide as he was left speechless, Severus looked on as Remus made himself comfortable down at the base of his bed.
Propped up alongside one of the solid, oak posts of the bed frame, he stared at his charge with lucid eyes of consideration.
"You do not mind me staying here for a little while longer, do you?"
Shaking his head, Severus lay back down and rested his head on a fluffy pillow.
"Good."
Wrapping his arms about himself, Remus closed his eyes.
But as he felt a miniature hand touch his right leg, he opened them once again to see Severus holding out his extra pillow.
"Thank you…"
Taking it, Remus touched Severus's fingers by accident and yet found that he didn't pull away from him as he always seemed to have a tendency to do before.
Pillow helping his posture significantly, Remus smiled a tiny bit in thanks and Severus managed to do the same.
Maybe this needing people thing was not so terrible.
Maybe.
#####
*fin*
