NOTE: This is a story set after the 7 books when (in my imagination) Harry, Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts to study for their NEWTS. So they are now all 18 and living back at Hogwarts.

Ron sat on his bed flicking through the daily prophet; a little peace after a long day. As he read an article on the new broom regulations in international quiditch he heard a cough at the door. Standing in the doorway was Hermione and she looked like she had been crying. Ron jumped to his feet worried about what might be wrong.

"I failed a history of magic essay."

"Oh, don't worry about that, everyone fails an essay from time to time."

"Not me and its not like I even tried."

"What do you mean, Hermione?

So the whole story came out. About how she had been putting off the essay for weeks and weeks and about how, when it came to the day before she decided to go to watch the quiditch match instead of doing the essay. By this time she had stopped crying and just confessed her wrongdoing to her boyfriend calmly.

"So I feel so bad because I should have worked harder."

"You should have but you can have a few slip ups and it will be okay." Ron said putting his arm round her as they sat on the bed.

"No it's not, something needs to be done…" said Hermione her voice muffled as she had buried her face in Ron's shoulder. Ron Laughed. "Like what?"

Hermione now looked very embarrassed as she was clearly stealing herself to say something. "What the hell is up with you?" Ron asked a little alarmed.

"I need to be punished."

"You failed you'll have to redo the essay, surely that is punishment enough?"

"No, I have been doing things like this ever since we came back here. I need to be given a strong message to get back to working."

"So, you think you need to be grounded then? Maybe you shouldn't be allowed to go to quiditch and things like that for a month?"

Hermione again looked really embarrassed as she stood up and turned to face Ron.

"When I was little things like grounding never worked on me, I needed a short sharp shock. I needed to be spanked."

"Hermione you're not a little girl anymore your mum isn't going to spank you for failing an essay."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Hermione said blushing even more but attempting to quickly move on, it seemed to be taking a lot of effort to get the words out. "But she isn't here and well you're my boyfriend now so I thought… you should do it."

"You're nuts."

Hermione knelt down in front of Ron and looked him square in the eyes. "Please, Ronald. It will really help me."

Not liking this one bit but thinking it was clearly important to his girlfriend Ron reluctantly gave in. "Okay, but I'm not sure what to do."

Hermione looked relived and then, all of a sudden, it seemed to dawn on her what was about to happen. She stuttered and tripped over her words as she said, "W-w-w-hatever you want… umm… just please make sure I-I-I learn my lesson." She looked away from him as she started to get a sick feeling in her stomach; like she was on a ship miles out to sea, stranded in a massive storm.

"Right," Ron said, trying to take control "go and stand in the corner and put your hands on your head while I figure out what to do with you." Hermione did as she was told, resting her hands on the frizzy brown hair and linking her fingers.

"Well…" Ron mussed, inspecting her position.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"No, don't worry it's fine"

"Ron, you are in charge for once, you are punishing me tell me what to do."

"But I don't want to be mean" Ron could make you love him sometimes in the simplest way.

"No don't worry, you tell me what you want and do what you think is right, I won't hold it against you." She meant it she trusted Ron with this, which is why he had asked him in the first place.

"Right then your nose needs to touch the wall." Ron said a little bit more confidently and Hermione did as she was told.

Ron, although a little more confident, still wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. He decided to buy himself some time to work out what he was doing. In a voice far more confident than he felt he told Hermione, "Stay there for a while and think about what you did to end up here." Then Ron went to the dormitory door closed, locked and muffliatoed it. He didn't want some first year walking in on this. He knew he had to do a proper job. Hermione had asked him to and he almost always did what she wanted. Hermione also was used to getting spanked so a few taps weren't going to do it.

Meanwhile Hermione was standing in the corner. She was scared. She was actually trembling a little. How could she be so stupid? Then all of a sudden she heard Ron say "Turn round and come over here."

Ron looked at Hermione and told her to take off her cloak and robes she did so draping them over his head board. She stood in front of him in her school uniform her skirt brushing the tops of her knees which were covered by black tights. Her Jumper letting her collar and Gryffindor tie be seen. Ron thought she looked as beautiful as ever but decided not to lose sight of what he had to do. He sat on the bed and motioned for her to come closer he stood her infront of him and held both her hands in his.

"I'm going to make this matter. Because you asked me to but never forget I do ths because I love you."

Hermione nodded not sure if she could bear to speak without crying. This it turned out was a mistake as Ron gave her a sharp slap to the back of her leg with his hand. "I want to hear you answer me Hermione." Her eyes widened and she stammered, "Y-y-yes, I'm s-s-s-orry."

"You will do as you're told when you are told to do it. Do I make myself clear?" Ron said looking straight into her shocked face.

Hermione told him she did.

Ron moved his girlfriend to his side and ordered her to lie across his knee. She looked into his eyes, almost pleadingly. "Hermione it is too late this is happening now." She obeyed him lying over his knees and letting her head dangle near the floor. She felt the blood rush to her head and stuck out her hands to keep her balance. Looking under the beds in the dormitory she saw all kinds of rubbish like chocolate frogs' cards and old daily prophets. Ron placed his hand on her behind and she flinched but he was just resting it there. He moved his hand down her thighs and Hermione felt him lift her skirt up so her underwear was on display. Ron took one moment to look at the plain white knickers and then began.

Hermione felt his hand leave her skirt and then felt the first swat. It was hard and followed by another. She struggled to keep her balance and reached back to protect her bottom that was already stinging. She knew better than to do it but she just couldn't stop herself. Ron stopped suddenly as she did so. "Hermione move your hand and if you do that again I will deal with you more seriously." She had not heard a tone like that in Ron's voice before. She did not want to test him further she quickly moved her hand back onto the floor stretched out in front of her.

Ron now decided to try and get this over as quickly as possible. He wanted to make his point. But dragging it out was just cruel. He started slapping faster and with all his strength. He heard Hermione start to gasp occasionally at a particularly firm swat or if he caught her in the same place twice in a row. Hermione wanted to reach back so badly, she wanted to protect herself but had learnt her lesson. She thought of how stupid she had been so stupid over this essay, how she had let herself down and how she had ended up, like she had before, over someone's knee; being taught a lesson. All the guilt built up and the pain in her behind was unbearable and Hermione just gave in and started crying.

Ron knew his point had been made. Hermione lay over his knee crying and limp he gave her a swat on each cheek for good measure and pulled her skirt back over her underwear. That would do, for today. He pulled her up until she was sitting on his lap and hugged her.

"Thank you." She whispered

They staid like that for a few minutes. Then he told her to clean herself up and go straight to bed. They would talk in the morning. She got herself ready and left kissing him before walking from the room. She was very aware she would be sleeping on her front tonight.