Harry and Ron stood outside McGonagall's door. The two boys were very nervous, so much that they could not speak a word to each other. Very slowly, Harry raised his fist and knocked — please let her not be inside, please let her have some work elsewhere, please let this all be a bad dream — a continuous litany played in his head. It was broken quickly by Professor McGonagall's crisp voice "Come in!"
It seemed like a good idea to play a game during History of Magic. Of course, it soon escalated to a little bit of spell casting on each other. Neither of them expected that things would get out of hand so quickly! Ron's history book flying straight through Professor Binns snapped him out of his monotone indeed!
"You two! Porter and um..Wheely - 20 points from Gryffindor!" He pronounced, and went back to reading in the same lumbering monotone. The two little first years were still giggling then, till Hermione whispered "Oh, no! That's 20 points from each of you in a single week!" There was a quick intake of breath from the whole class, and Harry felt a chill creep down his spine. 20 points lost in two weeks meant a detention with McGonagall. And he and Ron had managed it in less than three days! He turned and looked at Ron's pale face. Ron shifted on his seat uneasily - that evening was going to be horrible.
Harry had dreaded this since Hagrid took him shopping in Diagon Alley. He had looked through the list and the hairbrush listed was puzzling - why not specify toothbrushes, combs and soap too? Why only a hairbrush? He had put it out of his mind till they came out with his new wand, and Hagrid announced with a clap on his back "OK, now let's get your hairbrush. Be brave, Harry!"
Brave? For a hairbrush? Again, with the number of new things that he had seen that day, Harry was simply curious. Hagrid led the way to a shop he had not noticed before, with a sign shaped like a hairbrush with "Straight and Narrow" written on went into the cosy little shop where a smiling witch sat on a big upholstered chair. "Starting school? Boys on the left side, love! Though we don't have any customers right now. " she said, with a pat on his head. Harry went through the curtain and saw a big stuffed armless chair in the middle of the room and boxes lining the walls. It looked a lot like Ollivander's wand shop, and a tall, thin witch walked up to him. "Now then, come over here, young man" she took his hand, went up to the chair, sat down…and said "Alright, over my lap!"
"HAGRID" yelled Harry. "Get me out of here" Hagrid burst into the room, and took in the scene. "Harry, what's wrong?" "She's trying to spank me, that's what's wrong!" Harry yelled again, trying to escape from the witch's grip. "Come on, Harry, how else are you going to find a spanking brush?" Hagrid asked "A spanking brush?" "Well, you are going to need spankings once you enter Hogwarts - you're sure to break a few rules. This hairbrush is for that!"
"That's not allowed. Beating kids in school is illegal!"
"That's for the muggles, love. In Hogwarts, you'll get spanked if you misbehave" said the witch, with a hand on his shoulder. "Now, if you want to go to Hogwarts, you're going to need a hairbrush. And I'll have to test it out. So, come on" she said, ruffling his hair. She pushed away his bangs and the scar came into view, eliciting a gasp. "Oh, my..is it?" She asked Hagrid. Hagrid grinned "Indeed it is!"
"Oh, we'll have to make sure that you learn your lessons well, Harry. I'm sure you'll be a great wizard. Come on now, let's find a brush that can really teach you a few lessons." She patted his shoulder again.
Harry was torn - on one hand, he didn't want to go to a school where they spanked. But the other choice - the horribly stinking uniform that Aunt Petunia had dyed, facing Uncle Vernon while Dudley had a pig's tail - atleast here everyone liked him. He nodded, and Hagrid winked at Harry. "I'll give you some privacy" he said, and walked out.
Harry turned to look at the witch, who was smiling kindly at him. "Come on love" she patted her lap "I'm not going to give you a full spanking after all, there's nothing to be scared of." She was used to reassuring muggle children, and sometimes even their parents. Muggle parents were usually ready to storm out of the store and the wizarding world, but she could talk them into staying, calmly pointing out the regulations in place to prevent lasting harm, and the psychological toll the child would face having to hide their magic from the world. Now she ruffled Harry's hair again, and pressed his back to nudge him over her knee.
Harry did not want to be here, but he knew there was no way out. Slowly, he leaned across the witch's lap. She quickly took over, pulling him so that he was comfortably rested on her lap, bottom facing up. "All right young man, let's get you ready!" she declared, and Harry felt his bottom lift up. And then to his horror, his trousers and underpants started wiggling down. "Oh, please, please…let me go! Please don't" Harry yelled and tried to wiggle off her lap, but he found that invisible bonds held his feet and hands. They didn't even hurt, just kept him immobile.
The witch rubbed his back in soothing circles. "Harry, in the wizarding world, children are spanked only on the bare bottom. I've seen a lot of boy's bottoms, and so have the teachers who will be spanking you. There is nothing to be embarrassed about, child" she said in the same calm voice. With his pants and underwear at mid thigh, Harry felt his shirt and pullover inch up a little too.
Harry bent his head in embarrassment. Maybe he could go back to the Dursleys when this was over. Imagine going over every teacher's lap! The witch kept a hand on the small of his back while a measuring tape flew to her. Harry felt it go across his bottom, measuring between a dozen different points. Suddenly, Harry felt a light pat on his bare bottom. "Deep breaths, little one. I'm going to warm up your bottom with my hand now" the witch said. A similar light pat landed on his bottom, now on the right cheek, now on the left. "Just relax, dear" the witch said as she went on spanking him. Harry realized that his bottom was propped up in the right angle for her to spank. But the spanking wasn't really hurting - so maybe it wasn't so bad. Just as he thought, the witch landed a slightly harder smack. Crisp spanks fell on this bottom - right, left, right, left, a steady rhythm…every inch of Harry's bottom tingled. And it felt as if it was getting warmer!
"Your bottom is nice and pink now, Harry" Just relax now, while I summon the brushes, she said. Harry heard her pulling boxes from the shelf, of course by magic.
"This is a nice old style Harry! It's a deep brown chestnut with seasoned bristles. " she said, and Harry felt the wooden back of the brush tap his bottom, and then, a whooshing sound as she swept it down. The next instant, he heard the thwack of the brush. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain, but it stung less than her hand spanks.
"Oh, that's not for you, then!" She picked up another one. Let's see this one. It's made of enchanted willow. Again, Harry felt a dull thud, not even painful.
Harry found that he wasn't so embarrassed about his bare bottom now. Maybe it wasn't so bad. He could take this sort of dull thud very well. He relaxed on her lap as the witch spanked him with brush after brush. Pat-pat, Whoosh, thud…it went on and on.
"You're a tough customer, young man!" said the witch. "It's not every day I have to warm up a bottom twice!" She again gave Harry's bottom a flurry of crisp swats, just hard enough to make it rosy. "Well, it's the brush that chooses the bottom, after all" she said, summoning a few more boxes from the walls.