A/N: Hello all! While this is my first Harry Potter fanfic to be uploaded, this story is actually far from new. I found it on my hard drive, and apparently it was written in 2009 and was never published. Apologies for any less-than-stellar writing...we all hope to improve as the years go on, but it can be interesting to revisit something from so long ago.

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Molly Weasley had made herself perfectly clear. The Boy Who Lived seemed intent on changing his moniker to The Boy Who Got Himself Killed For No Reason, and she had had enough, a feeling that she had not very quietly or subtly conveyed to Sirius Black. Sirius had had enough foresight to gruffly send Harry upstairs when he'd flooed home on Professor McGonagall's orders after she'd discovered his latest disregard for school safety rules. The boy had looked rather embarrassed as he tumbled in from the fireplace and attempted to explain himself, only to be cut off by Sirius telling him they'd already received a letter from the school.

Now, after ten minutes of enduring Molly's insistences on Harry's need for punishment, Sirius trudged upstairs to face his godson. Harry was slouched in a chair, looking more bored than repentant.

Closing the door behind him, Sirius attempted to get straight to the point. "Okay, well, you should know that the only reason I'm doing this is so that nobody else does. It probably would have been Molly, or maybe Remus…Moody, even. And…trust me, it'll be better if I do it."

Harry was confused. "I…what are you talking about, Sirius?" His godfather looked uncharacteristically solemn, almost as if his curt words earlier had not been just for effect.

"I have to punish you," Sirius said.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Um…er…okay. I…what for?" he stammered.

"What for?" Sirius asked incredulously. "Really, what for? For being stupid and leaving after everyone told you not to and nearly getting yourself killed in the process! That's what for!"

Harry's shoulders sagged a little. "Oh."

Sirius shook his head. "You know, I didn't think that you really needed this. I mean, I knew that you had done something stupid, but I figured you knew that too. I guess I was wrong though if you don't even know what you did. But, in a way, I guess that helps me."

Harry tried to placate the increasingly angry man looming before him. "Sirius…look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left. Nothing bad happened though, and it all turned out okay."

"Right, so you'll just go and do it again, since this time worked out all right, and I'm sure that all the others will!" Sirius said coldly.

"Well they always have before!" Harry yelped.

And then Sirius's countenance changed. He slumped down into the armchair across from Harry. "This isn't how I wanted this to go. I didn't want to be angry." He took a deep breath. "Let's take a minute to calm down, Har," he said with resignation.

Harry took a deep breath, and looked a bit sheepish from his previous outburst. "Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean to get upset at you."

Sirius shook his head. "It's okay. I got upset first."

Harry slowly met his godfather's eyes. "Okay. So…you're going to, er, punish me?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah. I've got to. And the way I see it, we can do this one of two ways. One, I'll tell you what's going to happen, and you'll protest, and it'll be worse for both of us, and it will be this long, drawn out process that will be worse than necessary. Or two, I'll tell you what's going to happen, and you'll accept it, we'll get it over with, and then we won't have to mention it ever again. It will simply be the consequences for what happened—nothing more."

Harry gave him a questioning look. He was beginning to feel a bit nervous. "What are you going to do?" he asked cautiously.

"I…" Sirius hesitated. "I'm going to, er…spank you." Harry's eyes widened and he hastened to add, "but only because if I don't, then Molly was ready to barge up here and do it herself! Believe me Harry, I think that there may be better ways to deal with this, but everyone agreed that that's what should happen, and that if I wasn't going to do it, then someone else would. I thought that maybe you would accept it better coming from me, since I'm actually your godfather, instead of someone else. Even Dumbledore agreed that something needed to be done to prevent this from happening again. And I agree…I just wish I didn't have to."

Harry stared at Sirius for a few moments. He was pretty shocked, and was replaying what Sirius had said before he dropped the bomb. Harry knew that the second option that he'd been given was how he wanted to do this, but after hearing what 'it' was, he wasn't sure he could. He took a deep breath, and said, "I…understand. I wish you wouldn't though."

"Yeah. Me too. So you want to just get it over with?"

Harry hesitated, but forced himself to nod.

"Good. Then we won't talk about it anymore," Sirius said.

Harry bit his lip. He had no idea what to expect. He'd always kind of wondered what it would be like, but had never particularly itched to have it happen to find out. He awkwardly stood up, and looked at Sirius with wide eyes. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.

"Right. Er…over my knee, or over the desk?" Sirius asked uncomfortably.

His face reddening, Harry inclined his head at his godfather. From what he had heard, over a desk usually implied some kind of instrument was to be used, and he'd rather skip that.

Sirius moved to the couch, and sat down. He hated this already. Harry looked scared, and Sirius frankly couldn't blame him. He patted the seat next to him, and Harry tentatively sat down beside him. Sirius reached over and gave him a one-armed hug to reassure him.

"It'll be okay," he said softly, then gestured that Harry should position himself over Sirius's lap.

Harry shakily did so, and Sirius looked down at him.

"That boy needs a good old-fashioned, bare bottomed spanking," Mrs. Weasley had insisted. "And if you can't give him that, then be assured that I will!"

When nothing happened for a few seconds, Harry turned his head to look at Sirius. Sirius nodded, and took a deep breath. With a flick of his wand, Sirius lowered Harry's pants and shorts. Harry hadn't been expecting this, and felt a wave of vulnerability pass over him. He didn't like this at all.

"Okay," Sirius whispered more to himself then to Harry, but Harry heard it, and tensed. Without much more of a warning, Sirius landed the first swat. Harry flinched, but was beginning to think that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all when the second one came. He barely had time to register it before he felt the third and fourth.

It felt like Sirius had started around the middle of his bottom, and was so far just staying there. He was alternating between the left and right sides, and it was hard, but still bearable. Harry grit his teeth and Sirius began to move lower, and was doubling up on the swats. He'd spank him one spot once, and then again in the same spot before it even had time to sting. The result was Harry squeezing his eyes shut, and not being able to think about anything besides the smarting sensation in his posterior.

Sirius had his other arm laying on Harry's back, and he would rub his hand up and down after a particularly hard one. His hand was beginning to sting as well, and he could see Harry's bottom start to change to a deeper pink. Harry was squirming around a little, so Sirius tightened his grip around his back.

"Sirius…" Harry whispered pleadingly.

Sirius ignored him—he still had the lowest, and most painful, region to go. He had already spanked Harry 14 times, and decided that he would do 10 on Harry's sit spot. Determined to get this over with, he raised his hand higher than before, and brought it down with a forceful crack on the spot just above where Harry's thighs met his buttocks. Harry recoiled, and let out a distressed cry.

"Stop," he said desperately, "please."

"Almost done," Sirius assured him as his hand came down on the opposite side. "Hang on."

Sirius spanked Harry on the right side, then on the left, then right, right again, left, left, and then went a bit lower to the tops of Harry's thighs, and gave the two, hardest smacks. All of these were punctuated by the sound of Harry gasping and crying.

Taking another deep breath, Sirius went back once more to the very top of Harry's bottom, and reacquainted it with his hand. It took four swats to cover the right side, and four to cover the left. Sirius then alternated quickly—one right, one left, one right, one left. With two final spanks to the sit spot, Sirius finished. The whole ordeal had only taken a little over a minute, but both were exhausted.

Harry was trying to keep his crying quiet, but he couldn't help but feel miserable. He was sorry in every possible sense of the word, and resolved to not purposely endanger himself anymore—if he could help it. He hissed when Sirius lightly replaced his shorts. Harry had accidentally kicked his pants completely off, and they were now lying across the room. Neither cared to retrieve them just now, and Sirius gently pulled Harry up. Harry gingerly sat beside Sirius on the couch, and hung his head. He tried to hide his tears, but Sirius was putting an arm around him, and had pulled him close to himself. Harry rested his head against Sirius, and tried to get his mind off of what had just happened. Sirius wrapped his other arm around Harry, and Harry hugged him back. They sat like that for awhile, and Sirius let him cry until he was done.

"I'm sorry," Harry began raggedly, but Sirius shook his head.

"Forget about it," he said softly. "That took care of everything, and we don't need to linger on it. It's done now—finished. You're forgiven by everyone, and just try not to let it happen again."

Harry slumped against Sirius's chest. He breathed in his godfather's scent, and realized that this was the closest he'd ever been to Sirius. Somehow content, Harry closed his eyes, and was soon dozing off, using Sirius as a pillow. Sirius was gently rubbing his back, and rested his chin on Harry's head.

Seeing as nothing more needed to be said or done, Sirius closed his eyes as well.