I wanted to say a quick thanks to favoredson for pointing out my spelling mistake. I'm going to try to remember to fix it in previous chapters, and will make sure to keep it in mind for future chapters. But it brought up a point that any constructive criticism is perfectly welcome! I am far from a good writer, and far from perfect with spelling and grammar. So if you see anything that you want changed/fixed let me know. That does not mean I want any flame, just polite comments with suggestions or pointers. If you absolutely hate this story or my writing for any reason, simply don't read.
On a related note, if anyone is willing to beta this story, I would very much like one :)
But enough from me, here's chapter 3!
Ch 3 New consequences
That night, Ginny's mom told her dad what Ginny had been doing all week. Luckily Mr. Weasley wasn't the type to get mad, so she didn't have to deal with more scolding. Ron had glared at her through most of dinner. Unlike her, Ron would have at least been grounded for the entire summer if he had done something like this. As it was he was grounded for the rest of the week for trying to lie about where Ginny was. Ginny planned to make it up to him somehow. She would maybe ask Lupin, he usually seemed to have some good ideas and good advice for almost anything.
The next morning felt different, because Ginny was actually able to tell her mother she was leaving. She didn't have to leave the house carefully, and was a little mad at herself for not just asking in the first place. It was clear her mom would have said yes from the beginning.
When she arrived at Lupin's house she was a little startled to not see him waiting for her outside. But then she remembered with a jolt she was supposed to go inside and have a "serious discussion" with him. She hoped this wasn't going to be too uncomfortable.
Slowly she reached up and knocked on the door. She heard Lupin's voice call her inside, so she slowly stepped in. Lupin was sitting at the table writing some official looking documents.
"I'll be able to talk to you in a minute," Lupin said softly, without looking up. "I just need to finish these reports of the last two weeks to send to the ministry. But you can have a seat."
Slowly, Ginny sat on one of the old chairs at the table, and waited for Lupin to finish. When he finally did, he rolled them up and called outside for a small brown barn owl. "You know where to take them," he said to the owl. Then he turned back and sat at the table across from Ginny.
He looked straight into Ginny's eyes, and Ginny found herself yet again having trouble looking back. "You remember the first day you came here, don't you?
Ginny nodded.
"And you also remember the rules I told you about in order for me to allow you to work here?"
Again, Ginny nodded.
"Did you think I wasn't serious about them?" Lupin was speaking calmly and wasn't yelling, but by the tone of his voice he might as well have been. He was making Ginny feel worse than she ever had.
Lupin looked at her expectantly for an answer. She knew she was going to have to say something before he would continue. "Yes, I believed you," she said just above a whisper.
"You know I should have just stuck to my word, and not allow you to help me anymore. But thinking about it last night, I realized that wouldn't really help you learn very much. Your little act with your mother tells me very well you see no discipline at home."
Ginny couldn't argue with that. She felt a bit embarrassed how Lupin had seen through her tears and act yesterday.
"You need to tell me right now if you are truly serious about helping me out each day," Lupin said looking hard into her eyes.
This time Ginny could look back into them. "Yes, I definitely want to help you. I really enjoy helping you," she said in a stronger voice than she had used all day.
"To tell you the truth, I really like having you come and help me out each day. Having company is really nice for me," Lupin said gently. Ginny smiled. "That is another reason I didn't want to ban you from helping me. I also had a feeling you would have snuck over here anyway, which wouldn't have been helpful for me, and would have been dangerous for you. "
Again Ginny couldn't argue. She very well might have just continued coming back here anyway and begging Lupin to help again. He somehow knew her so well, even though he'd only known her a week.
Lupin stood up and walked to his kitchen drawers, where he opened one and pulled out a small cutting board. Then he returned to the table with it and sat. "I really want to be able to be confident that you will be honest, respectful, and obedient when you work with me. The best way I can think to have this happen is for me to give you some of the discipline I feel you have been lacking your entire life, and probably need very much.
In other words, you are going to be punished for any lies, disobedience, sneaking around, and anything else you know you shouldn't do, especially those things that can be harmful to you."
"You're going to punish me?" Ginny gasped. "I'm not a little child, I'm nine years old."
"Believe me, you're not as old or mature as you think," Lupin said. "You have already proved that to me by your actions yesterday."
Ginny could feel herself blushing again. Lupin was very good at making her feel like a four year old. She didn't want to know what Lupin's means of punishment were going to be.
But he was going to tell her anyway. "The two most common means of punishing you I will be likely to use will be time in the corner, or –"
"Time out?" Ginny interrupted. "I'm nine years old! I'm too old to go in a time out." Ginny was feeling more embarrassed than ever.
"Or as I was saying before you interrupted," Lupin picked up the cutting board and tapped it with his wand. It changed slightly so it was longer, more narrow, and had a handle. "You will receive a paddling or spanking."
Now Ginny could see he had transfigured the cutting board to a paddle. There was a paddle back at home, that had never been used on Ginny, but had been used at least once on the rest of her brothers (especially Fred and George).
Ginny jumped up from the table, a strong pain and fear twisting through her stomach. "Lupin, don't spank me, please. I have never been spanked in my life, you can't do that to me."
"I assure you I can and I will. I want to remind you, you're only nine. Now for your week of lying you will get to both spend some time in the corner and the first paddling of your life. Your mother mentioned she uses this form of discipline at home, but you have always been excluded. I think it's time you realize you can get into trouble for you actions."
"Please, don't paddle me. I'll stand in the corner twice as long, or I'll write lines. Please, anything else. I don't want to be spanked." She had heard sounds of her brothers being paddled in the past. It had never sounded like a very easy punishment.
"The acting doesn't work on me either, as you should know. I'm not changing my mind, so come here."
Lupin pushed away from the table slightly, and looked at her. Ginny couldn't make herself move forward. She felt the usual tears falling down her face, and she began to tremble. She didn't know if Lupin would believe her that she wasn't acting this time. Ginny silently shook her head, desperately wishing for some way out of this.
"Ginny, I'm not going to ask you again. If I have to get up and get you, your paddling will be on a bare bottom. Now, come here."
Slowly, and on shaky legs, Ginny took the five steps to Lupin. She felt him grab her wrist and was pulled forward until she fell over his knees. She tried to get back up from the awkward position, but felt Lupin's arm on top of her, holding her down.
He picked up the paddle, and Ginny could sense him raising it in the air. She closed her eyes and clenched her fist. In a split second, a crash of pain exploded into her. She gasped and kicked her feet. It really did hurt, more than she expected.
Again and again the paddle crashed into her, making her bottom sting and burn. Ginny was crying hard now, and pushing against Lupin's arm. She just wanted to get up and make this end, but she was very stuck where she was.
Finally Lupin stopped and set the paddle back on the table. Ginny was trying to catch her breath and just laid there a few minutes until her crying turned to gulps and hic-ups. Then Lupin slowly helped her up. Her bottom was stinging so much. Lupin was pushing and steering her somewhere, and she soon saw where as the emptiest corner of the house came closer and closer. She had forgotten he still planned to make her stand in a time-out.
"No, Lupin, don't make me stand here. I've been punished enough. Even my brothers don't ever have to go in a time-out," she moaned, pushing against his arm, and trying to stay out of the empty blank corner.
"You've probably gotten away with anything you've ever wanted to do, and have always been able to talk your way out of punishment. I have gotten the feeling you really are the spoiled only girl and baby of the family. For your safety while working with me, I want you to think about possible consequences for not listening." He turned her around again and continued pushing her to the corner. "You can spend a half an hour here, and then we can head out to start our work," Lupin said.
But Ginny didn't want to stand in this corner. It just wasn't fair. She fought against him still, even when they had reached the corner, and tried to get back out. She felt two hard swats on her already sore butt. She gasped from the renewed sting and stopped fighting.
"You better stand here until I tell you to come out, or I can give you another dose of the paddle. As it is I have already gone easy on you since you've never been spanked before. Don't test my patience."
That had been going easy? Ginny decided it was best to listen now, and stood still in the corner. She heard Lupin pick up his notebook and write some notes, and tried to imagine what he could have been writing. Like the paddling, standing in the corner was a lot worse than she had thought it would be. Each second dragged, and she felt it to be harder and harder to stand still. It was worse than being in prison, because at least in jail you could pace in your cell while you have nothing to do. In this small little corner, moving wasn't really an option.
Finally Lupin called her out, and Ginny gratefully stepped out and looked around the house. It was nice to see something besides the corner.
"Now I will ask you again, are you still serious about helping me?" Lupin asked gently. "Being punished shouldn't be a problem anymore if you can learn to follow the few rules I have given you."
Ginny still felt like this was asking a lot. She had never needed to follow rules before, but she still wanted to help Lupin out very much. So she made herself look into his eyes and answer again with a confident, "Yes."
"Good, then lets head out to begin our day a little late," Lupin said with a small smile.
Ginny couldn't help but to smile too as she followed him out the door. She had still gotten her way of being able to help, even if it now meant some added consequences.
