Warning: The following chapter contains corporal punishment.

Up for a flying lesson

It was one of the last warm days of September as Harry and his class walked out to the back garden of Hogwarts. Brooms were lying there in two lines. Harry wondered if it was really possible to fly with a broom, but the moment he was instructed to push himself up off the ground, he was the first in the air.

Draco and a redheaded Gryffindor were the only others who also had no problems with flying. Harry grinned towards his class mate, but the blond was still annoyed with Harry because of the snake and just ignored him.

Then a Gryffindor boy lost control of his broom and fell, breaking his arm. Madam Hooch told them all to stay on the ground until she came back. Draco sneered after the poor boy, who had left, whimpering in pain, but then he picked something up from the ground and grinned.

"Hey. Give that back!" Hermione Granger said as soon as she noticed what it was.

"I better put it someplace safe for that idiot. How about somewhere on the roof?" Draco said, still grinning.

"You are not supposed to fly until Madam Hooch is back," Harry reminded the blond.

"I already know how to fly. This lesson is stupid," Draco retorted, and then he jumped on his broom again and was in the air.

Harry frowned.

"Hey, Potter. What about you? Are you a baby who doesn't know how to fly? Come and get it!" Draco said and tossed the Gryffindor boy's remembrall from one hand to the other.

Before anybody could react, Harry was in the air, too.

"No, come back!" Hermione yelled, "It's not worth it." But Harry ignored her.

"What's your problem, Draco? The Gryffindors didn't do anything to you."

"What's the problem with you?" Draco returned the question, "Did you forget what house you are in? Are you a Gryffindor lover?"

"No, but it's not right to take this thing from the boy," Harry argued.

"Oh? Well, then…" Draco threw the small ball with all his might. Harry rushed after it and was about to catch it when he felt a sudden tug on his broom and slowly began to sink to the ground.

A very angry looking Professor Snape was standing there with his wand out. Harry gulped. As soon as he touched the ground, Severus pulled him from the broom and administered three sharp smacks to Harry's bum. Then he released the boy to do the same to Draco.

Harry felt ashamed at being smacked in front of the other students, but he didn't have much time to think about it, as a strong hand grabbed his arm again and dragged him away.

Soon Harry found himself in Snape's office facing a corner. Harry's heart was hammering against his chest. With horror he heard Severus lecturing Draco and then he heard a chair moving. The next words spoken froze Harry in his corner.

"Lower your trousers, Draco."

Harry gulped, realizing that this punishment was awaiting him, too. Draco yelped and screamed during the smacking, making Harry a nervous wreck. Harry jerked with every smack that echoed through the room.

After the twelfth smack it went silent, except of Draco's wailing. Harry couldn't help but tremble. He knew he was next, but he found himself unable to move.

Severus and Draco talked again, but Harry didn't hear anything anymore. At least until he heard Severus says, "Draco, switch places with Harry."

Harry realized the other boy was still sniffling, but coming nearer.

"Harry, please come over here!" Severus said in a stern voice.

As the boy turned around Severus was surprised to find Harry in such a state already. Then he sighed as he became aware that Draco's overdramatic howls must have affected him.

With frightened eyes Harry looked at his guardian, his whole body trembling.

"Harry, please come and sit," Severus said and pointed to the free chair before him. "I want to talk with you."

Talk? Harry wondered. After taking some calming breaths he slowly got nearer. As he finally sat down, Severus took another chair and placed it in front of the boy, taking a seat himself.

"Harry, I want you first to realize what you have done," Severus explained.

The boy hung his head but two fingers under his chin guided his head up again. "Look at me. Tell we what did you do that was wrong?"

"I flew although I was told not to," Harry said in a small voice.

"And can you tell me why you thought you were above the rules?"

"I…" Harry started but trailed off again. Severus kept looking at him, waiting for the boy to continue and after some time, Harry went on "I wasn't thinking of the rules. I just wanted to get this ball thing back from Draco. It belonged to a Gryffindor boy."

"I see. Can you tell me why school rules exist?"

Harry sighed and was about to lower his head again, only to find Snape's fingers back under his chin.

"To… to keep us safe," Harry stuttered.

"Do you call 'flying unsupervised on your first time on a broom' safe?"

"No."

"Do you call 'chasing with a broom after a ball towards the castle's wall at top speed' safe?" Severus went on.

"No."

"But that was exactly what you did today. It was your first flying lesson and you nearly ended up crashing into the wall."

"I didn't-" Harry started, but a dangerous glare from Severus silenced him again.

"I'm your guardian, Harry. It is my task to keep you safe, and I can only manage that if I can trust you to follow the rules. If you think rules don't exist for you, then it's my task to correct this and if you tend not to remember the existence of the rules then it's up to me to make sure you never forget them."

Severus paused to let his words sink in. Then he continued, "As my ward you will receive the same punishment that my godson already did. So please stand up and lower your trousers."

Harry gulped but he stood up. He was no coward, and for the first time in his life he was about to receive a spanking because he had endangered his life. This was a fair and well deserved punishment, Harry told himself, trying to calm his nerves. He could do this.

Slowly Harry let his trousers slide down to his knees. Then Severus guided Harry over his lap. This lap felt completely different to Uncle Vernon's. It was much higher and harder. Harry's feet lost contact with the floor. Harry squirmed a bit to get into a more comfortable position, and Severus waited until Harry had adjusted himself before pinning the boy down with his left arm.

Then Harry felt his underpants pulled down, too. He tried to squirm again, but this time he couldn't move out of his position. Before Harry could think about what to do, the first smack landed on his upturned and unprotected bottom.

Harry was surprised how much it stung. Compared to this the stinging hex he received on his first day was really light. At the second smack the sting intensified to a painful level. Harry hissed at the third and yelped at the fourth. The fifth caused him to kick his legs, but it didn't help anything because the sixth landed on the exact same spot.

Severus paused a moment, and Harry fervently wished he would go on, because now he could focus on his throbbing and stinging behind with nothing to distract him.

Then he yelped and grabbed Severus' leg as he felt himself tipped forward a bit; his bottom now a little bit higher. Harry hadn't much time to wonder why; the next smack was applied on his sensitive sit spot.

An "ow!" escaped him before he bit his lips, allowing no other words out. Tears formed in his eyes as he realized that an earned punishment hurt more than physically. He had disappointed his guardian and that was a thing he never wanted to do again. Fear was creeping into his heart. Will Professor Snape send him away? He bit hard on his fist to prevent the sobs that were trying to escape him at that thought.

Severus paused again. The boy was already breathing harshly but he was still holding himself back, trying not to cry out. Severus thought that Harry might never have been allowed to cry during a punishment. He applied the last two smacks and then pulled the boy up again.

He was surprised to find Harry already crying, as no sound had given the boy away. Severus pulled the trousers up again and then hugged Harry. "You are forgiven!" he whispered in Harry's ear. Harry sniffed, "Sorry… hurts."

"It is supposed to hurt. What use would the smacks have if they didn't hurt?"

Harry looked up at Severus and whispered, "Didn't mean that," between his hiccups.

Severus arched an eye brow, but let the boy continue, "I… disappointed you. You did so much for me and I just misbehaved."

"I will not send you away, if it is that what you fear. You can misbehave as much as you wish; I will always be here to correct you."

Now sobs of relief shook Harry and Severus tightened his hold of the boy. "It's okay. I'm here," Severus whispered until Harry managed to compose himself again. Then he snuggled deeper into Severus' arms.

This was so strange and new. Someone who punished him because he had done something really stupid, and then hugged and comforted him, saying he was forgiven? So that's it? No denial of food? No locking up for the rest of the day? Was this the way it should have been? Harry wondered.

"Good. Now… Draco, please join us." With these words Severus put Harry down and stood up to place his chair back behind the desk.

"Well, you two have been punished as my godson and as my ward. Now let's come to the detention you have earned from me as your head of house."

At that, two similarly shocked pairs of eyes were directed at him.

"More punishment?" Draco asked in disbelief.

"Indeed. I'm not allowed to smack you as punishment as your head of house, so your detention will take place this evening right after dinner."

"That's not fair!" Draco protested.

"Life rarely is," Severus replied. "Now back to your classes. We will see each other after dinner!"

"Back to classes? I can't sit down!" Draco whined.

"Oh, would you prefer to stay here instead and have another lesson on disobedience?" Severus asked. But his voice was dangerously low, and Draco finally shut up.

-oxo-

At dinner Harry walked to the Gryffindor table to talk with the boy with the broken arm.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, and sorry I couldn't get your ball thing back. What was it anyway?"

The other boy looked up, surprised. "Oh? No problem. It was my remembrall, but it doesn't matter. I have more than one. Thank you for trying though. I'm Neville Longbottom by the way."

Harry smiled and shook hands with the other boy. "Harry Potter, but I guess you know that already."

"Hey, Potter, that's my place. You're supposed to be at the snakes' table." A very unfriendly redhead poked Harry in the back.

"Shut up, Ron!" Hermione hissed. "Harry just said hello to Neville!"

"Why? Did Snape spank you so hard your brains fell out?"

"Shut up!" Now both Hermione and Neville snapped at the other boy.

"Did you get in much trouble with Professor Snape?" Hermione asked Harry sympathetically.

Harry just shrugged his shoulder. "I have a detention with him after dinner. I guess that's not so bad."

"You were lucky he got out in time. I thought you were going to crash into the wall like the remembrall." Hermione said, concerned.

"I wouldn't have crashed against the wall. I was about to pull my broom around before I reached the wall. I'm sure I would have managed that. Well, I suppose now we'll never know."

"If you're that good, why don't you ask Snape to let you onto the Quidditch team?" Ron asked.

"Are you going to play? I had the impression you did well in the flying lesson, too," Harry asked, trying to smooth the situation a bit.

"I could, but first years aren't allowed to play Quidditch."

"Maybe we could fly a bit in our free time," Harry suggested and now Ron looked surprised.

"Why not? Yeah, what about tomorrow after classes? Then you can show us if you can do the move, or not."

"Okay. Tomorrow then!" With that Harry walked back to the Slytherin table. As soon as he sat down the food appeared.

"Why were you talking with Gryffindors?" Draco grumbled.

"Why is it your problem?" Harry shot back.

"You aren't supposed to be friends with them," Draco pointed out.

"And why not? I don't remember Severus saying that."

"That's common knowledge, you stupid Gryffindor lover!"

"You're stupid!" Harry snapped back and then ignored the blond.

-oxo-

"Harry, Draco. We will brew a very delicate potion tonight which requires teamwork, so if you have any differences lay them aside for now, I expect a perfect potion in the end, or you two will be in another detention tomorrow night."

Both children gulped but nodded.

"Good. Now Draco, please sit here. First you have to cut these. Harry, when Draco slices these fruits you need to pour their juice into this pot. Then you take the strainer and decant the juice through the strainer into this beaker."

The two boys worked in silence, as did Severus. He prepared other potion ingredients. As all fruits were cut and all juice filtered, Severus gave the next instruction. Harry was told to keep track of the temperature of the fire, while Draco added the cut fruits into the cauldron. Whenever the temperature changed, Harry told his professor and Severus corrected the flame under the cauldron.

"Good, Harry, please take this yellow powder and add it slowly. Draco, you stir. When the color of the potion turns from red to green then say stop."

Again both boys worked together, fully concentrating on their task. In the end the potion was indeed perfect.

"You did well. Both of you," Severus praised them.

Draco grinned proudly and Harry beamed in delight. "What potion is it, Sir?" Harry asked.

"Skelegrow. The next time you smash yourself against a wall, you can use your own potion," Severus said.

"I wasn't about to smash against the wall. I was about to turn my broom, right before you… well, forced me down," Harry said in a small voice.

"Oh pity, I didn't wait to see whether my ward had smashed himself into a wall or not. Maybe next time I should wait longer and see what happens."

Harry looked down, ashamed. "No, please, don't wait too long next time. I don't think I'd like Skelegrow."

Severus smirked.

"Sev? We forgot the juice," Draco suddenly said.

"Oh, yes. Harry, please go to the cabinet over there and get us three glasses."

As Harry came back, Severus placed the three glasses on the desktop and then poured the juice into the three glasses, then he gave one of the glasses to Harry, one to Draco and took the last himself. He saluted the bewildered boys and drank it.

Harry and Draco looked at each other, but finally they tried it themselves. The juice was fresh and a little sweet.

"Don't we need the juice for the potion?" Draco asked, still puzzled.

"No. But it would be a waste to pour it away. It's full of vitamins and very nutritious."

As they finished their juice, Severus fixed the two boys with a stern glare.

"I want you to put aside this stupid enmity. I do not appreciate housemate rivalry, especially not between the two of you. If you can't work together then ignore each other but do not fight with each other. If I ever find you two fighting again you will both have detention with me every weekend. Am I clear?"

Harry nodded but added a "Yes, Sir!" immediately.

But Draco looked angrily back at Severus. "He is befriending Gryffindors!" Draco complained. "With a Mudblood even!"

Severus glare turned into a furious one, "Do not say that word again! They are Muggleborns! Your father may think they are lower creatures, but as long as you go to this school you will never say that word again. Never underestimate a Muggleborn."

Draco was about to protest, but finally he said, "Yes, Sir."

"A friendship between the two of you would be good for both of you. And not just because you are my godson and ward. Tell me: is one stupid snake or any random Gryffindor or Muggleborn worth giving up the chance of a friendship?"

"I hate him for his ability to talk to snakes. It's not fair that he can and I can't." Draco argued.

"If I could, I would give you my ability," Harry said in a low voice.

Draco turned to look at Harry, "Why would you want to do that?"

"I never intended to take your snake away. I didn't even realize that I switched languages and I'm not even supposed to let anyone know about my ability since it is supposed to be Dark. I don't like it, but I have to live with it," Harry explained.

A silence followed but then Draco asked, "And the snake really thinks I'm stupid?"

"I don't think she meant it that way. She was annoyed from being locked in and stared at," Harry said.

Draco studied Harry for some time but finally he nodded and held out his hand. "Friends?"

A wide grin spread across Harry's face. He wasted no time taking Draco's hand as he agreed, "Friends!"