Hey guys, I finally got myself to sit down and write out another chapter. I know it's been forever since my last update, and I feel horrible about it. All I can say is thanks so much for the encouraging reviews!


Ch 7 Listening

Ginny had never really thought of working with Lupin as all that dangerous. Sure in a great while there might be one relatively dangerous thing, like the ashwinder eggs they had found one day. But Lupin had known to freeze the eggs to prevent a forest fire or either of them from being burned. She felt there wouldn't be any dangers that could effect her as long as she was with Lupin. However she did discover in just a few months how important it was to listen to anything he told her to do without question. It wasn't always enough to just be near him.

The first encounter she had with something frightening was on a unseasonably warm day in mid April. Lupin and Ginny were scouting along their usual path, having a discussion about quidditch.

"Ive always wanted to try quidditch," Ginny was saying. "My brother Charlie was a great quidditch player. He used to tell me about some of his most spectacular catches when we'd go for walks together."

"So your brother was a seeker?"

Ginny nodded.

"Did you know where the idea of the golden snitch came from?" Lupin asked her.

"No, I just thought wizards one day came up with the idea and created a snitch."

"Actually there is a very rare bird called a snidget. Wizards hunted these birds, as they were small, golden, and very fast. They were the very first snitchs, and seeker played to catch these birds. Eventually they became too endangered for this use, and the golden snitch was made to replace them."

"That's pretty interesting," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Where do you learn all these neat magical creature facts anyway?"

"Well, for starters," Lupin paused. "I payed attention in school," he finished slowly. He was acting a little strange. "Ginny would you please head back to the house? There is something I think I need to take care of."

Ginny was confused. Lupin had never asked her to do anything like this before. "But why?"

"Please don't ask questions, just go," he said, rather stiffly.

"But I can still help," Ginny argued.

A sudden noise caught her attention, and she turned. Ginny found herself facing her worst fear. It was like one of her nightmares from when she was little. Because here, pacing in front of her was a sphinx.

Ginny had been terrified at the thought of a sphinx ever since Charlie had shown her the pictures of them in his defense against the dark arts text book. She had nightmares for weeks after learning about them, and they had been a great fear of hers for some time.

Fear seemed to paralyze Ginny now. The more scared Ginny felt, the more excited the sphinx seemed to become. She sat back, a large smirk on her face, and looked ready to pounce.

Ginny let out a whimper, and at the same time Lupin stepped protectively out in front of her. The sphinx changed into a strange silver orb almost instantly. That seemed strange, she had never heard of a sphinx being able to do that. "Rediculus!" Lupin shouted, and at once the orb was gone.

Everything was very silent for a while, and Ginny worked to catch her breath. She had worked out that wasn't a sphinx. Now that she thought about it, this was not a place a sphinx would ever be. "What was that," she said quietly.

"That," Lupin said, "was a boggart. They are shapeshifters, and change into whatever a person fears most." He turned to look at her, his expression stern. "They are not generally very dangerous, but they do feed off fear. If you don't know how to handle them they can harm you. If you had just walked away to the house instead of arguing, it probably wouldn't have even wanted to attack. I really didn't want you to have to see your worst fear, it's something I would have rather you learned how to handle when you're a little older, or at least in school."

Ginny looked away.

"I just want you to remember in the future when I tell you to do something out here, it is for a reason. You need to have an instant reaction to my words, no matter what it is I tell you. I'm going to warn you now, I will not just let it go if something like this happens again."

"I'm sorry," Ginny said quietly.

"Are you ok?" he asked gently.

"Yeah, it was just really scary," she said as her heart rate slowed and she caught her breath. Her voice sounded far away, even to her.

"We'll a break so you can catch your breath. But I think it will help you more to move on quickly and get your mind off of it."

Then the ordeal was forgotten and the two got back to their day.

Unfortunately it was only two weeks later that something similar happened again. It was a rainy day, and the first day of May. Lupin and Ginny were both quiet, and trying to get the day finished quickly because of the rain. They were nearly finished and on their way back when Lupin noticed a strange growth on one of the trees. "I'm going to have to remove that," he muttered, pulling out his wand.

Ginny noticed where he was looking and saw a strange purple lump on the trunk. Interested she began to approach it for a better look.

"Don't get near that thing," Lupin said, at the same time trying to remember the spell to get rid of it. "This was a very rare thing to find in the forest."

Ginny was still walking forward. "I won't touch it," she said. "I just want to see what this looks like, it's weir-"

Before she could finish her sentence she felt her feet lift from the ground, and land behind Lupin. He had his wand pointed at her, and immediately understood he had levatated her, just like he had at the pond.

Lupin seemed to remember what he was concentrating on, and said a lot of spells Ginny couldn't understand. Then finally a reducto curse and the growth exploded and was gone. Lupin then turned to face Ginny.

"That was a chispurfle nest, which are a type of deadly parasite. They can be airborn, and you stepping within five feet of it could have had you infected and spending months in Saint Mangos. It's a good thing I moved you away from there when I did."

"Oh," was all Ginny could say. She felt a bit stupid now.

Lupin began walking quickly to the house again, and Ginny trotted to keep up. Once they were both inside, Lupin dried both of them off, then pointed to the empty corner. "Twenty minutes," he said sternly.

Ginny was startled out of a daydream she'd been having and looked quickly into Lupin's face. "But why?"

"I told you two weeks ago, after the boggart incident, that you needed to listen to what I tell you better. Now today, I told you to stay away from that nest, and you ignored me. It's things like that that will get you hurt someday. I want you in that corner, and think about listening to me right away in the future."

"Really? Right now?" she complained.

"Yes, I told you last time I wasn't going to let you off the hook if this happened again." Miserably, Ginny turned and began to walk slowly to the corner. "Oh, and Ginny." She turned. "If this happens again, you can expect more than just the corner."

Understanding exactly what he meant, Ginny continued to her version of imprisonment. Time in this stupid corner always felt like it was ten times longer than it was.

May rolled into June, and June turned to July. Ginny's brothers were back home, and because of this she was working half the hours she used to with Lupin. But it was still enjoyable, and Ginny was enjoying a summer with her brothers again.

It was a particularly hot day in July, and Ginny and Lupin had just begun their scouting. Ginny noticed a faint shimmer of silver in the distance. "Can that possibly be," she muttered. She had been dying to see a unicorn again.

Lupin and Ginny both very quickly hurried over to the shimmer. There, laying in the leaves was a unicorn. Only it didn't look very good, just like the first one Ginny had ever seen. Quickly she began to hurry over to it to see how badly it was hurt.

"Ginny, hold on a second," Lupin called.

But Ginny wasn't listening. Thoughts of seeing a unicorn were flowing through her mind. As she ran closer, the creature turned it's head to look at her, and Ginny gasped, noticing it had two horns.

"Protego!"

A strong shield charm came up between her and the creature. Even in its sick or injured state he had almost managed to bite her with very sharp teeth.

"Stupify," Lupin said calmly, pointing to the animal. It immideiatly fell unconscious.

Lupin looked at her. "I'm going to be gone for two minutes to turn this into the ministry. I want you to sit under that tree and wait for me," he was using that same stern calm voice that made Ginny shiver.

Slowly Ginny sat where Lupin showed her to, and watched Lupin dissaperate with the fake unicorn. He hadn't been lying when he said he would only be a few minutes, because he was back very quickly. With a very stern expression he strode over to Ginny, grabbed her wrist, and began to pull her along with him.

Ginny resisted only a little, and made some squeaks of protest. But Lupin ignored her. Abruptly he found a large rock, sat on it, and in seconds Ginny was pulled over his knees.

"Oh no," she moaned. "Lupin please, not here. Let me up," she whined. She pushed against him to get up, but as always she was very stuck. A quick sharp slap made her jump and got her attention very fast.

"This is the third strike, Ginny," Lupin scolded. "That was a bicorn you were just hurrying up to. They are even rarer than a unicorn, so I'm surprised we saw it at all. But they eat human flesh. I did warn you this would happen if you ignored something I told you to do again."

There were more stinging smacks raining down, and Ginny began to kick, and her eyes started to tear. "But do we have to do this right here?" Ginny cried.

"Yes," Lupin said simply, not breaking his rhythm. "I am going to attempt right here and now to get you to start reacting to when I tell you something. You should be grateful this isn't the paddle, which I promise you will come out if there is a next time."

By now Ginny was crying hard. Lupin's hand was coming down very fast and hard. The first swats weren't all that bad, but the pain had a way of slowly building until it was unbearable.

The spanking just seemed to go on and on. Ginny fought against Lupin's restraining arm, and tried to squirm away, hoping Lupin's hard hand might miss its target. But it always hit dead on everytime. Finally Ginny became too tired to struggle anymore, and fell limp.

Lupin continued spanking for about another thirty seconds after this, then let Ginny cry over his lap. When she was ready, Ginny pushed herself up, and wiped her eyes.

"Please start listening right away when I tell you something. There is going to be a time where I'm not going to be fast enough to protect you from something out here," Lupin said gently. It was quite a change from the icy voice he had just been using before.

Ginny nodded. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Lupin held out his arms, and Ginny nearly jumped into them, desperate to truly feel forgiven for her absentmindedness.

"I don't want to have to punish you like this, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you got hurt because you were working with me," Lupin murmured over her shoulder.

"I know," she said softly, still holding onto him. "I really am sorry for not paying enough attention." She could understand why Lupin was so worried and upset for three close calls so close to each other.

"I understand," Lupin said, finally pulling away from the hug to look into her face. He gave her a sympathetic smile. "You're still learning."

Ginny was able to return the smile.

From that moment on, Ginny promised herself she was going to make it an absolute habit to do whatever Lupin told her to, no matter how strange a command was. She did not want to see the paddle come out for something as little as this. Truly she did not want to see the paddle again ever.

But then, she thought as she continued with Lupin through their usual path, it hardly seemed possible Ginny would be able to stay out of trouble for the rest of her life.