A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

~Severus Addicted

Chapter Twenty-One: An Unexpected Visitor

The grandfather clock struck nine.

Glancing up from her Animagus book, Hermione glared at the clock as if blaming the inanimate object for her upcoming monstrous punishment.

Hearing her mother's footsteps on the stairs, Hermione dropped the book on her stomach and pretended to be asleep.

Looking at Neomi, Minerva asked, "How long has she been asleep?"

Neomi stared at her swinging feet, "A few seconds, Madam."

Minerva quirked her lips in amusement, "Good try, Hermione." Shaking her daughter's foot, Minerva said, "Sit up. After we deal with your punishment you may go to bed."

Slowly sitting up, Hermione glared at the house elf, "Tattle-tale."

Neomi glared right back, "Little One is in enough trouble. Madam will only punish you more if you try to get out of your punishment."

Minerva nodded her head in agreement, "Neomi is right, Hermione." Starting for the dining room, Minerva said, "Come, Hermione. Let us get this over with."

Groaning, Hermione followed her mum upstairs to the study.

Entering the study, Hermione awkwardly stood by the door as she watched with dread as her mother pulled the armless chair out to the front of her desk.

Sitting on the chair, Minerva gave Hermione a pointed look, "Remove your jeans and then come lay yourself across my lap."

Hermione bit her lip nervously as she watched her mum tap her thighs with the horrid ruler. "I don't want to remove my pants."

Minerva gave firmer tap to her thigh, "This is not up for discussion."

Hermione nervously thumbed at the button but did not undo it.

Minerva narrowed her eyes dangerous when Hermione failed to do as she was told, "If you are not over my lap with your pants down in ten seconds the number of smacks will increase!"

Hermione paled at the thought. With shaking fingers she attempted to undo the button.

Noticing her attempts, Minerva laid the ruler down on the desk behind her, "Come, I will help you."

Blushing, Hermione shook her head. I'm not a baby. I can undress myself for goodness sakes.

Finally getting the button undone, she slowly unzipped her pants. Playing with the waist of her jeans, Hermione bit her lip and focused her watering eyes on the wooden floor boards.

Minerva could not help but feel sorry for the child, "Do you need help, dear?"

Looking up at her mum, tears cascaded down her pink cheeks, "I don't need help!" Taking a deep breath to stop herself from yelling even more, she then said in a tiny voice, "Mum you promised you would never s-spank me on the b-bare."

Minerva shook her head, "You will not be receiving this punishment on the bare, Hermione. I am allowing you to keep your underwear on."

Hermione huffed and threw her arms out in the air, "That's basically on the bare!"

Minerva shook her head, "No, it is not. Now, do as you were instructed before I go ahead with my threat of more smacks."

Looking as if she were going to die, she shyly lowered her jeans. Heart racing, she almost tripped herself as she tried to take her left foot out of the leg hole.

Folding her jeans, she laid them on the one chair and gradually made her way over to her waiting mum.

Grabbing her daughter's hand, Minerva smoothly led the trembling child over her lap.

Holding her breath, Hermione stared at the wooden floor below.

Her mother's lap felt boney under her body.

Hermione stiffed in horror as she felt the ruler being tapped on her backside.

Minerva lifted her knee to get a better aim at her daughter's sit spots, "You will receive fifteen. I want you to count them."

Before she could argue about the "outrageous amount of smacks," she felt the ruler connect with her backside with a stinging slap making her yelp in surprise. Squeezing her eyes shut, she stammered, "O-one."

Nodding, Minerva tapped the bottom again in warning. Raising the ruler up, she quickly brought it back down with a slap.

Biting her lip to hold in her cry, Hermione clenched her hands into fists and said, "T-two."

Tapping the ruler on the child's sensitive spot, Minerva brought the ruler down again with a firm smack.

Crying out, Hermione threw her hand back in an attempt to protect her assaulted bottom.

Minerva simply removed her daughter's hand and held it down with her free hand, "What number was that, Hermione Jean?"

"Th-three!" Hermione yelled.

Raising the ruler above Hermione's sit spot, Minerva brought it down with a hard smack. The sound that resounded from the slap even made Minerva cringe.

Crying out, Hermione wiggled on her mum's lap, "S-stop!"

Tapping the wiggling bottom on her lap, Minerva warned, "Lay still, Hermione Jean."

Whimpering, Hermione went still and held on to her mum's leg for dear life.

"What number was that?" Minerva reminded her as she continued to tap the reddening bottom.

"F-four!" Hermione stammered as a few tears leaked out of her eyes.

Without warning, Minerva quickly brought the ruler down twice.

Crying out, Hermione wiggled on her mum's lap again, "S-six! Mum stop!"

Closing her eyes to keep her composure, Minerva took in a deep breath, "Not yet, Hermione. Lay still!"

Hermione left the tears roll freely as she went limp over her mum's lap.

Nodding, Minerva brought the ruler firmly down four more times.

Crying, Hermione couldn't help but begin to wiggle away, "S-stop! I won't do it again!"

Tapping the red bottom, Minerva said gently, "Not yet. Stay still before I give you more!"

Wincing, Hermione huffed and stopped moving.

"What number was that?" Minerva asked as she continued to tap her daughter's bottom.

With each tap, Hermione began to flinch, "T-ten!"

"The last five will be harder than the others but they will be quick." Then she brought the ruler down five times straight on Hermione's sit spots.

Hermione felt as if her bottom was literally on fire!

Shaking from her tears, Hermione continued to lay over her mum's lap.

Rubbing her daughter's back and bottom, Minerva whispered, "It is all over, dear. Shh, it's alright."

Helping her stand, Minerva pulled her into a hug, "You did a good job handling your punishment, Hermione."

Hermione wiped the snot and tears away from her face with her shirt making Minerva blanch in disgust.

Handing her a hanky, Minerva rubbed her daughter's shaking arms.

Maybe I went too hard on her, Minerva pulled her into another hug, "Shh, darling. It's okay."

Hermione felt distraught. As hard as she tried she could not control her tears.

Minerva held her tight and allowed her to cry it out.

After a few minutes, Hermione's hysterics died down.

Kissing the top of her head, Minerva whispered, "Take a deep breath, Hermione."

Taking in a deep, shuddering breath, Hermione felt her cheeks heat up, "I'm sorry, mum."

Rubbing her daughter's back encouragingly, Minerva whispered, "You are forgiven."

Taking Hermione's hands, Minerva gently led her to her bedroom.

Pulling the blankets back, Minerva fluffed her daughter's baby blue pillows.

Still in only her underwear and shirt, Hermione shivered and stood awkwardly as she waited for her mum to prepare her bed.

Turning to look at her shivering daughter, Minerva flicked her wand to check the temperature. Noticing it was below the temperature she preferred for her house, Minerva flicked her wand again to raise it. Smiling comfortingly at the twelve-year-old, she said "Get ready for bed. Do not forget to brush your teeth. I will be back in ten minutes to say goodnight." With that, she left the room.

As soon as the door closed behind her mum she rubbed her bottom to make sure it was still intact.

Walking over to her closet, she opened the door to look in the mirror. Looking at her reddened bottom, Hermione whimpered. Heat still radiated off her bottom.

Quickly changing into the most fluffy pair of pajama bottoms she could find, Hermione pulled on a white tank-top then hurried to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

Returning to her bedroom, she noticed her mum sitting on the end of her bed. On the bedside table sat a plate with two chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk.

Crawling into the big cloud-like bed, Hermione winced.

Minerva smiled softly at her, "The sting will go away, I promise."

Taking a bite of a warm cookie, Hermione smiled at the taste, "Thanks for the cookies, mum."

"You are welcome, dear." Standing from the bed, Minerva leaned down to kiss Hermione's forehead then said, "After your milk and cookies are finished I want you to go to bed. What would you like for breakfast tomorrow?"

Taking a second to swallow her cookie, she answered, "Whatever you want to make sounds good to me."

Smiling, Minerva nodded her head, "It will be a surprise then!" Stopping at the door, she turned and said, "Goodnight, Hermione. I love you."

Feeling loved, she whispered back, "I love you too, mum."

Minerva closed the door behind her.

A popping sound made Minerva jump in surprise and reach for her wand.

The light turned on to show a guilty Neomi, "Sorry Madam."

Jumping out of bed, she grabbed her robe, "What's wrong, Neomi? Is it Hermione? Is she having a nightmare?"

Neomi shook her head, "A man is in the living room, Madam."

Confused, Minerva glanced at the clock on the wall, "It's three in the morning, Neomi. Who is it?"

Neomi glanced at the floor and moved her foot around, "Mr. Dumbledore, Madam."

Pulling her long hair up in a quick bun, Minerva hurried from her room and to the living room.

Looking at the elder man with worry, she asked, "What is wrong, Albus? You never wake me unless something is horribly wrong."

His age shone bright on his face as he answered, "There was a Death Eater attack."

Pulling her robe closer to her, she asked, "Any casualties?"

Albus nodded, "Another muggle family was murdered. The Order received a lead on the Death Eaters who are doing these horrid killings. Will you join us?"

"I don't know, Albus. Hermione is fast asleep upstairs. I cannot just up and leave anymore, I have a daughter."

"You also have a job to do with the Order, Min."

Glaring at him, she snapped, "My daughter will always be first now, Albus!"

Albus bowed his head apologetically, "I did not mean to upset you, Min. I just need your expertise."

"You mean you need my Animagus form?" Minerva asked knowingly.

Albus nodded.

"I don't know, Albus. I cannot just up and leave her! She would be scared when she awoke up to an empty house. I cannot do that to her!"

"What about Poppy?" Albus asked. Then he said as a side-note, "Severus agreed to join us."

Minerva sighed, "I will contact her. What about Harry?"

"He is being well watched over, Min, no worries."

"How long will I be gone? Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, Albus. I cannot miss my first holiday with my daughter. Surely you understand that!"

Albus nodded, "I understand that, Minerva. We should be done by lunch tomorrow."

Minerva sighed, "Fine. I will come but if Hermione needs me I will come home to her."

"I would expect nothing less, Min."

Kneeling down in front of the fire, she called out to Poppy.

Minerva's pointed ears twitched at the sound of the door opening. The Order has been staking the house out for almost three hours!

Hearing the door close, Minerva ran from the dark alley and over to the hooded man.

Rubbing up against his leg, Minerva gave a loving flick of her tail.

Big, rough hands began petting her, "Hello there kitty."

Noticing the voice to be Igor Karkoff's, Minerva forced her hair to not stand on end.

Feeling herself being picked up, Minerva meowed in discomfort.

"Bellatrix will love to play with you!" Whispering the password, he opened the door to reenter the building. Before he could enter though Minerva sank her sharp teeth into his hand.

Yelling out, Igor dropped her to the ground.

Glaring at her, he gave her a swift kick to the stomach.

Before he could kick her again, Albus appeared from the darkened alley and wordlessly stunned him.

Falling to the ground, Igor glared with frozen eyes at his attacker.

"Severus take him in custody," Albus whispered as he motioned for the other Order members to join him.

Turning back into her human form, Minerva rubbed the sore spot on her stomach; surely it will turn into a bruise!

Quietly entering the house, they followed the voices of the other Death Eaters to a closed-door.

Smashing the door open with a bang, they ran into the kitchen in full attack.

Green and red flashed all around her body.

Flicking her wand in a quick motion, she forced Bellatrix away from Arthur Weasley.

With another quick flick of her wrist, she screamed, "Petrificus totalus!" Bellatrix fell to the floor with a bang!

Two down, one to go.

Kingsley, Arthur, and Remus cornered Lucious by the table.

Eyes wide, Lucious apparated away.

Albus sighed disappointingly, "At least we captured two of the three. Let us take these two to the Ministry and have them locked away in Azkaban. I want the rest of you to go after Lucious Malfoy."

A/N: I know it is short but I have not updated in a while so I wanted to get something out to you.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review!

~Severus Addicted