Disclaimer: All the Harry Potter characters belong to J K Rowling. This applies even if I forget to write a disclaimer in some chapters. They're still not mine.

Harry Potter and the Sand of Time

By Willowcharm

Chapter 21: Another Detention

Just because the adult Remus was now here didn't mean things were going to be easy for Harry. He was still in disgrace as far as Professor McGonagall was concerned and the rest of the staff followed her example in being extremely strict with him. By the end of the week he had earned several sets of extra homework which had taken up every minute of his spare time when added to his normal workload. Lily had been sympathetic to some extent but also pointed out that it was his own fault, reminding Harry strongly of Hermione. In addition, he had a detention to look forward to, having inadvertently started daydreaming in transfiguration. Relations with his roommates weren't too great, either. James would speak to him if necessary, but the others didn't and Sirius would often shoot hostile looks at him.

At lunchtime on Friday Professor McGonagall accosted Harry as he was leaving the Great Hall and informed him that he would be serving his detention with Professor Wolfe starting at half past nine the next morning. Accordingly, Harry made his way along to his office straight after breakfast on Saturday and knocked a little nervously, hoping Remus wouldn't be too angry with him for getting into trouble again.

Once again Remus seemed to be setting things up but this time, to Harry's confusion, it was cups and saucers, a teapot and a plate of toast.

'Er, I've just had breakfast,' ventured Harry.

'Correction,' replied Remus with a smile. 'You went to the Great Hall, sat down, took a sip of pumpkin juice and pushed some scrambled egg around a plate. I was watching.'

Harry reddened at this and said,

'But detention's meant to be unpleasant. Or are you going to torture me after forcing me to eat?'

Remus laughed, but then grew serious. 'Harry, tell me the purpose of detention.'

'To punish someone,' replied Harry. After motioning for Harry to sit down Remus asked another question.

'What should the result of a detention be?'

'Um, to stop the person from doing the thing they did wrong again?'

'Exactly,' said Remus. Either that or to achieve an overall change in behaviour. Of course, it doesn't always work out. James and Sirius, for instance, seem to think the rewards of having fun outweigh the unpleasantness of serving detention even with Mr Filch. So why punish them at all?'

Harry grinned, wondering if James and Sirius themselves had ever thought of this line of reasoning. The answer to the question was obvious, of course.

'At least it might stop other people behaving like them.' Harry started munching on the toast Remus had pushed across to him, wondering where this conversation was going. Remus took a sip from his teacup before continuing.

'Correct. So we now have two reasons for punishment. To prevent re-offending and to deter others. Can you think of another?'

Harry could..

'Well sometimes someone does something so bad that even if they weren't likely to do it again and no one else would do it either they still shouldn't get away with it. I mean, it would just be wrong.' He stumbled a bit over this answer, feeling it was getting a bit too close to his own crimes for comfort and wondering why Remus was bringing it up.

'Which brings us to recent events,' said Remus. I'm sure you realise that under normal circumstances Sirius would have been expelled for sending Snape to find out what I was up to. But because you had already made it clear that this was not an option Dumbledore was forced to resurrect a sanction he had abolished three years ago in order to emphasise the seriousness of the offence. Professor McGonagall was horrified when it transpired that she had administered such a harsh punishment to a student who, though by no means a saint, was one of her favourites.

However, Harry, and this is what it is important that you understand. Professor McGonagall cares very much about your welfare. She has seen you struggling through this school year on an emotional roller coaster. She has noticed that when things are going well you are a more than capable student. But all too often things have gone badly and when they do you seem to lose a lot of your magical capability. When you admitted to the Snape incident she was concerned that you would be alienated from your father and the others for the remainder of your time here and that consequently your magic could be affected for life. She knew it would be extremely difficult to fix things, but was determined to do her best. That's why she asked me to thrash you instead of doing it herself. She wanted James, Sirius and my younger self to be quite sure that you were getting a far worse punishment than the unjust one you had let Sirius in for. Because if they thought that you were in any way getting less than you deserved there would be no chance of reconciliation .'

'I'm not sure there is anyway,' said Harry dejectedly, pushing away his plate after a second piece of toast.'

'There are still several weeks of term left,' said Remus. 'Don't give up yet. Now, to go back to the start of this conversation, I believe that Professor McGonagall intends this to be a 'Behaviour Modifying Detention.' Or, rather, in this case, an 'Improving the Standard of Mr Jenkins's Work' detention. So wand out Harry and we'll start off with some charm work and then after that we'll work on Transfiguration.'

It might not have been unpleasant, thought Harry when Remus finally released him at one o'clock but it was one of the most exhausting detentions he had ever served. Remus had relentlessly called out spells and expected Harry to perform them immediately, starting with basic ones from first year and gradually getting harder and harder. Then he returned to the first year ones again but instructed Harry to perform them silently, returning to the beginning whenever Harry failed. As he walked along to lunch Harry decided he never wanted to turn another matchstick into a needle again.

Another few days passed and the full moon was due again. Remus had told Harry that he would be returning to the future for it as the Shrieking Shack was occupied by his younger self and he didn't think it a good idea to risk spending the time with Harry as they weren't sure how the two werewolves might react to each other. Things hadn't gone too badly for Harry since his last detention. Just knowing about McGonagall's concern helped him to feel a bit happier and consequently his schoolwork improved slightly, lessening the amount of scolding he received from all the staff.

He stood at his dormitory window late on Thursday afternoon, looking out over the grounds and wondering what it must feel like to be able to run through them in wolf form. He was brought out of his musings by the entrance of James and Sirius who were laughing over some joke James had played. The amusement quickly left Sirius's voice though when he noticed Harry.

'Shouldn't you be somewhere safe by now?' he snapped.

There was plenty time, actually. The moon wasn't due to rise for a few hours yet. But rather than argue Harry just turned round and wearily left the dormitory to head for his prison, as he tended to think of it.

Once he had left James looked at his friend and said,

'Don't you think it's time to lighten up on him a bit, Padfoot?'

'Why should I after what he did?' snarled Sirius.

James didn't answer straight away but walked over to the window and stood looking out just as Harry had been doing moments before. When he did speak he sounded uncharacteristically unsure of himself.

'I don't know anything about him, really,' he said quietly. 'He's my son and I don't know him. Half the time he's been here we've been fighting. He could disappear back to the future at any time and then he'll never see me again. What do I do, Padfoot?'

Sirius had been prepared to refute any arguments James had in favour of forgiving Harry. But he was totally unprepared for this sudden show of vulnerability. And he was equally unprepared for the shock of hearing himself answer,

'You forgive him Prongs. It's what decent parents do even when their kids do dreadful things. And if you forgive him, so do I.'

James continued to stare out of the window as he asked,

'So how do we celebrate bringing the Prodigal Son back into the family?'

Sirius grinned as he slapped his friend's arm.

'What do you think, idiot? A prank of course!'

Author's Note: Okay, so I have the Evil Muse throwing the mother and father of all tantrums in the corner of the room. But I think I've allowed it plenty of scope in other chapters- other muses need a chance too! Thanks again to all reviewers.