Trust and Obey

When Sirius awoke, he was immediately aware of the fact that he was not in the Gryffindor tower. There were no sheets beneath the cool skin of his back and no soft pillow beneath his head. He could feel the itchy cloth covering the top half of his face, and he knew only darkness would greet him when he eventually opened his eyes. Struggling a little, he tugged at the cold metal binding his wrists and ankles to the bedframe, causing a quiet creak to echo through the otherwise silent room.

Despite his attempts at remaining calm, he felt himself slowly beginning to panic as the minutes dragged by, and the silence remained. His heart pounded so loudly that he could hear it, and his hands were sweating. He began struggling wildly in his bonds, yanking so hard he thought he might just break his wrists in an attempt to free himself. Just as he thought he might have reached the point of complete panic, a voice echoed through the room. "Calm down, Black." Severus Snape.

Sirius took a deep, shuddering breath. "Severus." His heart rate began to slow minutely. "You scared me."

Cool air swept across his body as the blanket was pulled away, and he blinked stupidly in the remaining darkness. Sirius felt a cool hand run down his cheek, caressing the day-old stubble on his chin, a loving, habitual gesture. "Who else could slip something into the drink of Sirius Black but me?"

Severus watched, eyes long since adjusted to the dim light of the room, as Sirius tilted his head into the hand on his cheek, kissing the palm. Continuing with the caress, a seventeen-year old Severus ran his hand down across Sirius' neck, pausing to feel the slower pulse, and down across the hollow nook between his collar bones, a sensitive spot, and on down across the thin line of dark hair around the belly button, causing Sirius to squirm slightly, a smile on his face. His hand never ventured lower than the line of Sirius' boxers.

"Umm. . . may I ask you a question?"

Severus cocked an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Why all the drugging and everything tonight?" Sirius' voice was hesitant, as though he was not quite sure he wanted the answer. In all the times they'd gotten together since the accruement of his debt in sixth year, Severus had never once drugged him.

"Because tonight's special." It was that simple. Tonight would be different. "Now, how long has it been since I've owned you?"

"Ten months to the day." The number came naturally. Sirius had learned the hard way what would happen if he got it wrong.

"And what happens on our anniversaries? Quiet. It was a rhetorical question. In fact, stay quiet for good now."

Sirius felt his heart speed up again. Regardless of the fact that he knew it was an anniversary, he'd let himself forget, made himself forget quite possibly. Oh, how he hated these days. These were the days when Severus quit being his lover and returned to being his Master, as was his request for Sirius' attempt on his life those ten months ago.

"I have a special gift for you tonight. It's a reminder that you get to wear all the time." Sirius felt something chilly touch his neck as Severus lifted his head, pulling a strip of what felt like leather around his neck. Then, he heard an audible click, and the leather stretched taught about his neck, nowhere near choking but obviously meant to fit. He'd been given a collar. "It's charmed not to come off until I want it off. Don't worry. It won't choke you."

And for some strange reason, Sirius was more pleased by the collar than worried. It seemed hard for him to comprehend that at one point in time this would have killed him. Now, he accepted it and smiled at the thought of being owned. His mind wandered, lost in the thoughts of the day he lost his freedom.

Sirius sat in the cushioned chair of Dumbledore's office, pouting. James sat next to him, looking equally angry and scared out of his mind. It had been him who'd saved Severus from Remus, but not before the greasy little git had seen the werewolf. Despite the outward appearance of things, Sirius had not really intended for Snivellus to be killed. Now that it was all over, he wasn't quite sure at all what he was thinking in the first place. He'd just wanted to scare him. . . or something.

So lost in his thoughts, Sirius didn't even hear Dumbledore's office door open, and it wasn't until the Headmaster walked past him that he realized that he and James were no longer alone. The Headmaster nodded at James and smiled. "Thank you for your help tonight, Mr. Potter. You may go now. Young Mr. Black and I have some things to discuss." There was something hidden behind those words, but Sirius could not place it. James left without a word or even a glance in his best friend's direction. Then, the Headmaster's eyes landed on him.

"You should have known better. You, of all people, having grown up a Black, should have known better." His voice was full of anger, sympathy, and no small amount of fear, and Sirius still couldn't quite figure out what had caused the last two.

"May I ask what I should have known, sir?"

"When a wizard attempts to take another wizard's life, he accrues a debt against said wizard. That wizard may ask for anything in return. Your life is in Mr. Snape's hands, and I do mean literally."

Sirius gawked at him. "I wasn't trying to kill the g. . .Snape. I was just trying to-"

Dumbledore interrupted him with a wave of the hand. "Regardless, he has asked for something to pay back your debt to him."

Now, Sirius was really nervous. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself for the inevitable answer. With Snape there was no way to tell what he might be asked to do. "What did he ask for?" There was a hollow knot forming in his throat.

It was Dumbledore's turn to take a deep, steadying breath, and when he answered, he looked deep into Sirius' eyes. "Your freedom until graduation."

Sirius heard the lash before he felt it, and his body tensed in response. The first strike was gentle compared to the one that followed, which left a line of fire across his chest. "Pay attention, pet."

Sirius nodded just before he felt another blow, and another, and another before he lost count, which was never a good idea. He knew that Severus would know exactly how many blows had landed across his pet's chest and would not be happy when Sirius didn't. Even in his relaxation times, he was a stickler for perfection. The thrashing continued for long minutes more before stopping abruptly.

"How many?"

Sirius shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "I. . .don't know."

"I thought I told you to pay attention." The cold of his voice was offset by the warmth of his hand wiping away the tears from Sirius' cheeks. "You know this means that I have to punish you now."

There was a long moment before Severus pulled his hand away from Sirius' cheek. When he returned, he had a long bit of black cloth in his hands that he wrapped across those pleading eyes. "Since you have such a hard time paying attention, I'm going to make sure that you won't be able to focus on anything else." There was a murmured spell, and all sounds disappeared from the room. Sirius hadn't realized just how much noise there had been until it was gone. He couldn't even hear the sounds of his own frantic breathing, or the clink of metal as he fought against the restraints. It took him long moments before he registered the calming hand on his chest or the slow rubbing of his scalp. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Sirius willed himself to calm down.

When Severus thought he'd calmed enough, he ran a hand from the middle of chest, down across the light line of hair in the center of Sirius' stomach, tracing along the edge of his boxers, and back up his side, relishing in the twitches of muscles and the sharp intakes of breath. Finally, he pulled away, just watching his pet lie perfectly still in the darkness and silence. The slightest smile played at his lips, all he allowed himself most times.

Walking back over to the wall of toys, Severus picked first a feather and also a nice solid paddle that would hurt but would do no permenant damage. He unchained his pet and turned him over on to his stomach, slowly pulling those boxers off, leaving him completely exposed. He ran the feather lightly down Sirius' back. He hadn't been expecting that. The soft white feather traced over every inch of Sirius' back, spending a good deal of time on the curves of his backside.

There was no warning when the first blow of the paddle landed, and Sirius yelped pitifully. He laid four more blows before returning the feather to the tender and oversensitized flesh. Again, Sirius could not know when to expect the paddle to fall or for how long each time would last. Snape knew, though, that Sirius was doing his best to remember. This pattern didn't cease until Snape was breathing slightly harder than usual and Sirius' back was bright red and turning purple in places.

Looking at the damage he'd caused, Snape felt irritatingly guilty, especially when he walked around and realized that Sirius had bitten a hole in his top lip trying not to scream. The longer he stood there watching, the harder Sirius began to breathe, and again, he looked on the verge of panicking.

Sliding up on top of Sirius, Snape didn't even bother to be careful of the bruises as he kissed along the back of Sirius' neck. For some reason, Snape couldn't make the punishment last. All he wanted was to curl up with this teenage boy and play with the collar around his neck. He murmured the spell to allow for Sirius' hearing to return. "How many this time, pet?" His voice was quiet, but he knew Sirius heard him. And he was right, of course; Sirius knew the exact number of blows.

"Very good, love." He unwrapped the blindfold and removed the chains, rubbing the feeling back into Sirius' cold hands.

"I'm sorry." From Sirius.

Snape cocked his head thoughtfully at his pet and brushed a spare strand of hair out of his face. "What for?"

And Sirius' voice cracked as he whispered all of his sins into the shoulder of his lover.

fin

All reviews are food for the muse!