Hey All! Sorry for the cliff hanger last week, please don't lynch me! Welcome to Chapter 3 of After The Pensieve, the final chapter. This was supposed to be a little one shot to get me back into writing Harry Potter, but it ended up being extremely long, so I split it into three chapters. This story is now finished! I really hope you have enjoyed it

Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever owned Harry Potter, as much as I'd like to I sadly do not. I did not make any money from this story, and I don't intend too. All characters and recognisable things belong to JK Rowling not me – as sad as that is for me.

Summary: Story is set between end of chapter 29 and beginning of chapter 30 of Order of the Phoenix, after Harry has spoken to Sirius and Remus about what he saw but still feels the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach when thinking about his Dad. On the advice of a friend, he seeks out a solution to his guilt.

Warning: Spankings. No Slash. School based Corporal Discipline. If this is not your cup of tea don't read.

A huge thank you to my amazing Beta and American Sister Jules Ann, who not only helped me pick which direction to take this story in but is always there to give advice and help me bounce my ideas off and is always there cheering me on and helping me. Without her I'm not sure I'd have finished any of my stories!

Thank you so much to Jules Ann, lilyflower101, wandamarie, and all the guests for your reviews and all those who have favourited and/or followed this story! Your support has meant a lot to me and has kept a big smile on my face.

~o~

Severus' arm dropped and his grip on the strap slackened as he suddenly felt like a bucket of ice had been thrown over him. He was his father; he was about to thrash a child who was powerless to stop him… he was about to abuse a child. With a snarl he turned and stalked back to the cupboard tossing the strap inside and picking up his paddle instead. "Potter," he snapped.

Harry had been trying as hard as he could to mentally brace himself for the first lick of the strap, knowing how much his Uncle hated him crying out, but painfully aware of just how impossible it was to hold back that first cry of agony. He almost jumped out of his skin when it was Professor Snape that spoke instead of his Uncle, and it took him a moment to reorientate himself. "Yes Sir?" He was finally able to ask.

"As deserving as I think you are of the strap, I have the feeling you are all too familiar with it, so instead I am going to paddle you. I believe this will be sufficient as to teach you the error of your ways. As such you will need to bend over my desk, you may pull up your boxers and trousers whilst assuming the new position," Severus ordered. He had to wonder if perhaps Potter had more skills in occlumency than he'd previously shown, at no point during the admittedly harsh mental attacks had he detected even a hint of this.

Harry was utterly confused, but definitely not about to look a gift horse in the mouth! He stood quickly, pulling his boxers and trousers back up and stepped up to his Professor's desk. He didn't know what had changed Snape's mind, but he was quite sure questioning it would be one of the stupidest things he ever did. He swiftly pushed his trousers and boxers back down and bent over the desk, holding onto the other side. He oddly found himself much calmer facing this, though he tried to tell himself Snape could cause him a lot more damage with a heavy wooden implement, it just lacked the paralysing fear that the strap filled him with.

Severus stepped up to the side of Potter and, like he did for his Slytherins facing the paddle for the first time, he placed a hand on his back, holding him in place. "You will receive twelve swats, you will remain in position for these swats and will not get up until I give you permission, your hands will remain holding the desk and your toes may not leave the floor. You may cry out, but you will not curse at me or use any profanity. Breaking position in anyway will mean the stroke has not counted and I will add extra, as will any profanity. You do not want to find out what will happen if you curse directly at me," he warned firmly as he rested the paddle against Potter's bottom.

Harry took in a long steady breath and shifted his hips slightly before giving a nod, "yes Sir, I understand," he stated. He increased his grip on the table, if he could take the strap without breaking position, he could take the paddle surely; if the paddle was worse than the strap Snape would have opted to use it first.

Severus pressed down a little with his hand, a light warning to stay in position and drew the paddle back before bringing down hard on Potter's bottom. He only made his Slytherins count cane strokes and extras so that was all Potter would have to count. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about treating Potter like one of his Slytherins, but he was distinctly uncomfortable with how he had been treating the boy up until now.

Harry couldn't help but yell at the first stroke, the paddle was certainly nothing to be sniffed at, but it was not the almost blinding white-hot slash of pain he associated with the belt. He was able to restrict his reactions to the next few swats to hisses and grunts, though as they reached the halfway point, he was openly gasping, and tears burnt in his eyes. He found himself unwillingly shifting his weight from foot to foot, careful not to take his toes off the floor, but rising up onto tip toe at each crack of the paddle. The tears burning in his eyes started rolling down his cheeks by swat six and he honestly wasn't sure he could even take another six without breaking down.

Severus felt a grudging sense of respect for Potter, twelve was double the normal punishment he doled out to his Slytherins for a first-time offense. The boy was taking his dues with grace and acceptance and Severus had to admit he was slightly impressed. Some of his Slytherins were unable to take even six from his paddle without utterly disgracing themselves, wailing like an infant and earning themselves extras. Severus had no doubt the boy would be sobbing by stroke twelve, but he was beginning to believe Potter would be able to get through this without earning himself extras. He brought down swat seven just as he had the previous six alternating cheek to cheek, trying not to land a swat on exactly the same place as had already been swatted.

Harry tried, but he could not prevent himself from crying out at the continued swats, no single one was unbearable, but the accumulative effect was building. His knuckles were white with the effort it was taking to hold on and each swat drove him to his toes, were it not for Snape's hand on his back he could quite easily imagine he would have attempted to rise, or at least kicked out by now. At swat ten the damn broke and he found himself sobbing, though the paddle hurt, and his rear felt like he might never sit again, his heart felt oddly lighter.

The pitch of Potter's sobs almost made Severus pause, he had half expected angry bitter sobs, that the insistence upon punishment was some arrogant move of the boy's; the heartfelt release of emotion was not something he was expecting. A little voice that sounded suspiciously like Dumbledore's suggested that perhaps the boy had indeed felt guilty about his actions, that he'd truly regretted what he had done. It was no longer the absurd notion that Severus would have considered it to be less than half an hour ago. It was frustrating having to re-evaluate his opinion of his most hated enemy's son, but he could not deny the boy was clearly familiar with getting beaten with a strap. He had to force himself not to soften the last two paddle swats, though he doubted Potter would even feel it if he did, he would never do so for his Slytherins. The boy was not going to be getting out of his office without an explanation of certain things that was for sure.

Harry sobbed his way through the last two swats, his face buried in his arms as he sobbed out the confusion, betrayal, and pain that viewing the memory had caused. He would have to find some way to thank Luna later for without her he never would have even considered this. He did not have all the answers, there were still questions weighing on his mind, but the weight was not so overwhelmingly crushing now. He wasn't sure if he could ever forgive his father, but he could see where he himself had acted in ways that were unacceptable, he was paying for one of those acts now.

Severus pushed down a little on Potter's back to remind him to remain in position before he stepped back to return the paddle to the cupboard, bending down to hang up the strap once more. The urge to incinerate the blasted leather implement came to him, as it had done on the few occasions that he had felt he had no other choice but to use it, but he allowed none of this to show on his face. He calmly closed the cupboard and turned around, "you may rise and redress yourself now," he allowed. He conjured a handkerchief, telling himself it was merely so Minerva didn't corner him with uncomfortable questions when Potter inevitably bumped into her with a clearly tear streaked face, as would be his luck, and not out of any true concern for the boy.

Harry rose once he was given permission, pulling up his boxers and jeans, thankful for once that he only ever had Dudley's cast offs so, even with his resizing charms, the jeans were not tight on him. He stood awkwardly in front of Snape's desk, unsure if he had been dismissed or not, but aware he'd yet to actually verbally apologise and feeling like he still needed to.

Severus silently cast a good cushioning charm at the chair opposite his desk, telling himself it was only because this conversation was going to be hard enough without Potter squirming about as if he had ants in his pants. "Sit, there are several things we need to discuss," he ordered.

Harry had seen Snape cast something at the chair and wondered if it was a spell to increase the pain of a paddling, well it wasn't like he could refuse. With no small amount of trepidation, he carefully lowered himself into the seat, pleasantly surprised when he found himself hovering a few inches off the hard wooden surface, with only minimum pressure on his posterior. He wasn't sure what Professor Snape wanted to discuss but hopefully he would have an opportunity to offer the man a sincere apology.

Severus took his own seat and thrust the handkerchief at Potter, forcing him to take it, keeping his face blank and resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the tearful mumbled thanks he got. He sat silently trying to figure out how to start this conversation, "you wanted to apologise," he prompted figuring it was best to get that out of the way first.

Harry was surprised at the handkerchief but accepted it with a soft thanks mopping up the tears and blowing his nose. He gave a small nod when he was invited to offer his apologies to his Professor, "I'm so sorry Professor, I don't know if I can truly explain how deeply ashamed of myself, I am for what I did. I know you've always viewed my father poorly and I will admit I never really took your insults to him seriously, defending him though I did not know him. Seeing how awfully he treated you, for no justifiable reason, not that there is justification for what he did, but merely because they were bored… it disgusts me. I can't even…" he trailed off slightly and looked down at his own second-hand clothes. "I'm small and skinny and came to Hogwarts with ratty, baggy, hand-me-down clothes, they would have targeted and bullied me just as they did you. I… I can understand why you hate me so much, looking just like him." Harry shook his head, "I'm not asking for forgiveness or any sort of absolution I just want you to know I truly do regret my appalling display of utter disrespect, and not just because I can no longer hear people compare me to my father and feel anything but disgust."

Severus found himself rather lost for words, even after the rather severe paddling he had given Potter he had not expected such a sincere apology. It left him with an uncomfortable feeling of guilt, especially when the boy pointed out his rather obvious hatred of him. He was left with the vexing realisation he'd never given the boy a chance and had allowed his hatred of the boy's father to blind him to the truth. Potter pointing out he was small, skinny, and wore clothes that were at best rags – even the destitute Weasley's were able to clothe their spawn better – was leading Severus to the uncomfortable conclusion that his assumptions about Potter were entirely false. The fact that the boy knew exactly how to position himself for a brutal beating with the strap only reinforced this. A pampered prince the boy clearly was not… it was becoming increasingly obvious the boy's childhood mirrored his own far more than it did the boy's fathers. "I accept your apology, on the understanding that in future you will curb your curiosity," he warned pointedly.

It wasn't forgiveness, but Harry understood, he didn't think he'd be able to forgive Malfoy if he'd betrayed his privacy in such a way. "Thank you. I will," he assured his Professor honestly. He was going to be staying well clear of pensieves for the foreseeable future, the paddling on top of seeing his father in a way he'd never wished to see him would make sure of that.

Whilst part of Severus wished they could end this here and he could trouble himself no more with Potter's brat, he could not in good conscious simply ignore a child potentially being abused. No matter how he viewed it, Potter was definitely familiar with being beaten with a belt, though he would have previously held the opinion Potter would have earned it, that level of fear did not come from earned discipline. Then there was also the fact it was clearly a painful and upsetting memory and he'd detected no hint of it when he was searching out painful memories during the occlumency lessons. "You are familiar with receiving the strap," he started. Watching as Potter's expression closed off and he became instantly guarded.

Harry tensed when Severus mentioned the strap and gave a tight nod, not fully sure why he was admitting such but well he could hardly deny it now.

"Who?" Severus asked forcing himself to keep his tone light, though part of him wanted to growl and demand the name of the cretin who had dared use a strap to torment a child – even a child as annoying as Potter.

"My Uncle," Harry confessed tightly. Snape had been prepared to use it on him so he didn't think he would 'freak out' hearing it, probably agree that he deserved it. "I didn't realise it at the time, but any time when I was younger and used accidental magic he'd try and beat it out of me. As I grew older it simply became any time that I disobeyed him in anyway, then once I came to Hogwarts it was whenever anything went wrong." He rolled his eyes, "he got passed over for a promotion at work, and obviously that was my fault, I used my 'freakish powers' to make it happen, so naturally got a strapping," he described.

Severus felt his hands clench into fists as he was painfully reminded of his own childhood, his father's drunken ravings, bracing himself against the wall because his father's football team lost, and he lost a lot of money betting on the game. He could almost hear Dumbledore giving him his version of 'I told you so' and looking at him with that unfathomable look of knowledge in his eyes. "I see," he murmured, and if his tone was icily dangerous that a complete coincidence and had nothing to with what Potter had confessed. The boy was damn lucky he hadn't become an obscurus, though he supposed it helped that Harry generally had no idea that what he'd been doing was magic, he dreaded to think how close of a call it might have been though. "How come I never saw any of this before during occlumency lessons?" He queried to distract himself from envisioning the brutal torture of Potter's Uncle. He had far too much familiarity with that treatment to believe any child deserved it, not even Potter. It had been shocking enough seeing Petunia in the boy's memories, he had to admit he'd known almost straight away with her as a guardian the boy would not have had a pleasant childhood, but he'd chosen to ignore this.

"Oh, well actually Luna, Ginny and I discovered I already had the beginnings of a mindscape," Harry confessed brightly. He was more than happy for the change in conversation, anything to avoid talking about his Uncle.

Severus arched his eyebrow, "elaborate," he requested.

Harry allowed a small smile to play on his face as he thought about the afternoon he'd spent with Luna and Ginny.

Flashback

Luna looked at Ginny and asked silently if she would like to begin, she knew how her childhood friend felt about Harry Potter.

Ginny blushed slightly and shook her head, Luna had been the one to teach her, she should get to teach Harry, she'd give her input if Harry seemed to want it.

"So, your mindscape is somewhere you can think of in intricate detail, some people use their childhood homes, other people use places they've frequently visited. If you have the imagination for it, you could even make up your own place, but that requires a very wild imagination," Luna explained.

Harry chuckled, "let me guess, your mindscape is an imaginary place," he teased lightly.

Ginny laughed and nodded, "got it in one Harry, mine is The Burrow and surrounding lands," she told him.

"You want somewhere where you can hide your thoughts in places others wouldn't find them, a place you can put all sorts of traps and defenders in. The more elaborate the mindscape the better, but harder to maintain, you have to decide what the right level of balance is," Luna continued

Harry smiled and immediately thought of Hogwarts, except for this year it had always been a home to him, he thought of the corridor on the 3rd floor with all the traps, the Chamber of Secrets, all the secret passages in and out of Hogwarts. He could put a maze, like the one from the 3rd task, around the castle, filled with everything he'd met and heard was put in the maze, after a ring of the Forbidden Forest. A Forbidden Forest filled with Acromantula, Centaurs, Werewolves, snakes, unicorns, Thestrals, Hippogriffs, and all the creatures Professor Lupin had taught about in his 3rd year and that Hagrid had shown them. If you got past the Forbidden Forest and the maze then he'd have the Black Lake surrounding the castle with the Merfolk, the giant squid, and all the other water dwelling creatures he knew of. If you got past all of that and into the castle Harry came up with more defences he could put in place. He gave each staircase a trick stair, moved the rooms around, made the coats of armour able to attack intruders, hid Fluffy behind multiple doors, as well as Norbert and the Horntail behind others.

Luna gave Harry some time to come up with a place he thought would be secure and safe. "Got somewhere?" She asked gently after several minutes of silence.

Harry almost jumped in surprise having been so deep into building his mindscape he'd practically forgotten where he was. He blushed slightly in embarrassment but nodded gamely, "I think so," he agreed.

"Okay, I'm going to try a light legilimency probe, I won't be actively looking for anything, just focus on keeping up the mindscape," Luna instructed gently. "Give me a nod when you are ready," she urged. She was prepared to slowly instruct him on making what he visualised feel and seem real even inside his own head.

Harry took a deep breath and focused intently on his mental image of Hogwarts, surrounded by the rings of the Black Lake, the maze, and the Forbidden Forest and slowly nodded at Luna.

Luna glanced around them to make sure no one was looking in before she pulled her wand out from behind her ear, holding it lightly in front of her she whispered the incantation, letting the probe pull her into Harry's mindscape. She jumped back as she was met by what was undeniably the edge of the forbidden forest, she reached out and touched a tree and to her surprise it felt real, 'Harry?' She called curiously and with no small amount of awe.

Harry could see Luna standing at the edge of the forest and willed himself to appear next to her, 'hey Luna, fancy seeing you here,' he grinned.

Luna looked at Harry wide eyed in amazement, 'Harry, how… this is amazing, did you come up with all this just as we were talking?' She questioned in disbelief.

Harry shrugged, 'this is just the outer rim,' he admitted.

Luna pulled out of Harry's mindscape and cancelled her probe, "Harry, I think you've been using a mindscape for a long time, what you have is far too advanced for it to be new," she told him honestly. "That would give another reason why Professor Snape's attempts to teach you traditional occlumency failed so badly and gave you such severe headaches, the two types cannot exist together. In trying to clear your mind it was harming the occlumency you already had and leaving you open to more attacks," she continued.

Harry frowned as he thought about it, "I've used Hogwarts as my go to place mentally, especially when stuck at the Dursley's," he admitted with a shrug.

Ginny let out a laugh and shook her head, "only you Harry," she teased. "Only the great Harry Potter could master a difficult and obscure branch of magic without even realising he was doing it," she mocked playfully, poking her tongue out at him.

"Go see what he's got Ginny, I didn't dare go in further than the very edge, it's a fully working mindscape," Luna insisted.

Ginny looked at Harry unsure, "is that okay Harry? You can come into my mindscape after if you wish?" She offered.

Flashback over

Severus was incredibly curious to see this mindscape now, "would you be against my testing of this mindscape of yours?"

Harry wasn't fully sure he was ready to match up his mindscape with a legilimency attack from his Professor but, as he wasn't willing to test his defences against Ginny or Luna, it might be a good test. "With or without my defences?" He asked.

"With," Severus stated. He couldn't imagine Potter having anything too dangerous in his head, the boy was all Gryffindor after all. As soon as the boy nodded, he sent forth a rather hard attack, searching for painful memories.

Harry nodded and crossed his fingers, hoping his defences wouldn't actually hurt his Professor, he was pretty sure that would ruin whatever peace they'd somehow built up here. The immediate attack was somewhat expected but instead of trying to clear his mind, he let his mindscape remain watching as Snape approached the edge of the forest.

Severus was mildly confused when he was met with a vision of the Forbidden Forest, and he was forced to enter it. The trees felt incredibly real, and it felt very much like he'd enter the true Forbidden Forest, even the atmosphere felt identical. After a few steps he heard a strange clicking sound though he couldn't see anything but trees around him. He'd never admit it, but he felt uneasy, this was a method of occlumency he was totally unfamiliar with. He could now hear a strange, light, thudding sound along with the clicking, he pulled out his wand and cast lumos, but the small sphere of light did not penetrate the thick growth of trees that surrounded him and pressed in on him from all sides. He was about to call Potter to demand his assistance on at least getting through the trees when a huge Acromantula the size of the bloody Hungarian Horntail the boy had flown against last year appeared. He abruptly pulled out of Potter's mind and ended the probe, even upon pain of death he would not say so, but in that moment, he'd been utterly terrified. It took considerable effort not to round on Potter and yell at him, he did not like how real that felt. He had no idea what would happen to someone if they were injured or even killed whilst inside someone's mind, nor did he have any wish to find out.

Harry was pleased there was no pain from the attack, much like there hadn't been when Ginny and Luna explored his mindscape, without the defences of course.

"You do not allow Miss Lovegood or Miss Weasley to enter your mind with your defences?" Severus demanded harshly, glaring at the boy dangerously.

"No Sir," Harry answered quickly. "When Luna was training Ginny and she started with light defences she said she'd get some pretty severe headaches when Ginny finally mastered using them. I didn't think it was safe to have them there when showing them," he continued when his Professor's expression lost its dark and frankly dangerous edge.

Severus nodded, "good. We will resume occlumency lessons, along with Miss Lovegood and Miss Weasley and I will test all of your defences. You will continue practicing this branch of occlumency with their instruction. I am quite sure the Dark Lord has never even heard of it and will be rather clueless on how to defend against it, but we still need to test its security," he decided firmly.

This was a welcome boon Harry had not been expecting and accepted happily, knowing the girls would both like to test the efficiency of their defences properly, especially against such an accomplished Legilimence as Professor Snape. "Thank you, Professor, that would be hugely appreciated," he told him honestly.

Severus gave a curt nod of acceptance, "can you turn off your outer defences and leave only the inner area protected?"

Harry considered that and gave a nod, "I believe so," he hedged.

"Let us see then," Severus declared, "prepare yourself."

The pair kept at it until nearly curfew and Severus found out what happened when one got injured in a mindscape, it meant one hell of a headache once the probe was cancelled. Potter was not as adept at pushing him out, something they'd have to work on, but it was almost a moot point as Severus had no luck getting past Potter's outer defences, even in a full-scale assault Potter's defences were formidable. Even if he got past the outer defences as he had when Potter kept them off, Hogwarts itself was so different from what he recognised he couldn't find anything and the defences there took care of him.

Finally, knowing the Headmistress would use any excuse possible to punish the boy Severus let him go, wondering, for the first time, if maybe they did stand a chance at defeating the Dark Lord. He wondered if perhaps he needed to do something about the boy's living situation, perhaps a word whispered in the ear of certain order members… but then again, the boy was fifteen now, and only needed to stay there for a short time to refresh the wards. It required some careful consideration, it was not something he could make a rash decision over, especially as speaking about it would be betraying the boy's confidence as he'd just punished him for doing so.

Harry returned quickly to Gryffindor Tower, he had a mild headache, but nothing compared to the agonising brain splitting headaches of previous lessons. As she'd said she would be, Ginny was waiting for him beside the fire and Harry joined her gratefully. He couldn't tell anyone how it happened, but somehow, he found himself laying on his side on the sofa with his head in Ginny's lap as she massaged his scalp.

"I'm glad it did help Harry, I admit I was worried Luna might have gotten this one wrong, but as usual she was spot on. It'll be good to be able to test my defences though, to actually see if they can hold up under attack," Ginny mused.

Harry just hummed in agreement, completely at peace for the first time in a long time.

~o~

So, there you have it, the final Chapter of After the Pensieve. Please, let me know what you thought, some of Molly Weasley's homemade treacle tart for those who do review! I really hope you have enjoyed accompanying me on this journey as much as I enjoyed writing this one! I'm not sure if I'll continue this AU in anyway but if there's enough interest I just might. I do write for some requests occasionally so if you have any ideas of any Harry Potter Fanfictions you think I could write drop me a review or PM.