Hi all! Welcome to chapter thirteen, the final chapter of Water Worries. This is a story request from a lovely person called xxxRainLoverxxx, so credit to the idea goes to her. She is a very talented writer but unfortunately due to negative reviews she no longer likes to post her stories which is a true shame for everyone.
Summary: Harry has a fear of water, when his nightmares manage to get even Ron's attention Ron comes up with a plan for how to keep Harry's mind off the second task. What happens when they go too far? AU. Contains Spanking. No Slash.
Warning: Story contains parental spanking of a teenager, if this isn't your cup of tea, don't read 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.
Thank you so much to everyone who followed, favourited, and especially those who reviewed, TXHistLady, wandamarie, Ttime42, sillesindbergg, Jules Ann, and Werewolflover91. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate each and every review I get and am so glad you've enjoyed the story.
A huge thank you to my wonderful Beta Jules Ann, who is again herself a very talented writer on here. Though she doesn't know Harry Potter, I am slowly trying to convert her.
~o~
After Harry had settled down, Sirius left his Godson to get changed out of his Hogwarts uniform and asked him to come down so they could talk about the nightmares.
Harry sighed in disappointment, he had been hoping Sirius would have forgotten about that, how was he supposed to explain his fear without sounding like a stupid little kid?
Sirius returned downstairs, wondering if he shouldn't send an owl to Arthur to ask where he could get a suitable paddle. He would love it if he never ever had to spank Harry again, but he was a realist and Harry was a teenager. It was inevitable that Harry would find trouble again and having to transfigure something every time just wouldn't be practical.
Remus looked up from the armchair he was sat reading in and simply raised an eyebrow as he slid a bookmark into the book.
Sirius flopped down onto the couch and sighed, "he thought we would… that I would throw him out," he confessed. "After that my doubts about all this just disappeared and I knew he would be able to take it," he admitted. "I was still expecting some kind of argument, some insistence that he was too old to be spanked, or maybe that it wasn't right, I know muggles don't do it much," he continued.
Remus looked rather shocked at Sirius' confession that Harry thought he would be thrown out, his heart going out to the teenager. He smirked and shook his head at Sirius thinking Harry would protest, "did I ever tell you that I spanked him, last year? He'd snuck down to Hogsmeade in James' invisibility cloak using the map…" he explained. He went on to tell the story of how Snape had called him assuming the parchment was full of dark magic. "Afterwards all I wanted to do was apologise, I felt so guilty. I knew I shouldn't have spanked him; he didn't know me as anything other than his professor at that point. I was about ready to give Albus my letter of resignation, but Harry was the one apologising, and wasn't at all upset at me. He accepted he'd done something wrong and felt the punishment was deserved," he finished.
Sirius stared at Moony in astonishment, "you-you-you couldn't have bloody told me that whilst I was there freaking out thinking Harry was going to hate me!"
Remus allowed himself a smirk and gave a casual shrug, "I suppose I could have, but where's the fun in that?"
Sirius was about to tell Remus where exactly the fun was, but he heard Harry coming down the stairs then. "Harry was having nightmares, that's what started all this, but I want him to talk about them, see if it's something we can help with," he whispered hurriedly.
Remus nodded in understanding and settled back in his armchair.
Harry changed into some sweatpants and a hoodie, comfy clothes that he could lounge around in. He put his uniform in his hamper and hung his robe up before he headed downstairs, feeling a little self-conscious when he walked into the living and saw both Sirius and Remus waiting for him.
Sirius smiled and lifted his arm up, "come sit Harry," he urged.
Harry blushed a little, but sat on the couch, shifting so most of his weight was on his hip, and snuggled into Sirius, trying not to feel like a little kid for wanting the comfort of his Godfather.
"So, you said Ron and you started this whole thing because you were having nightmares and it worked as an effective distraction. What were these nightmares about, and why didn't you call me over the mirror?" Sirius asked gently but firmly.
Harry felt the urge to give Sirius the same answer he'd given Ron, but there was a part of him that genuinely wanted to actually tell someone, someone who could maybe help the situation some. "I… the next task, I've got to rescue someone who will be underwater, I know we've figured out how I'm going to breathe, but I don't… I don't… I don't know how to swim," he admitted in a whisper. He hurriedly continued on before Sirius or Remus could say anything, "I never learned. Once in muggle primary school they took us swimming and Dudley and his gang just spent the entire time trying to drown me, almost succeeding at one point; if a lifeguard hadn't intervened then I would have drowned. Once back at school my teacher tried to speak to my Aunt and Uncle, but they didn't believe them and wouldn't hear anything bad about their precious son, so they wrote me a letter excusing me from all future swimming lessons."
Sirius and Remus looked at Harry sadly, hating the reminders of the abusive and neglectful childhood their ward had experienced. Sirius tightened his arm around Harry, pulling him closer to his side to comfort him and let him know he had his support
"Since then, I've avoided any kind of situation involving water, but now I have to swim in the Black Lake and try to find someone that the merfolk have taken. Sure, Gillyweed will help me breathe, but that doesn't help me swim! What if I can't find whoever gets taken? What if I just flounder about on the surface or sink to the bottom because I can't swim and can't get anywhere and then when the Gillyweed wears off I'm just trapped under the lake and drown! That's what my nightmares were about, drowning in the lake and I couldn't call you on the mirror because who has to call their Da-Guardian about nightmares and I didn't want to disturb you with something so stupid and babyish," Harry finished breathing hard.
Sirius pulled Harry back from him and cupped his chin, tilting his face up to look directly at him, "first of all, you can always call me, no matter what. I don't care what you want to talk about, if you want to talk to me about it, I want to hear it, if you've just had a bad day, a good day, or just want to chat. I know I'm not your Dad, and I've not been able to be there for you up until recently, but you're my Godson, I want to be there for you in every single way possible," he stated firmly. "Secondly, having fears is not childish. Your friend Ron is terrified of spiders, do you think him stupid and babyish? Additionally, your fear is from a trauma, being afraid of water after nearly being drowned is not anything to be ashamed of," he insisted.
Harry looked up at his Godfather unable to help his eyes welling up at the sincerity in Sirius' tone and the words he was saying. He felt like this is how it would have felt if Sirius had been able to raise him, and he was four years old again, with Sirius was reassuring him there were no monsters under the bed.
Remus nodded along with Sirius, in complete agreement with his best friend, "the same for me Harry, I have loved you since the day your mother put you into my arms. It amazed me so much that your parents would trust me with you when you were barely an hour old; and it only took that long for them to let me hold you because Sirius wouldn't stop hogging you. It broke me when the Headmaster said I could only watch you from afar and never tell you anything about me or who I was, having you back in my life has meant the world to me. Anytime you want to talk about anything, if Sirius isn't available, I'm more than happy to lend an ear and want to hear what you have to say," he assured Harry. "Plus, your Godfather is completely correct, there is nothing to be ashamed of with having fears. I trust you remember all your classmates facing a boggart, everyone has things they are afraid of, things other people might not be bothered about at all," he reminded Harry.
Sirius gave wry grin, "snakes, I can't deal with snakes, even using the ingredients in potions used to freak me out a little. It's why your Dad always used to partner with me, even during our Auror training, he handled the snake ingredient prep," he admitted. "I used to feel ridiculous not even being able to crush up snake fangs, but we all have fears, and they don't always necessarily make sense."
Harry felt a little better with Sirius and Remus reassuring him, but it still didn't solve the issue of the fact he couldn't swim, and he had to swim, and he was going to make some kind of fool of himself or drown in just a few weeks.
"As for the task, perhaps we should have explained fully what Gillyweed does. Beyond just giving you the ability to breathe underwater, it partially transfigures your body. The reason you can breathe, is because it gives you gills, allowing you to filter air out of the water just like a fish. It also changes your feet into flippers, allowing you to propel yourself faster through the water, and gives you webbed fingers, again assisting in your propulsion. You won't have any problem swimming with the Gillyweed in your system," Remus explained.
Harry looked at Remus and Sirius in surprise, "really? It'll help me swim?"
"Really Harry. Also, there's a lake on the property here, Remus can go get us some more Gillyweed and tomorrow we can explore the lake and take some, so you can have some practice using it, with Remus and I right there for support," Sirius offered. "We can help you conquer this fear and teach you how to swim. We'll spend the day out by the lake, practising using the Gillyweed, learning how to swim, and you can tell us all about the successful pranks and we'll tell you about some of the pranks we pulled," Sirius insisted.
Harry hugged into Sirius tightly, unable to express just how much he appreciated what his Godfather was doing. He did wish he had mirror called him straight away, but other than the last prank, he couldn't find it in him to regret what they had done.
Remus chuckled, "though don't be getting any ideas about being sent home regularly, this is extenuating circumstances."
Sirius nodded in agreement with Remus, "yes, but you already know that don't you Harry," he reminded.
Harry's eyes widened in alarm, and he nodded, "yes, don't worry! I won't do anything to get sent home again, I promise," he insisted, squirming on his still very sore bottom.
"Your final concern, about not being able to find your hostage. If that happens and you can't rescue your hostage then you'll just get less points. The song is just to motivate you not to dilly dally. The Headmaster will not allow for the hostages to be put in any danger; their safety will be his top priority. Whilst the Champions have willingly agreed to face the potential dangers of the tournament – well, all Champions other than you – the hostages have not and harm coming to them will not be tolerated. It is always the Headmaster of the host school's responsibility to ensure the safety of the spectators and any hostages used for tasks," Remus told Harry.
Harry felt like he could cheer at this, "seriously? For real? If I can't rescue whoever they take, they'll be okay?" He asked.
Sirius managed to refrain making a pun about Harry's use of the word seriously, but only just, "for real Harry. Think about it, the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang hostages will most likely be students from their own schools, so a hostage coming to harm could cause an international incident."
"That actually did occur during one tournament, before it was cancelled, a hostage was seriously injured and even after magical intervention passed away, it came very close to starting a magical war between Scandinavia and France. I have no doubt it was a promise given by our government to theirs before they agreed to this tournament being revived," Remus pointed out.
Harry slumped into Sirius, feeling like he could finally breathe again. He felt like an idiot for not trying to talk to Sirius beforehand, avoiding the issue allowed him to sleep, but anytime he had to think about it again sent him right back into his panic. "I'm such a bloody idiot," he muttered ruefully.
Sirius lightly cuffed Harry on the back of the head, "hey now, no one calls my Godson an idiot, and watch the mouth," he scolded slightly.
Harry grinned, "sorry," he smirked.
"Hmmm, I'm not sure he sounds overly remorseful there Padfoot, we might have to exact a more devastating revenge on this young hooligan who thinks it is acceptable to be insulting our ward," Remus teased.
"You know Moony old pal, you just might have a point there, I am sure there's some kind of fitting revenge we can unleash upon this disrespectful punk. I won't have anyone insulting my Godson and getting away with it without being pranked within an inch of their lives," Sirius agreed looking at Harry ominously.
Harry was desperately trying to get up and escape his Godfather's grip, "no! No, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Honest!" He insisted laughing. He finally managed to get up and started backing out of the room.
"I say he's got about ten seconds to run and grab his wand, before the merciless pranking commences," Remus suggested.
"Sounds right to me," Sirius agreed.
Harry let out a yelp, spun around, and ran back up the stairs to his bedroom. The house was covered in so many wards and so much protection that magic done within the wards was completely undetectable; plus, technically he wasn't officially living here, according to the Ministry of Magic, so he could perform magic all he wanted – like most purebloods could. The prank wars were like mini battle practices, but instead of fighting for his life, he was fighting not to get hit with prank spells. Remus and Sirius had taught him various prank spells he could fire back, and he'd taught himself others from a book of prank spells Sirius had given him for his birthday.
Remus had initially suggested teaching Harry how to duel, not for official duelling tournaments, but how to duel to survive. He was good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, and the target practice as well as duelling simulation would be extremely useful for him. Sirius agreed, but suggested they make it prank duels, to have fun whilst Harry learnt how to dodge, how to use available cover, and how to aim his spells; plus, prank spells would ensure that no one got hurt, even accidentally. It allowed Harry to learn the necessary skills he would need to survive once Voldemort returned, as Albus insisted he was one day going to, whilst keeping it fun and light-hearted. Though it frequently began with Sirius and Remus against Harry, to give him at least a fighting chance, they would at one point turn against each other and the duel would become a free for all. Sirius didn't like to admit it, but Remus won most of the battles, he was just too out of practice after Azkaban and Harry was only a teenager. It didn't take away the fun and Remus never came out completely unscathed, but they could both see the improvements Harry was making every time.
Sirius and Remus both gave Harry the ten seconds before getting up themselves and chasing after the teenager, the war was on!
~o~
So, there you go, that was Chapter Thirteen, the final chapter of Water Worries. Please review to let me know what you thought. I really hope you have enjoyed this story as I certainly had a lot of fun writing it! A slice of Molly Weasley's Treacle tart for those who do review! I don't know whether or not I will write another story in this AU, but I am open to the idea if anyone has any suggestions.
I don't know if you are aware, but the notification system has changed, if you want to be notified to any new stories/chapters/updates I or anyone else you are reading does via email, go into your Account Settings, and make sure you have Email Opt-in on, or you won't get email notifications.