CHAPTER 21 – Good Heart, Bad Common Sense
When Harry arrived at the Head Master's office, Severus, and Minerva were there already. "Mars bar Harry?" as Albus offered him a bit size version of the regular muggle candy bar.
Harry had to smile, he knew what a Mars Bar was but he was sure that Professor's Snape and McGonagall probably thought the Head Master had lost his marbles. "No, thank you sir, I'm still full from dinner."
"Harry, as Hagrid told you I have been in dialogue with the Centaurs for some time and have not been able to come to any common ground or start honest discussions. They are very leery of Wizards, with good reason I might add, so it has been difficult. Could you share what happened to you today so I have the information first hand?"
"Sure," replied Harry and he proceeded to relate everything that happened.
"Oh, now I see," said Albus. "The Centaurs are highly protective of their young, and usually take extra precautions with anyone else's young also. You would never see a Centaur hurt a child unless, like the spiders, they attacked them. The young Centaur that you helped out today was the son of the Chief and that Harry is going to make a big difference in the future."
"I understand that Osito asked his Father if the two of you could visit again in the future, is that true?" asked Albus.
"Yes sir" said Harry. "I think both of us would like to get to know each other a bit better, and his Father seemed to be open to it but not until later. I think Osito is in trouble right now. I don't know if they have what we call detention, but he is going to be restricted for awhile for leaving the camp. Then later we can make arrangements through Hagrid and visit with each other as long as there is an adult supervising" said Harry.
"Good, Good, I would very much, with your Guardians consent, like to see you pursue this friendship Harry. Please don't put yourself in danger and it would be best if Professor Snape or someone of his choosing was your supervising adult."
"OK sir," said Harry.
Thanks for sharing with me Harry and now I think Professor Snape will walk you out as he has some things to discuss with you I'm sure.
They left and when they arrived at the intersection where Harry would turn off toward Gryffindor Tower, Severus placed his hand on Harry's shoulders and said, "Let's go to my office as we have a couple things to discuss."
When they got to the office they sat in front of the fire in the two easy chairs placed there with a table between them. Harry's faced drooped and he let out a deep sigh.
"Why the long face Harry?" asked Severus
"Well, I'm in trouble... again! We never come down to your offices unless I'm in trouble. I mean, you don't ask me down her to compliment me on anything. So what have I done wrong now?"
The words caught Severus by surprise. Harry was partially right, Severus had not called him in to let him know when he was doing well and he would need to think about that some more and try and rectify it. But as true as it might be, he could not be deterred from his task.
"You are partially right Harry, and I am sorry and will try to make an effort to let you know when I notice the positive behaviors I see in you. Alas, right now we need to talk about your behavior today."
"What you did was PERFECT behavior!" That caught Harry's attention. " PERFECT, for a sixteen or seventeen year old Harry, who WILL be equipped to handle himself with a wand and know enough magic to protect himself and his friend."
"You are only eleven, and as you saw for yourself you did not know enough to protect yourself or your friend. If it had not been for the adult Centaurs arriving in time, you would have both been dead!" added Severus.
"What were you told to do while you were hunting for Unicorn Hairs Harry?
Harry thought then said, "We were to stay in sight of Professor Lupin or Hagrid and if we got separated to stay put and yell for help."
"That's right Harry, but what did you do?"
"I ran to the kid in trouble but we both yelled for help."
"Did it ever dawn on you Harry that if you were in visual contact with Hagrid or Professor Lupin then they were in visual contact with you and knew about where you should be if they couldn't see you? When you yelled for help, they couldn't find you because you were not where you were supposed to be."
"If you had waited then you would have had at least one adult with you to rescue the young one and they could have fought off the spiders. It might have also left Bane with a better opinion of adult Wizards if he saw one of them helping his son."
"Once again Harry you didn't think it out, you just rushed in to save the day, not knowing if you had the tools to accomplish what you set out to do. You put yourself in danger when there were other choices, better choices available to you," said Severus.
"Do you understand now how Professor Dumbledore can be thrilled about the breakthrough, yet I can be a bit upset about how my ward has once again decided to try and get his young self killed?"
"Yes Sir, I didn't think about all that. It was just that he needed help and I felt bad for him."
"Good heart Harry, Bad common sense!"
"Now, do you remember what I said I would do if you disobeyed and put yourself in danger again?"
Harry looked at the fire and then his shoes then finally said, "Yes, a spanking".
With that Severus stood up and went over to the arm of the couch. It was a large couch with big long overstuffed arms that he liked to use sometimes. "Come to me Harry" he said.
Harry slowly walked over to him and stood in front of him. "Pants down Harry, this is on the bare!"
Harry blushed, but he unbuttoned his jeans and lowered them, along with his shorts. His shirt front was the only thing providing him with a bit of modesty. Severus pulled him over his left leg, which raised Harry off the ground and wedged between the couch and Severus. There was no way he would be able to reach back to protect anything as both his arms were locked in front of him. He grabbed onto the cushion and held his breath.
"Harry, why are you being punished?" Severus asked.
"Because I disobeyed the adults and I put myself in danger when I didn't have to."
With the last word came the first swat. Severus had a firm grip on him and Harry got the feeling that this was not going to be an easy spanking.
Severus continued with the swats until both cheeks were bright red then he started on the sit spot and the thigh. Harry was in tears, begging Severus to stop, when Severus finished with the first twenty swats.
"Harry it probably would have stopped here" said Severus, "Except this is becoming a habit with you. The last time I had to give you a bare bottom spanking it was for the same thing, so this is a repeat. With that he pulled out the leather paddle he had on the top of the couch and told Harry, "I am going to use the paddle on your bottom in hopes that the message hits home this time and we don't have to repeat this process, at least for this offense. With that he also curled his right leg over Harry's legs so that he couldn't kick."
Then he began swatting and already red bottom with the paddle, working through the sit spot and ending with the thighs. Harry wanted nothing more than to sit in some ice water, his bottom was burning so bad.
Harry was sobbing and trying to breath through the tears and snot by the time Severus felt that he had received enough. He helped Harry to stand and pull his pants back up, Handed him a handkerchief and let him wipe his face.
Severus then sitting on the arm of the couch pulled Harry to him in a hug. Harry was short enough that they were eyeball to eyeball. "Harry, you are becoming very special to me in a way I never thought possible. It would kill me if I lost you because of some stupid mistake that I could have taught you NOT to make. It's over now, all is forgiven.
Harry just grabbed hold of Severus and held on. Severus had felt that kind of hug with both Harry and Draco when they had reached out to him. It scared him, it scared him a lot! He was beginning to really care about this boy. The same boy that he had harassed and called names all last year was now taking up residence in his heart and Severus was not quite sure how he felt about it. But even if he was confused, he never let up on the hug until he felt that Harry was Ok again.
"Here, I know you don't want to go right back to your dorm looking like that so go on up to your spot on the astronomy tower for awhile and enjoy the night air. Think about your actions and what you should have done." With that he handed Harry a hall pass.
Harry left, rubbing his bum. It wasn't near as long or as bad as the hair brush spanking had been but it certainly smarted a lot. Later sitting in the tower he thought about this weird day. As much as he hated to admit it, Snape was right. He had run headlong into a situation not having the skills to make it work. Thankfully someone who did have the skills happened to show up and save the day.
"Why do I keep doing that?" Harry said out-loud. "Why can't I think before my feet take flight. I really want to do the right thing. It's just that I can never seem to get it right no matter how hard I try. I think I am a lost cause. My Uncle was right, I'm dumb, a dumb freak." He felt so stupid. "Snape is going to get fed up with me pretty soon and just send me off somewhere. I can never seem to do anything right in his eyes, that is just fantasy land and I need to get over it," continued Harry.
While Severus was willing to let him go to his favorite place to cool off and let his eyes loose some of their redness before going to his friends, he was not willing to let him go alone. He had followed Harry under the Disillusionment Charm and heard everything Harry had to say. The words bothered him and he knew that he would have to change some of the things that he did with Harry in order to let him know in some new ways that he wasn't a bad kid and that he would never give up on him.
Then Severus, touching Harry's mind tried to bring some thoughts to the front that might help Harry out. It was not an easy thing to do since he wasn't looking him in the eye but sometimes he found with very few people that he could make subtle suggestions.
Harry then remembered some words of wisdom that had been shared with him. He was a kid, and he was going to make mistakes. Snape promised to be there to correct them and help him to make better decisions the next time. If Snape didn't expect him to be perfect then perhaps he shouldn't expect it either.
What was this stuff about Snape caring? Could it really be true? He was acting a lot different than last year, at least out of class. Even in class he wasn't humiliating him or insulting his father anymore.
Harry didn't want to think about that too much, he had been let down so much he didn't want to set himself up for it again. Snape was just doing what Dumbledore told him to do, it was his job, and there was nothing personal in it. Harry was supposed to have saved the world as a baby, killed the Dark Lord, and that world included Dumbledore and Snape. They were just looking out for themselves in case the Dark Lord wasn't dead and came back.
But...what If he did care? No...Harry, don't even think it.
Snape felt like he was playing in a ping-pong match. He had never had such control or awareness of another mind without eye contact. Everytime he would get Harry going in a good direction of thought, Harry would catch his breath and change on him. This was weird and should not be happening. He would need to check into this ability.
Harry was in control again, but the thoughts were productive and Severus left him alone. I really had to work on these repeat performances. "I just served three weeks for rushing in before thinking, and I turn around and do it again, how stupid can I get" he said out loud, shaking his head. The Adults had set it up so that he could have done it correctly if he had just used his head and the tools available to him, he thought.
If he had been that young Centaur he would have liked it better if Harry had brought a couple of adult wizards with him instead of a few feeble spells that didn't work?
Oh well, get up and try again thought Harry. It looked like he was going to begin and end this detention with a sore bum. He wondered if Hermione had any of that salve left that she loaned to Ginny.
Harry headed back to the common room but didn't make it all the way before Professor McGonagall caught him. The look on her face was one of great disappointment and she was primed to start in on him when he finally found the pass from Snape and handed it to her.
It was like she received a breath of fresh air, she so did not want to have to punish him. "It looks like you're under permission from Professor Snape but please get back to your dorm as soon as you can Mr. Potter."
"Yes, Ma'am I will" replied Harry.
When he arrived back everyone was wrapping up their projects and heading for bed as it was a couple minutes before curfew. Harry went over to Hermione and asked her if she had any of her salve left. She smiled and said yes, she would bring it down to him. He thanked her and waited.
"I figured you were going to be in trouble with Snape" she said. "When we got to the place you should have been and you weren't there Professor Lupin said some really bad words."
"Yes, well he was right I guess. I was only thinking about whoever was yelling for help and didn't think about the danger. Someday I'll get over this 'saving everybody' thing that you say I have."
"I doubt it Harry but I do hope you can learn to ask us to go with you next time, like we did the first time. At least when we are all together we can have a better chance of winning. If nothing else, it takes more than one of them to punish us."
Harry laughed saying, "I guess you're right about that, still painful, but with a bit of satisfaction."
Later the adults were gathered in the Dumbledore/McGonagall living quarters having their nightly chat. They shared with each other the events of the day shaking their heads over the antics of the kids. "I have a feeling we are all going to die, trying to keep them alive" said Minerva. They all agreed but were smiling.
Albus spoke up saying, "I am thinking about calling a meeting of The Order for Friday night. I still have to check with a couple people but will let you know. There is the matter of another go at the Malfoy Mansion and at least trying to figure out all the ramifications of Draco's letter. Not to mention the subject of the 'Rat' and what that means."
Alice interjected, "You do know that there are birthdays to be celebrated this Summer. I was figuring that since there are so many of them that we can celebrate with one party for the whole group of "Companions". They are so bonded I just can't see celebrating one without celebrating all of them, what do you think?
They all agreed that one big party with one or two big presents for each of them would be special. They could throw the party when they kids came off their detention.
"You know", said Minerva, "It's really funny how they all came together, the kids I mean. And I don't mean funny as in humerous. It is almost like a plan is coming together and we really don't have any control over it. I mean ten kids capable of transformation into Animagus, that has to be totally unheard of."
Albus smiled, "I was wondering how long it would take some of you to see it, or at least sense it. I too feel that there is a reason for all this but can't put my finger on it yet. We might yet receive more information during our Order meeting. I can't tell you why here, but will later."
"The kids come off detention Saturday, do you want to let them go shopping?" asked Alice.
They all agreed that the kids needed some fun time and Severus and Alice would go to supervise. Neither of them minded too much as they grabbed at the chance to be together. "Molly, would you mind taking care of Cassy? If something goes wrong I don't want to have to be worried about her." asked Alice.
"Not a problem, I would love to watch the child, but NOOOOO broom. I am getting too old to be running after a six soon to be seven year old on a broom." Molly murmured, smiling. Everyone laughed at the image that her statement planted in their heads.
Suddenly there was a head in the floo calling for Albus. "Moody," said Albus, "what's wrong?"
"Albus, is Alice and Severus there?"
"Yes, we are both here Alastor" replied Severus.
"I'm sorry, but they have hit both of your houses and burned them to the ground. You had best come and check it out."
"Which one are you at right now Alastor," asked Severus.
"Yours and I'll wait for you here" replied Moody.
Albus went with them to check out the damage. Severus' house was nothing but ground and charred grass. "It looks like they used FiendFyre, and if they did they had to be very accomplished wizards as that curse will come after you or go out of control really easy. It has the look of Malfoy if you ask me" said Albus
There was nothing to salvage at either homesite but both had a note.
Snape and Longbottom,
I sure hope you were not storing anything valuable in your homes? Piece by piece I will take your lives. I am pushing you into a corner and we will definitely have to face each other very soon.
Between the two of you there are many valuable "Wards" under your care. I am sure you can't watch them all, all of the time. Would you like for me to send you a babysitter?
Have a good day!
LM
Severus and Alice looked at each other and apperated immediately back to Hogwarts. For some reason they just needed to see if the kids were OK. They went into Gryffindore Tower and checked everyone until they felt all was well then they silently left.
Severus put his arm around Alice as they walked toward her living quarters to check on Cassy. They knew the war was coming, just not when, it could be years away, and they knew that they would do all they could to make sure their families survived it.