Snape had thought he would have to manufacture excuses to get alone with Longbottom, but he found the youngster in his office that night; this time with Ginny Weasley. Both Carrows had dragged the defiant teens up to the headmaster's office. Through the amplification spells he had placed outside of his office, he heard Neville begging to be punished in any other way than by the headmaster, and Snape allowed himself a small smile at his subterfuge. He wasn't sure how much the boy understood at this point, but at least he understood the principle of making the Carrows think he hated and feared the headmaster. And with Neville's history with Snape it shouldn't be too much of a leap to convince them.

"What have we here?" he asked smoothly as they entered his office. He grimaced a bit at seeing the Weasley girl. Caning boys was bad enough, but he really hated using the cane on the girls and tried to avoid it at all costs. He supposed it was some misplaced feelings of chivalry, or perhaps it was that the Weasley girl was a redhead - she looked too much like Lily. But he couldn't avoid it at the cost of his cover - and so he was forced to do it.

"This isn't fair!" the Weasley girl protested as the Carrows dragged her into the office. "We weren't doing anything wrong!"

"I believe that is for me to decide," Snape told her smoothly. He examined the girl for a moment, noting her flushed skin and askew hair. He had actually suspected that she would come forth as one of the leaders of the resistance, but he knew better than to single her out at all. Her known relationship with Potter did that already, so she was not the ideal person to help.

"Caught them sneakin' food," the male Carrow announced. "Probably for those annoying mudbloods."

"Indeed," Snape intoned. "Serious charges indeed. And what did I promise you, Mr. Longbottom, should you be brought to me again on such a matter?"

"The cane," Neville replied, shamefaced.

"Indeed," Snape agreed. "And Miss Weasley as well?"

Snape saw both teenagers pale despite the joking and jostling by the Carrows.

"Give hers to me," Neville burst out.

"What was that, Mr. Longbottom?"

"Give me her punishment," Neville argued. "Please, sir. Let me take hers."

Snape seemed to consider, but in reality he was quite relieved. Neville had given him the perfect out. And now he was going to have to inflict a painful and embarrassing punishment upon him for his chivalry.

"We're watching this time," the female Carrow insisted. "You owe us that at least, headmaster."

"I owe you nothing," Snape growled. Reluctantly, however, he made the decision that he knew he had to make to make him look the best to those revolting Carrows. He would have to be ruthless. "But I see no reason for you not to stay if you wish. I believe it might do Miss Weasley some good to see what her hero is sacrificing for her."

"NO!" the foolish girl protested. "Please, sir, I can take my own punishment."

"No, I believe it has been decided," Snape told her icily. "Any further protest from you worsens the count for your saviour. Perhaps a stroke a word?"

Ginny closed her mouth, looking at Neville with a mixture of hero-worship, incredulity and sympathy. Neville seemed trying to find his courage.

"I believe you know the procedure," Snape told him with sarcasm, summoning the dreaded cane from the cupboard. Neville paled to see it, but with a glance at the Carrows and at Ginny he silently made his way to the desk. Moving a few objects, Neville bent himself over.

Snape watched the boy, and couldn't help but admire his courage. For years he had thought the boy mis-sorted, he seemed far more Hufflepuff than Gryffindor. But how he took the punishment for the girl, and how he now accepted that punishment without a protest made Snape re-think his position. This was a very particular form of raw courage, and Snape had rarely seen it so clearly.

"Six of the best, Mr. Longbottom," Snape told him. "And you and Miss Weasley will learn not to get caught misbehaving."

"Only six?" the female Carrow asked.

"You should sample a cane wielded by me before you think the punishment insufficient," Snape told her sarcastically. "With how I wield it, six is sufficient."

The female Carrow laughed at the suggestion, though she also looked at Snape speculatively. She always suspected he was softer than he let on.

"Brace yourself, Mr. Longbottom," Snape told him, touching the boy's backside with the cane in order to take aim.

Snape caned the boy with a heavy hand. Nothing less would satisfy the Carrows, he knew. He knew many tricks to fool them on his treatment of children, including charming the cane to deliver softer blows, but with the boy's ridiculous bravado he would likely not cry at that; and Snape needed him to cry. He needed him to cry and to beg so the Carrows thought him heartless and ruthless. Reminding himself that a caning never killed anyone whereas his subterfuge failing could, Snape ended the caning with a particularly painful stroke across Neville's upper thighs.

Neville sobbed on the desk, no longer caring if anybody saw him cry. His desperate sobbing at the end nearly caused Snape to falter, but he hardened his heart to it. This brave and noble boy had to learn how to fight in this war, and if a sore backside did it than that is what it would take.

Snape looked up to see the Weasley girl sobbing as well, though she had taken him seriously and not uttered another word.

"That was Miss Weasley's punishment," Snape told Neville. "Stay on the desk for yours."

"How many more are you going to give him?" the male Carrow asked eagerly.

"Not for you to find out," Snape told him. "Take Miss Weasley back to her dorm room. I wish to be alone for the rest of Mr. Longbottom's punishment."

"But we want to watch . . . " the female one protested.

"Indeed," Snape acknowledged. "But I . . . enjoy it more without anybody else here interrupting. You've had your fun, now take the girl back."

"Yes, sir," they both mumbled, jerking the girl's arm.

"You are both so brutish," Snape scolded them. "Don't you see that any punishment you give the girl will lessen her guilt at this boy being caned for her? The cruelest thing to do would be to take her back completely unharmed, that she may stew in it."

"Yes, sir," they answered, this time with a glint in their eyes.

Snape waited until they had bundled the girl out of the room and likely a long way down the hallway before he spoke again. "I expect your punishments to make you better at not getting caught, Mr. Longbottom, not worse."

"Yes, sir," the boy replied, trying to control his sobs. "I was t-t-trying to f-f-feed kids."

"I know," Snape answered him, his voice silky. "Was it worth the pain?"

"Yes," Neville answered honestly.

"Tsk, tsk," Snape told him gently. "I see you did not remember your lessons from yesterday."

"Yesterday?" he asked, not remembering.

"Perhaps you need a reminder," Snape told him. "Do you have your wand?"

"Yes," Neville replied, pushing himself off the desk in confusion. "Aren't you going to, well . . ."

"You already received your caning for getting caught by the Carrows, as promised," Snape told him. "That was Miss Weasley's punishment. This is yours. En Garde, Mr. Longbottom."

Neville pulled out his wand, and winced as he moved his feet. Snape hardened his heart against sympathy for the boy, in battle he would have to fight with much more distraction and pain than a striped bum. This was training.

"Foolish boy," he growled at the boy. "Getting caught over that."

"I'm, I'm sorry sir," Neville answered, nervously watching Snape circle him. Snape let off a warning stinging hex, which Neville smartly blocked.

"You seem to be blocking better," Snape told him.

"I had Ginny show me a few things," Neville answered. "She's better than I am at this stuff."

"You assumed you would be back here," Snape observed.

"You had told me I would be," Neville replied, mostly being able to block another stinging hex, but the corner of it catching his wrist painfully.

"Indeed," Snape responded.

"Why?" Neville suddenly asked.

Snape knew exactly what he meant, and he knew this was the part where he had to plant suspicion. If he didn't, then both he and Neville would be vulnerable. He supposed it was natural because he was not actively terrorizing the boy, and the child would want to have some semblance of safety in the horror show that his world was becoming. But Snape could not be that safety, for both their sakes.

"Why what?" he asked.

"Why are you being kind to me?" Neville asked.

"I do not believe the Carrows thought I was kind," Snape told him, arching an eyebrow. "Is it not my handiwork on your bum for the second time this week?"

"Yes," Neville blushed, blocking another spell better this time. "That did hurt, both times. But you are being, well, decent about it. The Carrows wanted much worse."

"Perhaps, Mr. Longbottom, I am softening you up in order to ascertain information about the resistance you're leading."

"Would you do that?" he asked, horrified.

"Do you know how much you just admitted to in that sentence?" Snape growled, sending a harsher hex to the boy. Neville managed to block it fully, to both of their surprise. "Think, boy. Always remember who I am."

"Yes, sir."

"I am the headmaster appointed personally by the Dark Lord. I am the slayer of Dumbledore and the abuser of Hogwarts students, including yourself. Never forget that." Snape had a note of sadness in his voice as he informed the Longbottom boy of exactly who he was, as if he wished it could be different. But they both had a role to play.

"Yes, sir," Neville replied carefully.

"And don't let your guard down," Snape barked at him, sending a stinging hex towards his calf that Neville only half-blocked. If it had been to his backside Neville couldn't have blocked it at all, but even Snape couldn't be that cruel. The poor boy's backside had to be throbbing.

"Ow!" he jumped. Then, with embarrassment, "Sorry, sir."

"Your punishment for tonight is complete," Snape told the boy, sheathing his wand.

"Yes, thank you, sir," Neville told him, sheathing his wand as well. He longed for his bed, to rub some of that salve that the house elves had snuck him on his welted bottom and maybe even convince Ginny not to kill him for doing what she would call, "That bloody chivalry thing." He had known he was in for the cane anyway, and he had hoped that Professor Snape would be easier on him than he would Ginny. He was still confused, was the Headmaster as evil as he insisted? Neville had had seven years of experience to fear and loathe the man, but this year when he was obvious about his betrayal and evil tendencies Neville had nagging doubts.

"Well, go on then," Snape told him. "Don't stand around gawping at me until I punish you again."

"Yes, sir," Neville replied, snapping out of his ruminations and scrambling to the door. Then, just before he slipped through the door, he said very quietly, "Good night, sir."

Snape did not respond to the greeting, but instead shook his head. That boy was all nobility and no cunning, something Snape was sure he was going to have to beat into the lad.