Hi all! Welcome to Chapter Eleven 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. This story is complete and is Thirteen Chapters long, updates should be weekly unless something drastic happens.
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.
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~
Harry stumbled as he came out of the Floo, tripping over the hearth, but instead of face planting the floor like he expected to, he found someone catching his arm. He looked up and saw the kind face of his ex-Professor, "thanks Remus," he murmured.
Remus easily caught the teen before he tripped after exiting the Floo and gently brushed the soot off him. Nodding at the thanks but not saying anything. He released his hold on Harry when he appeared steady and not about to fall.
Sirius ran his hand through his hair, wishing Harry had taken just ten more minutes to get here, "to your room please Harry," he instructed.
"We'll send Dobby up with some food, the Headmaster said you didn't eat much before," Remus added gently.
Harry swallowed nervously but nodded, "I… okay." He headed up to his bedroom, dropping his bag by his desk and sitting on the edge of his bed, his knee bouncing nervously. What was Sirius going to do? He'd managed to avoid landing himself in trouble the previous summer, beyond losing his wand at the quidditch world cup. Sirius had scolded him a couple times for swearing, and eventually threatened to wash his mouth out if he continued, but Harry had managed to catch himself under that threat. He knew what Ron was likely facing at home, and knew spanking was pretty commonplace in the magical world, but would Sirius really do that? He wasn't sure, the subject hadn't really come up during the summer, they'd had the talk about rules and expectations, and though Sirius had said a likely punishment would be a spanking, he hadn't broken any rules to earn himself one.
Harry had some experience with spanking, back before his second year he knew Mr Weasley had spanked Fred, George, and Ron for stealing the car to rescue him. Ron had gotten off lightly, his own words, at the time, as Mr Weasley knew Ron had been extremely worried about his friend and had assumed Ron would never have been involved if it wasn't for the twins. Something he'd been deeply unhappy with Ron for taking advantage of when the two of them stole the car after being unable to get onto Platform nine and three-quarters. When Mr Weasley had arrived at Hogwarts that morning, after the arrival of the Howler, Harry had voluntarily gone with him, not feeling it was fair for Ron to face this alone.
Last year Remus had spanked him for sneaking into Hogsmeade via the map, having been so upset with him for carelessly risking his life. Though he understood now why Remus couldn't be his main guardian, he couldn't offer consistency with how easily his moods and temper were affected by the phases of the moon. Harry already knew how snappish Remus could be around the time of the full moon and something in him felt a lot more secure knowing he would never need to be on tip toes around Remus.
Downstairs Remus called Dobby and asked for some brunch to be sent up to Harry, yes Harry was in trouble, but food would never be denied. He was pretty sure the main reason Harry hadn't eaten was because he'd been worried about being expelled, that was certainly enough to put anyone off their food.
Harry's thoughts were interrupted when a plate of scrambled eggs on toast with a couple rashers of bacon appeared on his desk. He supposed he should make an effort to eat some of it, and now that he didn't think he was about to be expelled, he found he was a little hungry. Though he had no idea what Sirius and Remus could be discussing and really hoped it wasn't that he was too much trouble and that they needed to find someone else he could live with.
Sirius stood silently, watching the stairs that Harry had disappeared up, finally he looked at Remus, "I don't know if I can do this Moony, you know as well as I do James and I would have done the same damn thing at his age… Salazar we'd have done it when we were even older. Half the stupid stunts we pulled weren't exactly thought through," he reminded his long-time friend. He tried not to think of the most stupid thing he'd done, the time he sent Snape down to meet a transformed Remus. Even to this day he couldn't work out what he was thinking, he hadn't been thinking, not of any of the consequences, his only thought being that the Slytherin would likely wet himself in fear and he'd have found that extremely funny.
Remus sighed, "most likely yes, you have done plenty of stupid and foolhardy things. However, when you did and Albus felt the need to contact Mr Potter about your actions, you know full well what he did," he reminded. There had been times when even he ended up on the wrong side of the elder Potter and found himself sitting sore.
Sirius gave a crooked grin at that, "Mr Potter made sure we thought twice about pulling such a stupid stunt again by making sure we couldn't sit comfortably for days," he admitted ruefully. He'd earned the elder Potter's ire frequently during his years at Hogwarts. Albus seemed to understand his own parents couldn't give a damn about him, so from his second year whenever he found himself in trouble, normally right alongside James, Mr Potter would be contacted to deal with the pair of them.
Remus nodded, giving a wry smile, "and this is why parents often say, 'just wait until you have kids of your own' it's karma." James and Sirius had given Mr and Mrs Potter a good run for their money, and he himself hadn't even been innocent, he found it rather easy to believe this was part of their revenge for the trouble they'd put them through.
Sirius pinched the bridge of his nose and blew out a harsh breath, "you're all gung-ho to wallop him, why don't you do it?" He asked only a little petulantly.
Remus simply raised an eyebrow and looked at Sirius, "do you need a list, or will one reason be enough? First off there's Moony…" he started. He never regretted being a werewolf more than he did when it came to not being able to be there for Harry. His status as a werewolf was why he hadn't been allowed to take Harry in when James and Lily died, and Sirius was shipped off to Azkaban, with Peter presumed murdered. He'd begged and pleaded, offering anything he could to Albus, but it was impossible, a werewolf could not have sole custody of a child. He'd been all set to take up a house Albus offered him near Harry, so he could be in his life, even if it was at a slight distance, until he'd been informed that he wouldn't be able to tell Harry anything. Apparently the Dursley's didn't want Harry to know anything until he was older. He could have stood to go without magic, but not telling Harry who he was to him, not telling Harry about his parents, it would have broken him. It had shattered his heart to refuse, but he knew he wasn't strong enough to pretend not to know his cub and just watch him from afar. He regretted that now, knowing that even if he was just watching from afar, he would have seen the mistreatment Harry's relatives were putting him through and been able to step in, but he wasn't sure there would have been a better alternative.
Sirius interrupted Remus by waving his hand, "yeah, yeah I know, I'm his Godfather, it doesn't send the right message if I don't discipline him. With Moony effecting your mood, you can't guarantee consistency, and kids need consistency." He sighed to himself, he wasn't sure if this would be easier if Harry was still young and small and only needed a pop or two to correct him, give them both time to get used to it. He ran a hand through his hair again, no he didn't want to do this, but Harry needed it. This very well might have been something he and James would have pulled during their own Hogwarts years, but it was also something Mr Potter would have disciplined them both for and Sirius knew James would have spanked Harry for it too. Harry could have seriously hurt people, maybe even killed them, could have been expelled, he needed to remember to think things through.
Remus let Sirius think, knowing he was gearing himself up to do something he did not want to do. He couldn't blame Sirius; he didn't think any parent or guardian wanted to discipline their ward. He had worried for a moment that Sirius might not be able to do it, that he might just decide to blow it off and let Harry off without punishing him, but Sirius was proving that, despite all appearances to the contrary, he had grown up – at least a little.
Sirius grabbed a book off the bookcase and transfigured it into a reasonable copy of the small paddle Mr Potter had used, it looked rather like a hairbrush without any bristles. He gave his palm a tap with it, hissing slightly at the sting, then gave the outside of his thigh a hard smack, testing the force. He yelped at the pain that blossomed in his thigh, dropped the transfigured paddle, and rubbed the spot he'd whacked hard. "I dunno Moony, maybe I should just use my hand," he wondered.
Remus snorted and shook his head amused when Sirius dropped the paddle, "you know it's supposed to hurt Sirius, if you think you can give enough of a lasting impression with just your hand then by all means. However, at fourteen years old if Mr Potter had just used his hand for something as serious as nearly getting expelled would you and James have taken him at all seriously?"
Sirius glared at the werewolf, hating him for making him think about things like that, "you know damn well we'd have just laughed it off, bloody hard-headed fools that we were," he grumbled. He picked the paddle back up again and wished Harry was about ten years younger and he could just give him a couple pops with his hand and that would be all the kid would need to keep him in line. "What if I screw this up? What if he hates me? What if I do some serious physical or mental damage to him?" He asked worriedly.
Remus softened his expression, "come on Sirius, it's not like you don't have plenty of experience at this. You never hated Mr Potter; in fact, you came to see him as more of a father than you own. Harry has spent time at The Burrow, he knows spankings are the norm, you aren't going to cause him mental damage," he reassured his friend, "as for physical, I don't think you're capable of that. Yes, he's going to be sore, no, sitting won't be fun, but you're not going to leave him battered and bleeding."
"Experience being on the receiving side sure, I've never been the one delivering the spanking," Sirius groused. He sighed and looked up towards his Godson's room, Remus was right, he wasn't going to beat the crap out of his Godson, just light a fire in his backside.
"You can do this Sirius, I know you love that boy more than anything, James and Lily trusted you to raise him if they could not. I know Lily's probably laughing her ass off at your unwillingness to do this, but I also know James is there having absolute faith in you," Remus encouraged.
"Yeah, and probably glad it's me and not him that has to deal with this," Sirius whinged. He knew it wasn't at all true, James would probably give just about anything to be the one raising his son, even if it meant having to punish him for things they'd definitely have done as kids. He restrained a smile knowing that if James and Lily were here, he'd be laughing his ass off at James having to punish Harry for this, but only because James would be just so unwilling to do it, although not because he didn't think Harry deserved it. "Well, he's probably sat and stressed about all this long enough now," he sighed.
Remus shook his head, "good luck," he bid.
Sirius poked his tongue out at Remus before he finally headed upstairs to his Godson's room and knocked on the door. He took a deep breath and reminded himself to do his best to emulate Mr Potter, he had always respected the man and felt he wouldn't go wrong so long as he was trying to copy what he thought he would do.
~o~
So, there you go, that was Chapter Eleven. Please review to let me know what you thought. I really hope you enjoy 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!