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"The stroke you just received will not count, Snape, as you moved out of position. You will remain in this position until your punishment is completed. If you move once more, you will be restrained and receive three extra lashes."
"...Yes, sir."
Three extra strokes! He knew the rules and penalties of corporal punishment, but even a single 'extra' sounded horrible. Severus buried his face in his desk, fighting back the tears that threatened to burst at any moment.
The professor's rattan cane was soon raised high, and Severus squeezed his eyes shut.
THWACK!
A sharp gasp escaped Severus' lips as a scarlet streak was added to the already existing three lines.
The pain of venomous teeth biting into his bare flesh in a row was not dulled in the slightest by anticipation. If any, the pain was worse as the flesh of his arse had been pulled taut. Reflexively, he tried to flail his lower body, but his legs on tiptoe were not up to the task, as well as his sore hands gripping the edge of punishment desk. He could not exert any force on his body, which were merely catching the fall of the cane as it landed on his raised bottom.
The professor waited calmly for about twenty seconds before swinging the cane again.
SWOOSH- SMACK!
SWOOSH- CRACK!
"Ahh...!"
Two more crimson stripes appeared on the white buttocks, about half an inch apart, and the room filled with the sound of the cane cutting through the air, the crackle of it hitting bare flesh, and painful gasps of the boy being punished.
Time for the seventh stroke. The angle of the professor's arm changed slightly, and the tip of the cane brushed on the crease between his buttocks and thighs.
Next moment.
Swoosh- THWACK!
"Ughhh!"
The sound of the cane cutting through the air was heavier. A dark line formed on the underside of his cheeks. Severus couldn't fight back the painful groan. Flesh was thinner on the part between his buttocks and thighs; his arse felt beyond burning, like his skin was bursting.
For the eighth stroke. Professor Peverell adjusted his grip and lashed down on Severus's bottom, this time diagonally. The dark cane drew a slanting weal crossing seven horizontal lines at once.
"Aaahhhhhhhhhh-!" A howl burst from his mouth, unable to be suppressed any longer. The boy's arse jerked and quivered. His entire bottom burned, and it was as if all of the pain from previous strokes had come back up all at once.
Tears escaped Severus' eyes and slid down his cheeks, soaking the desk.
His bottom was so sore that he wished to rip it away from his body, but the worst part was that this wasn't the end. He hadn't even gotten to the crime of group-assaulting the girl.
Now that I've been caught with her wand, Avery's right, I'll probably be regarded as the ringleader, Severus thought. How many strokes would he be sentenced for that? Ten? Fifteen?
Tears welled uncontrollably in his eyes from the soreness that hadn't gone away, and his anxiety compounded by his fear. Severus barely held back the urge to stamp his foot nervously.
The next moment, Peverell flicked his fingertips lightly. With a snap, Severus's underwear was pulled up, followed by his trousers. The desk slowly lowered to its normal position.
"You may get up."
The professor's calm voice announced. Severus blinked, then slowly straightened up. What the hell?
Tears half-dried on his eyes in confusion. He glanced in Professor Peverell's direction.
His black senior cane was returned to its place. The professor had a ledger in his hand and was writing something down.
Surely this can't be the end. But what the hell?
He blinked his eyes, not daring to open the mouth.
Just then, Professor Peverell glanced at him. Seeing the boy's confused eyes, he opened his mouth curtly.
"The punishment is over."
"What?"
"Being late to your summon, curfew violation, verbal abuse. Do you happen to have any more crimes to confess?"
"..."
"And I give you twenty points for trying to help a classmate. Snape."
This time Severus couldn't even formulate a stunned inquiry. The sound that escaped his mouth was a stupid, "...eh?"
Peverell sighed briefly as he took in the sight of the boy standing there, barely dressed in trousers, his mouth hanging open. He snapped his fingers. Quickly, the robe was drawn and pulled over Severus's body. The shirt neatly tucked into his trousers and the belt tightened.
Severus still couldn't process what he'd heard. Points? For trying to help a classmate, he's giving me points?
Not points deducted, but points given? As in points awarded? Twenty points, given?
Until his fifth year at Hogwarts, he'd never, ever, received more than ten points at one time, let alone twenty.
As the boy stood there, unable to break off his dumbfounded expression, the professor sighed, reached out, and lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
He'd never experienced anything like it from a professor before, but even with Severus's limited judgment, it was a not an obvious reprimand, but sort of a... positive pat. Severus looked up into the eyes of the professor in front of him, his mouth hanging open.
"You were just beginning a counter-spell for Miss Macdonald's bind just before I came in."
"...Yeah."
The pupils in the center of green iris enlarged minutely, and the professor's lips curved faintly upward.
"You've done well. I'm pleased about it."
You've done well. I'm pleased.
It wasn't an admiration from a friend, or cheers of dorm mates, but the praise of an adult, looking him straight in the eye.
Severus couldn't remember a time in his life when he'd received a praise from a grown-up, a real compliment that sounded sincere and not just a formality.
You've done well. I'm pleased.
Professor Peverell's words replayed over and over in his head. Even the obvious question, "How did you know?" didn't cross his mind.
In front of a boy who stared at him with an expressionless face, without even an automatic thank-you, Peverell blinked for a few seconds before asking, with a hint of awkwardness.
"I suppose it was, um, brave of you to try to un-bind Miss MacDonald right in front of your pureblood roommates, but... I'm curious, Snape. Did you have a plan for their displeasure afterward?"
It was a very Slytherin question. And Severus, as his mind reverted to familiar thought circuits, smiled in a familiar way, that is, as if he were in front of Lily.
"Uh, yes. I'd've told them I was confused with the new hex I've been developing and made a mess of it. They think I'm a hopeless Ravenclawish bookworm who's crazy about spellcraft but with zero practical ability; so if I come up with a jinx that moves and spells like the unbinding spell and say I screwed it up since I was just working on it, they'll probably heckle me a bit at worst, and be done with it."
Of course, I'd have to newly invent a spell and hand it to them, but it's like a regular tax.
Peverell looked down at the Slytherin with a very complicated expression as the boy smirked darkly, before finally bursting out a laugh.
"Well, that's good of you. I'll add three more points to you for acting... like a Slytherin, courageously, equipped with a plan. Well done, Snape."
Like a Slytherin. Courageous. Well done.
His limbs shook.
It felt like cool, icy-cold water entered the body that had been running for too long a time.
Severus's mind reeled, his head raced with the cool water until he left the Deputy Head's office.
.
...
Severus didn't notice his surroundings until he had closed the door to the office and taken a few steps out into the hallway.
"Sev!"
That is, until a shrill voice grabbed him by the hem of his robes, Lily waiting in the hallway.
"...Lils?"
Severus turned to look at her, eyes wide. Lily glared at him fiercely.
"Well, what the hell were you thinking last night? How could you do that to Mary when you know obviously she's one of my best friends? I told you before, not to hang out with Mulciber and Avery, those sick, fucked-up bastards! She said you weren't as bad as them, but... it was bad enough that you were with them in the first place! It was a crime! And being caught by a professor, in the act, after curfew! ...Erm, actually that was lucky for Mary, but... were you beaten hard?"
The girl's voice was a mixture of anger, disappointment, fear, and lastly, concern; and under any other circumstances, only the negativity of her emotion would have reached the boy. Until this morning, Severus had thought he'd rather be dead than have Lily find out about his punishment, and he hadn't changed his mind a bit.
Normally, Severus would have vented his anger on the girl out of shame, or shut up, left the place and considered suicide, but right now, he was still reeling from the shock of Peverell's praise.
"...Uh...that's... Lils..."
A stunned stare. A meek voice that hadn't yet regained its composure. Shaky limbs.
Lily, much of her anger replaced by concern, grabbed the boy's wrist. Severus obediently gave her his hand, then reflexively grimaced.
"Ow!"
Lily's eyes widened and she looked down at Severus' hand. She could clearly see the angry marks on his palm, streaked red and purple.
"...What the bloody...!"
A large part of her worry quickly flared into anger again, this time with a 180-degree turn.
She had watched Mulciber and Avery entering the hall for breakfast a few minutes ago. Those two boys' movements as they brazenly strode in with a swagger, but with a stiff limp, had shown signs of beating on their arse, but never like Sev's, his limbs shivering, clearly not in the sound state. Besides, Mulciber and Avery's hands on the table were smooth and devoid of any marks, so they hadn't been beaten on theirs!
How severely was he thrashed, to be like this?
Mary's testimony and their usual behavior made it clear that Mulciber and Avery were the main culprits, and Sev was at best an accessory, and probably just a bystander!
Lily made a furious face and stomped her foot. "How... how could he... how could he, a professor, be so unfair in corporal punishment? So, did he discriminate between pureblood and halfblood because he's a Slytherin Head? I'm not going to let him get away with it, double-mage or double-fucked mongrel or not!"
"...Uh..., eh, wh...what? Lily?"
Lily stomped angrily toward the Deputy Head's office.
"Where the hell do you think you're going, Lils! Calm, calm down!"
Severus had reflexively flinched in response to Lily's negativity, then flushed at the fact that she had noticed the beating by the professor, and lastly grabbed her arm in bewilderment as he finally realized that her anger was directed at a completely wrong direction.
"Lil, Lils, get a grip. Just stop. Please. And unfair? They got thrashed much harder than I did."
Lily slowly stopped her strides.
She sure has a lion's strides, as if anyone wouldn't see she's a Gryffindor by her temper alone. Severus muttered to himself.
Lily turned her head and set a fierce glare on Severus. He tightened his grip on her arm lest he lose her, and spoke quickly. The shame of having been caught in person just after he was caned in detention had long since been wiped from his mind in the ensuing chaos.
"Peverell, he's not a bad man, no, and even if he were, are you out of your mind, going to a Professor to protest?"
"...Your hands... he's made them so swollen you would barely make note in class, and you say so?"
"It's a slap on hand, primary school punishment! If I go and whine about getting hit on hand with a ruler, they'll laugh at me all the way to graduation for being a baby! For God's sake. Please, save me some dignity."
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