I Solemnly Swear I'm Up To No Good

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters

A/N: To those of you who have been saying that this story is all about Harry getting spanked, well I have to say this: you’re right. This IS a spanking story. If you want something with more plot, there are plenty of fics to read, I would even suggest some to you if you want.

I also wanted to make an announcement; I have started my own user ID for this site. I will continue to host this fic on Supergirl’s profile, but whenever this gets finished the sequel will be under my new penname, which is starblaz921. You can PM me directly now. I have an idea for a new fic and when I have something I will post it under my new penname.

Also I want to thank SirenPrincess for beta’ing this chapter, now on to the fic!

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Failing and Disobedience

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Snape strode through the halls; students parted to let him by. Seeing the terrifying expression on the feared Potions Master's face, they quickly moved away. Severus Snape was smiling. Yes, it must have been the end of the world. Nothing good could be afoot if the evil greasy git from the dungeons was actually happy, if you could call that evil smile a sign of happiness. Snape quickly made his way to his destination, and knocked loudly on the door.

Sirius opened the door and looked out curiously. Curiosity quickly changed to disgust as he realized who it was. Sirius was about to close the door on the greasy git's face when Snape stuck his foot in the door, preventing such an action.

"Really, Black, you should learn some manners," he drawled.

Whatever Sirius was about to say was cut off by Remus covering the man's mouth with his hand. Turning to Snape, he asked. "Did you need something, Severus?"

Snape was more than a little disappointed; he had wanted to run mental circles around the damn mutt. Blasted werewolf, ruining his fun. Ah, well, there was the matter at hand...

"Yes,” he said silkily. "I thought you might like to know that your golden boy is failing potions." He smugly removed the failure warning parchment from his robe pocket and handed it to Remus.

"You greasy git! You're going to fail Harry just because you don't like him, aren't you?" Sirius had batted Remus' hand out of the way, and yelled at Snape angrily.

Snape sneered at him. "I, unlike you, am a professional. Potter has always done substandard work, but recently he couldn't even be bothered to turn in his assignments. His grade is no one's fault but his own."

"And you just brought this to our attention now? Why are you personally coming to deliver this anyway? You're just doing this to gloat, you evil git!" Sirius said hotly.

Why, yes, yes, he was, but he would never admit that. Snape leveled Sirius with a withering glare. "I was doing this as a professional courtesy. Because I am SO sure that your precious golden boy would have told you anyway." His voice was positively dripping with sarcasm.

Remus interrupted Sirius before he could say anything in response. "Thank you, Severus, for bringing this to our attention. We'll deal with this. Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?" He asked politely.

Inwardly he growled, damn werewolf, stealing his fun. "No, Lupin, that is all,” he said in a clipped tone, before turning around to return to the dungeons, his robes billowing behind him.

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Harry had a sinking feeling. While he was elated that the winter holidays had just begun, he was worried because of the note he had received at lunchtime to report to the marauder's quarters. In his experience being summoned to see his guardians was never a good thing. He opened the door to find Remus on the couch, reading a book. Upon hearing the door open, Remus looked up. Closing the book, he leveled Harry with a stern gaze.

"Come in and sit Harry." Remus' tone was firm and serious.

‘Uh, oh! This is definitely not a good sign,’ was all that Harry could think as he took a seat in the comfy armchair across from the couch.

"Harry, I received notice that you are failing potions. Do you want to tell me what that is about?" Remus asked.

‘Not good! Not good! Quick! Deflect!’ "It's Snape! He hates me, the greasy git!" Harry whined.

Remus fixed Harry with a firm gaze. "That's 'Professor Snape', and you shouldn't talk that way about your teachers. But, what's this about you not turning in assignments?"

Harry squirmed. He hadn't realized that Remus would know about that. "It's just... It's just I've been so stressed out with the tournament, I just felt overwhelmed. I mean, my life was only in danger,” he said dramatically, trying to play the sympathy card.

Remus let out a sigh. He knew that Harry was overplaying the role of the tournament, but he did have a valid point. "Harry, I'm sorry that I'm unable to help you but..." Remus trailed off as a thought just occurred to him.

"Uncle Remus?" Harry asked. "Are you okay?"

A slow smile spread over Remus' face. "Of course! Why didn't we think of this sooner?" Before Harry could question Remus again, the werewolf turned back to Harry. "Sirius is not bound by the same rules that prevent me from helping you. Sirius is technically not staff; he's a volunteer for Moody's classes. He’s not even considered a teacher's aide. Harry, I want you to go to Sirius for any help you might need for the rest of the tournament."

A flood of relief washed over Harry as he realized that he might not have to flounder as much as he previously thought. "That's great, Uncle Remus! I'll go talk to Uncle Sirius now." Harry got up intent on finding Sirius, happy that Remus seemed to have forgotten the previous topic of their discussion.

Remus caught Harry's arm as he made his way out of the room. "Nice try. Sit back down, we're not finished," Remus said, a wry smile on his face.

Harry pouted a little; he had really thought that would work. Grudgingly he returned to his seat and looked up expectantly at his guardian.

"As I was saying... I know things have been hard for you, but if you were really having difficulties keeping up, you should have come to us. I understand why you couldn't speak to Professor Snape about it, but I could have spoken to him for you. As it is, I notice that Potions is the only class you have a failure warning from. If you were really having difficulties juggling the tournament and schoolwork, why didn't all your classes suffer?" Remus was not fooled.

Harry huffed. "Okay! So I didn't do the assignments because I just didn't feel like it! That greasy git just piles them on, and then he finds excuses to just give me more! I was sick of it and just didn't want to deal with it," Harry said petulantly.

"That, young man, is no excuse." Remus pinned the boy with a stern glare.

Harry squirmed under the man's gaze and bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Uncle Remus. Are you... you gunna.... you know?" Harry fumbled for the words.

"Am I going to what?" Remus asked, although he could guess at what Harry wanted to know.

"Are you going to punish me?" Harry asked mournfully.

Remus leaned back in consideration. While there was no question that he would punish the boy, the matter was how. A spanking seemed obvious, but he had a more fitting punishment in mind. "Yes, Harry, I am. I was considering a spanking, but I have decide on a different punishment."

Harry looked up hopefully.

"You are grounded from now until Christmas Eve. You are going to spend at least four hours a day making up the assignments you missed. I don't care that you cannot receive a grade on them any longer. Next year is your OWL year, and if you slack off this year, it makes next year that much harder," Remus explained.

"A whole week? But it's the winter holidays!" Harry whined. Harry was half tempted to ask for a spanking instead.

"You'll still have plenty of time after that to enjoy the winter holidays. I think you will find this a valuable lesson on why not to slack off," Remus pointed out.

"But-" Harry began

"Harry, the punishment stands," Remus said firmly. "Dobby has already moved your belongings to your room here. And, I have acquired the list of assignments that you missed from Professor Snape. Your punishment starts now. I want you to go to your room and start your essay on moonstones."

Harry dearly wanted to stomp his feet, but managed to refrain from exhibiting such childish antics. A sullen teenager made his way to his room, just barely resisting the urge of slamming the door.

Remus sighed. He almost wished that he had chosen to spank the child, at least then it would be over with, and he would not have had to deal with a sulking teenager for a week. Shaking his head, he returned to his book.

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It was three days into his grounding when Harry made a great discovery while reading the latest edition of Quidditch Monthly. There was a new prototype training snitch released called the 'Snitch-It'. It was top of the line, behaved just like a normal snitch, but had the ability to create an illusion opponent, and would respond to both it and the user. It also had a recall command so that you would never lose it and could end the practice anytime. Harry bounced excitedly at the prospect of owning one of these, and checked to see when they would be in stores. Harry was excited to discover that it would be offered at the quidditch store in Hogsmead. But, when he read the rest of the article, he was disappointed to find out that there was a limited stock because it was a prototype, and that it would be released the next day. He was still grounded, so there was no way that he could be allowed to go to Hogsmead, unless...

Harry dug through his trunk and pulled out the marauder's map. A sly smile slid across his features as he considered the possibilities.

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The next day, Harry woke up early. He needed to be there when the store first opened. A bleary eyed teenager emerged from his room at 6:30 am. Harry checked his map. Sirius was in his room, no doubt sleeping, and Remus... Hmmm... Remus wasn't in his bedroom. Harry shrugged, well, Remus was the early riser of the family. Harry grabbed his book bag and went to go form his alibi. Because Harry needed to do research for his assignments, he was allowed to go to the library. He went to the library and pulled out his map. After saying the password to freeze his dot's position on Remus' map, he pulled on his invisibility cloak and made his way to Hogsmead.

When he reached the quidditch shop, he took off his invisibility cloak and stuffed it into his bag. Harry inwardly cheered at his success of pulling the whole thing off. As Harry reached for the door, the door opened, revealing a stunned Remus Lupin. Harry gaped in shock for a couple seconds before turning to run. A firm hand clamped down on his shoulder and derailed all plans for escape.

"I don't think so, young man!" Remus said sternly. "We're going back to the castle, right now, and by the time we get there, you had better have an explanation for this."

Remus half lead, half dragged the boy back to the castle and into the marauder's quarters. Remus practically threw Harry into the couch.

"Explain,” he demanded with barely contained anger.

The whole walk back to the castle Harry was frantically searching for some excuse, any excuse. By the time he found himself on the couch looking up at a very angry guardian, he had worked himself into quite a state. "Umm... Well... That is... erm... Well..." Harry fumbled, he couldn't think straight.

"It is my understanding that you were grounded. Tell me, was I mistaken?" Remus asked with a deceptively calm voice.

Harry shook his head vigorously. "N-no Sir."

"And as I recall the two places you are allowed to be are the library and these rooms. Is that right?" Remus questioned further.

"Y-yes, Sir,” Harry stuttered out.

"Then, why would I find you in Hogsmead of all places?" Remus asked harshly, not bothering to keep his anger out of his voice.

"I-I wanted t-to buy something. I'm sorry!" Harry cried out.

Remus' expression darkened. "Yes, you will be,” he promised. Remus reached over and pulled the boy up. He led Harry into the far corner of his room. "I want you to bare your bottom and face the corner. You will face the corner for fifteen minutes to think about why you're about to be spanked. Do not move, you're already in enough trouble as it is."

Harry opened his mouth to protest until he saw the look on his guardian's face. Gulping, he turned and faced the corner and pulled his trousers and pants down to his knees. His face flushed at being punished like a four year old.

When Remus was satisfied that Harry would obey him, he set out to retrieve the big wooden hairbrush from his own room.

Harry stood there, a mixture of boredom and dread set in. He knew that he was really in trouble now. Feeling the cold air on his bare bottom, he couldn't help but think of how much said bottom would be hurting, and very soon. Harry heard Remus re-enter the room and sit down on the bed. Fifteen long minutes passed before Remus called Harry to his side.

"Harry, I'm very disappointed with you," Remus said, his tone reflecting his words. "I was being lenient when I only grounded you. I was considering spanking you as well, but I thought the grounding would be sufficient. Apparently I was wrong."

Harry fought back tears at the disappointment he heard in Remus' voice. He really hadn't meant to flaunt Remus' generosity; he had just wanted the snitch-it so much that he hadn't given any thought to that. Guilt flooded through him and his heart grew heavy.

"You are going to get a hard spanking with the hairbrush today, and you will get a bedtime spanking every day for the rest of your grounding," Remus said with finality.

Harry's head snapped up at that. Bedtime spankings? "But Uncle Remus, I still have three more days of grounding. You mean I'm going to get three MORE spankings?" Harry asked, dismayed.

"Yes, you are. Now come here." Remus gestured for Harry to come to him.

Harry felt for one brief moment the urge to escape, but then he remembered the disappointment in his uncle's voice, and the feelings of guilt sat uncomfortably in his stomach, weighing him down. He knew he deserved this; he had broken his uncle's trust. So it was with great reluctance that Harry shuffled over to Remus and allowed himself to be guided over the man's lap.

Remus brought the brush down on the exposed bottom with a loud SMACK!

Harry yelped as the first swat connected. "OWWWWWW!" He cried out.

Remus continued to pepper Harry's bottom with hard swats, landing three scorching swats to each spot before moving on. This had the effect of raising the pain in each spot to an intolerable level before moving on to the next, eventually making its way around and then starting the whole circuit over again.

Harry tried to just take his well-deserved punishment stoically but the burn quickly grew to unbearable levels. Harry writhed and wiggled, trying to move his bottom out of the line of fire, but to no avail. "Pleeeeaaassseee! OWWWWWWWW! I'm soooorrrrryyyyyy!"

Remus was not deterred in the least by Harry's squirming. He clamped down firmly and held Harry fast. He continued his pattern; each spot was thrice heated before moving on.

Harry eyes were prickling, and it wasn't long before the tears began to fall. Remus was spanking hard!

When Remus noticed that Harry had started to cry he asked. "Why are you receiving this spanking?"

"Fo- OWWWW! For sneaking OW! OW! OW! out to OWWWW! Hogsmead!" Harry yelped out, tears flowing freely.

"That's right! You were grounded, and in any case, you’re not even supposed to be in Hogsmead when it's not a Hogsmead weekend," Remus lectured, while continuing to land hard stinging swats to the rapidly reddening bottom.

"OWWW I'm Soooorrrrryyyyy!! OWWWWWWW!" Harry was sobbing now.

"And what was the reason for your original punishment?" Remus prompted.

"OW! OW! For not OWWWWW! doing my OW! assignments! OWWWWWWWWWW!" Harry's bottom was on fire! He'd never sit again, surely.

"That's right! I should have done this when I found out, but I was lenient on you. I don't think I'll make that mistake again," Remus said sadly.

"Nooooo! I'm OWWWW! Sorrrrryyyyy!" Harry sobbed out. Harry was sobbing hard. As much as his bottom hurt he knew he deserved it. Remus had given him so much, and he repaid his love and trust with disrespect and disobedience.

Remus looked down at the upturned bottom and winced. Harry's bottom was a deep scarlet; he would be feeling this for a while. Lifting his leg, he said, "Okay, Harry, ten more."

Harry sobbed hard and only nodded, just wanting this to be over.

Remus landed the last ten swats to Harry's sit spot and then dropped the brush.

Harry howled as those last swats burned his bottom, adding to the intensity of the inferno. He was completely limp and defeated as he cried out the pain in his hindquarters. He would cry out the occasional "I'm sorry" repeating it over and over again as a mantra.

Remus had considered putting the boy back in the corner, but now looking at the sobbing boy, he just didn't have the heart to. Instead, he gathered the boy up into an embrace. Cradling the boy's sore bottom in the space between his spread legs, he seated Harry in his lap and held him close, rocking the boy gently to calm him down.

Remus held on to the crying boy for quite some time, simply rocking the boy and whispering reassurances while stroking his hair. Remus wasn't surprised when Harry fell asleep, even though it was morning, it was still quite early and Harry had cut into his sleep time to wake up so early. When Remus was sure that Harry was sound asleep, he slid the boy onto the bed, resting on him on his stomach.

As he was leaving the room, Remus sighed. He almost wished he hadn't promised Harry those bedtime spankings, especially since he had just given Harry a very hard spanking. But, he couldn't back down now. Harry needed to have clear consequences. He needed Remus to be consistent and reliable. Remus sighed as he closed the door. Well, no one ever said parenting would be easy.

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Harry bit his lip as he avidly watched the door. He paced a bit around the room, using up some of his nervous energy that was just bursting to be spent. He had briefly considered the bed, since the chair was out. He definitely didn't want to sit at the hard desk chair, no matter what pillow was put on it. Besides, he had already had to spend most of his afternoon sitting in it while doing his assignments, which had been no picnic. Harry pouted a bit at that. He had needed to go to the library to reference something. When he touched the door a little alarm chimed off, and Harry found that the door wouldn't budge. Then Remus came out and asked him what he needed. Upon finding out, Remus took a book along and escorted Harry to the library and sat down to read his book. When Harry was finished, he escorted the boy back to their quarters. Clearly, he no longer trusted Harry to follow the restrictions. Harry felt a little saddened and hurt by that, but he knew that he deserved it. Remus had trusted him to obey the rules of the grounding and he flaunted them to do as he pleased.

Harry's thoughts were snapped back to the present by the opening of the door. Remus strode in and seated himself on the bed.

Remus looked up expectantly. "Okay, Harry, I believe you know what to do."

Harry bit back a protest. He deserved this, he knew he did. Harry regretfully, but quickly pulled down his pajama bottoms and pants and then situated himself over Remus' lap.

"Very good, Harry," Remus said before he brought down his hand on the upturned bare bottom.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

Harry bit his lip as the hard swats re-heated the fire in his bottom, re-awakening the pain of the previous spanking.

"What is this spanking for?" Remus prompted.

"I OWwwww! went to OW! Hogsmead," Harry yelped out.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

"And why was that not allowed?" Remus questioned.

"Be- Owwww! Because I was OWWWW! grounded!" Harry was squirming, it was still early in the spanking, but it already hurt so much!

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

"And why were you being grounded?" Remus asked, continuing to lay on hard swats to Harry's rapidly reddening bottom.

"Because I OWwww! I didn't do my OWWWwww! Potions assignments!" Harry cried out. Tears filled his eyes, but he resisted shedding them thus far.

Remus lowered his left leg and lifted his right. Exposing the ever sensitive sit spot, he aimed his next swats there.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

"I'm soooorrrrry!" Harry wailed, tears streaming down his face.

Remus rested his hand on Harry's back and began to rub the boy's back soothingly. Harry quickly calmed down. When he realized that Remus had stopped, he craned his head back to look at Remus. Harry's teary eyes looked at Remus with confusion.

"That was it?" Harry blurted out unthinkingly.

Remus was puzzled for a moment before realization kicked in. "Ah, I realize, I don't believe I ever explained bedtime spankings to you." Remus helped Harry up.

Harry cocked his head to the side. "Isn't it just a spanking you give at bedtime?"

"Yes and no, it is a spanking given at bedtime, but it's not a full spanking. It was a punishment my own father imposed on me. What a bedtime spanking is, is a light spanking to remind the child of their original punishment. It is not really meant to be a punishment in itself, but something to re-enforce the original punishment. Generally it would only consist of twenty swats unless there was any misbehavior that warranted otherwise," Remus explained.

Harry brightened at that. "You mean I get only twenty swats as long as I'm good?"

Remus nodded and Harry's heart lightened. Well that didn't sound so bad now, did it?

Remus stood up and gave Harry a brief hug. "Alright, now I want you to spend fifteen minutes in the corner, sitting on that stool," Remus said after he conjured a stool in the empty corner.

Harry's mouth opened to protest, but then he wisely shut it. As bad as this was, it could get worse. Harry moved to pull up his pajama bottoms when Remus' voice stopped him.

"No, leave those down, Harry. You may pull them up after your corner time,” Remus said firmly.

Groaning, he made his way to the bar stool, and sat down gingerly. He stifled a whimper as his bare bum made contact with the cold hard wood. To Harry's dismay, he found that his feet didn't touch the floor, and so there was no way to keep all the weight off his bottom. Fifteen agonizing minutes later, Remus called him out of the corner, and he happily complied. After pulling up his pants and pajama bottoms, he made his way to Remus. Remus pulled him into a hug, which Harry returned. Harry had been worried all day that his Uncle Remus was still mad at him, and was happy to find out otherwise.

"Okay, Harry, time for bed." Remus lifted the covers and motioned Harry to get in.

Harry flushed a little at being tucked in. (Okay, so he knew Remus must have tucked him into bed after spankings sometimes, but that was when he was asleep!) But, he was also touched by the sentiment. No one had ever done that for him when he was little, so even in his embarrassment, he accepted it.

Harry climbed into bed, and Remus pulled the covers up to his chin. Remus dimmed the lights and then began to rub Harry's back soothingly. Harry's eyes fluttered closed, and despite the burning in his posterior, he soon found himself drifting off into a peaceful slumber.

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Harry had woken up with an excited sense of anticipation. It was Christmas morning. Harry smiled as he sat up in his bed. For the first time in days, he could sit with no pain. Remus had given him an early Christmas present before the Christmas Eve feast. That healing salve had worked wonders, and Harry was disappointed that there was only enough for one application. But, that was enough. He was able to sit on those hard benches in the Great Hall with no problem. He was able to relax and truly enjoy the feast.

Harry put on his slippers and made his way to the common room. No sooner had he opened the door then a big black mass of fur came barreling into him. Padfoot wagged his tail happily and licked Harry's face.

"EEEWWW! Uncle Sirius! That's gross," Harry complained.

In a flash, Padfoot was replaced by Sirius. "Happy Christmas, Prongslet!" Sirius said pulling the downed boy into a hug.

"Yes, Happy Christmas, Harry," Remus said. He had followed Sirius into Harry's room, but at a much more sedate pace.

Harry grinned. "Happy Christmas, Uncle Sirius!"

Harry pulled away from Sirius to hug Remus. "Happy Christmas, Uncle Remus!"

When Harry pulled away, Remus smiled gently. "Well, now, how about we open some presents?"

Harry beamed, and made his way to the Christmas tree.

A half an hour later found Harry admiring his gifts. Presents were still somewhat of a novelty, having never received them at the Dursleys. Harry was just about to gather them up to take them to his room when Remus stopped him.

"Wait a moment Harry, there's one more," Remus said, producing a small package from his pocket.

Curiously, Harry opened the small present and let out an excited gasp.

It was a Snitch-It!

"I take it you like it?" Remus asked with some humor in his voice.

Harry's only response was a beaming smile that said it all.