4Author's Note: This chapter contains corporal punishment of a child. If you do not wish to read this content, feel free to skip this chapter. It will not be a main feature of the story and skipping this chapter will not impede your understanding of the story. I debated a long time even keeping this scene in, but it feels too important to Snape's background, who he is as a character, and how he later develops in the story to omit.
Then, as though summoned by her thought Professor Snape entered into the flat looking even more sour than usual. His black eyes locked on Catarina's and she knew at once she had made a very big mistake.
He took one look at her sitting at the table unsupervised and then-
"Bodi!" he shouted.
The house elf appeared in an instant.
"Master Snape is calling Bodi?" he squeaked nervously.
"Why are you not keeping an eye on Miss Halliwell?" he asked in a low tone.
"Bodi is terribly sorry Master Snape! Bodi tries. Bodi be watching Miss Halliwell all morning and when she tries to leave, he sticks her to the floor and magicks her into a chair so she stays. But Miss tricked Bodi, Sir! Bodi is trying to be a good elf and fetch a sharpening knife for Miss but when Bodi returns she is not at the table but knocking over Master Snape's things in the lavatory and making a mess for Bodi to clean. But Bodi is making sure to stick Miss to the chair this time so she can't cause more trouble. Bodi apologizes greatly, Master Snape."
"I think Miss Halliwell is the one who should be apologizing," he said in a soft, dangerous voice as he strode over to the bathroom to check on the damage. "Finish cleaning this up and then you may leave for the remainder of the period."
Bodi scurried back into the lav and Professor Snape turned toward his young charge.
"That's not exactly what happened," Catarina stammered out. "He walked in on me in the loo! I wasn't trying to-"
"Were you or were you not meant to be writing lines this morning?"
"I was until-"
"Did Bodi not inform you that you would be permitted a break only when you completed a fair amount of work or if an emergent need arose?"
"Not until I-"
"And yet you still put more effort into causing mayhem than you did to focus on your work, is that correct?"
"No!"
"Don't lie to me," he hissed menacingly. "I can see the defiance written all over your face. You might think yourself clever for tricking a house elf, but I do not take kindly to bratty antics. Do you recall my instructing you not to touch my personal items?"
Catarina felt a flip-flopping sensation in her stomach as she answered, "Yes, but I-"
"But nothing!" he spoke over her. "You were given a clear set of rules and have cast them aside time and time again. It is high time you have learned, Miss Halliwell, that actions have consequences. Come here."
Catarina remained frozen at the kitchen table and this time it had nothing to do with elf magic.
Snape's words from last night rang in her ears: The usual rules barring corporal punishment do not apply
Her mother had smacked her on occasion, but only ever one slap at a time as a warning of sorts. It wasn't really corporal punishment. That phrase sounded more like her primary school teachers. Like old Mrs. Stuckley who would rapp a ruler against their knuckles if they didn't write their letters correctly while they were learning penmanship. Or Mr. Nary who once smacked Robert Rose six times on the rear in front of the whole playground for pushing a girl off the bleachers. It hadn't looked pleasant.
But maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Even when Mrs. Stuckley rapped her on the back of her hand for making her cursive Zs look more like Ds, it only stung for a few minutes before fading away. And if Snape went by the same rules as her primary school, she couldn't get more than 9 smacks since that's how old she was.
"You do not want to test my patience, Miss Halliwell," Snape warned. "You are in enough trouble as it is."
Slowly, the girl stood and walked towards him. He took a seat on the settee and beckoned her closer. She shuffled over, biting her lip and once she was within arm's reach, his hand shot out to grab her by the wrist. He pulled her to his side and then yanked hard, sending her tumbling over his knees.
Catarina grunted and tried to adjust herself, but an arm laid across her back was holding her down. She turned her head to see Snape's other hand raising a ruler and then-
The first smack hit hard and Catarina could feel the sting even through her robes.
"I hope," Snape began to lecture he landed another smack right below the first, causing Catarina to squirm, "This may serve," the ruler struck again, "as an effective deterrent," two smacks landed in quick succession and Catarina yelped, "from your abhorrent behaviour." His words were punctuated with another two sharp hits across her rear.
Laying across Snape's bony knees was uncomfortable enough, but the sting in her bum kept intensifying with every hit and all Catarina could do was grip onto a fistful of Snape's robes and wait for it to end. Just two more... just two more... Catarina told herself.
The next hit came and then the next.
Thinking it had to be over, Catarina tried to push herself off. Snape's arm still restrained her and now he adjusted his knees so that her bum was angled even higher, her nose dipped closer to the floor.
"You've had this coming for quite some time now," he said as he kept bringing the ruler down again and again, aiming for the sensitive area where her bum met her thighs and it hurt so much worse than any rapp to the knuckles ever did.
And he still wasn't stopping.
Catarina's legs started to kick out involuntarily after each strike and it was getting harder and harder to keep from crying out.
He was supposed to stop after nine. Why wouldn't he stop?
Her breathing started to become ragged as she gasped out with each strike.
Catarina was starting to panic. What if he never stopped?
It stung so bad. She wanted to move, to get away, to do something to take the ever-growing soreness away and found her hand moving of its own accord to cover her bum. It was swiftly pinned to the small of her back by the arm across her back and Snape resumed.
"Please, no more!" she pleaded, "That's enough!"
"Clearly it isn't if you still think you are in a position to make demands," Snape replied, giving her another hard swat. Mercifully, he then paused his onslaught.
Catarina could feel the ruler resting against the back of her thighs and she didn't dare move.
"Why are you being punished, Miss Halliwell?"
"For breaking your thing?"
"Go on."
"T-touching your stuff without permission. Tricking Bodi to go away so I could stop writing. Not doing Filch's letter. Getting in trouble." She took a shuddering breath between each transgression and by the time she go to Filch's letter, the tears had started to fall.
"Yes. And why is it you've been so set on getting into trouble from the moment you arrived?"
Catarina shook her head against his leg, getting snot and tears over his robes. She hadn't been set on getting into trouble exactly; she only wanted to leave the castle and expulsion seemed like the best way to do it. But instead of getting expelled and sent back to the train station where she could have gone off to try to find her father, she found herself stuck with Snape, getting smacked. He didn't listen to her when she tried to say she didn't mean to break his potions vial. Why would he listen about her plan to find her father?
"Very well then. You have five more strokes coming."
"No!"
"Care to make that ten?" he asked coldly.
"No, sir," she mumbled into his robes and tightened her grip on his leg to brace herself.
The ruler came down fast and hard, sending her squirming and crying out but Snape remained unmoved. Catarina's whole bottom was burning and she swore to herself that she would never do anything that would risk this kind of punishment again. Why had she touched Snape's medicine cabinet to begin with? She couldn't even remember but no curiosity was worth this.
After the last thwack landed, Catarina barely registered that Snape had released her wrist and was no longer keeping an arm over her to keep her still. Her legs still kicked out in an attempt to ease the sting. She nearly wriggled herself off his lap and onto the floor when Snape's voice made her freeze.
"Enough. It is done," he commanded. He pried her hand off his robes, helped her to her feet and then steered her towards an empty corner of the sitting room.
"Compose yourself and do not move from this spot until I say," he hissed. "Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir," she breathed shakily, her voice still thick with tears.
She waited until he retreated and she thought he left the room to softly add, "I am sorry."
. . .
Catarina didn't know how long Professor Snape left her in the corner for.
It was long enough for her tears to subside, her breathing to even, and for the sting in her bum to fade to an uncomfortable, lingering heat.
"Go wash up," Snape's voice startled her out of her thoughts. "It's past lunch time."
She jumped at the sudden break in silence and scurried off to the loo to wash her splotchy face. The mess she had made with his potions was gone and she had no desire to rifle through his things again. She took care to wash up as quickly as possible just to keep him from thinking she was doing something she shouldn't be.
When Catarina made her way back into the main room, there was a sandwich and goblet of pumpkin juice waiting for her in the kitchen. Snape was marking papers in the sitting area and Catarina took great care to stay as far from him as possible as she walked over to the table.
The corners of Professor Snape's mouth curled slightly but he didn't speak.
The silence was unnerving and Catarina only nibbled on her sandwich, casting wary glances towards Snape every now and then.
It didn't escape the professor's notice that his charge kept looking at him as though he might hex the sandwich right out of her hands.
Good, he thought. A little fear went a long way in keeping students in line and it seemed Miss Halliwell was no exception. He took no pleasure in using corporal punishment on a student, but Dumbledore had told him he had free reign to act in loco parentis as he saw fit and he knew his own father would have hit him much harder with a belt if he had broken his father's things as a boy.
Besides, as Head of House he had witnessed enough sniffling children leaving his office after a visit from their parents to correct a misdemeanor to know this form of punishment was par for the course- especially when more routine punishments have already failed.
He was not going to let himself feel guilty for punishing a terror of a child, he told himself. He gave her no more than she deserved and far less than what he could have, given her long list of misdeeds.
Sipping his tea and ignoring the fearful glances cast his way, Snape convinced himself that he had taken the best course of action. Now he just had to hope that the lesson would stick.