In the three seconds that Harry waited for Snape to come through the Floo, he managed to come up with eleven different reasons why none of it was his fault. His excuses ranged from "Draco made me" and "I was under the Imperious Spell" to "Luna is like a hungry animal and there's no stopping her" to "Someone offered me a hundred galleons to stage a kiss with her."

By the time Snape did appear, Harry had convinced himself that the best order of business would be to stay quiet and see what Snape had to say. Past experiences had taught him that the less he said, the better, as Harry had the unfortunate tendency to confess more than necessary when he started making excuses. So he simply waited for Snape to start.

"Into the family room," Snape pointed.

"Why am I getting yelled at?" Draco protested. "He was the one with his tongue down her throat."

"There was no tongue!" Harry objected. "Okay, maybe a little tongue, but not way down her throat. I moved it around some but . . ." he trailed off at Snape's look. Once again, the less said, the better.

"I could excuse the fact that you were conducting yourself inappropriately in public, but the fact remains that you attracted unnecessary attention. But we'll start at the beginning. Did you plan this rendezvous, without telling me?"

Harry glanced at Draco and then answered, "Yes."

"What part did Draco play in it?"

"None at all," Harry answered, lifting his chin. "It was all me."

"Liar," Draco snorted. "I planned the whole thing."

"Shut up," Harry turned furiously.

Snape grabbed Harry, spun him to the side, and brought his hand down hard four times, the spanks loud in the quiet room. "I thought we already went over lying for other people!"

"Oh, please," Harry scowled even though he didn't try to get away. "It was just a kiss. It's not like we were rolling around in the snow and taking off our clothes."

"Do I need to go get the ruler?"

"No. All right, Draco set it up, but I wanted to kiss her. And it's not his fault either. He's been reading too many romance books."

"That was supposed to be a secret," Draco huffed. "I'm not telling you anything, Potter. You're a lying little snitch, such a goody-goody, two-faced baby who doesn't -"

Harry yanked out of Snape's grasp and lunged at Draco. They wrestled against each other for a second, half-serious, half-roughhousing, but then Draco tripped over Harry's leg and he fell down on the floor.

Harry smirked at the power of his own strength. "I'd watch your mouth, Malfoy. I'll mop the ground with your skinny body."

Draco yanked the edge of the rug up and Harry staggered back a step, colliding into a side table. For an awful second, the crystal vase teetered back and forth dangerously, and then it toppled off, breaking on the floor.

"Boys!" Snape snapped.

"Sorry," Harry and Draco said in unison, both looking down in shame.

Whipping out his wand, Snape reversed the action, and the pieces of broken glass leaped back up on the table into a whole vase again.

"He tripped me," Harry claimed.

"He's like a bull in the china shop, breaking everything. Why don't you just build a barn and keep him out in a stall?" Draco sneered.

"That's it," Harry grabbed Draco under the arms and pulled him up to stand on his feet. "We go outside and deal with this, man to man. When we come back in, the loser agrees to take the blame for today."

"Bring it on, Potter," Draco pulled his hands into fists.

"I'm going to break your nose just so your face won't look so bad," Harry jeered.

"I'm going to move that scar to the other side of your forehead."

Snape had said nothing thus far, watching the two boys goad each other on. But now he spoke, stating, "You are not going to fight."

"Why not?" Harry demanded. "If we're both willing and we do it outside, why can't we fight?"

"Because you'll hurt each other."

"So what?" Draco sided with Harry. "As long as we agree to the rules, we should get to do whatever we want."

"Rules?" Harry glanced at him. "Like a boxing match?"

"Or a duel, but not with magic," Draco opted.

"I'm not allowing this," Snape said, his voice rising a bit.

"No eye gouging," Harry ignored his father.

"No fish-hooking in the mouth," Draco went on.

"Other than that, free fight," Harry grinned.

"I said no," Snape barked out.

"You can let us do this now or we'll sneak out later and fight in the woods," Draco told him. Harry nodded in agreement.

Snape looked like he was ready to strangle them both. He took a deep breath and swallowed. "If you both have to fight and I cannot convince you to do otherwise, then you must do what you must do. However, that means that I have to do what I have to do."

"That sounds fair," Draco said. "Every man for himself."

Harry gave Snape a suspicious look. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Too bad," Draco shoved against Harry's arm. "Come on, before it gets dark."

They both ran for the door, pushing against each other to be the first one out. Draco squeezed through, but Harry was right behind him. They stumbled out the front door into the cold air, Snape right behind them.

"Boys, this is completely mad. I'm not going to -"

"Shove it," Harry reached up to unclasp his cloak. He threw it towards Snape, and Snape caught it, outraged.

"Did you just throw this at -"

"Mine too," Draco tossed his cloak, and Snape impulsively caught it.

"Boys! I am not your servant, and I will not -"

"One," Harry put his fists up in front of his face in his best fighter stance.

"Two," Draco put his fists up as well.

"Three!" they yelled together.

And then the fight was on! Harry pulled his fists back, and suddenly something wrapped around his fists. He realized that he was wearing red boxing gloves, and Draco had green boxing gloves on his hands.

With a yell, Harry started towards Draco. There was lots of grunting and scuffling as they started popping each other with glove-covered fists.

The sound of shoes on gravel and bodies getting pummeled filled the air. Harry did not quite understand exactly what was compelling him to act so barbaric. Half an hour ago, he had been kissing Luna and wanting to love her forever, and now he just wanted to pound Draco into the ground, not because he really wanted to hurt Draco but because it was a terrific way to unleash all his pent-up frustration.

Harry had read something before about sex and violence being closely intertwined, and at the time he didn't really understand it, and he thought it was a silly comparison because he couldn't imagine wanting to hurt a woman he was in love with. The idea was inconceivable at the time, but as he faced off with Draco, he understood the argument a bit better. It wasn't so much as sex and violence together as it was wanting to have sex, and when he couldn't have it, wanting to get rid of his frustration some other way.

Of course, that meant that Draco wanted to have sex, too, with some girl, and Harry had the fleeting thought that a good training session would probably get all his energy out better than pounding each other into the ground.

However, it was far too late for any rational thought, and as Harry drove his padded fist into Draco's nose, he wondered how long Snape would let them fight.

Apparently longer than Snape let him do most things. The man stood on the steps, still holding the cloaks and looking like he had swallowed a lemon, but he made no move to stop them.

Draco landed a lot of punches on Harry's arms and stomach, but the few he did get on the face stung badly. Harry landed two punches on Draco's nose, but it started leaking blood, so he turned his attention to Draco's torso.

Draco had punched him in the mouth, and the pain had been numbingly blinding, but as feeling returned, Harry tasted blood. That just spurred him on, like that Muggle American movie where the men beat each other up in a club for fighting, and he started thwacking Draco even harder.

Without an adult to stop them and without either of them calling a truce, the fight kept going. They were sweating in the frigid air, panting from the exertion, and still yelling for more.

Harry turned to spit out a mouthful of blood, and Draco turned to swipe his face over his sleeve, leaving a smear of blood behind.

"Let's go," Draco shook out his shoulders.

"Absolutely," Harry stepped back into action.

Twenty-six exchanged punches later, they stepped back, gasping for air. Harry realized his ear was bleeding, and Draco had a growing bruise on his forehead.

"What if we never end this?" Draco asked, finally sounding concerned.

"Maybe we should have used magic."

"No magic," Snape said in a flat voice that meant no arguing.

"Five more minutes," Harry gulped down air. "And then we call a truce."

At the end of five minutes, they put down their gloves and stared at each other. Harry lifted one wrist to his mouth and used his teeth to loosen the straps of the boxing glove. Once it was free, he used his loose hand to take off the other. Draco did the same.

Harry put his hand out and Draco shook it. On impulse, Harry reached forward to embrace Draco with one arm, clapping his hand against the blonde's back in a rough hug. Draco returned it, and then they limped towards the front door.

Snape looked down at them in disdain. "If you are quite finished."

"We're done," Harry nodded. "Are you going to heal us, or do you want us dripping blood all over your house?"

"Don't heal me too much," Draco objected. "I want to tell the story of how I got these bruises. I'm thinking something to do with fighting off an escaped dragon."

"Oh, that's good," Harry nodded. "Maybe I could have battled Death Eaters in a dark alley. Twenty of them!"

"Nice," Draco grinned and then winced at how much that hurt.

Snape said nothing as he escorted them into the family room. He left them groaning and returned in a moment with potions.

Harry made a face at the potions, but Draco grabbed his first.

"Bet I can drink this faster than you can," he challenged.

"We'll see." Harry snatched his up.

The potion tasted nasty, of course, but Harry swallowed as fast as he could.

"Done," Draco lowered his vial a split second before Harry shouted, "Finished."

It was rather odd to watch each other heal up, but in a few minutes, the bleeding had stopped, swelling had disappeared and Harry felt only slightly achy rather than fresh from the fight.

"I don't remember why we were fighting," Harry admitted as he handed Snape the vial.

"Who knows?" Draco shrugged.

"Can we have dinner soon?" Harry asked Snape.

Snape raised his eyebrows.

What Snape did next, Harry thought, was completely out of proportion to what had happened that afternoon. Snape started yelling at them as a burst of magic picked up Draco and spun him into the far corner. Harry found himself draped over Snape's lap while the man kept up a stream of scolding as he spanked his errant son.

"Kissing and causing all that attention when you should be keeping your head down and then fighting like animals - after all I've taught you. Wicked boy, disobedient, reckless - I'm going to pound some sense into your stubborn head and I'm going to wallop you every night until Christmas and you're getting switches and coal in your stocking and you're eating the coal, and I'll let you guess what I'll do with the switches."

"Come on!" Harry interrupted the tirade. "Draco and I agreed to fight. We weren't that bad."

"Right," Draco turned from the corner, "it was just -"

"You face that corner or I'm getting out a cane," Snape snarled.

"Not fair," Harry sighed, letting his body go limp over Snape's parental lap. "We beat each other up and we get punished?"

"I'm just doing what I have to do," Snape retorted.

"Fine," Harry shrugged. "I can take a spanking better than he can."

"Cannot," Draco said from the corner.

That apparently set Snape on fire. For the next few minutes, he concentrated on spanking Harry as fast as he could, and Harry ground his teeth together and tried to brave it out. The pain of the fighting had been easier to take than this relentless spanking. While fighting, every painful punch Harry had taken he had got to return back, but when disciplined by Snape, he had to lie still and just take it.

"Fine!" Harry let out a bellow. "We're sorry. No more fighting. And I won't kiss in public or break vases."

"Pushing me towards an early grave," Snape grumbled, but he let Harry up. "Switch places with Draco."

"Oh, let Draco off," Harry urged, reaching back to rub the blaze. "He didn't mean anything."

"Sod you," Draco retorted. "I bet I don't even ask for him to stop."

"I bet you do."

"No, I won't."

"Yes, you will."

"Corner now!" Snape shouted.

Harry rolled his eyes, but he stepped into the corner and listened as Snape tugged Draco over his lap and started smacking him. Draco proved himself less resilient than Harry, and he started hollering after about five swats. Snape seemed to go on forever, but as Harry reflected from his corner, it was rather the wrong time to go about disciplining them. After getting your face smashed up, a few dozen spanks didn't seem as horrid as they normally would. Even Draco didn't beg like he had last summer.

------

By dinner, Harry had to work to keep his smile down as Snape's fury had reached the boiling point. Draco had invited himself to stay for dinner, and Harry had argued that Draco could stay because he was Snape's godson and practically family. After the spankings had been meted out and produced no tears from either party (by then Harry was pretty certain tears came from guilt rather than the actual pain of a punishment, and as he and Draco did not feel guilty for anything, they had not cried), Snape had ordered them up to Harry's room for a long time out.

Up in the room, they had amused themselves with trying to juggle Christmas ornament balls. They had a pretty good rhythm going (they were both Seekers and good at catching things in the air), but several balls did not survive the practice. When Snape came to collect them for dinner, he found the floor littered with broken colored glass and their shoes were crunching on it as they threw balls up in the air to the count of one up, two up, three switch, one up, two up, three switch. Snape, the right old curmudgeon, had not been impressed with their show and lambasted them for making such a mess.

Once at the table, there had been another shoving match for one chair just because they reached it at the same time. For that, Snape banned dessert, and Harry sat down in the free chair with a scowl.

"He started it," he glared at Draco.

"Shut it," Draco smirked.

After that, of course, it was inevitable that Harry scooped up a spoonful of potatoes and catapulted them right onto Draco's face. The food fight that followed was rather grand despite Snape's bellowing for them to stop.

------

"Good riddance," Snape slammed the front door and locked it.

Harry frowned. "He could have stayed the night. We aren't doing anything tomorrow."

Snape strode up and grabbed his left ear. "Into the corner with you, young man. You'll be standing there until bedtime while I tell you exactly what I think of such appalling behavior."

"We were just having fun," Harry sighed as he stepped into the corner. "A bit of a romp, some boxing, a little food fight - you never want me to have any fun."

"I give up," Snape dropped into a chair. "Your behavior today has been indicative of about ten different ages from a two-year-old throwing food to a sixteen-year-old who thinks he's about to get engaged."

"Do you have to go on and on?" Harry slumped.

"Do you want another spanking?"

"No."

"Then I want you to pay attention and mind me and stop causing so much trouble."

"I took it easy on Draco."

Snape paused. "What do you mean?"

"I could have hit him harder. I could have beaten him in the first few minutes. I threw most of my punches wrong, didn't bother aiming or putting too much power behind any of the hits."

"Come out of the corner and sit down," Snape directed.

Harry did so, sitting in his favorite chair across from Snape. "I think I'm ready," Harry said quietly. "I could feel my strength today. That's why I kept egging Draco on. I wanted to have a fight without magic, to see what I could do without wands."

"And?" Snape looked doubtfully.

Harry leaned forward the slightest bit. "I could have killed him. Everything you taught me about aim, and direction, and force, and everything else from the training - I remembered it all. I could have kept him from landing a single punch - I was faster than he was and so much stronger. Magic is a different game, of course, but my body is ready to fight. I could handle the pain. It didn't distract me or turn me away. I even stepped into some of his punches so I could feel what a real fight would feel like. I'm ready to fight."

Snape wore a worried look. "Harry, it's too soon -"

"Dad, I'm ready."

"No," Snape shook his head. "No, not yet. You need more time, you need more training, you need practice and better skills and endurance."

"You know I'm ready," Harry said seriously.

"I won't have it," Snape began to look frantic. "I won't have you seeking out the Dark Lord to provoke him into action. I'll lock you up here until summer before I let you do that."

"I'm not going to seek out the Dark Lord. But you're going to tell me about the spell that you're working on for Dumbledore. You're going to tell me about Moretta and what you all are planning for this upcoming war. I won't be left in the dark anymore."

Snape shook his head again. "It's too early. I can't risk you knowing."

"I have to know if I'm going to fight him," Harry insisted. "I'm the Chosen One, I'm the one that's marked. How can I fight him if I don't know what you've planned?"

"It's too risky. If you knew, you would act on your own. And at the worst, he might torture you to learn our secrets."

"I would never talk," Harry declared.

"Don't be a fool - everyone talks on the third day."

Harry bit his lip. "Please, please tell me. Let me know so I can help. I've helped before, I've fought before, it's always about me, Dad. Let me help."

"No, I'm not ready to give you up. It's too soon - I haven't even had a full year with you here."

"We can fight him, and we'll be free."

"One Christmas," Snape was almost pleading. "Give me this one Christmas. Let me have one happy Christmas with you here, and in the New Year, I'll tell you everything."

Harry watched him with a sinking stomach.

"That's all I'm asking," Snape went on. "Just one Christmas. I should get to have one of those without worrying about the future. I want one happy Christmas to enjoy my new family. Don't I deserve that much?"

Harry wanted to argue, to demand that Snape tell him, but that didn't seem fair. Harry remembered his first Christmas at Hogwarts, happy with new friends and presents and excitement everywhere. Didn't Snape want the same thing?

"One Christmas," Harry agreed. "But January 1st, you tell me everything, and I mean every last thing. What you're doing for the Order, what the plan is, what is this special spell, where you went all last summer and over Halloween - I want to know everything. You owe it to me."

"Agreed," Snape looked very somber.

Harry leaned back in his chair. He felt frustration bite at him again, but he pushed it down, forcing himself to remain calm and reasonable. After all Snape had done for him, Harry knew he did owe Snape at least one good Christmas. Afterwards, it might be full-out war, but they would have this one Christmas to look back on and remember all the happiness. Snape should have one happy memory like that.

"Do I want to know how you found out about the spell?" Snape asked quietly.

"No, you don't. It's my secret."

"Would it change your mind if I threatened to spank you?"

"Not really."

"Oh," Snape covered his eyes with a hand. "You're growing up. Kissing in public, no longer responding to threats, making all sorts of demands - when did you start changing from an insecure teenager to this?" he motioned at Harry.

"I don't know," Harry tried not to smirk as he reached for the bell to ring for tea. "I guess it was something I had to do."