Harry crossed the Great Hall quickly; he did not want to be forced into a conversation with anybody. However, just when he wanted to descend the stairs to the dungeons, he saw Malfoy at a distance.  As usual, he was flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Harry swallowed hard but figured it would be better to do it before his detention.

‘Oi, Malfoy, wait!'

The three boys turned around, and seeing who it was, they drew their wands immediately. Having three wands aimed at him wasn't a very encouraging sight, but nevertheless, Harry approached them, raising his own wand to defend himself just in case. He struggled for words.

‘Listen Malfoy, I'm sorry I threw that curse at you.  I didn't know what it does, and I didn't mean to injure you so seriously.'

Malfoy looked at him, a little uneasily at first.  Then he sneered.

‘So Potter, you're sorry? I bet what you're really sorry about is getting thrashed like I've been told it is still customary in muggle boarding schools. So maybe it's good that you already made yourself familiar with it, because once the Dark Lord has taken over and all mudbloods go to muggle schools where they belong, maybe you'll join them... But no, I forgot, you won't survive the day he takes over!'

‘Shut up, Malfoy,' Harry replied, trying to remain calm. ‘I said I'm sorry and I meant it, so if you'd get out of my way, I have to go to detention.' Harry turned to leave.

‘Oh, so you're going to be caned again? Maybe I should ask if I am allowed to watch!'

‘SHUT UP!!' Harry roared. ‘JUST PISS OFF!'

‘MR. POTTER!'

Harry swung around and blanched. Professor McGonagall, of all people, approached them, her mouth very thin.

Great, just the person who was still missing today ...

‘I will not tolerate any student shouting in a way I just heard from you. If you didn't already have a detention appointed right now, you would have one with me.'

‘Yes, professor,' Harry muttered. ‘May I leave?'

‘You may, and you'd better hurry, or you'll be late.'

Harry hurried on, but still took the time to lock himself in a toilet to finally have a look at his backside. During his walk with Ron and Hermione, the throbbing had subsided, but Harry was still in a lot of pain. He swallowed hard as he looked over his shoulder at the red weals.   Harry figured that the pain would last for quite a while.

How am I supposed to sit down on my bum? Harry thought about his detention and shuddered.

If he just summoned Dobby now, the elf would surely apparate right here in the toilet, could get him Murtlap essence quickly, and his detention would not be so unbearable. After all, he had already embarrassed himself by sobbing in front of Snape. And Harry was not keen on seeing his professor sneer while he watched him squirm on his chair. But on the other hand, Harry had promised Hermione not to do anything...

Shrugging, he left the toilet.

A moment later he found himself in front of Snape's office. He knocked, entered when he heard Snape's voice, and quietly closed the door behind him.

‘Evening, sir', he said a little stiffly.

Snape was sitting at his desk, obviously marking homework essays.

‘Ah. Potter. Sit.' He pointed at the chair on the opposite side of his desk. 

‘Erm... Sir, if you don't mind, I'd rather stand,' Harry tried his luck, eyeing the hard-looking wooden chair in dread.

‘I am aware of that, Potter, however, I said SIT.'

Feeling Snape's observing eyes boring into him, Harry carefully lowered himself into the chair. He didn't want to show any weakness.

Gosh, that hurts like hell...

Squirming to find a comfortable position, Harry figured now would be as good an opportunity as any to bring up the ultimate question:

'Sir, I was wondering if, before we start, I might ask you a favour...'

Snape frowned. ‘What kind of favour?'

‘It's about detention this coming Saturday.  It's the last Quidditch match, and I was wondering if I could maybe serve it another day...'

Harry felt as anxious as he did last year when he had tried to persuade Professor Umbridge to change the time of his detention.  And just like on that occasion he knew it would be useless before he finished.

‘Oh no, Potter. We are not postponing any detention. Poor Gryffindor... no Quidditch cup this year, I presume. Remind me, what was last year's Quidditch ban for?' Snape inquired, raising his eyebrows.

‘For hitting Malfoy,' Harry muttered. He was sure that Snape remembered very well and had asked just to torment him.

‘Indeed. So this time you will not be able to play because you almost killed Mr Malfoy. It would be ridiculous to let you play after this, wouldn't it?'

Harry didn't know how to respond. ‘Last year's ban wasn't fair,' he finally said.

‘For Merlin's sake, Potter, I'm not going to discuss this with you now. I will see you here this Saturday at ten o'clock, on time. And while we are speaking about it, why are you late?'

Harry didn't like the look on his professor's face. Had he really been late?

‘I‘m sorry, sir. It's just...I met Malfoy on my way here and I wanted to go ahead and apologize to him.'

He remembered McGonagall's indignance about his swearing and blushed.

Snape eyed him suspiciously. ‘So, did you apologize?'

‘Yeah, I did', Harry replied, not meeting his professor's eyes.

Snape leaned forward. ‘Look at me, Potter.'

Harry obeyed, feeling uncomfortable. Snape's voice was a dangerous whisper.

‘Potter, I know that you have lied to me on various occasions. But I will not accept anything but the complete truth from you today. If I catch you lying about anything, you will sorely regret it. Is that clear?'

Harry just nodded, unable to say anything.

‘Good. So I repeat my question, and you had better think twice about your answer, because I know you are hiding something,' Snape said slowly. ‘Did you apologize?'

Harry swallowed hard.

‘Yes, I really did! But then he teased me about...my punishment, and...well, I ended up shouting at him,' he admitted, feeling his stomach plummet when he saw his professor frown.

‘Ah. Mr Malfoy teased you, and you shouted at him. So had you expected him to accept your apology gratefully? May I remind you that you almost killed him? You used a curse you did not know, caused him pain and the loss of a dangerous amount of blood. I am only glad that the Headmaster for once consented to an appropriate punishment for you. I only hope that during our short...encounter in the Potions classroom I gave you enough opportunity to think about your actions!'

Harry felt his temper rise. ‘Can't you just leave it? I know that I deserved what I got.  Do you have to rub it in?' he asked angrily.

‘Manners, Potter,' Snape said dangerously. ‘So you are trying to make me believe, in your usual disrespectful manner, of course, that you accept having been justly punished?'

‘Yes,' Harry answered uncomfortably, and to his horror, felt himself blushing again. He quickly looked down at the floor. In this moment Harry realized that it was true. He knew he deserved it.  And although sitting was very painful, he felt no anger towards Snape.

‘Hold out your hands, Potter.'

Harry's head jumped up. ‘What?'

‘Hold out your hands. Now.' Snape's eyes flashed.

Dreading what would come next, Harry slowly stretched out his hands. Snape grabbed his left hand first, examined it from all sides then did the same with the right hand. Harry could see the smallest hint of a smirk when Snape ran his finger over the still visible scars of ‘I must not tell lies'.

‘This is a souvenir of Professor Umbridge, I suppose?' he inqired.

Harry merely nodded.

‘I see. Did you use anything on your hand then?'

‘Yes, I used Murtlap essence.'

‘You should have used dittany as well; that would have prevented the scars.'

Snape finally let go of both hands and looked into Harry's eyes again.

‘You do not cease to surprise me today, Potter,' he said quietly. ‘I cannot believe you actually followed an order without trying to cheat.'

Harry shook his head. ‘I don't know what you're talking about, sir.' he said.

Snape sighed. ‘The cane I used on you had been charmed. You didn't know this, I suppose?'

Harry silently shook his head.

‘Well , I am not surprised, as it is not an artefact that is still in use, under normal circumstances at least,' he added sarcastically and Harry blushed again, wondering silently how many more times his face was going to turn red that evening.

‘However,' Snape continued, ‘if you think about it, I am sure you will agree with me that it would be rather ineffective to use a normal, Muggle cane to discipline students at Hogwarts.'

Harry stared at him, bewildered. Thinking about the punishment he had had to endure just two hours ago, he could not figure out just what about it might be classified as ineffective.

‘Think Potter,' Snape said impatiently, ‘if caning were still a usual means of punishment, don't you think that every house would have their private stocks of healing salves in their common room?'

‘Er, yes, probably,' Harry replied, slowly getting an idea of where Snape was aiming, but still wondering why Snape had wanted to look at his hands.

‘Of course they would,' Snape confirmed. ‘You used Murtlap essence last year. So the charm works that way: As soon as the well-punished student tries to meddle with the weals he received, it would not only fail to work, but would also result in other weals on his hands.'

‘So he would just cause more pain to himself?' Harry asked.

‘Yes, as well as getting into trouble with his teacher for trying. But this hardly ever happened, as the existence of this charm used to be common knowledge among the students of Hogwarts.'

Harry nodded silently. Thanks Hermione... He felt grateful towards his friend and knew she would be very interested in learning about this charm. He couldn't suppress a small grin.

Snape was eyeing him suspiciously. ‘What is it, Potter?'

‘Erm, nothing really. I just realized that Hogwarts: A History doesn't reveal everything after all, otherwise Hermione would have told me about it. For once I know something of Hogwart's history that she doesn't.  So you did that on purpose, didn't you...not telling me that magic wouldn't work and it'd just have to heal naturally?' he finished, trying to keep his voice polite and not accusing.

Hey, Hermione, at least I'm trying to be respectful...

His professor inclined his head. ‘Indeed I did Potter, and I assure you that had you tried to use magic in spite of my explicit order not to, you would be very sorry for that by now. However, it is not true that no magic would help. The charm just ensures that any healing spell has to be performed - or salve applied - by the same person who used the cane.' He hesitated for a moment. ‘So Potter, should you feel the need, you may come and see me tomorrow after breakfast, before you go to attend your first class.'

Harry stared at him, open-mouthed. When he became aware of his expression, he snapped it shut quickly, emitting a bewildered ‘Thank you, sir.' It would be so good not having to sqirm on the hard chairs through all of tomorrow's lessons, the first actually being with Snape himself. Nevertheless, Harry doubted that he would go to see his teacher after breakfast - he appreciated the offer, but he had a hard time seeing himself lowering his trousers to let Snape of all people treat his bum! On the other hand, he realized that he was just having his first ever conversation with Snape on civil terms. He hesitated and said:

‘I'll see how I feel tomorrow, sir.'

Snape noddded. ‘All right. Back to your detentions.  I want to use them to make sure that today's incident will never, ever happen again. You do not have your temper under control-that is your problem, Potter! And if you don't learn to have more control over yourself, you will continue to end up in trouble not only at school! You failed dismally to control your emotions last year during our Occlumency lessons, and I can only hope that, meanwhile, you will agree that this is a weakness that you, of all people, cannot afford! That said, this is what we will work on during your detentions.'

‘Yes, sir, but we're not restarting Occlumency lessons, are we?' Harry stammered.

Snape gave him a grim smile. ‘Not unless I have to. But we will see. Anyway, it is in your hands how many detentions will be necessary. But today is the first step. You will write an essay on your lack of control and the consequences. Make sure you give examples.'

Harry felt a trace of self-mockery. ‘That shouldn't be too difficult then.'

He could have sworn he saw a smile on his teacher's face for a millisecond.

‘Indeed, Potter.'

Snape pointed to a small desk at the other side of the room, which had some empty rolls of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink on top.

‘Get started then.'

Harry walked over to the other table and suppressed a groan when he sat down again. He tried to find a comfortable position on the chair but couldn't. He thought that for once scrubbing out cauldrons would have been more enjoyable! On the other hand he had to admit to himself that the task Snape had set him was something he might actually take a profit from if he really tried to cooperate. He had anticipated that Snape would make him do tedious, pointless work.

Wincing, but trying to ignore the ache in his backside, he smoothed out the first roll of parchment and thought about what he could write.

‘Stand up,' Harry heard Snape command suddenly.

Bewildered, he stood up and looked at Snape, who doled out a quick flick of his wand. Harry's desk suddenly increased in height, allowing Harry to write his essay while standing.

Harry felt relieved and gave his teacher a quick, but honest smile.

‘Thank you, sir.'

The green eyes found the black and Snape nodded.

‘You're welcome, Mr Potter.'