An extension of the Second Chances world set in between parts 1 & 2 of the series.

"This is completely unacceptable," Snape said as his eyes bored into his young charge's. "I expect an explanation at once."

"I don't really have one," Harry replied. He forced his voice to remain at its normal volume. He knew that his guardian hated when he answered in a mumble.

"Were you unaware that an examination was to take place?" Snape asked. Not that such carelessness would be acceptable but at least it was an excuse of sorts.

Harry debated lying but he knew that if Snape asked Professor Binns he could easily learn the truth. Aside from that, he didn't really care for lying to his guardian.

"No Sir."

"Are you having difficulty with the material?" Snape questioned. If the boy was having difficulty Snape vowed that he would help him as much as he possibly could.

Once again Harry thought about lying but quickly decided against it. Snape was mad enough as it was. Harry didn't have any desire to make the man even angrier.

"No Sir."

"As it stands my patience is running exceptionally thin. It would do you well to heed me and explain yourself."

Harry swallowed hard before looking up at his guardian. "I guess I just forgot about it."

Snape's eyebrow rose knowingly. "Forgot?"

"Maybe not," Harry admitted as he thought back on Hermione reminding him and Ron to study several times. At the time Quidditch and Exploding Snap had seemed so much more important. "Forgot to study – or ran out of time to. I didn't forget about the test – not really anyway."

Harry watched as Snape's eyes narrowed. "This is completely inadmissible."

"I didn't do it on purpose," Harry tried to explain.

"You accidently forgot to study I suppose?" Snape huffed.

Harry nodded.

"This behavior is capricious at best," Snape snapped.

"You aren't being fair," Harry declared in an agitated voice. "It was one little exam."

"It was the third exam that you have managed to fail this term."

Harry looked up at his guardian. The man looked angry. The lines in his forehead were extremely noticeable and his lips were pressed into a tight line. His eyes were narrowed. Everything about his demeanor screamed at Harry to stop but he couldn't bring himself to listen.

"Big deal," Harry huffed. "I'll get my marks up before the end of term."

Snape's eyes narrowed a considerable amount; an action that a second ago, Harry would have thought impossible.

"Restriction," Snape said the word sternly. "For the next four weeks you will spend all of your free time down here doing schoolwork."

"That isn't fair," Harry replied through clenched teeth.

"Life is not fair. As it stands you should be thanking your lucky stars that restriction is the only punishment that you are receiving. However, if you receive another failing grade due to sheer laziness, I will see to it that you are unable to sit while studying."

Under normal circumstances Harry would have back peddled and apologized while blushing profusely but today was different. Snape was acting ridiculous and Harry had had enough.

"I'm going to be late for Herbology," he replied in a flippant tone.

"Harry."

The tone sent a chill down Harry's spine. He was unfortunately more than aware of the consequences that that tone typically carried.

"What?" The word came out with more attitude than he had intended but he did not correct it or apologize for it. "I am."

"You will report back here after class and you will do so without this attitude that you have adopted."

"Fine," Harry replied hotly before turning on his heel. The moment that his guardian could no longer see his face he rolled his eyes. He knew that doing so was immature at best but he didn't care. As far as he was concerned, Snape was being impossible.

"I believe the assignment was to write a detailed description on how to dissect a puffpod," Professor Sprout said loudly. "I will collect those now."

Harry inwardly groaned as he realized his mistake.

Professor Sprout waved her hand causing the assignments to float off of the tables in front of the students and across the room to her.

"You did it, didn't you?" Hermione asked in a hushed tone. She could clearly remember sitting in the library two nights prior. She was working on an assignment for Ancient Runes but she was positive that both Harry and Ron had been working on Herbology.

Harry nodded. "I forgot it. It's up on my bed." He watched as Hermione's face changed from concern to sympathy. Although Professor Sprout was an exceptionally nice teacher, she rarely, if ever, let students turn in assignments late.

"Mr. Potter," Professor Sprout spoke loudly. "I couldn't help but notice that you did not turn in an essay."

"It's in my dormitory," Harry quickly explained. He decided against offering to bring it down to her after class. He knew what the answer would be and he knew that it would not be in his favor.

"That marks the second time this month Mr. Potter," Professor Sprout scolded. "The assignment is of little good to me lying carelessly in your dormitory."

"I could go get it." The words tumbled out of Harry's mouth against his own will. He saw Ron in his peripheral vision shake his head as if Harry could take the words that he had just spoken back.

"I'm certain that you know my stance on students handing in assignments late however, this once I will make an exception."

"You will?" Harry asked in a hopeful voice.

"You may turn the essay in tomorrow with an additional two feet added to it for your carelessness," she said in a kind voice.

Harry could feel his blood begin to boil. Snape knew that he had completed the essay. If the man saw him working on it he would have to explain to his guardian why he was. He was nearly positive that doing so would only make Snape cross.

"No," Harry replied in a defiant voice.

Once again he saw Ron shaking his head, a concerned look now plastered on his best mate's face.

"Harry," Hermione hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Excuse me Mr. Potter? The assignment is not up for debate. Either you will do the extra work or I will not accept it at all." The kindness that her tone had once held had vanished leaving a level of sternness that Harry had never experienced from her.

"No," Harry said the word once more this time with a bit more attitude. "I shouldn't have to do extra work when I already did the assignment. That isn't fair."

"It is not fair to your fellow students that their class time is being held up by your outburst now as I just said –"

"They don't care," Harry dared to interrupt her. "And you aren't being fair. I told you, I did the assignment! I should be able to hand it in late!"

Silence reigned for several long moments before Professor Sprout cleared her throat.

"You will remove yourself from this classroom Mr. Potter." Professor Sprout's voice was stern yet anyone could see that her actions pained her.

Harry felt the eyes of his classmates on him. Normally he would be feeling more remorseful by the moment but today was different. Today he didn't care. He didn't care if he was in trouble with her or Snape or anyone else.

He shoved his book into his satchel before flinging it over his shoulder, nearly hitting Neville with it in the process.

Harry rushed out of the classroom.

He stomped down the long hallway that led away from the greenhouse and back to the castle. He couldn't believe how insanely unfair Professor Sprout was. If she had just let him run up to his dormitory and get the bloody essay everything would have been fine. It was a stupid rule that they weren't allowed to do so.

He felt the temperature rise as he put more distance between himself and the greenhouse.

A moment later he made a sharp right and walked directly into his guardian nearly knocking himself onto the ground in the process.

"What on Earth are you doing out of class?"

Harry was silent as he searched for the correct words to explain his situation without making his guardian go completely mental. He couldn't lie. As much as he wished he could he knew that doing so would only lead to more trouble.

"I am waiting for an explanation Harry," Snape said after a long moment of silence.

Harry slowly opened his mouth to try and explain when a scroll appeared in the air next to his guardian.

Harry watched as Snape plucked it from the air and unrolled the parchment, a stern expression taking over his face as he did.

"Snape listen I…"

Harry's words drifted off as his guardian took a firm hold of his right arm. With ease the man turned him to the side and brought his hand thundering down on the boy's backside.

Harry instantly pulled himself from Snape's grip. "We are in the hallway," Harry accused in a pained hushed voice. His bum felt like it was on fire. He blinked madly in an attempt to keep his tears at bay.

For a second Snape felt a wave of guilt at his actions. He had placed a wordless silencing charm around them though and he was sure that no one else was in the hall. "And unless you would like your punishment to continue here I suggest that you march yourself down to our parlor this instant."

"I didn't do anything wrong," Harry dared to answer in a flippant tone.

"Pomona Sprout has not had to ask a student to leave her class yet this school term. If she asked you to do so I am positive that she had good reason. Not to mention I witnessed the attitude you displayed before you left for her class."

"Yeah so?" A small voice in the back of Harry's mind was begging him to shut his mouth, run to the parlor as quickly as he could, and once Snape arrived to beg for forgiveness. He was ignoring that voice though, as far as he was concerned it was speaking rubbish.

Harry watched as his guardian's eyes narrowed. His nostrils flared as his lips went into a tight line. "You will go down to your room this instant where you will wait for me," Snape instructed. "If you are unable to do so then mark my words Harry I will find the nearest empty classroom and your punishment will take place there regardless of who will be able to witness it."

Harry was pretty sure that the man was bluffing. He was nearly certain that Snape wouldn't go back on his word. It didn't matter how angry his guardian was, Harry knew that Snape believed in keeping his promises. Still, he also didn't want to push him and discover that in this instance Snape didn't care about promises.

Without uttering a single word, Harry turned on his heel and marched away from his guardian and towards the dungeons.

He set off with every intention to listen to Snape before he could get himself into any more trouble but somehow he suddenly decided that he didn't care what Snape thought or did.

At the last possible moment he turned down a long hallway, veering off his track. With every stomp of his feet against the hard castle floor he could feel his anger growing. Snape was being completely unfair about everything. Harry was absolutely sure that no one had ever been treated as horribly as he was being treated right this second.

He halted to a stop, giving the Fat Lady the correct password before stomping through the Gryffindor common room and up to his dormitory.

Snape had sent him to his room and the man hadn't specified which room. Harry knew that his logic was stupid at best. His guardian wasn't daft. The man knew that Harry was aware of exactly which bedroom he was supposed to go to. But in his anger Harry didn't care. His guardian could send Minka and Kermy to fetch him all that he wanted, Harry wasn't going to leave his bed until he wanted to and there wasn't anything that Snape could do about it.

As if his thoughts had conjured her up, Minka appeared with a pop next to his bed.

"Master Harry," the small elf said in a worried tone. "Master Snape requests your presence immediately."

"No," Harry replied defiantly. He watched as Minka flinched slightly at his response and instantly felt a wave of guilt wash over him for speaking so rudely to her. "I'm sorry Minka," he continued in a much gentler voice. "But I'm not going down there and you can tell him I said that."

"He's quite cross with you – angry actually," Minka replied in a small voice. "Defiance can only upset him more."

"I don't care," Harry replied as he desperately tried to block out Minka's words and convince himself that he truly did not care. He silently reminded himself of how unfairly he was being treated. It didn't help that he hadn't been in trouble with his guardian in weeks and that, despite how he was acting, he didn't want to muck that up.

"Master Harry," Minka tried once more in a gentle voice. "If you would just…"

"No," Harry cut her off as he rolled onto his side, his back now facing her. "I'm not going."

She sighed softly before a popping sound alerted Harry that she had left.

He took a deep breath as he willed himself not to cry. He was confused by his own emotions. A part of him wanted nothing more than to see Snape's face when Minka reported back to him. He felt smug in his decision to ignore his guardian's demands and stand his ground. He felt sorry for himself at how unfairly he was being treated. Another part of him however felt absolutely wretched for how he was treating Snape. That part of him wanted nothing more than to throw himself into the man's arms and sob his apologizes into his dark black cloak until Snape swore that he forgave him.

The squeak of the door opening pulled Harry from his thoughts as he quickly sat up. For a split second he swore that he was dreaming and he nearly pinched himself to see if he was truly awake.

"At your age I would have imagined that you were far too old for such blatant disrespect and disobedience, but clearly I was very wrong."

Harry noted that although the man sounded plenty mad he was not yelling. His voice was low – chilling.

Harry opened his mouth to respond but before he could utter a single sound his guardian continued.

"You will accompany me down to the parlor where you and I will discuss your atrocious behavior. If you refuse to do so then I will turn you over my knee right here in your dormitory with no regard to the fact that your classmates will be returning for a free period in roughly five minutes."

Slowly Harry slid off of his bed.

"You can't just be mad," he practically begged in a sad voice. "You have to let me try to explain."

Snape fought the urge to roll his eyes at the child's dramatics. "I do not recall ever refusing you the right to explain yourself," Snape replied. "Now let's go."

Without putting up even a bit of a fight, Harry followed his guardian out of his dormitory and down the winding staircase.

The pair walked in silence through the castle halls. Harry was silently praying that they would not run into anyone. It wouldn't have taken a genius to see that Snape was angry and that Harry was in trouble. The expressions on both of their faces would have given them away instantly.

Far too soon for Harry's liking Snape waved his hand causing the heavy door that led to his parlor to swing open.

Harry slowly followed the man inside, the door closing loudly behind him.

Snape turned on his heel and looked sternly down at his son. He would have liked to summon the paddle and go to work on the boy's backside until he was sure that Harry would never pull a similar stunt again. Months ago he likely would have done just that. They had come a long way from where they had begun though, and he wasn't about to take giant leaps backwards. He cared far too much for Harry to react so harshly.

"Was there some confusion as to which bedroom I expected you to report to?"

Harry nearly nodded but he knew that Snape would never buy it. "No Sir." He paused for a moment before continuing. "You weren't being fair. You don't even know my side of why I got kicked out of class and you are already mad about it."

"Think about the words that you just said," Snape replied willing his temper to remain under control. "You were asked to leave class. Are you honestly able to tell me that Professor Sprout did so without good reason?"

"She wasn't being fair," Harry insisted. "I forgot my assignment in my dormitory and she wouldn't let me go and get it."

Snape pinched the bridge of his nose as Harry's words washed over him. The root of all of their current problems were stemming from Harry's grades and now the child was seriously going to tell him that he forgot to take his assignment to class. Snape suddenly felt an enormous amount of sympathy for any parent of a teenager as he felt himself age ten years in two minutes.

"I did the assignment," Harry continued. "All she had to do was let me go and get it."

"Is it not your responsibility to attend your classes prepared?"

"Well yeah but –"

"If I recall we had a conversation less than an hour ago in regards to your grades. One would think that after being placed on restriction you would perhaps be motivated to remember to take your work to class with you."

"I just forgot."

"And Professor Sprout asked you to leave her class for forgetting?"

Although Snape did not feel as though it was his place to tell someone how to run their classroom he did feel that asking a child to leave class for a careless mistake was a bit hasty. He also felt that he knew Pomona well enough to know that there was more to the story.

"Well no," Harry admitted after a long pause of silence. "She said that I could turn it in later but that I had to do two more feet for forgetting it."

Snape raised an eyebrow at these words. "Go on."

"And I told her that she was being unfair," Harry replied. He watched as the anger swept across his guardian's face. "She was being unfair."

"From what I understand under normal circumstances, in Professor Sprout's classroom when a student forgets to bring an assignment to class they are unable to turn it in at all. The sheer fact that she was willing to make an exception for you is more than fair Harry."

Harry was silent as he digested the words. His guardian was right. Normally he wouldn't be allowed to turn in late work at all – with or without the extra work added to it.

"Am I wrong in assuming that the attitude that you left here with accompanied you to class and made an appearance there as well?"

Harry thought about denying his behavior. But there was no point in doing so. If Snape wanted to know the truth he could easily find it out which would only result in Harry being in trouble again in the future.

"Kind of," he finally replied in a soft voice. He was beginning to have a hard time remembering exactly why he felt that everyone had been so unfair to him.

An annoyed sigh escaped the man's mouth.

"If a teacher is willing to work with you, you will cooperate and do as they say," Snape instructed sternly. "Furthermore I never want to hear of you responding rudely to a Professor in class or outside of the classroom setting am I clear?"

Harry nodded in agreement.

"It will also do you well to remember that should I ever have to fetch you from your dormitory again I will do so with the intent to carry out your punishment there."

Harry nodded once more his ears burning as he did. He couldn't even bring himself to imagine his friends witnessing such a thing. He would rather fling himself from the Astronomy Tower than experience such a fate.

Harry watched as his guardian waved a hand causing one of the chairs from the kitchen table to rush across the room, stopping behind him. Harry had known that this was coming. He wasn't a complete dolt. He had known nearly an hour ago when Snape had stopped him in the hall. However, it didn't make it any easier to accept.

"Do you have to?" Harry couldn't help but ask. He hated himself the moment the words came out of his mouth. He probably sounded like such a baby to the man. He hated the fact that after weeks of hardly even being scolded he had managed to push Snape far enough to wallop him.

Snape raised an eyebrow. There was a part of him that wanted nothing more than to forget about any punishment. He knew that doing so would not do the boy any favors though. Harry knew what to expect, Snape knew that. Ignoring his misbehavior, or letting it off lightly would only send mixed signals.

"As it stands you are quite lucky that I have not summoned the paddle for your insolent behavior," Snape forced himself to sound cross as he sat down.

Snape crooked his right index finger, calling his son to him. He didn't miss the look of disappointment – of embarrassment – in Harry's eyes as he quickly walked towards him.

Snape wasted no time in removing Harry's glasses from his face and popping his button open on his pants. A moment later he had the boy over his lap and he quickly pulled both his pants and his shorts down as far as they needed to go.

Snape raised his right hand and brought it down smartly on his small target. He felt Harry suck in his breath and take hold of a handful of the pant leg that was next to his face. With no desire to prolong the punishment any more than needed Snape brought his hand down once more and then did so again, establishing a rhythm.

As he always did, he silently kept count. Twenty was his limit though he usually stopped prior to it. He worked off of Harry's reaction. He could always tell when the child had had enough.

It wasn't until Snape's hand fell for the fifth time that Harry began crying and it wasn't until the tenth that he began to slightly squirm.

"I'm sorry," he offered as Snape's hand fell for the eleventh time.

Snape chose to ignore the words as his hand fell once more.

"Snape," Harry said his name in a whine on the fourteenth.

He landed one more exceptionally hard slap to the now red backside before his hand moved to the boy's back, now gently rubbing small circles as Harry sobbed loudly.

Harry stayed in his position for a few moments before he slowly moved his body until his feet were back on the parlor floor.

The boy quickly returned his clothes to their rightful spot before collapsing into his guardian's arms, his face now buried in the man's chest.

"I'm sorry," Harry said once more. "I was horrible – a complete prat."

Snape resisted the urge to smirk at the words. "It's okay," he replied as he wrapped his arms around the boy squeezing him tightly. "You are forgiven. However, I meant what I said. You are on restriction until we can get your grades up."

We. Harry didn't miss the use of the word. He squeezed his guardian a bit tighter before pulling away from the man and looking up at him.

"Can I stay down here tonight? With you?"

It always amazed Snape that regardless of how he had to discipline the child, after he did so Harry almost always wanted to spend more time with him.

"You may," Snape nodded. "There will never be another answer to that question. You are always welcome down here."

Harry grinned through the last of his tears as he fell into his guardian hugging him tightly once more.

Snape smiled softly to himself as he hugged the boy tightly. He was sure that he would never be able to fathom how he had gotten so lucky.