At lunch that day, Marietta actually felt self-
conscious walking into the Great Hall, her face 
restored to its beauty, devoid of a single blemish. She 
felt the attention of everyone turn to her as she took 
a place at the Ravenclaw table. "Marietta, what 
happened to you? You look beautiful," gasped Cho Chang, 
Marietta's best friend. 

"It's only temporary," explained Marietta, "we're 
working on a permanent cure. But I'll gladly take this 
for now." Cho assumed Marietta meant Madame Pomfrey, 
but did not ask. She knew Marietta hated to be bothered 
by questions about her condition, and did not wish to 
intrude. Marietta bolted down her lunch, saying little, 
wanting to finish eating quickly and spend as much time 
in the library as she could. 

She was back in the library again that night when her 
homework was done. She went straight to the books on 
advanced curses - no point looking at the simpler ones. 
It was a strange feeling, rejecting punishments as too 
lenient, when the intended recipient was herself. She 
searched until she was ordered out of the library, 
disappointed. There was no shortage of curses 
available. But the ones that weren't illegal did not in 
her mind seem anywhere near as unpleasant as the one 
she had undergone. 

Marietta was tired, desperately in need of sleep, and 
she decided to go to bed. As she started to fall 
asleep, she was thinking of the cruciatis curse. She 
was sure that if Hermione were permitted to say 
"Crucio" and watch Marietta writhe in unspeakable 
agony, that Hermione would be placated. Marietta knew 
that prolonged exposure to the curse could cause 
irreversible damage, but perhaps if Hermione used it on 
her for five minutes every morning for a month, this 
would be sufficient. But she could not suggest to 
Hermione that she use a curse that could put her 
straight into Azkaban if word got out. 

Marietta knew the law of the wizarding world very well, 
exceptionally so for someone of her age. Just because 
someone consented to an unforgivable curse did not mean 
that the curse could be used against them, unless it 
was being done for educational purposes by an 
instructor at Hogwarts or approved by the Ministry of 
Magic.

Marietta's love of wizarding law arose from the 
knowledge of what had been done to her mother. 
Marietta's mother raised her alone. Marietta was the 
product of a brief liaison. Her mother, Genevieve 
Edgecombe, was French, living in London, when she fell 
head over heels in love with a singularly handsome man, 
and he seduced her effortlessly on their first date. 

This was very unusual behavior for Genevieve, who had 
always been chaste and was even prudish at times. But 
to Marietta's father, (a Welshman named Brynn - 
Genevieve knew only that much about him) she made no 
resistance whatever. She had no idea that it was 
Brynn's hobby to seduce women with various spells and 
potions. Normally Brynn confined himself to Muggles, 
but he was so taken with Genevieve's looks that he 
decided to enchant her. 

Genevieve was nothing special to him. But once 
Genevieve was under his power, his deft use of the 
engorgement charm had its usual effect, and Genevieve 
felt a level of rapture that she didn't think was 
possible. She was desolated when Brynn was gone the 
next morning, and after a while, she pieced together 
what had happened. She never got over him. She had had 
lovers from time to time, but no one she could really 
care for. 

It didn't help that she and Marietta would frankly 
discuss her boyfriends' good and bad points in the 
boyfriends' presence, sometimes not even bothering do 
to so in French, which was Marietta's first language. 
Later on when Genevieve starting working at the 
Ministry for Magic, she tried to trace her lover, but 
without success. After Marietta was born, Genevieve 
adapted to the life of a single mother. When she 
thought Marietta was old enough, she told her about 
what "Brynn" (assuming that was even his real name) had 
done, and Marietta (always having missed having a 
father), felt betrayed and outraged. 

When she returned to Hogwarts she researched wizarding 
law, and learned that what her father had done was a 
serious breach of the Article against Unscrupulous 
Practices. She'd also attempted to identify her father 
through Hogwarts records, but found nothing. Reading 
the law had been fascinating for Marietta, who 
continued to study it on her own from that point on.

Marietta woke the next morning still thinking about the 
Cruciatis curse. It was a shame that it was one of the 
unforgivable curses, but it occurred to her that 
perhaps there was some other, lesser curse that 
inflicted pain and yet was not illegal. As she mused 
over this thought, she reached to scratch her forehead, 
and felt fresh boils her face. 

She looked anxiously at the alarm clock by her bed, and 
saw that she had more than enough time to make it to 
Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She thought it would be best 
to leave right away before everyone else started to 
wake up - perhaps she could get to the meeting place 
unseen. She hurriedly dressed and soon was in the 
bathroom, reading some notes she'd made the night 
before. She sat on a windowsill. It was somewhat cold 
and damp in the bathroom, but at least Moaning Myrtle 
didn't seem to be around. Marietta had no interest in 
talking to anyone but Hermione.

Hermione showed up, punctual as always. But Marietta 
was so engrossed in her reading and her own thoughts 
that she wasn't aware of Hermione until she was 
standing next to her. She quickly got up (she could no 
more sit in Hermione's presence that she could in a 
professor's) and said good morning.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, Hermione." Marietta slipped automatically into 
the monosyllabic answer format dictated by Hermione the 
day before. No sense irritating the only witch on earth 
who could cleanse her of her disfigurement. Without 
letting Marietta wait another moment, Hermione again 
expertly performed the Purgatio charm, instantly 
purifying Marietta once more. "Thank you again, 
Hermione." Marietta didn't have to say anything more; 
the tone of her voice conveying the depth of her 
gratitude.

"I assume you haven't hit upon the answer to the 
question of the proper punishment? You've hardly had 
the time," observed Hermione.

"No, Hermione."

"I won't ask you what you researched last night. 
Remember, it is only you who can choose the punishment. 
You must not consult me. Only tell me when you have 
settled on what you're going to do. Even then I will 
not express an opinion. We won't know if it's the right 
punishment until later in the process. However, I can 
give you some help in another way. I brought something 
for you." Hermione produced the glass cube and 
explained what it was for.

"You are a genius!" cried Marietta with unaffected 
admiration. "This is absolutely brilliant. It will save 
enormous amounts of time!"

Hermione blushed with pleasure. She was quite proud of 
her achievement, but to receive such praise from a 
witch of Marietta's caliber was very gratifying. 
Marietta was profuse in her thanks, and then they said 
their goodbyes and headed back to their respective 
common rooms. 

* * *

The last few warm days of autumn were gone. Now winter 
would soon be upon Hogwarts, and in the mornings 
Marietta could see her breath as she made her daily 
trip to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Marietta was 
diligently pursuing her research, and each morning 
Marietta would always bring the cube, in case Hermione 
wanted it back. Frequently Hermione did require it, 
which slowed Marietta's own research considerably. But 
Marietta was not upset by this. She knew she was 
getting closer to an answer. 

One morning in mid-October Marietta got showered and 
dressed, and after a nice breakfast (it was once more a 
pleasure to go to the Great Hall), she was off to 
potions. Marietta was a superlative potion maker, and 
Snape regularly had given her top marks when he was 
teaching the class. Now that Professor Slughorn was in 
charge, she hoped that she'd continue to do well. 

She took her seat, which unfortunately was next to 
Malfoy. To her disgust, he'd taken to leering at her 
again, now that the curse had been lifted. In her view, 
Malfoy was not even a member of the same phylum as she. 
She found his pureblood nonsense sickening. She ignored 
him as usual and got out her books. Malfoy could sense 
her distaste. 

"Mudblood," he muttered under her breath, just loud 
enough for Marietta to hear. She turned to him and 
smiled down at him sweetly.

"Your father can't help you, now that he's in Azkaban," 
Marietta replied. "His money won't save you either. Be 
careful - I would enjoy hurting you." She turned away 
as Malfoy flushed with shame and rage. Despite the 
curse she was under, Marietta loved the wizarding 
world. The difference in strength between men and women 
was meaningless. She didn't have to take any nonsense 
from a non-entity like Malfoy. She knew that in any 
duel she would blast him without much effort. Even 
better, Malfoy knew it too. This amused her greatly. 
Slughorn arrived with the last of the students and took 
up his position at the head of the class.

"Today, class you'll be working on particularly 
difficult potion. I'm sure none of you will be able to 
manage it the first time. This potion is one of the 
most valuable the wizarding world possesses. As you 
know, there are many wizards whose wand work leaves 
much to be desired, and this potion is just the ticket 
in such cases. It is almost invariably helpful to the 
wizard who lacks skills at charms, transfiguration and 
so on. It is the Amplificio potion. Can anyone tell me 
what it does?"

Hermione's hand shot straight into the air. "Yes, 
Hermione?" Professor Slughorn was by now used to 
Hermione's quick mind.

"The Amplificio potion multiplies the power of any 
spell a wizard chooses to cast, if taken by the wizard 
in advance of performing magic," said Hermione in a 
breathless, rushed tone. Malfoy rolled his eyes in 
disgust. "Ten points for Gryffindor!" said Professor 
Slughorn. "Now let's get to work!"

By the end of class, only two of the students had 
passed muster. Slughorn could barely contain his 
pleasure. "Harry, you are prodigy! I know that I could 
not have done better myself. Your mother was the best 
in her year, but you could have taught her a thing or 
two! Another 20 points to Gryffindor!"

Hermione was furious. "Harry, you keep using that book. 
But are you really learning anything?" Harry smiled at 
her apologetically. By this point there was really 
nothing he could say.

Slughorn then moved to Marietta's table, examining 
first Malfoy's evil-smelling concoction. He sniffed, 
and moved on to Marietta's cauldron. "This is not bad at 
all. Not as good as Potter's, but it's good enough that 
it could be used with some effect. Very, very good. I 
heard about you from Professor Snape, Marietta. Keep up 
the good work." 

Marietta was very pleased, but her mind was already 
racing ahead to the use to which she could put the 
potion in modified form.

After lights out, her bed's curtains drawn, she sat up 
for hours, working with Hermione's cube. The thought 
had occurred to her that if a potion could be made to 
amplify the effect of a spell, perhaps also one could 
be make to increase the effect of a non-magical 
activity. Wizarding law did not address itself to 
activities associated with Muggle behavior. For 
example, it didn't expressly concern itself with non-
magical attacks, for wizards usually didn't strike each 
other - they used their wands. 

It occurred to her that perhaps she could create a 
potion that amplified the effect of a non-magical 
attack - then there'd be no chance of Azkaban for 
Hermione. She woke up at dawn after only a few hours' 
sleep, feeling exhausted and exhilarated at the same 
time. As was common for her, the sleep had helped 
concentrate her mind on a solution to the problem. For 
the rest of the day her mind was on the potion she'd be 
working on that night.

After dinner that day Marietta found herself in the 
Room of Requirement. She first set herself to again 
brewing the Amplificio potion, and this time she was 
satisfied she got it absolutely right. Using this as a 
base, she tried various other mixtures with it, and 
eventually arrived at an entirely new potion. She had 
no doubt that once the Ministry came to learn of the 
concoction, it would be banned. But at the moment it 
was perfectly legal.
 
She took several drops and waited a few minutes. She 
then picked up a ruler and smacked herself on the palm 
of her hand, not using all her strength. The effects 
were infinitely worse than anything she had expected. 
An unbelievable shock of pain ran up her arm, causing 
her to fall to her knees in agony. It felt like someone 
had shoved a needle through her palm all the way to her 
wrist. It intensified with each heartbeat for a few 
seconds, and then mercifully it faded.

"Oh my God, what have I created?" Marietta asked 
herself. She felt great pride, and yet at the same 
time, horror, for she had not the slightest doubt that 
this potion would satisfy Hermione, but at great cost 
to herself. Yet she didn't flinch, and the next 
morning, at their regular meeting in the girls' toilet, 
she told Hermione she had come up with the punishment 
for herself.

"Hermione, here is what I propose. I would like you to 
ask Harry to summon the DA once more, to meet in the 
Room of Requirement. I'm not asking for your comments 
at all. I've found something that I'm sure will work. 
It's a punishment that you and the entire DA will share 
in. It's called the 'Scarless Scourge'.

"What kind of curse is that?" asked Hermione, who was 
quite sure she'd never heard of it.

"It's actually a potion I created. She who drinks it 
finds her sensitivity to pain increased hundreds of 
times. Even a light tap is agony. I am going to drink a 
lot of this potion. Then each member of the DA will be 
permitted to whip me with a silk cord. Without the 
potion, a person would feel pain, but not too much, not 
from something that won't even leave a mark. But under 
the effects of the potion, the agony will be intense."

Hermione ought to have been appalled. But she was a 
great lover of what she believed was justice, and she 
was quite sure Marietta deserved what was to come. She 
asked Harry to summon the DA that very night. The word 
went out to everyone, but none but Hermione and 
Marietta knew the purpose of the meeting.

It was just after 8:00 p.m. and all the members of the 
DA were in attendance. Once they were all present, 
Hermione spoke up. "Last year when we met, it was 
always for Harry to teach us Defence against the Dark 
Arts. But that is not the purpose tonight. Marietta, 
step forward."

Marietta had been standing behind some shelving, and 
when she came out, there was a collective gasp from the 
other students. They had never expected Marietta would 
show her face at a DA meeting. All but a few of them 
shared Hermione's sense of betrayal, and they wondered 
what was to happen next. Hermione continued. "Marietta 
has something to say to us all. Please give her a 
chance to speak, without interruption". Everyone looked 
at Harry, who nodded. Marietta began to speak.

"You all know what I did near the end of term last 
year. You also know the punishment I received. What you 
don't know is that like the rest of you, I believe that 
I deserved that punishment. What I did was wrong. I 
betrayed the trust of every one of you. I know that 
now. I only wish I had known then what I know now. But 
incredibly, Hermione has offered me a chance at 
forgiveness, if the rest of you will agree. 

Every morning for the last few weeks, Hermione has been 
able temporarily to lift the curse from me. But each 
night the blemishes return, and Hermione has to redo a 
cleansing charm. But there is a way for me to be 
permanently cured. The cure requires that I receive a 
punishment sufficiently severe to take the place of the 
curse I am now under." She explained the Scarless 
Scourge to them. Neville and Ron were appalled, as were 
most of the boys. But many a girl's eye gleamed with 
anticipation.

"Some of you will no doubt take great pleasure when it 
comes to your turn to strike. But if you really want to 
punish me, don't pick up the silken lash. Don't take 
your turn. If any of the DA fails to lash me, then the 
punishment might not work, and it is possible that as a 
result, I will spend the rest of my life looking 
disfigured. 

I therefore beg each and everyone of you to swing as 
hard as you can and pay no attention to the effect you 
are having on me. Some of you will find what you are 
being asked to do repugnant. But please, I beg you, hit 
my like the others, unless you want me to be an ugly 
hag. By sparing me pain now, you will be condemning me, 
perhaps forever. My punishment will not take more than 
a half hour or so, after which I will be on the road to 
a cure. I plead with you not to take my hope away by 
feeling sorry for me."

"Line up everyone," said Hermione. It was interesting 
to note some students coming forward to be the first to 
strike, and other clearly hanging back. Luna, to 
Hermione's surprise, was actually crying and was at the 
very end of the line. Hermione moved some students 
around. She wanted the more reluctant ones closer to 
the front. She was afraid that after watching what was 
sure to be unspeakable agony, they would flinch, and 
the whole exercise would be useless. 

Among those she moved closer to the front were Ron, 
Harry, Neville and Cho. Luna wouldn't be budged, 
shaking her head violently when Hermione tried to move 
her, so Hermione moved a number of students behind her 
so that Luna wound up somewhere in the middle. Luna's 
sobs continued unabated as the process of getting 
everyone in order continued. Once the students were in 
a line, Hermione led Marietta to one end of the room. 

The next stage of the punishment was something Hermione 
had not bothered to tell Marietta about. It was her own 
little addition to the Ritual. Another wave of wand, 
and Marietta felt a strange rustling under her robes. 
Yet another wave of Hermione's wand, and Marietta's 
robes vanished.

Instead of her normal modest underwear, Marietta was 
wearing a strapless bra and a thong. Hermione's 
intention was obvious - that short of leaving Marietta 
completely naked, that every possible inch of her body 
be exposed to the lash. The white bra and thong could 
not be called sheer, but nonetheless gave a suggestion 
of Marietta's luscious strawberry-colored nipples, 
already stiffening with the cold in the room. 

Marietta felt herself blushing for shame at her 
exposure, but struggled not to show it, standing 
proudly before assembled students. She had every right 
to be proud. She had a truly gorgeous figure. She stood 
5'10" tall, her brilliant red hair flowing past her 
shoulders. She was easily 140 lbs, but whatever little 
fat there was on her body was in all the right places. 
Her breasts were a full 38D, and stood out 
magnificently on her sixteen-year-old frame. Her torso 
narrowed considerably at the waist, her wide hips 
flaring out magnificently. Her legs were long and slim, 
yet muscular. 

Her pubic hair was the same fiery red as her head, for 
even if the colour had not been clearly visible beneath 
the skimpy thong, Marietta did not trim herself and so 
a lot of hair escaped from beneath the flimsy covering. 
Marietta made no attempt to cover herself. She was 
determined not to show her shame. She turned slowly 
away from the students, and with a final wave of her 
wand, Hermione bound Marietta's hands to a ring fixed 
high on the wall, the redhead's back now facing the 
assembly, the twin orbs of her behind almost impossibly 
superb. Another wave of her wand, and Marietta's feet 
were bound to iron rings in the floor two feet apart.

Without further ado, Hermione removed from her robes a 
bottle of Marietta's potion, and used a large dropper 
to suck up three tablespoons of the contents.. Marietta 
opened her beautiful mouth and moved her head back. She 
was determined to show none of the fear that was racing 
through her beautiful frame. She alone knew what was in 
store for her, and the dread she felt was 
indescribable. Hermione lifted the dropper above 
Marietta's face, letting the viscous white potion fall 
drop by drop into Marietta's waiting tongue. 

One large drop missed, and rolled slowly down 
Marietta's cheek onto her neck, where it stayed. 
Hermione was not unaware of the effect this little 
scene had on some of the boys, nor of the great 
amusement of some of the girls. But she acted as if she 
had no idea of this, which only increased the 
audience's enjoyment. Marietta's dread increased when 
Hermione offered her a second helping, which Marietta 
knew better than to refuse, and which she 
unhesitatingly consumed. 

Harry and Ron looked at each other in amazement. Faced 
with the sight of an incredibly beautiful girl, the 
last thought on their minds was to strike her or to 
cause her pain. The thought was disgusting to each of 
them.

But not to Hermione. She took her rightful place at the 
head of the line, a pink cord in her hand. She stepped 
forward several paces, and without hesitation, she 
reared back and swung the silken lash as hard as she 
could across Marietta's buttocks. Marietta's own gasp 
of pain was smothered in the collective gasp of the 
audience, and went unnoticed. 

Harry was next. He had been through much in his short 
life. The only thing more difficult he'd ever had to do 
was battling Voldemort. He hated to raise his hand 
against this beautiful girl, but Marietta had been 
explicit. She had begged them all to swing away without 
regard to the consequences, and all his courage was 
required to make him do so. The cord formed a fast-
moving arc through the air, and made contact on 
Marietta's lower back. 

She jerked so hard it hurt her hands, which were above 
her head with very little freedom of movement, attached 
to the ring. But this time she made not a sound. 
Marietta had mixed feelings at this point. She felt the 
most intense pain of her life. Perhaps she would make 
it through this ordeal without losing her mind. But if 
she felt that way, did this mean she was not being 
punished enough? She needn't have worried, for now it 
was Ron's turn. 

Hermione could tell Ron just wanted to get it over 
with. He strode forward, and forced himself to imagine 
that his target was not Marietta, but some strange 
combination of Malfoy and Peter Pettigrew. Ron of 
course was much stronger than Hermione. He was also 
several inches taller than Harry, and quite muscular. 
He strength was that of a man, not a boy. But he was 
not very co-coordinated, and instead of striking her 
upper back, the whip arced over Marietta's shoulder, 
the very tip of the cord snapping on her right nipple. 

The thin cloth of the bra provided no protection as far 
as Marietta could tell. Pain erupted in her breast, 
which felt like it was going to explode off her body. 
She saw only whiteness, and then Marietta was aware of 
a strange high-pitched sound in the air around her, an 
odd wailing that went on and on and on. She was puzzled 
by it at first - did Hogwarts have a fire alarm? She 
was saved! The school would have to evacuate! Then she 
realized with horror that the terrible sound was that 
of her own voice - Marietta was emitting an inhuman, 
even unearthly howl of pure pain. 

Instead of ebbing, the pain increased with each 
heartbeat, and it was only just beginning to subside 
when it was Cho's turn. Cho was Marietta's best friend, 
and was one of only two people in the DA (or at 
Hogwarts, for that matter) to comfort her after the 
curse first appeared. Yet now Cho was shocked to find 
she was not really reluctant to be swinging a whip at 
her best friend. For the last few years, she had felt 
like a Plain Jane next to Marietta. 

Cho herself was beautiful. When away from Marietta, she 
never lacked for male attention. But Marietta was 
taller than most girls, and positively towered over 
Cho, who was a good eight inches shorter. For Cho, it 
was like being always in the company of a supermodel 
who was also one of the brightest students at Hogwarts, 
attracting the attention of boys and professors alike. 
This obviously had grated on Cho somewhat, but Cho, to 
her credit, had been unaware of it until now.

Even so, Cho would never have acted on her feelings. 
After all, Marietta had always been a good friend, and 
Cho knew her dormant resentment of her was completely 
unjustified. The result was that Cho felt deep shame at 
taking pleasure in what she was about to do, and 
consoled herself with the thought that Marietta herself 
had begged everyone to do their worst. 

Cho, like everyone else, had noticed the effect Ron's 
turn had had on Marietta, and she decided to try 
something similar. She took the whip from Ron's 
trembling hand, and stepped boldly forward. Hermione 
watched Cho closely, worried that Cho might fail to 
strike hard. But she had nothing to worry about. 

Cho brought her arm all the way back, and then swung 
with every ounce of strength in her petite body. She 
was standing to the left of Marietta, and the whip 
curled under Marietta's right arm and curved around the 
front of her body, ending at the left breast. The 
unexpected result of Cho's lash was that the strapless 
bra was torn from the poor girl, and gently floated to 
the floor. Her full, round breasts were now free of 
restraint, but Marietta after all was a teenager and in 
perfect physical condition, so it seemed almost that 
the law of gravity didn't apply to her breasts, which 
stood out from her chest, firm and proud.

After recovering from her shock Hermione was delighted 
with this unexpected development and immediately acted 
on a sudden inspiration. She quickly conjured a floor 
to ceiling mirror in front of Marietta, so that 
everyone could see her body, now naked but for a wisp 
of a thong. 

While the assembled students were focused on Marietta's 
almost nude body, her thoughts were elsewhere, of 
course. In fact, she was now almost out of her mind 
with pain. She was unaware that she was now almost 
completely naked. She was not making any conscious 
effort to escape - indeed she was not aware of anything 
but agony, and did not even know that she was tugging 
against the restraints with every ounce of strength her 
powerful body could muster. 

It was over a minute before the waves of agony faded, 
and when Marietta returned once more to awareness, she 
saw her own reflection in the mirror before her. She 
felt only indifference at the sight; she was no longer 
capable of even feeling surprise.

She turned to her Hermione.

"Is it over?" she gasped.

"Marietta, I'm sorry, that's only four, and there's 
twenty-eight of us in the DA. You've got a long, long 
way to go, " said Hermione. Struggling not to smile, 
she added, "Please try to be brave." A wail of despair 
from Marietta. She simply did not know how she could 
withstand even one more stroke of the lash.

"Oh please stop them Hermione make them stop oh God 
please I can't take any more pain oh have mercy on me I 
am so sorry so sorry oh please please I beg you 
Hermione oh please I'll be your slave for life I don't 
care if I'll be ugly forever just make them stop I'll 
swear an unbreakable oath to obey you for life you'll 
own me please I give up on being cured . . ."

Marietta's body shook as she pleaded helplessly and she 
began to raise her voice in her desperation. Hermione 
thought she had never seen anything more pathetic that 
an almost naked human being begging for mercy. Even she 
was starting to feel sorry for Marietta. Hermione knew 
what she had to do. Out came her wand again, which she 
pointed at Marietta's throat, while pronouncing 
"Silencio". Marietta's pleas now came out in a whisper, 
audible only to Marietta and Hermione. It wouldn't do 
to have everyone else hear - it might make it too hard 
for them to strike.

Next in line was Neville. He was very grateful for the 
fact Wizards wore robes. Muggle clothing never could 
have concealed the raging erection caused by the sight 
of Marietta's incredible body. He took the whip from 
Cho and approached Marietta's almost naked form, trying 
(but failing) not to stare at the reflection of the 
flawless heavy breasts swaying in the mirror before 
him. His stroke fell on the back of the girl's thighs, 
and Marietta's cycle of pain was renewed. 

The pain in her legs was so horrible that Marietta 
danced in place, trying to hop from one foot to the 
other, her legs involuntarily pumping up and down at 
their restraints. She snapped her head from side to 
side in time to her movements, her flowing red hair 
whipping back and forth. But so sensitive was she from 
the potion's effects that the touch of her hair moving 
back and forth on her shoulders and breasts was itself 
acutely painful, and for her own sake she forced her 
head to remain still as she readied herself for the 
next blow. 

The next thing she was aware of was being revived - 
Hermione whispered in her ear that she'd fainted from 
the pain. But there was to be no respite, and no sooner 
had Marietta come to her senses then the punishment 
continued.

Marietta's universe had shrunk to a very small size 
indeed. She was aware only of the whip and its effects 
- nothing else. She didn't see her own reflection in 
the mirror, nor hear her own whispered screams, nor the 
comments of her fellow students. She thought only in 
terms of pain - the most recent blow's searing agony, 
the deep throbbing of the areas less recently struck. 
It had been merciful for her to descend into complete 
blackness, if only for a moment. She hoped it would 
happen again.

The beating went on forever. Several more times 
Marietta got her wish and found herself being revived 
after fainting again. Sometimes a student would miss, 
and have to swing again, and the extra time between 
blows gave her a chance to recover slightly before the 
pain peaked again. This happened when it was Luna's 
turn. Her unenthusiastic swing went nowhere near 
Marietta, and she had to swing twice more before she 
finally made solid contact with Marietta.

Somehow Marietta reached the thirteenth student without 
dying. Like most redheads, Marietta's skin was very 
pale, and each time the lash tasted her sweet body it 
left its mark, nothing enough to scar, but on her 
porcelain white flesh the signs of the whip were 
clearly visible. Her back was covered in long red 
streaks. The backs of her thighs had a few marks, and 
her derri�re, formerly white like the moon, was now red 
as the setting sun - clearly it was a favourite target 
of the DA.

The fourteenth stroke slapped her in the small of her 
back, and Marietta jerked more from habit than from 
pain. Somehow the pain had lessened. "Hermione," she 
whispered (she could not shout; the Silencio charm was 
of course still in effect). The calmness of Marietta's 
voice caused Hermione to pay attention - she had tuned 
out Marietta some 20 minutes earlier, but now she bent 
her head, placing her ear just in front of Marietta's 
red lips, which now began to move, brushing slightly 
against Hermione's ear as Marietta spoke.

"The potion is wearing off. The last one didn't hurt 
that badly. You're going to have to give me more."

Hermione held up her hand to hold off the next in line, 
the pompous Hufflepuff Ernie Macmillan. Ernie stood, 
breathing heavily with the silken lash in his hand. He 
did not mind the interruption. Here, at the front of 
the line, he was not more than ten feet from the most 
beautiful woman he had ever seen, and the only naked 
one, too. He simply could not believe his luck. 

Ernie knew that there was not the slightest chance that 
he would ever sleep with Marietta. The very idea was 
laughable. He watched lustfully as Hermione retrieved 
the bottle of potion and filled a dropper. Once again 
Hermione approached Marietta, and again Marietta opened 
her mouth to receive the thick milky fluid. Most of 
those present guessed what had happened, that Marietta 
had called for more potion, and they honoured her for 
it. 

After a short pause for the potion to take effect, 
Hermione nodded her head at the waiting Ernie. He 
needed no further prompting and in a few short strides 
closed this distance between himself and the statuesque 
goddess before him. This was as close as he would ever 
get to touching Marietta, and in his excitement he 
missed Marietta's shoulder, delivering instead a 
terrific strike to the right side of Marietta's face, 
an area previously untouched. Marietta's newly 
heightened sensitivity from the fresh double dose of 
potion had come at a bad time - the pain was the worst 
possible - just on the edge of making her faint, but 
not quite. She was stunned by the force of it. Unable 
to move or even stand, she hung slack in her bonds.

"Strike again, Ernie," said Hermione. "The stroke 
before yours did not count because the potion was 
wearing off." 

Ernie was happy to oblige, this time delivering a 
tremendous blow across Marietta's calves. Marietta was 
still suffering extremely from the effects of Ernie's 
first blow, as the pause between lashes was shorter 
than usual. Marietta had thought she had felt as much 
pain as anyone could ever feel, but now she felt the 
agony rising to a new pinnacle inside her. It had 
peaked, but not substantially diminished, when the next 
in line whipped her on the buttocks.

Experiencing the unending pain for so long had so 
exhausted Marietta that she was virtually deprived of 
the ability to move, or even stand. A new source of 
pain was added, as her wrists were forced to bear much 
of the weight of her body, the ropes now digging in. 
After a half-dozen more strokes, she was no longer even 
jerking involuntarily from the pain. She was inert and 
unresponsive. This made things even worse for her - her 
movements had to some extent allowed her to give vent 
to the agony, but now even this small solace was denied 
her, and her mind began to unhinge. 

Marietta had been raised a Catholic, but even before 
Hogwarts she was well on her way to losing her faith. 
At Hogwarts religion was never mentioned. It was 
perfectly obvious that there must be some kind of 
afterlife (ghosts, for one thing) but some how the 
topic of God and religion simply never came up. It had 
been years since Marietta had even thought of the faith 
of her childhood, but now under the most acute stress 
imaginable, her mind drifted back.

She thought about Jesus and the thirty-nine lashes he'd 
received - more than she was going to get, but on the 
other hand, surely her lashing was far more painful 
than His. No sooner had the thought entered her head 
than a wave of fear and guilt washed over her. Was it 
not presumptuous, even blasphemous, for her to think 
her punishment could be worse than His? 

She should not be grateful for the sacrifice He made - 
was it not a great sin to even compare herself to Him? 
Suppose she were to die under the lash - would she not 
be damned, dying unconfessed after having led a sinful 
life? She had had boyfriends, the most recent a 
university student who lived nearby in the summertime 
that she slept with regularly while on holidays after 
fourth year (she'd had no lovers of course over the 
more recent summer), and during the last few school 
years there had been another to spend her time with 
after lights out.

"Oh Jesus, sweet Jesus," she prayed, "Please save me I 
beg you please forgive me for my life of sin I don't 
care if I die but please let me live just long enough 
to see a priest and confess and then I don't care what 
happens to me, just make the pain stop and I swear that 
if I live I'll be good, I'll go to church, I won't have 
sex ever again . . ."

Hermione did not pick up most of what came whispering 
out of Marietta's mouth, although she could tell 
Marietta was praying. Marietta tried praying to Mary 
next, as the Jesus prayer wasn't working - the blows 
continued to rain down on her.

"Mary Mother of God please please kill me now I can't 
take any more of the PAIN I CAN"T take it please tell 
your Son to JUST LET ME DIE right now oh GOD if only I 
hadn't betrayed Hermione oh Hermione please forgive me 
Hermione, Mother of God, Hermione spare me . . ." In 
Marietta's deranged mind, Hermione and Christ's mother 
had merged into one, and now she prayed to Hermione, 
pleading for forgiveness, for an end to the pain, for 
death.

In fact, the end was coming. There were only a few 
blows left.

The Patil sisters were next. They were a pair of 
gorgeous Punjabi twins - skin the colour of coffee with 
lots of cream, jet black hair that positively shone, 
perfect complexions, and green eyes that contrasted 
beautifully with their skin colour. They were conscious 
of their beauty of course, and lived in a perpetual 
state of annoyance that the boys (with the exception of 
Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, whom they'd taken as 
lovers and enjoyed trading on the sly, until Dean 
figured it out and took up with Ginny Weasely) 
inexplicably seemed to prefer the tall red-headed pale-
faced slut of a woman now standing bound in front of 
them. 

These white girls - painting their faces, half the time 
with a fag in their mouths, sleeping around, drinking - 
it just wasn't right. During the summer the Patil 
sisters were practically prisoners in their parents' 
home. That would change once they were allowed to do 
magic outside school - there'd be no stopping them then 
- but for now, they would just have to put up with it, 
and here before them was a chance to get even.

Such thoughts were in Parvati's mind as she was handed 
the lash by Ginny, who was positively smiling - no one 
had said she couldn't strike more than once, and she'd 
got several licks in before Hermione shouted 
"Expelliarmus!" taking the whip away.

Parvati now strode towards her victim, and with great 
relish delivered a vicious backhand blow, the full 
impact of which was caught on Marietta's left ear. Then 
it was Padma's turn next. She was still smarting from 
losing Dean to Ginny. She couldn't whip her, but the 
white redhead in front of her would do just fine as a 
substitute. She did to Marietta's right ear what her 
sister had done to the left. Marietta's mouth slowly 
yawed open, the tendons in her neck iron bands as the 
silent scream went on and on and on.

Last but not least was Lavender Brown, and a jealous 
Ms. Brown she was. She'd seen how Ron looked at 
Marietta, the bitch. Not that she'd been dating Ron 
when she'd seen him looking at her, but that didn't 
matter. As far as Lavender was concerned, Marietta was 
trying to steal her boyfriend. Who did Marietta think 
she was? Wasn't she beautiful, too? (she was, in fact, 
but no one would ever compare her favourably with 
Marietta - Lavender knew this, and it only made her 
angrier).

Lavender stepped forward, the lash in her left hand, 
and in her right, her wand. With a quick wave, she 
undid Marietta's bonds. "Turn around!" she ordered. 
Hermione and the others watched in stunned silence. 
Marietta mutely complied with Lavender's order, turning 
around slowly, her head down. 

Lavender waited patiently. Finally Marietta looked up. 
Lavender had been waiting for Marietta to make eye 
contact. She wanted Marietta to know that it was 
Lavender Brown who was about to strike. She hoped 
Marietta could see the malice in her eyes. Lavender 
cracked the whip so that the full force of the snap was 
expended on the poor girl's mons veneris. So powerful 
was Marietta's shriek of agony that it was clearly 
audible to the many of the students, despite the effect 
of the Silencio charm. Then Marietta fainted once more.

The punishment was over. 


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