Author note: This is Part 3 of a 3 Part series. The story picks up almost immediately after Part 2, which you should read first for best results.)

As it turned out, the Newton children were not dressed in quite the same outfits when their guests arrived for dinner early that evening. Their mother decided that they should be wearing "nice shirts" for dinner, not the random shirts she had grabbed out of the laundry room on the fly that morning as the children were stripped for their punishments.

Andy understood the general idea behind his mother's decision. But given the fact that the trio were wearing nothing but socks and underpants below the waist, worrying about which particular shirt they were wearing for company seemed more than a little crazy. Andy thought that, but not even wild hippogriffs could have dragged that opinion out of him. He kept his mouth firmly shut and a neutral expression on his face as their mother looked them over and pronounced them presentable.

The muggle world was still recovering from the Christmas Day blizzard, with transportation still delayed or unavailable in many cases. Of course witches and wizards have other methods of travelling. Daniel had used his wand to magicaly clear a path in the snow from the "arrival area" in the front yard to the front door of the Newton farmhouse. The Spooners apparated in right on time, the boys each holding a parent's hand.

The guests entered the front foyer and the adults greeted one another warmly, like the old friends they were. Meanwhile the two groups of children looked each other over curiously. The two Spooner boys grinned at the cartoon undies being worn by the Newton children. Andy was slightly less embarrassed than he might have been if their young visitors had been dressed in all modern clothing. It turned out the Spooner lads were wearing very old fashioned short trousers, the kind that ended just below the knee. They also had knee socks sprouting out of the tops of their boots. Andy knew that kind of trousers had a specific name, though he couldn't think of it. Whatever they were called, he was glad that they made their visitors look only slightly less ridiculous than Andy and his siblings did in their underpants.

After the visitors had taken off their boots and Daniel had hung up their coats in the foyer closet, he introduced his children to the Spooners. Andy shook hands and greeted everyone properly as he had been taught. Mike and Jenny followed suit. Nobody said anything about the way the Newton children were dressed. Finally the Spooners introduced their sons Benjamin (Ben) and Randall (Ran) to everyone. Alice commented on the handsome clothes the Spooner lads were wearing. Apparently those funny short trousers were called knickerbockers. Ben's were navy blue, as were his knee socks. Ran wore light grey knickerbockers with matching knee socks. Each boy also wore a white dress shirt, red and white striped tie, and a sweater vest in festive green.

The evening started off with a before-dinner round of egg nog. Daniel provided normal holiday egg nog to the adults, while Alice gave each child a small glass of plain dairy egg nog, without any "holiday spirit" in it. The party quickly split up into three distinct groups. The ladies were in the kitchen chatting while they finished preparations for dinner. The men were in the dining room sipping egg nog and discussing various worldly and wizardly matters. The children moved to the living room, where the Spooners began by examining the Newton family Christmas tree and its ornaments.

"Wow, this is place is old!" said Ran. The 9-year-old looked around at the classic Early American architecture.

"Nearly 200 years old," said Andy, proudly. "Our family has been living here since before the Civil War."

"200 years?" said Ran. "That's cool!"

"It's okay, I guess," said Ben. The 12-year-old had a arrogant but bored expression on his face as he looked around. Then he looked deliberately at Andy's briefs. "I take it you kids got in some kind of trouble earlier?"

"Something like that," said Andy. He was trying to be patient with their guests, but Ben was already rubbing him the wrong way.

"What's the deal with the bees?" said Ran, now openly staring at the cartoons on his host's undies.

"They're hornets, not bees!" said Mike.

"Andy thought they were Green Hornet undies at first," said Jenny, giggling.

"Green hornets?" said Ben. "Are you color blind, Andy? That's too bad."

"No!" said Andy. "Green Hornet as in the crime fighter in the movie, and I think it may have been a comic book, too. At least that's what my cousin Phil says."

"How can a hornet be a crime fighter?" said Ben. "I guess maybe an animagus?" Suddenly he frowned, "Hang on... is this some kind of muggle thing?"

"Well yeah," said Andy. "It's from a muggle movie."

"So this is a muggle house?" said Ran, looking around again.

"No!" said Andy. "The Newtons are one of the oldest wizarding families in Pennsylvania. But our mother is muggle-born. You guys have a problem with that?"

"No," said Ran. He shook his head for emphasis and went back to looking around.

"Not at all," said Ben. But the way the older boy rolled his eyes clearly told Andy he wasn't being entirely truthful. "So back to my question, did you kids already get your butts whacked, or are you gonna get 'em whacked later?"

"We already got 'em whacked," said Mike, clearly becoming irritated with Ben as well.

"Strap or paddle?" said Ran, suddenly regaining an interest in the conversation.

"Neither," said Mike, he pointed to his briefs. "These things."

"Yes, we know where you got whacked," said Ben. "Our parents whack us too... sometimes. My brother was asking what you got whacked with."

"And my brother answered him," said Andy. "These Hornet Briefs whacked us. Well, technically Hornet Panties in Jen's case."

"Wait," said Ran, looking and Jenny, "I thought you said they were a muggle product?"

It was Jenny's turn to roll her eyes, "I said my brother thought they were a muggle product."

"We learned the painful truth about them this morning," said Mike. "They call them Stinger training pants."

"Wizard punishment pants?" said Ran. "Cool! Can we see the marks?"

Andy snorted. 'Cool' was not a word he would ever associate with Hornet Briefs. He doubted Ran ever would again after he got thrashed by a pair.

Ben looked at Andy, "Are you guys shy about other guys seeing your butts?"

"Not really," said Andy, thinking about the talk his mother gave them just a few hours before. "We know it will happen a lot once we get to school and live in a dorm."

"You got that right," said Ben. "I'm a second year in Wharton House. Eventually you will get to see what all the other guys in your house are packin'."

"Packin'?" said Jenny.

"Never mind!" said Andy and Ben simultaneously. Then they snickered.

"You boys are weird," complained Jenny.

"Yeah, I guess we are," said Ben. "So, Andy, did you get any new toys for Christmas... that might be up in your room or something?"

"Sure," said Andy, immediately picking up on the plan. "Why don't you and Ran come up to my room? Mike and I can show you the cool stuff we got yesterday."

"Sounds like a plan," said Ben.

"Jenny," said Andy, "why don't you go see if mom needs help in the kitchen?"

Jenny sniggered disdainfully, "Well, I'm certainly not going upstairs with you four weird boys. I'll see if Mom will give me more egg nog."

"That's a great idea," said Andy. "Good luck with that!"

The four boys proceeded upstairs to Andy's room. As he climbed the stairs, Andy wondered what he had gotten himself into. Oh well, Mom was right, he needed to get used to being naked or at least partially naked around semi-strangers. Once they were all in his bedroom with the door safely closed, Andy just decided to get on with it. He pulled down his Hornet Briefs in the back as he lay across the edge of his bed.

"Wow!" said Ran. "Your butt is still bright red!" I'll bet it really hurts!"

"Yeah, it does still hurt some, but it calmed down a lot this afternoon."

"When did you get it?" said Ben.

"Hmm," said Andy. "I guess around ten or ten thirty this morning."

"Wow!" said Ben. "It's been nearly nine hours and it's still that red?"

"Get up, Andy," ordered Mike. "It's my turn to show off."

"Okay," said Andy, chuckling. His brother sure had an interesting idea of what it means to 'show off'.

Mike took Andy's place laying across the edge of the bed. It was the first time that Andy had actually seen the effects of what happened to the skin underneath the Hornet Briefs. Mike's twin cheeks were indeed bright red at all the places where the back panel of the Hornet Briefs had touched them. It looked really painful. But if Mike was feeling the same current level of pain as he was, then it looked a whole lot worse than it felt.

"What does it actually feel like," said Ben, "when the briefs whack you?"

Andy thought for a second, "Well, to me it felt like my whole bottom under the rear panel there was set on fire at the same time, like maybe with a blow torch."

"Yep," said Mike, who pulled his briefs back up and stood, ending the show. "That's what I felt, too. My whole rear end was burning at the same time."

"Wild," said Ran. "I wonder how they work?"

Andy spotted the open packet on his dresser. He grabbed it and handed it to Ran. "Here you go, my extra pair of Hornet Briefs and the packet, complete with product information."

Ran fished the extra pair of briefs out of the packet and began examining them closely while Ben read the text on the packet itself.

"It says that nobody under 18 can activate them," said Ben, making a sour face. "So much for their practical joke value."

"Umm, Ben," said Andy. "These things are no joke, take our word for it." Mike quickly voiced his agreement on that score.

"Yeah, okay," said Ben, as he kept reading. "Hmm, what is this 'Anti-Soiling System'?"

Both Newton brothers shrugged. "Not sure," said Andy. "I was thinking that maybe they are stain proof... could be handy."

"Yeah it could," said Ben, thoughtfully, "in ways you don't even know about yet."

"Huh?" said Andy.

"Nevermind."

There was that arrogant attitude again, thought Andy. This guy seems okay one minute, then he's a total jerk the next. Charming.

At that point the call to dinner was heard and the four boys trooped back downstairs.

The Newton children were allowed to sit on pillows to eat dinner that night. Andy was grateful for this, since an actively aching bottom was one less distraction to deal with. Getting through a formal dinner with adult company could be stressful for a 10-year-old, even one who wasn't sitting at the table in punishment pants, with all the guests well aware that his backside was quite red and freshly thrashed.

Andy noticed that each of the adults made a point of engaging each of the children from the other family in a brief conversation at some point durng the meal. He wondered if this had been going on all his life and he just now noticed it?

In any event Professor Spooner asked Andy about his plans to attend the Franklin School in the fall. Andy confirmed these plans and told Professor Spooner that he looked forward to learning Transfiguration from him. Madame Spooner asked Andy about his experience level flying a broomstick. He told her that he had flown with his father on a few occasions. In fact his father was planning to give him some basic solo flying lessons after he turned eleven in the spring. From the approving glances he received from his mother, Andy knew that he had successfully passed this test.

The atmosphere around the dinner table got significantly less pleasant when Alice tried to engage the two Spooner lads in conversation. Ran couldn't stop laughing when he was speaking to Andy's mom, and Madame Spooner berated him for not being serious or respectful enough. Ben was downright dismissive of Alice in his interactions with her. Eventually Professor Spooner got his sons to confess that their behavior had to do with Alice Newton being muggle-born. This disgusted Andy, and Professor Spooner's reaction could best be described by the old muggle term, "he went ballistic".

Even worse, the surly Spooner lads refused to apologize for their behavior. They each quickly found themselves being dragged by an ear out to the front foyer where their father made them stand facing the wall. They were told in no uncertain terms that they would be staying in that position until it was time to go home, where they would be "properly dealt with" for their arrogance.

Professor Spooner apologized to all the Newtons for both his sons' behavior. He said, "Ben has been reading some... well I hesitate to call it literature... 'pure blood' dreck, really. He told me it was for an assignment in History of Magic class and I believed him, at least until now. I can't believe our sons would stupid enough to fall for any of that drivel."

As the dinner moved on to dessert and coffee the conversation was very subdued, with Daniel and Professor Spooner engaging in the only bit of chat going on at the table. Andy was stunnned by this turn of events. Here it was the 21st century and people were still worried about all that "pure blood wizards" nonsense? He thought most of those loonies had been wiped out in the Second Wizarding War before he had even been born.

Andy eventually became aware of the fact that Madame Spooner kept looking thoughtfully at Jenny, Mike and himself as she finished her dessert and coffee. He hoped that they weren't in some kind of trouble now because of those other two stupid kids.

Madame Spooner accompanied Alice out to the kitchen as they started to clear the table after dinner. The women had a conference, after which they invited their husbands to join the meeting. Eventually the two men emerged from the kitchen and Daniel asked Andy and Mike to follow them upstairs.

This was a most troubling turn of events, and Andy's stomach was churning as he followed the two men through the living room and up the stairs. He looked at Mike, who had a sick expression on his face. Mike mouthed the silent question, 'What did we do?' All Andy could do was shrug and shake his head. He had absolutely no idea. Unless it was that 'show and tell' session the boys had in his bedroom right before dinner. Could Jenny have squealed on them?

When they got to Andy's bedroom they all piled in, and it turned out that Professor Spooner had a request for the Newton brothers. Two requests, actually. First he asked to see the marks from their thrashings that morning. Daniel told his sons that it was up to them, nobody was going to force them. But that they should get used to such requests - they happen all the time in the dorms at Franklin School.

Both boys shrugged and complied, laying over the edge of Andy's bed, side by side with their briefs pulled down in back - again. Professor Spooner whistled appreciatively when he saw their still glowing bottoms. As the two men discussed the effects of the Hornet Briefs on the hides of young boys, it occurred to Andy that he couldn't believe the stuff that had happened to him so far that day. He couldn't imagine how the day could get any weirder, so of course it almost immediately did so.

When the men finished their discussion, Andy and Mike were told to get up and 'get dressed', which seemed like a pretty fancy term to use for pulling up the backs of their briefs. Both men thanked them for the display and then Professor Spooner made his second request. He asked if he could borrow their spare Hornet Briefs to use on his sons.

Both Andy and Mike offered to donate their spare pairs of Hornet Briefs to the Spooners. Professor Spooner thanked them for their generous offer, but declined the donation. He didn't think it right to leave them each without a "guest pair of Hornet Briefs" in case one of their visiting friends or relatives joined them in some mischief that warranted a thrashing. It might take a few days, but either he or Madame Spooner would send them replacements for the "borrowed" briefs by owl as soon as practical.

Mike was asked to retrieve his spare pair of Hornet Briefs from his bedroom. Meanwhile Professor Spooner studied the packet with Andy's spare pair inside. It turned out that the "Anti-Soiling System" kept the wearer from having a pee or poop accident while wearing the briefs. Professor Spooner was quite happy to learn this. Apparently his younger son Randall had a problem with a "nervous bladder". The poor lad had wet the bed until the age of 7, and he still had accidents while being spanked.

Mike returned and handed his spare briefs to Professor Spooner, who thanked him. The man got out his wand and cast the activation spell on both pairs of briefs. He then handed the briefs back to the boys. He asked them to wait where they were. He would send his sons up to Andy's room with orders to follow Andy and Mike's instructions to the letter.

Andy and Mike were to instruct Ben and Ran to remove their trousers and normal briefs and put on the Hornet Briefs. After making sure they were wearing the briefs properly, including having them hiked up, they were to lead Ben and Ran downstairs to the living room. Professor Spooner would deal with his sons there.

Andy and Mike visited the bathroom quickly before their guests arrived. Nearly ten minutes later a very surly looking Ben and Ran entered Andy's bedroom, and Andy closed the door behind them.

"So," said Ben, smirking "our Dad is gonna let you guys beat us up?"

"Nope," said Andy, handing Ben his spare pair of Hornet Briefs. "He's gonna use these to beat you."

"And these are for you, Ran," said Mike, handing his spare pair to the younger boy.

As Ran looked at the Hornet Briefs in his hand, a look of horror appeared on his face. "Our dad's gonna thrash us with these... now?"

"Yep," said Mike. "Time for you boys to join the club."

"Club?" said Ben, who was no longer smirking.

"The glowing red ass club!" said Andy. He and Mike both laughed, although each unconsiously rubbed the double seats of their own Hornet Briefs.

Ran gasped loudly, then squealed, "Oh shit!" He grabbed his crotch, apparently attempting to squeeze his penis closed... but too late. "Nooo!" A dark patch blossomed on the crotch of his light grey knickerbockers and spread quickly to the right. As tears sprang to Ran's eyes, the rapidly spreading pee stain blazed a dark trail of shame down the right leg of his knickerbockers.

"Get him to the bathoom, Mike!" said Andy.

"Come on, Ran!" said Mike, leading the weeping, leaking boy out of the room.

Andy closed the door behind them. "That's too bad about Ran. Your father said he has a 'nervous bladder'?"

"Yeah," said Ben. "But he doesn't usually piss on himself until he's actually getting spanked."

"It's really too bad then, since our Dad finally told us what the "Anti-Soiling System" does - it stops the person wearing the Hornet Briefs from having any accidents like Ran just had."

"Damn," said Ben. "Well at least it will come in handy in future."

"Yep," said Andy. "Speaking of which, you need to take off your trousers and undies and put on your new Hornet Briefs."

"You're serious?"

"I would say your father is very serious," said Andy. "These orders come directly from him."

"Yeah," said Ben, looking disgusted. He set the Hornet Briefs on Andy's bed and started undoing his belt. "Look, Andy, I'm real sorry about that stuff with your mother earlier. I didn't mean anything really nasty by it..."

"I know," said Andy. "Your Dad told us you've been reading some stuff that might have confused you."

"I guess that's one way of putting it." Ben dropped his trousers and took them off.

Andy was impressed by the size of the bulge in Ben's light blue briefs when he stood back up to put his knickerbockers on the bed. Then Ben slipped his briefs down and off. When he stood to drop the briefs on the bed and retrieve his Hornet Briefs, Andy was really impressed by the equipment that had created that bulge. Ben had a small "starter patch" of dark pubic hair and a large set of tightly packed balls - at least for a 12-year-old. His long, thin penis was more than three inches long, or maybe even close to four inches, at least that was Andy's guess. It was currently drooping like a wet noodle, not too surprising with it's owner scared of the thrashing that was coming his way, which made it more difficult to estimate size. Ben bent again and slipped on the Hornet Briefs, creating a just-as-impressive bulge in his new undies.

"Like what ya saw?" said Ben, grinning as he arranged his clothing on Andy's bed.

"Come on, Ben," said Andy, blushing. "I'm only ten, give me a break. You've started growing down there, I haven't yet."

"Fair enough," said Ben. "If you get sorted into Wharton House in September, we might have an opportunity to 'compare notes' for the next few years."

"Maybe," said Andy, not sure if was ready for everything that 'comparing notes' might involve. "Think we should go check on Ran?"

"Good idea," said Ben. "But first, do I have these on right? I sure as hell wouldn't want my frontside looking like your backside does right now."

"According to my parents these briefs have a failsafe to prevent that. But they also told us to always double check them ourselves."

"Great minds think alike," said Ben as Andy inspected his Hornet Briefs.

"Yep," said Andy. "Both hornets on the outside, the big hornet is on the rear seat panel. You're good to go." Andy finished by hiking up Ben's briefs tight and making sure the rear panel covered every possible square inch of bottom flesh. Ben may have apologized for insulting Andy's mother, but he planned to enjoy watching the big jerk getting a royal rump roasting. "These things are kinda small on you."

"Yeah I noticed," said Ben. "Well, they were purchased for a 10-year-old."

"True enough," said Andy, "We're lucky my parents bought em a size too big for me so I could grow into them."

"Lucky?" said Ben, laughing. "How is that lucky... for either one of us?"

"Oh yeah," said Andy. "I didn't think of it that way." Andy gently rubbed the seat of his Hornet Briefs, imagining them delivering those searing, burning 'pops' to his backside for the next several years. He shuddered. "I may have to learn how to actually behave myself."

Ben nodded as he opened the door and led the way out of Andy's room. "I'm afraid that is the adult's evil plan... to force us to behave."

The two crestfallen Spooner brothers stood before the rest of the assembled party and mumbled apologies for their shocking behavior. As Professor Spooner berated his sons for their attitudes towards muggles and stupdity for believing in "pure blood wizard propoganda", Andy considered the fact that he really didn't understand these two boys. Upstairs they seemed sorry for insulting his mother...well at least sort of sorry. Now they just seemed to be sorry that they were gonna get a thrashing for it.

At least Andy could be pleased by the fact that he and his siblings were no longer the most stupidly dressed people in the room. The Spooner boys looked totally ridiculous in their dress shirts and ties, green sweater vests, white Hornet Briefs and socks. Ben was still wearing his own navy blue knee socks. Apparently Ran's right grey knee sock had absorbed its fair share of urine before the poor little pants pisser was able to get his leaking willy out of his knickerbockers and finish relieving himself in the toilet. So Ran was wearing a pair of white socks he had borrowed from Mike.

Soon enough the talking was over and it was time for the Spooner brothers to pay the piper. Ran was ordered to lay over one arm of the sofa where a towel had been draped. Ran essentially had his face stuck in a second towel that had been strategically placed on a sofa cushion to catch his tears. His mother was seated on the sofa and grabbed her son's arms, obviously planning to hold him down for his thrashing.

Mike and Andy were invited by Professor Spooner to hold Ran's legs to help keep him from kicking. It sounded like he was concerned that if the boy had a foot too near the seat of the briefs when the charm fired he might get an injured foot. That didn't seem to likely to Andy, but he wasn't gonna turn down a chance to get a close up view of the Hornet Briefs in action on another boy. Mike was also quite willing to help. So Mike ended up grabbing Ran's left leg and Andy grabbed his right.

With his youngest son effectively pinned down over the arm of the sofa, it was time for Professor Spooner to take action. He aimed his wand at Ran's backside.

"Verbero 9!"

Pop! A shocked gasp was the first reaction, followed by a grunt or two. The effect on the 9-year-old rump encased in those briefs was astonishing. The twin cheeks immediately slammed together, clenching until it almost looked like there was just one big butt cheek under the cloth, then a split second later the two cheeks began bouncing around independendly inside the cloth as Ran grunted, squealed and flailed his body and limbs around, trying to escape the grasp of the three people holding him, and most of all the horrific pain inside his briefs.

Pop! Ran yelped. It sounded like he might be crying already. He kept squirming his bottom across the sofa arm and flailing his limbs. So far Mike and Andy had no trouble keeping the anguished boy's legs under control.

Pop! The howls began, and Ran was bawling. The writhing and flailing were non-stop. As the boy flailed his legs he provided glimpses of his little bulge to Mike and Andy as it rubbed across the top of the sofa arm. Ran didn't show any bigger bulge in his briefs than Mike did, and Mike was a nearly a year younger.

After the fifth pop, Ran was screaming. By the sixth pop he mostly stopped struggling and just lay there across the arm of the sofa absorbing the waves of pain as each pop ignited his backside. The screams and bawling continued until all 9 pops had been delivered.

Even after the thrashing ended, Ran lay there sobbing brokenly and wetly, gasping for breath as the pain still consumed him. He was finally released and ordered to stand up. This he accomplished with some difficulty. Professor Spooner grasped the crying boy by the ear and led him firmly over next to the fireplace, where he was ordered to stand facing the wall with his hands behind his head. The man lowered the back of his son's Hornet Briefs, displaying his brightly glowing red bottom to everyone in the room. As Ran stood there, his small bottom could be seen to clench and unclench periodically.

Then it was the quivering Ben's turn to drape himself over the arm of the sofa. As the older boy approached the place of execution, the impressive bulge in his white briefs moved easily and loosely. Clearly he had not become excited by watching his little brother severely thrashed. It was also clear from the look on his face that Ran's thrashing had scared Ben. This wasn't too surprising since he was next in line for a painful session with the Hornet Briefs. Andy felt sorry for Ran, but he was gonna enjoy watching Ben get it.

Ben mounted the arm of the sofa, taking the spot so recently vacated by his little brother. His mother grabbed his arms while Mike and Andy grabbed his legs. The Newton brothers were treated to a close-up view of Ben's sturdy adolescent bottom cheeks encased in briefs that were too small for them. Even with the double thick cotton seat, they followed the curves of Ben's backside like a second skin. With his eldest son in place and pinned, Professor Spooner pointed his wand at Ben.

"Verbero 12!"

Pop! Ben gasped in shock and pain, his entire body spasmed as the flames erupted in his backside. Once again the twin cheeks seemed to slam together, trying to make a single cheek, then began moving independently as the boy squirmed over the sofa arm.

Pop! Ben hissed, but managed not to yelp or howl. His bottom continued its involuntary writhing across the sofa arm, but he had not yet started to flail his legs. One odd thing Andy did notice...

Pop! Ben yelped audibly this time, the pain getting to him finally. Still no flailing, but the writhing continued. Andy had finally noticed that Professor Spooner was not "flicking his wand" for each new pop from the briefs.

Pop! Ben yelped loudly at last, and it sounded like he might have started crying. He was now occasionally trying to flail one of his limbs in a fruitless attempt to escape the pain he was experiencing as he kept wriggling. Andy realized that once the number of pops had been issued with the Verbero spell, they apparently happened automatically.

Pop! Ben howled in pain, and was close to bawling. He started flailing his limbs more regularly, trying to escape the relentlessly building flames licking at his posterior. Andy wondered if the programmed number of pops happened at regular intervals, or if it was random.

Pop! Ben howled continuously now and was bawling. The squirming and flailing were nearly constant now. Andy was thinking that the pops were spaced out randomly. He wondered how that was done? At that point Andy was forced to abandon his careful analysis of the Hornet Brief's operation and concentrate on controlling Ben's right leg, since the older boy's flailing was threatening to shake Andy loose. Mike didn't look like he was in any better shape with Ben's left leg.

The final six pops seemed to confirm Andy's opinion that the intervals between pops were random. Ben was howling, bawling, writhing and flailing his limbs throughout the process. He screamed a few times and after the tenth pop he began begging for mercy in a broken voice, gasping out his pleas between sobs and howls. Professor Spooner was unmoved by his son's pleas, and allowed the spell to run its course. Meanwhile Mike and Andy rode Ben's flailing legs, managing to keep them from moving too much, and preventing the older boy from kicking.

Thoughout the last half of the thrashing Ben's bottom cheeks wobbled and bucked under the double thick cotton seat of the too tight Hornet Briefs. The twin mounds seemed desperate to escape contact with the magical cloth that was thrashing them, but there was no escape... or relief available. For all his struggles, both voluntary and involuntary, Ben had no choice but to lay across the arm of that sofa and soak up every flaming, agonizing pop that his father chose to have the briefs deliver to him. Andy thoroughly enjoyed his close up view of Ben's thrashing. He didn't think it could happen to a more deserving little bastard.

Then Ben was being led by his ear over to the fireplace, the opposite side from where Ran was standing and still sobbing. Soon Ben was standing there facing the wall, sobbing brokenly, hands behind his head and briefs pulled down in back displaying his blazing red bottom cheeks.

Alice asked Andy to take the towels off the sofa and throw them in the laundry basket. The towel over the sofa arm was dry, so it looked like the Anti-Soiling System on the Hornet Briefs worked. The towel on the pillow - that had been positioned under their faces as the boys struggled - was another matter. It was fairly soaked with a gooey concoction that was likely a mixture of tears, snot and drool.

As he left the room with the towels, Andy looked back at the two boys standing on either side of the fireplace sobbing, their painfully glowing red bottoms on display. Chalk up two more thoroughly whipped little boys for the Hornet Briefs!

The rest of the party moved back to the large country kitchen while the Spooner brothers cried themselves out. The adults had wine, while the Newton children enjoyed some homemade cider, pressed on site from apples grown in their own orchard. It was getting kind of late for Mike, and especially for Jenny. But since they had both had naps earlier, they were hanging in there so far.

After about a half hour the party moved back into the living room. Ben and Ran were still in position, but had stopped crying. Their father pulled their briefs back up and gave them tissues to clean their faces and blow their noses. The brothers were asked by their father if they had anything to say to their hosts.

The thoroughly chastened boys stood in front of the assembled group and sincerely apologized for their rude behavior. They particularly apologized to Alice Newton for their treatment of her for being muggle-born. Andy's mother was gracious enough to accept their apology.

Madame Spooner told her sons to go back upstairs and dress since it was nearly time to leave. They were supposed to leave their Hornet Briefs on, but put their knickers back on. And where were Randall's knee socks? It was at this point that the adults were informed of Ran's little accident before he was able to put on his Hornet Briefs.

Alice offered to find an old pair of Andy's jeans for Ran to wear. But Madame Spooner insisted that Randall needed to learn to control himself. She ordered the boy to put his soiled socks and knickerbockers back on for the trip home.

As Andy accompanied the brothers upstairs, he thought about how lucky Ran was to be a wizard and not a muggle. As a muggle boy, Ran would be looking at a long car ride home sitting there in his pissed pants. At least in reality he would only be standing for a few seconds of Apparition.

Ben grabbed his blue briefs and knickerbockers from Andy's bed and then they crossed the hall to the bathroom to try and help Ran figure out how best to proceed.

Ran's right knee sock was stained about half way down from the top. He tried to put his knee socks back on while sitting on the edge of the bathtub but his bottom was still far too sore. Ben ended up pulling them on for Ran while the boy stood and held up his feet one at a time. Ran was able to pull his own knickerbockers on. The large dark stain on the front of his trousers and the dark streak down the right leg had barely dried. There was no avoiding it, poor Ran was going to stink of piss until he got home.

Ben put on his clean knickerbockers at the same time as Ran was putting on his soiled ones. The final problem to solve was Ran's pee-soaked regular white briefs. He and Mike had washed them out in the sink when he took them off, so the yellow stain wasn't nearly as prominent as it had been originally. But it was still there and the briefs were nowhere near to being dry. Ben finally solved the problem by simply wrapping Ran's wet white briefs inside his own larger dry blue briefs. It would do for getting them home tonight since they both needed to be washed before they could be worn again anyway.

The boys trooped back downstairs and the Spooners all put on their boots and winter coats. After goodbyes were said all around, Professor Spooner held Ben's hand and Madame Spooner held Ran's hand. The Spooners disapparated from right there in the foyer.

With the company gone, the Newton children were sent upstairs to take their baths and get ready for bed. Mike and Andy bathed together that night, something they still occasionally did when they were in a hurry to get to bed. That night it was more like they were in a big hurry to get out of those stinking Hornet Briefs and back into plain white briefs, with no charms in the seat panel. Their butts were still sore as they bathed, and the warm water didn't help that too much. In fact it brought a few tears to Mike's eyes again. But checking in the mirror after bathing and before putting on their normal briefs and pajamas, it was clear that the red glow on their bottoms was finally starting to fade. It was about time!

A few days later Andy and Mike each received a package by owl delivery. This was still a rare enough event for them that both boys were quite excited about it... at least until they opened their packages.

Andy opened his and found himself holding another brand new two-pack of Hornet Briefs, conveniently enough in his size! There was also a note from Madame Spooner thanking him for lending his original spare pair to her son Benjamin, "in his time of need." That sure seemed like an odd way to put it. He seriously doubted that Ben saw it that way!

In any event Madame Spooner concluded her note by saying that she was sending an entire two-pack so that Andy would have plenty of spare Hornet Briefs "in case any of his visiting friends or family members needed to use them." Terrific! Between Andy and Mike, they now owned enough Hornet Briefs so that up to six boys at a time could be turned into bawling, snot bubbling cauldrons of searing pain. How thoughtful of Madame Spooner.

The Newton family spent New Year's Eve at the farm of their friends and neighbors, the Buckleys. Andy spent most of the evening playing with his close friend, George Buckley, another 10-year-old wizard who was destined to start his formal magical education at the Franklin School the following September. After a while Andy delicately raised the issue of Hornet Briefs and was surprised to learn that George and his little brother Nathan (age 7) had both received their own packets of the stupid things as stocking stuffers for Christmas.

George had in fact already experienced a thrashing with the Hornet Briefs, and reported similar effects to what Andy had felt and witnessed. The pain was incredible, but both boys had recovered quickly, with all pain from their thrashings gone within a day or two. Neither had seen any marks or bruises on a bottom thrashed by Hornet Briefs, save for the bright red glow that faded within a day. Clearly the new Hornet Briefs allowed witches and wizards to administer considerably more pain to their children - without bruising or any other physical damage - than had ever been reasonably possible with 'old-fashioned' implements of corporal punishment.

Neither boy knew who had invented the hateful things, but one thing was for sure... whomever had invented Hornet Briefs was no friend to boy wizards!

(Author's Note: This story was inspired by the hidden magical world created by J.K.Rowling for the Harry Potter novels. No claim to any elements borrowed from those stories is made by the author.)