Here is the hardest hit of all, O’Malley,” Harry said. “Here is the very worst thing I can do to you.”
He held out his hand, as if asking for a handshake.
He <i>was</i> asking for a handshake.

Conor O’Malley who wants to be punished,” Harry said, still stepping back, his eyes on Conor’s. “Conor O’Malley who <i>needs</i> to be punished. And why is that, Conor O’Malley? What secrets do you hide that are so terrible?

"<i>There was once an invisible man</i>, the monster continued, though Conor kept his eyes firmly on Harry,<i> who had grown tired of being unseen</i>.
Conor set himself into a walk.
A walk after Harry.
<i>It was not that he was <b>actually</b> invisible</i>, the monster said, following Conor, the room volume dropping as they passed. <i>It was that the people had become used to not seeing him.</i>
"Hey!" Conor called. Harry didn't turn around. Neither did Sully nor Anton, though thet were still sniggering as Conor picked up his pace.
<i>And if no one sees you</i>, the monster said, picking up its pace, too, <i> are you really there at all?</i>
"HEY!" Conor called loudly.
The dining hall had fallen silent now, as Conor and the monster moved faster after Harry.
Harry who had still not turned around.
Conor reached him and grabbed him by the shoulder, twisting him round. Harry pretended to question what had happened, looking hard at Sully, acting like he was the one who'd done it. "Quit messing about," Harry said and turned away again.
Turned away from Conor.
<i>And then one day the invisible man decided</i>, the monster said, its voice ringing in Conor's ears, <i>I will <b>make</b> them see me.</i>
"How?" Conor asked, breathing heavily again, not turning back to see the monster standing there, not looking at the reaction of the room to the huge monster now in the midst, though he was aware of nervous murmurs and a strange anticipation in the air. "How did the man do it?"
Conor could feel the monster close behind him, knew that it was kneeling, knew that it was putting its face up to his ear to whisper into in, to tell him the rest of the story.
<i>He called</i>, it said<i> for a <b>monster.</b></i>"

I knew it,” Conor grumbled. “These kinds of stories always have stupid princes falling in love.” He started walking back to the house. “I thought this was going to be <i>good</i>.”With one swift movement, the monster grabbed Conor’s ankles in a long, strong hand and flipped him upside down, holding him in mid-air so his T-shirt rucked up and his heartbeat thudded in his head.<i>As I was saying,</i> said the monster.

When the monster struck a blow, Conor felt the sting of it in his own fist. When the monster held Harry's arm behind his back, Conor had felt Harry's muscles resisting.
Resisting, but not winning.
Because how could a boy beat a monster?

A handshake, as delivered by Lyndon Johnson, could be as effective as a hug.

<i>You must speak the truth and you must speak it <b>now</b>, Conor O'Malley. Say it. You must.</i>

Conor shook his head again, his mouth clamped shut tight, but he could feel a burning in his chest, like a fire someone had lit there, a miniature sun, blazing away and burning him from the inside.

“It'll kill me if I do,” he gasped.

<i>It will kill you if you do not,</i> the monster said. <i>You must say it.</i>

When the evening was over Alistair Cooke shook my hand goodbye and held it firmly, saying, 'This hand you are shaking once shook the hand of Bertrand Russell.'
'Wow!' I said, duly impressed.
'No, No,' said Cooke, 'It goes further than that. Bertrand Russell knew Robert Browning. Bertrand Russell's aunt danced with Napoleon. That's how close we all are to history. Just a few handshakes away. Never forget that.

Conor held tightly onto his mother.
And by doing so, he could finally let her go.

Hard at work? I’ll give you a hand — my right hand. It’s a handshake, for networking and encouragement purposes. Keep it up!

<i>It is not what I want from you, Conor O’Malley,</i> it said. <i>It is what <b>you</b> want from <b>me</b>.</i>
“I don’t want anything from you,” Conor said.
<i>Not yet,</i> said the monster. <i>But you will.</i>

"Harry!" said Fred, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing deeply. "Simply splendid to see you, old boy-"
"Marvelous," said George, pushing Fred aside and seizing Harry's hand in turn. "Absolutely spiffing."
Percy scowled.
"That's enough, now," said Mrs. Weasley.
"Mum!" said Fred as though he'd only just spotted her and seizing her hand too. "How really corking to see you-"

"Look...at...me..." he whispered. The green eyes found the black, but after a second, something in the depths of the dark pair seemed to vanish, leaving them fixed, blank, and empty. The hand holding Harry thudded to the floor, and Snape moved no more.

There came a point when Harry stopped trying to fight back, when the blows from the monster were too strong, too many, too fast, when he began begging the monster to stop.