By request.

"They had their medicine two hours ago so they'll need another dose in an hour. Lily will typically take it without argument but James tends to put up a bit of a fight sometimes."

"I can add flavor for them," Snape replied nonchalantly.

Harry made a face at these words. "You never did that for me."

"You were an impossible brat whenever you were ill," Snape replied with a small smirk. "Your children are already peacefully in bed where they should be. You would have been fighting me every step of the way."

A stomach flu had been rapidly making its way through the Potter household for the past week. It started with Harry, than Albus had it, Ginny had been next, and finally Lily and James were suffering through it.

Several months prior Harry had planned a weekend away for himself and Ginny. It would be the first time that they had spent an entire weekend without their children, but more importantly, seeing that it was their anniversary, they both agreed that Snape would be a fine candidate to watch them. After all, he had watched them several times in the past for a night here and there without any problems.

Harry often expected his children to come back with stories about how strict their grandfather was, but that was never the case. It seemed that the man had softened a great deal in his old age and Harry often wondered what he had done with the man who had raised him.

"You're sure you don't mind having them while they are sick?" Ginny asked in a concerned voice. "Hogwarts doesn't mind that you are home for the weekend?"

"Not at all," Snape replied. "You two go and enjoy."

"Al," Harry called out. "We're leaving."

Albus came running from the kitchen, a biscuit in each hand causing Harry to playfully roll his eyes at Snape. Once again he was hit with the realization that the man who had been so strict with him basically spoiled his grandchildren ridiculously. He had been allowed one biscuit at night and that was only if he ate every bite of his supper. If he had ran through the house with a mouthful of biscuit and one in each hand, he would have received the lecture of his life.

Snape wasn't lecturing though he was resisting the urge to laugh out loud as he smiled down at Albus.

Snape loved all three of his grandchildren and he had a special relationship with each of them. Albus however, was different. He adored the child. The two of them shared an extra special relationship. James could play Ginny like a fiddle and Harry was wrapped around Lily's little finger but Albus had his grandfather under his spell.

Snape watched as he hugged each of his parent's tightly, careful not to get biscuit crumbs on them.

"We'll see you on Sunday," Ginny promised as Harry lovingly ruffled his middle child's hair. "Be good for your grandfather."

"He always is," Snape said as Harry and Ginny stepped into his fireplace.

A moment later the two were gone and Albus turned to his grandfather. "Want to play chess?"

Snape smiled softly. "I have roughly ten papers left to grade and then yes I will play chess with you," he promised.

Al smiled widely at these words. He loved nothing more than spending time with his grandpa.

"In the meantime, do you think you can find something quiet to entertain yourself with?"

Albus nodded. "Yeah, I have a book to read."

"Very good," Snape nodded in approval. "I'll be out of my study as soon as I've finished grading."

"Okay grandpa," Albus replied.

He turned and walked back into the kitchen finishing the last of the biscuits in his hands as he did. His weekend satchel was slung over the back of one of the chairs. He opened it pulling out the book on dragons that his uncle had given him.

He was absolutely enthralled with dragons and had been for as long as he could remember. His mum was sure he was going to grow up to work with them just like his uncle had.

Despite this, his book didn't seem like much fun at the moment. He found himself wishing that his siblings weren't sick and that they could play with him.

He left his book on the kitchen table and slowly wandered into the parlor. His grandfather had endless shelves filled with books lining the walls and he found himself silently reading the titles.

He pulled a large potion book off of the shelf and flipped to the index. He was curious as to if there were potions related to taming dragons when the name of another potion caught his attention.

He quickly flipped the pages in the book stopping on one that promised that the person who ingested it would grow a new stomach. He smiled to himself as he stood up with the book in his hands. If James and Lily grew a brand new stomach then surely they wouldn't be sick anymore.

He nearly ran through the house towards his grandfather's study. He skidded to a stop just before the door as another idea formulated in his brain. If he could make the potion and cure his siblings himself his grandfather would be very proud of him.

He smiled widely as he turned around and headed in the opposite direction for his grandfather's potion lab.

Technically they weren't allowed in the potion's lab. James had gone in there once and their grandfather had actually lectured him quite harshly. He had even sent James to bed that night without dessert. Albus wasn't worried about being punished though, he was sure that his grandfather would be so proud of him for making his siblings better that he would be praised, not punished.

Albus pushed the door to the potions lab open. He had always expected that his grandfather's potion lab constantly had cauldrons bubbling and amazing things happening. He was quite disappointed to find it quiet. Thousands of small vials lined the walls next to thousands of small glass boxes filled with other ingredients. Several different sized cauldrons were on a large wooden table in the center of the room.

Albus shut the door behind him and quickly walked over to the table pulling a cauldron towards him. He placed the book on the table next to it, open to the potion he was making.

He wasn't sure how long it would take his grandfather to grade ten papers but he really wanted to finish before he was done so that he could surprise him.

He quickly started rushing around the room gathering his ingredients.

Snape stacked the now graded papers in a neat pile. He always felt a sense of accomplishment when he finished grading.

He stood stretching slightly as he did.

His house had been absolutely silent as he had worked and he was thankful for it. He was sure that James and Lily were fast asleep but he was proud of Albus for behaving so well.

He exited his study and headed downstairs. The parlor was empty and he quickly walked towards the kitchen hoping that the child hadn't been stuffing his face with biscuits for the past hour. He had just gotten over being sick and the last thing Snape wanted was for him to make himself sick all over again. To his surprise he found the kitchen empty as well. He was about to go back upstairs and check the other children's rooms in case he was visiting with one of his siblings when he heard the sound of glass breaking coming from his potions lab.

A feeling of dread filled Snape's body as he rushed towards the potions lab. He flung the door open to see Albus standing in front of a large cauldron, his back to his grandfather. He watched as the child picked up two different ingredients he dumped one into the cauldron and before Snape could respond he picked up another and did the same.

Snape raised his hand and quickly cast a silent shield charm over the child. Seconds after he did so the cauldron exploded loudly causing several other vials to shatter as they were hit.

Several emotions that Snape hadn't experienced since Harry was in his care rushed through his veins. He could not believe the worry he had just felt at the child's foolish actions nor could he believe the anger that he felt.

Without giving his actions any thought he stormed across the room. He placed his hand in the middle of the child's back pinning him against the work table. He raised his right hand high and brought it down on the child's backside not once but twice. Then he took ahold of the child's upper arm and quickly spun him around.

Tears were streaming down Albus' face. He obviously didn't realize what had happened or that his grandfather had even been in the room nor was he expecting the sudden smacks to his bum.

"What is the meaning of this?" Snape asked sternly.

Albus didn't answer. He held his hands out palm up to show his grandfather the tiny bits of broken glass that were covering them.

Snape sighed softly as he took his wand out of its holder and swept it across his grandson's hand causing the tiny pieces of glass to vanish.

Albus sobbed loudly at this action and then fell into his grandfather, concealing his face in the man's side as he continued to cry.

Snape felt his heart tug at his grandson's actions. He had never physically disciplined any of his grandchildren. For a moment he felt horrible about doing so. He quickly pushed the thought from his mind though, what Albus had done was serious. If he hadn't found the child when he did he would be rushing him to St. Mungo's right this second.

"Absolutely not," Snape said as he gently pulled the child away from him. He took several steps backwards gently pulled Albus with him until he was in front of a wooden chair. He sat down and carefully pulled Albus towards him so that the child was now standing in between his legs.

"You know that you aren't allowed in here and now you've destroyed half of my supplies," Snape said. He was shocking himself by how stern his voice had become. He had never spoken to one of his grandchildren quite so harshly, not even James. "I expect an explanation."

Albus continued to cry making no attempt to answer his grandfather at all.

It was something that Snape had seen Harry do on more than one occasion. Snape knew of only one way to effectively stop it immediately.

"You will explain this to me," he said in a no-nonsense voice. "Now if you would like you can do so after you've been punished but either way you will do so."

Albus quickly shook his head and took several deep breaths in an attempt to get his tears under control.

After several long moments, when Snape felt the child was as calm as he was going to get he asked his question once more. "What were you doing in here?"

"I was trying to help," Albus said in a small voice.

"Help whom?"

"James and Lil," Albus replied softly. "I found that book," he gestured to the book that was still on the work table. "There is a potion in there that makes someone grow a new stomach I thought that if they took it they wouldn't be sick anymore."

Snape glanced over at the table wondering how he hadn't noticed the book earlier.

"Don't you think that if there was a potion which cured the stomach flu instantly that parents wouldn't use it at the first sign of sickness?"

Albus considered these words for a moment before he nodded miserably.

"The reason you aren't allowed in this room is because of how dangerous potions can be. Have you any idea how badly you could have been hurt when that cauldron exploded?"

Another miserable nod.

"I understand that you wanted to help your siblings but you went about it in a very wrong way," Snape scolded in a gentle voice. "And I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish you quite seriously for this."

Albus seemed to have somehow known this was coming and though his eyes did water up once more he nodded.

Giving the child no time to anticipate over his fate, Snape quickly helped him over his lap.

If it had been years earlier and had been Harry that he caught in this situation he wouldn't have thought twice about baring the child's bottom. In fact he likely would have taken a paddle to him for doing something so outright foolish. He had been the one solely responsible for raising Harry though. That was not the case with Albus and he somehow couldn't find it in him to be nearly as harsh.

He raised his hand and brought it down five times, he did so hard and fast.

It certainly wasn't the harshest punishment he had ever dealt out. In fact, it may have been the shortest.

To Albus however, the whole ordeal had been the worst moments of his life. He wept hard as his grandfather gently rubbed his back and continued to do so as he was helped to his feet a few moments later.

Snape pulled the child into a tight hug. He felt absolutely horrible about his actions but there was no way he was going to lose his grandson to something as foolish as playing around with potions.

"Alright," Snape said in a soft voice. "It's alright."

"Do you hate me now?" Albus choked out the question in between his sobs.

"Heavens no child," Snape quickly answered in a shocked voice. "I could never hate you regardless of what you have done."

It was only as these words hit Albus' ears that his sobs finally started to subside.

"I absolutely hated every second of that," Snape confessed in a gentle voice. "I had to be sure you understood the gravity of your actions though and if you are ever in this room again without myself present I will be forced to punish you again."

Albus quickly shook his head. There wasn't a chance in hell he'd ever step foot in this room again.

"Good boy," Snape smiled as he kissed the top of the boy's head before gently pulling him away from him. "I need to go see that your siblings take their medicine. Would you like to help me?"

Albus nodded eagerly as he brushed the remainder of his tears off of his face.

"After we've finished with that we'll have our game of chess."

"Okay," Albus agreed as Snape stood.

He gently ruffled the boy's hair as he surveyed the damage to his supply of ingredients. He would have to clean the room later while the children were asleep.

"Grandpa," Albus said in a small voice.

"Hmm?"

"I am sorry."

"And you are so very forgiven my little Love."