AN: FF was acting up a little bit when I posted the last chapter, so just make sure that you've read the last chapter or this chapter will make no sense. :)

AN #2: I struggled a lot with this chapter - and part of that is because I struggle with writing Ron. I think of him as goofy and fun, but also loyal and protective. Both of these sides of him can be a strength and a deficit, and I wanted to show that here. Please let me know how I did - does this scene come off as funny, touching, weird, or has the author lost her mind?

AN #3: I've had some great comments about how could a parent believe a Governess like this, and I love those comments. That's exactly the reaction I was trying to evoke. Part of the tension I was trying to explore in this story was from a personal situation I experienced where the parents feel shame for the child's misbehavior, they trust the so-called experts that are really wrong, but really love and care and knowing someone deeply is more important. Let's just say that if the name wasn't already so heavy in Harry Potter Lore Miss Stradling would have been named Miss Black after this person in my own life.

Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and being along with me on this crazy ride.

Severus felt his body unfreeze, and instantly found himself take a defensive posture. Ron didn't move, clearly he wasn't afraid of the child.

"So why did you do it?" he sighed a sigh of resignation.

Severus didn't answer, he looked around the room to figure out how to get away; the last place he wanted to be was in this situation. Miss Stradling was right, this was infinitely worse than facing her caning spell – the thought of Ron being the one to punish him was nearly unthinkable. At least Harry was his father, Ron was more of the crazy adolescent uncle.

"Naughty though you often are I don't think you just did it for fun," Ron told him. "Tell me something so I can justify a little mercy."

Severus eyed up Ron, trying to figure out how to get out of this. For some reason pleading his case and asking for mercy sounded even more vulnerable – it would seem as if he trusted Ron. It would be something he would do with Harry if Harry were working to get him to trust him. He just couldn't there with Ron, and Ron wasn't even working to gain his trust. So instead Severus just shrugged.

"Look, I don't want to do this," Ron explained. "But we both know that unless there were some sort of extenuating circumstances you deserve a bit of a reprimand for attacking her. Were you maybe a little jealous of her giving attention to Teddy? Maybe gotten used to having her all to yourself?"

Severus' eyes flashed at how wrong Ron's guess was, and was so offended he refused to correct him. He remained silent, glaring at Ron in anger. Ron shifted uncomfortably at the glare, reminded once again of the Potions Master that had reprimanded him so many times at Hogwarts.

"I gave her my word," Ron told him, convincing himself as much as Severus. "And if you won't defend yourself I don't know what else to do."

"If you are going to punish me then I suggest you go ahead," Severus spat at him. "Whatever a Wizard's oath is."

"It's a promise that you make on your magic," Ron explained. "If you break it you lose your magic. To be honest, it was odd that she asked me to make it like that, but I think she was just really scared."

Severus gave the universal snort of disbelief, which made Ron look at him sharply. "There's things you're not telling me," he observed.

"Of course there are," Severus told him with no intention of telling him what those secrets were. And now he had the added weight of the fact that Ron actually did have to punish him or lose his magic – if he told Ron the truth now what would he do? Would he feel honor bound to break his word and then lose his magic? It would just be the kind of idiotic honor-bound hills these Gryffindors would die on. Better Severus suffer the humiliation of a smacking by this man than to curse him to a life as a squib just because Severus couldn't control himself. In some ways he did deserve it, but not for the reasons that Ron thought – he had reacted on emotion, not logic.

"Suit yourself," Ron answered. "Do you want me to whack you here or in your bedroom?"

"Here is fine," Severus sneered, trying to steel himself for the upcoming interaction. "But I'm not bending over your lap."

"Wouldn't dream of it, mate," Ron nodded seriously. "Your desk should work just fine, and I'll see if I can transfigure a ruler."

Ron was able to do it, on the third try, and Severus noticed his hands shaking a bit as he tried. In the drama that had unfolded he hadn't realized how nervous Ron was, but now he could see it. Ron wasn't lying when he said he hadn't wanted to do this – he really didn't. He wasn't gloating over having his former potions master at his mercy, it was making him look like he was about to throw up. There was not a hint of humor in this man that normally seemed completely unflappable. Could Severus do what Draco had suggested and use this to his advantage?"

"How many are you giving me, Uncle Ron?" Severus asked, trying to sound young and helpless.

"Umm, I don't know," Ron answered, flustered at Severus' apparent compliance. "How many, I mean, how many does Harry usually . . ."

"I had ten the last time I had the ruler," Severus told him truthfully. "But that was for a lot of things."

"How about six then," Ron told him, paling. "My dad used to give me six."

"You don't have to do it hard," Severus told him, bending over the desk in anticipation. "I wasn't that bad."

"I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to do it at all," Ron confessed. "How does Harry do it? I can't believe I'm going to whack Severus Snape of all people."

"The oath," Severus breathed. "That's why she had you make it. So you couldn't back out."

"Okay, I'm going to whack my thigh to see how hard to do it," Ron told him, and then yelped as the ruler let out a whacking sound. "Youch! That hurts!"

Despite everything, Severus found himself nearly laughing at the antics of his uncle. Was this the man that was supposed to be such a stern disciplinarian that he was supposed to be scared of him? Was this really supposed to scare him or make him repent?

"Alright, brace yourself, lad," Ron told him, trying to control the nervous hitch in his own voice and rubbing the sore spot on his thigh. "We'll get through this just fine and then maybe have some ice cream together, okay?"

Severus, looking away, braced himself for the first blow. But, before the first blow could even fall, the door to the tiny schoolroom opened with a crash and there in the doorway stood the angered figure of Grandma Weasley, with small Teddy beside her.

"What are you doing, Ron?" she asked incredulously.

"I should think it would be obvious," Ron answered, his voice hitching a bit.

"Stand up and come here, Severus," she ordered, putting an arm on Severus' shoulder. "Ron? Were you really going to punish this child without even finding out why he did it?"

"He wouldn't tell me!" Ron protested. "I asked!"

"So you just haul off and punish him!" his mother fumed.

"Well, I did promise his Governess . . ." Ron told her, turning his face away.

"You have three minutes to tell me everything that happened with that Governess or you will find yourself bent over that desk yourself," she told him, crossing her arms.

Ron rapidly told her what had happened, everything from the minute he came into the classroom. Molly rolled her eyes at how Ron described Miss Stradling as helpless and scared at being attacked by Severus, and then became horrified as Ron described making a wizard's oath.

"You made a wizard's oath for her?" she asked, incredulously. "Seriously? She's a virtual stranger! And you let her flirt her way into making a wizard's oath about how you were going to punish a child before you had even talked to the child and found out what happened?"

"Well, when you describe it like that . . ." Ron replied, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "She just, well, she's supposed to be the expert, you know? Like, the teacher that knows how to teach kids."

"Expert my foot," Molly replied. "You know more about what makes that child tick than she ever will. Because you actually love him as his uncle, not as a subject for making a wage or whatever it is her game actually is."

"He shouldn't have attacked her!" Ron tried to defend himself. "She's, you know, she's a girl! And Harry spanked him for what he did to his last Nanny!"

"I'm sure Harry had his well thought out reasons," Molly told him. "But this Governess isn't a 'girl,' she's a fully trained, armed witch against a young child! And you said she used a Petrificus Totalis on him? Where in the world did Harry find this young woman?"

"She was a personal recommendation by Professor Snape," Ron told her, somewhat incredulous himself. "She's a Slytherin, perhaps they just do things differently than we do."

"Well, I have some questions for him when he returns," Molly told him. "But for now, I believe we need to let Severus explain what happened."

Severus looked at Teddy, and realized that Molly was there because he got her, so he needed to explain at least some version of the truth. He eyed the adults, thinking about what would make the most sense. He knew instinctively that the best thing to do was to tell the most truth as possible with just leaving out what he really didn't want known.

"Teddy was in the classroom," he explained. "I tried to get him to leave without Miss Stradling noticing, but I think he wanted to see what my class was like. Then she saw him, and she drew her wand. I thought, well, I thought she was going to hurt him. Harry tells me sometimes that I misinterpret things, I think that might have happened. I don't know, I just felt like I had to protect Teddy. My body kind of did it without me really thinking about it."

"We understand dear," Molly nodded. "This was really not your fault."

"It's my fault," Teddy announced, his voice tearful. "I shouldn't have gone in."

"And my fault for making that oath," Ron chimed in as if he were another child.

"You would think after your brothers tried to make you make that unbreakable vow when you were a child that you would think a bit before you did that!" Molly chided him.

"You would think," he agreed.

"Okay, let's figure this out," she told them. "Ron, I need you to tell me exactly what your wizard's oath was."

"I vowed to punish Severus with a ruler," Ron told her with chagrin.

"Did you specify anything else?" she asked. "How much?"

"No," he told her. "So I guess if he doesn't deserve it the right thing to do is to lose my magic?"

"Don't be silly," she replied to him with practicality. "You can't around as a squib just to avoid the mistake you've made. Severus is made of stronger stuff then that, aren't you Severus?"

"Yes, Grandma," he answered, unsure of what she really meant but proud that she thought him strong.

Ron rubbed his face in shame. "So maybe just a whack or two?"

"Whatever he gets you get triple," Molly decided. "You deserve it."

Ron, blushing, nodded and knew better than to object. He'd really stuffed this one up, and what she suggested was of course infinitely better than losing his magic. "I'm a little old for that," he commented, but with no real protest.

"And a little old to make a wizard's oath like that," she shot back.

"Would a few swats be enough to satisfy the oath?" he asked her.

"You'll know," she told him honestly. "You feel it now on you, don't you? A sort of warmth in your wand hand?"

"Yeah, I do."

"That will be gone when the oath is discharged," she told him.

Ron looked at Severus, and let his breath out. He felt really guilty looking at the child, he had really messed this up. What was Harry going to think when he got back? Was Severus ever going to forgive him? What an uncle he'd turned out to be – easily manipulated into hurting his nephew rather than standing up for him.

"Teddy, go down to Kreacher," Ron told the boy. "I don't want you to see this and have it scare you."

"Don't hurt Sev'rs!" Teddy pleaded, tears down his face now.

"I won't hurt him much," Ron told him, feeling even worse. "I promise. I wish I didn't have to at all."

"Go ahead, Teddy," Severus told him. "Uncle Ron really isn't going to hurt me, he has to whack me just a little so he doesn't lose his magic. It's okay, I deserve it at least a little for jumping on the teacher like that."

"I'm sorry, Sevr's!" Teddy cried out, engulfing the boy on a hug. "I won't do it again! I'll do what you say next time!"

"Good," Severus replied. "See that you do, it should keep you out of trouble. But this really isn't your fault, you were just being a kid. Kids deserve to be stupid sometimes. You need to stop feeling guilty about this or I'm not going to read to you tonight."

"Really?" Teddy sniffed.

"Really," Severus answered. "Now go, we'll come see you soon."

"Severus, I'm so sorry," Ron told him after Teddy left. "Man, you're making this so hard to do. This is all my fault. I'm supposed to know better."

"You just thought I'd been bad because I'd been before," Severus shrugged. "And I did attack her."

"It was still really wrong," Ron told him. "And I've gotten myself into a jam because of it. Do you understand?"

"If you don't punish me with the ruler you lose your magic," Severus shrugged again. "So you're going to have to do it. Me getting a few whacks is nothing compared to you losing your magic."

"I would not do this if I didn't have to do it," Ron told him in earnest. "Does it help to know that my mum is going to whack me for it?"

Severus looked up at Ron then, in his earnest face, and suddenly was less bitter about it than he had felt before. Ron really didn't want to do this, and that helped. Ron seemed more like an overgrown child than a real threat.

"Can I watch?" Severus asked in a calculating voice.

"Of course," Ron rolled his eyes. "If you really want to see me get it. She's got a good arm, though, so I just hope I don't cry. Now, I promise I won't do any harder than I have to and I'll do it just enough to satisfy the oath, alright?"

"Alright," Severus agreed.

"It does have to be a punishment, though," Ron told him as Severus went and bent over the desk again. "So it does have to hurt a bit. I'm hoping one or two smacks will do it."

"Harry gave me two smacks last time he punished me," Severus told the universe, hoping that that would influence it. "It could be deemed a normal punishment!"

"Ready?" Ron asked him.

Severus nodded, too nervous to speak. The smack came, stinging but not overly harsh. Severus jumped a bit, but managed not to yelp.

"One wasn't enough," Ron told him, his voice anxious. "Let's try two."

Severus felt the second smack, and found himself wishing that he had just been able to keep control of his body and not attack Miss Stradling. Was he really so hot-headed that his body reacted before his mind could work? There were several other things he could have done to have made it so he didn't land himself in that position. It was so embarrassing – being smacked like this with Grandma watching, although he did have the consolation that Ron's turn was next.

"I think that did it," Ron said, his voice hopeful. "The warmth is gone."

"I can see," Grandma Molly pulled her own wand to check, and she smiled happily. "Yep, it's discharged. Your oath is gone."

"Are you alright?" Ron asked Severus as he got up. "I wasn't too hard on you?"

"You know you weren't," Severus told him, though he wished he could rub his backside without all of them watching. "I've had far worse."

"And I'm about to," Ron said, smirking, and giving his Mum the ruler. "Mum, I believe you're up for the task?"

"Bend yourself over, Ron," she told him sternly. "It's been a few years since I've done this, but I believe I can remember how it goes."

Ron did, bending his gangly, young-adult body over the small student desk. Severus almost had to laugh at how ridiculous he looked in that position, but Molly wasted no time in using that ruler to good effect. She laid down the six smacks quickly and with brutal efficiency, and Ron yelped more than Severus thought was truly manly. But he could tell that Ron was right – his mum did smack with a firm arm, and the smacks he received had to have hurt a lot more than the smacks that Severus had received.

"Merlin's sakes, woman!" Ron exclaimed after the last smack. "You'd think I'd committed murder!"

"I will be the one committing murder if some sweet-talking young witch ever talks you out of your common sense again, particularly if it costs my grandson!" she replied, her gimlet eye on her son as he straightened up and rubbed his stinging fundament. "You had better not let something this foolish happen again!"

"I don't know how I'm explaining this to Hermione," he shook his head. "Man, I feel like an eight-year-old again."

"I suspect the truth would be the best policy," his mum told him without compassion. "Even if it lands you on the sofa for a night or two."

"I suppose," he sighed. "Harry's going to kill me too, I'll be lucky if he doesn't punch me in the face like he did to George. I'll bet I don't get left in charge again."

"You're not that bad," Severus told him, sneaking a rub of his own backside, though the stinging had largely dissipated. "You did defend me to her a bit."

"I appreciate that," Ron told him. "Am I forgiven for the parts I stuffed up?"

"Forgiven," Severus nodded seriously.

"Good," Ron told him. "I think this calls for some midday ice cream."