Albus Dumbledore was rarely angry but when he was, like everything he did, he took it to the extreme. For example, when he decided to take on a harmless persona as Headmaster to throw people off guard and make them forget he was the powerful defeater of Grindlewald he went all out, complete with twinkling eyes, luridly coloured robes and lemon drops. So when he was angry he was nothing short of terrifying.
He did not shout; he didn't need to. He did not yell but his raised voice was deep and with a certain tone to it that sent shivers down the spine of everyone who heard it. His eyes lost their usual twinkle and seemed to bore into the man sitting opposite him who flushed slightly and looked down, feeling like a scolded child. Had Harry Potter overheard he would have immediately remembered the Howler sent to his Aunt the previous summer but he did not and neither McGonagall nor Snape had ever seen Albus this angry.
Severus Snape sat there and let the wave of noise wash over him as he glowered at his hands, resting in his lap. It was not fair, Albus hadn't even been this mad when Black had nearly gotten him killed with his 'prank' with the werewolf and the whomping willow. What Severus had done was nothing compared to that. The Potter and Black brats were so stubborn but he had to make them see, they had to learn or they'd end up dead like their fathers and then all his hard work over the years making sure Potter stayed alive would be wasted. Admittedly he could have phrased it better but just seeing the two of them together, so like their fathers, had triggered humiliating memories and he had lashed out. Still, Albus was over-reacting; he hadn't done anything that bad.
"I would like to see your memory of the incident this morning now Severus" announced Albus waving his wand so that his penseive drifted over from an open cabinet and settled on the desk between them. Severus' lips started to twist into a sneer but he forced himself to stop when he caught sight of the steely glint in the Headmaster's normally twinkling eyes. He raised his wand to his temple and extracted a single strand of shimmering silver memory which he reluctantly deposited in the pensieve. "Minerva, join me" directed Albus as he was sucked into the memory.
Snape did not fidget as he sullenly waited for them to view the memory. He was not a disobedient student to be reprimanded, he was their colleague, even, dare he say it, their friend. Nonetheless, he could not help feeling the slightest bit of trepidation as he waited for the inevitable explosion.
When the pair surfaced from the memory Minerva was angrier than he had ever seen her, and that was saying something – he had, after all, gone to school with the Marauders and witnessed her reactions to the pranks played upon her by them. She began cursing him, rather inventively, even utilising a few Gaelic swear words and Severus made a mental note to remember some of the more unusual insults for use on his students.
Albus peered over his half-moon spectacles at him with such a look of disappointment that Snape squirmed, uncomfortably, in his seat. "I expected better of you Severus. Your conduct was completely unacceptable. I've made my excuses for your manners for years but this, insulting a dead man to his sons' face, is inexcusable. I have no other options, you are on probation for a month- you will not insult either Harry or Aries, or their fathers, during that period. If you do, well, the consequences will be severe."
A/N: sorry for the huge gap between chapters, I've been juggling coursework and revision for exams with writing and was also struggling with writers' block. I wasn't originally planning on including this scene but a few people asked for it, I really struggled with it so it's a lot shorter than the other chapters. I've already written chapter 10 and after this I have up to chapter 17 or so planned