Severus breathed in before knocking on the door to clear his head. The headmaster, and his adoptive father had asked to see him and even though he was an adult now, even a father to boot, these summons still made him a little uncomfortable. And right now he had a lot on his mind which needed some occlumency to deal with. When the door opened automatically and Dumbledore stood right there waiting to pull Severus into a hug, he felt even more wrong-footed. The only times he would do something like this was if something bad had happened. But by Dumbledore's definitions sometimes even the death of some obscure magical creature in Hagrid's care was also tragic so one never knew. Severus let himself be hugged and even hugged back, he did secretly enjoy these warm embraces.

Albus led Severus to his desk and then went and sat on the opposite end. Severus was a little surprised to not hear the "sit down, severus, lemon drop?" Out of respect and habit, he kept standing.

Albus started, "Severus, I'd like to get the nasty stuff out of the way first if that's okay. What had we discussed about complaints about you from students and staff?"

Severus' guards immediately went up and he scowled but when Albus raised an eyebrow he muttered, "That they had to be kept to a minimum, and nothing more than 2 a week will be tolerated."

"Do you think that's an unfair expectation, Severus?"

He wanted to rant about the dunderheads he had to teach and how the staff were always in his way but since he had already agreed to this, he couldn't really go back on his word.

"No headmaster."

"And do you know how many complaints I have received this week, Severus?"

Severus wanted to shut his eyes and hide but he just looked slightly down and said, "I'm not sure but I believe it must be more than two for you to bring it up."

"Can you at least tell me who you think complained? I want to see if you remember or understand which actions of yours were out of line."

"It was very likely Minerva, she loves meddling in my life."

Dumbledore got up, Snape had to use all his power to not take a step back. Albus walked around to Severus' side and let his hand fall down in a loud, sharm smack. Severus wanted the ground to swallow him whole. At 26 years of age and being the best potions master in the world, why was he standing here and allowing this old man to swat him like a 5 year old?

"Care to try that again, my boy?"

"Sorry sir. I meant I had multiple run-ins with Professor McGonnagal in the past week about my commitments to her as well as some issues that Gryffindor students were facing during Potions class and I believe she isn't happy with me right now."

Albus sighed, turned Severus so that he could make eye contact and said, "Minerva is actually the only one who didn't come to me to complain but rather to express concern. She's worried. And she shared her observations with me about your lack of food and sleep, some of which I have noticed too."

Severus couldn't hold eye contact and looked away.

"Do you need another swat to remind you to maintain eye contact? If you can do the acts, then you can look me in the eye and talk about them."

And with that Severus knew that he was in deep trouble. His Slytherin brain went into overdrive thinking of ways to lessen the gravity of the situation and hence his impending punishment.

"Headmaster, actually, Dad, I'm really sorry about this. I, well, I haven't been feeling very well which has led to my loss of sleep and appetite and I'm struggling a little with Draco which has kept me mentally occupied thus leaving little room for remembering my niceties. But I understand this is not okay and I will fix this immediately." Severus tried to smile, a rare occurrence which he hoped would soften his father's stance.

Albus wished he could take all this at face value and consider the matter resolved, hug his son and move on to more pleasant matters but as much as it gladdened his heart that his son was finally sharing troubles with him, he was also able to recognise when this was being done purely to manipulate him into leniency and today he wasn't going to allow it. If Severus was the head of SLytherin, he was the headmaster and could out-wit him.

"I'm glad to hear that Severus but please tell me what exactly made you realise that what you did was wrong?"

"Well I guess I knew it was wrong as I did it?"

"Is that a question or an answer? Anyway, if you knew it was wrong, why did you still do it?"

"It was an in the moment reaction, I lost my cool."

"Alright, I understand that can happen to the best of us, so I assume you went back and apologized?"

A much softer, "No sir."

"And why not?"

Severus didn't have an answer to that.

"So you're only saying these things to try to lessen your punishment?"

"No dad, I'm really sorry."

"Sorry you did it or sore that I found out and that we are having this conversation?"

"Severus sighed, "Both, sir."

"Sev, I'm really glad that you shared with me what is troubling you and we will fix it but I expect you to come to me when it starts so that I can help you and not go around spreading your misery."

"Yes sir."

"I don't completely believe that you mean it but I hope we can get closer by the time we finish with your punishment."

Severus gulped.

"Now about the complaints, my initial plan was to get you to write letters of apology to everyone you hurt, including students and make reparations wherever you can and that still stands. MInerva will supervise you in the process." Severus wanted to grumble and complain that he would do no such thing but he hoped that his contrition and acceptance might lead to Albus not imposing any further sanctions.

Unfortunately, Albus continued, "And for manipulating me like that, you will bend over for 10 with the paddle."

"Dad no one, I'm too old for this."

"I agree, you are too old to be acting up like this."

Severus was quiet for a moment, then looked into Albus' eyes and said, "Dad can you please reconsider?"

Albus was a little surprised by the fact that Severus was calm and asking so nicely. Generally the promise of corporal punishment put him in a fenzy wherein he often ended up getting himself into more trouble. This worried Albus a little but he knew that they had to get through this before they could move on to the reconciliation.

"Sorry, Sev, I have always had a zero-tolderance policy for lying and manipulation falls squarely into it. I would have hoped that after all these years you would have learned that lying will always get you into more trouble."

"But I don't want to be in trouble at all. I'm a professor here. And 26!"

"But you're still my son, Sev. And I will always hold you accountable."

Severus looked like he was about to argue some more but he just sighed and said, "Yes sir."

"But before we start, and I'm trusting you to be honest with me, how is your health? Are you feeling well enough or do we need to visit Madam Pomfrey first?"

Severus knew that if he said he was unwell and needed to go to the medical wing, Albus would put everything aside for now but from past experience he also knew that it just meant a delayed punishment, not a canceled one. So he sighed and said, "No Dad, I'm fine."

"Fine because you don't want to go to the hospital wing or genuinely fine?"

"I might need some potions but it isn't anything that I can't handle myself."

"Well, since you haven't handled it yourself, I will be escorting you to Madam Pomfrey after we finish here."

After all these years Severus had learnt that if there was one thing that Albus wouldn't relent a single inch on, it was his health so he just nodded.

Finally, Albus said, "bend over, son."