Harry looked up at the very irate figure of his father and knew he was in so much trouble that he considered trying to run away, but Severus was blocking the only egress from the lab and the look on his face was enough to freeze the disobedient little child in his tracks.

"Uh, hi Daddy." he tried for his best puppy-dog look, the one that could usually get him out of trouble, but Severus wasn't impressed. He continued to glower down on his son, and Harry's heart sank to his shoes. He knew perfectly well he'd been awfully terribly naughty sneaking in here and touching Sev's potions, and now he wished he hadn't lost his temper and disobeyed one of his dad's most important rules. Oh, how he wished that now!

"Well, young man?" Severus crossed his arms and gave Harry a very disapproving and disappointed look. "I'm waiting for your answer."

Harry swallowed, then said in a very soft voice, "I . . .came in here ‘cause . . . I was mad and-and bored . . .You were never coming out of the office, Dad, and I got sick and tired of waiting so . . .I came in here and-and tried to make a flying potion."

"So I see. You deliberately disobeyed me and tried to do something you knew was wrong, correct?"

"Yes sir," Harry stared at the floor, blinking hard. He could tell that Severus was very angry and disappointed and he hated it when his daddy spoke in that tone, it made him feel so guilty.

"Look at me, please," Severus ordered in an even tone, trying very hard not to raise his voice, though he felt like shouting at the child. He waited until Harry had lifted his head and looked up at him before continuing. "Why did I tell you not to come in here without me, Harry?"

"Umm . . .'cause there's lots of, um . . .dangerous things in here and if you don't know what you're doing, you could get hurt really bad."

"Or killed if a potion created a toxic gas or an explosion," Severus reiterated. "You knew that and still you chose to come in here and go through my stores and make God knows what out of them. Merlin's beard!" He peered over at the smelly brown goop that was supposed to be Harry's flying potion. Then he banished it with a word. He knew that none of the ingredients in the unlocked cabinets were poisonous or deadly, at the most they'd have given Harry a severe stomachache if he'd drank the potion. But he was not about to tell that to his rebellious offspring.

Another thing nagged at the back of his mind, why had the alarm not sounded? Until he recalled that he'd not reset it after he had finished brewing his Headache Remedy that afternoon, normally he did that as soon as he left, but Matthew had called with a question on the mirror, and he'd gone to get Abigail Sanders's chart, intending to return after a few minutes and reset the alarm, but the ten minutes had turned into an hour when Matthew told him the test results on the young woman were abnormal and they needed to discuss treatment methods right away, because delaying Abigail's medical care could prove fatal. So this was partially his fault, for not resetting the alarm, though Harry had known better.

"And not only that, but you're using a knife and you've broken a beaker too! I can't believe you would do such a thing, Harry. You know my rule about touching knives and glass containers, young man, don't you?"

"Yes sir." Harry laid the knife down on the table. "I-I'll clean up the mess, Daddy," he offered, hoping to mitigate his punishment.

"No, I'll do it, before you bloody cut yourself to ribbons," Severus said, then waved his wand and the shattered glass was cleaned up. Once that was done, he reset his alarm, locked the door, then took his son by the arm and marched him down the hallway into the den.

He stood Harry in front of him and sat down on the couch, still wearing a severe expression. "You are in some of the worst trouble ever, little boy. I thought I could trust you to wait until I was finished with Uncle Matt before I took you to the park, didn't I tell you we would leave as soon as I was done?"

Harry nodded, for the first time he had asked, before he'd begun singing, Severus had told him they would go as soon as he finished talking. "Yeah, but you were taking forever!"

"That was not something I could control, Harry. One of my patients is very sick and I needed to discuss treatment with Uncle Matt, which was why I took so long. What did I ask you to do in the meantime?"

"Uh, to go and read or watch TV or draw till you were done," Harry recited, hanging his head.

"So why didn't you?"

"I did, but then I didn't feel like it no more," his son said with something resembling defiance in his tone. "I was bored and . . .and I wanted to make a potion like you do."

Severus sighed. "Harry, you know you're too little to make potions without me, how many times have I said that to you?"

"A lot."

"Just yesterday, right?"

His son nodded.

"And how many times have I said that being bored is no excuse to go looking for trouble?"

"‘Bout a hundred times," the child admitted sheepishly, for this was not the first time he'd been bored and gotten into something he wasn't supposed to.

"I thought I could trust you to play quietly while I was using the mirror, but clearly I was very mistaken, since the minute my back was turned you decided to ignore my rules and do whatever you pleased. How do you think that makes me feel?"

Harry sniffled. "Mad and . . .and disappointed. I'm sorry, Daddy! I'll never touch your potions again." He began to cry quietly.

"That's all well and good, but it doesn't get you out of your punishment now," Severus told him. "What did I tell you would happen the last time I caught you sneaking into my lab two days ago?"

"When you were brewing the Dreamless Sleep Potion?" Harry asked, trying to stall for time, since he knew perfectly well what his father had told him.

"Yes, then, and I had asked you to stay out that time and instead I found you hiding under the table?"

"You said that sometimes I can't watch you because the smoke could make me sick and you always have a good reason to tell me not to do something and I need to listen to you so's I don't get hurt and if I disobeyed you again. . ." He trailed off.

"Go on. What else?"

"That . . .you'd spank me," he replied in a tiny voice.

"And since you not only entered my lab without permission, but you touched dangerous knives and potion ingredients as well, I'm now going to have to add another consequence to your bad behavior. It's something I had hoped I'd never have to do, but you've earned it this time."

Harry trembled suddenly, wondering what other thing his dad had in mind, but before he could ask, Severus said, "Come here and let's get the first part of your punishment over with."

Harry backed up, putting his hands over his bottom. "No, Daddy! I-I don't want a spanking. I'm really sorry." His bottom lip trembled pathetically. He hadn't earned a spanking from Severus in a very long time, not since the broom incident, and he really didn't want one now!

"I'm sure you are, but all actions have consequences and this is one of them," Severus reminded, hardening his heart at his son's pleading green gaze. "Come here now, son. If I have to come and get you, it'll mean an extra swat."

Feeling very sorry for himself, Harry obeyed. Severus bent the child over, wishing like hell this wasn't necessary, and delivered five firm spanks.

Harry wailed loudly after each swat, even though Sev didn't hit half as hard as Tobias had, he hated when his father spanked him, because he knew it meant he had tested Sev's patience to the limit and had made his daddy very disappointed. Severus's disappointment hurt more than the actual spanking, which was why Harry was crying so much.

Severus lifted his hand for the final swat, informing his son beforehand that this was the last one. It was harder than the others, though not by much, it left a tingling sting across Harry's bottom.

The six-year-old sobbed and squirmed, but it was over and Sev turned him about and hugged him, letting the child bawl into his shoulder. "I'm sorry you made me do that, scamp, but maybe next time you won't sneak into my lab, huh?"

Harry nodded against his shoulder and Severus patted his back soothingly until he'd stopped crying. Harry had to admit that his bottom stung a lot less after this spanking than the ones Tobias had given him, but he still hated it. "M' sorry, I'll be good, sir," he sniffled.

"Will you now? I'm not sure I can believe that, Harry. Your actions today were so disappointing to me, son, that I can't bear to look at you." Severus said, then deliberately looked away from his son. "Since you chose to ignore my rules and do what you wanted, I think it only fair if I do the same to you for the rest of the afternoon. From now until then, an hour-" he checked his watch. "-I will neither see or hear or speak to you, young man. Then perhaps you will learn not to ignore my instructions, which I've made for your safety, Harry James Severus Potter."

Harry gaped at him. "No, Daddy! Please!"

But Severus did not answer him, he set him down and stood up, looking at a point over his son's head. Then he left the room without another word, leaving his son staring after him.

Harry couldn't believe this was actually happening. Surely his daddy was bluffing, he couldn't just ignore Harry for the rest of the afternoon! But when he ran after Severus, he discovered the older wizard acted like he wasn't even there, ignoring him utterly and walking into his office. Little did he know Sev wasn't totally ignoring him, he'd cast an observation charm upon Harry so he could see what his son was doing during his punishment.

Harry stood in front of the door for a few minutes, sniffling and rubbing his bottom, which was still a bit sore, wondering what he could do now. He considered kicking the door, but quickly decided against it. His dad was mad enough already, he didn't want to make him even madder.

So he trudged back down the hall and into the bathroom, where he washed his face and sulked a bit before going into his room, picking up Inky and flopping down on his bed, which was covered in a bright green comforter with yellow lightning bolts and wands embroidered upon it. Lily had made the comforter for Harry when he stopped sleeping in a crib and Severus had since enlarged it to fit Harry's bigger bed.

"I hate this punishment, Inky!" he told the panther in aggrieved tones. "It's just like time-out only it lasts almost forever and it's so-o-o boring and Dad's a mean nasty grouch for doing it to me, even if I did deserve it." He smacked a hand down on his comforter, then did it again for good measure. He pounded the bed for a few minutes, indulging in a rare temper tantrum, then shouted loudly, not caring if his dad heard him, "You're MEAN, Dad! MEAN, MEAN, MEAN!"

Then he waited to see what would happen.

Nothing. Severus did not come to investigate, did not come in and scold Harry for screaming or for acting like a brat.

Harry jumped off his bed and stamped hard on the floor.

Not even that got a response.

It was as if he were home alone.

He ran into the den, turned the TV up loud, and pretended to watch it, but actually he was waiting for Severus to reappear and yell at him for having the volume up so loud. Five minutes went by. Then ten, and still Severus did not reappear.

Harry quickly grew sick of sitting still and turned off the TV. He went into the kitchen to get himself a snack, only to find that after he'd gotten a handful of oatmeal biscuits he wasn't in any mood to eat them. Food always tasted better when there was someone around to eat it with. He left the biscuits on the table and went back towards Severus's office.

This time he found Sev was busy writing something on a patient's chart.

The older man didn't so much as raise an eyebrow when Harry entered.

Harry walked into the room and came to stand before the desk. "Dad? I've learned my lesson now and I want you to stop ignoring me."

Severus kept writing.

"Dad, please? I don't like this punishment anymore."

The Master Healer kept scribbling, totally ignoring the child in front of him.

Harry felt like a ghost and he couldn't stand it.

He came around the desk and tugged on Severus's sleeve, he was wearing a soft blue day robe.

Severus glanced right through him and flicked a finger at Harry's hand, as if brushing away a speck of dust.

Harry sighed exasperatedly. This was turning out to be the most horrible, no good, awful day ever! He made faces at his father and sang softly, but Severus didn't even flinch. It was as if his son were not even there.

Harry stamped his foot and left, yelling that he was going out in the backyard.

He played on the swing set there for fifteen minutes before growing utterly bored. It had been almost forty minutes and Harry still had twenty minutes left.

The six-year-old went back and took Inky and told the panther that he wished he'd never gone into the potions lab. "I shoulda wrote Grandpa a letter or read The Too Trusting Unicorn over. Then I wouldn't be so bored I could die, Inky." He flopped back on his bed with a groan. "This is the worst punishment ever."

Maybe I should take a nap. I'm kind of sleepy. But he discovered he couldn't sleep very well, his conscience kept dragging up how disappointed his father had looked when he found Harry in his potions lab and he tossed and turned for five minutes before giving up.

"Now what, Inky?"

Harry picked up his pencil and a fresh piece of paper and began to write a short letter to his grandfather. It only took five minutes though. Then he wrote another, slightly longer one to his dad, saying how sorry he was. After that he drew two pictures and made all the people and animals in them with sad expressions and tears, since he was miserable.

But finally the hour was up, and he heard a tap at his door.

He didn't bother answering, but the door opened anyway to admit his dad. "All right, Harry. The hour is over."

Harry turned away, not answering.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "What's this? You're giving me the cold shoulder?"

Harry nodded. "It was the worst punishment ever, Dad!"

"Then I hope you never do anything so naughty again, scamp. But it's over now and you can stop sulking. Come here," his dad ordered gently, holding out his arms.

Harry turned around at the soft tone and ran into them. "I'll never ever do that again. Promise!"

"I'm so glad to hear that, Harry. Because I hate punishing you as much as you hate being punished."

"You do?" the little boy stared at his father. "Then why d'you do it?"

"Because you need to learn that all actions have consequences, son, and if I don't correct you, who will?"

Harry shrugged. "Are you still mad at me, Daddy?"

"No, scamp. It's over and done with and I forgive you." He hugged Harry to him.

Harry hugged him in return, then whispered in his ear, "I forgive you too, Dad."

"Oh, Harry!" his father laughed. "You are something else!"

"Am I still your special boy?"

"Always."

"And will you love me forever, no matter what?"

"Forever and ever, child," the Healer reassured him, stroking his messy hair. Harry's stomach growled. "Now, I'd say it's about suppertime, and I'm starving."

"Me too. Can we have grilled cheese sandwiches and crisps, Dad? Please?"

"Yes. Go and get me the bread and cheese, Harry." Then Severus set him down and Harry ran over to the fridge and took out the bread, sliced yellow cheese, and butter.

He handed Sev the bread and the cheese and asked, "Dad? Since it's too late to go to the park now, can we go tomorrow?"

"Yes we can, I was calling you to leave when I discovered you in my lab, you know. In fact, we can go to the park tomorrow, so long as you behave, how about that?"

Harry nodded happily. It was such a relief to not have his father angry with him any more, the boy thought, and vowed to never misbehave like that again.