Note
I have decided to post that chapter now since it's ready, but it'll take at least two weeks for the next one! I had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope you'll enjoy it.
Chapter 3 : The President Has Better Things To Do
Mary Potter, Severus Snape and Teddy Oglethorpe were sitting in the oval office, facing President Orlean along with the last man they saw before heading to the hotel the night before.
President Orlean was a blond woman wearing glasses. She looked about late fifty, early sixty. She was wearing a professional bright red outfit. The man, still looking smug, was about thirty. His beard was well groomed, and he wore a classic suit.
"So, you're here to tell me about some kind of new galactical discovery." President Orlean said crossing her arms.
"Yes, about a comet-" Teddy started but he was cut off.
"Yeah yeah yeah. Tell me about it, you have twenty minutes. I'm on a schedule here." she said while tapping her watch.
Teddy turned to Snape probably expecting him to talk, but Snape turned to Mary.
"It is now your time to shine again, miss Potter. Bless us with your… discovery." Snape said.
Mary wondered why they sent Snape, as he was currently anything but helpful with her nervosity.
"There is er…. A comet… about twenty-five to thirty miles a-across…It comes from the Oort cloud um… It's the outer most p-part of the s-solar system…" she took a break to breath and noticed Snape's amused stare. The bastard was enjoying her struggle. It made her even more nervous, her speech got clearer but quicker. "And using Gauss's method of orbital determination and the average astrometric uncertainty of 0.04 arcseconds, we then-"
"That girl's boring, even her looks doesn't save it. Someone please stop her." The smug young man cut her off.
"Woah there! I didn't understand anything." President Orlean said at the same time.
"Stop what?" Mary answered, confused.
"Talking in complex scientific terms." Snape said smirking, but the young man interjected.
"No I meant her breathing. It's stressing me out." He said with the same smug look while fanning his face with his hand. Snape's expression straightened.
Snape lifted his hand to pinch his nose. "What miss Potter is trying to say here is that there is a comet heading towards earth, according to her and her mentor's calculations it will hit the Pacific Ocean near Chile in about six months."
"And what happens, a tidal wave?" the thirty-year-old man asks.
"No, we're speaking kilometre-high tsunamis reaching all around the globe." Mary answered him. She felt more confident answering specific question than having to improv her own speech.
"The impact of the comet will be equivalent to a billion Hiroshima bombs causing magnitude 10 earthquakes." Teddy chimed in. He turned directly to the President. "Madam President, this comet is what we call a planet killer."
At these last words, both Mary and Snape nodded in agreement. Silence filled the room, but it only lasted for a few seconds.
"How sure are you?" President Orlean asked.
"A hundred percent certain, Madam President." Snape said. President Orlean lifted her hand and gestured stop.
"Don't say a hundred percent, that is too dramatic." she said.
"Can we just call it a potentially significant event?" the unnamed man asked. President Orlean smiled approvingly.
"Only it isn't potentially going to happen. It is going to happen." Mary interjected.
"If you require a granular number, then it is 99.78%." Snape added to Mary's comment.
"Ah. So, it isn't a hundred percent after all." The man said smugly.
"Scientists don't like speaking in absolutes." Teddy explained.
"Alright, let's say 70% and move on." President Orlean suggested.
"Move on? With due respect ma'am, I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. And it's not 70%, it's 100%! It's not even close!" Mary said, indignant. President Orlean looked at her with the same smug face as the young man, Mary knew then that they were related.
"You can't go around and tell the whole of humanity that there's a 100% chance that they're going to die. You know, it's just … nuts." President Orlean replied snickering. She picked up a flat and square device from her pocket and spoke into it. "I need some of our scientists to investigate a comet and make calculations. No offense to our guests here, but they're just two people who walked in with…?" she looked at Teddy.
"Dr. Oglethorpe." He spoke. "I've been head of Planetary Defense at NASA for over fifteen years. And here is Professor Severus Snape and his astronomy apprentice Mary Potter, from England."
"I am not an astronomy professor; I am replacing Professor Aurora Sinistra. She is currently indisposed." Snape corrected right away.
"Severus Snape and Aurora Sinistra? Man, I didn't know the Brits had such weird names." The smug man commented unnecessarily.
"Jason, that's racist." President Orlean scolded him.
"It's not! It would've been if it'd been directed at Dr. Ogilvy." The man, now known as Jason, tried to defend himself. Teddy rolled his eyes as he corrected him …Oglethorpe.
"So, what institution are we talking about? Oxford?" The President looked over at Snape and Mary.
"Yes." replied Snape at the same time Mary replied "No." He stared daggers at her.
"Eh, doesn't really matter. I'll trust my scientists from Harvard." President Orlean said derisively and pocketed her device.
Snape's knuckles were growing white on the armrest. "Right."
"So, what is it going to cost me?" she asked, with a tone that suggested she was done beating around the bush.
"NASA already has plans and equipment, funded by the government, exactly for that situation. They have drones equipped with nuclear weapons that will detonate on the comet to hopefully change its trajectory. We must act now." Teddy explained, unyielding.
Mary thought that this was finally it, the President of the United-States would trigger the procedures and she could go back to Hogwarts and move on from this whole ordeal, putting the concept of the world ending behind her.
"Okay okay okay…." She replied and turned to Jason. "When are the midterms?"
"It's in a month, mom." Jason replied. Ah, so they ARE related.
"So, if this breaks now, we'll lose congress. If we lose congress, then there's nothing we can do anyway." President Orlean said as she walked back behind her desk.
"Yes, it'll be gridlocked. Terrible timing." Jason nodded.
As the President of the United-States sat down, she flatly said. "I say that, as of now, we sit tight and assess." Jason repeated her words Yes, sit tight and assess.
Mary frowned, looked at Snape and Teddy. Snape was being his usual Snape self; except he was so still you could believe he had seen the reflection of a basilisk in the oval office's windows. Teddy was gaping in disbelief. Mary realised that she wasn't going back to the United Kingdom anytime soon, and confusion and anger took over her.
"Did I understand well? After what you've heard today, your decision in the end is to… sit tight and assess?" Mary said, each of her words louder than the last.
"I'm sorry, who is she again?" Jason asked, scratching his chin.
"I'm returning the question, you're her son, aren't you?" Mary replied, frowning.
"I'm the fucking Chief of Staff, Boy with the Dragon Tattoo." Jason spat back. Mary didn't catch the reference and she didn't dwell on it.
"With due respect, miss President," Snape started to say slowly, being polite clearly taking a toll on him. "But I believe that humanity would universally agree this is the right decision. You're talking about it like we're debating in the parliament. We're not haggling for a cheap souvenir in China Town. We are talking abou-"
Snape was cut off by a gasp of victory coming from the President's mouth as she found the cigarettes she had been looking for in her desk's drawers.
"Funny story!" she cheerfully said, as if Snape hadn't been talking. "At first I was being sneaky about my smoking habits. You know, with the reputation cigarettes has taken lately… anyway, at some point I decided that, fuck it, I need my tobacco. I was photographed, it spread around like wildfire and… My ratings went up!" she grinned proudly as she sat on one of the couches. "Do you know how many meetings I've had with doomers? Economic collapse, nukes, car exhaust killing the atmosphere…"
"We're talking about an object that will for certain end life on earth!" Mary said indignantly, and Orlean started to slowly walk towards her, shushing like you'd do to an angry cat. "This is a large celestial body heading towards earth at speeds-"
"Miss Potter! I hear you." She said softly. "I hear you. You should be proud, this is a great discovery that I'm taking very seriously."
"I- er- " Mary was at a loss for words. Snape stood up, clearly done and Teddy followed suit.
"Hey gang, obviously, everything we've talk about here, super classified, okay?" Jason said as he also stood up. Mary noticed he was holding a handbag.
"Of course." Teddy replied.
And just like that, the meeting was over. Mary wasn't certain what to make of it.
Soon afterwards it was noon. Mary, Snape and Teddy were seated, all three of them scowling, in a Friendsy's. That restaurant chain didn't exist in the United-Kingdom. It had the atmosphere of a pub mixed with a family restaurant. Mary was sipping her water glass.
"We need to leak it to the press." Teddy broke the silence.
"Isn't that illegal?" Mary asked, worried.
"Since when do you care about rules, miss Potter?" Snape asked back. Mary narrowed her eyes at him.
"No indeed, it is not legal. But you have seen how they blew us off." Teddy ignored their exchange. "They do not take it seriously, and if we don't take drastic measures, I fear the worst will happen."
"That's true. I haven't found another possible solution to force their hands." Snape tried to sound casual.
"Couldn't we just, perhaps, use the Imperius Curse on them?" Mary asked Snape.
"Do you want to go to Azkaban?" Snape narrowed his eyes.
"What are you talking about? I'm not sure I'm following." Teddy asked, curious.
"It's a reference to a video game." Mary brushed him off, and he seemed to accept that explanation. Mary took note of that in her mind for future use around muggles. "I've used it once on the goblins, it worked well enough." By the look Snape gave her, he had understood when she must have done so.
"Anyway, now isn't the time to talk about video games. I have some contacts with the press, I possibly could get you two a spot on an evening live show." Teddy carried on the conversation. Snape gritted his teeth.
"Live? On TV?" Mary asked incredulous. "I'm not confident I can…"
"You have to, Mary. You're the one who discovered it and that'll attract more attention to it. On that, the President was right, you should be proud." Teddy reassured her with a sweet smile. Snape rolled his eyes.
"I am persuaded you can, miss Potter. You have done it since you are a toddler. You should be used to celebrity by now, and I bet you enjoy the attention." Snape said dryly as he helped picking up the plates from the waitress' hands.
Mary ignored his remarks. "Before leaving Ho- I mean the school, I was instructed not to talk about it with anyone." She ate a forkful of the pasta she had ordered.
"I will speak with Shacklebolt tonight." Snape said while picking up his burger. "He will agree with Dr. Oglethorpe."
"You can call me Teddy." He said as he took a bite of his chips.
They ate silently. Mary was avoiding looking at Snape at all. With maturity and age, she found that his comments didn't sting as much, but they were still infuriating. Maybe it was his damaged voice. Or maybe it was his current lack of authority position over her. Still, it felt awkward to be eating at a restaurant with him.
"What was that instrument the President was talking into earlier?" Snape broke the silence. His tone was even.
"Oh! It's a new piece of technology developed by Bash. I also own one. It's a cell phone with a screen, and you can do a lot of things on it that could only be done on a computer previously!" Teddy replied. He started to look through his pocket muttering. He found it and handed it to Snape.
It was flat and had a shiny finish, with a black square stretching to the edges. Snape flipped the thing between his fingers, obviously having no clue what to do with it. But he was looking intently at the thing.
"You don't have those in the U.K.?" Teddy asked, surprised.
"No, I can't say I've seen one." Snape answered.
"Alright, let me put in my password and show you some of the features! You'll see, you'll hope Bash extend their market abroad!" Teddy said cheerfully. He took back the device and tapped on the screen with his fingers.
Teddy proceeded to show them a variety of things he called 'apps'. Snape was staring at it silently the whole time, his lips in a thin line. Meanwhile, Mary was ohh and ahh -ing at the incredible usefulness of such a device. She put her hand around her wand in her pocket, thinking that this must be the muggle equivalent. She wondered if it wasn't actually superior to a wand. You could listen to whatever music you wanted, whenever and wherever. You could take pictures, including moving ones with sound. You could not only call with a view of the person at the other end, but you could also send written messages instantly to anyone owning the same technology.
How had she missed such a technological advance in the muggle world?
Eventually, Teddy was showcasing an app with a 3D cat. He asked Snape to think about something to say. Snape looked thoughtful but didn't say anything, obviously uncertain of what to say on the spot like that, especially when he didn't know what was going to happen.
"How about the first thing you ever said to me? In the first lesson you taught me." Mary suggested, thinking about the almost poetic introduction to potions.
Snape looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember. And then he nodded slowly. Teddy pressed his finger on the screen, where a round icon was, as he said Now.
"Ah, yes." He said softly, though his tone was a bit rougher than it used to be, "Mary Potter. Our new – celebrity."
"No! Not that!" Mary said immediately, before Teddy could lift his finger from the screen. She opened her mouth to say something else, but she was interrupted by the phone.
"Ah, yes. Mary Potter. Our new – celebrity. No! Not that!" resonated a perfect imitation of their voices and intonations, but faster and higher pitched. The voice came from the 3D cat.
They both looked at the device in bemusement while Teddy was chuckling. Mary turned her head to hide her smirk from Snape.
"Alright, I'll tell you more tomorrow morning at breakfast." Teddy told them as they finished their food.
When they were asked how to separate the checks, Snape volunteered to pay Mary's before she could speak. She gave him a questioning and indignant look.
He shrugged. "Do you have dollars on you?" he said with a wry smile. Damn the git, he was right. She still didn't have American muggle money.
So that's how she spent her afternoon: localizing the nearest wizarding community to exchange currencies.
That evening, Mary was called again by Ginny. She broke the news that she may be staying a bit longer in North America. Ginny, Ron and Hermione decided that they would come visit her in America the next day, and they discussed inviting others as well.