Chapter 4 : The Magical BASH-ing
The next morning, Mary, Snape and Teddy met for breakfast in the hotel. As they ate, Teddy explained to them that in about two weeks they would be guests on a popular live talk show called The Daily Rip. The filming studio was in New York. While they were eating, Mary noticed that many guests around them were holding the device Teddy had shown them the previous day. Once breakfast was over, Teddy excused himself and left. Mary started to rise but…
"Sit back down, Potter. I'm aware your time is… precious… but I must fill you in on something." Snape said, his teaching voice pre-Nagini bite was still present enough to make Mary sit right back down.
He wasn't looking at her, but at his empty plate. He lifted his hand to rest the palm where she knew he had been bitten, under the left side of his jaw.
"That omnipresent device, it's not entirely muggle technology." He spoke. "It's using magic, one way or another. I felt it when I held it yesterday."
There was a pause, Mary frowned. Muggles were casually walking around with magical devices? Either their Ministry of Magic counterpart was incompetent (although, Mary observed, the same could be said about their own, after the whole fiasco in her fifth year) or the laws were different in America.
"There's a Bash conference today introducing their newest product. If you're looking for me, I'll be at this conference. Don't come disturbing me for nonsense and stay put, may I remind you that we are not on holiday here." He slid a piece of paper towards her, clearly from their hotel rooms provided notepads. "That's the address." Still not looking at her, not bothering to say goodbye, he got up and left.
Mary went up to her bedroom. It was only half passed nine by then, she had a whole day with nothing to do. Her girlfriend and their friends had arranged to arrive only in the evening. She had already visited the area a bit yesterday when she went to exchange money. She paced the room restlessly. She turned on the TV and saw more information about the issue that delayed their meeting with the president.
Apparently an appointed judge didn't have a degree higher than high school. That's all she gathered. She changed channels and saw an ad for the Daily Rip that would air tonight. She promised herself to watch it at some point before she walked in there herself. Mary hoped she and Snape could last the whole broadcast without insulting each other.
She flipped through the channels until she landed on cartoons and threw the remote aside to lie down on the bed. With nothing to do, the exhaustion of the jet lag overpowering her, she fell asleep.
Severus Snape was sitting, arms crossed on his chest, his index finger tapping his own arm in impatience. It was midafternoon and the conference was going to start soon. The conference room was enormous. At least thousands of people must have been attending. There were big screens for people seated afar, like him. He didn't feel like being here, but that device was suspicious and it was making him uncomfortable. Besides, he had nothing better to do, he had two whole weeks at his leisure and he needed to fight off the jetlag. He was glad the hotel was being paid for by the ministry.
What if the device led to the wizarding world being discovered? He'd have to notify the Ministry of Magic back home, because he knew that muggle technology now had inter-continental instant messaging, through something called the Internet. He was well aware of muggle advancements in technology, but if you put a computer in front of him, he wouldn't know how to do advanced manipulations with it.
His fleeting knowledge on the matter was enough to make him suspicious of those flat screen things. He didn't doubt they'd get there eventually, maybe in mid-2010's, but that was far too advanced for the year 2000.
The light turned off and the chatting surrounding him died down. The crowd looked at the stage, and a giant screen turned on. They saw a big image of the same device, but slightly different from the one he had held, certainly a newer model.
"It all started with a connection." A loud but soothing female voice rang through the room. "A simple gesture that created so much." A giant picture of a religious painting appeared, the meaning of it all was lost on Snape. "So many choices. Sometimes, it can even feel like too much."
Then the picture twisted to focus on the device held by God in the painting. "Until now. Introducing BASH LiiF. Life, without the stress of living." The voice continued. Snape rolled his eyes.
Everyone clapped but Snape.
The woman finally announced the CEO of the brand and gave odd instructions on proper behaviour around him. It warned to avoid direct eye contact, which Snape immediately took a mental note of, and to not move suddenly and to not show negative emotions on your face. He certainly would not like Severus Snape very much.
"Please welcome Sir Peter Isherwell." The voice introduced as the screen turned black and three children walked on stage, standing like statues, each holding a BASH LiiF in one hand. The person Snape presumed to be Isherwell walked slowly behind them.
The man on stage began to present his product like any businessman would, looking slightly awkward. He had white hair, but could have been either 40 or 70, Snape wasn't sure. He had a weak intonation and stuttered a lot. He was wearing a nondescript grey shirt and a pair of slack trousers in a different shade of grey.
As Isherwell began his explanation that the phone could read your mood, the three children spoke one after the other in a monotone voice, saying one word each. Sad. Afraid. Alone. The speech was cut off as the giant screen, now shaped like the device, announced that he was sad and needed to watch a video to cheer up. The video was a puppy riding a chicken, with a child in the background singing awkwardly. People awed around Snape, the CEO laughed gleefully.
Snape was uncomfortable. He wondered if he had just walked into a cult, and he was the only one not brainwashed yet.
Isherwell picked back up his speech and was interrupted by one of the children, a girl, asking if she could say something, he replied a firm no before continuing. The child looked on the verge of tears and Snape thought that he could relate with him on that.
Once the presentation was over, it was late afternoon already and he was getting hungry. After breakfast, he had skipped lunch to get to this place and make sure he didn't miss it. It wasn't far from Washington DC but still a two-hour drive.
The presentation had been… odd. He didn't know what to make of it. Isherwell had worn muggle clothes, but Snape was certain the man was a wizard. A wizard mixing magic with muggle technology in order to get rich was not a new or foreign concept, but wizarding communities worked hard to prevent it as it was a dangerous line to dance on. The legends behind witch hunts had not been entirely fiction. For these reasons, he was wondering how Isherwell had gotten away with it so far. He was looking at the lines of people forming in the lobby to buy the new advertised phone. He stood there, debating buying one or not, but decided against it once he saw the price.
"Five hundred dollars, that's too much." He heard a woman leaving the line-up utter the exact same thought he had. Then he realised who it was.
"Potter. I hope the trouble you're into was worth the trip here." He sneered.
Mary grumbled under her breath in answer, but she walked to his side as if waiting to be told what to do.
"Are you going to tell me what prompted you to seek me? What did you do?" He narrowed his eyes at her.
"I didn't do anything. I came here because I was bored."
"What?" he raised an eyebrow. "Of course. When you get bored, you're willing to do a two-hour trip to make yourself un-bored at my expense."
She scoffed. "I promise I'm not here to spend my energy, I overslept because of the damned jet lag and I'm still tired. I would certainly not pay two hundred dollars in taxi just to see you." She looked like she had sniffed rotten food. "No, I came here because I was bored and didn't know what else to do, so I decided to attend the conference. I was there too."
He grinned maliciously. "You took a taxi to come all the way here?"
"Well… I don't know how things work here, I've… never been overseas before." she said, embarrassed. "And now I don't have enough left to buy it already." She gestured at the kiosks.
"Ah, there's a limit to your father's fortune? I would have thought your fame would bring you wealth as well." Snape sniggered. "Seeing how you just spent two hundred dollars on a taxi, I'm not surprised it's disappearing quickly. Do you not realise how unreliable with money you sound, when you spend two hundred dollars on an unnecessary taxi ride but five hundred dollars for a piece of advanced technology is crossing the line?"
"I don't have American currency left, that's what I meant. I have enough to repay you, by the way."
"Hand me the money, I'm not fond of the idea of being stuck with you owing me anything." He held his hand out. "Just for your information, they only take card payments."
Mary grunted and counted the notes before handing them to him. He counted them again and shoved it in his wallet. He started to walk away but she jogged at his side to keep up with him.
"Wait! Shouldn't we go eat something? I didn't have lunch as I fell asleep."
"You want to owe me more?"
"No, I have enough for food." Suddenly she looked panicked. "Shit! I don't have enough for the taxi trip back!"
"Of course." He rolled his eyes.
"Mind if we take the taxi back together… sir?" she asked, each word painful. She did not want to share a taxi with Snape but he sensed that was the only way she could afford the trip back.
He stopped walking to stare at her, disgust clear on his features. He could leave her here. But he'd certainly get in trouble if he did. He needed her to be the face in that whole story. She was Potter and she discovered a comet, so she was going to be once against the "chosen-one" and he preferred she got that role rather than him. It was maddening enough that he would have to stand by her side on a god damn live TV show.
He looked down and sighed, his shoulder hunched, resigned.
"We'll grab take-out and we'll eat on the way in my car."
Mary was drinking her coca cola lazily, the Friendsy's wrappings of her finished sandwich crumpled on her lap. Snape was driving while eating chips. That was not a scenario she'd have ever dreamed, or wished, of happening. It reminded her of the American road trips movies she had seen on the Dursley's TV.
"Sir, Why do you have a car in America?" she asked. She didn't want to talk to him, but the silence was awkward.
"I'm renting it." He said, his tone dry.
"Oh, I see. May I ask you-"
"You seem to be mistaken here, Potter. It's not because we were sent together that we must play mates or even spend time together. I hope that once we're back in Washington you'll find things to do on your own, as I don't plan on chauffeuring you around."
"I just wanted to know-" Mary started, but she was cut off by Snape turning on a music program, jacking up the volume. She got the message and remained silent the rest of the trip.
Little did she know that this was a preview of the last few weeks of her life, months later.