Chapter 6 : The Daily RIP Fiasco
Teddy Oglethorpe got a decent hotel room in New York city for the night of the Daily Rip. His room had a television and a nice couch with two armchairs. It was a bit expensive but nothing he couldn't afford.
He had planned this carefully; he leaked the discovery to the press, including the problematic meeting they had had with the President, and they were scheduled to publish their article as the live segment with Mary Potter and Severus Snape aired. He was hopeful that the two English citizens would handle it well enough to be taken seriously. He had no reasons to doubt their professionalism, but he had to admit that he did not know them too much.
These two intrigued him. He had never looked up how the British education system worked, it sounded as though Severus had been Mary's teacher for a long time despite not being in the astronomy field himself. He was here in lieu of her mentor whom he had been informed was pregnant.
He had caught a few snippets of conversation that struck him as them knowing each other well, at least better than you'd expect from a student and their teacher, however the tones had been quite hostile. He couldn't help but wonder what the nature of their relationship was, exactly. And he now realized that he wasn't aware of Severus' field of expertise.
That didn't matter much, in the end. The show was tonight, and he was getting ready to meet with Severus and Mary in front of the studio before they went in.
When Teddy reached the studio building in the busy streets of New York, there was already a small crowd there. There were six people bundled up together, Mary was among them. He walked up to her. When she noticed him, she smiled nervously. A red-haired girl was massaging her shoulders, probably trying to help with her nervosity.
"Hi Teddy, I'm glad you could make it."
"It's going to be fine, Mary. I'd lie if I said I wouldn't have been nervous myself in your place." He tried to reassure her.
The whole group was looking at him: a chubby short man with blond hair, a dirty blond woman with perpetually surprised blue eyes, a bushy brown-haired woman with a tan, a tall ginger man with freckles, and a petite red-haired woman with brown eyes.
Mary caught the mutual stares and cleared her throat.
"Right. I told you about Teddy, he was with us in the oval office." She turned to Teddy. "Teddy, I introduce you to my friends. We all went to school together."
First, she pointed to Ron and Hermione. "They're my two best mates. Hermione and Ron."
Hermione and Ron let go of each other's hands to shake Teddy's.
"Then Luna and Neville, I would trust them with my life."
"Oh, I really don't know why." Luna said smiling as she shook Teddy's hand, then he shook Neville's.
"And finally here is my… girlfriend, Ginny." She finished, and Teddy and Ginny shook hands amicably.
There was a bit of silence, which contrasted with the involved conversations they were having prior to his interruption. He didn't exactly feel unwelcome, but clearly, they didn't want to carry on the same subject in front of him. Hermione was chewing on her lips. Eventually, Ron spoke.
"Teddy, do you reckon we can watch the show within the studio? We really don't want to miss it, and there isn't a tebi-"
"Television." Hermione said quickly.
"-a television in our hotel room, is it?" He asked before looking at Hermione for confirmation and she nodded.
"That is unfortunately not possible." Teddy replied, and noting how everyone looked disappointed, he added. "I have one in mine though, and while it might be a bit cramped, I think we can all squeeze in."
Everybody smiled, grateful for the invitation, and Neville started a discussion about their visit to Central Park. Teddy didn't listen actively, his focus on Mary, who was silent and looking sweaty. He noticed Hermione was also staring at her silently. As he approached her, something odd happened. The conversation abruptly stopped, and Mary's friends parted to free the space like they were insects confronted to repellent.
In the freed space stood a sneering Severus Snape.
Suddenly, the bushy haired girl raised her hand. "Sir!" Severus raised an eyebrow.
"We're not in school anymore, miss Granger."
"It's a comet, isn't it? It's going to hit earth." she blurted out.
"Insufferable know-it-all!" Snape growled.
Teddy wished that Hermione had not said her deduction aloud. The girl seemed obnoxious yet bright, and it sounded like Severus had had to teach her as well.
"You guessed right, Hermione." Mary's shoulders slumped forward. "We have five months and two weeks left before an extinction-level-event, and the President of the United-States couldn't care less," she let out in one single breath, like she had been aching to say it for a long time.
"What?" a passerby stopped next to the group, gaping.
"It's a video game." Mary stated simply.
"Oh, okay." The passerby continued to walk, looking embarrassed.
The group remained silent before Severus finally talked.
"Now that this touching reunion is over, Potter and I have important business to attend to."
Teddy started. "Alright Mary, keep calm and go with the flow, okay? Drink a lot of water, don't worry too much, and remember: keep it simple, no math!"
As Teddy was done speaking his reassuring words, Mary was already inside the building, and she had just enough time to cry out "But it's all math!" before Severus slammed the door shut behind them. Teddy and the remaining five young adults stared at the door in a heavy, stunned silence.
Teddy and what he decided to call The Potter Followship (but not out loud) stopped by a convenience store to buy candies and refreshments for the occasion. The snacks here were cheaper than the free snacks of the White House.
He watched as Ron fumbled around with his bills, visibly confused. Obviously, they had a different currency in England, the pound. Nevertheless, weren't they supposed to have decimalised it in the 70's, before these young adults were even born? Because Ron looked a lot more confused than a normal tourist would be, like he couldn't comprehend the metric system. Hermione helped him and Teddy internally wished her luck with dating this guy.
They sat in his hotel room, fortunately each person had a seat although it meant two of them had to sit on the bed. Currently, Luna and Neville were sitting there while him and Ginny occupied the armchairs. Hermione and Ron were on the couch.
"Did Severus teach all of you?" Teddy asked the room once they all had settled down.
"Yes, he did." Ginny replied. "For five years for me and Luna and six years for Ron, Hermione and Neville."
"What did he tea-"
"Chemistry." Hermione cut in immediately, looking sideways to Ron sitting by her side chewing on her lower lip. Odd.
"Something tells me he wasn't easy on his students." Teddy chuckled.
"He was a real git. Especially to Neville." Ron said, looking behind him to Neville.
"I wasn't very good at his subject and… he once threatened to poison Trevor with my… er… concoction. I was terrified." Neville said. Luna sitting next to him wasn't paying attention to the conversation, she seemed mesmerized by the abstract painting on the wall.
"He threatened to poison a classmate?"
"Sorry, Trevor was my pet toad." Neville specified.
Teddy blinked in confusion. "A pet toad, in chemistry class?"
Teenagers… Teddy could bet that Severus must have been fed up with a student bringing an exotic pet to a classroom with fragile expensive gear and chemicals.
"We were allowed to bring owls, cats and-" Luna began to say and Teddy was startled, but Ginny cut her off.
"His voice was raspy, wasn't it? It sounded a lot more intimidating in class."
"I'm fairly certain that's due to his injury." Hermione said.
"How was he injured?" Teddy asked, curiosity in his tone. Their eyes widened and they all opened their mouth to answer but Luna was too fast.
"A pet snake tore his neck." She said, like she was talking about the weather.
"Look, it's beginning!" Hermione squeaked hurriedly, and Ron opened his bag of crisps loudly.
The Daily Rip's theme song began, but Teddy wasn't paying attention to it. He was busy thinking about the information he had just received. What the hell was going on in the British education system? Not only did the school Mary went to allow cats, toads and owls, it also allowed snakes. Snakes that were aggressive enough to tear a staff member's throat.
No wonder Snape had such a bad temper. He downright needed it to survive his students.
The show was half an hour long and usually had two guests, which was the case tonight. Mary and Severus were scheduled to go in second. The first guest walked in, and Teddy recognized her immediately. She was a young singer, and she was THE star of the moment. Riley Bina sat down with the two hosts, Brie and Jack. He had watched the show quite often, which meant that he could recognize the blond woman and the black man anywhere.
"She's pretty." Luna commented when the camera zoomed on Bina, and took out her cell phone, focusing on it.
"I've heard she recently broke up with DJ Cello." Teddy shook his head. "That's too bad, they look like nice kids."
Ron and Ginny looked at Hermione with raised eyebrows, they said nothing and she shrugged in answer.
The hosts talked about the recent break up. Riley Bina looked uncomfortable, but she eventually admitted to, even now, loving her ex, which resulted in his appearance and subsequent marriage proposal. The whole thing was a bit over the top, however Teddy was still happy for them. His own guests looked unfazed by the whole thing, except Luna who found Riley Bina's social accounts on her phone and gladly shared the news that she followed her.
"The online community is talking about it on Vroom Vroom." Luna commented.
Teddy looked at his own phone. "You're right! My phone even purchased DJ Chello's album without my input… That's weirding me out a bit, to be honest."
"Did you buy the latest model?" She asked. "Mine didn't."
"Yes, I did."
At that moment, Brie and Jack announced the science segment.
"From a marriage proposal to a science experiment. Our latest guests today have made a pretty big discovery… in space!" Brie announced from the TV.
They all watched as Severus and Mary took their seat. They were barely seated when Jack fired his first question. "I'm going to ask because I have to know, but are we alone in the universe?"
"I don't know. Are you?" Severus' bad mood could be felt through the screen.
"Did they do something with his hair?" Ginny asked, her head tilting.
"I reckon they washed it." Ron replied, and Hermione slapped his shoulder lightly.
"I knew I'd like that guy! So much snark! Let me introduce you to Professor Severus Snape and his student, Mary Potter, coming straight from the Old Continent."
Neville snorted. "I think you're right. They did something with his hair."
"Hmm. He looks handsome. Had he had this look while being a teacher, I bet he would have had to shoo some students away with a broom. I certainly would have had a crush on him."
They glared at her before Brie at last asked a relevant question.
"An article was published as we're talking right now in the New York Herald." Brie smiled at the camera and then she turned to Severus. "We of course don't have the time to read it before firing questions at you, so it'd be great if you could tell us the gist of it."
"Here goes nothing." Teddy muttered, while everyone else held their breath in the room.
"Miss Potter was observing Super Novas under my colleague's guidance – I am filling in for her as she couldn't travel – when she made this… How shall I say it… once-in-a-lifetime-discovery." Severus' lips curled as he glanced at Mary.
"This has to be exciting. Please miss Potter, tell us more." Jack encouraged Mary.
"Er-" Mary started, her eyes darting everywhere like she wasn't sure where she was supposed to look. "I was studying exploding stars… to measure the expansion of the universe… and er…"
"How many people watch this?" Ron asked.
"I don't recall the exact number, but it should be in the millions I think." Teddy answered without looking away from the screen.
"And then I s-saw something that I had p-previously spotted. But it wasn't where it used to be, once again. S-So I made calculations and figured it out it was a c-comet, about er… thirty miles in diameter."
"That sounds big!" Brie said enthusiastically.
"That seems really exciting!" Jack added. "Will we get to see it with regular telescopes?"
"Well comet Potter, which is what it is going to be named-" Severus stated through gritted teeth.
"After her?" Jack pointed at Mary.
"Yes, unfortunately." Severus replied dead-pan.
The two hosts showered a self-conscious looking Mary in praise and congratulations, while Severus had a scowl on his face.
"Oops sorry Professor Snape! We should probably continue before he unleashes his wrath!" Jack and Brie laughed.
"As I was saying… Not only you'll be able to see it with the naked eye, you'll also witness it crashing on earth." The professor said baldly.
"Are you aware of the location of the crash already? See, I have this ex wife who lives on the coast of New-Jersey-"
"Stop it, Jack! You and Shelly have a great relationship!" Brie shook her head with a smile. "Answer him, will it destroy the ex's house?"
"Rest assured Jack, your ex's house will be destroyed. So will everybody else's." Severus said, his speech measured.
"See, Brie? That will be worth witnessing!"
Brie scoffed with a grin. "Come on Jack! You and Shelly were on good terms!"
They watched as Brie and Jack bantered playfully on screen. Mary and Severus sat in silence. That was not the case for long though…
"Excuse me! Are we not being clear?" Boomed Mary's shrill voice. "We're trying to tell you that the entire planet is in danger!"
"Oh no please, don't do that…" Teddy pleaded to the TV.
"Well, that's what we do here. We keep the bad news light!" Brie said while her eyes went wide and she stared warily somewhere off the camera.
Ron cleared his throat. "Mary's about to go ballistic, isn't she?"