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On the Origins of Fairy Circles by faliah [Reviews - 1]

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Author's note: Sorry for the delay in updating! I have been on the job-hunt, and this just got pushed to the back of my mind. I hope that you are enjoying this, and promise that Snape and Granger are indeed moving towards friendship, and more funny times. Thanks, as always, for reading :)


Severus’ eyes narrowed. He skimmed the article again, hoping he had missed some additional detail. There were none. It was cursory, but laden with promise.

He heard a knock on his door, but ignored it. He placed the article down on the corner of his desk, and pulled a student’s paper towards him. Picked up his red pen.

The knock came again, louder. He started hacking away at the writing. Its tone was haughty, as if the child of eleven knew everything there was to know about asphodel. It was like reading the younger Granger’s work.

At the thought, said Granger burst into his office like an angry ball of reddish brownish yarn mussed by static.

“Excuse me, Miss Granger, but I don’t believe I invited you in.”

Ignoring this bemusedly sarcastic quip, Granger erupted. “How dare you call me juvenile and a poor mathematician in a respected public forum? I should publish about your arrogance, I should. I have half a mind to write some anonymous letter to the editor, full of concern that you drank too much wine while in Africa to have any dignity or sense left. I repeat, how dare you!”

Severus held up the article he had been reading. “Have you seen this, Granger? Not to distract you, but I think it might interest you.”

Hermione’s eyes narrowed at this, suspicious. Snape was acting too friendly. He knew this, and was playing this suspicion to his advantage.

“Go on, Granger. Your curiosity is renowned to be insatiable.”

She tore the paper from his hands, and looked around the room while keeping one eye on him. In the back of his office, she found a worn out wooden chair with books piled on it. She cleared it off and sat in it to read.

“Fairy Circles, Long a Mystery in Africa, Now Found in Australia,” she began aloud.

“Would it kill you to read it silently, Miss Granger?” Severus hissed. “I am trying to be pleasant, because I think we have a mutual interest in this article, but do not test my patience.”

“Sorry, sir,” she mumbled, half out of habit, and half out of snark.

She then read quickly, seeming to devour the page.

“Is there more? Where is the rest of it,” she demanded, looking at him incredulously. It seemed to Severus as if he had given her half a slice of chocolate pie and she was insisting on the rest before finishing the first part.

“I do not believe there is more, at present.”

“How can there not be more? How could they publish this without first investigating this? It’s 2016 – have people not learned to provide meaty substance for their readers?” Hermione was flabbergasted.

Severus merely stared. It was ironic, to be sure, but he wasn’t sure it was worth pointing that out to Granger.

“What are we going to do about this?” Hermione continued. “If they’re the same phenomenon as what’s in Namibia, then I consider both our hypotheses to be inadequate to explain it. Neither of them is very transferable…” She moaned, thinking her reputation ruined.

“Quite. However, mine seems more transferable than yours, if I might say so myself.”

Hermione stuck her tongue out at him. “No need to gloat, Professor. Yet I do think, if there’s a chance that either of our hypotheses could be true with regard to the Australian fairy circles, we need to investigate. If I’m right, there may be magical creatures in danger.” She looked off to the side, presumably thinking how unlikely it was that not only was there one underground desert dragon, but multiple, scattered across the world. At least, it seemed this way to Severus.

“If I am right, there may be an emerging pattern of psychopathic wizards training their young in vicious battles, who thereby pose a threat to Wizarding kind on many continents,” Snape said, almost equally dubiously.

“Regardless, there has to be some sort of unifying theory…” Hermione began, but was interrupted by Snape.

“I agree. I believe somewhere there is truth, and we are more likely to find it together.”

Hermione stared. “You can’t mean…”

“Finish your thought, Granger. I can’t be bothered to play fill in the blanks,” Severus growled.

“I mean to say, Professor, that if you’re suggesting we investigate the phenomenon in Australia together, that it was entirely unexpected, and frankly, a bit suspicious.”

“You are consistently suspicious of me. No need to change tack now.”

“This is different. Yesterday, you attacked me in the Daily Prophet as juvenile and claimed I couldn’t write a proper paper. A year ago, you claimed I was hastily publishing a paper to gain favour with the public, and couldn’t be bothered to fact check. Now you want to bring me along on a research expedition to Australia with you? I can’t believe your opinion of me would change so suddenly.”

“It hasn’t. My opinion is, and has always been, that you are less an idiot than your peers, and that everyone deserves to be taken down a peg now and then.”

Hermione puzzled over this. It still seemed a bit sudden a change to amount to just his curiosity.

“Besides,” Snape continued, “they’re only giving research grants to teams of two or more people. I checked with the Australian Co-Operative of Magical Beings this morning, when the article came out.”

Hermione groaned, as the other shoe hit the floor.

“It seems they’d like to avoid the riff raff that the dragon attracted, and encourage cooperation, not sparring, among scientists this time. This might be your only way to get close to them--legally speaking of course,” Severus said.

“I’ll think about it,” Hermione said, getting up from her chair. “In the meantime, Professor, I never got your apology. Of course, I would also expect you to be nicer to me, at least publically, if we were to work together in Australia. Just for the record.”

Snape smiled, a rare sight. “One can dream, Miss Granger – but I needn’t remind you that I don’t approve of flights of fancy or emotion.”

Hermione smiled to herself as she left Professor Snape’s office.

Typical, she thought. Just typical.

--

In the days that followed, Hermione considered Professor Snape’s strange request. It would be difficult, she reasoned, to take more time off work this year without jeopardizing her yearly vacation. Could she afford another long trip? Granted, she was over-excited about the idea of a trip to visit the Australian outback, but it seemed, for once, that reason was to dictate her actions.

So, she stalled.

Dear Professor Snape, she wrote, on the Ministry’s letterhead.

I regret I must delay accepting your rather generous, albeit very Slytherin, offer, until I can be sure there is merit in investigating Australia further. Is it not possible that the phenomenon of the fairy circles could be utterly distinct from that which occurs in Australia? Have you heard of the mima mounds in Brazil, which are similar to the fairy circles in Namibia, but have a decidedly different origin? Muggle researchers have pinned them to termite mounds and volcanic eruptions, unequivocally. We both know this is not the case in Namibia. What if there is a separate cause, or origin, in Australia, and there is no need for us to collaborate?

Regards,

HG


As she closed the letter, Hermione thought, Gods, I’m already starting to write letters like him!

--

The response was not as she had predicted. On the same day she sent the letter, she received the hastily written reply, via a harried owl from Hogwarts. She gave the poor thing a treat and began reading Snape’s answer.

Granger,

Read Getzig. Muggle scientist does much mumbo jumbo with the mathematics (pity you’re so poor at them), and discovers same spatial distribution between the sites. Fits model for both (that means a simulation) relying on same parameters. Miraculous model resolves itself. Seems as though your small issue were solved. Both are related. Not sure about mima mounds. Stop stalling.

SS


Hermione admired his brevity. He had obviously, since the thing was written in red ink, replied while marking.

To think my letter was so important to him as to warrant an immediate reply! At this, she laughed internally.

In order to not disturb his marking further she sent the owl away without a return letter. At least, that was the excuse she gave herself to keep avoiding accepting the inevitable.

--

In the morning, she felt peaceful. Though she had things to do, she felt no pressing need to get out of bed. It had not been this way in a while. She lazed about, drifting in and out of dreams, until finally her alarm buzzed at her.

Ugh. I’d rather just stay here than face the day, Hermione groaned to herself.

If I dread the days at work so much, what’s keeping me there, she wondered, and then rebuffed herself. It was clear what kept her there: she cared about the creatures she wanted to protect. She just didn’t care for the politics.

But a vacation wouldn’t hurt… And it wouldn’t hurt to spend it doing something else I like, in Australia. It could be a working vacation… Maybe I could get funding.

Although,
she thought in continuation, since it’s in Australia, I doubt the Ministry would fund me. I’ll have to ask in Australia for a grant. I’m good at writing proposals for those… something I doubt Snape would be skilled at.

With that decided, she got up and Flooed the Ministry to say she was taking the day off sick, forgetting, in the process, that she was still dressed in pyjamas.

--

The grant proposal had been finished for the past two minutes, and still, Hermione sat staring at it. All that was left to do was Owl Professor Snape to let him in on the plan and ask his approval on it, yet Hermione still stalled. She supposed she was dreading having to formally accept working with Snape on something like this. It sounded awful to have to be in close proximity to him daily, where he was bound to jeer and tease her mercilessly. It sounded more awful that during this she was supposed to be on vacation.

Yet, she had to admit that his dedication to pure science was astonishing. She had heard of his systematic reduction of ideas while in Namibia, and was impressed. It was not every run of the mill investigator who could be so unbiased.

So, grudgingly, Hermione began to write the letter to Professor Snape that would formalize their unlikely partnership. By this time in the day, she was fully dressed, and hoped that Snape would respond quickly, to put an end to her waiting. At the drop of a quill, she would Floo over to discuss the grant proposal with him, and finalize travel arrangements.

But the minutes passed, and she received no return Owl. She set to waiting, reading some tedious Russian novel to distract herself. The minutes turned into hours, and the hours became long. Hermione, bored and restless, drifted off into a fitful sleep.

--

Meanwhile, Severus pored over the grant proposal that Hermione had Owled him. Contrary to her supposition, he was somewhat experienced in the matter, having petitioned the Ministry for additional funding to the Potions class many times over the years. He was not inclined to accept her proposal as is, before meticulously checking that it was up to his exacting standards. As he read on, however, he had to admit that he could not have written a better letter. It was ingratiating and almost sugar sweet. The grammar was impeccable, and it was written in such a humble tone that Severus felt no reader could dare turn down the request without feeling downright cruel. In short, it was a manipulative masterpiece.

Severus yawned. He had read the letter for over four hours, not stopping for coffee or something stronger. It was now late in the evening, and probably time for bed. Returning an Owl to Granger would seem too hasty, as if he liked it, rather than merely thinking it would function sufficiently. So, ignoring his need to move the travel plans forward, he went to bed and left Granger hanging.




On the Origins of Fairy Circles by faliah [Reviews - 1]

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