Dizzying Intellects

Chapter 4 ~ Dizzying Intellects

"Genie!" Apparently Miss Granger was equally pleased at the sight of her younger sibling, for she immediately lowered her bags--still too sensible to drop her annoyed cat--and knelt down for the child's... enthusiastic embrace. "Oh, I missed you, elfling. And I have so many stories to tell you!"

"Cool!" the child exclaimed, her face lit up like a Midsummer's bonfire. "And I have a lot to tell you, too, Mynie! I've grown a lot since you left and Mum and Dad gave me some new books..." Snape felt something odd in his chest at the sight of the child's grin. He didn't like small children--never had--but that transparent happiness was something he envied. He was certain a similar expression had never appeared on his own childish features. The sound of piping voice, from somewhere around the area of his knees, startled him. "Sir, are you Professor Snape?"

He looked down and unconsciously drew himself up in full intimidating professor mode. "I am," he said.

She stuck out a fragile-looking hand that was almost lost when he clasped it in his own. "My name is Imogene Leonora Granger. Six years old. You can call me Genie if you want. I'm Mynie's little sister. She's told us an awful lot about you. She said I'm not supposed to bother you with a lot of questions, but can I ask you what kind of pet you have in there?" She pointed at the box in his hand.

Snape suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at the child's chatter--which wasn't surprising when one considered her elder relation. Still, if Miss Granger had spoken of him 'an awful lot,' he was surprised that the child's first question hadn't been along the lines of 'Why are you such a bastard?'--couched in age-appropriate language, of course. Calmly, he replied, "This is Agrippina. She is an Aesculapian snake, Elaphe longissima longissima."

The child looked doubtfully at the small box. "Is she a baby, then, sir?" she queried. "The box doesn't look big enough for an adult. And may I see her later?"

"That's enough, Genie," Amelia Granger warned her.

"Sorry, sir," the girl grinned up at him, her eyes disconcertingly clear. "Mum always tells me I chatter too much. She says that to Mynie, too."

Snape's lips twitched as he fought to keep the grin he felt forming off of his face. It would appear that even Miss Granger's family had issues with the amount of talking their daughter accomplished. The Great Wizards knew it annoyed him on a regular basis and he only saw the girl for a few hours a day. But he needed to answer the child's question. "No, Miss Imogene, Agrippina is an adult Aesculapian. However, she dislikes traveling--especially at this time of the year, when she is hibernating. Both she and I handle such things more easily when I take the liberty of shrinking her. As to whether or not you may see her, I imagine that you may, as long as you do not disturb her." He caught Miss Granger's surprised expression and realized it mirrored his own feelings at his acquiescence to the child's request.

"Thank you, sir!" Imogene smiled again, even more broadly--if that was indeed possible--than before.

Miss Granger interrupted before the child could say anything more. "We should let Professor Snape get settled, Genie," she commented mildly. "If you don't mind, sir, I can show you to your room."

"Thank you, Miss Granger," he replied and followed her into the house.

She pointed out the sitting room, dining room, and kitchen as they passed through the ground floor. All three were an interesting mixture of things both familiar and unfamiliar to him. But he dismissed them from his immediate concern. If he felt an overwhelming urge to examine Muggle items, he would do so at a later time. Up the stairs they went, silently, to the first floor. "Here we are, sir," Miss Granger announced, rather unnecessarily. "The far door is my parent's room. This one here is my sister's room and this is the bathroom, which we share. I think just about everything in there will be familiar to you. This room is yours." She pushed open the middle door on the landing. "It's mine, actually, but space is a little tight around here and we thought you might prefer it to Genie's room. I'll be moving in with her while you're here."

He walked slowly into the room, feeling rather like an unwelcome intruder--though, to be fair, this was none of the Granger girl's fault. He had expected a cool, impersonal guest room tucked away in a corner somewhere and being given the girl's own room made him feel like he was being forced into a highly uncomfortable intimacy. Still, there was no help for it and he was used to making the best of situations which he could not alter--in spite of his extreme desire to Apparate back to the Hogwarts Train and return to the familiarity and safety of his dungeons. "I apologize for the--inconvenience--I am causing you, Miss Granger," he said stiffly.

"Oh, please don't apologize, sir. I don't mind at all, really," she rushed to reassure him. "I'm used to it. I move whenever we have company and, of course, I'm used to sharing space after so many years in the Gryffindor Tower."

"Of course," he answered shortly.

"In any case," she hurried on, "the door locks, so feel free to use it whenever you like, and we won't barge in without knocking, of course. Um... The top drawer of the dresser and the left-hand side of the closet are empty, so feel free to use them. You're free to read anything on my shelves, if you're at all interested, and to use my stereo. This is the power switch, the volume, and the radio tuner, so you can find different types of music. I would appreciate it, though, sir, if you would leave my computer alone," she pointed at an odd, glassy-faced box on top of a desk in the corner, "but if you're interested in how it or anything else works, just ask. I think that's everything, so I'll let you settle in. Um, dinner should be at seven, but if you want anything sooner or later, just tell me or my mum. Just..." she paused slightly, as though searching for the best words to use. "Professor, as I said before, I don't want you to feel pressured into anything while you're here. If there's anything you do or do not wish to do, then feel free. Even if you just want to stay in here for the next month. I--well, all of us, actually--do want you to have a pleasant holiday. Well, anyway, I'll be going."

"Miss Granger," he called as she turned to leave. She stopped, looking at him with an expression somewhere between curiosity and apprehension. "May I inquire as to which of your parents is the avid reader of Shakespeare?"

Sheer astonishment replaced the fear. "Well, my father, actually," she admitted, "How...?"

"Come now, Miss Granger," he replied, his lips twisting in an amused smirk. "With children by the names of 'Hermione' and 'Imogene,' it was a fairly obvious conclusion."

"I--" she stammered slightly, then steadied, "I just didn't think you'd be familiar with Shakespeare. After all, Cymbeline and The Winter's Tale aren't exactly two of his most popular works."

"Even Muggles can occasionally contribute something useful to the common culture, Miss Granger, though I admit the occurrence is so rare as to be practically nonexistent," Snape remarked silkily. "It would be remiss of me if I neglected any of the contributions of such a remarkable individual."

She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped abruptly. "If that will be all, sir," she managed to say, "I think I will take my leave. I have my own unpacking to do, after all." Without waiting for a reply, she turned on her heel and left. To her credit, she did not slam the door.

With a mental shrug, Snape turned his attention to unpacking his things and taking in the room that was to be his for the next month. It was an odd combination of things, really, being neither the straightforward study he would have expected from such a book-bound girl nor the frilly, feminine effusions he would imagine typical. The walls were painted a rich robin's egg blue and warm cream and were covered with a variety of pictures and posters. The Periodic Table of Elements and the Potions' Basic Herbiary did not surprise him, but one of a man apparently named "David Bowie" and another of a dark-haired man in front of a Muggle vehicle holding a black box in the air were certainly unexpected. Another odd one was a Muggle photograph of a man and woman gazing intently at each other, their faces barely centimetres apart. They didn't look to be relations of the girl and he would never have pegged her as a romantic. But he shrugged as he hung a few robes in the closet; it was none of his concern, anyway.

A knock at the door startled him, though he immediately smoothed over his expression. "Enter," he said, in his almost instinctual 'enter-if-you-dare-but-I'll-most-likely-kill-you' tone. A brown-blonde head poked in the door, grinned, and was followed by a body.

"Mum made these fresh," Imogene announced, holding up a plate of biscuits. "I thought you might like some. She's really good at these chocolate chip ones."

Severus raised an eyebrow. Was he losing his touch or did this child have some superhuman ability to ignore his (extraordinarily effective) ability to repel people? "Thank you, Miss Imogene," he said stiffly. "You may leave them on the dresser, if you wish." The girl did as she was instructed, but then she plumped herself down on the bed, wrapping her skinny arms around the bedpost as she watched him. Severus gave a mental 'thank you' to whatever gods might be listening that he had already put away his more intimate apparel, as it did not look like the chit would be leaving any time soon unless ejected by brute force.

"Can I see Agrippina?" The child was certainly as single-minded and tenacious as her sister.

"Very well," he sighed. "If you would be so kind as to close the door, Miss Imogene? I very much doubt that your parents would be pleased to find Agrippina nesting on top of the bookshelf." At that, the child giggled and practically ran to the door while Severus watched incredulously, then turned to enlarge his pet's carrier. An annoyed hissing emerged. "I am perfectly well aware of your current temper," Severus informed the snake. Parseltongue was somewhat unnecessary with such a personality as Agrippina possessed. "However, may I point out that the sooner you accept the situation, the sooner you may return to sleep? Very well. And I would appreciate if you would be at least somewhat polite to your audience." Under the child's fascinated gaze, Severus released the catch on the box, allowing the snake to slither free. Vain as always, Agrippina preened in front of her surprisingly adoring audience, while said audience dropped to her knees and cooed.

"She's lovely," Imogene breathed. "And so big." At that, Agrippina moved to face the child nose to nose. Severus almost snorted with laughter at the nearly cross-eyed child and Agrippina's definite serpentine smirk. But the snake quickly dropped back down to the floor and after some cursory investigation, managed to make her way to the top of the bookshelf, where she curled up and fell asleep. "Thank you for letting me see her, sir." To his disconcertment, the child turned that same adoring gaze on him. "She's absolutely gorgeous. I'd love to see her again, if you don't mind."

"I doubt Agrippina will be terribly interesting asleep," he said, slightly desperate. I thought they were supposed to leave me alone! "And much less so, as I imagine you can barely see her from your somewhat diminutive height."

"Oh, that's not a problem," she replied sunnily and before he could comment, she was halfway up the shelves, clinging to the edges. "I do this all the time when Mynie's gone," she grinned. "I like to look at her schoolbooks. Oh, and here's something you might like." She tossed down a thick, black, cloth-covered object, then jumped down herself. "Mynie said she'd showed you how to work her radio, but there's never anything good on it anyway. I don't really like Mynie's music, but she listens to a lot of stuff, so maybe you'll like one of her CDs. You see, you put the disc in here, then press play. This is the volume and this stops it. I dunno," she shrugged. "You might like it. Just don't tell Mynie I showed you, 'kay?"

"If your sister is opposed to the idea, why on earth should I take the responsibility upon myself?"

"Well, anyway, they're a lot more interesting than that junk on the radio." She shrugged again. "Guess I should go now. Need anything else?"

Snape began to shake his head, then stopped. This girl was a mine of information--and one that didn't need much to get her started. "Might I inquire as to the subjects of these posters?" he asked, gesturing at the ones he had noticed earlier.

"Sure." Imogene jumped back onto the bed. "David Bowie is a singer Mynie likes. Don't ask me why. I think he's weird. The one with the dark-haired guy and his stereo is from a movie. I think he was trying to tell his girlfriend something, so he blasted the message out on the stereo. Anyhow, Mynie always says it's to remind her to be honest about her feelings and not to be afraid to say what she wants to say. And that one's of an actor named Humphrey Bogart and his wife, Lauren Bacall. It's supposed to be one of the great love stories, 'cause they fell in love on the first movie they did together and she was only twenty and he was really old. They got married, but he died later. I think more stuff happened but that's all I know 'bout it, anyway."

"I see."

"Well, I'd better go. I gotta be at my friend's house in a half hour. See ya! And thanks again for letting me see Agrippina. She was awesome. Bye!" The girl disappeared from the room. Bemused, Snape watched her go. Then his eye traveled to the CD case on the bed. "Perhaps I shall," he mused.

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Notes:

The title is from The Princess Bride. "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."

Aesculapians are a real breed of European snake. Northern types can be around five feet long, which is about Agrippina's size. They like high places, which is why she's chosen to snooze on top of Mione's bookshelf.

Snape uses the old-fashioned modes of address, which distinguish sisters by calling the elder by her last name and the younger by her given name. I can tell you now he will never call her 'Genie.' I tried, but I kept getting visions of Disney's Jafar. ^_^; Which I don't think Snape would appreciate.

Mione's posters reflect the depth of personality we don't see in the books. I'm not sure why she has one of David Bowie. The second one is of John Cusack in the movie Say Anything. As to the one of Bogey and Bacall, you can see that one here. I think it's rather apropos in this fandom.