A Golden Sickle

The Majority of these characters and the Harry Potterverse belong to J.K.Rowling.

If you have read Asterix the Gaul or any of the other Asterix and Obelix books then the sickle will make more sense.
Here is the official Asterix homepage -- http://www.asterix.tm.fr/english/

Thank you to Godessjen, Xan and Bonadea for all their help.
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Hermione sat by the window in her new flat staring out over the common and watching people walk hurriedly by in the rapidly dimming dusk. Severus was just about to leave and while there was still plenty to unpack they had put away all of her essentials. He had insisted unpacking her books and was putting the finishing touches to the bookshelves while she took a break.

As she watched him sort through the books she thought about the two of them, it had taken quite some time to get
to the point of being friends. In many ways they were an unlikely match (Ron regularly reminded her of all the reasons she shouldn't be friends with him) but when it came down to it, they did have things in common and enjoyed each other's company. She thought back to how it all started...

She had been in her third year of University taking a combined course of Potions and Metacharms with a minor in Muggle Biochemistry and was trying to figure out what she should choose to do her dissertation work on. She had been torn between something practical to help the war effort, or something more muggle based that would please her parents.One idea did thrill her but she wasn't sure about it.

Hermione spoke to her tutor about her options, but he was pretty useless and unenthusiastic about everything. Angry and frustrated with the outcome of the tutorial she penned a letter to her old potions master thinking that if someone was going criticize her idea, they may as well be intelligent about it. Professor Snape may have been rude and cutting, but he did have a way of coming straight to the point with his criticism.

At the time Hermione had kicked herself as she watched the owl fly north towards Scotland. She'd wondered if she was some sort of masochist, giving him an open invitation to squash her hopes like a beetle in his storeroom. Still, she couldn't help but wait impatiently for what he might say and how long it would take him to reply. and sat down
heavily in the nearest chair trying not to think about what he might say and how long it might take him to reply.

As it turned out, she had pretty much given up hope of him saying anything when a week had gone past with no response.

"I sat looking out of the library window all evening looking for a Hogwarts
owl" she muttered to herself -- it was true, she had stared out into the
gloom half-exicted and half-apprehensive about the possibility that he might
reply.

"What was that Sin?" asked Severus as he sloped into the living room carrying his coffee.

Hermione rolled her eyes on hearing the nickname he insisted on calling her. "Oh nothing, I was just remembering how I thought you didn't answer that letter about my dissertation because it gave you more of a chance to put me
down than a reply would have."

"Nonsense and you know it!" replied Severus, and he was right. He had replied, in fact she had almost fallen off her lab stool in shock when she received his letter, started to read and realized that not only were there no insults, but he had been cautiously interested in the idea. He had even suggested some further reading and some useful contacts. Professor Snape had closed the letter with an invitation to keep him informed of her
progress and they had started an odd sort of correspondence.

"Well, you can't blame me for thinking that, you did take your own sweet time answering me." She was teasing him; they'd had this mock argument many times since they had become friends and each time he patiently explained
that it had taken him time to find the numerous references and contacts he had sent to help her.

She thought back to the letters that had flown between them in the course of that year...

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Professor Snape,

Thank you for your suggestions. James Golding was as you said very helpful
and opened up his private library to me. I have borrowed a couple of his
books to help me with my preliminary research and planning. I have not been
able to locate all the books you recommended but I am waiting to hear from
our librarian as to whether she can obtain any of them for me. I have also
subscribed to the German potions journal you mentioned and will order a
translation charm to go along with it. I don't understand why you
recommended Asterix the Gaul though, and it doesn't strike me as the sort of
book you would read.

I am extremely grateful for your attention and hope that I can call on you
again if I need your help.
Sincerely,
Hermione Granger

____________________________________________________________________________
______________

Miss Granger,

I am glad some of what I told you was helpful. Please feel free to continue
to writing to me, as you know I have copious amounts of spare time to answer everyone's questions.

P. Snape.

____________________________________________________________________________
_________________

When she'd received the letter she'd been furious. "That does it! The pompous, over-inflated sod. He was the one who invited me to continue to keep him up to date," she thought. She decided that his useful information was not worth suffering through his arrogant and rude behaviour and that she was perfectly capable of researching this project by herself. A small voice in the back of her mind worried about her grade but she firmly put it to one side.

She whipped out her pen and wrote:

You arrogant, self-centered bore. Who do you think you are? You can take
your sodding potions rag, book recommendations and especially your Asterix
books and shove them where the sun doesn't shine.

Warmly,
H.G.

and sent it off.

____________________________________________________________________________
__________

Miss Granger,

I apologize for my last missive

(the letter opened -- good thing really as if it hadn't it would be aflame
in her hand)

The Asterix reference was to remind you that you might need a golden sickle
for your work

(why he hadn't just said that straight out?)

P. Snape

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____________

"Severus?" said Hermione. She sat up and turned away from the window.

"Yes...?" he replied, looking up from the bookcase with a stack of books in his hand.

"Why do you like Asterix?"

"It makes me laugh"

Hermione stared out of the window once again at the strangers hurrying by in the bad weather.

"Why?"

He sighed and paused, "Does there have to be a reason?" and went back to categorizing the potions texts.

"But how did you start reading it in the first place?" that was what genuinely puzzled her.

"Albus had it lying on his desk one day, I picked it up and looked through it so I wouldn't have to answer a question he was about to ask me." Severus pulled out a couple of books from the shelves and flicked through one of
them.

"Sin, can I borrow this?"

"Yes, but only if you stop calling me that ridiculous name!"

She paused before asking..."Did it work?"

"Did what work?" he replied

"Using the Asterix book as a distraction."

"What do you think?" he asked rhetorically.

She smiled and then returned back to her thoughts of their conversation, trying to remember when she started to warm to him, when she had stopped being worried that she would receive insults and slights and started to actually look forward to seeing his owl at her window.

"Severus?"

"Yes...?" he said, just a tad testy at being interrupted again.

"When did you start enjoying our correspondence?" she asked. Looking up from her examination of the traffic outside to see his reaction. His face softened a little and then a smile cracked at the corners of his mouth.

"Oh, round about the time you told me to shove my Asterix book where the sun
didn't shine."