The Joys of Herbology - Chapter Four

Snape ate his supper as quickly as he could without attracting undue attention and then departed the Great Hall. He took a more roundabout path out of the castle than was probably necessary out of his obsessive desire for secrecy. Since most students tended to linger at the table to socialize, his fears were largely unwarranted. He reached the Quidditch field before most students would have finished their meals. There was nothing to do but wait for the Hufflepuff. He pulled “Healing Potions and Draughts” from his pack, sat down in the stands, and began to read.

Time passed, probably twenty minutes or so, when he heard a small group of students approaching the fields. Snape looked up from his book to see the Ravenclaw Quidditch team heading his way. Anxious to avoid an inquiry regarding his presence, Severus scrambled down the steps and out the back of the stands just as the other students entered the field. “Where is that girl?” Snape thought in annoyance, as he leaned against one of the standposts, arms akimbo.

Snape held this pose for not more than five minutes before he saw a lone girl running across the meadow toward him. She was carrying a large satchel that was flopping against her side as she ran.

“Sorry I’m late, “ Mariah apologized as she struggled to catch her breath. “Darby was telling me about her experience in the hospital wing this afternoon and I just couldn’t get a word in edgewise.”

“That must have been a new experience for you,” muttered Snape under his breath.

Mariah giggled, “I heard that, you know. And actually you’re wrong. Darby can talk out-talk me any day of the week. So you should be glad you’re stuck with me instead of her. Shall we go?”

Snape looked in on the Quidditch field; the Ravenclaws were doing racing drills and didn’t seem like they’d notice if Snape and Mariah headed off together. Snape nodded and the two departed for valley where the sickly Graminis lived.

“We’ll probably find it faster if we split up.” Mariah reasoned to Severus, once they’d arrived in the valley and each had taken out a sketch of the plant they sought. “I’ll look by those trees, and you can search over there.”

“Don’t go too deep into the trees,” Snape cautioned. Mariah looked up at him as if he’d said something crazy. It took him a moment to realize that she thought he was worried for her safety. Oops. That definitely wasn’t what he meant. “I mean Graminis isn’t likely to be too deep in the woods, because it thrives in full sunlight. So we should be looking more out in the open.”

“Ah, I see.” Mariah nodded in understanding. “Good point. Well, if you find it, holler. Toodles!” She bounced off toward where she’d indicated earlier.

Snape wandered casually toward the gently sloping hill where his search was to begin. The grassy meadow gave way to more exotic ground coverings of ferns and vines, which wrapped around the gigantic trees like a knitted cardigan. Being careful to stay out in the open, Severus passed several patches of greenery that sported no flowers before he approached a dense flowerbed that surrounded a lone Agathus tree. He knelt down to take a closer look at the foliage. There must be a dozen species in this bed alone, he thought. He glanced at his reference sketch one more time then began circling the patch on hands and knees. Those look like rocyanthum… these leaves are the wrong shape… he crawled around for about ten minutes before the telltale bluish flowers and yellowing leaves of an ailing Graminis Socialis jumped out at him.

Whereas the flowers in his sketch stood proudly amongst the leaves, these flowers bent low, staring towards the ground. Snape brought his face right in front of a flower for a closer look. The flower seemed to have only two petals, like a pair of lips gently parted for a drink. Severus sat back on his haunches for balance, then leaned in toward the flower again. With his right index finger, Snape gently tipped the flower up to face him and looked in closer still…

“Damnit!” Snape shouted as he jerked his head back in pain. The bloody flower BIT him. Those petals were hiding some pretty nasty sharp teeth, which were now clinging tightly to the tip of his large nose!

“All you alright?” Mariah called out from where she was searching about thirty meters away. She was answered by more cursing, so she scrambled to her feet and ran over to Severus. She dropped down to her knees in front of him and grabbed his hands, which were unsuccessfully to pry the petals loose. “Calm down, Severus…easy now…let me see…” It took a minute of coaxing before he let her remove his hands and lean in for a look.

“Oh dear. I don’t remember reading that GS was predatory… this must be a side effect of its illness.” Her left hand gripped a petal while the right cupped Severus’ cheek in an attempt to steady him. “Hold still now…” She pulled gently, but the only response she got was a grunt from Severus.

“Don’t panic… I have another idea.” Still cupping Severus’ cheek, she let go of the petal and began to gently tickle it with one finger. After a moment the petal started to shake. “I think it’s loosening it’s grip… just another minute…” Mariah continued stroking the petal lightly and after another minute it let go, falling to the ground. A pearl of blood formed where the flower had bitten Severus, and she pressed the edge of her sleeve against it to stop the flow. She held her sleeve in place while she began tickling the second petal, and soon enough it too released its hold.
“Are you ok?”

Severus grimaced. “I’ve been better, it stings something awful. These buggers aren’t poisonous, are they?”

Mariah shook her head. “I don’t think so. I read everything I could find about this plant and I found no mention of it being poisonous.” She released the pressure on his nose and sure enough the bleeding had stopped. “It doesn’t look very swollen, no more than if you’d just nicked yourself, so I’m sure whatever toxins it passed across were merely for pain induction. To keep pesky critters from eating it, no doubt. I wonder why it bit you?”

Severus pulled back with a sneer, “I’m not particularly interested in why, just in that it doesn’t happen again.” He reached in his pack and pulled out a pair of gloves and a small shovel. “You might want to wear some too, we have to keep it alive to run our tests, *unfortunately*.” He began to dig carefully around the plant, careful to avoid damaging the roots and also to keep his face away from the flowers. Mariah donned gloves and assisted in lifting the plant out of the ground once Severus had loosened its grip, then she gently placed it in a basket she extracted from her pack. The odd pair rose. The sun had almost set; they’d spent longer out here than they’d anticipated.

“It’s getting dark,” noted Severus. “I think it is safe for us to walk back together, at least until we reach the main grounds.” Although he would never admit it, Severus did not like the idea of a girl walking around unaccompanied after dark. Even if the girl was an annoying little Hufflepuff. Mariah nodded, and the two walked back to the castle in silence.

Sirius congratulated himself on his excellent stealth in following Mariah from the Great Hall and across campus without being noticed. He kept a fair distance back, watching her long enough to determine her direction, then staying out of sight for several minutes before tracing her path.

When she circumvented the greenhouses and headed south, Sirius knew she must be heading for the Quidditch field, so he lagged behind several minutes before heading out into the open after her.

The Ravenclaws were mid-practice when Sirius arrived at the Quidditch field. He saw Wesley Kilgrove, his herbology project partner, whizzing far above. Kilgrove was a beater, and a pretty good one actually; Sirius found it unfortunate he wasn’t in Gryffindor. Kilgrove waved when he spotted him, and when the team paused for a break, he flew down to stop next to Sirius.

“Sirius! What brings you out this far?” Wesley was a friendly chap, and inquisitive as all Ravenclaws were.

“Can’t tell you, I’m afraid,” Sirius replied with a smile and a bit of a wink, “ the girl in question is still a bit shy. Which reminds me… I’m afraid I used our herbology project as an excuse to get out of another engagement… so if anyone asks I’d appreciate your covering for me.”

“Sure, not a problem. Although I am more than a little jealous, I must say. Have fun, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do…” Wesley gave Sirius a friendly punch on the arm and then soared back toward him teammates.

Sirius looked around, trying to ascertain where Mariah had gone to. He could have just asked Wesley if he’d seen her, but that would have been a little too risky. Better he think Sirius was off meeting a nameless girl. The Quidditch field was surrounded by a lot of open space, but off to the south there was a valley with many treetops poking out. Since Sirius could see no other place Mariah could have gone, he set off toward the valley.

When he came to the edge of the valley he dropped onto all fours and crawled behind a large row of bushes. He peeked around and down and nearly gasped aloud. Mariah and Snape were about thirty meters away. They were sitting across from one another in a flowerbed, their heads very close together. Mariah had her hands on Snivellus’ cheeks, and she ... Merlin’s teeth! … was caressing his nose! Sirius’ head began to throb and a queasy feeling formed in his stomach. What on Earth did she see in him? Sirius wanted to look away but found he could not, his eyes rooted to the sight in perverse fascination.

After what seemed to Sirius an eternity but was actually only a couple of minutes, the couple broke apart and began digging in the flowerbed. Too bad, Snivellus, it seems your project is getting in the way of your snogging. Better luck next time, he thought sarcastically to himself as he pulled his eyes away from them and crept off silently back toward the castle.