The Joys of Herbology - Chapter Eight

"I must confess, I'm at a loss," Severus shook his head in frustration. "We've tried every diagnostic test I know of and still we know nothing. I am fast running out of ideas."

The room was silent for a few moments, as Severus paced and Mariah chewed on the end of her quill. After a few moments she replied, "Perhaps we're going about this all wrong. What if the problem isn't the plant itself but something with the environment?"

Severus stopped pacing to look at her, "What do you mean?"

"Well, what if something has happened to change the environment in the meadow from what GS is used to, so that the growing conditions are no longer optimal. We know it isn't the soil itself, since we already tested that, but there are other things it could be." Mariah hopped down from her stool and started her own pacing. "Something with the weather, the other plants nearby.I don't know exactly. But if there is nothing wrong with the plant itself there must be something wrong around it."

Severus nodded and remarked, "Of course, logic dictates that must be the case. So how do we proceed. Unfortunately, we're running out of time."

It was four days before Halloween, only six weeks left until the end of the term. Mariah pursed her lips to think, then announced, "We'll have to do some comparative analysis. We need to study the GS somewhere where it is thriving, then compare its environment closely with what we have here." She looked up at Severus. "But we'd have to leave campus for that. I don't know if we'd be allowed to go."

Severus eyes twinkled as he smirked, "Well, we could ask Professor Samling; after all, he did say we should ask if we need something. Or we could take a detour on our next Hogsmeade weekend."

"A detour?" Mariah grinned as she comprehended his meaning. "Meaning we sneak off when everyone else is gorging themselves on Butterbeer? Sounds like fun."

"Indeed. However, we will only have a few hours to get there, collect our data, and get back unnoticed. Where do we need to go, by the way? Hopefully somewhere on the Floo network, otherwise we may have some difficulty."

Mariah was already flipping back through Grasmeister's looking for the right page. "Here we are.'Graminis Socialis is indigenous to southwestern England, including Cornwall and Devon.' That's a bit far, but at least it isn't across the ocean."

"Still rather risky," cautioned Severus, "if you've never been there and don't know where you're going. Are you familiar with that area?"

Mariah shook her head.

"Neither am I. Thus, it would likely take us two trips to accomplish: one to determine where we need to look and another to actually complete the research. That wouldn't leave us enough time to finish the project before the end of term."

"So we're back to option one, asking Professor Samling for permission. But what if he doesn't grant it?" Mariah was skeptical that two fourth year students would be permitted to traipse the countryside alone. "We won't be able to finish our project."

"Which is why I think he will grant it," reasoned Severus. "If we delineate all the work we've done so far and express that this is the logical next step, I think he will pull some strings to allow it. He might even take us himself. However, you should be the one to ask him for permission."

"Why is that?" asked Mariah in confusion.

"Because you're a Hufflepuff. Despite all of Samling's rhetoric about 'solidarity between the Houses' and the 'good old days' he's still a Hufflepuff himself and more likely to grant your request than mine."

Fair enough, thought Mariah as she sheepishly grinned back. "I guess old prejudices die hard. But I'm sure Professor Fellis was willing to order the reagent for us because it was you who asked him for it, so I suppose all the Houses benefit from favoritism at some point."

"True enough. I'll finish cleaning up here, why don't you track down Professor Samling and see if you can beguile him with your Hufflepuff charms."

Mariah nodded, "I'll let you know what he says tomorrow. Goodnight, Severus."

He really has gotten friendlier lately, thought Mariah as she made her way towards Professor Samling's office. I guess he just takes awhile to warm up to people. Too bad most folks don't give him a chance.

"Over here!" Mariah whispered and waved frantically as she saw Severus' eyes wading through the sea of faces that were currently gathered in the library. His eyes finally caught hers and he smiled as he came to sit beside her.

"So what did Samling have to say?" Severus was leaning in close and whispering softly, probably to avoid the ire of Madame Pince, who was currently patrolling the room.

"He seemed pretty excited, actually, that we've been carrying out such a thorough study. He's going to ask Professor Dumbledore if it will be all right to take us to Cornwall, but he's pretty certain Dumbledore will approve the trip." Mariah whispered back, excitedly.

"Excellent." Severus smiled at her again. Mariah was still getting used to the 'new Severus' but decided she liked him much better now. "We're bound to figure out the puzzle now."

"What are you doing?" Severus had licked his finger and was now wiping it against her cheek. It tickled.

"You've got a smudge of ink on your face.hold still a minute." He was leaning in very close. He removed his finger and examined her cheek. "Nope, still there." He held her chin in place with his other hand and again rubbed his fingertip against her cheek. "Much better."

"Thank you." Mariah's stomach was fluttering a little; I'm probably just hungry, she thought.

"Well, we can't have you walking around campus all inked up now, can we?" Did he just wink at her? Severus never ceased to surprise her.

"Definitely not," she whispered back, trying to ignore the fluttering. "but we should really start planning our sample collection strategy."

The next morning, Severus found himself in quite a good mood as he strolled towards the Great Hall for breakfast. He hummed a tune softly as he envisioned the prospect of a research trip to Cornwall with Mariah. Oh, how the tongues would wag at that! He didn't bother himself by thinking that he would actually enjoy the outing in its own right, that Mariah would be good company for a stroll along the cliffs that framed the coastline. That he was starting to get used to having a friend, such as she was. He much preferred to dwell on the satisfaction he was getting that their friendship was infuriating his nemesis. Black had looked livid in the library yesterday; the 'smudge on the cheek' trick had worked like a charm.

"What are YOU so cheery about this morning, Snivellus?" As if summoned by his thoughts, Black stepped right in front of him, blocking his path.

"Oh, nothing in particular," answered Snape with a secretive smile. "Just pondering how nice life at Hogwarts is right now."

"You think you've got it made, don't you. now that you've got your deluded little girlfriend dancing attendance on you. Well, it won't last. I'll figure out what sort of enchantment you've placed on her and then she won't so much as look at you. Don't know how she does it anyway, with you being such a sniveling, ugly mugged git. Once I reverse the spell, she'll see you for what you really are, a worthless loser that no one would willingly associate with. And then you'll be back where you started, so much of an outcast that even other Slytherins don't have anything to do with you."

About midway through Black's tirade, Snape's eye was caught by some movement behind Black. Mariah was approaching them, but suddenly she slowed her pace and stopped several steps away, behind Black's back, as if to keep Black unaware of her presence. Snape felt himself blush, wishing her away, not wanting her to witness Black's abuse of him, but he refused to draw attention to her either. Mariah's face curled into a frown as she listened, her fists clenching tighter with each additional insult. She must be really regretting ever getting mixed up with me, he thought, and cringed as she began moving forward again to confront him.

"You insufferable, arrogant pig!" shouted Mariah, giving Black a hard shove. "How dare you talk about Severus that way?" She moved in towards him aggressively, pulling herself up to her full height, arms akimbo.

Black's jaw dropped and he instinctively stepped backwards away from Mariah. "I. but it's all true." Black stepped forward again, leaning down to face Mariah. "He is a greasy, good-for-nothing Slytherin git and I don't understand how you can even look at him. He's obviously got you hoodwinked somehow, and I mean to find out how." Mariah sneered back at him, "You don't understand how I can look at him? Well, he's a damn sight easier to look at than you are, pretty boy." Snape tried to control his surprise as Mariah closed in beside him and put an arm around his waist, pulling him tightly to her side. "Severus has more talent and brains in his big toe than you have in your whole body, Black. He's worth ten of you any day of the week. And another thing." she paused to take a breath, then continued harshly, "I don't know why you keep going on about enchantment but I can assure you that I 'associate' with Severus because I want to, and for no other reason. Now take your petty jealous self and go."

She'd actually defended him, thought Snape in a daze. He watched as Black gritted his teeth and stormed off, and then noticed that Mariah still had an arm around him and was looking up at him with a worried expression.

"You're not taking what he said seriously, are you, Severus? He's just a bully, not at all worth paying attention to." Mariah looked down at her arm, then released Severus' waist and pulled her arm gently back. "Sorry about that, but Black just made me so mad that I wanted to give some of my own back to him."

"Why.why did you defend me?" asked Severus, unsure of what her answer would be but strangely desiring to find out. "And why would you say that I'm easier to look at than Black? False modesty aside, I know what I look like and I know what girls think about what Black looks like and I don't come out ahead in that comparison."

Mariah was looking at him strangely, "Because it's true. I don't trust Black, I never have. He's always seemed creepy to me, even more so recently since I've caught him staring at me and I don't like it. He may be 'good looking' in the traditional sense but he certainly isn't to me. He's got an ugly soul and that makes him ugly to me throughout."

Snape watched Mariah as she spoke, trying to ascertain whether she was joking or not. But she seemed completely serious (no pun intended) in her disdain for Black. "It seems we have yet another thing in common, for I quite detest Black myself."

Mariah smiled up at him, "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. But seriously, don't pay any attention to him. This isn't really about you."

"What do you mean?" Snape eyed her curiously. He and Black had been at odds for the past four years, and it had always seemed quite personal to him.

"Well, I wouldn't have said anything under other circumstances, but." Mariah herself blushed a bit as she admitted, "Black came to talk to me a few days back. He expressed an . interest . in getting to know me better. But as I told you, I don't trust him, so I told him I wasn't interested." Mariah sighed. "So, he's probably seen me with you a lot recently and is jealous that I prefer your company to his. Being the arrogant bully that he is, he can't just take that at face value but has to imagine me as the victim in order to justify it in his conceited little pea-brain."

"You really do?" Snape asked in wonder, "Prefer my company to his, that is?"

Mariah laughed, "Of course, silly. Haven't I just said so?"

"I think I'll have to mark this day on my calendar," remarked Severus to himself as the two of them entered the Great Hall together. "This is quite a unique occurrence." He almost, but not quite, felt a little guilty for the 'smudge-on-the-cheek' trick.