The Joys of Herbology - Chapter Nine

Mariah and several of her friends were chatting in the hallway after History of Magic, discussing nothing more important than how boring Professor Binns’ lecture had been when Mariah felt a large, warm hand rest gently on her shoulder.  She turned her head to see who it belonged to and her face broke out in a wide grin.

“Si!” Mariah turned and bestowed a warm hug on the husky boy behind her. “Nice of you to come see me for once!”

She loosened her grip on the older Gryffindor and turned back to her friends, one arm still around his waist.  “You all know my big lug of a neighbor, don’t you?”

 “Hi, Silas,” Erin said prettily.  “How’s your sixth year going?”

“Pretty well,” he replied.  “I think I’m passing most of my classes anyway, which is always a good sign.  Do you girls mind if I steal your friend for a little while?”

“As long as you bring her back in one piece,” smiled Darby. “And not covered in mud, like the last time.”

Silas’s wide face broke into a grin. “Hey, I take no responsibility for that.  Mariah just slipped while trying to knock me into the pond.  She should have known better than to try to pull one on me.”

“That’s not fair, Silas! You know very well that was retaliation for charming my hair red and gold.  I didn’t fancy walking around looking like a Gryffindor all morning until someone bothered to tell me why everyone was laughing!”  The smile on her face gave lie to her words, she knew, but this was a game they’d played for years.

“Enough, wench, we’ll be going back and forth for hours if we try to trace who pulled the first prank. Come on, you,” and he threw her over his shoulder like a sack of flour and headed outside, her banging on his back all the way.

“Nice caveman tactics, Mr. Cloverleigh.” Mariah said, shaking her head as he gently set her down by a tree. “I’ll be hearing about that for a month, thank you very much.”

“You like the attention and you know it, ‘Riah.  Besides, I wanted to talk to you.” He sat down beside her.  “Your name has come up a lot recently in the Gryffindor Common Room.”

Mariah sighed. “Let me guess.  Sirius Black.”

Silas looked a little surprised. “So you know then.  I wasn’t sure.”

“I know he’s been making a pest of himself, following me around and watching me, and bullying my friend.  Is there something else I ought to know?”

“Friend?  Or boyfriend?” Silas was watching her carefully.

“Friend.  Don’t tell me you believe those ridiculous rumors too?  Severus and I are just friends, and that’s all we’re likely to be.” Mariah was starting to tire of explaining this to all of her friends, why did Silas have to bother her about it as well?

“I don’t know about rumors, ‘Riah, I just know what I’ve heard Black and his pals saying.  Black constantly raves about how you’re throwing yourself away on a ‘slimy Slytherin git’ and how he must have slipped you a love potion or something.”  Silas shook his head. “I hate to say bad things about a fellow Gryffindor, but I’d be careful of him, ‘Riah, he talks like a man obsessed.  Thinks he’s going to save you or something.”

Mariah snorted in response. “Well, he has another think coming if he bothers me again.  I’ve told him to his face I want nothing to do with him, if he keeps on with it I’ll have to take more drastic measures.”

Silas chuckled at that. “He’d better watch his step then.  You’re lethal when you’re angry.”

“Oh, Silas, you’ve never seen me angry…” she smiled, then frowned. “But thank you for the warning.  I knew Black was nutters but I didn’t know how much so.”

“If he bothers you again, tell me.  I’ll have a little chat with him,” said Silas ominously.

“That won’t be necessary,” Mariah laughed.  “I can handle him in my own way.” 

Mariah stood, brushing stray grass from her robes. “I’d better head back before Darby sends out a search party.  And you know, Silas, you don’t need a reason to come say hello.  Unless it hurts your image with the ladies, talking with a measly fourth year Hufflepuff!”  She winked and ran back to the castle, leaving Silas to watch her departure with a smile.

As it turned out, Mariah and Severus were not the only students in need of field research.  Remus Lupin and his Ravenclaw partner, Cassandra Thornbridge, needed to collect samples for their project as well.  Professor Samling arranged for the five of them (as well as Professor Samling’s wife Eleanor) to Floo to a Wizard pub in the Cornwall area the next Saturday, where the students could do their research while the Samlings enjoyed a picnic at the beach. 

After arriving in Perranporth and arranging with the Professor to meet up again in the afternoon, the four students set off toward the wilderness outside of town, where the flowers grew freely.  Mariah chatted easily with Remus and Cassandra, though she knew neither well.  Severus stayed silent, despite Mariah’s several attempts to include him in the conversation.

“I think we should head towards the coast now, Remus,” said Cassandra.  “We’re far enough out that we should start seeing signs of Castanae Caeruleus nearer the shoreline.”

“Right.  See you back in Perranport, Mariah,” he said warmly, then nodded curtly to her companion. “Snape.”

Mariah turned to Snape, “We should follow the treeline a ways.  We’re most likely to find G.S. right along the edge anyway.” 

Snape nodded and began walking, eyes fixed downward, focused on the task.  Mariah followed along, saying nothing.

After a half hour of silence without any sign of G.S., Mariah spoke. “I know you’re not particularly talkative at the best of times but you’re even quieter than normal today. Severus, is something wrong?”

“No,” he answered shortly, and kept on with his task.

“Whatever you say,” she replied, following along.

A few more minutes of silence followed.  Snape, apparently surprised that Mariah hadn’t prodded further into his foul mood, decided to enlighten her. “How can you be so friendly with that sidekick of Black’s?”

“Remus?  I like Remus, he’s always been pleasant to me.  His choice of friends leaves something to be desired, but then again, some would say the same thing about me.”  She looked pointedly at him.

“Hmph.”  Severus kept his eyes pointed to the ground, refusing to concede her point but not arguing further. 

After several more minutes he dropped to his knees.  “I think we’ve found it.”

Mariah knelt beside him.  Sure enough, amongst the weeds and clovers was a small patch of fuschia flowers, with velvety purple leaves.  “Nicely done, Severus.  Let’s get to work, shall we?”

The pair set to their task, collecting samples of the soil, the dew still clinging to blades of grass, and carefully extracting some of the plant itself.  Mariah used the Herbae Adservo charm to preserve the plant until they got it back to the lab, while Severus used various potions he’d brought to test the air composition.

They had been working for about an hour.  Severus was performing a test on one of the flowers in the ground when he felt a stabbing pain in his hand. “Ouch!”

“What is it?” Mariah asked in concern.  They looked to see a small scarlet and yellow striped bee buzzing angrily around the plant.  The pair stood in alarm.

“It must be marking its territory,” said Mariah.  “Are you all right?”

“Aside from the stinging pain in the back of my hand, I’m fine.”  Severus began rifling through his pack with his good hand.  “And this time, I came prepared.”  He extracted a small vial and handed it to Mariah. “Would you do the honors?”

She opened the vial, which contained a small dropper.  She took Severus’ hand and started squeezing droplets onto the red, swelling wound.  “That’s enough,” he said.

“What is it?” Mariah asked.

“It’s a mixture of palliative and anti-toxin.  When quickly applied to a bite or sting, it neutralizes any non-blood fluid it encounters and numbs the pain.  It has to be applied within one minute of the injury, however, or it has no effect.”

“I’m glad you brought it along.  I don’t know whether those bees are poisonous or not.”

“I’m sure they are,” Snape said wryly. “at least to me.”  When Mariah looked questioningly back at him he continued. “They’re striped like a Gryffindor scarf.”

She burst out laughing. “Oh, you’re right.  Truly a good thing you were prepared then.  Is it working?”

“I can’t feel a thing,” he replied and looked down at his hand.  Her eyes followed; she was still holding his hand.  She quickly let go and stood.

“Nonetheless, I think that was a sign.  We should head back.  We might even have time for a bite before we meet the others.” Mariah began packing up their supplies.

“Better a bite than another sting,” Snape commented.  Mariah chuckled, happy that despite his misfortune Severus’ mood had greatly improved since earlier that morning.  After they finished packing, the two headed back towards town, discussing casually the tests they’d perform when they returned to the lab.