Until then, he would just observe. Right now, he was observing the adorable way Mariah tugged at a curl as she stared at her quiz parchment. The routine was always the same; she’d poke one finger up the center of the curl, grasp it, then pull down and *boink*. Oh, how he longed to do that himself, and so much more. Sirius’ mind wandered in the direction so irresistible to teenage boys, occupying his thoughts for the remainder of the class period, his unfinished quiz forgotten.

---

They’d settled into a comfortable pattern, Mariah realized as she stirred the contents of the cauldron in front of her. Every evening after supper, Severus and Mariah ventured together to the potions dungeon to continue their research. Although they by no means shared each other’s confidence, they’d become accustomed to a gentle camaraderie. Severus might make a witty observation about one of their professors, or Mariah might predict Hufflepuff’s certain victory over Slytherin in the upcoming Quidditch match (this assertion Severus found quite humorous, since Hufflepuff had not beaten Slytherin in over three years.) Mariah’s friends would have been quite surprised to learn that much laughter accompanied her study sessions with the dreaded Slytherin.

Tonight, Severus stood across from her, on the other side of the table, carefully adding aliquots of reagent to the mixture. Mariah watched Severus’ careful movements and admired the precision with which he worked. She herself was somewhat clumsy, although her friends would charitably call it awkward, so she always struggled with the more complex potions. There was no awkwardness in Severus’ hands though, he handled his ingredients with the steadiest of hands. Mariah was drawn to competence almost as much as she admired those willing to work hard to achieve their dreams. She sensed both of these qualities in Severus, and sensed them in abundance. Some people had arrogance, assuming that they would always be successful, but did not have the drive to ensure it would happen. She knew Severus did, and she found herself drawn towards that aspect of his personality.

It was kind of ironic, she thought while engrossed in the sight of his hands at work. She’d spent weeks convincing her friends, quite honestly, that there was nothing between herself and Severus besides the herbology project. Now she found herself almost wishing there was. She blushed at the thought.

She must have giggled as well, for Severus lifted his head and cocked one eyebrow, enquiring, “Something amusing you? Pray tell, won’t you?”

Mariah shook her head, “Nothing worth sharing, just thinking back to a conversation I had earlier.”

“Girls,” Severus shrugged, and returned his attention to his work.

Relieved he’d accepted her explanation, Mariah continued stirring. Her thoughts eventually wandered back to their previous path. What would her friends say if they knew she fancied Severus Snape? After they dragged her to the infirmary for an examination and teased her mercilessly for awhile, they’d most likely accept it – none of them were much for holding grudges. As for the rest of the school, she doubted they’d much notice. Sure, the Slytherins had made some noise at the beginning of the term, but that had waned long ago. Some probably assumed that the two of them were already involved in a relationship but the novelty had long since worn off. Probably the only two people in the school would have any interest at all – Silas, for he would love another excuse to tease her, and that obnoxious Sirius Black. She certainly didn’t care what he though, in fact it would serve him right were all his ridiculous insinuations to actually become true. (Not about her having been enchanted of course, just about her becoming Severus’ girlfriend.) She stifled another giggle, knowing she didn’t want to try to explain away her amusement again.

Not successful. Severus looked up again and smirked at her. “You certainly are entertaining yourself well tonight. Good thing you’ve got the easy part and just have to stir, or we’d never finish,” he teased.

“Sorry,” she apologized, feeling her cheeks redden again. His eyes actually twinkled when he smiled. Too bad he didn’t smile more often, but then again, it was kind of nice that his smiles seemed to be reserved just for her.

---

“Now we wait,” Severus announced to his companion, who was focusing hard on her task. “You can stop stirring now.”

He saw Mariah blush again. What was with her tonight? She kept on giggling, with no desire to share the source of her amusement. If she were anyone else, Severus would have naturally assumed she was laughing at him. But somehow he did not think that was the case. Mariah had proven her loyalty of sorts when she’d tore into Black. He still didn’t understand her seeming fondness for him, not really, but he attributed it to her Hufflepuff character and perhaps uncommonly good sense at seeing Black for what he was, something most others seemed incapable of doing.

“I’m going to the ladies, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Mariah informed him as she departed. Severus took himself to Professor Fellis’ desk and seated himself behind it. The Herbology Project had been proving trickier than he’d anticipated. Despite their methodical investigations, they’d still not discovered anything useful. Part of Severus was frustrated – failure was just not something he accepted. Another part though was exhilarated by the mental exercise; it was so rare for him to be challenged intellectually, he’d try to focus on that latter emotion.

Their trip to Cornwall had not proved as fruitful as they’d hoped. They’d still not found any explanation for the ailing Graminis at Hogwart’s. Severus walked back to the cauldron and peered in, groaning inwardly at the sight. The mixture was black. No change, ergo, another failed trial.

Mariah strolled back in, stifling a yawn. “Any luck, Severus?”

“None,” he replied. “Yet again, no indication of a problem.”

“Argh!” Mariah’s frustration was palpable. “What are we missing?”

“I haven’t a clue, but we are definitely missing something.” Severus threw himself into the nearest chair.

“You don’t think Professor Samling would have given us an impossible problem, do you?” Mariah hypothesized.

Severus shook his head, “Doubtful. Although I wouldn’t put it past him to assign us a problem with an unknown solution. Perhaps he assigned it to us because he hadn’t figured it out yet for himself, and wanted to save himself some effort.”

“Maybe he wanted to spend more time with his lovely wife,” Mariah joked in response. “Although laziness is not generally a Hufflepuff characteristic.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” Severus shot back before becoming serious again. “Whatever his motivations, we have no choice but to go back to the meadow and try again to find what we’ve overlooked. Unless we want to fail Herbology, which I certainly do not, we have to keep trying until we succeed.”

“Agreed. But next time we go out, do try harder not to get bitten or stung, you have been rather unlucky that way,” Mariah’s voice trailed off and she stood there in her own reverie of thought.

“What is it?” Severus asked.

Mariah stood a moment without responding, then looked up to return Severus’ gaze. “The bees,” she said simply.

The bees. The bees had been extremely aggressive down in Cornwall, but were they in the meadow here at Hogwart’s. Severus thought hard. He’d seen some bees down at the meadow but they’d been unremarkable and certainly nothing like the one that had stung him. “The bees,” he repeated, nodding his comprehension.

---

The next day, as soon as classes ended Mariah and Severus raced down to the meadow where the Graminis lived. They searched for the bees, and finally found some flying around a patch of colaflowers, but they showed no interest in the Graminis Socialis.

“We should try to capture one,” said Mariah. “If we take it down to Cornwall, we can observe how it reacts to a healthy GS. If it ignores the healthy plant as well, we will know there is something wrong with our bees rather than our plants.

“Otherwise, we’ll be back to square one,” remarked Severus.

Mariah cringed, “Let’s just hope for the best. Do you want to. . .”

Severus already had his wand raised and pointed at one of the bees. “Petrificus Totalus!” The bee stopped mid-flight and fell to the ground. Mariah carefully nudged it into a jar, sealing it along with some twigs and leaves before releasing the charm.

“Let’s go.” They raced back to the castle, passing the bewildered Gryffindor Quidditch team on their way to practice. James Potter watched the pair with interest, relishing the story he would relate to torment his friend later that evening.