Dirty Mouth, Dirty Blood [h.g]

twelve

12

Then

Carina couldn't breathe. Her knees were pressed on the cold tiles, and the force of the curse was the only thing letting her know this wasn't a nightmare. She was gulping desperately for oxygen, dark spots swimming in her line of sight.

Suddenly the curse lifted, and Carina crashed to the floor gasping for breath. Her temple was bleeding from the fall and her lungs were raw and burning.

"Learned your lesson yet?"

Carina looked up into her father's grey eyes, steadying her breathing.

"Father, it's not my fault Hermione Granger has top marks, she's a genetic anomaly. You can't expect me to compete with her."

"You came in second to a Mudblood, Carina, you can't expect me to let this slide."

Carina took a shaky breath, checking her emotions. "I understand, Father. It won't happen again."

Carina stood up slowly at her father's invitation, walking carefully towards the door. She knew her father had her best intentions in mind, but his best intentions hurt.

Carina knew she was better than Mudbloods; she was purer, a more refined specimen. So of course she would have high standards in place for her, it was a given.

But Hermione would not be experiencing what she was. Hermione was not pretty, but she wasn't ugly, either. She was just kind of...there. But she smiled quickly and easily, and Hermione would be going home after her first year to a happy, idealistic family.

Yes, Carina was technically better than Hermione, but Hermione was so much... happier. If torture was Carina's reward for being better, maybe she didn't want to be.

Maybe this time she should be on the other side of the war.

Now

Carina strode down Diagon Alley confidently, eyes scanning the crowd. She had separated from the group to withdraw money from Gringotts, and now she found herself alone.

Spotting a flash of familiar blonde hair, Carina walked quickly after her brother in an attempt to catch up to him.

Eyes trained on Draco, Carina didn't notice that she had gone down Knockturn Alley; all she cared about was not losing her twin in the crowd.

He entered a shop, and to Carina's surprise the door swung open immediately after, as if by an invisible person.

Or, she thought upon seeing the hint of a red shoelace, three people.

Draco walked out of Borgin and Burkes with his hands in his pockets looking considerably more stressed. Carina wondered what, exactly, he had done to come about this transformation.

Only one way to find out.

Carina emerged out of the shadows and entered the shop.

"Hello," she said to the old man behind the counter, "has my brother done his job?"

"Excuse me?" the man asked, causing Carina to slightly change her plan of attack.

"My brother was assigned a task. I am to make sure he completed it. Please show me proof of completion or my father will hear about this."

The man paled considerably, and pulled a case out from behind the counter. He opened and closed it quickly, allowing Carina only a flash of an opal necklace.

Carina nodded, knowing that was as much information as she was going to get, and headed out, making sure she held the door open an inordinate amount of time to allow the trio to exit with her.

Once back in Diagon Alley, Carina whipped around with a glare, pulling the cloak off the trio. "What the fuck was that back there?"

Instead of answering, Ron shot questions back, "How did you know about the cloak?"

"Granger told me."

"Hermione!" Ron cried, focusing his anger towards the brunette.

Carina rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers in front of Ron's face, and he turned towards her once more. "You should be fucking grateful to Granger, if I hadn't come along, just how exactly did you plan on getting out?"

Ron fumed, staying silent.

"Exactly," Carina scolded, "and though you don't deserve to know, the thing Draco wanted was an opal necklace. Now if you'll excuse me, I still have more potions ingredients to collect. Try not to die in my absence."

As she was leaving, Carina heard Harry speak. "Feisty, that one. She could come in handy later."

"Damn right I would," Carina muttered to herself, though a smile was gracing her features at his words.