Dirty Mouth, Dirty Blood [h.g]

twenty nine

29

Then

Carina applied the dark purple lipstick in the dark, unable to see if she was applying it correctly. She could only assume she was.

Carina was a morning person, preferring long amounts of time to look her best than the extra 20 minutes of sleep her roommates got. The only problem was that Millicent was very touchy about the amount of light in the dorm room, so Carina had to go about her routine in the dark or else risk a pissed-off Millicent.

No one wanted that.

Carina could barely see her hand in front of her face, rummaging in her makeup bag, trying to find the small compact she had. It gave off very little light, but Carina could check her lipstick in it, and that was all she needed.

Once satisfied, Carina looked both ways unnecessarily before turning into the small, white snake.

Carina slithered outside into the Slytherin Common Room, slipping behind a small chair before transforming back into her human form.

Carina popped up, and heard a gasp. Wide green eyes turned towards a first year, a small boy, staring at her in amazement.

Carina sauntered on over towards him, crouching down so he could get the full force of her sneer.

"What's your name?"

"Steven," the boy replied nervously.

He should be nervous, Carina thought, I didn't see the little bastard curled up on the sofa like he was, and now he pays the price for his little disappearing act.

"Well, Steven," Carina purred, "you aren't going to tell anyone about what you just saw, are you?"

"N-no," the boy stammered out.

"I didn't think so," Carina agreed, putting her wand on his temple.

"Obliviate."

Now

"Look," Harry said, "Snape's just been appointed Headmaster. The Carrows, Death Eaters, are also teachers. We need to get the locket, and fast. Any ideas?"

"We could use the Invisibility Cloak," Hermione suggested, "find patterns in the way the Ministry employees go to and from the Ministry then break into Umbridge's office."

Carina nodded. "I agree. The cloak obviously won't conceal all four of us, so we could take turns. And I mean, what other choice do we have? We're in hiding."

Harry finally nodded his consent, and Hermione and Ron were to take the first shift, Apparating away after a few minutes of planning.

Harry and Carina were left together, facing one another silently. After a few awkward moments, Carina stood up, wanting to rid herself of the tension that draped over her like a blanket.

"Wait," Harry called, and gulped when Carina's icy glare hit him. "Ron and I don't share a room anymore, there are enough spare rooms, you see, so, um, you and Hermione don't have to share a room anymore either."

"You're telling me this because...?" Carina asked, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"It's just that you always seemed so annoyed with us, I thought you might want your own room."

"Aww, Potter," Carina cooed, "you care about my mental state. I'm touched. But no, I'm fine sharing with Granger."

At Harry's challenging look, Carina sighed and elaborated. "Think about it this way, Potter, if you must; if I really hated you three as much as you seem to think, why would I be here? I could be with your little girlfriend at Hogwarts."

Harry flushed red to his roots, and Carina smiled triumphantly. "So you do like her."

"Yeah," he muttered after a pause, "yeah, I do. Going to make fun of me for it?" Harry tilted his head up, looking her square in the eyes. He had guts; Carina gave him that.

"For how red you got when I asked? Obviously. For liking Weaslette? No. She's sweet enough, I suppose, and you do seem to have a thing for the Weasleys. Can't help who you fall for, can you? I personally always assumed you'd end up with Cho, but alas. At least Ginny doesn't completely hate me."

The Gryffindor nodded sharply, maintaining the eye contact. He was trying to exude control, to make Carina feel uncomfortable. He would be very disappointed, however. Carina was never intimidated, not by someone like Potter.

"Your retaliation?" Carina asked, baiting him on.

"No," Harry stated thoughtfully after a moment, "no, I think I can work with that. You're not so bad, Malfoy. Not bad at all."

"I take offense to that!" Carina cried over her shoulder, exiting the room. "I like to think I'm a stone cold bitch, and I don't need Boy Wonder going around telling people I'm 'not so bad', do you understand me?"

Harry laughed. "Understood!"