Dirty Mouth, Dirty Blood [h.g]

thirty nine

AN: I made the collage myself. I'm so proud. 

39

Then

Carina sat, poised in front of Remus Lupin. He knew something was wrong from the moment she entred his office; whenever she was completely put together on the outside it was always because something was missing on the inside. She reminded him of Sirius in that way.

"What's the matter, Carina?" Remus asked, watching as she settled herself down onto a stool.

"Nothing. Everything. I'm not entirely sure," she said vaguely, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"You can tell me," Remus prodded, completely setting aside his work.

"I think I'm in love, Professor," Carina stated, "and I hate it. Because not only did it have to be a girl, but a Gryffindor at that. What do I do?"

"Well," Remus said carefully, "I think you have two options here. But the first thing I'd suggest you do is wait until at least your fifth year. Emotions can be deceiving before you're fully prepared for them. And if you're still in love with this girl in your fifth year, you can either ask her out or pretend it never happened. You're a Slytherin, you'll figure out which one is best. But you'll have to be ready to suffer the consequences of either."

Carina nodded, pursing her lips. "Have you ever been in love, Professor Lupin?"

"No," Lupin sighed, "no I haven't. I thought I was, once, but I don't think I really knew them."

"Oh," Carina said, and she suddenly looked very small. "Did you ever get to know them?"

"No," Lupin admitted, "they were gone before I could."

"Dead?" Carina asked softly, and Lupin took a shaky breath.

"Worse. But enough about me, would you mind telling me who exactly you're in love with?" The man asked, trying to change to topic.

"Actually, I would," Carina said plainly, "not that I don't trust you, I do. It's simply a matter of plausible deniability. If someone says I'm in love with a girl, I can play it off easily enough. But if they know her name, they can see how I react around her. While I consider myself a good actress, I am only human. And she does things to me I didn't think possible."

Lupin nodded sadly, understanding her position.

Carina slipped off the stool, heading towards the door. "Thank you, Professor. I find that simply expressing my thoughts aloud can clear my head."

The werewolf looked up with a smile. "Call me Remus."

Now

Hermione and Carina were sitting next to each other, talking about nothing in particular.

Carina knew she had forgiven Hermione quickly, perhaps too quickly, but none of that truly mattered to her.

She had wanted Hermione for so long, and now that she had her, she never wanted to let her go again.

Even if they constantly had petty arguments.

"Herbology wasn't that bad!" Hermione protested. "Granted, it got boring at some parts, but Divination was so much worse."

"Please," Carina scoffed, "if Herbology sucked any more, I'd orgasm. Divination at least had comic relief."

"Like what, how much of a joke Trelawney was?"

"Exactly." Carina stated, and she and Hermione dissolved into laughter for no real reason but that they needed to laugh, the brunette falling into Carina's lap.

They looked up when the tent flap opened, Carina trying to maintain a façade of composure.

Harry stepped into the tent, and much to Carina's displeasure, so did Ron.

Hermione stood then, frizzy hair crackling with electricity. "Ronald Weasley! How dare you! Carina, where is my wand? I'm going to kill him!" She cried, and Carina found herself very turned on at the expression of anger.

"No!" Harry cried, trying to restrain Hermione, the girl trying to push past him, and winning.

"Eh," Carina shrugged, "I'd kinda like to see what she'd do with him. I think it'd be comical."

"Let me explain!" Ron said hurriedly, face as red as his hair. He was terrified, and Carina was proud on her girlfriend's behalf.

"You have ten seconds," Carina growled when she realized Hermione wasn't going to say anything.

"As soon as I left, I wanted to come back. I was planning on just taking an hour to cool off, I swear. But as I was walking, a group of Snatchers, people who capture Muggleborns and blood traitors for the Ministry, attacked me. I barely managed to escape, and by the time I had, you guys had moved on."

"Then how did you find us again?" Hermione asked, the last traces of anger still present in her voice.

"I few days earlier, I heard your voice, saying my name, coming out of the Deluminator. Then this... ball, of—of light came out of it, and then suddenly I knew where to apparate to. Then a silver doe came to me, and I followed it to find Harry in time to save him."

"Save him," Carina stated, albeit incredulously.

"Yeah," Harry said sheepishly, running a hand through hair Carina now noticed was wet. "I kinda blacked out when jumping in a pool trying to get the Sword of Gryffindor. But, good news, Ron got it, and the Horcrux is destroyed! So it's all good!"

Carina laughed slightly at his poor attempt at smoothing over the conflict. "That sword would be mine, by the way. Dumbledore left it to me."

Harry handed it over almost immediately, and Ron managed to control his feelings of outrage, instead looking anywhere but at the sword.

Carina held the first time, tossing it from hand to hand. "Hmm. I like it. Yes, this will do quite well."

"Suits you," Ron choked out, before turning to Hermione, looking quite like a lost puppy.

Hermione sighed resignedly, looking Ron in the eyes. "Welcome back, Ron."

The redhead's smile threatened to consume his face, but Hermione just walked back over to Carina, obviously displaying their affection, so as to not give him the wrong idea.

His smile dropped slightly, but Ron still rummaged around slightly in his pockets, pulling out a foreign one. "Oh, Harry, I managed to get a wand off one of the Snatchers when I was escaping. I know it's not your old one, but you really need one."

"Thanks, Ron," Harry said gratefully, handing Carina her wand back.

"How'd she do?" Carina asked, gesturing to her wand.

"Erm, she? You mean the wand? Your wand worked pretty nicely, thanks."

Hermione chuckled, and Carina rounded on her. "Find something funny, Granger?"

"You call your wand a she?" Hermione asked, glee tumbling from her pretty lips.

"I call her Cassandra, after the character in the Iliad. Cassandra was overlooked, underestimated, right but ignored. I like to think my wand and I are the same way. Do you have an issue with that?" Carina asked, her words holding no real malice.

"Nope," Hermione said, struggling to keep her face straight. "I think that's very cute."

Carina smiled, bringing the Gryffindor in for a kiss. At Harry's sound of distaste at the PDA, Carina simply flipped him off.

It was a good day.