Dirty Mouth, Dirty Blood [h.g]

forty eight

48

Then

Carina ignored the stares, keeping her eyes on the horizon.

She heard the whispers, the 'who does she thing she is's echoing throughout the hall.

People said that first years didn't wear makeup, that they were too young. But Carina didn't care about their opinions. She was wearing a full face of makeup, and she knew she looked great. Her lips were lined better than most seventh years, thanks to the teachings of her mother and Evangeline Zabini.

Carina definitely stood out in a crowd, and people gave her a wide berth.

She was the only eleven-year-old in the school wearing perfectly winged eyeliner.

And it made her feel powerful.

Now

The dragon flew through the countryside, flying over a lake.

"Jump! Into the lake, c'mon, it's our only chance!" Hermione screamed, and the others followed suit. Carina's disguise had worn off, and she watched her blonde hair fly up in front of her as she fell.

The water hit her like a wall, knocking the wind out of her. Carina gasped, clawing her way up to the surface, making sure her wand was still clutched tightly in her hand. Her head broke through the top of the water, and Carina shook her head around, looking for her companions. After identifying red hair, brown hair, and black hair, she was content. Carian swam towards the shore, finally emerging on the sand.

"I don't like sand," Carina mused, "it's coarse, and rough, and it gets everywhere."

Hermione looked at her with indignation. "Did you just quote Star Wars?"

Carina shrugged, laughing. "I always enjoy quoting the one person who complains more that Ron."

"Hey!" Ron cried, but he didn't look nearly as mad as he usually did.

Carina turned to Harry, waiting for his scathing comment, but none came. He was merely sitting on the shore, green eyes glazed over, staring at nothing.

"Potter?" Carina asked, walking towards him slowly, as if not to scare a small animal.

"Hmm?" Harry asked, snapping back into reality.

"What were you looking at?"

Harry seemed almost panicked then, standing up immediately. "He knows, You-Know-Who, he didn't know before because he couldn't feel it, but now he knows we're looking for Horcruxes. Nagini's one and another one's at Hogwarts, so we know we have to go there. But we're running out of time, he'll figure it out soon."

"Hey, hey, breathe." Carian cooed. "Let me get this straight..."

"The only straight part about you," Hermione muttered, and Carina flipped her off behind her back.

"Okay, Harry, we have to go to Hogwarts to destroy the last Horcrux, and fast, because the Dark Lord knows we're onto him."

"Right!" Harry cried.

"Then let's head towards Hogsmeade," Hermione said, happy to have direction once more. She grabbed the cup she had grabbed from the vault, glad it was still safe, and the four got ready to move out.