Dirty Mouth, Dirty Blood [h.g]

twenty four

24

Then

"So, Miss Malfoy," Snape said, looking at her report card. "What is it you would like to do when you graduate Hogwarts?"

"I want to be the Potions Master at Hogwarts."

"Carina," Snape said frustratedly, "I am currently the Potions Master."

"Yes," Carina said, nodding as if she was thinking the piece of information over, "but to become the Potions Master one must go through even more schooling, mustn't one? That gives me at least three more years after Hogwarts, and it's not like you're getting any younger over here. My time will come."

"Alright," Snape finally relented, "You'll need an O in my advanced course and you'll need at least an E in Transfiguration."

"Easy," Carina agreed.

The Professor nodded, subsequently dismissing her.

Right as she was about to leave, Carina turned in the doorway.

"I would be a good Professor, right?" The statement came out a more like a question than she had hoped, but Snape gave her a thin smile all the same.

"The best."

Now

"We even dressed the ghoul in the attic up like me so if people come they think I'm just really sick." Ron finished with a flourish.

"See, Harry?" Hermione chided. "We all want to come help you hunt for Horcruxes."

"But what about you and Carina?" Harry asked warily.

"My parents have been obliviated," Hermione said casually, though Carina knew it pained her deeply to talk about what she had done. "They now live in Australia with no memory of a daughter. They're safe there, at least for now."

"And I never like school anyways," Carina said, trying to take the attention off Hermione for a moment.

"I also stole the book on Horcruxes from Dumbledore's office," Hermione continued after Harry and Ron had offered their sympathies to her parents' calamity. "Voldemort is unlikely to try to reassemble to pieces to make his soul whole again because to do so he would have to feel remorse for his actions, which is practically impossible. So, he will probably use them to keep himself alive, so if we want to kill him, we have to destroy the Horcruxes. However, they're very hard to destroy, they would need something like the Basilisk fang you used of the diary, Harry. And yes, I'm pretty sure the diary was a Horcrux. We know he made seven Horcruxes, so we have to move fast if we want to stop Voldemort." Hermione paused to take a breath, Carina gazing at her with admiration.

"You know, Granger," Carina murmured, "I love it when you know exactly what you're doing."

Hermione blushed, looking towards Ron so not to give away the butterflies she felt at the Slytherin's words.

The quartet was interrupted when Mrs. Weasley called them to dinner. When the boys left the room, Carina was able to steal a kiss, grinning into Hermione's lips.

She really was happy.