Dirty Mouth, Dirty Blood [h.g]

forty nine

49

Then

"I see no difference," Snape drawled coldly. Hermione whimpered, her hands covering her rapidly growing front teeth.

"Professor!" Harry cried indignantly, but Snape merely turned a blind eye.

"Let me see," Carina finally sighed, beckoning Hermione to come to her. When the Gryffindor did not comply, she roughly pulled Hermione towards her, the shorter girl struggling against her grasp.

"Let me see, or I'll make you," Carina threatened, and Hermione complied.

Carina pulled out her wand, muttering a quick reduction spell. She moved her wand up slowly, until Hermione's two front teeth were at the same level as all the others.

Carina knew Hermione's teeth had always been slightly big, but she figured that she would allow Hermione the simply pleasure of even teeth. She was, after all, a girl who knew the importance of beauty.

"Thanks," Hermione said quietly. Carina turned in lieu of acknowledgement, locking eyes with Snape.

He was one of her favorite people, and she respected him immensely, but she couldn't help but challenge him. He was objectively a bad teacher, causing pain to his students and finding joy in it.

Carina didn't mind his antics, but if he wanted so desperately to be a professor, he could at least put a little effort into his profession.

She felt a faint tap on her shoulder, and turned to find Hermione once more. "Really, Malfoy. Thank you."

Carina smiled softly at the acknowledgement. "Wear your hair up, Granger. It'd flatter you more."

With that, Carina whisked herself away, leaving Hermione in a state of shock at the kindnesses she had shown.

Now

The four apparated into Hogsmeade under the Cloak, only to be welcomed by the sound of screams. Death Eaters swarmed outside, and it was then Carina realized that the unearthly wail was actually an alarm. Dementors swarmed, and Harry immediately cast a Patronus, before Carina could even think to do so. Say what you will about him, Harry was good under pressure.

"Come inside now, if you don't want to be caught," a rough voice called out, and the four had no choice but to trust it and head inside the Hogs Head Inn.

Once in safety, the old man who rescued them exited the house. They were blocked by the wall, but Carina managed to catch scratches of their conversation.

"Yes, sorry, the alarm was me, I let my cat out, lost track of time... yes, I know, curfew and all that, but you really don't want to summon You-Know-Who off of a cat... the Patronus? That was mine, a goat. No, not a stag, a goat, I think I'd know my own Patronus... yes, sorry, won't happen again. Bye now..."

The man entred the house, blue eyes sweeping over the group. Harry stiffened beside Carina, and she immediately knew Harry recognized him.

"You're Aberforth, aren't you. Dumbledore's brother. You sent Dobby, you've been watching me in the mirror. You sent the Patronus that led me to the sword." Harry said slowly.

Aberforth nodded. "Yes, I-I've been keeping an eye on you. But I don't know anything about a Patronus, or a sword."

"Oh," Harry said, processing that information.

"I'll leave you four to sort through that," Carina said after a moment of silence, "I'm going to scout the place out."

Carina walked through the house, finally stopping in front of a portrait of a wisp of a blonde girl. The girl seemed familiar, and Carina was sure she had seen that portrait at Hogwarts.

"Excuse me, miss?" Carina asked, and the girl gave a slight smile. "Do you connect to Hogwarts?"

The portrait nodded, smiling once more, and Carina smiled back at her. "Do you think you could find someone? A Neville Longbottom, perhaps?" Carina asked. The girl nodded energetically, turning and disappearing.

Carina waited where she was, eyes roaming over the frame. Neville was not her favorite person, not by a long shot, but he was loyal as it gets, and she knew that even if he couldn't help he wouldn't give them up.

Finally the girl returned, the painting opening and Neville stepping out. His eyes widened upon seeing Carina, and she realized he didn't know she was one of the good guys.

"Longbottom. A pleasure, as always." Carina drawled, though it did nothing to rid his features of confusion.

"Malfoy! What are you doing here?"

"I'm traveling with the Potter squad. We're ridding the world of evil." She said dryly, motioning for Neville to follow her back into the main room.

"I bring a Neville." Carina announced, the Gryffindor following nervously behind.

"Neville!" Hermione cried, standing and embracing the boy. Neville seemed relieved that Carina hadn't been lying, and looked at her with a newfound respect.

"Is it true that you all broke into Gringotts?"

"Yep!" Ron said proudly. "What have you been doing at Hogwarts?"

Neville wore a proud smile of his own, then. "The Carrows are in charge of discipline. One's teaching Dark Arts and the other's doing Muggle Studies but against
Muggles. Some students and I have been standing up to them. That's where I got these scars." Neville paused a moment to pull up his shirt, revealing long, white scars.

"Ooh, twins!" Carina joked, pulling up her shirt to reveal similar scars. It was her attempt to lighten the mood, and it seemed to work for Neville, who gave her a big smile in return.

"Once you left, Harry, I kinda took over your role as leader. But when Luna and Ginny didn't return, I had to start doing everything. But after Death Eaters went after my grandma, I decided I should lay low. Now I'm hanging out in the Room of Requirement with some other Dumbledore's Army members. Want to come see?" He finished in a rush, the other four having to take a moment to soak all the information in.

"Let's," Hermione said finally, and they all followed Neville, back through the portrait.

"Look who I found!" Neville cried, swinging open the door to find the Room of Requirement.