Dirty Mouth, Dirty Blood [h.g]

fifty

AN: So it looks like this story will be around 58/59 chapters. I do hope you know that my future stories will not be nearly this long, I just had a lot to say for this one. 

50

Then

Carina tucked her legs under herself, straightening her posture. Alouette stared at her, dark eyes inquisitive.

"I thought zat you vanted it to be a one-time theeng. Vas I wrong?"

"I'm not here to fuck you. I haven't ruled it out, but it at least was not my intention. You are from Paris, no?"

"Oui," Alouette giggled, raising an eyebrow at Carina's antics.

"The city of love. If I were to want to ask a girl out, how would you recommend I go about doing it?" Carina asked slowly, not meeting the Asian's eyes.

Alouette gave a small smile. "I zink zat you are a very sweet girl. You are... gentle. Caring. You vill make a girl very happy. Eef you vant zis girl as much as you say you do, all you 'ave to do is put yourself in front of 'er. Let 'er see you as you are, and she vill not be able to resist you."

Carina looked up, pleased with the other girl's answer. "Thanks, Ali. Now, about that fuck..."

Now

Twenty or so students immediately swarmed the group, questions being asked so fast they couldn't understand any of them.

Carina noticed a few dirty looks being sent her way, but then Hermione's hand was being laced through hers, and Carina was at peace.

"What's she doing here?" A Gryffindor finally asked, sending a dirty look Carina's way. Harry opened his mouth to answer, but Carina raised a hand, silencing him.

Carina slunk over to the girl, watching her start to shake. "Is the little girl afraid of me?" Carina purred, looking down her nose at the dark-haired girl.

Well," Carina cooed, "let me teach you a lesson in manners. I'm here because I'm fucking brilliant. I am a better witch than you could ever hope to be. Accept that fact and move on, darling. So the real question we should be asking is 'why are you here?'. Because I'm bring something to the table, and you're just a small girl, afraid of a Slytherin."

"That's enough, Carina," Harry said, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her back. "We love you, but you can tone it down a bit sometimes, it's allowed," he said, ruffling her hair lovingly.

"Scarhead," Carina warned, "what have I told you about touching my hair?"

"...Not to?" Harry said sheepishly.

"And what am I going to do because you touched it?" She asked menacingly.

"Hurt me." He pouted.

Carina nodded. "But, since we've had a bit of a rough week, I'll give you an IOU. I'll hurt you when the war is over."

Harry smiled sadly at her, hating the dark bags under her eyes and the stress lines that seemed almost permanent. Carina had sacrificed a lot for him, though this was the first time she was truly admitting how taxing it was on her. A sort of mutual understanding passed between the two, and they looked away from each other only when Neville cleared his throat awkwardly.

"So, what are you all doing back here? What do you need?"

"We're on a mission," Harry said after a moment, amidst oohs and aahs. "But we can't tell you what it is."

Indignant murmurs swept through the crowd, resent bubbling to the surface.

"Come on, Potter," Carina said lowly, "you don't have to be nearly as cryptic as Dumbledore was. You can tell them what we're looking for without mentioning why we need it."

"You do it, you're better with words than me," Harry answered, and Carina looked physically pained.

"Ah, you know how much I hate complementing you. But alas, it must be done. You're a natural leader, Harry, they'll listen to you. It's mostly Gryffindors and Ravenclaws in here, House prejudice won't allow a Slytherin to give the orders, no matter how eloquent."

Harry nodded, wincing slightly. "Alright." He raised his voice, capturing everyone's attention once more. "Here's the thing, guys. We're looking for a distinctive object, a relic, and it probably has something to do with Ravenclaw. Anyone have any ideas?"

Luna pipped up from the back, revealing her presence for the first time. It seemed she had returned to Hogwarts under Carina's nose.

"There's a diadem that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. There's a statue that has it in the Ravenclaw Common Room, if you want to see."

Harry nodded and the two left for the Common Room. Hermione and Ron were answering questions, allowing Carina to slip slightly into the background.

"Let's see," she muttered, "if I were a diadem, where would I hide? The Common Room is too obvious... so where would I be?"

Carina's eyes widened. She turned immediately, pushing through the students to the back of the room. She placed her hands on the walls, her forehead resting on the edge of the room. "Alright, Room of Requirement. I doubt you're sentient, but in case you are, I need the diadem of Ravenclaw. If you can't do that, then I want this exact room, except this time with the diadem in it. Can you do that for me?"

Suddenly everything started seemed lopsided, and Carina fell to the ground. Her head was spinning, a throbbing rendering her useless. She felt a weight drop into her front pocket, and she let out a whimper.

Hermione was by her side in a moment, pulling Carina's head into her lap. "Breathe, Ri-Ri, breathe. What happened?"

Carina swallowed hard, looking up into Hermione's doe-eyes. "I had a little chat with a wall."

"Is that code for you ran into it?" Hermione asked with a smile.

"No," Carina said lightly, "I actually talked to the wall." She stood up slowly, relying on Hermione for support. Carina then reached into her pocket, pulling out the rusted silver crown.

"But hey," Carina said, holding it up so others could see, "at least it paid off."

Hermione laughed, a real, hearty chuckle. "You're brilliant." She breathed, placing a light kiss on Carina's lips.

Carina heard a couple gasps from the crowd, but she just flipped them off, bringing Hermione in for a deeper kiss. Hermione pulled away after a moment, cheeks flushed and red. Carina shot her a wolfish grin, pleased with the way Hermione was nibbling on her lip.

"Now," Carina said, "let's tell Potter that we have the diadem so he'll stop running around the castle like a headless chicken."