Chapter Nine: Carina Is Surrounded By Idiots

"Pettigrew isn't an animagus, he's not registered!"

Carina didn't bother trying to hold her temper. This man was an imbecile at best, and she was far too angry to consider being nice to the man. "For gods sake, Minister, if you'd let one of them cast the reversing spell, you'd see that it's obviously Pettigrew! Rat animagus, illegal animagus, wrap your head around it, asshole!"

Carina was reasonably sure that the reason no one even gave her a scolding look over that last comment was that they were all just as irritated with Fudge as she was.

"Pettigrew was never talented enough for that," Fudge stuttered.

"Sodding hell, Fudge!" Carina exclaimed in annoyance. "Just because he was weak and pathetic doesn't mean his friends were! You've got me, Dumbledore, Keith and Remus all telling you that the rat is Pettigrew, what the hell else do you need!?"

"Now, see here, girl," Fudge blustered, but was interrupted by James, who, until this point, been staring at Pettigrew with a savage look in his eyes. "Shut up, Fudge. Do you truly not believe them, Minister?" he asked in a relatively polite tone.

Fudge nodded, "It can't be true – "

"If you don't believe it from them, maybe you'll believe it from me," James growled. "Peter Pettigrew is a rat animagus, he became one in the middle of our third year at Hogwarts, a few months after Sirius Black and I accomplished the transformation," he concluded by transforming into Prongs.

Keith hissed, "James, you weren't supposed to tell him about that!"

Remus closed his eyes and shook his head as if trying to make the situation go away, and Carina mumbled in disgust, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

Remus' eyes snapped open and he told her, "I fully agree."

James transformed back into himself, "Well, Minister? Can we transform the little bastard, then?"

"Y –yes," Fudge stuttered out.

Just who in the hell had made this man Minister of Magic, anyway? What an idiot…

Dumbledore cast the spell, and in an instant, all eyes were focused on the rat-like man petrified on the floor in front of them. Four out of the six people looking at him looked fairly murderous, one of them was only notably furious to those who knew him well, and the last look like his world had just ended.

"Right," Carina interrupted. "You all know now, can I leave? I have a life around here, mostly focusing on a really, really complicated Arithmancy problem that's been driving me crazy all week!"

Everyone turned to look at her, and she sighed. "Never mind, apparently that isn't going to happen," she muttered in annoyance.

"No, you can go, 'Rina," James spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Thank you," she said fervently, and looked around the room, hesitated, and then dashed towards Keith, who grunted in surprise as she hugged him, not even pausing to slow down, and thus causing quite the impact.

She let go quickly enough and grinned, "Missed you, Uncle Keith," she told him, and then hugged him again and ran out of the room, grinning as she heard Keith ask James, what in the name of Merlin is up with Rosie?

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Day After Catching Pettigrew, Around Lunch, Remus' Office

"Hey, 'Rina," James said. "We didn't get the chance to talk earlier, what with Minister Imbecile denying that it was Pettigrew."

"And now we have the chance," Carina said dryly. "Who would've thought."

"So, a little bird told me something about a 'barbaric muggle fight' with Malfoy?" he asked in a slightly teasing voice.

"…how do you know about that?" Carina asked in scared tone. There was no possible way, the only witnesses had been Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, Hermione, Ella, and 'Rea. None of whom were about to tell, because her friends were good friends, and the others because that would involve admitting that she'd made poor little Draco cry.

"I got a visit at work today," James answered. "You could safely say I was a bit confused when Narcissa Malfoy showed up and told me to --- control my little beast of a goddaughter… apparently you risked the future of the house of Malfoy."

Carina couldn't help herself, she burst into laughter at the image. "Damn right I did," she said proudly. "The little twit was asking for it."

"What'd he say?" James asked curiously. He knew most people in his situation wouldn't see it as amusing, but he couldn't help it, it was. And the kid probably had deserved it.

Carina growled. "He called me a cheap mudblood whore would only ever serve the purpose of slaving for purebloods like him. I figure that if the problem is purebloods like him, I should do everything in my power to prevent more from coming around." She stopped and then added, "That, and he just really pissed me off."

James chuckled. "So, you caught Pettigrew."

"…yes, I caught Pettigrew," Carina answered, raising an eyebrow at her godfather. "But you already knew that, so do you have a point?"

"I did," James said, but his eyes widened and he asked, "He called you what?"

"A cheap mudblood whore who would only ever serve the purpose of slaving for purebloods like him," Carina quoted, slightly amused that James seemed more angry right now than he had back with Fudge and Pettigrew.

"I'm going to hex him… NO! I'm going to curse him – no, that's not enough, I'm going to beat the living shit out of that, that, that…" James trailed off.

Carina offered helpfully, "Minor?"

"Dead man walking?" he shot back. "What a little twit! How dare he!"

"Uh, James," she said warily. "I did get revenge, you know. And I kinda-sorta started the whole cheap whore thing…"

"How did you start that?" James asked, looking completely confused.

"I told Malfoy earlier this year that there might be someone desperate enough to give him a pity date, and suggested the two-bit whore – Parkinson – following him around like a lost little dog," she admitted sheepishly.

James looked at her incredulously and then burst into laughter.

Carina crossed her arms and glared. "It's not that funny."

"No," he waved it off, still laughing slightly. "I was imagining the look on the little twits face."

"Yeah, he was pretty shocked for a moment," Carina agreed, before frowning. "Too bad it didn't last."

"What did he say after that?"

"'You'd really do that for me?'" she mimicked.

"THAT LITTLE BRAT!"

Carina eyed him nervously. "You know, he's a little arse and all, but really, I can deal with him. I think I'd die of shame if I couldn't… and I responded by telling him that I didn't believe in incest, and that even if I did and I was a cheap whore, it'd cost a whole lot more than that for me to be willing to even look at him."

James' lips twitched into a reluctant grin. "Remind me that I never want to get you mad enough at me for you to come up with personalized insults, will you?"

"You never want me to get angry enough with you to come up with personalized insults," Carina repeated dutifully, smirking at James.

James shook his head in amusement. "I s'pose I was practically asking for that one," he conceded.

"…so can I go to Hogsmeade now?" Carina asked, hoping that if she slipped it in out of nowhere he'd say yes without thinking.

James raised an eyebrow. "Not a chance."

Damn. "But I –"

"No, Carina," James said evenly. "If the circumstances were different, with Pettigrew being caught, I'd have been all for it. As the case is, you can wait until next year."

Carina scowled but didn't reply.

"Why'd you go and ruin a perfectly good conversation?" James asked her, only half teasingly.

"I was hoping that if I slipped it in out of nowhere, you'd say yes without thinking," she told him sardonically. "Obviously, I underestimated you."

James shook his head in amusement. "You know, sometimes looking at you, it's like seeing Lily reincarnated, and then you go and say something like that and I know without a doubt that your Padfoot's daughter."

Carina smiled slightly. "I was actually thinking about that, I was comparing pictures… I have Mum's hair, and I kind-of-sort-of have her eyes, but I really don't see any other similarities."

"Your love of reading, your temper, and your tendency to get angry without thinking," James reeled off without even pausing to think.

"Gee, thanks, James," Carina said sarcastically. "I appreciate your wonderful opinion of me."

James looked at her, apparently realized she was teasing him, and rolled his eyes. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Trying to get rid of me?" she asked with a grin. "Actually, it's technically still lunch, but I'm trying to find a way to avoid going to Ancient Runes afterwards. I don't know why that can't just pick a time for that class and stick with it, but it changes practically every week! …and I've been putting off these stupid translations for awhile, they're rather simple, but I just don't want to write them all out, it's tedious."

"I'd suggest you go write down the knowledge that you've kept locked up in your mind before your class starts and you end up with detention, or, god forbid, more translations," James told her with a bit of teasing in his tone.

Carina shook her head. "Sorenson would combine them. Can you imagine writing lines in runes?" she asked with a shudder.

"Oh? And how do you know that?" James asked with a smirk.

"Weasley was griping about it," Carina answered carelessly. "Along with everything else that requires a modicum of thought."

"Don't you think you're a bit harsh on him?" James asked her carefully.

"No," she said simply, trying to make it clear that she didn't want to discuss it. He rolled his eyes. "Go do your translations," he said, shaking his head.

"Ta," she said, leaving the office.