Not sure if this one turned out alright or not, but I tried. As to JayBat, perhaps her always tending to go off into flashbacks might get tiring, but it's certainly a way to see glimpses of her past. Her remembering, I mean, the way she does; the Chamber of Secrets was definitely a place with a big one, I think. And to twitmonkey, I'm glad you're liking it, I loved writing that scene as well as every other one involving Carina and Hermione thus far. *Grins* Hope everyone likes this one as well!

Oh, as for the thing by Nikita Gill I had last chapter, I reckon I'm gonna add more stuff at the beginnings occasionally, maybe. Such as this:

It's said she's made of storm cells

And a wild wolf's hungry heart,

That she's learnt the lightning's secret

To ripping darkened skies apart.

The power of her presence

Can bring mountains to their knees,

Her song is one of chaos

As she stirs the angry seas.

But if you've met you'd be no wiser

For she is also born of light,

Another face amongst the crowd;

The hidden hiding in plain sight.

Great power doesn't always come

Inside the forms that you'd assume,

But you would never doubt her strength

When she is howling at the moon.

—e.h

After they had run in with Mrs. Longbottom (who had closed the passageway behind her now that everyone was evacuated) and Ginny (who had been all to thrilled to leave her hiding place and took off for battle despite Harry's protests about coming back), they finally made it to the Room of Requirement. The room they were in, however, was different from all the others and completely covered in junk of various kinds, all piled atop each other so high that they had to crane their necks to look at it.

Hermione could not believe how many things had been stashed up here, or rather, thrown away. It was utterly ridiculous!

As she glanced about, Carina mumbled from beside her, "Bloody hell, are we going to have a hard time finding the diadem…"

"No kidding," she could hear Ron mutter from behind her, and she did not reply and instead glanced about, wondering where on earth they would start.

"I think we should split up," Harry told them, and then scratched the back of his neck. "Hermione and me and you and Ron, Carina."

Oh no...this can't be happening...

"Why not me and Hermione?" said Ron and Carina at the same time, and she glared at him.

For a moment, Hermione was worried Carina would curse him or something of the sort, but instead she turned away from him, fingers of her right hand twitching. She wanted to curse him, but she didn't.

"—or me and you," Ron finished, obviously having not been done with his sentence. He glanced at Carina but did not otherwise react to her glare, other than the tugging down at the corners of his mouth. "Why me and her?"

Yes, why?

"My thoughts exactly," the raven haired girl crossed her arms and raised a brow.

"Because it's a good idea," Harry let out a breath and clasped her firmly by the shoulders. "You two need to get it together, and now is the time to do it. Please. We haven't any time and we need to start searching before—" a large blast shook the room, and they all staggered but gained their footing quickly. "—before that doesn't work anymore."

That makes sense, Hermione inwardly admitted, watching as the other boy and girl stared at him and then cast brief glances at each other, neither realizing they had mirroring expressions of unease and reluctance. They do need to get it together, but I'm worried one of them will kill the other...most likely Carina. Ron certainly isn't capable. But she is, and she hates him…

"I think you should do it," the brunette admitted when their gazes fell on her, and she winced at Carina's expression. It was not a pleasant one, with the way her eyes had narrowed and her fingers twitched again as she took a step back. That did not make Hermione feel any better about this. "Carina…"

"How do you know she won't lob my head off?" demanded Ron, though not necessarily furiously so much as resignedly. "Or curse me. Or curse me and then lob my head off."

"We don't have time for this!" Harry ran his hands through his hair, exasperated.

Carina ignored him as she stepped up before the redhead, invading his personal space, and smiled darkly as she remarked, "I guess you'll just have to trust me."

"Trust you?"

"Please," Hermione's voice seemed to bring them to their senses as they both turned to look at her, the smile slipping off Carina's face as her eyes roved over her. "Go. Just go. We have to get that diadem."

The raven haired girl stared at her for a long moment, and then dipped her chin in a small nod, before grabbing Ron Weasley by the side of his shirt, turning on her heel, and dragging the boy (who was surprisingly not protesting) along behind her.

Hermione turned to Harry, who sighed.

"It had to be done," he said, sounding sure of himself. "They need to get along right now. This is war. Anything...stuff could happen."

"You mean we could die," Hermione commented softly as she edged around him. "Any of us." Carina. Ron. Me. Harry.

He gave her a meaningful look, and she knew, then, that her suspicions from months ago that she had never dared to voice had to be correct; he was a horcrux.

Either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives.

Neither can live while the other survives.

That's been the catch all along. Hermione reached for his hand, and as they walked along through the aisles, scanning for the diadem, she felt him squeeze her hand. He has to die.

Emerald eyes flickered her way, and she swallowed hard.

She did not say a word about it, but somehow, she knew that Harry Potter knew she had figured it out, because he only gripped her hand tighter.

My best friend has to die.

~~~xxx~~~

Carina strode briskly through the aisles, and Ron easily kept up with his own long legs; she had long since let go of his shirt and had not said a word to him since then.

He watched as her eyes flickered about quickly as she checked for the diadem, and the longer they went without finding it, the harder she seemed to grit her teeth. He noticed these things, sometimes, or had learned to when it came to her. The warning signs of the anger brewing below the surface were all there, as he had seen before.

He couldn't find it in himself to speak either, not yet. And so, he could only watch.

Finally, however, she stopped abruptly, and without turning around, she said coldly, "If you could stop gawking at me, I would appreciate it."

"Sorry," he muttered in return, sensing that she was making an effort to keep her cool as they both turned to a particularly large pile of items and began to throw things out of the way, searching. As they dug through it all, something struck him, something that had been bothering him since the relationship of Carina and Hermione had finally come into play. "You need to take care of her."

"What?" She continued to sift through the pile, already up to her knees, but did not look back at him.

"You need to take care of her," Ron found himself repeating, more firmly this time. "Look after her. Once we get out of here, everything is going to go to hell, and I don't want her to get hurt."

"Yeah, well, I don't want her to die, so I guess we're on the same page." Carina straightened and turned to gaze at him, eyes narrowed. "I thought I couldn't protect her?"

"I…" Ron chewed at the inside of his cheek and reached up a hand to rub the back of his neck. He indeed had said that, and at the time, he had believed it. He had been jealous and angry and hurt, and all he had wanted to do was get Carina Black out of that tent and out of their lives, so that he might have the girl he had fallen in love with. But it had been too late, even then, because after he had left (and what a stupid, stupid decision it had been) Hermione had been stuck alone with Carina and Harry, leaving ample time for the raven haired girl to worm her way back into the brunette's heart. He had thought, then, that Carina was only a danger for Hermione to be around and would surely hurt her sooner or later, but thus far, nothing had happened. Her devotion was frightening sometimes, but admirable all the same, and he had experienced the levels of what the witch would go through for Hermione (or Luna, as a matter of fact). "I was wrong."

"So you're actually admitting something."

The sarcasm in her tone had him starting, but he clenched his fists and let out a breath, forcing his gradually rising temper to halt. "Yes. I am. Look, I-I love her, alright? And I know my chances are shot," he hastened to add, when her lips began to curl upward in what he knew to be a snarl. That stopped her for a moment. "I just...I had to get that off my chest, you know? I know you love her, too. More than me, probably…" He shuffled a bit awkwardly on his feet. "But I still do. I know you can protect her. That's what I'm asking, alright?"

"Alright," Carina nodded slowly, seemingly thrown off track by this development as her brows furrowed. There was a pause, and then her puzzled features smoothened out and she pulled back her shoulders and tilted her chin up. "I still think you're a bloody bastard," she told him matter-of-factly, calmly. "And I don't particularly like you. At all." He got the point, and her wand slid out into her hand; he flinched and drew his own, expecting her to turn on him at any moment, but instead she merely lit the tip of hers up and shone it on the pile beside them. She examined it carefully for a moment, before turning away from him and stalking off.

Baffled, Ron hastily followed. "Oi, I spill my guts and you don't even have the decency to answer me?"

"I just did." Carina continued walking, and when he finally caught up to her, he stopped directly in front of her and caused her to halt. She tipped her head back ever so slightly to look at him.

"How? You didn't say you would, or—" Her raised brow caught his attention and he scowled, thinking hard. All she had done was call him a bastard and say she didn't like him, then storm off. What was that supposed to mean? Was it a girl thing, or…?

He frowned. Wait a minute. She insulted me, and then made off in the direction of where the others are…

"Why did you just take off?" he asked instead, feeling rather exasperated by this point with the strange witch.

Bloody hell, can't get a straight answer out of her!

The raven haired girl's other brow shot up. "Isn't it obvious? I was going to find my girlfriend. I can't very well protect her from here, now can I?"

Oh.

Ron allowed his shoulders to sag in relief, and he felt his ears flush; he wished he had figured that out earlier. She had been agreeing, in her own twisted way.

"Yeah, right…" He swallowed. "Well, since there's nothing here, we may as well see if they've found anything."

He made to walk away, but a hand slammed down hard on his shoulder and jerked him around; Carina dropped her arm and stared intensely at him, directly into his eyes.

He was suddenly assaulted with death, death and pain and darkness, so much that he did not know what to do with himself besides moan and cover his ears when the voices started. His entire body began to shake, but his eyes remained locked on hers, why, he did not know; it were as if he were frozen there, getting flashes of terrible things.

Pain, excruciating pain, and he found himself huddled on the floor, arms over his head as his foster father—where's my dad?—struck him over and over again, screaming obscenities.

His mother, dark haired—since when does mum have dark hair?—and pale, mouth stretching wide as his was forced open, and then a man, hands sliding down his legs, and then his father again, smiling wickedly as green lightning flashed and the fire began.

Pain, more and more as the flames closed in…

The scene shifted, and then suddenly, he was curled in a corner in the dark, shivering, and could only feel the deepest of sorrow as he struggled to remember even the good things.

"I'm innocent!" he screamed as he was drug away, but his loved ones only stared.

Trembling fingers and then trembling hands, a heart racing as panic built within him; irrational, he knew, but it seemed he could not help it, not now, probably not for awhile yet.

He was slammed hard to the ground, gasping and hands curling and uncurling uselessly above first a blood covered chest, and then fingers digging into the ground as he struggled to breathe with part of his side torn away.

Then, he was falling to his knees in a hallway, clutching his stomach and feeling decidedly sick, and after, he found himself staring up at chocolate brown eyes that were oh-so familiar…

Everything shifted.

A thirst for revenge, a heart broken, and then slowly mending as time wore on.

He and Hermione curled together in a bed, he being soothed after a nightmare; Hermione smiling over at him softly as he hung upside down from a chair; he being shot with a stinging hex and storming off, hurt and angry; she was slamming into him, happier than ever to see him come back; hands brushing together and tired smiles being exchanged; meaningful looks traded over shoulders and then a kiss to the cheek; Malfoy Manor, every scream he heard drove him to the brink of insanity, and all he could think was, take me take me take me stop stop no no no NO STOP STOP TAKE ME TAKE ME STOP NO STOP TAKE ME NO and then, nothing.

Nothing until he found Hermione kissing him soundly, and he feeling stunned and yet like the luckiest person alive as he kissed back, neither of them caring in the least about how soaked to the bone they were, how freezing because of the water, nor how they were in a secret chamber with a dead Basilisk inside. All that mattered was each other.

Her. She mattered. She embraced his darkness, accepted him, and he cared for her in a way he had no other. She was forgiven, and he felt happy, finally happy, though he knew it might not last. He accepted that. This was war, and he might die, but he would be damned if she did.

His. She was his. And he loved her.

No, not mine, he thought groggily. Hers.

He tore his eyes away and pressed his hands to his temples, before running his hands through his hair, surprised to find that they were trembling; in fact, his entire body was trembling. He could hardly think straight, his mind was spinning, and when he glanced back up, he found Carina still staring at him.

"You...that…" Ron tried hoarsely, but could not find the words. Finally, he managed, "Legilimency. Why? B-Bloody hell…"

"You needed to understand," her flippant response came. "Now, perhaps you'll trust me."

He had no choice but to dumbly follow along beside her until he could regain his ability to speak, and even then, he did not. The attack had been so random, so sudden, so unexpected...it had come out of nowhere. She had not shown any signs of anything wrong in the least, so perhaps it had been a spur of the moment decision for her.

Either way, he saw now. He'd seen it, felt it, her nightmares and memories, the good and the bad. He couldn't envy her any longer, if he ever had. Not anymore.

She dealt with many things, and for that he respected her; she had even gotten Hermione, who he could see now meant more to her than anything or anyone besides Luna Lovegood (who, he did not need to be in her mind to know, was the other half of Carina's soul, her light in the darkness, her rock, as poetic as it sounded).

Did he trust her?

Do I? Bloody hell, she's been through so much since then and I never really thought about it...Hermione makes her happy, and she makes Hermione happy. She really loves her, I see that. I couldn't make her that happy. He inwardly sighed. Carina is a bloody psychopath, or she's just completely mad, but she has something good in her, I reckon. Somewhere. It just sorta hides itself.

But he was getting off track. They had been sent here to get along and find the diadem, and he decided that, for now, he trusted her. Mad she may be, but he knew where her loyalties lie.

That was all that mattered for now. The rest could be figured out later.

~~~xxx~~~

Carina did not quite know what possessed her to mentally assault Ron Weasley, but she had done it and now the deed was done. She had been confused with his plea to protect Hermione (as if she would do anything else anyway) and then angered when he confessed his love for her, followed by more confusion and speculation when he went on to say he only wanted her protected.

She had remembered, then, all the fights she had had with this boy, and how they were not overly fond of each other, and wondered how much of his pride had taken a blow for this. So, she had done him a favor and accepted his promise by going off in search of Hermione and Harry. She's thought he would understand, but when he did not, as usual, she had gotten frustrated and wanted to make him understand.

Well, now he understands things. I only gave him snippets, not enough to know every bloody thing about me and my feelings. That would be stupid.

Since then, the quivering boy had not said a word as they walked along, and she was sure he was trying to calm himself, which he had finally succeeded in, it seemed.

"There they are," Ron exclaimed as he rushed toward the two; both were empty handed, and Harry, looked relieved that nothing bad had happened while the two of them were together. The boys struck up a quick conversation, leaving Hermione and Carina alone.

Carina opened her mouth to say something, what, she did not know, and closed it again.

"I'm glad nothing happened," Hermione breathed, and gripped her hands. "I thought you'd have…"

"Killed him," the raven haired girl stated, frowning slightly as she tilted her head. "No. You wanted us to get along, and I tried."

"I'm sorry." Carina could feel the thumbs rubbing across the back of her hands, and Hermione did indeed seem regretful. The hands dropped. "We didn't find anything."

"Neither did we, obviously."

The brunette made to reply, but they were cut off abruptly by a spell shooting past her ear, and when the girls, Harry, and Ron all whirled around, they were confronted with Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him, as usual; all had their wands out, and Carina flicked her wrist, fingers flexing over her own as she raised it.

"We heard you'd be in here," greeted Draco with a small sneer, though he looked decidedly worse for wear and wearier than all of them; Carina could not bring it upon herself to feel sympathy for her cousin. While he might not have chosen this, he was still going along with it for fear for his parents being killed, and she would do what needed to be done if he tried to kill them. "Hand over the diadem, Potter."

"We don't have it," said Harry at once, truthfully, his own wand already in hand, Hermione and Ron having followed suit the minute the Slytherins appeared.

Draco raised his wand higher, Crabbe and Goyle copying the motion. "Don't lie to me, I know you have it!"

"Draco, whats a die-dum?" Crabbe muttered, baffled as his grip loosened on his wand.

Idiot. Carina tensed, waiting for them to make the first move.

"You don't even know what you're looking for?" Hermione exclaimed from behind her, sounding rather exasperated, and Draco shot the other boy a glare that clearly meant for him to be quiet.

He did not.

"Don't you talk to me like that, filthy mudblood!" Crabbe leveled his wand at her, and before Carina had time to curse him, had cried out, "Avada Kedavra!"

She could hear Draco shout at Crabbe as she yanked Hermione out of the way and into her arms, fury welling within her. The blond boy grabbed the larger one and yanked him back, but when Harry and Ron reacted, so did Goyle, who had fire streaming ceaselessly from his wand; he did not look like he knew what to do with it.

Fiendfyre, Carina realized, heart pumping loudly in her ears. She could still feel the anger coursing through her, because, He tried to kill Hermione.

He tried to kill Hermione. He almost killed Hermione.

She was not letting that stand.

She allowed Hermione to pull away, and then raven haired girl pointed her wand at Crabbe and snarled, not caring either way what the others would say as she spoke these specific two words for the first time, "Avada Kedavra!"

They say murder splits the soul, damages it.

Perhaps she was damaged, for when she watched Crabbe crumple and then fall, she felt nothing.

Nothing until she was being dragged by the arm by Ron Weasley, who had been the one to pull her with he, Harry, and Hermione as they all took off at a sprint away from the growing flames, leaving her cousin and Goyle to fend for themselves. Then, she felt a bit panicked, because this reminded her of some of her nightmares, where she was consumed by the flames as the body of Crabbe was sure to be.

The four found themselves swerving through various aisles, feeling the heat as the fire closed in upon them, and it was in that moment that Harry spotted the diadem, crying, "There! Hurry, we have to get it before—"

But he did not finish and threw himself at the pile, beginning to climb; it was Hermione who followed his lead, and the two were nearly at the top where the diadem sat before Carina regained control of her limbs and began to scale to mountain, as well.

She made it just as Harry and Hermione were reaching out for it, Ron beside her, but the redhead slipped and nearly fell, knocking aside a few things, and then suddenly, several angry cornish pixies came darting out, swarming them. The raven haired girl cursed and screamed at him, "You idiot! You damned idiot!" because she could feel them tugging harshly at her hair, biting her arms, and pulling at her clothing, trying to knock her off, and she saw from the corner of her eye him getting the same treatment.

Hermione grabbed the diadem, batting aside a pixie, and she came stumbling down past them, Harry following, and Carina finally managed to raise her wand (holding it tightly because a pixie attempted to steal it) and immobilize them.

Swearing even more, she scrambled down after Ron, who had taken off the moment they were frozen, and when she crashed into him at the bottom, she slammed her fist into his stomach, grabbed his arm, and jerked him along with her.

"What was that for?" he shouted as they ran, and she threw his arm away from herself when she was sure he was moving. She had no intention of being chewed out for him dying; still loathe as she was to admit it, Harry and Hermione cared for him, needed him, and so he would live (Luna would not be happy if she let him die, either).

"You set those bloody things on me!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Come on!" yelled Harry, who was slightly ahead of them. "We have to—"

The intensity of the heat grew, and Carina could feel sweat bead upon her skin as they were all abruptly forced to a halt when the flames closed in upon them. For one brief moment, she thought this would be the end of them (Merlin, if she could only have killed Bellatrix before all this happened, then her life would be complete).

Oh no. Bloody buggering hell, no no no…I don't...I can't...I...

For one brief moment, she was afraid to die. She had not particularly cared before, had accepted it, even, and did not care even when she was staring death in the face in battle, but this…

This was a scene straight from her nightmares, and she felt fingers slip through her own trembling ones; Hermione stood beside her, wand raised, shouting out a spell she could not hear, for all she could hear at the moment was her own heart beating, and the flames stopped. A shield of what seemed to be made of water covered them, and Carina felt a brief wave of shock.

Oh, Merlin...thank you, Hermione.

"It won't hold long," Hermione said hastily. "We need to find a way out—"

"There is no way out," Ron waved his arms frantically, voice just an octave higher than normal. "We're going to burn to death!"

Harry was oddly silent, as if resigned to his fate, sorrowful, even, and Carina found that this was most definitely not how she wanted to die, if she had to at all, and began to glance about wildly.

Come on, there has to be something in this bloody room that'll save us...come on, come on…

At first she saw nothing, but at the last moment, caught a glimpse of three brooms amidst the various knicknacks and felt a surge of relief overcome her.

"There!" she called, quickly rushing over and grabbing one of them. She swung a leg over it and caught Hermione's gaze as the boys got the idea and mounted the other brooms. "Mione, come on, we need to get out of here!"

There was a brief hesitation, but then the brunette was on the broom behind her, arms wrapped securely around there waist, and they were flying straight for the barricade. Hermione leaned around her, unbalancing them slightly as she raised her wand, free arm gripping Carina perhaps a bit too tightly, and blasted a hole through the fire, spreading it all apart just enough for them to all dart through.

Carina did not know what spell she used, nor did she particularly care as she adjusted her grip on the broom handle, hands slick with sweat.

They were flying so fast that everything was a blur as they went by, Harry in the lead, and they were very nearly at the exit when the raven haired boy caught sight of Draco and Goyle, who had managed to climb atop a particularly large pile of clutter, and she knew immediately what he was going to do and groaned loudly.

Apparently, Ron did too, because she could hear him ranting at his friend as the two boys turned to go after them, and Carina reluctantly halted their flight, twisting so that she could see them flying with their hands outstretched to the other boys. She could feel her hands begin to tremble as the fire grew closer, and then her arms, the rest of her body soon following.

Hermione noticed and leaned into her back, attempting to reassure her, "We'll be alright, it's all going to be fine, Rina—oh, they've got them!"

Carina's eyes snapped to where Harry and Draco and Ron and Goyle were all piled together, flying in their direction, and she did not waste any time in zipping for the exit, where the large doors were open.

The others crashed into their broom from behind in their haste to get out, and every teen was sent sprawling across the ground, flung from their brooms.

Draco scrambled to his feet, Goyle following, and the two ran off without a word of thanks, leaving an irate Ron to yell after them, "Bastards! We just saved your lives!"

The raven haired girl on the floor inwardly agreed as Hermione hurriedly sat up and searched her pockets, before throwing a fang at Harry, who swiftly caught it and, after adjusting the diadem, slammed it down without hesitation.

A piercing scream filled the hall, and the Fiendfyre surged forward just as the doors to the Room of Requirement slammed shut, cutting it off before it had the chance to reach them.

Carina rolled over and winced, slowly getting to her feet. Harry and Ron exchanged weary looks as they did the same, and she could feel Hermione's presence by her side.

She glanced over at the other girl, whose brown locks were damp, skin shining with sweat, brown eyes alight with adrenaline, and pulled her in for a kiss.

When she pulled back, hands cupping Hermione's cheeks, the brunette said breathlessly, "What was that for?"

"I thought we were going to die," Carina threaded her fingers through Hermione's hair, feeling the shakiness gradually begin to subside. The other witch gazed back at her, a small crease between her brows, and the raven haired girl actually laughed. It was not a particularly humorous one so much as one of relief, and she felt an overwhelming fondness for Hermione Granger as she remembered how her girlfriend had stood by her side as they faced their imminent deaths. "Bloody hell, do I love you."

The crease disappeared and Hermione's eyes widened. Carina herself could almost not believe she had said it, but there was no taking it back now and she clamped her jaw shut, turning her head.

However, a hand grabbed her chin and there were lips pressed to her own again, a joyed whisper of, "I love you, too," following as she was kissed again and again and again.

"OI!" Ron called. "Break it up!"

"There's a war going on here!" came the accompanying shout from Harry, and as Hermione pulled away, sheepish, Carina snarled half heartedly at them, still feeling as though she were dreaming, overwhelmed with happiness as she was.

However, she would have to put that aside until later, because Harry was right: there was a war going on, and they still had work to do.