Clara was curled up in a puffy brown leather chair, book from the library open in her hands. She was reading up on one of the more newly-discovered magical plants. It was quite interesting and before long she was half-way through the depths of the books' pages.

She sighed, breaking out of her meditative state. She glanced at the big Grandfather Clock off to the side. It was just before seven. Dinner should be soon. Clara realised her stomach was rumbling and she laughed a bit. It was always a peculiar sensation when her stomach rumbled. She decided to wait a bit longer before heading down to eat her fill, and closed her book, snuggling deeper back into her chair.

Alcyone was eternally grateful to her old friend, Nora, for offering her a job at Hogwart's. She had another emotional breakdown, as she had recently lost her job, and had freaked out. She was lucky her husband was quick to make a few phone calls, and Nora was more than willing to offer her a job at Hogwart's. Alcyone was excited, yet nervous for her first lesson and sat in her room busily scribbling down on pieces of parchment and planning for her lessons.

She looked up at her bedroom clock and smiled as she saw it was nearly dinner time. She didn't want to go down alone, so she made her way out into the lounge for the Professor's and was delighted to see Nora and the new teacher, Clara. She hoped that maybe she could make friends with Clara, as she also was new. She took a seat in the only other armchair and smiled at them both.

"Hey Nor's. Hello, Clara isn't it? Im Alcyone." She held out her hand for Clara to shake.

Clara glanced up and smiled as the headmistress sat down beside her, dumping an enormous pile of paper on the table. "I'm well, thank you," she said. "I see you have a lot of stuff to do before term starts, huh?" Clara was staring at the mass of sheets in front of them.

"Anyway... what brings you down here? Too cramped in your office?"

Another person sat down beside Clara and she grinned. "Indeed it is! Lovely to meet you, Alcyone," she shook the Slytherin Head's hand. "Didn't we go to school together for a year or two? I think I remember your face somewhere." Clara wondered if she did indeed already know Alcyone from her school days.

Alcyone inspected Clara's face closely, and there was just enough hint of innocence about it for her to recognise the girl. She was a Ravenclaw, and she remembered talking to her when she accidentally knocked into her back in 5th year, when the girl was a 2nd year. She grinned and nodded her head eagerly in agreement with Nora.

"Yes, I was 3 years above you. Though, pretty much everyone knew me, I was the 'Malfoy girl who got knocked up' in 6th year, don't you remember?" Alcyone's tone wasn't sour, for that was the best mistake of her life. She now had little Capella, and she was eternally grateful for her baby girl.

She nodded. "Of course, I know now. How could I have forgotten? You were really quite nice to me on the occasion that we spoke." Clara grinned.

Her eyes widened in recognition. "So you were! I remember that. It was all over the school. I remember thinking it was only rumours until I saw you one time in the dining hall." Clara couldn't remember clearly what else happened. "Neither of you two were Head Girl, were you? I can't remember taking too much notice of it back then, not until I was Head Girl of my year and started looking up previous heads." She grinned, being Head of the school was one great moment in her life.

Alcyone beamed at Clara, pleased that she remembered her. Alcyone had always fancied herself at having a good memory, so she was glad that she wouldn't have to remind Clara. That was always an awkward conversation, especially when the other person couldn't remember no matter how hard they tried. Made you look more a fool than them.

"I always fancied myself nice." She said in a playful tone.

Alcyone smiled softly, her hand instinctively going to her stomach. There was nothing there, it was flat, and she wondered if she should talk to her husband about perhaps having more children. Capella was getting lonely by herself, and it would be good for her to have a little sister to help raise.

"Nope, I wasn't prefect or Head Girl. I was way too rebel for that."

Clara nodded at Nora. "I thought so. I didn't remember seeing your name on the Head records."

She grinned at Alcyone. "Of course you were," she said with a wink. "What happened to the child? Did you keep it?" She was genuinely curious - a lot of teenage pregnancies ended with the parents giving the kid up for adoption.

Alcyone laughed at the mere suggestion that Nora would be a Head Girl. Sure, she was prefect but at the time, nora had been far too careless and forgetful to be even considered for such a role. However, she didn't say anything and merely returned her gaze to Clara.

"My boyfriend at the time and I decided to keep her. We named her Capella, after my..." her eyes went dark and her body tensed slightly. She had to focus on happy thoughts to not have a breakdown then and there. "Late... sister... anyway, he and I are married now and very much so in love." Alcyone said this with a smile.

"What about you, Clara, whats your status?" She asked with a wink.

Clara smiled softly. She hadn't known Alcyone had a sister, but it was an obviously touchy subject, so she didn't press it and instead focused on here and now. "That's lovely," she said. "It's like a fairytale!" She laughed.

Clara grimaced. "No one yet," she said. "Just me, all alone!"

Alcyone laughed, though it was a hollow-ish sound. Her life before her husband and daughter was anything but a fairytale, more a nightmare. However, her life after them was truly wonderful, though she had her moments of panic. The nightmares of her sister's death still haunted her to this very day. "My life is very good right now." She murmured.

Alcyone laughed and reached over to pat Clara gently on the hand. She was a tad surprised that such a beautiful young woman was not taken. "Really? But you're so gorgeous!" Alcyone proclaimed in a bewildered tone.

Clara blushed. "Thanks, but I guess I just haven't met the right person. Mind you, I haven't been clubbing for ages," she giggled. "Probably because the last time I did someone smashed a glass into the back of my head and I didn't realise it and I ended up having to go to Saint Mungo's for serious head injuries."

Alcyone gasped at those words. She too had experienced bad things at a nightclub. She remembered just recently being at 'Crazy Cauldrons' with her husband, and he had excused himself to the bathroom when she had been approached by a creepy man, whom was handsome yet had that dangerous look in his eyes. His breath had stunk of alcohol, and he had ran his hands over places she didn't want to mention. She felt the same relief she had that night when in her mind, her husband returned and swiftly punched the guy out.

"Ah, nightclubs, good yet terrible. Never go alone, not even when you're trying to find someone. Im more than happy to go with you to a nightclub, I haven't been in ages and im sure my husband wouldn't mind." Alcyone offered with a smile, before shooting a glance at Nora. "Im sure Nors would like to come, too."

"That'd be great! We should go in the next week or so before this place gets filled with kiddies," she smiled. That would be really fun, to go clubbing with some friends.

She sighed. Clara couldn't wait to start teaching, but at the same time was not sure how good she would be - it was her first year after all.

Alcyone almost jumped around giddily at the prospect of hanging out with someone. Her only friend at the moment was Nora, she'd been rather closed off and reserved as of late, and had lost a whole group of friends due to it. She'd never had that many to start off with, and it was something that had often upset her husband. She couldn't wait to send him an owl, informing him that she was going to go clubbing with someone whom she was already starting to consider a friend.

"Sure, that sounds brilliant. I've almost finished planning all of my lessons so that sounds like fun!" Alcyone exclaimed with a huge smile. Similar worries that Clara was thinking about briefly entered Alcyone's mind, but soon she was pushing them away as she made a mental note to go clubbing next week.

"Alright, how about Tuesday next week?" Alcyone knew that she would most likely have finished all of her working by then.

Clara nodded briskly, sitting up straighter in excitement. She had friends, people she could hang with already. It was great.

She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. "I feel a bit ahead of time!" she exclaimed. "I've already finished all my planning." Clara blushed a bit.

"Tuesday's perfect," she agreed. Clara loved Tuesdays, for some reason it was her favourite day of the week.

Clara grinned, ecstatic. "Sure thing, ladies," she said. "We should totally go with a theme in common... that would be fun. How about we dress up as kitties? I like kitties!" She was doing everything to hold her composure steady.

It was strange to think that her Professors when she was at school might have had these sorts of conversations, or gone clubbing together or whatever. They'd always seemed too old to do that stuff! Clara laughed inwardly, a big grin spreading on her face and she was already waiting for Tuesday to get here faster.

Alcyone was incredibly excited, and she loved the theme, but she had something to add to it. "Not just kitties, girls. My hubby won't know this, WE CLEAR? But, I think we should go differently, for example, Nors you are a sexy kitten, Clara you're a sexy bunny, and I shall be a sexy mad hatter.. You like?" Alcyone smirked. She would have two girls there, and she would leave the moment they both did. She would not stay with some strange man dressed up as a sexy mad hatter.

"I have a feeling that we're going to have so much fun." Alcyone giggled, feeling giddy.

Clara's grin spread wider more. "I totally agree with you, Alcy! I'm so excited. Wait- I can call you that, right?" her manners were flooding back to her and she plastered a sheepish smile over her grin.

Alcyone nodded quickly. She did not mind at all being called Alcy, she preferred that then Alcyone. "Of course you can, if I may call you Clair Bear?" She asked.

Clara giggled. She'd never been called Clair Bear before, but it was cute, so she didn't mind. "Sure," she said, nodding and grinning. "It's a deal!"

Darcie had wandered into the professors quarters with her bags, she was a little unsure of what to do now and wondered if there were any other Professors present in the school. Biting her lip she moved her things into her quarters and thought that she heard voices coming from the quarters as she returned.

Blushing slightly when she saw some professors that she didn't know, Darcie stepped back into the corridor, took a deep breath and went out to greet them, they all seemed to be getting on rather well and she hoped they wouldn't mind her intrusion.

"Uhm, h-hello? I'm sorry to interrupt but I was wondering if you would mind me joining in? I...I don't really know many professors just yet." she smiled shyly.