Darcie smiled softly as she hummed to herself, bobbing along as she walked around the perimeter of the lake, she was by herself but that was okay, she didn't really know all that many people anyway.

It was one of the things she was hoping the job at Hogwarts would help her with, although she wasn't sure if she would be able to step out of her shyness and actually participate with the staff there.

Vowing that she would, Darcie took a firm suck on her lollipop and pouted when the candy came off the stick, it was always sad when that happened. Sitting by the lakes edge Darcie continued her humming, crunching the candy in her mouth.

Alcyone didn't blame Capella for getting over-excited at the prospect of visiting the lake. It was her baby girls favourite thing to do, for there were always children there, playing and laughing in the water. "Hold still, Ella," Alcyone grabbed her struggling child and forced her t-shirt over her one piece bathers. She then released her and the girl eagerly dashed towards the lake. Alcyone rolled her eyes, when she spotted a Professor that she'd seen at Hogwart's. She believed that she was the Care of Magical Creatures professor, though Alcyone's memory often failed her.

Deciding to be polite, she walked over to the woman with the lollipop and sat down beside her with a smile. Her hair looked very pretty in its short bob with curls at the end. "Hello," she greeted her. "Im Alcyone, I work at Hogwart's, and I believe you do also?"

Darcie looked up when she was joined by another lady, it was unexpected and she seized up a little bit at first, not used to being thrust into conversations like this and for a moment she imagined that she would look a little bit like a deer in the headlights.

Eventually she smiled shyly and linked her hands together, to calm herself a little as she thought about what to say, she indeed did work at Hogwarts although she wasn't remembered much.

"Uhm hello," Darcie blushed and tucked some hair behind her ear, taking the lolly pop from her mouth "Y-yes I work at Hogwarts, I'm the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Darcie Vane. Forgive me but...I don't know much about the professors at Hogwarts just yet."

Alcyone almost let a frown crease her features as the lady seemed to be quite startled by her presence. She presumed that perhaps she was not a talker, or she was just incredibly shy and not used to having random people hurry over to chat with her. Alcyone shrugged it off, for that was the kind of person she was. She missed having lots of friends, and was glad to finally be making some now.

Alcyone smiled as she introduced herself to be Darcie. It was a pretty name, she decided. "I like your name." Alcyone complimented, still smiling warmly just in case Darcie was still nervous about her presence.

At the mention that she was the Care of Magical Creatures professor, Alcyone 'ahh'ed. Nora had mentioned that a lot of the professor's had retired last year, and Nora now had a whole bunch of new ones to replace them. Deciding she would introduce herself more clearly, she grinned. "Oh, yes I saw you walk into your room the other day. Im the Head of Slytherin, and the Transfiguration professor. My friend, Nora, is the headmistress and I remember her mentioning your subject as one she needed a new professor for."

Darcie smiled happily and even blushed a little as her name was complimented on, it was something she had always liked because she had thought that it was friendly, a lot like she was, and that was how she liked to be perceived as.

"Thank you very much, I think it's a nice name too, I havent heard of many Alcyones around, it's a very special and unsusal name if I do say so myself."

Thinking that she had seen the lady with a child before, Darcie wondered vaguely if it was her daughter or if she was just minding her for a friend, however she didn't want to ask in case it was a sensitive topic.

When Alcyone said what she was teaching Darcie 'Ahhh-ed!' and suddenly remembered where she had seen her before, blushing a lite she traced her hand on her leg.

"I'm sorry I have a terrible memory sometime, we have met before I think, in the professors quarters how could I forget?" she scold herself with a joking tone "It's nice to see you again, what brings you here?"

Alcyone grinned as Darcie also made a comment on her name. It was traditional within her family that the children be named after star signs, stars themselves of constellations. It was meant to represent that they were far more special and unique than anyone else on earth, which of course was far from the truth.

"Thanks. I get that a lot, its because its a star, as is tradition within the Malfoy family. Its meant to represent how 'special' we are." Alcyone let out a short laugh at that.

Alcyone's gaze wandered over to Capella again, just to ensure that she was safe. Said daughter of hers was now swimming around with some new friends, and this made Alcyone smile before she looked back to Darcie.

Alcyone let out a laugh as she suddenly remembered that was where Darcie was from. She knew this was all too familiar, but passed it off as a 'glitch in the system' as she liked to say.

"Oh yes! It seems we both have horrible memories," Alcyone shook her head with a smile. "But yes, yes, its nice to see you again too. Im just letting Capella play at the lake. She enjoys it so much, and i've missed her ever since I took up the job, even though we haven't even started teaching yet." Alcyone waved to Capella as she waved to her.

Darcie listened intently to Alcyone and wondered if she minded that she was named after a star, but when she explained further she nodded her head with a small smile, now she understood, she had heard that in the past the Malfoy family had been quite supreme in their blood line views.

She was glad to hear that it was not the case now, or so it seemed.

"Well, I think that it's nice to be named after a star, although, perhaps the reason was a little bit mean, I'm sure though that even though your families views have changed, you're still special for other reasons."

Following Alcyone's gaze, Darcie saw that she was making sure that the little girl that she had brought was still safe, Darcie hoped that she was and that she wouldn't go into the deep water, she felt much better seeing her with friends.

"Is she your daughter? She's really cute I can see the resemblence slightly, probably more if she was up close...that must be hard, I know I have trouble missing people when I'm up at the castle."

Alcyone grinned. She, of course, did not still believe in such views even though her parents had. They'd merely been very traditional, and though Alcyone hadn't intended it she'd also named her daughter within this tradition, merely because she'd wanted to keep a part of Capella with her.

"Ah, yes, I don't believe that now." Alcyone added quickly.

She didn't want Darcie to think she was a typical Malfoy, with views that she was higher than everybody else merely because of her pure lineage. She couldn't care less about blood purity, after all some of the smartest witches ever to be born were muggle-born! And muggle's were darn intelligent in their own way as well.

The way they got by without magic, and using electricity astounded her and she found them simply amazing. She'd never want to reveal the wizarding world, merely because it would uproot the muggle one and that would be most disappointing.

"Yes, that's my baby girl. Her name's Capella, also a star but only because that was my sisters name. She's a mixture between her father and I. And yes, its hard. I miss her every day, but she's 11 and will be going to Hogwart's this year so that's good. I'll get to see her more, then."

Darcie smiled lightly, she knew that Alcyone wouldn't be like that now, it was nice to see how people had realised the mistakes of their ancestors and they had changed because of it, she knew that her family was the same as they had always been.

Vane's had always been giving and loving and that was something that although probably should of changed, it had not, and now it was something that seemed to almost be ingrained in it.

"I know, I can tell that you're different from what I've heard of the old Malfoy's anyway, which isn't much, and I don't mean to insult them I..." she trailed off and hung her head.

Glad that it seemed that Alcyone was going to be able to spend more time with Capella when she started Hogwarts, Darcie smiled lightly again, wondering if she would take any of her classes.

"That will be lovely for you I'm sure! Maybe she will take my class and I will get to know her a little bit too, I'm sure that she's a lovely girl."

Alcyone shook her head when Darcie hesitated about saying anything bad about her ancestry. She didn't mind, for though her great-grandfather, Draco, and her grandfather, Scorpius' were good people, her own father was a horrible man. Coupled with her mother and they made an evil duo. The scars across her body were still there, and it was why she rarely wore shorts or t-shirt, for they showed too much.

Especially the scar on her arm reading 'Blood Traitor'. It made her shiver just to think about it.

"Don't worry, though some were good even after initially being bad, my own parents were horrific people who should burn in hell." She said with a snarl in her voice.

Alcyone grinned at Darcie, positive that Capella would take CoMC.

"Yes, she most definitely will. She loves animals. And I don't mean to snobbish but I think she's a lovely girl."

Darcie jumped a little when she heard the snarl in Alcyone's voice, she wasn't really used to people speaking like this and she wondered if there was something wrong. When she heard that she thought that about her family Darcie hung her head and bit her lip.

"I'm sorry to hear that, it must have been horrible to grow up with parent's like that, I guess I am lucky, both of my parents were lovely, but I know that you will be the best parent you can be because of it." she said with a happy smile.

Glad that she knew someone was going to be taking her class, Darcie happily hummed to herself, her mind drawn back to all of the lesson plans that she had done for their classes. Hopefully she would enjoy them.

"I can't wait to see her in my class! I'm sure she'll be a wonderful student, it's always nice to have people passionate about the class, what about your lesson, are you excited to teach?"

Alcyone nodded her head. Darcie didn't know the half of it, and Alcyone had never entrusted anyone other than Haley and her husband with the information of her childhood. Not even Nora, her best friend, knew the full story.

"You are very lucky. I wish I could've had parents that were lovely. And im glad you think so." Alcyone beamed.

She liked to think that she was a good mother, though she sometimes wondered. She didn't spoil Capella too much, not wanting her to be a typical only child like some were that thought the sun shone out of their behind.

"Oh yes, most definitely. I adore transfiguration." Alcyone grinned.

Darcie felt a little bit bad because she had had such a different upbringing to Alcyone, she had hoped that everyone would have had a nice a time as she had but she knew that it couldn't be the case for all people, after all, there were some nasty people in the world who just had to spoil it for everyone.

"I know so! You know exactly what you need to do and she looks so happy over there, I would like to think that I would be as good a mother as you when I get married, if I get married." she grinned with a faint blush.

Knowing that she was never very good at Transfiguration at school Darcie rubbed the back of her head a little ashamed that she hadn't a very large passion for the subject that Alcyone taught.

"Sorry but, I was never very good at Transfiguration, I kept getting distracted apparently. Sounds like me though." she chuckled.

Alcyone blushed bright red as Darcie called her a good mother. It was two words that could make her day one of the happiest in existence, as she liked to think that she'd raised Capella to be modest and kind despite the fact that she was an only child.

"It means a lot that you would say that Darcie, it really does. Im sure you'll get married one day, you seem to be quite a lovely woman and im befuddled as to why some man hasn't stolen you for his own already!" Alcyone beamed.

Alcyone shrugged, transfiguration had never been all that popular among her year level, which was why she'd been shunned a bit for having a love for it. She knew it could be dull at times, but she hoped her students wouldn't think so.

"Its why I loved it, because it was challenging. Sometimes, I got so busy with it that I forgot about how pancakes my life was. Those were the times I loved the most." She smiled dreamily.

Darcie couldn't help but blush and shakily tuck a strand of hair behind her ear when Alcyone said that she was suprised that someone hadn't fallen for her already, she wondered if anyone had and if she had just not seen, but she didn't think that would be the case.

"Oh my, well thank you! I suppose that they just don't see me as a girlfriend, but it's okay, I'm happy to just have people as friends even if it does get lonely." she said with a small smile.

Incredibly glad that Alcyone had some sort of outlet for her pain when she was little, and that she had managed to take this onto the later years of her life, Darcie knew that she had only found her passion later on.

"I'm glad that you found a way to cope with whatever happened to you, everyone needs something to do to escape from their problems."

Alcyone grinned, she remembered a time before her first year at Hogwart's when she'd met a boy, but it turned out that after all the nice and flirty things he'd said to her, he'd not been interested. Sometimes, boys were like that.

"Don't worry about it, you'll find that guy who cannot get you out of his head, and him out of yours." Alcyone assured her. She'd often felt like no one would ever love her, but she'd been proven wrong.

Alcyone nodded her head in agreement. It was bad to always dwell on your problems and have nothing better to do, Transfiguration had really helped her at school.

"Yes, I agree. Its always good to be able to escape, even if its just for a little while."