Claire wondered if it was too late to teleport herself out of the Great Hall.

She knew Owen Grady would be there at dinner, but she kind of hoped he'd arrive late, just like he had the year prior. She had actually almost refused the position of Charms Professor when she had learned that Owen was already the Care of Magical Creatures Professor at Hogwarts. But she wasn't stupid enough to let such an opportunity pass because of a man that she had had one disastrous date with back when they were students.

A lot of things had changed since then. They both matured, were now independent and responsible adults that were truly passionate about their jobs. Or so Claire thought after meeting Owen Grady again. He was one of the few Professors arriving earlier, right in the middle of August to prepare the grounds for his classes and resume his caretaking of the various creatures at the school, which was growing every single year, Minerva seeing a true potential in Owen's class. He had greeted Claire properly, complementing her on her looks and especially on her career, laughing at his own lack of patience when it came to the Ministry (Owen had worked for three years in the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures department before realizing that kind of job didn't suit him).

Until he showed that some things never change and his stupid idea of a prank almost landed them both in the lake. Despite the ten years they hadn't seen each other (they had never crossed paths at the Ministry, working in different departments and both travelling a lot on the job), Owen had proven to her that he was still the goofy brat that didn't take himself seriously.

Which is why she simply said "Thank you and good evening to you too, Owen," and walked past him to her chair, so fast, her red hair seemed to fly behind her. But Owen didn't seem fazed and uncrossed his arms from his chest, making two quick strides to match her pace. Usually, some students, especially Gryffindor students, seeing as Owen was Head of House Gryffindor (of course he was), watched Owen's attempts at flirting, but they all seemed too busy telling each other their summer holidays to notice the antics of the two teachers.

"Did you spend the whole summer on a beach? 'Cause your skin looks really great, you know?" Owen said and Claire smiled, the kind of polite smile she gave every single person she met but Owen continued and matched her pace.

"You're not so bad yourself," she answered, which made Owen freeze because Claire had never returned him any of his compliments. She laughed at his surprised face and greeted Vivian, the Astronomy teacher and Lowery who was starting his first year as Transfiguration teacher. Owen didn't say anything, but that smug grin stayed on his face long after he sat at the end of the table, next to Barry, the Potions teacher who had also been in Gryffindor.

It didn't take long for all the older students to settle down and for the new ones to enter the Great Hall, all gathering near the teachers' table after they admired the magnificent and bewitched ceiling and floating candles. Gray's face could light up the entire room. Zara initiated the Sorting Hat ceremony and one by one, the new students sat on the chair.

Just looking at them, Claire could remember how it had felt to sit on that chair, to feel the Sorting Hat and the pressure it put on her shoulders. She remembered its thinking, the hesitation between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. She didn't have anything against either house and she didn't know what they stood for. The only thing she was certain of was that she wouldn't be in the same house as the other Dearing, her sister Karen who was in Hufflepuff.

Claire hadn't really been surprised when Karen told her Zach was in Gryffindor. She didn't spend a lot of time with her nephews back then but she couldn't imagine him in any other house than Gryffindor. Something in Zach just reminded her of Owen.

When it was Gray's turn, Claire held her breath and caught Zach's gaze across the room. She had spent two weeks with them that summer (she was really trying to be a better aunt, she really was), and so she had seen how mean teenager Zach could be to everyone, especially his loved ones, those he took for granted. But he was paying attention now and watched Gray's excited face as he sat wearing the Sorting Hat.

After what felt like an eternity, the Sorting Hat finally bellowed "HUFFLEPUFF" and Gray skittered to his new table, greeted by fellow students. Zach smiled before his focus shifted back to his friends. Claire couldn't help but smile too: of course Gray had to be in the same house as his mother. Claire couldn't wait to tell Karen and hear her thrilled reaction, although she was certain Gray would write her a letter that evening.

Claire wasn't the type to linger at the teachers' table, not because she didn't enjoy their company, but because she truly believed there were so many things she had to do. She had been called a workaholic so many times, she was almost using it to describe herself and she hated feeling like she was wasting her time. Which is why, the maximum time she spent at the teachers' table once dinner was finished was fifteen minutes. Of course, she found other moments in her schedule to grab a cup of coffee with the other members of the staff, either to figure some new project out, or just to spend time with them, but those were scheduled appointments, just like for every other student. Owen particularly loved to show up unannounced at her office to piss her off and throw her whole system off balance.

But today, she made an exception since she wanted to escort the Ravenclaws back to their common room and greet everyone properly. She was proud of all the students at Hogwarts that aced her subject or worked hard in it, but she had to admit that she was also proud of all her little ravens. Despite that, she never treated the students from her own house differently and took as much points from them, than from all the other houses (she was known as the teacher who took the most points from students).

She made sure to answer every question the new Ravenclaws might have, showed them her office and how they could contact her if they needed to. She was pleased to see that most of the older students seemed ready for the new school year (unlike Zach that she saw running after supplies during the last days of vacation at her sister's). Once every first year was assigned a room and went upstairs to meet their roommates, Claire took Zia to the side. She was particularly interested in the young woman's research about charms that she had conducted in the summer.

Zia Rodriguez, besides being the Ravenclaw Prefect for the fifth year in a row, was one of the most brilliant witches that stayed in Hogwarts after the Great War against Voldemort (Zia was in her second year during the war). Some even compared her to Hermione Granger and Zia hoped to actually meet her someday. She had spent her summer researching charms in the natural habitat of magical creatures after her hypothesis that some of those creatures were able to use magic. Claire had scoffed at the idea at first, but after reading some of the things Zia wrote, she got interested. Zia was absolutely crazy about dragons and wanted to work with them after her graduation, which is also why she spent a lot of time with Owen.

As much as she liked Zia, Claire wasn't really that much into dragons and so she cut the conversation short when Zia lost her during her explanation about dragons' nests.

"As much as I love talking to you, you should keep this research about dragons for Professor Grady."

Zia smiled, nodded and straightened her round glasses before telling Claire goodnight and retiring to her own room. Claire couldn't help but smile fondly at the young woman who was used to Claire's short patience when it came to subjects that didn't really interest her. It had taken Zia just two conversations with Claire to figure out how the older woman worked, what she was interested in and what would lead to a very short conversation with clipped and uncomfortable answers. It wasn't that Claire was easy to read, far from that, but Zia could understand her because she was a little bit like her and because her silence and the reserve she sometimes had spoke so much more than Owen's loud laughter and easy smiles.

Claire's white cat was sitting by her office door by the time she arrived and she let her in then locked the door. She was half expecting Owen to be there as well, seeing as she has ditched him during dinner and quickly disappeared with her students afterwards. She knew he wouldn't give up, that this year would only be more intense. She was certain he'd try new things to woo her, new tricks and pranks to annoy her and new ways to make her life miserable.

But this year though, unlike the previous one, she didn't dread it. It was almost as if she was welcoming it. Her sister had advised her to settle down and to find a good wizard to start a family with. Claire and Karen were very different people and had completely different ways of living their lives. Karen had Zach when she was barely an adult, Gray had followed five years later and she was now facing a disastrous marriage. The only reason she hadn't divorced Scott yet was her pride and how she would look in front of the other old wizard pure blood families.

Claire sighed as she got to bed once she finished her night routine (because of course she had a night routine). She had spent enough evenings this summer doing her best to comfort Karen when she was crying her eyes out while Scott was drinking his ass off at the Leaky Cauldron to know that maybe, her sister wasn't the best person to give relationship advice. Besides, Claire was too busy with the new school year to think about romance.

"If it's bound to happen, then it'll happen. I'm not going to wait for a knight in shining armor to save me. I can save myself just fine," she whispered to the night as the soft purrs of her cat lulled her to sleep.