Valeera had never thought he would be moving to Scotland. To teach. In Hogwarts. She was beginning to feel uneasy. She wasn't sure if she would know how to teach. No, worst of all, if she would be able to answer all the questions that are made during the lessons.

"What a nightmare that would be if I fooled myself the very first day" she thought.

And then she started to think if people would accept her. As a teacher and as a colleague. She had never been confident. She had been told to be a bit too fat and a bit too ugly too many times when she was a teenager. She had never had real friends. She had been used to people laughing at her. And although she was not a teenager, neither fat nor ugly anymore she still had problems with herself. She was never sure if she was pretty enough or good enough. All she was sure of was her knowledge. As she spent most of her time as a teenager in a library reading books she knew quite a lot and she enjoyed being smart. He knowledge was her only lover, her only passion.

But secretly she had always desired to be pretty. To feel men's eyes on her. To be like a deep red rose whom everyone thought to be perfect. Valeera was neither ugly nor beautiful; she was pretty in a normal, nice way. Long straight blond hair and blue eyes with long black eyelashes made her look much younger than she really was. And she was nearly thirty. She was also short and quite slim. She preferred black, formal robes but sometimes she wore light blue ones as well. She was a romantic type of person and her eyes were usually full of thoughts as her mind drifted to things known only to herself.

As she was walking in a direction of Hogwarts her previous doubts got smaller as the castle made a big impression on her. She had never been there before: the castle was known to her from books, newspapers and stories. Valeera herself finished Beauxtalle although she wasn't French. She wasn't English either. Being Polish she could have gone to Warsaw Academy of Magic but she had always wanted to learn abroad and so she did. Coming closer to Hogwarts she started to think why she hadn't thought of coming to study here. The castle was much bigger than she had expected and Valeera started to feel excited of a new chapter of her life that was about to start. She was also happy that she had decided to put on her best back and silver robes in the morning.

"Being in such a place oblige to look elegant and professional" she thought.

As she entered the castle she heard a polite but formal greeting;

- "Welcome to Hogwarts Miss Philips."

Valeera turned and saw an old, short woman wearing emerald green robes, with small glasses and peercing blue eyes. She was short but one cold feel power from her and Valeera knew that she was standing opposite a very powerful witch.

- "Good Afternoon" - Valeera said politely
- "My name is Minevra McGonagall and I'm the Deputy Head of Hogwarts"
- "Valeera Philips. Pleased to meet you"
- "Come with me Miss Philips. The headmaster was looking forward to meeting you"- the same second the old witch finished the sentence she turned around and started to walk without looking back. Valeera a bit taken aback followed her.

She watched the inside of the castle with a big interest; everything seemed very old and she liked old things with long history one could learn and explore. Suddenly Valeera realized that such an old castle must have a splendid library full of books she hadn't read yet. The idea seemed so nice to her that she smiled without even knowing it.

She also didn't know that someone was looking at her from behind of a nearby red curtain . Cold black eyes were following her silently as she smiled to herself. The eyes were curious but apart from that angry and a bit taken aback. The owner of the eyes turned around and disappear in one of secret passages that led to dungeons.

- "Please, take a seat miss Philips"

" the Headmaster is as kind as always"- Valeera thought. She had met him a few times before but this was the first time he was not only much older and much more powerful wizard than herself but also her employer-to-be-hopefully-soon. Valeera almost feared he would change his mind as she started to like place. Even if she saw so little of it!

- "Would you care for a cup of tea miss Philips?"
- "That would be lovely, thank you"- she replied too fast being nervous but Dumbledore seemed to notice nothing. "Or at least he is polite enough not to make fun of me" Valeera thought when she gratefully accepted her tea.

- "Miss Philips, would you mind if I called you by your first name? We have such a tradition within the faculty to address each other with our first names."
- "Of course sir. Please feel free to call me Valeera"
- "I'm happy to hear it Valeera"- Dumbledore nodded with satisfaction- "As you know the year begins the 1st of September so it is still a week to go. We have got a staff meeting today as many things still need to be done. It would be a great opportunity to introduce you to the other members of the faculty. The meeting begins at 5p.m. and I hope to see you there"- Dumbledore smiled- "Minerva whom you have already met will show you your rooms and I'm sure will be pleased to answer all your questions. Welcome in Hogwart"- saying this the headmaster stood up and Valeera knew it meant the end of their conversation. She was a teacher!

As she was walking to the staff meeting she was both excited and uneasy. She wondered how other teachers were like and if she would be accepted. All she had ever wanted was acceptance from others. She look down at her plain black robes and seemed pleased with herself. "It is best to wear black if one doesn't know what to wear. black is good for every occasion". Her robes were knew and cost quite much but Valeera had long time ago realized that it was better to have a few good quality cloths rather than a wardrobe full of rags. She was very careful with her perfumes and make-up as well. All this and much more to make a good first impression! She had even started to feel confident.

At exactly 5 p.m. she stood in front of a big wooden doors which led to faculty's common room where the meeting was to take the place. After a second of hesitation she opened the door and walked in. The conversations that were taking place stopped as everyone inside looked at her with a curiosity. There was nothing abnormal about this; they were curious about each new member of the staff. Valeera felt unsure what to do next as everyone were staring at her. But then she told herself to be strong and with a sudden decision to look strong and professional she said:

- "good afternoon".

To her relief, although she didn't show it, she heard people answering her greetings. All apart from a man who was sitting by the fire, all in black robes, with black straight hair, black cold eyes and a pale face. She started to stare at him as he seemed oddly familiar to her. He stared her back and after a while he nodded in a way one could interpret as a greeting. She nodded back and turned her eyes in a search of place to sit. There were two available; one next to the silent black man and one next to a rather older than younger witch with big oval glasses and bushy hair. She was talking to herself and drinking sherry and seemed to be woozy already although it was still afternoon Valeera thought in a shock. This made her decision easier and she sat down in a big armchair next to the black man as she started to call him and a fat but friendly looking woman with short grey hair that told her a warm "hullo" when she approached. Valeera smiled back and felt much easier.

-"ah Valeera so nice you managed to find the faculty room without problems"- said akind voice that belonged to the headmaster himself.

-"headmaster"- Valeera nodded politely

-"please, it's Albus. No formalities needed here! Now, everyone, as you were aware we are having two new members of faculty this year. First I have a pleasure to introduce Miss Valeera Philips our new Alchemistry Mistress!"

Valeera stood up as she heard some teachers clap their hands in a polite welcome. She felt her cheeks got a bit pink when she was doing so. When she was sitting down and looked at her silent neighbor and she really wasn't sure why she did so. she was nevertheless surprised to see that he was looking at her with a similar surprise in his eyes. It lasted maybe a second and then he looked back and seemed uninterested by things that were going on around him. "What a strange man" Valeera thought.

-"I'm also please to announce that Mr Lockhart will be our new Defense Against Dark Magic Teacher. He shall join as within a day or two and I hope we will give him a nice welcome as well."

At this point Valeera heard a snort from the black man but forced herself not to look at him. She would not want the man to think she was staring at him all the time. Men always seemed to think there was something more than curiosity in such looks and she definitely didn't want the black one to think anything like this whatsoever.

The meeting was interesting as everything was new to her. She started to think she should have come over earlier as now a week seemed too short to prepare everything. Her thoughts were once again interrupted by a kind voice of the headmaster:

-"Severus would you be so kind and show Valeera the dungeons? She would be using the other laboratory and the other classroom there."

-"as you wish Headmaster"- a cold but very deep and rich voice answered. The voice that made Valeera tremble but not because it was unnice. Because it was so sensual. When she looked at the owner of the voice she was almost unsurprised to see the black man.

-"Valeera this is Severus Snape, our precious Potion Master and the Head of Slytherin House. I hope you two will get on with work, brains like yourselves."
-"pleased to meet you"- said Valeera tenth time today but her greeting met cold black eyes and an expressionless face of the man in black.
-"shall we be going then?" – he asked and turned his back on her as he went to the door. But he was kind enough to wait there for her and let her pass the door first. "What an unusual kindness for Severus" Dumbledore thought with amazement and started to hum.

Valeera walked silently. She could feel the presence and the smell of a man walking next to her. His long black robes and a tall figure made him look powerful and apart from that she could sense he was a powerful wizard indeed. Someone you should beware or even fear. His moves were fast and cat-like, eyes sharp and intelligent and he smelt in a way she couldn't describe. But it was an unique mixture of perfumes, his own scent, fire he had just sat next to and something more.. maybe some potions he had made earlier that day?

They were walking in silence and Valeera enjoyed the way it was as she actually feared to speak in presence of the black… professor Snape. She would definitely say something stupid and embarrass herself and she realized she cared how she was seen in those black eyes. She challenged herself to be equal to Snape. It would mean she was really good at what she did, wouldn't it? Ah well she was doing it again- seeking an approval in eyes of people only because she wasn't sure of herself. As if she expected people from her youth to show up in front of her and laugh at her as they used to. "But I'm not the same I used to be" she told herself firmly. "Not that there was something wrong with me before".

Lost in her thoughts she didn't realize that professor Snape stopped a while ago and was watching her go straight ahead. when he realized she wasn't going to look back he spoke with some irritation as if talking to a first year:
-"miss Philips if you could kindly turn around and join me here. We are supposed to visit the dungeons and these stairs seem to be the shortest and the most convenient way there."- his voice was icy and his eyes full of irony.

Feeling like a total idiot Valeera joined his side and forcing herself to look emotionless she explained:

-"I lost myself in my thoughts as it happens."
-"I see"- Snape narrowed his eyes- "you had better not do so when the year begins. One never knows what to expect from students and it's prudent to be prepared for the worst."

-"I hope it won't be so bad.."
- "You shall see what I mean when Longbottom's cauldron explodes on a very first day during your class"- he said with a malice and started to descend stairs.

Valeera followed him closely.

She didin't see big brown angry eyes staring at them...