Carina had been Head of Ravenclaw for less than two months, and so far she felt like she had bitten off more than she could chew. She had known going in that it was going to be more than she expected, but she had also taken over for a girl that had seemed to let things lie for the last few months she was here. Carina didn’t really have anything against Daisy, she had been a sweet enough girl, but she had left a mountain of paperwork behind her. Normally Carina would try and work out the answers to her questions on her own, that’s just who she was, but this required some previous knowledge.

It wasn’t often that her Ravenclaws got into serious trouble, and that she was grateful for. She didn’t know how @samuel did it. Especially when he had the Weasley duo in his House. Sighing she gathered her things into her arms and headed down to the first floor. It wasn’t that Carina avoided the lower portions of the castle, it was just that both her office, her House and her Tower were on one floor. That made everything rather convenient.

Figuring it was rude to Floo into his office unannounced she had chosen to walk down to the first floor, and though it was still rude, she pushed the already open door further open and made her way inside. Dumping her armload of files in one chair and dropping herself into the other. She forwent a hello in favor of, “This much paperwork was not in the job description. Is it always this bad?” She threw her hand in the general direction of the other chair. 



Wonder Week!!!

Samuel sometimes wondered if he was the busiest head of house in the school, sure he knew that students from all houses got up to trouble now and then but his Gryffindors had a penchant for it so it seemed, and it didn’t that he also had the Weasleys in his house. Though after he was covered in Red Paint the other week, he wasn’t sure how the fourth year could torture him anymore but he was expecting something to be ‘thrown’ at him when he least expected it. Things weren’t ideal for Samuel at the moment, with his house coming last on the points table plus also the Quidditch team had only won one match so far. It wasn’t how he had seen this school year going, but he had been naive considering how his last summer had ended. It had been an interesting three months and he come back to school dating a fellow Professor, they had both worried that the Headmistress would not be happy with two of her professors dating but McGonagall had not said anything and that had been the best result for he and Daisy. Their time together however had been brief and he didn’t want to think about it today however, no he had done that during the winter break and probably sounded pathetic when speaking with Hannah. Samuel had found it ironic that as soon as his sister returned he lost his girlfriend, but the man was unfortunately used to people walking out of his life.

Instead of pining over his now ex-girlfriend he decided to be take the high road to push those thoughts of the now former head of Ravenclaw and to focus on his job and his classes too. Samuel had brought a lot of his notes in today and was looking over them in his office. He also had a stack of essays to mark from his fourth years. He had procrastinated looking at them over the weekend and now it was Tuesday and he was going to give them back to his students the following day or at least he had hoped he was going to do that. Dressed in his teaching robes today, the black ones he had brought himself at the end of winter break. Samuel had decided to treat himself, it wasn’t something he did often, preferring to spend his money on necessities or on others and treating them to something nice.

He was on his second essay when he looked up in surprise as Carina Beauchamp, the new head of Ravenclaw rushed in and dropped a stack of tiles into one the chairs in front of his desk and literally fell into the other chair. “Carina, good heavens! Are you okay? Also, to answer your question, yes it’s a paperwork heavy job, but if I show you my files you’ll start having nightmares” Samuel laughed before he slid the essay he was reading over to the side and waited for the witch to respond, as kind smile graced his features.

Carina had been entirely sure that after having been a professor for five years adding the workload of the Head wasn’t about to change anything all that much. Boy had she underestimated that. She had hardly been home since she had started the new semester, and when home was literally at the other end of the village, that was saying something. She knew that Leo, and Henry too, felt a little neglected, but she couldn’t do anything about it. She had to learn to balance all of this out before their lives could find routine again. The witch supposed that it could have been worse, at least the project that she had been working on in her spare time wasn’t as time consuming right now. She was still in the mapping phase. Once it grew out and she was doing more magic than astronomy, it would have to be balanced as well.

There was a reason that muggle women used the saying, the first check you write is for the mortgage, and the second is for the insurance. That was how she felt about her jobs, all three of them, now. Carina knew that teaching came first, that she needed to dedicate the majority of her time to that, and then her Head duties, and lastly her Astronomy. That could always wait. She hadn’t meant to be rude barging in on Samuel, but that was simply who she was. She walked into something without thinking about how it looked to others, and most of the time not caring either way. Carina laughed a little under her breath and nodded. “Yes. I’m fine. A little overdramatic at times,” she grinned at herself, “but fine.”

Shaking her head quickly she returned his smile. “No thank you, I don’t need nightmares! I think I just need someone to tell me to stop being a baby and do my job.” She looked at the stacks of papers on his desk, “I’m sorry I interrupted you, I just couldn’t sit in my office anymore. I don’t know how you do all this?” She waved her hand from her own stack of files to his.

Sure Samuel was a proud person, after all it was a trait that all Gryffindors shared, some were more humble than others, others were extremely cocky. Some might deny that they were like that but Though in this breaK up of his Samuel had not let pride get to him, well not most of the time anyway. Sure had broken plates and cups at his flat, it was his way of unleashing his anger in the privacy of his own flat, he didn’t want anyone else to see this side of him. Not even his sister had seen him smash all those plate. Since he was the Charms he fixed them all and now they sat securely in his kitchen cabinets waiting to be used. However Samuel didn’t have anyone to actually use them with, his sister had her own life as did his best friend and he wasn’t ready to go out into the dating market yet .The man wasn’t sure when he would ever be ready to go on the search again. He was to focused for the time now on his students, particularly making sure those in his house were behaving themselves.

When he had gotten upset that his house was last (and they still at the bottom of the table) he remembered that Daisy had laughed at him and said it was cute seeing him like that. He missed that. Samuel had so many ideas for them, including taking a trip to Spain, he wanted to show her Madrid seeing that she had never been there. Now that was not possible, she was back in China and he was still here in Scotland. Here would always be his second home, he sitll missed London at times with all the hustle and bustle that came with the biggest city in UK. What Samuel missed the most was mum and his sister and he was so happy that Hannah was back now. It wasn’t fair on her that she had come back to her moody and sulking older brother but she had been there for him, when she had come around on New Year’s eve and hearing him vent or mope was exactly what she needed.

As his colleague explained that she was a little overdramatic at times he couldn’t but think how different Carina and Daisy were in regards to being head of Ravenclaw. “Nothing wrong with that, I can’t be the only over dramatic staff member” he chuckled, Samuel was sure they weren’t the only two on the faculty like that. “Well where’s the fun in not allowing to not give you nightmares” he shook his head as he sat back in his chair before he smiled at the witch. “You didn’t interrupt me, I am the head of Gryffindor….”he laughed after all for some reason or another at least one student from his house came to see him. “How do all I do this? Well usually with a decent drink of tea next to me” Samuel smirked as he pointed to a side table where a now empty teapot sat. “What about these files are you having trouble with?”

Carina was sure that learning to balance would come sooner rather than later. That was something that she had learned when she had first become a mother. She was a muggle professor at that point. Teaching physics and astronomy to college aged kids, if she could learn to balance that part of her life in the muggle world, it had to come just as naturally, if not more so, in the magical one. She had adapted to magic a long time ago now, and if she gave herself the time to breathe she thought that she would be okay. Her initial thought had been to go complain to Seph, but that was a terrible idea. She didn’t need her friend glaring at her across the desk and telling her to suck it up, but she didn’t need Davina’s overly kind response either. That’s how she had ended up in Samuel’s office. He was the happy medium between her two friends.

When he chuckled at him not being the only overly dramatic staff member Carina let out a real laugh, “You’ve met Seph right?” She joked lightly. Her friend may not have been as dramatic as Carina, but she was just, if not even more, impulsive in her actions. “Yes,” she rolled her eyes, “I take all the fun out of everything.” She rolled her eyes, “You sound like Lyra and Leo…Henry is the fun one, and I am the fun-sucker…” Having a father that ran a sweetshop was exactly what her two little devils didn’t need, but Henry had a habit of spoiling them, and she had to be the one to enforce the rules. The only one she was never a stickler for was bed time. How was she supposed to put them to bed, when they wanted to stay up and look at the stars? She couldn’t find it in her heart to deny them that.

“Tea. Right.” There were times when Carina thought she drank enough tea to keep and entire tea plantation in business. She grabbed the top couple of files off of her stack and flipped through them, “I guess what I really need to know is if there is some order or something? Are some of these things higher priority than others? How do I decide what has to be tackled first?” She had detention slips, and student files, and she had reports on some of the students that had come to her office to talk to her since she had taken over.

Becoming a professor at Hogwarts was definitely a learning curve for each and every one of his colleagues, each of them handled the transition in their own ways. Some were more smoother, others were more difficult. Samuel had come into the role of Charms professor easily understanding the course material obviously but the role of head of house had definitely been more challenging since there was so much involved in the role. It did surprise him how much more work was involved, the man wouldn’t deny that. The job did entail more than just serving out detentions or monitoring them. Though he soon undertook all the roles he was expected to and he hoped he fulfilled them properly. Well it seemed he was, the headmistress hadn’t spoken to him about his job performance before or after Daisy leaving so he felt proud that he had kept true and did indeed put the students first as he always would. He certainly hadn’t seen Carina coming by his office today, but he didn’t mind it at all, if anything he hadn't seen her since the games night at James’s flat and he had hardly spoken to her that night so now he had the opportunity.

“Who our most lovely head of Slytherin? I may have said a ‘hello’ to her in passing once or twice” he joked, really Seph never let him get away without greeting her or talking to her and Samuel didn’t mind that, he needing someone to tell it to him straight, the only other person who would do that was Tiwaz but he had so much on his plate off that Samuel was prepared to let him off the hook, for now. But the two of them would catch up sooner or later, he would make sure of that.”I’m sure you’re joking in saying that Carina, just because Henry runs Honeydukes, doesn’t mean you’re not fun in your own right” he smiled at her sincerely. Having been raised by a single mother his whole life Samuel knew that sometimes mums did have to act as the fun-crashers, but in his case he had had to mature early or he felt he had to. “How are the kids anyway?” he asked again. He hoped she didn’t mind him enquiring about her family, after all they did work together and they and the other staff members did spend a fair bit of time together.

“Let me rephrase that, at work it’s tea when I do manage to get back to my flat it may be wine or firewhiskey” he explained with a faint smirk. There were some nights that Samuel didn’t until it was too late, and then by his clock it was too late to drink and then he would just collapse into his bed. But the nights he did make it home at a decent hour he did take some time pour himself a drink. It made him recall his drinking over the Christmas holidays, it was something he would rather forget, thank Merlin for sobering potion. “Well it differs for each house Carina, in my house detention slips come first because well it’s Gryffindor” he laughed before continuing on. His statement was pretty self-explanatory really. “But after that would come your reports on students who come by regularly to see your for whatever reason and then would come your student files” the man explained as he sat back in his seat.

Carina had known that taking on the Head role would have to change her out look a little bit on the course of her life. It would require more of her time, and more commitment to the task, but she had been so confident that she could handle it. One thing Carina hated was doubting herself. She doubted herself for so many reasons that she didn’t talk about with anyone but her family, she didn’t want to have to doubt her ability to do her job. She was determined to be good at it, and that meant that she had to ask for help when she needed it. She had thought about going to Seph, but most likely that would have resulted in her not actually getting anything accomplished, and as much as she loved Davina, she would have been too nice about the whole thing. Samuel would tell her straight what was going on and what she needed to do. When it came to the school, Samuel would be the go to for awhile. She really hoped that he wouldn’t mind.

She laughed at his little joke. “I don’t think Seph has ever met a stranger in her life. She will speak to anyone at least once. If she likes you you’ll never escape.” She smiled though, she wouldn’t trade her best friend for the world. Carina rolled her eyes and shook her head. Oh no, she was pretty positive that Henry was the fun one, even if she had made the accusation jokingly. “It is a joke. I say it all the time at home.” She chuckled a little, “Only because Leo so often complains.” She changed her voice to mimic her almost eleven year old. “Buuuuutttt Muuuuumm, you take all the fun out of everything.” She shook her head, but her smile returned. “They are doing well Lyra still avoids me like the plague except when she’s in class, having a mum that’s a professor, and Head of House is apparently “super uncool”.” She added finger quotes around the words super uncool because that was exactly how Lyra had said it. 

Carina raised her eyebrows once in response to his smirk. She was pretty sure that every member of this staff could drink like a fish. Well minus Seph at the moment, but that was a different situation. She sat up a little straighter when he actually started to answer her questions. “Okay.” She nodded along with what he was saying. “I have to say your job is quite a bit harder than mine. I’m one hundred percent positive that Ravenclaw’s get far fewer detentions.” She sorted the stack of files on her plate then. There were some student files that she definitely needed to update. Some of them would not do at all.

Samuel knew that working at Hogwarts would present its own set of unique challenges. First there was the factor that he was so far away from his mum and while it wasn’t as if he relied on her so much nowadays. If she got sick, he was much further away then he had been when used to work as a spell inventor. While being a wizard he could easily travel to London with apparition, living in the same city had been much easier for him especially since his sister had decided to leave at around the same time he started at Hogwarts. While he couldn't go back and change that, he could work on rebuilding his relationship with his sister now. It would just take time since well, four years was a long time. Samuel may not have been sorted into Ravenclaw like Daisy or Carina but was not naive enough to think that his relationship with his sister would be just like it was before.

“No of course not, she’s just the friendly type” he shrugged half heartedly as something struck in his memory of the first time he met Seph it was also the time he had asked Daisy out to lunch, it was purely as colleagues of course nothing more. It was only as time passed a mere few weeks later did it grow into something more. He hadn't meant to come off so vague from what Carina had said about the Head of Slytherin house and so he just looked over at her and smiled, forcing it a little perhaps. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Seph likes me, I can’t get away from talking to her” he tilted his head to the side and laughed. In all honesty he didn’t mind speaking to Seph or any of his colleagues about anything at all. And Samuel didn’t’ mind that Carina had stopped by like she had, it was a welcome distraction. “Oh of course, I would have picked up it was a joke had I not had a million things on my mind Carina” he smiled as he cleared his throat. Once he was sure that all thoughts of his ex-girlfriend were out of his mind he spoke again. “Oh I’m sure you’re a fun mother most of the time, I mean not every child can say their mum is an astronomer” he told her smiling genuinely. The solar system often fascinated most children so Samuel would be surprised if Lyra or Leo weren't to excel in their mother’s pet subject, they really had an unfair advantage. Samuel chuckled heartily as his colleague used air quotes to mimic her daughter. “Well on that note, perhaps now I’ll embarrass her in class” he smirked. If he was to do just that, Samuel was sure that Lyra would race to her mother and complain that she had been talking about her too much.

“Don’t look at me like that, my sister gave me the same treatment…..” He sighed, speaking without a second thought and then caught onto what he was saying and cleared his throat again and sat up straighter in his chair. Having not had a drink really since Hannah had come over at New Year’s but still his drinking habits before that day had been less than commendable. “That is absolutely right….as a former student who spent a lot of time in detention I can’t correct you there” he smirked at her. “You can quickly process the detentions slips and then move onto your student files, you will quickly learn those students are that need more attention” he told her, in his head most of the time as head Gryffindor was his own list of students who needed more attention from for whatever reason.

Carina had once thought that change was always a good thing. That shifting and ever changing things were inevitable. Now she was beginning to think that maybe not everything should have worked out the way that it had. There were days where she felt that her life and her career had been far too important to her, and there were no ways in which to take that back. She had been there, of course, with the kids, but now, though she still saw her daughter every single day, she missed her son, and she was sure that there were plenty of times when he felt a little neglected as well. She was sure that there were times when Henry felt that she should be home with them, instead of here in the castle, though he would never say so. Carina was at a loss, and she hated that feeling. She wished that there were about six more hours in every day, and she already saw more of them than most.

There was something about Samuel’s conversation with her that seemed forced, and Carina couldn’t help but think that there was something on the younger man’s mind. “I’d say that’s a pretty safe limb.” The witch was watching the Gryffindor Head a bit more closely now, trying to see if she could tell what was bothering him. Obviously something that he didn’t want to think or talk about. With his admission of their being a million things on his mind she smiled softly. There was something there after all, it hadn’t just been her mind playing tricks on her. Perhaps she could find a way to offer to help? Even if it was just to let him vent to someone about something for awhile. “True.” She nodded in agreement, and then laughed when he considered embarrassing her. “Oh I’m sure she’ll come running right up to my office to lecture me about talking about her.” Carina couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene playing out in her head. She figured Lyra would be incredibly vocal about having the other teachers start to purposefully try and be embarrassing.

The Ravenclaw witch listened as Samuel gave her more details about what files came first, and which ones he thought were more important. She already knew, just by looking into the few that she had flipped open so far, that she was going to have an up hill battle with all of these files. “I’ve already noticed.” Carina held up a few of the files in her hand. “Some of these it looks like haven’t really been updated in years. There are a few that I know need to have things added and marked.” Sutton Odell’s file was in her hand, and she had been surprised to see that there were quite a few incidents that had gone unmarked, and of course now there was the issue of Tinsley. It seemed that a fair few of her Eaglets had more to deal with than just their school work.

Samuel didn’t want anyone’s pity, yes he was sure that his colleagues knew that he and Daisy had been together but he didn’t want their empathy, and he was going to be stubborn as hell about it, purely because he could. He was sure if Tiwaz he would be talking sense into him right now but for the time being the only person he would listen to would be Hannah she knew the full story after all so it only made sense. However it was Carina in his office right now not his sister so he was going to give his colleague his full attention and hoped they talked about anything else rather than his break up. He was a grown man for Merlin’s sake there was no need for him to dwell on it further as far as he saw it. Instead he was going to do what he felt he had to do and that was to teach and to watch over his students, they were what came first after all not his own life. Even to this day Samuel was a still a Gryffindor and not just because head of house.

The man knew that as soon as Carina had arrived to his there was a strong possibility that there discussion may swing to his girlfriend since Daisy had been head of Ravenclaw prior to Carina’s succession of the position. “Good I tend to find all my limbs rather useful, plus I’m fond of them all. No doubt I’ll need them to make sure my Lions are behaving…. At least attempting to, anyway” he smiled at at his colleague. From the tone of voice Samuel was certain that the witch would catch him out. “I know you’re watching me, my Gryffindors do the same thing when they want to play a prank on me, let me reassure you Carina I’m fine” he lied easily using a forced smile. “We weren’t together for that long anyway and now she’s gone, end of story” the wizard shrugged and looked to the papers on his desk before looking at his fellow head of house. Though he was correct when talking about his students wanting to play a prank on him. . “Well who else better for her to run to then her mum and her head of house, right? I mean I wont be that bad” he smirked. Of course he would never be so harsh to Lyra since he knew that she was friends with Adaline and the Potter girl could work up a prank on him quickly if she needed.

Samuel was going to do his best when it came to helping his Colleague with setting into her new role, that included giving as much guidance as he could. There of course the matter that priorities differed between the houses but from well dating Daisy he had a fair idea of what was involved in working with the eagles. He chuckled as the witch held up the files and nodded. “Sadly with a select few students spend more time in detention with little to no effect on their behaviour” Samuel Shrugged. It wasn’t that he completely gave up when came to such students in his house but he just resigned himself to the fact. “Do you know how you're going to update those files?” the wizard asked Carina curiously as he smiled lightly

.