[Queens Apparel] One Night in Paris

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

There was one problem with having such a big and tight knit family as the Hubbles family, you had far too many family occasions to attend, this time around it was a Christening for cousin Jasmines latest addition to the family. There were the upsides with the main one being the opportunity to see the Hubbles clan again, the downside was that he needs a new suit seeing as he ruined his last one at his parents 30th wedding anniversary. Dia already had her dress all sorted out and as per usual Dan had left it to the last minute to get prepared but he knew Jennifer would come to his rescue.

Giving Dia a quick kiss and reminding her that he loved her Dan pulled on his jacket and dashed out of the staff room, out of the castle and down the gravel path towards Hogsmeade. The night sky was drawing in and the Professor whistled a little tune to himself as he passed the many shop windows peering in just out of curiosity to see what other shops were open at this time of day.

In truth he did not care if they were or not and as the door of Queens Apparel swung open, the small bell ringing out to single an arrival into the shop Dan shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked on his heels waiting for the assistance of the lovely Miss Queens who was no where in sight.

[Jennifer Queens]

It was getting late, and the sky was almost showing it's pure obsidian skies once again. Jennifer had been snowed under with the amount of work the past week and hadn't had time to see Russell all week. Not that it mattered, they weren't a couple or anything, but she just didn't have time to social with anyone. She felt like she was running herself into the ground in a sweat shop in the backroom. It was clammy and as she wiped her forehead of the dampness with the back of her hand, she huffed out a mouthful of air before carrying on with a turquoise dress she needed to finish by 6 o'clock for a girl who'd ordered it for the upcoming Yule Ball.

Hearing a familiar ring, she hoped it wasn't the girl who had come in early, expecting the dress to be ready. Cringing a little, she got up quietly and tiptoed to the door. Peeping her head round, she saw it was no other than Daniel Hubbles.

"Oh Dan, Thank god for that!" She said rolling her eyes and giving a big sigh. Coming into full view, she came out from the back and stood behind the counter, placing her hands flat infront of her on the cold marble. It was much cooler out on the shop floor, which Jen was thankful for as it seemed to instantly calm and chill her.

"I've not seen you for a while, how've you been?"

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

The shop was strangely quite and for the briefest of moments Dan thought that maybe Jen was out (rumour had it her and the owner of the Quidditch supplies shop were rather close) however these doubts were soon thrown out of the window when a head appeared from around the corner of a rather hot looking Jennifer. A small smile passed across Dan’s face and he stepped out of the door way and slowly made his way over the counter as Jennifer did the same although her greeting she had given him could not make do anything else but laugh.

“You know that is the first time anyone has greeted me with sound of relief, I am normally the one to send terror into the hearts of many.”

This was not exactly true, his name was normally accompanied with a groan as they realised that a Hubbles was on their way over, so it was always nice to get a change. Leaning on the counter Dan looked deeply into the eyes of Jennifer and grinned from ear to ear as she asked how things had been. He would have to be careful with what he said as he had been known to break out into a feature length story about how happy he is and how Dia is all he ever wanted. Instead for the sake of Jennifer’s sanity he would give the abridged version.

“I am happier then I think I have ever been in my entire life and it is all thanks to you. Had you not begged me to stay for that second cup of tea I would not have bumped into Dia.”

Breaking eye contact with the shop owner Dan looked over her shoulder to look in the back room just to be nosey, but as a result he saw piles of material and what looked like rather extravagant dresses…Jen had been very busy. Letting his gaze drift back towards her he noticed the beads of sweat clinging onto her forehead and how her hair was not quite as perfect as normal and suddenly Dan could not help but feel the tiniest bit guilty.

“You seem a bit rushed off your feet though…am I like stopping you from working cause I can come back later.”

[Jennifer Queens]

Jennifer wore the smile she always wore, the friendly smile, and it always seemed perfect even if she wasn't feeling it. Giving a laugh at Dan claiming he sent people off in terror she wiped her forehead free of the sweat.

"You haven't seen the people that walk in here then" he smirked, turning herself slightly. Jennifer looked at Dan and knew he was Happy. She'd never seen him like this, and it made all the time before seem like he was living a lie. This was Daniel Hubbles truly content in himself. When Dan chimed in and confessed his contentment with life, and especially his love, Dia. Listening intently, it seemed all past remnants of feelings for Dan has cleared up, but there would always be that part of Jen that just wanted to ravage him, but that couldn't be helped, he was afterall a stunning man to behold. The bad part was that he knew it.

"Well, you see! Things always work out in the end, listen to Grandma Jennifer" she mocked, wagging a finger at him knowingly. She was pleased for him, that he'd finally pulled himself out of the rut he seemed to of been stuck in when they met. She felt like now she had met the real Dan.

"Plus I just wanted another cup of tea and a long break" she admitted giggling. Following his gaze over her shoulder, she frowned and pouted a miniscule amount to catch his gaze upon the pile of multicoloured dresses all on the side.
"No, your not keeping me from anything, I've been non stop for twelve hours, I'm glad of the break. You always seem to come at the right time Dan" she smiled.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

At least Jennifer was being able to find the upside on her workload. Every time Dan has more then ten assignments to mark he would give up and just come up with some sort of excuse as to why he had not done it, however if Jennifer did not make a dress then it would be slightly obvious when someone turned up to a dance in just their underwear. So no matter how much she told him that he was not keeping her from her work he could not help but feel slightly guilty.

“Well I am glad to be of some service to you Jen….can I help you out now?” He walked around to the side of the counter to where she was standing and placed an arm around her shoulder almost out of encouragement. “I can hem and patch but that is about as far as my skill goes with a needle and thread…when I was in Paris a few years I talked to a few fashion wannabes and learnt a bit then too, or I could simply make the tea?”

At his last suggestion Dan gave a soft chuckle and removed his arm from around Jen’s neck and wondered into the back room. Immediately the heat it him like a slap in the face, he was sure has he been wearing his glasses they would have steamed up such was the temperature difference. Slipping off his jacket Dan threw it down upon an empty chair and wondered over to the pile of dressed and looked closely at the workmanship…it was breathtaking. Lifting it up to get a better look at it in all its beauty Dan gave a small laugh as it reminded him of Paris once again…it was strange, he had not thought about those few weeks in France for so long and now he could not get the memories out of his mind.

“This dress reminds me of one I saw this woman wear in a bar in France one time. Beautiful...and she was not bad looking either.'

[Jennifer Queens]

“Tea sounds great” she laughed as he admitted his sewing wasn’t up to scratch. She could imagine letting him loose on the dresses and they’d end up looking my dolly mixture dresses, or simply have holes cut out where the nipples were. Chucking at the thought she turned around and watching him walk into the back. Leaning against the counter she waited a moment before she spoke.

“Hot isn’t it?” she asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow when he entered the back room. It was abnormal for a room to be that hot, and she couldn’t work out the cause of it. Sighing, she pushed herself off the counter and walked lazily to the back room just in time to catch him saying something about a woman wearing a dress in France, which . She looked confused for a moment before she realised what he said.

“You went to France? I graduated Beauxbatons and trained as a nurse in France” she admitted. She couldn’t recall if she told Dan that she was a nurse previous to owning her own shop. Maybe she did or maybe it slipped her mind, but it wasn’t a big deal. Smiling, she put her back to the open door and leant against it, watching him as he admired the dresses.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

When Jennifer was telling him about going to school and training to be a nurse in France he had some form of recollection of a conversation a lot like this. It must have happened at the shop opening…it would have had to as he had not know Jennifer for that long, he had no idea why he was doubting that fact. Walking over the mirror Dan held the dress up against himself and tilted his head to one side as he wondered what it would look like on him.

"Yeah I was in France...6 years ago now. Stayed just a few weeks simply to enjoy the French hospitality." Dan shot Jen a cheeky wink as he carefully place the dress back down with the others. "Although there was this one British lass..." he was not sure why he thought of it, why he even brought it up... it was not like he could not remember much of the night as a lot of alcohol had been consumed, however the one thing he was sure of was that it had been a very fun night.

Looking up from the dress and turning to look at Jennifer with a wide grin he remembered that she had mentioned how she could do with a cup of tea. With a small jolt almost to get the thoughts out of his mind Dan looked around and noticed that clearly the only place the kitchen would be would be upstairs. With a slight grin Dan pointed to the stairwell almost to ask if that was the way to the kitchen and turned on his heel and started to bound up the stairs three at a time.

However as he reached the landing his hands were positioned on his hips and he stared bemused at the many closed doors. He did not really want to open anyone and walk into her bedroom, they may have been friends but still Jen’s bedroom…any female’s bedroom that was not Dia’s was off limits really. Running his hand through his hair nervously Dan turned around and shouted down the stairs to backroom.

“Jen…which one is the kitchen?”

[Jennifer Queens]

“France is beautiful, but I don’t miss it, it wasn’t home” she replied. Even though she spent the majority of her time in France, she never had and never would class it as home. It was merely a long stepping stone on her life path, but because of this, she never really fitted well with the French people and culture. She had felt trapped, but it soon passed when she left to go back to England.

Just shaking her head in amusement as she watched Dan admire himself in the mirror, she ignored him and just focused on what he was saying.

“6 years? That was when I was there. Huh. What a small world it is!” she said in bemusement. She had a similar night, well, a few nights to Dan. Being a drunken nurse seemed to work well for her in the man stakes. Jennifer simply nodded as he pointed to the stairs and gave him a small smile as he disappeared up the stairs. Sitting down to finish the last dress off, she jumped a little when his voice bellowed down the stairs. Giving a small laugh, she shouted;

“Second on the right”

Carrying on with the dress, she finished it and cast it off so it was completed. Perfect. Turning the iron on once again, she waited for it to heat before beginning to iron it ready for the girl to pick it up. Hanging it up on a cushioned silver hanger, she placed it in on the rail for ‘made-to-order’ garments and satisfied it was done, smiled, and picked up the dress Dan had been admiring just moments before. Slipping the hangar with the dress on over her head so the dress was infront of her, she smiled and looked at herself in the mirror. Hearing the footsteps of Dan coming back down, she turned to face the door.

“What do you think?”

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

At the sound of Jennifer’s voice shouting him in the right direction he gave a small mumble of thanks and waltzed off into the kitchen carefully opening the door not knowing what to expect. It felt strange to be walking around someone else’s house…at least she had something that she could call her own. Dan technically still lived with his parents when he was not at school which for someone who was nearly twenty-eight is not the most amazing of thing to admit.

As he waited for the water to boil Dan did the only thing he could do and that was to have a nosey through all the papers and photos that were lying on the side boards. There were some very fetching pictures of Jennifer with her friends, the cut out from the paper about the opening of the shop (In which he gave a small chuckle at when he noticed his name mentioned) and some random sketches of potential dress designs. At the whistling of the kettle Dan poured the water into the two mugs that sat on the side and poured the milk into his own and into Jennifer’s and for some reason he automatically reached to the sugar bowl and put a sugar in her tea.

He only realised this when he was walking down the stairs with the mugs of tea in his hand but when he actually reached the backroom all thoughts of this were pushed out of his mind, it took a lot for him to keep the mugs in his hands. He swallowed hard as memories suddenly seemed to come flooding back to him…it was that dress…she was wearing that same dress that night in Paris. Quickly Dan placed the mugs of tea down on the side and nervously ran his hand through his hair again before turning around to look at Jennifer.

“It suits you.” He bite his lip nervously, he had to make sure it was her…I mean lots of people could have dresses like that. “You should have one for yourself, just like that...unless you don’t already.”

[Jennifer Queens]

“You should have one for yourself, just like that...unless you don’t already.”

“I have one pretty much exactly the same” she grinned, twirling around. She hadn’t worn that dress for months and months, and she realised how nice it actually was when she made pretty much the same one for someone else. The girl had been wanting ideas, and Jennifer being her own model, she had folders full of pictures of her and Ashton modelling clothes, and the girl had picked out the same dress as the black short Audrey Hepburn style one with white material on the waist for her Yule ball at Hogwarts.

“The dress has been inspired by French couture fashion when I was over there. It was one of my first ideas” she said, rather chuffed with herself. Turning to Dan, she saw the look on his face, and he looked rather strange to say the least. She couldn’t quite understand or separate the different emotions displayed on his face, and she frowned in return.

“I don’t look that bad do I?” she smiled, pointing at the dress that was still hanging by the hanger from her neck. Pulling it off over her head, she hung it back onto the rail where the other dress had just been finished. Dan put the mugs of tea down and began to act like nervous old Dan again.

“Dan, what’s the matter? You’ve not poisoned the tea have you?” she joked.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

The look was clear in his face, but then Dan was never the best one for hiding his emotions all too well, Sebastian was the Hubbles who had got the acting talent in the family. When Jennifer asked if it looked that bad on her he rubbed the back of his head nervously and shook his head, Dan tried to find some words to say ’No you look beautiful’ but the words seemed to get lost on the way out.

His hand dropt limply to his said and he tried to clear his throat and look at Jennifer again but every time he saw her in that dress he could only think of the mysterious woman that night in Paris. When he was making the tea he had tired to think of her name and Jessica was the one that kept coming to his mind, but then with the amount of toxins Dan and pumped into his system that night he most likely did not even remember his own name.

“No…I have not poisoned the tea, although I wish I had…” His sentenced dropt into a low mumble as he took a few steps closer towards Jennifer trying with all might to keep a clear head. “When you were in France did you go to Paris and stay at the ‘The old hags’ just off the east side if the Marne River one night…for arguments sake lets say early March?”

Dan nervously looked over at Jennifer; his heart was pounding so fast he was sure it was going to explode out of his chest. It was not that it would be the end of the world if he had slept with her; after all it was six years ago but still there would be that uneasiness thrown into the equation of the relationship. He was not sure if he wanted to hear the answer to this question for some reason it felt like he was cheating on Dia all over again, the guilt, the regret but also that twisted feeling of an adrenaline rush.

[Jennifer Queens]

Jennifer noticed the tone in his voice and the look on his face. She began to think he found something upstairs that had scarred him for life or really disturbed him. She frowned and began to frantically mind search her kitchen to see what he could of stumbled over that had caused him to be like this. Confident that it could be nothing, she walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Dan, are you alright? You look the same as you did at the opening when we were dancing. What’s the matter?” she said in a quiet yet concerned tone. He suddenly had turned strange that day too, and she still didn’t know the reason, but she knew it wasn’t because he just felt a little funny and hot, she wasn’t that naive after all. Of course, if you felt funny, you sat down and got fresh air, not go and coop yourself up in a small dressing room. However, she left him to it, she didn’t want to seem pushy or like she was prying.

“I’m glad you haven’t poisoned the tea, or I’d have to go all the way upstairs and make another one, and I wouldn’t do that, so I’d end up drinking yours and dying” she rambled, trying to make light of the conversation, but his facial expression wasn’t changing. Raising her eyebrows as Dan mentioned France once again, she gave a gasp, or should that be a Le Gasp!

“Erm, yes more than likely. The Hospital wasn’t very far from there so I went there a lot...why?” she said rather confused. She hadn’t thought about that pub for a while, and one of the last times there was when she was celebrating finishing her nurse training. She met a rather nice bloke, who she can’t really remember, and they ended up sleeping together. Not a typical Jen thing to do, but it was fun, and the drink consumed that night was the part that played it. Remembering what he had been saying, she looked down at the dress, and realised she was wearing pretty much an exact replica of it the same night, because she had to fix a rather large rip in it from you know what. Oh my god, I slept with Daniel Hubbles!

“Your not thinking what I’m thinking are you?!”

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

It took Dan a lot not to flinch at Jennifer touch, he was on edge and although she was trying to comfort him and be the good friend he knew she was the thought that they had, well they had done the dirty was fro once not filling Dan with a sense of pride and achievement. It seemed however that his more then subtle hinting had done the trick as the expression on the shop owners face slowly changed and she gasped as the pieces fell into place.
In disbelief she asked if he was thinking the same thing and Dan just nodded his head trying to think of what he could say next.

“You walked into the pub with your hair still up and as you pulled it out of the ponytail and your hair fell down over your shoulders I knew I had to…well get with you.” Dan covered his face with his hands and gave groan. “I ripped your dress as I was so drunk I could not undo the catches.”

Lowering his hands Dan wondered over where he had left the tea and picked the closest one up and took a swig out of it, he was in that much shock that he did not care this was the one with sugar in it he just needed tea. Feeling the hot liquid burn his mouth and throat as it went down Dan turned to look back at Jennifer with a look of guilt.

“I am so sorry…” It was a very rare thing that his past caught up with him, very few woman would be able to say that they had slept with Dan Hubbles and then talked to him again, he never left any contact details so if they needed to find him…it felt like he had been slapped in the face…he had been so irresponsible. “Would you like me to reimburse you for the money it cost to repair the dress…or anything else…”

It was a bit late to take responsibility now for anything he had done and if he was sure that something had of happened and he was needed then surly someone would have told him…he was always careful even when drunk he knew what the consequences of sleeping with someone could be so he was sure there were no mini Dan Hubbles running around, well at least he hoped not.

[Jennifer Queens]

Jennifer was in shock. She must have been absolutely wasted to not remember his face, but now that he said it, his face fitted in the blurry spot perfectly. Open mouthed, she could only stare at Dan for a moment before leaning against the door and sliding down it. After a moments silence, he offered to pay for the dress.

“Your kidding right? Pfft, forget about it” she said, realising the situation was kind of funny. She burst out into laughter, and covered her face with her hands to attempt to stifle the laughter. Unable to, she dropped her hands to her lap and leant her head back laughing with her eyes closed. Looking back up to Dan, she stood back up again and leant against the door.

“So your the father of my kid” she said with a stern face. Crossing her arms, she stood there definitely a moment before laughing once again.

“I’m only messing with you Dan, come on, cheer up! It was like a million years ago, let’s just forget about it alright?” she smiled. Memories of that night came flooding back, how he ripped her dress cos he was sick of attempting to get her out of it.

“It was a good night though, don’t you think?” she said with a cheeky grin. She knew he’d be freaking out about if Dia found out, but how could she? Jen didn’t want to tell her, it’s not like it mattered anyway.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

The colour drained from Dan’s face and his eyes grew so wide he was sure they were going to fall out. Stumbling backwards Dan reached out for the table to give him some support and seeing as he lost all feeling in his legs and he was convinced he was going to collapse. His mouth was bone dry and all he could think about was how he was going to tell Dia that he had a kid and of all people with Jennifer, he was in fact freaking out so much that he failed to notice the laughter that was escaping from Jennifer.

At the sound of his name Dan looked up at her gasping for air not actually being able to get his head around the situation. She was joking, she was only joking…there was no child. Closing his eyes for a moment to compose himself he took a long deep breath he needed to relax, Jen was right it was years ago, he had been around a bit and Dia knew that but they also knew that he would never be with anyone else now…he loved Dia.

“Yeah.” Dan agreed with a sigh. “Yeah it was a good night, I do not think I have ever seen anyone take my shirt off so quickly without losing any buttons, even in my drunken state I was impressed.”

Stepping closer to Jennifer Dan looked in her eyes, he could not believe he had not made the connection before, maybe Dia had been right all those months ago...those women really were all notches on his bed post, just statistics he could brag about in the pub with his mates. Lowering his head Dan wanted to say sorry again for everything, but Jen was right it did not matter anymore…it was just a one night stand after all.