[Staff Room] How to almost lose a job in 10 days!

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

“But…”
“We must be professional about this matter.”
“Yes I know…”
“We need to look over this Professor Hubbles, your criminal record must be taken into account.”
“Yeah…but that was a while ago, I mean I am a changed man.” Dan was sitting in front of the wizengamot, nervously chewing on his finger nails.
“This we do not doubt, but it is the safety of the students in the school that we care about.”

At this comment Dan flung his arms up in the air and let out a huge groan, he always knew it would come back and bite him. If he has not been so irrational with his behaviour in the past, all the drunken fights, illegal gambling and small incidents with students then he would not be sitting in this situation. Some anonymous bright spark had alerted the Ministry to the new Headmasters past and it was their job to review the situation, luckily for Dan in private. This had been his third trip to the chambers and no one knew about it, not Dia, not even Girty, the only people who knew where those sitting in the chamber now, looking down upon him with scrutinising eyes as if trying to judge his character on a load of past crimes.

Finally the main judge spoke. “All in Favour of allowing Professor Hubbles to remain as Headmaster raise your hands now.” Dan waited with baited breath as slowly hands began to raise, unsurprisingly all the females in the court had raised their hands and a few of the men joined in too. The main judge gave a small noise of disgruntlement before continuing. “All against Professor Hubbles raise your hands now.” All of those who had not raised their hands before shot them up into the air accompanied with a collection of evil glares but non of that mattered, the thing was that there were less hands…he was safe.

***

It was strange how much Dan had failed to appreciate the castle before, as he walked across the gravel path through the grounds he slowly undid his tie, and flicked open the top few buttons on his shirt. The sky was one of the purest blues he had seen, the rays of sunlight were beating down on the grass banks and Dan could not help but smile. The world seemed perfect, the school seemed perfect and even as he walked through the main entrance past crowds of students they all seemed perfect, even the Slytherin’s.

Only an hour ago he was feeling sick, his stomach tied in a million knots and was breaking out into a cold sweat (much like just before his wedding) and although the relief of the matter had swept over him he felt drained, mentally, physically and emotionally. He automatically started to climb the steps towards the upper floors but stopped after the first flight of stairs. There was no way he could go into the Headmaster office just yet, there would be a greater chance Dia would be there and got forbid what some of the portraits will say, the news would have spread to them by now…they always seemed to know everything.

So instead Dan remained on the first floor and headed to the Staff Room, pushing the door open and much to his relief finding the place completely empty. Glancing down at his watch he realised why, lessons were still on. With a defeat sigh he fell down onto the nearest sofa and just stared up at the ceiling, lost in his own thoughts.

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia had had some time to simply relax as she didn't have any classes that day, they would all be that night. At times she thought it was a luxury, having so much more free time then the other teachers. This being so, Dia had been in the library to find a book to read. She had not seen Offley there but had not worried about that because she enjoyed being in the quietness of the library by herself. Having found something she headed for the Staff Room, knowing that Dan would be up in his office, working very hard, as he did.

The book she had found was a book she had not read in years and it made her grin at how old she felt because of it. She had taken a copy of Notable Magical Names of Our Time because she remember what a delightful read it had been while she attended school. She had been tempted to take one of her favourite Quidditch books but had decided not to, she always got very excited when she thought about Quidditch and she wouldn't be able to sit still for hours.

She walked now towards the Staff Room, turning pages as she went. As her blue eyes scanned the headings she passed the ex-Ravenclaw spotted a number of familiar topics, names she remembered and dates that sounded like she should recall what happened then. Her feet carried her to the Staff Room, after all she spent enough time there these days.

She turned the corner and headed straight for the door, hand extended to grasp the handle. She pushed the door open and instinctively she looked up to see who was there. To her great surprise the only person there was Dan and instantly her surprise disappeared to be replaced with sheer joy. Closing the door behind her, Dia walked slowly towards him. She ran her fingers through his thick hair as she moved around the sofa he was on before bending down and giving him a light kiss on the forehead.

"Hello, dearest," she said softly as she lifted her head a little. Slowly she ran her hand down his leg before scooping up his legs and lifting them up. She maneuvered herself onto the seat and put Dan's legs on her lap, crossing her legs. Leaning her elbow on the arm rest, Dia smiled at Dan, resting her cheek against her fist. She simply looked at the man who was now her husband, that man she knew she would love for the rest of her life. "Had a hard day?" she asked after a moment.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

The sofas in the Staff Room were never the most comfortable things in the world, Dan had the theory that it was to stop people, like him, from falling asleep on them and skipping lessons. For example right now he had something sticking in his back, he had no idea what is what, for all the attention he paid when he collapsed onto the sofa it could be a pile of books, but this really did not mater as the headmaster was quite fascinated with the patterns that were in the wood of the rafters when he heard the staff room door open. Dan fully expected it to be someone who would kindly respect the his wishes and leave him be, nice and quiet and alone but no.

They had the cheek to run their fingers through his hair and although he knew the one person he would have loved it to have been Dan was not going to take any chances. He would not have put it past Will or Girty to pull a trick like that, and he had been told that a few of the other female staff members had a thing for him; maybe they were making their move. Panic took over Dan for a second before the face appeared he had wanted to see. Her blond locks falling forward as she bent down to kiss him on the forehead. Muttering a small hello to her two Dan remained defiant for a few moments and refused to move his legs being slightly territorial over the sofa, however Dia had learnt over the years how easy it was to break down and as she traced her fingerer down his leg he could not help but give in and let her move his legs.

“Yeah you could say that.” Dan chuckled at her question. He shuffled where he lay so that he was in a much more comfortable position to sit and stare at Dia. “I hate apparition, I hate getting lost in the Ministry buildings and I hate spending beautiful days like this stuck in a bloody room full of pompous old farts who detest me for being younger and having more a life then them.”

After his miniature rant Dan let out a small sigh and rested his head against the back cushion on the sofa closing his eyes for a few seconds just to make sure he was fully composed. The past few days had taken it out of him, he had to try and defend himself on every charge that the Ministry had on him and when some where easy others were not, they spent almost three hours discussing the rumours of his goings on with a Ravenclaw student from a few years back. What he would have done for a bit of moral support, to have Dia by his side, but he had made the decision when he got the owl at the start of the week not to give her something as trivial as this to worry about. If he had lost his job it would have been a rather big thing, but he had not…that was the important thing.

Opening his eyes to the radiant sight of Dia a small smile filled his face. When Dan first came to Hogwarts they had an old bat of an Astronomy teacher, she must have been almost seventy and they swore that she had never been on a date in her life and at first they thought it was because she was an ugly prune but it was only now did Dan realise how difficult it was for you to have a relationship with a professor who taught during the night. Dan and Dia had worked out a system for things to work, for them to spend enough time together even if it meant that Dan relied on a caffeine boost a bit more then usual.

“Anyway…how has your day been sweetheart? Sorry for missing you this morning I had another early start.” He offered her a small smile with the apology, it had happened to many times since he became headmaster, he would have to leave early for appointments and then after doing all his other errands he would get back and find Dia sleeping in the office after attempting to stay awake for him. “I don’t have any more planned for a while though, I bumped into Herbert Rhys today and he cancelled on me, he was a sure candidate to cough up good sums of cash too.”

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dan seemed willing enough to talk about his day and Dia always found this to be a good sign. Sometimes Dan would not tell her things and for that she understood he needed his space, needed that introspection that one could not get with someone else around; Dia was always all too ready to hear about Dan's worries though, making her feel like someone special to him, someone he counted on and trusted, as she did he.

It sounded like he had indeed had a hard day. Keeping her blue eyes on his face, Dia rubbed Dan's leg absently as a comforting gesture meant to relax him. With her other hand, Dia put the book she had brought into the room on the table next to her, before turning quickly back to Dan. There were questions rushing through Dia's mind, about where he went, what he did, what had been sending him home so late and drained, but she couldn't find the words to pry when it was clear he did not want to share.

Dan closed his eyes for a moment and Dia stopped her hand, linking her finger together tightly. She lent her forearms on Dan's legs across her lap and looked ahead of her for a moment. She began to think of the oddness that had settled on them in the past week, how little she had seen of her husband in recent days. She did not enjoy being without him so much.

Leaning on her arm on the back of the sofa so she had her head closer to Dan, Dia smiled absently and remained quiet for a moment. "My day has been uneventful," she said, wistfully, "I don't have classes during the day; they're all tonight." Dia fell silent again, thinking about her classes and the preperation she had tried to do the night before while waiting for Dan. After a moment she spoke again, slowly, in a low voice. "I understand that this job is important to you, Dan," she said, her blue eyes falling on Dan's, "but it's not the only thing you have in the world."

That having been said, Dia felt a little better for getting it off her chest. "And I am sorry to hear about Mr Rhys canceling."

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan’s mouth went bone dry and he thought about what Dia had said, not that it took much thinking on. Dia was the most important thing in his life and it was clear that his new role within the school was killing the little time they had together. This is when the doubt set in for Dan; maybe he should have told her the truth, she was his wife after all and he had no right to feel ashamed around her, but there was nothing he could do now so he would just have to explain it to Dia, she would understand after all. Well Dan hoped so.

He thought he had enough courage right there and then to tell her but a chime rang around them and Dan’s hand automatically reached into this jacket pocket and pulled out a small pocket watch. Girty had brought it for him; Dan could only imagine how much it cost her seeing as the outer casing was made of gold with detailed patterns engraved onto it and as he flipped open the lid to reveal the clock face there were many hands and slowly a red gas appeared in the background…Dan had forgotten something. Swearing loudly Dan swung his legs off Dia so that he was in sitting position before leaping to his feet.

With only a fleeting glance and a quickly blown kiss Dan started to button up his shirt and start to hurriedly do up his tie yet again. With not even saying goodbye Dan hurried to the staff room door, flinging it open and quickly stepping outside, although he did not get very far down the corridor. He was just flattening down his collar when he realised what he was doing, what Dia had just said and how yet again Dan was putting other things in front of her. Coming to a complete stop he looked over his shoulder back at the closed door of the Staff Room where his wife was still sitting.

Running his hand through his hair Dan groaned and spun around on his heel and walked towards the Staff Room once more. He could hear the portraits that lined the corridors muttering to themselves about the strange antics of the new headmaster, his hand wrapped around the door handle and it took a few seconds for Dan to find the courage to open the door. Poking his head around the door he looked directly at Dia and gave her a small sheepish grin before stepping back into the room.

“You know what…” He shoved his hands into his pocket acting more like a shy school kid then the headmaster. “…they have cancelled on me three times already for this meeting, so clearly it is not that important to them, so why should it be important to me.” After slowly making his way over Dan crouched down in front of Dia. “So if they can not be bothered there is no way I am going to let it get in the way of you and me.”

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

From where Dia was sitting she thought that the look on her husband's face indicated that she had given him something to think on. It was true that ever since they got back to Hogwarts they had not seen as much of each other as either of them would like but Dia had seen even less of him since he became Headmaster. Of course, she was proud of him, yet for her own selfish reasons Dia wanted him at least see him. How could she be expected not to want that?

Dia was fidgeting with the end of her sleeve when the bell that sounded for the end of the lesson rang, Dan became all fluffed up as though it had sent him into a tizzy. Dia wasn't sure what was happening but Dan jumped up and was heading towards the door before she could ask. When it closed behind him, Dia realised how straight she was sitting and that her hand had been reaching out to him. He had not noticed.

Dropping her hands into her lap, Dia relaxed and took a deep breath. She didn't want to keep him from his work, she knew how important it was to him, but seeing him some would be lovely. She thought they might get some time today ... but apparently not. Taking another deep breath, Dia's eyes travelled to the adjacent window as her chin came to rest on her palm, fingers curls loosely into a fist by her mouth.

Dia had some serious thinking to do, she realised. Was she going to sit there, let her husband continue with his job, one that was very much sprung on him? Or was she going to force him to choose between the two of them? She knew that she could never do the latter but she knew all too well that it was the more tempting option too.

The door suddenly swung open again and Dia jumped slightly, her head spinning towards the entrance. It was Dan! Her obvious surprise was all over her face but when he smiled at her bashfully, she relaxed and smiled back at him. The proposal he made made Dia blush; she certainly wanted him to stay with her but she didn't want it like that. "I ... I ..." she stammered, leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees while her fingers fidgeted with her sleeve again, eyes upon the action. She didn't know what to say.

Dan crouched by her and furtively her eyes went to his. "I don't want you ... if it's important, you should go," she said uncertainly. "I couldn't ask ... " There were no words she could speak aloud that would justify her feelings to herself, her selfish reasons.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Some men would say it was a blessing when their wives were speechless, but for Dan he always felt uncomfortable when his Dia could not think of the words. Maybe they just had not reached that stage in their relationship when Dan longed for the moments of silence, but not only did he never wish for them to reach that stage he also guessed they had not spent enough time together for there to even be a possibility. He could not remember the last time to two had a proper conversation that lasted for longer then five minutes let alone do they typical thing that married couples do.

Reaching out and taking hold of one of Dia’s hands he gave it a small reassuring squeeze and offered her a small smile. “It honestly was not that important. It was a discussion about a portrait that is on the fifth floor, it is supposedly connected to some guy’s family or something like that.” Dan gave a small shrug, with everything that had been going on this week he had pushed all thoughts of it out of his mind. “Don’t you worry your pretty little self about it.”

Raising himself ever so slightly Dan moved forwards and tenderly kissed Dia before walking to a cupboard at the far side of the room. It had been a while since it had been opened and it most defiantly needed oiling as when it opened a loud high pitched squeaking noise sounded out but it did not seem to bother Dan. He was already on his knees pulling out books and rolls of parchment ceiling the way so he could reach the back board, for anyone who did not know it was there they would never have spotted it but this had been a small addition to the staff room that Dan, Starsmore and Fagin had made all those years ago. It was a small hidden section and within a few second a collection of dust covered bottles were in view and Dan eagerly pulled one out.

Pulling the cork out with his teeth Dan just smelt the alcohol for a moment or two just savouring the smell of it before pouring himself a quick glass. If you had looked away for the briefest of moments you would have missed it, out Dan had empty the glass just as quickly as he had poured it. It has been a while since he had had a good glass of Scotch and lord how he had missed it. Closing the cupboard Dan wondered over towards Dia, bottle and glasses in his hand quiet ready for another drink although he was unsure, with teaching that evening if Dia would want one.

“Can I get you anything sweetheart?” He inquired just in case. “There is a bottle of Red in there if I remember rightly.”

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

The touch of Dan's skin on her gave Dia the confidence and reassurance to look at Dan. She managed a small smile. She was being silly! She tried to shake off the feeling of distaste that had gripped her as Dan kissed her and stood up. She was being silly and over reacting. She merely missed Dan and was letting that get the better of her. Everything would turn out just fine.

Dan's words had helped too, to reassure her that it was not her fault ... that fault was not a factor at all. Dia hung her head for a moment as she heard Dan walk across her room. Then she quickly looked up and took a breath, trying to chase away the tears she felt coming. It was too silly a thing to cry about. Her loose blond hair cascaded over her shoulders, falling down her back, framing her face.

Dia wasn't concentrating on Dan, she was staring at a water stain of the ceiling just before the wall met the roof, focusing on calming her nerves. Dan had much the same plan apparently as he came back to her, holding a bottle of Scotch and glasses. Even so, he offered to get her whatever she liked and at this Dia Hubbles smiled up at her husband, the man she knew would go the extra mile to make sure she was happy.

Taking the two glasses from Dan, she held them out in front of him for him to fill. "This is fine," she said, knowing that wine would not do just then. "Scotch is perfect," she added smiling up at Dan. She wondered where he had gotten it from, where the secret stash of alcohol was in the Staff Room. Dia was sure that if she asked Bree she could find it but she wasn't entirely sure that she really did want to know.

Smiling up at Dan, Dia could not help but feel comforted much by his very presence. Dan had a way of making Dia feel like the centre of his world and she knew, most of the time, she was. She waited patiently for Dan to fill the glasses in her hands before she drained one and held it out to be filled again.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

When Dan used to think about married life, not that he did very often, he never really expected it to be like this, but then life had a way of throwing things at him that he never expected. Dan always imagined that when he finally made the commitment to settle down with a woman he deeply loved his life would be much like the one his parents had, a small house in the middle of a muggle estate, Dan just doing a bog standard job that paid the bills but gave him enough time to come home every night to his wife and children. Never did he expect to be where he was today, a man who confessed never to have a profession was now a Headmaster and had no time to be with the one woman he loved and wanted that quaint little life with.

These thoughts were passing through his mind as Dan began to fill the glasses that Dia now held out in front of him, he was so lost in his own thought that Dan automatically filled the glass once again, not realising that it would now have been the third glass of Scotch he had poured in a row. Placing the bottle down on the table in front of them Dan sat down directly next to Dia, wrapping his arm around her shoulder in the want to have that small amount of physical contact with his wife. It had been in this very room that they first said those three words; it seemed like a life time ago and so much had changed since then, even his feelings for her as now he loved her more then he ever could have dreamt all those years ago.

This time around Dan sipped slowly on his drink; he did not want to get too drunk and fallback into the trap of heavy drinking yet again. After all that had been part of his argument that he was now a responsible drinker and he could not risk any news of drunken antics getting out in fear of his position within the school. Another sip, another memory and another thought back to his hearing.

“I am sorry about recently Dia.” Dan muttered as he stared at the honey coloured liquid in his glass. “Not being around and when I am not all here I… I was summoned to the Wizengmot as my…er…past infringements with the law was brought into light.” He shot his wife a nervous smile; there was no going back now. “My position as Headmaster was in disrupted and I had to fight my corner to keep my job.”

Dan tapped his fingers against the glass slowly, the contact between it and his wedding ring created a little bit of background noise but Dan’s beating heart was blocking out almost everything else as he waited nervously for Dia’s response, he had a hunch at how she might take the news and if that was the case then he would lay down his reasons as to why he did not tell her and reassure her that everything was alright, his job was safe. But for now all he could do was sit and wait for an answer with baited breath.

(This is me following your advice and getting over myself moaning about how rubbish this post is by just posting it anyway hahaha!)

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

It was a great comfort to have Dan put his arm around her shoulder, even with the worry of over-indulging on the alcohol. Dia rested her head on Dan's shoulder and sipped her drink slowly, knowing full well that she could not afford to have too much. Dia knew how she got when she had too much to drink and she knew too that it would not do anyone any good.

Having Dan with her, even though they sat in silence for a moment or two, was wonderful. Then Dan began to speak and ... at first Dia was smiling, his appology accepted without a moment's hesitation ... but then he made a confession, the truth about his week came out, and Dia sat up straight, pulling away from Dan to look at him. She blinked her blue eyes at him a few times, trying to work out what he wanted from her by giving her this information, then her gaze dropped to the honey liquid in her glass.

For another moment the silence sat heavy around them. Dia had a million thoughts wizzing through her mind but the woman knew that there was one thing above all others that needed to be delt with before they could go on. Dia took a small sip from her glass and as she tilted it back her eyes moved to Dan. He wasn't looking at her.

Lowering her glass and her gaze, Dia coughed and frowned. "Dan?" she said softly and coughed again, to clear her throat, "it went alright, didn't it?" She couldn't find any more words in her parched throat so sipped her Scotch again. It was strange though: Dia could not look away from Dan now. They showed clearly her concern for him.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

When Dia pulled away Dan could not help but shift uncomfortably where he sat, his full focus was on the glass in his hand, trying with all his might not to let a single tremor pass through his hand into the near still liquid. Dan did not know why he felt so nervous about this, or was it shame? He could not tell anymore, so many emotions had mashed together to form a mutated feeling in the pit of his stomach that made him want to just throw up.

Dia coughed. She said his name and still Dan could not look up at her, the note of concern was present and the man swallowed hard trying to keep himself composed as he waited for her response. However when it came it was not what he had expected, it seemed simple but then what did he want Dia to say? Did he want her to explode at him or burst into tears? With a deep breath Dan ran the question through his head over and over again.

“Do you think I would be sitting here if I had lost the job?” Dan managed to tare his gaze away from the glass of Scotch in his hands and look into those devastatingly beautiful eyes of his wife. They were the eyes that he could get lost in time and time again but he would have been a fool if he failed to notice the look of concern that glistened within them. He loved his wife more then anything and would do anything to help that smile appear once again and any traces of worry or concern purged from those perfect eyes. “I would be down at the pub most likely on my fourth pint of beer having it off with some random tart.”

A cheesy smile spread across the mans face, if he had lost his job then he would have most defiantly tried to avoid Dia for maybe a week or two, go and live in the Hogshead with Warren for a while. Then once the news had been revealed and the press had lost interest of trailing his wife around trying to get an interview and asking where he could possibly be, then Dan might have appeared most likely just in time to sign the divorce papers. Ok so maybe that was his imagination running slightly too wild and ahead of itself when in reality non of it mattered, he was sitting here, in Hogwarts, still Headmaster and still married. That is all that mattered.

Dan did not want to look away from Dia but he knew that if he carried on looking into those eyes he would most likely say more things he would regret. When he was with Dia he wanted to be the perfect man for her and all the wrongs in his life always built up and only a few they had actually shared. Of course all the drunken arrests and fist fights had been discussed early on in their relationship; they would spend nights laughing about it in Egypt as Dan retold his tails just to hear Dia laugh and see that radiant smile. Never though had he shared anything about his relationship with Loren Hayes, of course there were the rumours and some were not far from the truth, but the thought of telling Dia about the terrible things he had done, it made even his skin crawl of how much of an evil, sadistic twat he had been.

“They jury saw my side of the argument in the end, although I shameless flirted with some of the old crows during Lunch on Tuesday, which I think swayed the results slightly.” Dan gave a soft chuckle before taking a swig of his drink. “Although I also proved to them that I am changed man, responsible drinker and have not been arrested in almost 3 years.” Dan was pretty proud with this achievement and shot Dia a rather smug smile although it soon faded away and yet again he felt an apology coming on, what is it with this woman and making him apologise? “I am regretting not telling you before this I just did not want you to worry about me; I mean you have other things to think about...which reminds me, I need your final draft of the OWLS exam paper.”

An apology that leads into him talking ‘Shop’, lord things had changed. Last year it was Darrow on his back for weeks on end about getting a final draft on his desk and now he was the one having to do the chasing and then the ever fun task of the reading. It was at this point while reading all the exam papers did it become clear to Dan that he could remember very little from his days at school and some of the questions he helped set were buggers to answer.