The Intentional Accident

Agatha O'Hare tapped her feet impatiently as she waited in her office for Sirius Potter to arrive for their 9 am meeting. Agatha was a senior Healer at St. Mungo's. Since completing his exams Sirius had been assigned to her staff. By nature she was a strict person to work for, but she had a human side to her as well. She had taken a particular liking to Sirius; there was just something about him she seemed to like. His recent lack of punctuality was not it. He finally showed up ten minutes late. He looked terribly pale and dizzy. She put her initial concerns aside at first; there was business to discuss after all.

"These budget proposals don't go over themselves, you know," she said in her sharp Irish accent. She peered up at him from behind her green reading glasses.

"Sorry I'm late ...I was ..."

"I'm sure you were," she interrupted. She motioned at the chair across the desk from her. "Now sit down and let's get this bureaucratic nonsense over with." At fifty-six years old, she was quite fed up with the administrative side of running a department in a magical hospital. Sirius was only twenty-one but he couldn't agree more. Their department, Magical Bugs, meant that they needed an ample supply of various antidotes. The fact that they had to move heaven and earth to get them was what annoyed Agatha so much. They had just finished going over an order form for bezoars when Agatha spoke. "You've been late quite a lot recently." Sirius glanced up from his work but quickly put his head down again. He was never quite sure if Agatha was criticising him or not.

"I've been a bit busy in the mornings, that's all ..." he muttered unconvincingly.

"In the toilets?" Sirius jerked his head back up and kept it there this time. Agatha had taken off her reading glasses and was looking at him with a motherly expression on her face.

"How do you know about that?"

"I make a point of knowing what my staff do when they're late," she said with her much softer, gentler accent. "Any idea why you haven't been able to keep anything down in the mornings?"

"You really have done your research, haven't you?" said Sirius through a week smile. He shuffled uncomfortably in his seat as he racked his brain for a bug that was going around at the moment. He knew she was looking not just at him, but also into him. She was pushing for a response. He couldn't think of anything in time. "I expect it's just a bug going around. I doubt it's anything serious."

"Oh, I see," said Agatha as she casually went back to her own work. When she was sure Sirius had done the same, she added curtly, "Either that or you're pregnant." She looked over at him again to see he was smiling.

"There's no hiding anything from you, is there?"

"No, I'd find the lost city of Atlantis if I could be arsed." Sirius smile broadened. He removed his glasses and rubbed his forehead.

"I've suspected it for a while ...but I don't know for sure." Agatha shook her head in mock despair.

"Tut tut, Sirius. You don't know for sure? What have you been training to be all these years, a security troll trainer? You know as well as I do there's a simple charm for this kind of thing."

"I hadn't forgotten ...I was just ..."

"Afraid?" offered Agatha politely.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Taking out her wand, Agatha pointed it at Sirius, muttered something under her breath and did a simple twisting action with her wrist. Blue sparks emitted from the wand tip and fell onto the desk, where they gradually faded away.

"Well, there's no arguing with that. You're pregnant and no which way about it," she stated as she replaced her wand. Sirius seemed incapable of basic speech. At first Agatha assumed the tears swelling up in his eyes were of joy. When those simple tears became stifled sobs, she suspected something was wrong. "It's nothing to get upset about, dear." She moved her chair to the other side of the desk, bringing a tissue along with her. Sirius did his best to dry his eyes but the tears kept flowing. "Come on now, or I'll have to have the med witch come in and sedate you." Sirius let out a frail laugh in between sniffs. He finally calmed down enough to explain.

"The thing is, I took the Birthing potion without telling Michael. We had talked about it that very day but he said he didn't feel he was ready. He does want children, just not right now. I told him I poured the potion away but really I'd drunk the whole thing. Later that night we ..."

"Yes dear, that part I can guess. The point is that Michael has no idea about this?" She had met Michael a few times before and judged him to be a reasonably levelheaded young man; she didn't see how he would have a problem.

"No, he doesn't. What am I going to tell him? I mean, I lied to him and made a life changing decision that he honestly doesn't feel ready for ...I feel like I betrayed his trust."

"Well, fretting over it isn't accomplishing anything, now is it? If you don't tell him then he'll figure it out soon enough anyway. You're about to put on a lot of weight, me dear, over the next few months and I don't think you'll be able to blame it on those biscuits in the staff room." Sirius laughed again, a little more heartily this time. Agatha may be strict, but she could put a smile back on anyone's face. She placed her hand softly on his. "I can't guarantee Michael won't be upset, but it won't be long before he gets over it and realises what a wonderful thing this is. Just you wait and see."

"Thanks, Agatha. He's got a game this evening, I'll tell him afterwards."

"You won't have to wait long. He's playing the Kenmare Kestrels, the team my grandfather played for. No offence but the only way the Puddlemere Seeker will find the Snitch before ours does if it somehow flies up his backside."

"We'll just see about that," said Sirius. Agatha obviously didn't know Michael and his team as well as she thought.