The Intentional Accident

"Everyone's staring at us," mumbled Sirius as he walked through Muggle London with Michael's arm around him. Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius kept seeing the sideways glances people were giving them. He was now five months pregnant and had he not been wearing a baggy jumper it would have been painfully obvious to the people they passed. No, the disapproving glances were due to Sirius and Michael in general. Neither the wizarding or Muggle world was any closer to being a truly enlightened society, if there really was any such thing. Sirius had always been easily upset and expecting a baby didn't help his insecurity. Michael, however, did.

"They're only staring at us because they're jealous," said Michael reassuringly. He knew Sirius well enough to understand what he was going through. He couldn't care less what a bunch of strangers thought if him but Sirius was self-conscious at the best of times.

"What is there for them to be jealous of? They don't approve of us and if they could see what an elephant I am under this jumper then they'd ..." Sirius' words of self-pity found it hard to escape his mouth when it was being blocked by Michael's. For one glorious moment the whole of London was deserted, leaving them to themselves. Michael finally gave Sirius his ability to speak back.

"They're jealous of me because I've got you. They may not understand the feelings we share but they all want to understand them. They're just in denial and won't admit it. Besides, you are not an elephant. For someone who's five months pregnant your weight is very healthy. Now come on or we'll be late to see Agatha."

"She's used to me being late by now, she can wait a while," breathed Sirius as he kissed Michael deeply. They had made an appointment to have the wizard equivalent of an ultrasound scan but considering how much they were enjoying their kiss; it looked as if they were going to be very late indeed.

~|~

When they finally arrived at St. Mungo's they found Agatha sitting by a hospital bed, drumming her fingers casually on the side table. She pretended not to notice them when they came in but glanced at her watch instead.

"I must get this thing fixed because it's obviously fast." She looked up at the two of them. "Well hello, do you have the right time or are you just tardy?" The term sarcasm would have been an understatement.

"Oh come on now Agatha, you're not still bitter about the match, are you?" asked Michael teasingly as he closed the door behind him.

"Not at all. That was some fancy flying on your part, especially against the Hawkshead Attacking Formation. My grandfather wasn't just killing time when he devised that technique." Michael's jaw dropped a couple of inches.

"You mean ...your grandfather was Darren O'Hare? You failed to mention that in casual conversation." Agatha chuckled as she reached into her bag and started to rummage.

"You're a nice boy Michael, if a little simple. You may be a good Keeper but that didn't stop the Holyhead Harpies giving you a run for your money last week."

"I can't help it if the rest of my team were too attracted to the opposition to concentrate properly. We still beat them though, didn't we?" Agatha pursed her lips dramatically.

"Only barely, mind you. Now Sirius, I'm sure you've heard enough Quidditch talk so I'm ready when you are." She pulled a small crystal ball from her medical bag. Sirius climbed onto the bed and lay down comfortably. He lifted the bottom of his jumper to reveal his rounded stomach. Agatha tapped the top of the crystal with her wand, causing it to glow light green.

"So ...just how does this work?" asked Michael out of curiosity.

"Well, this orb allows me to find your baby and bring an image of it up. It's much clearer and quicker than any Muggle procedure."

"So it's kind of like Divination?" ventured Michael.

"Don't confuse apples with pears!" Agatha snapped irritably. "Divination is a lot of mumbo jumbo and drivel. This is sound, solid magic."

"Still uses a crystal ball though," muttered Michael. Looking at the deadly glare Agatha gave Michael, Sirius was suddenly reminded of his aunt Hermione. Agatha placed her right hand carefully on the orb. It began to change from green to white then back to green. The two colours began to merge into each other until the orb regained its light green glow. Her eyes closed in intense concentration; she then proceeded to place her left hand on Sirius' stomach. He jumped slightly at her touch.

"Your hand's cold," he stated.

"Deal with it, I need to concentrate, " breathed Agatha in a tone that left no room for argument. At first the image in the orb remained the same, fuzzy and indiscernible. Agatha started changing the position of her fingertips on Sirius' skin and muttering to herself. "No ...not there ...almost ..." Finally her hand froze after moving only a few inches. A happy smile materialised onto her face. "Ah yes, there you are." The orb came sharply into focus. Sirius and Michael could now clearly see a small huddled figure. Taking her hand off both Sirius' stomach and the orb, Agatha opened her eyes and allowed her smile to grow bigger. "There you are, boys. That's your baby."

The two prospective parents were struck with awe. Unable to speak, Michael placed his hand gingerly on Sirius' bare stomach. At the same time as he felt it, he saw the baby kick softly.

"He recognises his Daddy," observed Agatha. She took them both by surprise with this.

"He? You mean ...it's a boy?" choked Michael. Agatha simply nodded and smiled in reply. She knew that they both wanted to know the gender of the baby before it was born so she hadn't crossed any lines with her little Freudian slip. Sirius and Michael looked at each other, their vision hazed by joyful tears. While they calmed themselves down, Agatha took a sheet of parchment and placed the orb on top if it. After a quick double tap from her wand, the image of the baby poured down from the orb and copied onto the parchment, where it set as a moving picture. She handed it to them and gave them a while to let everything sink in. It seemed a shame to interrupt their moment, but they had the finer details to discuss. After Sirius remembered to put his jumper back down again, all three of them walked down the pristine corridor to Agatha's office.

"Now then," said Agatha as they all took seats around her desk. "The first thing we should remember is transportation. You do realise that from now on Apparating and Floo Powder are an absolute no-no for you, Sirius?"

"All too well. My dad has offered to give us his car. He hardly ever uses it anymore."

"But can either of you drive one of those contraptions?" asked Agatha. She wasn't a huge fan of Muggle transport to say the least.

"Yeah, my dad insisted that I learn the same time as I did my Apparation test," said Michael confidently.

"Which brings us to the next point, where do you plan to have the baby? Here or at home?" Agatha looked over her glasses at the two men sitting on the other side of her desk. She had a feeling she knew what their answer was going to be.

"Well, we've given it some thought, well it's Sirius' decision and ..." started Michael.

"I'd like to have it at home," finished Sirius. Agatha sighed with great exasperation.

"I don't think I'll ever understand the youth of today. One of the occupational hazards of getting old. Okay, so you're going to have it at home. In that case, my advice is to leave London for a while. The Ministry has enough trouble on their hands without having to wipe the memory of you giving birth in your flat from the minds of your neighbours. Not that it wouldn't take much or long. Do you know of anywhere you could go?"

"Yes, my uncle and aunt told us about a cottage in Hogsmeade that's become available. We should be able to move in for a little while," explained Sirius.

"I can still use the Floo network to get to practice plus we'll be living in a wizarding community which should make things easier," added Michael as he placed his hand gently on Sirius' knee.

"It certainly should make things easier. It seems you two have attracted the interest of the wizarding press here in London."

"I take it you know about the article?" guessed Sirius. Agatha nodded in acknowledgement.

"I usually just get the Daily Prophet for the crossword but that's been going downhill and all recently. I don't blame you for not telling me, I'd want to forget about it as well. You lads have been able to stay out of the Daily Prophet since then but as your pregnancy advances, you can bet your arse Rita Skeeter will send her vultures out to learn what they can. I think Hogsmeade is a wonderful place to spend your maternity leave. Oh, speaking of which ...I know it's daft but the 'all knowing gits' in the main office want me to have something in writing confirming you're leaving."

"I have it right here," said Sirius as he produced a small, folded piece of parchment from his pocket. He handed it to Agatha, it read:

Dear Agatha,

I quit.

Love Sirius.

It made Agatha laugh, but she wasn't sure the office would see the funny side or not, nor did she particularly care. Sirius and Michael thanked her for all she had done. After she had reminded them that they knew how to contact her if they needed to, they left St. Mungo's and headed back out into Muggle London. They received just as many funny looks as before but Sirius found that if he was brutally honest with himself, he was too happy to really give a damn.