The Intentional Accident

It took the first few months of David Oliver's life for Sirius and Michael to really get used to being parents. While Lily had told Sirius all about the pain of childbirth and the joy of holding the baby for the first time, she had neglected to mention all the late night wake up calls, the regular nappy changing's, the insistent feedings or combinations of the three. Michael had some time off after the League Cup final so Sirius was not alone in learning to be a parent. Indeed, for the first few months it was just the three of them, all the time learning something new.

Little David's arrival was announced in the Daily Prophet the day after his birth. Nothing more was made of it, not even by Rita Skeeter. This was mostly down to Percy Weasley threatening to pull the plug on the paper's funding if he read any more fabrications about his nephew's family. There had been no further encounters with the bane of their happiness, Scott Finnigan either. On all counts, their lives were as near to perfect as ever. David's first Christmas was wonderful, though of course he was too young to know why he was getting a huge selection of new toys. About a month into the New Year the time came for Michael to return to Quidditch training sessions. Puddlemere United's manager was keen to keep the team's winning streak up. Sirius and David were hardly ever left on their own though, they received visitors every other day. Oliver and Minsky were regular guests, Harry and Hagrid would walk down from Hogwarts at lunchtime, occasionally accompanied by Remus and Lily would often bring Arthur over on her days off.

One warm March morning, Sirius awoke to find Michael was not in bed beside him. It dawned on him that Michael had practise this morning so he must have left early. He didn't mind it so much anymore, thought it was going to get more difficult soon when Sirius also had to return to work. As he slipped on his dressing gown, he suddenly noticed that David wasn't in his cot. He felt gripped by panic. However, the terrible feeling of dread loosened its grip when he heard a gleeful giggle come from the kitchen. He poked his head out the door to see Michael in his Quidditch robes, feeding six-month-old David in his highchair. They had just finished breakfast and Michael was now entertaining his son by making faces. David let out a particularly loud giggle when he saw Sirius approach. He held out his little arms, indicating he wanted to be picked up. As Sirius did so, he saw that David was amazingly clean after what was usually a very messy meal.

"Look at what a nice clean bib you've got today, Davy. Who's a good boy?" cooed Sirius. Michael gave an indignant little cough then indicated his robe front. They were somewhat plastered in orange baby food, the result of David's high spiritedness. "Oh Davy, what have you been doing to your poor daddy?"

"It's OK, nothing that can't be dealt with," laughed Michael as he took out his wand and caused the various stains to vanish. In Sirius' arms, David stared in amazement, as his hard work was undone in a second. The two parents laughed at the glazed look on his face.

Apparently, Michael had woken up that morning just a few minutes before David did. He was therefore able to intercept him before he started crying for his breakfast. Sirius didn't know it, but Michael had made a promise to himself after David's birth. No matter how urgently he was needed at a game or practise session, he would always stay long enough to say goodbye to Sirius and David properly. After kissing them both and receiving a tiny wave from David, Michael departed via the fireplace to the Quidditch stadium.

Sirius looked at the top of David's head while bits of his dressing gown were being pulled off. For the most part of his life he had been the definition of shy, but he didn't feel silly talking to David before he was born and he didn't feel it now.

"I wonder if all babies smell as wonderful as you do," he whispered into his son's ear. David squirmed slightly. Sirius had to shift him about a bit so that he could support his weight better. It was then that a funny smell invaded his nostrils. "Well, right now you don't smell all that wonderful. Come on you, let's get you changed." Sirius was getting to be a natural at changing nappies while that was something Michael was still having trouble with. Once David was cleaned up, Sirius dressed him in the blue baby suit that Minsky had made for Michael all those years ago. Looking down at David made Sirius wonder what Michael looked like as a baby. He couldn't quite put his finger on anything specific but David was looking more and more like Michael every day.

He played with the tiny tot on the living room floor for several hours, until David started yawning and dropped off to sleep against his teddy bear. Sirius carefully picked him up and then deposited him safely in his cot, nestling him against the white blanket he had been wrapped in after he was born. Above all, Sirius loved to watch him while he was napping. The way he breathed, the way his tiny fingers would flex and then relax. It wouldn't be long before he woke up, hungry and grumpy but until then, Sirius was content to watch the treasure of his life sleeping soundly.