Author's Notes: This has been sitting in my computer's writing folder unfinished accumulating dust, but today I set out to finish all oneshot fics in that state, so here you have it. If you like it, please review. If you don't like it, please review. If you're unsure how you feel about it, please review. Yeah, you get my point.

Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing JKR's creations.


A Matter of Putting Two and Two Together

Albus Dumbledore woke up early, partially due to the sun filtering through the living room curtains and partially due to the discomfort of sleeping on the couch. He'd paused, rubbed his aching back, and recalled the events that led to his sleeping here.

Last night, his wife Minerva had been terribly angry with him. Albus had been out late the prior night at a meeting with the Minister of Magic. They had discussed trivial matters and nothing of great importance. Albus had arrived home to find an angry Minerva waiting for him.

"You're late," she had greeted him.

"Leach does enjoy rambling, my dear," Albus had provided as an explanation as to why he was home at such a late hour. He had been seemingly oblivious to the fact that Minerva was upset.

"Mhh," Minerva had frowned, pursing her lips.

"What's wrong?" Albus had asked.

"You told me that you were meeting with Leach, but you failed to inform me that you would miss dinner," Minerva had looked wounded.

"I'm sorry, Minerva," Albus had looked earnest and sincere, "I -"

"What did you talk about?" Minerva had demanded, "What was so important that you had to miss dinner tonight?"

"Nothing significant, dear," Albus had replied honestly. It was true - Minister of Magic Nobby Leach 's addiction to small talk was infamous.

"You won't tell me what the two of you discussed?" Minerva had exploded, "Fine, Albus! That's just fine. You can sleep on the couch tonight, then."

With that, she had stormed out of the room, leaving Albus alone and bewildered.


Albus hated arguing with Minerva. Their fighting was indeed a rare occurrence. In fact, since they had been married five years earlier, Albus only remembered fighting with Minerva twice. They were like parallel lines: they rarely clashed. When they did, however, it was usually huge.

He had greatly angered Minerva, although he wasn't sure how: she knew he was having dinner with Leach, and she knew Leach could easily talk his tongue off. It was a matter of putting things together to figure out that it was rather inevitable that he would be home late. He wondered what the problem was. Perhaps she was upset that Leach had not invited her to the meeting? That didn't make sense, though: she couldn't stand Leach.

He wondered what was wrong. He wanted to correct his error, but he didn't know what he had done wrong. He went through his mind for possible offences that he could have committed. Suddenly, he recalled that Minerva had said she had something important to tell him at dinner, and he had promised to be there. No wonder she was angry!

He wondered what she had wanted to tell him. Then he remembered that she had been throwing up recently. She had been throwing up recently, and she had something important to tell him.

He paused. Could this be what he thought it was? He smiled. This could be what he thought it was. He grinned. He was going to be a father.

He wondered why he hadn't come to this realization sooner; after all, it was only a matter of putting two and two together.

He heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and he got up from the couch and saw Minerva.

He said sincerely, "I'm terribly sorry about last night. Leach was talking about the most trivial things, and I lost track of time. I'm truly sorry I missed dinner."

Minerva sighed, "So am I."

Albus smiled, "When is the baby due?"

"How in Merlin's name did you know about that?" Minerva looked surprised, but happy.

"My dear," Albus told her, "It was only a matter of putting two and two together."