Dan rubbed his hands together, looking his sister up and down. "I know she's been having sex with her boyfriend Curt for at least two months," he said. "Her headboard bangs against the wall of my room. Given all the noise they make when they're making love, why not let that result in a crying baby in their lives?"
"No!" Kat turned bright red. "Don't do that. I don't love Curt."
Mom glared at her daughter through heavy, angry eyebrows. "Then why have you been giving him access to your body? You know it's risky to have sex without commitment."
"Yeah, I guess I do," Kat said. "I remember the talk you gave me when I was eleven. But... okay, I admit it. I like sex. Making love with Curt feels good. I don't love him, but I love his body."
"And when did you last have sex?" Mom demanded.
"Last night. He wanted the thrill of having my body one last time when I was still technically underage. But that doesn't mean I want to have his baby."
"You should have thought of that before having unprotected sex, young lady," Mom said.
"Unpro...? But Curt always uses a condom."
"Not last night he didn't," Mom said, waving her wand in a vortex motion. "Here's a trick I learned only recently: how to reach into the past and change events. I can only change small events at this point, so I couldn't go back and, say, rewrite the last election. And I can only reach back small stretches of time, so I can't rewrite history. But I can go back twelve hours and change things so that you and your boyfriend forgot a condom last night."
Dan felt the world ripple around them as this tiny change took effect. She watched her sister change just slightly... he realized she was wearing a different blouse than she'd worn when he walked in. Changing the condom made her pick a different wardrobe this morning? Weird.
Suddenly, Kat put her hand on her belly as she realized what she'd done... what her mother caused to happen after the fact.
"Congratulations," Mom said. "I hadn't looked to be a grandmother yet at my age, but I guess I should have raised a wiser witch. You and Curt conceived a child last night. And the moment the baby was conceived, your magic stopped. You won't be able to cast a spell until the baby is weaned."
Kat cast an angry glare at her brother, rubbing the baby that would now spend nine months growing in her body. "The first thing when I get my magic back, I'm turning you into this baby's diaper."
"Now now," Mom said, waving a warning finger. "If you do anything to get back at Dan, the next punishment will be much worse."
Dan couldn't resist a grin of payback. "Congratulations on your bouncing bundle of joy, Sis. When are you going to tell Curt he's going to be a daddy?"
"Don't gloat," Mom said. "Nobody likes a smug winner."