Chapter Fifteen: Family and Friends

"Has anyone seen my cauldron?"

"Damn, I think I've forgotten my cape. Oh, no, I've got it."

"These aren't mine…ugh, Wormtail, I think these are yours…"

Ermengarde sat observing, very amused by the boys' attempts to pack. James had just unearthed a pair of underwear in his trunk that did not belong to him and passed them along to Peter. Remus was still trying to work out where he'd put his cauldron while Sirius had put on his cape, pretending to be a vampire and attacking Ermengarde. She shrieked and giggled and pulled out her wand, pretending it was a cross.

"Back, undead one!" she demanded through furious sniggers.

Sirius pretended to be repelled by the wand and feigned a dramatic shrivel, all the while shouting in a Transylvanian accent, "Spare me, spare me!"

A few first-years looked absolutely terrified by this display and decided to leave the common room. Sirius fell back onto the floor on his side, laughing in his barklike way, while Ermengarde collapsed onto the armchair and tried to control her laughter lest her stomach began to cramp. Remus finally located his cauldron (James had been sitting on it absentmindedly for the past hour) and put it with his other belongings. Once Ermengarde's and Sirius's mirth had subsided a bit, Remus sat on the arm of Ermengarde's chair and gave her a smile which she returned.

"So, Snow Wing, where're you planning on staying this summer?" asked Peter.

"I'll be at James's all holiday," said Ermengarde. "Thank you again, by the way," she told James.

"You're welcome. I think my parents will be thrilled to have someone as well-behaved as you around the house."

"What about Remus? He's a good boy," said Sirius.

"Okay, they'll be thrilled to have a well-behaved girl around the house."

"Peter's been there before," Sirius joked. Peter blushed but laughed all the same.

"I'm going to miss you all so much!" said Ermengarde.

"Well, we'll all be together in the second half of the hols," said Remus.

"Not Wormtail," said James. "He'll be off trotting round Spain with Mummy and Daddy."

"I'll bring back souvenirs for all of you," said Peter, blushing again.

"Too right, you will," said Sirius, grinning at Peter. "But none of those weird plant things you brought back from Bombay. I'm still trying to stop it sneaking out of its pot and clinging to my curtains."

The train ride back to King's Cross Station the next day was a blur of games of Exploding Snap, a furious Every Flavor Bean fight, and Peter managing to set his jumper ablaze when no one was looking.

"Come on, Wormtail, pay attention when you've got your wand out, or it'll be a lethal weapon," said Sirius, thrashing Peter's arm to put out the fire.

"Sorry," Peter wailed. "I just dropped it."

"You always say that," said James.

"It's always true."

Ermengarde was rather quiet and Remus noticed first.

"What's up, Ermengarde?" he asked, trying to see what she was holding in her hands. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, smiling. "I just forgot I had this picture."

She held up a wizard photograph of her family that she had taken not long after she'd gotten into Hogwarts. The male Marauders all leaned closer for a look at the photograph. Ermengarde was absent from it, but it was crowded with what looked like the population of a small town. All the people were smiling widely, and from what the Marauders deduced quickly, this was Ermengarde's family.

"That's my mum," said Ermengarde unnecessarily, pointing at a woman in the back – she was the spitting image of her daughter. "And there's my dad," she pointed to a blonde man with blue eyes standing next to her mother.

"Who are all these people? I thought you only had eleven siblings," said Sirius.

"I do. These are my cousins as well. They all live quite near me," said Ermengarde.

"Big family," said Peter.

"No, really, Peter, is it?" said James sarcastically. "So who're they all?"

"Well, these are my sisters…Edna, Edith, and Eleanor, they're triplets…Emma, and she's the youngest…Esther, she's always had to use that wheelchair…and that's Evelyn, my oldest sister. She's the only one who got dad's hair out of all of us," said Ermengarde, indicating a tall, pretty blonde girl kneeling in the front. "And then my brothers, Sean, Stanley, Sebastian…he's going to be a doctor…Simon, he's the youngest of the boys…and then Sam, my favorite brother. He's very sweet."

"So what about the rest?" asked Remus.

"My cousins on my mum's side. The girls are Fiona, Faye, Felicity, Flora, and Francine," said Ermengarde.

"Who's that? She doesn't look very nice," said Peter pointing to a very gothic girl with heavy black liner around her eyes.

"That's Fala. She's not very nice. Then there's Tadgh, Timothy, and Thomas in that family. Oh, there's Andrenne and Omar, they're from my dad's side, you can tell, they're both as blonde as he is…Beth, Bessie, and Peter are on my dad's side as well…Caroline and Quincy are on my mum's side, they hate each other…and then on my mum's side as well are Devon, Denise, Daphne, Ross, Ryan, and Richard."

A silence followed all these introductions. Sirius looked at Ermengarde in amazement.

"How d'you remember everyone? I'd forget who they all were," he asked.

"Well, the first letters of their names helps narrow it down," said Ermengarde with a strange smile on her face.

"She's pretty," said Sirius, looking at Felicity, who had the same curls as Ermengarde, though they were a reddish brown rather than very dark brown.

"She's married," said Ermengarde.

"She can't be! She looks our age!"

"She's twenty-six! It's a trait in our family to look younger than we are."

"You look your own age," said Remus.

"Well, we'll see how long I stay looking this way, eh? I'll probably be thirty and people will still think I'm an underage witch."

James and Sirius went back to their Exploding Snap game while Peter attempted to open his Chocolate Frog (he was having some trouble). Remus looked again at the picture, then at Ermengarde.

"You look exactly like your mum," he said. "It's almost spooky. You smile more than her, though."

"Yeah, I do, but she's tired all the time, what with a family of a thousand," said Ermengarde.

"Come on, I'll buy you something from the trolley. Pumpkin pasties?" Remus offered.

"You read my mine," said Ermengarde, and taking his hand, they went to find the trolley of sweets.

When the Hogwarts Express finally arrived at King's Cross, Ermengarde felt a sudden wave of nerves. She was about to meet James's parents – Harry Potter's grandparents – for the first time. She knew who they were immediately. James looked quite a lot like his father, though his fair skin came from his mother, as well as his need for glasses. They seemed like a friendly pair, both waving furiously as James approached (courteously dragging Ermengarde's trunk as well as his own).

"James, darling, it's so good to see you again!" said Mrs. Potter, taking James into a very tight hug.

"Mum, you're suffocating me…I mean, I love you, but let go," said James.

"You must be Ermengarde," said Mr. Potter, extending a hand to Ermengarde, who shook it shyly. "Wonderful to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," said Ermengarde, and she was mortified to hear how nervous and breathy her voice sounded. "Thank you so much for inviting me this summer."

"Oh, it's nothing, dear. We've always had a lovely time meeting James's friends," said Mrs. Potter, giving Ermengarde a hug.

"Run along and say goodbye to your friends, son," said Mr. Potter. "We'll take the trunks to the car."

Ermengarde and James hurried over to where Sirius, Remus, and Peter were greeting their parents. Sirius wasn't actually paying a scrap of attention to his mother and father, who likewise did not seem to realize their flesh and blood was standing in front of him. Ermengarde felt a sudden surge of sympathy towards Sirius – she knew exactly how that felt. Peter's parents were both small and round, and his mother had a kerchief over her wispy blonde hair. Remus's mother was hugging him very tightly, but he did not fight it the way James did. On the contrary, he was hugging her back just as firmly, smiling.

"Mum," said Remus as he finally broke away. "This is Ermengarde Switoviak."

"Hello, darling," said Mrs. Lupin, beaming at Ermengarde. "I've heard so much about you. How do you like Hogwarts?"

"I miss it already," said Ermengarde.

"Remus, I'm going to go say hello to Mrs. Evans, all right? You get your things together," said Mrs. Lupin, kissing Remus on the forehead. "Lovely to meet you, dear," she added to Ermengarde, and she hurried off to greet Lily's mother.

"Well…" said Remus, somewhat awkwardly to Ermengarde.

"Yes?" said Ermengarde.

"Er…"

Ermengarde did not know exactly what to say, and Remus didn't seem to have much luck figuring it out either. Suddenly, Ermengarde felt a hand on the back of her head and before she could do anything, she had been pushed forward into Remus's face in a very surprised kiss that involved a painful collision of heads. She pulled away, turned around, and saw James behind her and Sirius behind Remus, who had just done the same to him.

"You – are – rats!" Ermengarde shrieked, half-laughing, smacking James with each word.

"Shove off," said Remus good-naturedly, giving Sirius a little push.

"So say goodbye to her properly, mate," said Sirius.

Remus stared for a second. "In front of you?"

"Yeah."

"No! No way, not in public! That's ridiculous."

"Way to make her feel pretty, Moony," said James, noting Ermengarde's brilliant crimson cheeks.

"It's not – I'm not – I didn't – oh, for heaven's sake," Remus sputtered.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at Remus, and it was clear he had no intention of leaving Remus alone until he'd kissed Ermengarde suitably. Remus ran a hand over his face, then stepped forward somewhat inelegantly, then took hold of Ermengarde and gave her a very nice kiss. James, Sirius, and Peter laughed and applauded. When Remus and Ermengarde broke apart, they were both grinning and laughing along with the Marauders.

"Write to me," said Ermengarde, hugging Peter, Sirius, and Remus in turn.

"Come on, Snow Wing, we'd better go," said James.

"See you soon, Swi!" said Sirius, clapping her on the shoulder.

"Er…bye," said Remus, still grinning embarrassedly.

And, waving enthusiastically as they departed, James and Ermengarde left their friends behind at King's Cross Station.