Chapter Sixteen: Summer Holidays

The first part of the summer holidays passed peacefully. James, who in contrast to Ermengarde did not greet the day until it was half-over, spent his mornings sleeping, while Ermengarde helped Mrs. Potter in the flower garden.

She liked Mrs. Potter very much, who likewise took an immediate shine to Ermengarde. The two chatted and giggled about school, boys, embarrassing times in Mrs. Potter's youth, but would sometimes talk about much more serious topics, such as what Ermengarde wanted to do as a career.

"I don't know, really," she had told Mrs. Potter while pulling at a particularly tough weed. "There's so much to choose from. I've thought about writing, maybe…journalism or something. Maybe for the Daily Prophet."

"That's a good thought," Mrs. Potter had said. "Any other ideas?"

"Well…" Ermengarde had begun, somewhat sheepishly.

"Go on, dear, nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I've thought about being an Auror."

Ermengarde remembered how excitedly Mrs. Potter had encouraged her to pursue this particular career and smiled. Today, she had taken a few extra minutes before going to join Mrs. Potter, and spent those minutes in front of the mirror in the guest bedroom, putting her hair in plaits. A sudden commotion from the room next door made her jump, and she ran to see what in the world could have woken James from his half-comatose state. When she reached the door, she gasped right aloud.

"Sirius?" she exclaimed. "I thought you weren't coming for another week!"

"I wasn't," said Sirius simply, going over to her to give her a hug.

"So what're you doing here, then?"

"I ran away," Sirius said wryly. "I'd finally had enough."

"Enough? So you just – left?" Ermengarde felt a bit confused.

"Yeah, I got here about ten minutes ago."

"So what did your parents do, mate?" asked James, rubbing his eyes blearily.

"You know that stupid tapestry thing they've got? The family tree thing?" said Sirius. "They blasted me right off it. I saw Mum do it."

"They took you off your own family tree?" said Ermengarde, shocked. "They can't do that!"

"They can and they did," said Sirius.

"That's sick," said James.

"Well, it's good to see you, at any rate," said Ermengarde. "So you'll be staying, I gather?"

"Yeah," said Sirius. "It's been a mad night, let me tell you."

"So, what exactly happened?" asked James keenly, sitting up in his bed. Ermengarde and Sirius joined him. "I mean, did you just leave or did you have a row or what?"

"You know my parents, we never didn't have a row," said Sirius. "Mum was having a rant about who I hang around with."

Sirius suddenly wouldn't look Ermengarde in the eye. Instead, he toyed with a string coming undone from James's bed.

"And?" James prompted.

"Well…okay, look, Ermengarde, she saw that letter you sent me last week. She read it and saw how you'd talked about how nice it is to still be around magic and figured from that you're a Muggle-born," said Sirius. "I thought I'd never hear the end of it."

"What did she say?" asked Ermengarde.

"You don't want to know."

"Yes, I do."

"She…" Sirius coughed, obviously buying himself a moment. "She said stuff like I was 'being corrupted by Mudbloods' –" he barely got the word out before shuddering slightly. "And that I shouldn't be in your company because it's beneath the Black family…it's rubbish, all of it. Dad said that now I'm sixteen – only have been for a week, I might add – I should be adult enough to know what a danger Muggle-borns, or 'blood traitors' as he called them, are. And anyway, it was just one step too far, and I just got my stuff and left."

"Your mum didn't mind?"

"My darling mum was the one who shouted at me the entire afternoon. I saw her blast off my name from the tapestry. I left at one in the morning and took my motorbike out to here."

"What'd Regulus have to say about all this?" asked James.

Sirius grimaced. "Tosh about he'd never disgrace our mum and dad with such shameful acquaintances. It was total bollocks, not worth listening to, so I decided not to anymore. I just got out while I still could."

"Good for you, Sirius," said Ermengarde earnestly.

"It's just so ridiculous, all of it, that stupid pure-blood drivel. I mean, look at you, Ermengarde. You're Muggle-born and you're one of the most brilliant people I know," Sirius ranted on.

"Well, thank you," said Ermengarde.

"Let me tell you two, you're lucky to have families that care as much as yours do. Granted, your parents aren't quite old enough to even have you yet, but you know what I mean," Sirius added with a nod to Ermengarde.

Ermengarde felt a bit off, suddenly. She remembered uncomfortably that Remus was the only one who really knew about her family. She cleared her throat and flipped one of her plaits out of her face. Sirius grinned and took hold of one.

"Cute look, this," he said amusedly.

"Shut up," said Ermengarde, but she smiled back. "Well…shall we have breakfast?"

The three of them trotted downstairs to a heavily laden table of toast, sausage, potato pancakes, eggs, and coffee. Mrs. Potter had bewitched a knife to slice up some fruit, too, and was now levitating a bowl of strawberries and mango over to the table.

"Mum, is there any food left for the rest of Britain?" James joked, sitting in his usual seat.

"I thought Sirius in particular could use a good breakfast after last night," said Mrs. Potter. "How are you feeling, Sirius?"

"I'm fine, really," said Sirius. "Thank you so much for taking me in early."

"You're welcome to stay with us for Christmas as well," said Mr. Potter, putting down the Daily Prophet. "And you too, Ermengarde, if your father has to go into hospital again."

Ermengarde choked slightly on her toast, but swallowed quickly after receiving a kick under the table from James.

"T-thank you, sir," she sputtered.

They ate breakfast quickly, then the three of them left the table to help Sirius get settled in. Ermengarde fixed James with a curious eye.

"What exactly did you tell your parents about me?" she asked.

"Well, I couldn't exactly tell them you were blasted back in time, could I? I just said your dad had to go into hospital in France because that's where they treated him, so…" James trailed off, shrugging.

"Treated him? For what?"

"Lycanthropic-induced malignancies."

"What the bloody hell is that?" asked Sirius, apparently impressed with his best friend's vernacular.

"Lumps," said James simply.

"Yeah, but lycanthropic means he's a werewolf!" said Ermengarde.

"D'you have a better suggestion?" asked James. "It's serious enough. I figured it would sound legitimate. Come on, let's go into town or something."

Sirius moaned about not being able to fly his motorbike to town, but as James and Ermengarde both insisted, the Muggles wouldn't take too well to it. Ermengarde had not yet been into town with James, but very much enjoyed it. There were quaint shops and a small cinema lining a not-very-busy road. Sirius insisted on treating them to grotesquely large ice creams in celebration of his recent liberation from his parents' hold. Ermengarde tried to convince the boys to see a film with her (the only one playing at that time was a sappy romantic one), but they were much more interested in a video arcade. It was fun to watch Sirius try and fail to win at various games.

"And…ha! Won again!" said Ermengarde. The boys were impressed with how good she was.

"I can't even go five minutes before I've died," said Sirius, somewhat glumly. He yawned widely. "'Course, I'm half-asleep, so that could have something to do with it."

"Possibly," said James.

"And I did just fly halfway across Britain, probably illegally, and ran away from home. It's been a busy night."

"But nothing out of the ordinary, of course."

Another week passed and Remus joined the group at last. The four Marauders were inseparable, as always, and spent long days around town, in James's massive backyard playing Quidditch, or at home, just talking. Ermengarde had never spent such a summer holiday feeling perfectly content to sit in the beautiful garden reading, with her legs crossed over Remus's lap, while James and Sirius attempted to catch a walnut they'd gotten Mr. Potter to charm so it would behave like a Snitch, since they didn't have their own. It was very funny to watch them go at it, since they were so fiercely competitive.

"Ah, you're cheating!"

"How could I cheat? It's not like I can do any magic or anything!"

"So how come you caught it and I didn't?"

"Maybe because you're really rubbish at Quidditch and I should play Chaser from now on."

"Oh, shut up. We'll go again."

"You must love the agony of defeat, Prongs."

"About as much as you'll love the agony of my foot shoved up your –"

"Lunch!" called Mrs. Potter from the house.

Before they stood up, Ermengarde stretched and sighed.

"Bet you love this," said Remus, smiling.

"I do, very much," said Ermengarde. "It's heavenly."

"Well, I'm glad to see you so happy," said Remus, and he held out a hand to help her up from the bench, and they went inside together.