Chapter Seventeen: The Sixth Year

The summer holidays passed quickly – too quickly, Ermengarde thought – and soon, they were back at King's Cross, loaded down with heavy new books and saying goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Potter, who had been so good to them all during the break.

"Have a wonderful term, all of you," said Mrs. Potter, hugging Ermengarde.

"Thank you so much for everything," said Ermengarde.

"Oh, it was a pleasure, Ermengarde, it really was. Come back anytime."

As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of platform nine and three quarters, Ermengarde, Remus, James, and Sirius located Peter in an empty compartment. He was smiling widely and waving like a little boy.

"Hello, Peter, how were your holidays?" asked Ermengarde politely, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she sat down.

"Un-be-lievable," said Peter, turning the word into three. "Spain's amazing. You can't even imagine."

"What'd you bring me?" asked Sirius, and Ermengarde laughed.

Peter reached into his bag and pulled out four packages wrapped in plain brown paper, then handed one to each of the other Marauders. He watched eagerly as they all opened them. The parcels contained long, thin, silvery cords that felt something like coiled metal. Ermengarde picked hers up and tried to figure out exactly what it was.

"I got those from the local gypsies," said Peter excitedly. "They're called sapi tillek dirgek and they're really fun to use."

"How do you use them?" asked James, twisting his around his arm.

"Watch!"

Peter took Remus's and Sirius's and tapped them with his wand. At once, the cords sprang to life and began to fight each other, hissing and rattling their ends like snakes. Sirius's won in the end, and they all applauded. After the battle died out, the cords fell limp once more.

"Thanks, Wormtail, these should be very useful," said Sirius with a significant look at James.

James didn't return the look. "What?"

"Oh, you know…" Sirius prodded on.

"No, I don't," said James bluntly, though Ermengarde had an inkling he understood perfectly well.

"Evans!" said Sirius. "Can you imagine what she'd do if we set these in her dormitory?"

"You forget that's my dormitory too, Padfoot," said Ermengarde with a half-smile on her face.

"And I'm not going to do anything to Lily this year," James muttered, carefully putting his sapi tillek dirgek in his trunk.

"Why not?" asked Sirius, dumbfounded.

"I've decided to opt for maturity."

Sirius looked around at the others as though he could not believe a fellow Marauder were passing up an opportunity for mischief. Peter shrugged, Ermengarde stifled a giggle, and Remus nodded as though he were glad James had finally seen the light.

"So – wait, hold on, does this apply to everything? As in all pranks? You're not doing anything?" Sirius half-babbled.

"Don't be thick, Sirius, I said I'm not doing anything to Lily. I haven't renounced fun altogether," said James, now grinning.

"Ah, so you're just going to act like a good boy around her, right?" said Remus amusedly.

"That's the plan."

"Well, I think it's smart. Maybe she'll warm up to you a bit if you've grown up a bit," said Ermengarde.

"It's hard to see it, but there's a compliment in there, Prongs," said Sirius. Ermengarde reached over and gave him a smack on the arm. "Ouch!"

The arrival at Hogwarts was as welcome as ever. Old students eagerly watched the Sorting, applauding heartily when a tiny first-year joined their table. An adorable girl with short red hair named Gretchen Barnes literally skipped over to the Gryffindor table, and Sirius choked with laughter when she did. Ermengarde was very engaged in the Sorting when she suddenly felt Remus's hand around hers. She smiled but did not face him, instead giving his hand a squeeze back. It was amazing how she would still blush when they held hands.

"Zimmerman, Ethel!"

The last student was sorted and Dumbledore stood up, the Great Hall falling silent immediately under his regal presence.

"Another year begun, and may I say what a delight it is to see such a group of enthusiastic students! I have so much I would like to say, but to quote a very wise teacher I once had: 'Sometimes, you must stop putting words in others' mouths and start putting food in them.' Tuck in!"

Everyone laughed and applauded, and the feast appeared magically on the glittering golden plates. Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter immediately attacked whatever was in reach, while Ermengarde decided to opt for politeness and took a normal-sized portion of shepherd's pie. While she ate, she saw Lily, Luminita, and Nellie a few seats away. She waved eagerly, then excused herself for a moment to go and say hello. Lily gave her a big hug when she saw her.

"How were your summers?" asked Ermengarde.

"Oh, fine, fine," said Lily, though Ermengarde detected a strange flicker in her expression that she could not place.

"I got lost in New York," said Nellie, smiling at the memory. "I ended up in the middle of Chinatown trying to find my way out and almost – almost, Lily – used magic to find my mum and dad, but some old lady helped me instead. She gave me something from her restaurant, too. So, it was scary, but good food."

Ermengarde couldn't help but laugh at Nellie's way of being easily pleased.

"Mine was pretty quiet," said Luminita. "I didn't go anywhere special, but it was nice to be home. How about yours, Ermengarde? Where did you go?"

"I stayed with James," said Ermengarde. "My mum and dad had to go to France all summer."

"Oh, what for?" asked Nellie, and Ermengarde wished she hadn't. She hoped she'd get James's lie right.

"My dad had to go into hospital for – for lycanthropic-induced malignancies," she said quietly, not really wanting everyone to overhear that she had an imaginary werewolf father.

"Lycanthropic?" Nellie repeated. "Isn't that –"

"Shh, Nellie!" said Lily. "Honestly…is he okay, Ermengarde?"

"He'll be fine," she said. "Thanks. Well, I should get back to my dinner."

"Okay. Oh, wait! One more thing," said Luminita, and she was grinning slyly at Ermengarde. "What's going on with you and…you know…anything?"

Ermengarde said nothing, but felt herself turning tomato-red. The girls all giggled and squealed.

"Tell us all about it tonight, okay?" said Lily. "See you later."

Ermengarde rejoined the boys and looked at her plate. Instead of the manageable portion of shepherd's pie she had left, there was now a large helping of lamb chops, scalloped potatoes, chipolatas, and bread. She looked back up and raised an eyebrow at James and Sirius, who shrugged innocently, then Peter, who pointed at Remus.

"Remus?" said Ermengarde in a mock accusatory tone.

"I had nothing to do with it," he said, smiling. "Come on, eat up, you're much too thin lately," he added, more seriously.

Ermengarde knew he was right. She had lost a lot of weight over the summer. Even though she'd been very content, she had been overcome with worry. She'd been in the part for an awfully long time – when would she go back? Would she go back? The prospect of returning was not a happy one. She ate as much as she could and pushed her plate away. Sirius promptly pushed it back.

"Not enough," he said.

"There's still dessert!" Ermengarde protested.

"Yeah, but are you going to eat any of it?" asked James.

"I – I don't know, maybe!" said Ermengarde, taken aback by all of this and slightly irritated.

"We're just worried about you, mate, don't get in a strop," said Sirius.

"I'm not in a strop, it's just weird, you all pushing food on me. I'm fine," Ermengarde sighed, recognizing that they were just worried and meant no harm.

"All right, all right, but at least eat some tart," said Remus, pushing a plate of the dessert that had just appeared towards her.

Ermengarde gave him a withering look.

"For me?" said Remus, now holding some of it over her plate, letting it hover there.

"Oh, all right," said Ermengarde, and he put it on her place. She took a few bites, then pushed her plate away once more. "Satisfied?"

"Very," said Remus, and he gave her a big smile.

Ermengarde knew he wasn't just talking about her appetite.

Author's Note: "Sapi tillek dirgek" comes from the Romani language and means "Big long snake", so I didn't just make up some crazy words :-)