Author's Note: If you'd like a recording of me reading any of the chapters aloud, e-mail me and I'm more than happy to send them to you. I can only send one chapter at a time because of my computer's capacity, so pick your favorite :-).
Another note to make is that this is the LAST CHAPTER OF THIS STORY. Part Two is already in the making, so be on the lookout for it! It probably won't be posted until at least a week after the release of HBP, in order to give myself a little breathing time (to enjoy the book and also for rehearsals for "The Secret Garden", where I'm playing the Ayah. By the way, I don't own that either…there's a reference to it in this chapter). But be prepared for an even deeper, darker tale coming up!
Now, on to the story!
Chapter Twenty: Looking After
As Ermengarde had predicted, Remus wanted to be alone after that night…and the next, and the next. He wouldn't go to meals, so the Marauders brought food back to the common room for him. As they all sat around the fire, eating quietly, Ermengarde began to get restless. Finally, tearing off a piece of bread and passing the rest to Sirius, she nudged Remus.
"Smile," she said. Remus didn't. "Smile."
Remus simply shrugged moodily and ate his chicken silently. Ermengarde looked to James, Peter, and Sirius. James and Sirius glanced at each other and, as one, stood up and moved right in front of Remus.
"Okay, Moony," said James with a grimace. "You're forcing us to do something we really don't want to do."
"This is something we would normally only do after a catastrophe like a flood or a plague," said Sirius through gritted teeth.
"But we feel that desperate times call for desperate measures," said James.
"You need to cheer up, mate," said Sirius.
"Ready, Padfoot?"
"If you are, Prongs."
"Here goes nothing."
All of a sudden, both Sirius and James broke into some sort of strange vaudeville tap-dance number, complete with hats and canes they'd conjured from nowhere. As they both attempted to sing the same song (what it was, no one knew, as both of them seemed to be getting the tune, rhythm, and lyrics wrong), Ermengarde, Peter, and Remus erupted into laughter. Sirius and James collapsed onto the couch, slightly winded and laughing as well.
"Any better?" asked James.
"Yes," said Remus at last.
"Look," said Ermengarde, remembering something from the future. "Snape wouldn't dare say anything. He'd land himself in trouble, too. I mean, it's awful that he knows at all, but I doubt he'll say anything. Really."
"You know something, Snow Wing, I think you have too much faith in people sometimes," said Sirius.
"You'd do well to have a bit more," said Ermengarde. "And, perhaps, to not send people you don't like into secret passages towards werewolves."
Sirius grinned somewhat sheepishly. Remus let out a sort of groan and swung his legs over the arm of his chair. Ermengarde reached over and tugged the sleeve of his robe in what she was sure was an annoying way.
"None of that, now!" she scolded.
"Look, it's just –" Remus began, but Ermengarde cut him off.
"D'you want me to sing, too?" she asked.
"Ermengarde…"
Ermengarde grabbed Remus's hands and started a childlike hand game with him. Remus held his hands perfectly still, not really participating, but allowing a small smile to spread to the corners of his mouth as she played.
"Skip-skipped the ladies to the master's gate, sip-sipped the ladies while the master ate. Tiptoed the chamber maid and stole their pearls, snip-snipped the gardener and cut off their curls!" Ermengarde sang as she clapped and continued her silly diversion.
"Where do girls learn these things?" asked James, interested.
"All little girls know them. It's an amniotic thing, I think," said Ermengarde vaguely, still hitting Remus's hands in rhythm to her rhyme. "This one's particularly old-fashioned. I'm not sure where I learned it, though. I've forgotten."
"You should make up your own," said Remus. "You're creative enough."
Ermengarde thought for a moment, humming the tune and continuing the motions. After a few minutes, her face brightened and she started singing again.
"Flick-flicked the werewolf's wand to save his friends, tick-tocked the clock and said the duel's to end. Huff-huffed the rival and left with a cough, laugh-laughed the others while he sodded off!"
Remus burst out laughing with an odd sort of sputter and Sirius positively snorted from amusement. It was a nice feeling, sitting there laughing her head off with her four closest friends, and Ermengarde felt like that night could have gone on forever and she'd have been fine. After a while, they all fell into a happy silence, staring into the fire, watching the flames dance to an unheard tune. James spoke first, oddly serious.
"Listen, mates," he said. "Let's all agree to something, yeah? If you're right, Ermengarde, and there's really going to be a war…well, let's agree to always look out for each other, all right? I mean, I'm sure we'll do it anyway, but I'd feel better if we promised it."
"I promise," said Sirius.
"I promise," said Peter.
"And me," said Remus.
"I promise, too," said Ermengarde.
"And I'll take care of all of you," said James.
"Enough of that. I want to play Ermengarde's game," said Sirius. He started clapping his hands in rhythm to the tune, hitting hers as they played. "How does it go again?"
Ermengarde taught him the song quickly, and after a while, all five of them were playing a complicated version of the game, laughing between loud choruses of the made-up song. They grew steadily more raucous, occasionally throwing pillows or biscuits at anyone who made a mistake, or creating new lyrics (Ermengarde had to stop Sirius several times because it seemed most of his involved the phrase "snog-snogged"), or getting off-rhythm and having to start over. Indeed, when the other Gryffindors arrived back in the common room from dinner, the Marauders were having such a good time that they didn't notice the odd glances they were receiving.
They didn't even notice that someone was outside the window, watching Ermengarde carefully while fingering a delicate instrument around their necks.
THE END (of part one!)