Mrs. Peal set down the teacup she was sipping from, smiling to Willy as he refilled it. "I'm not going to ask how you discovered my involvement. I get the impression that I'd rather not know." She pushed aside the notes Eric had set before her. "That was many years ago, when I returned to the Aurors. Now: to answer the questions you are inevitably going to ask. Yes, I investigated your mother's murder. Yes, I knew when I took you in that you were Evelyn Sable's son. No, we never found your father, or any particular trace that you ever had one, though obviously you do. No, we didn't find any trace of other living relatives. Finally; no, we never determined any reason why your mother was killed."
"Did you find anything out at all?"
She sat for a moment, staring into her cup. She then led Eric behind his shop to a storeroom. Small boxes lined the walls, filled with papers. "These are all my personal notes on unsolved cases. One never knows if they'll be needed, and I didn't trust the Ministry to take proper care of them or to allow access for people who needed them." She selected a small box and opened it.
"Age: 19. No criminal record, no sign of injury, and no indications of poison. Investigator concluded death by curse. Held residence in Hogsmeade under the name of Evelyn Sable. However, there were no records of her before that year, indicating that it was a false identity."
Eric looked up suddenly. "Don't I have grandparents?"
She paused. "There's no way to know. They didn't come forward when the murder hit the news, and there's no way to find them."
Eric became concerned. "Some one could have killed them too. You know, if someone had killed my grandparents, then my mother, won't they be after me?"
"Calm down Eric, you're jumping to conclusions. The sad truth is that things like that were happening while Voldemort was active. When he fell, his followers fell too, and the killings stopped. I wouldn't worry about it further." She set herself next to him, placed an arm across his shoulders, and gave him the most reassuring smile she had. "Now, Voldemort has been forced out of power, and you have an extremely talented ex-auror and the entire Hogwarts staff looking after you. I wouldn't give this too much more thought."
Eric turned and buried himself in her arms. Dumbledore was right – even if he never found his relatives, he still had a family.