Thanks to everyone who read and big thank you to patronouseseandpotions who reviewed. As for your question, no Peter never asked her out. There's no doubt he likes her very much but he knew she was out of his league.
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Also thanks to Prongs Smitch for looking over this even though you didn't find anything wrong.
Chapter 12: Holidays Are Blue
Christmas morning Mandy woke up to find two very strange things. First James was staring at her and second her hair had been braided into several long braids. Though James often got up earlier than the rest, often taking close to an hour in the bathroom, it was strange to find him watching her. "I'm awake," Mandy said, "so please stop staring at me."
"I'm not staring at you. I'm watching you. Did you know you sleep cast?" James asked
"What?" Mandy asked confused.
"You sleep cast. You know, go through the motions of casting spells in your sleep. I think I saw a few stunners, a disarming charm or two, and maybe a binding spell."
"Too bad I don't remember what I was dreaming about. Did you braid my hair?"
"One or two strands but the rest did it by itself."
"Figures," Mandy rolled her eyes. "I can do a perfect hair charm in my sleep but while I'm awake it always looks like a bird has moved in and nested."
"Can't be any worse than my hair."
"True."
"Wouldn't it be easier for you to see me if you sat up?"
"Would be, if I could," Mandy answered. So far James had been looking down on her and Mandy had been laying on her back looking up to see his upside down face.
"Oh, I guess someone is a little possessive in his sleep," James said, looking at Sirius who had an arm draped across Mandy's midsection protectively.
"Yeah, his grip is no problem," Mandy answered tugging on her left arm, which wouldn't move. Remus held it tight in his grip like a tot with its favorite toy.
"Moony," James called, "wake up, Moony."
Remus's eyes opened and he suddenly let go of Mandy's arm. "Sorry," he muttered.
"Don't be," Mandy answered, grinning. Really it wasn't a problem since she wasn't looking to get up early anyway. She rolled over and brushed a hand through Sirius's hair then kissed him.
"Mmm, morning," Sirius said as he grinned and woke up.
"Morning," Mandy answered.
"Now can we get to the presents?" James asked, nearly bouncing in his seat.
"Yes, okay." Mandy and Remus both sat up and summoned the presents from under the tree to the middle of their circle. Sirius reignited the fire and Mandy handed a present to each boy as the Common Room began to warm back up.
Remus wrapped his duvet around himself and sat leaning back against Mandy's armchair, his legs spread in front of him, James did the same as he leaned back against the couch, and Sirius lay on his side, his quilt from Mrs. Potter still draped over him one hand propping his head up. Mandy on the other hand sat across from James, a blanket draped over her shoulders and her legs crossed in front of her.
Each year, no matter where the Marauders were, they always held the same tradition. Each person got two sets of gifts: a gag gift and a real gift. The gag gift was always marked "open me first" in an effort to disappoint the receiver and trick them into believing they had received something horrible from their friends. The gag gift was usually a gift to remind them of a prank that had gone wrong or something they would find insulting.
The most memorable gag gift had been in their fifth year when Sirius had, in hopes of insinuating that Mandy was a baby and that he was making fun of her, given Mandy a stuffed wolf. Deep down Mandy was touched by the present, though she pretended to be indignant about it. She had nicknamed the wolf Mini-Moony and it sat with the gift he had given her the following year, a stuffed stag nicknamed Mini-Prongs, on her bedside table.
This year's gag gift from Sirius to Mandy was a stuffed rat that looked conspicuously like a mini-Wormtail. Mandy shook her head and sighed. Her gag gift from James was a pink, lace dress as Mandy hated both pink and dresses and from Peter Mandy received Frog Spawn Soap. To round off the gifts Remus had gotten her a package of dung bombs. "Dung bombs, Remus? Really?" Mandy asked.
"What can I say? They inspired me," Remus answered, "besides you'll find some sort of use for them."
Mandy watched as the boys opened their presents from her, James a pair of silky black underpants, Sirius bear-paw slippers, and Remus a Slytherin scarf. Both James and Remus had paled at their gifts, being reminded of pranks gone awry, and Sirius had rolled his eyes. One morning after accompanying Remus during his transformation in May of their sixth year, Sirius had made an off handed, teasing comment about Mandy's bear paws. Mandy didn't remember the exact words, something about them looking big and well-padded or something to which Mandy had replied that if he liked them so much she'd get him some for Christmas.
As for Remus, a couple weeks earlier they had intended to charm all the Slytherin scarves to wrap around the owners upper body rending them incapable of using their arms for a good half an hour and Remus had been in charge of looking up the spell. Instead the scarves had wrapped themselves around their owner's heads like turbans and had to be undone by Professor Flitwick at dinner when several Slytherins were escorted to the infirmary with high temperatures.
Mandy couldn't remember the reason behind why she had gotten James the underpants only that she had found them in her trunk and they had been marked 'Gag gift, James' so she figured she had to give them to him.
As for their real gifts Mandy had received books from all of her friends except Peter. She pulled the wrapping off the book from Sirius and her jaw dropped in shock. "Safe Defense While Pregnant?" Mandy read, then looked up at Sirius.
"I know you've been missing out on practical lessons and this will help get you caught back up. It teaches you ways to do the spell in a safe way," Sirius answered.
"Thanks, Love," Mandy said, smiling. From Remus the book was on Herbology, James on Transfiguration, Lily on Charms, and Parker had gotten her one on Potions. "Okay, who told Parker?"
"We didn't," James swore, "you made us promise not to."
"Maybe your brother told her," Sirius added.
"Maybe," Mandy agreed.
"Or maybe she's just very smart and figured it out," Remus said.
"That could be true too." Mandy shrugged and opened her present from Peter, which happened to be a pound of Honeydukes' Best Chocolate and a bunch of chocolate frogs. Mandy smirked thankful that he remembered she loved chocolate. Since he still didn't know Mandy was pregnant, Mandy was glad he hadn't been present when she opened the books.
"The best thing about the books is that you can charm them to have a different title and appear to have a different subject matter. It recognized your magical signature and uses that to tell who picks up the book. If it's picked up by someone else while they're under the charm that person will see anything but the real title. Tells you how to do it on page one," Remus told her.
"Thanks Remus," Mandy said checking out the first page of the Charms book. Sure enough it explained everything Remus had just said. "Open your gift Pads," Mandy said as James tore into his real gift from Mandy which turned out to be a Snitch engraved with the letter L.M.E. They were Lily's initials and if the girl found out she would have killed Mandy at that point but Mandy knew that James was seriously in love with her and the smile on his face just proved to Mandy that the gift had been the right idea.
Sirius also opened his gift and he stared at it confused. "Are you sure you didn't mix my gift with Moony's? I mean the only book you've ever given me was last year and it was a gag gift, day planner," Sirius said.
"Sirius, read it," Mandy demanded.
"The official Sirius Black Fan Club roster," Sirius read. "There's a fan club?"
"Not that the other girls know about," Mandy answered, biting her thumbnail, "open it."
Sirius flipped the book open as Remus flipped through the photo album Mandy had made for him. "The 'Let's all Swoon when Sirius Black Looks Our Way Club'. Also known as 'The Swooners' Club' By Mandy Hunter," Sirius read the first page. He had known Mandy had a name for all the girls that had ever drooled over, dated, or obsessed over him but he didn't know she had kept a list. Sirius flipped through the book's pages and recognized girls' names here and there and he flushed red. "Mandy, this is kinda awkward. I don't like this little black book."
"Read the last page," Mandy ordered.
"Fine," Sirius flipped to the very last page. "And your number one fan: Supporting you in all that you do, loving you always, Amanda Lynn Hunter." Sirius smiled and sat up then hugged his girlfriend tight. "I'll always be your number one fan too," Sirius told her.
"If I ever get that sickening with my girlfriend, hex me," James hissed to Remus.
"You'd have to have a girlfriend first," Remus answered not even looking up from the album. Sirius and Mandy both snickered.
"We should get to breakfast," James mumbled.
Everyone agreed and without changing they went down to the Great Hall. Instead of the four long house tables there were only two long tables and the staff table was smaller than usual. The remaining Hufflepuff students joined the Slytherin table and the four Gryffindors joined the Ravenclaw table. As they slid into their seats Mandy saw McGonagall stand and make her way towards them. She also saw Dumbledore smirk a bit and raise his glass towards them.
"Good morning, Professor McGonagall," Mandy said.
"Happy Christmas, Professor," Sirius added.
"Should I even bother asking why you are—" McGonagall motioned to their outfits.
"We didn't feel like getting dressed," James said, "but technically these are clothes and you can't fault us for that."
"And where were you last night?" McGonagall asked.
"Not feeling up for a big feast with our fellow students, as we shall not be tonight," Sirius said.
"We do assure you that Pokey and Chris made sure we had plenty to eat last night," Mandy said in reference to her two favorite house elves.
"Why does it not surprise me you know about the house elves? I must urge you to come to the feast tonight." McGonagall said.
"Professor, we couldn't possibly come tonight," Sirius said.
"It just wouldn't be right for us to indulge in such a wonderful feast while our mate couldn't," James said.
"Really, I'll be ok. You guys go and enjoy the feast," Remus said.
"Are you sure it's okay?" Mandy asked. "Christmas is a time for family—"
"I'm sure, enjoy," Remus almost demanded.
"When you do come to the feast, no pajamas," McGonagall warned.
"Yes, Professor," James, Sirius, and Mandy agreed. McGonagall nodded and headed back for her seat.
"What do you think?" Mandy asked, leaning towards the other three.
"I told you that you lot should go," Remus said.
"Rem's right, we should go to dinner. We can cut out early but we really should show at dinner," Sirius said.
Mandy looked at James who shrugged and then she nodded. "Okay, that settles it, we'll go but as soon as it's acceptable to slip out we'll be out there with you," Mandy told Remus.
"I guess I can't stop you," Remus said. The other three nodded and the plan was agreed upon.
Later that afternoon, while lying on the couch in the Common Room with her head in Sirius's lap, Mandy caught sight of the fairy at the top of the Christmas tree. Suddenly Mandy burst into tears and hid her face in Sirius's stomach. "Mandy?" Sirius asked. He looked down at his girlfriend but she wouldn't look up at him. "Mandy, love, what's wrong?" Sirius glanced over at James who only shrugged. Sirius pulled Mandy up into a sitting position and held her to him. "Please, tell me what's wrong." Mandy just continued to cry and then suddenly James clasped a hand to his chest.
It wasn't that his heart was breaking at the sight and sound of her cries, though it did hurt him a bit, rather it was almost as if he could feel Mandy's heartbreak himself. Almost as suddenly as the tears and sobs had started, they stopped. Sirius looked at James in shock nearly unable to believe what had just happened. Mandy's emotions had never had a hair trigger before. They had never seen her jump so quickly from content to sad to calm. Frankly it was scaring Sirius. James on the other hand was deeply concerned. Something was wrong and he was determined to find out what it was.
"Mandy, talk to me." James said slowly.
Instead of answering Mandy pulled out of Sirius's arms and dove to their pile of discarded blankets covering herself with as many as she could and burying her face into her pillow. Mandy noticed it smelled like Sirius and suddenly she was sent into a fresh wave of tears. Though the boys couldn't see the tears, Mandy had pulled the covers over her head and now looked like a pile of blankets; they could hear the sobs emanating from the young girl. James shared a concerned look with Sirius then got up and sat down next to the lump. James ran a hand down what felt like her back and then rubbed small circles hoping to calm her down.
"Mandy?" Sirius asked joining the other two on the floor. He was unsure what to say and their normal girl decoder, one Remus Lupin, had gone to the Hospital Wing after breakfast stating he didn't feel well. Sirius couldn't blame him but he sure wished he could tap into Moony's ability to read girls.
"Shhh," James said. He wasn't hoping it would calm Mandy, he knew it wouldn't work; he was trying to quiet Sirius so he could hear what Mandy was muttering. James stopped rubbing her back and leaned closer, slowly moving his hands up towards where he knew her head to be. He carefully pulled back the blankets letting them rest at her shoulders and heard her muttering words that sounded like never, home, alone, orphan. When the muttering continued James's heart dropped into his stomach. After a few moments he realized exactly what she was saying.
"They're never coming home. I am so alone. An orphan. Never coming home, orphaned," Mandy muttered. Sirius stroked her hair and James continued to rub her back.
"Stripes," James said softly, "you're not alone. You'll never be alone."
Mandy sat up and looked at him. The confusion and tear tracks were both evident on her face.
"You will always have me. I promise, no matter what happens, I will always be here for you."
"Old Moldie considers you a blood traitor, James. You can't promise you'll always be around. You're at the top of his list. You think that he won't come after you? You're dead wrong."
"Maybe he will and I won't be here in person but I will always be in your heart." James pressed his hand to Mandy's heart. "Those we love, no matter where they are, be a million kilometers away, dead, or just down the street, never truly leave us. They'll always be in your heart. You can always find them when you really need them."
"Really?" Mandy asked, sniffling.
"Yeah, and that's a promise."
Mandy flung her arms around James and held him tight resting her head on his chest. Sirius watched them for a moment, jealousy flaring in his chest, then saw Mandy was reaching behind herself. Thinking she was reaching for her bear or blankets, Sirius leaned back. Unable to find what she was looking for Mandy pulled back from James and gave him a look. James smirked and leaned towards Sirius. He fisted Sirius's shirt in one hand then hauled him into the hug. Sirius looked at James but the other boy was smiling down at the young girl. Mandy felt Sirius's arms slip around her and he kissed her shoulder. Mandy relaxed in their embrace as memories flooded her mind.
Memories of Scott Hunter reading bedtime stories and being tucked in while begging for just one more, being comforted in his big strong arms after her nightmares, and days of him teaching her to ride their winged Abraxan. Then there were memories of her mum, Lynn. Days spent helping her cook or bake, being helped with her primary school homework, and tea parties. More tears rose to her eyes.
"Do you want to talk about them?" Sirius asked as he rested his chin on her shoulder.
"They were amazing parents. I know recently they were gone more often than they were home but when I was little they were amazing. Before I went to Hogwarts they were the best parents a kid could ask for. Dad passed on his love for all creatures. Then Mum ... I miss them."
"I kinda know how you feel," James said. "Don't bottle your feeling up; believe me, that just makes it worse. Remember what I was like after my dad died last year? When I finally talked about it, I felt a lot better."
"I've never lost anyone the way you two have," Sirius said, "but I know James is right. If you hold your feelings in, they will eat at you until you let them out."
"What would you know about feelings?" Mandy snapped.
Sirius knew she was just upset and not really angry with him. "I don't show them often but I do have them. Unless you talk about them they will hurt."
"You said that already," Mandy said. She sniffed back more tears and Sirius sighed.
"Until I told you how I felt about you, I was a mess inside. I constantly fought with myself about it. Confessing it really helped. You knew how I felt and that meant I wasn't alone. There was nothing more I could do."
"Part of me feels guilty," Mandy pushed away from James and leaned back against Sirius. James took one of her hands and rubbed his thumb across the back of it. "It's almost like it's my fault they died. I know it's not but it feels like it."
Sirius kissed Mandy's forehead and James gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
"I need out of here. I'm going for a walk." Mandy stood and went to change then went for a walk around the castle. Mandy stopped on the ground floor and stared out the window at the falling snow.
"Little Gryffindor is far from her Common Room," a voice behind her said. Mandy focused on the window to see her reflection and smiled at the person behind her.
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