No reviews for the past three chapters? Come on peeps don't you like this story? You obviously keep reading so there's some interest. I just wish you'd tell me what you liked. Anyway thanks for reading.

Chapter 23: Includes a Bit of Advice

"So what did you and James talk about on his birthday?" Erin asked, looking up at her mum hoping to get her to continue the story.

"Well it actually started earlier that day. First I had a talk with my parents Cassie and Pat before I talked to James and they were rather helpful," Mandy answered.

After wrapping James's gift the morning of his birthday and hiding it in her trunk, and after breakfast, Mandy made her way to her brother's office on the first floor. An idea had come to her the night before after she had left the Common Room, but the only way to make it happen was to talk to her brother. "Jay!" Mandy called, peaking in the door as she knocked.

"Come in," he said softly and not at all surprised that she was there. He looked up to see her standing in the doorway. He motioned her in and stacked tests in front of him, setting them aside.

"I want to ask you a couple questions." Mandy twisted her fingers in the hem of her long sleeve, black shirt. She hesitantly entered the room.

"Sure, ask away." Jason motioned to the chair in front of him but Mandy didn't sit down.

"The book. Why is it so important that I read it?"

"Dad just said make sure you read it."

"It's a book of fairy tales, Jason. Ones I have certainly out grown." Mandy narrowed her eyes at him and he sighed. Jason stood and moved across the room.

"They all have one thing in common," Jason said, sitting down on the sofa against the wall. Mandy sat down next to him and observed him.

"I know that. It doesn't matter how you fall in love only that love is the greatest thing in the world." Jason nodded. Mandy watched him for a few more moments. "How can it tell I'm reading the book?"

"The wand chooses the wizard," was his only answer.

"And how does it sense when I've fallen in love?"

"How does the Patronus charm?"

"You're not telling me anything new."

Jason pulled one leg up onto his lap and toyed with the bottom of his pants before answering his sister. "Mandy, Dad knew that one day you'd fall in love and that you would question every last second of it. That's why he scoured every book he could find to enchant that album. He wants you to realize that love isn't to be feared or run from but to be accepted and enjoyed. He wasn't around when you were a kid and when he was he wasn't the best father in the world. He's trying to make up for that."

"By giving me a photo album disguised as fairy tale book."

"You've seen the album?" Jason asked shocked.

"Because James was holding it. Sirius too. Am I the only one that can't see it when I touch it?" Mandy answered, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"Yes. It's specifically tied to your magical signature."

"Why didn't he just give me the album?"

"I don't know. He didn't say. He just said you'd see it when you're ready."

Mandy nodded and looked down at her lap. What he was saying made some sense and he really looked like he didn't know why their dad had given her the charmed book. However Jason was really good at concealing his emotions. Did she really want to push harder and take a chance that he wouldn't answer her or should she just let it go? This time she decided to just let it go. It wasn't worth it to push him. Besides she knew if she accused him of lying, he could throw her out and she'd never get what she needed. "Can I use your floo?" She asked softly, hoping that he would agree.

"Well that was random but you can't leave the castle." Jason shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want you to. Classes start tomorrow and I don't—"

Best to be honest with him. "I just wanted to talk to Mother and Father," she answered, cutting him off.

"Oh, sure." He motioned to the fireplace and tossed a pillow on the floor in front of it. "Take your time." He stood up and walked out of the office and into his personal living quarters.

Mandy sat down on the pillow, it was much more comfortable than kneeling in front of the fireplace, and shifted a bit so she was comfortable and soon she was staring through the fireplace at the Dixons' kitchen. "Mother?" Mandy asked, seeing the woman at the counter preparing lunch.

Cassie jumped and spun around quickly then gasped seeing her daughter's head floating in the fireplace. "Dear God, Child. You scared me. As often as your father and Lynn have done that, I will never get used to it," Cassie said but she didn't approach the fireplace.

"Speaking of, where is my father?"

"Hold on," she said to Mandy. Then she turned to the kitchen door. "Pat! Patrick, get in here!" she called.

"I'm coming. What is it, Love?" Patrick asked, entering the kitchen. Mandy could see her mother's hand shaking as Cassie pointed to the fireplace. Pat was instantly on his knees in front of it, hoping it wasn't about one of his daughters. He sighed with relief seeing Mandy's head floating there. He was a little worried why she was calling though. "Is everything alright, Ducky?" Patrick asked. "Is it the baby?"

"No, Father, the baby is fine. I actually wanted to get your advice. Yours and Mother's if you have the time."

"Anything for you, Ducky."

"We'll do our best sweetheart," Cassie added as Pat conjured two pillows and put them on the floor in front of the fireplace. He sat on one as his wife sat on the other.

"What's wrong, Ducky?" Pat asked.

"I'm not worried about my tests, I know I can't sit for those until after the baby's born but everything else is building up and driving me mental."

"Okay, what's the biggest thing?" Cassie asked.

"Love," Mandy answered.

"What about it?"

"I guess I just don't understand it. That's not to say it's my parents' fault and they didn't teach me about or show me enough love but—"

"Love is one of the most difficult things in this world to understand. I don't even understand every facet of it," Pat said.

"But you know you love Cassie?"

"Of course I love your mother," Pat answered Mandy. He looked at his wife and smiled softly. Mandy looked down then back at them. It was obvious they were in love.

"How'd you know? In the beginning?"

"I thought she was too good for me," Pat answered.

"Pat," Cassie stopped him, "maybe we shouldn't tell her."

"Why not?" Pat and Mandy asked.

"From the letters we've gotten from Parker, you don't think you're in love with Sirius. We wouldn't want to explain how we know we fell in love and you think it's unattainable," Cassie admitted reluctantly.

"I see, but maybe telling her will show her how easy it is and she'll recognize it when it happens to her," Pat argued.

"I like that option; can we go with that option?" Mandy asked eagerly.

"Before we tell you about us, why don't you tell us what you know?" Cassie suggested.

"James says I'm in love with Sirius because my eyes light up when Sirius walks in and I do love James," Mandy said hesitantly.

"You love James?" Cassie asked.

"Not romantically." It was almost as if no one understood that. "When it comes to James, my heart gets caught in my throat when he's in trouble, I worry about him when I don't know where he is, and it hurts when he's too busy for me. I know that sounds romantic, but when I look at James, I don't want to kiss him or sleep with him. I just—it's like coming home from a long day or a roaring fire during a winter snowstorm. He's comfortable."

"What makes you think you're not in love with Sirius?" Pat asked curiously.

"All those things I feel about James, I don't feel those about Sirius. My mood is very bland when it comes to Sirius. If he's in danger, I know he can hold his own, if he's hurt I know it'll be ok, and when he's too busy to see me, he's just busy. If I do love him why don't I feel any symptoms of it?" That actually sounded like she was starting to love him. Her parents exchanged a look.

"Symptoms like what?" Cassie asked, intrigued by what the girl could mean.

"Butterflies? Excitement? I can't explain it. I don't know. Tell me what it feels like."

"When I first met your father it was when we were both 17—" Cassie started.

"I was 18, she was 17. I had just finished Hogwarts and she was just out of school too. Your dad introduced us. His friend and his girlfriend's sister. I was infatuated immediately. She was beautiful. The butterflies, the heart in my throat, my stomach in knots. All of it. I knew I wanted her in my life. That was until Scott told me she didn't have a drop of magical blood in her. At first it didn't bother me. I didn't care, I have never cared about blood but then I worried. Not about what my parents would think or what would happen to her; I worried about what would happen if my magic would put her in danger."

"So you wanted to protect her?" Mandy asked.

"At first, then the butterflies subsided and I realized that I wanted to shelter her from all harm and face everything so she didn't have to," Pat said.

"That's what Sirius told me love was."

"At the same time, I realized it was more than that. I came to realize I could lean on her and even if she didn't completely understand everything, she was smart enough to help me if I needed it. Being in love means that you're never alone."

"You don't think you feel that way?" Cassie asked.

"He's more like a companion, a friend, a—a—like a loyal pup. I don't know why I feel that way. How was it for you?" Mandy asked.

"I still don't know that I should tell you," Cassie answered. Though her daughter looked so confused and lost, Cassie wasn't sure telling Mandy was a good idea. Cassie didn't want Mandy to realize how similar their stories were and expect to have the same result. They were, after all, two very different people.

"Please Mummy, I wanna fall in love but I can't. Please help me understand?" Mandy begged trying to keep from crying. She had to know. Cassie had to have something that would help her.

Cassie's heart ached at the sight of her little girl so upset. She knew at that moment that she had no choice but to tell her. "It didn't start like that for me. For months I only saw him as Lynn's boyfriend's friend. I was only friendly with him for Lynn's sake. Slowly he worked his way into my heart and even though there were times where I could see how fantastic a man he truly was and how great he could be, most of the time all I saw from him was a really good friend."

"How did it change? I mean you obviously love him deeply now."

Pat took Cassie's hand and she smiled softly. "Of course I love him. I never would have married him if I didn't. One day your dad was away with the Aurors. We may not have been fighting a war back then but they still needed Aurors. Your mum was injured in an automobile accident. I sat with her in the hospital for hours. Hour and hours just waiting for her to wake up. Pat shows up and sits with me. I found out later he skived off work to do it, but he wanted to be with me and your mum until she woke up. He barely knew her, only as "his mate's bird" he called her, but she was important to me so he was going to sit and wait. He brought me coffee, got me to eat a little, he was there for me. That's when I realized I had fallen in love with him."

"You got the butterflies?" Mandy asked.

"No," Cassie answered, shaking her head. "The fairy tale kind of love that everyone explains never did hit me and for a while I thought something was wrong. I realized I was in love when I realized how much of a constant he was in my life. I couldn't picture it without him. It was more like a slow burn than a heart stopping, earth shattering love but it was love. If you are in love with Sirius, and I think you are, you will know it. Just don't expect it to be head over heels, my heart-will-stop-without-him kind of love. It may never be that."

"Thank you," Mandy said, realizing that maybe her mother was right. "My parents, they loved me, right?"

"Of course they did. Very much so. They may not have been there all the time but they loved you very much. When we couldn't be there, they could. They took you in. That was the greatest form of love they could ever show. They gave you a good childhood, didn't they?"

"Yes, I suppose they did. I never wanted for anything. This has helped. A lot more than you can imagine," Mandy agreed.

"You and your sister, I know the two of you aren't close, but attempt to keep a relationship with her. I felt terrible for not writing your mother more while she was away at school. Thankfully Pat and Scott got us back together after we left school but those seven years were hard on our relationship. Don't let yours fall to the way side like ours did," Cassie warned.

"Okay," Mandy agreed.

Pat looked at his youngest girl. "Ducky," Pat said softly, "love isn't something to be feared or run from. Love is a beautiful and wonderful thing. A gift to be enjoyed and accepted. Please remember that. Okay my sweet, little Ducky?"

"I understand," Mandy answered.

"Open your heart to the chance of being loved by this boy, you'll find it before you realize it," Cassie added.

"Anything else we can help you with Ducky?" he asked.

Mandy thought for a moment. "There is something else, but I don't think you can be of any help, Father." Her father nodded though he looked confused. "I just meant that because you're not a woman and you've obviously never been pregnant, you're not much help. Mother, while you were pregnant with Parker and me did you ever feel like you were angry all the time?"

"You mean like you'll snap at any minute? Like the littlest thing will set you off? Like you can't feel happy if you tried?" Cassie asked. Mandy nodded. "You're 17 and you're pregnant. Of course you're going to be angry. At 17 your hormones are already all over the place. Then you add to that the fact that you're pregnant and of course you're going to be defensive and angry. Everyone who loves you, knows this isn't how you normally act and if they really love you, they'll understand. I went through that during my fourth through sixth months. Your father was really understanding. So was you mum. When I look back, I feel terrible. Like it was the worst part of my pregnancy. It's possible though that you're not angry. Instead maybe you're disappointed or upset. Possibly even confused. There's a chance your anger isn't anger. Try taking a deep breath, step away from the conversation, and think about it."

"Thanks Mother. That really helped and answered everything I was thinking about," Mandy said after a moment.

"Take care, sweetheart," Cassie told her.

"Auntie Cassie, is my sissy here yet?" A voice called out of sight.

"Is that Cara?" Mandy asked. Cara was Talon's youngest sister and since her parents had died she'd been staying with Cassie and Pat as they were her godparents.

"It is. Her sister Cathy is supposed to be coming over later today," Pat said.

"She'll be here soon, sweetie!" Cassie called back.

"Then I should go. We'll talk later, love you both."

"Love you too," they answered.

Mandy pulled her head out of the fireplace and looked around to see her brother still hadn't come back into the office. She shifted a bit on the pillow she was sitting on, thinking about everything she had been told. It definitely made sense. Unfortunately there was still everything else that was bothering her that she couldn't talk to them about. They didn't know she was an animagus so she couldn't talk about that, they had absolutely no experience with were-tigers so that was out too, and she knew neither of them were close to a friend the way she was with James so they couldn't help with that either.

"Ah, done are you?" Jason asked, peeking into the room. "Come for a spot of tea?"

Mandy nodded and walked back to his living quarters and sat at the table watching as he made up some sandwiches and crisps. After they ate she left the room and wandered down to the grounds for a while.

After a very quiet dinner later that day, well Mandy was rather quiet, Mandy made her way up to the astronomy tower.

Meanwhile James and the rest of his friends went back to the Common Room and started James's party. James loved every second of the party as he observed it from where he was dancing with Lily, she hadn't even objected to him kissing her several times in public like she usually did, but then he noticed something was wrong. Sirius was standing near the fireplace talking to Parker. That in and of itself wasn't unusual but what was unusual was that his arm wasn't wrapped around Mandy. Any time Sirius could he was always within touching range of Mandy. The girl was getting better at not freaking out or being suspicious of Sirius's affections in public. As James and Lily spun around the dance floor, he looked all around the Common Room but couldn't see Mandy anywhere. James knew that though it wasn't the most important birthday he had ever or would ever have, his last one being one of the biggest, Mandy had always shown up to the party no matter how she felt. Even last year when she had protested their huge blow out she had shown up for at least a good half an hour.

"Lily, have you seen Mandy?" James asked.

For a brief second, anger flickered through Lily's eyes but before James could realize it had been there, it was gone. She smiled up at him knowing that even though she was starting to hate how close the pair was, Mandy was important to him so she had to tolerate his concern. "Not since dinner. She was quiet tonight. Not her usual pensive quiet but almost like... no never mind."

"What is it, Lily?" James asked as they stopped dancing. The music sped up into a fast song but he stood staring at his girlfriend.

"I'm worried about her James. I know all the hard work Sirius, Remus, and I put into this party and I don't want it spoiled, but deep down I know something's wrong with Mandy. I think you should get Sirius to find her and talk to her. I know she's upset about something and perhaps he can get it out of her," Lily explained.

"Thanks Lily," James smiled and kissed his girlfriend then made his way over to Sirius.

"Go find her," Sirius said when James approached him.

"Find who?" James asked.

"You know exactly who I'm talking about. Mandy never came back from dinner and even if I try talking to her she's not gonna want to talk to me. You can get through to her. Make sure she's okay," Sirius said.

James jerked his head to the entrance and Sirius followed him out the portrait hole. They looked around the hallway then James, seeing the coast was clear, pulled Sirius into a hug. The younger boy looked so downtrodden and hurt. There was no reason for Sirius to be upset or bothered by James relationship with Mandy, none of it was romantic. "She loves you so much, she's just so scared of showing you that. Romantic love isn't her forte and—"

"James stop," Sirius said, holding James back at arm's length. He had appreciated the hug, but James needed to get going. "I know, I don't like it, but I know. She still needs you and one day I'll understand why. I sure as heck don't like it that she keeps running to you, but she trusts you. It winds me up bad, but for some reason she can't trust me—"

"You ever given her a reason to?" James asked, looking at his friend carefully.

"Have I ever given her a reason not to?" Sirius asked. "Don't answer that." He had seen the look James had given him and knew instantly the boy was thinking of Halloween. Sirius didn't want to hear that thrown at him again. One mistake and he still couldn't live it down. "I didn't mean like that."

"Other than that, no you really haven't. It's going to take something huge to make her trust you like she trusts me. You're good for her and you'll take care of her. You're the best man for her. Give her time, she'll come crawling to you soon enough. There's this bundle of knots in my stomach, I don't know why and I have to go figure it out."

James was right. Mandy still didn't trust Sirius and if he wanted her to, he'd have to bide his time and give her every chance she could to come to him. It was the right thing to do. For now though, James had to find her and make sure she was ok. Sirius dropped his hands from his friend and looked down before sighing and looking back at his friend. "I'll make your excuses just be back before sun up," Sirius answered. James grinned and rushed off. "Where you going?" Sirius called after him.

"Astronomy tower." James called over his shoulder. Sirius thought about it and it seemed like the most logical place for her to run off to.

So I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know how you feel.