Once again thanks to everyone for reading. Still wish any one would review.

Chapter 30: It Wasn't a Pureblood

"How'd it go?" Sirius asked as James plopped down on the couch next to him.

"I think I scared her," James admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"Well ... here's how it happened." 20 minutes prior James and Lily were studying in the library. James had slowly gotten used to studying in place where people could see him and wasn't really worried about his reputation anymore. Sitting there near the window with the afternoon sun shining down on Lily, turning her bright red hair even redder as she studying, it hit him. She was beautiful and there was no way he could let her go once school ended. She always made him feel better while he was with her. He really couldn't lose her. "Lily, would you say that you love me?" James asked.

"Of course I love you, James," Lily answered not looking up.

"If the world came to an end tomorrow, would you be okay with your choices?"

"I wouldn't say that there are things that I wouldn't change given the chance but I think overall I've done well." Lily glanced up at James to see him staring at the quill he was turning over and over in his hands.

"And looking at your future, do I—I mean could you ever see us settling down and getting married?" He still wasn't looking at her but Lily could tell how nervous and serious he was. James on the other hand had been glancing at her out of the corner and instantly regretted his question. She looked so suddenly scared.

Before he had a chance to backpedal and explain himself, Lily answered. "We would be half mad to step out those doors next month thinking that everything was great and there was no war or threat bearing down on us. I don't know if I can marry you just to lose you a few months later. I'm not sure I could handle that, James."

"But wouldn't you rather spend the time we do have together than never have taken the chance?"

"That's a good point. I know you mean well, James, I just—"

"It's fine. Listen I promised to go help Sirius out so I better go." James collected his books and left the library.

"So that brings you back here," Sirius said. James nodded. "If you did spook her then you should leave the subject alone for a bit. I'm not saying pretend it never happened but don't touch it for a bit."

"She loves you; she'll realize that marrying you isn't a bad thing." Remus added. Though Remus had been there in the other chair the entire time, James hadn't realized he was listening.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." James agreed. Since he had woken up that morning he knew he needed to talk to Lily about their future but it wasn't until after lunch he had gotten up the courage and had explained his thoughts to the boys.

"Has anyone seen Peter lately?" Remus asked out of the blue.

"He's been hanging around with this fifth year Hufflepuff. I think they're dating or something," Sirius said shrugging.

Three days later Sirius and Mandy had a similar talk to the one James and Lily had. James's tale had got Sirius thinking and he really wanted to know where Mandy saw their future going. If she couldn't see a future between them then that was fine by him, he just had to know. So that beautiful Wednesday during their afternoon free period Mandy and Sirius sat down outside, just watching the lake and not saying much. Not until Sirius looked up suddenly, realizing now would be a perfect time to ask her. "Have you ever thought what it would be like if we did settle down?" Sirius asked.

"Not really. Sirius, I'm not sure we're ready to settle down. Aside from this gift, I have to find time to take my N.E.W.T.s and then shortly after that I'm supposed to go into Auror training."

"Oh. Would you think about it?" Sirius asked.

Mandy looked at him carefully as she looked up from her Charms book. The same one she had gotten for Christmas. It was in that moment that she was really starting to understand why the other as she liked to call Stripes, was so intrigued and was starting to fall deeply for him. He was sweet and considerate and not at all as pushy as she remembered him being. "I—You're saying you want to marry me? Mandy asked.

"Yes, I suppose that's exactly what I was trying to say."

Mandy looked back down at her Charm's book. "I—why?"

"I love you. You're an amazing woman. I can't say you're sweet or kind most of the time but when you do have your moments you shine brighter than the star I was named after. You won my heart long before I knew I had lost it. I cannot see my life without you. I know how busy you're going to be after the gift but I want someone to come home to at the end of the day. That's not the only reason though. There is a war going on even if it's not public. I don't want to miss a second that I have with you."

"It does sound good one day. I do love you, Sirius; I just don't want to rush into anything because of the way the world is turning out."

"So if I asked would you say yes?"

"Today? No. Sometime soon possibly."

"There is a chance?"

"Yes." Mandy nodded and they went back to studying.

After dinner that night Lily pulled Mandy upstairs into their room. Parker was spending time with Talon and Shelly and Tiff were with the boys in the Common Room. "Hey, Mandy, can I ask you something?" Lily asked.

"Sure, what's up?" Mandy asked. She put down her potions book and looked at Lily.

"James asked me something a couple days ago and I wasn't sure what to say to him."

"What did he ask?"

"He asked me if I loved him and if I was happy with the choices I made and then he asked if I could see us settling down and getting married."

Suddenly Mandy got a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. "What did you say?" Mandy wanted this to happen for both of her friends but she wasn't sure Lily was on board. If she wasn't Mandy knew this was going to devastate James. She'd be there to pick up the pieces like always, she just hoped it wouldn't happen this time. James really deserved to be happy.

"I told him that I did love him and we'd be mad to think that there wasn't a war or a threat coming at us."

"So what's wrong?"

"I may have also said that I didn't want to marry him only to lose him."

"You love him?"

"Yeah, but we're so young and with what is coming, I can't marry him then lose him. He did tell me that we should enjoy what time we did have together before something did happen, that way we'd always have those memories. I can see his point but we're so young and like I said I don't want to lose him."

"Interesting. Would you rather not have him at all?"

"No, that's not what I meant." Lily scratched her head then tucked some hair behind her ear. "I just don't like thinking about losing him at all."

"You know, I had a similar talk with Sirius just now. I wonder if they're up to something or if they were just wondering. Listen why don't you go ask Sirius and I'll have a talk with James? I know you don't get along with Sirius—"

"Actually Sirius and I get along just fine. Almost as well as I get along with Remus. You may not have seen us together much, but we've come to an understanding this year. He may be James's best friend but he is a great guy to know. Especially when you're in a pinch or down in the dumps. I must admit he really does know what to say to cheer a person up."

"Okay then we'll find each other's better halves and then meet back here and compare notes."

Lily nodded and the girls took off. It wasn't hard for Mandy to find James considering how much his messy dark hair stood out. She could spot him anywhere with that hair plus he was talking to Sirius, Tiff, and Shelly. Four dark haired people near the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room was unusual. Though Shelly's hair wasn't as dark as the other three, it was more of the same brown as Remus's; it was still dark enough not to stand out like Parker's bright blonde would.

"Hey Jamie boy," Mandy said.

"Oh no, I'm not telling you anything," James said.

"You don't even know what I want," Mandy answered.

"No, but I don't like that look on your face. You're not going to take no for an answer and that usually leads to me telling you something I don't want to tell you."

"Take a walk with me."

"Up to the dorm." Mandy shared a look with Lily and then James led Mandy upstairs. Sirius on the other hand nodded to Lily and followed her to the far side of the Common Room where there wasn't anyone.

"You're either about to ask me about what I asked Mandy earlier today or you want to know why James asked what he did in the library," Sirius said, scrutinizing his best friend's girl.

"I want to talk about you and Mandy, if you're open to telling me," Lily stated. She looked up at the boy and he swallowed.

Meanwhile upstairs Mandy paced the boys' dorm and James sat on his bed watching her biding his time knowing she was about to ask something important. "Look, Sirius's secrets are safe with you, but I wanted to know how serious you were about settling down with Lily."

"I love her, Mandy, you know that. I know we're only 18 and all but with this war escalating and everything, I want her to know how I feel about her and to lose her would kill me."

"You want her to know you are serious and that even though you want to marry her, it would be completely up to her as to when if you did ask her?"

"Exactly," James answered.

"Would you propose before we leave school?"

"Maybe not this soon but maybe the last day."

"I see and Sirius had the same idea?"

"Something like it—I mean Mandy!"

"I just had to ask. I won't say anything, you know. I don't like to ruin surprises."

"Unless it's your birthday surprise."

"You know I had to," Mandy answered, referring to her 17th birthday where she had pestered Remus until he had told her. "That's beside the point; just don't freak her out," Mandy said.

"I'm not trying to and I know that wasn't Sirius's intention either."

"Thanks James and yes, I do love him. I guess I was just missing my childhood and can't believe our lives have gone by so fast."

"Don't worry. But out of curiosity, would you say yes if Sirius asked?"

"Not until the end of the year."

"Mandy, that's a month away."

"Do you still want to be an Auror?" Mandy asked as she sat down on Talon's bed facing James.

"More than anything. Death Eaters, Molde-shorts as you call him, I want this world to be safe."

"Molde-shorts. Of course." Mandy shook her head and grabbed a spare piece of parchment and a quill. She scribbled out something on the paper and then cast a spell over it.

"What are you thinking?" James asked curiously.

"It's a long shot but Voldemort cannot be his actual name. I call him Molde-shorts because it's kinda an anagram of his name plus it makes me laugh thinking he has moldy shorts. Anyway what if Lord Voldemort is an anagram of his name?"

"That is a long shot."

"What if his birth name isn't something he's proud of or reminds him of something he wants to forget? You ever heard of Jack the Ripper?"

"Okay, but Jack the Ripper was never caught and they don't know why he called himself that."

"No, but it was a way to make everyone afraid of him and sign his work."

"So what are you hoping to find here? A familiar name? Something that's going to jump out at you?" James asked.

"I don't know. I just thought it'd help. I mean if he is proud of being a pureblood then perhaps the anagram will spit out a pureblood name. Like I said it's a long shot. Did you talk to Lily's father?"

"About marrying her? Not yet. I just wanted to see what she thought about it first." Mandy nodded and went back to her dorm. Once upstairs she found out that Lily was waiting for her.

"Well?" Lily asked.

Mandy told her what she had found out and Lily nodded telling Mandy that Sirius had told her much of the same. "I guess they just want to make sure we know how they feel," Mandy said.

"I get it," Lily answered.

"Do you think the boys will propose?" Mandy asked.

"Maybe at the end of the year. Would that be so bad?"

"Now that I've thought about it no, I think I might be ok with it. Besides its only May and we do have a month to get used to it."

"Are you going to insist that Sirius talk to Mr. Dixon?"

"Not insist on it. It'd be nice if he'd think of it on his own but I would hope that he knows I value James's opinion the most. You?"

"I know my dad is looking forward to it and I don't think James will have a problem doing it but I don't think it'd be a deal breaker if he didn't," Lily answered.

Mandy only smiled.

"Is that how you found out Voldemort's real name?" Harry asked.

Mandy looked at him and nodded. "It was one of the few names actually on the list. There were a couple Ed's and Tom's but it wasn't until I saw him in person for the first time that I put together who he was," Mandy answered.

"How? Certainly any pictures you had seen of him from his Hogwarts years wouldn't look the same as he did after that," Harry said.

"Not exactly but there was something in his eyes. For all the time I stared at that list the only name I could see that made sense was Dolohov, but my problem was there was no H in Lord Voldemort and Antonin Dolohov wasn't pureblooded. He was a Slytherin but he was also a half-blood."

"When did Daddy propose?" Erin asked.

"Two days before we left Hogwarts. We were on the front lawn when it happened. I'll tell you about that later because a lot of things happened between the two events."

"How did you figure out his name though?" Devin asked.

"One day your father said "I am king of the world!" and it hit me. I don't remember how that happened—"

"We had flown my motor bike to the top of a mountain and I felt on top of the world. We were celebrating your mom being asked to join the Order. She didn't join the same time the rest of us did," Sirius answered.

"At first I thought Dumbledore didn't trust me. He had seen my display of magic and on top of freezing him in place when he offered to have Mia help me train, I didn't think he was sure that I was fully on his side. Anyway we were sitting on top of that bike, on top of that mountain and once Sirius said that it hit me. What if I added those two words? I am. Would that make sense? When I got home that night I did and one the names was Tom Riddle. Granted it left out a bunch of letters but I recognized that name from somewhere and after seeing his face, I eventually put it together. You see every Christmas, Slughorn had a party and part of that party was when the members of the Slug Club would take a club photo. My great uncle Marvin Dixon, the black sheep of the Dixon family, Slytherin and not a nice guy, he liked to go muggle-baiting, was a member of the Slug Club and went to school the same time as Voldemort. They were together in a photo that I found in my grandparents attic. No one knew how that photo had turned up there but I was kinda grateful that it did. They couldn't tell me much about Tom Riddle but I eventually pieced it together and now we are getting ahead of the story here."

"Back to Hogwarts then," Megan said.

"Yeah, what happened next?" George asked.

"George?" Mandy asked. "Where did you come from?"

"Mum sent me to invite you to dinner on Sunday," George answered, "though I bet you were expecting me to say something smart."

"Yes I was. Wanna stay for the rest of the story?" Mandy asked.

"Absolutely. Any story about the Marauders is a story I want to hear," George answered, making himself more comfortable on his pouf in the corner.

"You said at first you didn't think Dumbledore trusted you, what was it really?" Megan asked. "Every time you've told me that story you've always said that it was because your relationship with Dumbledore was so strained."

"We'll get to that," Mandy said. "I don't want you to think badly of the real person who kept me from joining. They loved me and me getting involved wasn't a good idea to them."

"Come on just tell us," Devin prompted.

"Nope, you'll hear it as part of the story and you'll understand we just have to get there first." Mandy shook her head.

"And I bet everyone you lot are thinking of, is wrong," Sirius said.

"You don't think we can guess who?" Erin asked, looking up at her dad with her big, grey eyes. Sirius shook his head knowing there was no way they could guess it.

"Okay then, why don't we go around the room. I thought it was Dumbledore," Mandy said.

"Had to be Dad, uh Sirius," Meg said. Sometimes she still referred to Mike as her dad.

"No, I think my dad. He loved her and he wanted to protect her," Harry said.

"Can't be. I think Remus. He's the smart one, he wouldn't want her to get hurt," Devin disagreed.

All eyes turned to George. "Me? I think it was Lily. She seems like the mother hen type."

Mandy looked at her youngest daughter who thought it over. "I don't know, Daddy sounds like a good option but at the same time I think that even with her drive to get back at Voldemort, Mummy was worried about being on the front lines of the war. I think Uncle James knew Mummy could take care of herself and that would be something he took into consideration. I guess I'm going to have to agree that Daddy didn't want her in the Order because he was worried about her." It was obvious the young girl was trying to sort things out to see if she could reason out the right answer. Plus the way she was watching Mandy's face let her know that the young girl was looking for any kind of confirmation that she was right.

"Well we'll just have to continue on and find out." Mandy smirked.

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