Thank you for reading.

Chapter 35: Pressure

Mandy reached her brother's office and heard a voice coming from inside. A distinctly female voice, so she froze outside the door eavesdropping. Though it was wrong she wondered if the conversation was important. "I know this is hard on Mandy and we knew that telling her wouldn't be easy on any of us, but she'll come around. Look at how happy she and Sirius are." That was definitely Tiff's voice. Mandy peaked around the doorway through the cracked open door to see Tiff sitting on Jason's desk, her back to the door, and his head in her lap. Most of his face was obscured by the way Tiff was sitting but Mandy could tell her brother was upset and Tiff was trying to comfort him.

"That took eight and a half years. I can't wait that long. You know that," Jason moaned.

"Then I'll talk to her. Make her come around. I know it's never mattered to you that she's not your sister by blood, you love her like a sister and I don't want to be the reason that the two of you stop talking. Everyone needs family." Jason whimpered and Tiff ran her hands through his hair. "I know, Love, I know."

"I miss my sissy. I don't want to be too late. If I lose her to him it's not going to be good. Tiffy, how do I fix this?"

"I'll talk to her," Tiff said gently. "Who knows, she's been through something hard and maybe she's just resting. You haven't spoken to her since before I did. We'll find out and I'll try my hardest to fix it."

Now Mandy felt really bad. To be honest neither one had done anything wrong and them being together wasn't that bad of a thing. Compared to other things the two of them could be up to, dating was just a normal occurrence that shouldn't make her angry or upset with them. Plus it wasn't any of her business really. "What's to fix?" Mandy asked gently as she stepped into the office. "You two are happy together and I shouldn't get in the way of that." Mandy shut the door and cast a charm over it making sure they wouldn't be overheard. "You only threatened Sirius when you found out that I was dating him again and when I got pregnant you threatened him again but you never stood in the way of my happiness. I can return the favor right? I mean it's not like she's a terrible person. Tiff's amazing and I know she and I aren't close, but she's always been there for me. I'm being childish and stubborn—"

"You're being my baby sister and since all we have left is each other," Jason stood up and walked around his desk clapping both hands on Mandy's shoulders, "I appreciate you looking out for me." Tiff turned on the desk a bit to look at the siblings.

"No buts?" Mandy asked confused.

"No buts," Jason said simply. "We've both been a little protective of each other. I know where you were coming from."

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you, Tiff. I didn't know how to take my brother being in love with someone. You do him a world of good though. I imagine you're very happy together."

"We are. Just like I want you to be with Sirius. Give him a chance. He could surprise you," Jason said.

"Yeah, he's a great guy. He wasn't right for me but he could do you a world of good. It's hard to let him in but when you do, you'll be okay," Tiff added.

"True, however I think he's mad at me at the moment. Or at least mad at Remus," Mandy said.

"What for?" Tiff said.

Mandy mumbled something under her breath and Jason prodded her until she spoke up. "I've been practicing to get my spellwork back up to snuff. Remus helped push me and Sirius was angry when he found out. He and James have been helping but they refused to push me like Remus did and I think that was the plan," Mandy explained.

"They don't want you to push yourself too hard and I can understand, however knowing you the way I do, I think Remus did the right thing. Even if Potter and Black didn't want him to," Jason said gently. "Are you ready to come back to class?"

"Yes. And I'm ready to work, hard. I can do this. I promise," Mandy answered.

"I know you are. I've seen it." Jason smiled at his sister. She hugged him then returned to the tower.

When she walked in Sirius and Remus were sitting on the couch. "Hey, is everything good?" Mandy said. The two of them looked at each other. "Sirius, I'm sorry."

"For what?" Sirius asked. Remus too looked confused.

"You and James weren't pushing me enough, so I convinced Remus to. I should have known that there was a reason you two weren't and I shouldn't have pushed it." Sirius stood and walked over to her. He took her face in his hands and looked deep into her eyes. "Quit it." Mandy pushed him away. "What are you looking for?"

"To see what's gotten into you. You have never apologized when you thought you were right. Why are you apologizing now?"

"She's apologizing to protecting me. She thinks you're mad at me for helping her. She asked and I said yes. It isn't her fault. She's protective, you know that." Remus said.

"I know. We were worried. Pomfrey said not to push you and we didn't want to. James and I both should have known that you could handle it. That you would know if you could take it and how much you could take. We should have trusted you. That was my mistake. James said take it easy, I convinced him and Remus that you weren't ready and that we couldn't push you," Sirius said. He watched his girlfriend carefully and saw she wasn't upset.

"I definitely think you should have talked to me but I understand where you're coming from. You didn't want to hurt me or push too hard. I can understand that," Mandy said. Suddenly the portrait swung open and Lily and James came in. Lily went straight up to the girls' dormitory but James walked over to the couch and plopped down next to Sirius. "James? Are you alright?" Mandy asked. He held up a finger then put it down, then put it back up as if speak, then put it down and shook his head. Mandy gave him a few more moments, but when she asked again he shook his head looking lost. Mandy sighed and went upstairs to talk to Lily. It must have been something really bad if he couldn't explain it. James was typically the strong one. "Lily?" Mandy asked, softly as she entered the room.

The redhead looked up at Mandy and Mandy could tell she was shattered. "Please," Lily said.

Mandy stared at her then crossed the room and wrapped her in a hug. Lily clung to her and Mandy did her best to comfort the girl as she cried. Finally Lily pulled back and Mandy handed her a tissue. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It was their idea to meet us. I think she wanted to rub it in my face." Lily sniffled and pulled her pillow into her lap. Mandy sat down next to her. "She told me about the wedding. They're getting married in a couple months. His name is Vernon Dursley. He asked James about his car. James told him about his broom." Mandy laughed then tried to hold in in. Lily cracked a smile before blowing her nose. "Vernon said something about living off government benefits. James told them about Gringotts and his inheritance. Eventually they stormed out." This sent Lily into a fresh wave of tears.

"I should have warned him that they had to be handled carefully. A Pureblood needs to know that Muggles are different and even though James has been my neighbor for years and they've told him to keep the magic to the minimum, he just never quite got muggle things," Mandy explained.

"He told me he'd make it up with Vernon at the earliest opportunity, but I doubt it's going to happen," Lily said.

"Lils, James is going to do everything in his power to make sure you're happy. Even if he can't make it up to your sister and soon to be brother-in-law, he'll do his best to make it up to you."

"He doesn't have to. Part of me expected things to be better that. I thought she'd grown up and was over it but—I was wrong." Lily looked down at the floor. Mandy rubbed Lily's back and hoped she could find the right words to calm her friend down. "I just—I miss my sister. The one I knew before Snape started telling me about magic."

"I know Petunia has changed a lot since you two were kids and no one can replace what the two of you had, I know it hurts not to have your sister. When I found out Parker was my sister—I don't know, anyway we can't have what we used to but you do have me and I love you like you were my sister even if I haven't been the best lately," Mandy said.

Though her speech was all over the place, Lily understood what she meant. If Lily couldn't have Petunia as a sister, she'd have Mandy as the next best thing. "Thank you. What changed?" Lily asked, drying her eyes and blowing her nose.

"What do you mean?" Mandy asked, confused.

"Something's changed about you. You're not—don't take offense to this but you're not as angry as you were."

"I'm not pregnant anymore. I feel like when I gave birth all that anger was sucked out of me."

"You're not implying your kid is some kind of demon spawn, are you?" Lily asked.

"No, of course not," Mandy shook her head quickly, "I think since I'm no longer pregnant my hormones and emotions are back to normal and I'm not as angry as I was."

"That's good, and how do you feel about Sirius?" Lily asked slowly.

"I love him, Lily. Maybe not enough to say that I'm willing to spend the rest of my life with him or that I trust him beyond anyone else but I do love him," Mandy said.

Lily pulled Mandy into a hug and rubbed her back. "You deserve to. Now, go check on James. I have a feeling he needs you." Lily said.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Mandy asked. Lily nodded and after a moment, Mandy smiled, gave Lily one last hug, then walked downstairs and sat down next to James.

"She isn't mad at you," Mandy said.

James turned to Mandy and pulled her into a hug. "She was in tears and I had no idea what to do," James whispered.

Mandy wrapped her arms around her best friend and sighed. "She was in tears because her sister walked out, mad at her. It had nothing to do with you. When I met her sister for the first time, I was twelve years old. She had no idea I went to school with Lily. In fact I told her that I had met her in town and that we had become friends. I spent the whole day playing with them. When my dad came to get me I overheard Petunia say something about Lily finally having a "normal" friend. I kinda blew up. She called me a freak and a horrible person and whole bunch of other things. Lily apologized for a week straight. Petunia's hated me ever since. We could have warned you about meeting her, but we didn't and Petunia should have understood. She likes things to be normal and non-magic. It's not your fault, James. They were destined to hate you the minute they saw you. It's just how she is. I can imagine that her soon-to-be-husband is just like her," Mandy said.

"Thanks. Is Lily okay?" James asked.

"She's fine. Or she will be. Don't worry, I've handled it. I am a little angry," Mandy pulled away from James and narrowed her eyes, "at you though."

"Me? I'll apologize to her the minute I see her and I'll make things right, I promise."

"This has nothing to do with that." Mandy shook her head as she lowered her arms and stared at him curiously. She wondered how far he'd go to keep it from her.

"She knows, Mate," Sirius said.

"Knows what? What do you know?" James said.

"What your plan was," Mandy said. "Holding back because you think I can't take it. Yes, I wanted to be pushed, and I know the condition I was in but it's not holding me back any more. I can handle any kind of training you throw at me and if I can't, do you honestly think I wouldn't tell you?" Mandy asked.

"Condition? Training? Oh, that." James frowned and looked down at his hands in his lap. "I should have known you would have known about that. How did you figure it out?"

"That was kinda my fault," Sirius said, softly. "She came back all sweaty after her session with Remus and I kinda snapped."

"Mandy, I'm sorry. I should have realized that you would have figured it out. You were more ready than I gave you credit for. It's my fault. Can you forgive me?" James asked.

"You're really going to sit there and pretend the whole thing is your fault?" Mandy asked, looking at him in disbelief. "That Sirius had nothing to do with stopping you two?"

"Pretend? It was my idea. I convinced them to take it easy on you." James shook his head.

"Yeah, but it was Sirius's idea to not push me at all. He's the one that convinced the two of you that I wasn't ready to be pushed," Mandy said plainly.

"Kinda told her that too, Mate," Sirius said sheepishly. He looked at James and smiled a bit. "She's not angry, she just gets where we come from."

"You're not cross?" James asked in disbelief as he looked at Mandy.

"No, not really. I mean yeah part of me is upset that you didn't trust me enough to come to you if I couldn't handle it, but ... I get it, you're trying to protect me and I can accept that. I don't like it, but I accept it," Mandy explained.

James took her face in his hands and leaned in close enough that their noses were touching. Then he stared directly in her eyes. Mandy looked at him for a good few seconds then looked away.

"What are you doing?" Mandy asked, trying to push him away.

"Trying to see what's gotten into you. The Mandy I know would have been steaming. This Mandy is different," James said.

"There's nothing different about her," Remus said. "Except that she reminds me of the Mandy from last year. After she started dating Sirius, after her parents died, it's the same Mandy."

"You're less angry and more accepting," James said. "I think I should worry about that."

"No, James," she said as he finally let go of her face and pulled back a bit, "I'm happier and slowly coming to fully understand love. It's a good thing. Please understand that."

"I do, but it's a little odd. Are you sure you weren't hit by a curse or something?" James asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm just not angry anymore. I don't feel angry anymore," Mandy said. James nodded but it would definitely take some getting used to. That wasn't to say he was going to miss the angry and spiteful Mandy, he definitely wouldn't, but it would be odd not to have her snap at him or get angry about them protecting her. Mandy leaned back into Sirius's warm embrace as Lily appeared at the edge of the couch.

"James," Lily said softly.

"Don't apologize," Mandy whispered leaning towards James so that only he heard her.

"Lily, come sit," James said to the redhead as he patted the couch. Mandy scooted further into Sirius who pulled her close giving Lily enough room to sit next to James. He hesitantly put his arms around her and she leaned against him.

"You don't have to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. Thank you for coming with me."

"Mum always warned me not to talk about magic in front of Mandy or her family even after we found out Mandy was at Hogwarts. Mum said sometimes it can be hard on the muggle part of families to understand magic. I should have remembered that," James said softly.

"Are you ready for class, Monday?" Lily asked, looking at Mandy.

"I think so. I do wonder about how the professors are going to take it but I think I'll be okay," Mandy said.

"Did you talk to your brother?" Lily asked.

"I did. And I talked to Tiff too," Mandy said, looking around James to see Shelly sitting on the arm of Remus's chair. "I'm not mad at either of them. I guess I'm just a little hurt that they wouldn't, or didn't trust me enough, to come to me and tell me about it. Everyone deserves to be happy, right?" Mandy asked.

"That's my girl," James said.

Sunday Mandy and James did some more training and he was certain she'd be just fine when she returned to classes on Monday. Some of the professors were a little shocked when she came back but they all accepted it and moved on reviewing for N.E.W.T.s that would take place in two weeks.

Again thanks for reading. Please leave a review if you feel so inclined.