𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗹𝘆, james potter

-ˋ 35

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
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-: seventh year :-

── IN WHICH HE'S UPSET

. . .

It was very clear that James was upset. Of course, with such a close loss, the entire Gryffindor looked utterly miserable as they sat down for dinner that night. The outcome was deemed incredibly unfair, not exactly by rules but by principle

Well.. sort of by rules as well. If the Slytherins weren't so insistant on pushing the boundaries and terrifying the other players to the point of almost falling off of their brooms whenever the colour green came anywhere near them, and the seeker of the Gryffindor team were able to push on for just a little bit longer, then perhaps James might have been able to score that goal, and levelling it out at a draw.

But instead, the Potter boy was completely beside himself. He had had the quaffle in his hands, James had whined when they sat down, the captain having pulled a clean Quidditch jersey over his normal everyday clothes and tugging the sleeves over his hands, clutching them in his fist. He was so utterly upset with himself that he barely ate a thing, and despite his misery, Peter and Sirius had taken it upon themselves to try and do as many stupid things around him before he noticed.

So far they had done a multitude of things that would have James laughing his arse off in any other situation, but upset beyond belief, they had not been given the reaction. "Hey, Prongsie?" Tiger offered, as they collapsed on the common room sofa, her and Remus having to had physically pull him away from the table when dinner ended or they would have just left him sat there, staring into space.

Remus had suggested quietly that they should, and that they should wait for him to realise, and make bets on how long that would be. But when Tiger's guess of him still being there when they returned for breakfast the next morning became more of a realisation of what could actually be the outcome of leaving him there, they had decided to take him with them.

"Twigsie?" James replied, eyes fixated on the fire. "Is that a treacle tart?" His eyes seemed to widen, and Tiger nodded, holding it out. He reached for it, a gasp of betrayal leaving his lips when Tiger pulled it away again.

"You and your dramatics could give Sirius a run for his money." From the staircase up to the dorms, a gasp of horror sounding before ushering and feet hurrying up the stairs, Tiger chuckling. "You can have this if you stop being so useless. And I mean that in the most loving way possible. But we had to drag you up all the stairs to get here, so I also mean it harshly."

"I just feel guilty." Jamees groaned, relaxing into the sofa and throwing his head back against the cushions. "I promised my team a win and the best season yet - it's my final year and I want to win the entire cup. And now I lost our first match because I couldn't throw the stupid quaffle half a minute sooner."

"James you idiot. God did you lose and just loose any sense still up there?" Tiger's words were harsh, but they seemed to be drawing James out of his upset as moment after moment passed. "You were down by ten points - that is quite literally nothing. All you have to do is win your next match and if you really want to add another goal on there, catch up with yourself."

"That's not how it really works Twigs." James sat up, and didn't exactly register the small smile that had appeared on the girl's face. "The Inter-House Cup relies on the points accumulated after all of the matches. It doesn't matter whether we're ten points- you sly fox!" His eyes lit up as he finally noticed the expression on Tiger's face. "You knew that all along, didn't you!"

"See Potter, my lack of knowledge on Quidditch can come in very very handy. All I had to do was pretended that I didn't know something and there you go." Tiger smiled, the treacle tart long discarded on the coffee table. 

James didn't even seemed to remember it being an insentive, completely ignoring it as he pulled Tiger into his arms. "You're so smart." He sighed into her hair, smiling as she relaxed into him.

"I know." And James knew that Tiger had the most overly-confident smirk that she could muster on her lips.

"Love you?" He offered hesitantly, feeling Tiger's arms snake around his waist, a content sigh leaving her lips as the words registered. He could practically feel her smiling, and the grip she had around his waist tightened.

"Love you too."

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a/n
i absolutely hate this
chapter which is why it's
so short, but i need a filler
to get between the match and
the first date set by dumbledore
so here we are