𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗹𝘆, james potter

-ˋ 44

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
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-: seventh year :-

── IN WHICH CHRISTMAS ARRIVES

. . .

When the morning of December 25th rolled around, Tiger was surprised to find herself not being woken up by an overly-giddy James or a grumpy Sirius who would have been woken up before her by the excited Potter boy. 

Instead, she woke up through her own means. Dark eyes flickered open and blinked wearly, sleep rubbed out of them as hands digging into the mattress to push herself up. "Lumos." She mumbled, not even clutching her wand and in her tired state she wasn't even surprised the wandless magic had worked - a steady glow appearing from under the bedside table which the wand had rolled below the previous night.

Studying the alarm clock  on the surface of the same table, the Howell girl found that it was just past eight, and a sigh left her lips, slumping back down onto the pillow. "Nox." Tiger grumbled, the light disappearing. 

Behind her, she could hear James beginning to wake up and very almost jumped out of her skin, before remembering how the boy had snuck into her room the night before, the two of them being caught in his one too many times by Sirius or Euphemia.

"Merry Christmas Prongsie." The smile upon the Howell girl's face was hidden in the darkness, and following her muttering of the countercurse, the only light came from under the curtains - and blue light that arrived with the beginning of the sunrise. 

"Tiger why are you awake?" The Potter boy grumbled his reply, twisting around to bury his face in the crook of her neck, the stubble on his cheeks scratching against her skin.

"Reminding you that you need to shave before we go down later.. and preparing for Sirius finding your room empty and then barging in here." Tiger admitting, kicking the sheets off of her as she sat up, her boyfriend groaning at the loss. "Oh calm down you big cry baby, I'm just stretching."

"But I was comfortable." The boy whined, and just when Tiger laid back down and James's face rested far too close to her breasts, as predicted, the doors were flung open and silhouetted by the glowing amber lighhts in the hallway was none other than Sirius Black.

"Wake up you lazy articles, it is only the final Christmas we have before we graduate and move out and I'm not planning on having wasted it because you two are in bed." He clapped his hands together and reached for the light, flicking the switch - much to the annoyance of James.

"If Rem was here you wouldn't complain about staying in bed." Tiger said in a sing-song tone, sitting back up reaching for James's glasses and sliding them over his nose. 

"But he isn't, so what can I say." Sirius shrugged. "Anyway, Prongs, your mum and dad are already downstairs making breakfast with Pete, we're opening presents after and everyone is already dressed so you both might want to put on underwear and make yourself decent. I am very sorry for barging in whilst you're naked."

And with that, Sirius pulled the doors closed behind him and a hurried exit. The two teens were left somewhat mystified by the ordeal as they began to get up, showering before James slipped off to try and find something to wear and left Tiger in front off her wardrobe.

Despite the fact they were only staying at home, Christmas was something you dressed up for, and considering Sirius's somewhat fancier outfit and words about making it special, Tiger reached for what she called her 'Hogwarts project'.

She pulled the lilac dress over her head, revelling in the memories of the previous time she wore it. The star dress that Tiger had made to commemorate her beginnings at Hogwarts was just as beautiful as when she first finished, the celestial atmosphere that radiated around still just as bright. 

Whilst the previous time she wore it had been in the style of am evening gown, the girl had made several adjustments to it which allowed her to remove the longer skirt and leave it more approriate for other occassions, and with a mutter of a long row of spells that all together had lengthier skirts fall away and leave her with a shorter dress.

Luckly, the embroidered stars were all in place, and it didn't take Tiger long to adjust her hair and makeup to fit the dress, ultimately recreating the look from that night but in a different form.

"Tiger - you ready to go down?" James asked, swinging open the door with no care in the world. His eyebrows darted upwards as he saw the dress. "Wow - I have not seen that in a long time."

"Missed it?"

"Oh you bet." The Potter boy grinned. "What do you say to forgetting the idea of going to breakfast and we stay right here?" 

"James!" Tiger smiled, shaking her head. "It's Christmas day, we can't do that." 

"But next year we will." James pouted at the rejection.

"You're very sure of that." The Howell girl tilted her head. "James.. what did you do?"

"Nothing, nothing. Now come on." He held out his hand, pulling Tiger out of the door and down the stairs. 

Shhe didn't take eany notice of the sound of keys clinking against each other.

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