𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗹𝘆, james potter

˗ˋ 32

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
✧
-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH A MYSTERY BECOMES KNOWN

. . .

"Why is it always you two?" McGonagall asked, practically towering over Tiger and James (although James was most certainly taller than his head of house) as she did so, peering down at them through her spectacles.

"Really, James, I would have thought you had enough of breaking curfew rules, after what - five years?" Professor McGonagall continued. "I'm glad Mr Black has come to his senses."

If the teacher hadn't been peering around James and Tiger, looking for any others who belonged to the Marauders, she would have seen Tiger tense, then meet James's eye. The boy was smirking, and it only took that moment of eye contact for them to almost burst out laughing, and when the female professor looked back at them, she could tell they were surpressing laughter.

Because althought she couldn't see Sirius behind the pair, he was most definetely there - as were Remus and Peter. They were only a few paces behind them - at this point probably flattened against the wall.

However, they were under the cloak, and as it barely fit four people, two of them had to remain out of it. And that time, it was James and Tiger's turn.

"Would you care to explain why you are out of your dorms and common room at..." McGonagall glanced at the watch on her wrist, "11pm?" The woman looked expectantly at them, and watched as Tiger dug through the pockets of her unecessarily large denim jacket.

"I'm so sorry Professor." The girl began, digging through her pockets, avoiding McGonagall's eyes as she blantantly lied through her teeth. "As you probably know, it's Christmas soon and we are indeed on holiday from next Friday onwards." Tiger continued.

The Professor could tell when James or Sirius was lying to her, she had known them long enough to do so. But Tiger Howell, who had only been there for a couple of months, with her hint of an american accent and perfectly poised mannerisms - as if she had been trained all her life to appear polite and nice - was not so easy to crack.

There wasn't even a hint that Tiger was lying to her. Perhaps the overexaggerated searching in her pockets could be something - avoiding eye contact was common - when Tiger looked up, something in her hand, she had to throw away that theory.

"I lost the earring which went with this." In Tiger's palm was a earring back - gold and somehow glittering. "I know what you might think - what in Merlin's name does this have to do with anything? Well, with only a week to go, and pretty busy schedules, there was no other time to search for the earring."

"And so you thought that enlisting James to help search for this earring, in the middle of the night, was your best solution?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow, looking skeptical.

"I know.. it's not entirely the best idea." Tiger trailed off for a moment, then held up her wand. "But lumos helped us greatly so far in our search."

"I would assume so. And may I ask what is so special about this earring?" Professor McGonagall continued, trying to find any cracks in her story.

"My dead aunt gave me them." Tiger said, her voice completely toneless and her face straight. "She made them - so as you can imagine - they're priceless and unreplaceable."