𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗹𝘆, james potter

˗ˋ 33

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY'RE CONFINED TO THE COMMON ROOM

. . .

The cold Scottish winter weather roared around the castle, and whilst many classes within the castle were still going on, those wich required travelling further than across a courtyard were cancelled.

So various people had ended up in the common room of the Gryffindor house - most likely having supposed to be in Care of Magical Creatures lessons. There, Remus, Sirius and Tiger had been sat for the past hour or so, having had a free period until the end of the day.

"So will you be joining us on Friday? You know when we get picked up by James's parents?" Sirius asked, swinging into the space on the couch to Remus - but seeing as both of the cousins were already on there, it was a bit of a squish.

Remus looked over to Tiger, trying to ignore the feeling of being squished between his cousin and Sirius. The girl had stopped knitting for a moment - something that she had been doing almost obsessively so her presents would be ready for Christmas - and looked as if she was considering things.

"I'm supposed to go to Rem's. We always have until Christmas Eve there. Then Christmas day is a seperate family affair. So who knows?" Tiger shrugged, looking over at Sirius. "I'll probably leave my parents a couple days after Christmas day, I know they'll do my head in."

"So we should be expecting you some time after Christmas day? Perfect. I can't wait to tell the Potters all about you." Sirius smirked a little.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that." Remus chimed in, and beside him, Tiger was blushing as she gently hit Remus on the shoulder. "James has already told his mum and dad plenty about my cousin."

Sirius looked confused, and Tiger moved forward a little in her seat, so she was able to see Sirius properly. "James asked if it was ok for me to come over at Christmas, and Mrs Potter sent me back a letter saying some stuff. I only told Remus because he's a nosy git."

"Are you sure you're not talking about James?" Sirius asked, and a overly-dramatic gasp could be heard from the entrance to the common room.

"Well I was coming to tell you that dinner's being put on the tables in the Great Hall. But now, well I'm not doing it." James pouted, turning around, Peter in tow.

"Forever the drama queen." Tiger giggled, almost shooting out her seat and abandoning her knitting as she followed James out of the Common room.

Shaking his head, Remus gathered up his cousin's stuff, and laughed at Sirus's outstretched hand - a non-verbal question to pull him up from the comfy sofa.

Just like Sirius, Remus didn't answer verbally, but connected their hands, pulling up the smaller boy. But once Sirius was upright, neither seemed to let go for a few moments, simply staring at each other.

But the moment was over as Sirius suddenly pulled his hand away, and Remus was left staring at the space where Sirius had been, eyes wide. He also left the common room moments afterwards, holding Tiger's knitting.

"You can't say that Twigs." James whined, still being overly-dramatic as he always was. "You called me a drama queen."

"Prongsie." Tiger tilted her head whilst looking at him, with the sort of look in her eyes which made James want to confess to things he had never even done.

"Fine, maybe I am a drama queen." He admitted, but the discussion continued as the entered the Great Hall. But as they were about to sit in their usual spots, where Tiger would stay until she found Lily, Marlene and Lydia, Professor Slughorn appeared in front of them.

"Mr Potter, Miss Howell. I don't believe I see either of you until next term, so I would like to hope you will accept these." Slughorn handed them gold-edged slips of parchments each, before gliding off, calling behind him. "All information should be on there. Please RSVP before the end of tomorrow."

Slughorn disappeared to the staff table, and James and Tiger slid onto their spots on the bench which led down the Gryffindor table. "The Christmas party. Of course." James said, peering over Tiger's shoulder to see if it was the same thing.

"I think I was told about this thing. At the first dinner thing?" Tiger, of course, was referring to the Slug Club dinner party her, James and Lily had attended in November.

"Yeah, he probably would've talked about it." James agreed. "You can wear your dress to it." He mentioned, looking over at her. "If you want to go, that is."

"I suppose I do have to - it would be rude not to." Tiger murmured, reading over the invitation. "Do we have any free periods tomorrow?" She asked, looking up for a moment, as Remus and Sirius sat down opposite them.

"Possibly." Sirius replied. "I don't really keep up with time and all that. Too much of a complication." Everyone stopped and stared at him for a moment.

"How he get's anything done is a mystery to me." Remus shook his head.

The group ate pretty quickly, the hall significantly warmer than it was on most days. It was a comfortable warm though, yet James seemed to be too hot.

Or, he was just nervous. Which seemed to be the case as he sat, twiddling his thumbs, trying to avoid eye contact with Tiger.

He was planning on asking her as his date, although she was attending already. Maybe he shouldn't - considering she was already confirmed to be going. But it was the idea that counted, right?

James tried to work up the courage all through eating, planning on what he was going to say as he ate his steak pie, and then the apple crumble for dessert. He had it all planned out.

Usually, James and Tiger seemed to stick together like their lives depended on it. But it was obvious that the girl was desperate to be able to get away and escape to the abandoned classroom to finish her dress in time.

So he only had one chance - as they were leaving the hall. It would be easy enough, just ask her straight up. But whilst James never had a problem asking Lily out - so much so it was a regular occurence during those times - but with Tiger it was different.

He was nervous, nowhere near the level of confidence he had when asking Lily. And when it came to asking her, he wasn't sure if he could do it.

"Tiger-" James said, as they exited the hall, Tiger making a beeline towards the stairs. She froze, turning around with her usual smile on her face.

And he was right, he couldn't do it. "Nevermind. Go finish your dress." James smiled, and Tiger nodded, kissing him on the cheek and saying goodnight before rushing off, her boots causing a slight noise.

When it came to Tiger Howell, everything seemed to be different for James.

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