𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗹𝘆, james potter

-ˋ 51

CHAPTER FIFTY ONE
✧
-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH SOMEONE KNOWS THE TRUTH

. . .

The words hung between James and Tiger, threatening to move closer and closer to the line of instanity. James couldn't believe what he was hearing, and Tiger seemed downright scared of him in that moment, as he stared, eyes wide. 

She had killed someone. It didn't make sense - but somehow it did. She had talked about people in the past tense, and how nobody had believed her on what had happened. The Hunter's curse. She had killed, and it was coming back to haunt her. 

But Tiger couldn't. James almost didn't believe her, or thought that maybe he had imagined the words coming out of her mouth. Trying to gather his thoughts, muster the courage to form coherent sentences and speak, he could only stare into the night, flickering to Tiger and then back again. 

She was trembling like a leaf, arms folded over her stomach. James knew that she wouldn't be like that if she was lying, or joking - not that it was anything to joke about. She was terrifed, and it was visible in her body language and most prominent in her eyes. 

"I understand if you don't want to be friends with me. Or if you want to tell people. I'm not a good person, I was just.. hopeful." Tiger's voice was soft, helpless, and shaking. 

James quickly shook his head, stumbling over his words, trying to form a sentence. "No." He could just say, over and over. "I won't.. no." He repeated, firmly. 

They were silent for a minute or so, James solely focusing on trying find the words. "How." He eventually said, after deciding that if he couldn't form a proper sentence, then he would just use singluar words. 

"When I first started Ilvermorny, I became friends with a boy called Leo." Tiger began, her hands shaking so much that she had to hold them close against her stomach. "We were really close friends, all through our time there."

"We were sort of what you, Remus, Sirius and Peter are. We messed around in lessons, pranked people, broke rules, detentions every weekend." She continued, deciding to stare at the floor rather than anywhere else. 

James listened to her with some form of interest that had taken over his entire body. He was trying so hard to be as silent as he could, wanting - no needing, to hear the full story as clearly as he could manage to do. 

"Last year we were planning a prank for after our version OWLS. We had finished them that very day, I think. It involved a lot of potion making and combining things which would eventually explode. So not a good thing, not very responsible of us." Tiger smiled slightly at the memory. 

"We were dating, and often snuck around the school at night time anyway. So it seemed to us, that the best time to brew these potions we needed was at night. We wouldn't be interrupted, we could do it all night, and there were always potions to wake you up somewhere in there." She continued, fiddling with her hands, and the bracelets that lined her arms. 

"It was going well, or I thought it was. We had made multiple amounts of the things were were to use in the prank, and had them stacked up in a crate." Tiger sniffed, and James then realised that tears had began to pool in the corner of her eyes, and although he desperately wanted to hug her, she was still diligently avoiding eye contact, and the Potter boy took that as her needing her space, which he understood.