𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗹𝘆, james potter

-ˋ 64

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH SHE WAKES UP TO A NIGHTMARE

. . .

Tiger woke up happy, for the first time in a while. The previous night had been something so light, so free. She had talked to Dumbledore, who was willing to help her with the situations of Olivia and her parents. 

Her, Sirius, James and Remus had ended up in a position that none of them had imagine them ending up in. There had been some tension, but between Tiger's remarks and the weird argument between James and Remus, it had left her smiling, her heart warm. 

Whilst her dormmates hadn't questioned her her sudden change in mood or the fact she was so happy after Olivia's stunt earlier that day. But that very girl had noticed, and wasn't too pleased. 

In fact, Olivia had watched silently as Tiger appeared in the dorm, far from upset considering that all her friends had found out thart she had caused the death of someone. 

And to Olivia, this meant that she hadn't hurt Tiger as much as she needed to. That the damage she needed to do to Tiger's life was miniscule when it came to her friends. 

Instead, it had done the opposite of what Olivia intended. It had somehow ended up with Tiger closer to her friends than before - how in Merlin's name did that work, Olivia wondered. 

It made her angry. Tiger needed to pay for what she had done, not get over it and enjoy life when the person she had killed couldn't. And so, an hour before anyone would be awake, Olivia woke up.

She dressed quickly and silently, disappearing down into the common room before light even began to break. And in the half-light, Olivia multipled a copy of the paper she gave to the group last night. 

And in the cold Olivia carried the many copies to the owlery, where the owls lay in wait, parcels and letters attached to their feet as they rested until breakfast. Olivia gave each owl a copy, and went back to the school, waiting for breakfast to come around and for Tiger to appear.

Olivia was in the Hall right as breakfast began, and watched silently as students slowly flowed into the hall, sitting down and eating their breakfast, having no idea what would come next. 

That there was a murderer in the mix. The talk from the first leaflets had died down, and most had forgotten the cryptic riddle naming the girl as a killer. 

But that was about to change. The owls came at eight on the dot, and Olivia felt a sense of relief when Tiger walked into the Great Hall five minutes before, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter by her side. 

"Just in time." Olivia mumbled, and glared back at the first years who sent weird looks her way. Yes she was sat alone, and yes she had just been talking to herself, but she hadn't needed to make friends at Hogwarts.

Olivia watched from a distance as Tiger sat down, piling various breakfast foods onto her plate. The five minutes seemed to be slower than any others, and it felt like forever until Olivia could hear the quiet calls of the owls as they approached.

It was a satisifying sound, hearing the noise created by the owls carrying the parcels and flying to the castle grow louder and louder. Nobody noticed the sheets of paper that were attached to their owls until they reached them, pulling them off and reading through them.

You could hear a pin drop, and Olivia watched, a smile on her face, as so many turned to look at Tiger, beginning to whisper amongst each other, wondering if it was true.

Tiger was confused, until Marlene passed her a copy of the paper. She turned pale quickly, her hands trembling as she stared down at it. The group around her quickly caught onto what was going on, and Sirius looked like he was about to get up, when a sudden shout could be heard. 

"It's true." A random Ravenclaw shouted, standing up. "My brother's best friend told him that a student had been expelled for killing a student last term." 

The whispers grew louder and louder, until some students were almost shouting. Helpless, Tiger just sat there, James and Sirius sandwiched next to her, both holding her hands. 

At the staff table, they all seemed at a loss for what to do. They might have been very aware of what Tiger had done - Olivia had assumed that Dumbledore and McGonagall knew exactly what had happened. 

Miss Williams sat at the end of the table, a satisified sort of smile on her face. She had disliked Tiger just as much as Olivia had, and now she was watching the girl get what she deserved. 

"Murderer!" Someone yelled, and to Tiger's horror, multiple people began repeating it, a noise so horrible that she almost had to run out of the Hall. But she couldn't not this time. 

Ultimately, Tiger was terrified of what students might do if the teachers weren't there. So this time, she couldn't run. She had to face her problems.

The confused murmuring and repeating of that one yell seemed to grow louder and louder, and Tiger looked around helplessly. The teachers looked just as powerless as the Howell girl, staring at the hall filled with angry teens. 

Tiger abruptly got up, and everyone stared at her, repeating the word in a mixture of confusion and accusation. Tiger turned around slowly, almost every face sneering at her, looking as if they were ready to pounce. 

She was helpless to the noise, and had no idea how to stop it. And with nothing better to do, she just stood there, staring down at the table. Until she remembered just who will have caused this problem. 

Turning slightly, her steady gaze fixated on Olivia, who tried her best to stare back, but found herself looking away. In the worst moments, your magic could come out more powerful than ever, and you wouldn't be able to control it. 

But Tiger knew this, she knew this very well in fact. And so, whilst staring at Olivia, she focused all her anger on her. She didn't know what her magic was going to do, she just hoped that it wouldn't be too extreme. 

Suddenly, in large black lettering, a word began to form on Olivia's head. And as more and more people saw Tiger staring at her, they realised that something strange was happening.

The word Liar was soon etched into Olivia's forehead, and catching her reflection in the back of her spoon, the girl was angry beyond disbelief. She needed to do something to get the attention back on Tiger. 

And so, a minute after the word was etched onto Olivia's head, the girl let out a wail, failing to the floor, trying to look as limp as possible. Someone laughed, and any glance at the Slytherin table and you would have seen it to be Regulus Black. 

"Someone help! She's trying to kill me."

The hall fell silent. And only the wails from Olivia could heard.

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