𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗹𝘆, james potter

-ˋ 86

CHAPTER EIGHTY SIX
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH FINAL IS HERE

. . .

The tension in the air was somewhat stifiling. It had been the same last night in the common room, and Tiger had ended up feeling so nervous that she had gone to bed early, and had spent the hours sat in her bed, sewing. 

The tension followed them well into breakfast, and the group of friends sat together, barely talking as they ate. They knew how much this meant to James - and if he didn't win then they didn't know what they would do.

"We need to beat Ravenclaw by 150 or so points to win." James had said the previous night, and at breakfast he just stared at his empty plate, muttering the number to himself. 

"Not even a piece of toast?" Tiger prompted him. She got that with the nerves he was feeling then it would be hard to eat. However, she was more concerned for him playing on an empty stomach. 

"After the game." James waved her hand away, and the girl shrugged, taking a bite of the piece she had taken. She would do as he said, and rushed off just after the group left the Entrance Hall to ask if the House Elves would prepare a basket of food for the team and take it down to the pitch for after the match. 

She rushed past the crowds of students to get to the stadium before the teams had enter, and when Tiger arrived just outside, she could see James looking for her. 

The Howell girl hurried over, and let out a noise of surprise and James practically threw himself on her, arms squeezing her into a tight hug. "Oh Merlin Tigs, I'm so nervous." The boy said, and smiling, Tiger hugged him back, her hand patting him gently on the back. 

"You'll do amazing. I know you'll win." She told him, and James pulled away. "Pinky promise - remember what you said about me being your lucky charm? Well if I'm lucky at all then this will be the time it's gonna happen." 

"Lucky charm.." James muttered down, before leaning down and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "I've got to go talk to the team but promise me you'll stay and watch every second."

Tiger did just that. She didn't leave her seat once the whole game - well she technically did, but jumping up and down in the same spot and cheered until her throat went hoarse. 

Now she didn't know anything about Quidditch, other than the basics and small bits of information on techniques that she picked up whilst listening on practises. But she knew enough to follow the game, and her eyes often flickered over to the score board.

For a good majority of the game Ravenclaw were in the lead. They seemed to be scoring goals quicker than Tiger could keep count. But Gryffindor were quite a team, and with James and two others as extremely talented chasers, they managed to rally up quite a number of points, but Ravenclaw seemed to remain in the lead. 

More often than not, Tiger would see James fly a lot closer to the Gryffindor stands, managing to catch her eye and grinning like an idiot. She would always shake her head and prompt James to concentrate on the game, but it didn't stop him. 

Half time came and went, and it seemed in the second half of the game, Gryffindor were stepping it up. Both teams had amassed the amount of points needed to win - and had equalled 150 at some point. It was a constant back and forth battle of gaining those points from throwing the quaffle through one of the hoops. 

The bludgers seemed to grow impatient, the beaters from each team too good at keeping them away from the players. And this impatience became clear when they seemed to go on a rampage. 

Many players got hit at that point, and it seemed a miracle that bones hadn't been broken yet - but Remus theorised that some already had, but both teams were far too desperate to win the match that just dealt with it. 

James somehow - well it was pretty clearly the bludgers - with a rather large bruise over his eyes. It had broken his glasses, and Madame Pomfrey had somewhat forced Madame Hooch to halt the match for a moment, making sure that no glass had gotten into James's eye whilst someone repaired his glasses with the easy spell - there was really no way he could see without them, he was pretty much blind. 

The game was back on, and the bludgers' impatience was quite over. But in the midst of this, it would come to an end. Tiger had been watching James with the quaffle, dodging the Ravenclaw's seeker as he almost flew into him, eyes set on something. 

In the sunlight, Tiger saw something glint. And James had seen it too, yelling to the seeker on his own team. It was tense and nerve-wracking to watch the two seekers race to the snitch, but it came to an end as the Gryffindor seeker reached out and grabbed the snitch, falling down into the pitch, but in her clasped fist was most certainly the golden snitch. 

The Gryffindor stands erupted into cheers and screams - they had won the Quidditch cup. It was a battle to get down onto the pitch, and Tiger was sure she had accidently elbowed a first year in the nose, but she had chance to apologise as they disappeared into surging crowd of Gryffindors. 

They spilled onto the pitch, a picture of red and gold. Slightly lost, Tiger looked around desperately, her eyes finally landing on just the boy she was looking for. He was holding the cup, raising it in the air. 

Not even thinking about anything else, Tiger moved through the crowd over to James, who took one look at her and swept her up into a kiss, his much taller form pulling her off the ground. Sirius had been in the right place at the right time, taking the cup off of James just in time, and the Potter boy spun them around quickly, arms squeezed around her waist. 

"You did it!" Tiger yelled, above all the shouting and cheers. "You won James." 

"I know!" He replied, his face the picture of happiness. He was still holding his girlfriend, and so she wrapped her legs around his torso, leaning down to kiss him once again. 

"Alright get a room!" Someone yelled, and James smirked as he pulled away and saw one of the beaters on his team, the boy clapping him on the back and winking at Tiger, who slid down back to the ground. 

The celebrations wouldn't stop there, and would continue well into the night. But neither of them could be happier than they were in that moment.

Because it was all working out, after all.

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