𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗹𝘆, james potter

-ˋ 60

CHAPTER SIXTY
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-: seventh year :-

── IN WHICH THE
BOYS GET ALONG

. . .

Tiger Howell had had many shocks in her life. 

The first time approaching Ilvermorny and the Sorting ceremony that was so different to what they did at Hogwarts, when Remus first entrusted her with the secret of his so-called condition (his words, not hers), when she woke up moment after being knocked out by their experimentation and finding people swarming the room with a certain, unmoving someone being carried out on a stretcher, when she had first seen the Thestrals, when Olivia showed up, when her dad took off with her little sister, when James stuck by her side even though she thought she had killed someone.

All of them were complete shocks to her system, and of course impacted the others around. But Tiger couldn't quite compare them to what she was seeing right now - or even comprehend the current situation for that matter.

After deciding they weren't going to wait for Dumbledore considering just how busy and unreliable he was as well as the fact they had something to celebrate Tiger had followed them. They had finished their NEWT exams - how could they hole themselves up in a secret room of the castle when the sun was shining outside. 

And now, Tiger was sat on one of the bankings accesible to the students around the Black Lake, her eyes on the far-away twisting tentacle that was lashing around in the sparkling water. In front of her, sat quite possibly the most shocking thing she had seen in her life.

This had really taken her aback - it was just so strange, she couldn't quite believe her eyes.

Because somehow, and not even Merlin could've predicted this, but James, Sirius and Remus were having a conversation with Leo - Leo of all people. 

"It's insane - they're insane, how can they go from 'Tiger you can't do this to us' and 'he's not joining' to 'ooh, lets talk about Quidditch and forget everything horrible I've ever said to you'." The Howell girl exclaimed, her eyes wide and chin balanced on her palms - and elbows were balanced on her knees - as she watched them down by the shore.

"I thought you would be happy about it." Marlene questioned, glancing between the two. Her hand was clutched by Dorcas's, who barely even noticed something strange was happening, expression on her face almost completely blissful.

"I am - I am happy about it." Tiger replied, almost insisted as Lily gave her a look. "I am! It's just so incredibly strange to see." She added. 

"Yeah, I get that." Alice nodded, from where she had her head in Frank Longbottom's lap. He was twisting the short waves of her hair around his finger. "I heard all about it from Lydia. It seemed.. dramatic, to say the least."

"Oh yeah, it was dramatic." The Howell girl said, head bobbing in agreement. "Oh well. At least Sirius isn't.. pushing him into the water and James isn't dangling him in the air by the ankle and - well Remus does keep giving him dirty looks every few seconds but it's better than that was."

"Who wants to bet ten galleons someone said something about Quidditch and now they're all getting on like a house on fire." Dorcas chimed in. "Leo plays Quidditch, right?"

"He does." 

"There we go. That's what brought them together." Lily clapped her hands together as she quite quickly figured it out. "Now we can relax a bit."

"Before going back to meetings and hoping that Dumbledore turns up at one." Tiger sighed. "Until then..." She stood up, bare feet in the grass with her shoes discarded somewhere near the tree they were sat under. 

Tiger made her way down to the shore, a smile on her face as she made James jump out of his skin and jumping on his back, the Potter boy grasping her legs before swinging her around. 

They were happy days, days of celebration as their graduation approached and suddenly it didn't seem like they had so much going on - other than preparing for a war that they barely knew anything about in the reality of things.

They just had to trust each other and keep smiling. As long as Leo and the boys continued to get on, things would work out fine. They had to - they would do.

They needed to.

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