𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗹𝘆, james potter

˗ˋ 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY'RE CAUGHT

. . .

"I can't believe you got the password off of Remus. He never tells me anything." Tiger whined, sinking further down into the bubbles, only her head remaining not submerged under the liquid.

"He will when there's chocolate involved." James laughed, sat opposite her. "All I have to do is nip to Honeydukes and look around their basement, grab a couple and return. Just for reference, the one with pink and brown striped packaging is a favourite."

"I will take that into consideration during my first Hogsmeade visit. Also, how long did it take you to find all the passages?" Tiger asked, sitting up a bit.

"A while, the last proper one we found was when we were in third year. But we keep finding little hidden gaps - like behind tapestries and sometimes the paintings shift to the side to reveal a small space." James considered for a moment. "I don't think we've found them all, though. Did Ilvermorny have any?"

"No. At least I don't think so. It was so boring, I tried looking but every time I got told off. My hair, my skirt, my shoes, my shoe laces, the badges on my sweater - you name it, every time I felt like I was even slightly close to finding one Miss Brown would appear from literally nowhere and start screeching at me." Tiger sighed.

"Miss Brown was my DADA teacher." Tiger explained, when she saw James raise a slightly confused eyebrow. "Which is a shame, because I think it's my favourite subject. But apparently she left as soon as I did." She shrugged.

"You mentioned your patronus - at the garden party." James said suddenly, and Tiger nodded, playing with some of the bubbles floating in front of her face. "We haven't learnt that yet.. Is it hard?" He asked.

"Yes." Tiger's eyes flickered over to meet his. "Took me a while to figure out my happiest memory. Each class we spent on it I was going through anything I could think of. And to no surprise at all, one day a tiger jumped out the end of my wand."

"That seems hard. Thinking of just one? Impossible." James mused. "I think mine would be a stag. My animagus form is that and I know it's not guaranteed."

"I don't know how, but you remind me of a stag. The same way I guess Sirius reminds me of a dog and Peter a rat. But they just seem to have characteristics from their animal. I don't think you have..." Tiger paused, and a smile formed on her face and amusement flashed in her eyes.

Moving quickly from being opposite James to right next to him, Tiger used a mixture of bubbles and shampoo to try and fashion him two antlers out of his hair, which was surprisingly long once pried out of the messy curls.

The whole time, James could only watch her, fighting a smile off of his face. When Tiger pulled away, washing her hands off in the hot water, James used the reflection of one of the taps to see what she had done.

And when he did, he burst out laughing, looking over at her, only to see a frown on her face. "What's up?" He asked, the girl only pointed over at the windows, which were a significantly lighter shade of blue than when they arrived there - and was also mixed with the pink and oranges.

"Uh-oh." James said, looking back at Tiger, who sighed and began to pull herself out of the water. He followed her actions and got out, walking over to one of the cupboards and pulling out towels. "Here." He said, throwing a towel over at her.

Not many words were spoken between them at that point, both of them focused on drying off as much as they could and pulling their clothes over their swimsuits.

"Oh I know a spell for drying hair." Tiger said, looking over at James. "Do you want me to dry yours?" She asked, and the boy nodded. "It'll take a little longer but I don't have my wand with me."

James could only continue to nod, slightly confused on how she was planning on doing it when neither of them had their wands. But in a turn of events which James decided he shouldn't have even been surprised about, Tiger only had to mutter the spell and he could feel it begin to work.

"You can do wandless magic?" He asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peaceful silence which had fallen.

"I'm prone to losing my wand - or even using it accidently as a knitting needle. I can only do basic stuff. Not much." Tiger shrugged, her voice as quiet as James's was, a volume which he could only hear because she was sat as close as she was.

They remaind silent for some while, Tiger gently combing through his hair, the feeling of warm air blowing on it. "Sorry it took so long." Tiger said, standing up eventually. "I tried to make it stronger a few times, but couldn't manage it."

"Don't worry about it." James said, grabbing the invisibility cloak and tucking it in his pocket. "I doubt we'll need it now."

Tiger nodded, and the pair exited the Prefect's bathroom, and as soon as they did so, they were met by the sound of shuffling feet. "Fuck." They both murmured, and then, Filch came around the corner.

"Hey!" He yelled, and James looked over at Tiger, who quickly met his eyes. "Don't you dare run away from me, Potter!" Filch shouted.

"I mean he said nothing about me." Tiger said, smirking and grabbing James's hand, pulling him after her as she began to run. The pair ran through the corridors, still hand in hand, James suddenly spotting one of those tapestries which he had mentioned before.

"Here." He said, and they stopped by it, slipping behind the heavy material. Both attempted to catch their breath, and Tiger lent against the wall, head titled to rest of James's shoulder.

"Do you think he could have followed us? We ran a pretty long way?" She asked, when her breathing had some what regulated. "It's a shame, the light in the hallways was so pretty." Tiger frowned for a moment.

"I promised I would bring you back out. I intend to keep it. We'll spend the same amount of time out now, and you'll get to dance in the moonlight and the light of the rising dawn." James promised, looking over at her.

"Only if you dance too." Tiger held out her pinkie. "Please?" She asked, smiling a little when she saw the hesitation on his face. "I come to your quidditch matches and sometimes practises, and you dance with me."

"Fine." James connected his pinkie with hers and they shook on it, then pausing to listen to hear if someone was coming. When he was convinced no one was, they stepped out, and began to walk the way back to the portrait.

With their shoulders brushing at every step they took, almost knocking each other off of their chosen paths as they turned corners, Tiger and James didn't really talk, just admiring their school in the early morning light - something which James had only experienced whilst helping Remus back to the castle before.

"Mr Potter, Miss Howell. May I ask why you are out at this time?" A voice asked, and the pair jumped out of their skin, turning around to face their head of house, who gazed down at them, illuminated by the light of the rising sun.

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