James Sirius Potter watched Tanya move closer to him, not believing his eyes. Much like his name-sake, he had been chasing this girl for years… And now here she was, smirking at him, stepping under the mistletoe, her friend Kelsey squealing in the background. He was pretty sure she was just doing this on a dare from the aforementioned squealing Kelsey, but why the hell should he care? She was here. She was pulling him close to her by the front of his jacket, stretching up to her tiptoes to press her lips against his.
James wrapped his arms around her immediately, pulling her even closer against him, stroking her silky, long black hair. She began to pull away, obviously having meant this to just be a quick thing, but James deepened the kiss, willing her to understand the depth of his feelings- she wasn't just the unobtainable girl that he'd become obsessed with, maybe it had started that way, but then he'd fallen for her. Hard.
And he felt her respond. She kissed him back. Her fingers twined in the messy black hair that marked him as a Potter. Slowly he pulled away, scared that all she was responding to was the fact that he was a good kisser. He stared down at her, suddenly scarily aware that she was still so close he could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest.
Those blue eyes stared up at him, red lips opened slightly in an 'oh!' of surprise. He could vaguely hear Kelsey squealing even louder in the background, but his focus was on Tanya and the way she was staring at him. Awkwardly he dropped his hands from her back, stepping out of her arms. He glanced around the common room, to where his brother Albus sat wolf-whistling in a corner, to where his cousin Rose appeared to be saying something along the lines of 'Finally!", to where Kelsey squealed louder with each passing moment, to where his half-hippy best friend Peter sat cross-legged on a dresser gazing at him in wonder, to where his little sister Lily was jumping up and down next to Rose and squealing louder than Kelsey.
He opened his mouth to speak, looking back down at Tanya, but gulped, shook his head, and almost raced out of there, the common room suddenly feeling stiflingly hot. He slumped against the wall of a secret passageway he had ducked into, dropping his head into his hands. He had blown it. They had finally kissed, and he had run away right after. He was such an idiot.
He heard a soft footstep and looked up, straightening his glasses- yet another potter trademark, he thought wryly. Sometimes he wanted to get away from it all. It wasn't enough that he looked like his dad (except for the eyes, he had Ginny's eyes), and therefore his granddad, but he also had to fall in love with a girl who seemed to hate him, just like said granddad? He cleared his thoughts, staring through the haze of shame to look at the person who dared disturb his moping session.
Tanya sat down next to him quietly, running her fingers through her hair nervously. "James?" she asked, softly. "I… I just… I need to, to tell you…" she broke off, looking frustrated. "That kiss was… And you are… And I just…" she broke off again, leaning her head back against the wall, closing her eyes and sighing. "I think I'm falling for the guy I've hated since I was eleven."
James's head snapped up, staring at her. He'd wanted to hear those words (maybe not those exact words) for ages. He leaned over and kissed her.