With Leslie's multiple contacts, it was quite easy to sneak into the Gryffindor common room in the middle of the night. The only problem was sneaking past Mrs. Norris, but that was resolved with a simple piece of canned tuna tossed to the opposite corridor.
Roxanne, Rose and Melody had stayed behind as to not attract more attention to themselves. Leslie and Zoe would be each other's witness to the completion of the dare.
It was way past two in the morning, meaning the common room was empty, except for the crackling fire of the fireplace.
"I'll go find Fred and James to drag them down here, I know the dorms better. You stay here and try not to be seen, some Gryffindors still hold a grudge against Slytherins" Zoe nodded, regret already overcoming every feature of her body.
She anxiously watched as Leslie stalked up the stairs to the boys dormitories, leaving her all alone in a foreign common room with her thoughts.
She opted for instead staring at the steady flames, bits of ash rising up every few minutes to then fall down and disappear. It was mesmerizing enough to distract her from the situation at hand.
"Zoe?" Zoe sprang to her feet, her heartbeat racing, not only at the fact that she had been caught but at the sight before her as well.
"James"
His hair was messier than usual, as per when he had just woken up. His green eyes were still laced with sleep, slightly watery as he kept rubbing them to see clearly. His t-shirt was loose enough for it to be nearly falling off from one of his shoulders, his feet bare and showing no sign of feeling cold.
"What are you doing here?" Zoe looked around for someone to witness her dare completion, and for once luck was on her side.
Leslie came back down, a sleepy Fred trailing behind her. But they both abruptly stopped at the edge of the stairs at the sight before them.
"What are YOU doing here?" James quirked an eyebrow at Zoe, who was desperately avoiding his gaze before she burst out every single feeling and thought she had about him.
"I was just going to go get a snack from the kitchens, your turn to answer" Zoe sighed, looking over James' shoulder to see Leslie shooting her a thumbs up.
"I...well...um this is going to sound weird" James gave her a reassuring smile, taking a step closer while holding her hand. Zoe's heartbeat picked up.
"Godric's sake, don't do that" James laughed quietly.
"Do what?" Zoe held their intertwined hands upwards.
"This"
"Why not?" The veritaserum kicked in, and Zoe was unable to stop the effects.
"Because every time you do this it makes my heartbeat go faster than it should, it feels as though my chest wants to burst. It makes my breath stop, I forget how to breathe every time you hold my hand, or smirk at me, or kiss me on the temple, or on the cheek. And breathing is a pretty essential human function.
Every time you hold my hand my mind spirals in twenty different ways of how I could just grab on to you and smash my lips against yours and forget about everyone around us. And gosh you smell godly, better yet you are godly.
As much as I wouldn't like to admit it you are the definition of a hot guy, you're seriously ripped and play quidditch with almost a perfect technique, your messy hair somehow always makes you look good under any angle, I just wish by now I had learnt not to stare because otherwise I'd just go back to wanting to kiss you. Don't even get me on how your eyes always hold this passion to them that would make me melt if I could, and figuratively I'm sure they already do.
I just can't handle you to keep this flirty persona up and keep doing all these things to me. You affect me in more ways than anyone ever has affected me with, and I don't know how to get rid of them. Even right now I'm having all of these thoughts, and the veritaserum is not helping me in keeping them concealed"
Zoe finally breathed out a long steady breath after her rapid speech. The thundering of her heart lowered to a normal beat, her eyes finally managing to meet those of James Potter, who was now closer than he'd ever been.
His hand slowly moved up to her cheek, rubbing small circles on her cheekbone with his thumb, his eyes never leaving hers.
"You want to kiss me?" The words were barely audible, but it sent Zoe's heart on a frenzy once again.
"Out of all that speech, you only heard that?" James and Zoe immediately sprung apart.
At some point during her speech, Fred and Leslie had sneaked down. And Fred still not processing what was happening, spoke up interrupting the moment, earning a slap to the head by Leslie.
Reality seemed to settle in to Zoe, she noticed what she had done. How she had just confessed everything she had ever felt for James in one unthoughtful speech. Her head was rapidly bouncing between the three people in the room, each with a different expression.
"Z, wait-" But she didn't wait, she ran, she ran as fast as she could away from the Gryffindor common room and from the impending thought of what she had done.
She had just ruined every single chance she had with James Potter in one swift speech.
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a/n: Awwwww Zoe confessed, and obviously now they're gonna get together and have adorable Potter-Wood children right??? Well- wait and see ;)
It's been a little over two weeks since I started posting this and wow I forgot how much fun ACTUALLY posting things was lol
Anyways vote and comment those brighten my day :p