[1] Gasoline ✗ Draco Malfoy

twelve

ah can i just say, a big thanks to lazeyplanets on tumblr for this gorgeous seohyun aesthetic i am still completely in awe????? it's perfection THANK YOU SO MUCH I DO NOT FEEL WORTHY!!!!!!!!!!!

also, the issue i addressed in my author's note will be focused on in the next chapter

Chapter Twelve

Only a small crowd filed its way out of potions class. They were a tiny group - their numbers limited, as Padma had informed her, by their previous professor's restriction of only 'outstanding' students to be permitted to study Potions beyond fifth year. Slughorn had changed that, though most people had not been aware of that fact. 

Seohyun was relatively happy as she left the dungeon. Her potion had been of high quality, a result that came from not talking to any of her friends and instead pooling all her focus into the brewing of the potion.

"Hey, Seohyun!"

Seohyun's eyes widened at the voice. She turned around and saw a familiar blonde head push his way through the small crowd of their potions class toward her.

"Draco? What is it?" she called, slowing to a stop and leaving her friends behind her.

Draco had never yet approached her. Seohyun wondered what had caused the change as he hurried toward her, alone, his friends a fair distance behind him.

They met at the centre of the corridor, soon alone as their class filed around them. Seohyun tipped her head to the left, speaking her question with her eyes.

Draco smirked as he held the book in his left hand toward Seohyun. His right hand held another, which Seohyun guessed to be their Potions textbook. "You dropped your Potions book."

"Oh, thanks."

Seohyun's eyes flicked to her bag and realised she hadn't fastened it properly. It must have fallen out as a result of the numerous other books for Ancient Runes she had stuffed inside. She took her textbook gratefully, smiling as her thumb scraped across the title written in Hangul.

"I didn't realise you had brought your own textbook from Korea," he mused, looking at the title as well.

"Better than that unreliable one we were issued." She rolled her eyes and cast a scornful look at the second book in Draco's hand. "I don't understand how it doesn't produce results even for Hermione if it's school-issued and written by a deemed professional. Surely they've noticed by now those potions aren't up to scratch."

He chuckled too, the sound barely audible.

"You did well today," he commended. "I saw your potion. You were only outshone by Potter."

Seohyun shrugged. "I don't mind." 

Okay, small lie – it was slightly irritating to be constantly outshone in each lesson, especially since Harry didn't seem to be putting in as much effort or concentration as either she or Hermione was. "As long as I'm maintaining a high grade."

"It's keeping you in Slughorn's graces," he pointed out.

"That too," she laughed, and winked. "Life wouldn't be worth living if not for excessive dinner parties."

"Draco, come on!"

It was Blaise, standing on the other end of the corridor beside Pansy Parkinson. Draco raised a hand in acknowledgement toward them.

Seohyun shifted. She noticed how the presence of only a few people had suddenly made the atmosphere that much more awkward between them. They were used to being alone, not surrounded by people. Alone was the only time Draco allowed himself to open up.

"I'll see you around, I guess," she told him, walking backwards. "It's Defence after lunch, right?"

"It is." He didn't move, for a moment appearing to be in conflict with himself, but in the end turned toward his friends. Not, however, before casting her a look over his shoulder and grinning in his lazy manner. "See you around, Seohyun."

Seohyun smiled, giving him a small wave as he returned to his friends. Seohyun laughed to herself as she spun around, clutching her Potions book tight to her chest.

She was almost drunk on unexplainable giddiness – a reaction that greatly contrasted to Padma.

Her friend's eyes were hard, glaring after Draco. There was no understanding in her gaze as she stormed toward Seohyun and gripped her wrist in a bone-breaking grip and yanked Seohyun forward, so their bodies almost collided with each other.

Seohyun's first thought was that when Draco had grabbed her previously, he hadn't held her hand in so harsh a grip.

"Seohyun, are you out of your mind?" Padma exclaimed, shaking her slightly as she gripped both of her friend's shoulders. Seohyun almost lost grip on her book in the process.

Seohyun groaned aloud. She could almost hear the direction the conversation was going to pan out. "If this is about Draco -"

"Of course it's about Draco!" Padma yelled, her voice bouncing off the damp, enclosed walls of the dungeon corridor. It magnified, assaulting Seohyun's ears multiple times: multiple Padmas telling Seohyun again and again that Draco was a bad idea.

Like she hadn't heard that phrase beforehand.

Seohyun wrenched herself free of Padma's grip and stalked back up the dungeon corridors. She felt like screaming aloud. When was this not about Draco, about the divisions between people based on the colours of their ties?

"Padma, please, give it a break -" she moaned.

"I won't!" Padma insisted. She ran to keep up with Seohyun's furious steps, her hair bouncing on her shoulders. "He's bad news. Seohyun, I'm so worried. Draco Malfoy isn't someone you want to get messed up with!"

"Why?" Seohyun spat. She came to a sudden halt, wheeling around on her heels so Padma almost ran directly into her chest. She glared at her friend, hands on her hips. "Give me one goddamn reason why I should stay away from him, Padma, one that isn't just because that he's a Slytherin, he's a pureblood, or because of his past!" She jabbed a finger at her friend with each new point she made to emphasise her point.

Padma sighed. She rubbed her forehead, suddenly coming across as incredibly tired, even if it was barely the middle of the day.

"I just don't want you to end up hurt, Seohyun," she murmured. The anger softened slightly from her face, replaced only with frustration and concern. "I care about you too much. You've become someone incredibly dear to me, Seohyun Park. I just want you to be sure that you know what you're getting yourself into."

In spite of herself, she relented. She shook her head at her friend and pulled her friend into a light embrace.

"Padma, I promise. I wouldn't be so devoted to a cause if I wasn't sure about it."

"Well, if you're comfortable with it, I won't question it any longer," Padma decided. She stepped back, her expression suddenly hard again. "But if Draco hurts you, I'll be the first person there to jinx him back to the age of Merlin."

Seohyun laughed. "Thank you, Padma," she said genuinely, taking both her friend's hands in her own.

"Just take care of yourself, okay?" Padma whispered. "That's all I ask."

"Easy."

They smiled at each other and returned to the Great Hall, side by side.