[1] Gasoline ✗ Draco Malfoy

four

Chapter Four;

Twilight was just beginning settle on the horizon, bleaching the sky in an array of dark pinks and oranges, as though gently telling the sun that day was at another close. Seohyun was just able to make out hints of dark blue creep into the picture, like an ink spill slowly seeping down the page.

It would be night soon, and Seohyun would have loved to have stayed on the astronomy tower and watch the heavens slowly come into being, with the stars scattered randomly across the sky like glitter and stare at them for hours, finding comfort in their beauty. But there was no astronomy lesson today, and curfew meant that in only half an hour Seohyun would need to pack up her art supplies and make her way to Ravenclaw tower.

She didn't want to leave, though. The astronomy tower was Seohyun's favourite place in the school: the tallest tower, where there was the least distance between herself and the heavens. She loved to stand by the edge, getting the breeze gently kiss her cheeks as she feasted her eyes on the grounds. It was an artist's heaven up here: you could see so much, and her perspective of the grounds changed daily depending on what time she hurried up, and which area she chose to look at, and the mood she found herself in. In the past two weeks, it had become so common for Seohyun to dash up to the astronomy tower to draw that no one was surprised when she made it back to Ravenclaw tower just before curfew, her hands smudged with charcoal and ink, the substance even making its way on to her nose and cheeks.

"You're the most orderly person I know – unless you're drawing, and then you become as messy as a paint splatter," Padma had laughed one day. Seohyun couldn't help but agree with her.

Seohyun held her latest drawing at arm's length and studied it, pleased with the results. A group of first years had been tossing what looked like an old Quaffle between them by the lake. Seohyun had tried to capture their joy and peal of laughter in strokes of charcoal, and thought the image had managed to capture the effect well. She'd tweak a few lines once she returned to the common room.

Seohyun had just started to pack away her things when the sound of distant footsteps met her ears. She froze, craning her neck to the winding staircase. Her eyebrows furrowed. Curfew was only twenty minutes away – why would anyone be coming up here now?

She received her answer soon enough.

She caught sight of his hair first: it was so distinctive, almost like silver, and caught the almost non-existent light of the dying day. Draco Malfoy hadn't spotted her in her little corner – in fact, Seohyun doubted that he'd have noticed her if she'd been standing right in front of him. His school uniform was rumpled, part of his white shirt untucked and his emerald tie askew – his hands were in his pockets and his entire body was slouched. His eyes were fixated on some distant point in the horizon as he meandered to the railing, resting his arms against the bars, looking at nothing.

There was something so pensive and tranquil about this image that Seohyun wanted to draw his figure, capture the uncertainty of his stance, the way the breeze ruffled at his immaculate hair. She wanted to, but didn't want to catch him unawares or make him uncomfortable. He thought he was alone, and the aura around him seemed to say he desired a moment of privacy – it seemed only polite to inform him he wasn't.

Seohyun cleared her throat. "Draco, is it?" she asked quietly.

She knew she'd shocked him, though he showed no obvious signs. The only suggestion that he'd been surprised was his quick blink of the eyes as he turned his head in her direction.

"Yes." Short, distant, slightly cold. It was a response that Seohyun didn't find surprising.

She offered him a tentative smile. "I'm Seohyun. I'm -"

"You're new. I know."

They didn't speak, but just stared each other. Seohyun had the sense that neither of them knew what to say next, or if they should say anything, or if they should be in the same room, alone, at all. It was pure coincidence that they were both on the astronomy tower, with no previous planning or conversation. Was there some kind of rule that they couldn't speak, since they were opposite Houses?

Seohyun had to suppress the urge to fling her Ravenclaw tie off the tower.

Seohyun was mildly alarmed when she realised just how long she had been staring into Draco's eyes, so she cleared her throat, shifted, lowered her gaze and said, "Hey, could we –"

But he had already left, turning on his heel and descending down the spiral steps, the last of the fading light illuminating his pale blonde hair.

+++

There was still five minutes before curfew when Seohyun found Padma in the library, hastily packing away her Transfiguration homework.

"What's got you down?" Padma asked, pushing her final roll of parchment into her overcrowded bag. Seohyun winced. She hated thinking how creased that page was going to be upon arriving at Ravenclaw tower once again. Padma was in general, a rather untidy person in regards to her belongings.

Seohyun recounted her meeting with Draco as they made their way back to the Ravenclaw common room. When she finished, Padma just shook her head. "I wouldn't worry about it, Seohyun. He's generally a prat."

Seohyun pursed her lips. She had been in Hogwarts long enough to know that, yes, Draco Malfoy wasn't exactly the warmest person around. But she also didn't agree with everyone's ultimate conclusion that he was a prat. Maybe it was only because her artist's eye tended to analyse everything more critically than the general population, but she thought that perhaps, that could be a façade. Draco Malfoy, to her, was not just a complete ass. She suspected at least a part of that was a mask, a cool exterior so he could be detached from everyone, and hide the turmoil beneath him.

Draco Malfoy was hiding something, and whatever it was – it was troubling him. Seohyun had managed to deduce that much at the very least.

"Are you certain that's all he is?" she asked Padma. "He looks lost to me."

Padma shrugged. Seohyun knew she hadn't given much thought to her words. "He's been quieter this year, I'll give him that. But toadstools don't change their spots." She sent Seohyun a funny look. "Why are you so curious, anyway?"

"People intrigue me. And – well, I guess I want to understand him."

Padma sighed, though there was a fondness to her eyes. "I won't tell you not to. But all I'm going to say is, good luck. You're going to need it."

**********

a short little chapter, but draco and seohyun have now officially met! they're going to have a lot more encounters in the coming chapters, small ones at first... but that will eventually change!

how do you think their future meetings are going to go? how are you liking padma? (i still wish she got more page time in the books). next chapter should feature more of hermione and luna too!