[1] Gasoline ✗ Draco Malfoy

ten

Chapter Ten;

Seohyun returned to Hogwarts, feeling like a changed woman.

She hadn't exactly changed. But this term, she wasn't just going to be an outsider. This term, she was going to take action, and be the initiator. She wasn't going to wait around for something to happen, or just say feeble greetings to Draco when they passed.

Draco wasn't going to ask for her help. She had to let him know she was there, that she still cared.

To the surprise of all her friends, Seohyun approached Draco numerous times since their return to school. She smiled at him as they waited for Potions class, asked how his day was going when they went to grab potion ingredients at the same time. She acknowledged him across the Great Hall, and did all she could to let him know she was there.

Hermione was baffled by her behaviour – she constantly reminded Seohyun of Harry's suspicions (even if Hermione wasn't too convinced herself), and that Draco hadn't been a saint in previous years. Her Ravenclaw friends frowned and asked why she spent all her time on what they deemed to be a lost cause, arguing that Draco didn't care about her.

Seohyun had started to ignore her friends whenever the topic was breached. She was tired of repeating her same line of reasoning – he's not what you think, there's something more, of course he was like that in the past! Haven't you considered the way he was brought up, like all pure-bloods?

Draco was just as confused by her actions as her friends were.

"Seohyun, what's gotten into you?" he demanded about two weeks after school started once more, when they passed each other in a corridor. They were the only ones in the corridor at the time, so Draco hadn't hesitated to grab her forearm once again to talk, demanding answers.

Because, I'm the only person in Hogwarts who understands you're stressing, that you're unwell, and if no one else is going to make the time to ensure your mental wellbeing is healthy then I will.

Instead, she just smiled and said in a soft voice, "I think you know the answer to that, Draco."

He closed his eyes. "Seohyun, you cannot get involved -"

"Draco, I'm worried, okay?" Seohyun said, in a voice that was borderline to shouting. Draco's eyes opened; she had never spoken in such a voice before. "Something's clearly stressing you. I don't know you well, but I don't like seeing anyone in pain. And I hate being a bystander when I know I can do something to help."

She just felt so guilty whenever she did.

He sighed heavily. "I already told you, no one can help me."

"I know. That doesn't mean I have to listen to you." She shrugged his arm off. "I don't like leaving anyone on their own, Draco, you'd better get used to it."

Something flashed in his eyes then, and for a moment he looked vulnerable – but before Seohyun could say anything else he turned and walked in the opposite direction, as fast as his legs could carry him.

The encounter lingered in Seohyun's brain for the rest of the day, even as she sat with Luna in the common room. She drew as they talked, their conversation easy. Padma and the others sat by the fire, but Seohyun didn't feel like joining them that night. She couldn't be bothered putting up with their constant berating for talking with Draco.

Seohyun sighed, lowering her drawing pad. "Do you think I'm crazy, Luna?"

Luna blinked once, tilting her head to the side. "How so? You're perfectly sane to me, just as much as I am."

Seohyun laughed under her breath, smiling. Luna was the sort of person you just couldn't be sad around; she was like a ray of sun, shining even in the darkest times.

"Padma, Terry, Anthony, Hermione... They all think I'm fighting a lost cause," she lamented. "They tell me that Draco is using me, ignoring me, and I just can't see it. They think I'm a fool for thinking he's worth my time." She exhaled heavily. "But they're wrong. They're just blinded... I know he's not all terrible!"

It came back to the ridiculous House prejudice, and Seohyun knew it. Slytherin. Draco Malfoy. Put both together, and people deemed that there was nothing more to Draco Malfoy. He was a stuck-up pureblood, and nothing more.

But Seohyun had done more than draw over the break. She'd thought, and realised, Draco Malfoy had been raised believing he was superior, practically indoctrinated with pure-blood ideals. He hadn't known any better, so how was he supposed to act any differently?

But he was breaking now; one only had to look at the bags under his eyes to know it.

Luna smiled, twirling a lock of hair around her quill. "I think it's brave of you, Seohyun, to keep trying when no one else will."

"Really?"

"For not placing a label on everyone," the blonde elaborated. "You're seeing beyond that, and not everyone has the strength to do that."

Seohyun only had to think of the words her friends used to describe Draco to know how labels caused people to look only on the outside, and not deep within. She drew her knees up to her chest. "I wish he would open up."

Things would be so much easier if he did.

Luna patted her knee absently. "If he really needs help, then he will open up in time."

Seohyun nodded and bit the end of her pencil, too deep in thought to put her emotions on the page. She had definitely gathered by now that Draco Malfoy was not the most open of people – if he needed time, she would give him that.

The next day, when they bumped into each other on their way to separate classes, Seohyun flashed Draco Malfoy her usual smile.

And for the first time, he smiled back.