[1] Gasoline ✗ Draco Malfoy

eighteen

a/n: this is such a short chapter, and i apologise, but i made it short deliberately to really emphasise what's going on! again, apologies - but i'll have the next chapter up soon to make up for it!

Chapter Eighteen;

Some words affect you more than others – these words hit home, strike some emotional chord deep within your heart and you never, ever forget them.

This can be for any reason. Words that make you cry, words that make you so very aware of the disparity of wealth between yourself and other countries, words that make you understand how privileged you are. Or they can be words that make you want to soar beyond the clouds and laugh for hours on end and dance around the room without a care in the world and sing from the top of your lungs.

For Seohyun, that day, it was four little words spoken by Draco Malfoy in the dark abandoned classroom that hit her harder than a face load of bricks.

"I trust you, Seohyun.

"I trust you more than anyone."

+++

That night, Seohyun sat by the window of Ravenclaw tower until dawn began to appear over the horizon, filling the sky with an array of light, mystical colours that made Hogwarts appear even more magical than it already was.

And she drew Draco's face again and again, ripping pages out in frustration because she just couldn't get him right.

It was the first time she had ever struggled drawing someone's face before – or at least, ever since she had first started learning to draw.

And she was pretty sure she knew why.

It was impossible to draw Draco because she couldn't match how he looked in her eyes.

It was because she liked him – and more than a friend.

She was pretty sure that she loved him.

+++

For the first time since Seohyun started at Hogwarts, she just wanted to avoid Draco Malfoy.

Because now she could put a name to all those inexplicable feelings; the tightening of her throat, the beating of her heart, the struggle to breath.

Love.

But he had just told her the other day, he could trust her. And coming from Draco, she knew what a momentous thing that was for him to say.

So Seohyun met him each day and laughed and acted like she always had. Only this time, she was hyper aware of the butterflies in her stomach, the irregularity of the breathing, of every time her heart skipped a beat when he smirked or laughed or teased her.

But she didn't tell him.

Because if he didn't feel the same way she did, she risked making things awkward between them.

And that was one thing she couldn't do to him: she couldn't let himself lose her.

So she kept quiet, and was the only person who knew of the way her heart sped up whenever Draco Malfoy came close.