[1] Gasoline ✗ Draco Malfoy

nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

"Every single one of Draco Malfoy's problems doesn't need to become your own, Seohyun."

The common room was fairly empty; it was midmorning, and most people had classes. Seohyun and Padma, meanwhile, had a free period and decided to spend it in the common room. They were both on top of their homework, so they nicked the two chairs in front of the fire and spent the hour relaxing. Seohyun was content, reading a Korean novel her father had mailed her the previous day.

Not many others were in the room - only a handful of seventh years, so Padma had to talk in a hushed whisper.

Seohyun closed her book. "What do you mean, Padma?"

The other girl frowned. The firelight caught her brown eyes, filling them with a warm glow.

"You're stressed, Seohyun, don't deny it –" she added sharply, when Seohyun opened her mouth. "I see you lost in thought. I see the worried glances you shoot Malfoy during breakfast and dinner. But just because you're his friend, doesn't mean you have to take all his worries and problems and fears on your shoulders. You're your own person too, Seohyun."

Seohyun sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"I know," she mumbled. "I just – I can't help it. If you knew what I did... you'd be just as caught up. Just as involved."

She wasn't mad. She knew there was truth in Padma's words. She had been so concerned for Draco lately that she'd started leaving homework to last minute, instead spending time trying to figure out how to get Draco out of his messy situation without breaking trust or betraying him. The only reason she was on top of her work now was because Padma, Terry, and Anthony had forced her to focus on her work for the past three days.

Nothing, so far, had come to mind.

And Seohyun had the sense she was running out of time. Draco was getting more frazzled, and the school year was ending. Combine the two, and she guessed Draco Malfoy had a deadline that was fast approaching.

He would either succeed, or he would fail – and there was little she could do to help either way.

What was the right thing to do, anyway? Seohyun had once thought that the divide between right and wrong, good and evil, had been black and white.

She was now only realising just how grey it really was; how the borders between them dissolved into one another, blurred and overlapped.

Padma shook her head slightly. "Seohyun," she murmured. She leaned over and rested a hand on Seohyun's knee.

"You've got a beautiful heart, my friend. Just don't let it go to waste."

"Don't worry about me, Padma. I have everything under control."

+++

Draco

The day faded into night, but Draco's concerns didn't subside. They only heightened, like stars suppressed during the day, only to let out their full light after the sun fell.

Today was the day everything changed.

He'd hoped to find Seohyun during the midmorning free period they shared, but she'd been nowhere in sight. Perhaps she'd been in Ravenclaw Tower. He'd only had limited time to corner her after lessons, not nearly enough time to explain everything.

He wished otherwise. He wanted to have more time to explain.

She had no idea what he'd been working towards since the school year commenced. She knew he was a Death Eater, and that was the limit of it. She had no clue of the nature of his assigned task, and if she had, she'd no doubt turn her back on him.