[1] Gasoline ✗ Draco Malfoy

twenty nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine;

The battle was over.

Seohyun walked through the wreck, the warzone, which was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was awful to think the corridors she had so admired and desired to draw when she first arrived at the school had been reduced to this.

Destruction. Pure and simple.

It was like someone had taken one of her paintings and ripped it to shreds to the point she could no longer recognise it.

She barely spent any time in the castle, surrounded by this terrible sight. She'd lingered only long enough to embrace Luna, who she had missed dearly. Their brief time together in the Room had not been nearly enough to make up for lost time.

"It's good to see you as yourself again, Seohyun," Luna said. Her voice was slightly less misty than it usually was. It struck Seohyun just how awful the battle must have been if it took away even Luna's optimism. "I've been concerned for you."

Seohyun squeezed her. "No more concerned than I was for you. I'm glad you're alive, Luna."

"As am I."

They'd talked for a while, but the battle scene around them had been too much. They'd made promises to catch up later before they went their separate ways.

As she walked away, Seohyun spotted Hermione – who, oddly enough, was hand-in-hand with Ron Weasley. Her friend raised a brown hand and waved, a gesture Seohyun returned accompanied with a half-hearted smile.

She'd have to catch up with Hermione's stories later. She was sure there was a lot to tell. She shook her head, recalling a few: escaping Gringrots on the back of a dragon, just to name one.

The blood on the floors she walked on eerily looked like red paint splattered across the tiles. Dust covered every surface, adding ugly texture. The gems from the House hourglasses scattered across the floor like the blood of its students that had been split that day.

Seohyun hated it. She created; she didn't destroy. To be in a scene of such misery when she only wished to bring joy was too awful for her to handle. To escape it all she walked to the lake, to her spot. Her, and Draco's, spot.

Seohyun removed her shoes and dipped her feet in the cold water. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees, watching the sun creep slowly over the horizon.

The dawn of a new day. A new time. A new era of peace – one that hopefully lasts for a long, long time.

Being near water had always calmed her. It was something about the colour and refreshing cool that slowed her heart down, and made her breathe free as a bird. This was content, right there.

Well, as close to content as she could be, following the death and horror of the past few hours.

"I thought I'd find you out here."

Seohyun smiled as Draco Malfoy sat beside her. "Hey, Draco."

When she looked across at him, she did not first think of the boy who had been forced to serve You-Know-Who or risk the deaths of those he cared about. Instead, she saw the boy who renounced the cause he'd been indoctrinated with his entire life to fight by her side in the final battle.

They'd been a fierce duo. Draco understood her even better than Padma had, and they fought effortlessly together. It had given Seohyun immeasurable pleasure to witness the expressions of the other Death Eaters when even Draco Malfoy turned his wand against them, with Seohyun by his side.

They'd been a deadly duo. Even Padma and the others had commented on it.

Seohyun took Draco's hand and squeezed it. Even though they'd done a lot of awful things in the past few hours, it warmed her to recall fighting together, for the people of Hogwarts to see Draco fighting with them, not against them.

Maybe, this could be a spark for something bigger. Maybe one day House boundaries would exist no more. That was a long way yet in the future, but Seohyun had to have hope.

Well, that was if Draco continued like this, and continued to earn the respect of the others.

"What are you going to do now?" she asked.

He shrugged, and turned his gaze toward the water.

"I don't know. I'm not sure how I can gain the trust of the others, or convince them I'm truly on their side."

Seohyun mulled the thought oer.

"Maybe turn in some Death Eaters," she suggested. "Clear up who was under the Imperius Curse and who wasn't. Assist in the clean-up effort."

"Yeah. Maybe." He turned to her. "But what about you? What are you going to do?"

Her eyebrows knitted together. "What do you mean?"

"Your father is no longer bound to England by his Ministry job. He was tasked to help defeat You-Know-Who, right? Well, he's dead now. You could go home."

Seohyun's eyes widened. "You're right."

The possibility of returning to her home country had seemed like a distant dream, something just out of reach. It had been as bright as the sun, and when she looked at it, she had to turn away. It was too good to ever happen.

But now the war was over. She was an adult, and wasn't bound to England by her parents or obligations to school. She... she was free to do whatever wanted.

She'd dreamed of returning to Korea ever since they arrived in England.

And yet...

There'd be people she'd miss. Padma, Terry, Anthony. Luna and Hermione. The members of Dumbledore's Army.

Draco.

She missed Korea, and her friends there. Yet now she had connections to both countries.

And England was in ruins. Somehow, it didn't feel right that this should be her last memory of her country of birth.

Draco squeezed her hand. "You should take this chance, Seohyun." He was being deadly serious. "I know how much you miss South Korea. Don't let me be the person to hold you back."

Seohyun's heart melted. He'd be willing to let me go if it meant my happiness. The knowledge he cared so much for her touched her heart, and every fibre of her body.

"It would be nice to go home," she admitted, with a dreamy sighed. "It's all I've ever wanted. But..."

"But what?"

Seohyun sighed. "England has seen so much destruction. This war has torn so much apart. I – I don't want to leave it like this. It would just make me sad." She pondered for a moment. "I think I'll stay a little bit longer, to see it fixed and repaired. And then... we'll see what the future has in store for me."

The Ministry would need all the help possible. Death Eaters would need to be tracked down. Hogwarts would have to be rebuilt. And the entire system needed review and alteration to prepare for times of peace once more – and to avoid any corruption in the future.

That was something Seohyun was good at. She enjoyed helping others. Maybe, with her creativity – she'd heard of that awful Magic is Might monument in the Ministry. Maybe she could offer to have something else constructed.

Draco smiled. "I'm glad I at least get to have some extra time with you."

Seohyun found her own lips replicating the same upward curve. Tingles passed down her spine, and reached every inch of her body. "Me too, Draco. Me too."

And in their spot, with the sun rising to signify a new dawn, a new beginning, Seohyun and Draco kissed.

Somehow, Seohyun knew everything was going to be alright from that moment on.

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aaaaaand, that's the final chapter, everyone! the epilogue should be up soon!