Chapter Six

Hogsmeade was too pretty, too charming to belong in the real world.

It was something you'd find on a Christmas card, in a painting, in a fantasy world. There was a magic hanging around it completely unrelated to witches and wizards: it was how quaint it was, how delicate, with snow nestled on the tiny stores, with windows filled with displays and lights and unique decorations.

Hogsmeade was its own little world, untouched by the mundaneness of the world. It was special and unique and Seohyun fell in love with it on sight.

It almost distracted her from how freezing cold she was.

But Seohyun squinted, removed the onslaught of snow, and saw it for what it was.

Padma peered at Seohyun through her bundles of clothes and the scarf wrapped around her face. Seohyun thought she heard the slight sounds of Padma's laugh over the howling wind.

"Did you have a place like this in Korea?" Padma asked. She had to yell to be able to be heard over the wind.

"No." Seohyun shook her head. She was having to shout to be heard by her own ears. "Areum Academy was far away from any sort of settlement, and none spread around it. We had field trips on occasion, but nothing like this. It's beautiful here."

Padma's eyes crinkled, in a smile that remained undetected by the scarf. She reached out a gloved hand. "Come on. Let me give you a tour."

The tour ended almost as soon as they arrived in Hogsmeade, when neither of them could stand to remain in the bitter cold for a second longer than they had to.

"This will be an unconventional tour," Padma said, as they entered the Three Broomsticks. Seohyun almost sagged at the sudden, sugary warmth that wrapped the entire building in a comforting embrace. It was like arriving home after a hard day, like painting to relieve the stress of an exam. "We'll run between stores. It's a shame Zonko's is closed – it was incredible in there."

They grabbed a table, and Padma ordered for them both. When the waitress returned, she placed two cups of some golden liquid before them, a drink that Seohyun was unfamiliar with.

Well, it was warm: her hands defrosted as soon as they wrapped around the cup. She took a tentative sip and gasped. It was like drinking molten sunlight, warming her from the inside.

"I can't believe this isn't worldwide," Seohyun gasped, after drinking as much as she could in a breath.

It was difficult finding motivation to leave the Three Broomsticks when they had unbundled and warmed up and knowing that outside, only daggers of ice awaited them.

But Padma insisted they at least had to visit Honeydukes, so it was with a great inhalation of breath and a lot of pep talk to each other that they finally gained the desire to move.

It was worse outside than Seohyun imagined it would be, maybe because she had been so warmed by the drink or the atmosphere of the Three Broomsticks. They sprinted for the cover of Honeydukes, and once they were inside every fibre of Seohyun was alive.

Seohyun could almost take the sugary sweetness of every concoction on her tongue, feel the stickiness on her fingers and lips. Candies were her biggest weakness in regards to food, even more so than chocolate.

"You're like a kid in a candy store," Padma laughed, as Seohyun flitted to each corner of the shop and loaded mounds of candy into her arms.

"I literally am," Seohyun responded, giggling, which caused Padma to smile as well.

In the end, they decided that they'd been to enough places that day – and staying within Hogsmeade wasn't nearly as much fun while the weather so terrible. They pulled their jumpers and scarves and gloves on again and, like fluffy marshmallows from the store, they walked out and headed back to Hogwarts as fast as possible.

Even though the castle was drafty, it was so much warmer than the outside that it was almost like stepping into a hot tub. At least Seohyun didn't have to wear two jumpers to remain a hint of the sensation of being warm.

After dumping her sweets in her room, Seohyun told Padma that she needed to go to the library to research for her latest Astronomy assignment. Padma had a need to talk to Professor Slughorn, so they parted ways.

When Seohyun entered the library, her eyes picked out Hermione instantly. The artist smiled and picked her way toward her, but faltered. Hermione appeared to be studying, but Seohyun knew she was faking it. Her eyes didn't move across the page, and she constantly turned her quill over in her fingers.

Seohyun plonked herself opposite Hermione. The brunette raised her eyes – they were glazed over, unfocuses.

"You look awful..." Seohyun murmured. She reached over and plucked the quill from Hermione's hand. "What happened?"

Hermione swallowed. "Katie Bell..."

And she launched into the story, of how Katie Bell had been cursed. When she finished, Seohyun's hands were over her mouth, her blood cold. She could feel her hand tremble against her chin.

"Who would do something like that?" she whispered. Her voice broke.

Hermione shook her head. For once, every answer evaded her. "I don't know," she said hollowly. "It's despicable, I don't know who would want to do it – of course, Harry suspects Malfoy, but the logic behind it is unreasonable."

Seohyun froze, her blood chilling to the point of becoming ice in her veins.

"Why does he think it's Draco?"

She didn't notice how sharp her voice was, like shards of glass – or ice.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. She definitely did not miss the unintentional tone in Seohyun's voice. "He thinks Malfoy's a Death Eater, remember?"

"Yeah," Seohyun mumbled, and pulled out her Astronomy work.

+++

Seohyun was restless, agitated, Hermione's words continuing to float through her head like the lyrics to a song she couldn't get out of her head. Her fingers twitched in her pocket and she knew what she needed to cure her restlessness: her art.

Her paints loaded in the bag swung over her shoulder, Seohyun made her way to the Astronomy Tower once more for the best view. She hadn't painted in so long that she felt the need to experiment, to watch the colours bleed on to the page.

She skipped along the corridor, trying to push every thought of Hermione's words aside, when a shadow flitted across the corridor. She paused, halting midstep, gazing after it.

She caught the sight of familiar blonde hair before it disappeared.

"Draco?" she called.

She thought her voice was too soft to be heard – but she thought she noticed him hesitate before he continued on his way, as though he hadn't heard her at all.

And Seohyun was left wondering what exactly he was doing.