Chapter Four - Volcano Girls

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A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Shannon, who wanted a chapter about Hermione and Gwen. :P Here you are, snookums!

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Volcano Girls,
We really can't be beat.
Warm us up and watch us blow.
But now and then we fail
And we admit defeat

Volcano Girls by Veruca Salt

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Gwen continued her life at Hogwarts, oblivious to the immense emotional pain Draco was in every time he saw her whether she was with Harry or Hermione or Ron or Ginny or one of the other many friends she had seemingly replaced him with.  Gwen was blissfully ignorant of Draco's pain and had made a great friend in Hermione, who she was spending more time with than Harry.  This was due to the fact that Harry was Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and had practice and Hermione was the best study partner she had ever had.  They were both grateful to have someone that could match them in study skills and not just copy off of them.

One morning in the girls' dorm, Hermione took Gwen aside and said, "Gwen, did you know that you snore?"

Gwen looked confused for a minute and then she realised what Hermione was talking about.  "Herm, that's not me!"

    "Well, it's not any of the other girls!"  Hermione said, almost exasperated.

    "Of course not, it's Draco!"  Gwen smiled at Hermione's confused expression.

    "Draco?" Hermione repeated, incredulously.

Gwen went over to her bed, pulled aside the curtains and rifled around under her covers for what she was looking for.  She came back over to Hermione and produced a cute, but rather disgruntled looking toy dragon.  If it had not been moving, Hermione would have mistaken it for an ordinary Muggle soft toy.

    "This is Draco, Hermione.  Not a very original name, I know, but it suits him."

The dragon puffed out his chest and snorted, obviously trying to breathe fire, but as he was full of stuffing all that happened was he managed to look awfully cute.

    "He is so gorgeous!  Is he named after…?" Hermione trailed off when she saw the look on Gwen's face.  Hermione had not been able to figure out the relationship between her new best friend and Draco Malfoy.  It was quite obvious Gwen had been avoiding him but Hermione thought that they would have been friends, as her father was very close to Lucius Malfoy. 

"Uh, Herm, why don't we take a walk by the lake?  It's a nice day for it," Gwen said nervously, looking outside.  She did not want to be questioned about her relationship with Draco. 

Hermione looked out the window; the sky was overcast but there were still quite a few students wandering about outside.  The orange leaves had nearly all fallen from the trees and were lying dormant on the ground, just waiting for someone to crunch through them in their Wellingtons.  It was a perfect October afternoon and there were only two weeks until Halloween.  This year, the Seventh Year students were having a Halloween Masquerade Ball as well as the Yule Ball at the end of year and Hermione could see quite a few clusters of girls outside, chatting excitedly, most likely about their costumes.  She nodded her agreement for a walk by the lake and followed Gwen outside.

They found a bench by the lake and sat down; Gwen was looking into the lake and Hermione was watching her.  Hermione was trying to decide whether or not to ask Gwen about Draco when Gwen said something she didn't hear properly.

    "What was that, Gwen?" Hermione asked.

Gwen sighed and repeated herself.  "I said I suppose you're wondering why I'm always avoiding Draco and I change the subject when anyone tries to ask me if we're friends because of our parents."

Hermione bit her lip, "Yes, actually.  I was going to ask you about it but I thought I'd let you bring it up."

    "Well, we're friends, best friends.  Like you and Ron and Harry are."  Gwen thought she'd leave out the fact that she was in love with him, feeling it wouldn't have the best impression on Hermione, considering she was dating Harry.

    "Best friends?  With Malfoy?" Hermione could not believe her ears.

    "He's different when he's at school, honestly.  At school he's a perfect replica of Lucius, and well, when he's out with Lucius he's more subdued.  His father has control over him.  But when he's at home and it's just us or we're there with his mother then he's a completely different person.  He's not a saint or anything, he still has a few snide remarks to make and can be quite the snob but…" Gwen searched for the right words to convey exactly what she meant to Hermione.  "But I'm not sure we're still friends anymore."  Gwen looked near tears.

    "Why? What happened?"  Hermione was really worried about Gwen.  She may have only known her for just over a month but they were already very close; Gwen had managed to become part of Harry, Ron and Hermione's close-knit group.

Gwen was about to tell Hermione everything but something inside stopped her.  If Hermione knew what happened between Gwen and Draco she would think that she was using Harry, which when it came down to it, she was. 

    "We just had a disagreement that's all.  Well a pretty bad disagreement but these things happen all the time between friends."  Gwen's voiced cracked and she burst into tears.

Hermione put her arm around her new friend to console her.  "Shh, it's alright.  You're a girl, and we don't let things get us down for too long, right?  We're stronger and smarter than boys and we can't be beat.  Besides if you and Draco really are such great friends everything will work out fine, eventually.  You probably just both need some time to cool down and sort things out in your heads."

Gwen looked up at Hermione, her vision blurred from the tears.  Her mascara had run leaving black streaks down her cheeks so she rubbed the stains off of them.  "Thanks, Herm," Gwen sniffed.  "It's really good to have a girlfriend I can talk to."

Hermione grinned.  "I know just what you mean."  Although, Hermione could not talk to Gwen about everything that was on her mind.  Like how she thought she was in love with Harry.  How could you tell your best friend you were in love with their boyfriend and had been since before you knew her?  Hermione sighed and took Gwen's hand pulling her up.

Hermione and Gwen walked back to the castle arm in arm both weighed down with their thoughts but taking comfort in each other's company.  When the two girls got back to the common room, Harry and Ron were waiting there.

    "Where have you two been?" Ron asked as he stuffed a chocolate frog into his mouth.

    "Just talking," Gwen said, walking over to sit on the arm of Harry's chair.  She ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek.

    "Oh, yeah…what about then?" Ron asked his mouth now full of chocolate.

Hermione and Gwen laughed at him and Hermione said, "Just girl stuff."

Hermione and Gwen looked at each other and smiled; it felt good to have a girlfriend.

Disclaimer:  I still own Gwen.  I also own a lot of other things but that's it for this story.  Except for maybe the plot.