When Gwen finally returned to the castle she was beleaguered with questions and scolding from Harry, Graves, Minerva and surprisingly Draco. He remained at the castle, surprising all of them. He volunteered as a friend of the Order and was immediately put to work.
Gwen was not so surprised that he stayed. She was very surprised that he cared enough to yell at her for wandering off. As yet she hadn�t told anyone what had transpired in the secret chamber and she certainly hadn�t told anyone that it had to do with the Dark Lord. She wouldn�t even allow herself to think on it. He had given her many things to think about and all of them led to unanswerable possibilities.
Draco kept bugging her about it and she always managed to change the subject. One sunny afternoon they were cleaning up the mess on the front lawns of the school, knee deep in melting snow and almost frozen ground, making an icy mud that caked their robes.
He had been pestering her about it on and off for they had picked to work on a small plot of ground together. They were filling in the giant holes that had been left by the battle, trying to bandage the wounds of the earth. Finally she turned to him and asked �why,� as Draco wiped his hands off on his muddy black robes.
He looked at her. �Why what?�
�Why do you care so much to know what�s going on with me?�
�You showed me a lot of mercy in school. I guess I owe you the chance to become friends and I think you owe me the chance to care about you.� He gave her a sidelong look as she wrapped her arms tight about her, hugging in what warmth she could muster. �You know you weren�t too far off the mark about me.�
�How�s that?� She asked, shivering.
�I�m a big coward, the malice is all pretense. I�m just trying to be like daddy.� He smirked and some of the softness that had made him seem so harmless moments ago was eaten away. �But we all have our reasons for doing what we do.�
He shoveled another pile of dirt into the giant hole they were trying to fill and closed his mouth for the rest of the day. So far as he was concerned, the subject was closed for the time being.