A/N: Here you go! Finally got round to writing a new chapter, things have just been hectic with exams (I'm doing ASs at the moment and two of my subjects are art and drama which are both quite coursework heavy and so there's been a lot to do for them in order to prep for my exams, also my out of school schedule has somehow become very busy and Sunday is my only truly free day (and most of that has been dedicated to homework!) But now I am on half term and only have one exam paper left to sit and so I can put a bit more time into my writing, even when I go back to school before the summer holidays it should be a bit more relaxed so hopefully you can look forward to more chapters in the near future!
I hoe you like this one, its a Gwen-centric chapter because her and Morgana have quite a bit sub-plot in the overall plan; also just between you and me I find female characters easier to write (which you may have picked up on if you've read some of my other fics as most of them are female based) and so sometimes I hit a wall on where to go next with the boys or how to get something across, so I take a breather with a chapter like this. I hope you like it and I promise that next episode will be back to focusing on the boys (particularly Merlin)
As always please leave a comment or kudos as it does motivate me to write and just makes me so happy to hear from you guys (also want to know what you do and don't like so I can tailor it more to you :) )
Sidenote: all my work is also available on AO3 with the same story name and pen name, if you find that easier to use :)

"Morgana!" Gwen jogged down the dungeon corridor; throughout potions she hadn't had a chance to talk to her, Snape had been in a bad mood and any talking above a whisper could earn you a detention, and with Morgana sat on the other side of the room, Gwen hadn't had an opportunity.

Morgana kept walking until Gwen caught up with her, grabbing her shoulder. Morgana turned,

"Oh Gwen, hello, I didn't realise you were behind me," She said, her soft Irish accent coming through and her tone somewhat aloof, which took Gwen aback for a moment; she frowned slightly, still giving Morgana a half smile,

"I did call after you…" she paused before looking down with a small shake of her head; meeting Morgana's eyes again she smiled fully "Anyway; do you want to meet in the library after dinner? McGonagall told us to read a couple chapters of our transfiguration books before next lesson, I thought we could do it together… and I feel like I haven't seen you properly in weeks!" Morgana dropped her eyes,

"Sorry Gwen, I'm seeing Mordred and Morgause this evening," at this Gwen also dropped her eyes to the floor,

"Oh, okay… no worries, another time." Shrugging off her disappointed tone she put on a brave smile, "how is Mordred? Have you managed to lure him away from Morgause yet?" Trying to make Morgana laugh, or at least smile. Instead Morgana furrowed her brow,

"Morgause isn't actually a bad person Gwen. After all your talk about inter-house unity, you're very quick to judge." her tone had a sharp edge to it that took Gwen by surprise, she wasn't sure how to respond; after all it had been Morgana that had told her about Morgause, how her mother had been sent to Azkaban for crimes involving dark magic, leaving Morgause with her estranged father; it had been Morgana that had been worried about her influence on Mordred, and yet here she was defending her despite Morgause's continued bullying of younger students and harassment of other members of other houses.
"Just back off, just because I have other friends now doesn't mean you should get jealous and be so rude."

"I.." Gwen tried to form some kind of response but before she could get her first words out Morgana had turned on her heel and swept off down the hall, disappearing into the Slytherin common room, leaving Gwen at a loss.

Gwen was quiet for a few days, not sure where she and Morgana stood after their argument she had been avoiding her, worried that she would just push her further away. Surprisingly it was relatively easy to do, despite sharing a lot of classes all the seating was segregated into houses and outside of classes Morgana would retreat to her common room.

On the fourth day Gwen decided that enough was enough and, whilst waiting to go in to transfiguration, she went up to Morgana and Morgause, who were chatting.

"Hi… Morgana can I have a word… in private…" Both Morgana and Morgause looked over at her, Morgana not even smiling as she said in a somewhat steely tone "Whatever you have to say you can say here."

"Okay…" Gwen paused, not wanting to provoke another argument. "I'm sorry for what I said, you're right that I may have been too quick to judge Morgause and for that I feel I owe both of you an apology so,"

"Well," Morgause cut her short, a sharp tone matching her sharp blue eyes that had a menacing gleam "who cares what a stupid Gryffindor blood-traitor like you thinks? I heard that your father works with muggles and uses his magic to help them, in many ways you're worse than a mudblood." Gwen was shocked, not only by Morguase's outburst but more that Morgana did nothing, she didn't meet Gwen's eyes until she spoke, her voice was quiet but there was little sympathy in her tone,

"Gwen, you should go." Still in shock she just stood there, trying to process what had happened and how a simple apology had gone so wrong.

"You heard her," Morgause stepped forward, squaring up to Gwen, "get out of here, or else I'll hex you!" before Morgause had a chance to carry out her threat, Professor McGonagall emerged and they filed into the classroom,

Once the lesson was over Gwen thought she would try to talk to Morgana again, if only she could get her on her own to explain, but as she followed Morgana and Morgause down the corridor she overheard what Morgause was saying,

"Later I'll show you this book my mum gave me, 'Hexs, Curses, Jinxs, and other skills for a beginner in dark magic' you liked that other one and this is quite similar. Soon you might even be as good as me!" This stopped Gwen in her tracks, was Morgana really getting involved with dark magic? She found herself alone in the corridor, unsure of what to do next she began to wander back towards the Gryffindor common room, finally she deciding that she would talk to Elyan.

After dinner and going to the library to check out some books for homework, checking their little corner in the small hope that Morgana was there, Gwen headed up to the common room in the hope of finding Elyan. She asked one of the other third year boys if they had seen him, they hadn't and he wasn't in the dorms. Still unsure of what to do she settled in one of the armchairs by the fire to do some reading, hoping that she would catch Elyan when he came in.

After about an hour when she was starting to give up on her plan and to just retreat to her dorm and maybe try again tomorrow, Arthur walked in, lugging some books with him he didn't look to happy but Gwen still dashed over to him,

"Hey Arthur, do you know where Elyan is… I really need to talk to him," the frown lifted from Arthur's brow when Gwen came over, he had always had a soft spot for her.

"His out with the others, practising Quidditch… I was going to join them after my detention with Snape, but if you need someone to talk to I'd be happy to listen… if it's something you want to talk to me about… if you need Elyan I can tell him and maybe you could meet with him tomorrow?" Gwen smiled,

"you'd be great, if you don't mind giving up practise,"

"Of course not, so why did you want to talk to Elyan?" Arthur smiled kindly, sitting down with Gwen.

"Well, when at home whenever I'd have a problem, Dad would make us hot drinks and we'd sit by the fire and talk it through… I guess that I just figured that Elyan was the next best thing?" Arthur stood up, pulling Gwen with him as she went,

"Well then, go get into your pyjamas and put all those books and things away, I'll meet you back here in 15 minutes!" with no further explanation Arthur jogged up the stairs to his dorm, flashing Gwen a grin as he did.

15 minutes later when Gwen remerged she found that Arthur had pulled two of the old armchairs round to create a more secluded atmosphere and he was sat there, in his pyjamas, with two mugs of hot chocolate.

"There, now we're all set up, ready to talk about it?" Gwen laughed as she sat down,

"Thank you Arthur," she said, touched that Arthur would not only give up a chance to practise, but also go to this much effort for her. Her smile faded and she dropped his gaze for a moment, hesitantly saying "It's about Morgana…"

She explained everything; from Morgause's past, to Mordred befriending her, to Morgana seemingly being drawn in and tempted towards dark magic.

"I just don't what to do!" she said with a sigh, "I've tried talking to her but she just bites my head off… I don't understand how she could have changed so suddenly." Arthur was quiet for a minute, thinking about the situation,

"Maybe Morgause is insecure about her friendships? By the sound of it she isn't very popular so maybe she feels like you might take Morgana away from her?" Gwen frowned,

"that still doesn't account for why she would be getting Morgana into dark magic, that stuff is really dangerous…"

"Maybe it's not as bad as you think, or maybe Morgana is just going along with it to keep Morgause happy,"

"Arthur I don't think you understa,"

"Gwen," Arthur cut her off, gently putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eye, "Morgana is a sensible girl, I'm sure she won't get herself into anything too bad, and whilst you're looking at it as Morgause corrupting Morgana, have you considered that Morgana might be making Morgause a better person?" Gwen didn't answer; she slumped down in her chair and watched the fire's embers. "It's getting late… I'm going to head up to bed and I suggest you do the same thing soon." As he stood up he gave shoulder a squeeze before disappearing up the stairs.

Gwen stayed where she was, she like Arthur and thought he was a good friend, but at the end of the day he was a muggle-born, and what does any muggle born truly know about the darker sides of the Wizarding World when all they've seen is Hogwarts? She had grown up watching families be ripped apart by dark magic, hearing stories about how it would corrupt a person down to their core. There was a reason that the Ministry required them to be taught how to defend themselves against the dark arts, but how could a muggle-born comprehend those reasons? Arthur had been a good listener, but in the end she was still unsure about what to do… maybe she should have just waited for Elyan.