"Celia?" Celia was woken up by Katie's voice and she realised, to her horror, that she'd fallen asleep in the corridor. The cigarette was still in her hand although it had ceased burning long ago, a small pile of ash and black dust collected around the end, "Celia, what are you doing sleeping out here? Oh God, were you smoking?!"

"What? No!" Celia said quickly, attempting to hide the evidence but it was too late, "I must have drifted off."

"Celia, I can see that you were."

"Okay, maybe I was but it was great and I stopped after inhaling the smoke. It's so gross, how do people do it?" Celia sighed, "It's the weekend, Katie, why are you up?"

"I don't know, I woke up early," Katie said with a shrug, "Maybe it was best friend intuition. Why were you smoking?"

"I thought it would help me decide and relax me." Celia leaned back against the wall, "I spoke to Cormac."

"What? When? Why?" Katie said sitting next to her.

"I don't know, it was like four in the morning and I was going to wake you guys up but you looked so peaceful so I went to Cormac instead - "

"Cormac?!" Katie exclaimed, tucking a few strands of her dark hair behind her ears, "Oh for God's sake, Celia, why did you do that? Cormac is an idiot, you should have woken me up, I would have been crabby at first but then fine, Celia, you can be such an idiot. What were you asking Cormac about?"

"You know how I spoke to Vicky? Well, I want to speak to Goyle too, to try and get him to see what he did was wrong," Celia said, "Cormac said I shouldn't talk to him as I should just move on."

"I kind of agree with Cormac, not about the overreacting thing, what Goyle did was awful and I hate seeing you like this," Katie said, "Guys like Goyle they don't understand words. They just act on impulse, they understands fists not words. They take what they want because they can, I don't think they'll understand."

"But I want to do something," Celia replied, slumping helplessly against the wall. Her hair fell in front of her hair which was reflected her current feeling of chaos and uncertainty rather well. She usually kept in a neat, ponytail but lately she'd just been keeping the same ponytail in for days so strands of hair fell around her face and obscured her vision, "I want to send a message, that we won't take this lying down, you know?"

"I get it. I just don't think he'll understand talking." Katie admitted, "Alicia could hex him. An eye for an eye."

"An eye for an eye only makes the world blind," Celia said, "I don't want him to target you guys either, I couldn't bear it."

"We can handle ourselves," Katie replied, giving her friend an comforting squeeze on the shoulder, "I'm sure there are other things we could do."

"Yeah. I just feel like I need to talk to him or do something, for my own peace of mind as well as to tell him," Celia remembered what Alicia had sleepily suggested the night before, "Alicia suggested I speak to McGonagall."

"You spoke to Alicia and Cormac before me?" Katie asked in disbelief.

"Alicia was quite tired, she just sort of woke up," Celia said quickly, "But she said I should go to McGonagall instead. She didn't expand on that as I sent her back to sleep but I kind of like it as an idea. Do you think she'd do anything?"

"Who? McGonagall? Oh, definitely." Katie said.

"She has so much going on though, do you think she'll just dismiss me as some silly girl who can't handle a kiss."

"Don't say that, Celia. He hurt you and you said no. It wasn't 'just a kiss' no matter what Cormac says, okay?" Celia nodded but Katie didn't look entirely convinced, "Celia, how about we talk to her now. She's always up early, I see her on my way to Quidditch practice sometimes so she'll be up and it's before the big rush of people. She'll be more likely to listen in the morning."

"Shall we do it now then?" Celia asked, suddenly feeling absurdly positive.

"Yeah!"

"Let's go!" The two jumped up and began to stride down the stairs, out of the common room.

"You're getting closure!" Katie said, "I do think it was the right thing not to go to Goyle. I know he needs to learn but I don't think talking will work. You have to fight your battle wisely. With Vicky, it sounds like it went well, that was a battle well fought but with Goyle, he doesn't fight fair."

"Yeah..." Celia replied, still spurred on by enthusiasm, "I'm getting closure, we're going to fight back. Fighting against the scum that is Goyle!"

"I'm loving this weirdly enthusiastic Celia!" Katie said, smiling at Celia who smiled back. Even though the suggestion to see McGonagall had seemed to be a bit daft the night before, now that Katie and even Cormac (to an extent) had backed up not talking to Goyle, she felt a lot happier about it. Celia was surprisingly easy to influence and it took a few people to sway her into a state of compliance.

"Hey Celia." A voice said behind them suddenly. Celia and Katie sharply turned around.

"Oh no..." Katie said, eyeing up the somewhat intimidating figure of Vicky, "Vicky, what do you want?"

"Bell, nothing Quidditch related, you'll be pleased to know," Vicky smirked, "I actually came for Celia."

"Came for Celia?" Katie said, raising her eyebrow, "We're actually on our way to see McGonagall - "

"No, Katie, it's okay," Celia replied, stepping forward slightly. She felt slightly ashamed of her messy hair and quickly tightened her ponytail in an attempt to feel slightly more put together. She was fine being a hot mess in front of the other Gryffindors but not Vicky, "What do you want, Vicky?"

"I heard what you said the other day," She replied, not quite meeting Celia's eye, "And I told Goyle - "

"Oh no." Katie breathed, "Vicky, we have to go."

She gave Celia's shoulder a slight tug but Celia was transfixed, "And?"

"I think he regrets what he did, he said he did." Vicky took a long pause, "He wants to speak to you."

"Now?" Celia asked.

"Obviously not, way too early." Vicky said, "Only a few weirdos like us are up, the ones who enjoy morning walks - "

"We're actually looking for McGonagall," Katie said, her voice slightly more urgent.

"If I spoke to Goyle... would he listen?" Celia asked eagerly.

Vicky considered this, cocking her head to the side before nodding, "Yeah, I reckon so. He's not that bad a guy really, I don't think he knew he'd upset you."

"Mm hmm," Katie said folding her arms, "Vicky, we're going now."

She quickly linked her arm around Celia's in an attempt to drag her friend away.

"What time and where?" Celia asked as she meekly resisted Katie's pull.

"Outside the dungeons, after lunch!" Vicky called after her before Celia was pulled out of sight by Katie.

The moment they were a good distance away, Katie turned her friend around and holding onto her shoulders said, "Celia, what are you doing? I thought we agreed that you were speaking to McGonagall, Goyle is dangerous."

"But Vicky said he just wants to talk - "

"Vicky is his friend and Vicky is probably looking out for her own interests here." Katie finished.

"Katie, this is the closure I need." Celia said, "Vicky knows him and she said she understands. She listened to what I said and you heard her yourself, Goyle didn't know. Maybe I can explain, prevent incidents like this in the future."

"Maybe..." Katie said, "Or maybe he'll nod and agree but he doesn't mean it. Celia, please don't do anything stupid, at least let me come with you. We're close to McGonagall's office!"

"Katie, she's busy right now, there's so much crazy stuff happening. She has to deal with the horror of Umbridge, OWLs, Voldemort's 'return', I don't think she can give me the closure I need." Celia said. Katie shook her head urgently.

"No, Celia, you're wrong! She'd do it for you, she loves her students, especially Gryffindors."

"She probably doesn't know me," Celia said with a laugh, "I never talk in lessons, I just sit there. I like to fade into the shadows but this is me not fading. I'm taking justice into my own hands."

"I guess," Katie replied, looking up at the stairs to the Office, "We're so close..."

"Maybe as a plan B but I believe Vicky. She seems nice and I thinks she meant it," Celia said, slowly pulling Katie away from McGonagall's office.

"You've made up your mind haven't you." Katie said sadly, "Well, if I can't come with you, I'll come close. I'll stand a few corridors away, okay?"

Celia sighed, "Okay, fine but I think it's fine. I trust Vicky and maybe Goyle does just want to talk. I have a good feeling about this."

"Just be careful, okay?" Katie said, "If you think he's going to hurt you, fight back and then run away. There's no shame in it, it's best to flee than get hurt again."