After the incident, Celia felt a strange power in her hand, like her strength was coming back to her, maybe dealing with Cormac in that way. When she recited the tale to her friends, she'd watched as their reactions turned from slight horror and irritation at her stupidity to shock and concern to a cheer from Angelina.

"Yes Girl, you showed him" Angelina grinned triumphantly and Celia was pleased to see her reaction being validated. Alicia gave her a smile also; only Katie seemed to be silent. She'd been very vocal in her reactions but now her face was completely devoid of emotions.

"I think we should go out for butterbeers," Alicia announced, "In celebration of Celia finally standing up to that arse."

"You shouldn't have gone alone but in a way you kind of... found your strength." Angelina said, smiling gleefully at her friend.

"That's what I was thinking,"  Celia replied, "Powerful, like I can stand up to him now."

"You've earnt it," Alicia added. Celia grinned with her friends before stealing one more glance at Katie who was staring despondently at the paper, "Katie, you good?"

Katie looked up slowly before giving Celia a weak smile, "Are you okay? From Goyle doing it again?"

"I wasn't before but I feel better now." Celia replied and Katie's smile vanished again.

"Cormac, where is he now?"

Celia shrugged, "After I slapped him - "

"And sassed him," Alicia added.

"Right, and sassed him, I just got up and left again. Came straight here." Celia replied. Katie nodded vaguely before turning back to her paper.

"K, you good?" Angelina asked, leaning over and trying to figure out what Katie was feeling. Celia was confused as well, Katie hated Cormac, why wasn't she celebrating? He'd been rude to her, he was a pig, he had it coming. She, along with the other two where always telling Celia to break ties with her old friend and now she finally had. Angelina and Celia exchanged a look of confusion about Katie's sudden silence.

"You never got your charms book," Katie said suddenly. The three girls looked up, confused by the blank expression on her face.

"I was never really going to get it," Celia replied with a laugh, "I was speaking to Goyle, the charms book was a ruse."

"Do you have it?"

Celia shook her head, "No, I wasn't planning on doing revision, to be completely honest."

"Huh," Katie replied, "Do you want me to go get your book for you? You're probably still in shock from what happened - "

"Which part?" Alicia cut in, "The part where she was a boss arse bitch?"

"No, the bit where Goyle slammed her against a wall and did exactly the same thing as last time," Katie replied sharply, "I'll get it for you, Celia - "

"Katie," Celia began to get up but Katie held her hand out.

"No, Celia, stay. You need time to... recover," With that she dashed out, her ponytail swinging as she ran. Celia watched her go before turning back to her other two friends. She couldn't help feeling slightly annoyed by Katie, Celia had got vengeance for what Goyle did. She'd regained her strength and found her inner boss arse bitch, in Celia's eyes.

"What's up with her?" Alicia asked.

"You know Katie, maybe she's just worried," Angelina replied, "But seriously, Celia, are you okay? Are those fresh bruises on your wrist?"

Celia glanced at her arm and wrist where the bruises where. She expected to feel panic like before but instead, the hand now seemed to radiate power. She could do what she wanted now and nothing, no man nor woman could stop her.

"Do you think she was all pissy because I slapped Cormac?" Celia asked. Angelina shook her head.

"Nah, he was an arse, had it coming in my opinion."

"True," Alicia added, "Do you think you'll speak to McGonagall about it? I mean Goyle did it again."

"I don't think so," Celia replied, "To be honest, I feel like I don't need to anymore. I needed to speak to her for closure and I got it."

"That's fair enough," Angelina replied and the three of them got back to work.

At first, Celia hardly noticed Katie's absence until she looked up at the clock and realised that her friend had been gone for half an hour. The Gryffindor tower was a few minutes walk away at most.

"Shouldn't Katie be back by now?" She asked.

"I don't know, your drawer is a tip, she probably can't find the damn book," Alicia joked. Suddenly a thought occurred to Celia, what if Katie had gone to talk to Goyle? It would make sense, Katie was passionate about what was happening and maybe she felt that she hadn't got enough closure for the incident.

"I'm going to go and find her," Celia said standing up, "Half an hour is ridiculous and I'm worried that maybe she wasn't just collecting my book for me."

"It did seem weirdly nice," Alicia said, "Even for Katie."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Angelina asked but Celia shook her head.

"Nah, if we all go then it will become a weird chain and you guys have N.E.W.Ts to revise for," Celia said before darting away.

Surprisingly, finding Katie turned out to be an easy task. She had only been walking for a minute or so before she almost walked into Katie down the corridor, the charms book clasped in her hands.

"Celia?" Her face remained blank other than her brow furrowing a bit, "I have your book... sorry, it took me a while to find it..."

"Katie, where were you really?" Celia asked softly.

"What?" Katie looked down at her feet, shifting uncomfortably - a clear indicator that she was lying, "Getting your charms book as I said..."

"Katie, it wouldn't take half an hour," Celia said, "Please tell me you didn't do anything as stupid as me."

"No," Katie replied after a long pause. She put the book in Celia's open hands before casually walking over to the window, the wind gently moving her loose strands of hair, "C, you know that Cormac didn't do it, right? That was Goyle."

"What are you saying?" Celia asked, walked next to Katie and leaning on the wall. Katie didn't reply for a few moments, staring out the window, her eyes distant and concerned.

"Cormac didn't kiss you," Katie replied slowly, "That was Goyle."

"Cormac's been an arse this whole time to me," Celia turned away, staring out the window with her friend, "He contributed to the culture that let it happen. I thought you hated him, Katie, anyway."

"I do," Katie replied slowly, "I'm not saying he didn't deserve something... but not a slap to the face."

"It was a spur of the moment thing," Celia said, her brow furrowing, "Katie, you're not seriously mad at me, are you? Katie, come on. I'm the victim here - "

"So is Cormac. In a way. Being a victim of one thing doesn't excuse you from being the perpetrator of other things. It's like if I was discriminated against for being a muggleborn and then went around saying racist things -"

"But I'm not, that's completely different!"

"is it? You made him answer for a crime he didn't commit."

"He indirectly did - "

At this Katie turned around, "He indirectly did it? By that logic, you should just slap everyone because none of us were there to stop it. Celia, that's... Goyle logic."

"It's not Goyle logic. He deserved it, he's been awful to me, telling me I overreacted to it when I didn't."

"And he was awful about that!" Katie's voice was raised now, "I'm not saying you overreacted, it was awful, Goyle bruised you and he hurt you and the worse thing is he did it twice. Cormac may be an arsehole, I'd go as far to call him a toxic friend but he didn't do it, he didn't deserve the slap... and neither did Goyle for that matter, he wouldn't have deserved it either."

"An eye for an eye, Katie," Celia replied sharply, "That's not Goyle logic, that's just logic."

"An eye for an eye only makes the world blind, Celia," Katie replied through gritted teeth, "I thought you knew that."