Distorted Lines ✓ | GREGORY GOYLE

≼ Epilogue ≻

Since talking to Goyle, Celia finally felt like a large weight had been taken off of her chest. It was still a bit hard, she would admit that but she definitely felt less jumpy than she did a few weeks ago. She'd even seen Goyle a few times around the school and had felt less afraid than she had done a few weeks ago. He wouldn't meet her gaze and she wondered if he ever would be able to again. She liked to think he was going through some grand personal change which he would emerge from like a beautiful butterfly but realistically, she'd probably only made him think for a few seconds and he simply hadn't like the feeling of being somewhat overpowered.

It felt oddly circular too, for her to be sitting with Cormac again, just the two of them in the common and it gave her a strange, unsettling feeling of Deja vu. But things were different this time, things had changed between them. Cormac wasn't the Knight and she wasn't always the Damsel in Distress, she was the Dragon now.

"Celia," He said, slowly looking up at her, "Do you remember when we were last here?"

"The night it happened," She gave a slight smile, "We're thinking about the same thing, right?"

Cormac snorted derisively, "Evidently."

She was a silent for a bit, "You were quite rude to me."

"Are you still annoyed about that?" He asked, looking up at her from under his eyelashes.

She shook her head, "I don't think I can forget it but I can forgive it. As long as you don't revert back to that mind-set I think we'll be fine, you know?"

"I am trying," He said, "Sometimes, I still think that it was just a kiss... don't judge me, I'm expressing my inner thoughts! Then I remember that even if it was just a kiss to me, it was more to you and I have to see it from your perspective, right?"

She gave him a small smile, teasingly saying, "Yes, Cormac, gold star!"

He gave a slight push on the shoulder and the two of them sniggered slightly.

"I'm sorry for slapping you."

"I'm sorry for disregarding you," Cormac replied, "I still can't believe people like Goyle exist, it's just gross."

"Exactly! Kisses are so much better when the other person wants to kiss you back, you know?" She replied, "Maybe one day he'll see that, I like to think I made him look on what he did."

"I think you did. You did with me," Cormac replied as he dipped his quill into the ink pot, "Little victories."

"True," She gave a small smile, "Sometimes I feel like the little victories don't mean anything but I guess if they mean something to me, that matters, right?"

Cormac shrugged, "Eh, little victories can pile up into big victories which can have a big impact."

"That's true. Who knows, maybe all this with Goyle will have a butterfly effect, he'll spread it to people, who will spread it to others and slowly it will grow until stuff like this doesn't happen," She giggled slightly as she said, "And I never have to wear those damn woollen tights again."

Cormac raised his ink pot, "To getting rid of those woollen tights!"

She laughed as she did likewise, "To getting rid of those itchy, boiling hot tights!"

It was a silly toast but it meant something to her and it did give her a little bit of hope. If she could convert Cormac then maybe she could do it again, increasing her little victories into one massive victory which was big enough to topple the world.

It was a big thing but she had hope and a will and that was all she needed.