Harry started, and a whisper erupted across the Great Hall. Potter. The word echoed against the walls. Whispered itself in Harry's mind, over and over. Then he relaxed. Potter wasn't such an odd last name. Obviously more than one person had it. Ron nudged Harry.

"Hey, she's got your name!" Said Ron, staring rather blankly up at the girl in orange sitting under the Sorting Hat. . .

Candice stepped forward as her name was called; growing paler and paler as the remainder of her strength began to fail. She almost stumbled as she sat on the stool, and the hat was dropped over her head.

"Poor baby." Said the hat in her ear. "Your dream is still possible, I'll admit it's unlikely, but still possible. Now, as to where to put you. Not in Slytherin, you have no magical ambition whatsoever. Not Hufflepuff either, you're not very loyal, or honest. You're very clever, but I think you're more of the brave sort. Yes, you belong in GRYFFINDOR!" the hat ended. Candice wobbled slightly as she stood up. She needed to sleep. She stumbled down the steps to the head of the Gryffindor table. The first years had settled themselves right in front of her. But she wasn't a first year, she didn't belong to them. She looked around for people her age, hoping to find a place to sit. . . "Move over!" Hermione hissed, breaking Harry's state of blankness as he heard the Sorting Hat place the girl, Candice, in Gryffindor. "She needs a place to sit!" Harry and Ron quickly made room. Without smiling, or even acknowledging their sacrifice, Candice sat down besides Hermione. Blank, empty eyes stared at Dumbledore as he made the usual start-of-term notices, and then the food appeared. Harry was absorbed in the good meal for a time being, but as his hunger was quenched, so was his attention on food. Candice stared that same blank stare at the food before her. Harry now noted that along with that sad look she wore, she also looked slightly sick. She was breathing heavily and her eyelids kept threatening to drop, her eyes looking a bit bloodshot.

"Are you going to eat?" Harry asked, startling Candice out of her state. She gave Harry a confused and blank look. Then she saw the food, as if for the first time. Hermione stopped eating, and loaded Candice's plate with potatoes, steak, and cooked carrots.

"Harry's right, you need food." Hermione said firmly, almost shoving knife and fork into her hand. Candice did eat, slowly and carefully, and not nearly as much as Hermione thought she should, for Hermione frowned when Candice pushed back her plate. The desserts appeared soon after, and Candice wouldn't touch them. When Ron asked her about this, she responded that her body didn't need the extra fat and sugar, and she wasn't eating anything her body didn't need. Harry laughed at Ron's expression after he heard that. He must have thought she was crazy. She looked about ready to drop off to sleep after Dumbledore dismissed the students to bed, but followed the new prefect, Angelina Johnson, through the pathways to the Gryffindor tower. She didn't seem to hear the password Angelina gave, but she followed Hermione up the stairs to the fourth year girls' beds, and disappeared for the night.