Harry remembered how things were at the end of last year.

"Do you think that Cecelia person will be here again?" he asked Hermione. Hermione had known Cecelia pretty well. She had been the first person in the school to talk to her.

"Oh, yes, she'll definitely be back. Professor Dumbledore adopted her, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

Hermione, Harry, Ron, Neville, and Ginny walked into the entrance hall, Luna Lovegood vaguely following a few feet behind them.

"Hermione!" Cecelia called, waving from the first floor. She signaled for them all to come upstairs. Hermione ran up the marble staircase, followed by the others.

"Hey, Harry!" called Seamus Finnigan, "Where are you going?"

Harry pointed towards Cecelia, and Seamus and Dean Thomas seemed to decide to follow them.

"Hermione. Dean and Seamus are coming."

"Ok," said Hermione, as though it thoroughly did not matter.

"Come on!" Cecelia lead the way to her room.

Cecelia was the right age to be in 6th year, though what year she was actually in was rather hard to say. In Charms, she was on a 7th year level, but in Transfiguration, only a 4th year level, and in History of Magic, which was easily the most boring class, she was barely at a 2nd year level. She had been doing mostly independent study since she had come to stay at the castle in April.

Cecelia opened the door to her room, or at least what had previously been her room. Now it appeared to be a rather small common room, and sitting in a chair by a window was a young teenage girl.

"Look! It's my cousin Benton. She's come to stay here, too."

Benton waved hello and started to say something, but she was interrupted by a rather unwanted intrusion.

"Well, well, well. Skipping the feast, are we?"

"Hi, Draco," said Cecelia, her demeanor changing drastically. She seemed more reserved whenever Draco Malfoy showed up.

"We're not skipping the feast," she said, shaking her head, "I was only introducing everyone to my cousin, Benton." Draco looked through the small crowd of people at the tiny girl in pink shorts and t-shirt at the other end of the room.

"A muggle?"

"Perhaps," Cecelia replied, obviously trying not to start a fight, "But remember what we talked about?" Draco gave a small nod, and moved past Harry and Seamus to Benton.

"Hello." Draco offered his hand. "I'm Draco Malfoy. I'm a friend of your cousin's." Benton held out her hand, standing up.

"I'm Benton. I've heard about you. You look like me." Draco evaluated this statement and said,

"So, I do."

Benton pulled her hand away from Draco's and said, "Isn't there some feast to go to?"

"Yes," said Dean, "Let's hurry, we've probably already missed part of the Sorting."

They went down the marble staircase and into the Great Hall.

They were in time to see Laura Seeder sorted into Ravenclaw. They sat down as a group at the Gryffindor table. The other Gryffindors were used to Cecelia sitting wherever she pleased, but they had none of them ever seen Benton before, and they were definitely bristling at Draco Malfoy, a most hated student of Slytherin, sitting at their table. After Cecelia had come, Draco had started being nicer to everyone, but most people couldn't forget the nearly 6 years during which he probably would have killed them all, had he had the opportunity.

Shia Zachary was sorted into Slytherin. He took two steps toward the Slytherin table, then fell to the floor, crying. Professor McGonagall rushed over to him and asked him what was the matter.

"I don't want to be in Slytherin!" he cried.

"It's ok. You don't have to be in Slytherin. You can be in Hufflepuff." At this, Shia cried even louder. As Shia was the last person to be sorted, Professor McGonagall walked with him, almost carrying him, out of the Great Hall, and the stool and Sorting Hat were left on the stage.

"Why wouldn't he want to be in Slytherin?" Draco asked Cecelia. Cecelia didn't know what to say and her pause allowed someone else to speak.

"I didn't want to be in Slytherin," Harry said, "I'd heard that Slytherin had turned out more Dark Wizards than any other house, and I didn't want to become a Dark Wizard. It's a funny thing, though. When I said I didn't want to be in Slytherin, the Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor. I wonder why it didn't do the same for Shia?" Draco goggled at Harry.

"You were meant to be in Slytherin?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," said Harry idly. He found that he now hated Draco Malfoy no more than he hated Colin and Dennis Creevey, which, truthfully, wasn't very much.

"We have two guests with us this year," Dumbledore was saying, "You may remember Cecelia, who came to us in April and occasionally joined in classes, and will continue to do so at her discretion. And our other guest is Benton Bennett, Cecelia's cousin. Benton may also join classes if she wishes, though I have no idea what her plans are. Please, everyone, feel free to speak to Cecelia and Benton. They are both very friendly and eagerly await whatever you have to say to them. Now, let's eat." Dumbledore sat down, and food appeared on the five tables.

"Is it true, all he said?" Ginny asked Cecelia and Benton, "Did you know he was going to say those things about you?"

"We didn't know. But it sounded true to me." Cecelia looked at Benton. Benton nodded.

"Yes," she said, staring in the direction of Dean Thomas's chest. It gave one the impression that Benton's eyes did not work, but she had been known to use them before, so perhaps she was just thinking.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Draco and even the small Luna and Ginny, piled their plates high with food, and took second and third helpings, but Cecelia and Benton barely ate anything.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked Cecelia, "Are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine. I just don't eat very much."

"I remember you eating more than that last year."

"That's because I was excited about being in a new place."

"Oh. What about you, Benton? Why are you eating so little?" Benton looked around at Hermione, again giving the impression that her eyes did not work, and that perhaps her other senses were dull, too, and said,

"I, also, do not eat much."


After the feast, while everyone was heading to their dorms, Harry pulled Benton aside.

"You don't like it very much here, do you?"

"What gives you that idea?"

"The way you were acting at the feast—kind of lazy. I act that way at my aunt and uncle's house, because I hate it there."

"Oh, well, it doesn't mean anything, Harry. I just get that way sometimes. Sometimes, I feel rather disconnected from the world. But I still like you and Hermione and all those other kids I met today."

"Oh, all right." Harry hadn't any idea what it meant to feel disconnected from the world, but he thought at least Benton seemed happy.

Harry watched Benton into her and Cecelia's common room and took the rest of the trip to his own common room and to the dormitory he shared with Neville, Dean, Seamus, and Ron.

"That Benton girl seems a little out of it, doesn't she?" said Ron, as if he had been waiting for Harry to arrive just so he could say it.

"She's out of something. But I don't think she's crazy or anything."

"I'm not so sure."

"You've only known her for an hour!" said Neville, "And you've barely spoken to her. 'Sides, from her accent, I think she's from U.S.A. People probably just act differently there."

"Oh," said Ron, for that had not occurred to him, "I suppose you're right." Ron got into his bed and pulled the hangings closed. Harry did the same, and he was soon asleep.