Harry walked into the Great Hall, at lunchtime, with Hermione and Ron. He looked around for Cecelia. She was not there, but Benton was sitting at the end of the Slytherin table with Draco Malfoy. Harry tried to think where Cecelia could be. He remembered that morning, at breakfast, when Cecelia had asked him where Shia was. He had used the Marauder's Map to find him. He could use the Marauder's Map now to find Cecelia. The Marauder's Map was still in his pocket.

"I'll be right back," he said to Ron and Hermione, "I've got to go to the toilette." He tried to walk calmly out of the Great Hall, so as not to attract any attention. He wanted a moment alone with Cecelia.

Harry walked, his heart beating wildly with the effort of appearing calm, up the marble staircase, and when he reached Cecelia's room, he stopped. He pulled out the map and saw that she was indeed in her room.

Harry wondered how he was going to get in. He tried to remember how Cecelia had opened it yesterday, when she had introduced them to Benton. She hadn't said any password or anything. She had just opened the door.

So Harry opened the door. Cecelia's room was through a little hallway to the left. The hallway bent strangely and turned into a staircase. Harry thought it must have been designed by Cecelia herself.

At last Harry came to Cecelia's room. There was a doorway, but, instead of a door, some light curtains hanging down. Harry pushed his way through them, and found Cecelia looking at him in slight concern.

"Oh, Harry. Hi."

"Hi. Cecelia? Do you know Benton very well?"

"I like you, Harry. Benton does, too. We're both fond of people who don't beat around the bush. But other than that, no, I don't know her very well.

"We're only cousins, after all, and she's from U.S.A. Virginia, to be more exact. When Benton's parents died, a social-worker called my mother and asked her if she wanted to take Benton. But of course, my mother said no, because that's the kind of person she is. My mother only feels any kind of obligation to herself. Not to her niece, not even really to her daughter…me, I mean." Harry noticed some similarities between Benton's situation and his own.

"My parents died, too, only, my aunt did take me in. And she definitely cares about her own son. Why did the social-worker call your mother? Wasn't there anyone else…?"

"No. My mother and I were Benton's only living relatives, as far as we know, and as far as the social-worker knew. When my mother refused—rather nastily, I might add—Benton was left in an orphanage. I wrote to her, despite my mother's ridicule. —My mother doesn't understand love, so she makes fun of people who feel it.— And I managed to go visit Benton a few times, but I didn't really know her all that well. It is hard to get to know someone under those circumstances. But I did want to know her. I didn't give up, and when I found that I was going to be staying here, I arranged for her to come stay. Now, maybe we can both have a real family." For just a moment, Harry felt immensely sorry for both of them. Then, he forced himself to stop, because he didn't think they wanted that.

"How did her parents die?"

"I don't know. I was only four when it happened. And, you know, my mother doesn't care about other people, so of course she would never talk about it, and it isn't the social-worker's business, so no one's ever talked about, I don't think."

"So, you don't suppose Benton knows? I mean, her parents death couldn't have had any effect on her, could it?"

"You wouldn't think so, would you? Since she was only a year old when it happened? But, although she cannot remember what happened, and she can't remember her parents, Benton is occasionally terrified by the color green, and she's sure it has something to do with her parents' death."

A jet of green light extinguished the life in Cedric Diggory's body. Harry was spun around, and he saw the same thing happen to his parents. Then his field of vision was filled with green light, and he felt himself crying, wailing like a baby. He woke up in time to stop himself from actually crying. He looked into the darkness of the dormitory and felt cut off from the world. Was this what Benton meant by feeling disconnected from the world? Did she walk around feeling like she was shrouded in darkness? Did she feel…powerless?