A/N 29/9/24: Hi there! This is the first story of the Ky Thornton series, a coming-of-age adventure that is based in the fourth year of Harry's time at Hogwarts. I have completed the second and third story, and the fourth is a work in progress. I do hope you enjoy the different 'faces' I've created for familiar characters, as well as the original ones I've created for Ky's world!

Disclaimer: Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling

Prologue

It was buzzing. A continuous, hum drum buzzing that pecked at my ears like pins to a voodoo doll. Speaking of which, I wish I had a voodoo doll of her. First thing I'd do is stitch its annoyingly perfect pink lips up. Pink lips that seamlessly matched that atrocious two-piece suit that she currently adorned, an outfit she would ardently point out was by some French designer whose name she could barely pronounce.

I rolled my eyes at the nonstop monologue, and I refrained from tugging on my long mane in frustration. I instead shaded my face from the rays of sunlight that attacked the car window, currently in a vampiric mood; there is too much liveliness in this car – it needed to be sucked out.

I stopped pretending to listen to Nessie, catching a view of the lake we were currently driving passed. It was crystalline perfection and was surrounded by green landscapes that satisfactorily distracted me from the blonde in the driver's seat.

Linus owes me big. Bigger than a Sony PlayStation before release date big. I can't believe he convinced me to spend the day with his insipid fiancé - my future sister-in-law, Scottish American, Agnes McQueen. Well, I say convinced, it was nothing more than pure, old-fashioned corruption, what with him greasing the wheels the way he did.

When he delivered the news of his pending nuptials, and I fought off the resultant vomit that begged to be emitted, he added that the infamous wedding would occur in Scotland. Silly old me imagined all these cool activities that him, our brother Lenzo, and I could do! Hikes in the Highlands – subsequently bumping into their famous bovine inhabitants! Comedy nights in the city!

Yet I was reminded that the purpose of this trip was not for sightseeing – 'we' had a wedding to plan. So, I, being the selfless creature that I am, put aside all my wanderlust and said all I really wanted to do was visit a castle! He knew of my obsession with haunted castles ever since we visited Belhurst back in New York and I was fairly certain I had seen a ghost.

He had chalked it up to the overactive imagination of a ten-year-old – but considering all the other odd things we were privy to; I was surprised at his protestations. I had been determined to prove him wrong ever since, and surely there'd be a haunted castle in Scotland.

But no, we've been here a week and we've been doing nothing but push the neurons in my head into taking suicidal plunges in the hope of escaping the boredom. And by boredom, I mean nonstop wedding crap. I could go the rest of my life without having to hear the word taffeta again.

"Kyrianna, are you listening to me! Have you decided if you want the taffeta dress for the reception or the lace? Personally, I think the lace is a bit too mature but…. buzzzzzz" Oh my sweet irony, this is the last straw.

Just before I could blow the roof off this Bentley, the most mesmerizing view caught my eye and I straightened to attention. It was as if the God of British classic automobiles, in order to protect its own; sent me a vision that was nothing short of magical. It was a castle….no, it was The Castle. Its turrets and towers were set alight by the backdrop of the slowly setting sun, and just like that the buzzing stopped and my veins were set aflame with an indescribable need that welled up and blocked everything else except The Castle out.

It was as if it were a Siren, and I was a hopeless shipwreck; I needed to see that castle. I don't know if it was the need to get away from Nessie, or the need to just do one thing I wanted this vacation, or that weird feeling of déjà vu, but I needed to be there, in that castle.

Two heart beats later there was nothing but an uncomfortable twist in my stomach, and Nessie's bloodcurdling scream.

A/N: Thank you for reading. Feedback is always appreciated.

Kalina

Long A/N on Phoenix Accession (feel free to ignore):

This is the first of four stories that I've written about Ky Thornton. The first three are complete and are set in Hogwarts (4th - 6th year) whilst the fourth is a WIP that I post weekly updates, and deals with Ky and Harry when they are adults.

So much of Harry Potter centres around the idea of love - that there is powerful magic in the concept itself. I think canonically Harry Potter is a great example of someone who displays a great amount of 'agape' type of love, and so much of his decision-making is influenced by this powerful love for humanity in general. I was curious how having a strong 'eros' centred love would affect his story - and that is where the idea for Ky Thornton came from. In trying to create this love interest for Harry, to explore the different flavours of 'love' magic, I quite frankly, fell deeply into the backstory and character of Ky to the point that she no longer was just a tool to explore this concept, but was very much a character in her own right (in my head at least).

At the core - this is a love story. But it is also a story about war, friendship, family and identity. I quite enjoy writing fight scenes - so they will be many. I am curious about interhouse friendships, of which we see little of canonically, so I delve into this a fair bit.

Ky has two brothers who are very much the pillar stones of her family life, but she also, like Harry, has a wider 'chosen' family - of which there are new, as well as familiar faces. Identity is probably the biggest part of this story - with many characters grappling with role fulfilment vs being true to themselves.

Aside from her relationship with Harry, I think in this first story there are three core relationships that shape her progress:

Her relationship with herself - Ky at fourteen is quite polarizing - I didn't intend her to be this way, but people tend to love her or hate her, and I have made my peace with that. I suppose I did her no favours at all by making her funny, smart and beautiful - but hopefully if you give her a chance you'll learn that she is far from perfect - she's lonely, and at times, quite desperate for acceptance, as well as attention. She is overly confident, stubborn, and reckless, but also far too naive, kind and forgiving. Her intentions may be good, but her actions can often be selfish, and she is too judgemental. Of course - with time, she grows out of some of these traits, but I suspect some become more pronounced with age.

One of the unintentional, but happy, side effects in creating this romantic love interest for Harry, was accidentally creating someone I think Hermione would enjoy being friends with. I love the friendship that Harry, Hermione and Ron have with each other, but as someone who has benefitted greatly from female friendships, the bond Ky and Hermione develop has become sacred to the story. In many ways, Hermione and Ky have a lot in common, both growing up lonely in the muggle world with predominantly men/boys for company - they quickly anchor to each other, excited to have finally found kinship.

Ky's relationship with Snape, whilst one of my favourite things to develop, happened to also be the greatest challenge to my Harry Potter/OC story. Her love for Snape, and Harry's hatred for him, is sure to be a point of contention in their romance, but every time I would write Snape in as just a tool to get Ky from point A to point B, I would find myself lost in their snarky back and forth, until he has become probably the most significant relationship she develops at Hogwarts, outside of Harry and Hermione.

Her relationship with Cedric, whilst important in its own way, serves more of a utilitarian purpose to help the plot move along.

Thank you for reading this rather long A/N,

Kalina