Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling
A/N (23/3/25): Hello! This is the first story in the Ky Thornton Series - Phoenix Accession (Complete, GoF), Gemini Queen (Complete, OoTP), Hallowed Life (Complete, HPB) and the last story, Draconian Revelation (WIP, DH & Post-DH). The first three stories are on this site written in first person (written in 2011-2013), and the fourth in third person (currently being written). I've decided to re-write the first three in Third Person, something I've been going back and forth on, but I think the fourth only works in Third and I want consistency in the series. I'm planning on finishing the re-write fairly fast so I'll spurn out chapters fast, and have kept the originals up but will remove them as the finished product of each story is done as I don't want to disturb anybody who is currently reading the originals.)
In Re-writing this, I've also removed bits (to fix pacing) and added bits (for better exposition), and in general hopefully made it stronger as a piece since I've hopefully gotten a bit better as a writer over the years. I feel very attached to this story since it's the first thing I've ever written, so will appreciate any feedback. Especially if you happen to have read the original Phoenix Accession - do you think this re-write loses any of the essence of the story ?
Anyway, thank you for reading this longer than usual A/N, and I hope you enjoy this story as much as I've enjoyed re-writing it!
Kalina
Chapter One: The EmeraldStorm
Love must be an awful thing.
Ky Thornton thought, frowning at the organza dress on the back of her door as she exitted the hotel room, trudging down to breakfast.
Romantic love, at least.
For the love Ky had for her brothers was all goodness. They had been her guardians from the tender age of three, children themselves at twelve, and ten, yet somehow, through the power of love they kept their family whole.
No, that was a lie, she admitted to herself as she caught her reflection in the glass doors of the the dining room. It wasn't just love that fuelled that power, but oddness.
Oddness that had social workers leave their cabin with unfocused eyes, their unanswered questions about the mysterious Three Thornton orphans living alone in the woods in Massachusetts never flagging suspicion.
Oddness that had her eldest brother, Linus, complete school at fourteen, gaining prestigious scholarships to MIT - a genius they called him, and he was. They were, actually, because two years later, the younger brother, Lenzo, had done the same.
Revolutionized the Information Systems Industry, the both of them did. CEO at twenty. CTO at eighteen. Forbes 30 under 30… four years running.
Ky forced a smile at the waitress who had just finished laying the table, glad that none of the other guests were down yet, glancing upwards imagining her brothers grumbling out of bed in post-inebriated purgatory.
Their oddness was a superpower that they were able to wield like a paintbrush, creating the life they wanted with tasteful strokes and an artists eye for colour. They made their lives beautiful - fast cars and models, villas and penthouses…but always, always, Ky at the centre of their canvas.
Ky's oddness was like shackles, she wielded it like a weapon, pointing it at everyone around her…and herself. Her oddness had her homeschooled all her life, their Penthouse Manhattan Apartment a glamourous prison, but a jail cell nevertheless. Her only 'friends' her private tutors, who were legally bound to never speak of what they saw her do…the harmless inexplicable practical jokes…the harmful accidents…the fear in their eyes despite the smile on their lips.
She didn't like to think herself a prisoner, it felt an insult to these two boys who had given their youth to keep her whole. And what kind of privilege is it to feel anything but grateful for the life they now had.
They literally spent last night abroad in a five star hotel they had booked out, she was currently contemplating all of this over food cooked by a chef flown in from Paris.
Ky sipped at her coffee, making a face at the bitterness, frowning at the other options on the table as she waited for her brothers to join her. It was unlike her to be the first awake, being neither a morning person or a night owl, she preferred to be asleep really, at all times of day.
Life had other plans though. Last night she was plagued by dreams that had her unsettled, mentally and physically. So many images that were hard to latch onto, but one that stood out, recurring, that of her brother, Linus, wizened and old, lamenting about bad decisions…wrong choices he made for love.
And today was his wedding day.
Linus will be marrying someone selfish, and superficial, vapid and ornamental. A pretty thing on his arm that served no function, someone that looked good in their family portrait but added no warmth or life to it.
Agness McQueen. A Scottish-American heiress.
Normal. Uninteresting.
Nessie.
Their very own Scottish monster.
Yet Linus loved her, and in loving her he became more normal.
Less interesting.
Less odd.
And Ky's role as centre figure on the canvas that was their life shifted…nudged to the side…shrunk.
Of course they'd say it was just that - a dream, and admittedly she was biased…but could she really not speak up if she thought Linus was making such a mistake?
"Oh wow." Linus entered the room, midnight blue eyes wide in his pale face. She'd heard he was the least like their Italian mother in looks - she couldn't say for herself seeing as she killed the woman just by being born and they didn't have pictures of her around. Ky looked on as her brother exaggerated looking down at his watch, "I suppose I should start questions to ascertain you haven't been body snatched?"
She stuck her tongue out at him playfully in response as he settled into the seat across from her, taking her barely touched coffee and lifting two fingers up at the waitress who was patiently stood at the wall next to the kitchen door, "Good morning. Just a plain English for me, please leave out the baked beans. And could you check if the chef would be up for making my special request? He'll know what I'm talking about." Linus smiled, and the waitress flushed at the attention…Ky sighed, he wasn't even the flirty brother.
The thought must have summoned Lenzo, and her other brother stepped into the room looking as if he had ten hours sleep despite her knowing they were up all night for the bachelor party. He winked at the waitress, who dropped her thankfully empty tray, completely unprepared for the charm.
"You should come with a warning label." Linus teased his younger brother as he walked over to them.
"Caution, hot surface." Lenzo winked at his sister who threw an apple at his head for the too confident retort. "Have we confirmed she's not been body snatched?"
Ky rolled her eyes, annoyed at their teasing, but glanced at the clock. NASA could set their time by Nessie, and Ky predicted she had just eight minutes of privacy with her brothers before bridezilla awoke. "I didn't sleep well."
Humour disappeared from their faces as if she had told them she had stage four cancer.
"Do you think you're coming down with something?" Ky dodged as Linus made to check her forehead.
"Is it Jet Lag? Have you had the pills? You're meant to take them at the same time everyday!" Lenzo nagged at her.
"Have you been up all night playing pranks on the bridal party, you promised nothing on the wedding day. Isla just got her hair back to the right colour."
Ky hid a smirk behind a bite of food thinking about how well that hair prank went, but felt a tad guilty for getting them worried. "No, just nightmares. Or dreams. Nothing too scary but…" She turned to Linus, her lips set in determination, so focused she forgot to thank the waitress that just arrived with her specially made hot chocolate, "I dreamt about you."
"Me?" Linus didn't seem bothered in the least by this, chewing on a piece of bacon.
"Yes." Ky caught Lenzo's eyes narrowing at her as he seemed to register something on her face, "You were very old. Long grey beard, bespectacled and wrinkled. And you were very sad."
"I suppose that might have to do with the wrinkles." Linus chuckled, "Did I have liver spots? Please, mercy kill me if I ever get those. Actually, do you think I'll have time for a quick face steam before the reception?"
"No. You were old, but you didn't feel old. You had good energy." Ky cut through, not wanting the conversation to be taken over by wedding talk, "But, you were sad because you felt you had made the wrong choice in life. Wrong romantic choice."
The room was silent but for the sound of knife on plate. Ky jumped as Linus moved suddenly, but all he did was push his chair back and vacate his seat, walking to the tall window that looked out on the river.
Len passed her a disappointed look, and Ky ignored him, walking over to her other brother, "I just wonder what are the chances I have such a dream like that a night before you make such a decision."
Linus chuckled darkly and Ky tilted her chin up, determined to be taken seriously despite just being fourteen.
"I just-"
"What have you ever wanted for?" Linus' back was still to her, his tall stature blocking the weak rays of sunlight through the window, "Truly. Is there a thing humanly possible that I have not given you."
Ky's shoulders dipped as she registered pain in her brother's voice, and she looked to Len, suddenly unsure how to proceed, "You have given me everything."
He turned, and Linus' face was red, lips thin, "Then why do you make life so hard for me?"
"Okay, I think we need to go for a jog. We're both hungover, and Ky, you should get some proper sleep-" Len had joined them near the window.
"I've made life hard for you?" She spat, bitterly, registering the sound of cutlery on crockery as if the room had suddenly filled with diners, "You don't let me breathe away from your presence! I have no friends! You never even let me try to go to school!"
"Ky." Len's hands were on her upper arms, "Please, calm down." He rubbed her shoulders, his hazel eyes flickering about the room… at the plates and knives which were now hovering in the air.
Registering her oddness at work, Ky took deep breaths, like they taught her to do so, and the room was quiet for full seconds.
And then suddenly the silence shattered as everything crashed to the tiled floor.
Linus' eyes closed as if pained, and Len quickly waved his left hand so that all the broken pieces collected into one area, near the cupboard, just as kitchen staff filed in, "Sorry! Bumped into this - ah! Look at this mess! I'm such a klutz - you have our credit card-"
The staff looked bewildered as Len continued talking to them and Ky crossed her arms, annoyed with herself that her oddness was choosing now to rear its ugly head.
She heard a sniff and glanced up at Linus, whose back was to them once more. She looked at the clock, Nessie would be here any second.
"Linus, I just think you're only twenty-three. Why are you rushing things?"
"Why am I rushing things?" Her brother snapped around, his cheeks flushed red in anger, "So, I'm too young to marry a woman I'm in love with, but I didn't hear you complaining when I was twelve and I was putting food on the table for you two. Or when I was in college and I spent every night coming home at a decent hour to read to you and put you to bed, rather than party, or do whatever it is college kids do. I wasn't too young to be your father and your mother and your teacher and your brother."
"Linus." Len cautioned, but it was too late.
So much more than plates were smashed in the dining hall that morning. So too were Ky's preconceived notions of family, love, and loyalty.
She turned, making her way out of the room quickly before her traitorous tears began.
-x-x-x-
Ky had been sitting next to Nessie, staring out of the car window as she nattered on about something or the other on the way to the wedding. She hadn't seen Linus since breakfast, spending most of the day holed up in her room. Lenzo had stopped by, telling her that she shouldn't hold what their brother said to heart, that it was their Mediterranean blood that had them quick tongued, and he didn't mean anything by it.
Nobody wanted their resolve questioned on their wedding day. Especially a twenty-three year old man that had the world at his feet, swimming with choices.
Lenzo thought she sulked because of their brother's bitter words, but how could she explain that her body had been consumed by a wrongness all day. That she felt their brother was making an awful mistake in marrying this woman, and she had to speak up.
Even if she couldn't give him any tangible reason for thinking the wedding was a mistake. It was just this heaviness in her gut, a numbness in her limbs, an awareness of blood pumping through her body… a constant buzzing in her ears.
And then…
She saw it.
A castle.
Parted clouds in the night sky revealed the turretts and towers in the distance. And just like that… the buzzing stopped and her veins were set aflame with an indescribable need that welled up and blocked everything else except that Castle out.
It was as if it were a Siren, and she a hopeless shipwreck.
The heaviness in her gut lightened, and instead she felt it twisting as if she would be sick again.
The silence was broken by the tiniest of pops.
Ky blinked, her eyes readjusting to her new environment…of the torchlit corridor, adorned with portraits, royal blue carpet, voices in the distance, suits of armour…
She tilted her head in thought, as she stared out the window, narrowing her eyes as she looked down at the Scottish Highlands below…
She was in The Castle.
It was probably because of this distraction that she hadn't been prepared for the collision.
She found herself on the floor, cushioned by her billowing white dress and a thin hand about her waist which must have taken the brunt of her fall. Her eyes widened as it landed on emerald ones that were both beautiful and honest…parted chapped lips and flared nostrils conveying surprise.
As the skinny, long body draped over hers, she suddenly became very aware of the features the dress had accentuated, which flooded with heat.
This was the first time she felt such closeness from a person, but rather than trapped beneath him, she felt as she did beneath a warm blanket on a wintry morning. She watched as a pinkness descended on his thin face, his long nose, his lightning shaped scar beneath his jet black strands.
Ky felt his knuckles at her back move and in turn she arched forward to let him unravel from her and he gasped as her chest met his…his breath blew on her face, and suddenly she didn't want to be disentangled from him.
She wanted nothing more than to lay beneath this bespectacled boy.
Every fibre of him that lay on her seemed to bubble and burn all at the same time.
She watched hypnotically as his hand reached forward, and some alarm in her head suddenly went off, registering that she was in fact laying beneath a boy and with a self defence so ingrained in her, she moved her knee into his soft bits and sprang to her feet.
-x-x-x-
"Fuck! Oh Fuck!"
Harry didn't swear often, practically not at all. He always found the over-reactions of an actor following a knee to the groin on those rare chances he got to watch a comedy at the Dursleys' absolutely hilarious. The fact that he was now squirming on the floor, holding his bits, he found it to be both an under-reaction and the opposite of funny.
He couldn't even think of a word what with the pain he was now in.
His prideful side finally showed up, and here he thought it all but left him, and helped the miserable ball of pain that was his current self regain composure and slowly rise to his feet. All this torment for trying to wipe a tear off a girl's cheek?
He stared at the girl, giving her his most venomous glare, which was probably quite dismal seeing as he was still trying to fight off tears. That reminded him that she had in fact been crying and his glare softened. He took her in…she had appeared out of nowhere…he was sure of it, he had his nose deep in the Marauder's Map but this corridor was meant to be empty… he took in her face, trying to place it, the bare, pink, plump lips aided by the pout she had on. Her nose was so dainty and straight, unnaturally so. People just don't have that nice noses…do they?
Altogether, definitely a pretty package, but the way she was tilting her chin up and flaring her nostrils reminded Harry so much of Aunt Petunia he couldn't help chuckling.
"And what the fuck do you think you're laughing at, Scarhead!"
Oh wow, how inventive. "So, what, do you have a sailor's mouth to match those barbarian antics you just pulled back there?"
"Barbarian antics?" She cocked a neat dark brow at him, "I was just protecting myself from a handsy pervert!"
Harry realised she didn't have a British accent, but couldn't quite place where she was from, her sassiness throwing him off, "I'm sorry, but here in Britain, we don't think trying to wipe tears off a girl's cheek is akin to sexual harassment." He was ashamed to feel his ears getting hot when he said the word 'sexual' in front of the girl. He usually didn't speak so frankly but she really seemed to bring the worst out of him.
He watched as she touched her cheek at his words, almost surprised to have found the tear there, which he easily spotted on her earlier. Her arms wrapped around her midriff, and the little action pulled his eyes down to her chest, and he swallowed, just noticing the gold locket she wore sitting snuggly between her…
"Oh my frick! Now you're practically groping me with your eyes!"
Harry's head shot up, completely embarrassed that she was right…
What was going on with him! He's behaving like he hadn't seen a girl before…albeit he hadn't seen one with such interesting hair. It was so dark, he wanted to call it black but the moonlight from the nearby window was highlighting bits of bronze hidden in the tresses. The lower tendrils hugged her waist, which was tiny, but he imagined that was the work of the corset she wore. Corset? What century was this girl from? He looked up, swallowing as he noticed her neck…so that's what sun-kissed skin was. He moved his eyes back to her face, realising that her large grey orbs had tiny violet flecks in them, and he found himself almost entranced…counting them…
Her lips were parted in confusion and a small voice in the back of his head hissed, "Kiss her."
He shook his head, letting out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding, and stepped back just as she stepped forward.
They both stared at each other…realising they were in some dance that neither of them knew the steps too. Harry ran a hand through his hair, "I was just trying to figure out whether you're a child bride or a time traveler. My friend had a locket like that."
The girl straightened up to her unimpressive height, she barely reached his collarbone, "Perhaps I'm both." Her voice was breathy, and Harry couldn't tell if she was joking.
"Oh I doubt it. Who'd agree to marry you ?" He laughed weakly, knowing it was a childish joke. He fell silent when he noticed her face fall back to sadness, "That's obviously a joke, you're clearly not a child bride…right?"
She rolled her eyes and he was glad to find amusement shimmering in there, "I was on my way to a wedding. Not my own, that would be weird, considering the groom is my brother."
"Oh, well that's good." Harry didn't understand why he felt relief that this stranger was in fact not about to be married. She looked at him in confusion and he replayed his words back, "Because incest is bad."
Incest is bad?
What the heck is wrong with him?
He was surprised to find the corridor fill with her tinkling laughter, she shook her dark head at him, "So there's that famous British humour everyone's talking about."
His heart swelled, he wasn't that humorous, ask anybody, Ron was the funny one, but Merlin's Beard he was chuffed with himself for being the reason for her laughter.
Her chuckles stopped, and she turned suddenly, looking out the window, "How do I get out of here?"
"How did you get in here?" She turned to him, her face soft, almost scared, and he walked right up to her, distracted by the fearful look in her eyes, "Are you okay?"
"I don't know." She muttered, "I've been feeling weird all day, and then…" She looked up at him, her eyes, big and open, "Now I feel…I've done an awful thing. I didn't want my brother to get married and I think somehow subconsciously…I didn't mean to…but I've ruined their wedding."
"How?"
"How?" She voiced shakily, "I've…" She stared up at Harry, and he could tell she was conflicted, the urge to share secrets, but also rationally knowing she shouldn't.
They were strangers, it was something he had to remind himself because his fingers kept wanting to hold her or comfort her….
They were strangers.
She fingered the locket at her neck, staring down at the large grounds beneath them, "My brother gave me this when I was five. It was the only thing he had from our grandmother, from our parents really. He knelt down, rested one hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye and told me in his hands was the most important thing in the world to him. He opened his palm and this gold trinket fell out. With it's tiny little ruby, and these weird engravings on the front and back. And I looked at it and it filled me with such calmness." She held her hand to her heart, "Like I feel now. Completely moved me to tears, this feeling." She touched the windowsill, and Harry could tell that she wasn't really talking to him anymore, lost in her memories, "And then he said…and this is just a pretty locket." She turned up to him, her eyes filled with tears as Harry processed the very touching sentiment her brother made…his own heart ached for someone to think of him that way, to have family he could rely on, share his burdens. "Don't you think it's just awful."
"What?" Harry stepped closer, unsure what he could say to make this girl happy again, he desperately wanted her to smile.
"Love." She sniffed, and hugged herself once more, "He loved me and I ruined his life."
"No." Harry grabbed her elbow, turning her around, shaking his head, "No. It's amazing. My mother…" He swallowed, but her eyes were so trusting and in turn gained his trust, "She loved me so much she died to protect me." She must know who he was, she had called him Scarhead. "And I don't like to think about that, but, I'm grateful that even if I can't remember, someone loved me that much. It's not an awful thing, it's a good thing. To be loved."
She bit her bottom lip at his words and Harry didn't know where all this was coming from, but before he could second guess how much he shared, the girl bounded forward and wrapped her arms tightly about his waist, her soft tresses fitting just under his chin and Harry quickly reciprocated the embrace.
-x-x-x-
Ky didn't know how long she stood there, with her head on the black haired, green eyed stranger's chest, but it was long enough for the steady rhythm of his heart to become the background music to her thoughts.
She couldn't explain the calmness and safety she felt ever since she entered this castle…the rightness after a day of anxiety. She thought it had to do with her dream last night, but perhaps it had nothing to do with Linus, and everything to do with this place.
And this boy ?
No…she needed to not romaticize her first interaction with someone her age…
Man, she was such a weirdo, this boy probably thought she had escaped from a loony bin. She assaulted him physically and five minutes later was hugging him…
Child bride? Well, it was odd wearing this white pouffy contraption, but Nessie insisted that all her bridal party wore white because she thought she was Queen Victoria or something. She supposed that time travelling comment had to do with this silly corset Nessie had her in…though, when he remarked on that it sounded like he had been actually considering it…she did appear out of thin air…why wasn't he freaking out?
Ky stepped back, looking up at the thin face of the boy whose eyes had been closed as he held her and she bit her bottom lip so as to not blush…his green eyes found hers, and they both stared at each for a few moments.
"What were you running from?"
"Huh?" He seemed to be in a daze and Ky wondered whether she had overshared and made him feel awkward.
"You bumped into me."
"No, you appeared out of nowhere." There was a defensive note in his voice, which made her go on the offensive.
"I was stood here for a decent amount of time that any observant person would have been able to circumvent a collision. Ah…I suppose that would also require a level of gracefulness, and if your previous whimpering on the floor like a little girl routine-"
"You knee-d me in the crown jewels and scurried away, like you can talk about gracefulness."
"Hey, I most definitely do not scurry!"
"And I most definitely do not whimper!"
"I only tell it like I see it! Maybe you need your glasses tested." Ky reached up and grabbed the round frames off his face on impulse and put them on. Wow, his eyesight was terrible. Ky took them off and looked at him, kind of enjoying the emerald green when it wasn't hidden behind thick glass.
"Can I have those back now, I need to be visually prepared for an attack in said company." Ky dodged his hand, and put his specs back on, and giggled, running to a nearby alcove and settling down on it, but took the glasses off, her head was beginning to hurt. She watched him squint over to her and she felt a tad bad, she didn't realise he was that visually impaired. He settled onto the alcove next to her and made for the glasses again and she held it out of his reach. "Let me."
She didn't know why she did it, but she folded her legs underneath her and turned to face the boy, his emerald green eyes wide in surprise as she placed the frames gently back on his face. He was sat very still, almost like he was prey and she a predator, one wrong move and she would swallow him whole.
That thought made her face heat up, and she glanced up at the scar on his forehead, inky black strands covering it…what an odd mark.
She moved her hand from his glasses and hovered near the scar…she didn't know why, but she wanted to touch it. She looked at him, and he didn't move, and in doing so she took it as permission…
She traced the thin rough edges of the old wound and a cold shiver ran down her spine, but she moved closer to him, on her knees she was taller than him seated.
He once again had his eyes closed as she touched him.
What would it be like to kiss him?
"How did you get this?"
Emerald green met stormy grey, his lips parted in surprise. She wondered if it was a very personal question, but it was a very odd mark…a lightning bolt.
"Someone tried to kill me when I was a baby."
Whatever Ky was expecting, it wasn't that. She felt an ache in her chest at his words…what an awful thing…he said his mother died protecting him…
Who was this boy?
"Does it hurt?"
Her question was innocent, but in a blink there was a weird glint in his eyes…and Ky swore for just a second, a scarlet gleam overpowered his beautiful emerald orbs and she felt herself recoil from him, but her hand which was on his scar was caught in the boy's bony fist, holding her there.
In his other hand, a thin long stick pointed at her face, her eyes widened in surprised betrayal…he was a stranger, why should she be surprised that he would hurt her?
And then it truly sunk in…
What an awful thing love was.
A/N: Well that's the first chapter! Thank you for reading - I appreciate it! If you have any feedback, I'd be grateful to hear it.