Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling.

Chapter Two: Feisty Fairy Princess

Harry's heart dropped into his tummy as he stupefied the girl.

Her stormy grey orbs widened in surprise, he had been transfixed by the tiny violet flecks that glinted within them, and now were hidden away beneath her closed lids, her long dark tendrils cushioning her face.

A face that had completely consumed him and made him doubt if stunning her was the right course of action?

His scar had been hurting…for years it didn't and suddenly it starts a few days ago and she asks about it? Also…she apparated, and he was sure she was around his age…how could she know how to do that? She clearly was powerful…and not from here. A stranger with that skill just happens to find him in this massive castle - in Summer break as well!

He should have stunned her from the start…it was stupid to talk to her…to be distracted by her…he was glad he finally listened to the voice inside his head. He leaned her gently against the wall of the alcove, not sure what he should do now.

As if his thoughts had summoned an audience, he heard the sound of quick foosteps and he scurried off the alcove, and shoved the Marauder's Map deeper into his pocket. He had been using it to search for the kitchens to get food before he literally bumped into the girl.

Harry turned and met the sharp black eyes of the Potions master glinting in the corridor, his wand steady on him and the girl.

It had to be him, it always had to be him to find Harry in such compromising positions, but he straightened his back, refusing to feel guilty in front of this man who he loathed more than ever before… if it were not for Snape, he would be living with Sirius, and his godfather would be a free man.

"What are you doing here?" Harry didn't respond, he was comforted by the fact that he had done nothing wrong, he had permission to be here, so he couldn't be in trouble.

Mr Weasley had replaced Lucius Malfoy as a Governing Body member and they had an emergency meeting at Hogwarts today and he let Ron, Harry and Hermione tag along. Harry suspected it was an attempt to cheer him up, having retrieved him from the Durselys' yesterday and witnessing firsthand how indifferent they were to him. In all honesty, Harry couldn't be happier, what with the prospect of a live quiditch final on the horizon, and the Dursleys' with that insane diet in his past, life was pretty much treacle tart.

"I said, what are you doing here, Potter?" Harry just noticed that the Potion's master had a large gash on his forehead, fresh blood leaking out of the wound.

"We're here with Mr Weasley." Harry answered distracted as the teacher wiped absentmindedly at his wound, "He's here for a Governing Body meeting, and he brought us along."

"Us…who is this?" Snape was looking down at the stunned girl cautiously.

Harry hesitated… "I don't know. I didn't get her name." How stupid to not ask that, "She just apparated-"

"You cannot apparate on the Hogwarts grounds!" Snape snapped, and Harry remembered him saying the same thing months ago when it was suggested Sirius had escaped by apparition. He turned, looked at the unconscious girl…how did she get here?

"Potter!"

"I don't know!" He snapped, "I meant Ron and Hermione when I said us."

"Of course." Snape's voice dripped with derision, "And where are the other two?"

"Up on seventh floor." Harry wouldn't admit that they were currently stuck outside the Gryffindor Common Room because they didn't have the password and he only offered to look for food because his friends were bickering with each other, both hungry and vexed, which was then annoying him.

Snape turned his wand on the girl and Harry quickly stepped in front of her, unsure why he did this. Yes, this was an imposter to the castle, but he wasn't going to subject her to this odious man.

The teacher considered him disdainfully, but Harry cleared his throat, "I've got her. I assume we have to take her to Professor Dumbledore." He used a levitation charm on the girl and suddenly her body whipped into the air and he heard a weird clicking sound.

His eyes widened…had he hurt her?

Snape shoved past him, looking at the girl who hovered horizontally four feet in the air, shaking his head, "You've dislocated her shoulder with your crass movements. How does a fourth year not know how to perform a basic levitation charm on a person?"

Harry's face flushed red with embarrassment, and Snape shook his head, observing the hovering girl carefully, muttering a spell at her shoulder, "And you use one more spell and I'll write to the ministry myself to have you expelled. I assume it was you who stunned the girl? Or do you not know the spell and thumped her on the head like a caveman."

Harry's hands balled into fists but he didn't say anything. He watched as the teacher directed the floating body forward, and Harry followed sullenly behind them.

-x-x-x-

Harry had been sat looking over the unconscious girl for the past ten minutes. Snape had laid her down on the plush red carpet of the Headmaster's office and he instructed him not to leave, doing so himself, probably to fetch Dumbledore who must have still been at the Governing Body meeting.

Harry didn't recognise the girl, sure she wasn't a Hogwarts student. His eyes travelled down her body, that dress made her look like a princess from a fairy tale in her current state and his face turned pink as he pondered whether a kiss would wake her up…

He was being stupid - yes she was pretty…truly he hadn't seen a girl more captivating…but she had apparated into Hogwarts. She was spelled asleep by him because she had been asking about his scar…which she had touched…which he let her touch and…when she did… it felt weird. His body filled with warmth but there was this contrasting ache in his head, he was so confused, he didn't want her to stop touching him but at the same time he felt like his body wanted to lash out at her. He vaguely remembered grabbing her hand and in one blink her curiosity turned to fear.

He massaged his forehead, feeling awful. What was wrong with him?

He traced the outline of her right cheek, overcome with guilt. Why had he stunned her? He should have spoken to her… and now he has hurt her as well… hopefully Snape successfully healed her.

Just then, the door opened and Harry snatched his hand back as footsteps filled the room. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape entered, followed by two floating bodies.

Harry rose to his feet, his hand finding the back of his neck as he looked on horrified as Snape floated the bodies next to the girl. They were two men in their early twenties, in formal suits much like something out of a period drama.

"Harry, Professor Snape says he found you with this young lady a few minutes ago."

"We were just talking." Harry added, hearing the defensive edge in his own voice.

Dumbledore's midnight blue eyes twinkled down at him over his half-moon spectacles, "Of course. Professor Snape found these young men trying to break through the front gates a little while ago. He managed to subdue them, with the help of Professor McGonagall."

"It wasn't necessary." The man sulked, glancing at the transfiguration mistress who rolled her eyes.

"I do believe the shorter one was strangling you when I got there."

"Only because the other one distracted me with wandless magic. Headmaster, Potter says she apparated into the castle. I heard the alarm myself, which made me check the gates and I found these two trying to climb it. Their level of wandless magic…their age… remember what I told you last night…" Harry was glad that McGonagall looked as confused as he did, so he wasn't the only one out of the loop.

Dumbledore however crouched down, staring at the girl with wide eyes…his hands reached down and plucked up her locket, inspecting it closely, the oval gold piece of jewellery that fit the description she had earlier given…

"Ennervate."

Three pairs of eyes flew open. Stormy grey, warm hazel, and midnight blue.

Before the men made a move, the girl was on her feet in an impressive stroke of agility, finding Harry quickly, "You stupid…boy!" She screamed, "How dare you!" She grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be one of the headmaster's many crystal sneakoscopes and flung it at Harry who just about dodged it, the instrument smashing against the wall behind him…well, Snape fixed her shoulder alright.

"Ky!" Both men hastened forward, covering the girl in kisses and hugs, thankfully stopping her from attacking Harry again.

Ky.

So that was her name.

Ky.

It was just one syllable.

It was an unusual name, and everytime he thought it, it did unusual things to his heartbeat.

"Kyrianna Thornton." Oh, not one syllable, more complicated. That made sense. "Don't you ever do something like that again!" The tallest man was holding Ky's face, staring down at her, his blue eyes blazing, "I shouldn't have said any of that. I was…scared. You were saying things that I was thinking, and I was angry at you for doing that. Those five minutes where I didn't know where you were, were the worst five minutes of my life. You make everything better. You made everything matter. And I wouldn't have been able to do any of it if I wasn't doing it for you. We have the life that we have because of you, not in spite of it. And I am so sorry for ever making you think otherwise."

"Linus." Her voice was so small, and fragile, as she flung her hands around what must be her brother. Harry couldn't help the smile that shone on his face, and he noticed it on the headmaster as well.

Her stormy orbs found him over her brother's shoulder, and it turned hard in a blink and Harry's smile fell and he held his hands up, apologetically, but he had to swerve to the left as a bust of some old headmaster went flying at him magically. Fortunately Dumbledore stopped it breaking with a flick of his wand, the marble head bouncing off the wall like a rubber ball.

"Miss, I don't doubt Potter has done something to deserve the flying objects being thrown at him, but raise another hand to one of my students again, and you'll be one limb short of a quartet." Harry looked gratefully at his head of house, who had her wand pointed at the girl.

Both men caught the threat and turned, standing on on either side of Ky, like sentinels. Harry swallowed, such power emenated from the suit clad men, such fierceness in their faces, feral and protective. The bronze haired, hazel eyed man reminded him of a lion the way his body stood broad in front of Ky, whilst the thinner, taller man had his midnight blue eyes sweep the room, his auburn hair wild as if he had been running his hand through it several times over.

Before anybody could cast a spell, Ky pushed through the men, her eyes wide and hopeful as they looked at Dumbledore as if she just noticed him, "It's you! From my dreams!"

Harry didn't understand what she meant, but he witnessed shock change to comprehension on Dumbledore's wizened features, and they eventually settled on a large, wonderstruck, smile. "I suppose it is." He stopped looking at the girl, and took in the tallest man kindly, "It's like looking into a pensieve…"

Harry noticed that whilst the Headmaster was taking in the tallest man, Linus, the other man, who looked a lot like the girl, perhaps he was also her brother, had now been looking at Snape and McGonagall, passing a quick glance at Harry but dismissing him…

He was weighing their odds in a fight.

"I fear I'm being quite rude. My name is Albus Dumbledore, I am headmaster of this school, which your…" Neither man gave an answer to Dumbledore's gesture at the girl, and Harry was surprised to find the old wizard smile at this, amused. "May I ask how you managed to find your…friend? It's just that, if the wards in my school are compromised, it will be dangerous to my students."

The tallest man was staring steadily at the headmaster, whilst the other man was glancing at the windows, the doors…they were like one person in two bodies, a unit whose aim was to get Ky, and get out of here, "I located her locket. She always has it on her."

"Ahhh…the locket. Of course. It was made using Phoenix Fire, and has imbibed some of its properties, such as apparating into warded spaces. I suppose it also allows locator spells to work in unplottable areas as well. How clever. May I?" Dumbledore held his hand out for the locket once more and both men stepped closer, in front of Ky.

She squeezed through them easily, rolling her eyes at their antics and beaming at the headmaster as she looped the locket over her head and passed it to him.

Harry had to shake his head, she was far too trusting.

As if she could sense his judgement, she gave him an annoyed glance and he sighed.

Why did he feel like he was going to have to spend the rest of his life apologizing for stunning this girl.

The headmaster muttered an unfamiliar spell and the locket sprung open, the gold indentations coming to life in Scarlett lines, fluttering back and forth like Phoenix wings. Harry spotted two black and white pictures within, one of the girl, and the other of the tallest man. But as he squinted he could tell it wasn't them…just very alike in image. Dumbledore levitated a single drop of liquid out of the locket and it shone in the well lit room.

"What is it, Professor?" Harry asked, confused.

"A memory, Harry. I made this locket, which is how I knew to open it. I gifted this to an old…friend." He looked up at Linus, "Belladonna." The man's nose flared at his words, but his face was so still, giving them nothing, "Your grandmother?"

Linus stepped forward, staring the headmaster in the eye and Harry was surprised to find that it really did look like Dumbledore had been staring in a mirror of youth…

"Stop that!" Linus thundered, and Dumbledore bowed his head in apology.

"I'm sorry, I do not usually perform legilimency on my guests. Though, my guests often don't apparate directly into my school, Mr Thornton. I suppose it was serendipity on your part, I had some of the wards down to allow for travel for the meeting…but it shouldn't allow apparition, never that. This young lady had the locket, which is probably what helped her get in, and I suppose with the wards altered you were able to apparate outside the gates, rather than Hogsmeade. Closest you could get to the locket, which had the clever little locator charm on it." The headmaster was still smiling, despite the gravity of the accusation.

"Let us out."

Dumbledore stepped aside, gesturing to the exit with a flourish and Harry opened his mouth to protest, he wasn't really going to let these people go!

Linus glanced about the room again, his eyes landing back on Dumbledore, "What did she mean by 'it's you.' Have you been meeting with my sister?"

"How would I have met him?" Ky rolled her eyes again, and Harry smiled to himself wondering how they stayed in their sockets if she did that so often, "You don't let me out of your sight long enough." She stepped forward, suddenly a soft expression on her face and Harry shook his head as her brother calmed down, she had them wrapped around her little finger, "He was the person I dreamed about last night. Not you. Him."

Both men looked at the Headmaster, the shorter man stepped forward, "You knew our grandmother?"

"A very long time ago, yes." The Headmaster continued observing the tiny levitating drop that had escaped from the locket. "I suppose both our questions will be answered if we had a look at this." Dumbledore gestured at the floating drop, the memory… "Shall we leave your sister in the protection of your brother, Lenzo, and may you join me in unravelling this mystery, Linus?" Dumbledore flicked his wrist and a large stone basin appeared from behind a closed cabinet.

Harry didn't understand how the headmaster suddenly knew the name of the other man, but Linus looked at Lenzo, and the shorter man nodded. Linus looked down at his sister, clearly conflicted. "My dear boy, I promise you she will not be hurt out of your presence, though, am I going to have to assign Mr Potter a body guard in my absence?" Dumbledore gave the girl a stern look and she tilted her chin up stubbornly.

"I won't throw anything at Scarhead again. Only if he promises not to try and cop another feel."

Harry's mouth gaped open, suddenly supremely aware of how muscular her brothers were, both stepping towards him threateningly.

"Kyrianna." Dumbledore's voice was soft, but stern, and the girl sighed, shrugging.

"I jest, of course. If he had done that, he'd be two limbs short a quartet." She smirked at McGonagall, borrowing her earlier threat, and Harry was surprised to see the teacher return that with a smile.

Her brothers looked at each other, and Lenzo nodded Linus on, who walked with the the headmaster towards the stone basin and Harry watched in horror as they disappeared down it like water down the sink.

"It's a pensieve." McGonagall spoke to Lenzo and Harry, who both looked concerned, Ky on the hand seemed to want to join them down the spiral and her brother had to stop her from wandering over there. "It allows one to view memories. Your brother will be safe."

Lenzo didn't seem convinced, pulling the girl closer into him.

"How old are you?" Snape was directing the question at Ky, and Harry was surprised to sense dislike radiating off the man but not directed at him for a change.

"Old enough to know what shampoo is." She made a face at his oily hair and Harry's eyes widened, his lips quirking up against his will.

Snape arched a black brow, "I don't think I'd take fashion advice from the likes of you, fairy princess."

It would seem that was the exact right insult as the girl gasped, offended "This is not how I usually dress! I was forced to-"

"What is this place?" Lenzo had directed the question to McGonagall, who had kept her eyes steady on him.

"This is Hogwarts. The magical school that serves Great Britain and Ireland."

"In a castle?" Lenzo had been taking in the high ceilings and stone walls.

"Evidently." Snape cut in, clearly disliking this family. "I see where you get your retarded acuity from." His beady eyes were on the girl, and she looked to Harry as if to say, "Is this guy for real?"

Harry bit back a laugh, glad she wasn't glaring at him any more. Lenzo didn't seem offended, rather he had an amused look on his face as he took in the portraits, "No, that would be because she was dropped on her head a lot as a child. Not on purpose, of course. She's just very clumsy."

"What's your name?" Harry was surprised at the direct question, and he glanced at the teachers, unsure how to answer, "It's just that I'm tired of calling you Green Eyes in my head."

"You call me Green Eyes in your head?" Harry's tummy purred, he quite liked her attention.

"Only when I'm not calling you Scarhead." She smirked. "Why, what did you call me?"

"Nothing." He smirked back, "Because you're not in my head. I don't think of you." He lied.

She tilted her head, a teasing smile on her pink, full lips, "So a liar as well as a coward, I see."

Harry's smirk fell, "I'm not a coward."

She shrugged, "I had you whimpering on the floor just now, quite cowardly behaviour."

"You knee-d me in the…" Harry looked helplessly towards McGonagall, not wanting to say the word nads in front of her, but she had been observing the interaction with curious green eyes.

"In the what?" Ky taunted and her brother shook his head, giving Harry a sympathetic look.

Before Harry was made to respond, there was movement at the door and he took an involuntary protective step toward the girl.

Her brother caught the motion, and looked at him with raised brows, but Harry quickly turned to face the newcomers, not wanting to dissect his own actions just yet.

A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you're coming around to the Thorntons - feedback/opinions will be much appreciated.