Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling

Italian to English translations:

"Nonno": Grandfather

"Principessa" : Princess

Chapter Four: Worst Case Scenario

The room fell into an all consuming silence as Dumbledore explained what he had just witnessed in the pensieve.

Grandchildren! She was a Dumbledore…

Harry couldn't see a resemblance, but he suppose it would be challenging seeing as the girl was so far from an old man… but looking at Linus - his eyes, his height, Harry had even thought that they looked alike earlier…

"So she accidentally apparated into Hogwarts?" The adults in the room and Hermione were giving Ky wary stares.

"The locket would have helped, with the wards ammended as well, I don't think she did it on purpose?" Dumbledore looked at Ky and she nodded in confirmation, a guilty look in her eye. Harry remembered how emotional she had been when he first met her, thinking she had ruined her brother's wedding, perhaps she was conflicted on how much of an accident this really was.

"Why didn't MACUSA find out about them?"

"MACUSA?" Harry responded to McGonagall's question and the headmaster answered.

"The American ministry for magic. Well, I suspect since they've never had their magical signatures registered at a wandshop, which is their customary protocol, they must have been hard to track." Dumbledore looked at the oldest brother, who was very quiet through this discussion, "Though, I imagine you must have had bouts of accidental magic ? How did you control for that?"

Linus remained silent and Lenzo tossed him a cautious glance, "We only started showing signs of magic after our grandmother died. Linus was nine, I was seven. Which makes sense, since you say she had been binding our magic. We've always been pretty good at controlling it, but Ky…" He glanced at his sister, who finally was not smiling, looking down at her hands and Lenzo fell silent too.

"Ky's special." Linus spoke up, his eyes hard like sapphires.

"That's what they say about crazy people." She muttered.

Linus turned, his attention fixed on her, "Yeah, you are crazy." She snapped her head up, her grey eyes sparkling with sadness at his words, "All the best people are."

Ky blushed prettily at her brother's words, and then gasped, jumping to her feet, "Shit! The wedding! Nessie!"

"It's alright." Linus calmed her down, pulling her back onto the chair, "Agnes called me once you disappeared and Lenzo and I drove out to meet them. I had to knock her and the driver out…magically-" He confirmed to the room at large so they didn't think he was physically hurting what must be his bride to be, "And I've got them hidden in the car not too far from the hotel. I called Isla and told her to break it to the guests that it's postponed, that there was a family emergency. I'll figure it out when we get back."

"We can-"

"I don't want to get married right now." Linus stated firmly to Ky, who looked like she was going to protest, but Lenzo shook his head behind his brother's shoulder to shut Ky up. Harry remembered that she had felt guilty earlier for ruining the wedding, and knowing that she did must be a tough pill to swallow, "I do have to sort all of that out though." Linus turned to the headmaster, "If you could let us know how to leave, I don't really know how to do the David Copperfield disappearing act unless I'm desperate."

"Leave?" Ky looked wide eyed at her brother, "We just found out he's our grandfather."

"Great great grandfather." Linus corrected, a thoughtful expression on his face, "Actually, father died quite young and his father died quite young…I should get better life insurance." He chuckled weakly but stopped when he saw the serious look on Ky's face and sighed, "We'll send him Christmas cards annually. Is it through there?" He pointed at the exit.

Ky looked at Lenzo who raised his hand placatingly, "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

"No." Ky looked at her brothers as if they were mad, turning to Dumbledore, "Can we talk about it now?"

"Ky." Linus sounded exhausted, "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

"No, you'll put us on planes tomorrow. I know you! You weren't joking about just sending him Christmas cards."

"I was actually, I have no intention to write to this man ever again."

Harry jumped as a large glass orb shattered, and ducked his head but this time it wasn't aimed at him, but Dumbledore already turned the shards to dust before it hit anybody.

"Ky…calm down." Lenzo was rubbing her shoulders, but she had eyes only for Linus.

"Why are you doing this. We've wanted family-"

"We'll discuss this later, in private." Linus glanced at the room filled with strangers and Ky stepped forward, cheeks flushed in anger, but Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"Kyrianna, please go with your brother." Ky's head snapped to Dumbledore and Harry could see a wounded look on her face and his fingers spasmed…he wanted to hold her? "I promise you, we will speak tomorrow."

"You can't make her promises like that." Linus glared at Dumbledore.

"Why not. I want to see him."

"You're a child, you don't know what you want."

"I'm not a child. I've finished high school."

"Graduating early doesn't make you mature. If you were mature, you wouldn't be forcing us to have this conversation in public, you'd listen to what I'm saying, and you'd leave with me."

"What else happened in that stone thing!" Ky questioned her brother with such authority it came out like a command.

"This isn't about anything that happened in the pensieve." Linus gave the headmaster a steady look, it would seem he was as headstrong as his sister, so not easily steamrolled, "It was a long day, and it still isn't over, so, please, can you just not be dramatic, for once."

She tilted her chin up, "I'm not going."

"Kyrianna-"

"She doesn't like being called that!" Linus snapped, clearly the temper was a family trait.

"I'm fine with Nonno calling me that!"

"NONNO!" Linus screamed, his face bypassing red, and moving to puce, and Harry furrowed his brows, what was a nonno? "We don't know who this man is!"

"He's Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard alive." Harry blurted out. All eyes were on him, but he didn't shy away now. Dumbledore looked as if Linus had slapped him, and Harry didn't want Ky to be put on some plane, never to be seen again, "I know that this is all a real shock. I only found out I was a wizard when I was eleven. I also didn't understand why weird things kept happening to me. And I wouldn't have survived these past years if it weren't for Albus Dumbledore. You're right, you don't know him. But we do. And we're all better for it."

Dumbledore's eyes were misty and Harry looked to the floor, all the embarrassment he ignored flooding into him now.

Snape cleared his throat, stepping forward, "Mr Thornton, sentimentality aside, we're going to have to inform the Ministry of Magic, our government, about you and your siblings. Your sister performed magic in front of what I assume is a muggle, a non-magical person, and that is illegal." Linus opened his mouth, "She won't get in trouble, because he'll work something out." He pointed at Dumbledore, "But we just so happen to have a member of our goverment," He pointed at Mr Weasley, "Here, who will have to inform his superiors. To prevent this becoming a bigger problem that it need be, I suggest some of us come with you to modify the relevant memories. I say suggest, but this is not a suggestion."

Linus was very still.

"Fine. Just you."

Harry's stomach plummetted.

Snape.

Of all the people in this room, Snape would be the last person he would have picked to convince Linus that they needed to give Dumbledore a chance.

He watched as the three Thorntons' and Snape exitted the room. Just before she went through the door, Ky turned and looked straight at him.

She gave him a small shrug, almost as if to say, 'thank you for trying', and then left.

Harry thought he'd miss this girl very much if he never saw her again, even if she did keep throwing things at him.

-x-x-x-

"Are you sure you just erased her most recent memories?"

The hook nosed man nodded, looking right at home in the dark dining hall of the silent hotel. Ky had stormed into her room upon their rival, sulking because she hadn't got her way. Lenzo was currently doing Linus a massive favour and entertaining his guests at the wedding venue…people thought that Agnes was a runaway bride, seeing as she technically never showed up to the wedding, and seeing as most of their guests flew in for the event it was only polite to let them make the most of the party. Linus didn't really care what people thought of him, he was more concerned about Ky, and Agnes.

Linus sighed, dejectedly, "Perhaps you should have taken away the last three years altogether. Whiskey?"

Snape nodded, and Linus poured them both generous amounts. The broody man looked down at the contents of his glass, "Do you love her?"

Linus was surprised at the querry, he had picked this man because he thought he was the least likely to ask personal questions. "I don't know." He surprised himself with his honesty, "I mean, she's… you've seen her." Agnes was easily the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had a very simple life - billionaire father, model mother, private boarding school, friends with businessman and princesses alike. He was well aware that she was surperficial, that her days were spent shopping, and lunching, and gossipping. "I appreciate her. Not a lot of woman would be okay with my situation." He sipped at his drink, playing with the moisture his glass made on the table, "She never complains about being the second most important woman in my life."

"And you think that's fair?"

Linus sighed, he obviously didn't think it was fair, but neither was the question, "Do you have children?"

"Fortunately, no." The man answered in his deep voice. "Neither do you."

"Ky-"

"Is your sister. Even if you raised her from the cradle, she's still just your sister."

Linus contemplated his words. He had fled that castle because he knew if they stayed there any longer Ky would work out that place was for children like her…the Old Man said it himself, that the school was for teaching people to control their powers. Suddenly Linus felt like Ky was slipping through his fingers, and he had sacrificed so much to keep their family together, he didn't want to lose her now. "I'm her legal guardian."

"And she's fourteen years old. Old enough to choose what she wants in life."

At least he didn't beat around the bush, "You think she won't pick me." Linus scoffed, where does this guy get off.

"Oh, she'll obviously pick you. You'll win, but you'll lose as well."

"Because he's the greatest wizard in the world, and we need him in our life?"

"I'm not here to get involved in your family drama. But, you three need to learn how to control your magic better. You'll be registered wizards now, and you'll need to follow our rules."

Linus sipped his whiskey, "Bullshit."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're not here to get involved in my family drama? When the Old Man took that spell off us, you had your wand on me, that old geezer gave you one look, and you put your wand away, so fast nobody else noticed you even reacted to us awakening, because if I hadn't spotted Ky in that room when I did, I'd have picked up right where we left off… sorry about the scar, by the way." Snape glowered at him, the injury to his forehead already faded, "So you can sit there with your acerbic nature pretending you're not his soldier, but your actions scream louder than your unspoken words."

Snape straightened in his chair, "Fine. I may not wax lyrical about him, but I respect your grandfather. But don't get me wrong, the man is flawed. In fact, just as his accomplishments are much greater, so too are his flaws." He leaned forward, his hooked nose crinkling. "But it's not the type of flaws you're thinking of. He's too trusting, too meddlesome, and too forgiving. He has an annoying habit of looking for the best in people even if said people know that it is not there. He is too selfless, and banks too much on the notion of love."

Linus glowered at the man, he didn't want to hear this. He didn't want to hear that he could have had this amazing man raise him, that his life could have been simpler…

"You could have been describing Ky." Linus bit out, "Trusting. Meddlesome. Forgiving."

"Annoying." He added.

Linus laughed, "You know if I let him in our lives, I'm letting her in your life too. You don't seem to like her very much."

"I don't like anybody." He added simply, "Look, they really do call him the greatest wizard in the world. And that's not necessarily a good thing for you. It means when darkness comes, they attack him first."

"So, if I let Ky have a relationship with him, she'll be in danger."

"She'll be in far more danger if she didn't know him. Hogwarts is the safest place in the world; people say it all the time. The headmaster is renowned for being a fearsome duellist that nobody dare cross. But that isn't why your sister is safe with him. She's in good hands because nobody in this world feels the absence of family, and appreciates the presence of family, more than that Old fool."

Linus sighed, "Bullshit."

"It's the truth." Snape snapped.

"I'm talking about what you said earlier. I don't like anybody." Linus mimicked a low baritone. "You're practically president of his fan club."

Snape smirked, "So…would you like a membership?"

-x-x-x-

Lenzo shook his head as Ky bounded up the long driveway of the castle. They had just taken a portkey back to Hogwarts, arranged by the headmaster, their grandfather.

"You sure about this?"

"No." Linus answered honestly, "But, he is her grandfather. And…she does need to learn how to control her powers. And that's apparently what this school is for."

"She did always want to go to school. But a boarding school in Scotland? Isn't there one closer to home?"

"Nonna mentioned some place called Ilvermony in the memory, and of course I'd prefer that, but, shouldn't it be up to her?"

"Wow, you woke up a completely different person." Lenzo frowned at his brother. "I was counting on you being bad cop."

Linus rolled his eyes, "Aren't you always. Anyway, this is just 'worst case scenario' talk. It's why I panicked yesterday and wanted to get out of that castle as fast as I could. If we stayed there any longer it would have dawned on Ky that that was a magic school and that she could attend."

Lenzo let out a deep sigh, "So…that's what's going to happen now?"

"With our luck, probably." Linus grumbled, walking up the steps and nodding at the Old Man who greeted them in the large Entrance Hall.

"-I guess it depends on your preference really. Because you are British, but, granddad seems so boring. And technically we're only half-Italian, our mother grew up in Sicilly."

"Calabria." Linus corrected.

Ky shrugged, "But I figured since we had a Nonna, we should have a Nonno. But of course, it's your preferene."

The Old Man beamed down at her, "You can call me whatever you like Kyrianna. Oh, Ky."

"No…you can call me Kyrianna." Her big grey eyes flickered to Linus as if daring him to say anything but he remained silent.

"Good morning, Quilinus, Lorenzo."

"Linus."

"Lenzo."

They both corrected him and Ky rolled her eyes, "Divas, the both of them. Lenzo only got that name because I couldn't pronounce his proper name as a baby. Lorenzo. What's your full name?"

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

"Man, that's almost as long as mine. Kyrianna Ariana Kendra Thornton."

The Old Man stopped in his tracks and Linus offered him a confused expression when his midnight blue eyes found his own, "Your grandmother named her?"

Linus nodded, "She said the next girl should have that name, it was a dying wish really. Is that significant?"

They were walking down the large Hall, Ky distracted by the grandness and the Old Man spoke softly, just to him, "Ariana was my sister's name, Kendra my mother's. I suppose her first name is a fusion of the two. Bella did like them very much." Linus could tell the man was very touched, and he could understand why. He didn't want to imagine what it would be like to lose a sibling, but to know their name lived on in some way would be something of a comfort.

"My name is Quilinus Albus Octavian Thornton, and Lorenzo Percival Patrizio Thornton. I suppose Nonna really wanted us to find each other. Makes me wonder why she didn't just tell me."

They settled into their seats in the large hall, Ky was hounding McGonagall with questions about everything she laid her eyes on.

"She must have had her reasons. It doesn't do well to dwell too long on the past. I am glad you decided to join us for breakfast today. I've spoken personally to the Minister of Magic this morning, and he's already sorting all the logistics out."

"Logistics?"

"Registering you with your government, they'll want access to your home, make sure the necessary wards are up, though I suspect, since they've never detected Kyrianna's magic, you boys might have some up there already."

Linus shrugged, "I don't really know how magic works. Growing up it felt a bit like wishes being granted, I'd really hope for social workers to go away and never come back, and that's what would happen. I'd hope that nobody found out about Ky's magic and they never did. Lenzo and I have her tutors sign non-disclosure agreements, but really, we sort of fiddle with their memories before they leave the house." He looked down, guiltily. He wasn't sure how ethical such things were.

"You didn't know any better. It's fascinating actually, you learnt magic the way wandless people do. Most African wizards never take up wands, but the downside of that is it's a lot easier to break the Statute of Secrecy, which prevents us from allowing non-magical people to see our power, and also easier to make magical accidents, wands help with control. You'll all need to get wands, both our governments see that as a necessity. And I believe your partner is non-magical, so I can get you the necessary permissions that will allow you to disclose your status to her."

Linus was surprised, he didn't think everything was this organized, "I'll hold off on the permissions, we've put a pause in that for the moment."

"Oh." The man's blue eyes dulled with concern, and Linus felt uncomfortable. He wasn't used to receiving such looks and busied himself with pouring orange juice. He met the dark gaze of Severus Snape across the table, who had been methodically cutting into a piece of bacon, reminding him of their conversation from last night.

"So how old do you have to be to go to this school?" Ky looked from McGonagall, to Snape, to the Old Man, and Lenzo and Linus exchanged wary glances.

"Entry starts at eleven. There are seven years of education." McGonagall answered Ky.

"And I suppose, you couldn't start late?"

Linus' heart dropped.

"There are of course exceptions." McGonagall's green eyes met Linus' briefly, and he was surprised to find sympathy reflected in her orbs.

"So, fourteen, would be an okay age?" Ky pretended to be very busy with adding sausages to her plate.

"Ky, do you want to go to this school?" Linus was surprised his voice was this steady.

She looked up at him, and sat in her place was the chubby cheeked three year old that he'd had to teach how to blow her nose, and brush her teeth.

"Well…you did say that you didn't want me to go to university yet."

"That's because I didn't agree with you accelerating your high school, you didn't have reason to like Lenzo and I did."

"I had plenty of reason, I wanted to contribute. I wanted to help with the company."

"And you can." Lenzo added, "Maybe you don't need to go to university, you just come work with us, you really learn this sort of thing by doing. ThornCorpe is a family business, and it's about time you learnt it."

"Principessa." Linus smiled at Ky, using his pet name for her, "Tell me what you want, we won't be hurt."

She swallowed, glancing to the Old Man, and then back at Linus, "I want to go to Hogwarts."

Linus let out a shaky breath, turning to the Old Man, "Would that be possible?"

He nodded, "Very possible. We can use the remaining weeks to get her ready so she can enter the fourth year, so she'd be with peers her own age."

"There is a wizarding school in Massachusetts." Lenzo looked at Ky, "That'll be a lot closer to home."

"Ilvermony is a very good school." The Old Man added.

"But it doesn't have Nonno." Ky looked hopefully at the headmaster, "I mean, only if you'd like me to come here. I can go to the Massachusetts one…" She looked so vulnerable, Linus wanted to hold her, but she stopped talking as the Old Man placed a hand on her own.

"Kyrianna, nothing will make me happier than for you to come to Hogwarts."

Her smile at his words shattered Linus' heart like it had mended it a thousand times before.

Worst case scenario it is.

A/N: Thank you for reading this! I hope you're enjoying it! Feedback/comments are so welcome !