Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling

Italian to English Translations

'mi piace moltissimo' - 'I love it.'

Chapter Nine: It ends with Adventure

"Congratulations!" Harry chinked his glass with everyone else and then gulped down his butterbeer. Ky decided to stay for dinner, and it somehow turned into a celebratory feast when she announced that she would officially be joining them as a fellow fourth year.

Harry couldn't imagine learning all that in just two weeks, even if it was a very condensed syllabus just to get her ready for fourth year, it was a lot of work, and she doesn't even look the least bit tired. No bags, no droopy eyes, just the same old glowing face.

Everybody has taken to her like moths to a flame. Hermione treated her as if they were old friends, they were never more than an arm's length away from each other. The Weasleys' welcomed her with open arms, well, with one exception.

Harry looked towards the exception, who was seated next to Hermione, playing with her food, her red hair obscuring her face.

Harry had never seen Ginny like that before and was quite shocked. She always seemed to have lost her voice when he was around; well, she certainly found it today. He didn't think of Ginny as the sensitive kind, that wouldn't be up for a good laugh. Percy didn't seem affected by the prank at all, Harry overheard him and Ky discussing his report on cauldrons earlier. And she actually was listening to him and adding her constructive criticism. It seemed all was forgiven on his front.

Harry didn't blame him for letting her off the hook so easily. He was sure that hug she gave him earlier helped things…she really did hug people freely, like Fred and George, and now Percy... Godric he sounded like a jealous boyfriend. She was just so friendly and charismatic, people did flock to her, it wasn't just because when she smiled the room brightened up, or when she smirked it got ten degrees hotter…

He straightened up in his seat, clearing his throat to distract from his thoughts and Ginny's eyes snapped up and she found him staring at her. She blushed prettily and looked away. Great Harry now she probably thinks you're a creep, you've just sat here silently staring at her for minutes.

Though something tells him trying to explain to Ginny that he'd been fixating on her so as to stop himself from staring at Ky was not going to make her happier. Probably the opposite. Not that Ginny still liked him, more that she disliked Ky.

"I cannot believe you did that!" Hermione was looking at Ky, shock plastered on her face.

"Well, it was actually quite easy. Minnie and Sev attempt to be mature and civilised, but they're really just children stuck in the bodies of adults. They are too competitive for their own good. You should have seen Sev!" Ky burst out laughing. "I told him he had to transfigure a desk into a mannequin. And then the mannequin he made was male! Then I told him to transfigure it into a female. And then I told him to up the cup size because it was as flat as a board, and we've seen Madam Rosmerta so know how he likes his women!"

"I wish I was there to see his face!"

"I thought you might say that, Ronald! Ta-da!"

She held out a moving picture of Snape. He was looking at the camera much in the same fashion as he looked at Harry.

"So, what did you have McGonagall do?"

"Well, I had to think of a really cool potion she could brew. It had to be something that had a potent smell. So, I challenged her to make…. a lust potion!"

"You didn't! Ky! The very smell of that is meant to get people…."

"I know! I didn't think they would actually accept that, so I suggested a love potion instead but for some reason Minnie and Sev said they'd rather do the lust one." She shrugged, "Weird. Anyway, they were a little hot and bothered but managed to complete it without incident!"

"I cannot believe they actually accepted your challenge! And to shake on it without even knowing the terms of the deal."

"Well Mi, that's why the set up took two days. I started by asking Minnie at breakfast about whether she thought I should swap the lavender for rosemary in the Shrinking Potion I was making that afternoon. Before she could respond, Sev interjected with the answer. I kept asking questions to both of them, about the other's subject. Predictable as they are, they kept cutting across the other with a reply. Within minutes I had Sev saying, 'Just because I don't engage in foolish wand waving for a living, does not mean I don't know the five Principal exceptions to Gamps law of elemental transfiguration.' For the next two days they went tit for tat. And then when their tempers were raised just to the optimum level, I struck with the challenge. I told them the only way to settle it was to prove that they were just as efficient as, or better than, the other in the others field of expertise."

"Who won?"

"Zia Mona. That's Professor Sprout."

"What? You had the other teachers take part as well?" The girl was a terror, Harry actually felt sorry for Snape.

"Well, I had to. It was an insult to the others not to let them join."

"I don't get it though…. Sprout?" He never imagined the Head of Hufflepuff brewing potions and such, always seeing her knee deep in compost.

"Don't underestimate Mona. She and Minnie are friends from school, so she picked up a trick or two in transfiguration. But if I'm honest, she only won because Minnie and Sev were too busy sabotaging each other. And Aurora and Poppy ganged up and sabotaged Flitwick! I don't think he even had any ingredients on his table. He turned around to get a scale and turned back and they were gone."

"You should have organised rules for them to follow. And subtracted points when they did not abide by them." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"I did Mi, there were two rules. I set the challenges and I pick the winner. Of course, I only told them the rules after they accepted the challenge. The subjects would be potions and transfiguration because that was what started the argument. Minnie would have harder, weirder, and more things to transfigure with less time, but that didn't change a thing. She still ended up with the highest points. But it was gloves off for potions and that's where the tables turned."

She laughed that melody of hers, and Harry couldn't help but smile. He barely registered Hermione's voice saying "I think they did this just to humour you. A reward for all that hard work. What did Professor Sprout win?"

"Three 'Ky controls'. She gets three opportunities to tell me to stop what I'm doing or do something I don't want to do, and I have to oblige. It was that or slave for the day."

"I can see why the prize was so coveted. Have the opportunity to make you leave or shut up. Snape might have wet himself with glee. It would have been diabolical in his hands. So, I'm guessing she picked the Ky controls."

Ky glanced at Harry, with a mischievous look in her eye at his question. "Why? Which would you have picked Potter?"

He raised his brows at the name, was it so hard to just call him Harry? But somehow his surname didn't sound formal coming off her lips with her breathy voice. He let it go. Just before he could answer though, trying very hard not to imagine what having her as a slave for the day would be like, a green flame caught his attention.

"Severus! Come in and sit. Have a bite to eat. Fancy a glass of mead?"

"No thank you, Arthur. "He looked for Ky and spotted her. "You're late. You said you would be no more than an hour or two."

She looked at Snape and sprung up. This girl doesn't do anything halfway; she can't even get off her seat like a normal person. "Worried Sensei?"

Snape snorted, but there was a weird glint in his eyes. Was he amused? "Not in the least. If I had my way, I would have the Weasleys adopt you. But Minerva won't keep quiet about it so I came to fetch you so I can have my peace. And the Headmaster is leaving tonight." Her face fell at this, Snape's usual mug of misery softened slightly, "Just for a few days. He has some school business to take care of. He asked that I fetch you so you can see him off, if that's what you'd like."

"Of course. Thanks a bunch for everything." She smiled and waved at the table in general. There where choruses of 'byes' and 'come again'. Mr Weasley walked them to the fireplace, muttering to Snape about something. Just before she stepped into the fire Ky turned, and their eyes met. Harry couldn't say how long the stare lasted, but well after she left, he could still feel the effect of it on his skin.

-x-x-x-

"Who's the letter for?" Ky looked up at the Sev as they walked to the Nonno's office.

"Not that it is any of your business, but it's for your grandfather. From Mr Weasley." He answered before she could ask. "It seems this holiday I've gone from teacher, to nanny to interior decorator to postman. I'm at the edge of my seat just waiting to see what your presence will have me become next."

Ky laughed at him. "And all that is my fault, is it? I'll take the nanny and interior decorator, which I'm shocked you even know what that is. The postman however is not my doing."

"I find these days I can trace everything back to your doing. I'm shocked the Weasleys' house was still standing."

"Who is your favourite Weasley?"

"What?"

"Oh, come on Sensei, from all the Weasleys you taught, who was your favourite?"

"I'm not answering this question; it has absolutely no relevance."

"Then just answer. It's just a question."

"It just popped into your head, and you blurted it out, didn't you?"

"Yup."

He shook his head like he was going to say something but decided to save his breath. "I have no favourite Weasley. As all the Weasleys were in Gryffindor, and I have no patience for Gryffindors. Dim-witted bunch, the lot of them."

"And what if I'm in Gryffindor?"

"That's fine; I couldn't possibly like you any less now, can I? I had a nice little head start." Ky smiled at him, and he sighed exasperatedly, "You do not smile when somebody insults you."

"You said you 'like' me."

He reflected on what he said for a moment and then massaged his temples. "You'll be the death of me, you will."

They walked into the office to find her Nonno at the fireplace. He turned and gave them a warm smile.

Sev walked up to him, "Bane." He said pointing at Ky. "Letter." He said handing him the envelope. "Goodnight."

"Thank you, Severus." As Sev walked out, Nonno looked at her, "It seems you have grown on Severus. He even has a nickname for you, albeit a negative one, but a nickname nonetheless."

"My thoughts precisely. I consider it one little defence of his taken down. The man is really a fortress."

"Kyrianna, you will see in time, very little in life is so without reason. I must congratulate you on passing all your exams and with such flare too. I believe Filius said that he was rendered speechless at your wandwork and Minerva said she was most astounded at your technique. Severus didn't even lay one complaint. You have made me extremely proud today. My apologies for not being able to engage in any of the celebrations, I had urgent school business to attend to. It seems you were adequately entertained though!" He chuckled; he heard about the challenge, did he? "I must send Pomona a congratulatory gift. Speaking of which," he opened his palm and in it laid a small black onyx box. He smiled at her, as she tentatively took it from his palm. It was plain, bare of inscription, it looked a bit like a jewellery box. There was an elegance in its simplicity though.

"Thanks, Nonno, mi piace moltissimo!"

"Open it." Ky looked up at him with wide eyes, there was more! She slowly removed the top and inside lay a beautiful gemstone, about the size of an average pebble. It was a vibrant green and as smooth as silk. There was a feel of magic around it; it had a calming, warm and encapsulating aura. The last time she felt this honoured by a gift was when Linus had given her the locket.

"It's malachite. I've had that stone for many years. I received it from someone very dear to me, a good luck charm for my first day at Hogwarts. A sweet and kind girl I once knew, who one day I will tell you all about Kyrianna. I see it only fitting to give it back to a sweet and kind girl, someone very dear to me. I would say for good luck, but it seems you don't-"

Ky hugged him. She hugged him so tight. Her grandfather must have gone to Hogwarts a hundred years ago; this stone must be so precious to him to have kept it this long. And he was giving it to her… his granddaughter. Grandfather. Ky never knew she even wanted one, she only ever wanted parents and that was only fleetingly when things got really bad. She never felt the absence of love or protection because she had Linus and Lenzo. Yet his presence was something that changed her life. He had this aura that rolled off him, that made her feel protected and his twinkling eyes made her feel adored. And when he confided in her, things that she knew he didn't share with anyone else, he made her feel loved.

Ky knew that Sev wasn't the only man at Hogwarts that built a fortress around his heart, and just as Nonno said, he too must have his reasons. She was determined to breakthrough their walls, to really know them.

And as she hugged her grandfather, the gift he gave her lay not in her hand, but in her heart. The gift of an acerbic man who isolated the world, who claimed to be uncaring and disliked her, yet made time to see her daily. A stern lady that entertained no nonsense, that chided her constantly but always with a little spark in her eye. And none greater than himself, not because he was the greatest wizard of modern times, or because he was headmaster of Hogwarts. But because he was her grandfather.

And she realised that when she entered this castle, that feeling that calmed all her anxiety was this.

A feeling of home. A feeling of family.

She let go and Nonno's eyes where shining at her. "And now I must bid thee farewell. It seems my presence is needed in France for a few days. Oops I almost forgot," he opened the letter in his hand. He smiled and looked down at her, "It seems I am not the only one going on an adventure."

A/N Thank you for reading!