Prologue:

After the second Wizarding War was over, the Ministry of Magic had asked me to move into my father's family's home. Both of my parents had died during one of the Death Eaters' attacks during the war. They were in Europe lending their hands to the Order even though they worked for the Magical Congress of the United States of America. My family in Europe had died during the war and I was the last well, second to last, of my name. My younger brother would carry on the family name. My name is Kyleigh Rayne Lestrange and my brother is Damen Sterling Lestrange.

Moving to Europe was a huge step, but since I didn't have any family left here in the US, I decided to take the Ministry up on their offer and move to my ancestral home; it meant leaving Ilvermorny and my fellow Horned Serpents, and attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I didn't know much about Hogwarts since my parents rarely talked about their time before moving to the US.

My parents had originally left Europe to escape their families. They wouldn't tell me much, I was "too young to know the truth", whatever that meant. All I knew was, they weren't allowed to marry each other, so instead of marrying who their parents wanted them to marry, they ran away. I was born a few months later.

Since, I technically wasn't an adult in the muggle world, the MCUSA handled the selling of my childhood home. I had taken the wood growth chart that was on our kitchen doorway and packed it into my trunk along with the rest of the household furniture, leaving only the major appliances (refrigerator, washer/dryer, stove).

I took one last look at the only home I had ever known, picked Damen up, grabbed the handle of my trunk and apparated to my new home. The new minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, had taken me to it when he handed the deed and keys over to me. He also had introduced me to the house-elves, something I had never actually seen before.

My parents wanted us to understand the muggle world, as well as the wizarding one, so we lived in a muggle community. 'So much for that wish,' I sighed as I sat Damen down on the floor of our new home. He was 2, and couldn't apparate on his own.

"Hello, dear," I heard a cheerful voice say from the kitchen. I turned around to see a plump, redhead standing in the doorway of my kitchen.

"Hello?" I said, confused.

"Kingsley told me that you'd be arriving today," the older woman said, interrupted by a masculine voice.

"Mum," said the voice, sounding like he had his mouth full.

"Just a minute," replied the woman turning her attention back to me. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, I couldn't let you come to an abandoned house without a home cooked meal waiting on you. After all you two have been through, you poor dears." The woman picked up Damen as he had crawled closer to her. He immediately began to cry.

"I'm sorry," I said taking Damen. "But who are you? How do you know me? Well, besides Kingsley telling you. Did you know my parents?"

"I'm Molly Weasley. And this is my son Ron," she motioned to a tall, gangly, red haired boy who appeared to be my age.

Ron mumbled, "hey," that sounded like the masculine voice from earlier.

"Ron will be going with you to Hogwarts. I knew your parents when I was a kid, but we fell out of touch when they moved across the seas."

I heard a ding and Molly headed towards the kitchen again.

Ron stood awkwardly in the doorway. He shoved his hands in his pants pockets.

"I'm Kyleigh," I said to break the silence. "And this is my baby brother, Damen."

"Dinner's ready," Molly yelled from deep in the kitchen.

I followed the sound of her voice and saw her at a table towards the back of the kitchen. The table, was located in the breakfast nook, it's bay windows looking out over a wellkept garden.

"It smells and looks delicious," I said in thanks. I thought of Damen's highchair in the trunk and it appeared next to us. I set Damen in his seat and began putting food on his tray.

I could hear Ron digging in and Molly popping him on the head. "What?" he said, food coming out of his mouth.

"Let the poor girl get her plate first," Molly replied. She turned to me. "I'm sorry. Ron thinks with his stomach and not with his head. You would think that we starved him."

"It's okay," I said, smiling.

When dinner was over, I took Damen upstairs and gave him a bath. I was putting Damen's pajamas on him, when Molly and Ron appeared in the bathroom doorway.

"Kyleigh, dear. I have to head back to the Burrow. Ron is going to stay here and help you unpack," Molly said. She gave us both a hug and with a pop, she was gone.

I looked at Ron, "I can take care of everything. You don't have to stay." I finished the last button of Damen's shirt, picked him up, and headed to look at the rooms. I was going to let Damen decided which room he wanted, first.

I brushed passed Ron, feeling a tingling sensation where my skin touched his. I ignored the feeling and headed back towards the top of the stairs.

"Wait," Ron said, grabbing my wrist. His eyes widened, noticing the sizzle as his hand close around my wrist. Instead of saying anything, he immediately dropped my wrist and looked at the ground. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I want to help you. Besides this is a big house. I know I wouldn't want to be alone in a house, period, if I was in your shoes."

"Thanks," I said, looking at him. "I was going to let Damen pick out his own room."

Of course Damen would pick the last room on the second floor. I was just glad we didn't have to go to the third floor. "Accio trunk," I said. I walked to the window across from the door and looked out. 'This property is huge,' I thought.

There was a swimming pool that looked more like a private lagoon than a pool; some tall edges that I couldn't see over passed, even being on the second floor; gardens-a garden that looked like herbs, a flower garden, and a vegetable garden; I could see apple trees a little passed the gardens, and a blueberry field when I looked to my left.

I turned to go to the other window in the room, and saw the trunk coming in the doorway. It stopped at my feet. I opened it up and began getting out Damen's stuff.

"What did you want to do with the stuff already in the room?" Ron asked looking around.

I looked around the room, seeing antique furniture, I had just glimpsed at before looking out the window. 'I wonder whose room this used to be.'

"Keep the train track set and I guess take the furniture down to the den. Do yall need furniture?" I replied.

It didn't look like my dad's room, I saw that all traces of my father had disappeared. Apparently, they were serious about who they wanted my dad to marry, and not only disowned him, but removed any evidence that he had been.

Furniture floated about the room, the old furniture leaving, and Damen's floating in the places I wanted them. Ron and I had small talk while completing our tasks, Damen played with the train tracks while we got everything settled.

The sun had gone down and Damen was fast asleep on the floor by the time we finished.

I put Damen in his bed and we quietly left the room, toting the trunk behind us. I knew there weren't any bedrooms downstairs, and the other rooms we looked at on this floor, didn't have enough natural light; so, I decided to take a gander at the third floor. There was a spiral staircase tucked into the middle of the wall on this end of the hall.

I started up the spiral staircase, wondering if this was the only way up, I hadn't seen any other stairs leading up, on the other end of the hall. The stairs led to a door, no hall. Just a door. So, Ron bumped into me when I had stopped. This time, luckily, we didn't touch bare skin, so no weird feelings happened.

I opened the door and stared inside. It was too dark to see, I waved my wand and the room flooded with light. The third floor seemed to be one ginormous room. There were 3 doors in the room, I noticed after stepping in, all on one side. The one we came in, and doors to the right and left. There were 8 windows. All covered with floor length green and black curtains. In between the several windows, were bookcases. Some were only 3 shelves, those were in front of a few curtains, others floor to ceiling, cubed organizer ones, and oddly shaped ones. Some hung on the walls, and others appeared to come from the ceiling.

At the far end of the room, between 2 curtains, almost directly across from the door we came in, was a fireplace. There were a couple of armchairs and a couch in a semicircle in front of the fireplace.

In the middle of the room, on the left wall, sat a 4 post, canopied bed, with a chaise lounge at the foot of it. I ran and jumped on the bed. It was like heaven.

I rolled onto my back, with my eyes closed, and heard Ron laughing from where he was. I opened my eyes, threw a pillow at him, while asking, "what's so funny?"

He threw the pillow back, charging towards me. He lunged and landed on top of me, pinning me to the bed.

"Gotcha," he said, sweeping my hair away from my eyes.

I laughed and looked into his eyes, my skin on fire wherever his touched mine. "Thanks for the help. I could have asked the house-elves, but honestly forgot I had them. And then it felt weird to ask when I remembered I had them." I had noticed that Ron loosened his grip and gave me just enough leeway, to where I could flip him off of me and swap positions.

"Two can play that game," I said flipping him over so our roles were reversed. I smiled and hopped up, running towards the couch.

'Oh, my Gooood!' I thought. 'What am I doing? I haven't even known the guy for 24 hours and I'm jumping his bones, almost literally.'

Ron was still sitting on the bed, his cheeks turning red. I didn't know what to say, so I went back to where we came in. Instead of leaving the room, I went to the door on the left. I opened the door and noticed it was a bathroom. Marble counters to my immediate left, a huge mirror over it. In the corner on the left was a stone walk in shower that had a mossy floor mat. Right in the middle sat the biggest clawfoot tub I had ever seen. It was so big a giant could fit in it.

"Oi, look at that tub. It's bloody huge!" Ron exclaimed coming up behind me. He walked over to it, hopped in, and disappeared. "My whole family could fit in 'ere."

Ron got quiet. I walked over to see why. He was wiping a tear away. I climbed in and pulled him close, his head between my breasts. He wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me closer.

After a while, he spoke. "I'm sorry, here I am blubbering on like a baby, when all I lost was a brother. You lost everyone except a brother."

"Yea, I still can't get over losing my parents, but I never knew the rest of my family. My mom and dad never really talked about their family." I leaned back against the tub, wondering what the people were like that lived here.

"It's probably a good thing," Ron said looking up at me. "They were bloody horrible. Your aunt, she tried to kill my sister-Bloo'y hell. I shouldn't have told you that."

"But your mom, she was so nice to me. How could she be so nice knowing what horrible people my family over here was? And you…" I sat up quickly. I hopped over the edge of the tub and ran over to the couch.

"Incendio," I said lighting a fire in the fireplace. I leaned over, setting my elbows on the top of my thighs, and my chin in my hands. I stared into the flames, mesmerized. I heard the water turn on in the bathtub.

I didn't even hear Ron come up beside me. Next thing I knew, he was kneeling down, "You can't be blamed for what someone else does, even if they're family. My twat of a brother, Percy was a royal pain in our arse, but we were never blamed for his actions." Ron grabbed my hands, yanking me up.

He led me back to the bathroom where he had drawn me a bath. "Thank you. For everything," I said, looking him in the eyes so he'd know that I meant it.

He smiled sheepishly and walked out of the room, shutting the door softly behind him.

I began undressing, trying not to think of the way my body felt anytime we touched. "Seriously," I muttered aloud. "Why am I feeling this?"

I slowly stepped into the hot bubble bath. It probably would be steaming, but the bubbles were prohibiting the steam from coming through.

I closed my eyes and drifted off.

When I opened my eyes, the bubbles were gone. I looked around, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I noticed a towel and a fresh pair of pajamas on the counter.

I dried off, got dressed, and stepped out of the bathroom. I looked around the room, the fire was still roaring, but Ron was nowhere in sight.

'Maybe he went to the kitchen for a midnight snack. His mom did say he thought with his stomach.' I turned to my left and went down the stairs. "Might as well check on Damen," I said on the last step.

I opened the door to see that Damen wasn't in his bed, but rather Ron's lap on the rocking chair next to it. They were both sound asleep. I saw a plate with crumbs, on top of the nightstand in between the chair and bed. 'He must've gone down and heard Damen on his way back up.'

I grabbed the plate to take it down to the kitchen. I felt fingers grasp my wrist and squeeze ever so gently. I didn't have to look to know that it was Ron's fingers. I looked at him and he mouthed, Help me, and pointed to Damen in his lap.

I set the plate back down and picked Damen up. He hugged me closer in his sleep. 'Poor baby, what am I going to do with him while I finish my last year of school?' I tucked him back into his bed and we crept out of the room.

I caught a glimpse of the plate Ron had picked up before it disappeared in his hands.

We stood silently staring at each other. Not knowing what to say to the other, or waiting for the other to speak.

I glanced down at my pajamas, "Thanks. Again. I was just going to close my eyes for a second, and the next thing I know I'm asleep. And for taking care of Damen while I was in La La land."

"La La land?" Ron questioned.

"Dreamland," I replied, heading back up the stairs to what I had claimed as my room. I was halfway up the stairs before I realized Ron was still on the second floor landing. "You coming?" I asked. His eyes lit up as he headed up the stairs.

I sat back down on the couch, and turned to look around the room. I pulled my legs up to my chest and hugged them. "You said my dad's family here were bad people. How can I go somewhere, where all it takes is for me to say my last name and people will think I'm as evil as they were? Wh-" I was cut off by a pair of lips crashing into mine.

All of the hairs on my body instantly became electrified.

"I'll be there," Ron said breaking the kiss.

"What?" I said completely oblivious to having asked a question in the first place. Ron just grinned and gently kissed me this time. I pulled him in closer, deepening the kiss. I leaned back, taking him with me.

Something poked me in the back, "Oww." I squealed pulling something out from the cushions.

It was a book. I turned it over and saw that it had my mother's name written across the middle of the cover. "What would something that belonged to my mother be in my father's childhood home? I was always told that their families hated each other."

I opened the book and realized it was a diary.

September 1st,

Today would be my last train ride to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was to be Head Girl. I was so excited I barely slept. My mother was so proud of me. Now, all I needed to know was who was to be Head Boy with me. I hope it's someone from Ravenclaw, so our house has double the pride.

Just as long as it's not someone from Slytherin.

Her train of thought must have been interrupted because the next entry was from later on that night.

Bedtime

It's not really bedtime, but I'm hiding in my room in the Heads quarters. My worst nightmare, Lestrange is my fellow Head. Why did it have to be a Slytherin?!

And then like a page of what I'm guessing were wizarding cuss words because Ron snorted. I turned to look at him, "What's so bloody funny?" I noticed I was picking up on their sayings already.

"This entry reminds me of my best mate's parents when they were in Hogwarts."

I skipped a couple of pages in the diary

October 31, Halloween

The headmaster has allowed us to have a Halloween Dance. I'm excited. I had jinxed my robe to rotate colors of the rainbow and my hair did the same. I sprinkled on some glitter to make me shine and started to head to the dance. I ran into my mortal enemy and he reached out to keep me from falling. My skin burned where his hands touched the bare flesh of my arms. Not in a bad way either. I continued out the door, stepping into the prefects bathroom to write this. What was that? Not that we touch a lot, I try to avoid it at all cost, but anytime we've touched, nothing abnormal happened.

Oh MERLIN! Why didn't I think of it?! We never had skin to skin contact. Bloody hell?!

The entry ended. The next was dated around Christmas.

December 22,

I'm home for the holidays, I would have never thought that I would have fallen for someone from Slytherin, much less a Lestrange. I had asked mum about the touching thing when it happened and she refused to talk to me until I got home. She pulled me in her room, sealed the room so no nosy creatures could eavesdrop. Now, who is this boy that's gotten you knocked up?! Were her first words. My jaw dropped. How? I asked her. The burning sensation? Our family, the women only, and their respective mates, always feel it whenever they touch their soulmate

I stopped reading. "That's not possible," I said in disbelief looking at Ron. He grabbed the diary and I ran into the bathroom, locking the door.

"This is MY life!" I screamed. "Destiny and soulmates don't exist!"

I cried my eyes out, more out of the secrecy my parents had, than the fear that the man I was meant to spend the rest of my life with, was in the other room.

"Kyleigh?" Ron's voice was hesitant as he stood on the other side of the door. I knew he could unlock the door, but he was giving me privacy. "I feel it too," he said softly. Almost too soft for me to hear.

I waved my wand, "Alohomora." The bathroom door was unlocked and Ron was opening the door. He stood on the outside of the door, not wanting to come in, but at the same time, I could see in his eyes that he did. "Why you? Why now? Why like this? Why didn't she tell me?" the last came out hoarse, as the tears threatened to spill out again. Suddenly, Ron was crossing the room and scooping me up in his arms.

"I'll do whatever you want, give you whatever you want. Space. It's yours. But, I can't tell you that what I feel is some predestined MERLIN shit. I thought I was in love with one of my best mates. After we defeated the Death Eaters and Vol-vo-" Ron gulped. "Voldemort. We kissed and it was amazing. We went on a date and we realized that we were making a mistake. Harry, our other mate, was always the glue that kept us together. When I kissed you back there, I knew it was the right thing to do. Not because of the soulmate principle, but because it felt right in here," he jabbed his chest above his heart.

I looked at our reflections in the mirror and our bodies were glowing. I looked into Ron's eyes, "I haven't even known you for a full 24 hours, but I feel like I've known you my whole life. I don't understand. It's like something clicked in me, you ARE my other half. But, it's too soon. Damen's so young and impressionable." I pulled away from Ron, our bodies glow, fading with each step.

I turned and fled the bathroom and Ron's hurt face at my rejection. I drew the curtains around my bed and cried myself to sleep. It felt like I was ripped in half.