Here is the next chapter! I am putting it up earlier than planned because I need some reviews to make me smile!

Thanks to those who do review! And to Sadie for being there for me while I struggled with writing this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I might tomorrow...But tomorrow never comes!

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"Lilly. If you don't mind me asking, who are the people mentioned in this letter?" Lilly sighed and took a deep breath.

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"The person who wrote it, Lachen, is my brother. He's older than me." Lilly paused, thinking.
"About 21 I think. Melodia, she was his bonded mate, and one of my best friends. She was four years older than me. Vasilissa was the same age as her. She was my other best friend. We all met in dance classes. Ballet." She brushed a curl away from her eyes, recalling all the times she spent in dance classes.

On Lilly's first day of dance class nothing went right. First, she was put into a class where everyone was at least four years older, and had already done ballet for at least two of those years. Then she found out she had the wrong colour leotard, and all the other girls had their own cliques that they stayed in. No one talked to her, not until the end of the day, after Lilly had struggled for the first half of the lesson trying to keep up, then realising she, unlike most of the others spoke fluent French and she had no problems learning and understanding all the movements. After four hours of dance, with an hour for lunch, two blonde girls approached her; Melodia and Vasilissa.

The three became friends really quickly, all sharing a love of animals and ballet. Despite the age difference Lilly quickly became one of the best in the class. When Mel bonded with Lilly's brother she couldn't have been happier for them. But then a wave of darkness washed over them; Lissa broke her ankle, so extremely she couldn't heal it, it would take healers from over the world to fix her shattered ankle; Mel disappeared, without any trace; Lachen went into a period of depression; Lilly ran away.

"Lissa and Mel were attacked one day. Lissa was left with a shattered ankle, like her bone was in millions of pieces, the biggest only a centimetre long. She had to give up dancing. She won't ever walk or dance as well as she could. Mel disappeared not long after her bond with Lachen had been weakened. She hasn't been seen since, well, not technically. Lachen was all depressed after that. And I think he might have been made worse after I left." Lilly looked down.

Severus didn't break the silence. I wonder if I can get in touch with this brother of hers. She should see him. She needs to know about her Ayrliann side, and I would like to know about it too. I just hope she doesn't go to Ayrliah and decide to stay there. But if she wants too...

"Lilly, did you..." He began to talk, but she interrupted him.

"I want to see my brother. But I don't want to go to Ayrliah." Severus smiled; glad she didn't want to go back, but interested in knowing what had happened there.

"Of course. We could ask him." Lilly nodded, adding a note at the bottom of her letter. She signed the bottom of it, and sealed it with her finger. She walked out the room, giving to note to the black bird on the window sill. She stroked it gently with her finger. She pulled away at let the bird fly away. She watched the large raven fly until it was so far, even she, with her enhanced vision, couldn't see it.

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There were only three days until school officially started. Lilly was calm, yet excited. To her father, she just appeared to be calm and cool about it. Though Draco could tell she was excited. And nervous. She wanted to get into Slytherin; to be with her father and her friend, but she feared she would be put into one of the other houses.

She had met the heads of the other houses, but Lilly wanted to be in Slytherin. She had asked her friends what they had wanted. Dimitri wanted Gryffindor, he had given her this big speech about it, but Lilly read his thoughts and figured out he only wanted it because its symbol was the lion. Imoen hadn't said which one she wanted, just that she didn't want to be with her sisters.

Lilly stood in the dark in the astronomy tower. It was close to midnight. All the teachers had been in a meeting, so Lilly was free to do what she wanted. She gazed at the stars, watching them twinkle like tiny diamonds. All in pretty little clusters, creating pretty little pictures, except for a handful of smaller ones that sat on their own. As she watched, the smallest one moved from its spot and shot across the sky, with a shining tail behind it. She shut her eyes. I wish that I will get into Slytherin, along with Imoen. She paused, thinking. And possibly Dimitri. She took one last look at the sky and orbed straight to her room, jumping in to bed and falling asleep.

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"Lilly Butantรจ" McGonagall's voice rang through the hall. She was the only one left to be sorted. Lilly looked down the hall, her eyes searching for the familiar grey ones. Draco smiled at her as she took the seat. Imoen and Dimitri both waved at her from next to the blond boy. The hat was lowered onto her head. The crowd cheered as she headed down the aisle and sat next to her friends.

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Lilly woke up with a start, a smile on her face. She jumped when she noticed she wasn't alone in her room. A pale blond boy sat at her desk, a book open in front of him. Silently she slipped out of her bed and tip toed across the floor until she was behind him. She swiftly put her hands over his eyes. He laughed and went to put his hands over hers. Lilly grinned cheekily as she pulled away and ducked down the other side of her bed, all before anyone could blink. Draco spun around and was surprised to find he couldn't see Lilly at all.

Lilly once again moved so fast he couldn't see her, this time however she stole the book he was reading. He turned back to his book, but the table was bare. Lilly dropped the book on the floor on the opposite side of the room and dashed off to the bathroom. Draco grinned, amused at Lilly's antics.

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Lilly had no idea where her father was, but she wasn't too concerned, she was just happy to be spending the day with Draco. She came out of the bathroom to notice Draco was still reading the book, while absently rubbing his ankle. She glanced down at her own ankle; the black lined crescent moon with a many pointed star in the middle. The moon glowing a soft golden colour, the silver star twinkling in the light.

"Having fun?" Draco's smooth voice interrupted her thoughts. She nodded, her eyes bright and green. She walked over and pulled his hand off his ankle. A light outline of a crescent moon and a star was imprinted on his skin just below the outside of his left ankle. Lilly brushed her fingers over the marking.

"Do you know what this is Lilly?" She sat down on her bed, taking a breath. She lifted up her left leg and Draco gasped as he noticed the mark on Lilly's leg; the same as his own but hers was slightly more defined. He brushed his fingers over her mark, noting it was a few degrees warmer than the rest of her naturally warm skin.

"It's an Ayrliann mark, a symbol of bonding." He looked confused, so Lilly continued. "In Ayrliah, we believe we are made in pairs, like one soul in two bodies. One part goes into a female, the other into a male, generally two who are born not far apart." She paused, sending him a questioning look. "When is your birthday?" He raised an eyebrow.

"5th of June. You?" Lilly nodded, but didn't offer her own birth date to him.

"Anyway, when we are born we have these marks on our ankles." She indicated her marking. "But they are only a black outline. When we meet our soul mate and connect with them our marks fill in with colour." She gazed down at her own mark, filled with shining colours. "It is rare, very rare for an Ayrliann person to be with an outsider. This is why I don't really know what we can expect. I'm surprised you have developed a mark." She watched as he absently rubbed the mark. She frowned, scanning his mind and noticing the mark was irritating him a bit. "I didn't really notice my colouring come through, but I've heard it can be irritating until it fully develops." She ran one finger down his mark, instantly relieving the itchiness around the mark. She stood up, looking out her window.

"This is why we can read each other's mind so easily. There are other things, but they weren't explained to us until we are actually bonded. I know that bonded couples can orb straight to their partner. But I don't know how this will work with us."

Draco stood up, putting his arm around her gently. She turned, their faces a few inches from each other. Her cheeks flushed at the closeness. He smiled gently as he pulled her closer, no space between them at all. Draco used his free hand to tilt her Lilly's face upward. He gently brushed his hand along her cheek. Lilly tried to pull away but his arm around her waist stopped her. He lowered his head, just as her bedroom door burst open.

Severus burst through the door, and saw his godson and his daughter with no space between them. Draco's lips were very close to Lilly's. Severus whipped out his wand and without thinking blasted the two kids to the opposite sides of the room, creating a large amount of space between them. Draco was thrown against the wall, his leg catching the leg of Lilly's bed. Lilly hit the desk, and looked up at her father, tears in her eyes.

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