Theodore Nott stood and politely sipped his champagne. It was swill. Elf made wine was superior in every way, but that didn't matter. The Ministry was courting muggle born opinions again. Why that meant using muggle beverages was beyond him. He glanced around the room. The decorations were cheap and showed how little the old ways were valued.

He did not believe it was the muggleborns and their cultural influence to blame. Those beliefs that had so held his father in thrall were the excuses of a generation of feeble minded milquetoasts. They were sheep.

Magic called for wolves. Magic was predatory and protective. Their society had forgotten to respect it. Their bonds to it were weakening. His own father had lost faith and been ejected from their family magic. Azkaban hardly seemed punishment enough.

He'd stood within his family's circle last night and called forth the power. It coursed through him. He could feel it in everything he did. It burned exquisitely.

He took another sip of his drink and watched the oath breaker slide into the arms of her lover. He had warned her and schooled her on the traditions of his family to no avail. His fiancée had jumped into bed with Draco Malfoy. He watched Daphne twirl in his friend's arms. She was lovely to behold, but she would never be his wife.

He didn't mourn her. She had been a witch, not the witch. Her dance partner was the blow.

Draco had taken what was his. In a simple act of selfishness, the boy he had loved as a friend had become a man he would have to punish.

There was only one thing Draco Malfoy wanted that was beyond his reach. Theo smirked. It seemed only fair for Draco to be forced to watch as he strolled off with her.

Hermione Granger was wearing green. An unusual choice in her set, but she looked lovely. The gown was temptation itself, hinting without ever revealing. She was perfect.

Granger moved around the party with the hard won self confidence of a warrior. She wasn't a delicate flower or a twittering bird. She was magic poured into a body, and he wanted her. He felt the wildness clawing in him. The magic had to be contained for now, but it wouldn't be long.

He put down his flute and moved toward her.

"May I have this dance?" Theo bowed slightly to her and ignored her annoying cadre of friends.

"I suppose." She examined him closely.

"I'm not Imperiused." He grinned. "I merely wish to dance with the most remarkable witch in the room."

"Augusta Longbottom is over by the bar." Hermione smirked as he slid them into perfect frame and started to waltz her around the room.

"Don't play." He frowned. "You know what I meant."

"I'm not one for flattery." She laughed as he lifted her and spun to send them on a different course around the floor.

"Are you playing at being coy?" He felt his magic sliding along his skin.

"If we had but world enough and time." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"This coyness, lady, would be no crime." Theo finished. "My mother loved muggle poetry. It won't make you seem more mysterious to me. My father moved the books to the nursery after she died. He couldn't part with them, but he couldn't look at them. I still go there to read them."

Hermione squeezed his arm gently. He knew she was offering comfort, knew that her fierce force of nature persona masked a soft heart and a kind soul. He knew it, and he felt a deep relief sweep through him.

She was more than a witch, more than revenge.

"You've given yourself over to your magic." She looked up at him intently. "I feel it."

"The bonds must be renewed." Theo shrugged.

"No one else feels this way." She rubbed her fingers along his shoulder as she followed him through an intricate turn. "I can feel the power in you. It makes my skin tingle."

"Most of the others don't keep the old ways." He swallowed. The questions would start soon. She was too intelligent to let herself fall into this.

"You're here traditionally?" Hermione met his gaze. He could see the magic in her in the snap of topaz fire lighting her eyes.

"I am." He spread his fingers wide against her back. "Is it true the muggles have a story about this?"

"Cinderella." She nodded. "She goes to the ball and meets her true love."

"It used to be a common story in the magical world, but things change." Theo fought the urge to forge ahead. He needed it to be her choice.

"You were supposed to marry Daphne Greengrass." She turned her face away from him, but the flush on her cheeks gave her away. She'd noticed him before this night.

"She chose another path." He spun them unexpectedly and enjoyed the quick press of her body against his. "It wasn't a love match. Love isn't a requirement of the magic. Compatibility is enough."

"But you're here." She looked up at his again. Her eyes moving quickly as they searched his face.

"I want love." He pulled her an inch closer. "I gave myself over to my magic in hopes that I would find love."

"That's not the whole story." She chewed on her lush lower lip.

"No." Theo sighed. "Does it matter?"

He felt her magic rise up and swirl around him like the damned bubbles in that muggle champagne. The music faded in and out as they moved. He could see trails of light being left in their wake.

"Someday, you will tell me." She smiled, wide and wild. "So, it doesn't matter."

"You've given yourself over to your magic as well." He took a deep breath.

"Yes. It saved me." She stroked the skin above his collar with her fingertips. "Bellatrix couldn't break me."

"You've been living with it for years." Goddess, she was stronger than he'd thought.

"It kept me from frivolous relationships and makes me a bit less tolerant of fools, but it wasn't all bad." She grinned. "I've been able to study extensively."

She flicked her hand in the air and glowing trails behind them grew brighter. He looked at the pattern on the floor and recognized it. It was a map of his stone circle.

"I believe we have somewhere to be." She patted his shoulder. "It's your turn to be impressive."

He looked at the map and spun them into the center even as he spun them through the ether into the real circle. The stones ringed them, dark and brooding against the glowing white snow outside the circle. Hermione was looking about in rapt fascination, but she didn't stumble as they continued their dance. Inside the circle the grass was green and lush from his ritual. The snow would return when he kept the promises he'd made.

"You've been living like this for years." He shook his head. "How did you do it without an anchor?"

"Some days I didn't." She pulled them to a stop, and slid her hands into his, holding their joined appendages between them. "Some days I burned with it. I've developed several enhanced wards over the last few years. Guarding my privacy kept me from turning to my friends. It hasn't been easy. I turned my power toward learning. It's easy enough to bury yourself in books."

"Do you want this?" He waved his hand around the circle.

"I want you. You come with this. I'm not afraid of responsibility." She squeezed his fingers lightly. "I know you wanted me to tweak Malfoy, but I think you see the possibilities now."

"You're my Aschenputtel." He pulled her close and pinned their hands between their bodies. Her eyes sparkled with reflected moonlight. Her breath was warm on his skin. It was a moment. He knew that this was the last time he would be a truly singular entity. He lowered his lips and paused just short of touching hers.

"There's only one first kiss." He felt her shiver in anticipation. It was enough.

He closed the manager distance between them. Her lips were soft, and they parted slightly as she welcomed him.

Their magic flared in bright arcs around them, but he didn't want to rush this first. He felt a tremor run through her body and enjoyed the tiny sound that escaped from deep in her throat. Her fingers tightened on his as she pressed her body closer and completely trapped their hands between them. He felt the soft caress of her hair as it fell victim to the light breeze.

The light and cool breeze.

He'd kept his promise to return with a witch worthy of his family's magic, a witch capable of keeping faith.

He broke the kiss and stood staring down into the wide eyes of his future. Her body rose slightly with each deep breath she dragged into her lungs. She was glorious in the moonlight.

"The Nott family tied itself to the magic of the winter solstice before we kept records. The men are always drawn to the dark. We are the night. He slid one hand from hers and traced a finger along her cheek. We name our children in this circle. We keep the faith and in our twenty first year, we come here and give ourselves over to the magic." He took a breath and glanced up at the irregular stones surrounding them. "It's no easy thing. My father didn't hold with it. He didn't find his anchor. My mother was a great beauty from an impoverished family. She wasn't strong. She had no chance at stopping him. He rejected all counsel and joined Voldemort. The magic held on in him long enough for me to be named, but then, in a drunken stupor, he killed my mother because she was reading sonnets."

"You were in the room." Hermione surrounded his one hand with the warmth of her own.

"It's the only clear memory I have of her face." Theo looked back at Hermione. "There was no way I would join the death eaters. I didn't want to be a monster, but I've lived in the dark for a very long time."

"I can handle your darkness." She released his and and stepped closer to him. "I've done a great deal of research on this as you might imagine. I'm not actively tied to any high holiday or it's assorted deities. I'm free to be the light that warms you. We will have to celebrate Christmas and Easter as well though. My parents don't much care for anything that comes from a pantheon."

"We should have a formal bonding ceremony for family and friends." Theo held his breath. This was the point where she might balk.

"Something lavish and ridiculously over the top. Perhaps you could ask Draco to stand next to Harry and Neville as your groomsmen?" She arched a brow. "That might be fun. Of course, there's always the cleaner route."

Theo examined his suddenly seemingly Slytherin witch and tried not to look shocked. She spun away from him in a wide flare of skirts with her arms outstretched. Her bubbling laughter made him smile.

"Write them thank you notes. Make it seem like they cleared the way for you to be with your true love. Give them credit for being far more conniving and noble than they are. It's all in the turn of phrase." Hermione grinned at him. "Then we twist the knife with the wedding. Just for fun, mind you. Less need for the ridiculous that way."

"It's not a lie." Theo came to stand by the stone, facing her. "You are my true love."

"Yes." She tilted her head. "Our magic seems to have gotten it right."

"Are you ready?" He cupped her chin. "One dance and one kiss aren't much in the way of a courtship."

"I'm tired of waiting." Hermione put her hand against his chest. He wondered if she could feel his heart beating. "Are you ready?"

"Are there holly bushes everywhere on the property?" She smirked.

"A fair share, but there is an oak grove as well with a smaller circle of stones within it." He let her chin go. "My mother visited there often, I'm told."

"I'm sure, Theodore Spenser Nott." She grinned up at him. "I did say I'd researched."

He held his hands palm up, and she did the same. Three cleansing breaths helped him find his place in the swirling power of his magic. He spoke the words quickly, and saw the four cuts on their palms well with blood.

"Touch the stone with one hand and clasp mine with the other." He slapped his palm against the rock and waited for Hermione to do the same. He jerked as her fingers brushed his free hand first.

"I join my life to yours." She laced her fingers through his and gripped his hand. "I join my magic to yours to defend this house and its traditions."

He swallowed as her hand slapped against the stone and he felt it tremor. The eroded markings flared as light sparked within the stone. She'd offered herself. By going first she'd added more power to the union. He looked at her closely in the flickering magical fire. The words came to him.

"I will shelter you always. My heart and my magic will be your home. I will travel with you at my side. Always together, two as one." It wasn't the elegant poetry he'd planned to recite for his bride, but it was honest.

"Always together, two as one." She looked up and he saw the snow flakes settle on her lashes.

The stones rang like bells as each lit with internal fire. Snow swirled about in lazy circles on its trek to the ground. Hermione's gaze flicked toward the stones before she turned toward him with a wide smile.

"I think your stones are showing off." Hermione squeezed his hand.

"Their our stones now." He pulled his hand free from the monolith and turned it palm up to reveal the unblemished skin. "I believe there is a traditional kiss we're neglecting."

Then she was in his arms, kissing him again. The world spun around as their magic became one entity. The careening wildness of his magic settled into balance. He pulled her body up against his and swirled them about the circle. Each stone rang out as they neared it.

The snow covered the ground filling in their footsteps almost as quickly as they were made. Theo pulled her close to him. He felt light and joyous. His magic had found him the perfect mate.

"I have an invitation to the Malfoy's Yuletide ball." Hermione tucked her head against his chest. "Do you want to go?"

"I'm suddenly not that interested." Theo shrugged. "My ballroom is larger, and we will have it all to ourselves."

"But we could announce our formal wedding ceremony in June." Hermione smirked as he spun her quickly. "I think the summer solstice would be a great time for it. Then we could dance in the oak grove's circle."

"I'm still not going to that stuffy bit of Malfoy pomp." He pulled her tight against him. "You're my wife by ancient rite. I want to spend the next few days worshipping at your altar."

"I like dancing. I want a partner, not a servant." She stroked her hand down his chest. "Do we have to consummate this here or we can we retire to a bed?"

"The house is up those stairs." Theo tilted his head toward the dark stone steps. They'd be icy this time of year. "It'd be better to apparate."

"Then, why are we still here?" She smacked his chest lightly.