Disclaimer: The characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

There was a ball to celebrate the first fall of Lord Voldemort on the anniversary of that event. Days before the dance, Hermione sat in Andromeda's kitchen and told her all about the dress robes she'd had made specially for the evening. This would be an important night in her estimation, a night when she would be viewed in a different light than before.

"I'm staying at the hotel for the night, so I'm having my hair done in the hotel's salon and dressing before the ball right there in my room. It's going to be perfect."

Andromeda watched the lights come and go in the eyes of the younger witch and remembered dressing for one particular wizard, whose lips had always smiled when he saw her. It was better not to follow that train of thought. "I'm sure that whoever he is will be suitably impressed."

Hermione, who was still really a girl, looked wistful. "I hope so. What if he isn't?"

"Then maybe he's not the right one."

"He has to be! We're perfect for each other!"

Andromeda patted the younger witch's hand. "It will be fine, I'm sure. I can't imagine a lovelier sight than you're going to be next week."

Hermione looked up and nodded hopefully. "He can't help but notice. He has to notice."

During the weeks leading up to the ball, the occupants of Andromeda's house discovered that very few Slytherins had been invited to the event. Severus was invited because he was considered a hero while Andromeda was invited as the wife and mother of heroes. Draco was invited along with his mother because she quietly enabled Harry Potter to win the final duel with Voldemort.

However, none of the other students Severus was working with were included on the guest list. Their parents were also excluded, as were the parents of nearly all the Slytherins who had returned to Hogwarts that autumn. Severus was surprisingly philosophical about it, having long since become accustomed to subtle and overt slurs from those who disapproved of Slytherin House. Andromeda was enraged.

"Don't make waves," said Narcissa under her breath. "We need only to outwait them, and it will be our turn again. They won't keep us down forever."

"How can we go if the others aren't included? What sort of message are we sending?"

"Well, well, well," Narcissa said. "You rejected us all those years ago, and now you want to be part of the House and the family all of a sudden?"

Andromeda opened and shut her mouth.

Narcissa laughed cruelly. "Take advantage of being on the right side, dear sister. You're sure to be on the wrong side again, soon enough."

Severus explained it to her differently. "If we stay where they see us, they'll know we're here, and they'll know the others are here, too. It's a strategic advantage for everyone if those of us who were invited go."

She couldn't decide whether she should go or not. On the evening of the event, several of Severus's students arrived and told her they would take care of her grandson. "Maybe you'll get your picture in the paper," one said. Another of the girls all but pushed her up the stairs.

There was nothing to do but look through her closet for something to wear. She finally found, near the very back, a dress robe her mother had forced upon her while putting together the trousseau she had been expected to need as Rabastan Lestrange's wife. Druella had called it "a lovely little black number." Ted hadn't liked it so she had never worn it.

Ted had always encouraged her to wear colors, and Andromeda had not cared for black as a young bride, either. She wasn't a young bride anymore, and the color was appropriate for her new state in life while the cut and length of the dress were suitable for tonight's event.

There was really nothing else, so she dressed and put her hair up; when she finished, she thought she might look acceptable. When she came downstairs, Draco whistled under his breath and looked away. Severus just stared at her for a moment that lengthened and became uncomfortable.

"I didn't know you could look like that," he said before preceding her to the fireplace. Andromeda's heart sank, but there was nothing that could be done. She couldn't do anything but follow Severus since Draco was following her.

The ballroom of the hotel was magically altered to accommodate everyone who wanted to come. Several hundred witches and wizards were there.

Severus claimed Andromeda's hand as soon as the dancing began. She accepted, seeing that Hermione was paired with Ron Weasley to lead off. "Have you thought about the request I made the night I restored my memories?"

"What's that?" she responded with a smile.

"I want to court you."

"Ah..." She was a little surprised, but then decided he was flirting and played along. "I could have sworn you had other interests."

"I have many interests, but you're the woman I imagine holding in my arms at night."

"Go on!" she said in smiling disbelief. "Now I know you're just making talk for the sake of the dancing."

"Think what you like," he said, a little annoyed.

He didn't speak again for the duration of the song. Instead he held her captive with his eyes, fixing her gaze back to his own and holding it tight. Unbidden, she remembered her nights in which the dream lover, who had recently grown black hair, kissed and caressed her. Severus smirked as he looked at her.

She couldn't account for his attention. Narcissa was so sure that he would want to marry the other witch. Yet every time they were alone, Severus seemed interested in her. Even now, the position of his hands wasn't quite as proper as it should have been. The hand that was supposed to support her back was at her side. It was innocent enough, but his thumb... How could something as inconsequential as a thumb wreak such havoc upon her? It brought her back to the question at hand. Was he looking for a witch to while away the months before he could begin a proper future?

As she looked into his commanding visage, Andromeda had the sensation of being touched from her shoulders to her toes and back again. Severus's smirk became a smile as her own emotions became confused and yet eager. She wasn't sure how well she was breathing by the time he gently saw her back to the side of the room and kissed her hand.

"I'll be waiting," he whispered as Hermione walked up to claim a dance. He smiled and led the young witch back to the dance floor. Andromeda watched, telling herself how lovely they looked together. Then wizards she hadn't seen in years came to request dances from her.

Suddenly Andromeda felt like a belle of the ball. Men she had known as boys danced with her, and their wives and sisters welcomed her back to the world she had not known while in her self-imposed exile. She smiled, chatted, and even flirted a little, enjoying a freedom she had never known even as Andromeda Black. Through it all, she was somewhat conscious of a pair of dark eyes that were always aware of just where she was in the room.

Severus danced with the witches who seemed to expect it. A surprising number seemed attracted to him, but perhaps it was the new Order of Merlin medal that gleamed with his attire. Andromeda had smiled teasingly when Minerva had called him forward. It seemed that she had known, and certain decisions about which dress robes he would purchase and wear were made for him by the Black sisters in advance. He saw her now, in the arms of some US Ministry representative, and wanted to blast the man.

He looked over at Hermione and watched her dancing with the Finnegan lad. She looked up and saw him watching her. Her whole face lit up, and she waved. He smiled and nodded in response and found that he had to beg pardon of the matron he was leading... Madam Clearwater, maybe?

Later, he found himself dancing with Narcissa. He'd had more fun than he expected, yet something held him back from enjoying it fully. His partner was smiling and prattling on about Andromeda's success this evening. It was something he found more than a little irritating. She pointed out that Andromeda was dancing with Kingsley Shacklebolt at the time. "Wouldn't that be something?" she asked. "First Lady of the Ministry of Magic!" Severus's face fell like a thundercloud.

At the same time, Hermione's joy in the evening knew no limits. Severus had been most complimentary during their dance. He was almost cheerful as he looked around the room and then back at her when they danced. It seemed her hopes were moving forward. Surely he understood that they belonged together. She watched as he danced gallantly with the older witches and thought to herself that she only needed to bide her time. She was unprepared when his face became so angry. He eased Mrs. Malfoy to the side of the room and walked away before the song was over. He stalked out the door, and Hermione made out the sound of Disapparation.

From then on, the ball lost some of its energy for her, but it was still glorious, and Hermione never lacked for dancing partners. She was complimented and praised by everyone who stopped to talk to her. Andromeda's funny Squib son danced with her, and at one point even Draco Malfoy asked.

He brought her to the floor and lightly led her into the flow of couples. "Why did you ask me to dance with you?" asked Hermione, surprised.

"Would you believe me if I told you that you're the loveliest witch here?" he asked snidely.

She sniffed. "I'd like to believe that, but it wouldn't be true. There are several young women here with much more classically beautiful—"

"Never mind," he sighed.

"So... why?" She was genuinely curious.

"My mother wants me to be seen dancing with you. I'm supposed to make you laugh and to generally be seen as a friend to all people."

Hermione could barely stifle a snort. "You're kidding, right?"

"Making you laugh: check. It will look correct if it isn't exactly what was wanted."

"So why does your mother want it to look like we're friends?"

He laughed a little unkindly. "Can't you imagine?"

She thought for a minute. When it came to her, she gasped and shook her head, but she could see from Draco's nod that it was all about currying favor in the correct circles.

"What are you doing outside, Aunt Andie?"

"Hm?" She felt him put her warm wrap around her. "Oh, thanks, Draco; you're back from the ball, then? I was just looking up at our big, awful family."

He looked up, too. "Who's up there?"

"Everyone, tonight." She turned her head and smiled. She nodded at one set of stars. "Look at you up there, minding your own business. That's the best thing for you at the moment. I'm right in the middle, chained to that damn rock, waiting for my doom, with Daddy and Uncle Orion on either side to make sure I don't escape. Ted's going to rescue me, though... I think... somehow. And with Uncle Orion we have Sirius and Tri—ixie."

He heard the break in her voice. "I thought you were glad that Aunt Bella was dead."

"Not exactly, although I guess my sense of justice is satisfied. Yet I'll always mourn Trixie."

"I don't understand."

She shook her head. "I don't either, but I remember her, more even than Mother and Daddy. She was always there during my childhood, usually playing a mean prank on me, but sometimes she was sweet. She was my big sister, and she taught me a lot. She showed me around Hogwarts, and even if I made some choices specifically to be different from her, she had that much of an influence. I loved her, and I mourned when she went to Azkaban. For just a split second when the Dementors came, she looked afraid, and I worried about her."

"I heard that you would have killed her if Mrs. Weasley hadn't done it."

Andromeda shook her head. "I couldn't kill Trixie... She was already gone. That Bella... that you knew... I could kill her in a heartbeat. She murdered my little girl..." Her voice broke and Draco almost couldn't stand the pain in it. He quietly put his arm around his aunt and she tilted her head onto his shoulder.

An hour later, there was a crack of Apparition just outside the garden gate. Neither really noticed it until a voice said, "I'll look after your aunt now, Draco."

"Yes, sir."

The young wizard stepped away from his aunt, who leaned up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. "You're a comfort, Draco. I'm glad to have you here."

The boy kissed her cheek in return and went into the cottage. Andromeda and Severus stood for a while, watching Perseus chase his maiden across the sky a little longer. She finally sighed.

"You haven't been up and around that many weeks, and you danced for a long while this evening. Where did you go? Are you trying to wear yourself out?"

"I didn't think you noticed. You seemed quite occupied with all those wizards."

"They were simply being polite, just as you were."

"It wasn't good manners that questioned the status of your trust fund over the drink table and speculated about your fertility on the terrace."

"It's what pure-bloods discuss at their gatherings, Severus. Surely you know that by now. I didn't think many would be there, tonight?"

"It was just the Slytherins who weren't invited. Plenty of Hufflepuffs were there, even those who were complicit last year."

"So one house is going to be blamed for everything?"

"He considered himself the heir of Slytherin." They both knew to whom Severus referred.

"So Slytherin is the repository of evil?"

"We're receiving most of the blame."

She sighed. "If they were mostly Hufflepuffs, then the conversations would have been even worse. They pretend they don't care, but they all want a wife who'll help them at the Ministry. If you'd stuck around, you would have heard them mention the finances and likely fecundity of every pure-blood witch between the ages of twelve and sixty."

"It's never affected me before. It's never been about my witch, before."

She laughed, hoping to diffuse the issue. "Why would you consider me your witch?"

"I'm smitten by you, Andromeda, my dove. How can you fail to notice that?"

She couldn't let the conversation go on in this vein. It was time to change the subject. "I noticed enough to know that if you have a setback, it will reflect badly on me." She finally turned and looked at him. "Where did you go, Severus? Didn't you realize I would worry about you?"

"I don't want your worry."

"Is there something you do want?"

"You." He was going to insist on continuing the conversation he had started. "I wasn't just being polite, or trying to make small talk. I want to be with you."

"You could have chosen any witch there. You don't need to look at a frumpy housewife in a decades-old dress."

"I'm looking at the witch who attracts me every time I look at her, and especially tonight. I was struck by a desire to kiss you when you came down the stairs, right there in front of your nephew."

For some reason, it was sweeter than any compliment she had received that night. The sting she had felt earlier was completely erased. She found herself wishing that she could accept his attention, but Narcissa and Hermione came to mind.

"You can't possibly mean that—I'm old, past it. You have a future to consider."

He didn't answer for a minute or two. "I've watched you, Andromeda. Every star-lit night you're out here with him. I didn't think sex was possible after death, yet here you are, sharing your body and soul with a man who can't enjoy it. You're very much a living, vibrant woman, my dove. You have a future of your own."

Her lips twisted peevishly. "Stop calling me that. My Patronus is a nondescript bird these days."

"It's a dove, as gentle and soft spoken as you are." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I want you as my dove... in my hands... in my bed... however I can get you in my life."

She put a hand over her mouth and made a sound. "You can't seriously want me. There are others."

He shook his head. "Just one other. Tonight I went to her grave. The thirty-first of October wasn't all happiness." He swallowed hard.

Andromeda was moved in spite of her intentions and put her hand along the side of his face. "I'm so sorry."

He took her hand in his. "It was time to accept the reality that's existed seventeen years. I don't need her anymore. I told her about you, and I think she approves."

Just as Ted seemed to approve. She shook her head to dispel the thought. "I can't, Severus, and you don't know what you're saying. You should be with someone young, someone with a future to give you."

"You have a future."

She turned away, still shaking her head. He stepped around her until he was facing her. He took her shoulders in his hands and held her still. "I don't care about the future. I've been living in some distant future or past for at least twenty years, maybe my whole life. I want to live now." One of his hands moved to her chin. He tilted her face up to his lips.

After a moment of torture—or heaven—she broke away. "I can't. It would be—I can't." She stepped backwards. He let her go, but the longing in his eyes was magnetic, so she turned and walked to the house without looking.

A/N: Thank you to Mark Darcy for beta reading.