"I don't like it." she said flatly.
Her daughter sighed. "Nobody does, Mother. You'll have to learn to live with it." She finished last of her mothers' buttons and huffed.
"He's not good enough for her." she stated matter-of-factly.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes at her mother's stubbornness. "Nobody's good enough for Narcissa, according to you, anyway."
"What's right with him, Bella?"
"What's wrong with him?"
Druella scoffed at her daughter's nerve. Ever since her second year at Hogwarts, her attitude had increased tenfold. It wasn't getting any better, and it didn't help that she wasn't home enough for her father to beat it out of her. "Watch your mouth, young lady."
Bella rolled her eyes as she touched up her make-up.
"Honestly, I'm surprised you even have a man on your arm, Bella." she sneered.
Bella smirked and whispered to herself, "That's not the only part of my anatomy I have a man on."
"Pardon?" her mother asked, cocking an eyebrow in her daughter's general direction.
"I said it's a good thing for me that not all men think so highly of me as you do, Mother."
"Humph." Druella checked her watch. "Where's your sister? We'll be late."
"Wouldn't be the first time." Bella muttered.
"Sorry?" her mother asked, annoyed.
"I said I'll go and check on her." Bella yelled over her shoulder, slamming the door of her mothers' room behind her.
Druella rolled her eyes and put on her jewellery.
"Andy!" Bella knocked on her sisters' door. "Hurry up, would you!"
"Bella, is that you?" her sister called.
"No, it's the house elf, who else is it?"
"Oh, please come in! I've gotten myself stuck!"
"Stuck?" Bella repeated to herself as she opened her sisters' bedroom door, revealing her sister, hair caught in the zipper of her dress.
Bella doubled over laughing. "For the love of Merlin, Andy, how'd you manage that?"
"I dunno, just get me out!"
Bella repressed a giggle and strode over to her sister. "Does this hurt?" Bella asked as she yanked on her sisters' hair, trying to free it from the zipper.
"Ouch! Watch it!" Andy snapped.
"Oh, for the love of…" Bella muttered, pulling out her wand and muttering a spell.
"What are you doing?" Andy asked, unable to see her sister from behind her.
"Helping." Bella smirked. Unbeknownst to her sister, Bella had sliced roughly half of Andromeda's hair off. Bella yanked the few locks that were stuck out of her sisters' zipper and, smirking, held them up to her sisters' face. "There." she said, dropping the red curls to the floor at Andy's feet.
Her sister shrieked. "Bella!" she shouted, reeling. "What have you done!"
"It suits you, you know." Bella replied smoothly.
"I'm gonna kill you, you crazy witch!" Andy screamed, turning back quickly to her vanity to grab her wand. She stopped suddenly, admiring herself in the mirror. "Bella,"
"Yes?"
"I love it!" Andy said, embracing her sister. "Thank-you!"
"Thought you might." she smiled, winking. "Now come on. Cissy will kill the pair of us if we're late to her engagement."
The sisters took each others arm and skipped out of Andy's room. They saw their mother from the top of the stairs. She was at the foot of them, putting on her traveling cloak. She gasped in horror when she saw her daughters' hair. "Merlin! Andromeda, what on Earth have you done to your hair?"
Andromeda looked helplessly at her older sister. Bellatrix smiled at her mother. "Andy got it stuck in her zipper. There was nothing I could do except cut it off." Bella flicked her sisters' hair and winked at her. "Looks good, Andy." Andromeda smiled to herself as Bellatrix pranced down the stairs, past her mother and out the door.
Druella turned to her remaining daughter with a glare. Andromeda's face fell. "I'll have a word with you later, Miss." She jerked her head toward the door. "Off you go." Andromeda rushed down the stairs and though the door after her sister.
Druella put her gloves on as her husband came up from behind her.
"What was all that about?" Cygnus asked his wife.
"Your daughter needs a good slap." she replied coldly, glaring at the door.
"Which one?" he asked.
Druella turned to her husband, fastening her glove. "Which one do you think?" she turned back around and stormed out the door.
Cygnus chuckled to himself as he fastened his cloak. "Like mother, like daughter." he said to no one in particular, following his wife out the door.
"Mother! Father! I thought you'd never arrive!" Narcissa greeted her parents, kissing them both on the cheek.
"Sorry we're late, darling," her father apologised. "your sister had a little trouble getting ready."
"Oh?" Narcissa inquired.
"Bella cut her hair off." Druella said contemptuously, taking off her gloves as she pushed past her husband. Lucius chuckled to himself at the very thought. He straightened up as Druella approached him.
"Something amusing, master Malfoy?" She cocked her eyebrow as she held out her hand.
"Nothing at all, Mrs Black." he replied smoothly, taking her hand and bending to kiss it.
"Hm." She took her hand away quickly and looked around the room. "Where's the wine?"
"To your left. Ask for Dobby."
"I don't ask for anything, master Malfoy." Druella replied smoothly, walking towards the place he had indicated. Lucius smirked to himself. Druella had always amused him so. Cygnus approached him, shaking his hand. "Don't mind her, Lucius. She's just a little testy after today."
Lucius nodded as Cygnus followed his wife.
"Cissy!" Andromeda cried, wrapping her arms around her younger sisters' neck. "Congratulations!"
"Thank-you, Andy." Narcissa gasped as she pulled away. "Your hair!"
"Isn't it lovely? Bella did it for me."
"To you is more like it." Bellatrix interjected, smiling at her youngest sister. "Congratulations, Ciss."
"Thank-you, Bella." Narcissa said, wrapping her arms around her eldest sister. "I can't believe I'm getting married before both my older sisters!"
"Yes," said Lucius, suddenly appearing by Narcissa's side. "I can't believe Lestrange hasn't proposed yet, Bellatrix."
Bella rolled her eyes and scoffed. "The man's an idiot, Lucius. You know that better than anyone."
"Unfortunately." he replied, taking a drink from his wine glass.
"Then why do you keep him around?" Andromeda inquired.
Bella shrugged. "The sex is great." she replied nonchalantly.
Lucius almost choked on his drink. Bella's smirk spread across her face into an amused grin. Narcissa's face mimicked Andromeda's in amused shock. "Bell-a!" they both chortled. Bellatrix and Lucius both laughed.
"Come on," Bella tugged at Lucius. "dance with me."
He laughed and thrust his glass into Andromeda's hand as Bellatrix lead him to the middle of the dance floor.
Druella sipped on her glass of elf-made wine, leaning against a wall and glaring at her eldest daughter and her soon to be son-in-law. That girl would be the death of her.
"Druella." a cool, calm voice greeted her from her right. She didn't need to look to know who it was.
"Abraxas." she acknowledged, sipping her glass again.
"Something wrong, Druella?" he asked.
"Everything." she replied bitterly, continuing to glare at her daughter and Abraxas' little brat.
"So nothing's changed, then."
She glared sideways at him. "You're so good at fixing things, Abraxas, then why don't you fix this?"
"I can't change your feelings towards my son, Druella." he replied coldly, looking at his son dance with her eldest daughter. The prettiest, in his opinion.
"They should just marry each other." Druella tilted her head toward the dancing pair.
"There's no pride in marrying an older woman, Druella." he replied flatly. "Besides, Narcissa and Lucius are in love."
Druella scoffed and sipped her glass. "Those two deserve each other." she sneered. "Neither of them are good enough for anyone else."
"I resent that!" Abraxas said, turning to her. "Lucius is a fine boy."
"He's a spoiled boy." she corrected, turning to him. "Men who are so self-absorbed cannot be expected to rear a family."
"You did pretty well."
"Ugh!" She was offended. "You Malfoy's and your nerve. It'll get you killed one day, and I'll be damned if Narcissa goes down with you!"
"What are you going to do, Druella? Lock her away in a tower? She'll become just like Bellatrix. Resentful and unappreciative. And everyone knows how much you despise your own daughter."
"How dare you! I love all my daughters!"
"Some more than others." Abraxas muttered.
Druella was about to take out her wand when she felt a firm hand grip her wrist. She looked up to see her husband silently telling her to back off. She tugged her wrist away angrily, and with one film glare at the pair of them, stormed off out of sight.
"Sorry about her, Abraxas." Cygnus apologised lightly. "Bella cut off all of Andy's hair earlier and she's been a bit, well, worked up, shall we say."
"No need to apologise, Cygnus." Abraxas replied nonchalantly, staring in the direction Druella has stormed off in. "She'll cool down eventually." He smiled at Cygnus. "Have I shown you the peacocks yet?" Abraxas asked him and he lead Cygnus towards the garden.