The canopy of the bed looked as though it might fall down over her, suffocate her in the darkness at any moment. Narcissa frowned and thought she might tell the house-elves to remove it in the morning. The ceiling was much less oppressive, when one couldn't manage to sleep.
Narcissa was thinking about her husband, Lucius, who had come into her room as she was brushing her hair for bed. "Your sister and her husband are out," he'd said. "The Dark Lord has summoned them." And as abruptly as he'd come he was gone again.
She rolled over onto her side for comfort and her arm slid into a warm spot. She frowned. After Lucius' departure, she hadn't expected him to join her tonight. Her eyes fluttered open and met the mad, unfettered grin of her sister, who lay on the other side of the wide bed, matted black hair gathered under her as a pillow. "I'd forgotten the comforts of a real bed, sister," she said, eyes gleaming. "I couldn't resist joining you, though you'll probably want to have the sheets burned in the morning. Lice everywhere, you know?"
"Welcome back, Bell," Narcissa said, falling back into established, well-trained patterns in her shock. "Will you be joining Lucius and I for breakfast?"
"I could eat," Bellatrix said, reaching out to stroke one jagged, filthy fingernail lightly down her sister's pale arm. "I could eat you right up." She scooted closer to examine the light red line she'd made. "Such pretty skin. When did you become the family beauty, sister mine?"
"When they put you away in Azkaban," Narcissa said. "Without cosmetics and magic and-" she wrinkled her small nose "-baths."
"Always a judge, Narcissa." She rolled herself suddenly on top of her smaller, petrified sister, trapping her arms tightly to her sides. "Judge me now," she said, and lowered her head to capture Narcissa's lips. Her mouth tasted like tobacco, cockroach clusters, and veritaserum. She licked the side of Narcissa's face slowly. "You judge," she said, looking around at the calculated, cold splendor of Malfoy Manor. "You keep it up. I'll be back someday to return the favor."