I have no ownership of the Harry Potter enterprises.

The bed next to her was empty. Narcissa Malfoy took a deep breath and stepped out of bed, grabbing her dressing gown off the post at the end of the bed as she went. Lucius was nowhere to be seen. She remembered him getting out of bed but she didn't remember how long ago. The floor seemed cold as she moved across it towards the door. Narcissa's ears strained for the sound of anyone moving around in the large house; she heard nothing. There were a pair of slippers by the door and she put them on before heading out into the corridor. The house seemed even more big and empty outside the door.

Narcissa had only been married a couple of months. It was her first Christmas away from her family and she had intended to enjoy it. But now she almost missed them. She shook her head. She wasn't going to get sentimental. Her parents had moved away to Spain nearly the moment Narcissa had been married. Bella was gone most of the time and Annie, well, whatever was beyond gone, that was where Annie was. There wouldn't have been anyone worthwhile at home even if she wasn't married.

Bella was supposed to come home. Narcissa wanted her to come back but it was an hour after Mother and Father had told Bella and Rodolphus to come by and no one was there but the three of them. Narcissa stared across her room at her wardrobe. Her dress from last night was hanging off the edge. She had gone to a party, her first after turning of age earlier in the month, and the party had brought in Christmas on a happy note. She had laughed and danced and everything had felt perfect. Now everything was back to the way it had been before.

Narcissa got up from her bed and walked over to the bedroom next door to her own. It was too neat; it looked like a guest bedroom, which she supposed it was now. It wasn't supposed to be. This room had once had a resident, a girl who had books on the bedside table and letters in the desk drawers. There had been pictures on that wall over there but the wallpaper had been taken down and replaced since Andromeda had left; not even the faded areas where the frames had been could be seen anymore.

"What are you doing in here?" a voice said sharply. Narcissa turned and saw her mother, hesitating outside the door.

"I was looking for a quill," she answered.

"Look downstairs. There wouldn't be one in here." Narcissa nodded and moved to leave the room. "We're starting dinner without your sister. Come down," her mother ordered.

"Alright," Narcissa agreed. She followed her mother down the stairs and sat in the emptiness, trying to ignore the empty spaces at the table. She tried to pretend that Bella wasn't likely doing anything dangerous, tried to pretend Andromeda wasn't cuddling a mud-blood's baby. She tried to pretend she had always been the only one; that this wasn't the first year that Andromeda was supposed to be forgotten and Bella was actually a Lestrange.

Narcissa reached downstairs and still saw no signs of Lucius. He hadn't even left a note which generally meant that he'd had to leave right that minute. She sighed as she moved to the kitchen. The young house elf was off somewhere else and she didn't feel like having his company at the moment. Narcissa set about making her own coffee. She was tired, though not a bit sleepy. She couldn't have slept any more if she'd tried. It was the tiredness that set in from feeling stuck with nothing to do. Sometimes she swore she could feel her brain rotting in her head. Then again, maybe having a rotten brain would equal a rotten memory, and if there was anything Narcissa wanted to do away with, it was her memory.

Bella, of course, had suffered no such thing when she had left school or when she had gotten married. Then again, Bella's marriage was a sham anyway in Narcissa's opinion. Bellatrix had no loyalty to Rodolphus, everyone knew it. Rodolphus was infatuated with her, of course, but Bellatrix belonged to the Dark Lord first and herself second. Anyone else came after that anymore. Bellatrix had married Rodolphus within a few months after Andromeda had left four years ago. She had carried right on serving the Dark Lord, just as she had done before.

Narcissa sipped at her coffee and leaned against the counter, wondering when Lucius would be back. She missed him. She was loyal to him and not the Dark Lord, not that it made much of a difference. Some days she even pondered if she loved him which was certainly something indeed. Lucius was certain she did love him and she didn't bother to contradict him. It did some people a lot of good to feel loved and Lucius was one of those people. She should know; she had been too.

"Cissy," Bella laughed as Narcissa came zooming at her big sister. Mother hadn't allowed her to go to the train station in fear that she would 'make a scene.' "You're going to make me drop my bag," Bella complained but Narcissa had already moved on to Annie who was following behind. Narcissa threw her arms around her newly twelve-year-old sister just as she had done with her fourteen-year-old one.

"Have you forgotten me?" Narcissa asked desperately.

"Of course not," Bella laughed as she moved on down the corridor to her own room.

"No more than Bella forgot about me," Annie told her.

"Do you promise?" Narcissa asked, following Annie into her bedroom.

"Of course," Annie answered. "I could never forget you."

"Even when you're off at Hogwarts and there are people who are much more interesting? And your classes. You always talk about your classes in your letter and you actually get to use magic on purpose. You've been really excited about that," Narcissa told her.

"That doesn't mean I'd forget you," Annie scoffed. "Really, Cissy, how could I?"

"You could be hit by a memory charm or a confundling hex," Bella suggested, waltzing into the room.

"Well then, Cissy would have to make me remember," Annie replied.

"She would too," Bella said. "She wouldn't give you a moment's peace until she felt sure you remembered her. It wouldn't matter if you remembered anything else at all, as long as you remembered her."

"I'd do the same to you!" Narcissa told her older sister with a grin.

"I'm not weak like Annie. You can hit me with all the memory charms you want and I still won't forget you."

"Really?" Cissy asked, barely noticing Annie rolling her eyes.

"Really," Bella said firmly, her feet planted as if daring the world to hit her and try to make her forget.

But both of them had forgotten her. Granted, they had never forgotten her because of school. They both continued to write her from Hogwarts until she had gotten there herself. They had both, in Narcissa's mind, left her for sex. Oh, she knew they would both claim otherwise. Bellatrix, if she ever got past denying she had left Narcissa at all, would say that she had left to fight for a better world, that the Dark Lord and his agenda needed all of her attention. Andromeda would say she had left because she couldn't agree with the family anymore and because she wanted to work as a Healer, which the family would never allow her to do; she would be dealing with dirty blood. Maybe she would mention something about the nameless baby she had been carrying when she'd married the mud-blood.

It was part of growing up, Narcissa supposed. They couldn't have stayed the trio of Black sisters forever. But still, Narcissa didn't like being forgotten. It made her lonely. She panged for someone to show up; she hoped for Lucius but the house remained quiet as she sipped on her coffee.

Maybe Bella was with Lucius. They did serve the same master after all. It was perfectly possible that they were together. She wondered why the Dark Lord had needed her husband on Christmas Day anyway. Apparently Dark Lord's didn't take a break for holidays. Unless Christmas was going to turn out like Halloween had. Narcissa flinched at the idea. Halloween had made the papers. Four families had ended up dead. Lucius had come home covered in blood, most of it someone else's. Narcissa hated the smell and sight of blood. She wasn't made for a messy life, not in the slightest. Bellatrix had been the one to get hurt and then keep on running, ignoring it. Andromeda had been the one to take her bandage off time and time again to see how it was healing. Narcissa had been the one to scream until someone took care of her and made it go away.

Perhaps Bella would come by after all was said and done if she was with Lucius at the moment. Although, then Rodolphus might come too and Narcissa couldn't say she liked her brother-in-law. His loyalty was deeper to the Dark Lord than Lucius's was and it made him unpleasant to be around. As Narcissa wasn't jumping to join the fight as one of the Death Eaters like her sister had, Rodolphus assumed Narcissa ought to be working on producing the next generation of pureblood fighters. Maybe she ought to be, actually, but Narcissa didn't want to be pregnant; she didn't want to bring anyone else into this mess. She didn't want a child who depended on her and then forgot her. Narcissa was the baby; she didn't want to have to care for one. She was careful not to get stuck in that situation.

"Narcissa!" someone called into the house. She placed her cup down on the counter and walked toward the voice.

"In here," she answered back. Lucius came towards her. There was indeed blood on his robes and her stomach twisted. She felt sick when he leaned in to kiss her and she pushed him away. "I can't," she told him, wrinkling her nose.

"Not even a happy Christmas?" another man's voice asked. Narcissa crossed her arms over her chest automatically as Rodolphus walked into the room.

"Cissy can't stand blood. She'll probably make us all change before she'll be pleasant," Bella said, following after her husband. Her voice was rather bored. "Happy Christmas, Cissy," she said with a cat-like smile.

"You're right. I won't talk to you unless you change," Narcissa told her, her voice dry. She knew better than to use definite words with Bella. She couldn't use "until you change" because that would assume that Bella would do what Narcissa wanted.

"Alright then, I'll be right back. I'd prefer robes of my own," Bellatrix told her, yawning. "Come on Rodolphus. Best let her have her way or she'll be horrible to live with." Narcissa nodded, trying to be joking. Rodolphus nodded and went off with his wife to apparate back to their own house for the present. Lucius began heading upstairs and after a moment, Narcissa followed him, arriving in the room as he pulled his robe off.

"Why?" she asked softly.

"It was just a bit of fun, Narcissa," he replied, grinning at her. "We got word the Aurors were coming in and we left before they were fully dead," he said. "We left before the Aurors got there." Narcissa stayed quiet in the doorway, her eyes unfocused as Lucius changed. "I know you don't like it," he told her. "But it's all in fun. Just some muggles."

"I suppose I'd better tell Dobby to get breakfast for Rodolphus and Bellatrix as well," Narcissa said and then disappeared from the room, leaving Lucius to himself. She went back down to the kitchen in hopes of finding the house-elf in his cupboard. Dobby was indeed there, curled up and asleep. Narcissa nudged him with her foot. "Get-up," she commanded. "My sister and her husband are coming for breakfast as well." Dobby blinked at her as he slowly got to his feet. "You'd best not be slow about it," Narcissa said. "Bellatrix is coming over and she doesn't have much patience." With that Dobby quickly got up and went toward the food cupboards. Narcissa headed toward the lounge.

"Better?" Lucius asked a moment later as he showed up in the lounge in clean clothes.

"Much," Narcissa said, smiling at him. "Thank you. I know I'm-"

"I like you tender-hearted," Lucius told her. He stepped closer to her. "You had trouble killing flobberworms for their mucus in potions. Of course blood isn't pleasant for you, even their blood." He brushed a hand over her cheek and then leaned forward to kiss her gently. Narcissa smiled back. Tender-hearted wasn't quite the word she would use but she supposed if Lucius wanted to do so, she'd be okay with that. To be honest, she didn't really care whose blood was on Lucius's robes unless it was his or Bella's… or Andromeda's. She would care then too. She wondered if she would care if it was Andromeda's child who was killed or if it was the mud-blood's. Sometimes, she feared she would.

"Did you have to go this morning?" Narcissa asked him.

"I had to go. I didn't have to stay," Lucius confessed. "But you were asleep. I doubted it would matter. You can't have been up very long."

"I don't like waking up alone on Christmas," she confessed. "It's Christmas," she said, looking up at him, his arms still around her.

"Duly noted," he answered.

There was someone warm next to her in the morning and Narcissa rolled over to see her sister curled up next to her. Narcissa wasn't in her own bed. She hadn't been able to sleep the night before and she had gone into Andromeda's room, looking for someone to talk to. Bella was already there and the two of them had been playing a game on the floor.

"Why didn't you come and get me?" Narcissa asked.

"I wanted to," Bella said firmly. "Annie said you'd be asleep."

"I said she was probably asleep," Annie replied in the most offended tone a seven-year-old could have. "I knew she'd come in eventually if she really wasn't."

"Annie said you'd be asleep," Bella repeated, her eyes on Annie as she said it. "Do you think I'll get the broom for Christmas? Annie said no."

"I think so," Cissy agreed, just to be on Bella's side.

"I think you're too young," Annie said.

"I'm older than you."

"So?"

"So then you won't get one either."

"I don't want a broomstick," Annie replied. "I want the doll I saw in the shop window."

"You're so boring," Bella told her. "I'll bet you want another one of those Haunted Castle books you love so much too with the stupid little witch and her pet dog."

"She's not stupid," Annie said stubbornly. "I like reading! Go away Bella!"

"Fine, they're not stupid," Bella sighed. "But you're still boring." Cissy looked between her two big sisters and didn't add to their argument. She wasn't sure who she agreed with and it didn't matter all that much. Very soon it was forgotten and eventually they got tired. Bellatrix went trotting off to her own bed but Cissy was already half asleep on Andromeda's and Annie hadn't been able to get her to move. So she had woken up on Christmas Day with her sister beside her and that was how it was supposed to be. She wasn't supposed to be alone on Christmas.

Forgive me for any lack of editing on this one. I haven't proofread it very well.