"Narcissa, you are not inviting him here!" Bellatrix shrieked, her patience reaching an end as she slammed her half empty glass of Firewhisky down on the coffee table.
Lucius sat, rubbing his forehead tiredly in his black leather armchair as Narcissa wrenched the reading glasses from her weary eyes, tossing her parchment and quill onto the table, "Bellatrix, he's a Lestrange and it's a Malfoy party! If we don't invite all of the Lestranges it will not only be bad for you but it will look terrible on me! Not to mention what mother and father will think!"
Bella growled under her breath and paced back and forth the parlour in irritation, "Rodolphus is a disgusting troll and an arse of a drunkard especially in father's company as you very well know! I do not want him here!"
"It's not your party!"
"It's my husband!"
"It's my house!"
Lucius reached his wits end and yelled for the two sisters to stop arguing having heard just about enough, "Both of you, be quiet!"
The pair snapped their heads to him, dark and light eyes both wild as they pointed their fingers at the other in unison, "It's her fault!"
Bellatrix hissed at her sister and slapped away her pointing finger before resuming pacing. Narcissa took hold of her quill again whilst holding her head up exhaustedly with her hand. Lucius picked up Bellatrix's whisky glass and downed the remaining amber liquid; she wouldn't miss it.
"Bellatrix," Narcissa spoke in a calmed and reasonable voice after a few moments' silence, "As much as you dislike your husband, for whatever reasons, he will be expected, and be expecting, to be here," Bella scoffed, "and," Narcissa stressed, "it's Christmas. Have a heart, won't you?"
Bella faced the fireplace that spurted fiery embers and rolled her eyes. Have a heart… ha. She turned to glance at Lucius, her brother-in-law and part-time lover, who seemed less than bothered by what Narcissa was saying. Why should he be bothered? She shook her head and shrugged; a small indication to Narcissa that she would go along with it but was not happy. The blonde only sighed thankfully and started scribbling on her parchment again.
From upstairs there was a screech of an infant's cry and three parties gave a groan.
"I'll go," Lucius ran a hand through his white-blonde hair and began to stand but Narcissa held a hand out in a definitive gesture before throwing down her quill and got to her feet.
In less than a minute the unpleasant squealing was calmed and eventually fell back to silence. Even though Bella had been having nothing to do with her nephew he was wearing her out. She moved backwards to perch on the arm of Lucius' armchair and glanced down at him. Her eyes were dark and hooded as his were. He had been looking after his child full time where she had been working missions day in and day out for their master then returning to crying babies and a life of sin and adultery every night.
The Death Eaters had been at their busiest and most frantic as the enemy were getting stronger. All that Bellatrix knew was that no matter how tough the enemy got, they would match and better them every time. Her passion was enough to keep her driving through though the same couldn't be said about everyone. None-the-less, she was tired. Lucius reached a hand up to tuck a stray curl away from of those dark abysses of eyes and briefly touched her cheek in an uncharacteristically loving gesture before dropping his hand again.
"You're going to be big trouble for me someday, you know," he spoke in a low voice as if it were coming from somewhere far distant – like he didn't realise the words were coming from his mouth.
Her lips tugged into a smirk and she nodded quite knowingly, "Yes, I am."
His hand retuned to her dense curls and he played with them as if in some sort of trance, "I know you don't want Rodolphus at the party, Bella, but you can't let Cissa think there's anything to be suspicious of. If she gets any wind of anything she'll destroy the both of us. And there's no need to keep giving me sideways glances for my judgement, you know."
"I don't need your judgement," she retorted quickly, "I just don't want you acting like some jealous toad if he comes."
"Since when have I ever insinuated I was jealous?" he said in quite an amused tone, "Quite the contrary; Rod should be the one feeling jealous. I'm the one enjoying his wife."
"I don't know why we insist on keeping up these wretched gatherings anyway," she scathed, "With everything that's going on. Our Lord disapproves, I'm sure you know that."
"Bella, the protective charms will be in place. As far as anyone outside the grounds of the manor will know, Narcissa and I are having a quiet night in. Besides it's tradition. If our elders heard that we didn't want to continue it we'd all be disinherited and Merlin knows what else. You know what they're like."
"I know what the Aurors are like," she murmured.
He shushed her as he edged upwards until their lips touched for the split second they could until the door to the parlour opened again and Cissa returned.
"He dropped his teddy out of the cot," she explained with a delicate smile and laugh, "Poor thing."
Bella had stood from the chair as quickly as possible without trying to draw attention to the fact. She felt her breaths shallow as she paced to the large bay window in a nonchalant manner. That had been too close for comfort.
Narcissa slipped elegantly into her seat again and Lucius rubbed his chin, trying to act thoughtful as he said the first conversational thing that popped into his head, "I heard Mulciber had been caught up in some spat with the Aurors but still, I think we should send him an invite. I doubt his parents will be in any sort of trouble. We should send an owl there."
"Oh, Mulciber, of course," she exclaimed, sounding quite irritated for having forgotten him. She resumed scribbling on her parchment with all the seriousness she could muster and from across the room Bellatrix and Lucius exchanged glances.
They would have to be very careful. They had planned to be together at this Christmas party – to sneak out the way of the heaving party room and have their time. But if Narcissa could walk in on them at any moment now, how could they possibly stay in secret with a manor full of people? With Bella's husband wandering around at that. Yes, they'd have to be extremely careful.
The ballroom erupted in cheers as midnight struck and there were overlapped cries of Merry Christmases and hoorahs as the champagne was broken out. Bellatrix had her arm thrown drunkenly over her husband's shoulder as they joined in the rapturous celebrations as of there was no kind of problem between them whatsoever. It was all for show of course, for the sake of the pair's parents, and the alcohol had certainly numbed the senses enough for them to get on with it. The ringing of clinking glasses merged with the laughter and voices and Rodolphus caught his brother's eye. He playfully nuzzled and bit his wife's neck before slinking away from her to see Rabastan.
Once without her husband, Bella tipped her head back to down her champagne in one long gulp and managed to force the empty glass into Mrs Dolohov's hands. She pushed her way through the waves of bustling people trying her best not to trip in her stiletto heels and floor length evening dress and made her way to where the Malfoys were stood radiating in joy and beauty.
Narcissa looked angelic in a Grecian style white gown and blonde hair rippling down over her shoulders with glossy, full lips that shimmered in the light of the chandelier above them. Bella was more interested in the man on her sister's arm however. As soon as he saw her, his eyes seemed to glint and the false smile he wore turned to a sideways smirk. She matched the seductive expression before masking it well and asking Cissy in a sickeningly polite manner to borrow her husband for a moment.
It was all too easy to slip out of the ballroom and within minutes the pair lay together on the Malfoys' bed panting and writhing in pleasure together. Bellatrix murmured curses and Lucius pressed a hand forcefully to her mouth to force her to suppress her cries of delight that grew ever louder. His hands tangled in her raven locks and he tugged at them roughly, causing him to smirk as he tore pained squeaks from the woman he had pinned below him. She hissed and tried many a time to force him onto his back so she may take charge but Lucius would take the opportunity to dominate her physically while he could without suffering for it – that would come later he was sure.
Bella arched her back and clawed at his broad shoulders wildly as ecstasy swelled between them and from between his thin, twisted lips he uttered a pleasured sound. The cool air around them had become hot and sticky as they arched and rubbed against each other causing friction and heated intensity. The sharp stiletto heels she still sported scraped and dug into his legs and he growled at her which only drove her to increase his discomfort further.
Her chest heaved as she became short of breath as his every movement sent waves of pleasure flitting through her and Lucius felt his abdomen begin to coil and twist to warn him of what was coming. He held on with all his might, he wouldn't let this be over too soon, but Bella's muffled cries and heaving body under him was becoming too much for him to handle.
He let go with an open mouthed groan against her pale, marked neck and she hooked a leg around his waist to pull her hips up against his. The release was bliss and both parties savoured it for the few glorious moments before collapsing in exhaustion into the mattress of the dishevelled bed. Perspiration clung to them in the dense air as they caught their breaths and tried to compose themselves.
"I ought to teach you the consequences for taking control of me, Malfoy," Bellatrix drawled in a breathless voice which was thick with lust.
Lucius' parted lips tried to smirk as he sucked in much needed air, "I'm sure I'm already accustomed to your lessons, Lestrange. As much as I need one, we've already been away far too long."
"Oh please…" Bella started, grasping his unusually tousled hair with a deadly smirk, "We have all night."