Later that afternoon, the party was set to start. When Wormtail reached the Drawing room, the Dark Lord was already there, standing by the door.
"This looks excellent, Wormtail. I trust this party will be a success", he said, gesturing around the room. Wormtail gulped, nodding, not missing the implications in the Dark Lords words. Wormtail hurried to put his gifts under the tree, and people began to arrive.
Bellatrix strode through the door, shooting an adoring smile at the Dark Lord. "I'm sure this will be an excellent party, My Lord", she said, bowing, and then turning to dump a pile of what could hardly be called gifts under the tree. Most of them were sloppily wrapped in old Daily Prophets, and sealed with spellotape. When the Dark Lord turned his back, she flopped down on the couch huffily.
Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco were next. They bowed to the Dark Lord, then stood around awkwardly. Finally, the rest of the Death Eaters arrived all together in a crowd. Wormtail hurriedly turned on some Christmas music.
"WHAT IS THIS S#%&?", yelled Bellatrix, suddenly standing up. All heads turned towards her. She pointed her wand at the record machine, and it blew up.
"OUCH!", yelled Lucius, as a piece of it ricocheted off his head. The others ducked and covered, not wanting to meet a similar fate.
"How about some REAL music", Bellatrix continued, waving her wand. Instead of the quiet, soft Christmas music that had been playing only moments earlier, a loud, angry rock song blasted through the room. Wormtail cringed, but most of the others seemed more at ease, smiling and laughing.
The Dark Lord took up a position in the head armchair as the party settled into full swing. Fenrir ran straight over to the food table, and began cramming cake and punch into his mouth. Lucius shuddered and turned away from him.
Dolohov and Travers stood in a corner. Dolohov reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle. "I'll need this if I'm going to survive this", he grumbled. "Want some?". "What've you got there?", asked Bellatrix, not missing the exchange. She grabbed the bottle of alcohol. "Why didn't you tell me? I guarantee you no one wants to be here less than me". She lifted it to her mouth and chugged most of it down, then flipped the bottle back to Dolohov. "And that's EXACTLY why", he muttered as she walked away. "Hey-GIMME THAT!", he yelled, seeing Travers desperately trying to finish it off.
Nagini slithered quietly around the edges of the room, then slid up her masters chair and around his shoulders. She surveyed the room quietly, them slithered off in search of a quieter place to take a nap.
She slid quietly up the legs of the treats table, and slithered around the plates, finally settling down in the punch. "Perfect", she thought, sinking below the surface of the green liquid.
Wormtail stood by the treats table, smiling slightly as he looked around. Suddenly, his nostrils were assaulted by an awful stench. He gagged as he turned around. "Something wrong?", asked Yaxley, surprised. "Of course, Yaxley and his cologne", thought Wormtail, as he tried to shake his head no. "Here, try some of my cologne, it should make you feel better", said Yaxley, pulling out a bottle. Wormtail gasped in horror, and tried to breathe only through his mouth as the other man sprayed the contents of the bottle around.
Then, Yaxley grabbed a cup and reached for the ladle to scoop himself some punch. He turned to Wormtail as he scooped, unaware that he was about to accidentally scoop up Nagini's head. "Wormtail, you want some pun-!", he screamed in horror. He'd scooped up Nagini, who was still asleep in the punch bowl, and she'd angrily opened her mouth and hissed at him. He screamed loudly, flinging Nagini across the room. She smacked into the ceiling, then flew down, landing on Yaxleys head. He screamed again, running away blindly in horror, clawing at his head trying to get her off. He smacked into the wall, and hit the floor. The other Death eaters, surprised at first began to laugh, Bellatrix loudest of all.
"What's this?", asked the Dark Lord coldly, rising from his chair. With an angry hiss, Nagini slid over to him and curled around his shoulders, hissing into his ear.
"Na-na-nagini, in…punch bowl", blubbered Yaxley, terrified. The Dark Lords thin lips curled with amusement as Nagini hissed to him in Parseltongue, and then his look changed to one of fury.
"You could have KILLED Nagini!", he said, his voice not betraying a single hint of emotion, making it only more terrifying.
"I'm s-s-so s-sorry", Yaxley exclaimed in terror, looking up at Lord Voldemort.
"Apologize to Nagini!", he demanded, waving his wand. His spell forced poor Yaxley to his feet.
Yaxley looked around terrified, his eyes wide and unblinking.
"Apologize to Nagini", The Dark Lord said again, in a dangerous, quiet tone.
"I'm s-sorry Nagini", said Yaxley. "I d-didn't mean to, I swear!". Nagini slid forward and nodded, eyes narrowed. She flicked her tongue out so it touched Yaxleys nose, then curled back around Lord Voldemort's neck.
Wormtail looked around. The other Death Eaters were wide eyed, clearly trying not to laugh.
"Now", continued the Dark Lord, "How about presents?"