Andromeda did not like that she had to share her older sister with Narcissa.

At their parents' orders, the three sisters spent much of the time leading up to Christmas together, often in the drawing room. This wasn't so bad, Andromeda supposed, as at least Cygnus and Druella didn't bother them much when they were all together and Bellatrix let Andromeda curl up beside her, but she still didn't like having to contend with Cissy.

On December twenty fourth, the girls were all curled up in front of the fire, heavy thick snow falling outside. Andromeda was watching it as her knitting needles clicked away in front of her, finishing off one of the dozens of lace shawls that she had been told to give nearly everyone in the family. Bellatrix had an embroidery hoop in her lap, and Narcissa, who was too young for needlework, was curled at their feet eating cranberries instead of stringing them onto thread for decorations, as she was supposed to.

Suddenly, Bellatrix popped open the embroidery hoop, yanked the fabric out, and hurled it into the fire.

Andromeda let out a little gasp. "Bella! What are you doing?" Bellatrix had been stitching away at that all day long, she couldn't just throw it away now!

"It's ugly," Bellatrix proclaimed. "And I hate it. And it's for aunt Walburga and she doesn't deserve it anyway."

"But- but-" Andromeda sputtered. "But- but she's got a new baby! You have to give a new mother a blanket for her baby, it's only right!"

"That's a stupid tradition," Bellatrix snapped, "and I won't do it. I don't have to and I don't want to! Her baby can die for all I care."

Tears sprung to Andromeda's eyes. She had never heard her sister speak so harshly, and she didn't like it at all. "What's the matter with you, Bella?"

"What's the matter with me? What's the matter with me?" Bellatrix leapt to her feet, narrowly missing kicking Narcissa in the head and overturning the bowl of cranberries. Narcissa whimpered and cowered away from her eldest sister.

"I'll tell you what's the matter with me, Andromeda! I hate it here! I hate being cooped up in this place! It's worse than a prison, and I don't want to sit around in the parlour sewing on blankets for people who don't deserve them just because Mother and Father say I should!"

Andromeda whimpered. She hated her sister being like this – so violent, so… so horribly frightening. She didn't ever want to be afraid of Bellatrix, but she couldn't help it at times like this.

Bellatrix stormed out of the parlour without another word, leaving her two younger sisters trembling fearfully in her wake. After a few moments of silence, Narcissa's face crumpled and she began to cry quietly.

Oh hell…

Andromeda sighed and scooped her little sister up into her arms. "It's okay, Cissy, stop crying," she soothed softly, not particularly enjoying having to comfort her sister, but at least she was getting used to it by now. She supposed she didn't hate Cissy very much anymore, really…

"She- scared- me," Narcissa hiccupped, clutching the front of Andromeda's dress with her little hands.

"Me too, Cissy," Andromeda admitted quietly. "But it's okay… she wouldn't hurt us. She loves us. You know that she loves us, right Cissy?"

Narcissa sniffed and nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I know."

"She just got angry. She wasn't even angry at you, she was angry at Mother and Father." Andromeda paused. "At least… I guess that's who she was angry at," she added doubtfully. She didn't really know – maybe Bellatrix was really angry Aunt Walburga, or just at embroidery. Or maybe she was angry at Andromeda and Narcissa. Probably Andromeda, she thought, sighing. It was probably her fault somehow, just like any time their parents were angry it was Andromeda's fault…

"I don't like her," Narcissa whimpered. "She's mean…"

"No she isn't!" Andromeda immediately sprung to Bellatrix's defence. "She's just not very well right now, I think… she'll be fine soon."

"No she won't," said Narcissa. "She isn't like she used to be."

"What are you talking about, Cissy?"

Narcissa sniffed and shrugged her shoulders a little bit. "She used to act like a good big sister…"

"She still does!"

"No she doesn't. She's hardly even talked since she came back."

"She's talked to me."

"But she hasn't talked to me," Narcissa said, her lower lip trembling as tears filled her large, greyish blue eyes. She twisted her little hands together. "She doesn't like me any more, Andi…"

Because she never liked you in the first place

"Of course she does," Andromeda assured her youngest sister, though she was fully aware that she was lying, and not very convincingly at that. "She likes you just as much as she ever did. She loves you just as much as she ever did," she added, correcting herself.

"You really think so?" Narcissa asked, sniffling and looking up at Andromeda hopefully.

Oh no, I do not think so.

"Of course I do," said Andromeda.

)O(

"Narcissa thinks that you don't like her," Andromeda said that night, when she and Bellatrix were in their respective beds. She didn't quite feel safe crawling over into Bellatrix's – Bellatrix had scarcely said three words to her since the incident in the parlour, and Andromeda still was still feeling a twinge of worry that she was, somehow, the cause of Bellatrix's fit of temper.

"She's right, isn't she?" Bellatrix responded dryly. She was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, perfectly still and impassive. Her voice held no emotion at all.

Andromeda bit her lip and toyed with a lock of her hair. She still vastly preferred Bellatrix over Narcissa, but she was growing used to her younger sister, and being able to appreciate her for what she was – a porcelain doll that their family had for decoration. Narcissa wasn't intelligent, much less interesting, but she wasn't meant to be, and Andromeda was slowly coming to accept that. She didn't like seeing her little doll upset.

"Is it because of me?" she asked Bellatrix at last. "Is it something I did?"

"What?" Bellatrix sat straight up, the blankets falling off her, and looked sharply at her sister. "Why on earth would you think it was because of you?"

Andromeda shrunk back a little bit, glad that she was in the other bed, and that there was a good deal of space to protect her from her elder sister. "I d- d- don't know," she stammered. "I j- just… just thought…"

"Thought what?"

"Well," Andromeda said meekly, "when Mother and Father get angry… it's usually because of me… and I thought… I thought that maybe it was because of me when you got angry too…"

"Well, first of all, it most certainly wasn't because of you," Bellatrix said firmly. "I was just… just bored out of my mind. I wish there was some way to use magic for embroidery instead of having to do it by hand…" She sighed impatiently, then shook her head. "Anyway, it wasn't because of you. I was bored and angry and I stabbed my finger with the needle one too many times, and I just… just lost control of myself." She paused for a second, then said, her voice slow and sounding rather worried, "secondly… when have Mother and Father been angry at you?"

"All the time," Andromeda mumbled. "They… they… if they see something that's not quite perfect – and you know how they are, nothing's perfect enough for them – it's always my fault." She screwed up her face and put on an impression of Druella. "Andromeda, your dress is rumpled! Andromeda, your corset isn't tight enough! Andromeda, Cissy's spilled her water again, you were supposed to be watching her…" Andromeda trailed off bitterly.

Bellatrix bit her lip.

"Listen to me, Andi," she said at last, "Mother and Father just want somebody to blame. When I was here, they blamed me for things like that." She matched Andromeda's impression of their mother. "Bellatrix, comb your hair! Bellatrix, Andromeda's torn her dress! Bellatrix, go put Narcissa down for her nap! As though I was a bloody house elf…" she added, clenching her fists in the blankets.

There was a moment of silence, and then Bellatrix sighed.

"Anyway," she said, "It's not you… Mother and Father would find fault with anything, and they'll always just pin the blame to whoever they can. Don't worry about it, all right, Andi?"

"All right," Andromeda said quietly.

"Now," Bellatrix said, flopping back down onto her bed. "Go to sleep. Narcissa will have us up at the crack of dawn to open Christmas presents."

"I can't wait," Andromeda mumbled sarcastically, and she heard Bellatrix laugh as she closed her eyes.