As Bellatrix had predicted, the sun was not even up – not that it would have been easy to tell either way, as the clouds were so thick – when Andromeda was awoken by the sound of their door slamming open, and of Narcissa's voice as she scurried in

"It's Christmas!" she squealed, as though Bellatrix and Andromeda didn't already know that. "Wake up! Wake up, it's Christmas!"

Andromeda moaned and covered her face with a pillow. She had been in the midst of an extremely pleasant dream, and now that Narcissa had gone and woken her, she couldn't even remember what it was. Damn.

"Shh… calm down, Cissy," Bellatrix mumbled from her bed. "We know it's Christmas… get off me, you're crushing my leg."

"Sorry," said Narcissa, her voice still high pitched and close to a squeal of excitement, and Andromeda pulled the pillow off her face just long enough to see Narcissa sliding off Bellatrix's bed to stand next to her. Andromeda sighed and replaced the pillow. It really had been a wonderful dream… she was quite sure that Bellatrix had been in it, but she couldn't quite remember… She rolled over, shifting inside her cocoon of warm, somewhat sweaty sheets. So comfortable… she didn't want to ever have to get up.

"Go on and get Mother and Father up, all right?" mumbled Bellatrix, sitting up and clutching her blanket around her. Andromeda lifted her pillow off her eyes to squint over, then quickly ducked her head, startled, noticing that her sister was not wearing a nightgown.

Narcissa scampered back out, and Bellatrix sighed with relief.

"Didn't I tell you?" she asked, looking to Andromeda. "Didn't I tell you that she'd be in here at dawn?"

Andromeda made a general noise of assent. She heard Bellatrix's bed springs creak and looked up nervously, then looked back down, her face crimson, as she saw her sister sitting, completely naked, on the edge of her bed.

"What's wrong with you?" Bellatrix asked, rather coarsely, Andromeda thought.

"You're… not wearing anything."

"You've seen me without any clothes on before."

"I know," Andromeda said uncomfortably.

"Well, then…?"

Andromeda shrugged. There was no reason why seeing Bellatrix like this should suddenly make her uncomfortable. It hadn't before, but ever since Bellatrix came home… well, there had been that episode with the bra, but other than that, Bellatrix had really been unusually modest around Andromeda. And now…

"Oh, well, just look away then and I'll put something on if you're going to be such a prude," Bellatrix said impatiently, and Andromeda kept her eyes trained on the ground as Bellatrix made her way across the room to the wardrobe.

"Cissy was wearing white," Bellatrix mused from the wardrobe. "I'll wear red and you wear green, all right? We'll look all festive."

"Um hmm…" Andromeda murmured, still afraid to look up. There was a rustling of fabric, then Bellatrix said, "all right, you're allowed to look at me now. I'm decent again."

Andromeda looked up with relief. Bellatrix struck a little pose, showing off her pretty red dress. "Come on, you and I should match."

Andromeda crawled out of bed and shed her nightdress slowly, blushing and covering herself, but feeling a little well of pride as Bellatrix moved behind her to tighten the strings on her corset. She liked having her sister help her.

"You look gorgeous, Andi," Bellatrix whispered, knotting the strings, then reaching into the closet for a green version of the dress she was wearing.

Andromeda smiled and pulled it over her head, shifting from foot to foot so the silk whispered against her legs. "Not as gorgeous as you," she said, looking down, shaking her hair out so it covered her face.

Bellatrix smiled a little, lifting Andromeda's head for her so they were facing each other. "Well, a hundred times more gorgeous than Cissy," she said, smirking. "Now come on. We've got presents to open."

Andromeda took her older sister's hand, following her as she trotted down the stairs to the parlour. Narcissa was already sitting at the base of the Christmas tree, tearing the paper off a box. Bellatrix and Andromeda exchanged little smirks, then Bellatrix said in a falsely sweet voice, "What did Father Christmas bring you, Cissy?"

"A doll," Narcissa said happily, lifting it out of the box and displaying it to her sisters. It was, Andromeda thought, every bit as ugly as a doll could possibly be. There was something off about its face, a superior little sneer playing around its porcelain lips. It wore a starched white dress that Andromeda thought was so stiff and elaborate that it looked more like a wedding cake than anything that someone – even a doll – should ever wear.

"Oh, now isn't that pretty," Bellatrix cooed, though she looked as disgusted as Andromeda felt. "And look… it seems like I got a doll as well…" She lifted the lid of the box with her own name on it, and picked up the doll in it, which was an exact copy of Narcissa's, except with black hair instead of blonde and a black dress instead of white. "Andromeda, take a guess what your present is going to be," she added rather bitterly.

Andromeda had already opened her own box, and lifted a doll exactly like her sisters' out of the paper it was nestled in. It had the same arrogant look on its face, and Andromeda felt an immediate and visceral hatred towards the thing. Its hair was brown and its dress grey, but it wasn't hard to tell that it was just exactly the same as the ones her sisters had gotten.

"They're like us!" Narcissa squealed. "Look, mine looks like me, and Bella's looks like her and Andi's looks like her!"

"Just because it has brown hair? I should hope not," muttered Andromeda, putting the doll back into the box and closing the lid on it, finding herself holding back tears. That was a miserable present. A doll like that was something that a parent would get their daughter if they didn't know what their daughter liked. Which, she supposed, was exactly the case. Of course her parents didn't know what she liked – how would they? It wasn't as though they spoke to her often enough to find out.

Druella wandered into the parlour then, immediately sitting down on the couch and scooping Narcissa into her arms. "What did you get for Christmas, darling?" she asked, as though she didn't already know.

Andromeda crawled along the ground until she was right next to Bellatrix and rested her head on her shoulder. "I hate it," she whispered, indicating the box with her doll in it.

"I hate mine too," Bellatrix whispered back. "But we have to pretend we like them. They probably cost a lot of money," she added wisely.

"I don't care. I hate it. It looks like Mother."

Bellatrix laughed, and quickly coughed to cover it up. "S- sorry," she said to Druella, waving her hand a little. "D- don't mind me…" She took a deep breath, steadying herself, then burst out in another little fit of giggles.

"Are you all right, dear?" Druella asked mildly, all though there was no real concern in her voice, as she was far to occupied with Narcissa.

"Yes, yes," Bellatrix said, forcing her face straight. "I'm fine."

"Good," said Druella. "Because you two ought to be getting cleaned up properly. People are going to start arriving soon, and I don't want my daughters looking like they just woke up."

"But we did just wake up," Andromeda pointed out.

"As far as anyone else is concerned," Druella said, fixing her daughters with a firm glare, "You did not just wake up. As far as anyone else is concerned, you do not sleep."

"What?"

"Because Blacks are too important to sleep, isn't that right, Mother?" Bellatrix asked sweetly.

"That's exactly right, dear."

"Come on, Andi," Bellatrix said, taking her sister's arm. "I'll do your hair for you."

She pulled her out of the parlour, quickly shutting the door behind her and sighing with relief. "Thank God… at least now we have an excuse not to stay in there anymore."

"What was all that?" Andromeda asked, still confused, looking at her sister for an answer. "What was that about Blacks not needing to sleep? Of course Blacks need to sleep, that's stupid!"

"I know that," Bellatrix said patiently. "But Mother says we're to pretend like we don't have any human needs. And sleep is one of those."

"Why?"

"Because she thinks Blacks are supposed to be more than human. I'm sure I've explained this to you before."

Andromeda was silent for a little bit, then she asked, "What are 'human needs'? Does that just mean sleep?"

"No," Bellatrix said slowly. "There are other things too… like food… and water… and… well…"

"And what?"

Bellatrix bit her lip hard and Andromeda watched her with confusion.

"Nothing," Bellatrix said at last. "Never mind. Come on upstairs, Mother's going to have a fit if people start arriving. Do you want your hair in braids or in a knot?"