The rest of term passed quickly. Far too soon, Dora and I were trudging across the grounds with the rest of the Hogwarts populace, heading for the station in Hogsmeade where we would catch the train home. Both of us were silent, dreading our returns home for different reasons.

The first thing I saw on Christmas morning was purple silk and gold embroidery. For a moment I couldn't work out where I was. Then I remembered: my family and I were staying with the Malfoy's, in the castle Lucius had mentioned, and the décor was just as ostentatious as you'd expect.

I transferred my gaze to the only part of the room which I liked: the window. It stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Through it, I could see the forest outside: dense pine trees, with their dark branches bowed down under a thick blanket of snow. I longed to be outside walking in those woods, preferably alone- but knew mother would never allow it. I couldn't face going downstairs to join her and the others at the breakfast table just yet. Instead, I lay in bed and looked at the view.

Half an hour later, a house elf wrapped in a swathe of silver fabric (probably the ugliest uniform I had ever seen) popped into existence next to my bed. "Mrs Black requests that you rise as soon as you can, and Master Malfoy is most anxious to give you his gift."

"All right," I said. "I'll be down shortly. Thanks."

I waited for it to go, reluctant to change in front of it even if it was just an elf. A moment later, it disappeared with a small pop. Reluctantly, I began to search through the wardrobe for something to wear. I settled on a set of pale green robes- surely mother couldn't find anything to criticise about those. Then I steeled myself and went downstairs.

Four families sat around the table: my family, the Malfoys, the Crabbes and the Vaisleys. "Morning," I said, taking a seat between Lucius Malfoy and Dorian Crabbe.

"Morning, my love," Lucius said.

"Andromeda, at last. We were starting to wonder if you had been carried off by goblins." Mother shot me a venomous look that left me in no doubt that she would tell me off for my late appearance when she got the chance alone.

I gave a shaky smile. "Sorry. The mountain air is so bracing that I sleep like the dead. It's a wonderful location, isn't it?" I aimed to deflect the attention from myself with a compliment. "I'm so impressed that you managed to get this place."

"Yes, well," Lucius said loftily. "Father has a lot of contacts."

I poured myself a bowl of porridge and chose a spoon from the vast array of cutlery arranged by my plate- seemingly enough for a fourteen-course banquet. "Yes. It's such a shame that the Crouches were busy, though," I said.

"Yes, well," Lucius said hurriedly, quick to defend his father's importance. "Barty is most busy at the moment, trying to sort out the problems with the muggles. And doing a very good job of it, I hear. He's promised father that he'll be able to come dragon shooting in the New Year, however." Lucius told me again how Mr Crouch was tipped to be the next Minister of Magic, then moved on to telling me all about his father's other contacts. I fixed an interested expression on my face, but inside I was daydreaming about a handsome hero riding into the hall on a winged horse and sweeping me away- preferably to somewhere where they served waffles for breakfast. I was getting sick of porridge.

Almost the moment I had finished, an elf appeared at my side and bowed deeply. "Has Miss Black finished with the breakfast things? Or is there something else which Plimpy can bring her?"

"I've finished, thanks," I said.

"Very good, Miss," the elf bowed again, picked up my bowl and vanished with a slight pop.

Abraxas clapped his hands together importantly. "Well, as we seem to have finally managed to finish with breakfast-" Mother cast me another dark look at this point"-I suggest we move through to the sitting room and start opening gifts."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," my mother gushed. We moved through to the large living room, where a large pile of presents sat underneath an immense and lavishly decorated tree. Each was immaculately wrapped in expensive paper and wrapped in ribbon- the result of hours of painstaking work by house-elves, I was sure. They had already been sorted according to who they were for, so it was simply a matter of each of us finding our pile.

We opened them with many insincere exclamations of delight and exaggeratedly polite thanks. I got books from Dora and Bella, chocolate-scented bath potions from Cissy ("Bubbles that taste as good as they smell!" the label advertised, bizarrely- I didn't think I'd want to eat something I'd washed in) and lots of robes from mother. Lucius gave me a silver chain, made up of tiny interlocking butterflies and set with tiny emeralds, sapphires and rubies. It was absolutely beautiful, and for once my exclamation of delight was sincere. "Oh, thank you, Lucius!"

He smiled smugly. "Oh, it was nothing. Father's a regular at all the best jewellers, of course- Aaron Aurom was thrilled to make this specially for me."

Despite the gifts, for the rest of the day I found it difficult to get into the Christmas spirit. We all went for a brief stroll in the woods- not nearly long or solitary enough to satisfy me, although the forest was beautiful. Lunch was a feast of what seemed like hundreds of carefully prepared courses: spiced pumpkin soup, tiny caviar tarts, smoked salmon salad, expensive pate on wafer-thin toast, roast goose, Christmas pudding, sorbet, coffee and chocolates... It was all delicious, but I barely tasted it. Afterwards, we played a forced game of charades and made conversation for hours- or rather, I foisted an interested look onto my face and daydreamed as the adults made conversation. Finally, Cissy yawned widely and mother sent my sisters and me to bed. It was a relief to leave the company downstairs and retreat to my own room. My window showed the snow glowing in the bright light of the moon and stars. It was the most beautiful thing I'd seen all day- Lucius's necklace included.

I didn't sleep though. I tossed and turned in the dark, the thick covers on my bed stifling me. I tossed them off again and again, but it was too cold to sleep without them. Finally, unable to stand it any longer, I reached over to switch on the light and searched through my trunk for the thing I'd been craving all holiday.

Sense and Sensibility remained exactly where I'd left it when I first received it: at the bottom of my trunk, wrapped in the most hideous set of robes I possessed (a gift from a distant and eccentric great aunt, they were a garish shade of orange decorated with bright sequined dragons). I'd resisted the urge to read it so far, but I couldn't any longer. Eagerly, I opened the book to the first page and once again lost myself in a muggle fantasy. I read late into the night, only turning out the light when I realised that the adults were going to bed and might see the crack light under my door.

After that, I read a bit of the book every night. I finished it quickly, but that didn't stop me- I simply turned back to the beginning and began again. The rest of the holiday was much more bearable: even listening to Lucius's monologues was easy if I could escape into fantasises of Mr Darcy or Colonel Brandon- although I knew that I shouldn't let myself think such things. Even worse, I found myself imagining conversations with Ted about the books, longing for his smile. I hated myself for it, of course, but at the same time I seemed to have found a fragile kind of peace.

It was a state of affairs which couldn't last.