Disclaimer: Please see Chapters 1 and 2 for all disclaimers

Thank you…!

Pasha ToH… Welcome! Thanks for taking a look at this story. There's more to come; I hope you'll stop back for future chapters. Thanks also for the Sword review... in it you sent an email address but the exension didn't come through.

Wyall Jared… Perfect? I'm utterly flattered. It's all going to end? Well, there are some bumps in store for the Snapes… but you'll just have to read on and find out how big the bumps are.

Evenstar Elanor… Last time? You've corrected me on a lot but I don't recall ever being corrected on Rowling's name. But then, at my age, the short term memory does start to go. Read on for more Malfoys…

Mercury Gray… I like being cheeky (big grin). You don't do so badly – You're more detailed than I am, but I've never found your work to be in bad taste.

Chapter 15: Retribution

The street lights of London weren't as warm and romantic as those lining the path at Hogwart's, and romance was the furthest thing from Lucius Malfoy's mind as he and Malificus walked back into the Malfoy's manor. Their meeting with Fudge and Umbridge had gone smoothly and everything proceeding apace, exactly as Lucius planned. That gave him some tiny amount of satisfaction considering how dismal the rest of his night had been. He looked coldly at his brother.

"Stay in the guest room tonight, and don't come out unless I send for you."

Malificus gave him a nasty glare and walked slowly down the hall, trying with all his effort to resist the compulsion to obey his brother. Lucius watched him for a minute, suppressing the urge to throw his brother to the floor and beat him senseless. He spun on his heels and headed to his bedroom.

He detoured to the study long enough to pour himself a shot of FireWiskey. Once he reached the bedroom, Lucius took off his clothes and belted a robe loosely around his waist. Looking at the bed, an odd sensation welled up in him as he thought of Narcissa and what he had learned earlier in the night. His eyes stung and his vision blurred. Bloody hell, he thought, I will not allow that woman to make me cry! Blinking rapidly, he banished the tears, but could not quell the pain. Despite what anyone might have believed, Lucius Malfoy did love his wife, and the pain of her betrayal cut him more deeply than he would ever allow anyone to know.

I loved her! I gave her everything. Wealth. Power. Status. I let her into my heart, and I've never allowed anyone to do that… I trusted her, and she threw that trust in the gutter….

From the other room, Narcissa came in. She was looking at the floor and didn't see him right away. When she looked in the mirror of her vanity, she flinched when she saw her husband staring at her, but she quickly covered it with a mask of aloof arrogance. She knew her husband despised weakness and she wasn't going to show him how worried and afraid she was.

"Lucius! I didn't realize you were home."

He didn't answer.

She walked over too the bed and took off her robe. Beneath it she wore a black silk nightgown. It was one of Lucius' favorites and she'd worn it on purpose, hoping his desire would overcome his anger. She miscalculated. Lucius watched her for a minute; she was a handsome woman… and she'd willingly been with another man. Lucius' anger exploded.

Grabbing Narcissa by the arm, he turned her and shouted, "Were you here with him? In this room? In this bed?"

"No!" It was the truth. She knew there were eyes in Malfoy Manor, and they would have betrayed her in an effort to gain favor with Lucius. No, she had never slept with Malificus here, but Lucius wasn't interested in believing her.

How could you have done this to me? I loved you, Narcissa. I was faithful to you! You were the perfect wife for me… beautiful, ambitious, pureblooded… Each though tore through him, cutting him with a serrated blade.

Narcissa tore her arm away from him. "Lucius, please. Must we make an issue out of this? For goodness sakes, man. He was nothing more than a bloody plaything. Must this turn into a drama?"

Game? GAME? She thinks I'm nothing more than her toy… no better than Malificus? Lucius Malfoy was no plaything for Narcissa to toy with and carelessly toss aside. She had hurt him in a way no one had ever hurt Lucius before, and this just deepened the puncture that tore his heart in half.

"A plaything," repeated Lucius, narrowing his eyes. He glanced down at his wife, the curves of her slender figure flattered by the black silk of the nightgown. He had always loved the feel of it under his fingers when the silk grew warm from her body… In a flash his fantasy suddenly became an image of Narcissa and Malificus entangled with one another, flushed and sweating, and the silk shift suddenly forgotten as it fell to the floor.

His wife. In his bed. With his brother.

"You're acting like a little boy," she said with a sigh as she turned away from him and toward their bed.

No one turns their back on me! With an enraged shout, he grabbed her from behind, wrapping his fist into her long hair and pinning her to the bed. With his arm pressed into her back, he leaned down and hissed into her ear. "Did you think I'd let you hurt me, humiliate me like this and not pay you back for it? Perhaps its time for you to understand what it means to be a toy… to be someone's plaything and then tossed away when they're bored with you…"

With his free hand, he pulled his robe open. "You're my wife. MY toy."

Narcissa divined in an instant what Lucius intended as he roughly grabbed the shoulder strap of her night gown. The silk tore far too easily and her bravado turned instantly to fear.

"Lucius! I'm sorry! You don't have to do this! Please don't!" She struggled and tried to move but that only made Lucius take a firmer grip on her hair.

"Don't do this?" he shouted. "I'm Lucius Malfoy and you're my wife. Who are you going to go to, Narcissa? Who would believe I forced myself on you? You're nothing by my toy now and I'll use you however I want. And then I'll throw you away."

Narcissa started to sob and then she cried out in pain as Lucius took her, sating only a tiny part of his lust for revenge. "Please stop, Lucius! You're hurting me…" she wailed; her pleading only increased his furor. After another moment, Lucius didn't hear her any more. He was so focused on humiliating her, showing her how powerless she was, that the only thing he could hear was the blood pounding in his ears.

Well, it took longer to get this posted than I would have liked. Okay, so, what did you think? I wanted to position this chapter just after "Buttons Undone" to try to contrast the high point in one relationship with the low point in the other. Did it work? Looking forward to your feedback.