I know I said we'd see Lucius last chapter, but it didn't work. But he's definitely showing up here. So enjoy!

Chapter 13: Who now the greater power holds?

Poppy moved quietly forwards. Severus' shoulders shook softly as he clutched the woman's corpse, but no sound came from him. He never made any sounds of pain or sorrow. That didn't mean he never felt them. Narcissa had obviously meant a great deal to him. Had this come before, she would have been jealouse, but she held his spirit in hers, and knew exactly what this woman meant. Gently, she laid a hand on his shoulder.

'Severus? Severus, let go. She's gone, and at peace. Let her go to her son. Let her be safe.'

'She shouldn't have had to die to be safe. She shouldn't have had to die to join him. I should have been able to keep them alive, safe from him. I couldn't keep myself safe, but I should have been able to help them.' She tightened her grip as he spoke, letting him talk since he wouldn't cry. 'He took them. He led them to death.' His voice, still low, took on a hard, cold edge. 'He did this.'

He stood, with Narcissa still in his arms. Poppy stood back, giving him room. He laid her on the couch, a leftover from Albus' days, smoothed her hair back from her face, no longer bathed in sweat. She really did look at peace. He didn't. He looked fierce, battle-ready. He looked like a spirit of vengence, a Nemesis come to destroy the one who'd wronged him. Poppy felt a thrill, watching him settle into a fighting stance. Lucius was going to die. The man who'd damaged her love, who'd destroyed so many lives, was going to hurt. And she was going to see it.

Severus turned to look at her. He knew her thoughts. She could see his indecision, whether to let her come and have her own vengence, or keep her here where she'd be safe. She sneered at him, a mirror of his favourite expression of contempt. She'd not be left behind. Not by him. Not by anyone. She'd had enough of waiting for her damaged love to return. She was going to battle with him, come hell or high water. Come him or high water.

He nodded at her. 'I have to prepare. He'll come here. He knows it's here I'll be, if I live. He'll call when he's ready. And then we'll meet.' He smiled a grim smile. 'And then we'll meet.'

Minerva and Remus stood with them on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the Golden Trio behind them. They'd insisted on coming. Despite Hermione's injuries, despite the fact that it was none of their business, they'd insisted. Alastor, surprisingly, had not. The Auror had taken one look at Severus' grim face, and told him to kill the bastard, and best of luck with it. Very understanding of the old bastard. Something had definitely changed between him and Severus after they'd seen his past. But would the others listen to him? Would they her eye. They were coming, and that was that. She'd expected Severus to refuse, to order them to stay. She still didn't fully understand why he hadn't.

'He's coming,' Severus said quietly. She tensed, tightening her grip on the twin vials he'd given her, reviewing his instructions. She was a healer, not a warrior, and though she'd seen battlefields in her earlier days as medic in the first war, she would never fully fit in amid such violent chaos. It was her vocation to take choas and turn it to order, healing the interuptions to the body's internal order. She did not to well as an agent of that disorder, that chaos. The vials were for her protection as she watched. She wasn't stupid enough to think she could fight a spirit as malevolent as Malfoy in open battle.

Unfortunately, others weren't as smart. Potter and Weasley in particular had every intention of fighting, to avenge Granger. Minerva and Remus thought they'd be defending Severus. Somehow, Poppy doubted that would be how things panned out. Of them all, Severus was the only one who knew what they were facing. Severus, and Hermione Granger, which was why she thought he'd let the girl come. So she could know that the son of a Dementor had been defeated once and for all, and could never hurt her again. He would never hurt anyone again.

'My my, what a gathering, Severus,' came the velvet tones of the senior Malfoy. Poppy hissed in hatred as she watched the blonde corpse walk out of the trees. And he was a corpse. Even in this gloom she could see the hold necrosis already had on the body, the grey-green palour that stained the once alabastor flesh. The shimmering white-gold hair was the one vestige of beauty Lucius had retained, floating in an angelic halo around the demonic eyeless visage. The eyeballs were one of the first things to go. Just one of the revolting facts that a healer came to know. This rotting remnant of a body revolted the others, but it held no horror for her in comparison to the spirit housed in its crumbling confines. No physical decay could match the creeping horror of the inner evil.

'I'm so pleased you all came out to meet me,' Lucius murmured, looking them over. Poppy's flesh crawled as he dragged that eyeless gaze over her, but it was nothing to the torment that Hermione and Severus were feeling. The girl shrank back from it, behind her suddenly uncertain friends, drawing the Inferi's attention.

'Ah, there you are. My pretty prize. My little death-whore. Did you enjoy our little meeting, mudblood? Did you enjoy our ... intimacy?' Ron snarled at him, moving protectively in front of his tormented girlfriend, though in reality there was little he could do against Lucius Malfoy. The corpse made to move towards them, eliciting a terrified squeal. Poppy gripped the vial of liquid fire in her left hand, ready to hurl it at him if he took so much as one step further. What was wrong with the others?

'Let be, Lucius. I command you,' Severus demanded coldly. 'Let them be.' Of course! Poppy could have laughed. Lucius was dead, like Albus. That meant Severus had the control now. That meant Lucius had to obey him. They were safe. More, they could take revenge at their leisure, and he couldn't harm them so long as Severus forbade him. But then why did her husband look so grim and wary? And why did Lucius look so smug?

'Ha ha ha!' Lucius gave what could loosely be called a laugh, but the gurgle of excess bodily fluid rather ruined the sound, though not its effect. 'Oh Severus, my slave, you know better than that. I am the master. Always. Did you think I hadn't researched this? Did you think I wouldn't realise what death would do to the bond? Your pathetic attempts at mastery will always fail. While I exist in physical form in this world, you cannot touch me. While I wear a body, you cannot gain mastery. You are the slave. You are mine. And you will kneel before me, as I taught you. This body, handsome though it was, lacks a certain something now, and I am having difficulty getting what I desire. You will service me now, I think.'

'You are dead, Lucius. Body or no, you are dead, and I am free. You cannot order me, anymore than I can you. I will not kneel before you again. Ever.' Severus said softly, cold warning in his tone.

'Oh, but I can, Severus. You are weak, as you ever were, and you have brought me all I need to make you bow.' The rotten hand encompased them all in a sweeping gesture, lingering over a pale, desperate Hermione, and Poppy understood their monumental mistake. Alone, Severus would have had no fear of this creature, but with them as hostages to the Inferi's will, vunerable as they were without knowledge of how to fight it, he was weakened by worry for them. For him, there would be no choice save to do for them as he had done for Narcissa and Draco, and put himself in their place, as a sacrifice. For the damaged girl, he wouldn't hesitate.

Severus laughed, as coldly and cruelly as Lucius had moments before. She stared at him in shock. He was luminous, palely glowing with fury, and his black eyes shone with a dark light. Poppy realised that she was seeing the side of him that served the Dark Lord, the cold cruel man that she'd only ever sensed as pockets of darkness inside his bright soul. This was the battle-Severus, the persona he put forward to the Death Eaters, the assassin and poisoner, the duelist. He was frankly terrifying.

'You are foolish indeed, Lucius, if you think I haven't prepared for you. You are foolish to believe that I would let my freedom slip casually back from my fingers. You are the weak one here. You utter fool, Malfoy. That rotting shell, that corpse, is all that keeps you from my control. You are Inferi! Greater Inferi, a corpse with a mind, but still Inferi. And you walk into my hands, completely vunerable, after sending me a message telling me exactly how to beat you. If that body is all that stands between us, then I must simply destroy it.'

Lucius crouched agressively, and hissed, feral and arrogant, even still. 'To do that, Severus, you must fight me, and you have neither the power nor the opportunity to do so, as long as your pathetic companions stand to be damaged. Even if you could protect them, you were never strong enough to face me. You will bow for me, slave, and I will take you as I wish! Do it!'

'You will not harm them, Lucius. Not if you value your precious body.' Severus raised his hands, his magic answering his silent direction, and tugging the vials from their grasp. Floating serenely, the red glass bottles formed a circle around Severus and the Inferi. Too late, she grasped his intent, and cried out to stop him, but his spell was already cast. The vials shattered, spilling fire onto the ground, ringing the two combatants in red flame. He cut them off, leaving himself to face Lucius alone. No wonder he had been willing to let them come. He'd had no intention of letting them face Lucius. He'd let Hermione face her fear, without ever putting her in danger. The sheer calculation that spoke of was terrifying. Nemesis indeed.

'Your body is no protection from me, Lucius. You could never fight me. You never dueled me before. You used a duel as a false premise on which to torture a helpless slave. But you can't do that here. You can't order me to lose. You must face me on your own merits, and you must lose.'

Severus smiled serenely, eyes glittering coldly. 'For those you betrayed, Lucius, I take revenge. Let your son be my weapon, the son you led to death at the Dark Lord's hands. Let Draco destroy you.' He raised his hands, wreathed in cold blue flame, looking like the sorcerors of old, the wizards of times before wands, the ancient wielders of spirit magic.

'Draco Ignis!'

He erupted into flame, blue and silver, that shrouded him like a fierce aura, before growing, changing, becoming seperate. From the formless fires came the Fire Dragon, the spirit of flame and vengence. Lucius screamed as it engulfed him, burning his corrupted flesh in the purity of its fire, devouring the corpse that housed his twisted spirit. He writhed in its grasp, withering away slowing, horrifyingly, mouth stretched in a wordless scream. His blonde hair crackled with ersatz electricity, wreathing his head in a burning nimbus. The flames destroyed him utterly, the corpse that formed his tenuous grasp on this physical world, leaving a pale shadow, a helpless spirit to face Severus' wrath.

The Dragon receded, its purpose complete. It wrapped itself lovingly around Severus, nuzzling his chest with its snout, resting its huge head on his shoulder to look in his eyes. It was Draco that looked out of those blue eyes, gratitude and forgiveness, wisdom unfathomable to those who yet lived. Severus looked back, tears of understanding in his lustrous black eyes. Then the great beast faded from him, gently, leaving some of its warmth to hover over them, and especially him. He stared after it for a long moment.

'Lucius,' he commanded softly, not looking at the gibbering wreck of a spirit. 'You wanted to remain in this world. So be it. You will wander this world forever, without harming or touching or frightening any other creature, never to achieve the other place. You chose this life. Now face it. I command you. Go.'

The flames died away, the spirit of the unfortunate Malfoy faded from sight and hearing, and Severus turned back to face them. Poppy knew what the others looked like. Minerva was awed and terrified, Remus plain terrified, and the children in complete awe. Hermione stared at Severus with gratitude and terror mixed. But Poppy couldn't care less. Her own feelings overwhelmed her: love and awe and fierce joy. He came to her, ignoring the others, took her up in his arms, expression questioning.

'Severus,' she murmured. 'Why didn't you warn me I was marrying a godling in disguise. This is the kind of thing you really should tell a girl.' He chuckled delightedly, surprised, and she relaxed. Sorcerer or no, godling or no, he was still her Severus.

Well? I kinda got a bit mythical there for a bit, not to mention the return of the horror, but woah this was fun. And before you say anything, Lucius deserved every bit of it, the bastard! R&R? Please?