Severus had never felt more ineffectual. There he was, Death Eater garb, white mask, all signs of trembling carefully hidden, standing tall in the middle of a meeting, and Lucius chose to bring Potter in now.
'Bring' being used as a complete understatement. Drag a kicking and cursing (in the magical sense) Potter in. Severus allowed his mouth to quirk upwards a bit at Lucius attempting to haul Potter in without getting hexed. It wasn't as easy as it sounded. Severus' amusement was marred only by the knowledge of Potter's certain death.
Potter had an astounding amount of magic at his command. Which he was quite ready and happy to use to defend himself, however ineffectually.
"Do you have something particular against my servant?" Voldemort hissed unpleasantly as he watched the comedy unfold.
"What? Oh, no, not at all. I simply love it when people tie me up, beat me, and then try dragging me around by my hair. My absolute favorite activity, in fact. I must remember to thank dear Mr. Malfoy for participating in this lovely game. You too, Tommy, for letting him. It's great to see you. Been way too long. The years haven't been kind, but what else is new? I guess failing at total world domination is exhausting and ageing. Have you considered early retirement? I'm sure the Wizarding World would be happy to give you a nice gold watch in exchange for you spending the rest of your hopefully short life in quiet obscurity."
Severus bit back the moan that threatened at Potter's glibness. He didn't know what was worse: teasing, suggesting early retirement, stating that Voldemort had failed at world domination (no matter how true), or calling him Tommy.
Voldemort opened and shut his mouth, attempting to find something… anything… to say in response to Potter's little speech. He was looking absolutely stupid and attempting to hide that.
"Aw, cat got your tongue? No problem. I always thought to be Supreme Ruler you had to be able to inspire at least a few people, but I guess I was wrong. Don't feel bad, I mean, plenty of people can't make decent speeches. Then again, most of them aren't trying to rule the world, but hey! Look on the bright side. People won't pester you all the time to make speeches at important places throughout your retirement. A lot of politicians say that's the worst part of retiring from politics. I guess we can call you a politician. Really loose definition of politician, sure, but why not?"
Severus really wanted to moan by now. Voldemort hated politicians.
"Hey, I have an idea! How about, instead of you retiring, I give the rest of the Wizarding World a hand with their little pest control problem?"
Voldemort blinked a few times.
"That would be you," Harry clarified. "Think of it as a gift. Avada Kedavra!"
Green light burst from Harry's wand and hit Voldemort, who crumpled in death.
Severus smirked. Perhaps not so ineffectual, after all.
Ineffectual – adj. Not producing the proper effect; without effect; weak; useless; futile; unavailing. Word of the Day, February 5, 2008).