Mountainous Estate

"It is my pleasure to help you!"  Raven grins.

"Thank you... they shall be no match for you..." He told her proudly.

Raven's eyes sparkle at his words, at his approval and pride for her.  "I won't let you down!"

"Oh I know that..." Even if you do, you'll be a good distraction while I have a talk with Mr. Tremel to learn more on the stone...

"I'll be on my way to get that done..."  Raven bows to him and starts walking out the door.

"Good luck..." He wished her as he picked up his wand and apparated to have a chat with Mr. Tremel...

Soon the secrets of the stone would be his and with it, the true war will begin... 

The destruction of the ministry, the indoctrination of the wizard world to the true way, the suppression of muggles...

All would be achieved in a single glorious stroke.

Crouch fell to his knees as they arrived back at his home, feeling a burning pain in his very blood, "Well... that was a complete fiasco. If my new plan didn't require so much colureye I would never have touched this job..."

Raven immediately gets out her wand to heal his stab wounds, feeling horrible.  "I'm sorry I couldn't get it before they arrived... I was testing to find her weaknesses and then exploit them in our next fight.  I had no idea you'd be there... And Jack for that matter."

"The blame is as much mine as yours. I should've informed you of what my intentions were, but I underestimated my sibling's resolve..."

"I didn't even see her power until the fight back there.  I thought she was a complete weakling.  She thinks she can stop us without killing us... Although, from what just happened, I guess she's starting to change her mind."

"Yes..." Crouch hissed, "And this poses a larger problem. Until now, her compassion made her one of my greatest accomplices..."

"I believe it's all Jack's fault..."  She puts her wand away after the wounds are gone.  "He must have got in her head.  River told me she argued with him.  If he hadn't been there, this would have been fairly easy!"

"I see..."

He scratched his chin to think on what to do. River has always needed someone stronger than her to be her pillar.

Was it better to take out the threat itself, or the one who makes the threat exist?

"We need to get rid of Jack... But first, I believe he mentioned that dagger was poisoned."

"He did... I can feel it creeping in my veins. But a temporary setback I assure you..." He started twitching in his seat.

"However it still needs to be mitigated."

"He even said there's no antidote that he's made, right?"

"Yes, and nothing can be gained by lying about that..."

"We need to force him to make an antidote..."

"I'm sure he'd rather die than make you an antidote, so we need to exploit his one weakness..."  Raven grins.

"Well let's see, in the Jack's-Weakeness-O'Rama who do we have?" Crouch draws in the air with his wand a large circle and writes in the names as he says them.
"Samantha..."
"Sally..."
"Sarah..."

"Who should it be..." He swished his wand to make the wheel spin.

"Well if we want quick and easy, I say Sally... Crest's pet would be harder to get to."

"Agreed... and drawing Strayer attention right now would be detrimental. Sally would at least take less time to notice."

"In fact, she'd probably be noticed by none other than Jack... Unless Crest's pet is there.  I'm sure she'd notify her husband immediately if she would be a witness..."

"We'd have to be sure to get her alone then."

"I'm sure you're overqualified for such a task..."

Raven grins, bowing to him.  "It will be so easy I'll be back before you can say 'chaos'!"

"I expected nothing less..." He smiled at her crazily, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a little confab to get together..."