Mountainous Estate

"It is, but I feel it was a proportionate trade..."

'how so?'

"Well think about it... you would've lost your life otherwise and magix essentially IS my life so it's a fair switch..."

'but its still not fair'

"I'll cope... I'm smarter than most give me credit for."

"In fact I've already worked around how to keep up my appearance..."

-'how'

"Let's just say I've setup a proxy to make it appear that me and my abilities have gone unaltered. So long as the information doesn't reach anyone, I have all the time in the world to find out how to truly restore my magic without anyone taking advantage of the situation.."

'lets hope it works.'

"Oh it will... it has to. I've contained the information very well so no one is due to find out about it."

'unfortunaty, not everything is in your control'

"True, and it never will be. But it's not my place to rule...."

i smile. 'i bet you wish it was though'

"Not really, I much prefer to be the king maker than the king..."

i raise an eyebrow af him. "really?'

"Of course, that's the dark lord's duty. I could be a pauper but so long as I get to punish the ministry, I'm a happy man..."

'does nothing else make you happy?'

"How do you mean?"

'i dont know. just...is ruining the minisry the only thing?'

"I don't know either..."

"On the one hand, destroying them has been all I've ever dreamt of. The thought of seeing the building in ashes to this day makes my hands quiver with excitement..."

"On the other... I got you, Amy, Alexis..."

'you have more of a family than you ever thought when you started dreaming about the ministry.;

"Perhaps... but even so."

"Who's to say they won't threaten your lives just as they ruined ours? Only way to be sure is to bleed them dry and dance on their corpses..." Crouch smiled crazily at the notion, his tongue drying up as he imagined the taste of blood on his tongue.

'but what if you ruining them threatens us more?'

"Well then I'll just have to cripple them so well they can't..."

'You dont always get hurt physically, Crouch. You shoud know that.'

"How so?"