Mountainous Estate

"I don't know, is that the best YOU have?" He taunted.

I grin. 'Crucio!'

OOC hmmm... A or b?

ooc b

He let the curse him him, falling over and putting on a brave face through the pain, "You really are our father's daughter..."

'Son?' I laugh. 'Thats you.'

OOC *Record scratch* Let me edit that!

ooc I didnt think Riv had a sex change.

OOC Okay fixed! Proceed!

'Isnt it wondeful/'

"No, maybe you forgot but I used to protect you from him..."

'Well, that was your choice, not miine.'

"You never cared did you?"

She remembered how she used to think, tilting her head to the side. 'Once, maybe. But now...no.'

Crouch stood before the finished construct, placing his wand back into his pocket. He gazed with a sense of accomplishment at his masterpiece. He had never attempted art before, but found himself to be a growing patron of it. He did need some way to pass the time as his work was in motion and didn't require his presence. 

He eyes the work of art, as though making sure there wasn't a detail he overlooked. And finally he noticed a single flaw.

The stone statue of a seated bald man was lacking of some wrinkles on his face to make his appearance all the more skeletal. The size of this statue was grand, taking up the majority of his considerably large basement. But the man he was craving was well worth this allotment of space. For a first attempt at art, it was a grand success. The robes flowed down to the seated man's ankles and such was its realism that he had to place a hand on it to make sure he couldn't adjust the robes like normal fabric.

A icy hatred was plastered on it's face, with eyes of a serpentine nature. And the chair, the chair was a throne of skulls like a deity of the underworld. The man held a wand, that was laced between his thin bony fingers.The details were striking and meticulous, down to ensuring the very veins were the correct proportions. 

As he carved away at the face with his magic to fix his singular error, he was able to push back some of the events that infuriated him earlier. Such as the auror who talked back to him.

He wasn't afraid. He wasn't corrupt. And this shook Crouch to his core at first. Here he had held all the power in the universe over the man yet he did not flinch. Only when Crouch was but the bullied Barty did he feel so powerless.

They were emboldened, and with it the Death Eater's power was waning. 

Waning, but not lost. 

The new order that he and the others would spearhead would make sure that everything was in it's proper place. The darkness would rise again, the world thrown back into the glorious disorder was the only cure for it, and the Ministry would burn...

However, not through magical might. They no longer possessed such numbers to make this option even worth considering. No, the new death of the ministry and order would be the product of cunning and subterfuge. 

Which left the all important question of how. With how stable the Ministry was now, he could spend decades slaughtering them or coercing them and not even leave a dent. The Ministry needed to be rocked to its very foundation...

But again... that ever vexing question... how?

Crouch could've been staring the Potter boy in the face and not been so livid. 

A betrayer in the ranks at such a fragile stage of the New Dark Order's development would be beyond catastrophic. Crouch felt his mind rewinding, trying to remember all the information that Donia knew of their new plans. 

The newly formed triumvirate for one thing. That if nothing else was enough to be crippling since they would know who to look for. Anonymity was their greatest disguise now, it was best to be thought of as but a mere monster under the bed, an implausible beast that only existed in fables. 

But to give name and face to them would ruin all attempts at rescuing his master's mission. His skin itself begged him to find this traitor and put her into so many pieces that the Dark Lord above would have to struggle in the afterlife to put her back together.

However, he couldn't be hasty. The order couldn't afford to. This was Donia he was talking about after all. Her skills at subterfuge surpassed even his own. If she were a 'traitor' it'd get her much easier access to their enemies and poison them from within. That would fall nicely into Crouch's newest design.

But he couldn't take the risk of her exposing too much. He would survey the situation and if it seemed like a genuine betrayal, he'd obliterate her to make an example to the remaining dark wizards and witches that treason would not be countenanced. But if it was a ruse, he'd play the part she needed to solidify her cover. In either case, his redwood wand would be required... 

He set down his book, 'Министерство на магията' and replaced it with his wand and apparated from his home. There would be time later to delve deeper into his new plan...

"Well that was a complete fiasco!" Crouch stormed into his home in outrage.

"We didn't even scar anyone for life back there! Not for lack of trying mind you, but even still!" He huffed as he sat down at the head of his table. 

But even still, he knew he couldn't be too infuriated. He did learn what he went there to learn.

Donia was with them, and what's more, a new player had emerged from the shadows. A player for them.

Something was familiar... he couldn't quite put a finger on it. 

"But not altogether a complete waste..." He allowed himself to say having marginally calmed himself. Granted his foes were alive but he'd gained as much as he'd lost. The fire in the forest was probably a signal that the Death Eaters were very far from gone and that could be productive or counterproductive depending on how future events panned out...

Raven listens, being the loyal best friend she is.  After he calms down a bit, Raven goes on to say, "We may not have killed anyone, but if not more, one good thing came from this." She grins, excited to share her news of Crest.

"And what is that? I profess, I was too caught up in the moment to notice.." Crouch did have a tendency to lose himself when he was duelling. Often he made moves before his mind consciously took notice to them, as though his magic was controlling him rather than the other way around as it was for conventional wizards.

During this battle, Crest Strayer hit me with a crucio...  And when he saw he wasn't hurting me enough, he raised the pain level.  You could practically see the hate flowing out of him and into the Unforgivable!!"  She's getting very excited by this.  "Which means he just needs a little push further to join us..."

"He's gaining a level of aptitude with the dark arts..." Crouch's frustrations was soon replaced with malicious joy, "And what do you intend to do to push him that next step?"

"Maybe first we could perhaps call some form of truce...  Make him understand that if he's on our side, his dearest pet won't be harmed.  That, or give him a tragedy that will push him over the edge, perhaps even kill someone!"

"But what?" Crouch pondered to himself. "No mere deception will take him in. Nothing short of a masterpiece of subterfuge would suffice..."

"It would have to be so subtle that it would go unseen by his radar... First we have to list out his weaknesses."

"Sam, obviously." Crouch got out of the way first. "He is prideful, convinced of his own invulnerability. But on the flip side, he's also empty. He believes himself to be of no value."

"How does one corrupt someone with pride and yet nihilistic towards himself?"

"Quite the quandary... unless," an idea came to mind, "What if we made him appear to be the enemy of peace and security rather than a guardian of it?"