"The fulcrum is Bartemius Crouch and always has been," Rodolphus said. "If we can get to him with an Imperius, then he can reign in the aurors for us. Even if the ones that are loyal to Dumbledore go rogue, they will lose Crouch's backing and access to Ministry resources. Once we've neutered the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, we can pick off the other departments and the Minister himself at our leisure. The Order won't last once the Ministry falls."

"Yes, but we've tried to go after Crouch before, multiple times, and never succeeded," Rookwood pointed out. "Moody and the other aurors know how important he is. The Order is protecting him too. His security is tighter than Minister Minchum's."

"Minchum doesn't matter," Uncle Cygnus said in a bored voice, clearly siding with Rodolphus. "If we target Minchum and even a hint of foul play gets out, which it will, Crouch will leap at the opportunity for a 'no confidence' vote based on the mere possibility of Minchum being compromised. Minchum isn't popular. As it currently stands, we will lose the vote. Crouch will take the top job, and the Ministry will be more closed than ever. Even voices like Narcissa's might be shut out if that happens; Crouch does not tolerate his critics."

Narcissa glanced up when her father mentioned her name but offered no opinion herself. This was only the third meeting of the Inner Circle to which she had been invited, and she had yet to speak unless the Dark Lord specifically asked for her input.

"Won't the same thing happen if we Imperious Crouch?" Sullivan Travers asked. "If they think he's compromised, Moody will step in, won't he? Which means Dumbledore will control the DMLE."

"Not necessarily. If a department head is sacked or incapacitated or dies in office, the Minister appoints the temporary replacement. It won't automatically go to Moody or any of the other subheads, although those would be the expected candidates," Rookwood explained carefully.

Voldemort raised a hand in acknowledgement. "I would not leave Bartemius Crouch uninjured in the raid anyway, not with what he has done to us, even disregarding that that would be too obvious. His wife at least we will kill, which should help explain inconsistencies in his behavior. But what is my chief political advisor's assessment?" he said silkily.

Narcissa looked up to meet his expectant gaze. "Minchum's bribable, especially if he suddenly loses Crouch's support. There's a good chance we could pick the replacement if needed," she said neutrally.

"We could just forget the Imperius thing, break into the Ministry during work hours, close off the exits, and kill everyone inside," Bella suggested. Most everyone fell silent, and Rookwood's expression was one of horror. He must really like his job and coworkers. Bella looked around and giggled, "I mean, if you think about it, it's all underground and already warded against casual entry and egress. If you don't mind destroying everything in there, a bit of Fiendfyre will do the job and won't even get away from us. That bunker is a perfect death trap!"

Cygnus chuckled and patted her hand affectionately. "My girl."

"Sadly, I was talked out of that very strategy years ago, dear Bella," Voldemort said. "There are treasures in the Ministry I am loath to give up, and there seemed merit in a measured approach at the time. It's very annoying. A coup d'etat via full frontal assault on the Ministry probably would have worked when I first proposed it, back when allegiances were not so entrenched and no one was ready for the realities of war. We are hoisted by our own petard."

There were a few confused glances at that particular turn of phrase. It was probably some muggle idiom Voldemort nee Tom Riddle had never bothered to fully lose, Sirius thought cynically. The Dark Lord was not as careful with his speech when he was in a mood, which was most of the time, lately.

"Abraxas was not wrong. There are still benefits to a democratic mask, my Lord," Cygnus assured him. "So long as our eventual takeover does not appear too unsavory to the public eye, Narcissa will be able to make them welcome us and the end of the war in Britain, won't you, Narcissa?" She nodded curtly. "Bella, dear, killing everyone at the Ministry is counterproductive when we need the paper pushers and tax collectors to keep doing their work after the transition, not to mention all their family members would be upset."

Bella sighed dramatically. "I suppose."

"Are there any other suggestions?" Voldemort asked. None were forthcoming. "Then is the consensus to focus on Crouch?" There were reluctant nods all around the table. "In that case, you may be excused to rest, Narcissa dear, while we turn from politics to war. I know how these meetings tire you." Merlin, Sirius would never get used to seeing the Dark Lord being so solicitous. That he behaved that way only around Sirius' heavily pregnant cousin was beyond creepy. Narcissa left, offering Voldemort a graceful, silent curtsy. She took the one tangible symbol of the Dark Lord's mercy with her. As soon as she was gone, the tension in the air shot up. Voldemort took out his wand and idly toyed with it as he resumed speaking. "We must consider the strategy carefully. We must not be overambitious and split our forces again."

"Of those able to resist the Imperius, Bellatrix, Sirius, Melliflua Snyde, and Lady Catherine Rosier are mission-ready," Rodolphus said with a steady voice.

"Was Lord Black finally tested?" Voldemort asked irritably.

"Yes," Cygnus said quickly. "I did it myself. He did not resist. Nor did my sister." Voldemort stared at him a moment, no doubt sampling his memory of the encounter. Sirius watched his uncle thoughtfully. Did not resist was not quite the same as tried and could not resist. Neither Orion nor Walburga Black were in the Inner Circle, but now Sirius thought of it, he'd never seen either of his parents at headquarters at all. Even masked, he was certain he would have recognized them from their shoulders, robes, and stride. He was probably reading too much into it. It would be too incredible if even more Blacks could resist. Nothing he'd read suggested it was a hereditary trait.

"Damned Blacks," Lord Nott muttered. Voldemort glared at him, and his arm sizzled in punishment. Bella giggled.

"Fine. Continue, Rodolphus."

"Yes, my Lord. I would add Antonin to the count of course, once he gets back from Russia. Do we know when that will be?"

"Whenever I summon him to return," Voldemort said coolly. Which meant Dolohov was probably still stymied in the East. Good.

"The others are not yet ready for combat. Six show promise but will need a minimum of two more weeks of intensive training. The other four... to be honest three of them are hopeless duelists and always will be."

"Indeed? Who are these mediocre names?"

"Ingmar Qvist, Gloriana Jones, and Audrey Bertram."

Voldemort's eyes flicked towards Sirius for the first time that meeting. "Your halfblood. Do you neglect your underlings?"

Sirius' arm started to burn, but not badly. He ignored it and shook his head. "I'm not surprised that Audrey's no duelist. That's just not where her skillset lies. She's very intelligent, but she's not one to make decisions on the fly, nor is she very aggressive."

"Meanwhile, Ingmar has no focus while fighting, and Gloriana no spine," Rodolphus explained. The burning abated as Voldemort's attention moved on, thank Merlin. Or rather, thank Rodolphus.

"And the last?" Voldemort asked.

"The werewolf. Greyback. He's perfectly aggressive but remains incapable of following instructions."

"Typical, and unacceptable for a mission of this importance." Voldemort leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "We had twenty last time, not counting myself. Granted, Bella, Rodolphus, Sirius, and the other two" who shall remain nameless in disgrace and death "were not there, but still... Ten are not enough to take Crouch with the aurors and Order defending him. We will need more muscle regardless of the chances of infiltration. We could perhaps lessen the risk by positioning our at-risk associates where it will be immediately apparent if and when they turn against us... If we treble our forces, assigning a resistant Death Eater to monitor every two at-risk... but that will be another distraction for our best, a distraction we can ill afford."

"Could we practice that?" Sirius asked. "Set up a mock battle where you tell one or two to pretend to be Imperiused and turn against us, see how it goes?" He was mostly interested in seeing ahead of time which Death Eaters had difficulty keeping tabs on two other teammates and who did not. It could be invaluable information for Moody if they tried to convert the raid to an ambush. It would probably also delay the mission, which could only be to the good.

Voldemort tilted his head to the side. "Yes, it may be helpful... I shall have to think further on how to structure the teams in order to best coordinate the assault. It will be an unusual hierarchy to say the least."

"We should do more to draw off the aurors this time, if possible," Travers said. "Whatever the Gryffindor did with his little muggles last time, it wasn't enough."

"Last time, I calculated my part based on time needs, not scale," Sirius pointed out, careful not to directly impugn the Dark Lord's tactics. "I can make this bigger to make sure they call all the obliviation reserves including off-duty aurors."

"Yes, but can we count on that?" Travers said belligerently. "You can make them call up half the country, sure, but how big a difference do a few aurors make to the obliviators in those circumstances? They were ready for us last time. They know we're up to something when you put on these shows. I'll wager the aurors will abandon the obliviators the moment they realize Crouch is the target again. Face it, Sirius. The moment they figured out the pattern, you became obsolete."

"Crucio." Voldemort said it so casually, almost lazily. Everyone watched Travers writhing and screaming in his chair for a minute or so until the Dark Lord released him. "On the contrary, master Travers. Heir Black during our last operation organized exactly the distraction I had asked for, to precise specifications. And it worked perfectly, for the secondary objective of that night. To demean him is to criticize your lord. But your point is taken. Since our target is predictable, we need to push the Ministry as near its breaking point as possible in order to ensure success this time. We need a big event with maximal muggle witnesses, as Sirius achieved with the test cricket match in the fall. Sirius, what suitable muggle events are upcoming?"

"There's some more political protests. Funny thing, they're having more of them because the muggle public is blaming a lot of our activities on the incompetence of their own government. Audrey thinks their Prime Minister might be voted out soon." A few Death Eaters chuckled at the irony. "There's also the football League Cup final and some kind of famous boat race on the River Thames."

"Muggles race boats?" Bella repeated doubtfully. "That's got to be the most boring spectator sport imaginable."

Voldemort looked suddenly amused. Sirius shrugged. "Apparently."

"When is the Boat Race?" Voldemort asked.

"March 17th, if I recall correctly."

Voldemort clicked his tongue. "Too soon, then." He sounded really disappointed. Sirius wondered if he disliked boat races in general or this one in particular.

"The League Final is the same day, unfortunately. But there's a Women's Boat Race the week after," Sirius offered.

"Really? How progressive. I wonder if the course along the Thames may be too long and spread out for our purposes. Or, the larger area could play to our advantage if it ties up more Ministry personnel."

"Only if the aurors are the ones tied up," Travers pointed out shakily. Sirius was surprised he was brave enough to speak up again at all. Then again, he wasn't like Bella. He wouldn't be keen to go up against more aurors than he had to. "There were too many of them guarding Crouch last time. We have got to do something to force them to be elsewhere."

"For that matter, since they have guessed the strategy, is there any guarantee Crouch will return to his home where we want him once Sirius makes his move?" Rookwood asked. "My Lord, was Crouch in residence during your attack last time, or did the aurors move him? I only know he did not return to the Ministry."

Travers flinched and hunched into his seat. Rosier grimaced and coughed. "Ah, we never found out."

"He was home, according to the letter he sent his son," Bella said. "Reggie mentioned it in his last letter."

"But that is no guarantee this time, since they are clearly expecting another attack on Crouch," Rookwood commented. "I assume this muggle boat race is in broad daylight anyway, so Crouch will be at the Ministry when it starts. He works seven days a week since making department head, same as Moody and half the aurors. Whatever Sirius does will have to tie up the aurors through the night and leave Crouch at ease enough to return home."

"I'll have to ask Audrey how many people actually attend this boat race thing, but if it's big enough, I can make it so the cleanup effort will drag out over several days. He'll go home eventually."

"Ooh, if we're planning on delaying the main mission a day or two, we can kill some other less-protected target first, as a feint to make them think we're done and Crouch is all clear," Bella said.

"That should work," Rookwood agreed, "Depending on whether we add something new to the show to ensure the aurors are occupied as Sullivan suggested. What exactly did you have in mind for that, incidentally?"

Travers shrugged uncomfortably. "Give them something to fight that the obliviators can't manage themselves."

Voldemort smiled. Rodolphus nodded thoughtfully. "That could be a use for Greyback, actually. When's the full moon this month?"

"Tomorrow. No werewolves unless you just want to use them as expendables with wands," Bella informed him.

"I could work with that, but I'd prefer people who will follow instructions," Sirius said carefully. "I deliver specific results because my team makes specific plans and then sticks to them. I don't want a loose cannon like Greyback ruining things."

"No," Voldemort conceded. "In fact, you may not want additional human help at all, not if anyone we might assign you could be under the Imperius and apt to betray you to the Ministry. I might go so far as to suggest leaving young Avery out of your plans this time. Not to mention initiating a wizarding battle with the aurors would surely force Crouch to stay at the Ministry longer anyway, overseeing the operation. No, we want creatures. Something Dark and vicious enough to warrant aurors, but controllable and not noticeable until the right moment. Can you and Bertram both cast a patronus?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I can. I've never asked Audrey. Why?"

"Dementors could make an excellent accompaniment to your revels. Certainly, their presence would demand the aurors'."

Sirius' eyes widened. Fuck, no. He did not want to be responsible for dementors in London. Weren't all the dementors at Azkaban, anyway?

Nott cleared his throat. "Ah, I do not think we will have sufficient numbers of dementors by then to make a meaningful impact," he said apologetically. He gritted his teeth as Voldemort glared at him and set his arm sizzling again.

"Other suggestions, then?" Voldemort said.

"Vampires?"

Sirius shook his head. "Daytime attack, remember? Unless we pick a different target. Or unless we're sending vampires in a secondary attack, which will probably mean Crouch gets called back if he goes home." Mostly, Sirius did not want anything too far outside his control. Less control meant more dead muggles.

"I could wrangle a quintiped down to London for you," Macnair said with his quiet, raspy voice. "That would give them something to think about."

"No, thanks," Sirius vetoed immediately. "How about a kraken, since it's a boat race?"

Sirius had meant it sarcastically, but Voldemort grinned widely and answered anyway. "That would certainly liven up the proceedings. But there's no way we could guarantee obtaining any non-native XXXXX creatures on such short notice, let alone get something so large as a kraken into position on the Thames without being noticed prematurely by the muggle water authorities."

"Giants?" Macnair asked.

"We could forget adding elements to the boat race and just use giants somewhere else, I suppose. We would not be able to smuggle them into the city proper, but they could certainly cause a stir in the suburbs."

Rookwood shook his head. "Giants are Control of Magical Creatures department now, not DMLE. The aurors wouldn't even be called, not for most creatures you might name. It has to be properly Dark."

Voldemort breathed in through his nose. His red eyes glinted with inspiration. "Inferi, then. Sirius, I shall teach you how to create Inferi, and that shall be the ritual you show to all those poor, unsuspecting muggles. We can ask the werewolves and the Outer Circle to contribute corpses to the cause and deposit them in the river these next two weeks for you to raise when the time is right." He sat back, looking supremely pleased with himself. There were no objections, and no other proposals.

Sirius' mouth was dry as he said, "yes, my Lord." What else could he say? No one argued when the Dark Lord was so happy.

"Should we use Inferi against Crouch too?" Rodolphus asked distantly. Once Rodolphus' proposal was discarded, Sirius couldn't listen to much more of the meeting. He'd read the ritual for the raising of Inferi in Magic Moste Evil. He was not looking forward to practicing it.


"Sirius?"

He looked up tiredly to see Richard standing in the doorway to the library. His neck cracked, and he looked back down at his reading with a wince. "Yeah? What is it?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Outside?" He said pointedly. Sirius looked back up at him. He looked distinctly anxious. "Only you've been in here all day. Ever since the last meeting really. You need a break," Richard explained hurriedly with a glance over his shoulder that Sirius took to mean he didn't want the rest of the family to overhear whatever he wanted to talk about.

Sirius nodded. "A break sounds good." He closed and latched Magic Moste Evil; it was one of those books that could cause horrible things to happen if it wasn't taken care of and secured properly. He put a bookmark in the Arithmancy reference text Winston had found for him, then got up and followed Richard out of the house into the garden. It was chilly and damp from the rain earlier, but there were some spring flowers budding up. "What is it?" he asked softly when they were far enough away from the house.

Richard hesitated and cast a few privacy charms before he answered. "Felix came by earlier. He said he and I are supposed to work together preparing for something big later this month."

"Pretty much everyone will be working on some part of it, yes. I swung by Audrey's yesterday to assign her some research work. I was going to update you at the planning meeting with her on Thursday, but I guess Rodolphus put together extra assignments for the Outer Circle gents like you in the meantime."

"Yeah. We're... supposed to be collecting... bodies."

"Ah. Yes, that's a big part of the plan."

Richard took a deep breath. "You said as long as I was working for you, you would make sure I didn't have to do... anything I really don't want to. And I don't want to kill anyone, Sirius. Not even muggles." His voice broke towards the end, and he swiped a hand at his eyes. "Is there a way I can... not?"

Sirius' heart ached for Richard right then. The sheltered young wizard didn't deserve this. His only sin was making the supremely bad choice to obey his family and thereby getting stuck in his role of reluctant Death Eater. Sirius reached an arm around Richard's shoulders and pulled him into a side hug, while he tried to think of a solution. He couldn't just countermand an order that came from Voldemort, even indirectly. Nor could he offer to do the dirty work on Richard's behalf, when it was his task to become an expert necromancer in a matter of weeks. He absently took out a cigarette and offered Richard one while he thought about it. Merlin, he hadn't lit up all day, absorbed in his books. An answer came to him as he blew smoke into the brisk air.

"The Dark Lord needs bodies, Richard, but not necessarily freshly murdered ones. Would you feel better about grave robbing?" Richard coughed in response. "You wouldn't even have to dig them up," Sirius mused. "Not if you went to muggle funeral homes with, what do you call them, the things where they burn the bodies. You could just take the corpses and obliviate the muggle employees to think they burned 'em already. Have Sookie save you some ashes from the hearth to exchange or something."

Richard took in a shuddering breath. "And that's okay?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't see why it wouldn't be." If you could make Inferi out of a corpse that had been moldering in the earth for a few months as Magic Moste Evil suggested, there was no reason you couldn't use one fresh from a muggle funeral home dead from natural causes. It's not like they all had to be ritually slain, only some of them.

"Felix won't like it. He was excited about going out tomorrow, the two of us."

"Bugger Felix. If he complains, bring him to me, and I'll tell him in no uncertain terms that this assignment isn't a way for him to get his kicks, and the funeral home method is the best way to avoid tipping off the Ministry about our next move, both safer and more efficient than killing all the muggles fresh." It probably was, actually, for those of the Outer Circle like Richard and Felix who were proficient in memory charms. He should tell Rodolphus about the idea and make it official policy, save some more lives. There would still be plenty of killing, since the werewolves were involved and many of them were not fully qualified witches and wizards, not being given the option to finish at Hogwarts once they were bitten. Moony was the lucky first trial case.

Richard smiled and hugged Sirius back. "Thank you. Thank you. You're a good friend."

"I'm a good boss who keeps his promises."

"Yes, boss. You are, boss. Can I get you a cup of tea, boss? Or maybe a sandwich?"

Sirius laughed and elbowed him.

"What are you reading about so diligently in the library anyway?" Richard asked, his voice much lighter than it had been.

"What do you think the Dark Lord is collecting all the corpses for?"

Richard's smile vanished instantly. "...Oh."

They walked in silence back to the house.

Author's note: random Easter egg, the throwaway name Ingmar Qvist is also a crazy character from the highly entertaining novel The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden. Thanks as always for the reviews, and you can continue to look for updates on Saturdays.