Meeting the first

That little ginger ogre thought she was clever, and she had temporarily toppled Naomi from her throne of cool collectedness. Oh, but she would pay. Once this little alliance was over, the girl would wish she had never even left the protection of the dementors, Naomi could ensure Felix saw to that. Or maybe it would be even sooner. Naomi did not plan to stay with this alliance if it forced her against her fiancee.

She collected herself again, and reached up to slip the hood off, proving to those around her that she was allowed to be here, even though if Aurors were around she could be in trouble. She brushed a hand through her thick platinum curls and reached for her drink, drinking a good mouthful and then smacking her lips contentedly. She was in her element.

The leader addressed her and she raised an eyebrow and allowed her mouth to raise into a smile that did not reach her eyes. "Oh, I'm sure they'll be here late. They were always a punctual group, you know," the last bit was a joke, of course. And she raised her glass to her lips to enunciate it.

Their leader entered and she tried not to look to disgusted by him. Not that he was bad, he was perfectly capable, but Naomi found him a bit, cliche. His style was overdone. Not that he knew that. She was obedient, she was quiet. She was calculating and she would not say anything unless it had to be said.

((Nah, i think that's good, the fact that you mentioned it needs 10 hour recharges adds a good level of realism to it, and doesn't make it too overpowered as it's just cosmetic stuff))

Jess gave a start as a young looking man approached him, one whom he'd not recognised upon his entrance, and how had slipped through his guard... he'd need to be more alert from now on, it served mainly as a warning, but also as a curiosity.

"My lord... what have you done to yourself," he muttered, watching Ne'Os cautiously. He was outnumbered, but it had never stopped him from doing something unpredictable in the past exactly... Jess was definitely still on his guard.

"Your lot are late," he said, not hearing his own voice over the increased din so deciding to yell. "Your lot, you know, they're late... not on time," he yelled, tapping his watch before rolling his eyes and drawing his wand.

"Muffliato," he cast, his fears of being overheard ebbing away a little, particularly as a quieter song came over the room.

"I say we start now though," he said, his voice a little quieter as he tried to match the dance club's levels. "That is, if we can keep it civil for more than five minutes, girls," he said, shooting a look at Jack.

"I want to cut through the crap, I'm sure Ne'os here does too. I don't like this, not one bit, but I think that I would prefer you as my enemy over the guy upstairs any day, and I daresay the feeling is reciprocated," he told the people at the table.

"Whilst we are allied, Ne'os and I have come to some terms. No friendly fire, obviously, equality, and partnership. Whilst we are together, we are one front, not two working together. If you have a problem with this, leave now," he explained, pausing to look around the table, before nodding to Ne'os, it was his turn to speak now.

The figure in black tucked the portkey into his pocket and walked the cold snowy streets of Diagon Alley and made his way to Knockturn, his strides strong and confident. He was not a stranger to this street. The doorman didn't even give him a second glance and Angus walked right past him. He stood for a second, once inside to let his eyes adjust. Then he walked over to where he saw familiar faces. As he passed Michael Tremaine, he silently deposited his black leather hat on Michael's head without a word. He went around the table, sitting across, more or less, from Jack Dyllan.

"My apologies for the lateness of my friend," Michael said. "He's come to join us tonight. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Angus Donohue."

"'Evening, All," Angus said. "Sorry I'm late. I was held up on business." He eyed Michael's glass of firewhiskey, and Michael flicked his finger, willingly, at the glass, making it slide across the table to Angus. Angus slipped off the long black leather duster he wore and laid the very elegant wand in his hand on the table. Michael looked at the wand with the green cabochon in the end of the handle and the gold scrolling around the handle. It told him all he needed to know.

Angus looked at Michael and nodded respectfully, grateful for the donation of the drink, as Michael simply conjured a glass out of the salt shaker on the table and poured himself another. Then Angus saw Michael look at the marble Jack had laid on the table and how it hag garnered a small, retrained smile out of the older wizard. Angus read it as unspoken loyalty and affection between Jack and Michael. He took a sip of the firewhiskey and turned his attention to the meeting at hand.

Ne'Os smiled slightly as it got quieter and he could hear Jess the club was very loud. He waited for Jess to finish speaking and while Angus made a excuse for for why he was late he took a sip of his mineral water.
"Right no- good lord my voice" he said realizing he had forgotten to spell his voice so it sounded like the 17 year old he looked like. Instead it sounded 40 like the actual age of the body he had taken over he did his best to make it sound softer.

"Right...anyway....I have a couple rules of my own whilst the two of us work together i would request that death eater's dramatically cut back on any unnecessary killing and torture.... In fact that would be a order and one that I plan to enforce if i have to" he said knowing that there was only one death eaters present at the moment. He would make sure to cover that in the next meeting...if they survived long enough for that to happen.

"Next I want to get it out as i know we are all thinking it...what happens when or if the minister is removed from office...I have thought this through a bit we are traditionally enemies and that the chances are very high that we are all expecting that our alliance will crumble about half a second after our goal is achieved...So that is why I want Jess and myself to discuss the possibility of a more permanent alliance and possible the idea of helping build a more perfect world where both the ideals of the order and the death eaters can be implemented for the greater good."

He looked at Jess nodding slightly hoping he would say something. For once Ne'Os had no idea what to say which was odd because he usually had something to say even if it didn't make sense or was completely insane.

Jess frowned then let out a grunt. "I didn't realise this was a meeting for friends, else I would have invited my housekeeper Michael," Jess spat, his eyes trained on the newcomer and his hands close to his wand. The Death Eaters, he knew, and had already decided they weren't a threat right now, this man was no one in particular, and Jess was rather quite cautious of him.

However he hushed and returned his attention to his opposite number, watching him carefully and nodding as the guidelines were set out.

He couldn't, however, help but grunt in surprise and cock an eyebrow as Ne'os mentioned the status of their alliance, a more permanent alliance was not on his cards, but he'd keep that to himself, he decided then and there.

"Exactly, if you all keep to your end of the bargain, we will too, and hopefully this agreement would allow us to prosper well into the future," he told them before deciding to launch into business.

"Now," he said, "I have been assessing the situation in the Ministry, and I believe that the core of Grindelwald's power, and his hold over the workers lies in one Zada Forbes. He inspires a fear which she does not, admittedly, but she seems to be running the administrative side of things, and without that end of a business, it'll fail. I propose, as... well, as unpleasant as it may seem, I propose that we aim to depose her, using any means possible, over the next three months. She leads a more public life than her boss, so there's a higher chance of victory, I think you'll find." He explained.

"I personally don't enjoy this business of violence and strongarming, however I think we can all agree that this is war, and as long as we keep our intentions, and our methods to a strict, honorable guideline, so basically no cursing whilst they sleep in their beds, then we will be able to live with ourselves as people." He told them, inwardly cursing himself for the moves he was making.

"Now, we can go for the more direct approach of an attack, we have more numbers than her, particularly if we can isolate her, however i was thinking that use of the imperius curse could get people into her trust and inner ranks, making the job cleaner and more precise. Anyone else have any plans?" He asked, looking around the group and wondering who would be next to speak.

"Perhaps one," Michael said. "You don't run in the circles that I do without knowing reputations of people. Forbes has a reputation that, in certain circles preceeds her. For those in the inncer circles, she is well known for being a mercenary. She is typically only interested in whoever meets or beats her price. She is known for her utter ruthlessness, with no respect for life, not even her own. That makes her perhaps a bit more dangerous if she does not believe there is much to lose. There is no record of her ever having anyone she's honestly given a damn about. The only thing people know that entices her is power. She's supposedly well off enough financially to buy whatever she wants. She tends to buy topshelf--whether its legitimate or black market.

"And, I have seen firsthand that she has a preference for the best Russian vodka money can buy. My experience with mercenaries is that if they believe someone is giving them a better offer, they quickly ditch ship and bugger off. I suppose you can off her if you like, but if murder isn't your speed, perhaps a sting peration where she believes someone is offering her a better price--better enough for her to leave Grindlewald.

"Or making her think that they dont' think Grindlewald is up to the job, offering her to scheme with her to overtake him and put her in command. Surely she can't be stupid enough to believe she will ever reach higher in his ranks than where she is right now. If she is that power hungry, then there is nowhere else for her to go except his post. It might be easy enough to do. Actually, it looks to me like it will be far more difficult to get her to leave her stronghol in the South Tower in the school. She seems to be running the school and the Ministry from there. She is far more visible than Grindlewald, but she is willing to defend herself.

"If you want to kill her,then, I suppose, so be it. I do think though that her hunger for power makes her vulnerable and not quite impossible to defeat. If we can't get her out of the school, though, you may end up launching another battle at the school like we just had. Is that where you want to go? Or can we get her off school grounds?"

A pop echoed throughout the alley and Aaron appeared as the sound faded. He took in a deep breath and then rolled his eyes, looking up at a clock and realizing he was terribly late. He shrugged his shoulders and dusted his robes off. He was moving on to the next phase of his plan, and this was all part of it. Appearance was a huge factor when determining someones worth, and Aaron wanted his to be low.

He knew he was competent and did not care what the others thought. Well, he did, but not in the way most people did. He wanted to seem like he was out of order and out of place. If he showed up late, they would believe him to be someone who could not be relied on, and that was what he wanted. No one would suspect someone who was never where he needed to be. If they all believed him to be useless, then they would avert their eyes to more important matters.

A smirk popped onto his face when he thought of it, but he quickly replaced it with a neutral appeal. He quickly shoved through the doors and entered the place. How he hated such fanciful places like this. He did not dance, socialize, nor drink so a place like this was worthless to him. He scanned the area, trying to figure out where everyone was at.

When he spotted them, he pushed his way through the crowd, turning down a few offers for dances. He could not believe this was what people did for fun. All the time they wasted by drinking their lives away and dancing with complete strangers just did not make sense to him. Life was too short and precious to waste in a place as such.

He appeared to the group and did not say a word. He caught Jess's eye and he nodded, wanting to have a conversation with him at a later date. It was known to very few, namely Jess and Jack, that he was playing for both sides. Well, it appeared like he was playing for both sides, he was really only in it for himself. A pity really, how simple it was. The only real hard person to break through was Jack, and he basically forced it upon her.

"I am late," He said looking at Ne'os, putting on a fake face of shame and lowering his head. "We will discuss it later..." Was all he said before he sat down towards the back, giving Silvyr a slight head nod.

Ne'Os politely listened to Jess and Michael as they spoke. And decided to take his turn to speak after of course rolling his eyes at Aaron at his fake apology.

"I actually like your idea Jess...Don't get me wrong Michael your idea could work but...I don't want to chance killing her or outbidding Grindelwald...both as far as I'm concerned are to costly...But the imperious curse could work...the only draw back however is that we would have to find a person she trusts and those people would naturally be difficult to influence...We could however if you wouldn't mind taking a couple steps to the dark side get a few of our powerful's together and we could pickup one of her "friends" and make it next to impossible for them to resist a imperious curse of the magnitude" he said thinking for a moment before continuing.

"I don't know for sure but it is possible that for such a plan to work we would need to actually preform it as a ritual since we would have to pretty much program them to do what we need." he said "But since we would be getting to Zada through them we could even use the same person to replace Zada and get us closer to Grindelwald...That is after all the reason why we are working together is it not?" he asked his voice taking a dangerous tone as he finished hopefully implying that his intentions were to remove Grindelwald from office and not so much his followers. He of course did not mean this as a threat but as more of a warning not to stray to far from their goals. Or at least what Ne'Os felt their goals should be.

Jess scowled as Michael spoke then nodded. "But I don't really care about buying her off, no offense. She is a risk alive, or at least alive under her own means. But your note on the South Tower is interesting. Tell me, how did you get all this information? You seem to have a great deal of interest in the woman, it could come in handy to plot her movements. Still, I have seen her at the Ministry a number of times, and outside of it even more. She is in her tower quite often, I can tell you that from firsthand experience, but she's not there all the time," he told Michael, a small grin crossing his face as he finished.

"I happen to believe Ne'os could be right, however I'm not sure about any rituals. Simply lowering her defenses before trying to curse her should suffice. If we can infiltrate Grindelwald's inner circles than we can depose him with relative ease. It's a tried and tested method, and one that we could use. Once he's gone, all we'd need to do would be to announce a general election, and go our separate ways... or make our arrangements permanent, but we'd be able to cross that bridge when we reached it," he suggested to the group, hoping that he'd have an element of support between the two factions.

Michael was sorely tempted to roll his eyes in irritation at Jess. Instead, he did his level best to keep a poker straight face. The only thing that came through was a slight glare.

"I am going to presume that is a rhetorical question, Jess," he said with a forced calmness. "But I will answer it. Must we really discuss my resume here? I presumed that was why our mutual friend brought me into the Order in the first place. I thought he wanted me to be part of this nightmare. I presumed you all needed my skills and my knowledge.

"Surely you don't think a man in my position, with the profession I had for most of my working life, was isolated and didn't ever talk to others who did my job or other similar professions. Surely you aren't presuming that I never cared to know about people that I knew I might run into that I needed to be wary of. I also presume that you are acquainted with the saying 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'? You don't think I survived all these years without doing that, do you?

"I have known about Forbes for a number of years, just as I try to do my homework on anybody else I might have to tangle with. Her names has come up on conversations with my collegues, as murderous mercenaries always do, and i would daresay that most of those people I got my information from are not the kind I'd find you socializing with, with any regularity. You wouldn't approve of them, but their information has never failed me. I hadn't met actually met Zada Forbes, though, until I started at the school. And, no, I don't particularly find her interesting. I merely found it prudent to learn as much as I could find about whoever seemed to either have the upper hand or to want it. However I have had some run ins with her in the hallways, been in meetings with her, and in the career that I specialize in, one learns to be very observant because to not be observant might mean one's death. I do my best to notice everything and what I can't find out without observing, I investigate deliberately.

"And don't forget I have a very keen vested interest right now in learning every single little thing that I can about her or anyone she's with right now. Do you think I have been idle when I'm not in my classroom? But I know you--you really don't want to know what those movements have been either. I don't get paid by the Order. And the salary at the school is pitiful, but then again, you know that too. I didn't need to take the job for the cash. I took it to deliberately get closer to my enemies.

"I have followed where she shops, where she socializes or dines, what she brands she buys, what styles entice her, what she chooses to eat and drink. I make it my business to know if the clothing she buys is off the rack or designer, if the jewelry she wears is the genuine article or paste. Believe me, I know a piece of genuine fine art from a fake. Its not that hard to figure her out by merely watching, listening, and connecting with those who know more than I do.

"As for the South Tower, were you not in the very same meeting I was where she herself told us that the South Tower was off limits and that we needed to very directly tell students to stay away from there because the protection spells on the tower that she and Grindlelwald apparently have laid makes it almost impenitrable and that those who risk defying those spells have a high risk of being disposed of, themselves, on a permanent basis? As I recall, that was the most noticeable point of the meeting. That and the introduction of Alistair D'Eath as her new boy toy and her desire for us to give him considerable respect as her Chief of Security? And I did do my homework about her and Grindlewald, starting shortly after that skirmish on school grounds in which they both seemed to want some sort of starring role, getting in touch with my contacts well before I took the job at the school.

"I only offered you what you seemed to want. An alternative to getting rid of her without doing something that you apparently don't believe in and are not quite so comfortable with. If you already have your mind made up about the strategy you are going to use, then please don't waste time with asking for alternatives that you already know you're going to dismiss. Remind me--why exactly am I defending myself to you, anyway?"

"Michael," The voice across the table from him hailed him quietly. Michael glanced over to Angus who appeared to be trying to provide him some calming support. Michael returned to silence and simply took another sip of his firewhiskey.