The Gaining of Profits in Order to Survive

James walked in quietly and immediately look down at his feet. He hasn't been to a meeting in a while. He's been a Death Eater since he was sixteen. He never had an important role, but he's always been loyal. He also decided to lay low for a while after moving out. He took a seat next to Naomi.

"Hey, Naomi." He whispered.

He greeted her than looked around and noticed his cousin, Alistar.

"Hey, Alistar. Long time, no see." He said.

Sofie could feel eyes on her. She stood tall, stuck in the crossfire of glares and judging looks, her heavy eyelids unmoving, and her blue orbs remained motionless on Ne'Os. However, a voice reached her ears, one that seemed to be directly addressed to her. Sofie turned her head, and her head only, so her gaze could take in the approaching figure.

The woman was unfamiliar to Sofie. She did not let any sort of emotion cross her face however, simply waiting for cliarification. The woman spoke in Sofie's other language (for both Russian and English were equally imposed on her in childhood, and neither could be considered her primary language) and Sofie tilted her head microscopically in interest. The woman continued on and at the name, recognition rang in Sofie's head, though it was faint. "My father had mentioned you. It's pleasing to meet you, Ms. Forbes," was her response, gentle but untelling.

Another person had entered, but Sofie's eyes turned back to Ne'Os, still awaiting his say.

Thaor was sitting in his office at the ministry when he felt a familiar burning on his arm. It had been a while since he had felt it, he had almost forgotten about the tattoo until now, he was curious what the meeting would be about, and couldn't decide if he wanted to attend or not. His last face off with Emof didn't go very well.

Thaor decided, against his better judgement, to attend the meeting. He apparated to Malfoy Manor, kept his hand in his pocket with his wand loosely in grasp, and entered the manor. Upon entering the meeting room, he saw several familiar faces, Emof at the head of the table, and Naomi, this will be interesting Thaor thought to himself.

Thaor was rather rough looking, he had been hidden away for a long time, the illness that was going around had yet to reach him, and he seemed to be one of the only ones in the room without green skin.

I bring news from the ministry. Thaor said, nodding towards Emof before taking a seat, hand still close to his wand.

It was time to quash the rumours. Gossip of his retirement had become unbearably loud. What bruised his ego even further were suggestions that he had retired to tend to an ailing body, or that he was way past his heydays. Whatever the reason for his missing in action, Augustus Rookwood had become increasingly offended. He, the man who served the Dark Lord faithfully. He, the man who fooled the Ministry. He, the man who took part in the Wizarding Wars. He, the man who survived Azkaban. He, unable? Admittedly, Augustus had hidden for too long in the comfortable world of Rookwood Manor. It was hard not to. After years of being overlooked by his father, his deeds for Voldemort had assisted him in his quest to be the favourite Rookwood man. This, despite the three brothers that preceded him. Augustus could not detach himself from the safety of family, and the certain new-found power bestowed to him. That is, until popular doubt of his incapacity reached his ears.

As he prepared to travel by Floo, the middle-aged man remembered the previous meeting at Malfoy Manor that came to nought. What a disappointment. He had wanted Kendall, who made a first appearance at the famed residence, to see what he saw years ago, when the Manor had been full of passionate Death Eaters eager to take up anything Voldemort would have required. Augustus couldn't wrap his head around the lacklustre of the last one. While he would have preferred to take Kendall along to this one too, the man had decided against it. He was going to respond to his detractors on his own first. An appearance with the boy could only stir up rumours about a hand-over of power to the younger Rookwood; and as much as Kendall was his pride and joy, Augustus could never not be selfish about his own reputation first. He had worked for what he got for years. The boy had everything handed to him. It wasn't fair, no. But he loved Kendall, for as long as Kendall didn't interfere with his personal ventures.

The sight of the other Death Eaters bore no resemblance to the fearsome ones of the past. Still, Augustus was willing to give them a chance. He still had his patience with him. For now, at least. After all, he depended on them to overturn the rumours. Sort of. He had also been inactive for years now. Whatever it is, he was going to get acquainted. There were many unfamiliar faces, while some were people he merely knew by brief acquaintance or prior knowledge. One thing's for sure, though. The numbers had dwindled. There was, however, one person he knew better than others. Augustus walked past some of the unknowns until he found himself standing near Alistair D'Eath, "Hyperion's boy". The last time Augustus had seen him was ... well, before Hyperion's death. Hyperion was one of the few Death Eaters Augustus actually liked. Nasty Aurors. He offered a nod to the man who he only remembered as a boy, and then turned his attention to a much older man who was speaking now.

Zada nearly laughed when she saw Elldir entering. She cast a glance at Emof. She was interested in seeing how Emof would welcome a double agent. Personally, she had no use for them, and she was far more interested in ignoring, pretty much, anything he brought to the table and just offing him and letting the organization proceed without 'contaminants' in their midst. She felt Lorcan rest his hand gently on top of her wand hand. Not yet. He wasn't going to let her off anybody quite just yet. Zada was very good at killing. It was her specialty, and Lorcan well knew it. Lorcan was insisting that Emof remain in charge.

She crossed one long shapely leg over the other, her eyes shifting to Alistair, in a silent request to simply kill Elldir if he so much as sneezed in an unacceptable manner. She would make it well worth Alistair's while. He usually read her very well, so she had no doubt that he'd gotten her message.

"Well, well," Zada said, brimming over with sarcasm. "Our former leader has returned to the fold, after betraying us to the Lupins. And now you've turned on them as well. Let me make this clear to you, Elldir. You so much as put one gray hair out of place, and--whether Emof vouches for you or not--I will definitely kill you. No two ways about it. And let's face it. It really is just a matter of time, isn't it? If I dont' kill you, Robert Lupin surely will. Or have you forgotten your former schoolmate's more ruthless side? He doesn't play by the rules exactly either." Zada knew Robert didn't play by the rules, he made the rules. And from her sources, his daughter had a much quicker fuse than the Minister did. It would be interesting to see who offed Elldir first. It was public knowledge that Lupins closely guarded and protected each other. The famous, or infamous, Remus had been responsible for creating that in them. And if Robert did not kill Elldir for his betrayal, then surely his daughter would not hesitate. Elldir was little more than a dead man walking, so far as Zada could see.

There was a lull in conversation – or rather, there was a lull in important conversation and so Alistair observed the beginnings of idle chit-chat among the antsy Death Eaters that seemed to want to get up to something that night. He had an idea or two. His own fingers were quivering with the desire to have a raid on an unsuspecting Muggle village in the north or a particularly grizzly area of London where, though no one would miss the casualties, there would be enough of them for the Daily Prophet to report on such a ‘tragedy’.

Most seemed interest in the Russian but Alistair couldn’t understand it himself. She wasn’t particularly remarkable in terms of appearance though he wasn’t one to doubt her abilities. He’d learnt from that. He supposed someone would find her attractive. Probably Lucifer – his creepy bastard of a cousin that had picked the worst place in the world to make conversation.

“Not now, Lucifer.” Alistair replied, impatient clear from his tone. “We’ll speak later if you insist.”

They were due a smidgen of excitement and that came in the form of Thaor Elldir who had betrayed them spectacularly. Alistair noticed immediately the way Zada’s hackles had gone up and he nodded briefly to Augustus who had also just entered the room, before crossing the room to stand behind Zada. He placed his hands on her shoulders, giving them a quick squeeze.

“Calm, Zada.” Alistair murmured to her before flicking his gaze over to Thaor. “You have no place here, traitor. Say your bit and then leave. You are no longer welcome here.”

James sighed. Alistair seemed to push him away quite often. Even when they were outside of Death Eater meetings.

"Yes, Alistair. Later would be fine." James said. James looked away from Alistair and started paying attention to everyone else's actions.

Aaron did not involve himself in any of the conversations going on around him, he did not care about everyone's petty problems, he had his own to worry about. His mind drifted away to his own thoughts and he went back to what he found himself always thinking about. His quest to find the cure was getting absolutely nowhere, and though he had secretly enlisted the help of Lorcan, the two of them were no closer to finding it then they were before they started.

Other people had to be searching for it as well, but he wanted to believe that they were the closest. He was pretty sure he was getting somewhere with the whole Merlin idea, but they had not had a chance to confirm it. It seemed like a long shot but it was all they had.

His thoughts were disturbed by someone who was standing for an overly long time. He looked up to see a woman who he had never seen before and she was just standing waiting for a reply, from what it looked like,from Neos. He smirked and he leaned back in his chair and looked at her "You can sit down you know," He said with a smirk before patting the seat next to him. "I don't bite."

Sofie seemed to have been ignored, and frustration was turning over and deep within her, it wrestled with her need to appear placid and respectful. To be so strongly ignored made her want to pick up and escape the fray of arguing, hostile voices. How could she be of help to anyone when they were to busy fighting in and amongst each other. She just added to the cluttered feeling they all had. They were turning on one of the men, the Zada woman seemed to think it was she that was in charge, and another man's conversation had been cut off.

Yes, moments like these reminded Sofie that she lived among animals. Humankind was not even a glorified evolution of an animals. Humankind was the most base of all the animals.

It was with a small sigh that she dropped her gaze, before looking up with a cold glare (still trained on Ne'Os) of someone who had long been forgotten and was trying to offer up a sort of reminder. A voice caught her attention andshe turned to view who it was that was addressing her. She nodded, too upset to smile, and said, "Thank you." With that, she sat next to the man, still looking at the head of the table for approval.

Thaor smiled a dry smile at all the insults he was receiving. It was quite funny to him actually. I'll play nice if you do. Thaor said with a smile to Zada. And I happen to know rather well Robert Lupins dark side, I'm part of the reason it's there. Robert Lupin can not kill me, it's not in his nature to actually kill, that much I know. He may attempt to harm me, but even that would be a stretch. He fears his job is on the line, which it very may well be. Once the world knows what he has been up to, he wouldn't dare jeopardize that anymore by attacking me, that just makes him look all the more guilty.

Thaor turned to Alistair, traitor, while true, it still stung a bit. The truth is, Thaor had been loyal to the Death Eaters until he realized what Grindlewald was up to, he had no choice, he was also loyal to Robert until he realized that while Khaat and Robert were both in their positions, the Lupin family controlled the wizarding world, and that just wouldn't do. One, or the other had to go, preferably Khaat. Alistair, I shall stay, and meet with my successor when business is finished here. I count, what, ten to one. I've survived worse odds. Thaor said, smiling, until his eyes landed upon Remy.

Make that nine to one. I shall stand her and allow one of you to attack me without defending myself, so long as she is that one. Thaor said, motioning to Remy, he knew her secret, and it was time they knew she was fooling them all. Remy, draw your wand, and prove me wrong, squib. Thaor said, staring her in the eyes.