"Oh?" Herpo snorted, his tone thick with suspicion.
He sized up Barty Crouch Jr. and asked, "Can you do something similar?"
"Why not?" Barty Crouch Jr.'s eyes flickered as he calmly laid out his idea. "I could simply declare to the outside world that I have obtained a certain crown!"
"As long as I use this crown to command all humanity... In fact, I wouldn't even need to command all humanity. It would be enough to command only a portion of them!"
"As long as I use this crown to command some humans, I can turn their will into a weapon, into power—and even use that power to contend with, or perhaps even destroy, Death!"
"Right! I need to add a few more conditions!" He seemed to have thought of something else. "For example, only the wearer of such a crown can sense its existence!"
"It must be invisible. No one else can see it!" He suddenly burst into laughter, shooting Herpo a provocative look. "What do you think? It's a great idea, isn't it?"
Herpo neither agreed nor disagreed. He merely slowly raised a hand and pointed at the bedraggled Calchas on the ground. "This is the consequence of treating the Deathly Hallows lightly! Do not forget..."
His voice turned icy. "He merely took one look at the Deathly Hallows through the Eye of Heaven, and he ended up this weakened. Even the Eye of Heaven itself was damaged."
"Why don't we hear what he has to say?" Voldemort glanced at Calchas from the corner of his eye. "Calchas, what exactly did you see?"
Understanding at once, Barty Crouch Jr. raised his wand and helped Calchas to his feet.
When Calchas groaned, swayed, and was about to topple backward, he gave his wand a timely flick, conjuring an armchair