I'd seen several horrible things in my life but none were quite as nasty as seeing Sirius Black slowly transform into a balding, weasel-faced thief. Still, it felt like I'd always been forced to do things I didn't want and this was just one of them. Regulus had pulled through and his source had delivered and, which gave me the creeps every time I turned to look at it. Still, at least I wasn't the one who had to drink it.

That wasn't all his dubious source had come through with though: a wide array of bizarre knowledge on Mundungus Fletcher that made me wonder where it had been acquired. He was the son of Agnes Fletcher, born from a bizarre affair with a cobbler and had a habit of disappearing ... along with half the Fletchers' silverware. He was not close to either of his parents, Mr Fletcher, if the source was to be believed, barely wanting to look at Mundungus unless he was scolding. Despite this, Mundungus appeared to be bizarrely close to his brother, Glenn, with Glenn frequently standing up for his elder brother against the wrath of Mr Fletcher even though the brothers could not be more different. It was a bizarre dynamic although it was hard to feel anything but disdain towards Glenn after what he did to Dorcas. 

"How do I look?" Sirius asked me and Regulus, his awful appearance even managing to make Regulus smile slightly - although he quickly suppressed it.

"No worse than usual."

"Thanks, Regulus," He replied as his brother walked elegantly across the room. Remus was out for the night, visiting his ageing father so we had the house to ourselves although I found myself glancing at the door, just in case him or James were to burst through.

"So, I'll be under the cloak," I cut in, reciting the plan for my own peace of mind, "James leant it to me, I convinced him to visit Peter - "

"I feel bad lying to him," Sirius murmured.

"You also said you understood revenge and you'd do this for me," I replied firmly, "If it were him who'd died, you would be doing the same thing as me. He wouldn't want us to get hurt ... at least not without him there and I - I don't want him to know. Anyway, I'll be under the cloak, Sirius will be Mundungus ... are you sure you can do this?"

Sirius glanced at me through his new eyes, "Well, I didn't drink this potion for nothing."

"Of course he can," Regulus added, "Black sheep of the family? Sounds right up his street."

We both chose to ignore this simply to avoid any conflict before what would inevitably be hard enough already, "So, I'll be under the cloak and Regulus ... where will you be?"

"Not there."

"But ... you helped us with the plan - "

"I know," He replied, "I helped you set it up but I never agreed to be a part of it," For a moment, the haughty demeanour that hung over both the Black brothers left him, "It's too big a risk for me given ... circumstances."

At this, the three of us fell silent before he continued, a little quiet than before, "I've told you as much as I can about Mundungus, I doubt you'd know any more than I do at this point. I-I'm sorry but I just can't take this risk."

For a second, it seemed like Sirius was about to contest this before falling silent. It was clear, this was non-negotiable, the three of us were going to be facing the Fletchers alone.

•••

The Fletchers house, Anglesey Abbey was exactly as we'd imagined when we apparated outside of it: beautiful and majestic yet with a strange loneliness to it. To our surprise, the gates came open after only one spell, which was a tiny bit disappointing given the fact I'd spent a few hours of my life studying lock picking spells which I would never get back. As we walked up to the house, Sirius seemed to have already gotten into character, his usually elegant walk transformed into a slouched shuffle. I wasn't quite sure how he was managing to remain so calm: my whole body was trembling under the cloak, wondering why my life had to be so risky when Petunia was probably tucked up in bed right now.

"You ready?" I whispered as Sirius held out his hand to knock on the door.

"Of course," He murmured, his lips barely moving.

The door was opened surprisingly quickly to reveal a tall, slender man. From under my cloak, I struggled to examine the man's face but could see no resemblance to Glenn at all - I deduced that he was probably a servant of sorts.

For a second, the man at the door's face displayed no emotion before his eyes widened suddenly, "Dung?"

It was suddenly starting to make a lot of sense why Mundungus had vanished off the grid without a trace: if my family referred to me as 'dung' I'd probably vanish too.

"Yeah, that's me," Sirius replied, with scary accuracy to how Regulus had described his voice. He'd managed to make his voice slightly hoarser, a natural consequence of cigarettes, in case anyone had the nerve to call him out on it.

"I'm afraid your mother's out ... and Mr Fletcher was not expecting you."

"Well, you know me, I like surprises," He grinned, "I just wanna speak to 'im."

"I don't know if he wants to speak to you," The man replied.

"I'll only be a few minutes, it won't take up any time wha'soever."

Remarkably this worked: clearly, the Fletchers were not accustomed to the ever-present threat of intruders. Annoyingly, the servant seemed to think we knew our own way through the house which was understandable given he thought Sirius lived her. Sadly, this was a downside for us as Sirius began to wander away, only to be called back.

"Dung ... his office is the other way."

"Oh, of course - "

"Are you drunk?" The man asked, concern in his eyes.

Sirius paused before laughing, "Me? No ... "

The servant clearly didn't believe him, as he added, "You might want to sober up before you see him - "

"No need, 'cos I'm not drunk."

This shut the other man up and we continued to make our way through the house, me sticking close to Sirius's side.

"You're good at this," I whispered, "It's almost like you've met Mundungus before."

"I haven't, but I know the type," Sirius admitted, "Diagon alley is crawling with them, black sheeps of the family who've turned to alcohol and pawning their family's items for money."

"Oddly specific stereotype."

"Yet very accurate," He gave a laugh, "I reckon I would have joined them had it not been for Prongs, Moony and Wormy. It's so easy to fall into the wrong crowd..."

He trailed off as he came to a door.

"Do you think this is it?"

"Given the fact it's the fanciest door down the corridor, I'd go with yes."

"And if it's not?"

Sirius shrugged, "No harm in knocking."

I held my breath as Sirius loudly knocked at the door, the two of us waiting in tense silence before a booming voice called out, "I'm busy!"

"It'll only be a second!" Sirius called back, playing up the hoarseness in his voice.

There was a pause from inside, Mr Fletcher (hopefully) decided to let us in before we were met with the same response, "I just told you I was busy!"

I turned to Sirius, nudging him slightly, "What do we do?!"

"A locked door's never stopped me," He replied firmly, before grinning, "But who says it's even locked."

It seemed that the Fletchers had an aversion to security, leaving gates and doors unlocked alike. which was odd given their son was in dubious company such as the Deatheaters. Perhaps they were operating under the idea that if you had nothing to hide, there was no reason to stay secure, or more likely, they were waiting for Glenn and Mundungus to come home and never wanted to keep them out. I decided to go with the second two as it softened Mr Fletcher a little which was essential given his voice alone was terrifying.

Mr Fletcher actually looked remarkably less scary when we opened the door on him. He was long and thin like Glenn but considerably less muscular, shaped like a toothpick. However, I instantly regretted my thoughts when I saw the look on his eyes, turning from mild anger to complete and utter anger.

"Dung ... I told you I was busy - "

"An' I said it would only take a minute," Sirius replied, "Look, I didn' come 'ere to talk about you ... I'm 'ere for Glenn."

"Your brother is out," Mr Fletcher replied forcefully, "He hasn't been home in months. We haven't seen him, Dung. If you want to wait for your mother, I suggest you wait in the living room, I need to concentrate - "

"On what?"

Mr Fletcher's eyes narrowed, "Are you drunk?"

"No."

"I don't believe you," His nose wrinkled, "You don't seem yourself ... you seem worse."

"Well, 'fraid that's just me. Stuff's happened over the las' few months," Sirius huffed, "Now where's my brother?"

"I told you we haven't seen him," Mr Fletcher replied, rising from his chair, "My main suspect was you. You're well known for your disappearing acts, Glenn, even Merlin would himself would have a hard time competing. What have you done to your brother?"

"I ain't done nothing," Sirius replied, "And - "

The two men were interrupted by the sound of the door slamming, followed by the sound of a soft women's voice drifting through the corridors. There was a visible change in Mr Fletcher, the anger that had made him bristle moments earlier subsiding to make way for haughty reservation. Sirius hastily mimicked this as soft footsteps came up the hall.

If Mr Fletcher resembled Glenn, Agnes was even more so, to the point where she could almost have been mistaken for Glenn himself ... if he was older and a woman that is. Everything about her face was uncannily identical from the high, carved cheekbones to the dark vortexes for eyes.

A curious expression crossed her face at the sight of the man she believed to be her son, softly breathing, "Dung."

She made no attempt to hug him, nor did Sirius, the two standing opposite each other for a few moments before she straightened.

"We weren't expecting you - "

"And we're busy," Mr Fletcher replied coldly.

"Indeed," She agreed, "What do you want Dung?"

Sirius straightened up slightly, adjusting his shabby waistcoat, "I want to find Glenn, 'e's my brother. You said you 'adn't seen 'im, but tha' doesn't mean you haven't 'eard from 'im at all."

Agnes remained silent for a second before softly replying, "We haven't seen nor heard from him in some time. But ... the woman who lives next to the Château de Condé in France said she's seen the lights on every night."

"You think Glenn's there?"

She nodded, much to the displeasure of her husband.

For a second, the accent dropped as Sirius bluntly replied, "Thank you."

She gave another small nod, "Would you like to stay for tea, Dung?"

"No, I'd best be off," He replied, as I'd already begun to retreat out of the study, carefully sidling around Agnes Fletcher. The Fletchers made no attempt to stop him leaving, although I could see Mr Fletcher already prickling with anger again at this wife revealing the location.

I didn't come out from under the cloak until we were out of the estate. By that time, the effects of the potion was just starting to wear off, several strands of dark hair protruding from Sirius's otherwise bare scalp, creating a slightly sinister look.

"Sirius, you were ridiculously good at that, dealing with them."

He gave a shrug, "What can I say? I'm used to it. Most Pureblood families are more or less the same, in a way I was just playing me."

I raised an eyebrow as he added with a grin, "A much less handsome, refined and talented me of course..."