February 18th, 1890 — North Bartonburg

Although Bragi was quietly equipped with new ambitions these days, being a landlord was what had first given him financial security here in Hogsmeade, and so he was all too glad to receive correspondence from his tenant, Quidditch pro Mundungus MacFusty. Mr MacFusty lived at Bragi's property on Orpington Way, and Bragi walked there now, collar turned up against the drizzle that whispered down from the silver afternoon sky.

He knocked on the door. Mr MacFusty had sent an owl regarding a sudden disturbance beneath the floorboards in the pantry. Bragi rather thought the towering athlete would deal with whatever it was much better than Bragi, who was delicate and slight, but he was the landlord, and thus obliged to review the damage and manage the solution.

Mundungus MacFusty

  

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Munny did not have much cause to be in his pantry so he had not been the one to encounter the creature. His cook had come to him in a fright and refused to come in to work until it was taken care of. He could hardly bust up the floorboard so he had owled Mister Holm. Besides, who knew what could be lurking under the floorboards. Munny knew better than to underestimate a creature due to its size. After all, some could go from insect sized to as big as a house in mere seconds.

Hearing a knock on the door, he opened the door and smiled sheepishly at his landlord. "Mister Holm! Now perhaps my cook will return to me and I shall not starve," he said in jest as he let the smaller man into his home.

  

Merlin, he was a tall creature and no mistake. Bragi often forgot this even when he pictured Mr MacFusty (which was... sometimes? That was normal, yes?). It was lucky that Number Four Orpington Way had high ceilings.

Bragi took off his hat and smiled as Mr MacFusty welcomed him graciously indoors and out of the drizzle, though he felt rather guilty about the joke. Perhaps, somehow, Bragi's negligence as a landlord had caused the disturbance in the pantry, which in turn had forced the poor tenant (and his cook) out of his own kitchen.

As he walked through, he looked up at the fellow and asked; "do you have any inkling as to what it might be, Mr MacFusty?"

  

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Oblivious to the other mans guilty feelings, he led the way to the pantry. "If we're lucky, it will be nothing more than imps or doxys. If we're unlucky, it's either an occamy - which is very unlikely, at least - or a boggart. In which case, your presence will help, I think." Munny had always felt the tried and true way to banish a boggart was to first confuse it by having it confront two different people which resulted in two different fears for it to try and emulate. And then the Riddikulus spell. And if they were lucky and it turned out to be run of the mill household pests such as doxys, then Mister Holm would still be helpful in getting rid of them.

  

The last time Bragi had visited Number Four Orpington Way had been to grant Mr MacFusty tenancy. Now he saw the residence had vastly changed, furnished and decorated to the tall man's liking. Bragi was very interested, and tempted to glance here and there to see what he'd done with the place — but he didn't want to be nosy, and so he resisted, content to be led straight to the pantry.

"You sound like you were top of the Magical Creatures class", the boy observed, impressed at Mr MacFusty's knowledge of what the disturbance might be. "Let's hope it isn't a boggart", he added uneasily, but as they reached the pantry he heard a tell-tale clatter beneath the floorboards, and his heart felt a chill. The sound was starkly familiar from the Defence class in which they'd been exposed to these particular creatures.

Bragi had failed his assignment that day.

  

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"Aye, that I was. Outstanding on my NEWT exam," Munny stated though he said it matter of factly instead of in a boastful way as most anyone else might have done. "My familys lot tend to be dragonkeepers, dragon researchers - anything to do with dragons, really. Which is where I'll be once I'm done the Quidditch thing." Which he excelled at as evidenced by his having made first string so early in his career. All in all, Munny was set for life career-wise.

Munny harrumphed a little and squatted close to the floorboard that the racket was coming from. "Are you ready, Mister Holm? Perhaps, wands out just to be safe?"

  

"Dragons! Gosh. Well —" but Bragi's curious enthusiasm was cut short by another ungoldly racket beneath the floorboard. He gave an uneasy nod to Mr MacFusty, and drew his wand.

And as prepared as they were for what it transpired to be, Bragi didn't expect what he saw when the floorboard was raised. He frowned. "Why, it's just an old hand mirror", the youth murmured, and picked it up. "How could such a thing be making such a —" But, once again, he was interrupted. For suddenly he saw something in the mirror... something that gripped his very core with fear. With a gasp of horror, Bragi instinctively threw the mirror across the pantry with all his might.

  

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Mundungus took his own wand out and lifted the floorboard. The boggart must not have seen him since it was not any sort of mirror that Munny had a fear of. Truth be told, he wasn't even sure what form his might take should it have a chance to form up whatever his deepest fear was for he was not the sort of man to dwell on his fears.

Before Munny could stop him, the pretty little redhead had picked up the mirror. And was throwing it across the pantry in what Munny could only describe as sheer terror. He was curious but also very much into getting rid of the pest. "Mister Holm - Bragi,", he said, personally figuring the over familiarity might jolt the lad back into his senses from the surprise of it. "Take a breath and think clearly. It looks to be a boggart." The other man shielded by Munnys much larger body as he turned back to face it, he was very much proven correct as it took the form of himself shifting into a feral werewolf.

  

"Yes, of course... s-sorry", he breathed, voice shaky with fear as he did as advised and took a deep breath. His head flooded with oxygen and he calmed down a bit, but his eyes were still glued to the hand mirror now on the floor on the other end of the pantry. They had discussed it was a Boggart, and thus of course it would've taken the form of something he feared greatly. Looking in a mirror to see himself... like that... and those jeering voices... he shook the memory out of his head the best he could. He didn't want to think about it.

But by now there were distractions anew. The Boggart now took the form of Mundungus MacFusty in duplicate, body growing wretchedly, sprouting hair, clothes tearing as he became a gigantic, fearsome Werewolf.

A full-grown Werewolf right here on Orpington Way, one sunny afternoon in February... he had not expected today to turn out like this!

  

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Munny eyed Mister Holm dubiously, protective instinct rising in his gut. He was so very tall and brawny compared to his landlord. "We have to confuse it," he said as he moved so that Mister Holm would be within the boggarts view once more. It seemed uncertain on what to do as it tried to emulate both their fears. Instead becoming some odd mirror-wolf hybrid that was a tad disturbing to see.

"Ready to cast the riddikulus spell with me?" He asked.

  

Bragi tried to shake away the memory of what he'd seen — literally shaking his head at one point — and, strangely enough, the fearsome visual of a werewolf helped. It seemed much more... manageable, somehow.

Speaking of management, Mr MacFusty smoothly took command of the situation. Bragi gulped, nodded, and straightened up, holding out his wand. There stood a wolfman with a hand mirror for a head, causing it to bumble foolishly into the wall. At his tenant's signal, Bragi yelled; "Riddikulus!"

  

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Munny incanted the spell as well and watched in satisfaction as the fearsome werewolf-mirror hybrid became a wolf cub chasing its own tail. He laughed and the boggart dissipated with a pop. "Well, Mister Holm, does knowing each others deepest fears put us on a first name basis?" He asked teasingly as he ensured that the boggart was truly gone.

  

Bragi could not bring himself to laugh at the boggart, knowing that it could morph back into what he'd seen, but Mr MacFusty's comment did tease an awkward chuckle from him. He felt confident that MacFusty had not properly seen what Bragi had seen in the mirror, but it was enough that his tenant knew he was a... well, a coward.

"Yes, you're welcome to call me Bragi", replied the Dane, a little out of breath. "I'm sorry I seem to be a bit of a coward", he smiled sheepishly, ruffling his red hair. "The truth is, I'd never encountered a boggart before today. I was off sick when we covered them in classes."

  

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"And you may call me Munny! I suspect it rolls off the tongue a lot easier than Mundungus." It was a strong, common Scottish name but the redhead was decidedly not Scottish so likely thought it a strange, hard to say one. At least, that was what Munny personally figured.

He laughed and good-naturedly patted the smaller man on the back - lightly, of course! "Boggarts are tricky things so do not think of yourself as a coward. If you would like, I could probably get my hands on another one and practice it with you." Though he didn't see why the redhead would want to do that but one never knew.

  

Munny! That was quite a nickname. It made Bragi feel a little anxious, for it seemed inappropriately intimate to be addressing his tenant as such; but there was no harm doing so when they were in private. He smiled despite himself, for it was always a very fine thing to make a friend.

But at the mention of boggarts, he paled. He was sure Munny hadn't seen his boggart fully — Bragi in the mirror, surrounded by the people he respected most in all the world... all jeering at him, hating him. He didn't want his tenant to see that properly; it was incredibly embarrassing, and Bragi couldn't stand the indignity. "Oh... per-perhaps some day", he replied a little breathlessly.

"Alright, let's tidy this up", he murmured to himself, pointing his still-drawn wand at the floorboard and charming it neatly back into place. "Erm, Mr Mund — Munny. I don't suppose I could trouble you for a cup of strong tea?" he asked hopefully, smiling once more. Danish though he was, Bragi could be very British when it came to the healing powers of a nice cup of tea.

  

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"Just say the word and I'll procure a boggart," he said. He would likely need to buy something to capture a wild one in the woods or something but he could figure it out. Borgin and Burkes probably had something for it.

"What kind of host would I be if I didn't offer tea?" He asked teasingly as he headed into his kitchen and began setting a teakettle to boil. "Especially after that experience. I need a cuppa myself."