Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Harry Potter *sobs*

Mundungus Fletcher didn't exactly live in a palace. Not even a mansion. He had plans to live in a twelve-bed roomed tent of course, but for the moment, he lived in a grotty flat in London's East End. Animals weren't allowed in the building - though that rule was often disregarded - so Mundungus was mildly surprised when he opened the door of his flat to find a huge black dog there, looking up at him with what Mundungus interpreted as contempt. A contemptuous dog. Fucking great.

He aimed a kick at the animal but reconsidered as the actually quite enormous dog growled threateningly. Mundungus took an unconscious step backwards, leaving enough room for the dog to trot into his two-bed roomed flat. As soon as it was inside, it morphed into a man. Mundungus was terribly relieved. He'd never liked dogs. And maybe he knew this guy, though he had his back to Mundungus at the moment so he couldn't really tell.

'Who're you?' he decided, was the best thing to ask. The man turned round and, Mundungus found that he did in fact know who he was. Well, pretty much every wizard in the country knew who he was. 'Ah, Sirius mate, what're you doing here?'

Sirius chuckled inwardly. He'd been right in coming to Mundungus. Despite his appearance in every wizarding publication in the country in the last week, it hardly made a difference to the small time thief. 'I'm looking for a few things.'

'Yeah?'

'A wand, a rat and a place to stay for a bit,' Sirius checked off. 'What can you do for me?'

'A wand, sure,' Mundungus nodded,' and yeah, if you've got a bit of gold I'll get you a flat. A rat though? Well there's plenty of 'em round here.'

'I'm looking for one rat in particular.'

'All rats look the same to me mate, dunno what use I'd be to you,' Mundungus shrugged.

'Just tell the lads to keep an eye out for a common garden rat that's missing a toe, right? And for an ugly bastard by the name of Peter Pettigrew,' Sirius added nastily.

'A dead bloke? Not much point in that, I'm afraid.'

'He's not dead, just contact me if anyone sees him, right?'

'No bother mate, can I ask why?'

'I'm going to kill him,' Sirius said matter-of-factly. Mundungus nodded and decided it'd be best not to question a murderous, apparently insane Death Eater. Sirius glanced around the little flat and, coming to the conclusion that the green smoke that hung ominously in the air was probably poisonous, thought he should leave as soon as possible. 'When can you get me the wand?'

Mundungus made a gesture as if to say he couldn't possible be expected to know that. 'Two weeks, maybe more.'

Sirius held his gaze with a stony expression that made Mundungus quickly revise his statement. 'Well, I suppose I could get it in a week.'

'Tomorrow,' Sirius said.

'Oh I don't know if I could-'

'How much?'

Mundungus hid his grin. 'Twenty five galleons.'

'Fucking robbery,' Sirius grumbled.

'Hey, I'm providing a service. You obviously can't go into Ollivander's yourself, I'm only trying to help you mate,' he shrugged.

'You're trying to make a fucking profit is what you're at.'

'Your problem Sirius, just remember I could hand you over the Ministry and get the ten thousand reward money-'

'Just remember I could kill you now Dung, and it'd make absolutely no difference to my sentence,' Sirius countered.

Mundungus gulped unconsciously and shrunk back to the wall behind him. Black's killed before, he thought, weighing up his options, best keep your head down, no knowing what he'd do otherwise. 'Fair enough, twenty galleons, tomorrow evening.'

'I'll be here at seven.'

'Great. I'll have a flat lined up for you as well,' Mundungus told him. 'Just for yourself, is it mate?'

Sirius nodded slightly. 'Only for a few weeks. Out of the way too Dung, nothing near any Ministry buildings, as I'm sure you can appreciate my er…circumstances.'

A quick glance at Sirius's old prison robes - rags really - and skeletal features reminded Mundungus of precisely that. Suddenly nervous, he shifted uncomfortably on the spot. 'Listen mate, I don't want any trouble, you know? If you get caught, I don't fancy that flat or wand being traced back to me, right?'

'I won't get caught, Dung,' Sirius dismissed, heading back towards the door. Though Mundungus wasn't exactly won over with the confident statement, he wasn't really sure what else he could do. He watched the fugitive morph back into the huge black dog once more - musing all the while that he could probably get a pretty penny for that sort of information if only the Ministry would trust him about anything at all. He sighed heavily and shut the door. Why did Black want a rat?

AN: so basically I was reading OotP again and noticed that Sirius and Mundungus seemed to know each other quite well. So this came out. Hope you liked it, please review! (By the way, I didn't attempt to write Mundungus's accent as I'd only fail horribly)