Kasenhis pulled out the leftover paint from their wallpaper project, dipped his brush into the black paint, and drew a skull on his wrist. Then he gave Sirius one as well.
"Eh..? We're pretending to be Death Eaters to catch Remus?" Sirius frowned.
"What's wrong with that plan?" Kasenhis asked.
"Of course not... it's just missing something." Sirius waved his wand, giving both of them pitch-black hoods, then cast a simple Disillusionment Charm to obscure their faces.
"Now we look the part." Sirius even let out a creepy kehehehe laugh.
....
Before long, the two of them found Remus sitting by a tree stump, playing cards with a few wizards. They exchanged a glance—an idea as "reliable" as ever sparked between them.
Sirius strolled over casually. Under the puzzled gazes of the group, he suddenly whipped out his wand like some kind of cowboy quick-draw and hit Remus's companions with a rapid-fire string of Stunners.
Remus, startled, instantly drew his wand and aimed it at Sirius. That's when Kasenhis politely walked over and patted him on the shoulder.
Remus didn't hesitate—he fired a jet-black curse straight at Sirius, then without missing a beat swept his wand behind him to release another.
Kasenhis instinctively blocked with a mechanical arm, but Remus had already broken out of their encirclement. With a sweep of his wand, he lifted the card-playing wizards into the air and bolted for escape.
"Oh... this is the first time I've actually seen him make a move. Didn't expect that," Kasenhis muttered under his breath.
"My fault, I forgot just how good he is," Sirius sighed helplessly.
Meanwhile, Kasenhis came up with another half-decent idea: "Can you do Disguise?"
"Not without Polyjuice Potion." Sirius shook his head.
"You don't need to turn into anyone specific. Just as long as it's not our faces."
"I learned to be an animagus, of course, I can do that kind of transfiguration—and I think I've already figured out your plan." Sirius lifted his wand, dispelled the black mist hiding Kasenhis's face, and muttered, "Dissimulatio Fortuita."
In the blink of an eye, Kasenhis's face turned into the perfect image of a smug American high-school bully. On the other side, Sirius's transformation was complete as well.
"This isn't enough for what I need," Kasenhis said, looking at his new face in a mirror.
"Of course not. This spell has a trigger state. Here's the little remote." Sirius drew a floating rune into the air with his wand.
Kasenhis, seeing it, let out a villainous kehehehe laugh.
......
Elsewhere.
Dragging along a few of his stunned colleagues with magic, Lupin pushed himself toward the dragon reserve's administrative offices. That was where people were.
Since those two in black had chosen to take down his coworkers with simple Stunners instead of killing them, it showed they didn't want their faces seen, nor their deeds known.
As long as he made it to the office—under the eyes of dozens—then no matter how strong they were, they wouldn't dare make a reckless move.
Even if they could kill everyone, there was no guarantee none would slip through the net. And in truth, that kind of massacre was unlikely.
Did they really think just any random riffraff could stroll in here to "study dragons"?
But before he reached the office, Lupin saw two figures who shouldn't have been here at all—and yet, logically, it made perfect sense that they were.
"Hey! Lupin, we're here to catch you!" Kasenhis shouted loudly, arms raised in a big Y-shape.
Lupin let out a breath of relief, hurried forward, and grabbed onto Kasenhis's arm. Dumping his stunned coworkers on the ground, he panted, "Come with me! Two Dark wizards broke into the reserve! One of you, come with me—we'll take them down!"
Sirius strolled up cheerfully. "The Dark wizards you're talking about—like this?" He pulled a little flask from his pocket and pretended to take a sip. At the same time, he subtly activated the rune with his magic. Instantly, his face shifted.
Lupin instinctively drew his wand—only to realize his hand wouldn't budge. A finely crafted mechanical arm had him locked tight.
He glanced up and saw Kasenhis's face morph into that of a complete stranger as well.
"That's enough, Lupin. Play's over." Sirius stepped up and casually hit him with a Stunner.
Kasenhis bent down slightly and hoisted Lupin over his shoulder. "You think he'll kill us both when he wakes up?"
"Not our fault—he's the one who ditched us first." Sirius justified himself.
"Mm, true enough." Kasenhis gave his sleeve a shake, revealing the skull on his wrist spitting out a little snake. "Shame though… he didn't even get to see this."
Sirius nodded. "Ain't that the truth."
The next second, they both felt a strange gaze on them. A burly man's shadow appeared before them. Looking up, they saw it was Neos, the dragon reserve's foreman, staring intently at the skull mark on their wrists.
Just as Kasenhis was fumbling for some excuse, Neos suddenly nodded and simply stepped aside, clearing the way for them.
Kasenhis and Sirius exchanged puzzled looks.
Any normal person, upon seeing two shady blokes dressed like Death Eaters—or to put it more broadly, obvious no-good types—should've reacted differently.
Even if Voldemort's "village-level terrorist gang leader" reputation held no sway outside of England, and even if a Romanian wizard didn't know his name or his Death Eater symbol…
At this moment, their outfits and the unconscious Lupin slung over Kasenhis's shoulder made it very clear the two of them were not good people.
At this moment, Neos's reaction was all kinds of wrong.
Not that Neos should've immediately whipped out his wand and launched into a duel with Kasenhis and Sirius—after all, Lupin was just his employee, not his son. He had no obligation to make some noble sacrifice for Lupin's sake.
But still—he should've at least shown a bit of surprise, maybe some anger. At the very least, he could've raised his hands in a French-style salute… or just bolted on the spot.
Instead, his calm step-aside gesture was…
Off.
Very off.
At least eighty percent wrong in ten different ways!
_________
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