Reggo My Eggo

Chapter 41

The group rounded the corner, the staircase just barely in sight. The first thing they noticed was that the giant chandelier that had previously been hanging from the high ceiling at the bottom of the stairs was now missing.

It was only once they approached the stairs further that they found the shattered chandelier fallen on the ground with the dead and damaged-looking body of Barty Crouch Sr.

The group of now five stayed at the top of the stairs. The chandelier had fallen from a great height making glass shatter everywhere.

"Does this mean I'm no longer grounded?" Barty asked, looking down at the sorrowful scene before him.

"Your mom's still alive," Regulus reminded his friend who greatly wanted his wand back which his father had taken away from him.

"What's that like? I can't relate," Sirius commented.

The same situation that had now happened five times had repeated itself.

There was Welburga, Orion, Cygnus, Druella and now Barty Crouch Sr.

Originally, James, Sirius, Regulus and Remus had come up with the thought that it was a casual murder by a group of death eaters who held a grudge but then they had realized that they too were in danger.

Barty Crouch Sr. Was the first non-death eater death so far meaning that any one of the five who were left could be next.

None of them had a wand and even if Mr. Crouch Sr. had his wand with him, it was surely crushed by the chandelier just like he was.

"Do we know if whoever is doing this," Barty waved his arms around from pointing to the still visible bloodstains on the carpet where they were standing to the body of his father and then towards the body of Cygnus Black which was still lying in the same spot as the day before. The house was filled with crime scenes.

"Well no, but there would have to be more than one person to pull this off, they must have eyes everywhere to keep an eye on everyone," James spoke.

"True, you said you saw a body in the upstairs of the library, someone would have had to have been there before hiding it possibly with the invisibility cloak while Crouch Sr. Was being crushed alive," Remus nodded along.

"Shouldn't we try and find the killers then, you know, before they find us?" Barty asked. According to what he's heard from the four, either way, they'll probably be caught or maybe dead sooner or later.

"But what good would that do if they have wands and we don't? Five people are dead as well as five owls, we're defenceless," Remus pointed out.

"Right, but you guys were found in the office-" Remus interrupted before Barty could finish his first thought.

"We were caught because James left a trail of glowing goop, leading the killers to our exact location," He explained.

"Right, what about in the library?" Barty questioned.

"We don't know that we were caught, if we were then I assume we would have known, you're the only one who found us," Remus reasoned.

"Well I say we all split up," Barty suggested.

"Um, what?" Sirius scoffed. "Yeah no,"

"Barty, have you lost your mind, that'll only help the killer" Regulus gawked, staring at his idiotic best friend.

"Fine, fine. Instead, we can all watch each other die," Barty shrugged.

"No one will die if we stay in a group, we've survived two full days and no one got hurt," Remus insisted.

Barty finally agreed to not split up -which might as well be suicide- with the help of Regulus who forced his best friend to follow their lead.

The Group left the crime scene which now held three different murders scenes. The group was walking the halls, they weren't going to return to the library or at least not straight away, someone had already been in there and they could still be there or they could return.

Instead, they walked around, trying to scope out a good new hideout.

The first idea, -which came by Sirius- was to head down to the dungeons or his parent's wing of the house but they couldn't get down to the main floor because of the fallen chandelier and the fact that they weren't planning to return to the library, so for now, they couldn't even get to the kitchen.

The first plan of action was to find the nearest washroom, which they all -minus Barty- required and James was in need of a long shower to wash his hair of the dried goop. Afterwards, they were going to Sirius or Regulus' room so they could change clothes from the ones they'd been wearing for days. That step was only added to their plan because James' clothes were crusty from the dried goop, which wasn't a pleasant feeling.

Reaching the washroom, Sirius went in first as the others waited in a group on the other side of the door. The washroom they were using was the one by Sirius and Regulus' room which was also across the hall from the library door which may have been a risky move.

James was the last to be let into the washroom so that he could take a few minutes extra to shower. Remus gave him three minutes max, James tried to bargain the time higher but Remus told him that his time had already started and he was wasting it so he quickly shut the door and got in the shower which delivered ice-cold water.

Sirius, Remus and Regulus were in the midst of discussing their next plan of action which would be to find a new room to relax in for the time being.

All they needed to do was last the entire winter break and then someone would notice them missing and because it was known that Regulus was heading home, they'd have to check the Black manor for him and they'd be rescued. Their only problem was that winter break lasted two weeks.

When the group turned to Barty, waiting for his input on their plans, Barty wasn't there.

Barty had previously been standing right beside Regulus, they were leaning against the wall across from the washroom but now he was gone without notice.

Right then, James exited the washroom with his wet hair looking even more untamed than unusual.

"Barty's missing," Regulus spoke.

"I was only gone for three minutes," Jaimes exclaimed.

"He couldn't have gone far, he's probably in the library or something, I'm sure we would have noticed if he walked away," Remus reassured.

Regulus opened the library door that they had been so eager to stay away from. At first sight, Barty was nowhere to be seen.

The Group stepped further into the room but it was silent until they heard a call from the distance:

"The killer is-" The muffled voice was cut off by a very faint thump before silence filled the house.

"What did he say?" Sirius asked worriedly.

"I think... I think he said, Minnie?" James questioned.

"The killer's Minnie!?" Sirius exclaimed loudly.

"The killer's not Minnie," Remus had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.