Reggo My Eggo

Chapter 42

"Are you sure it's not Minnie?" Asked James.

"Positive," Remus responded.

"Okay, but wouldn't it be badass to discover that Minnie was actually a cereal killer this whole time?" Sirius exclaimed.

"No, it would not," Regulus said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, no need for the attitude, your friend was the one who said it was Minnie first," Sirius commented, putting his hands up in a surrendering type way.

"He never said it was Professor McGonagall, the name was inaudible, besides, why would he call our professor 'Minnie?' That's plain out disrespectful," Regulus told his brother.

"It's not disrespectful, Minnie loves it!" Sirius defended.

They were still standing in the library throughout this conversation and not another word was heard from Barty.

"Here's a bright idea, we go save Barty and then he can tell you how wrong you are," Regulus spoke.

"Or, we stay here and don't traumatize ourselves with another dead body," Sirius reasoned. Each time they'd seen a dead body they'd become weak in the knees, especially after the first few but the worst part was the blood, Druella's body still wasn't seen again after Barty claimed to have seen it but all the other bodies were found in violent conditions.

"So we wait here, and then what? We get cornered and die?" Regulus didn't like the idea of waiting for the killer to find them, he'd rather not get cornered by wizards who have usable wands and other forms of weapons.

"Sirius is right about not going after Barty, it's not worth it," Remus spoke up.

"What do you mean it's not worth it? It's someone's life," Regulus muttered. Barty was his first and only friend who wasn't Sirius, he didn't want to lose him no matter how often he got on his nerves.

"You too? I thought you were the smart one," Regulus mumbled under his breath.

"If you want to go check on him I'll accompany you," James offered.

"Really?" Regulus asked out of shock.

"James, it's too risky, you don't know who's life could be next," Remus' voice was sincere.

"Which is why I won't leave Reggo's side! The buddy system is always reliable," James insisted.

Remus frowned at his friend's suggestion, "We shouldn't be risking it, a pair of two is much weaker than a group of four,"

"We'll be back as soon as you know it," James brushed it off.

"Regulus," Sirius pleaded.

"Nothing will happen to me, you coming or not Potter?" Regulus started walking out the door before turning to look at the boy with glasses.

"Right behind you Reggo," James nodded his head to the Slytherin before looking at his two best friends, "we'll be back before you know it," he promised.

"Fine, meet back here in less than fifteen minutes,"

James and Regulus left the library, closing the door behind them as they adventured off on their own. Barty's yell was heard last from the west side of the manor so that's where they were heading.

By now they had the same path chiselled into their brains, they walked past the bloodstained rug at the top of the overly long and excessive stairs, walking straight past it at a quick pace. They passed multiple doors on their way and ended up turning the corner to find a dried trail of goop leading to Orion's office door. James and Regulus continued passing it, turning the corner where out of the corner of their eyes, they saw a fallen object on the ground.

On the ground laid a harmonica which the Black family certainly didn't keep lying around.

"A harmonica really?" James scrunched his nose.

"Who leaves a harmonica lying around?" Regulus huffed.

"I assume it's not yours," James said, making Regulus scoff.

"How dare you even infer that I play that sorry excuse of an instrument,"

"The harmonica might not be my number one choice of an instrument but it's not that bad," James defended.

"Every time someone gets up to play the harmonica, they start honkin' right from the first downbeat and don't let up until they flourish at the end of the song. On the way through, they step all over the vocals, insist on cluttering and crowding any other instrumental solo, and practically stomp all over a song until it's ruined beyond repair," Regulus ranted, kicking the harmonica further away from him.

"Is your ex a harmonica player or something?" James asked in a concerned manner.

"No, now let's go, fifteen minutes go by fast," Regulus said, ignoring the harmonica as he stepped over it.

"Okay?" James was confused but went with it as they continued down the hall and around a corner.

Up ahead in the hall, they could see a lump laying in the middle of the hall horizontally. Regulus, upon seeing it, picked up his pace to reach the lump blocking their path.

That lump in the middle of the hall was the body of Barty Crouch Junior. Barty was lying motionless with rope gagging him before being wrapped around his neck, strangling him.

Regulus kneeled in front of his friend quietly, refusing to glance back at James who was looking at him worriedly.

No one had a chance to say anything before there was a scream from Sirius before Remus cried out Sirius' name in terror.

"Sirius?" Regulus mumbled as his ears started to ring.

"Pads-" James' heart was racing.

Regulus slowly stood up in fear for his brother but right then a crash was heard from inside the door right next to where he and James stood.

"Run," James mustered out before both Regulus and himself were running down the halls as fast as they could without looking back.

Neither of them stopped, not even when they both could no longer breathe. They both felt as if they were only running off of adrenalin but they kept going.

They practically flew down the stairs, only to realize that they couldn't fully descend the stairs as the chandelier that had fallen earlier that day was still smashed into billions of pieces before them, blocking their path.

"Fuck," Regulus muttered before turning to run back up the stairs with James following.

As they ran back up the stairs they heard loud footsteps coming from the direction that had previously come from, the footsteps were getting closer and they had wasted their time by descending and climbing back up the many stairs.

They continued to run past the library where they had left both Sirius and Remus.

"RUN!" Both James and Regulus shouted as they passed the library. They couldn't afford to stop and if they were to enter the library they'd have to attempt to run down the spiral staircase which would only slow them down.

Neither one was sure if either boy heard their cries, neither one was sure if the other boys were even alright and this is why they shouldn't have split up, Remus was right that they'd be safer as four rather than two and they should have listened. James knew it was his fault in a way, he shouldn't have encouraged Regulus to adventure out to find Barty. If he didn't wish to accompany him, they wouldn't have let Regulus leave and they wouldn't have split up.