Chapter 6

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Orion didn't make it too far, stopping after taking only a few steps out the door, it was still winter after all.

Remus, Regulus, Sirius, James and Peter ran into the forest, as the door to the manor shut. They let out a huff as they stopped being chased. The only problem now was that they had to get back inside to floo back to Hogwarts, or they better start walking and maybe they'd make it back in time for exams.

"Why the fuck," James coughed. "Is your family so murderous?"

"They're death eaters, it's what they do," Regulus shrugged.

"Pete, you coming out?" James questioned, opening his pocket, revealing the cold rat. Peter squeaked in response. It was a very cold winter, James didn't blame him, he was tempted to turn into his animagus form to keep warm, deer could survive the coldest of winters.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Sirius asked, brushing the falling snow out of his hair.

Regulus thought for a moment. "We could head to the back of the house, we'll probably need to sneak back inside in order to floo out of here, but if we wait long enough, we could sneak in while they're eating lunch or something," He suggested. The house was large enough that they could easily sneak in if they were quiet enough. It also depended on the exact whereabouts of both Walburga and Orion. In addition, Kreacher. Regulus doubted he could talk their way out of another encounter with him.

There was a brief moment where each of them had to stop to question if they were still in a nightmare or not. It felt like a loop of bad luck that wouldn't end, and maybe it was just another dream, and maybe all they had to do was survive the week to wake up from the mess, none of them really understood a thing that was going on.

What they knew; They all were experiencing odd dreams, except Peter, and Remus, maybe? He had only mentioned a dream about a cup of tea, nothing bad there, but then he mentioned a dream where Sirius wouldn't shut up about dying, which lined up with both James' and Sirius' dreams, and after the first nightmare, Regulus claimed that Sirius died as well, so really, it all matched minus Peter and Remus for the most part.

Maybe there was a pattern, Regulus recalled Remus poisoning him with a cup of tea, and Remus had a dream about a cup of tea. Maybe they should actually talk about their nightmares, Regulus remembered Barty dying in both nightmares, was he also having these dreams?

"We should have brought brooms," James stated.

"It would take hours to fly back to Hogwarts from here," Remus pointed out.

"Would be better than walking," Sirius remarked.

Regulus wanted to groan. If he hadn't sent out that cry for help, none of this would have been happening, they'd be back at school and he'd be inside and not freezing his fingertips off.

"What if only one of us goes and floos back to Hogwarts?" Sirius suggested.

"What?" Regulus asked, looking at his brother like he was an idiot.

"What I meant was like, myself or Wormtain could use our animagus to sneak into the house and then floo back and we could get Minnie to help," Sirius explained.

"Finally, you've had a somewhat good idea," Remus exhaled. "Only problem is that we're not splitting up," He already knows what'll happen. If they split up, they'll start randomly disappearing, and end up injured or killed. He knew how it worked, they'd experienced it enough in their nightmares. There would be no repeat of last time.

"Besides, I think a random dog running through the house is just as noticeable as us running through," Regulus pointed out.

"Well Pete, you know, the one with the tiny rat animagus," Sirius reminded them, his idea could work.

"And does Pettigrew agree with this plan?" Regulus asked, knowing the other would most definitely not. He still had the habit of fluctuating between first and last names for each of the 6th-year Gryffindor boys.

This is when he finally shifted out of his animagus form, which was keeping him rather warm up to this point.

He shook his head, "Sorry to let you down, but..." Peter went silent. He didn't have faith in himself to be able to complete the task alone.

"Right, it's not your fault Pete,"

The boys discussed some more before deciding to walk around the back of the house, knowing that Walburga or Orion could exit the house at any moment and catch them standing right there, and knowing Walburga, she's want to go out for blood before letting the slightest thing go, especially when Regulus was involved. If Regulus were to leave now, he'd never return, knowing the consequences he'd have to face, meaning the Blacks didn't have an heir.

At the back of the house, there were patio doors that were left unused throughout the winter. As long as neither of the Blacks stepped into the kitchen, they wouldn't see the boys, it's not like they had any excuses to go into the kitchen anyway, they had Kreacher to do all of their cooking.

They'd be lying if they were to say that they weren't cold, it was supposed to have been one of the coldest winters yet, Sirius ended up turning into his animagus to keep warm.

Poor Regulus who was very sensitive to the cold was just about done for. He was pacing in circles in an attempt to stay warm.

"You should really become an animagus," James suggested to the Slytherin.

Regulus rolled his eyes. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, it's cool, and you can join the animal kingdom with us," James said, giving the younger boy an expression as if to say 'duh'.

"What animagus would Regulus have to begin with?" Sirius questioned, turning back into his human form.

"Probably something tropical," James pondered. It's true, his animagus probably wouldn't even be something that could handle the cold weather. "Ooh! Like a flamingo!" He exclaimed.

Regulus rolled his eyes once again at this. "You think I'd be some useless pink bird that stands on one leg?" Regulus looked offended at that.

"Mhm, I'm sure you'd be a cute flamingo," James assured.

Regulus glared at the other boy, "Thanks," He said sarcastically before a vision flashed through his mind and his face dropped even more, if possible.

"I fucking hate you," Regulus groaned as he remembered his first year during yule break while staying at the Potters when James and Sirius pranked him by turning his head into the one of a pink flamingo.

James laughed, having completely remembered this prank that he oh so loved.

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