Reggo My Eggo

Chapter 46

The door opened further, pushing Remus away from the door. Seeing this, James and Regulus quickly scooted in front of the door, using their weight to stop it from opening.

The door did have a lock and it was locked but the lock could have easily been unlocked with the use of magic or lock picking.

The only way out of the room would be through the window. They were on the top story of the manor so it would be a large fall to the ground but it was the best shot they got.

Remus wordlessly reached his hand to the door handle, relocking the door before he got up from where he previously sat, slumped against the door.

Remus motioned for the other two to stay where they were before he quietly stepped over to the window.

It wasn't a large window but it did open and it was large enough for them to all fit through so Remus slowly and quietly reached up to open the window, letting in the cool winter air.

If Remus had tried to mouth anything to either of the two boys who were struggling to keep the door shut, they wouldn't have been able to read his lips in the dark so they were lost of ways to communicate.

James and Regulus watched as Remus stood on top of the closed toilet seat, peeking his head out the window.

Underneath the window was the lower roof which was only a small fall away, small enough that there wouldn't endure any major injuries. Seeing this, Remus ushered James to the window, trading places with him, now back against the door.

"You have to jump, it's only a short fall," Remus whispers as quietly as he possibly could.

"You want me to jump!?" James tried his best to stay quiet but it was all too overwhelming.

"It's our only way out," Remus mumbled as the door unlocked and the person started forcing the door open.

"Quickly," Remus muttered as he struggled against the door.

Without another word, James climbed up onto the toilet seat before using his upper body strength to pull himself out the window. Before jumping down, he looked back at his friends before letting go of the window, falling onto the roof with a 'thump'

At the sound of James' fall the other two let out a deep breath that they were both holding.

"You next," Remus mumbled, motioning for him to go.

"Are you sure?" Regulus questioned as the doorknob turned.

"Yes, quickly," Remus reached up and looked at the door once again. At the moment they weren't in real danger as with the use of magic the door could have been lying on the floor by now and they could all be dead. They must not realize that they're escaping through the window, they think they have them cornered.

Regulus moved from the door and went to the window. He could see James below, sitting up on the roof, he was okay.

Regulus looked back. "How are you going to get out?" It now occurred to Regulus that Remus wouldn't have the time to reach the window before the door would be forced open with no one to stop them.

"I'll be fine, I'm right behind you," Remus assured, giving Regulus a sincere look before Regulus dropped down onto the roof, joining James.

There was a current snow storm happening leaving there to be already a few inches of snow on the rooftop. The storm didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon.

Regulus gave out a shaky breath as he realized he was okay, he was cold, but okay. James was quick to be by his side to make sure he was okay.

Regulus looked back up to the window, waiting for Remus to appear or show some sign of life but he didn't show. Of course that didn't mean he was in trouble, he could be waiting for the right moment to escape, Remus had to have his own plan, he wouldn't leave them.

"Are you okay?" James asked, looking over at the other.

"I'm fine," He whispered. They were outside, they no longer had to whisper, Regulus reminded himself as he moved to the side so that when Remus were to jump he wouldn't land on him.

James looked up to the window where Regulus stared, waiting for the werewolf to join them.

They were unable to hear any noise from through the washroom window but they were also distracted by many other sounds coming from around them.

A minute went by, and then another but there was no sound, not even of the door being thrown off its hinges or of a strangled cry for help.

"Maybe he needs help," Regulus worried as he sat on the snow covered roof. They were lucky there wasn't much of a slope otherwise they would have slid right off the roof.

"No, no, he wouldn't have told us to leave if he needed help," James spoke in a shaky voice. He already lost one of his best friends, he wouldn't lose another in the span of 12 hours.

"He got us out of the house, maybe that was his plan, to save us before himself," Regulus' fingers and toes had gone numb from the freezing temperatures but he ignored it, he had to wait because Remus would join them, he had to.

"Remus!" Jame cried, just loud enough that he hoped Remus could hear but not any wandering ears.

"God, that's such a Gryffindor thing to do," Regulus muttered, ignoring James' cries.

Five more minutes went by but Remus didn't show up, he was gone.

"We would have heard him yelling if he needed help, right?" James looked to Regulus for reassurance.

"Depends, snow is porous which makes it able to absorb sound, it's an insulator," Regulus mumbled as he remembered the fact he had learned from a book.

James groaned, "You're not helping," he lay back on the snow covered roof so his head was slanted down while his feet were pointing up before he quickly tried to sit up as he began to slide off the roof, head first and he would have too if Regulus did grab onto his hand, stopping him from falling.

Remus wasn't coming, that much James and Regulus had managed to come to terms with as they laid in the snow, probably on their way to getting hypothermia.

The snow was falling as time was passing. There was only around two more hours left of Christmas eve before Christmas would roll by. Even if James and Regulus had managed to get out of the house, they'd have to get to some place warm soon or else they'll die of a factor unrelated to the murders.

The nearest building would be the small cabin-like house that was placed by the river on the large property. The cabin was falling apart and it would probably be too dangerous to light a fire inside so it might not be the safest or best option but the closest town would be miles away and they were in thin clothing that wouldn't keep them warm long enough. They couldn't even signal for the night bus as they didn't have their wands, all they could do was hope for a Christmas miracle.

They decided to take their chances at the cabin, it may be cold but it would keep the wind off them and it beat going back inside the manor.

"I think I have hypothermia," Regulus complained. They had slid off of the roof and landed on a pile of snow that had been piling up from the snow that had fallen off the roof, unfortunately the majority of that pile had turned to ice, leaving them a not so gentle landing.

"Is it bad that I can no longer feel anything?" James asked in response.

They hiked their way through trees as Regulus followed the path that he had memorized by now. Regulus remembered when Sirius had taught him to ride a broom and they'd ride through the forest, stopping at the cabin each time. They'd never been allowed inside because of the conditions even though the cabin could be fixed by the wave of a wand but neither Welburga nor Orion had reason to fix it up as guests normally stayed in the manor so it sat empty for years.

The cabin appeared in the distance and as they approached, they could only hope that Remus could survive on his own.