Scream

Chapter 5

Warnings:
death
grief

James wasn't sure how long he stayed holding Peter's body. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. He'd stopped crying. Now he was just staring at his friend's lifeless corpse, unable to fully believe that he was dead.

James was snapped out of his trance when he heard the floor creak, his heart racing, and he crawled backwards away from Peter's body and the bathroom as quietly as he could, grabbing Fabian's baseball bat that was leaning against the wall.

He stood upright, hands tight around the bat as he crept closer to the bathroom and where he'd heard the creak. He'd swing the bat if he needed to. He didn't want to, but he knew if it came to it he would.

There was another creak, closer this time, and then another, and then someone was turning the corner into the bathroom and James was raising the bat to swing, about to bring it down when he recognised Sirius standing there, staring at James with a mix of relief and concern.

James let out a whimper and let his arm drop, the bat hanging limply by his side as he stared at his best friend. Frank walked in after him, but James only had eyes for Sirius, launching himself towards him until they were hugging, holding each other as tightly as possible.

"We heard screaming," Frank said. "What happened- "

He stopped speaking abruptly, no doubt spotting the dead body of Peter Pettigrew lying on the floor. James squeezed his eyes shut as he heard Sirius choke out a sob and hugged him tighter as he felt him start to shake. They'd lost one of their best friends, their fellow Marauder. How could they be the Marauders with only three members? It wouldn't be right without Peter. Nothing felt like it would be right without Peter.

"What happened?" Sirius managed to choke out in between his tears.

James pulled away from Sirius to stare at the body of his friend, his fellow Marauder, his family. "We found the murderer and started running, but Pete couldn't run much longer so we locked ourselves in here. Peter went into the bathroom, and then I realised that we were in Fab's room and that Gideon's room was connected to it. When I got to the bathroom he was already dying."

Sirius only cried more at the response, but it was the quiet type of crying, where he shook violently as he supressed all the painful sounds his body was trying to release. Sirius never let people hear how much he was in pain, never let them hear him cry, a habit he no doubt picked up while living with the Blacks.

"We need to go," Frank said. "I know you don't want to leave Peter, but we've got to get to Mary and Remus now that we know the murderer is still in the house."

"And Regulus," James added. "We need to find him too."

Sirius shot him a look, one that held suspicion in it and James looked away, trying to calm his rising heartbeat as he pretended like that look didn't affect him at all. Sirius couldn't find out about him and Regulus. Not now, when all these terrible things were happening. It would only make Sirius's response worse, and James wanted it to be as easy as possible when he told Sirius about Regulus.

They left the room and Peter's body, James feeling like he was betraying Peter by doing so. Shouldn't they take his body with them? Shouldn't they keep it with them at all times until it was safe to truly mourn him? James didn't want to leave Peter's body, because it felt like leaving him, like admitting he was dead, and James wasn't sure he was ready for that.

He didn't have a choice though, and so they left Peter's body and hurried through the mansion, down the stairs and down again until they were on the second floor where Mary and Remus should be. They didn't split up, knowing that the last time they did that someone died. Instead, they stuck together, each looking out for the other, eyes searching the floor for any sign of Remus and Mary or the killer.

If James wasn't so terrified, he'd probably take the time to have a proper look at his surroundings. Being in Gideon and Fabian's house always left him breathless, because it was so big and extravagant. James was rich, yes, but not this rich. He could probably fit his house in here twice over, and his house was big.

Yet James found himself not caring about the house in the least. He didn't care about the décor, the furniture, the paintings. Regulus was in trouble. Remus and Mary were in trouble. They were all in trouble, trapped in this giant house with a murderer. There was no time to fawn over how pretty the house was, so James didn't.

He continued forward, leading the group of three as they searched for their missing two. Were Remus and Mary okay? Were they hurt? Were they... dead? James got his answer mere moments later when he spotted Remus turning the corner at full speed running towards them with fear plastered on his face.

"The murderer got Mary," he shouted as he got closer to them. "They're chasing me. We have to go, now."

Just as Remus said, the killer in the Ghostface costume turned the corner right after Remus, and as soon as Remus caught up to them they were all running as fast as they could. James didn't stop, lungs burning as his feet moved faster and faster, desperately trying to outrun the killer behind them. He could hear their footsteps behind them but didn't dare look in case he tripped.

He was just wondering if they'd be able to outrun him, lose him in the maze of a house, when Remus gasped, falling forwards and tripping over a rug. Frank, James, and Sirius all skidded to a stop and started helping Remus up, only to see him wince when he put pressure on his foot.

"It's sprained," he whispered. "My ankle is sprained."

The murderer was coming closer, so James and Sirius each took one of Remus's arms and slung it over their shoulders, hobbling forward. James was still holding the baseball bat in his free hand, but he wouldn't be able to swing it in this position. They were going remarkably fast considered they were basically dragging Remus, but not fast enough.

With every second the killer was gaining ground, and as James and Frank shared a look, they both knew they weren't going to escape them. James would be damned if he just left Remus to die though, so he continued moving forward, half dragging Remus along with them.

"We're not going to make it," Frank said, glancing back at the killer while he ran, who was much closer than before.

"It's not like we can do much about it," Sirius snapped. "I'm not leaving Remus- "

"I'm not suggesting you do that," Frank said grimly, and then stopped running.

James stopped too, staring at Frank, the boy he'd looked up to for years, and shook his head furiously. "No," he said. "No, no. You're not sacrificing yourself for us."

"You won't make it otherwise," Frank said. "I'll hold them off, give you more time to run."

"Frank-" Remus started.

Frank shook his head, his eyes darting back to the killer gaining on them. "Go, now. Go."

Wordlessly, James handed the bat to Frank who gave James a sad smile. James had to force himself not to stay, to fight with Frank, and gave him a quick, lightning-fast hug.

With a heavy heart, James and Sirius continued running, glancing back one more time before they turned the corner to see Frank standing up straight, facing the killer with the bat raised. If he was going down, he was going down with a fight.

They turned the corner and Frank disappeared. James didn't know if he would survive or not, didn't know if the killer would be able to take him. He did know the feeling of grief that overtook him, all too familiar after the night he'd had.

Frank was gone.