Pictures of Africa
He looked at pictures of Africa, and of America, even Ireland, and he couldn't help but think 'perhaps when the world was being coloured in, they just ran out of colour when they got to England.'
Every time he came to the city, that big bloody city known as London, he felt dazed. Not dazed in a good way, like that one time with James in a house in the south of France, but dazed in a lifeless, pathetic, I'm-the-only-one-left type way, which seemed all the more obvious when he was in London.
There was a day. It wasn't immediately after Sirius had been taken to prison, but about three months after that. He had found a job in Ireland, a publishing house. The pay was good, the hours excellent, the manager had even said Remus could work from home when his 'arthritis' played up. Remus had got off the phone and he was grinning. Somehow, he had forgotten everything. He had run into the study to find a piece of parchment. He had to tell his friends! The parchment was in the top draw, as per usual, and the quill was already stocked with ink, so he pulled them both out and began to write,
Sirius, great news!
That was it. The furthest he ever made it was that one little bit. Then something imaginary but very much felt had smacked him upside the skull and pulled his intestines downwards towards his scuffed leather shoes. Sirius would never again be at the start of his letters. Nor would James, nor would Peter. Nor Lily.
Since that day, Remus had felt very little. That job of his had gone nowhere, and none of them had since. His existence was a slow and colourless one, despite all the pictures of Africa he could find. New Zealand and Indonesia did nothing for him either, and when he came to London, it was always with a heavy heart.
This time, it was with trepidation as well. Approaching Kings Cross station, his eyes darted somewhat fearfully about, eyes searching for that once-familiar face, the man now escaped. He saw nothing about him, but he certainly felt something there. As he made his way onto the platform, off on his newest and most exciting job, some devious little part of his mind was thinking 'at least I'm not alone'. He gripped that little slip of parchment in his pocket as he made his way onto the train to return to that place of so many memories.
Sirius, great news!