REUNITED

He stood pensively at the front gate unsure how to proceed. He could remember in infinite detail his last departure from these gates, when he had forcefully taken Dora to stay with her parents. She had refused to give in to what he was saying and eventually out of pure desperation he had used a body-bind curse on her. He could still remember, with terrible guilt the look of burning anguish in her eyes as he had turned and walked away.

He had thought he was doing the right thing. He had thought he was protecting her, her and her baby, his baby, the unborn child she carried inside her. He had told himself that this was the only way, that it was the only right thing to do, that he was doing it for her. He had lied.

'You're a coward'. Even now that memory still scorched, of the look of scorn and disgust in Harry's eyes as he had yelled those words at him. He could remember the anger and shocked outrage that had consumed him at that moment, the sudden fiery desire to rip the boy limb from limb and teach him how wrong he was. It had taken a long, long time for him, alone in the flat that had been so full of life when it was his and Dora's, to finally realize how right Harry had been.

So now he stood here, teetering on the edge of a gateway, longing to go in but terrified to find out where he now stood. Terrified to find that his Dora had come to her senses, terrified to find out that she no longer loved him anymore.

'Coward' the voice whispered on the edge of his mind once more and with that he squared his shoulders and pushed the gate open. Slowly he walked up the path, trying to compose himself, trying to remember what it was he wanted to say. The words he had practiced over and over, the reasons he had to give her to take him back seemed like nothing more then mere senseless utterings on the wind now that it was time to say them.

Raising a hand that trembled slightly he knocked on the door. There was a sudden noise of a chair been drawn back and the sound of someone walking towards the door. Heart racing Remus tried in vain to wipe clean suddenly sweaty hands on his robe.

"Who is it?" a voice said, strange and harsh.

"Remus John Lupin." He said, mouth dry with nerves. "Ive, Ive come for my wife"

Slowly the door swung open and there stood Andromeda, Doras mother. She looked paler and thinner then when he had seen her last but that was understandable. As he understood it her husband Ted had been on the run from Deatheaters for a month now.

"Remus", she whispered. "You'd better come in". As he walked over the threshold she shot a quick glance at the garden behind him then shut the door. Without a word she indicated for him to precede her down the hallway towards the dining room. Heart pounding fiercer then ever he obeyed, wincing once more at the memory of his last abrupt departure from this home. At last he reached the end of the corridor and peered into the room beyond. There at the dining room table sat Dora, reading what looked to be Auror notes. With a wrench from his gut region he saw that her air was short and lank, a medium brown colour, streaked with grey. Nervously he cleared his throat.

"Er, h.. hello Dora".

Startled she looked up. For a moment her whole face was sufficed with pure joy then just as suddenly her eyes narrowed and her hair turned boiling red.

"You Bastard!" she screamed, raising her wand and pointing it at him, "Stupefy!".

Scrambling he barely managed to avoid the spell as it streaked towards him. Indeed it passed so close that he felt a wave of heat and his ear went strangely numb. Dora leapt to her feet and lunged towards him. Automatically he raised his hands to ward off a blow but instead she flung her arms around him and started sobbing hysterically into the front of his robes. Bewildered he stroked her hair, which was grey-streaked brown once more, as she clung to him with all the strength of a giant squid.

Feeling as if he had recently been confunded Remus looked in astonished shock over Dora's head to her mother. Andromeda shrugged her shoulders and gave an exasperated sigh.

"Hormones" she said.