I don't own it. There's a bit of a time skip, here. A few days have passed since the last chapter. And of course, it's been edited to fit with Pottermore. Mostly. Again, I couldn't let go of my original ideas completely.

Remus tries to do what he thinks is best.

Remus strode out of the room. He was so angry he almost couldn't think straight. Though he wasn't sure if it was at Harry, or himself. With a grunt, he flung open the door of 12 Grimmauld Place, hearing it slam behind him, and then Disapparated. Tottenham Court Road... The first place he'd thought of. Remus blinked and looked around. Hmmm... Nothing too unusual. What was the café... Oh, they hadn't said. Let's see then...
Remus began walking along the road. Soon enough he came to the place he thought must've been where it had happened. He entered and sat down.

While the trio would've cleaned up, he could tell Voldemort had found out anyway. There were scorch marks on the walls and the waitresses seemed jittery. One noticed him looking. "Hi. Can I get you anything?"
Remus nodded. "Ahhh... A black tea, please." it had only been a few minutes since he'd last used his voice, yet it felt rusty. Hoarse.

The waitress nodded and left. Remus sighed. He found himself dwelling on the 'conversation' with Harry. He's lost faith in me. Hates me for what I did. But why couldn't he just... understand?

The waitress came back. "There you go." she put the drink down then stepped back, looking at him. "You all right, mister?"
Remus blinked. Did he really look that bad? "Yeah, I... I'm fine." he said, realising she wanted an answer.
She sighed. "All right then." She didn't believe him. He didn't blame her.

Remus thought of Dora. She wouldn't have taken "fine" for an answer… To prevent him from brooding, he asked, "Excuse me, I know it's not polite, but did something happen here?" he nodded at the scorch marks.
The waitress winced. "I dunno 'zacly. We 'ad a... break-in a few nights back. The burglars carried off m' friend an' tried to torch the place."
Remus winced. "Do the police know?"
The woman nodded. "Yeah, but they're a bunch o' tossers. S'not like they'd worry 'bout us."

Remus nodded and sipped his tea, then choked. It was awful. The waitress went off to serve other customers and Remus stood, suddenly feeling trapped. He had to leave.

Outside, he walked down the street, brooding. Dora's safer without me. Both of them are. This way, she — they — don't have to be complete outcasts. If they're lucky, without me they still have a chance. With me they certainly don't. Remus cut the thoughts off, but they persisted. They were helped by echoes of Harry's voice in his memory, as well input from voices that alternately sounded like James and Sirius, chastising him. To top it off, it seemed that everywhere he looked, he was reminded of Dora.

The couple sitting in the café with their arms around each other, she practically sitting in his lap, not caring who was watching...
The woman who laughed out loud infectiously at a passage in the book she was reading in the bookstore and her husband, as he looked in the book, then grinned and planted a kiss on her head...

The hours flew by. Soon enough, it was approaching nightfall. Remus picked up another tail and spent several minutes losing him. Remus found himself wandering along Charing Cross Road in the direction fo the Leaky Cauldron. A car pulled up and he paused on the pavement. A woman and a man got out of the front. The woman helped a girl out of the backseat. Remus stared; he could not help it.

The girl could only have been about five or six years old, yet she looked very...brittle. Her dark hair was wispy and her pale skin was stretched taut over thin bones. She was a sick girl.

Her mother cradled the child in her arms and exchanged a look with the father, who said, "It's not your fault, love. We made the decision together."
The mother nodded. "I know. We can't help what genes we have and what she has... I just wish..."
The father sighed. "That it had skipped her like it skipped you...skipped us."
The mother said, "Yes. But wishing for things that can't happen won't change our situation and we can't run from it."

Remus started.

The father continued, "After all, she's our daughter. Our Ebony Greenwood. We're a family... and I wouldn't change that for the world."

At this, the little girl opened her eyes. Looking over her mother's shoulder, she smiled at Remus. Her brown eyes met his blue ones and he smiled falteringly back. As the mother asked her daughter what she was looking at, Remus turned on his heel and walked off robotically.

He found himself in a thankfully deserted Leaky Cauldron and sat down in a corner. Phrases echoed in his head. "Wishing for things ...won't help..." "After all...we're a family" "My dad died trying to protect..."

Remus sighed. James. Damn it. James and Lily would be sorely disappointed in him, he realised. After all, they'd stuck with Harry; they had loved him and rejoiced in him. In the end, they had died protecting him.

And his own parents… Hadn't Lyall and Hope sacrificed their peace and security to keep the family together? They'd supported him as much as they could, encouraged him where they were able to, and generally loved him despite his condition.

I've been a fool. Remus thought. He got up to leave. He would return to Dora and beg her forgiveness. If she accepted it, he would be too lucky. But first…

Outside, he checked he was alone then Disapparated. Godric's Hollow...

Review please. I just love the image of Remus wandering London…