After getting the reassurance she needed from Molly, Renata felt a lot better about the entire situation, especially when Molly promised that she would speak to Augusta, and Neville would be present for the party. It spiked an idea for Renata when it came to her questioning what she was getting the boys for their birthdays and finally, she decided what she was going to do. She really hadn't planned on being gone all day from the Potter flat, but she needed to get things moving and done by the time it came day to celebrate Harry's birthday. Of course, it took all sorts of running around, meeting people that pointed her in two different directions, and half the time, she ended up in the wrong place.

But by the end of it all, she had it all figured out and her plan was put into motion, much to her satisfaction. However, she did find herself quite tired but not fully ready to return to Harry and James just yet. She was still feeling quite guilty about calling him "Mr Potter" and not correcting herself. In some way, because James had said something that caused her pain, it seemed she had felt the need to do something similar in return. But that was wrong of her, she knew that and she felt ashamed for doing it.

Deep down, she knew that James probably meant her no harm by his comment but Renata also knew how much he didn't like it when she called him "Mr Potter" unless she was joking of course.

Deciding not to return home until she formed an apology in her head, Renata found herself in the same park where she had first met James, Harry, and Sirius on the eventful afternoon with Enzo. It brought a smile to her face because if anyone had ever told her that she would find herself where she was that day, she would say that they were blowing smoke from their arses. Even back when she first felt the pull of attraction towards James, she never thought in a million years that she actually stood a chance or that she would find herself in a relationship with him.

And to think of all the things she had experienced since taking on the role as Harry's nanny, it was like she was given an entire second life. From experiencing the first time at the beach and then being taken to her first Quidditch match, they were both incredible memories and she enjoyed the idea that she got to experience them with Harry as those were all his firsts too. Of course, looking back on it, the Quidditch match didn't end so well, somewhat ruined by her blood phobia, but that had opened up an entirely different experience for her.

It was when James pretended to be her husband so that he could gain access to visit her and that allowed Renata to know that he fully cared. Because when she announced that she didn't think it was a good idea to be Harry's nanny with her blood phobia in play, James didn't send her away. Instead, he made sure to let her know that he wanted to help her and that he wanted her to stay with him and Harry.

That was the first time Renata felt like she truly belonged somewhere, because it was somewhere where she was wanted.

Not that Adelmo every opposed her staying with him, after all, he was the one who invited her to live with him in the first place, but it was never meant to be a permanent thing. He was supposed to be a halfway point to help her back on her feet until she figured things out and was able to go out on her own. Renata knew very well during her time staying with him that Adelmo would want to live his own life and not have his little sister live in his flat with him forever. It didn't matter how close they were at siblings, he had a right to live his life the way he truly wanted to without moving things around for her sake.

But Renata firmly believed that she had found her calling and that wasn't becoming an Auror like her parents wanted and it wasn't all the little jobs that her brother had set up for her. No matter what happened between her and James, she knew that she always wanted to be there for Harry. She couldn't come up with a feeling or a word to describe how the little boy made her feel, but a pure sense of happiness was the closest thing. James, of course, made her happy too, there was no doubt about that, but even if things didn't work out in the long run, she always wanted to be there for Harry.

Thinking back to when Harry had busted his lip open and she hadn't felt the urge to faint, she only wanted to help him or the time at the Quidditch match where she had seen the blood gushing from the Quidditch player's nose and had immediately shoved Harry to safety before she fell. Everything in her mind was always to put Harry first and Molly informed her that was what maternal instinct was all about.

As she became lost in her thoughts and memories, the rain was picking up again around her, another storm blowing over without her even realising. She seemed awfully content sitting on the bench in the rain while the world moved around her, until she heard a loud crack. Lightning had struck nearby, but it was the sound that brought Renata somewhere else completely outside of the park.

She found herself back at the Quidditch match, sitting in the stands, only this time, the stands were empty and there was no one out on the pitch.

"Hello?" she called out in a small voice, rather confused as to why she was the only one there. But then she heard it again, the cracking sound that caused her to jump and turn her head, just like she had done so the time before.

The scene of Adelmo suddenly appeared out on the pitch, leaving her confused as to what he was doing there. But out of seemingly nowhere, he was surrounded by a group of men, all of them taking to kicking him as he remained on the ground. He was letting out painful cries as his body flinched and convulsed from every hit. Renata couldn't bring herself to move at first, she couldn't even bring herself to make a noise, to tell the men to leave her brother alone. It was like she was frozen to the bench she was sitting on.

Unable to even close her eyes or turn her head away, Renata remained witnessed as Adelmo was grabbed by the front of his shirt, liften up on the ground and had his nose smashed in with a heavy punch.

CRACK!

It sounded so similar to the sound of the bludger making contact with the quidditch player's face and had similar results as well as Adelmo's nose was gushing blood within seconds. He was released, allowed to fall back down to the ground and finally, Renata felt she had the ability to move again. She abandoned the bench, making her way down the stands and jumped over the railing to reach the pitch and the spot where Adelmo rolled around the ground in pain. The men that were previously surrounding him vanished, leaving her unable to identify them as they disapparated from the scene.

She felt to her brother's side, calling out his name but his face was so incredibly swollen, his noise obviously broken as she could see the protruding cartilage, he didn't respond to her. He could only groan and cry out in pain, leaving her to try and go for her wand, but as soon as she did, someone grabbed her by the wrist. Attempting to pull away, Renata looked over, only to be faced with a hooded figure that offered her no insight as to who was preventing her from healing him.

"He needs to be punished for his sins, Renata."

Before Renata could even react, there was a strong gust of wind causing the entire scene around her to vanish and she found herself, completely drenched  still on the same bench in the park. Immediately, she took to standing up and looking all around, her hair smacking her in the face in every direction she turned, only to find the park completely abandoned in the storm. There was no telling how long she had sitting there, but judging how soaked her clothing was, it was safe to say a decent amount of time had passed.

However, none of that mattered as Renata still felt the cold chill of whatever sort of daydream or horrible state she had entered. She suddenly found herself wanting to check on her brother and as she reached for her wand, there was no hooded figure to stop her that time.

There was a series of furious knocking at Adelmo's door, which alerted him to answer it right away, despite enjoying the rainy afternoon with a warm cup of tea and a warm Sirius in his bed. He made his way down the stairs and opened up the door to find Renata standing on the other side, looking as though she had been swept up in the storm.

"Renata?" he was surprised to see her and surprised to see her in such a state as she continued to look over her shoulder until she looked at him.

"Adelmo!" she greeted him, a smile appearing on her face and if he didn't know any better it sounded like it was followed by a heavy sigh of relief.

"Renata, come inside and dry off, look at you, you're soaking wet. How long have you been out there in the rain?" he asked her.

"Not long," she lied, "it's just raining heavier across town, that's all. Um, listen, I have a question for you."

Neither one of the siblings noted that Sirius had stepped out of the bedroom and was listening to the conversation at the top of the stairs. He normally wouldn't have eavesdropped on the siblings, but Adelmo claimed he wasn't expecting anyone coming over and by how fast Renata was talking, it sounded like there was something wrong with her.

"Yes, that's fine, but come inside so I can answer it," Adelmo said, reaching out to grab his sister by the wrist and pull her in, however, before he could grab her, she snatched her wrist away from him. She wouldn't meet his gaze either as she just stood there for a few moments before finally looking up.

"Have you ever had your nose broken?"

If Adelmo wasn't already alarmed that had certainly caught him off guard to the point where his eyes widened and he was left speechless for a moment. The question was beyond random but Renata looked somewhat desperate for the answer.

"No, Renata, I've never had my nose broken," he said, " why would even ask such a thing-"

"Alright, yeah, that's what I figured, I was just curious, that's all," she said quickly.

"So you came all the way over here from James' place to ask me if I've ever had my nose broken and you decided to do so during one of the worst storms?"

She was silent for a few moments, looking confused by her own behaviour if that was actually the case. "No, I was at Molly's talking to her and then I was out getting Harry's and Neville's birthday gifts squared away. Then the thought came into my head and I just thought I would stop by to ask. I mean, I was also going to ask if you were still coming to the party?"

"Renata, we've been over this, when you first asked me, I told you, I have a shift that day but when I'm off I'll come straight over to the party. Don't you remember that?"

"Oh right, that's right," she whispered, " it must have slipped my mind. I'm really sorry to have bothered you."

"Is everything alright, Renata?" Adelmo asked her. "You're really starting to scare me, you look terrified right now."

"I do? Well, that's odd because I feel just fine," Renata said, smiling at him, " really, I feel great. Anyways, you know what, this was all bad timing. I should probably go. I've been away long enough for the day, so I should probably just head home. I'll see you at the party, alright? Alright."

Adelmo didn't even feel comfortable with letting her leave, especially after Renata presented herself in such a state, but he had no choice as she disapparated, leaving him to stand in the doorway with a dumbfounded look. Eventually, he took a step back and looked up the stairs to see Sirius wearing the same amount of worry on his expression.

"What the hell was that all about?"

James didn't expect Renata to be gone as long as she was when she claimed that she would be back later, but he knew before she left that she was more than upset. Especially since she had addressed him as "Mr Potter" before leaving and didn't bother with correcting herself. Harry knew something was wrong as well as soon as she had departed. He had abandoned all play with the chocolate frogs and took to sitting by the window that looked outside to the front, waiting for her to return.

No matter what James said to him or tried to coax him with, Harry waited by the window until he ended up falling asleep due to pure boredom. James was able to lift him up and place him in his bed, but then he found himself doing the same thing, just waiting by the door until Renata returned. He figured he should have worded himself better because he didn't want her to feel bad about Neville calling her Mummy and he shouldn't have made it out to sound like it was her fault.

He had just found himself sympathising with Augusta for the time being, knowing that the woman was suffering so much loss and being forced to deal with it every day since her son and daughter-in-law would be in St Mungo's for the rest of their lives. And he knew how much effort Renata had put into making Harry's birthday a special one, especially after James confided that Harry's second birthday had been absolutely nothing since he found himself far too depressed to really do anything for it.

And she wanted it to be special for Neville as well and the idea of Augusta not letting Neville come to the party probably really upset her. Knowing that he had made things worse for her, left him feeling guilty and he planned on apologising as soon as she walked through the door. But she didn't return within the hour or the next few hours. In fact, Renata didn't come back until nightfall when he had ended up falling asleep in a chair by the window.

The sound of the front door opening and closing had startled him awake and his intial reaction was to grab his wand and aim, leaving Renata to hold up her hands as soon as she came around the corner.  With the wand pointed at her, she looked terrified at the time, her eyes wide and she didn't make any sudden movements.

"James, it's just me," she whispered to him, " it's me Renata."

Of course, he recognised her and he quickly dropped his wand into the chair before standing up. "I'm so sorry," he quickly apologised as he made his way over and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry, Ren. Please forgive me."

"What-"

"I shouldn't have told you all of that stuff earlier, it wasn't your fault because you didn't have any control over Neville's reaction and it wasn't on you to correct him at the time. It was just a big misunderstanding and if you want, I can go talk to Augusta about it tomorrow-"

"James, slow down!" Renata told him, as she moved away from the hug. " I really appreciate the gesture of you going to talk to her, but it's already being handled."

"It is?"

"Yes," she said, " I went to Molly and spoke to her about it and she said she was going to go talk to Augusta about it. So it's fine...are you alright? I mean, I didn't expect to walk in here and have a wand pointed at me? Did you have a bad dream?"

"No, I fell asleep by the window," he sighed, rubbing at his forehead, " the door just spooked me that's all. Really, I'm sorry. I didn't know when you were coming back, if you were coming back, since you've been gone all day."

"No, I'm sorry," Renata continued as it turned into a rapid rambling of words, "after Molly's I went get Harry's and Neville birthday gifts but I really shouldn't have left like that and I'm so sorry for calling you Mr Potter. I didn't mean...I was just upset at the time and it just came out, I should have corrected myself before leaving and-"

Suddenly, James grabbed her by the face in a gentle manner, but it was enough to grab her attention and made her stop talking right away.

"Can we both just agree that we're sorry and be done with it?" he asked her. "I'm just glad you're home."

A small laugh escaped from her, but it was more like all the pent up nerves decided to just pour out in a small spurt before she nodded her head and leaned forward to kiss him. She muttered one more apology against his lips and felt him do the same before he pulled away, his fingers running over her hair and down her shoulders. He took a step back and realised that she was soaking wet.

"Renata, don't you know you can catch a cold from being out in the rain?"

"I'm fairly certain that's only an old wives' tale, James."

"Nope, it's not," he shook his head as a crooked grin took to his face, " which means we have to get you out of these clothes right away! You must strip, it's an emergency!"

Renata gave him a look as she allowed her hands to rest on her hips. "And how many others have you used that line on in hopes that it would work?"

"To be honest, I've only tried it out on you, so did it work?"

He stood there with a hopeful look and his smile only grew wider as Renata started to remove her jumper.

"Here, I'll help you! Time is of the essence!"

"James!"