While James slept peacefully after Renata helped back inside and into his own bed, she had a terrible time trying to fall asleep that evening. After James had dropped the equivalent to a bomb of information on her, she didn't know what to think or what to do. Obviously, his sleeping draught had placed him in a position where he was vulnerable to expose information that she figured otherwise, he would keep secret.

She didn't mean to pry for such personal information, never thinking there was that much behind the nicknames. Renata assumed they had been nicknames from their time in school, but nothing really beyond that. She had known about Sirius being an animagus due to the incident at the park when they all first met, but to learn that James was one as well?

Mind-blowing.

And if that wasn't enough, he decided to throw in the fact that Remus was a werewolf, something Renata never saw coming. Although after James had admitted it, everything suddenly made sense of the situation. Yet, Renata wasn't one to hold it against him, Remus still came across as a very kind gentleman whenever he was around, obviously, the lycanthropy only affected his personality on nights of the full moon. But she knew that it was probably information that Remus didn't want spreading around, after all, werewolves were not held in high regards in the wizarding world.

If he found out that James had exposed his secret, regardless of the circumstances, he was probably not going to react the best. He didn't know Renata that well and probably didn't trust her to know something so personal about him. Not that she could honestly blame Remus, she probably wouldn't want others outside of her immediate family and closest friends knowing if she suffered from the same condition.

Also, if James realised that he had just willingly blurted it out, Renata feared that he would hold more guilt and shame on his shoulders. She hoped that James didn't remember the discussion they had as he drifted off to sleep the next morning and if it held out that way, Renata would pretend like it never happened. She had to, for James' sake, and for Remus' sake as well, she didn't want to imagine their reactions if they knew that she knew.

Remus would be upset at James and James would probably hate himself even more so than he already did. All she was trying to do was let the family heal, not cause more problems for them. So vowed her own silence, if James didn't bring it up if he didn't remember, then she was going to go on pretending that she didn't know anything either.

However, that wasn't the only thing that was keeping Renata up when all she desperately wanted to do was sleep. It still centred around James, hoping that he would remain asleep for the majority of the night and not suffer through any more nightmares. It left her paranoid after he tried to get Harry involved in the haircut fiasco.

Luckily, she had restored James' hair to its natural state so that it wouldn't raise alarm the next morning, but she was afraid of James not breaking out of it once more. With both of them sleeping in separate rooms, Renata didn't feel comfortable retreating to her own room for the night. She was fearful that James would stir from his slumber and try to complete the task. He had fallen asleep in a better mood, but it always seemed that when things were going really well that they took such a sour turn.

She made her decision to remain awake and basically stand guard in the hall leading to Harry's room. They were working on having Harry sleep in his own bed, so she wasn't going to intrude, he was already sound asleep. James was off in his room as she took to sitting on the hardwood floor, believing that the uncomfortable position would keep her awake until the morning. And while it worked for a couple of hours, her body and mind turned against her previous idea.

As the light in the sky was starting to show, Renata felt like her body was shutting down as it was forcing her to actually get some rest. She had been taken on too much lately and it was leaving her exhausted no matter how much she tried to cover it all up. Her body wanted her to sleep and within minutes, she found herself asleep on the floor. It was terribly uncomfortable but she didn't even care at the time as she remained in place as the morning started.

Thankfully, she wasn't destined to remain there for too much longer as a couple of more hours went by and James finally stirred. Only he was in a better state of mind than what he was the night before. He had it all planned out that he was going to make breakfast that morning as he felt terrible for putting Renata through such an ordeal the night before...again.

However, as he stumbled out of his own bed, James glanced at himself in the mirror and saw that his hair had been returned to what it looked like before. The usual length and messiness had been restored as he lifted his hands up to touch it, tugging on it to make sure it was real for the time being. So, not only had she worked him down to a calmer state, she had fixed his hair for him as well last night.

Now he really needed to make it up to her but how? He had already apologised, of course, but that didn't feel like it was enough. Making breakfast seemed to be the first step in hoping that he wasn't running her off. Thankfully, he was dressed so that was a good first step as he walked out of his room.

As he walked out of his room, James had only taken a couple of steps when he spotted Renata on the floor. Instantly, he assumed something was wrong as he raced over, his bare feet nearly sliding across the wood, as he reached her side. He knelt down and lifted her slumped-over body to sit up, only to hear her groan and push his hands away lightly. She mumbled something in Italian that James couldn't make out, but judging by her tone, he assumed it was the request to leave her alone so that she could continue sleeping.

Well, he sure as well wasn't going to leave her to sleep on the floor. As much as she probably didn't want to be disturbed, James lifted her up into his arms carefully so that he could bring her back to her room. He didn't know why she had taken to sleeping on the floor, but the more he thought about it, the more he realised it was probably because of himself and his behaviour the night before.

Was he really that bad that she felt the need to be a guard in the hallway of the home? Probably.

With a shake of his head, James entered Renata's room and set her down on her bed gently. He made a grab for the covers, that she graciously took in her hands after feeling them on her skin.

"Good night, Renata," he said lightly as he made his way towards her curtains to pull them over and give her the comfort of darkness in the room, " sleep well."

"Good night, James."

He was just heading towards the door when he heard her call her by his name, not Mr Potter as she used for the recent months since knowing her, but she had actually said "James." Turning around, he could see that she was asleep again, her eyes closed, her body buried under her blankets, and the only sign of life was the small rise and fall of her chest that he could hardly see unless he focused for a moment or two.

But at the same time, he found his heart skipping a beat in his chest followed by a rush of something, as just hearing her say his name had caught him off guard. Yet, it also made him extremely happy, beyond what he could use words to describe it. Did that mean that she was finally growing comfortable around him, enough that she didn't feel the need for such formalities? He truly hoped that was the case because it made him feel so awkward to have Renata call him Mr Potter, but he couldn't bring himself to request her to call him James because he was already asking so much of her as it was.

He wanted her to break out of the formalities when she was ready and it seemed his patience had paid off.

With a bright smile, James headed out of the room, only to find Harry waking up himself and making his way out his own room, with one of his toys that he dragged behind him.

"Come on, Harry," he said, " you can come with me, we're going to something nice for Renata, alright?"

"Nanata!" Harry cheered her name, only to have James motion him to keep quiet as he placed his finger to his lips.

"Shhh, she's sleeping."

"Oh..." Harry said before whispering, " Nanata."

James nodded with a grin before collecting Harry in his arms and get him ready for the day, quietly in his room. The two made sure to remain extra quiet as they tiptoed around the home, most Harry mimicking his father's steps as he followed James around. When it was time to leave, James left a note on the table claiming that they were only headed to Diagon Alley for a small trip and would be back soon.

Although he was fairly certain that Renata would remain asleep until they were back, however, he was wrong.

Shortly after James and Harry departed from the household, Renata ended up waking up to the sound of knocking at the front door. To much of her annoyance, she opened her eyes, immediately to find herself in her own bed. A panic shot through her because she distinctly remembered staying out in the hall to stand guard for the night. Kicking the blankets off, Renata ran out of her room and to Harry's room, only to find it empty, she ran to James' room to do the same, but she didn't even have to travel in to see that the bed was empty and made.

"Mr Potter?!" she called out in a frantic tone before making her way over to the window that looked into the garden. The garden remained empty, the hammock was still, leaving Renata's heart to jump into her throat with nerves driving her further into a panic. Her mind went right to where she had hidden the scissors in her room, only to find that they were still there, but she was still terrified.

She didn't know if James had been in the right mind when he had taken Harry out of the home and she was fearful that something could go wrong if he was alone. Fortunately, she did stumble upon the note that was left on the kitchen table, but that still didn't settle her nerves.

Of course, Harry was James' son, he had every right to take him, but with how he had been relapsing due to his nightmares, she didn't think it was a good idea for him to travel alone with Harry, just in case something went wrong. She thought about heading to Diagon Alley right away but found herself conflicted, wondering if James would take offence to her not trusting him with his own son.

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she had been neglecting the knocking at the door that had woken her up in the first place. Swearing under her breath as the knocking became more prominent, Renata ran over to the door to open it, only to find Remus on the other side. He suddenly looked concerned as Renata wore a wiry look on her face, paired with a rather laboured breathing that didn't seem to be normal for her.

"Renata, is everything okay?"

Without even trying to think about it, James' confession from the night before popped into her head and suddenly, every little scar on Remus' face that she had often scanned over without a second thought became so much more prominent the longer she looked at him. She had to wonder if he had self-inflicted the scars during his transformations, which seemed highly likely. But snapping out of it as Remus called her name again, Renata shook her head, scolding herself internally.

"Mr Potter took Harry," she told him quickly, " he took Harry out of the house. I normally would be fine with it, but James had an episode last night. He cut off all of his hair and he wanted to cut off Harry's. I stopped him and was able to get him to go to sleep, but then I woke up just a short while ago and they're gone. He left a note saying he went to Diagon Alley and-"

"Renata, calm down," Remus said, feeling the stress just coming off the woman in powerful waves. She did, however, fall silent as she looked up at him. "If they're in Diagon Alley, we can go there and see if they are okay-"

"But what if they are?" she countered. "If he's alright with Harry, he's going to see that I didn't trust him and I don't want him to think that. I just don't want either one of them to get hurt for something that James doesn't have much control over right now. At the same time, if they're fine, I don't want to fill his head with the idea that I doubt him."

It was quiet for a few moments as Remus was left to think of a solution, as he watched Renata bite her nails in a furious motion.

"I'll go," he suggested, " I'll go to Diagon Alley and see if I can find them, if I do, I'll just pretend that I bumped into them by coincidence. And if that's the case, I was never here this morning, alright?"

She nodded her head, feeling a bit more relaxed with the plan before Remus left on his mission. Taking a deep breath, Renata knew she had to calm herself down or she was going to end up giving herself a heart attack. Of course, just as she went to go sit down, just a minute after Remus departed, there was another knock on the door. Her mind was so stuck on Harry and James coming back that she ran back to the door, only to find Sirius on the other side this time.

"Sirius? What are you doing here?" she questioned.

"Is James here?" he asked her in return as he invited himself in.

"No, he apparently went out with Harry to Diagon Alley-"

"Okay, that's fine, I'm actually here to talk with you."

Confused as to what Sirius wanted to discuss with her, Renata welcomed the distraction until Remus came back with the word about James and Harry or if the father and son happened to return first. She welcomed Sirius into the living room, sitting on the sofa, while he plopped himself down on the floor in front of her. He looked nervous, which seemed highly unusual for Sirius since she had come to know him, but obviously, something was on his mind.

"I can assume that you've heard about where I started to work recently," he started off, watching as Renata nodded her head. "Well, not to sound completely shameful, but I did do it so that I could see your brother a bit more often since he doesn't come around here. Some mornings, he talks to me, he seems happy to see me, other mornings, he completely ignores the fact that I exist."

"I'm sure he's not doing it to be rude, Sirius," Renata explained, " but he is a high demand Healer. He's probably busier some mornings than others-"

"No, it's not like that, it's something else. He'll talk to other people, but he won't even look at me sometimes. Then the next day, he's flirting with me, trust me I know he is. I know all about flirting, I invented it."

"Of course you did."

"But here's the thing, Ren, am I barking up the wrong tree here?"

For a moment or so, Renata just stared at him before she spoke. "Did you just make a pun to question me about my brother's sexuality?"

"Yes."

Renata's head was about to explode with everything taking place, if it wasn't enough worrying about James and Harry, now she was dealing with the drama about her brother and Sirius. It was probably what Adelmo had feared as soon as he saw that Sirius was the Welcome Wizard at St Mungo's. He didn't want to get involved with Sirius, but at the same time, he probably did and now Renata had to hear about her brother's internal struggles playing out as he couldn't figure out whether to ignore Sirius on a daily basis or flirt with him.

The problem was, it wasn't her place to say anything about Adelmo, his feelings, or his sexuality. That was solely on Adelmo to discuss if he was comfortable doing so. Of course, she wanted to see her brother happy, and she knew that he liked men, but the problem was, even pursuing a relationship with one, didn't grant him automatic happiness. She knew there was pressure from society, from their parents, from everything around them, maybe Adelmo wasn't ready to be that open, especially when he was fighting himself.

"Sirius, I would love to help you, and you have my support but you really need to talk to Adelmo about this. Not me, I can't speak for my brother."

Sirius glanced down at the floor. "Yeah, I figured that was going to be the answer. But I thought I would still try anyway. Maybe I will talk to him on one of the days where he decides to acknowledge that I said hello to him. Sorry to waste your time."

"No, I didn't mean it to be taken that way I just-"

He didn't listen to her, probably too wrapped up in his own thoughts as he made his way towards the door and left without another word. Renata was just left to sit there, feeling one of the worst headaches of her life coming on. It seemed everything in her world was just collapsing in on itself and she couldn't hold it up anymore.

And just as she was about to let out a scream of pure frustration, the door to the Potter home opened again. Only this time to her relief, it was James and Harry, with Remus in tow, looking awfully relieved that they had found them.

Renata didn't know what to do or say first, but she was to remain in place as Harry made his way over, holding out a bouquet of flowers.