It seemed the longer that Renata remained in the Potter household, she would pick up on James' clothing items, believing that they were her brothers and the more she picked them up, she realised that her brother was going to end up naked if she kept them all. Although they were comfortable, she figured it was unfair to keep his clothes hostage, and not once did it ever cross her mind that she was wearing James' clothing. One would assume that James would say something, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Renata had confessed during one of their evening discussions that it was so hard to find clothing or robes that didn't irritate her skin because the materials were so rough all the time.

So naturally, James never said a word or told her that in fact, she was wearing his jumpers and shirts around the home. Several times, Remus and Sirius had noticed when they were visiting the home separately to see how James and Harry were doing. They went to mention it but James warned them to keep quiet. It was the least he could do for Renata besides paying her, with everything that she did for him and Harry. 

Besides, there was a part of him that felt happy when he saw her wearing his clothing, he wasn't sure why. Renata always wore the prettiest of outfits, all of them tailored to perfection and always so "neat and stylish" as Sirius proclaimed. She, of course, looked good in her own clothing, but maybe it was the fact that she looked comfortable and relaxed in his clothing that made him happy. After all, he was so worried about her being comfortable as she stayed with them at the home. It still bothered him that she wouldn't take one of the bigger rooms, but she insisted that her bedroom was just fine.

While it was his own mission to make sure that Harry was happy, along with himself, it seemed that Renata's happiness also became a priority in his life. Since coming into their life at their time of need, Renata did everything that was asked of her without question, that was something wonderful to have, but it was also the little things that she did that truly brought about a happiness to the atmosphere.

Such as when James would wake up some mornings and find the newest issue of Seeker Weekly, the internationally-published Quidditch magazine.  Or she would pick up cookbooks here and there because since his successful spaghetti, James found it rather enjoyable to cook and he was willing to try out new recipes, with Renata's guidance of course.

She would leave his sleeping draught out on the kitchen table at night so that he would remember to take it and James had to admit, it was all working quite well. There hadn't been any nightmares for weeks and he was certainly hoping to keep it that way. He used his alarm clock each morning and he actually felt well-rested. Not to mention, Harry was sleeping throughout the night, even sleeping in some mornings which was absolutely unheard of. But he would be so tired out from a day of fun, whether he was with Renata or on a playdate with Ron or Neville, that he had no choice but to sleep peacefully.

Harry didn't suffer from the nightmares either that brought him to wake up in the middle of the night or if he did, Renata took care of it and didn't make any mention of being disturbed. James didn't know how Renata could balance so many things at once and not lose her mind, she always appeared so calm on the outside. So many times, he was anticipating her just throwing her hands up in the air and screaming out "enough!" before running away.

Things were going so well, that James assumed that something was going to go wrong ultimately. He had it stuck in the back of his head that his happiness was to be forever limited. But the problem was, that James did it to himself. There was nothing wrong around him, it was just his own mind that held the cruel whip and delivered lashes into his happy world. His own troubled thoughts and guilt got the best of him because he didn't believe he deserved happiness all the time.

He could be riding a high for days and weeks, going on a couple of months and then he would just crash. And he had been riding such a high for quite some time that he wasn't ready for the crash and he hit hard.

Renata had told him earlier that morning that she was going to visit with her brother and that she was going to take Harry with her so that he could play with Enzo. Apparently, he looked tired to her because before she left, she suggested that he take a nap or relax with his down time while they were gone. He wasn't going to initially agree to it, but after she and Harry left, the home was so quiet and he found himself quite bored.

Remus was still looking for a stable job as he insisted on paying his own way in life with no help from anyone, so he didn't come as much. And as of recently, Sirius claimed that he had gotten a new job as well, although he didn't say where funnily enough. James found himself rather alone and he didn't like it, but he felt weak enough as it was, he didn't want to invite himself to tag along with Renata. He felt like she got enough of him during all the time when she was working, he didn't want to intrude.

He still didn't understand that Renata didn't see her work as any sort of a burden, she especially didn't see Harry or James as a burden in her life. She loved her job, it was the best one she ever had, and it was putting her dream of becoming an Auror to rest. There was something about waking up each morning and having two people very happy to see her and always planning out a day for them that filled her with joy.

She could feeling their happiness and that gave her own happiness a strong boost.

But James didn't get that...yet.

As Renata showed up at Adelmo's home on his day off, Harry and Enzo took to playing right away as they raced around the living room with one of them chasing the other and then switching it up. Adelmo poured her some tea and settled with her at the table, an odd look on his face as he stared at his own cup. There wasn't much to be hidden from Renata as she could already pick up on the swirl of confusion that clouded over her brother's head.

"What is troubling you, Adelmo?" she asked right away, bringing him to look up and within a couple of seconds he started laughing. He was just about to question how she could sense there was anything bothering him, but he already had his answer.

"I always forget that nothing can get past you," he said, " and it's not troubling, I would just say that it is rather confusing."

"Alright, what is it that you find confusing?"

Adelmo swirled the liquid in his cup with a small spoon, avoiding his sister's gaze. " Were you aware that Sirius Black started working at St Mungo's?"

Renata choked on her tea, nearly snorting it at the same time, which caused her to burn the upper part of her lip. She let out a small whimper, setting her cup down quickly before using her sleeve to wipe at her mouth gently.

"Come again?"

"Yes," Adelmo continued as he sat back in his chair, " it's true. He started working as a Welcome Wizard. I see him nearly every morning because he's the first one to wish me a good morning when I walk in. I'm not sure how I feel how about that."

"Flattered, perhaps?"

Eventually, he did look up at her and that's when Renata felt the troubling thoughts once more. He might have been initially confused but now she felt like it had escalated to something else.

"You are worried though," she said, " worried because what you feel and how others will react to it."

Back when Renata had been around thirteen years old, Adelmo had made a confession to their parents and it hadn't gone over very well. She had been able to tell that he was nervous about something for months on end and whenever she asked him about it, Adelmo brushed it off telling her that nothing was wrong. But eventually, Adelmo couldn't hide it anymore, especially since he felt terrible for lying to his sister.

It was one evening in the summer months, he asked for everyone to gather around, mostly wanting the attention of their parents and he made his confession. He didn't fully understand it, but he confessed that for quite some time he had felt an attraction to the same sex. And while their parents had always shown them support and love with their ambitions, that was one thing that their parents did not support.

It had been an awful night of their parents just telling Adelmo that he was confused because his body was still going through changes and that he was spending a lot of time with his friends that happened to be boys as well. They weren't just trying to convince him that he was confused, they were telling him, he didn't have any other option but to accept their word.

Renata didn't understand what was wrong with her brother being attracted to boys because she was attracted to boys as well, it was just something they had in common as siblings, right?

Adelmo never made mention of it after that night, at least to their parents and there were occassions where he would bring ladies home, announcing that they were dating, but the relationships never lasted long. Not that it matter to their parents, they were just happy to see that he was bringing home females and not men. However, there had been the occassion where Renata had spotted Adelmo talking to a few men, sharing a drink with them at a bar, and looking awfully close with them.

She never said anything about it, simply because she didn't want her parents to be upset and she didn't want Adelmo to be upset either. It seemed the secret life he was living kept him somewhat happy because he couldn't be fully honest without receiving backlash. There was the time where she had shown up to his home back when he still lived in Italy and one of his partners at the time had been leaving in the early morning hours.

He had never once cried in front of her, but he certainly cried that morning as he begged Renata not to say anything to their parents about what she had seen. She would never dare to do such a thing, but it left her feeling so torn, because she loved her parents, but she didn't like what they were forcing Adelmo to do.

"He's very open about it, isn't he?" Adelmo said with a sigh as he leaned back. "He doesn't care what others might say or think."

"Well, I'm sure that's because he's found more support with it than you have, Al," she told him. "You know I've tried to be there for you as much-"

"Ren, don't even try to blame yourself. You've always been wonderfully supportive."

"I know, but...wait, does this mean that you're actually interested in him?" Renata asked. "Is this something you want to pursue and see where it goes?"

Adelmo fell silent and she could see that he didn't want to admit it because that would be admitting what he was trying to fight for so long. Neither one of them ever wanted to grow up to be a disappointment in their family's eyes. They were under pressure constantly to meet the expectations and possibly go beyond them. It was the reason Renata left after she failed her Auror training, she couldn't face her parents after that.

Sure, they were both grown adults, but it was a barrier that they couldn't get over even as they grew older. They just wanted to be in good standings with their parents, even if it was at the expense over their own happiness.

"Al," she said, reaching across the table and placing her hand over his, " they're not here, you know? You're living on your own, they're all the way back in Italy. You can do what you want to or who...wait, I didn't mean it in that sense. You know what I mean."

"But if it's not our own parents judging me, then it's someone else who calls it wrong, Ren."

"People are always quick to call things wrong that they don't agree with, it doesn't make them right. Papà and Mamma, I love them but they cannot make you live your life like this. You deserve to be happy. You do great things for people, you save lives, goodness, that should be more than enough for you to live your life how you wish."

There was a faint smile on his face as he nodded his head, of course, Renata knew it was easier said than done. She was technically being a hyprocrite because she still allowed her parents' expectations to dictate her life, so while she was preaching, she wasn't exactly following the gospel.

A silence loomed over them because there wouldn't be any immediate changes made right away if at all, it was all up to Adelmo. And rather than dwelling on it, something popped into her head that allowed her to change the topic.

"Oh, while I'm here, I figured I might as well return some of your clothes. I think while I had been doing laundry here, a lot of your clothes got mixed into mine. I had every intention of keeping them but I realised that was wrong."

She left to grab the bag, checking in on Harry, who was throwing a ball for Enzo to retrieve. He laughed every time he threw it and seemed more than content for the time being. As she presented the bag, Adelmo appeared puzzled as he started pulling out the clothing.

"Ren, none of this clothing belongs to me," he said to her right away. At first, Renata believed he was pulling her leg, just to have a laugh.

"What are you talking about?" she questioned. "Of course they are-"

"Not," he reiterated, "I have never worn burgundy, I look terrible in it. Are you sure that you mixed up laundry here or-"

Suddenly, Renata gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth as she placed two and two together. Adelmo wasn't sure what was going on, but he watched as she starting shaking her head and sat herself down in the chair again.

"Oh goodness," she whispered to herself, " if they don't belong to you, that means...that means they belong to Mr Potter. This is so embarrassing! I thought they were yours so I didn't have a problem wearing them around the home, but...he didn't say anything though. If they were his clothes, he would recognise them, right? Why wouldn't he just tell me?"

Her brother chuckled as he gave a look. "Yes, why wouldn't a man who had a beautiful woman wearing his clothing say anything?"

Renata didn't look like she was following his train of thought, instead, she was too wrapped up in her own embarrassment, thinking that James thought she was a downright idiot. He was probably just being nice and didn't want to tell her that she was stupid and was wearing his clothing.

"Well, I should probably face the music and return him his clothing, he's probably running low. I can't believe this!"

"Ren, it's really not a big deal."

"Yes, it is!"

Despite Adelmo trying to convince her that she was thinking completely wrong with how James probably saw it, it didn't work and she left in a hurry with the bag and Harry to return to the home. But she did promise before she left that she would be coming over later on in the week to spend time with him again. Meanwhile, Adelmo would be left with his thoughts of how he wanted to proceed with the new Welcome Wizard at work.

Arriving at the Potter household, Renata didn't hesitate to hurry inside with Harry, but she was caught off guard at how quiet the home was as she entered. Thinking that James had taken her advice and taken a nap, she placed Harry down on the floor.

"Harry," she whispered to him, " why don't you go to your room and play?"

He didn't need to be told twice as he ran off to his room, happy to be reunited with his toys. Renata walked around the home, seeing that the door to James' bedroom was open but he wasn't and he wasn't sleeping on the sofa either. Her mind instantly travelled to the hammock and as she walked into the kitchen, she saw that the back door was open to the garden.

Walking over, she figured he had settled himself in the hammock to fall asleep but as she opened the door, she saw James standing in the middle of the garden.

"Mr Potter?" she called to him. "Mr Potter, we're back. Listen, I just wanted to apologise because I realised that I was taking your shirts and jumpers, I didn't-"

She stopped as she saw that James was doing something, but she couldn't see what with his back turned to her.

"Mr Potter?"

Making her way closer to him, she continued to call him and finally as she was only a couple of steps away from him when he spun around to face her. In his hands, were a pair of scissors and she could see that he had cut a great portion of his hair off as it had fallen to the grass at their feet. Renata's eyes widened as she saw the state he was in, his eyes were red and his face was wet, a clear sign that he had been crying.

She found herself awfully nervous to see the scissors in his hand, afraid of what he was going to do with them, whether it was to harm himself or anything else.

"You decided to give yourself a hair cut?" she questioned, trying to keep the tone light as she didn't want him to do anything drastic.

"Lily hated my hair, too messy for her liking," he told her, " said it made her sick once. So I figured I could cut it all off, you know?"

James had worked himself into a frenzy as he had suffered a nightmare when Renata and Harry were gone. It had brought him back to a memory long before he and Lily had started dating back in school. It came back to the day where Severus had called Lily a  "mudblood" and while that had been the most offensive thing said, Lily still held a lot of anger towards James that day and for some reason it popped into his mind, specifically something she said that day.

"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK!"

Maybe that was ne of the reasons she had been so miserable near the end because she couldn't even stand the sight of him. So he decided to change that, cutting his hair off himself although, that wouldn't really solve anything, but James wasn't thinking clearly at all at that time.

"Harry has my hair," he said, leaving Renata to look extremely alarmed, " I should give him a hair cut too. Is he inside?"

"MR POTTER!" Renata snapped at him as she had her wand removed and pointed at him. "I don't think that's a good idea, you need to put the scissors down right now! I'm not letting you go inside until you do."