Renata had to admit, she didn't think she was fully qualified for the position as a nanny, especially to a boy as famous as Harry Potter. She could only imagine the horrors that would fall upon her if something bad happened to him while he was under her watch and care. Not only would she have an angry father after her, but the possibility of the entire wizarding world looking to hunt her down. She hadn't been so nervous in the beginning but after telling Adelmo about it, he did raise some concerns to her mind that left her wary of the idea. 

Thankfully, James reassured her that in the beginning that he was going to be there when they had their interactions, basically, he was just inviting her over to the home so that she could play with Harry. That was another thing that sounded odd, not that she was complaining, but it certainly felt odd she was being paid for it. But it was a job, that's what Adelmo kept reminding her, it was a job and it was hopefully one that she couldn't ruin.

After all, she had a feeling that her family was losing hope in her abilities to do anything. Her parents had such high hopes for her when it came to becoming an Auror and Renata felt as though she had brought upon the biggest sense of disappointment by not being able to fulfil that dream. In their eyes, she knew a position as a nanny was not going to go over well, she knew that they would see it as lacking ambition. She could just hear her mother's voice, telling her that she could do so much better.

But with her limitations and the way she managed to always cause an issue, Renata didn't think she was capable of doing much better. She was just hoping that she could manage such a responsibility of playing with a toddler. 

Already full of nerves before arriving at the designated address that James had provided her with, Renata found herself slightly twitchy outside of the door she was about to knock on. Not to mention, quite confused by the layout of the flat where Harry and James lived. It was no secret around the wizarding world that the Potter family had quite the fortune to their name, by the means of Fleamont Potter, who created the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, that was world renowned for those with crazy hair. However, the home that Harry and James seemed to live in appeared relatively small compared to what Renata had made up in her mind.

She was expecting a home of grand luxury, too big for just a father and son, only to end up scolding herself for making quick assumptions. Everyone who was aware of the story knew that the Potter home in Godric's Hollow had practically been destroyed that very same evening of the attack. No one could expect them to return there after such a night.

Knocking on the door gently, Renata waited patiently outside, glancing up at the sky as she saw the approaching grey clouds. Another day of rain it seemed, no surprise there, she thought to herself. During the summers in Italy there were plenty of thunderstorms but during the other seasons it usually seemed to wean off. But living in the U.K. it never seemed to stop raining. At first, Renata found it to be rather gloomy in comparison as she missed long days of sun, but then she just seemed to get used to it over time.

Behind the door, she could hear the sounds of James going on about something, while Harry's laughter could be heard.

"It's not funny, Harry!"

Renata had to place her hand over her mouth to conceal the smile that was forming as Harry's laughter only grew louder at his father's words. They were quite the adorable duo, she would have to admit. Their matching messy hair and their bickering ways, not to mention how much it was shown that James cared for Harry such a great deal. He made sure to put Harry first and that was visible just by him asking if Renata could spend time with his son. She didn't think that James was ready for outside company, but since Harry was, he wasn't going to sacrifice the boy's happiness.

The front door opened at such speed that it caught Renata off guard as she found James standing before her, covered in all sorts of food particles that dripped from his face to his shirt. If it wasn't for the obvious fact that it was indeed spaghetti sauce, Renata would have fainted thinking it was the sight of blood.

"You know," she began as he welcomed her inside, " most people tend to eat the sauce, not wear it."

James made a face as he faced the door to close before turning to face her. "I'm aware, but Harry still hasn't gotten the memo. He's being awfully stubborn this morning, he won't eat what I've made for him."

Leading her inside to the kitchen, Renata instantly smiled as she saw Harry seated at the table. There were several cushions propped underneath him so he could reach the height of the table. His entire face as covered in the red sauce, his lips pressed together in the absolute refusal to eat anything and the kitchen was an absolute mess.

However, upon seeing Renata, Harry saw his saviour enter the room and quickly reached his hands out to her so that he could be saved. She walked over and lifted him up, making her way over towards the stove where James had been cooking. Peering into the pot of sauce and noodles, Renata had to admit that it didn't look very appetising and as she looked over at Harry, she watched as he placed both hands over his mouth, hoping that she wasn't going to force him to eat it either.

"Oh come now, Harry," she said, attempting to be encouraging at the time, " it can't be all that bad."

James watched as she collected a clean spoon and dipped it into the pot to collect some of the sauce. She gave it a quick taste and he was a witness to her letting out the sounds of a whimper before she turned her head away. There was a moment where she set the spoon down on the counter and used one hand to prop herself up while still holding Harry. She had to fight herself to actually swallow it, leaving James to grimace.

"It's not that bad, is it?" he questioned making his way over. Renata was attempting to be polite, quickly forcing a smile onto her face and shaking her head.

"No, it's not that..." she paused as her body tried to reject whatever she had just swallowed, "...it's not that bad. Just needs a bit of seasoning and some spices that's all."

"Oh, well, I don't really have any seasoning or spices," James admitted to her, "I have weird taste buds, I guess. I don't mind my food bland."

"Blegh!" Harry said scrunching up his face. "No more! No bland!"

"Well, bland is one thing, Mr Potter," she said, "this is a bit more advance than that."

James gave her an odd look, not used to the idea of being called Mr Potter, it sounded so incredibly formal, which was weird since he and Renata appeared to be close around the same age.

"How about we get Harry cleaned up and then we can go to the shops, find something that Harry will like to eat so that you two aren't putting up such a fight."

He couldn't really find himself protesting the idea because it had always been a battle and a half to get Harry to eat something. Even when Lily had been alive, he had been presented as a picky eater, usually taking to pushing the food away from him and not be bothered with it. Of course, if anyone offered him a sweet, he was quick to take it.

It often led James to become completely frustrated as Lily had been the one to practise more patience when it came to Harry's fighting, but even she normally gave in and gave Harry some sweets, just so that he would eat something. If Renata seemed to discover a miracle spice that brought Harry to eat, he would bring himself to kiss the woman's feet.

Pulling out his wand to clean Harry's face, James stopped as soon as he saw Renata take a small clean towel from the sink area and use it to gently wipe at Harry's face. He was no longer putting up a fuss as he allowed her to work away at the dried sauce that was caked on his face. James was about to call out that using magic would go a lot faster, but seeing as the two were rather content, he kept his mouth shut.

"Nanata, come play?" Harry requested, looking over his shoulder once he was clean. He pointed his hand in the direction of his room.

"Well, we're about to head to the shops, Harry," she said, " but yes, you can show me your room before we go."

She placed him down and offered her hand to him so he could lead the way. Harry reached up, his hand only able to hold onto two of her fingers before he started down the hall towards his room. Renata had to remain hunched over, walking awkwardly to find him, but told James that they would be right back and ready to leave in just a few minutes.

As soon as the two were out of sight and he could hear them giggling away in Harry's room, James walked over to the pot of sauce on the stove and peered into it. There didn't seem anything wrong with it, it looked like normal spaghetti sauce. Thinking that Renata and Harry were forming some sort of alliance against him, he grabbed a spoon himself and took a slurp of it.

Seconds later, he found himself spitting in the sink, turning it on to rinse his mouth out as he could only describe the flavour as "acidic arse."

Wiping his mouth and standing back up, he heard the sound of a throat clearing from across the way and saw that Renata and Harry had returned. Both of them wore knowing expressions, especially Harry, who definitely had the "I-told-you-so" look mastered.

"On that note," Renata grinned, " I think we best be going."

While James held his arms out to carry Harry through the crowds of Diagon Alley, Harry made it extremely clear right away that he was not interested. Instead, he wanted to walk and he wanted to walk while holding Renata's hand. It was going to take them ages to get anywhere at the rate they were travelling but Renata didn't seem to mind at all as she allowed Harry to lead the way.

"So, uh, I take it that you cook a lot?" James asked, trying to start up some sort of conversation so that they weren't walking in total silence. "Since you seem to know about the seasoning and spices, I just assumed..."

Renata gave a nod of her head. "I grew interested from trips to Parma to visit my nonnina," she said before looking over and seeing the confused look on his face. "My grandmother."

"Oh, right," James said, feeling his face turned red. "Right, I knew that."

"You did?" she questioned. "Parli italiano?"

"Okay, going off basic French that I've learned from Sirius over the years, Parli sounds like Parlez, which I'm correlating with Parlez-vous français? Which is how you ask, do you speak French."

"Very formally, yes," she smiled.

"So, Parli...so you're asking if I speak Italian and I'm going to save myself the embarrassment and just say no. I do not speak Italian."

She started to laugh as he looked mighty proud of himself for deciphering the code of a different language. "Well, you may not speak it but you have excellent brainstorming skills. Bravo."

Eventually, Harry grew tired of walking, his little legs calling it quits for the days as he requested that someone carry him. At that point, he didn't even care who as he turned to face both of the adults behind him. It was James who lifted him up and placed Harry on his shoulders to carry him with ease.

"So, you didn't attend Hogwarts, did you?" James questioned after realising he couldn't ask her which of the four houses she had been in during her schooling."

"No," she answered, " I attended Accademia di Magia Crusca, it's where my mother works."

"Your mother was headmistress while you attended? I bet that was nice, probably got away with a lot, right?"

James saw that she shook her head profusely in response to his question. "No, not at all," she said. "My mother is very loving but very strict. She always has high expectations for my brother and me. Since Adelmo is successful, he's fine in their books, but not me. Not so much anymore. When I was going to be an Auror, she was constantly helping me study. I can probably still recite everything from the exams...but..."

"But you have a fear of blood," James finished for her, " have you always had this fear?"

"No," she said, " at least, I can't remember it back to when I was a little girl. Thankfully, magic helps with most of it so I don't have to see it. But if it is unexpected, I just can't control myself and I faint. Everything was going fine in my Auror exam and then one of the other women cut her hand on something and held it up. I fainted right in front of the proctor and that was pretty much it. They confirmed it and it was too much of a risk to have me continue."

"I'm sorry to hear that, it sounds like they were the ones who missed out though. So what if you faint, you recovered quickly, I saw it back in the park."

"Well, that's very kind of you but if I were out on a mission and fainted while facing a dark wizard, I don't see how that would be helpful, no matter how fast my recovery time is."

Seeing her look down at the pavement with a frown, James felt his own frown coming on as he didn't mean to dampen the mood. Harry sensed something was wrong and he could only assume that James was the source as he pulled at his father's hair. A warning that he needed to fix the situation or face his wrath. There wasn't much that James could think of right on the spot, but he did manage to think of something.

Something that usually brought a smile to his face when he was feeling low.

"Oh, Harry?" he called up to his son on his shoulders. " Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts..."

Renata glanced up as James started singing beside her and immediately Harry let out a happy squeal before he attempted to sing along.

"Hoggy, Hoggy, Hoggy!" he chimed in, instantly bringing Renata to laugh as she wasn't sure what was taking place.

"Teach us something please, whether we be old and bald or young with scabby knees, "James continued singing, looking over at Renata with a grin. " Our heads could do with filling with some interesting stuff. For now they're bare and full of air, dead flies and bits of fluff."

"FLUUUUUUUFF!" Harry bellowed out drawing it out and throwing his hands up. Apparently, this was a routine that they have worked on once or twice before.

"So teach us things worth knowing, Bring back what we've forgot, just do your best, we'll do the rest and learn until our brains all rot."

"BLEGH!" Harry and James chimed in together as they closed their eyes and stuck their tongues out.

As the song was notably finished, Renata clapped her hands together calling out "bravo" and "encore" with their performance.  Harry quickly followed suit enjoying the clapping as he started clapping right after her and calling out "yay!"

"That's was wonderful," she told James, " thank you for that."

And before James could tell her that she was very welcomed, Harry took to the word "encore" and started it up again.

"Hoggy..." he prompted looking down at the two. His father began to sing but Harry stopped him by calling out "no" right away. He looked over at Renata before starting again. "Hoggy..."

"I think he wants you to learn the song," James chuckled. "Don't worry, it's not that hard. Just follow me. "Hogwarts, Hogwarts..."

"Hoggy Warty, Hogwarts?" she finished, earning a clap not only from Harry but James as well, both of them thrilled that she was catching on rather quickly.

By the time they reached Diagon Alley, Renata would know all of the Hogwarts School song by heart.

"Teach us something please!"