Able to put aside the discussion of a cult possibly being in play, James spent the majority of the evening with Renata on the sofa, allowing her to read. It didn't come across as very difficult to think of other things outside of Sirius' discovery, especially when Renata had her legs tangled with his as they laid together. She used his chest to keep the book propped up as she read quietly to herself until James requested that she read out loud to fill in the silence. She didn't seem to mind as his stroked her hair and occasionally, grazed his hand over her shoulder, completely unaware that his actions were actually soothing Renata to sleep.

Without warning at one point, the book fell over and Renata didn't make any attempts to pick it back up, leaving James to strain slightly to look down without disturbing her. He could see enough that her eyes were closed and paired with her slow breathing, it was safe to say that she had actually fallen asleep. He didn't think to move, remaining still and in place allowing her to sleep peacefully. Taking the book, James gently set it aside and rested his head back again, closing his own eyes.

Renata's body was warm against his, no need for any blankets as long as she remained in the same position with her arm draped over his chest. Her head continued to rest between the space of his neck and shoulder, allowing him to still play with her hair between his fingers. She hardly made any noises in her sleep and James found himself opening one eye every so often to make sure he could still see the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

The scent of her perfumed shampoo was relaxing, although James didn't have the slightest clue as to what it was. He remembered that Lily liked wearing rosewater that she actually made herself on some occassions, but that wasn't the scent that he was smelling. It wasn't floral and oddly enough, it didn't smell fruity either, the only thing he could describe it as was sweet and he definitely could settle for sweet.

With the combination of warmth and the comforting smell of her perfume, James found himself suddenly feeling extremely sleepy, even though he had been wide awake earlier. He had planned out an evening of cooking and maybe talking to Renata about her childhood, in hopes of bringing more information to light. However, she had fallen asleep rather quickly and he didn't find himself far behind.

Within just a few minutes, James fell asleep, both of his arms wrapped around Renata in some way as he turned his body slightly to face her. There was limited room on the sofa as it was slim in built and while both of them could have easily made it larger with the use of magic, they decided not to. It gave them an excuse to cuddle closer without them actually claiming that was what they were doing.

His fingers were still slightly tangled in her hair, the other hand resting on her hip while her hand had taken a light grip of his shirt in her sleep. If Sirius could have seen them at that moment, James was willing to bet money that his best friend would have snapped a picture and then held it to their faces while telling them that they could have achieved such moments sooner if they had just stopped doubting themselves so much. Of course, that was easier for him to say because Sirius was always the type of person that acted on what he wanted without fail.

But James wouldn't have changed anything about how he and Renata had handled things, it made everything special. It was a unique story to tell if anyone bothered to ask and while it was full of self-doubt, fear, and pure awkwardness, it had all been so worth it. It was also full of laughter, healing, and learning about one another. James could appreciate all of those things, the good and the bad because they all came together to create something wonderful.

Sure, things weren't perfect as of those moments, with James still second-guessing what was appropriate as the relationship developed and now the possible darkness of a not-so-happy childhood looming over Renata. There were definite things that still needed to be sorted through, but one thing that Renata had taught James very early on when they met remained with him during such trials.

He didn't have to be perfect, things didn't have to be perfect.

That was something he had fooled himself into believing when he was younger, that everything had to be perfect and all of that, had eventually led to the downfall of his confidence. When things didn't go perfectly as planned, it left him questioning so much about himself. When Lily told him that he wasn't perfect, he took it as an insult when they were younger because he honestly believed that he was and that he had to be.

Everything around him had been idealic when he was growing up, from having loving parents, to a well-providing home, he had wonderful friends, and he wanted the perfect girl. But the perfect girl didn't exist, just like how he wasn't perfect. Lily had been beautiful and wonderful, but she had her own flaws that he chose to ignore for his own sake of wanting to build the perfectly life during a time of war.

Now he understood that he had his flaws, but he was learning that he could still be wonderful.

It was leading to him living a much happier life as he didn't place so many expectations on himself, he didn't find himself so pushy or abrasive. It was much more relaxing to see what life was going to offer rather than trying to squeeze every little opportunity out of it.

A relaxed mind led to pleasant dreams of finding himself in a hammock on the beach with Renata and Harry. It was a warmer beach, somewhere tropical and in the distance he could hear the sounds of the waves crashing against the sand. Renata and Harry were close, playing around in the sand, burying Sirius up to his neck, while Remus took to placing a bucket over Sirius' head to top it all off. James climbed out of the hammock and made his way over settling down beside Harry and Renata, as Sirius yelled for the bucket to be removed only for Harry to start banging his hands on top of it.

It was when Adelmo finally appeared that he saved Sirius from his sand torture but still the whole scene had called for laughter and it left James with a pleasant smile on his face as he continued to sleep.

Curled up beside him, Renata had seemingly entered a peaceful state, but before she had finally closed her eyes out of exhaustion, she had gone to bed with troubling thoughts. The evening had been lovely with James, just cuddling up with him on the sofa and letting him play with her hair as she read. He would trace circles or lines against her shoulder that left her with pleasant shivers racing down her spine and the way his legs braided with hers left her feeling such a sense of security, it was hard not to fall asleep during those moments.

The effects of cuddling with James Potter was the equivalent of taking a drug that gave a euphoric feeling. How could one complain? Well, Renata's mind tended to drift towards an insecure path without her noticing at first but it was becoming more and more prominent when she was left alone with her thoughts.

Like when James had been running his hand through her hair and without realising it, some of her hair had gotten caught up in his wedding ring. She said nothing, she didn't even flinch, but her mind was focused on the wedding ring all of a sudden. It wasn't the first time either, other times when he had kissed her, it was fine when his left hand came to cup the side of her face, but whenever his right hand touched her, she could feel the coolness of the wedding band, which completely threw her off.

She scolded herself for getting so caught up in the presence of the ring, she had never really paid attention to it before whenever she and James had been flirting or all the other times. But since they started dating, whenever she made contact with it, it left her wanting to pull away. Obviously, he had moved it so that it was no longer on the "proper wedding finger" however, Renata still knew that it was his wedding band.

She didn't expect him to take it off just because they were dating, she didn't expect him to take it off at all. After all, that ring more than likely meant so much to him, she knew it would be incredibly selfish for her to even contemplate asking him to remove it. But Renata didn't want James to take off his wedding ring for her sake, she just wanted to get over how it made her feel awkward.

Reminding herself over and over that he was no longer a married man didn't seem to work. Some days, it was easier to ignore, especially if it didn't make contact with her skin, but other times it was just so in her face that she couldn't see or think of anything else.It weighed heavy on her mind, somehow filled her with guilt that she was with a married man, who maybe wasn't physically married but still married to the idea of his late-wife.

Normally, Renata was fairly good at regulating her stress or pushing things to the back of her mind, but it seemed she had pushed one too many things to the back that would cause a break in the wall that evening.

Her dream started off with her back in Italy, possibly brought on by the feeling of being somewhat homesick, not necessarily for her home, but for her country that she had grown up in. She was walking along the streets, but the odd part was there was no one else around. Normally, the streets were busy with people, natives and tourists, but it was absolutely desserted and quiet.

Renata continued on walking around, keeping an watchful eye and listening ear out in case anyone turned up, but for what seemed like forever, she was alone. She was just about to call out, in hopes of finding someone or at least, just breaking the silence that was borderline driving her mad. Yet, as she turned a corner, she saw someone standing at the end of the cobblestone street.

"Adelmo?"

She could recognise her brother but as she called his name, he didn't respond. "Al?

Thinking something was wrong, Renata ran the rest of the way over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, there were flashing images of Adelmo lying on the ground, looking extremely bloody that caused her to scream out as she tried to help him. However, it was like an invisible force had taken over where Adelmo was just being beaten in front of her, but there was no one around them. She tried to reach out and help him as his body jerked around in all different direction, he cried out in pain, but she couldn't help him.

James woke to the sound of Renata screaming and it caused his heart to nearly throttle up his throat and jump out of his mouth in his own attempts to yell out in fright. Immediately, he went to sit up, expecting to find something terrible to be going on around him in the home. However, as he went to sit forward, he felt Renata's body still resting against him. Her hand that had been lightly gripping him before, was now holding on for dear life as she pulled and stretched the front of his shirt.

If that wasn't bad enough, he suddenly could feel a dampness against his shoulder as her tears had bled into the fabrics and left a large wet spot that chilled him straight to the bone. Her eyes remained closed and as he called her name, thinking she was upset about something, he realised that she was still asleep. Of course, he had never seen her in such a state and he had to admit, it was terrifying because he didn't know what to do.

He could only assume that she was suffering from a night terror of sorts and he had always been told to not interfere with such things because it could only make matters worse and it would lead to the person possibly getting hurt. But the way Renata was crying in his arms, the way she was calling out, it was enough to break his heart just by lying there and listening to it.

Whenever she yelled something out, it was in Italian, so James had no idea what she was saying, he had no idea how to respond. How he could suddenly feel like he had been rendered useless in just a few seconds was baffling to him. Finally managing to sit up, James tried to move so that he was before her, only to see that Renata's eyes were open somewhat, but she wasn't looking at him. It seemed they weren't looking at anything, they were just open, while her hands had let go of him and seemed to be trying to reach for something.

Still feeling quite useless, James could only think that attempting to comfort her was the only way to bring her out of it. He reached his hands out slowly and allowed them to come to rest on her back, rubbing over the area gently. He called her name softly, over and over, just trying to drag her out whatever was plaguing her mind at the time.

"It's alright," he whispered to her, " it's alright, everything is fine. You're safe."

James couldn't help but think back to the time where he had woken up in St Mungo's and the way that everyone had been so frightened for him because of the state he was in. They didn't report him exhibiting any symptoms as to what he was witnessing at that very moment, but he could suddenly relate to the fear they had all probably felt. But his touch against her back was causing her to flinch and as he started talking, she clapped her hands over her ears.

Since nothing was working, James backed off, dropping his hands and remaining quiet for the time being, left to feel terrible that he couldn't do anything for her. However, it seemed that leaving Renata alone was the best thing he could do for her as she slowly but surely started to calm down. The crying and screaming came to an end, she lowered her hands to her lap and as he watched, she started to lean over towards the sofa again to fall back asleep. He decided to wait for a couple of minutes to make sure that it was all over before he reached his hand out and touched her shoulder.

Renata didn't yell or scream, she didn't try to fight him, nor did she flinch, instead, she seemed to fall back into his touch.

"Ren?" he called out to her lightly. "Ren, can you wake up?"

He squeezed her shoulder, not really comfortable with the idea of shaking her, even if it was in a gentle manner. He continued to call her name and finally, she opened her eyes, a groggy expression before she lifted her hands to rub the sleepiness away.

"Ren?"

"Hmmm?"

A wave of relief washed over him as he let out a heavy sigh by her small response. It was a lot better than nothing or screaming.

"Are you alright?" he asked her as she turned around to face him, looking confused. "Are you having any bad dreams?"

"No," she said shaking her head, " I'm fine."

It seemed she didn't recall that she had just been screaming and crying in her sleep, but the symptoms were starting to present themselves as she rubbed at her throat and when her hands touched her face, she noticed that they became wet. Looking across the way at James, she could see that state of his shirt that looked like it had been through hell and back, her makeup had apparently run at one point, a wet spot paired with black from her eyes. She rubbed at her face and saw the black of the mascara staining her own fingers.

"What...what's going on?" she questioned him. "What..."

"I don't know," he told her, "I woke up to you screaming and crying in your sleep. Youw ere speaking in Italian, so I don't even know what you were saying. You were really upset and I tried to help but I think I was only making things worse."

"I was screaming?" she whispered. "Crying? But I don't remember anything...I didn't have a bad dream."

"That's not what it looked like on this end, Ren."

James didn't want to hear her apologise for what happened, but that seemed all she could do at the time because she didn't know what else to say. He really wished he knew what to say to comfort her, he wished he knew what she had been dreaming about so that he could help her. But all he could do was hold out his arms and offer her a strong hug. At first, she appeared hesitant, James had never seen her look so shameful. She was still apologising about the state of his shirt, something that he didn't care about one bit.

As she took too long to respond to his offer, he reached forward and pulled her into his hug, holding onto her tightly. Eventually, her arms wrapped around him and she seemed to hold on in silence. He rubbed her back and continued what he had done earlier by telling her that everything was alright. She didn't have to worry about his shirt, she didn't have to worry about anything because he was right there with her.

However, as he held onto her and reassured her throughout the next hour that all was to be okay, he could only think about one thing that Sirius had said while he had been there.

"A lot of them went mad."