With James just breaths away from taking hers with a kiss, Renata knew she couldn't go through with it. Not because she didn't want James to kiss her, she wanted it more than anything, but she was also aware that he had gone through the bottle of wine mainly by himself. Initially, when she went to face him, she could smell the alcohol on his breath and while the smell of wine was exactly off-putting, knowing that James may not have been in the right mindset definitely was.

The last thing she ever wanted to do was take advantage of him in an intoxicated state, she wouldn't be able to live with herself afterwards, no kiss was worth that sort of guilt.

She knew she wouldn't anyone trying to take advantage of her if she were drunk, so Renata was only left with one choice. As his lips nearly brushed against hers, she placed her hand up and covered his mouth, preventing the kiss from happening once and for all. She could only watch as his eyes that had been partially closed opened immediately and looked at her. The feeling of rejection was evident on his face as she peered up at him.

"I'm so sorry, Mr Potter," Renata whispered to him, " but I can't...I can't allow this to happen."

Dropping her hand down to her side, she felt terrible as James took a step away from her, releasing her from the locked position by the counter. His face was flushed red, probably a mixture of the wine and pure embarrassment he was feeling at the time.

"No," he said, peering down at the floor, " you shouldn't be the one apologising. I should be the one...I didn't mean-"

"It's just that you've been drinking," she told him, " and I don't want this to be something that you end up regretting by the morning."

James felt a kicking in his stomach, just seeing how visibly upset she was by the whole ordeal that he had placed them in. It was true that the wine had acted as liquid courage to get him to actually make a move, but that didn't mean that Renata saw it that way. She apparently only saw him as drunk and wanting to get a bit of action. That was the last thing he ever wanted, he didn't want her to see him in such a light.

Even if he was drunk, it didn't change that way he felt about her or the way she made him feel. If anything it only allowed those feelings to reach the surface because he didn't have the mental strength to fight them back. 

"I wouldn't regret it," he confessed to her, " but I'd want to remember it."

Placing a hand up to his head, he was definitely beginning to feel the effects of nearly consuming an entire bottle of wine by himself. He brought himself to sit down at the table, a shameful look on his face as he couldn't even bring himself to look at Renata. Earlier, he could see the watery gaze of her eyes, the trembling part of her lower lip, and the most apologetic expression he had ever seen in the course of his life. She looked as though she had something to be sorry about when she had done nothing wrong, in fact, she had done everything right.

Taking out her wand, Renata brought their cooking session to an end, discarding the empty bottle of wine, and cleaning up the surrounding mess. Neither one of them had an appetite anymore and James was sure he had ruined pretty much the rest of the night. However, as he sat there in a slump, hating himself for what he had done, he suddenly found a hand in his face.

Looking up, James saw that Renata was offering her hand for him to take, leaving him slightly confused at the time as he just stared at it for a few moments. He was hesitant about taking it, wondering if was a trick of some sort, or maybe that was just the one trying to fill his head with paranoid thoughts. As he reached for it, he waited for the moment where she was going to pull it back as if it were some prank, a further punch to his emotions.

But he was worried about nothing as he was able to grab her hand and she helped him stand up.

"Come on, Mr Potter, why don't you get some fresh air?" she suggested as she carefully directed him to the back door that led out to the garden. "It might make you feel better."

He couldn't believe it but Renata was bringing him over to the hammock and just like how she had helped him climb in it the first few times, she allowed him to get in first. Why was she being so nice to him when he had made such an arse out of himself that evening, he didn't understand.

As he settled back and felt the cool night air, Renata began swinging him gently as James thought back to another time where he had made an arse out of himself after a couple of glasses of wine.

It was back when Lily was alive, the two of them sharing dinner with Lily's sister, Petunia and her then-fiancé at the time, Vernon Dursley as they met for the first time. Vernon had been absolutely horrid, bragging about his car as if he was trying to state that he was better than him just because he owned a vehicle. Well, James decided right then and there that he was going to shut him down by talking about his inheritance. It led to further bickering, which then led to a nice row inside the restaurant.

Eventually, Vernon and Petunia stormed out of the restaurant and Lily burst into tears as the whole meeting had gone terribly wrong. She yelled at him when they got home, so furious with him questioning why he had to fight with Vernon. Of course, she knew that he wasn't solely to blame for the dinner going horribly, but she definitely let him have it that night. It got to the point where James begged her to stop yelling and promised her that he was going to apologise to them and make it up to her.

Unfortunately, even if he did approach the Dursleys at that point, Lily wasn't there to witness it. Yet, the memory of how Lily reacting to his behaviour had set the standard of how he expected Renata to react. After all, he had put her in such an uncomfortable position and it was to the point where she had been on the verge of crying, even if it was under different circumstances.

Turning his head, James looked over at Renata to see her standing beside the hammock, using one of her hands to lightly swing him back and forth. There was a distant look on her face as she stared ahead in the darkness of the night. Reaching his hand out, he touched her hand lightly where her fingers held the material of the hammock, bringing her to jump slightly before she peered over at him.

"I'm sorry I ruined a good evening," he told quietly, " but please, don't let this ruin everything."

"Mr Potter-"

He wasn't going to let her speak until he got out everything he needed to say. " I know I made a mistake and I'm sorry," he said, his voice cracking, " but please don't leave. I didn't mean to make you upset and I didn't mean to hurt you. But please don't leave, I don't think I could pay you enough to stay after that, but even if it's not for my sake, at least stay for Harry-"

"Mr Potter!" Her firm tone cut through his rambling to get him to stop as she faced him. "Mr Potter, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving unless you tell me to," she said, " but nothing tonight made me want to leave."

"Really?"

She nodded her head, a faint smile on her face as she made her way to climb into the hammock and sit across from him. James wished it was like his dream where she cuddled up into his side, but she seemed to be keeping a safe distance, probably just in case he tried something again.

"I'm not leaving you and I'm not leaving Harry."

That seemed to settle him enough that he didn't find himself in a panic over the idea of her walking out in the middle of the night and him having to face the idea of telling Harry that "Nanny Nanata" wasn't coming back. He suddenly felt exhausted as the wine was kicking in even harder, he wanted to sleep, but at the same time, he didn't feel like they were leaving things off on a good note. He still had a million questions on his mind and not being sober left him with a little filtering made it hard for him to pick which question would be deemed appropriate.

"If I was sober," he started before letting out a small hiccup,"...if I was sober, would you have kissed me back?"

After he asked, James expected her to just smack him and walk away, he had no idea what possessed to ask a question, drunk or not.

"I'm sorry," James quickly went to retract his question," I didn't-"

"Yes."

The world seemed to come to a halt as Renata delivered her answer, an unexpected one at that. James couldn't help but stare at her, wondering if he had already passed out and entered a dream state. She probably read the disbelief on his face as she looked down at her hands that were wringing together in a rough manner as she failed to settle her own nerves after she answered.

She didn't know how happy her answer had made James, if he didn't feel so damn tired at the time, he would have attempted to dance in the garden. But instead, a sleepy smile took his face as his eyes barely remained open. His head leaned back as his body entered a relaxed state as he used his remaining energy to reach out a hand and place it over Renata's.

"Well, just to let you know," he said before yawning, " if I was sober, maybe I wouldn't have tried, but I would have still wanted to."

Her head lifted up, ready to question him further but she was only greeted with the scene of James falling asleep and the light sound of his snoring.

"We'll see if you feel the same way in the morning, Mr Potter."

Of course, while James' night had come to an abrupt end as he passed out, Renata's did not as she brought the man to his bed, using her wand. She tucked him in and for a tempting moment, she leaned in and kissed the side of his face gently. As much as it had pained Renata to reject the kiss that she had longing for, she was proud of herself for actually doing the right thing.

If it turned out in the morning that the wine was just speaking rather than what James truly felt then the entire situation could have become incredibly ugly and if she thought things had been awkward before, she could only imagine that it would be a million times worse. She would have to see what his reaction was in the morning and go by that.

Just that thought alone was absolutely terrifying.

Making her way to her own room, Renata climbed into bed and pulled the covers over her head before letting out a frustrated groan into her pillow. Thankfully the majority of the noise was muffled by the pillow because it definitely sounded borderline demonic. She had no idea how she was supposed to fall asleep given the circumstances. James had almost kissed her and confessed that if he was sober, he would still want to do it. It left her with butterflies fluttering in her chest and stomach, but then there was the pure fear that maybe it wasn't true.

She had never been drunk so she didn't know how honesty worked in those respects. Once she had heard the saying that "drunken words were sober thoughts" but how was she supposed to know if it was true? The only way she would know was waiting until the next morning and that seemed forever away.

But Renata turned out to be a lot more tired than she actually believed as she actually fell asleep within the hour and entered her own dream without realising it.

It didn't seem any different at first because she was still in her room laying down in her bed in the dark. However, she was alerted by the sound of her bedroom door opening causing her to lift her head up from the pillow and look over her shoulder. It was difficult to see in the darkness but she could make out someone entering the room.

"Renata, are you asleep?" she could hear James call out her name, leaving her suddenly alert as she sat up quickly.

"James?"

"I couldn't sleep," he said as she felt the end of her bed dip under his weight as he climbed onto her bed. She held her breath as she felt him approaching but she also didn't find herself trying to escape as he climbed over her.

"Did...d-did you t-take your sl-sleeping draught?" she questioned  in such a tiny voice that it was barely audible. "It sh-should..."

Her voice trailed off as she couldn't even think of what she was trying to say anymore. Her mind was too caught up in the fact that James was on all fours right over her.

"Can I stay in here with you?" James asked her as she could feel him getting closer until his chest was pressed against her. "Can I stay with you?"

She reached her hands up, believing that she was going to get a grip of his shirt, however, as her hands made contact she was only met with the warmth of his skin.

"Oh my."

"I really want to stay with you tonight, Renata, please let me stay."

Renata had been strong before but as James lowered himself and she felt his lips press against her neck. Suddenly, she found herself unable to push away and she really didn't want to as his kisses trailed up her neck and along her jawline. It was like an endless bout of teasing her as all she wanted was for him to kiss her but it seemed he was kissing her everywhere but on her lips.

"Why aren't you kissing me on the lips?" she asked, slightly out of breath as she reached her hands up to touch his hair.

"You told me that you couldn't allow that to happen," he replied in a cheeky tone, " I'm just listening to your wishes and you're not allowed to kiss me back because I'm not sober."

"You cheeky-"

Suddenly, Renata woke with a start only to find herself alone in her bed, the rays of the sun shining through her window signaling that it was morning. It felt like she had barely gotten any sleep whatsoever but she figured that it was best to get up. Sirius was probably going to be returning with Harry soon and she wasn't sure if James was going to be up early after the night he had.  Although before she did anything else, she was definitely going to treat herself to a cold shower.

It was enough to set her mind straight that morning but as soon as she walked out into the kitchen to get herself some coffee, that all went to hell. James was awake, seated at the table as he nursed his hangover while Renata felt like running the opposite way to avoid confrontation. However, at the sound of her footsteps, James looked up and spotted her, causing her to freeze in place.

"Good morning," he said, raising his mug, " apparently I did not use my night off wisely, did I?"

Renata bit the inside of her cheek, not liking the direction of where the coversation was going. "Do you remember anything of what happened yesterday?" she asked, trying to disguise the hopeful tone to her voice.

"I remember us attempting to make beef wellington," he let out a light chuckle," seeing as there isn't any left, I can only assume that it went really well that we ate it all or it went terrible."

Welp, Renata had never been stabbed before, but she was sure whatever pain she was experiencing at that very moment was close enough. However, maybe it was a good thing that he didn't remember and he seemed to be in a good mood which was always a good thing. She had to focus on the positives or she felt like she was going to cry.

"Well," she said in a strained voice, attempting to be cheery," let's just say that you tried to bathe the eggs when I told you we were going to do an egg wash."

He started laughing when there was a knock at the door which Renata gladly offered to answer to get away from the scene. She quickly made her way over to open the door, nearly getting barrelled in her legs as Harry came running in, carrying plenty of new toys in his arms.

"Look! Look!" he exclaimed, holding them up and running in further to show his father. With Harry and James occupied, Renata pushed Sirius back out of the home and closed the door behind them.

Sirius was expecting some good news as he looked at her with a hopeful grin only to find Renata wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"Hold me," she told him, "I'm sad."