For several moments, Renata stood in the doorway in between the kitchen and the outside, looking right at James as he remained standing in the grass. The problem was, she wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly because the request that he blurted out was all jumbled together that it sounded like complete gibberish. However, the look on his face held such a hopeful approach as he waited for her answer. Turning completely to face him, Renata offered him a smile just to ensure him that whatever he asked she wasn't rejecting, she just needed to confirm what he said.

"What did you say?"

James' face fell because he had used up a great majority of his courage to ask her and she didn't even hear him, or rather she did, but she didn't understand. He was so nervous that she could see him visibly swallowing and while she wanted to approach the situation in a serious manner, it was difficult to do so with James covered in red nail varnish all over his toes and fingers. He looked ridiculous but to Renata, that made him even cuter at the moment if it were possible.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly through his nose before he peered up at her again.     "I asked if you would like to go to dinner with me tonight?"

Almost instantly, Renata's smile grew especially as she felt her heart leap in her chest. She had to question if he was really asking her or if she had entered another one of her dreams that morning. Although she didn't really care because even if it was a dream, she was going to make the most of it.

"Yes!" she answered with equal excitement despite trying to keep a calm tone. That entire morning she had felt terrible, thinking that her chances with James became nothing in such a short period of time. But there he was, asking to take her to dinner and that filled her with enough hope to evoke happiness to return.

"G-g-great," James replied, his voice cracking but a grin appearing on his face. He looked rather relieved that she had agreed to it.

"Will Harry be joining us?"

"Uh no," he said, not sure if that was going to be a problem. Did she not see it as a date invitation, did she see it more as a family outing in a sense? " Sirius said he had a lot of fun with Harry last night, so he was hoping for more time. And seeing as I ruined last night's dinner-"

"Mr Potter, you didn't ruin last night's dinner," she told him, " believe me. You actually did extremely well with all the cooking. You browned the meat perfectly and you created a perfect duxelle, you should be proud of yourself."

His face turned warm from her compliments, but that wasn't exactly the point he was getting at. "Well, it would have been a lot nicer if we had actually been able to finish and sit down to eat the food. Since that didn't happen because I decided to throw back several glasses of wine, I just wanted to make it up to you. So I promise you a really nice dinner and I also promise that I will not touch any glass unless there is water in it."

Renata chuckled with a slight nod of her head. "Alright, Mr Potter, I'll hold you to that. What time are we looking at?"

"Seven?"

"Seven it is."

She turned on her heel, heading inside to help Harry who was attempting to reach for an apple on the table. Knowing that James was entering the home right after her, didn't give her any time to participate in a celebratory jig, but with her back turned towards the door, she was free to smile as aggressively as she wanted to. Although that didn't last very long as Harry looked up at her and thought she was making a silly face, leaving him to try and mimic it.

It wasn't confirmed that it was a date, but that didn't matter to her because it just meant that things weren't as bad as she had made them out to be in her head. There was such a fear instilled in her that she would be on the verge of losing everything, but the fact that James was willing to engage in a do-over of the night, she was thrilled.

It turned the whole mood of the day around and she found herself humming as she cut and peeled the apple for Harry, the two of them sitting at the kitchen table. Harry was seated in her lap, grabbing the pieces as she handed them to him, every so often he would lift up a piece back up to her to feed her.

James came inside and he had a smile on his face as he came to join them at the table. Harry offered him a piece as well and as he went to take the apple slice, he made exaggerating eating sounds that brought Harry to giggle. It made Renata laugh as well because he really did come across as some sort of creature paired with the bright red nail varnish.

Moments like those, Harry felt most content as he looked back and forth between his father and the woman he considered to be his mother. They were both smiling, they were both laughing, they seemed happy and that's all he wanted. He loved being surrounded by happiness, especially when he was in the company of the ones he loved. Leaning his back against Renata's abdomen, the adults were no longer laughing at him, they were just smiling at each other. He could definitely get used to moments like that.

With an owl sent to Sirius confirming that he would be needed for the date night, James retreated back to his bedroom for a little bit while Renata and Harry were colouring in the living room. He closed the door over and sat down on the side of his bed, closest to his nightstand and opened up the small drawer. Inside, he looked in to find Lily's wedding ring that he had kept, over a photo of the two of them, holding Harry in between them. It was the cover of the photo album and the two of them were gazing down at Harry, who was only an infant at the time, bright smiles on their face.

As happy as he was that he was taking the first step to possibly going on his first date since Lily's death, it still felt incredibly weird and awkward. It wasn't due to Renata, but his own feelings about how inexperienced he was. Since he had decided that he had wanted Lily to be his first date from a very young age, it had left him limited to actually only having his dating experience be with her. There had been other girls that were interested in him during his Hogwarts years and they made it well known, they were beautiful girls, but James had a very one-tracked mind when he was younger.

So when he started dating Lily, it was around their seventh year and as soon as they graduated, they were married shortly after. It felt as though they had skipped the dating phase of life and just had jumped into things. Their dates consisted of trips to Hogsmeade, usually in the company of their friends or surrounded by their other peers. There had been the disastrous double-date that included Petunia and Vernon, so as James thought about it, his dating record was terrible.

He didn't know what Renata's experience was like, seeing how beautiful she was, he had to assume that she probably had plenty of offers to go on dates, whether she had taken them up on the offer that was a completely different story. Immediately, James started to worry that his lack of experience was going to show with Renata, of course, they were both young adults, but James had only been with one woman and he didn't want to come across as terribly awkward.

Reaching into the drawer, he pulled out the photo album and opened it up to glance over the pictures. It was filled with pictures from Hogwarts, from his wedding to Harry's earliest baby pictures.  Everyone looked so happy, even during the photos that were taken during the times of war, maybe they were fake smiles for the sake of the photographs but it was captured happiness. However, as James looked over every photo, he could see where he was looking at Lily, but she was always looking elsewhere, whether it was at the camera, at someone else in the photo, or especially at Harry whenever they were photographed together.

Not one photo where she was looking at him with a smile on her face.

Maybe he was reading too much into it, after all, perhaps she was just aware of where the camera was or maybe she was just too involved in the situation at the time to notice that James was looking at her. It could have all just been a coincidence and maybe James was looking for some excuse to justify that he was about to go on a date with another woman or something along the lines of a date.

Then he glanced down to see that he still had on his wedding ring and he was stuck staring at it for a few minutes. No one was going to force him to take it off, but he felt as though it would be awkward if it turned out to be a date and there he was wearing his wedding ring. He was torn between the idea of whether it was right to take it off or whether it was right to wear it while in the presence of Renata?

Of course, while he was debating that, he was still questioning the idea if it was too soon. It didn't feel wrong for him to move on as he really wanted to see where it would go with Renata, but then part of him was worried about the judgment of the people around him. He knew very well that Sirius and Remus would never judge him, but what about others that knew of the story? Normally, James didn't care what people thought about him, but he was sick with worry about the opinions of him being disrespectful towards his late wife if they figured he had moved on too soon.

Yet, as James sat there, he reminded himself that during the time of his marriage, he had fulfilled every marriage vow until death did them part. He loved Lily and when she was alive, he was willing to do everything for her, in sickness and in health. She had been his first love, the mother of his child, and he respected that, even if he doubted if he was the same person for her.

There was a lot of doubt in his mind if he was Lily's first true love and if she actually loved him in the way he loved her. Part of him wanted to think she did, but another part in the back of his mind had festered this idea that she just loved the idea of him. The idea of having someone, the idea of someone who had provided her with a beautiful son, the idea of James the way she wanted him to be and not the way he was.

He made up his mind as he slipped his wedding band off his finger.

James wasn't ready to remove it permanently but he believed he was ready to move forward as he moved the band to his right ring finger.

Sitting in his room for a while, James decided to remain as relaxed as possible before it was time for him to leave. He had his eyes closed but he wasn't sleeping as he just listened to the sound of Renata teaching Harry the alphabet in Italian. It made him chuckle, wondering just how fluent Harry was going to be in another language by the time he was of age to attend Hogwarts. That was, of course, him planning that Renata was going to be around them that long for Harry to pick up the fluency of Italian. He was praying that the evening went well, enough that maybe Renata would consider it an official date and maybe agree to go on another one with him.

He didn't realise how much time had gone by when there was a knock at his door and it turned out to be Sirius showing up for his babysitting duty.

However, as James welcomed him inside, Sirius came in with Harry closed the door behind him to offer some privacy towards their conversation.

"Renata's in her room getting ready," Sirius said, " so I guess that and the fact that I'm here to spend time with Harry means that everything is good to go for this evening?"

James sat up on his bed and nodded his head. "I think so."

"Well, how are you feeling about it?" Sirius asked, his eyes trailing down to where he noticed that James' wedding ring had shifted to the other hand. "Do you feel comfortable?"

"It feels like it's the right thing," he answered, " it's just, I don't know if Renata sees this as a date or not, you know? I didn't exactly clarify it, I just asked her if she wanted to join me for dinner tonight. What if she thinks this is just a friendly dinner with her boss?"

"When you see what she's wearing, mate, I don't think you'll be questioning if it's a date or not," Sirius grinned, " now what are you wearing tonight?"

Peering down at the plain long sleeve and trousers he was wearing, James appeared rather confused by Sirius' question. "Uh, this?"

Suddenly, the room fell silent, Sirius had his lips pursed in disappointed, shaking his head and since Harry looked over at him, he started shaking his head as well.

"James, this is your first date with her, put a little effort into it, my friend. She sees you like this every day, why not spruce it up for the evening? Put on a nice button up, a neat pair of trousers, a good pair of dress shoes. Come on, I know you have it in you or at least, I know you have it in your wardrobe."

He couldn't believe that he was having Sirius dress him for his evening out, but at the same time, it was rather comforting. As Sirius rummaged through his wardrobe, James continued to sit on his bed with Harry in his arms. Harry seemed to be in a playful mood as he took off his father's glasses and placed them on, making all sorts of silly faces. Outside of the room, James could hear shuffling around and he was curious as to what Renata was wearing.

The way Sirius had vaguely described it, made it sound like he was definitely going to like what he saw and that left him feeling slightly impatient. He wanted to get dressed and head out there to see what awaited him.

Seconds later, Sirius threw out a dress shirt and trousers at James' face, covering him and Harry.

"Alright, you're all set to go," Sirius told him as he collected Harry in his arms, " get dress and then get your arse out there."

"Sirius, not in front of Harry," James sighed, trying to keep all swearing to a minimum around his toddler.

Sirius waved him off as he opened the bedroom door and stepped out with Harry, leaving James behind to get dressed as the door was closed. Knowing that it was almost time, James pushed himself up and walked over to his mirror to start getting ready.

Remembering his first date that he had gone on with Lily, he had worn just a simple jumper that his mother had bought him, one that he still owned and pulled out every so often. It was odd in colour, almost like a mint green, but it was incredibly soft. He figured it would serve as a good luck charm of sorts because it always gave him the comfort of his mother. However, as he showed up for the date, Lily had made the comment that the colour was really "out there," not in a harmful way, more playful than anything.

But in the midst of wanting to impress her in such a desperation, he quickly removed it and never bothered to wear it again around her. As he approached his wardrobe, he could see where it was hanging and immediately, he pulled it into his hands. He wasn't going to wear it but he really felt like he was going to need the feeling of his mother's comfort with him that evening.

After all, Euphemia had been one of the reasons that James had been so confident when he was younger, he needed his confidence back.

Dressed in the clothes that Sirius picked up with the jumper tucked under his arm, James took a deep breath once more and made his way to walk out. Sirius and Harry seemed to be waiting for the two to come out of their respective rooms, with James coming out first. Sirius was just about to question the mint green jumper under James' arms, but he didn't get a chance as they heard the sound of Renata coming out of her room.

There was something about the classic little black dress that seemed to work for every occasion, whether it was a first date or some other event. It was flattering for every woman, at least, in James' mind and as he watched Renata walked out in a long-sleeved black dress that hugged her body in all the right places, and stopped at her mid-thigh, his mind drew a blank of what to say.

She approached him in what appeared to be a shy manner with her hands before her and her head tilted downward. She seemed to be taking in his appearance, the white dress shirt, paired with the black trousers. He managed to look dressy and yet, casual at the same time and paired with his messy hair, it was a good look on him.

"You clean up well, Mr Potter."

James wanted to tell her that she looked beautiful, that she was making the palms of his hands sweat just by standing in front of him. He wanted to compliment her in the most flattering of ways but she had rendered his mind to pure mush in those few moments as he was caught up looking at her. So what he responded with, wasn't exactly what he wanted to say and it caused Sirius and Harry to clap their hands over their faces.

"Yes."