After an eventful day with Harry, Ron, and Neville, it was clearly time for the playdate to come to an end as Neville and Ron were yawning consistently and on the verge of falling asleep. It seemed Harry was the only one with the energy to keep going, but James figured it was time to call it a day. Leaving Harry in Renata's care, he scooped up the sleepy boys to bring them to their respective homes, claiming that he wouldn't be very long. When he left, Renata and Harry remained outside in the garden, Renata swinging lightly in the hammock, watching as Harry was busy collecting some of the flowers that Neville had watered back to life.

She heard the door to the Potter household open and figured that it was almost too soon for James to be back unless he dropped each child off and left without a word. She didn't think he would get away with such a thing, especially at the Burrow and her assumption was correct that he wasn't James, it was Sirius.

Since the issue with Adelmo had gone down, Sirius hadn't been around as much, James claiming that he was probably moping around dramatically in his flat. Normally, he would have interfered as  Renata suggested, but he informed her that Sirius liked to have a few days to himself. When he wanted attention, he would come around looking for it and he seemed he was right. 

Sirius walked through the home, his shoulders slouched until he came to the doorway and walked outside. His head hung low but he was able to make his way over to the area where Renata and Harry were. She was stupidly about to ask him how he was feeling, just to get a conversation going, however, Sirius didn't give her a chance as he flopped to the ground near the hammock.

"Pet me," he said to her, " I'm sad."

She watched as he morphed into a dog and proceeded to roll on his side while letting out pitiful whimpers.  Renata knew it wasn't the right time to laugh, but she couldn't help the smile that formed on her face. It really was true that Sirius was King of the Dramatic Arts and his actions at those moments were only evidence to help build a strong case. But she did feel terrible for him, she felt terrible for Adelmo as well. The situation was extremely complicated and it was no one's fault, except perhaps the fault of her parents.

They had been the ones that had made Adelmo feel ashamed of his feelings over the years, enough that he tried to hide how he truly felt. There he was, presented with an opportunity to be with someone that he found attractive and he was withdrawing himself because their parents had drilled it into his mind that it was "wrong." Then there was Sirius on the other end, someone who had found love and support, but had to suffer because the person he wanted wouldn't allow himself to be with him. 

It made Renata angry to think that despite being so far away from home that their parents still managed to control their lives in such ways. They were countries away and yet, it was like it didn't matter, Renata felt like she still lived under the household rules, and it was obvious that Adelmo felt the same.

Climbing out of the hammock swiftly, Renata lowered herself to sit in the grass and slowly began petting the top of Sirius' dog head. He allowed his head to come rest in her lap as his little whining came to an end.

"I really am sorry that you have to go through this, Sirius," Renata told him in a gentle voice, " I hope you understand though that it was never Adelmo's intention to hurt you."

Suddenly, Sirius fell out of form and pushed himself up to sit beside her in the grass. "Then why...why did he do all of that then? Why did he lead me on if he wasn't going to be bothered-"

"It's not like that, " she said trying to calm him down," Al would never lead you on purpose. He's just troubled by the whole thing, he's never been open about his sexuality, mainly because our parents shamed him for it."

"It's not like I was asking him to be public about it!" Sirius countered. "I wouldn't mind being discreet about all of it. But to invite me in, literally, drag me into his bedroom-"

"I don't need those details," she stopped him quickly. The last thing she ever wanted to hear was her brother's adventures in bed, especially when it came to discussing it with someone who had been involved.

Sirius sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "Sorry, but you know what I meant. He invited me in and then he kicked me out. "

"And I'm sure that it killed him to do that, Sirius. Trust me, my brother is never one to purposely hurt people. I think he was just frightened at the time and the only reaction he could come up with was distancing himself from you. He probably wants to be with you, but he's had feelings towards other men before and his mind is poisoned by prejudice words."

"Well then let me be the antidote," Sirius said to her, " I don't care what people think about it anymore and if they have a problem with it, I'll handle it. I'll tell off your parents first if I have to."

Renata grew quiet for a few seconds, bringing Sirius to look over at her, thinking that he had probably crossed some sort of line. However, even though he expected Renata to look upset or angry, she looked rather fearful at the prospect of the Sirius standing up to her parents. He couldn't believe it, Renata and Adelmo were grown adults, who lived close to two thousand kilometres away from their parents and they still came off as frightened children.

"What's the worst they could do, Ren?" Sirius questioned out of curiosity. "Stop talking to him? To both of you?"

Renata didn't know what they would do, let alone what was the worse they could do, that's what frightened her and that was what more than likely frightened Adelmo just the same.

"I-I-I don't know, Sirius," she answered, rubbing the side of her head, " but I don't think it's a good idea."

He was about to argue that Adelmo hiding away wasn't a good idea because it was far from healthy, but it seemed Harry figured the two adults could use a break from the tense situation as he made his way over.

In his hands, Harry had picked an assortment of coloured flowers, remembering how happy Renata had been when he had given a bouquet the first time. From where he had been standing across the way, he could see the frown on her face and it was obvious that she needed something to cheer her up. He walked over wearing a bright smile on his face and holding out the flower to her as he approached where she was sitting beside Sirius.

"Here, Mummy!"

An innocent act of kindness, suddenly had both adults gasping as it came across as unexpected. The flowers were certainly appreciated but Renata's emotions were set on a rollercoaster while Sirius was left completely stunned. He had to wonder if he had heard Harry correctly and if he did, he wasn't sure what to say. But Harry made it clear that he had purposely called Renata "Mummy" as he addressed her by the term of endearment again as he held the flowers closer to her face.

For a couple of seconds, she seemed hesitant to take them from his little hands, but just before she made Harry upset, Renata reached out and took them from him.

"Thank you, Harry," she began, her voice slightly shaky as she could feel her heart racing in her chest. "That's very sweet of you, but remember, it's Nanata, right?"

Harry just stared at her for a couple of seconds before giving a tiny shrug of his shoulders. "Mummy Nanata!"

"No, Harry please," she begged him, so nervous that James was going to turn up any second and overhear it. It was bad enough in her mind that Sirius had been there to witness it all.  "Just Nanata. Nanata!"

"Nanata," Harry repeated finally and she sighed in relief before he went to collect even more flowers. However, her heart rate had yet to settle, especially as Renata looked over and found Sirius looking directly at her.

"Please don't tell James about that," she whispered, " please, don't tell him what Harry said."

"Why not?" Sirius asked in confusion. "Harry's just calling you Mum-"

"No, he can't do that," Renata said, " I have a feeling that he would be really upset if he learned that Harry started calling me that. I'm not his mother, Lily is his mother-"

The more nervous she became, the faster she spoke and Sirius thought she was on the verge of exploding.

"Renata, Lily will always be Harry's mother biologically speaking and she was a great mother to him when she was alive," Sirius began, " but you've taken over since her passing. You've been the closest thing Harry's had to a mother since Lily passed on. Besides, he's young, I don't think James would be upset, he would understand. I mean, you've done so much for him and Harry..."

"No," Renata shook her head, " I really don't think Mr Potter, I mean James...I mean..."

She buried her face in her hands and remained quiet for a minute or so, trying to gather her thoughts. It really seemed that she was afraid of James' reaction if Harry called her "Mummy" in front of him. Sirius really didn't think the reaction was going to be bad, but if she was that afraid, maybe it was for good reason. He didn't like seeing her in such a state, if she wasn't afraid of her parents' reaction, then she was facing the idea of James being upset with her over something she didn't control.

If Harry saw her as his mother, it was nothing she could be blamed for. Then to hear her go back and forth, conflicted whether to call him James or Mr Potter was certainly bizarre. He remembered James complaining that he wanted Renata to call him James, but he was afraid to request that she do so in case she was uncomfortable with it. But if Sirius was reading the situation correctly, it certainly sounded like she wanted to call him by his first name but she was holding back for some reason.

And since she was pretty much involved in his personal life due to her affiliation with her brother, Sirius figured that she might as well share what was going on in her life so that he could be of help.

"Quick question," he said, bringing Renata to look up at him, " is there a specific reason as to why you call James "Mr Potter?" I don't see you addressing me as Mr Black and I don't think you were addressing Remus as Mr Lupin. So what's the deal with that?"

"Mr Potter is my employer," she answered right away, " he pays me and I guess it was just my way of keeping that barrier from employer and employee from becoming anything else."

"Anything else?" Sirius repeated, suddenly raising an eyebrow as he watched Renata turn red in the face. His eyes widened as she focused all her attention on the flowers so that she didn't have to look at him. Maybe Sirius wasn't the fastest on picking up everything in life, but he was a damn romantic at heart and he could sense those type of things from a mile away.

A sudden gasp from him and Renata automatically knew she was doomed.

"You like him, don't you?"

Not willing to be exposed for feelings that she wasn't supposed to have, Renata quickly shook her head, but it was too late. She could tell by the knowing grin that formed on Sirius' face that it was too late. Maybe it was written all over her face, maybe he could read her body language, or maybe it was her inability to lie, but Sirius knew. At first, she was confused by his giddiness over the situation, thinking that he would take offence to her fawning over his friend, who was a widower.

Yet, Sirius actually seemed pleased with the entire ordeal as he clapped his hands together in his own personal celebration.

"I knew it," he said at one point, mainly to himself, " I knew you did. I saw the way you looked at him a couple of times. "

The fact that he was pointing it out that she had been rather obvious was only making her want to crawl into a hole and die. He wasn't doing anything to make her feel better about the situation. First, it was Harry calling her "Mummy" and then Sirius learning about that and her feelings towards her boss. The day was definitely taking a turn for the worst and she didn't know what to do.

"Please, Sirius," she said, " you can't say anything. About any of this. Nothing about Harry and nothing about me or my feelings. Please, just let it remain unknown."

Sirius thought she was out of her mind as he glanced over at her. How was it that she was making it out to be a bad thing? There she was, a beautiful woman who cared so much about Harry, enough that he saw her as his mother. Not only that but she had cared enough about James that she had developed feelings for him and if Sirius wasn't mistaken, he was fairly certain that his best friend was pretty smitten as well. So why was she making it sound like it was the end of the world if James was aware of either thing?

"But why? Why are you making it all sound to be bad-"

"It is bad!" she insisted. "I wasn't hired for any of that. I was hired to play my role as a nanny-"

"And you became more, that's not a bad thing!"

She was about to argue that he was wrong and that it was unprofessional for her to develop feelings for James. However, their voices came to a stop as soon as they heard the sounds of James returning. Quickly, Renata looked back at Sirius, a pleading look on her face as she begged him to keep quiet about everything.

James stepped outside and he seemed happy to see that Sirius had finally gathered himself enough to leave his flat of darkness and join the rest of the world. Renata excused herself rather quickly, claiming that she wanted to take a shower, leaving the two men alone outside with Harry.

"How are you doing?" James asked Sirius as he walked over. "Better than I thought since I didn't expect you to show up for at least another two days or so."

Sirius gave a small shrug. "I didn't want to sit around and be alone anymore. Decided to come over here and see how things were going. Any luck with getting Renata to call you James?"

Unbeknownst to James, Sirius already had his answers, but he was curious to see just how much information he could get out of him.

"Not really," James said as he sat down on the hammock, glancing briefly over at Harry who was burying himself in blades of grass that he was ripping up. "I mean, she's done it a couple of times but it's usually under some circumstances and then she goes right back to Mr Potter. I hate it, but I don't want to say anything to her because I don't want her feeling uncomfortable. But it's driving me mad, to the point where I'm having dreams about it-"

"You mean, you having dreams about Renata?"

Similar to when Renata had accidentally blurted out her confession, James realised he had done it and instantly tried to cover it up. But he knew that it was too late as well as nothing ever got passed Sirius in that sense. However, he decided to be honest about it, knowing that he had to talk to someone about it and he certainly couldn't talk to Renata about it.

"Just the one, it happened last night," he confessed, " and I can't stop thinking about it."

"Go on," Sirius encouraged, watching as James looked over at the doorway of the flat to make sure they were alone. As fast as he could just in case Renata returned sooner than they anticipated, James began telling him about the dream. He tried to just graze on the subject of the kiss but Sirius was not going to let him get away with that.

"So did you kiss her first in the dream or did she kiss you?"

"Does it matter, Sirius?"

"Of course it does!" he exclaimed.

With a heavy sigh, while shoving his hands into the pocket of his trousers, James looked away in a guilty manner. "I kissed her first in the dream."

"And yet, you're making that face, so did it feel wrong in the dream?"

"No!" James blurted back before attempting to calm himself down. "No, it didn't. Not at all. In fact, throughout the entire day, I've been thinking about it. Thinking about how I wish it had been real. How fucked up is that?"

"How is that fucked up on any level, Prongs?"

"Because of Lily-"

Before James could go any further, Sirius held his hands up to get him to stop talking.

"James, before you go any further, listen to me," he said in a calm voice, " you can't use Lily as an excuse because you're afraid. I know you too well for all of this. Listen to yourself, you have a wonderful woman who's not only been great to you, but to Harry as well. She's been in your life for a while now. She has seen you at your best and at your worst and she's still here. You obviously find her attractive, right?"

"Right," James replied in a tiny voice. "But-"

"No butts, James," Sirius continued, " I know losing Lily has been hard, it's been hard on all of us, I can't imagine what you've gone through when I thought the pain was terrible enough for me. However, if you're finding happiness, are you just going to disregard it? Some people lose their loved ones, James and they never find another person to make them happy, but it sounds like you have."

"I can't replace Lily-"

"And you're not replacing Lily. You can't replace Lily because Renata isn't her. They are two very different people. You have different experiences with both of them. Just like how you can have more than one friend in your lifetime, James, you can have more than one love. Lily was your first love, she is the mother of your first son. She will always hold a special place in your heart, but that doesn't mean your heart isn't big enough to love another."

"It isn't too soon?"

"It's only too soon if you say it is," Sirius reassured him, " no one has the right to tell you when. Only you. So, no, you don't have to act on your feelings right away, but please, don't hold yourself back out of guilt."

James was quiet for a few minutes as he seemed to be taking in everything that Sirius told him before he nodded his head.

"Are you good?" Sirius asked him. "Do you want to pet my head and feel all better?"

"Petting you doesn't make me feel better, Sirius, that makes you feeling better!"

As James looked up he saw that Sirius was already in dog form, using his puppy-eyed look to his advantage that brought James to roll his eyes in response and then let out a chuckle.

"Alright, alright, I'll pet you, come over here."