If there was one thing that Renata appreciated about being a witch it was the sense of travel because as she watched muggles struggle over finding parking spaces with their cars, she had never seen something look so stressful. However, she didn't dwell on their struggles for long as she was too captured by the scenic view that was the Botany Bay. They had travelled outside of London to Broadstairs in Kent as James figured it would be the perfect beach to take her. He warned her that it was more than likely going to be packed with people, but he knew that they would still be able to enjoy themselves.

But what James didn't understand was regardless of whatever beach he took her to, Renata was going to have an amazing time because she had never been to the beach before. It was something that she always wanted to do, but because of her parents having their own reasons for not taking her and Adelmo, it was just something that had yet to happen. But now, she was more than excited and she wasn't the only one. Harry was practically skipping along as he walked in the middle of Renata and James, holding one of their hands.

Occasionally, the two would count off to the number three and lift Harry into the air, which caused him to squeal with laughter before he requested that they do it again. They did it the entire time as they walked along but when it came to actually seeing the water, James watched as Renata and Harry both became still and quiet. Their faces seemed to hold similar expressions as their eyes were wide and their lips parted as they just stared ahead at the crashing waves.

For those few stolen moments, it played out as bittersweet for James because he was so happy to see the shocked expression on his son's face as Harry's eyes flickered over everything, trying to capture all of the scenery. He had been wanting to take Harry to the beach for so long but never brought himself to do it with all the stress going on.

He wanted to when Harry was younger, but they had been in hiding since before Harry was even born. But he couldn't think of such things when it was supposed to be a good thing, Harry was there experiencing it now and that was all that mattered.

"It's Harry's first time at the beach," James informed her, " never got to bring him when he was younger."

"Well, that is something Harry and I have in common, isn't it?" Renata responded, " I've never been to the beach before this moment."

As her gaze was focused ahead, Renata missed out on James turning his head slowly and looking at her as if she had just grown fifteen heads over the course of thirty seconds. He was bewildered to think it was her first time, especially since she was an adult. Couldn't she have gone to the beach on her own?

"What do you mean you've never been? How can this be your first time? Not even as a child?"

Renata shook her head. "It was because of the sirene," she explained, " or I guess they are called mermaids here. When I was little, there was an outbreak of murders as some of the merfolk were taking to killing swimmers that trod too close to their homes. Not to mention, they became extremely angry with the over-fishing of their waters. So, we were set to go one day, but my mother found out that a little boy had been killed as he was dragged under."

The story had suddenly taken a dark turn as James just assumed that maybe Renata's parents didn't care for the beach, he didn't know that the story was going to turn to a murderous tale.

"Since then my mother told us we were not to go to the beach," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know if Adelmo ever went after he moved out, but I know I always wanted to go, I just never found time to because I was constantly looking for work."

"This is perfect then," James grinned, " because now you're working and you get to experience the beach, I'm glad I could be here to experience this with you, and so is Harry."

"Thank you, Mr Potter."

There was an internal scream inside of James as she addressed him as "Mr Potter" but he didn't say anything and his smile didn't falter from his expression. Instead, he led the way towards the beach, ready for Harry and Renata to have a great day for their first experience. He told them both to take off their shoes so they could enjoy the sand. Renata seemed to definitely enjoy the feeling of the sand, but Harry, not so much.

As soon as the toddler's toes hit the sand, he let out a screech and attempted to pick up both of his feet, only to fall over and start screaming. Immediately, Renata and James were alarmed but James was a lot faster to scoop Harry off the ground. Deciding to help ease Harry's panic, Renata brushed off the remaining sand that was on the bottom of Harry's feet and legs. She proceeded to put his socks and shoes back on before looking at James.

"I have a feeling that Harry is not ready to experience the sand as of right now," she said, "that might be something we have to ease into."

"I don't understand," James said as he placed Harry on his shoulders, " this is the same child that takes dirt showers in the garden and now he doesn't like sand?"

"It's probably just a phase, Mr Potter," Renata explained to him," similar to the irrational fear I had when I was a child, I thought my bathtub was going to swallow me whole for months. My mother had to bathe me in the sink and she had to make the bubbles so thick so that I didn't see the drain."

She stopped as soon as she realised she had admitted all of that and quickly looked over to see that Harry and James were staring at her.

"I didn't tell you any of that, neither one of you know anything about what I just said."

The silent oath was taken that day on the beach as they all agreed right then and there, that no one would ever speak of Renata's bathtub confession.

However, the odd confession of a childhood irrational fear was soon forgotten as James brought them over to the water so Renata could walk through it with her bare feet. He did the same, while Harry just looked down at the water from on top of his father's shoulders. Renata could feel the sensation of the sand pulling away from under her feet whenever the waves retreated back.

"So, I have a question," James pondered out loud as he looked over at him. There was a special flicker in his eyes that somehow managed to make Renata nervous. Even though he was smiling, she felt like something was coming and the fact that she couldn't guess what he was going to ask her.

"Uh, ask away, Mr Potter."

"If you've never been to the beach, does that mean perchance that you've never swum before?"

She stopped and attempted to look away in every other direction but at him. It was quite shameful as she thought about it, not having access to the beach was not an excuse as to why she couldn't learn to swim, especially when there was access to pools during her childhood. Renata just figured that she was extremely picky when it came to her first water experience, she wanted it to be the ocean.

Taking her silence as a "yes" the smile on James' face grew wider and Renata did not like that as she glanced over at him.

"Alright, but there are plenty of people who have never gone swimming before," she told him, " there's nothing wrong with that."

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with it," James said, " I was just asking a question. I was simply curious that's all and in fact, I find it rather cute that you've never been swimming before."

Without warning, Renata turned incredibly red in the face, trying to hide her blush as she looked down at her feet and the water. "Really?"

"Yes, and it gives me the perfect opportunity to teach you how to swim!"

"Whoa, wait a second!" Renata looked up at him and threw her hands up and waved them back and forth. "I didn't agree to that! I am perfectly fine with just walking around in the sand and water, I don't need to learn how to swim! You know, if I'm thinking about it, it might come across as incredibly selfish because this isn't just my first time here, it's Harry's first time too. We should focus on Harry, we should focus everything on what Harry wants to do."

She turned to Harry, hoping that he was going to be her saviour but as soon as she saw that smile that matched his father's, she knew she was doomed. Harry met her gaze before he started clapping his hands together.

"Swim!" he started chanting. "Swim! Swim! Swim!"

 Stomping her foot, Renta pointed at Harry with a groan. "This is how you repay me after I save you from the sand! I thought we were closer than this, Harry!"

But it was two against one as James and Harry started chanting swim together and while Renata could have said "no" she didn't want to set a bad example for Harry. He was young and impressionable and if he saw her not trying something new, how was she supposed to tell him to do the opposite? She had to set a good example for Harry, especially if he was seeing her as a person that he could call "Mummy."

"Alright, alright," she sighed, " I'll do it, I'll let you teach me how to swim. But if I say I had enough, I mean it."

"I promise if you say you're done, then we're done," James said, placing one of his hands over his heart, " really, I will follow your word. However, I will tell you that you are in good hands. I am an excellent swimmer so you are incredibly lucky."

"I'll consider myself blessed if I make it through this without making a complete fool out of myself."

Perhaps James came across as a little conceited earlier, but as it turned out, he wasn't exactly lying. Apparently, during his years at Hogwarts, James took to swimming very often in the Great Lake and he showed off his talents as he swam back and forth before Renata and Harry after they had all changed into their swimsuits. Harry didn't want to be placed down, so as James gave a demonstration, he remained in Renata's arms as she stood waist deep in the water.

And while James was excellent at swimming, Renata was a bit distracted during her lesson.

Because shirtless-James was life.

She had to keep herself together as she was presented with James' physique again, it seemed quite cruel that he was just showing off in more ways than one without even realising it. He really did make swimming look effortless, but Renata had a feeling that it wasn't going to be as easy when she made her attempt.

"Alright, are you ready?!" James called to her when he finally stopped.

"Um, is it alright if I just stand here and watch you?" she asked until she realised what she had blurted out. " I mean, can I just work my way up to the swimming. I think this is a good first step for me. This way I can just watch you and next time when we come to the beach, I can give it a go. But I am more than content with just watching for now...to learn. Nothing else. Just learn."

James looked disappointed that she wasn't going to at least make an attempt that time around, but he did make the promise that he wasn't going to push her.

"Well," he said, making his way over, " how about you, Harry? Do you want to give it a try? Do you want to swim with Daddy?"

Harry eagerly reached his arms out for James, leaving Renata to feel pathetic that Harry was going to give it a go before she did. However, it turned out to be one of the most adorable things that she had ever come to witness as James took over. With Harry resting the majority of his body on James' chest, he was given the task of kicking his stubby and chubby little legs. The water splashed, hitting Renata, but it made her laugh which only made Harry kick harder.

"Swim, Nanata, swim!"

"Yes, you're doing wonderful, Harry! Go! Go! Go!" She cheered him on as she splashed and clapped her hands.

So, Harry wasn't a sand baby right away, but he was definitely a natural in the water.

And in the midst of her cheering, the two Potters thought it would be a good idea to turn on her as she suddenly found herself engaged in a splash war that she did not anticipate. Harry thought it was the best thing in the entire world even though his splashes didn't make much of an impact, but he was definitely enjoying himself as he couldn't stop laughing as James and Renata screeched back and forth trying to get one another.

Eventually, the Great Splash War had exhausted all participating members, enough that they decided that they were going to get out of the water for the time being. They had set up a small blanket by one of the cliffs, placing Harry on it as he looked at the sand with wide eyes. He was acting as if it was lava, and Renata didn't like seeing the fearful look on his tiny face. For a few moments, she thought to herself of how they could help Harry get over his fear of sand, as she wasn't sure when he was going to outgrow it.

She had to get over her bathtub fear rather quickly when she was younger because she outgrew the sink.

"Mr Potter," she said, bringing James to look over at her at one point, " I think I have an idea to help Harry get over his fear with the sand."

"Really?" he raised a brow. "What's that?"

"You should let me bury you in the sand."

There was nothing said for a total of one minute as James just stared at her with a blank expression. He finally blinked once and gave a slight shake of his head, wondering if he had heard her correctly.

"I'm sorry, but what?"

"Come on," she sitting up and then getting on her knees, " it'll be fun!"

"For you or me? Because this definitely sounds like it would be more fun for you."

"Look, Harry looks to you for his reactions, I see how his little eyes follow you, he trusts your judgement. If I bury you and you look like you're having a good time, Harry will probably get this into his head that sand isn't so bad after all."

"Are you actually saying this because you want to help Harry get over this fear or because you've always wanted to bury a person in the sand?"

She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Could it be a bit of both?"

There was definitely a pleading look on her face, she looked like a child begging for a chance to fulfil a dream and James didn't have the heart to say no. He made a face but the smile was a dead giveaway that he was giving in. He flopped back into the stand, his arms tucked to his side as he faced his head up before closing his eyes.

"I give you permission to bury me."

"Yay!"

Standing up, Renata left the blanket and made her way over to start burying James with Harry looking over at the two of them. Needless to say, he was intrigued, wondering what his father and Renata were up to. Why they were playing in the deadly thing called "sand" he didn't understand. He watched as Renata scooped up a large handful of sand before plopping it down on James' chest.

"ARGH THAT'S COLD!" James screamed out before Renata pinched his arm lightly to get him to stop.

"You were just swimming around in that cold water like a fish," she whispered to him," you're supposed to be having fun, Mr Potter! Fun!"

"Oh, right, sorry, I just wasn't expecting the sand to be so cold, anyways...WOOO, I LOVE SAND! BURY ME!"

A few other beachgoers glanced over in their direction, but James and Renata were all smiles as she continued to place the sand all over him. They looked over to see that Harry was watching them closely, but he still didn't seem convinced as of yet.

"Mr Potter," Renata spoke through her smile, " more excitement, you have to sell the sand. Sell it!"

"I love sand so much!" James said as he rubbed the sand on his chest. "It's so amazing!"

"Okay, you might be selling it too much, it's a little creepy," she said to him, " you're selling sand, not sensual body lotion, you can tone it down."

"I don't know what a happy medium is to sell sand, I'm not a sand salesman!"

"I don't know either, just look happy-"

" How does smiling not look happy?!" he screeched as he gave her a bewildered look but kept the smile firmly on his face.

"WHEN IT LOOKS SCARY!"

"I HAVE A CHARMING SMILE AT ALL TIMES!"

As the two were bickering back and forth on how James was supposed to sell the sand and look happy, they completely neglected the fact that Harry had worked up the courage to grab a handful of sand and was making his way over. James was making a mocking smile at Renata as she was attempting to use her fingers to work his smile to her liking.

But they both stopped when the sand hit his chest.