Chapter Eleven

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Surrounded by such fragile souls that were carrying so many emotions left Renata feeling quite overwhelmed, on top of the stress of not knowing whether James was going to be alright

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Surrounded by such fragile souls that were carrying so many emotions left Renata feeling quite overwhelmed, on top of the stress of not knowing whether James was going to be alright. There was a great amount of concern for him, but a lot of her concern when into what was going to happen to Harry. If Remus and Sirius could barely get themselves together for an overnight call, what would happen if James didn't make his way home right away? Was she really expected to take over Harry's routine with minimal help from the others or was there someone else that perhaps James had in mind?

Did James have any more family?

Did Lily?

Part of her was afraid to ask as she didn't want to offend anybody or intrude into personal history that she had no business with. However, as Harry's nanny, she felt as though it was actually part of her business because she only wanted the best for the boy in case things became rather ugly.

Sirius was rather polite when it came to the discussion of why he and Remus weren't on speaking terms, but at the same time, Renata that she was very close to crossing a line, over to a side that maybe even he wasn't able to face as of just yet. She figured it was probably just in her best interest to focus all her attention on Harry for the time being and see how the situation would play itself out before she got herself worked up or in trouble over nothing.

But it was truly hard for Renata not to concern herself with the outside matters of the situation because she could feel every little bit of tension, fear, and worry as they all attempted to pull at her in different directions, begging for attention. She was surrounded by people that only deserved happiness in their lives but had been beaten down by grief on a daily basis with no hopes of escaping it. Many others would have probably walked away from the situation by that point, realising that it was too much to take on to be such a support system for so many.

However, it was something that Renata couldn't walk away from with a healthy conscious. Simply because after feeling their emotions, she knew if she left them in such pain, it was like walking away from a dying person and not even bothering to look over one's shoulder. Somehow, some way, Renata knew she needed to make things right for the people that had stumbled into her life in the most unexpected ways because if their grief and pain was hurting them, it was going to end up killing her in the long run.

Settled that night in the living room, Renata was resting on the sofa, with a sleeping Harry against her chest. She had been telling him the tale of Babbity Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump as requested when Harry brought over the book of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. She had never read any of the stories growing up, her fairytale bedtime stories being much different, but she enjoyed them nonetheless. She made silly voices for each character, made faces at Harry that he attempted to make back at her, and overall, tried to tell a story that he heard a million times before in a way he had never heard it.

Harry loved it and even Sirius seemed to enjoy it too as they had settled in front of Renata as she read it. But eventually, Harry had finally succumbed to the exhaustion of the day and made his way right over to her. He climbed up her legs and placed his head right on her chest, grabbing a mixture of her shirt and some of her hair in one of his fists to hold onto as he drifted off. Renata remained still, not taking the chance of waking him as she knew that Harry needed plenty of sleep.

NEPENTHE ⟶ James PotterWhere stories live. Discover now