NEPENTHE ⟶ James Potter

Chapter Three

When she looked away from them, red in the face, she spotted the state of her dog before making her way over to it.

Clearing his throat, Sirius took a step forward to explain what had happened. "I had to stun your dog temporarily, just so he wouldn't keep trying to attack when I was helping you. That's a crup pup, isn't it?"

Lifting the dog into her arms, the woman looked over her shoulder at him before nodding her head. "Please, he is really younger and my brother and I are still working on his training. He would never hurt your boy, he is only dog aggressive but I think with socialisation practice, he can grow out of it. And if not, I will never bring him to the park again. I just ask that you do not report him to the Ministry-"

James suddenly felt like he had been hit with the stunning spell himself as it was the last thing to cross his mind about reporting the crup pup to the Ministry. But that seemed to be the main concern of the woman and she looked entirely worried over the situation.

"The bite was not even that bad, " she continued her rambling, " I just have a fear of blood, I either get sick or I faint at the sight of it."

A nervous little laughter escaped from her as she hoped she was easing the tension over the situation. But most of that was forgotten for a few seconds as James and Sirius were just trying to figure out her accent as she obviously was not from their neck of the woods.

"I think we can move past all of this, no harm was done," Sirius said, " well, unless we count your cheek, but we won't count that if you don't. Right, James?"

All the attention fell on him at that moment, even Harry had turned his head to await his father's answer. He couldn't even figure out what the question that had been asked of him as he looked around with a clueless expression. As he looked over at Sirius, his friend gave him a look that told him to hurry up and answer, with an encouraging nod.

"Uh, yes?"

"Oh, fantastic!" She clapped her hands together, looking very happy with the agreement. As she clapped her hands together, Harry looked directly at her, with a bright smile before clapping his hands.

"Again?" he prompted her. "Again? Clap!"

James didn't even know the woman's name and yet, within seconds of Harry's request, she had a bright smile on her face and after adjusting the dog in her arms, she started clapping her hands. Harry was beyond thrilled as he clapped his hands and kept chanting "again" over and over to keep her going. Within moments, the two of them were absolutely hysterical with laughter and Sirius and James suddenly didn't exist. Suddenly, Harry lifted out his arms, his way of requesting that he wanted to be in the woman's company.

For a moment, the laughter and clapping died down as the woman looked at James as she didn't know what to say or do.

"I'm sorry," he said with a shake of his head, " I never got your name."

Her hand shot out, nearly hitting him in the face as she went to introduce herself. "Renata Abate, it is nice to meet you..." Her voice trailed off as she didn't know his name.

"James," he answered, reaching one of his hands out as he shifted Harry into one arm, " James Potter, and this is my son, Harry. And my best friend, Sirius Black."

He watched the confusion wash over her face for a few moments, her eyes trailing back and forth between him and Harry, occasionally over in the direction of Sirius. He was about to ask her once more if she was alright when her eyes suddenly widened and she clapped her hands over her mouth, only to drop the dog from her arms to the ground. That seemed to be the little boost the dog needed to come out of his stunned state as it yelped and was back on all fours.