NEPENTHE ⟶ James Potter

Chapter Twelve

"You all want me to stay with him?"

"Not all the time," Remus quickly reassured her, " I promise you it wouldn't be an all-day event, I would come around when I could and...Sirius would too. We would be there to help, it's just helping with Harry will definitely keep James' stress levels low and that's what the Healers are suggesting. To keep James' stress levels as low as physically possible."

Maybe there was part of her that wanted to say "no," part of her that wanted to say that they were asking so much of her in such a short frame of time, without giving her much of a chance to think things over. But as soon as Renata peered down at Harry and saw him looking back up at her with his tiny-toothy grin, her decision was already made.

Clearing her throat, Renata returned her gaze to Remus and offered a small smile in his direction, a sign that she was okay with the situation for the time being.

"Can Harry go see him now?"

"Yes, of course, of course," Remus said, extended his arm in the direction of the Ward and inviting them to finally enter, " come this way."

The Janus Thickey Ward attempted to be as inviting as possible to those that came to visit their loved ones that resided there, more often, permanently. There were individual beds, most of them lined up with a window, and privacy curtains that were all pulled back for the time being unless someone wished to pull them over. There were decorations on the walls near each resident bed, pictures or drawings brought in by visitors or perhaps anything that the person found comforting to them at the time.

And as cheery as they tried to make it, Renata certainly didn't feel very cheerful as she entered with Harry. Immediately, she felt overwhelmed by the high emotions that were attempting to be concealed around the area. People that were visiting their loved ones, all of them, forcing smiles on their faces, trying to show the people they cared about that everything was fine when in reality it wasn't.

Feeling an onset of a strong headache, Renata attempted to mind her own business and look away, but Harry pulled her in a different direction shortly after they made their way inside. He had spotted the little blonde boy from earlier and all he wanted to do was play as he continued to pull on Renata's hand. However, this was one of the rare occasion where Renata didn't think it was the best time to let go of Harry so he could pursue his wishes.

In the distance, the little blonde boy was propped up in front of a bed, where a young, round-faced witch was occupying the space. Every so often, the boy would reach out with his short arms and call out to her and it was what he called out that broke Renata's heart, right then and there.

"Mummy!"

No matter how many times the boy called for her and kept his arms out towards her, the woman didn't respond, too preoccupied with a small sweet wrapper in her hand that she was holding up towards her window to capture the light. The older woman that Renata had witnessed before continued to try and get the younger woman to pay attention to the boy, but it didn't seem to be working at all.

"Alice, please, look over here, dear," she pleaded, " Neville has come to say hello to you. He's here to visit. Alice...Alice! Put the wrapper down and focus-"

A Healer made their way over as they overheard the upset tone that carried from their area. They had to remind the older woman that "Alice" did not understand what was being asked of her, nor did she remember who they were. It was not her fault that she didn't respond to Neville at the time. They addressed her as Mrs Longbottom, a tall and thin witch, that carried such a powerful and expressive looks on her face.