NEPENTHE ⟶ James Potter

Chapter Seventy

Adelmo would be there, him and Sirius holding hands, not worried about any judgement coming their way because it wouldn't matter as long as they had each other. They had fought like hell to be with each other, what difference was it going to make with someone making a snide comment or sending a dirty look their way?

Remus would come back from his work and he would be in awe of the tale that happened while he was gone. But he would be thankful that everyone was alright and he would embrace James and Sirius, vowing that nothing would ever come between them again. And then Sirius and Remus would take the time to apologise to each other properly for what happened, bringing the brotherly bond back to its former glory.

And Molly and Augusta would be there, with the Weasley children and Neville, bringing together the group into a full circle where everyone could always count on each other when they were in need. Harry would grow up with Neville and Ron as his best friends, sharing the same relationship that James had with Remus and Sirius, they would be his brothers.

Renata still hoped that the majority of those things would happen even in her absence. She knew that James was going to be sad, she could see it briefly on his face as he watched her fall. But she believed that he could get through it all, he was such a strong soul that if he could do it once, he could do it again.

She was going to miss him though, she was going to miss everything about him, from his messy hair and the mischievous grin to the way he laughed. The way he made her laugh by taking things so literally when he was drunk to how he acted as a gentleman, never rushing Renata or wanting to push her out of her comfort zone. The way he loved her so tenderly, she didn't need him to say it, she felt loved by him and that also offered her some peace. That she had experienced love, not in the sense of family, she had gotten that from Adelmo.

But now she knew how it felt to be loved as a sister, to be loved as a lover, and to be loved as a mother.

"Mummy?"

Harry's familiar voice called out to her and suddenly, she was given the ability to move as she sat up and saw little Harry standing before her. He had his hand out for her, a toy in his other hand and a bright smile on his face as he greeted her.

"Go plaaaay?"

He turned his head to look over his shoulder as if he could see something that Renata couldn't. But when he looked back at her, Renata gave a nod of her head as she wiped away the tears that had already formed as she came to the conclusion of what she was facing.

"Yes, Harry, we can go play. We have all the time in the world now to go play."

Pushing herself up, she grabbed Harry's hand and the two of them started walking, with Harry leading the way to go on an adventure. Her parents had been wrong about many things, but they were right about one thing :

The afterlife was nice.

For a moment, James was stuck in place, whether it was by the forces of a spell that had hit him or the amount of shock that had overwhelmed him in a heartbeat, he couldn't bring himself to move right away. He only could watch as Renata's body fell limp to the floor, lifeless, and without any sort of struggle as her arms had released their hold around her mother. It was as if the world around him had come to a full stop and he didn't know how to react. Renata couldn't be dead, not after the fight she had put up, not after she had outsmarted her mother in so many ways. Not after coming so close to having her actual freedom away from poisoned minds that only wanted to bring her harm.

No, it wasn't supposed to end that way.

James didn't even realising he had been yelling as he couldn't even hear himself for the longest time, but eventually, his own cries of pain resonated in his ears and he could suddenly feel the tears that had already streamed down his face. He had reacted too slow, he had been quick on his feet, and his delay in trying to help Renata had failed her as she ended up paying the ultimate price for everything.