Book 1: Nepenthe
Book 2: Halcyon
For those that survived the war and carried on, happiness was waiting for them just around the corner, they simply had to find it. For James Potter, it took a wrong turn to end him in the right place where he met Ren...
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More than often, the sun was unable to shine through the heavy cloud coverage and the rain, leaving it all to come across as quite gloomy. If there was one thing that Renata truly missed about Italy, whether it was Florence, Parma or anything in between, she missed the beautiful sunlight that she could find throughout the day. Of course, there were days where the sun did shine among the Potter flat, but it never really seemed to last long and she wished the skies weren't also so overcast. Sometimes it only took a ray of sunlight pouring through a window to make her day and some days, she needed a little extra something to get her through.
While everything was perfect in her life, whether it was having James and Harry, or all the wonderful people surrounding her, there were days where Renata felt her lowest points. She would wake up with a headache and she had to assume it was due to dreams she couldn't really remember coming to her in the night. Other days, no matter how hard she tried to block it out, thoughts of her parents (if one wanted to call them that) would worm their way inside of her mind. She could recall some of the worst memories with them, something she hadn't had to face before under the suppression charms.
But seeing all the horrible things from her childhood that she didn't have to deal with for years until it all pretty much came flooding back at once, it was a lot to deal with. She could see memories of her own punishments or the punishments she had witnessed Adelmo receiving under the orders of their mother and father. All the memories painted the picture of the monsters they had been raised under and for so long, Renata hadn't been able to see them as such because the monsters had hidden behind masks.
There were times where James could see the expressions on her face and know that something was wrong, but sometimes, Renata wasn't willing to share what was going on in her head with him. He was doing so well with his therapy sessions with Dr Mullins, he didn't need to worry himself with her troubles. She knew that the memories had happened, she knew what was real and what wasn't.
Whenever her parents appeared in her dreams, no matter how frightening they were, Renata reminded herself that they were dead. She had witnessed both of their bodies, she had been present for both their deaths, they were gone. And their legacies were nothing more than exposed media content that magazines and tabloids adored covering for the sake of having an interesting story.
There was no telling how long the nightmares would plague her mind, perhaps it would be something to stay with her until the end of time or she simply had to wait until the shock of everything died down. For her to go twenty years of her life almost under such conditions and not even know what abuse was taking place, the Healers at St Mungo's had warned her that it was going to be a lot. She knew they were right, but part of her wanted to prove a point that she was strong enough to endure it, that her parents didn't get the best of her and that she was going to be able to live a long and happy life despite what she had been through.
So even on the days where the sun didn't shine, Renata had to find her own ways to get through it.
Of course, she wasn't the only one affected by the weather as Harry often found himself disappointed with how much it rained. He didn't mind playing in the rain, however, he seemed to enjoy the sun's presence as well. But Renata was usually there to save the day, as well as James because they could always find activities to cheer him up.
