It was a cinematic scene of a smoky pub setting from a lit cigar across the way, casting a haze over the band that had switched over to the sounds of soothing folk music that the majority had grown up listening to if they grew up in a magical household with the Wizard Wireless Network echoing noise in the background. Couples, friends, and strangers engaged in conversation and laughter, enjoying their evening among the remote setting of Putney's. Among them, Renata and James listened to music with fond smiles on their face as the music brought up pleasant memories that they had experienced throughout their lives.

The sounds of the mandolin brought Renata back to the time where she and Adelmo would sneak off during the summer days from the classroom and take to running in the fields. Since Adelmo wasn't the most graceful of runners, Renata would slow her pace and they would chase each other around. It was nice to escape work, it was nice to enjoy the sun, and even though her brother was her only childhood friend growing up, she wouldn't have traded him for anyone else.

That made her think of Harry and all his little adventures that he had already shared in the company of Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom. Since Harry didn't have any siblings, Renata could see the three enjoying their summers together as they grew older, running about and making new memories.

For James, the music made him reminiscence in the times where his father would start singing around the household, in an extremely loud voice, while offering his own version of a jig. Normally, he did it when someone in the household needed cheering up and while he wasn't the best singer or dancer by any means, he always seemed to achieve what he set out to do, usually bringing everyone to laugh or at least smile with his antics. Euphemia would always shake her head and say that a man with such knobby knees was not destined to be a graceful dancer, but she would always join in a dance with him, no matter how horrible he was.

A smile formed on James' face as he thought about those memories that he thought was too sad to dwell on before. Usually, the mere thought of his parents brought him to cry, knowing that they were gone, however, maybe it was because he was in the company of a woman who made him so incredibly happy that he couldn't bring himself to be sad.

Sure, even within the recent months of knowing Renata, he had still found moments where he felt broken, where he was hindered by the past, but it was nothing like before. He could actually see himself moving on from the times of war, breaking away from all the horrible thoughts and nightmares that had plagued him on a daily basis. He was still young and Renata reminded him that nearly every day as she showed him that he still had so many things to experience, he had so much more time to grow.

Even if it was just the simple idea of him cooking, something that had been written off when he was younger and he figured that was just the end of that. However, Renata showed him that just because something happened in his life, it didn't mean that he couldn't try again and see a different outcome. That alone had given him the appropriate push he needed to try again with other things.

There he was, on an actual date again, at least, in his mind it was a date and eventually, when he asked Renata if she saw it as such, he hoped that she would confirm it.

Glancing down at her as she remained relaxed and settled into his side, he could see the smile on her face and she seemed to be lost in her own world as she listened to the music. The smile paired with everything else about her that evening left James drawn to her glow like a moth to a flame. Only in this scenario, he wouldn't find himself burned as he reached out his hand to fall in front of her gaze.

It took a moment for her to snap out of her daze and realise that he was asking her to dance. Her eyes fell on his hand and for confirmation, she turned her head to face him, only to see him give a slight nod of his head. He wasn't much of a dancer, that he could admit, but the entire setting was begging him to take the opportunity. People around them could laugh at his skills if they wished, but his eyes wouldn't on them, they would be on Renata.

With no verbal answer needed, James was given her hand and he stood up first to lead her over to where a couple of other people had taken to dancing to the band's music. Of course, they appeared to be in a drunken euphoria as they weren't dancing to the rhythm of the music or even attempting to. That gave James a bigger boost to his confidence that he wouldn't look utterly ridiculous as long as he danced in close proximity to those that made his dancing look a hundred times better.

However, while he was concerned with his own dancing, he never expecting Renata to be equally as terrible as he was. Since he had seen her sway to music while holding Harry numerous times, he only assumed that she had a natural grace about her movements, but he was definitely mistaken. Unless the music called for slow steps, Renata was about as graceful as a two-legged giraffe in heels on ice. Although as her arms moved about in a rapid manner, nearly striking the man dancing behind her, James began to wonder if she was purposely dancing horribly just to make him laugh.

It certainly worked of course as James found himself laughing and shortly thereafter, he no longer felt self-conscious about his own dancing. To everyone around them, it was like they were having a dance-off of who was the worse dancer on the floor. The band found it amusing as they continued to play, although they were quite distracted by the scene before them. But it didn't matter because their music was bringing a young couple to have fun that evening and for any dedicated musician, it was usually the goal to make their listeners happy.

Eventually, Renata's aggressive dancing got the best of her as James attempted to spin her and she ended up falling. While others around them laughed, James immediately stopped to help her, only to find her laughing as well as she sat on the floor. She was red in the face, probably a mixture of slight embarrassment and the fact that they had been dancing for quite some time.

He offered his hands to help her up to her feet and they decided that maybe it was time for them to actually eat something before one of them ended up getting hurt.

So her bum was a bit sore from the fall, but Renata had no regrets from dancing like a complete fool. It was probably one of the most fun experiences she had ever shared in. The moments where she could be completely silly were some of her favourites because it often felt like she had missed out on those moments when she was younger. Sure, she and Adelmo had their fair share of times where they were incredibly silly, but normally, it resulted in them being scolded by one of their parents.

In a lot of ways, they were forced to grow up too soon and act like little adults throughout their childhood. Having that opportunity to just dance like a total git, laugh obnoxiously loud among a drunken crowd with James, those were moments that Renata would cherish. Nothing had to be extravagant or out of the ordinary to impress her, it was being able to share in those times with someone who made her happy that made it completely worth it.

Maybe she made a fool out of herself, but she couldn't ignore the smile on James' face or the sound of his laughter when they had been dancing. It was as if the music had been replaced by his laugh and she was dancing to the tune of it, hoping it would only grow louder. But even all that dancing had left her with an appetite as they returned to their seats in the corner.

After all the action, she figured that James would want a bit of space, perhaps to cool down, however, that didn't seem to be the case at all as he had her sit close to him again. Only this time, his arm didn't go over her shoulders like before, instead, she found his arm snaked around her waist, his hand resting on her hip as he held her even closer than before. It could have been from the dancing, but Renata felt like her skin was set on fire as she could feel the slight grip on his hand on her body.

He made no mention of it and neither did she because she didn't want him to move it. One of the servers came over, a middle-aged witch, that approached them with a large grin on her face. Apparently, they had been the source of her entertainment for the evening, so she was glad to serve them.

Renata was able to start off and was practically begging for water while placing her order for some wild mushrooms on toasted sourdough bread. James added his own request for a water as well, while he ordered black pudding scotch eggs, one of his favourite dishes to eat when he was a child, although he knew nothing compared to the way his mother had made them. Once their server left them, the two turned to look at one another.

"You are quite the dancer, Ms Abate," James teased her as she looked proud of herself for making him laugh so much.

"Well, I do take pride in my dance skills, Mr Potter, but you're not so bad yourself. I quite liked the footwork you had going on there, it reminded me of a plastered deer."

"Oh really?" his eyes widened as he tried to come off as playfully offended. "I was only trying to keep up with your rapid arm movements that resembled a hippogriff on fire."

They attempted to keep stern expressions but failed miserably as they giggled like little children.

"To be honest, Mr Potter, I like to think my actually dancing skills are a little better than what you just came to witness out there," she admitted as their laughter died down," but I just really wanted to hear you laugh and see you have fun."

James became distracted by the light brown lock of hair that had fallen into the middle of her face, using his free hand to move it away and tuck it behind her ear.

"Really," he responded, " why's that?"

She gave a small shrug of her shoulders, wondering if she had said too much at the time, not to mention, she was getting goosebumps from where he had touched her behind her ear to tuck the hair back.

"I don't know, it just felt right at the time."

James didn't say anything, but he didn't have to as the same hand that had touched her hair and ear earlier, came to rest on the upper part of her thigh as they were left facing one another quietly. For the rest of the evening at Putney's, it was difficult for either one of them to focus on anything else besides each other. They may have drunk their water to quench a dying thirst, but they barely touched their food, too involved in the conversations they shared in.

There was something about the way Renata spoke that made James hang onto every word that came out of her mouth. Maybe it was the attraction to her action or the fact that everything she said seemed to be interesting, it didn't matter, he gave her his undivided attention as he listened to her talk about Italy.

"Where's your favourite place to be when you're there?" he asked her. "Home?"

"No," Renata shook her head, " my home is beautiful, but I always loved Siena when we would go there to visit my father's family. There was always something about it that I was obsessed with, the structures of the buildings, the narrow roads, everything about it...I loved it. I still do, you'll have to visit there one day, I guarantee you won't be disappointed, Mr Potter."

"What about the food?" he continued his questioning. "Where would I go to get the best food?"

"Well, that answer always varies depending on who you ask and where you ask, but I vote Parma. Every time I visit Parma, all I do is eat until I can't breathe and then I eat some more."

"So, I should go to Parma if I want to see what I should cook for you, is that right?"

He could see her bite her lower lip, trying to contain the smile that was fighting to force its way onto her face. Before the date had even started, James had worked himself up so much on the lack of his confidence and whether it was going to ruin everything with his awkwardness, but it was obvious that he had nothing to be worried about to begin with. Flirting with Renata seemed to come naturally and she seemed to be enjoying every second of it.

At no point did she appear uncomfortable, she didn't tell him to stop or go away. She didn't insult him or anything along those lines, all were good signs that he wasn't being too abrasive, which was what he had been so worried about in the first place.

"I would much rather see what you can come up with on your own, Mr Potter," she answered finally, "you don't need to gain inspiration from Parma. With how fast you've picked up cooking, I think you're on your way to creating your own dishes that many, including myself, will be dying to eat. "

"You think so?"

James actually liked the sounding of that. Since leaving Hogwarts and joining in the war right away, he had always given it little thought with what he wanted to do. The idea of being a professional Quidditch player had crossed his mind, but if Renata thought that he was good enough to pursue a job as a chef, it piqued his interest enough to consider it.

"Of course, and not only that, eggs will be lining themselves up to get a wash from you."

It was a proper jab at his amateur mistake from the other night, leaving him to tickle her in retaliation. That was another thing he had been experiencing the entire night since they had left the flat, he was finding it hard to keep his hands to himself. Every time he touched her, whether it was moving her hair out of her face, placing his hand on her thigh or resting his arm on her shoulders, it left a heavy stirring his chest.

He was careful though, at any sign where Renata appeared uncomfortable, he knew to move away but she didn't seem bothered at all. Instead, her hands would come to rest over his, or one would come to rest on his thigh after he made her laugh. At the rate of his heart pounding in his chest after every new touch, he wasn't sure if he was going to make it to the end of the night without exploding.

If it wasn't considered a date then the standard of friendships had seriously gone up the last time he had checked.

Eventually, it came down to the fact that neither one of them were really hungry and it was time to move on from Putney's as the band was packing away for the evening. Renata offered to pay for herself, for the entire thing actually, but James insisted since he had been the one who asked her to dinner in the first place.

"If you want, you can pay the next time we go out and about," he told her, and that left a hopeful flicker in Renata's eyes that there was the mention of there being a "next time."

However, though the night at the restaurant came to an end as they stepped outside and found themselves at the end of the Putney bridge, neither James or Renata was ready to return home quite yet. James offered to continue their walk from earlier and Renata readily agreed, sighing happily when James took a hold of her hand again.

As they walked the edge of the river, Renata confessed to James that she had always wanted to see the merfolk up close and wondered with the muggles attempting to clean up if any of them had returned to the Thames.

"I doubt it as of right now," James regretfully informed her, " but I do know a few places where you can see some merfolk. I've been wanting to take Harry to Hogsmeade for a visit and the Black Lake isn't too far from there, it connects to the grounds of Hogwarts. There is a mercolony of selkies there and normally, in the early morning hours, you can see them at the surface. You can see them then, we should plan a trip soon."

Renata was about to agree when a cold gust from behind caused her to cringe. The warmth of the dancing and the atmosphere of Putney's had definitely worn off as Renata shivered but there was nothing pleasant about it. She made a small noise before going for her wand, fully prepared to warm herself up because she was not about to let the date be ruined by the chilly evening.

However, before she could pull her wand from her sleeve, James felt her come to a stop and turned around, releasing her hand.

"What's wrong? Do you not like the idea of going?" he asked in a worried tone. She came to see how fast it was to knock James down a peg, even if she wasn't trying to do so.

"No, that's not it at all," she quickly reassured him, " I love the idea, honestly. I was just cold, so I was going for my wand and-"

She immediately stopped talking as James came to nearly thrust the mint green jumper that had been tucked under his arm over in her direction. While he had made no mention of it throughout the entire evening, Renata didn't want to just take it from him.

"What if you get cold?" she asked him, not even reaching to grab it, even though James was holding it closer to her with every passing second.

"I'll be fine," he said, "I actually like the cold more than I do the warm temperatures. Tonight feels really good, so really, don't bother with the wand, just put on the jumper. I bet you anything it'll warm you up quickly."

Part of her was still hesitant, wondering if James was putting on a tough face for her but eventually, she gave in and took the jumper from his hands to slip on. He apparently wasn't exaggerating or joking when he claimed that it would warm her up right away. Since it had been in his possession throughout the evening, the material still held some of his warmth that she felt instantly after placing it on.

James watched as slid the jumper on over her head, ruffling up her hair a bit, and very similar to the feeling he felt when she had come out wearing one of his old shirts from school, he found Renata especially adorable when she wore his clothing for some reason. Once she pulled it down and attempted to fix her hair, she turned to him and offered a silly pose.

"You know, I've never really seen this colour before," she told him and he was waiting for the off-hand comment of how bizarre it was, " but I actually really love it. It just stands out, you know? The colour is so in your face, it's aggressive and precious at the same time."

He stood there for a few seconds, resembling a gaping fish momentarily as he wondered if he had heard her correctly.

"You actually like the colour?" he questioned.

"Oh yes!" Renata exclaimed as she spun around in it before coming to a stop and looking right at him. "Why? Do you not like it?"

"No, I do," James told her, " I love that jumper. My mother actually gave it to me back when I was still at Hogwarts. It's probably the softest article of clothing I own. Everyone always found the colour to be a bit much, but I don't know, I always liked it."

"I bet you look good in it," Renata said, not seeing how hard she had made him blush, " your mother had very good taste in clothing and colours."

"Thank you," he said, " I'm sure she would have appreciated hearing that more than anything. She really liked picking out unique clothes. All sorts of patterns she would make my father and I wear. And when Sirius came to live with us, I swear the two of them went out every weekend and came back with all sorts of things."

There was something about the way James spoke about his parents that made Renata respect him even more as a person. He shared so many fond memories with them and each story seemed to be his own little source of happiness that he could hold onto. But at the same time, it left her feeling envious because as she tried to think of any similar type of memories such as silly tales or embarrassing stories with her parents, she honestly couldn't recall one.

However, not wishing to put any sort of damper on the mood, she listened to James talk about the time where Euphemia had brought these exotic robes that Fleamont had refused to wear until Euphemia lied and claimed that it was the latest fashion that all inventors were wearing. Fleamont had shortly learned afterwards that it was not the case but since the robes had made Euphemia so happy, he had taken to wearing them very often.

The filler of stories and conversation came to an end as they felt they had walked the entire length of the river, even if they actually didn't. But hand in hand, they made their way back to the flat as the night grew late. James predicted that Sirius was probably going to be spending the night, probably curled up on the sofa and he was hoping that his friend was asleep, just so that he didn't bombard them with questions when they returned. They would all have plenty of time to talk in the morning.

As they climbed up the few steps to the front door, James tugged back lightly on Renata's arm, to keep her from going inside right away. He honestly didn't want the night to end after having such a good time, but he knew that it had to in a way.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," he admitted right away as she looked over at him, and remained in place at the top step. "Thank you."

"No, thank you, Mr Potter," she said, " for inviting me in the first place. I had a lot of fun too. Probably one of the best nights of my life if I'm being honest."

That was certainly something he liked to hear and before it all came to an end, he finally decided to ask the question that had been on his mind all evening.

"Not to make this awkward," he said, clearing his throat, " but...did you consider this to be a date?"

Renata didn't know if it was some sort of trick question and suddenly, she felt nervous as he came to stand in front of her.

"I want it to be," she whispered to him, afraid of the response. But her fear was only short-lived as James let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, thank goodness," he said with a small laugh, " because I wasn't sure if I was the only one!"

Both of them appeared at ease after the confirmation that they had both successfully gone on the first date and it had been absolutely perfect in every unique way. The longer the two of them stood outside, it became apparent to the other that they didn't want to go inside. James knew it was probably only a matter of time before Sirius came to the door if he heard them talking.

"Well, maybe we should make plans for a second date?" he suggested and watched as Renata nodded her head in agreement. With that, he felt comfortable enough with the idea of leaning in to place a kiss on her cheek.

As his lips grazed the soft skin of her cheek, James could feel Renata lean into it and as he placed one kiss on her cheek, he suddenly felt the need to place another...and another...and another. After several kisses that were gently left on her cheek, Renate couldn't help but turn her head and as soon as the two met eyes, all the innocent, polite moments were over with. Suddenly, his hands were holding the sides of her face, one of his thumbs smoothing over the spots where he had kissed her previously.

"I really want to kiss you," he said, pretty much just asking her for her permission, which maybe seemed unnecessary at the time, but he had to be sure that she wanted it and apparently she did.

"And I really want you to kiss me."

Very similar to the dream that James had shared of Renata initially, as soon as he was granted permission, he pulled her right in for the kiss that they both so desperately wanted. Her lips had beckoned him all evening and finally, he was giving in. His lips weren't just pressed against hers, they came together, fitted together, and almost made him want to sacrifice the idea of breathing properly as long as he could stay in that position.

Her lips were as soft as he imagined them to be, her kisses as playful and teasing as her verbal flirting, which only made him want to engage in more. And like his dream as well, his hands combed through her hair to the back, before tangling his fingers up in her locks to hold her in place.

As he kissed her, Renata seemed to struggle with the idea of keeping her hands still as she didn't know whether to hold him by the shirt or wrap her arms around his neck. At one point, they both got a bit carried away, maybe from all the excitement of the night or all the tension that had been building up between them, but during the moment, James had moved her with enough momentum that her back hit the door.

Not hard enough to even come close to hurting her, but it finally brought them to pull away. The sounds of their breathing were quite laboured as they had been caught up in the excitement that they had forgotten to actually breathe properly through it all. They didn't care though, all too pleased with how their evening was coming to an end.

James lifted one of his hands again and placed it over the same cheek as before, leaning in to press his lips against her forehead for a stolen moment. Renata closed her eyes, making sure to process everything as the tingling sensation on her lips left it hard to focus. Lifting up her own hand, she placed it over his, allowing the moment to linger until she felt something cold in the palm of her hand.

Opening her eyes as James finally pulled away, she peered over at his right hand to see that he had switched the wedding band over. When she didn't say anything at first, James wondered if he had actually done a terrible job at kissing her.

"Is everything alright? Was that okay?"

Immediately, yanking her gaze away from the ring, Renata peered up at him, still feeling the slight coldness in her palm.

"Yeah," she breathed as she smiled at him, "everything is fine. It was perfect."