Still somewhat hesitant, Alvin moved a little closer, but didn't take the seat beside her. She was a lady after all and he was pushing it by being out here alone with her. What a shift in thought that was. They had just discussed her debut and season the last time he'd run into her, it shouldn't be all that startling, but he'd lost his last tether to Hogwarts and it all felt more disconnected than expected.

"I've always marveled at the Potts gardens," he admitted. Growing up, bringing Sloane over to spend time with Calla, he and Zinnia also becoming friends by association. It helped that there were nearly as many Bixby siblings as there were Potts sisters and all relatively close in age. He was sure it made their mother's lives easier to just pile them all into this back garden and watch them from the sitting room window.

Even now, with only the evergreen trees surviving, he could see their dedication to the garden itself. There was the little pond just beyond where they sat, likely frozen over beneath the snow. It was normally surrounded by lush hydrangeas and peonies come summer. Sloane had fallen into it once, when she and Calla were younger and racing around the back yard. Funny how that time made him smile. "Spent a lot of my time here growing up, after we moved to town." He added, pulling himself out of those thoughts before they could take root and turn his mood even more sour.