"It really is quite beautiful." Sisse agreed. No matter if it was covered in a blanket of shining snow, or blooming in the bright sun of summer, Mrs. Potts and her family had created a small sliver of Heaven here in these gardens. Her mother's own manicured garden at the back of their house paled in comparison. Sisse had loved spending time there as a child, reading beneath the tree, learning to sketch, to paint. But then she'd seen the Potts' gardens and she'd found herself hoping that one day she might have as lovely a place to spend her time as they did. Covetous, yes, but daydreams could have a hint of envy in them.

His words had Sisse turning more toward him, looking at him a bit closer. "Really?" She had known that Sloane and Calla had often spent time together before they had attended Hogwarts, had always felt like perhaps she was encroaching on a sacred sisterhood between them with her own friendship, but she hadn't realized that Alvin - Mr. Bixby - had spent time here as well. "Mother was always thought children should remain at home." Sisse found herself admitting, looking back out at the frozen pond. "When we moved here she hardly let my brothers and I beyond our own garden." She had hated that when she attended school and found that all the children had known one another except herself. If she were being candid with herself she could admit that she still resented it, resented how it meant she hadn't had the opportunity to form a bosom friendship as Calla and Sloane had. "I didn't get to meet anyone until I attended school." And then she had desperately held on to those friendship, even when it was foolish to do so, beyond when she ought to have. She could admit that now, couldn't she?

"Did you enjoy your time here?" Sisse found herself asking, wondering what young Alvin was like. What he had thought of the world before he had grown up and realized his own harsh realities as Sisse now was realizing her's.