ALEXIS CARTER NEVER liked house hunting. it reminded her of the times when her father would get transferred and she had to leave her memories behind. her mother would console her, while her father would curse her for being sensitive - - thus, causing another fight between them.

so that is why alexis had dragged mary along, for house hunting. the area was in the outposts of london, a small town that had love blooming in the small lanes. letting a tiny sigh escape her chapped lips, she let her eyes wander over the town. small neon colored houses stood up brightly, a bright contrast to the enormous red apartments standing proudly in the middle.

mary had her phone out and was posing against one of the households, meanwhile alice was studying the porch of one of the houses up for sale. muggles looked almost bored as they moved along, too occupied by their daily tasks to notice alexis' wand peeking carelessly from her skirt's pocket.

"this one is the most spacious, with five bedrooms and a backyard - - .." the friendly landlord rambled, pointing to a house on alexis' left as she spoke. it was a honeysuckle version of cottages - ‐ the cracked white walls, paired with the lightest pink bricks as the roof made alexis' interest peak.

alexis hesitated as she examined the cottage, her anxiety made itself visible in the worst situations - ‐ much like the one on her hand. cyan paint messily adorned the frame of the door and the windows. a pot with lilacs and memoirs of love hung from the cyan door, cracked in a few places but broken things could be fixed.

no matter how big the crack is, nothing was permanent. a path - - one that was made of cobblestone, alexis assumed - - broke out through the small garden that sat perched in front of the cottage, spruce wood fences placed along the path that did nothing but add an overgrown tint to the cottage.

she looked back at the landlord, feeling kindness bloom in her chest at the mourning look she was giving the house. it held a melancholy kind of longing, a look alexis knew all too well.

clearing her throat apologetically, alexis passed the landlord-what was her damn name, amira? no alecia?-a tiny smile, a clear act of sympathy. "hey alecia, you didn't mention this one?"

and it was true, the landlord had given her a whole tour but had never once mentioned the pink and cyan house. it was a sensitive subject, alexis thought as the landlord's eyes widened almost comically.

the cool autumn air suddenly had tension blooming as the landlord stayed silent for a little too long, alice having caught on to it too because the next moment, she was questioning alexis about the sudden silence in hushed whispers.

the landlord teared her gaze away from the cottage, her wrinkles showing as she stepped closer towards the fence. "it is astra and i must have forgot to do so," astra whispered, as if she was scared someone would snoop on their conversation. "it's up for sale, this is the most suitable house for you. a couple build this here, lovely they were but out of the blue, they decided to give up this home. "

"no, silly, we were asking about the features, not the emotional story behin - - .. ow!" mary covered her head, sticking her tongue out at alice who had playfully hit her in the head.

astra smiled at them sincerely, her eyes had a twinge of sadness and alexis couldn't help but let her mind wander to find the answers behind her sadness. she moved closer to the house, letting her hand ghost over the white wood of the fence.

she looked back at alice, asking questions that nobody knew the answer to but alice already knew. oh, she was one of the rare people who knew and so, she nodded subtly. alexis gave her a nod in return before turning to the landlord, her voice dripping in kindness and childlike curiosity, ".. c - - can we take a look inside, if that's okay?"

alexis never knew blood was so beautiful, ruby red liquid that flowed from her body freely reminded her of red wine. the pain had stopped hours ago, now it was just red blood flowing from the small cut on her finger - courtesy to some furniture that was freely lying in the old house. the metallic, dark smell of blood follows her like a ghost as she heads towards the stairs below the cottage's door to join mary. she passed astra on her way, being careful to slow down her steps in order to not interrupt the staring game astra had going on with the floor. alexis usually stopped whenever she saw someone hurting, that's what her mother had taught her to do but sometimes, it wasn't hurting that made people suffer. it was their old self and people had to be left alone, to sort themselves out.

she dropped her handbag on the floor, wincing as the sound of leather meeting wood echoed loudly. the room they were sitting in - - one of the three bedrooms, alexis assumed .. - - had green patterns painted on it, with a dim light caressing the old walls.

"how is it?" alexis stumbled, wrapping her scarf around her finger to stop the red liquid from staining her skirt. she looked up to them, raising an eyebrow as none of them replied. mary was vibing on the mahogany floor, faint voices from where she had her phone raised over her head, filled the silent room. meanwhile, alice was opening up one of the wooden closets.

"listen, i will castrate you in your sleep if you don't shift here," mary took a moment to give her a glare before going back to cooing at the screen. "that is too rough but i agree!" alice managed to say from where her head was buried in a cabinet, the words coming out muffled.

the voices from mary's phone grew louder and louder, until they were almost impossible to drown out. hushed whispers and loud encouragement found their way to her ear and in the middle of the chaos, alexis could faintly make out the voice of lily potter.

she watched with her eyebrows raised and her facial expression morphed into one of curiosity as mary and lily talked with some kind of code language, before mary passed her phone over to alexis. the tired face of lily smiled up at her, happiness and love evident in her eyes as her hands stroked james' hair.

alexis' green eyes remained on the scene, feeling the love in her heart grow at the mere idea of two people needing each other. she had loved fairy tales, it was obvious to everyone around herself but nobody had ever bothered to ask about the whereabouts of the prince charming alexis dreamed about. she had always loved the two of them, james was the cool bad boy everyone wanted to be friends with and lily was the motherly girl who already made everyone feel like they are family. so trust her when she says that, she adored the two of them.

rich honey voice with tiredness lacing it, came through the speakers and alexis waved over at them. not trusting herself to say anything other than how cute couples were, she remained quiet as lily took the lead. "how are you, al? you don't even need to find one, your one of us. we love you and i think, little harry even has a crush on you,"

at the mention of his name, green sad eyes and ruffled black hair came within the frame. the said eyes peeked up at her, observing her face for what felt like an eternity to alexis before his face broke into a wide grin. alexis smiled at him, even though the godmother in her wanted to coo at the young boy.

the words flowed out of her lips before she could stop them and she internally shook her head at how soft her voice was, "hey bambi, how are you?". alexis felt her heart bloom in her chest, days spent at the warm potter manor with her god son were a priority over a dirty but payable motel with loud neighbors.

harry disregarded her question, instead his fingers traced her face over the screen, his lips forming a scrunched pout when skin met glass. the difficulty of being a four year old was clear as he struggled to form coherent sentences. "Need curly, momma is busy."

she scaled down the wall, shifting until she found a comfortable position. alexis looked back at the screen, laughs bubbling up in her throat when harry was still pouting. alexis braced herself for the loud protests she was going to face before dropping the bomb, "curly is busy but i will visit you this weekend, oka - - .. hey no, pinky promise i will!"

various expressions flashed on his face before sadness settled, his eyebrows scrunched together and his lips snarling was the epitome of cute in that moment. she rolled the sleeves of her black shirt subconsciously, one hand holding up the phone as harry responded. "kay, alexis,"

loud mocking gasps drowned down the conversation and when alexis came back from scolding mary, lily and james were gaping at her through the screen. she splattered out apologies, aware of how fast harry got affected. the boy was sensitive but was afraid to show so and it only caused the people around him to like him more.

james gasped loudly, his hands covering his mouth as he slowly shook his head. his grin widened just a tad bit as alexis buried her head in her legs, knowing that she fucked up. with mischief flowing through and mocking gasps escaping his mouth, james took the opportunity to tease her endlessly. "He called you alexis, what did you do that was so fucked up?"

before alexis had a chance to mourn about her disaster, lily is slapping the back of her husband's head and shooting an apologetic, full of embarrassment smile towards alexis. she rolled her eyes from her rightful place in her legs, though a barely there smile was starting to take its place on her plump lips. eyes peeked from the top of the phone, wandering until they met crimson red of mary's. familiar looks shared between friends and alexis defending astra was not how she imagined the night would have turned out.

after all, alexis carter never liked house hunting. oh but now, she did. for now it reminded her of the happy times when mary would laugh at how delicate she was with her godson. alexis would point out how cute james and lily were, every time they bickered-thus, causing them to pester her about her nonexistent love life.