Within days Elise had found a few properties that seemed worth looking into. Some were as close as a five minutes drive to her parent's house. So far, only one had jumped out at her as being better than the rest.
A two story, four bedroom house with a spacious backyard and a room above the garage, it was bigger than what they needed but still decently priced. The light stone of the exterior was gorgeous, in her opinion, and the relatively new renovations the previous owners had done suited it nicely. Freshly painted walls and new stained floors, every room felt like it was in pristine condition.
Elise had toured it three separate times now, and each time she was more confident it was the one. This time, she took Harry with her, letting him crawl around in the empty space and explore the house. As soon as she set him down, he pushed himself along the wood floor, following her around. Though his slow army crawl barely got him anywhere, it was all Elise needed. Being with him in this home just felt right.
"What do you say, little one?" She asked once she'd retrieved him from the floor. "Do you like this house?"
Harry smiled his gummy grin, his green eyes sparkling with excitement. He wasn't sure what he was excited about, but he could feel Elise's joy and was just mimicking her own enthusiasm. She tapped his nose and kissed his forehead, her new habit with him. As she backed away once more, she felt Harry's little hand on her own nose, as he tried to copy her. She lifted him up and he planted a slobbery attempt at a kiss on her forehead. She couldn't even be bothered to wipe it off, too engrossed in the moment.
"What a brilliant boy you are!" She gushed, holding him up above her. "I have a handsome little wizard with me, and he's a smart man." She cooed and smiled at him, snuggling him close as he laughed those joyful little baby laughs that everyone loved so much.
With their touching first moment in the house, preparations for its purchase quickly were underway. Elise contacted the owners and settled on an offer quickly over the next week. Before she knew it, the house was hers and they were set to move in the next day.
"Have you checked all the appliances of the house? Do any of them need to be updated?" Her mother asked as the two were busy packing up her flat.
Her father was taking care of Harry at the house, waiting for them to arrive. Her mother offered to help the packing process go smoother, and her love of lists and organization came in quite handy for this endeavor, so Elise gratefully accepted.
Once the flat had been packed away neatly, Elise sent the boxes over with magic one by one. With the flat sold back to the owner, they were set to leave. Minutes later, they found themselves in a mess of boxes in the empty living room. Her father was busy constructing a new couch while Harry napped in the nearby bassinet.
"You're here! Hand me that screw will you?" He called to her, pointing at a screw that had rolled a ways away from him.
"Sure," she chuckled. "Did you build this just now?"
"Of course, you know I'm a trusty handyman." A confident puff of his chest sent her and her mother into a bout of laughter.
"Right, right. Well, thank you." She planted a kiss on the top of his head and moved onto unpacking.
The front door opened to a small entryway. On the right side was the dining room which connected to the kitchen. The floor plan was mostly open, allowing lots of light and room on this side of the house. The left was also open, housing just the living room, a spacious area with a fireplace and large windows. Heading straight on brought you to a staircase, and if you went just past that you would find the master bedroom.
This bedroom was decently sized, with the master bathroom directly attached. Elise worked on this room first, quickly assembling her new bed frame and other furniture in the room. Most furniture pieces were new, shrunken down into boxes to be resized once here. Soon this room was complete, she even had the drawers and closet filled with her clothes. She moved onto the kitchen next, organizing the cabinets and drawers exactly as she wanted them. Her mother helped with this part, helping her figure out the best flow of the space.
Her father worked on the living room manually, and later the study on the second floor. As she finished the kitchen, she moved onto the nursery. She'd painted the walls a pale blue, almost gray color, and dotted it with clouds. His bassinet was levitated up and placed neatly in the corner. Bookshelves and a dresser soon followed. When his brand new clothes and supplies filled the room, it really started feeling lived in. New toys were scattered about, and the now awake Harry was happily playing on the rug in the center of the room, stacking blocks and strewing things about.
Elise watched him with a smile, getting back to work. Thank god for magic, as the house was pretty much ready by dinner time. Her parents cooked a meal and they all had dinner together, laughing and talking about the day.
"If I'd had your magic before, I wouldn't have spent so long building that fancy desk of yours." Her father recalled a story from when she was younger.
She'd wanted a desk with a lockable drawers and a secret hidden one. It also needed to have an attached shelf for all of her favorite books. Her father had built it from scratch, trying and failing many times and going through so much supplies. Eventually though, he'd built a beautiful piece.
"Actually, can I have that desk? I'd like to put it in the study." Elise asked, smiling brightly at her father.
"Of course, it's yours. We'll bring it over in my truck tomorrow." Her father agreed. "What will you do with the desk you have now?"
"When Harry gets a little older, I'm thinking of making that room above the garage a study for him. He'll have his books and cauldron and anything he might need to practice over the summer. It seems like a good place to practice his magic discreetly as well." Elise explained with a hopeful sigh, she looked forward to helping him learn and perfect his magic.
Baby Harry let out an enthusiastic "yah!" as he swatted at the spoon Elise was holding out to him.
"Oh, do you like that idea Harry?" She chuckled, getting another spoonful of food for him.
His babbling was quickly directed at the food as he absolutely hammered the mashed fruit she'd given him. She shook her head, he'd be excited about it someday.
"Well, we've done all we can, are you two going to be alright with your first night in the new house?" Her mom asked as she stood to start collecting dishes.
"I think so mum, you guys are only a short drive away as it is though, if I need anything I'll call." Elise assured her mother, continuing to feed Harry.
"Alright dear, then I think your father and I will be off."
"Yep, got some early work to do tomorrow, I better get to sleep. Congratulations on your new home, Eli, Harry." He placed a kiss on top of both their heads, gathering their things and waiting by the door.
"Thanks daddy! And thank you both for all your help." Elise put Harry's food down for a second, much to his dismay.
"Anything for my favorite daughter, and my favorite grandson!" Her mother came and poked Harry's cheeks, making him giggle.
Elise laughed, holding back an eye roll. Her mother loved that saying, "my favorite daughter", she'd bring it up whenever she could. When Elise was younger she used to point out every time that she was, in fact, her only daughter. Her mother would just laugh and laugh, making Elise even more annoyed.
"I'll see you two out." Elise stood and walked the short distance to the door, locking it as her parents left.
When she turned around, Harry had taken his bowl of mashed fruit and creatively designed his newest outfit. She mentally face palmed as his innocent, gummy grin looked back at her while he wore his dinner.
"What a mess…" she laughed, "straight to the bath it is!"
Baby Harry was ecstatic, he quite liked the bath. She'd bought him boats that floated about, which he loved to play with. His bath was finished quickly and he was out in pjs. A pale green onesie meant to look like a dragon, it had scales and a tail that jutted out of the back. There was a hood as well, with dragon eyes and more scales.
She laughed at how cute he was in his little dragon pjs. "Harry, can you say "rah!"?" She held her hands up like claws.
"Rah!" He stuck his hands straight up.
"Good job! You made a dragon noise!" Elise picked him up and hugged him. "I knew it, pretty soon you're gonna be smarter than me." She sighed, feigning a tear.
Baby Harry giggled, before letting out another "rah!".
Elise set him down in the bassinet, reading him a few bedtime stories. It had become their routine, read a few stories, and then Elise would talk to him for a little while, and then she'd lull him off to sleep finally. It usually took about thirty minutes. Tonight was no different, as she finally crept out of her room and back down to her own. With a monitor charmed to let her know what Harry needed if and when he woke up, she settled into her own bed, exhausted from the day.
They had a house, and Harry had all the clothes and toys a one year old could possibly need, her mother had made sure of it. It seemed like every time they saw her she had another set of clothes for him.
It had been two weeks since she found Harry. She didn't know if it was their linked magic or something else entirely, but he had completely warmed up to her and her parents. She thought of Lily again, the same sadness overwhelming her.
"I've got him Lily, and no one is going to take him from me, you've nothing to worry about anymore…" she spoke to no one in particular, trailing off as sleep overtook her.