Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the original Harry Potter series. J.K. Freakin' Rowling does. I only own the OCs and the plot of this story. (:
"Come on, Amanda," Mrs. Higgs said shortly, her tall, high-heeled boots clomping on the pavement beneath her feet.
"I'm coming, mummy," Amanda mumbled, who was previously skipping along a few feet behind her mother, trying to make patterns in the few inches of freshly-fallen snow on the ground.
"In here," Mrs. Higgs said, turning suddenly to pull open a glass door with a gloved hand.
Amanda followed her mother into the shop. "Hello, Mrs. Higgs," a short, young-looking woman said, smiling welcomingly.
"Hello, Mrs. Malkin," Mrs. Higgs said, removing a black glove by pulling on her middle finger, then doing the same with the other glove. She tucked the gloves into her cloak pocket. "I believe I have an appointment." She opened one side of her cloak and pulled out a smaller, neatly-folded cloak that looked as though it had been through a blender.
"Yes, of course," said Mrs. Malkin, pushing herself off the counter she was leaning on and walking toward them. She bent over, hands on her knees, and looked at Amanda. "Amanda, is it?" she asked, as if she were speaking to someone who had trouble hearing.
Amanda nodded silently.
"I told her not to be stubborn," Mrs. Higgs said as Mrs. Malkin stood up straight again. "Right, dear? You're going to do what Mrs. Malkin tells you to do, yes?"
Amanda nodded again.
"Good," her mother said. "You're the one who went and tore up your cloak, so you have to behave and get it fixed." She shook the cloak in her hand out as if to prove the cloak was tattered, and handed it to Mrs. Malkin.
"Actually," Mrs. Malkin said, "My daughter will be taking care of your daughter today, Mrs. Higgs. She's in training for when she takes over the shop." Not surprisingly, the rather elderly Mrs. Higgs leaned back against the counter, as if standing up without support caused her pain. A younger woman appeared from somewhere in the back of the shop and gestured to Amanda.
"Follow me, dear," the heir to Madam Malkin's Robes shop said, turning on her heel and walking toward the back of the shop.
Amanda did as she was told, and followed her behind a long, black curtain. She jumped up onto a stool as Miss Malkin pointed at it, and let her drape the mess of a cloak on her, starting to pin and stitch.
Amanda didn't put up a struggle, but in her mind, she was thinking of how stupid it was that she had to come all the way out to Diagon Alley to fix a piece of clothing. Her mother was originally going to just have Mitzy mend the cloak, but then her father had stepped in, suggesting that Mrs. Higgs take Amanda out to Madam Malkin's to have it patched up. He had said that it would be 'a good opportunity for the girls to bond'. Mrs. Higgs agreed, but she said it was only because she wanted the cloak to be fixed properly, that she didn't want to risk it being messed up further by the old house-elf. Amanda hadn't really been looking forward to spending the day with her mother, who never seemed to want to spend much time with Amanda either, but she didn't say it out loud.
After Amanda's cloak was finished, she went to the front of the store and sat down on a bench, staring out the window as her mother chatted with Miss Malkin and paid for the patching job. The snow was falling lightly now; a woman walked past the shop, holding the hand of a young boy, who was clutching a chocolate ice cream cone and licking away at it happily. Amanda's eyes widened longingly and she turned around, running up to her mother at the counter.
"Mummy, can we go and get ice cream? Pleeeease?" she asked, tugging gently on her mother's green skirt.
"Hold on, Amanda, mummy's busy" was her mother's answer, and she looked back up at Mrs. Malkin, dropping a few coins onto the countertop.
"Please, mum?" Amanda continued.
"Yes, yes, all right," Mrs. Higgs said impatiently. She waved good-bye to Mrs. Malkin and led a now excited Amanda out of the shop.
Upon reaching Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, Amanda skipped ahead of her mother into the tiny shop, gazing up at the board upon which all the flavors of ice cream were listed.
"Can I help you lovely ladies?" A man had just emerged from a door in the back of the store, wiping his hands on a towel and grinning at his new customers.
"What do you want, Amanda?" Mrs. Higgs asked in a bored tone of voice.
"I want the cherry with chocolate chips, please," Amanda said, standing on her tiptoes to see the clerk over the tall countertop.
"One Choco-Cherry coming right up!" he said, grinning wider still and turning around to fix the cone.
A bell rang from the entrance of the store, signaling that someone had entered the store. Spinning around, Amanda saw a tall, thin woman who reminded Amanda much of her own mother, but with dark brown hair instead of blonde. With this woman was a boy who looked to be around Amanda's age. He had short, blonde hair, which was messy, probably due to the wind that had begun to pick up outside. He had pale skin and a rather pointed face.
"Vivian? Vivian Stone?" the woman said, looking at Mrs. Higgs, expressing familiarity.
Amanda's mother turned around. "Astoria!" she said, smiling, and walking over to her. The two women exchanged a sort of hug and pulled back, looking at each other.
"It's been too long, Viv," the brown-haired woman said.
"I know, I hardly ever see you anymore since school," Mrs. Higgs said. "And, you know, it's Higgs now, not Stone."
"Oh, of course. I mean, I even went to your wedding and I still forget sometimes!" the other woman chuckled.
"Miss, your Choco-Cherry cone is ready," said the man's voice from behind the counter.
Amanda wheeled around, taking the ice cream cone from the clerk's outstretched hand. "Thank you," she said, taking a big bite.
"Amanda, don't eat so fast," Mrs. Higgs said, approaching the clerk and paying him.
"Scorpius, what would you like?" the woman asked, addressing the blonde-haired boy, who was now standing at the counter next to Amanda.
"Strawberry peanut-butter," he said to the clerk.
Amanda's mother and the woman called Astoria made their way to a table near the entrance and started chatting about their husbands, occasionally bursting out laughing in their high-pitched, girlish voices.
The blonde boy turned to Amanda, who was still licking her ice cream. "Hi, I'm Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy," he said, holding out a hand.
Amanda took his hand and they shook. "I'm Amanda Higgs," she said.
Scorpius Malfoy smiled. "I guess our mums know each other, huh?" he said, nodding to where their mothers sat.
"I guess so," Amanda said as Scorpius was handed his ice cream and gave the man a few coins.
Amanda just looked at Scorpius started eating. She noticed that he had really pretty grey eyes.
"Come on, Amanda, it's time to go," came Mrs. Higgs's voice; she and Mrs. Malfoy had stood up from their table.
"Coming," Amanda said. "Bye," she said quickly to Scorpius, and rushed out of the shop behind her mother.
Author's note: Yay, flashback scene! I thought I'd sorta introduce Scorpius into the story a bit early and give some background on how Amanda and Scorpius met. Tell me what you think, and I PROMISE that Scorpius will appear for real in the next chapter! :D
