J.K. Rowling and Her Fictional Kids

Chapter 5

As Madam Puddifoot led her upstairs, the pink decorations with different kinds of hearts stuck on the walls caught Joanne's eyes, this is insane, I do not want these wallpapers in my 'bedroom'. Fortunately, she brought Joanne into the attic, which was dusty and dark, there were also piles of card boxes at one end of the room. Every corner was filled with cobwebs except the one in the far left hand side, next to a clear window. That corner was carefully taken care of, and the wall was decorated with purple hearts and the floor had a purple carpet. On the carpet, was a clean and bouncy bed with a bed lamp which was on a bed side drawer. Next to the window, above the bed on the wall was a petite cupboard. On the right hand side of the bed side drawer,was a normal sized purple wardrobe that was blocking the view of the door if you were sitting with your back on the window. On the left of the wardrobe if you were sitting on the bed, was a 2 feet x 2 feet desk, it had a pad of paper on it.

"Sorry for the mess. May I ask for your name?" Madam Puddifoot asked.

"Claudia Canfield. Thank you so much for the bed space." Joanne grinned although it was quite hot in there.

"I can try to turn the air-conditioner on, dear." Madam Puddifoot searched for a remote and placed a pair of glasses on her nose. 

Buzz. Buzz. It was turned on. The room was starting to get colder but as it is doing that, the sound was gradually getting louder too. 

"The toilet's downstairs, next to my bedroom. There will be pink towels supplied and I have a spare purple tooth brush with a purple toothpaste. Isn't it colourful? The toilet's also pink, so it will stand out! For dinner and any other meals, it would be set up on the ground floor. Some clothes are in the wardrobe for customers who wished to stay here, which is you! Feel free to draw the curtains at anytime, I never mind. Meanwhile, if you are bored during the day, you can serve my customers. Sorry but no payment." She said with a high tone.  

******** 

As evening arrived, Madam Puddifoot carried out nose appealing dishes from the kitchen to a pink table. 

"You can eat first, Claudia. Amaryllis! Dinner's ready! She's my granddaughter, her parents- she can so the explanations." Her eyes were red and wet but she managed to conceal her tears. 

A young girl with large and bright hazel eyes sprinted down the stairs. There were some flowers stuck onto her long blonde hair which had a waterfall braid as it swung around. She was wearing a yellow jumper underneath an overall dress which had jeans colours on the top and a fading colour of yellow on the lower part of it. 

"Hi. That's our table, not for customers." She said softly. 

"Amaryllis, she is staying in our house, be nice to her, please. She is also one of Potter's friends!" Madam Puddifoot warned. 

Amaryllis was very obedient and sat down on the chair next to Joanne. She grinned at her. 

"I am Amaryllis O'hare, and you are?" 

"I'm Claudia Canfield. How old are you?" 

"I am 7 years old. I suppose you are an adult, 45 years old?"

"Close guess." 

Joanne sipped from the glass of water and thought about Amaryllis's parents. Amaryllis played with her hair for a while.

"Felix! I thought you are old enough to come down and eat!" Madam Puddifoot hollered.

Amaryllis laughed and spoke, "He's my older brother, 9 years old." 

Felix stormed down the stairs. He had bright hazel eyes and his hair was not combed well. His blonde hair was brighter then Amaryllis's. Felix wore a T-shirt with a sword on it and black short pants. 

"Hey, get off our table, stranger." He barked.

"She's staying overnight. Be polite. I'm so sorry about his manners." 

Felix reluctantly sat opposite to Joanne. 

"What happened to your parents?" Joanne bursted out. 

Felix and Amaryllis both stared at Joanne with their mouths slightly opened. 

"They... It's a very tragic story. My mother was called Amber and my father was Dylan. They lived in a normal house. One day, they were eating outside in a restaurant when suddenly, two masked muggle men shot them to death. Nothing defended them. They were not quick enough to draw their wands.There were no wills. Nothing left. They died when I was 3. So Madame Puddifoot was my mother's best friends since my mother was in Hogwarts. She accepted us and treated us like her own children. We had a great time here." Amaryllis's eyes grew red eventually. 

Joanne went back to eating. The food was delicious and high quality. There were pink cupcakes for dessert and there were tomato soup with prawns. 

"Any one interested to have butter beer?" Madam Puddifoot asked.

"Me." Felix said casually. 

"Great, so we will share one because I don't want you to drink so much tonight. Soup and butter beer. Too much." 

**********

Joanne trotted to her corner in the attic and was very eager to try lying on the bed. She then opened the wardrobe and saw a glittering purple dress with white vertical stripes on. Next to it was a purple and red sweater with a P on it. Somebody made this for Madam Puddifoot, and she didn't want to wear it! Or was it too small? There was another sweater filled with rainbow colours. At the far end, was a big purple coat with a pink hat hung next to it. There was a belt in the middle of the coat. Does Madam Puddifoot always have customers staying overnight? Joanne stare out of the window. Snow started to fall onto the roof top. She reached our and grabbed a piece of snowflake. Below her, somebody with blonde long hair opened the window. Amaryllis. Joanne wanted to shout.

"Goodnight Amaryllis!" 

Amaryllis looked up and saw Joanne waving at her, she grinned and poked her head in. She bought a boy. Felix. It must have been him.  

"Claudia, it's snowing! Felix loves the snow, well, at certain times!" 

"Amaryllis, it's time to sleep. I'm tired. You can go and play with that stranger." Felix snapped. 

"I'm sorry, Claudia. However, do you want to play snow fight with me?" Amaryllis yelled.

Joanne wanted to have some fun after a long day of worrisome things happening.

"Sure! But you have to wait for me to get changed!" Joanne replied. 

She chose to wear the coat and swiftly put her hat on and rushed downstairs. Wait, these shoes aren't for snow fighting. She clambered back up into the attic. She searched for a pair of boots. Joanne discovered them under the bed. It was quite tight but it fitted. Darting out into the snow, she felt the joy of childhood.