Fractured

Manor Park

Nova grinned at him, and stood by Hugo. She slipped her hand into his.

'Can I floo with you today?'

'Sure thing,' Hugo said, tugging on an errant curl that had escaped her hair-tie.

Scorpius walked up onto the hearth and grabbed a pinch of floo-powder. He tossed it into the fire, and the flames turned green. He gave his dad a quick hug, and stepped into the fire.

'Manor Park School!'

Scorpius was whipped away from the house, and the fireplace was empty.

'Our turn!' Nova tugged Hugo up to Draco. 'Bye daddy, have a nice work!'

'Bye sweetie,' Draco smiled, giving her a hug and kiss.

'Bye dad,' Hugo said, hugging Draco. He took a handful of floo-powder. 'Manor Park School!'

Rose bounced back into the room as they disappeared, a sports bag in her hand. Draco handed her the bag she had dropped. She hugged him, standing on her tip-toes to drop a kiss on his cheek.

'Have a good day,' Draco said, putting the floo-container away after she had taken some.

'See ya, Dee-Dad,' Rose grinned. 'Have fun saving lives. Alrighty, Manor Park School!'

*****

During the school year, Manor Park was a small primary school, started by Audrey Weasley five years earlier. Audrey was a muggle-born witch, married to Percy. She had been shocked to learn that magical families home-schooled their children until they left for Hogwarts. With the full support of her family, whose children were the majority of her pupils at first, she opened the school. Narcissa had surprised them all by signing Malfoy Manor over to her, proclaiming that she didn't need so much space. She said it would be far better served as a place of education. The school was expanding year by year, and now had almost 100 students.

For the past two years, it had been fully integrated, with both magical children and their muggle siblings. Audrey and Hermione had been a driving force behind a policy change, informing muggle parents much earlier about their child's magical abilities and teaching them how to support them. This was the first year they'd offered a summer program to their students, providing fun activities while their parents worked.

'Just in time, Rose,' a woman commented as Rose stepped out of the fireplace.

'Morning, Miss Popplewell!' Rose smiled.

She heard the bell clanging in the playground, and the chattering of children. Rose hurried outside and joined Scorpius at the back of their line. She could see Nova talking animatedly to a group of boys from her group. Miss Popplewell stood in front of Nova, and gestured for them to stand quietly. Once they did, she led the youngest children to their room.

Rose adjusted her bag, the strap digging into her shoulder. Audrey Weasley stood at the head of their line. She was both the headmistress and the teacher for the oldest students. Once the younger groups had gone inside, she beckoned for Rose's group to follow her.

Rose hung up her bag on her peg outside the room. She dumped her sports bag on the floor underneath and went to stand behind her seat.

'Good morning, Hippogriffs!'

'Good morning, Mrs Weasley,' the children chanted in unison.

'Alright, sit down and I'll just do the register.'

Mrs Weasley pulled out a scroll of parchment with the students' names. She waited for the scraping of chairs and talking to subside.

'Lucy Armstrong.'

'Present.'

'Charlie Cox.'

'Present.'

Down the scroll she went, marking off attendance. Each child was met with a warm smile as they replied.

'Scorpius Granger-Malfoy.'

'Present.'

'Rose Granger-Weasley.'

'Present!'

Rose didn't look up from her notebook. She was doodling a snitch and zoned out as Mrs Weasley finished roll call. Lucy nudged her, bringing her attention back to the room. She jumped up, joining the rest of them as they lined up at the door for the opening welcome. They walked in single file through the corridors until they reached the dining hall.

Nova's group, the Dragons, was already seated at the front of the hall. Nova was whispering to her friend when the teacher wasn't looking. The next oldest group, the Centaurs, filed in and sat in rows behind them. Rose, Scorpius and Albus, along with the others who had recently graduated, pulled up wooden benches and sat at the back. The younger students in their group sat on the floor in front of them. The Thunderbirds shuffled in and sat in the space left for them.

'Good morning, everyone!'

'Good morning, Mrs Weasley,' the school chorused.

'Welcome back to another week of Summer Camp! There's a few more of you here this week, I'm guessing from your tans you've all come back from your holidays? I'll just go over a few rules. Yes, yes, boring I know.' Mrs Weasley grinned at the grumbling children. 'Remember to stay with an adult at all times, no wandering off. If you need to go to the bathroom, you need to let your teacher know. Absolutely no magic, same as during school. Most of all, just have fun!'

A few of the children cheered at this. Rose pulled a face at Scorpius and Albus. They'd tried suggesting that they were old enough to stay home, but had been overruled.

The children were soon filing out of the dining hall, splitting off into new groups. Rose had signed up for a morning full of sports, and rolled her eyes at Scorpius who had opted for chess as his first activity. Albus waved at them theatrically as he walked away. Rose laughed as Lily's face fell, seeing Albus join her at the Drama Club. Hugo was high-fiving his rugby friends, smelly kit in hand. Nova and the younger children had been herded away together, as they were doing more structured activities as a group.

*****

Author's Note

Surprise! Two chapters in one week! I was getting too antsy to keep only posting once a week. I'm going to try twice weekly (Wednesdays and Fridays), but I don't know how long it will last. Hopefully if I don't fall behind on writing then I can keep posting! I'm wary of falling into bad habits and not posting for months (like my other stories), but I'm having too much fun to keep all these to myself. I'll try and give you a fair warning if I have to change my posting schedule. Much love! Charli