Like a small boat
On the ocean
Sending big waves
Into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion
- Fight Song - Rachel Platten
Chapter Six
Defeated
The next night, Draco was called in to St Mungo's. Hermione was left to maintain peace at home.
There was a lull in the madness after dinner. Scorpius curled up with a book. Rose lay across the sofa, her feet propped up on Scorpius. Hugo sprawled on the floor, playing on his Gameboy. Nova was rapidly getting tired of being ignored.
'Ouch, Nova quit it!'
'Nova,' Hermione said, looking up from a stack of reports. 'Stop hitting Scorpius with that stick.'
'It's not a stick mummy, it's my wand! See, this bit is the wand, and this is my magic spells!'
'Ok, but stop hitting your brother with the magic.'
'But I'm you, mummy!'
'That's sweet, dear,' Hermione smiled distractedly, pulling another file towards her.
'And Scorpy is a filthy defeater.'
Hugo looked up from his Gameboy. Rose buried her nose into a cushion. Nova continued dancing around the living room, waving the stick in the air. Scorpius' ears turned pink.
'A what...?'
'A filthy defeater.' Nova explained slowly. 'A bad guy. Like Daddy was!'
Hermione put down her quill and took a deep breath.
'Nova, honey, where did you hear that?'
'Some...some big boys at school said it.'
Hermione looked at her older children, who all had guilty expressions.
'Don't worry mum,' Rose said, smiling brightly. 'We dealt with them.'
'Please tell me you dealt with them by telling an adult...'
'Yeah,' Rose assured her. 'Of course we did!'
'After,' Hugo muttered, darkly.
'Shut up.' Rose hissed.
'It's fine, really Mum,' Scorpius said, flashing Hermione a disarming smile.
'Don't try that look with me, kiddo,' she sighed. 'I'm immune to it after being married to your father all these years.'
*****
The next morning, Hermione stepped out of the fireplace into the Manor. Nova was clinging to her hand, looking worried. She was convinced that her mum was going to be in trouble for being late for work.
'Oh, Mrs Granger-Malfoy!' Miss Popplewell said. 'Hello! Is everything ok?'
'Yes, thanks Sarah. Is Audrey available?'
'Mum!' Nova whispered, scandalised. 'You have to call her Mrs Weasley when we're at school. Even at Summer Camp!'
'She's in her office,' Miss Popplewell replied, grinning.
Hermione thanked her, and walked Nova out to the playground. Her older children had scurried away as soon as they arrived. She could see them whispering with Albus.
'Bye sweetie,' Hermione said, giving Nova a hug and a kiss.
'Are you sure Mr Shacklebolt won't get mad?' Nova asked, her arms wrapped tightly around her mother.
'I'm sure. I already owled him to say I was bringing you to Camp this morning. Now go on, I can see your friends waiting for you. Have a nice day!'
'You too, mummy! Love you!'
Nova ran off before Hermione could reply. She laughed and shook her head. She spotted her other children and nephew watching her. When they saw her looking, they turned away quickly.
As Hermione walked back inside the building, she found herself noting all the changes. It always surprised her how familiar, yet different, it was from its days as Malfoy Manor.
Hermione remembered how she had reacted, the first time she had been back here with Draco. She had panicked, overwhelmed by horrific memories. It took a long time for her to feel comfortable here, but it had been healing to see it as a family home. Draco and Scorpius had moved into Hermione's house the year after their first date, but they spent a lot of time visiting Narcissa.
'Come in!' Audrey called, looking up from her desk when Hermione knocked. 'Hermione! What a coincidence. I was just owling you!'
The school owl hooted softly on its perch, as though confirming Audrey's story.
'I heard there was an incident with some of the older boys?'
'Ah. Yes. That's what I was writing to you about.' Audrey gestured with her wand and the door closed behind Hermione. 'What is it they told you?'
'Nova was playing a game, she said she was pretending to be me and fighting "filthy defeaters". When I asked what she meant, she told me they were bad guys like her dad used to be, and she'd heard it from some of the older boys.'
'Oh dear, I didn't know Nova had heard about it.' Audrey shook her head, sadly. 'It happened during free time, yesterday afternoon. Three boys were taunting Scorpius. Making fun of him for Draco's past.'
'Rose tells me they "dealt with it", which frankly isn't reassuring...'
Audrey snorted, her eyes flashing briefly with something akin to pride.
'Yes, well, you know how protective they get about these things...'
'Audrey...what did they do this time?'
'Um...well, one of the boys was hit by a Langlock Jinx for sure. It was pretty impressive really, his tongue was really stuck to the roof of his mouth! Another one couldn't stop singing every time he tried to speak. That made taking his statement quite...interesting. I understand it had worn off by the end of the day, though.'
'Good to know,' Hermione commented, drily.
'There was an unusual combination of what I think was a Jelly-Legs Jinx and Tarantallegra. It's quite alarming, watching someone's legs keep kicking and dancing while they're sat on the floor...'
'Heaven help us when those four are actively taught magic,' Hermione said, shuddering. 'What did the boys' parents have to say about it all?'
'I had to call them in, once I'd taken statements from everyone. The boys were in no condition to go back to their groups. The parents weren't exactly thrilled to find their children in that state, but they were very apologetic about their behaviour.'
'Why is this the first I'm hearing about it?'
'It was so late in the day by the time I got to the bottom of it, and I didn't want to interrupt your evening. It was a school issue not a family one. I'm sorry.'
'It's fine,' Hermione sighed. 'I understand. So, what's the punishment on the school side of things?'
'The three boys, as well as Rose, Hugo and Albus are all going to be spending the day with me, both today and tomorrow.'
'Not Scorpius?'
'The other three admitted to everything. They banded together and said none of the jinxes were his. He tried to claim otherwise, but they insisted.'
Hermione raised an eyebrow. She knew that the Langlock Jinx was Scorpius' favourite. He normally used it on Rose when she was talking too much.
'I'll have a word with them. Have you told Harry and Ginny yet?'
'That's the next letter I'm sending.'
'Sounds good,' Hermione started to stand when a thought occurred to her. 'Oh Jeez, none of the boys were muggles, were they?!'
'Nope, thank goodness. They'd be facing a lot more than a couple of detentions! We've a zero tolerance policy for intentional magic against muggles. Thankfully, they were all from magical families.'
'That's something I guess!'
Hermione gave Audrey a quick hug, and left her to finish writing to the Potters. Rather than taking the Floo to work, Hermione strolled through the school towards the front gate. Nova ran over for another quick hug and kiss as she walked through the playground. The others had disappeared, hiding from Hermione now she had heard the full extent of their revenge.
As Hermione let herself out of the ornate iron gate, she saw the school owl soar overhead. She could see the letter clutched in its claws. Smiling at the large sign with 'Manor Park School' embossed on it, Hermione turned and apparated away.
*****
Rose, Hugo and Albus were all grounded for a week. Although Scorpius wasn't being actively punished, without the others to play with he was effectively grounded too. Secretly he felt this was probably fair. He knew his mum suspected one or more of the jinxes were his.
Hermione had agreed that Hugo could still play in the rugby match that was scheduled for that afternoon. She said that he had made a commitment, and it would have been unfair to punish the team by not letting him play. Instead, she confiscated his Gameboy for the week.
Hugo complained that he would have rather missed the match. Hermione offered to change it to two weeks. Hugo agreed that a week without his Gameboy sounded good.
Hermione didn't tell Draco the details of what had happened, only that the children had used magic on some boys during an argument. Draco was aware enough of his infamy to guess the rest, but he appreciated his wife trying to save his feelings.