Chapter Fifteen "but love covereth all sins" Proverbs 10:12

Hermione was pleased to see Luna and Draco so much together after that. They didn't live in each other's pockets, Luna had University and Draco had seemingly endless mysterious commitments regarding Malfoy Manor, the Ministry, the Slytherin kids and goodness only knew what else. However, whenever there was a social get together Draco brought Luna along which was just as well as Hermione wanted to include Luna in her group of friends but had been hesitant because of the previous awkwardness between her and Draco. As it was, it all worked out well for everybody and Hermione was content.

Snape wasn't particularly content to come back to her cottage after a day's teaching at Hogwarts and find the place full of her friends a few times a week however but they generally cleared out by suppertime, Draco with a smirk in his and Hermione's general direction which irritated Snape considerably. Snape usually responded by raising his eyebrows slightly at Luna when the girl wasn't looking and couldn't be embarrassed by it and that usually pulled Draco into line very fast.

The semester wound to a close surprisingly fast and Draco made plans to move back into Malfoy Manor. The Aurors were finished their work, the Dark Arts store had been completely cleaned out and Draco could go back without tripping over Aurors constantly. Hermatica and Severus-the-first had been sad to see him go but as Hermione and Snape were moving in just for the holidays, they had that to look forward to.

"Although," Severus-the-first said, "those two are all over each other like a rash mostly so it's not as though we'll see much of them. I really prefer to give them their privacy," he concluded archly.

"Well Draco is exactly the same whenever Luna is visiting him here which is often enough nowadays," Hermatica replied. "We keep having to duck out of the room," she complained.

"We can keep ourselves occupied," Severus-the-first said taking Hermatica's hand and pulling her into his arms.

"They're at it again," Luna commented as she and Draco walked into the room, nodding her dark head at the pair in the painting.

"Oh, they're always at it. It can get downright embarrassing," Draco replied with a scowl, as though he and Luna had not just been kissing in another room.

* * *

Draco moved back to Malfoy Manor the day before Hogwarts broke up for the semester. Hermione and Snape were moving into Snape Manor for the 2 week break so Draco didn't want to be around. He had enrolled for next semester at Hogsbridge but like Hermione, decided not to choose his major immediately.

The first thing Draco did once he'd moved all his belongings back was to visit what used to be the Dark Arts room. The hexes had now been taken off as well as the passwords. Wherever there was a door, you could see it immediately. The pit in the one tunnel had been filled in and the iron gate taken away completely.

He went quickly down the passages, amazed at how benign they now looked lit with ordinary torches that threw out a friendly, warm, yellow light. The doorway into the actual room was now open and when he stepped through the only thing to see was empty bookshelves, a cold fireplace and the couches. The dungeon has been stripped of its torture instruments and all that was left was bare stone walls and floor. The Dark Arts storeroom was also bare and left with only with empty shelves, glass cases and work benches.

As he looked around, a plan began to form in Draco's mind. He decided to talk to Luna about it first and if she liked it, he'd then take it to Dumbledore.

* * *

Luna nodded slowly once Draco finished explaining it all. "It could work," she said thoughtfully. "It would take a fair bit of commitment and tolerance on your part but it could work."

They decided to take it to Dumbledore that day before the new semester began.

"You want to have some of the Slytherin students come and stay with you over the holidays?" Dumbledore repeated with a mixture of surprise and pleasure.

"Yes, we'll do up the rooms under the Manor and that would be their own place. There could be two sections for their beds, and one for entertainment and hanging out. Of course, it would only be the kids whose parents are now in Azkaban. There wouldn't be room for any more than that anyway but it's better than being stuck at school every single holiday. The Malfoy House Elves could take care of them, they're always complaining they don't have enough to do with just one Malfoy there most of the time anyway," Draco said with rare enthusiasm.

"I like the idea but it will take a lot of work and planning on your part," Dumbledore said warningly. "It's not something to take on lightly. These kids will be depending on you and will want a lot of your attention."

"During the holidays, that's not a problem," Draco said with a shrug.

"Okay, I'll make the announcement over dinner tonight as those that are here for the holidays now are the ones who would be staying with you next holidays. Between now and then, you've got a lot of work to do," Dumbledore said with a smile.

* * *

Draco and Luna began making the arrangements. Hermione helped with the practical aspects. Firstly, they cleaned up all the moss and fungus and damp in the two rooms they were using for the boys and girls' dorms using powerful spells. The Dark Arts storeroom had to be cleared of all the shelves and cabinets. Then they moved in the beds. Green quilts with black trim for the boys and green quilts with silver trim for the girls. The lighting was silver torches with naked flame to provide both a comforting light and some warmth. A fireplace was installed in the old dungeon but the other two rooms already had them. Green, black and silver Persian rugs went on the stone floors in each room.

The shelves and couches were left in the old library. The shelves were filled with a better selection of books than the previous selection had been. Pictures were hung on all the walls of various innocuous but beautiful landscapes. Draco had a DVD and TV installed with another generator down there which would be a novelty to the mainly pure-blood Slytherins. He also had a Quidditch pitch set up on one of the larger lawns.

He set up paintings to make sure the passwords were used for each dorm as he didn't want to be answerable to Dumbledore if the kids got up to mischief in each other's dorms. "Killjoy," Luna observed, amused.

"Hey, I don't care but I'm not sending any pregnant Slytherin girls back to Dumbledore at the end of the holidays," Draco said flatly. Luna just grinned, and Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Are they going to eat down here or in one of the dining rooms?" Hermione asked, casting a practical eye around her once they were nearly finished the alterations.

"They can choose. That's the point. I want them to have more freedom here than they would at Hogwarts, as if they're at home. If they want to eat pizza in front of a DVD for dinner, they can. If they want roast beef in the dining room with fine china and crystal, they can," he shrugged.

"I bet they live on pizza," Hermione said drily.

"And hot chips and sweets," Luna added with another grin.

"And soft drink and crisps," Hermione sighed.

"And biscuits and cake," Luna continued with a laugh.

"It's only for 2 weeks! Then they go back to school and Dumbledore can stuff them with vegetables and milk again," Draco protested. "I want them to relax and have fun and just be kids."

"No school bells," Luna mused.

"And no uniform," Hermione added.

"No set meal times," Luna added.

"And probably no homework will get done either," Hermione added, glaring bossily at Draco.

"Hey, then it will be on their heads," Draco shrugged, unmoved. "We'd better put a table in one corner for the kids who do want to get their homework done actually," Draco said, looking around the old library room which Hermione had re-named the 'rec' room.

"It will be a wreck too, after two weeks of kids eating and lying around in here," Luna observed.

"That's what House Elves are for," Draco said indolently.

Draco got a beautiful antique ebony table with four matching chairs out of the family's storage and put it in one corner of the rec room with a silver lamp on it. "It's a good thing our family library is so vast. It would easily rival the one at Hogwarts so the kids won't be disadvantaged in doing their homework here rather than at school," he said thoughtfully.

"Most of the homework is out of the text books anyway," Hermione shrugged.

"Trust you to remember that," Draco said coolly.

Finally, everything was done. "We should have a. um. dorm-warming," Hermione suggested.

"A what?" Draco asked.

"You know, a party to celebrate," she explained.

"Oh, okay," Draco said vaguely and sent out the invitations that evening.

"What are you going to call this place?" Harry asked, when he arrived the next evening carrying a case of Butterbeer as his contribution.

"Good question," Luna said with a nod. "You should name it, Draco."

Draco thought hard. "I can't think of anything," he admitted, that kind of thing not being his forte.

"How about 'Serpent's Den'?" Luna suggested.

"Perfect!" Hermione said with a definite nod. Harry liked it too and so did Ginny, who had arrived with him.

"Okay. You make the sign Luna as you thought of it," Draco said with one of his rare smiles.

Luna got out her wand and in letters of gleaming silver, put 'Serpent's Den' over the main doorway.

Dumbledore arrived early before the party was in full swing and inspected the place. "Well done, Draco. The Slytherins will love it," he nodded with pleasure, his blue eyes twinkling with approval. He trotted happily all over the dorms and rec room, exclaiming over the décor and the DVD player. "I've got one in my private rooms at Hogwarts," he confided to Luna and Draco. They both glanced at each other then laughed out loud.

All the Hogwarts teachers popped in during the evening, including Snape who inspected the premises with his sharp eyes, stalking from room to room and finally expressed his approval. "The study table was your idea, wasn't it?" Snape said to Hermione, his dark eyes flicking to it.

"Yes it was!" Draco said, overhearing. Hermione laughed.

Ron and Padma were quite impressed too as were Seamus and Dean who had popped in out of courtesy but stayed to enjoy themselves. "Can you believe we're having a good time partying in the Malfoy Manor?" Seamus whispered to Dean.

"It is a bit surreal," Dean admitted.

Parvati and Lavendar were there too with their Hogsbridge boyfriends. Unfortunately, Lavendar was with Roy - Luna's ex-boyfriend. She had been after him for ages but he had been too keen on Luna to pay any attention to her until Luna had finally dumped him and he'd given up on her. He made a show of holding Lavendar's hand and whispering in her ear to annoy Luna but she just felt amused.

Roy didn't as yet know that Luna was now seeing Draco again. As soon as Draco noticed the by-play, he made a point of going up to Luna and kissing her full on the lips. Roy looked gob-smacked and stared at them with his mouth open in a rather unattractive manner. He was not exactly pleased either. Luna was a bit embarrassed as she was not used to public displays of affection but she wasn't about to push Draco away. Draco stuck closely by her side for the rest of the night and occasionally shot dark glances Roy's way. Roy himself tried to stay out of the same room Luna and Draco was in as though he'd rather not see them together.

"Serves the pillock right," Draco muttered menacingly in Luna's ear, glaring at Roy from across the room.

"It's not like you to pout Draco," Luna teased.

"I don't know what Lavendar was thinking, bringing that dickhead here," he muttered.

"I do," Luna said with contempt. "She was trying to upset me. You know, show me that she 'got' him after all. She can have him!" Luna said with a laugh.

"I don't know why you ever went out with him to begin with," Draco said, finally coming to the point.

Luna looked at him, examining his tense face. "Because he was there," she said with honesty.

"What kind of reason is that?" Draco protested with a frown.

She sighed. "He was there and he was persistent and. you weren't," she added gently, looking him dead in the eye.

Draco didn't bother to reply. He just bent his fair head and kissed her again. He had had enough butterbeer to manage public affection but it wasn't likely to happen when he was sober.