Draco felt the wisp of air tugging him, and he followed where it led. He wasn't surprised to be heading up three flights of stairs - Luna liked places that were high up and windy. This room had a balcony, and she'd left the window open, making it chilly with bitter January wind. "Hey, Di," Draco Malfoy said, a warm smile on his face. Most of his friends wouldn't even believe that he could smile like that (then again, he'd never seen them do it either).
"Hello, you," Luna said, with that fine silvery smile on her lips. "Did I mention my father likes to travel over the hols?"
Draco nodded, though she hadn't mentioned it before.
"I've got three locations for us to sort through, all remote." Luna said, smiling.
"And I've got two villages in France, courtesy of house elf labor." Draco said, smiling like a cheshire cat.
"Well, then," Luna said, "What are we waiting for? Let's get to work!"
Sorting through the documentation was daunting, and seemed like it would take days. Well, that was at least what Draco thought. Luna moved quickly, like moonlight through leaves, glancing and sorting until she was able to give coherent arguments about the two villages Draco'd constructed.
"We're going to need a nursery." Luna said.
"I knew I forgot something!" Draco responded, writing it down on foolscap. "I'll tell Minny before the end of the night."
"You can't summon house elves to Hogwarts." Luna said in her unchanging voice, though the words seemed stern.
"Well, then, it's a good thing I won't be at Hogwarts.
Draco strode out of the bounds of Hogwarts' wards, heading towards Hogsmeade. There was a little known "weakness" in the warding, where you could slip out about ten feet before your Head of House was notified that you were missing. This was a leftover from Griselda the Gobbler's reign, where she'd decided that owls were to be eaten, not used as messenger beasts. And so the only people capable of transporting the post were house elves. That, of course, meant that only the rich could send mail, but neither the current Headmaster nor Draco could be annoyed about that. If someone wasn't smart enough to make powerful friends, they were probably better off in an information blackout anyway.
"Minny!" Draco hollered, and passed her the foolscap when she appeared.
"Make sure this gets done, when you're not doing other orders." Draco said sternly.
"Yes, young Mister Malfoy sir!" Minny responded, and flickered away.
Draco bit back a smile. He'd found that training the house elves to be less subservient had unexpected rewards. He'd never wanted to be fawned over, anyway.
[a/n: What are they doing? Leave a review, or a guess. Next up: back to the Tournie.]