While the children assembled, Draco Malfoy suppressed unhelpful thoughts like, "What if they don't like me? Most people don't you know."
Irately, he turned to that corner of his mind, and said, "Of course they won't like you, you just stole them from their parents! Who think they're dead, by the way."
A different portions of his mind (near the top) said, calmly, "Friendships are forged, not knit. Troubled times make good friends."
A darker corner of his mind said, "Wish you'd known that before we got on that first train to Hogwarts. Maybe we'd have helped with that toad?"
...
As the last child attended, with Luna behind them, Draco Malfoy gave a compulsive swallow. "Welcome to the first day of the next phase of your lives. As of right now, everyone outside of this room thinks you are dead. Quite permanently so." There were a few nervous titters, and Draco congratulated himself for remembering a bit of Snape's snark. "You will make certain it stays that way. We will help each other, as - as of this point - you've got no one else." The noise of the crowd was a bit more uncertain, a bit more fragile. That was good.
"As of right now, you are orphans. There was a village, a hamlet really, that was destroyed by the Order of the Phoenix, not three weeks ago." Draco Malfoy continued. "You are from that village."
A young boy, with bright black eyes, said, "But I'm from London! How am I supposed to pretend to be from someplace I don't know nothing about?"
Luna spoke up, airily, "We will teach you. And you'll visit, so you'll get a feel for the place."
A small boy, with mouse-brown hair, looked up, and said, "So, you're going to give us secret identities?"
Draco frowned, before an older boy - Colin Creevey said, "New identities, surely. Your real name can be your secret identity." Draco felt grateful for the intervention. He hadn't quite grasped the idea of secret identities, and it seemed to be A Muggle Thing (which was frankly disturbing).
"What about our friends?" Dennis Creevey asked.
"You should avoid all contact with your friends. Particularly friendly contact." Draco Malfoy said.
Dennis frowned, looking upset.
"I see no reason why you all should not be able to attend Hogwarts," Draco said, and he saw some of the smaller children brighten. "But there will be changes. Probably the most important is that you cannot talk with your friends. You cannot befriend them, you can't even get near them. If they figure out who you were, you'll be endangering all of us." Particularly me, Draco Malfoy thought.
"To that end, we'll be changing your grades." Draco Malfoy saw some children shift, and he smiled, "I'm certain that with a bit of tutoring, a lot of you can be placed a grade higher in school." The little witch he'd met again in the bathroom looked delighted at that.
Luna said, "And others can be placed a grade lower." Some of the children looked relieved at that.
"We will instruct you in how to find a different Hogwarts House than last time." Draco Malfoy said, "The sorting hat tends to give students what they want, if they plead long enough."
Luna said simply, "It took Harry Potter ten minutes to get Gryffindor."
"Speaking of Gryffindor," Draco ruthlessly squashed his grandiose tone, "Please, try not to get Gryffindor."
"Why?" Colin asked, though Draco could see his brother also had the same question.
"I, personally, will find it harder to look out for you there." Draco Malfoy said. "Also, Gryffindor tends to bring out the impulsive and stupid in people. And... we need you to hide. Be good students, fine, but above all else, you're going to need to change. If you were a quiet person, see if you can make some boisterous friends. You get what I'm saying."
They did.
A small, cherub-faced girl asked, "Why are we here, though?"
"You've come here for your protection, of course. I suppose some of you will want to do more than that. For now, the best thing you can do is learn magic well. At some point, we may see if anyone would like to strike back at the reason why you had to leave your parents." Draco Malfoy was certain, there wasn't any if about it. But let them think it a chance, and not a dead certainty.
[a/n: Draco and Luna have been planning this for a while. Leave a review?]