Draco Malfoy had left the Manor dressed elegantly, the way a young Lord might dress. Someone who commanded respect. By the time he'd finished in the mirror at the Dumbledorian Safehouse, he looked, exactly the opposite. A plaid shirt (reds and greens), cotton jeans, and a straw hat. To complete the illusion, he'd pulled up a bit of wheat from the field outside the Manor, and was ready to chew on it.

He came down, to Luna's widened eyes of delight. She clapped her hands once, jumping up and down. It was amazing how free with her emotions Luna was... for someone so guarded otherwise.* He sprawled out on the couch, tilting the straw hat down over his head, and sticking the straw in his mouth, at the ten o'clock. He quirked his mouth into a genuine, toothfree smile, and nodded at Luna. You'd have to use the Cruciatus curse on Draco Malfoy to get him to admit it, but he was perfectly copying the picture art on the cover of Hermione Granger's copy of Huckleberry Finn.**

Luna, in turn, hurried up to get the children. From outside, Draco listened to a cow lowing. He knew how to milk a cow - his mum loved syllabub, after all, and that was a fresh made treat. But Luna wasn't nearly as good at teaching children how to speak 'proper-like'.

The first girl down was that second year, the one just budding into puberty - the impertinent one, who'd told him that he'd have to pull it off (which, while true, wasn't exactly the most reassuring way to put it). He casually waved a hand, beckoning her close. She sat down beneath the couch.

The younger kids just scampered down, having been informed (he'd eavesdropped Luna's silvery voice that cascaded down the stairs like a moonlit waterfall) that their teacher had arrived. It took until a sixth year Ravenclaw came down, that she abruptly stopped, then darted over at Draco, pulling his hat off. "It is you!" She exclaimed, half happily, half astounded that Draco Malfoy would be in such clothes.

Everyone else just stared. "Oi! My hat!" Draco Malfoy said, scrambling abruptly to his feet (taking care to not hit the younger children in front of the couch). "No one must see my hat hair!"

That got a giggle out of most of the younger students, and Draco immediately started in on the lesson. Laggards would be caught up on their own time, which was to say, while others were enjoying breakfast.

"You're no longer muggleborns. From this day forth, you will be halfbloods, in the main, with some purebloods in the mix. Truth be told, you've all lived close enough to muggle that it doesn't make much difference how pure your blood is. What you know isn't the city, it's pigshit and groomin' horses, and sheerin' sheep and wrasslin' cattle. You'll all get to watch a slaughtering before the summer's out." Draco smiled as some of the younger children paled. There was one slight boy (that reminded Draco of Potter), who looked particularly pale. Draco bent over him, putting his own lovely mug in the child's face. "Better than being slaughtered like goats yourself, isn't it?"

[a/n: I so wanted to put a line in about Hermione being a Judas Goat. Maybe when they're back at hogwarts.

Leave a review?]

*She's not actually that free. if she were, Draco would have realized how boring he was being last year. Luna's a dab hand at lying. But she does enjoy a good show, and that's what Draco Malfoy is putting on. a Good and Well Researched show.

**Seriously. Go read that book. Then remember what young adult fiction used to be like, back when such things were allowed to be good and grey.