Draco felt the wards shift as Longbottom and Luna arrived and reached the doors just as Kipper was opening them.

Luna stepped inside and hugged Draco without warning, "Hullo, Draco."

"Hello," Draco said stiffly, feeling slightly off-kilter, a speciality of Luna's.

Longbottom wavered at the doorstep, much to Kipper distaste.

"Shall we go to the greenhouse?" Draco offered.

Luna shook her head, "Oh, I don't want to. I only came because Neville was feeling nervous about coming alone."

Longbottom's already cold flushed cheeks went a little brighter.

"My mother and Pansy are here," Draco said, and as the idea occurred to him, he asked, "Do you like Pansy at all? As a person, sort of generally."

Luna turned slowly on the balls of her feet looking both as if she might be thinking or simply looking around the entry hall. She turned back to them abruptly, "I didn't before, but now I'm thinking I might."

Draco took a quick bracing breath, "Well she could use a little company. Maybe you could ask her to do your nails again?"

"Okay," Luna said. She looked at the end of the hall which ended in a set of matching curved staircases. There were doors to the right and left for those wings of the building and doors in the centre, and despite the chandeliers and sconces lining the walls, the area was always a bit foreboding. Once Mother plastered the walls and re-tiled the floors it would undoubtedly brighten up, but until then it was dark and gloomy, and Luna had never walked through the house unaccompanied.

"Kipper, would you guide Mr Longbottom to the greenhouse via the exterior of the house? I have to see Luna to Pansy's rooms," Draco said.

Luna smiled gratefully and Longbottom looked at Kipper with trepidation.

Draco told Longbottom, "You can look at everything, just don't touch."

"I know my way around a greenhouse," Longbottom said.

"I'm sure you do," Draco said, trying his very best not to snap at Longbottom, "But if you touch or change anything without Moss knowing about it, he will light my bed on fire."

Longbottom blinked at him.

Draco nodded, "Thank you. I won't be long."

Kipper stepped outside, the door swinging shut behind him.

"Moss, is that the funny little elf that lives in the shed behind the greenhouse?" Luna asked as they walked to Pansy's rooms.

"The very one," Draco said.

"I didn't know they had a name or a gender."

Draco sighed, "They're more descriptors for the sake of expedience."

"Oh," Luna said, looking around her thoughtfully, "A nickname is okay, I suppose, but I don't think you ought to be giving people genders without their permission."

Draco's brow furrowed, "Then I should-?"

"Use they or them until Moss lets you know themselves," Luna said.

"I see." Draco wondered why whenever he spoke with Luna their conversations always ended up so serious and complicated. He couldn't remember ever talking to her about flowers or the last book they read, or anything bland. It was always the meaning of life and the war and, of course, invisible creatures only she could see.

Draco knocked on Pansy's door, "Are you decent?"

"What?!" Pansy yelled back, "Since when do you care about that?"

Draco rolled his eyes, "Yes, well-"

"I'm here!" Luna said cheerfully.

"-so pull on a robe or something."

There was a muffled thump and some rather colourful swearing.

"I don't mind," Luna offered.

Pansy jerked the door open, "I barely fucking know you, Lovegood."

"It would foster social intimacy between us," Luna said.

Pansy finished knotting the tie of the silk robe it looked like she'd probably grabbed off the floor. She seemed unnaturally pale without makeup on, and dark shadows ringed her eyes. "What do you want?" she asked sourly.

Before Draco could answer, Luna said, "Have you ever done a home-made face mask?"

"A face mask?" Pansy repeated, slightly off balance.

Luna nodded, "There are ones with oatmeal and ones with egg whites, but I like the ones with fruit best because you can eat them."

"You can- What?" Pansy said.

Luna ducked under Pansy's arm and went into her room, "This will be a lot of fun, you'll see."

Pansy stared after Luna and then turned and glared at Draco.

Draco raised both hands, "You don't have to," he said to both of them, "You can always call Tulip and she can take Luna to Mother or the greenhouse. I've planned for a tea in an hour or so."

"With shortbread and raspberry jam?" Luna asked.

"Of course."

Luna clapped her hands in excitement.

Pansy sighed. "Face masks, it is," she said, shutting the door in Draco's face.

  '~*~'  

Draco entered the greenhouse via the western conservatory, pushing open the glass door and being engulfed in warm, humid air. There were twenty-four tables, each with its own climate and atmosphere, the wards around them catching the light like the surface of a bubble. The plants for his potions grew in raised beds along the far wall.

Longbottom was still near the entrance, a notebook and pencil in hand as he scribbled notes.

Draco stopped on the other side of the table, "That's just a colour variation of Moly. They bloom a pale pink rather than white."

Longbottom paused, glancing up from his note for just a second too long before asking, "Does it affect the magical properties?"

Draco shook his head, "No, just the colour."

Longbottom made another note and moved to the next table.

Draco listened to pencil scratch across parchment for far too long,"You wanted to see the fern?"

"Uhuh," Longbottom said absently.

Draco crossed his arms.

Longbottom paused, sparing Draco a glance, "I wanted to see everything really."

"You can always come back," Draco said, "Unless you're planning to spit in my face before leaving I have no reason to bar you from visiting whenever you like."

"Oh. Thanks," Longbottom said. He stopped taking notes and straightened up, "It's really fascinating. I've never seen a greenhouse set up like this. Though, I haven't seen many so-" he shrugged.

"It was largely great uncle's doing. He was obsessed." Draco paused and frowned, "Not obsessed, it was his passion, and he was very good at it. It was my family that called him that. They considered him a failure."

"A failure? What did he fail at?" Longbottom asked.

Draco walked down the tables, clasping his hands behind his back, "Being a Malfoy mostly. Never married, no heirs, no interest in politics or power, just plants."

Longbottom turned to take in the whole greenhouse, "It seems brilliant to me."

Draco stopped in front of the large table housing all the fletus ferns. It was a large box planter covering the whole table, and the biome inside the wards kept the ferns warm and damp like the rainforest they had been collected from. There were four plants, some moss and a few species of faintly glowing fungus that weren't affected by the ferns sap.

Longbottom lingered a few tables back, tilting his head to one side as he studied the atlantian lotus growing on a miniature table pond. He pencil scratched across parchment as he said, "So you and Harry are... together?"

"As much as you and Abbot are," Draco said.

Longbottom flushed slightly, "Hannah and I aren't- I mean we've never really talked about- uh-"

"Have you kissed?" Malfoy asked, watching with interest as Longbottom's entire face slowly turned red.

"I, uh, n-no," Longbottom shook his head.

"I see," Draco said, pleased to have changed to subject.

Longbottom cleared his throat nervously and joined Draco at the ferns. "I've been looking into what ferns require to propagate and the uh, different seasonal shifts found in the rainforests of the congo." He flipped through a few pages of his notes, "It's been tricky because the area your uncle described finding them has been cut down since then..."

"So these might be the only living specimens of this fern," Draco said.

Longbottom nodded, "I was wondering if you had ever divided the plants? That's a much easier way to grow more ferns, and they're typically very hardy and handle such treatment well."

"I've read about it." Draco said leaning on the edge of the table, "I was reluctant to do it myself."

"It's pretty easy," Longbottom said.

Draco considered the blue-tinged fronds. Each fern had gotten quite large, even with charms to slow and stabilise their growth. "They'll need to be planted on a new table," he said and looked around the greenhouse, "Moss!? Elf?!" He frowned. There was no response, "I'll overturn every table in here!" He waited, and nothing happened. Draco sighed, "I'll try to do this myself then."

There was rustle from the corner and what had looked like part of the rubbish heap lifted its head. There was something like clothes and a big floppy hat, but it was just as likely entirely made of moss and rushes. There was skin peeking out of the ends of things, hands, feet, the tips of ears, though it was impossible to say whether the elf's skin was brown or entirely covered in dirt. Draco had never seen their face and never wished to.

The elf scuffled over to them and waved at Draco irritably until he took a step away from the table was thus theoretically unable to ruin anything.

Longbottom stared, "Is- Is that a house elf?"

"Maybe."

Longbottom turned his stare of utter confusion on Draco, "What?"

Draco sighed, "He-They are not bound to the house or my family as far as I can tell. Moss has been around for generations. They maintain all of the grounds and greenhouse, and everything is fine as long as you don't touch anything without telling them."

"They're a free elf then?" Longbottom asked.

"I suppose so," Draco said stiffly.

"That's a good thing," Longbottom said.

Draco rolled his eyes.

Longbottom frowned, "I mean I know some elves like being owned but if they don't-"

"Yes. Yes, Longbottom. I am aware," Draco said.

Moss tapped their foot impatiently.

"All I meant was that house elves are quite possibly the most frustrating creatures on earth to negotiate with. They are all contradictory in their desires, stubborn to a fault and only make sense to each other, sometimes." Draco said, "Now. Moss or elf if you'd rather, we would like to set up a second identical table to this one," he gestured to the fern enclosure, "because we are going to split the root balls of each fern and double our plants."

Moss shook their head firmly.

"Don't worry," Draco said, "Longbottom here is a prodigy when it comes to handling plants. A master really." Longbottom started to protest, and Draco flicked a silencing spell at his face. "Everything will be fine."

Everything was fine. Especially since Draco had nothing to do with it. Between Moss and Longbottom, the planting bed was prepared and the two of them huddled around the ferns to carefully separate them like they might spontaneously combust if they breathed wrong.

Longbottom pressed soil around the newly planted fern, a mask over his face and gloves up to his armpits to protect him from the sedative effects of the fern's sap, "It's a bit strange- you and Harry together."

Draco sighed, not bothering to look up from his potion plant beds.

"He likes you, and Ron and Hermione seem alright with it," Longbottom went on.

Draco summoned a pair of gloves and cut some of the bigger wolfsbane plants, hanging them up to dry.

"But I mean..." Longbottom hesitated, "They weren't around. None of them really know what you did during seventh year." He started working on another fern, "You...tortured people."

Draco swallowed hard, a taste of bile rising to the back of his throat.

"But you weren't like the Carrows or even Crabbe and Goyle, you always looked scared. I know what that looks like. I saw in the mirror for ages," Longbottom said, "I just never understood why you did it."

Draco debated not answering. He didn't want to, and other than Pansy and Luna he hadn't spoken of the war to anyone. But he couldn't not, he'd watched Longbottom be crucioed, more than once. "I didn't exactly want to," he said, hands shaking as he cut asphodel.

"But you did," Longbottom said.

Draco's hand tightened, tender green leaves crushed between his fingers, "The Carrows were sadists, but the- the people- those things living in my house, they were murders... and I saw it. I was forced to watch more than-"

"Malfoy you don't-"

"Shut up." Draco said coldly, "For two years there was a knife to my families neck. And I didn't have the DA- I didn't have friends I could trust. I only had me. And I did what I had to to protect my parents and myself."

Longbottom nodded minutely.

Draco went over to the rubbish heap and dropped the ruined plants on top, taking a moment to collect himself.

"I get it now," Longbottom said, "Sorry to bring it up."

Draco took a few deep breaths, "I suppose we're fostering social intimacy."

"What?"

"Something Luna said," Draco grabbed a large pot from the corner and carried it over to Longbottom, "Put the last one in here."

"Uh, sure," Longbottom said, quickly filling it with soil, "What are you going to do with this one?"

"Give it to you, moron," Draco said, "Or you could give it you Sprout. I don't care."

Longbottom froze and looked from the fern to Draco, "Oh...thank you."

Draco shrugged one shoulder and pulled off his gloves, "You were helpful. I'm going to go have tea with Pansy and Luna. It's in the conservatory attached to the greenhouse. I thought that might be more palatable to you if you wanted to join us."

"Maybe, in a bit," Longbottom said, "I want to look around more."

Moss nodded approvingly at Longbottom, still hovering near his knees.

Draco headed for the doors, "As you wish. Try not to trip over the elf. They seem to have taken a liking to you."