The courting

Chapter 21. Toppy

Draco POV

"Mom, I can do this by myself. I am a grown man."
I shushed my mother out of my room and closed it with five different spells and a password. I know she just wanted to help, but I needed to do this alone. 

I had gotten a letter from Harry, stating that my Christmas present, a letter collector and organizer, would take away a lot of his daily work.
The collector picked up each letter the second it comes in from the letter and stacks it so, that letter on the bottom is the oldest, so it drops down when you say. "Next please!" 

I needed to check if a was still on the favorite list.

And there I was, in the middle. I knew there would be men that were better at the moment, but some of them were brand new additions and time has shown, that many of them disappear after two months, so I wasn't too worried.
What had ey more distressed was next week's challenge. After informing me (and all his other suitors, for sure) that his group of suitors had shrunk down harshly to 100 persons, after many of them didn't send a Christmas gift or made no move to help him on the Christmas party, he told me what he expected from me this month: 

A date. 

It needed to fit some restrictions: We only had 3 and a half hours together, there should be no time restrictions for it (not only in the morning or afternoon), no dangerous activities and there must be place for other persons to be near us.
And he wanted an answer until tomorrow morning, 8 am sharp.
FUCK. 

I needed to figure this out quick. I needed to do something with him that I liked to do too, and we could talk at the same time.
So, reading together was out of the picture, and the movies was too muggly. Many would take him on a picnic, and would receive negative points for it. 

"Master, your tea is ready." I heard Toppy say.
She stood on my desk and placed my tea down from her tray. I tried to put my head away from the classic ideas, so I looked a Toppy a little, hoping to get an innovative idea. 

She wore her light pink rug, matching the bow in her 'hair' it was rather attached to her head. She wasn't much different from the other house elves her age.
She wasn't from a breeding farm, but the child of two house elves of fathers' friend. For her breed, it was normal that the children didn't live in the same household as their parents, to ensure genetic variety. 

In some weeks, the dating season for house elves would start.
Yes, dating, not mating.
Normally elves date and mate in their own household, but some families, like mine, only had one, so the house elf council organizes some sort of speed datings between working, lonely house elves and free-living ones.

This year, Toppy was old enough take part in these meetings. I wouldn't demand from her to find a partner immediately, she was still young, but it would be nice if she found one in the next five or so years, so that we could get other house elves in the house by 'child swapping' (house elf children leave the house by the age of ten to serve in other houses, and the children of those house will live in the house of the first elf), so we wouldn't rely on those horrid breeding facilities. 

We had made bad experiences with those.
Some years ago, when Toppy had been little still, her elder in the house died, so we needed to buy someone to teach her from a breeding farm. The elf was called Dobby, and the life in a dark room, bunched together and forced to do hard work each day had taken a toll on him.
He was wishing for freedom I later found out, something that went against house elves nature. He always got himself into trouble and only reacted to harsh words and discipline. 

Thankfully he was freed when I was 13 (remember, Draco's birthday is in January in this book!), and then we were back to one elf, but Toppy managed good, she had always been a rather grown up and motherly person, and that would bring her a lot of admires this year.
"Is something wrong, Master?" Toppy asked and pulled me out of my thoughts. "No, Toppy everything is fine. You are dismissed, do with the rest of the afternoon whatever pleases you." I told her and her mouth formed a smile. 

Even though she was a work loving house elf, Dobby had rubbed off on her somehow, and she liked to have some time off work sometimes, just cleaning her own room, lounging around and talking to some of the paintings.
She had especially taken an interest in a painting of a group of house elves from the 18th century, and she would have regular talks with them. It had first startled us, but we hung the picture up in her room, so she could talk with them about everything she needed to let out, they were somewhat of a family for her.

I sipped on my tea and looked out of the window. I could take Harry flying, but there nobody could follow us, at least not Neville.
I could show him my garden, but that was just another version of the picnic idea, as was taking him to the sea. I knew Harry enjoyed little things, with an occasional big one, and I tried to have basic ideas with little twists. 

I bit into my croissant, when I got the idea. I knew what I could do with Harry, and I started planning every detail. (Not in that way, you little pervert!)

A/N: What do you think, has Draco planned for Harry? 

MeineKeime