The Best Laid Plans

In two weeks time, the last seven years of his life would come to a close. Draco Malfoy would finish his formal education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and soon after he would leave for a tour of the Continent with his mother. They'd been planning this trip since the summer before his sixth year.

He would leave Hogwarts for the last time (as a student, at least) on a Saturday and the following Monday would officially inherit the Black family fortune. The only other Black male died his fifth year and while the inheritance had been challenged, a wizarding court had recently held up his Grandfather's original wishes. Draco would inherit, and in the process become free of Lucius Malfoy's threats to cut him off financially, should he decide to not join the Death Eaters. Even from Azkaban, his father tried to control his life.

Draco would take his first N.E.W.T. tomorrow morning - Potions - and it would be the beginning of the end. In theory, this was what he'd been preparing for since he entered Hogwarts at age eleven. Nine months ago when he'd turned seventeen, Draco didn't imagine his life could be better. His father was locked away (and likely wouldn't get out soon), Potter defeated the Dark Lord once more, and Draco was finally free to be his own man. He'd finish Hogwarts, tour Europe, and figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

The only thing that didn't quite fit was the relationship he'd struck up with Ginny Weasley. Despite himself, he'd started to care about her. The redheaded witch was funny and smart - she didn't allow him to push her over, and she was possibly the most beautiful witch in all of Hogwarts. They'd been tossed together the previous school year, after Pansy invited her Advanced Potions partner to join them at The Three Broomsticks. Draco had pouted and complained about a Weasley joining them, but in the end he'd found he really enjoyed himself. From there, an unlikely friendship was forged.

At the beginning of his seventh year, they'd been out by the lake talking when she'd went to kiss his cheek. Only, Draco turned his head and she caught the corner of his mouth. The youngest Weasley was immediately mortified and went to pull back, only he wouldn't let her. He'd never realized how much he wanted to kiss her until that moment. They'd received some strange looks from most of the school, but Draco was intent to not let it bother him. Ginny would keep him occupied for the rest of his time at Hogwarts, and then after that he would likely never see her again.

Over the weekend, they had mutually decided they shouldn't see each other until after the N.E.W.T.'s were over. Because of that, Draco had been a bit surprised when she requested to see him four nights later. He'd agreed immediately, slightly relieved because he'd missed her like mad. He wasn't sure when or how, but Ginny had gotten under his skin. He cared for her more than he'd cared for any of the other girls he'd gone out with at Hogwarts. In fact, he was even thinking of asking her to join him and his mother at some point this summer. Which was never a part of his plan.

When Ginny arrived at his Head Boy's room that night, she'd attacked him. Not in a bad way. Very quickly, they were naked and kissing - making their way to the bed. This surprised Draco, as Ginny wasn't one to usually initiate sex, but even he couldn't deny how incredibly sexy it was. After he was spent, there was no doubt in his mind that was the best sex he'd ever had. The little minx had done things he'd never even dared do. He lay there for a moment, before he went to roll off of her onto his back.

Her arms and legs moved at the same time to trap him. "Don't go."

Looking down, Draco saw brown eyes shining with a new emotion. "I'm too heavy for you."

Ginny moved her legs again, pushing him back towards her center. "Just for a bit. I want to feel you."

"Gin-"

"Please?" she asked softly.

He could never deny her anything. "Okay."

That seemed to make her happy, so Draco didn't press the issue any further. His arms went under her back, pulling her even closer to him. Her hands were smoothing their way down his, as if she were trying to memorize every nuance of his body. "Gin?"

"Hmmm?"

"Is there something wrong?"

He felt her shake her head beneath him. Draco maneuvered so that he was pushed up on his elbows, looking down at her. "Are you sure?"

"I'm fine," she answered quickly. Too quickly. Draco caught on and raised an eyebrow at her. "Alright, I'm not exactly fine. I've just realized there are less than two weeks left in the school year."

"I know."

"It went by so fast, don't you think?"

"I suppose." Draco leaned down and kissed her forehead. From there, he moved down the side of her face to her ear. He could hear her talking, but was only interested in the delicate lobe.

"Draco, are you listening to me?"

"Yes."

Pushing him back, she asked, "Then what did I just say?"

"You asked me if I was listening."

"Before that."

"Gin," he protested. "Can we think about the future later. Right now, I just want to be here with you."

"We can't," she said softly.

"Can't what?" Draco questioned.

"Think about the future later. This is…" she began. Ginny couldn't stand his piercing gray eyes, so she looked away. "I don't think we should see each other after this, Draco."

"What?"

She still wouldn't look at him. "I don't think we should see each other after tonight."

"Why?" Draco reached down and turned her face towards him. "Look at me and tell me why."

"Draco."

"I'm just trying to understand where this is coming from. Things have been great, love."

Ginny nodded. "I'm just trying to do what's best."

"For who?"

"You, me, us."

"So you start making decisions involving my life without consulting me? That's not what's best for me. You don't have any idea how I feel about this!"

The redhead's eyes widened at his statement. She never expected Draco would fight her on this. "We agreed at the beginning of the year, we'd let what happened happen. And we've done that, Draco. But now… you're finishing Hogwarts and I've got one more year and I just don't see how things can work out."

"So… you're ending things?"

Tears sprung to her eyes, but she nodded. "It's what's best."

Draco was caught between being furious with her for making decisions involving him and taking her in his arms and wiping away her tears. "I don't agree with you."

That seemed to surprise her. "Wh-what?"

"I don't think this is what's best," the Malfoy clarified. "We agreed on that at the beginning of the year, before we really found out what was between us. Now we know it's something real and you still want to end things?"

"How can it work?" Ginny asked. "You'll be away with your Mum and I'll be here. We won't be able to see each other. We both knew this was coming, Draco."

"Ginny," he sighed. "All of that… all of those decisions we made were before."

"Before what?"

"They were just before."

She didn't understand exactly what he was talking about, but didn't push it. Instead, she said, "And what about other witches?"

Draco cocked his head up and looked at her. "Other witches?"

"The one you'll meet while on tour."

"I won't-"

Ginny cut him off, "We both know you will. You're a Malfoy and I assume you'll spend the next year traveling in high society circles. There will be beautiful women there, Draco. Beautiful, rich, smart women who'll get your attention. I would rather…" the redhead trailed off. Forcing herself to look at him, she continued, "I would rather end things now than to receive an owl six months from now saying you'd met someone new."

"I wouldn't do that!"

"You don't know-"

"I do bloody well know!" Draco refuted hotly. "I would never hurt you like that, Gin. I would-"

"What?" she questioned.

"I would cut off my own arm before I hurt you."

"Draco."

He stared down at her, not saying anything. How could she think he would see other women? She was in his head all of the time. He could hardly remember the last time he'd looked at another witch, much less wanted any kind of relationship with one. Reaching behind him, Draco loosened her hold. He moved off of her and got out of the bed. His pants were lying crumpled on the floor, so he pulled them on. Running a hand through his hair, he stared at her, unsure of what to say next.

"I don't know what else to do," Ginny told him quietly. She followed his lead, getting out of the bed. She left the sheet on the bed, and began looking for her clothes. She found her knickers, and pants. But her bra seemed to be missing and her shirt was torn. Before she could ask, Draco held out the white oxford he'd been wearing earlier. "Thank you."

"Ginny," Draco began.

"I know this was never part of your plans and I'm just trying to make it easy for you."

"So you come to my room, give me the best damn shag of my life, and then try to end things? That's supposed to be making it easy for me?" Draco asked. "I don't think so."

"Draco-"

"Don't you get it?" he interrupted. "This is how it's supposed to be."

"What?"

The blond motioned between the two of them. "You and me, love. Together."

"It's just fun," Ginny told him. "We were just having fun."

"In the beginning," he agreed. "But then it changed. Somewhere, somehow, it changed. I stopped caring about what my family might think and what your family might think. I started ignoring your prat brother when he tried to goad me. I forgot all about the ridiculous crush you had on Potter your first year. I just… I stopped caring about all of that, because I started caring about you."

"What?"

"I started caring about you," Draco repeated.

"I…I don't know what to say."

He made his way around the bed to where she was standing, but didn't touch her. At six foot, he was six inches taller than she was. Draco smiled down at her, trying to prepare himself for her answer to his next question. "Do you care for me, Gin? Even a little?"

"Draco," she sighed. Ginny closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. "I love you."

The blond closed his eyes and enfolded her in a tight hug. Relief instantly flooded his body. "Ginny." He led her back to the bed, where they sat together. His arms were wound tightly around her, and she was pressed into his side. "Would you have really ended things?"

Ginny nodded. "I came here intent on setting you free. I didn't want to be a burden to you over the next year."

"A burden?" he questioned. "You've never been a burden to me, love."

She sagged against him. "This has been making me crazy for the last week. Trying to figure out what to do."

"Why didn't you just talk to me?"

Ginny shrugged. "I didn't know how. I knew you liked me, but I didn't know if it was much more than that. I would have felt silly admitting that I loved you, only to have you not care for me at all. So I just thought about it relentlessly. Then you said you wanted a break, until after exams, and I knew I couldn't wait that long. This was all I could think about - so I knew we'd have to settle things, one way or another, before my first exam."

Draco pressed a kiss to her forehead. "It would have been a lot easier on yourself had you just said something."

"I know that now," she said. "I…I came here tonight with two things on my mind. If I was never going to see you again, I was going to make certain that you remembered me. If only because of the sex. And then after that, I was going to walk away."

"So that's why-"

"Best damn shag of your life?" she asked, smiling. "Good to know I did at least one thing right."

When she started laughing, Draco joined in even if they were laughing at him. "Ginny, there's something else."

"What?"

"Earlier… when you were trying to, well, you know. You said something about me meeting someone else over the next year and you didn't want to hear about it in an owl post."

"Draco-"

"I have to say this," he cut her off. "You know Mum and I started planning this trip years ago and how much I'm looking forward to going." She nodded against his chest. "In the beginning, I might have thought about the different witches I might meet and get to shag. But that was before you.

"That was before Pansy ever brought you along to lunch one day and I saw what every boy in this entire school was missing. Even if I didn't realize it that day, I was attracted to you. You were different than any girl I'd ever met before. Smart, funny, beautiful. Even if we were only going to be friends. And then you kissed me, even if you didn't mean to. I knew at that moment what I'd been missing out on." Draco paused, realizing he was rambling. "My point is, I would never see someone else while I'm with you."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because if you ever did it to me… I respect you too much. Your opinion means too much to me. If I ever hurt you, if I ever made you cry, I couldn't forgive myself."

She seemed to except his answer and didn't press the issue. Ginny was content to let him hold her for the rest of the night. It didn't matter she had a Herbology exam first thing in the morning, or that he would likely fail his Potions N.E.W.T. because she was here. She just needed to be with him.

After a little while, Draco moved away from her. "Stay here." Ginny watched as he rummaged around in his desk drawer before closing it. When he came back to the bed, he was holding his right hand open and there was something laying in the middle. "I want you to have this."

She leaned forward to see what he was holding out to her. Ginny frowned. "I can't take that."

"Why not?"

"That's yours," she told him. "Your Mum gave that to you."

"And I'm giving it to you."

"Draco."

He took her hand and placed the object in the middle of it. Draco slowly curled her fingers around it. "You don't have to wear it. Just… keep it. Next year, when I'm not here, take it out and look at it. Maybe it'll remind you that I'm out there, waiting for you."

"I love you."

His heart surged at her words. Even if she'd only said it twice, he was certain he'd never tire of her saying it. "This is for real, right?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah."

Draco gave her a genuine smile. "No more of this crazy ending things business?"

"No more," she promised.

Leaning forward, Draco kissed her. He kept the pressure light - this was a serious moment and there would be time for snogging later. "Good." The blond lay down and pulled her next to him. He pulled the sheet from the bottom of the bed over them and wrapped his arm around her. "Stay with me tonight."

For a moment, Ginny thought of protesting. There were reasons they shouldn't - exams, being caught, her brother. But the way he was looking at her, she knew she couldn't. "Okay."

Draco pulled her closer to his side and whispered, "Nox." The room was immediately emerged in darkness. Ginny turned on her side so she was facing him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Goodnight, Ginny."

"Night, Draco."

He lay there, listening to her breathe. As he waited for her to fall asleep, he started turning their conversation over in his head. They'd come along way since that first kiss at the beginning of the school year. He hadn't intended to give her the Black family crest, but it was the only thing he had. The idea of placing the Malfoy family crest on her finger turned him off - and it was because of the Blacks Draco was certain he could give her a life.

In his mind, a new plan was forming. He knew the Weasley's wouldn't let her join him for the entire summer, but maybe they would allow her to tour with him and his mother for at least a month. He wanted Ginny to know his mother and his mother to know Ginny. They were the two most important people in his life. She would return to Hogwarts in September while he continued his tour - he would have to arrange to be in Hogsmeade or be able to contact her by Floo. Perhaps they could spend some time with her family at the Christmas holidays? And then, in just over a year, she would be free to join him wherever he went.

The Malfoy heir wasn't sure of the life he wanted - except that he wanted his own life. He didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps. Draco didn't know when he could marry her, but he planned on asking sometime after she finished school. He couldn't imagine waiting very long. She was too important and he loved her too much.

Almost losing her tonight proved that. It warmed his heart that she was thinking of him - putting him before herself. Draco was certain he had a lot left to learn about love, but he hoped Ginny would be there to help him.

Rolling over, he kissed the side of her face. Moving his mouth, he found her ear where he whispered, "Ginny, I want three daughters with red hair and brown eyes. If you could manage freckles on at least two of them, I'd like that as well."

Her arms tightened around him. "I'll see what I can do."