Reasons

Reasons

Draco was slightly panicked. "Ginny, please don't do this."

"Draco, quit bothering me about it. I've made up my mind and there's nothing you can do about it." Ginny shot him a look that said she wasn't going to back down.

"Ginny, really, you can't do this..."

"Would you leave me alone about this Draco? Merlin, it's not your decision."

"Professor, can't you stop her?" Draco looked pleadingly at Dumbledore, who was sitting behind his desk with his hands laced together, a grave look on his face.

"I'm afraid not Mr. Malfoy. This is Ms. Weasley's decision, and her decision alone." He looked as if he wished there was something he could do about it.

Draco threw up his hands I frustration. "Why must you be so stubborn?" he snapped at her, the anger he was feeling welling up inside him.

"Why must you be so selfish?" she snapped back, equally angry.

"You'd have made a terrible Slytherin," Draco muttered. "At least we know when not to run blindly towards death."

"And at least I'm not a coward," she told him icily.

"I may be a coward, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"You won't be for long if you continue to tell me what to do!" she told him furiously.

He looked at her with a mixture of exasperation and despondency. Why did they always have to fight about these things? "Ginny..." he whispered, the anger suddenly gone from his voice. He looked at her sadly.

She sighed, seeing the look he was giving her and took his hand in hers. "Professor, can we be excused for a little while?" she asked Dumbledore, looking at him.

"Certainly."

Wordlessly, she stood up, still holding Draco's hand and walked out the door of Dumbledore's office. Winding her way through the corridors, and up several sets of stairs, she stopped in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Balmy. Walking past it three times and thinking of what she needed, a wooden door appeared. Pulling Draco through the door, she wiped away the tear that had slowly traveled down her cheek. Standing in the middle of the room, she pulled him toward herself and kissed him gently.

"What was that for?" he asked her breathlessly when they had broken apart. He could have sworn he felt a twinge of sadness in that kiss.

"I don't think I've told you this before, but I love you," she whispered back, leaning her forehead on his.

"I love you too," he told her softly. "That's why I don't want you to do this."

She looked into his eyes, which she had always loved. They were always changing - from one shade of gray to the next, they were never the same. Right then they were a stormy charcoal color, almost black they were so dark. He was upset, she could tell. "You have to understand something, Draco. I need to do this. For myself more than anything else."

"But why?"

"Because it's my destiny. I can feel it." His face gained a stubborn look.

"Destiny is stupid. That's not a reason."

She sighed, sitting down on the plush rug beneath their feet. "Draco, that's only one in a multitude of motives. I need to do this for you. I need to do this for Harry. For Dumbledore, and Sirius' memory, for the world even." He sat down opposite her, her hand still clutched in his.

"For me?" He laughed harshly, without humor. "I must be missing something."

"Don't you see? I need to do this so the world can be safe again...so that you can be safe again. With You-Know-Who gone, your father is powerless. I want to do this for you and the life you might have without the constant threat of danger hanging over your head." She gave him an earnest look.

"And don't you see? My life will be nothing without you in it. Even with Lucius gone, it won't be worth it," he told her mulishly. "I love you."

She shook her head sadly. "Draco, stop. Please don't make this any harder than it already is. The only way You-Know - no, Voldemort, can be defeated is if Harry gets a sudden burst of energy big enough to cast that spell Dumbledore invented. He needs the biggest burst of energy he can get, and that's the energy released when a soul leaves a body. I want to do this, to have something worth remembering about my life. Don't you understand? My life has been nothing but a long stream of mistakes and mediocrities. Until I met you, that is," she added at his look of indignation. "I've never been anything special. I wasn't made Prefect, I'm didn't get on the Quidditch team. I've only ever gotten satisfactory grades. The only time someone noticed me was when I was taken down to the Chamber by Tom to die. This is my chance to do something great, to put some purpose into my life. That has always been my dream: to do one great deed for the benefit of mankind. You wouldn't deny me my dream, would you?" She smiled half-heartedly at him.

"Of course not Ginny, but..."

She put her finger to his lips, causing them to tingle slightly. She always had that kind of effect on him. "My only regret," she told him, so softly he could barely hear her, "is that this ends my time with you."

"Why can't anyone else do this?" he asked sullenly, standing up and turning his back to her.

"Because no one else is willing. I mean, c'mon Draco, who wants to give up their life just as the war is about to end, and a normal, danger-free way to live is just a little bit ahead? No one. Only me."

"Weirdo," he teased weakly, attempting to smile and failing miserably. "Can't you at least wait a few years? You know, after we've had a dozen children and are retired and have lived our lives?"

She just smiled sadly back.

He sat down next to her again, running a hand through his hair carelessly. "Can I have one last thing from you then? I mean, as a last request? Since you're so gung-hoe on doing this, and I can't stop you."

"Sure."

"Can I have a lock of your hair?"

If she was surprised at his request, she didn't show it. Picking up a lock of her long hair, she used her wand to cut it off. She handed it to him, her hand shaking just barely.

He took it and muttered something incomprehensible, pointing his wand at it. Slowly, it molded itself into a ring small enough to fit his finger and turned silver. He put it on his hand. "It will never tarnish, as long as I remember you," he told her quietly.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she kissed him again, realizing for the first time that he was crying, though trying to hold it back, the salty tears mingling with her own as they were caught between their cheeks.
"I love you," she whispered against his lips, the last time she would ever do so.
For the first time in his life, Draco felt his heart break, and was shocked to find that it did, actually, physically hurt. "I love you too. I'll always love you," he told her, the tears finally falling freely.