We Wasted Years

Cleveland, Ohio was their destination. Seven hours away. Draco was going to have to spend seven straight hours with Ginny alone. Draco waited, leaning against the driver side door of a tiny 2005 Mustang. Draco himself was in love with the '69 replica. It was a hot two-door with the silvery sandstone color. However, it happened to be the property of Gerard Kingsley and that put a limit on his affections.

Finally Draco saw two people emerge from the house. It was Ginny and Caleb. Draco pushed himself off the door and watched. Caleb followed Ginny down the driveway whispering into her ear all the way. Draco rolled his eyes. The driveway was paved and lined with white flowers all the way down to match the white mansion, and Draco couldn't help but notice the way Ginny's hair glowed. Ginny watched his expression as they neared and he watched her try to close herself off. She glared back at him slightly, but her cheeks were pink with embarrassment nonetheless. He noticed that she had a small bag over her shoulder, suddenly, but he himself hadn't thought to bring anything. It must have been a woman thing.

"What's in the bag?" He asked her curiously as she and Caleb approached. It made him feel so strange to say something like this to her. He'd hardly spoken with her yet at all, in all these years after it happened, and now he was wasting his breath on the most mundane things imaginable. It just wasn't right.

"What?" She asked stopping twenty feet short of the car in surprise, "oh, just...nothing really."

"Okay, do you want it up with you or in the trunk? There isn't much room for it in the car, unless you want it on your lap," Draco informed her, giving his opinion.

"Oh, um...it's a small car isn't it?"

"Is it one of those new Mustangs?" Caleb asked intrigued.

"It's Gerard's," Draco answered not taking his eyes away from Ginny. She looked pretty and fresh. She had always had that simple beauty. She was wearing a pair of khaki capris and a black frilly shirt. He looked down at himself and saw the usually black dress pants that he'd custom bought to be casual. He was wearing a long sleeved blue shirt tucked in at the waist. But for early summer, it was much too hot and so he had rolled up the sleeves to his elbows and undone an extra button at the top.

"I'll put it in the trunk," Ginny finally answered him after she had a peek inside the car. There was nothing inside except for two bucket-seats and the gearshift in between them.

Draco gave her the keys to pop the trunk and went over to Caleb who seemed way too happy this early in the morning. Especially since his wife was going off with some stranger on a fourteen hour roundtrip. Even worse, Draco thought, he was the farthest from a stranger as anyone could get when it came to Ginny Weasley.

Draco stood next to Caleb and folded his arms across his chest. It was the man in each of them that took away the need for words in this moment of admiration. However, Draco soon got bored with staring at the car and turned his attention towards the skies. There was nothing glamorous about today. The sun wouldn't even give him the decency of a tiny little peek.

Ginny came back to join the other two, and stood next to her husband. He turned his back to Draco and grabbed his wife up in an enormous hug. Draco watched the intimacy and he saw that Ginny was studying him over Caleb's shoulder.

"Love you, Ginny," Draco heard Caleb say. Draco raised an eyebrow to Ginny, in challenge, behind Caleb's back and she squeezed her eyes shut.

Draco sulked back over toward the car, when he heard her answer back,

"I love you too."

Draco gracefully eased into the driver seat of the car. The tan leather interior was smooth unlike his patience. He sat back in the chair and waited calmly or at least put forth the effort to appear calm. He adjusted the mirrors and he adjusted the seat wondering what in hell Ginny could still be doing with Caleb.

Finally the door opened on the passenger side and Ginny sat down next to Draco. She buckled up as Draco turned around to see that Caleb had gone back toward the house. Then he sat back again in his seat and looked straight over at Ginny.

She seemed a little nervous, and then very much so, once she realized that Draco was staring her down. She looked calculatingly into his eyes, not sure what to think, and then he smirked as he watched her resolve melt. Finally he spoke up,

"The keys, you have them."

"Oh, you're right," Ginny hastily pulled them out of her pocket. "Sorry, here they are," she said handing him the keys and being extra careful so that their fingers wouldn't touch.

"Thank you," he replied. "Are we ready?"

"Yes." She exhaled deeply letting her shoulders relax.

Draco started up the engine and backed out of the drive and then they were off on their journey, just the two of them. He didn't know how to get to Cleveland, but Gerard had given him a map with directions that was in the glove box. For now, he knew how to get out of the city.

He didn't say anything in the beginning. What was there to say? Plenty of things, actually, but none of them he really wanted to actually discuss. Gerard lived right on the edge of the city, and so Draco was zooming down the country roads in no more than ten minutes. He glanced at Ginny out of the corner of his eye every so often. She was looking out the window and she was so stiff. Draco wanted to reach out and touch her so badly, just to see the reaction. He knew it would be priceless, but he just couldn't do it. Suddenly she reached over and turned on the radio,

"Do you mind?" She asked, almost pleasantly.

"Feel free," he replied with one quick glance into her fiery eyes.

She turned the knobs and pressed the buttons in search of a music channel. She couldn't seem to find the channel she wanted, but finally it seemed, she settled on an oldies channel. Eighties Thursdays the radio D.J. announced through the speaker before Chaka Khan sang out. She sat back again and Draco relaxed for the moment.

He might have been able to take his mind off of Ginny, as he drove, if only she stopped jerking. At first he was confused, but then he realized what it was. Every time he reached down between them to shift the gears she jerked away, oh so slightly. It was hardly even noticeable, but Draco had been watching her out of the corner of his eye, hadn't he? And besides, he was sure she had been doing it ever since they'd started off together.

Did he repulse her that much? He didn't want an answer to that question.

"Ginny," he asked softly. Laying a finger on her knee, he glanced back up into her eyes as he felt her whole body stiffen, "Could you get the map out of the glove box. I hope you're good with directions."

She fumbled to open the drawer and pull out the piece of paper that Gerard had written out directions for their trip.

"Thank you." Draco couldn't help his lips from curling upward into a smile. He was getting to her, and it hadn't taken anytime at all. There was something going on with her, something about her that wasn't right. She'd changed so much since he last knew her. Then, in certain moments the old Ginny would shine through again. That had to mean something.

"Okay, yeah, I can read maps easy," she said quickly as she looked over the directions. "Where are we?"

"I just got onto U.S. 30 and that is as far as I can remember," Draco answered.

"Okay, well look for Vine Street Expressway," she told him her tone lightening the more she focused on the directions. "It's coming up, right there." She pointed the way.

"Thank you," he replied with ardent courtesy and then they were done speaking for a while. The only noises were the music and Ginny's directions.

It wasn't until a few hours later that conversation broke out once again.

"What's next?" Draco couldn't have taken a moment's more silence. He had to say something.

"We just keep following this Pennsylvania Turnpike. It bears left later on, but not for a while." She checked back the directions just to make sure.

"Thank you, Ginny," he said lightly.

"Will you just stop doing that!" she said sharply, exhaling her breath. She had to push away the fly away strands from her ponytail out of her face, which he knew annoyed her to no end.

"Doing what?" He asked playing dumb. He knew what it was he'd been doing that was sending her over the edge.

"This thank you business, that's what! Do you have to be so civil? I'm not a stranger," she said hotly.

He was taken aback, but only for a half of a second before a reply slipped from his lips, "But aren't we strangers? That's what you told Gerard, and your husband." The last word came out as though it were something vile.

"Would you rather I told him the truth? She asked, scatterbrained.

He reached down sharply in between them, shifting the gears, and she twitched once again giving him more confidence,

"What is the truth? Please tell me," he added sarcastically.

"If you don't know what the truth is, I'm sure as hell not going to unveil it to you now. Merlin knows it's too late for that," she huffed as she stared deeply into his eyes almost in the same disbelieving way she had done so long ago. Draco couldn't look away from those eyes. Finally Ginny looked away breaking the link, and thank Merlin, because Draco needed his eyes for the road.

It was silent for a moment with Ginny's face toward the window. Draco decided he would try to think of the truth, but he found that he didn't want to. His life had been a waste, he thought to himself. He was a waste of breath.

"How dare you ask such a thing," she accused him under her breath.

"Come again?" Draco asked her, pulling himself out of his thoughts.

"How dare you," she said a little louder, angling her body towards him now, instead of away. "I knew what the truth was. I was able to confront the truth, you bastard. You're the one who couldn't! Bastard...bastard," she repeated, breathing hard.

Draco couldn't say a thing. He was completely and utterly speechless at her words. She was so completely right that it was unbearable. Truth, he had seen it, he knew what it was all along, but he was the one that turned away from it then. And this is where his actions had led him.

Hours later, when they had finally gotten off the turnpike that lasted a lifetime, the two were forced into conversation again. Unwillingly, Draco asked her for the next direction. She was expecting it and she merely pointed in the right direction with an air of effortlessness that got on his nerves. After awhile, he stopped asking and just waited for her to point.

This mess wasn't his fault. Maybe he'd been carried away, but Ginny Weasley was sitting in the seat next to him and they were all alone. It was as though time and fate had never dragged them apart. He could almost imagine it, and the longer he pondered such a thing, the easier it was to envision. The only problem with the scene was the brittle quality of the air, and the silence. There would never have been such an awkward silence as this if it were real. Draco blinked a few times, and checked his rear-view mirror to clear his thoughts and bring them back to where they should really be.

He glanced over at Ginny and saw that she was fidgeting with her left hand, ring finger specifically. She was twisting her ring around her finger, slowly, around and around as though she didn't know she was doing it. O'Brien, he thought bitterly, her last name was O'Brien. He was sitting next to Ginny O'Brien. Ginny Weasley was gone.

Much, much later, in fact close to seven hours later, Draco and Ginny were sitting at a stoplight in Cleveland. They had only a few more minutes until they reached the office in which they had the appointment. Ginny was putting on a touch of makeup, from the bag she'd retrieved out of the trunk after they had stopped at a rest stop. He didn't know why she was putting it on. Really, she didn't need it, but then again, he didn't question her. They had somehow calmed around each other since they had eaten lunch together in the truck stop Wendy's. It seemed that Ginny was satisfied in her anger and calling him a bastard was enough to appease her. Now the silence loomed only because of the lack of something to say and small talk literally felt like suicide.

Draco snuck glances at her every so often, watching her apply the mascara, and then the blush. A small smile came to his lips, but then instantly it was gone. She had looked up just in time to see it and now the smile had transferred over to her lips.

"Don't laugh at me! If you'd drive steadier it wouldn't look so bad," Ginny fussed. Draco didn't reply but brought his eyes back to the road where they should have been the entire time. She was still watching him though, and he was pleased to note that the smile had not yet vanished.

He liked how they were right now because it was comfortable. It was almost as though they were friends, without the awkwardness. He didn't want to ruin their progress with any of the stupidity that would surely come out of his mouth.

"Do you know how crazy it is to see you behind the wheel of a muggle automobile? And wearing muggle clothing, too? It's quite strange, considering-"

"I've changed a lot since ...since we last met," Draco cut in rather coldly, but his bitterness was not aimed at her or at anyone in particular.

"I didn't know," Ginny muttered, and somehow Draco got satisfaction out of her anguish. "Draco, what happened to your parents...to your father?"

Draco looked directly into her eyes, thoroughly bewildered. There was a determination in her eyes that forced him to answer.

"My father died two years ago. My mum is still going strong," Draco told her keeping his eyes directly ahead of him.

Ginny didn't really respond. Well, actually she had no time to say anything else because Draco saw the signs up ahead for Stoddard Stones Unlimited, their destination. He pulled up to the building and, unfortunately, had to move parallel into the difficult parking space. Luckily, the road was not very busy and there were no cars to have to squeeze in between.

Both Draco and Ginny got out of the car. Draco looked up at the three-story building while Ginny adjusted her clothes and made sure she looked presentable. He checked his watch and saw that it now read 4:21 in the afternoon. Their appointment was for five o'clock, but it was better to arrive early and have to wait than to miss it altogether. Besides, maybe Mr. Stoddard would take them in early and then they could get out quicker. The sooner they got back home, the better.

"This doesn't look at all like a place for rocks," Ginny said pointedly to Draco as she too looked upward at the three stories. It was in the middle of the city.

"Maybe this is just the business end of Stoddard Stones Unlimited," he shrugged, "and they've got the stones on a big lot outside the city where they dig them up from the ground."

"Oh well, let's just get in there. The sky is looking dark," Ginny cautioned as she lumbered up to the glass doors with Draco following closely behind her. She was right, they had been driving into gray for the past hour, and it was only getting worse.

Once inside the doors, Draco walked straight up to the desk across the little waiting room. Draco marveled at how orderly and detailed everything was. So businesslike, and yet Draco kept sniggering at the fact that all of this was for a type of stone. It just seemed odd to him to give so much fuss to something so dull.

"Good afternoon," the lady greeted them from behind the desk, prying her eyes away from the computer screen. She was middle aged and she looked way too exhausted than what her job called for. She must have a bundle full of brats at home to deal with because surely she could not be so tired from just sitting at a desk all day long.

"Yes, and to you," Draco replied with his useful charm. "We have an appointment with Mr. Stoddard for five o'clock." He nodded over to Ginny when he said it. She was standing next to him at the desk. There was a bench against the windows that showed the street, but hopefully there was a better waiting room than this in all these three floors.

"Lovely, I will let him know that you are here," she smiled.

"Please make yourselves comfortable and feel free to help yourselves to whatever you might need." She pointed to a doorway on the right.

Draco followed Ginny into a slightly larger waiting room, Draco had been right. There was a beverage bar on the same wall as the door where Draco helped himself to a steaming coffee. The ride had taken a lot out of him. There were also vending machines on the other side of the door. The rest of the room was divided between three couches.

Draco sat down next to Ginny, who was holding a cup full of distilled water in her grip. He leaned back against the back of the couch and noticed that Ginny seemed tense again. She was sitting almost perfectly straight, not allowing herself to relax. Draco thought it might be because of him, but he had sat a certain distance away from her on purpose to avoid such a thing. It seemed that he had not distanced himself enough. Oh well, she would just have to get over it. The silence between them wasn't so very unbearable now, but perhaps that was because as soon as he had sunk into the cushions the rain had begun to fall.

* * *

Stoddard had not taken long at all. In fact Draco wondered whether Gerard had really needed them to make this trip or not. Within fifteen minutes the deal was signed, the money paid, and the delivery address given. Perhaps they would be able to just hurry back. Mr. Stoddard was leading them back down the elevators and into the room with the lady at the desk. He was a portly man who looked like he needed exercise. However, he was friendly, easy to manipulate, and quickly persuaded to make the deal.

"Damn," cried Mr. Stoddard as the trio reached the woman's desk. Draco, who had followed Ginny, had no clue what was wrong.

There was a flash of lightning and the sound of a cannon going off within seconds of each other making Ginny jump. Another flash of light illuminated the street outside and Draco saw sheets of rain pouring down so hard that it was almost impossible to see through them. The sky had gone black long ago, and Draco had heard the rain coming down throughout the entire meeting with Mr. Stoddard, but he had no idea how awful the conditions were.

"This weather is impossible," Stoddard breathed.

"I've been tempted to board up the windows Doug, the rain will surely shatter the glass in the next minute," the desk lady told her employer. Draco looked over to Ginny, whose eyes bulged out for a moment before she saw him studying her.

"Well, we'd better be off. To beat this storm, we have a long drive ahead of us," Draco told them in between bursts of thunder. He had to raise his voice to be heard when the thunder boomed. The look on Ginny's face had Draco feeling brave. Well, he wasn't sure he could call it bravery. It was just that he'd rather face the weather than Ginny's wrath of having to be cooped up away from home, and with him, any longer than she needed to be.

"Hope to do business with you again. Gerard Kingsley speaks highly of you, sir," Ginny added in a quick attempt to get away.

Draco walked toward the door, hurried by Ginny. They had taken only two steps before Mr. Stoddard finally realized they were serious.

"Are you crazy? This is the worst storm I've seen hit Cleveland in twenty years."

Draco looked to Ginny, who seemed to be in charge now, even though Mr. Stoddard was unaware of it. He was looking to Draco. The thunder clapped loudly overhead and it sounded as though the roof was going to cave in under such a mighty force. He looked to Ginny, but her face was set. She looked to him, as Mr. Stoddard spoke again,

"This is too dangerous of a storm to be out in it. We should be running for the basement right now. Please, don't go out into the rage of the storm, its getting worse...listen."

And so they did, or at least Draco did. The thunder was crashing louder yet, and more frequently. It sounded as though the world was going to end. The lightning lit up the sky so that it seemed like the middle of the day. Draco didn't say anything. He looked up at Ginny giving her full reign,

"It's up to you," he said innocently.

"There is a motel just outside the city, only five minutes away," the lady said in a last plea as she turned off the computer.

Ginny looked furiously around the room and then she concentrated the rest of her wrath out onto the rain-pelted street, which once again lit up so brightly that it looked like it was mid-morning outside.

"You'll never make it out, but the Motel isn't too far away. I insist that you cease your travels for one night and just stay away from this storm, miss," Mr. Stoddard uttered quite bravely and Ginny melted in front of him.

"Okay, it does look a little risky. Can we contact the motel to make sure they have a room for us?" She seemed to have given up to the fact that she would be stranded in Ohio for a night.

"No, no, they'll have room. They don't get much business around here. Really, you should just get there as soon as you can, before the storm gets any worse," Mr. Stoddard continued. The compassion this old man had for the two of them was almost unnerving. It was as though they were his children, the way he was looking out for them.

"Honestly, I think he would have had a heart attack if we refused," Ginny was yelling to Draco moments later as they ran through the rain and raced back to the car. She was in a better mood than Draco had expected, maybe it was the coolness of the rain, but something had calmed her fury. The drops felt like bullets on his skin, and they were so enormous that the force was probably going to give him big, long-lasting welts.

Draco unlocked the car doors automatically as Ginny reached for her door and jumped in. Draco skirted around the front of the car, and flung open his door only to dive in after Ginny. They sat still for a moment, catching their breath. Draco wiped the water off of his forehead. He was soaking wet, and so was Ginny. He snapped his head to the front again, determined not to look back at Ginny's soaking body. Her clothes were clinging to her curves and enlarging her bust quite nicely. He jammed the key into the ignition and started the car heading off toward the nearest motel according to Mr. Stoddard's directions.

"This is unbelievable," Ginny gasped quietly as she hunched forward to see better out of the windshield. Draco squinted his eyes to better see into the clear liquid sheets of rain. Ginny did the same. Somehow, they were able to reach the motel without a single incident.

"There, right there! Sunnyside Motel!" she squealed and Draco swerved into the parking lot quickly before he missed the turn.

Draco pulled forward and parked right where he was. He could hardly see anything and so it was better to just stop the car in case he hit something. Once the car stopped, both of them searched the area around them for the office in which they could rent the rooms.

"I think it's down that way," Draco decided as he looked out Ginny's window. The rooms were all lined up along the parking lot then the office was at the far left, "Ready?"

Racing each other out of the rain, Draco and Ginny leapt into the cramped motel office. They must have spooked the guy sitting behind the counter because his eyes were wide in shock. He eyed them warily as though they were going to do something crazy at any moment. Draco thought the guy needed to lighten up, and glancing over at Ginny, he knew she agreed. She broke into a wide smile that lit up the room and Draco couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"It's raining, you know," he said, trying to justify their bursting into the office. The man still looked clueless as Draco and Ginny dripped the evidence all over the floor.

"Pretty hard, I reckon'," he added for good measure.

"Do you have a room?" Ginny asked the man and finally his face began to show more than just the vast blankness as the conversation swung more toward business.

"Just one?" The man checked back with them after he'd already grabbed for the keys.

"Y-no, sorry, two please," Ginny burst out, "Two rooms." She repeated with much less gusto. Draco oddly stopped smiling. The fact that he had just been laughing with Ginny was miles away from him now. Now, he was surrounded by reality.

"No can do, ma'am," the man said simply turning back around and flopping down onto his rickety stool. "We've only got one vacancy this evening ma'am. Is that gonna be a problem?"

He looked to Ginny, and then to Draco, who was trying his hardest to be unnoticeable at the precise moment. The man looked at him and he looked at Ginny.

"Are there any other motels close? Any other places to stay?" She sounded desperate and Draco told himself this was perfectly acceptable.

"Nope, not close enough under these conditions," the man answered, completely hopeless to Ginny's cause.

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked moving forward and setting her elbows down on the counter.

"Positive, so will the one be enough?" He wasn't even halfway concerned that Ginny looked like she was going to have a panic attack.

She turned to Draco, suddenly calm, and now he didn't feel so very much at ease. He tried to make his face blank, damn that man for doing it so well. She raised an eyebrow in question, quite in the same fashion that he loved to do, but he didn't have an answer to her question, at least not a good one.

"It's up to you," was all he managed.

She snapped back around but Draco distinctly heard the words, "We'll take it." She plucked the keys out of the man's hand and ushered Draco forward to handle Gerard's cash.

Minutes later they dashed back out into the storm making their way toward room number seven, halfway down the length of the building.

"Hurry, hurry," Draco heard Ginny yelling from behind him. Every so often she would squeak when the lightning flashed, making him feel lighter with each yelp.

Draco sped up to unlock the door and hold it open for Ginny so that she could run right in after him. He swiftly turned the key and swung the door open wide. He stopped to look for the light switch when suddenly he felt a terrible jab in his back and then he was falling face forward onto the hard carpet.

A scream rang out behind him, right in his ear actually, and Ginny followed him all the way to the ground. They landed hard, she on his back, clutching his shoulders for something to hold onto.

"I am so sorry, and so very stupid," she added, horrified, as Draco let out a loud groan. "I'm s-are you okay?" She rolled off of his back with another deep groan, and then she snorted with laughter.

"I'm glad you think my pain is funny," Draco retorted trying to sound hurt, but ruining it with a grin. The grin was more truthfully a wince. The pain was unbearable, but somehow Ginny's laughter had the effect of making it disappear.

"I'm sorry," she repeated patting his back tenderly. Draco tensed at the touch. He was afraid to move, afraid to make the pain worse. He lay there on his chest with his head turned to the left where he was happy to see that Ginny had not moved from his side. "I really am. I promise. Can you move?"

She was laughing still and now he was too, uncontrollably. Really, when he thought about it, the scene was hilarious. He couldn't move, except for the shaking brought on by his laughing. Then the tears came literally streaking down their cheeks. He'd seen them on Ginny's first before he felt the wetness of his own.

He brought his arms to his sides to make an attempt to pick himself up from off the floor and Ginny hastened to help. His weight was too much for her to hold by herself and so he tumbled back down on top of her.

She groaned aloud just like him and exhaled her breath. Draco was mortified. He could have probably killed her, squashed her like a bug under his weight.

"Ginny, I'm sorry, are you okay?" He tried to lift himself up, but his body still ached from falling onto the ground twice in a row.

"Oh wow, that hurt," Ginny breathed, but then she snorted again. Suddenly they were both laughing hysterically like little children all over again.

"We are a clumsy pair, aren't we?" Draco bellowed.

"There is something about the two of us...together," she breathed closing her eyes. When she opened them, she looked just as shocked as Draco felt. It was as though something had changed between them in that moment. He didn't think she meant to say that aloud and now she looked as though she wanted to take it back, but Draco wasn't going to let her.

Before she could say anything else, he kissed her firmly on the mouth. Her lips were sweet and soft, just like he always remembered. He felt her hands dive into his hair and he groaned longingly.

When they finally parted to get some air, Draco decided it was a good time to roll off of her. He lay on his back and folded his arms behind his head. This was the moment where he finally decided to take in the room. It wasn't much. There was a bed behind him, rather small, and then a desk in front of him right next to the wide open door. He leapt up to close it and noticed that the carpet was already soaked nearest the door.

"Wait," Ginny called after him from the floor.

He closed the door and turned back around slowly, grinning from ear to ear,

"I'm not going anywhere, Ginny."

She smiled back at him and held her arms open wide for him to come back and join her, but he didn't sit down next to her on the floor. Instead he scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed where he placed her right in the center. He climbed on top of her hesitantly, but it was not more than a moment later their lips met again.

This time her mouth was hot and ready for him. His tongue slid over her lips and she opened them to let his tongue in her mouth. Her hands were back in his hair, and his were traveling up her sides. He moved to her ear where his teeth nipped at her earlobe. She let out a moan, but that could have been from his hands on her breasts. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she arched up to meet his hands. It was at that moment, that Draco knew that this is where he belonged.

"Draco, I can't think," she exhaled loudly.

"You don't have to think," he breathed, "but can you remember?"

He pulled away to look into her eyes and he saw that she remembered every detail. Suddenly he was hard, all he wanted was her, at that moment, and nothing else in the world would do. He brought his knee upward, and he slowly parted Ginny's knees, but watching her the entire time as though he was asking for her permission.

She made no objection, making Draco moan in pleasure for no reason except for what he was about to do to her and after all this time. She smiled nervously, but pulled him back slowly on top of her all the same. With her legs parted wide, she cradled his hardness, arousing him all the more. He felt like he would burst and he needed the release or else the pressure was surely going to kill him. He had to keep telling himself to slow down. He wanted to take his time, and be in this moment for the rest of his life.

Ginny's hands were fumbling at his collar and he realized she was trying to undo the buttons of his shirt. Her handiwork was torture as she undid each one, working her way slowly downward. At the last button, the shirt fell back followed shortly by his undershirt, which she threw on the floor. Her hands ran all over his chest and back and all he could do was kiss her until her lips were bruised.

When he decided to give her a bit of a break, his hands went to her shirt. First he pulled her up into a sitting position giving her a swift kiss on the forehead. Then he pulled her shirt up slowly over her head. He stopped to admire her simple white bra, the bra of a married woman, and then he reached around to unclasp it. He didn't remove it just yet, though. Instead he moved downward and unzipped her capris. He went to slide them down her legs, but he forgot that she was still wearing shoes, and so was he. He kicked off his own, and then slowly, lovingly, pulled hers off and let them each drop to the floor.

Draco returned his lips to hers and together they stumbled over the rest of their clothing until both of them were bare. Her skin was soft underneath him, like silk. The finest silk he had ever had the pleasure to touch. He continued to roam all over her body, lazily pausing at certain places to better explore with his tongue. He wanted this moment for them to be perfect, he thought as he lowered into her making her gasp. He was going to take it slow and drink in every sensation that they gave each other.

Ginny sighed his name at odd moments, and it became more difficult to keep him from taking her in a quick whirlwind of passion. She seemed not to mind their slow pace, so he suffered through her torture as long as he was physically able.

Ginny's wonderful lips were at his neck, traveling up to his jaw and back down his collarbone, and suddenly, Draco could take no more.

"I'm gone," he hissed as her teeth grazed his shoulder. She gripped his shoulders and then she too was gone after him. He collapsed next to her breathing hard just as she was. He lay on his side watching her regain her composure as she pushed her hair out of her eyes. He grabbed a strand of it and twirled it in his fingers. She looked over into his eyes, her almond ones were now unclouded by passion but something else was shining in them. He thought they might be tears but when she blinked they were gone.

"Draco, I didn't know-"

"Ssh," he hushed her by closing his lips over hers with a chaste kiss. He didn't want to ruin this moment with more words. She nodded and he wrapped his arms around her bringing her close. She fell asleep with her face in the crook of his neck, and he with her in his arms.

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