"Is there a particular wing you'd like to claim?" Harry sat with her in his sitting room, his fingers running through the ends of her hair as she leant up against him.

"Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounded?" Ginny laughed and looked up in time to catch his kiss.

"Yes," he smiled against her, "but the question is a valid one."

"Perhaps we should tour all the rooms in your vast house." Ginny nuzzled her nose against his. "I'm sure there might be a place or two we could explore."

"You have amazing ideas, you know that?"

"I'm glad you noticed."

"Shall we take a turn around the house?"

"At this late hour, and with my brother's wedding on the morrow? What will people say?" Ginny grinned against his cheek.

"I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but I don't give as much thought to what people will say as I'm expected to."

"What a life you must live, to not care what others think of you." Ginny let her fingers tangle with his.

"Ah, but I do care what certain others consider me to be," he ran his nose along her chin. "For instance, I'm greatly concerned with your opinion of my character."

"My thoughts of a gentleman who absconds with his betrothed after dinner under pretense to show her more of the home and then secludes the two of them in his private sitting room?" Ginny laughed.

"Yes," Harry whispered in her ear, "What are your thoughts on a man such as that?"

"That he might make me a suitable husband." Ginny turned her head to catch his smile.

"Miss Weasley?"

Ginny sighed and turned to see Harry's valet, Sterling, standing in the door.

"Please, forgive the interruption, ma'am, but your mother has sent for you."

"Thank you, Sterling," she turned to Harry. "I suppose I ought to retire for the evening. Tomorrow will be upon us sooner than not."

Harry kissed her again, a kiss that made her wonder how awful the stain on her character would really be if she stayed.

"I'll see you to your rooms, then." He took her hand in his and led her back to her waiting parents.

"Till tomorrow, Mr. Potter," she curtsied at the door to the rooms her family was occupying.

Harry took her hand and bowed deeply at the waist, kissing her fingers as he did so.

"Till tomorrow, Miss Weasley."

Ginny couldn't help her smile as she walked through the door.

"She looks as happy as you did, my dear." Her dad chuckled as Ginny shut the door.

"Yes," her mother took her father's hand. "And now we can finally have some peace that she won't go galivanting across the world like some vagabond, or worse a discarded wife."

Ginny frowned. Her mother was right. In the days since she'd become acquainted with and now engaged to Harry, she had nearly forgotten all about her dreams. She'd not thought once of where she would like to travel to, nor how she would achieve it. In fact, she had even become resigned to her thoughts that someday he would leave her behind to travel again.

"Ginny dear, whatever is the matter?" Her mother looked critically at her.

"Oh," Ginny tried to recover from whatever her face had revealed. "I'm simply fatigued. It's been a long day, and what with the excitement for the wedding tomorrow, I think I'll retire."

"A wise decision indeed," her father stood to kiss her head. "Sleep well, my darling. We shall marry off your brother tomorrow and then move on to the preparations for your own wedding."

Ginny didn't trust herself to speak, nodding in response before moving to her bedroom.

Ron would marry Hermione and then they would plan her wedding. The wedding that would shut the door on all her dreams of having more than a secure home. The wedding that would ground her for life to Godric's Hollow and Ottery. She tried in vain to stay the tears at realizing she'd lost any hope of seeing the world. Certainly, she had never thought of a way to finance these dreamt up excursions, but she had still hoped they could be a reality somehow. She had still thought there was a chance that one day she could write letters from even just as far as the continent to her family. She had thought, perhaps, she could be the exception to the way women maintained their lives in Great Britain, that she could be one of the fortunate ones and see more, go farther.

But laying in her bed as her tears covered her pillow, Ginny realized she was just like every other lady, destined to follow in the paths set before her. She was not destined to be the one to break new ground.