The Plan

Ginny was feeling tired after a long day of work and classes, but her mind was still going over the events at the Cafe when she returned to her flat that evening. So many conflicting thoughts and emotions raged inside her mind that she didn't know what to think anymore. She would be furious one moment and would cool down next. Sometimes Harry was a prat who had a dick for brains, other times Hermione was a dirty slut, and all the time she was a judgmental berk. Then her rational side would take over and look at things in a more detached way. Was there any fault to be assigned in this whole mess?

She undressed, and after picking up some clean knickers and her Winnie-the-Pooh pyjamas, walked naked to the bathroom to take her regular evening shower. She made use of the loo and then turned on the hot water, adjusting the temperature until it was comfortably warm. She walked into the shower and stood under the warm spray with her eyes closed for more than a minute before grabbing the soap. It was a much slower shower than usual. She was still thinking about the day's events.

What were the odds that her best friend and the new neighbour she fancied would shag after a random encounter in a library, while she was in her flat shagging her then boyfriend to see if there was any remaining spark in their relationship? What were the odds that the new neighbour being shagged mercilessly in the library by her best friend, was actually Harry bleeding Potter? She figured that the odds of those two synchronicities were astronomical. Just her luck, she figured.

What did this say about Harry, a man she was most definitely considering as her next boyfriend? She had known Hermione for many years, and she had learned that the fact that she was a... passionate... woman who enjoyed sex in odd places, sometimes with total strangers, wasn't what was important about her character. What defined her was that she was smart, brave and loyal to a fault. In school she had gone to all the Gryffindor Quidditch matches only to show support for her friends. Everyone knew she thought Quidditch was a frivolous pursuit. When Death Eaters had attacked Hogsmeade and others had run away, she had stood shoulder to shoulder with Ron, Neville, Luna and her to protect the younger students. She never took a step back despite telling them it was madness to stay and fight.

What did the library incident say about Harry's character? Was he the type of man that couldn't say no to a pair of spread legs? Would he have refused Hermione if he had a girlfriend? Would he go out and shag some random girl every time they had an argument? Ginny stepped out of the shower pondering if she had made the right decision in agreeing to give Harry a chance, but the only way to answer those questions was to get to know him, and the best way to do that, was to date him.

She stood in front of the mirror drying herself and wondered what Harry would think of her own character. Would he draw rash conclusions from the fact that Hermione was her best friend? It wasn't a stretch to think that good friends must have similar interests and attitudes. What would he think about her being so emotional that afternoon? She winced thinking about how she had been furious one moment, crying and laughing the next.

The redhead tilted her head and looked at her naked body appraisingly. She was overdue for her regular trim. She dropped the wet towel on the floor, grabbed the scissors, and started to carefully trim her pubic hair.

Did she have any right to judge Harry and Hermione? Was she being a hypocrite? She did enjoy hearing about Hermione's sexual escapades. It wasn't as if she was being forced to listen. Some of the things her bushy haired friend had experienced excited and intrigued her. She might not do them with a random bloke, but she could picture herself doing some of them with a man she loved and trusted. It was ironic that despite the nasty rumours about her, industriously spread by Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, Ginny wasn't promiscuous by Hogwarts standards. She had had less lovers than fingers in one hand, while Hermione, who had a rock-solid reputation for being a boring prude, needed hands and feet to count hers. If there was one thing she could vouch for, it was that appearances could be deceiving. She didn't want to make a judgment about Harry based solely on the library shag with Hermione.

Ginny tilted her head again to appraise her trimming job. Finally satisfied, she picked up the towel to dispose of the hair clippings in the wash basin and she then brushed and flossed her teeth making faces at herself in the mirror. After putting on her knickers and pyjamas she went to bed and turned off the lights. In the darkened room she decided that her instincts that afternoon had been right. She would date Harry Potter... but not just yet. She would let him simmer for a few days and see how he reacted to her indifference. With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

Bloody dream!

The next morning Ginny awoke suddenly with a deep moan. Her formerly dry knickers were now moist, and she could feel her clit twitching. If she didn't take care of this, she wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else the rest of the day. Her hand made its way inside the sensible cotton garment, and she sank a finger into her vagina. She quickly recalled the images of the dream. She was inside a library watching Harry and Hermione shagging quite vigorously when suddenly the bushy haired witch had turned and looked at her directly in the eyes. Hermione smiled knowingly and wildly shook her head. The thick brown mane turned into long red hair which flew roughly about her face. When it finally settled, it was Ginny who had her bum on the table. She saw her entire body shake with each hard thrust from Harry's strong hips. It only took a few rapid flicks of the thumb for Ginny to climax.

She stayed in bed until her breathing returned to normal and then headed to the bathroom.

o-o-o

That evening had been absolute torture for Harry. He had become so familiar with Ginny's habits that the slightest sound would suffice for him to know what she was up to. The probe sat unused that night and morning, but every sound coming from her flat reminded him that hundreds of men were watching her. The complete impotence he felt at not being able to say or do anything to stop it was excruciating. The time she spent showering, drying herself, brushing her teeth, and in the other regular ablutions, seemed inordinately long in his perception. He was tense and on edge until she turned off the lights and went to sleep.

In the morning, he woke up suddenly when he thought he heard a scream. He put his ear against the wall and all he could hear was Ginny breathing hard. Maybe she had had a nightmare. Listening to her morning routine was an ordeal. Harry remembered how the loo and the bidet had been strategically placed to face the mirror, and he cringed when he heard her go into the bathroom. After she flushed the loo, Harry heard the fountain of the bidet turned on, followed by the splashing of water as she washed her most intimate and hidden parts. All the shame and embarrassment the unsuspecting redhead would have felt had she known what was going on, was intensely felt by Harry instead. Her shame and his were one and the same. He was doubly ashamed by the fact he felt his hands were tied, at least temporarily. At that moment, his plans for Steven didn't seem personal or violent enough.

After Ginny left for the Cafe, Harry called Johann. They had to get this operation going right away. It could not wait another minute. He picked up the phone and called him to check when was the earliest the four squad mates could meet. Kraut informed him that Becks was taking a morning train from Manchester and would be in London that afternoon. Zubi was still in Nîmes. He had applied for emergency leave and, being a veteran officer, expected to have it approved quickly. He should make it to London in the evening. Harry felt grateful to have such friends. They agreed to meet at eight that evening at the hotel's restaurant.

Harry decided that, until they met, he would follow his usual routine, so he headed for Starbucks. Ginny gave him a generic smile and took his order in a friendly enough manner but seemed cold and distant afterward. He decided not to push matters just yet. Besides, he felt uncomfortable not being able to tell her what was happening, so he drank his coffee, did his homework, and studied for an upcoming exam. At different points he stole glances at Ginny, who was studiously trying to ignore him, although she appeared startled a couple of times by his gaze. There had been an ineffable connection between them in the elevator. That connection had grown into an attraction, maybe even a bit of an obsession, but now it was growing into something more profound and meaningful. Harry had discovered that there was nothing he would rather watch, than the bright, fresh face of Ginny Weasley. She had an easy smile, expressive eyes, and flawless complexion. He could find no fault in her face or figure; she was loveliness itself as far as Harry was concerned.

After leaving Starbucks, Harry walked by a florist shop and screeched to a halt. After a quick glance at the arrangements in the display window he went inside, and following the advice of the owner, had a dozen white roses delivered to the Cafe as a peace offering for Ginny.

o-o-o

It was just past eight in the evening when Harry walked into the hotel's restaurant. Unobserved, he watched his three squad mates talking, or rather arguing, quite spiritedly.

It was one of the ironies that sometimes happen in the Legion, that the squad leader of the former communist spy was a former Nicaraguan "Contra" fighter. Kraut and Zubi had shown a lot of distrust and animosity towards each other at the beginning. There was nothing subtle about their name calling. Zubi would call Kraut "communist scum" or "Stalinist bootlicker" and he in turn would call him "CIA lackey" or "Death Squad leader". As they became acquainted, though, and their stories known, respect had grown into genuine friendship. They both agreed that politics was the most evil thing in the world.

Koldo "Zubi" Zubizarreta came from a middle-class family and had joined the "Contras" at barely eighteen years of age. During one incursion his column had been attacked with rockets by two Soviet helicopter gunships and all the officers had been killed. The reigning disorder and confusion threatened to turn the encounter into a slaughter until Zubi took over. Despite the heavy losses, he re-established fighting order, shot down the helicopters with Redeye missiles, and led the remains of the column in a fighting and punishing retreat out of danger. The action brought him to the attention of the guerrilla leadership, who recommended he be sent for CIA training at one of the Swan Islands off the coast of Honduras. There, he learned the fine art of sniping and also was taught every dirty trick in the CIA guerrilla handbook. During the Contra war he led many incursions deep into enemy held territory and had fallen in love with a young and pretty guerrillera in his squad. They married in the field, but just before the war ended, he had suffered the indignity of helplessly watching his wife bleed to death from shrapnel wounds after a mortar attack. After the war was over, he felt that nothing in civilian life could fill the hole that loss had left in him. He packed his gear and made his way to France to join the Legion.

Robert "Becks" Holmes was just a few years older than Harry. He was an unemployed Manchester United hooligan and a talented hacker, who worshiped David Beckham, hence his nickname. After a brawl outside the stadium in which knives had flashed, and blood had been spilled, Becks decided he didn't want to wait around to see where the chips fell. He made his way across the Channel and wandered aimlessly without a secure source of food or shelter until, by mere chance, he walked in front of the Foreign Legion recruitment office in the Rue Pelleport in Bordeaux. After his first warm meal he regretted ever joining and spent a lot of his time making plans for desertion, but the friendships he formed with Harry, Zubi and Kraut introduced a new emotion in his life. Shame. He simply couldn't bear the shame of leaving his friends behind to what was sure to be intense interrogation about what they knew. After his contract was over, he moved back to Manchester and started his own web design company.

"I see some things never change," Harry said approaching the table with a smile.

Zubi immediately stood up to greet him with a bear hug. He was of better than average height and deceptively strong. Harry had gotten used to being hugged by him whenever they met, but not to the repeated back slaps that came with it. They almost collapsed his lungs. Zubi spoke in American accented English and jokingly called them his protégés. Becks was less effusive, but equally warm in his greeting.

Harry was incredibly happy to see his Legion friends together again and sincerely inquired about their wellbeing, but it was clear he was anxious to get to business.

After ordering dinner, Zubi cut right to the chase. "Kraut tells me you are having girl trouble, Harry. How can we help?"

Harry proceeded to tell them the whole story up to the unpleasant visit that Steven and his thugs had paid him the previous night.

"So do you want us to beat the shit out him, or do you want him gone for good?" Zubi asked casually.

"Damn it, Zubi, let's hear Harry's plan before you go off killing people," Johann cut in.

"We aren't going to kill anybody if it can be avoided," Harry said shaking his head to emphasize the point. "Is that clear?" After they all agreed he continued. "The first priority is to protect Ginny's privacy as much as possible. We know where this bastard lives. The first thing we must do is raid his flat. His operation is not big, so I suspect he runs the business from there. That's where you come in, Becks," Harry said turning towards Robert, "I want to get his client list. Do you think you can hack into his computers and servers to get that information?"

Robert looked offended "Did you make me come all the way from Manchester just to insult me?" He paused only a second for effect. "Of course, I can. From the registration and payment information we can get a list of clients."

"Steven boasted that important people are clients of his," Harry continued. "If that is true, some of them might be willing to do our dirty work for us."

"What do you mean?'" Johann asked.

"Blackmail," Harry replied succinctly. "If we threaten the right people with blackmail in Steven's name, they might push back."

Johann had a wide grin on his face. "A man after my own heart," he said pretending to clean a tear from his face with the back of his hand. He turned to Zubi next. "You see? Harry has something that you Contras never had. Finesse."

"We won, and the Wall fell on top of your communist ass, who gives a shit about finesse as long as you win?" Zubi replied with amusement.

"Keep it down you two," Harry admonished them.

Johann retook the word. "Since Mr Livingston's business is illegal, I doubt the Exchequer knows about his income. After we destroy his operation, I think Harry should be a good citizen and inform the Chancellor of the Exchequer just how much money he's made."

Harry grinned evilly. "That's a good idea, Kraut, but before we do that, we need to target the hard disks of all his clients with a dedicated virus to erase them completely. I want as little trace of Ginny as possible after we finish."

"I have a designer virus just perfect for that," Becks said confidently.

"I thought your cybercrime days were over?"

"I've been working on it... just in the interest of science, of course. I swear," Becks added sheepishly.

"The cyber-attack can only be launched after we destroy all of Steven's infrastructure and it has to be simultaneous. If the client list yields something useful, we'll have to set some things in motion first. I want to start as soon as possible. What's the earliest window, Johann?"

Kraut didn't have to look at the file. "He is scheduled to be working tomorrow. Bring the bag my friend sent you, and we can leave here around ten in the morning. I'll take care of the breaking and entering, Becks will take care of the computers, Zubi will be our look out," he said handing him a photo, "and you can help me look through his flat while Becks does his thing."

"Sounds good." Harry lifted his glass of beer. "To good friends," he toasted.

The other three men lifted their glasses. "To friends," they said simultaneously.

o-o-o

When the delivery man came into the Cafe with a beautiful arrangement of white roses, the last thing in Ginny's mind was that the flowers might be for her. It was her friend and co-worker, Brittany, who immediately went to receive them; more out of curiosity than any real expectation that the roses might be for her. She squealed loudly when she read the name on the envelope.

"Ginny they're for you!" she screamed. "I bet they are from your green-eyed admirer." Mercifully, it was after the lunch hour rush, so the place was almost empty. The other female co-workers gathered around her as Brittany pushed the arrangement into her hands and demanded she read the card.

Ginny thought of herself as a fighter and even maybe as an athlete, not as a girlie girl, which is why it was strange that she felt both embarrassed and touched by Harry's gift. It was the first time she had ever received flowers. Steven had given her gifts, some of them quite expensive, but they seemed trivial compared to this. The roses put a silly smile on her face, and it was easy to accept the teasing from her co-workers. She turned her back to everyone for some privacy and quickly glanced at the card.

Dear Ginny:
I did wrong, and I admit it. I'm sorry. I won't give up on you unless you want me to. Will you please forgive me? Harry.

Later that night Ginny stood at the front door of Harry's flat. There was no light or noise coming from it. She figured he might be out with his visiting friend. As she had decided earlier, she took out six of the roses and laid the rest of his arrangement on his front door. She hoped the meaning was clear. Not yet. Ginny debated all night what attitude to take with Harry the next day at the Cafe. She didn't want to be a push-over, and neither wanted to appear as an ungrateful bint. She reminded herself this was a test that he had made necessary. His reaction when things didn't go his way was an important issue. She couldn't suffer an arse lightly and now was the best time to find out what Harry was made of.

The next morning Ginny left early for work as usual, and she wondered what Harry had thought when he saw the arrangement at his front door. Hopefully, he wasn't so clueless as to not notice that she had accepted six of the roses, which were now sitting on her night table. At work she was a little bit nervous waiting for Harry to arrive. She had decided her smile would be much friendlier and that she would thank him for the flowers, but nothing else. After Harry's usual time for arriving at the Cafe came and went, Ginny started to get increasingly concerned. Maybe he had misunderstood what she meant by returning most of the arrangement; maybe something had happened to him; maybe he was with Johann; maybe he was just being an arse about it. Not knowing was driving her around the bend, so it gave her great happiness, and she hated to admit it, great relief, when the delivery man came into the shop with a dozen bright red roses.

Dearest Ginny:
I'm out with Johann and some friends this morning. I accept your gesture from yesterday as a hopeful one. Will you talk to me tomorrow? Harry.

Ginny placed her bouquet in the backroom, trying her best to avoid questions from Brittany and the others about the status of her relationship with Harry. She withdrew into herself amid the din of questions and comments from her excited co-workers. Her resolve to show disdain was crumbling fast.

There would be no harm in talking to him. Would there?

o-o-o

The raid of Steven's flat went like clockwork. Zubi stayed in the lobby on the lookout with one of the two-way radios while the rest went upstairs. Johann opened the door of the flat and disabled the alarm in less than fifteen seconds. Becks walked into Steven's home office, and he declared they had hit the jackpot. It took some time to hack into the computer and the server, but Becks was able to clone Steven's hard drives to an external hard drive unit and install a Trojan virus into his system that he would be able to activate whenever they were ready. The same virus would infect all the computers that accessed Steven's website. All back-up cd's and DVD's they found were unconditionally reformatted to erase them.

"It would be difficult and expensive, but theoretically the data in these discs and in the hard drive could still be recovered," Becks told Harry.

"Don't worry. When the time comes, we'll come back here to physically destroy everything. Keep doing what you are doing."

Harry and Kraut did a thorough search of the luxurious flat, looking for all the financial information they could find. At two hundred Pounds Sterling for the monthly access and a little more than two thousand hundred customers around the world, Steven was raking in quite a bit of money. He had set up bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, where all his illegal income was deposited to keep it hidden from the authorities. He also had credit and debit cards from those same banks so he could make purchases and make withdrawals from cash machines without having to declare the income. Harry and Johann took immense pleasure in taking photos of all the incriminating bank statements.

After a couple of hours, they left Steven's flat and returned to the hotel and settled in Becks' suite to analyse the information in the cloned hard drive. They compiled a list of 2,093 customers. Harry was happy to discover that access to the website, which had an innocuous sounding name, was by invitation only, and had a complex sign-in protocol. The members accessed what appeared to be a regular blog and had to click on an inconspicuous sigil at the bottom of the page to access a general sign-in screen that used as password the name "Fanny Hill". After they got through those hurdles, the member had to put his personal password to access either the live feed or the archived highlights of the day for each girl. The member list included a couple of members of parliament, a US congressman, a second-tier member of the royal family, several prominent film actors, and, surprisingly, a couple of actresses, rock stars, and some players of the English Premier League, including a member of Team England.

"Most of these people have wives, and my guess is that most don't know their husbands are doing this sort of thing," Becks said to no one in particular after the list was passed around.

Harry paced around the room rubbing his jaw with his right hand. "I think we should make the job of the Exchequer even easier. We are going to send his customers letters demanding a payment for our silence to be deposited in one of Steven's regular accounts in England," he turned to Johann. "Does ten thousand quid sound like a good amount?" Kraut shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "I'm hoping that some of this people will make Steven's life a living hell before the Exchequer locks him up."

"Would you mind terribly if we leave the Manchester United player alone?" Becks asked meekly. "He is a key player for us."

Harry laughed. "Of course, Becks, don't print letters for anyone you don't want to get in trouble."

"We wouldn't want to weaken Team England either," the rabid football fan said earnestly as he inspected the list. "That's about it."

It was evening by the time all the letters, including the one for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, were done. Harry had decided to wait three days for the letters to arrive and for the computer virus to spread before moving in to physically destroy all of Steven's computer equipment, both in his flat and at the two buildings with camera equipment. His friends had insisted in staying for at least one more day after that to guard Harry from possible retaliation. There were plenty of sights to be enjoyed in the meantime.

o-o-o

Harry was apprehensive but hopeful going into Starbucks the next morning. He had slept a lot more peacefully knowing that at least he had done something about bringing Steven down. If only Ginny would treat him with the same friendliness and interest she had shown before, everything would be perfect. Ginny noticed him come in and blushed a little, making Harry cringe. Maybe she was still embarrassed about the whole Hermione thing, he thought gloomily. The queue was not long and quickly he was in front of her.

"Hi, Harry," she greeted him with an open, sincere smile.

Harry smiled back, feeling happy for the first time in three days. "Hi, Ginny," he replied softly, but with emotion. Maybe her blush wasn't a blush of embarrassment.

"Thanks for the flowers. They were lovely," she said ringing up his order without even asking what he wanted. She looked up at him and their eyes met.

He of course had heard the cliché that "the eyes are the windows to the soul" many times in his life but had not really believed it until that moment. Her deep chocolate irises were full of warmth and even if she had not said it, even if she vehemently denied it, he knew he was forgiven. He consciously tried to communicate his gratitude and repentance in his own gaze, and there was a twinkle in the brown pools that made him hope she had understood. Words were still important, of course, and they needed to be said, but from this point forward they would only be confirmation of what they both knew to be true. They liked each other. A lot. They needed to know how far that would take them. It could not be avoided or denied.

Ginny cleared her throat, bringing him back to reality. "I'll take a break in fifteen minutes. We'll talk then," she said making a gesture with her head for him to move and let the next customer place his order.

The redhead watched as Harry took a seat and opened his laptop. Those green eyes were going to be the end of her. From the moment they'd met she had felt herself drawn to them. Resistance to his eyes was futile. There had been pain and hope in those emerald orbs when he walked into the Cafe, and it had filled her with incredible warmth to know he cared so much for her. It would be foolish pretence to delay for the sake of mind games, the forgiveness she had already decided upon. She wanted to talk to him, to go out with him and, by delaying, she was punishing herself as much as she was punishing him.

She approached his table and realized that her step had regained its former airiness, and that her hips once again swayed gently as she walked. Harry was watching her admiringly as she approached. Ginny confidently sat down in front of him.

"You wanted to talk, Harry..." she said in a neutral, non-confrontational tone.

Harry swallowed hard. He hoped he wouldn't mess up this chance to explain himself. "Yes. Ehmm... I... I just want you to know that's the first time I've ever done anything like that. I don't go around having sex with girls I don't know in public places. I was upset and did something reckless. I got carried away with the moment," Harry looked at her carefully hoping not to reopen the wound. "Hermione isn't unattractive and... it was different and exciting... but it was wrong for many reasons. I acted like a dickhead and I'm sorry." Ginny laughed. "I beg you to please forgive me and give us a chance to know each other better. I would like to go out with you."

Ginny looked intensely into his eyes as he spoke, and she saw nothing but sincerity there. He had said all the things she wanted to hear from him: That he was sorry; that this was not his usual behaviour; that he had let his dick do his thinking, and that it had been wrong to act so impulsively. Harry also got bonus points for not insulting her intelligence by pretending he had not enjoyed the whole thing. Ginny was actually happy that they would be able to put the episode behind them, so she figured some teasing was in order.

"You said you normally don't have sex with girls you don't know in public places. Does that mean you have sex in public places with the ones you know?"

Harry was incredibly happy to be teased. It surely meant everything was alright, so he teased right back. "Do you have something in mind, Ms Weasley?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ginny's was amused by his retort, she knew he was teasing, but her face didn't reveal anything. "Don't be so presumptuous, Harry. You're not even close to getting into my knickers," she replied with a serious expression.

Harry had a dismayed look but laughed heartily. She leaned forward and put her hand of top of his. "I dearly love to laugh, Harry. Just so you know, a good sense of humour will get you far," she said with a suggestive look.

"Does that mean we can go out tomorrow?" Harry asked hopefully.

"I would love to go out with you, Harry. What do you have in mind?"

"Dinner and a film, maybe?"

"That sounds good. What kind of film?"

Harry's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Well, after the intelligence I've just obtained, I'm leaning quite strongly for a comedy."

Ginny laughed heartily. "You are a quick study, Harry. If you keep that up, you will be getting very far... eventually."

One hour later, Harry left the Cafe, happy at the prospect of his first formal date with Ginny.

O-o-O-o-O